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jrhughes · 2 years ago

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Noah Pleases And Worships God

(Sunday, June 11 th, 2023 A.D.)

Genesis 8:9-22

Golden Text: 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid My Face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. 9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. - Isaiah 54:7-10

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. 7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.- Hebrews 11:6-7

One internet source reports:

After the global devastation caused by the flood as described in chapter 7, Genesis 8 opens with quietness, waiting for the floodwaters to recede. This passage begins with a comforting idea: God remembered Noah (Genesis 8:1). God also remembered the animals. He would fulfill His promise to keep them safe and begin creation over again, in a sense, on a world made new by the flood.

God turns off the water, both from below and from above. He sends a great wind to begin to evaporate the water and dry out the earth. After 150 days, the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4). Modern maps may know the area as eastern Turkey and its surroundings, but no specific location is given. (Believed to be in ancient Armenia)

The floodwaters continued to recede. The tops of the mountains became visible. Noah sent out birds as a test to see if any dry land was nearby (Genesis 8:6–7). If the birds returned, the assumption would be that they found no place to land and/or make a home. After trying a raven, Noah turned to doves. First, one returns empty handed. Next, one returns with a freshly plucked olive leaf. The third (?) dove doesn't return, at all. Noah removed the covering of the ark and confirmed that the land was, indeed, dry (Genesis 8:14).

Still, Noah waited to hear from God that it was time to leave the ark. Nearly two months later, God gave Noah the command to leave, along with his family and every living thing aboard. After a full year on the ark of their salvation, the remnants of life disembarked to begin again (Genesis 8:16–17).

Noah's first action after leaving the ark is to build an altar to God. This is the first recorded altar in Scripture. Noah used it to offer sacrifices to God from the clean animals. Apparently, this was the purpose God had in mind for Noah to take extra pairs of the clean animals (Genesis 7:2). Using a common metaphor, this passage says that God "smells" the aroma of the offering, and He is pleased. He makes a commitment to never again curse the earth through a flood (Genesis 8:21). ...

Though human nature has not changed, God shows a measure of common grace and mercy on all life on the planet. God commits to continuing the cycles of life according to His original design. Day will follow night, one season will follow another, as long as the earth remains (Genesis 8:22).

We are told that God remembered Noah and his family on the Ark and all of the creatures thereon. What is clear is that God was and is always aware of every one of His creation, at all times. God is everywhere beholding the evil and the good (Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.) Thus it is not that Noah and his family are now being first noticed by the LORD, it is that the LORD is about to deliver Noah from the devastation and destruction of the flood. Will Noah go out too soon? Will Noah continue to believe on and trust God? How will God show Noah that it is now safe to leave the Ark?

God placed in the mind of Noah (or spoke to Noah) and Noah released two different types of bird, the raven (black bird or perhaps crow) and the dove. Why would Noah know to release these two, and what was God showing Noah?

The black bird (raven) was a bird of prey, part of whose function was to remove dead flesh from the earth. That which we would consider useless and dirty was, to the black bird (raven) his food. That raven never returned. Was he/she landing upon dead floating flesh and making it a meal, moving from one dead, floating creature to another? Most likely. But what about the dove, the sensitive creature often used as a clean bird and in a sacrifice to the Lord? It could find no food. The dove returned to the Ark.

MESSAGE TEXT: - Genesis 8:9-22

9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

Noah opened the window (Hebrew= piercing of the wall). Noah sent out of the ark two birds, first a raven (an unclean bird, an abomination among fowls not to be eaten-Leviticus 11:13-15) and also a dove (Hebrew= also classified with or as pigeons). They are of the bird type offered as a sacrifice, are known as one that mourns Isaiah 38:14; Isaiah 59:11; Ezekiel 7:16. The dove may have been the bird brought as an offering at the Lord's baptism. Luke 2:22-24. Noah sent them out to see if the land was yet dried up and was it safe to leave the ark. The raven never comes back. The dove does return.

Why did the raven (black bird or crow) never come back? The raven eats dead flesh. All he would have to do is land on a dead floating body (perhaps a bloated rotting dinosaur and eat and eat and eat his fill. the dove is a clean bird, he/she does not eat dead flesh and apparently is not comfortable sitting on it for any period or making its abode there.

The dove is an emblem of a gracious soul, which finding no rest for its foot, no solid peace or satisfaction in this world, this deluged defiling world, returns to Christ as to its ark, as to its Noah. The carnal heart, like the raven, takes up with the world, and feeds on the carrion (dead, rotting flesh) it finds there; but return thou to thy rest, O my soul, to thy Noah, so the word is, Psalms 116:7. O that I had wings like a dove, to flee to Him! Psalms 55:6. And as Noah put forth his hand, and took the dove, and pulled her in to him, into the ark, so Christ will graciously preserve, and help, and welcome, those that fly (flee) to Him for rest. -MH (Matthew Henry) 1710

What kind of bird are you, a dove or a raven-crow?

Noah sent forth a raven from the ark, which (we believe) went flying about, and feeding on the carcasses that floated. Noah then sent forth a dove, which returned the first time without good news; but the second time, she brought an olive leaf in her bill, plucked off, plainly showing that trees, fruit trees, began to appear above water. Noah sent forth the dove the second time, seven days after the first, and the third time was after seven days also; ... . The dove is an emblem of a gracious soul, that, finding no solid peace of satisfaction in this deluged, defiling world, returns to Christ as to its ark, as to its Noah, its rest. ... And as Noah put forth his hand, and took the dove, and pulled her to him, into the ark, so Christ will save, and help, and welcome those that flee to Him for rest. - Matthew Henry 1710

Christ has been the only real Ark of safety for mankind since the world began.

The earth being not yet dry, but wet and muddy, and doves delighting to settle only on such places as are dry and clean; or the mountain tops, though visible, being either too distant or too high, and doves delighting in valleys and level plains, whence they are called doves of the valleys (Ezekiel 7:16). And she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were upon (literally, waters upon; ... he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in (literally, caused her to come in) unto him into the ark. - Pulpit Commentary

10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

He stayed yet other seven days. Noah waited another week. Noah again sent forth the dove from the ark. The dove returned in the evening with an olive leaf plucked off. Can you imagine the joy that greeted that return with evidence the flood waters were decreasing and that trees were once again uncovered to the extent that a bird could land there and bring back an olive leaf? Noah and his family knew (Hebrew=to know, learn, perceive) that very soon the Lord would allow them to return to the life of seed time and harvest that they had known. But a new world would face them. Gone were the familiar rivers, high hills, valleys, lakes, seas. The animals which had been multiplied into abundance and their fellow man who had been continually evil (with sin so rampant that it grieved God) would all be gone. There should be peace with God. Peace on earth and good will toward men.

And he stayed. To wait as to be afraid, to tremble, to wait seven days. And again he sent forth - literally, he added to send (cf. vers. 12, 21) - the dove out of the ark.

And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: Now Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And the dove came in unto him, literally, to him, in the evening (of the seventh day).

And, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. The leaf which the dove carried towards the ark was "taraf," freshly plucked; hence rightly translated by "viride (rather than by "decerptum" just the opposite of "fresh," viz., withered.

So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. Therefore, because this was a fresh and living leaf and not a withered leaf, Noah knew that it was new plant life (or plant existence) and not an old floating leaf. This was new, this was fresh, this was a clear sign that God was at work doing what HE said He would do. God was restoring the Earth. They would be able to walk on and live in Earth once again.

12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

Noah waited another week, then sent forth (send, send away, let go) the dove.

(NOTE: Brother JR wonders if Noah sent both the male and the female) as the dove never returned (Hebrew = turned back). Once you have set your course do you return or turn back or as the dove here sent out, have you decided to follow Jesus? No turning back. No turning back. YES, what kind of a bird are you? A dove feasting on the things of the Lord or are you, as the raven content with a dying and dead world?

And he stayed yet other seven days. The frequent repetition of the number seven clearly points to the hebdomadal (weekly, calendar week) division of the week, and reminds us of the week set up by God with the institution of Sabbath rest (Genesis 2:1-3). It is unique.

And sent forth the dove. Again Noah sends forth the dove. Some commentators believe this time period has to do with the Sabbath of the Lord. "The more we examine these acts of Noah, the more it will strike us that they must have been of a religious nature. He did not take such observations, and so send out the birds, as mere arbitrary acts, prompted simply by his curiosity or his impatience; but as a man of faith and prayer he inquired of the Lord. What more likely then that such inquiry should have its basis in solemn religious exercises, not arbitrarily entered into, but on days held sacred for prayer and religious rest?- Pulpit Commentary

Which returned not again This time the dove did not return to the Ark for safety and care and food. The dove found what was needed in the new cleansed world. The dove could once again rely upon God.

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. - Matthew 10:29-31

13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

In the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth. Obeying God: Okay, it was in the 601st year of Noah, the first day of the first month (Happy New Year!). That would be at Passover if it was the Jewish calendar. But this may have only been speaking of a period of so much time which had passed.

The waters were dried up. The waters of the flood, (rain, fountains of great deep, collapsed canopy) were dried up (Hebrew= to make desolate, be in ruins) off the earth. We believe that this only meant that the seas were confined to the seas, the lakes to the lakes and so forth. There was dry land that one could see.

Noah removed the covering of the ark. Covering. It is not clear what is meant by coverings. Strongs Number H4372 from 3680; a covering, i.e. weather-boarding:--covering. H3680 Grk Strong: 1) a covering; 1a) covering (of the ark); 1b) covering (of the skins of the tabernacle)

Noah then removed some kind of covering (Hebrew= covering on ark; tarp like, wooded(?) covering. Was it like the skins of the tabernacle?

The face of the ground was dry. Again they could see dry ground over the Earth. It was no longer all covered with water, as it had been during the flood and some time thereafter.

His human senses must have said, It is dry, go out, but Noah obeyed God and it was fifty-seven days later, Noah was waiting on the ark. Then God spoke unto Noah, then Noah obeyed. (Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding... -Proverbs 3:5).

World Wide Flood: Some ask, ‘Was this really a world-wide flood?' Well it was over the mountains 22 ½ feet. That is not a local flood. And with a world-wide flood event that lasted a total of 371 days, what would we find? Hundreds of thousands of animals and plants buried suddenly all over the earth. They would show it was a sudden, unexpected event. It is reported we have unnumberable amounts of remains of dead animals (fossils). The fossil record was for centuries used as clear evidence of a world wide flood. Since the unholy trinity of Hutton, Lyell, Darwin the earth has gained vast ages. They taught the age of the Earth was hundreds of thousands of years, or more. Before them in the 19th century, the fossil record was proof of the world wide flood. The age of Earth was set by the Bible.

Sudden burial of creatures, great and small. The fossil record shows billions (Morris, Gish, Schwartz) of plants and animals, suddenly buried by catastrophes. As to wide dispersals, Dr. J.E. Shelly tells of the animals found in unusual places such as Siberia. In Utah thousands of dinosaurs are suddenly buried. In southern Alberta, Canada there is another great deposit of dinosaurs. There are more moderate finds of dinosaurs suddenly buried in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Mexico, Australia, China and Europe.

As to climate changes: Thousands of herds of mammoths were found drowned, suffocated, and suddenly frozen to death with no signs of decomposition in the most northern regions in Siberia, northern Canada, northern Alaska. Explorers have eaten the flesh of frozen mammoths. They are found with trees that do not grow in these regions now. Food (found in them undigested) is not grown in an extremely cold climate. It was sub tropical plant life. This vegetation is found in Arctica and Antarctica. It could not have grown there in the last two-thousand years.

the waters were dried up - the root signifies to burn up or become dry in consequence of heat (Furst); "it merely denotes the absence of water" (Gesenius) - from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark - mikseh, from kasah, to cover; used of the covering of the ark (Exodus 26:14) and of the holy vessels (Numbers 4:8, 12), and hence supposed to be made of skins; but "the deck of an ark on which the rain-storms spent their force must surely have been of as great stability as the ark itself.

And looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

God consults our benefit, rather than our desires; He knows what is good for us better than we do for ourselves, and how long it is fit (proper) our restraints should continue, and desired mercies should be delayed. We would go out of the ark before the ground is dried; and perhaps, if the door, is shut, are ready to thrust off the covering, and to climb up some other way; but God's time of showing mercy is the best time. As Noah had a command to go into the ark, so, how tedious soever his confinement there was, he would wait for a command to go out of it again. We must in all our ways acknowledge God, and set Him before us in all our removals. Those only go under God's protection, who follow God's direction, and submit to Him.- Matthew Henry 1710

15 And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. 17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

As the flood commenced on the 17th of the second month of the 600th year of Noah's life, and ended on the 27th of the second month of the 601st year, it lasted a year and ten days; but whether a solar year of 360 of 365 days, or a lunar year of 352, is doubtful. ... The question cannot be decided with certainty, ...

The command to leave the ark is given and obeyed. As Noah did not enter, so neither does he leave the ark, without divine direction. "The fowl, the cattle, and the creeper." Here, again, these three classes are specified under the general head of every living thing. They are again to multiply on the earth. "Every living thing." This evidently takes the place of the cattle mentioned before. "After their families." This word denotes their tribes. It is usually applied to families or clans. - Bible Hub Commentaries.

The ark had arrived at its final destination on the mountains in Ararat. The ark came to rest. But Noah waits for God's direction. (Trust and Obey)

God (Elohiym) declares to Noah it is time to Go forth (Hebrew= to go out, come out, exit) everyone and all the animals, birds and other creatures. Note: The go forth command is from the view point of ONE Who was still on the ark. But, can you imagine how the people, the birds, animals must have felt after three hundred seventy one (371) days on the ark in the storms and then being cooped up on a beached ark for the last month? God says it is time for all passengers to disembark.

These were most likely younger animals, selected by God and mandated to repopulate the earth with its ‘kind' of creature. If younger more playful, rambunctious, (hyperactive), they want to go, run, play, explore and now the door in the side of the ark is opened. God had shut him in (Genesis 7:16) but now God is charging Noah to bring forth (the same Hebrew word is identical to the Go forth mandate: Hebrew=go out, come out, exit. This phrase was also used to command plant life to come out of the earth Genesis 1:12 and the same phrase when God commanded earth to bring forth the living creature after his kind). Is God reestablishing or confirming the dominion of man over the animals and the earth? So all the passengers on the ark left the craft.

(Note: Brother JR sees a playful group of animals, running into each other, frolicking around the ark. Perhaps some running around the ark, using running legs that were held captive for more than a year. Fowls (birds and flying things) all that flew cavorted through the air. Earth was coming alive (with the sound of the music of God). Noah and family may have helped bring them forth. The critters were set free. How about the slower turtles or creeping things?. Birds probably were flitting about. It must have been a wonderful experience of sight and sound. (Smiles all around.)

(APPLICATION: Noah kept all that God had given Him, alive and well. In our days, the Lord Jesus has kept all that Father-God had given Him. Of all God had given Him, I have lost none. See John 17:12; John 18:9)

18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him.

It was time for Noah and his family to depart from the ark. They were to go and to repopulate the Earth. And everyone upon Earth is related to Noah and his sons families. Therefore you and I are related. You, if you are red, brown, yellow, black or what we call white are related to every other person on the face of the Earth. You have distant cousins in the land of China and in Norway, Germany and Japan. We are all one big happy, feuding family. WE are from one blood. You can give blood to any person with your same blood type, even if she lives in New Zealand or Kenya. So let us break down barriers. Let us love one another as Christ died for all. WHO AM I THAT CHRIST WOULD COME AND DIE FOR? WHO AM I? The answer I may never know, why He ever loved me so; that to the old rugged cross He would come and die.

Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl... after their kinds. You have read how I believe the younger ones were frolicking. But God also sets boundaries. There are kinds. Dog kinds, cow kinds, horse kinds, gecko kinds. They will all make more of their kinds only by procreation within their kinds.

20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD. Noah, who had found grace in the eyes of the Lord, did that again which was pleasing to the LORD (Jehovah). The altar was a place to humble himself and give thanks to God for all that God had done for them. God had kept them through the worst disaster ever on the face of the Earth. Flood which led to land slides, most likely exposed trapped molten hot magma and it came spewing out of volcanos. The land was totally devastated and rearranged. We do not have the same devastations, but how many times a week or month or perhaps a day, does God protect you and I from harm? Do we build Him an altar in our heart and thank Him? We (you and I) should. We should thank God every day. Build God a small altar in your heart today. Thank You, LORD for all that You have kept me through, all that You have kept me from, this day, I pray and humbly thank You.

Noah Thanked God First: It is notable and commendable that the first recorded act of Noah, (the man who walked with God ~ Genesis 6:9) was: he builded an altar. Builded (Hebrew=to build, rebuild, cause to continue. Now we say built) an altar. This is the first use of the word altar in the Bible. (We know there was a place of offering to God practiced by Cain and Abel, first two sons of Adam-Genesis 4:3-5).

(Noah) took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. On Noah's altar, does He give thanks for deliverance, make an atonement for the sin of the world; a dedication of the new earth? We see a preview of the Tabernacle/ Temple sacrifices of the clean, pure, undefiled, and innocent. One of every clean beast, every clean fowl and offered them to be burnt before the Lord. Noah did not remind God that there were only a limited number of these animals and fowl. Noah offered to God that which was deserving of God. After all HE is the Creator. WE all belong to Him.

CROSS? This sacrifice also anticipated Messiah and His sacrifice of Himself on the cross. Noah sacrificed of every clean beast and every clean fowl. The animals and creatures and flying things which were clean were known to Noah. God confirmed it when God brought in two-by-two, seven sets of clean land dwelling creatures and seven sets of flying things (Genesis 7:2-3) to the ark. Noah offered them as a burnt offering (Hebrew= whole burnt offering) on the altar.

This is the first altar mentioned in the Bible. We know that God appeared in the Garden, but it seems like Enoch or Seth or some other along the way would have erected an altar. But here in Genesis 8 is the mention of the first altar. WOW! Enough said?

21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

The LORD smelled a sweet savour. Jehovah smelled (Hebrew=to smell, scent, perceive odor) a sweet (Hebrew=soothing, quieting, tranquillizing) savour (scent, fragrance, aroma, odor). God creates and puts in us all of our abilities, our senses and the ability to hear from and communicate with man.

Jehovah spoke in His inner being (not to Noah) and agreed with Himself that HE would not again (Hebrew=to add to, increase, do again) curse the ground anymore. Though the curse on Adam was to continue, (he had to work in the sweat of thy face to eat after ‘the fall'). Was the curse on Cain of thorns and thistles still in effect? (Note: Ask the farmer if the curse of the ground on Adam and Cain's thorns and thistles remain). God was not going to add to that curse. God sadly saw man's heart (mankind's inner most being) remained evil from his youth. But, despite that, God agrees with Himself:

Neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. HE will NOT again slay and destroy, every living thing, as HE had done in a flood. But what we learn is that God is able to smite everything and has the power and authority to smite every living thing and the only real thing that can prevent that is God Himself. Trust in the LORD.

God's acceptance of his sacrifice, here of Noah (looks forward to Jesus) and The Promise He made. God will not drown the world again. And thus, at length, mercy rejoices against judgment.~ If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? - Matthew Henry 1710

22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

While the earth remaineth As long as this planet remaineth (has days) there will be a time to plant seeds and a time to harvest (Hebrew=process of harvesting) all that God has done (after man put a seed in the ground and buried it so it would die). The seasons would continue as would day and night. But, there is coming a time when that shall all change. (Read 2nd Peter 3:9-12 (fiery destruction) and in Revelation 22:5 Jesus is the Light). Will the earth be destroyed again? After the Lord comes back, in Revelation, what curse will be removed? Will there be night? Then will this earth remain as it is described here in Genesis 8, verse 22?

What a contrast! The last time Noah was on the firm ground of planet earth, God had been forced to destroy the world of unbelievers. Here God accepts the (rather meager) offering of His believers and is at peace with them, and causes His Rest, His Peace, His Joy, His Love to be on them and in them. So God does yet today to all who will call upon the Name of the Lord.

9 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ... 13 For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved. ~ Romans 10:9; 13.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I come before You not trusting in self or my goodness, for truly there is no one good, but God. Help us (me) to love You more, to be willing to thank You more, to appreciate You more, to see Your watch care over me in my day to day life. And if You are the God Who can calm the storms of the world wide flood, and You are, then You can certainly calm the storms in my life. Please help me to see You in all that is said and done. Send me forth as a dove to do Thy will. Let me not be satisfied with the dead flesh of the world. Help me to live in and for You. You are my Lord and my God. Without You I cannot take the next breath. I cannot utter the next word. I cannot breath the breath of life. Remind me how I must depend upon You for everything. And give me a grateful heart that sees You in all of Your Creation. Help me to be more wholly Thine, I pray in the Name of Jesus, Christ, Our Lord. Amen and amen.

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rugscarpetcleaningrepairstore · 2 years ago

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amazingarchitecturewebsite · 3 years ago

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Private House with a view of Ararat by Kulthome @kulthome. Read more: Link in bio! Designed by Kulthome, this private house has a territory about 5000 sqm. One of the features of this house is that, although it is a one-storey building its’ floor plan has all the conveniences needed, but you can’t see it… #ararat #firepit #armenia #архитектура www.amazingarchitecture.com ✔ A collection of the best contemporary architecture to inspire you. #design #architecture #amazingarchitecture #architect #arquitectura #luxury #realestate #life #cute #architettura #interiordesign #photooftheday #love #travel #construction #furniture #instagood #fashion #beautiful #archilovers #home #house ‎#amazing #picoftheday #architecturephotography ‎#معماری (at Ararat, Armenia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CXoPWKgrxca/?utm_medium=tumblr

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ambiguouspuzuma · 2 years ago

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Intelligent life

Some planets are built for intelligent life. Asteroids sculpted into warrens of caves; barren hunks of rock, terraformed or xenoformed and fashioned into some new sort of home. Even space stations, welcoming travellers to their titanium shores, may grow so large that they form fresh worlds in their own right, the perfect fit for their ingenious creators.

More commonly, they develop new intelligent life of their own: dominant species emerging from within a stable habitat, organically learning to improve their lot, finding ways to bend the rules of nature. They come writhing out of the ocean, clambering down from the trees, and crawling out of ignorance with their tools and words and memories, on the path to claim their birthplace as their throne.

Still more planets do not see intelligent life at all, passing their entire lifespan in that blessed silence, that blissful ignorance - although as such, any species they do possess are unaware of quite how fortunate they are.

But there are some - a rare, ill-fated few - which simply have it thrust upon them.

The Sierra 470 hadn't been meant to ferry pioneers through space. It was only a small gondola under a solar sail, suitable for brief trips between greater craft, with barely enough room for its current occupants. But it had been built as the lifeboat for the ship which had.

That mighty vessel, the SKG Ultramarine, had been en route to a neighbouring galaxy when it was grounded on an iceberg of asteroid debris, its hull ruptured beyond repair. Amongst that backdrop of catastrophe, these escape pods had been cast like dandelion seeds upon the solar winds.

Guntan-B3 was an ocean planet, a few bald islands in a frozen sea, and not the most welcoming to terrestrial life. Still, the crew of the Sierra met it with the gratitude of a drowning man clutching a proffered hand, without pausing to check if it belonged to friend or foe. Like beggars, refugees were seldom afforded the luxury of choice.

Their capsule arrived as a stray bullet, hurtling through the emptiness of space, and punctured the planet's atmosphere as much by chance as by design. For the tightly huddled masses inside, it was a welcome break from the terror of the abyss. They cannonballed into the lilac surf, sending a plume of water soaring overhead and giving rise to ripples which led waves to crash on distant shores... and then set about following them.

Their lifeboat had washed up onto a desert island, in a sense, although Guntan-B3 had few true islands to offer them. The Sierra 470 was not meant for life at sea, and the survivors had to repurpose it into a raft: broken girders turned to oars, the solar sail cut loose, and new sails stitched from the robes of those who'd fallen in the crash.

They cannibalised the ship's technology, air conditioning systems becoming a rudimentary motor, and it wasn't long before they thought about doing the same to each other. Day followed day, and their stores began to look as bare as the horizon, a hazy smudge between the ashen sky and purple sea. No doves appeared to save them from the flood, and lead them to their Mouth Ararat.

But then the peolops did.

They were roughly seal-like in appearance, rotund yet sleek, or simply adapted to a life in the sea. The crew named them for the sounds they made, a sort of bubbling greeting as they looked up to the makeshift deck. They were curious, friendly, unafraid - and why would they be? They had no natural predators, and had hitherto been alone above the waves, where they only came to breed in places where their young could also feel secure.

Intentionally or not, they led the Sierra 470 to one such site, a rocky atoll that barely rose above the surf. It was a snug fit for one corner of the spacecraft's hull, and they nestled into their new home, a place where they could stretch their legs and wade into the periwinkle shallows. They washed, and laughed, and thanked the peolops for their aid as they swam in circles around them.

But joy soon faded as their other needs returned. The pioneers were cold, and hungry, and desperate. It was nice to have friends, but all of the friendliness in the world couldn't furnish them with the other things they lacked. They had no need for companionship, on a lifeboat already crammed to the gills. They had a need for furs, and fire, and food. The peolops had a thick hide, and oily blubber, and plentiful flesh.

In future generations, the descendants of those settlors would tell each other stories of a world imbued with magic, of friendly animals that lived side-by-side, a world that could never exist. But there was no magic in their world. The pioneers had proven that. They scoured the oceans, tracked down every peolop on the planet, stripped them each down to their cartilage, and didn't find an ounce of magic in their hearts.

They had discovered a new life for themselves, utilising the remains of their technology to exert dominion, confusing their intelligence for wisdom. It was an oil lamp that cast a shadow over the rest of the planet. In the absence of the peolops to control their numbers, their prey species began to proliferate, and devoured the white coral which in turn gave them sustenance. Within a century of the Sierra 470's arrival, Guntam-B3 had become every bit as dead as the pioneers had first feared.

Again, adrift not in a flood but in a drought, a desert of their own design, they prayed for a dove to come and guide them on. Again, those prayers were answered: an intact spacecraft, making a controlled descent into the atmosphere in search of future colonies, discovered their atoll, the rusted, water-damaged homes, the apparent savages who huddled in the shallows underneath.

Once the language barrier was breached, they extended an invitation for the descendants to join them on their ship, and the survivors welcomed them with gratitude, sharing smiles of relief as they escorted them aboard. They were intrigued by this alien species, who seemed more advanced than they were now, and perhaps more than they'd ever been. Corralled into some sort of holding pen, they were curious, friendly, unafraid - and why would they be? They had grown up with dominion here.

Like the peolops, they had never known to fear a predator before.

#writing #short story #creative writing #original fiction #original writing

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tsuki-sennin · 3 years ago

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Revice, 36! General consensus seems to be that Revice is losing steam, and that might be the case, but I'm still having a great time.

I will say though. I follow Kinoshita-sensei on Twitter and he said that he loves Daiji. I do too! So, uh... when are you gonna show it?

Spoilers, I guess...

-Aaaah, Dai-chan at the vaccination office.

-...I sure hope Kinoshita's not trying to insinuate anything with these

-Taking out all the demons.

-Hey there, Tamaki-kun! My man's about to put his life on the line.

-Hana Natsuki's

-Hey, you didn't have to do that for Hana, what gives man?

-Oh great, we're hunkering down for an all out demon war. The commute must be terrible now.

-Ararat... that's a volcano in the far-eastern end of Turkey.

-Taking out demon

-Oh yeah, the Urban Development people who tried to kick your family business off of what I assume is your land? I forgot about those guys.

-Seems like these old folk are treating this like any regular disaster.

-Oh hi George, you're here! New roomie?

-Remember how sinister George was early in the season, with him treating Hiromi like crap and knowing basically everything? Good times, huh?

-Ah, yep. The public refuses to acknowledge how immense a threat a literal demon god is and goes about their business as usual.

-Oh hi, Vail.

-"Quit stalking my dad, asshole!"

-Man, we get so much great Sakura content, but at the cost of my boy Daiji... my monkey's paw gave me what I wanted, I guess. Sorry?

-Oh, good job Tamaki. That was a great tackle, but I don't think charging the all-powerful demon guy was a good idea.

-"Your Dad for your girlfriend's simp."

-Man.

-"THEY TOOK MY FEEBLE BOY"

-Wow, Genta. Your resolve is intense. Here I thought you being gone would've made you become underdeveloped, but the Vail shorts made me cry a fair bit.

-Speaking of underdeveloped... Oh hi, Hikaru, didn't see you there~!

-Wooooooow, they just let him get kidnapped.

-A whole GPS system!

-...wait, if Tamaki HAD the Driver on him, surely Vail would've noticed it on his person when he took him, right? Is it like super compressed or something? Did he shove it up his ass or something?

-I admire your resolve, but this plan is really stupid. And I saw Daiji's plan last episode!

-"C'mon Dad, let us take care of it.

-HIS HEART D:

-Damn.

-"Hell is coming. And that makes me a very happy chappy >:3"

-Eeeeeeew, he's pulsating.

-OOHHHHHHHHHHH THAT'S WHY THEY'RE TAKING THE DEMONS

-Fuck, dude.

-Man, even these normal-ass Gifu Juniors are giving Dai-chan the wringer.

-Ooooooh, there's Akemi-san. ...or perhaps Giffdemos, as this form of her is apparently called.

-Oh, epic, Bracchio Genomes.

-Aaaaand, right to Thunder Gale!

-Yeeeeah, get 'em Tamaki!

-Ohhhhhh, the Gifterians are upgraded.

-Free her!

-...ohhhhh, it seems to be temporary.

-"Using Gifu's power to destroy Gifu himself."

-"I'm gonna murder your sister so hard, it'll make them

-Ooooooh, there's Tamaki-kun!

-...it's not gonna work, is it?

-Smile, smile!

-HE TOOK THE VISTAMP

-AND HE'S GOT OOO POWER NOW

-"Just another toy for the catalogue."

-Aaaaaaand, there she is. Hana Natsuki, our latest Kamen Rider.

-Weekend Driver!

-Slayin' with Queen Bee once again!

-Subvert Up!

-Wow! Just believe in myself! Kamen Rider Aguilera!

-Guess she's accepting both names. Good for her, to be honest.

-I've seen a lot of division over Aguilera's suit. That division is bullshit, because this design slaps so hard. I love how it has mostly the same colors as Queen Bee Phase 3, and the metallic look is fantastic...

-Oh wow, she actually did it. She handed his ass right to him.

-"Oh epic! A second lady Rider!"

-...heeeeeeey, Tasuke-san, Masumi Hakase, you're gonna let Tamaki become Kamen Rider Julio, right?

-"I remade this for you. You were a pretty awesome Queen of Evil, but you've definitely "

-"Aguilera needs a place to call home too, doesn't she?" Oooooooooh, my heart.

-Is she dual wielding kunai? Is she some kind of wasp ninja?

-Yep, seeing her in action solidified this to me. I love this goddamn look.

-Kamen Rider Aguilera. Come get some.

-Jesus Christ, Hana, what do they feed you at Weekend?

-Yeah, that was pretty satisfying. It definitely didn't make as much sense as it probably should've, Tamaki got cucked real hard, and Daiji's really pushing the limits of "secondary" into "tertiary", but... yeah, I'm okay with this.

-Oh man, the women in this show are really killing us.

-Hey, Dai-chan? You did a good job today! Even if you're getting sidelined so hard, you're still a really cool guy, and I'd love to be there for the end of your arc. :)

-OH FUCK

-THEY WHOOPED HIS ASS

-HE NEEDS SOME MILK

-"Good job, Daiji-kun. Now they're afwaid of Gifu-sama >:3"

-Good job, Hana-chan! Tamaki-kun too~!

-Let. (*clap*) Tamaki. (*clap*) Be. (*clap*) Strong. (*clap*)

-"I'm dying. Please. Follow me for your Vistamp treatment. I promise I won't die on the way in."

-Yep, there it is. The Queen Bee. Just two left until... presumably armageddon.

-Save Akemi-san!

-Man... I sure hope Kagerou comes back soon, I wanna see Dai-chan go apeshit to protect all of humanity. That'd make aaaall of this somewhat worth it.

-...hopefully Hiromi comes back in due time too.

#revive the vice: imprinted like stamps and fossils #kr revice #revice spoilers #kamen rider #kamen rider revice #tsuki talks

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babylon-crashing · 5 years ago

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shamanic armenia

... from Michael Berman’s Shamanic Journeys Across the Caucasus (2009, pages 21-32)

If the Scriptures are rightly understood, it was in Armenia that Paradise was placed. – Armenia, which has paid as dearly as the descendants of Adam for that fleeting participation of its soil in the happiness of him who was created from its dust. It was in Armenia that the flood first abated, and the dove alighted. But with the disappearance of Paradise itself may be dated almost the unhappiness of the country ; for though long a powerful kingdom, it was scarcely ever an indipendent one, and the satraps of Persia and the pachas of Turkey have alike desolated the region where God created man in his own image (taken from Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Leslie Marchand (cd.), London, 1976, vol. V, p.157).

What can we say about Armenia? “There is no other country like her. She has played a unique and perhaps indispensable role as a buffer between Asia and Europe, a mediator between two seemingly irreconcilable civilizations and ways of life. And her dark beauty is eternal” (Surmelian, 1968, pp.23-24).

Located in the southern Caucasus, Armenia is the smallest of the former Soviet republics, and is bounded by Georgia in the north, Azerbaijan in the east, Iran in the south, and Turkey in the west. Frequently referred to as one of the cradles of civilization, it is also considered by many to have been the first country in the world to officially embrace Christianity as its religion (c. 300).

Armenia, like neighboring Georgia, is in a region which is a crossroads between Asia and Europe, and has more often than not been conquered by the dominant regional power of the day, starting with the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, through to the Ottomans and finally the Russians. As a result, an Armenian diaspora has thus existed more or less throughout the nation's history, with emigration having been particularly heavy since independence. So much so, that an estimated 60% of the total eight million Armenians worldwide now live outside the country. Nevertheless, once again like Georgia, the country has managed to hold onto a unique cultural and linguistic identity which is reflected in its folklore.

As a consequence of Soviet era policies, the number of active religious practitioners in the country is relatively low, but the link between Armenian ethnicity and the Armenian Church is strong. An estimated 90 percent of citizens nominally belong to the Armenian Church/ an independent Eastern Christian denomination with its spiritual center at the Etchmicidzin cathedral and monastery.

It is all too easy these days to paint a totally negative picture of life under Soviet communism, especially when it comes to the matter of religious freedom, but in the case of Armenia it would be an injustice to do so for:

Soviet communism protected the Armenian people from Turkism ... Moreover, despite its internationalist posture, communism built up a nation in Soviet Armenia from individuals and groups of widely differing geographic origins. The power to withstand, and the sense of nationhood, have to be balanced against the totalitarianism and Stalinism which were part of the state ideology, although less visible at the start (Walker, 1997, p.140).

As for the current status of religious freedom, although the Armenian Constitution as amended in December 2005 provides for freedom of religion, the reality of the situation is that the Armenia (Apostolic) Church, which has formal legal status as the national church, enjoys some privileges not available to other religious groups. Societal attitudes towards some minority religious groups appear to be somewhat ambivalent too, with reports of societal discrimination directed against members of these groups.

Only registered groups may publish newspapers or magazines, rent meeting places, broadcast programs on television or radio, or officially sponsor the visas of visitors, although there is no prohibition on individual members doing so. And to qualify for registration, religious organizations must, “be free from materialism and of a purely spiritual nature,” and must subscribe to a doctrine based on, “historically recognized holy scriptures.” In the case of religions based on ritual observance rather than “holy scriptures” though, were an application for registration made, it is unclear what scriptures could be presented to the Office of the State Registrar to satisfy such a requirement.

We find what is now Armenia referred to in the Old Testament, with the Book of Genesis relating how:

Noah's Ark, as the waters of the flood subsided, came to rest, not “on Mount Ararat” as is commonly misstated --- the Armenians call this Mount Masis, a name (Masios) used by Greek geographers to denote a range to the south-west --- but, “upon the mountains of (the land of) Ararat,” i.e. a country known to the ancient Assyrians as Urartu (Downing, 1972, p. ix).

The region of Ararat was then invaded by the Armenians after the Urartian kingdom, plagued by Assyrian and Cimmerian attacks, fell to the Medes in 612 B.C. The most momentous event in the national life of Armenia, however, and the event which was the chief determining factor in the early history of the country, was the change of religion made by the adoption of Christianity, which was finally established by Tiridates (A.D. 286-342).

By this the Armenians were entirely severed from the pagan Persians and brought into close contact with the Greeks, whose representative was then the Emperor of Byzantium. As a result of this religious agreement, a treaty was concluded in 319 between Tiridates and Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, by which the two Christian monarchs bound themselves to defend each other against all pagans.

The adoption of Christianity meant, to the Armenians, a revolution in their whole view of life, a severance from their ancestral beliefs, though these beliefs have left traces in Armenian folklore which are visible even to this day. These beliefs and the folklore arising out of them were regarded by the Christian clergy as a poisonous flower grown up in the fields of paganism. The historians of the period have chronicled the efforts of the clergy to exterminate every relic of the old faith. Temples were pulled down and churches built in their stead; images and other monuments were broken in pieces; heathen books and records were destroyed; pagan festivals were turned into Christian ones. We learn from Faustus of Byzantium that laws were even made against the use and the singing of pagan songs (Boyajian, 1916, p. 151).

Nevertheless, despite the fact that the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian Churches took the place of the old religions in Europe and across western Eurasia, this applied mainly to the urban centers.

Beyond the borders of Rome's control, in the most northern and eastern fringes and on the western isles, and in the rural environments amongst the "country folk" or pagani, the old religions continued, pejoratively designated after them as Paganism. Even when officially Christianized, the religion of the Pagans remained an assimilation, merely an overlay of the newer cults, or it passed unnoticed under other names, with its myths and beliefs adapting and surviving primarily in less objt'ctionnble forms such as folktales and bizarre or quaint festival rites (Kuck, Staples, et al., 2007, p.3).

And this is very much what occurred in the case of Armenian paganism too. Not only can reminders be found in the traditional dances, songs, and rites still being performed, but also in the folktales still being told. Even after so many centuries of Christianity in Armenia, elements of paganism live on in the country to this day. Moreover, the origins of Armenian paganism could well date back even further into the distant past, when shamanism would have been practiced in the land.

Their concept of the soul, for example, would indicate that this was likely --- the belief that departed bad souls could pursue the living, resulting in their soul loss:

Since it was believed that the soul left the mouth in death, it lived on apart from the body and was invisible. It could assume physical shape somewhat smaller than the body, or an animal shape, the most important of which was a bird ... Even inanimate objects, such as trees, were associated with soul beliefs, and the poor health of a tree symbolized that the human owner was in danger, too.

Departed souls could appear as good or evil. Good ghosts were associated with angels and holy beings; bad ghosts were considered to be the souls of sinners ... In the shape of animals or men these unclean souls appeared before men and brought misfortune to them. Such departed bad souls constantly pursued the living and were eager to take them along. To prevent this, the living flattered the dead with attention and honored them with a Funeral. They provided a hokeh-hatz (funeral dinner) with abundant food for the mourners. If, however, flattery was ineffective, the evil force of the soul might be destroyed by eating part of the dead man's heart, which was, and still is, considered the seat of the soul.

... The belief that the soul of the departed needs special care exists even today. Special prayers for the peace of the departed are still said in church and until recently were chanted in individual homes on Saturday nights over the faint glow of incense. On the Monday after Easter the great celebration of Merelotz [Memorial Day] occurs. In Armenia whole families spent the afternoon at the cemeteries of their departed (Hoogasian-Villa, 1966, p.61).

As for the folktales, they can be divided “into wonder tales ... and realistic tales of everyday life ... although this is a rough distinction at best for there are wonder tales with realistic elements in them, and realistic tales not altogether devoid of the marvelous” (Surmelian, 1968, p.11). The tale presented here is of the former type.

Epithets are frequently used in the stories. In The Girl Who Changed Into A Boy, there are the examples of “the King's daughter” and “the old woman's daughter.” We never learn their names, only the name of the horse.

Another feature we find is that formulas are repeated, a popular one being “Whether they traveled a long or short time, only God knows.” Frequently, the following disclaimer appears too: “Whether it happened or not ...” or “there was and there wasn't...” As for the story endings, many are a variation on … “Three apples fell from heaven --- one apple for the storyteller, the second for the person listening to the story, and the third for the whole, wide world.” Another common ending formula is “They attained their happiness. May you attain your happiness, too” (Marshall, 2007, p.xxviii).

A comprehensive introduction by Aram Raffi to the religious beliefs and practices that prevailed in Armenia in pre-Christian times can be found in Armenian Legends and Poems and, as a starting point, it is presented below:

The principal god of Armenia was Aramazd, whom the Armenians called “the Architect of the Universe, Creator of Heaven and Earth.” He was also the father of the other gods. The Armenians annually celebrated the festival of this god on the 1st day of Navasard [which, according to the later calendar of pagan Armenia, was in August], when they sacrificed white animals of various kinds — goats, horses, mules, with whose blood they filled goblets of gold and silver. The most prominent sanctuaries of Aramazd were in the ancient city of Ani in Daranali, the burial-place of the Armenian kings, as well as in the village of Bagavan in Bagravand. Aramazd had an attendant incorporeal spirit, named Tir or Grogh (“writer”), whom he sent to earth to watch men and record in a book their good and evil deeds. After death, human souls were conducted by Tir to Aramazd, who opened the book at each soul's record, in accordance with which he assigned a reward or punishment. In a village near Vargharshapat there was a temple of this god, where the priests interpreted dreams after consulting his oracle. The influence of Tir was great in Armenia, for he was a personification of hope and fear. There are traces of the cult of this god in the Armenian language. It is still usual to hear, used as a curse, the expression, “May Grogh take you!” The son of Aramazd was Mikr, Fire. He guided the heroes in battle and conferred wreaths on the victors. The word nu'himi (“temple”) is derived from Mihr; also some Christian names. One of the months in the ancient Armenian calendar (Mehekan) was named after him. His commemoration-day was celebrated with ... great splendour at the beginning of spring. Fires were kindled in the open market-place in his honor, and a lantern lighted from one of these fires was kept burning in his temple throughout the year. This custom of kindling fires in the spring is still observed in some parts of Armenia.

Although the Persians and the Armenians were both worshipers of Mihr, the conceptions and observances of the two nations differed. The Armenian sacred fire was invisible, but the Persian was material and was kept up in all the temples. For this reason the Armenians called the Persians fire-worshipers. But the Armenians had also a visible fire-god, who, although material, was intangible --- the sun --- to which many temples were dedicated and after which one of the months (Areg) was named. Long after the introduction of Christianity, there was a sect of sun-worshipers existent in Armenia, who were called “Children of the Sun.” A small remnant of them is still supposed to be found, dwelling between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Traces of sun-worship are also evident in the Armenian language and in the Armenian literature of Christian times. Some sayings and phrases are still in use which contain references to sun-worship, such as the expression of endearment, “Let me die for your sun!” and the oath, “Let the sun of my son be witness.”

One of the most famous Armenian goddesses was Anahit, who answered to the Greek Artemis and the Roman Diana. As a daughter of Aramazd she was the benefactress of the whole human race; “through her the Armenian land exists, from her it draws its life; she is the glory of our nation and its protectress;” and for her the ancient Armenians felt intense love and adoration.

Many images and shrines were dedicated to her under the names of “the Golden Mother,” “the Being of Golden Birth,” etc. Every summer there was a festival in her honor. On that day, a dove and a rose were offered to her golden image, whence the day was called Vardavar, which means “the flaming of the Rose.” On the introduction of Christianity, the temple of Anahit was destroyed and her festival became the Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ; it falls in the last days of the year according to the ancient Armenian calendar; but the name “Vardavar” still remains and doves are still set flying on that day.

The sister of Anahit was Astghik (which means “little star” in Armenian), the goddess of beauty, a personification of the moon, corresponding to the Phoenician and Sidonian Astarte. Strange to say, the Persians had no goddess of beauty, but the bright sky of Armenia, its numerous valleys, the torrents running down from snow-capped mountains, the lakes, the cultivated fields and meadows tended to strengthen the sense of beauty, and, therefore, Armenia had a goddess of beauty, who was not to be found in the pantheon of the neighboring country.

The Armenians assigned Astghik a husband worthy of her. He was Vahagn, deified on account of his valor. In ancient songs, he is credited with a miraculous birth. The fires of heaven and earth, and the sea crimson in the light of dawn, travailed to bring him into being. ... Vahagn was called Vishapakagh (Uprooter of dragons), as he cleared the Armenian land of monsters and saved it from evil influences. His exploits were known not only in Armenia, but in the abode of the gods. Having stolen corn from the barns of King Barsham of Assyria, he ran away and tried to hide himself in heaven. From the ears he dropped arose the Milky Way, which is called in Armenia the Track of the Corn-stealer.

The third daughter of Aramazd was Nane or Noone. She was the goddess of contrivance. It was believed by the Armenians that contrivance was a necessary power for a woman, because, in the management of the household, she had to make big things out of small ones, and circumstances were already against her on account of the vicissitudes which Armenia was constantly undergoing.

Sandarnmet, the wife of Aramazd, was an invisible goddess and a personification of the earth. Aramazd sent rain upon her, which brought forth the vegetation on the earth. She came to be a synonym of Hades and was very frequently referred to as such in theological books and in the hymnary of the Christian Church.

Besides these gods of their own, the Armenians also adopted alien divinities. When Tigranes brought a number of Phoenicians to Armenia as prisoners they brought with them their god Ammon, from whose name [some say] comes the word Ammonor, “the day of Ammon” --- the New Year. Assyrian, Arab, and other emigrations also led to the introduction of foreign deities. An Armenian king, when he brought home captives, also introduced the gods of those captives, whose images were placed in the temples beside those of the native gods that they most closely resembled. Even Indian fugitives brought the brother-gods, Demetr and Gisanes, whose images were not like those of the other gods of Armenia, for the images of the gods of Armenia are, as a rule, small, whereas these were very tall, with long black hair and black faces. There was also a great immigration of Jews into Armenia, and this influenced the Armenians in the direction of monotheism. Besides the principal gods, there were also secondary ones. These were spirits, corresponding to angels, who acted as guardians to different classes of natural objects: --- Kadjk (which means “brave ones” in Armenian], who occupied the mountains; Parik, who presided over flocks; and many others.

Water was honored in Armenia as a masculine principle. According to Tacitus (Annals, vi. 37) the Armenians offered horses as sacrifices to the Euphrates, and divined by its waves and foam. Sacred cities were built around the river Araxes and its tributaries. Even now there are many sacred springs with healing powers, and the people always feel a certain veneration towards waters in motion.

There were gods who lived in the waters and destroyed harmful monsters of the deep. There was also a god who breathed out a mysterious atmosphere which destroyed malignant creatures. … All the gods of this class were friendly to agriculturists.

There were also “Haurot-Maurot,” the name of a flower (Hyacinthus raccmosus dodonei) first mentioned by Agathangelos. The Arabs incorporated them in the Quran (ii. 96) as two angels sent down to live in Babel in human circumstances.

Alk, who dwelt in the waters, was a very harmful devil. He used to live in the corners of houses and stables, and in damp places. He had eyes of fire, nails of copper, teeth of iron, and the jaws of a wild boar. He carried a sword of iron in his hand and was a bitter enemy to pregnant women, near whom he sat at the time their child was born.

There were nymphs, who were guardians of women. They wandered through gardens and amid streams, but were invisible. They attended weddings and frequented bathrooms and the women's quarters in general. These nymphs and spirits were innumerable. Every woman was supposed to have a guardian nymph. The nymphs were supposed by some to be immortal and endowed with perpetual youth; others described them as mortal though they never grew old. There was also a group of male spirits who were regarded by some as mortal, by others as immortal. They wandered with the nymphs through forests, gardens, and other open places. They were imagined as very tail, with features like those of men; some were half-man and half-animal. Some were called Parik, “dancers” others Hushkn parik, “dancers to a melody in a minor key.”

In some places, even now, a belief in these nymphs (or fairies) survives. Many stories are told of their beauty, their marvelous dancing, and their wondrous music. They are never called by the name of “nymphs,” but are spoken of by the people of the country as “our betters.” Still in some parts of Armenia, in May and October, a festival is held annually in honor of them, generally by the women in the Public Baths. They assemble early in the morning and remain till late at night, dancing, eating, and bathing. Before the people thought of building temples, they worshiped their gods in forests and on mountains. One of these forests was the Forest of Sos. According to tradition, the son of Ara the Beautiful, Anushavan, who devoted himself to the worship of this sacred place, was called, after the forest Sos. The priests derived oracles from the rustling of the leaves in this holy wood.

Besides temples, which were numerous in Armenia, there were, all over the country, altars and shrines, as well as images and pictures.

To sum up, the pre-Christian religion of Armenia was at first “a kind of nature-worship, which developed into polytheism (Boyajian, 1916, pp.l27-13'l). A great many curious ceremonies are observed by the Armenians in connection with such family events as births, marriages, and deaths. A wedding takes a whole week to celebrate, and when a wealthy farmer dies all the inhabitants of the village are publicly invited by the priest in church to the funeral feast. They have also retained a great many strange superstitious practices, and believe in the existence of a variety of supernatural beings possessing propensities and powers both benevolent and malevolent. In the long winter nights, when the snow lies thick in the streets and on the housetops, the women fancy they hear in the howling of the wind the shouts and laughter of these tricksy beings. And the young women and girls, when the day's tasks are done, gather round the grandmother, who relates strange creepy stories of the pranks of the djinns, or charming romances dealing with peris, magicians and enchanted palaces, while the grandfather, sitting cross-legged in his fur-lined pelisse in the corner of the divan, tells the boys tales of the Armenian heroes of old (Lucy Garnett, Turkish Life in Town and Country, London, 1904, pp.176-82).

#armenia #armenian shaman #Shamanic Journeys Across the Caucasus #michael berman #shamanism #caucasus #ararat #reblog

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the-master-cylinder · 5 years ago

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SUMMARY Project Questor is the brainchild of the genius Dr. Emil Vaslovik, Ph.D., a Nobel laureate. Vaslovik had developed plans to build a superhuman android. A team of the world’s foremost experts is able to build the android even though they do not understand the components with which they are working — they are only able to follow the instructions and install the parts left by Vaslovik, who has disappeared. Attempts to decode the programming tape were worse than merely unsuccessful—they also erased approximately half of the tape’s contents. They decide to substitute their own programming, over the objections of Jerry Robinson (Mike Farrell), the only team member who had actually worked with Dr. Vaslovik. He is overruled by the head of the project, Geoffrey Darrow (John Vernon). When the android’s body has been finished, the new tape is loaded, but with no apparent results. In desperation, Robinson persuades Darrow to allow Vaslovik’s tape — what remains of it — to be loaded. Again, the team is disappointed, as there appears to be no response.

Once left alone, the android comes to life. It adds various cosmetic touches to a previously featureless outer skin, transforming itself from an “it” to a “him”, and he (Robert Foxworth) then leaves the laboratory to visit Vaslovik’s office and archives; it is there that he first identifies himself as “part of Project Questor”. The android then seeks out Robinson, whom he forces to accompany him in a search for Vaslovik, with Darrow in pursuit of both, following a minuscule datum in his original programming.

Questor (who becomes more “human” as the story progresses) only knows that it has something to do with an “aquatic vehicle” — a boat — and that if he does not find Vaslovik before the end of a countdown, the nuclear generator in his abdomen will overload and explode. Vaslovik had programmed this into him to prevent his creation from being misused, and time is running out. The pair, traveling to England, escape from custody and travel to the home of Lady Helena Trimble (Dana Wynter), who had known and worked with Vaslovik. (Her name was an homage to Bjo Trimble, who had led the fan campaign to keep Star Trek on the air.) After Robinson refuses Questor’s naive suggestion that the scientist seduce Lady Helena as a way to get information, Questor announces that he will make the attempt, adding, “I am fully functional.”

Just as Questor deciphers the clues and tells Robinson that he knows where Vaslovik is, he is shot by British soldiers, and returned to the laboratory. Robinson repairs Questor, and Darrow gives him two options: If Robinson puts a homing transmitter inside the android, they will be given a plane to go find Vaslovik, but if Robinson refuses, the android will simply be flown to a safe location where the explosion will not endanger anyone. Robinson implants the beacon, and they jet off to Mount Ararat; the “boat” imperative, as Questor had realized just minutes before being shot, had referred to Noah’s Ark.

Robinson and Questor reach a cave concealed inside Mount Ararat with seconds to spare. Questor’s timer is made safe, and he has found Emil Vaslovik (Lew Ayres), who tells Questor and Robinson that he, too, is an android. Questor is the last of a series, going back to “the dawn of this world,” left there by “Masters” to serve and protect mankind. They functioned by a law which Vaslovik quotes to Questor:

“We protect, but we do not interfere. Man must make his own way. We guide him — but always without his knowledge.”

Each of the Masters’ previous androids had a lifespan of several hundred years, at the end of which each assembled its replacement. The unexpected, rapid advent of nuclear physics and the radioactive fallout from above-ground nuclear testing had damaged Vaslovik. Questor’s design corrected these failures, and finally Vaslovik is able to die in peace, after asking Robinson to help Questor learn about humanity.

Darrow, having followed the pair, has heard enough to know how important it is that Questor be allowed to fulfill his mission. Unfortunately, he has brought the military with him to destroy the android. The cynical Darrow believes that this is proof that humanity does not deserve Questor’s help. Questor convinces him otherwise.

Deciding to sacrifice his own life for Questor’s sake, Darrow takes the transmitter and leaves, telling the military commander that not only Vaslovik had gone insane, but also that the android has escaped, and to send in jet fighters when the beacon signal is picked up. He then takes off in the jet that Questor and Robinson had used, turning on the transmitter as he goes so that they will think that the android is aboard.

Robinson and Questor, now outside the cave, look up into the sky. Robinson tells Questor that he cannot see anything, to which the android replies, “I wish that I could not.” This is notably his first verbal expression of emotion, Questor’s first visual expression of emotion had occurred when his timer had been made safe; he had then regarded Robinson with a smile. The plane is then destroyed, killing Darrow. Questor and Robinson begin their mission together.

DEVELOPMENT The Questor Tapes was a pilot for a television series. In fact, a 13-episode go-ahead was given for the series before the television movie was aired, with both Foxworth and Farrell having signed to reprise their roles. Joining the actors behind the scenes were producers Michael Rhodes and Earl Booth and story editor Larry Alexander. The green-lighted series was slated for Friday nights at 10 p.m. on NBC — the “death slot” where the final season of the original Star Trek had withered.

Roddenberry’s Best Since “Star Trek” Gene Roddenberry’s The Questor Tapes premiered on January 23, 1974. It has proven to be his best work since Star Trek. The show received solid ratings and favorable reviews on its Wednesday night telecast, it was opposite an ABC movie with William Shatner, and became an immediate success. Fans were thoroughly impressed and hoped the pilot would lead to a series.

But by that time it was already shelved. The original story, titled Questor, was written by Roddenberry three years earlier. Universal and NBC read it, liked it and Gene L. Coon was hired to write the script.

He handed in the first draft on November 29, 1972. It made the rounds and a revision was called for. Gene fulfilled their request. finishing the new pages on December 12.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy9XCtAkNEM Roddenberry talking about The Questor Tapes

The project was approved, with a few changes:

Contessa Ignacia Valenti Comara Calassi became Lady Helena Alexandria Trimble and her estate was moved from Italy to England.

The sight of Project Questor was moved from Geneva, Switzerland, to Pasadena, California.

The kidnapping of Questor and Robinson by the French was thrown out, as was the now (in)famous scene of android seducing cortesan. Roddenberry objected most heavily to that.

Robert Foxworth was under contract to Universal at the time, as was Mike Farrell. Both were miserable and turning down parts. The Questor script was handed to them. They both loved it and were hired for the parts of Questor and Jerry Robinson.

A production schedule was set, the other parts cast and sets were built. By the end of the summer of ’73 the pilot was finished. At this time, NBC was beginning to falter even more in the ratings. The execs viewed the pilot and were enthusiastic over its prospects. NBC liked it, Universal liked it, Gene Roddenberry liked it. Mike Farrell liked it…everyone liked it. NBC gave the go ahead; make it a series.

Several time slots were considered, with NBC finally choosing nine to 10 on Friday nights, directly following their new series (and hit) The Rockford Files.

Gene drafted the series “bible,” the guide to go by. In it. Questor and Jerry were based at Robinson Enterprises Ltd. a multimillion dollar corporation established with financing raised by Questor on the stock exchange.

Hidden inside the headquarters was the Information Center, with which Questor could monitor world events as they took place. Viewing screens surrounded the room, on which Questor could tune in to any meeting, merger or convergence-with no regard for secrecy. He could watch Congress, or the Soviet Defense Command or even the bedroom of a world dignitary.

Also hidden inside the corporate headquarters was the cosmetology/repair lab. Because Questor could be damaged (or even killed, with a sufficient injury to the head and bionic plasma contained therein), the repair facilities were mandatory. With the cosmetology lab, Questor could re-mold his features in order to impersonate any (presumably) male person. A new device, a personality implanter, would allow him to take on the voice, reactions, mannerisms and habits of the individual. It also allowed him to simulate emotions, under the right circumstances.

Two new characters were added: Candi. their secretary, and Balfour, their business manager, Candi was to be a beautiful, naive blonde–hired for these very qualities. It was hoped her naiveté would blind her to the true identity of Questor, and his mission. She was also to be a constant distraction to Robinson, her beauty getting in his way. However, she was determined to keep her virginity until marriage.

Balfour, their personal business manager, was a crippled Vietnam veteran, confined toa wheelchair. He used his G.I. loan to invest heavily in the stock market, and made millions overnight. He lost it as quickly. Questor found him, penniless and depressed, recognized his remarkable talent for business and hired him on the spot. Asthe series was to progress, Balfour was to grow, recognizing his injury was not the end of his life. Jerry was to play an immense part in helping to regenerate Balfour, through his sensitivity, empathy and caring qualities even Jerry did not know he possessed.

Scripts were to be of high quality, “well thought out.” No “monsters trying to conquer man” or “mad scientists threatening to destroy the world.” One plot suggested by Roddenberry involved a cancer research scientist. His upcoming marriage, to all indications, would stifle his career. There was a good chance he would succeed in finding a cure for cancer-but only if he did not marry. It was up to Jerry and Questor to break up the couple, which (with great difficulty) they did.

Conflict between Roddenberry and both Universal and NBC over the content of the proposed series doomed it, most notably ignoring the revelation at the end of the TV movie and eliminating the key character of Jerry Robinson. These changes were too much for Roddenberry, who abandoned the project. No episodes were produced.

The Questor Tapes was one of a series of television movies in which Roddenberry was involved, which also included Genesis II, Planet Earth, Strange New World and Spectre. All were intended as pilots; none led to a series.

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MUSIC SCORE The music for The Questor Tapes was scored by Gil Mellé, who was a jazz musician as well as a saxophonist, composer, and also noted as a painter. (Some of his music for The Questor Tapes later made its way into Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Both properties were developed at, and produced out of, Universal Studios.) Mellé also was known for scoring My Sweet Charlie, That Certain Summer, and Frankenstein: The True Story. His most well-known film score was The Andromeda Strain.

CAST/CREW Created by Gene Roddenberry

Written by Gene Roddenberry Gene L. Coon

Directed by Richard Colla

Robert Foxworth as Questor Mike Farrell as Jerry Robinson John Vernon as Geoffrey Darrow Lew Ayres as Dr. Emil Vaslovik, Ph.D. James Shigeta as Dr. Chen Robert Douglas as Dr. Michaels Dana Wynter as Lady Helena Trimble Ellen Weston as Allison Sample Majel Barrett as Dr. Bradley Walter Koenig as Administrative Assistant

CREDITS/REFERENCES/SOURCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY STARLOG#30 STARLOG#51

The Questor Tapes (TV Movie 1974) SUMMARY Project Questor is the brainchild of the genius Dr. Emil Vaslovik, Ph.D., a Nobel laureate. Vaslovik had developed plans to build a superhuman android.

#70sFilms #TV MOVIES

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elderperfect · 5 years ago

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2020 Best Nursing Homes - California

ElderPerfect a leading publisher on senior healthcare across the United States, today announced the recipients of the Best Nursing Homes in California for 2020. These awards are designed to recognize providers based on their ability to consistently deliver excellence in the areas of Health Inspections, Quality of Residence Care, Penalties and Staffing. We’ve evaluated over 1,194 facilities, of which 324 (29%) met our top rating. This report marks the Gold Standard in terms of care for seniors. 0 Ranked Best Facilities  5/5

US Standard vs. Best Facilities

Average Number of Beds: 106 vs 95 Average Occupancy: 81% vs 83% Average Health Inspection Rating: 2.82 / 5.00 vs. 3.90 / 5.00 Average Government Rating: 3.01 / 5.00 vs. 4.49 / 5.00

Rating Methodology

Health Inspections Every year, the government assigns inspectors to conduct a formal review of nursing homes for regulatory purposes to meet the mandates outlined for Medicare and Medicaid, this aims to measure and improve the safety of residents across providers. Facilities may also be inspected when complaints are submitted or based on a reported incident. When noncompliance is identified, the facility is served a citation that indicates which regulation that was identified, along with the severity of the incident. Nursing homes are subsequently required to execute a program of resolution in order to meet compliance. Some scenarios require enforcement actions to be applied, such as a civil monetary penalty or withholding of payment(s), to incentivize resolution in a timely manner. Penalties Facilities are applied 2 types of penalties due to non-compliance / accumulation of incidents. Civil penalties are monetary fines that may be applied to a facility based on citations / infractions identified during a review. The severity of a penalty is defined primarily by the size and frequency of the infraction. Quality of Residence Care There are 3 types of resident care ratings, but for this exercise, we primarily focused on the overall quality measure rating. The quality measures (QMs) include 17 data points that are derived from clinical information reported by the respective nursing home and also from Medicare claims data submitted for payment. Ratings are calculated for the QM domain using the 4 most recent quarters for which data are available. A nursing home receives points contingent on performance on each measure (weighting distribution is not equal). Staffing Staffing research is submitted regularly by the facility and is adjusted for the requirement of the facilities residents. For each of registered nurse staff and total staffing, a 1 - 5 rating is applied according to definitions established for each category. These ratings are subsequently combined to assign an overall staffing rating. As an example, to get an overall staffing rating of 5 stars, nursing homes must earn a rating of 5 stars for both registered nurses and total staffing. Nursing homes could also be assigned a 1 star rating should they not have a registered nurse on-site daily, and do not submit staffing data, or which the data cannot be verified.

Best Nursing Homes in California

REDLANDS HEALTHCARE CENTER COUNTRY MANOR HEALTHCARE EDGEMOOR HOSPITAL FAIRFIELD POST-ACUTE REHAB MOUNT SAN ANTONIO GARDENS MARY HEALTH OF THE SICK CONVALESCENT & NURSING HOS MOTION PICTURE AND T.V. HOSP D/P SNF GOOD SAMARITAN REHAB AND CARE CENTER PLEASANT HILL POST ACUTE PALOMAR VISTA HEALTHCARE CENTER VILLA CORONADO D/P SNF MISSION VIEW HEALTH CENTER ARBOR HILLS NURSING CENTER LINDA MAR CARE CENTER BERKLEY WEST CONV HOSP COUNTRY VILLA PAVILION NURSING CENTER MONTEREY PARK CONV HOSP FOLSOM CARE CENTER HERITAGE GARDENS HEALTH CARE CENTER GREENFIELD CARE CENTER OF FAIRFIELD PROVIDENCE ST ELIZABETH CARE CENTER MARYCREST MANOR OAKLAND HEALTHCARE & WELLNESS CENTER VICTORIA HEALTHCARE AND REHABILITATION CENTER EAST BAY POST-ACUTE WILLOW PASS HEALTHCARE CENTER FAIRMONT REHABILITATION HOSPITAL MERCED NURSING & REHABILITATION CTR LOMPOC VALLEY MEDICAL CTR COMP CARE CTR D/P SNF LOMITA POST-ACUTE CARE CENTER LA SIERRA CARE CENTER WINDSOR PARK CARE CENTER OF FREMONT KEARNY MESA CONVALESCENT AND NURSING HOME FALLBROOK SKILLED NURSING CANTERBURY WOODS GRANT CUESTA SUB-ACUTE AND REHABILITATION CENTER MOUNTAIN VIEW HEALTHCARE CENTER UNIVERSITY CARE CENTER LA PALOMA HEALTHCARE CENTER CULVER WEST HEALTH CENTER VISTA PACIFICA CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL SAN JOSE HEALTHCARE & WELLNESS CENTER SAYLOR LANE HEALTHCARE CENTER WINDSOR GARDENS CARE CENTER OF HAYWARD ROCK CREEK CARE CENTER SEQUOIAS, THE THE CALIFORNIAN-PASADENA VIENNA NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER LA MESA HEALTHCARE CENTER ROCKY POINT CARE CENTER ARROYO VISTA NURSING CENTER REDDING POST ACUTE WOODLANDS HEALTHCARE CENTER NEWPORT NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER CRENSHAW NURSING HOME THE REUTLINGER COMMUNITY ARTESIA CHRISTIAN HOME INC. SANTA MONICA HEALTH CARE CENTER MISSION CARE CENTER HILLSIDE SENIOR CARE COASTAL VIEW HEALTHCARE CENTER GROSSMONT POST ACUTE CARE MISSION SKILLED NURSING & SUBACUTE CENTER PALO ALTO SUB-ACUTE AND REHABILITATION CENTER HIGHLAND CARE CENTER OF REDLANDS SOUTH COAST POST ACUTE BETHANY HOME SOCIETY SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY THE CALIFORNIAN MONTCLAIR MANOR CARE CENTER VENTURA POST ACUTE VALLE VERDE HEALTH FACILITY HARBOR VILLA CARE CENTER CLOVERDALE HEALTHCARE CENTER ENCINITAS NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER CHAPMAN CARE CENTER SAN LUIS CARE CENTER THE TERRACES AT SAN JOAQUIN GARDENS VILLAGE VICTORIAN POST ACUTE REDWOOD COVE HEALTHCARE CENTER HAYWARD HEALTHCARE & WELLNESS CENTER SAN TOMAS CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL RIVER BEND NURSING CENTER BERKELEY PINES SKILLED NURSING CENTER ST JUDE CARE CENTER APPLE VALLEY POST-ACUTE REHAB COURTYARD HEALTH CARE CENTER FRIENDSHIP MANOR NURSING & REHAB CENTER ST. FRANCIS HEIGHTS CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL FRANCISCAN CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL COVENTRY COURT HEALTH CENTER HY-LOND HEALTH CARE CENTER-MERCED MISSION TERRACE CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL LA JOLLA NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER EMPRESS CARE CENTER, LLC COUNTRY VILLA BAY VISTA HCC PACIFIC COAST MANOR PETALUMA POST-ACUTE REHABILITATION SACRAMENTO POST-ACUTE TOPANGA TERRACE DEVONSHIRE CARE CENTER PIEDMONT GARDENS HEALTH FACILITY DYCORA TRANSITIONAL HEALTH - SANGER ROSEWOOD POST ACUTE REHABILITATION COMMUNITY CONVALESCENT CENTER OF SAN BERNARDINO WOODLAND SKILLED NURSING FACILITY AVALON HEALTH CARE - SAN ANDREAS STOLLWOOD CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL GREENFIELD CARE CENTER OF FULLERTON, LLC COLLEGE OAK NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER EXTENDED CARE HOSPITAL OF RIVERSIDE GRANADA HILLS CONVALESCENT EXCELL HEALTH CARE CENTER MID-WILSHIRE HEALTH CARE CNTR LAKE BALBOA CARE CENTER TUNNELL SKILLED NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER PACIFICA NURSING AND REHAB CENTER PACIFIC GARDENS NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER TAMPICO TERRACE CARE CENTER RAMONA REHABILITATION AND POST ACUTE CARE CENTER NORTHBROOK HEALTHCARE CENTER CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CTR- DAVIES CAMPUS HOSP RED BLUFF HEALTH CARE CENTER SIERRA VIEW HOMES DYCORA TRANSITIONAL HEALTH MEMORY CARE OF FRESNO BIXBY KNOLLS TOWERS HEALTH CARE & REHAB CENTER LOS GATOS MEADOWS GERIATRIC HOSPITAL ALCOTT REHABILITATION HOSPITAL REO VISTA HEALTHCARE CENTER SAN LEANDRO HEALTHCARE CENTER SUMMERFIELD HEALTH CARE CENTER BETHESDA HOME REGENCY OAKS POST ACUTE CARE CENTER PARADISE VALLEY HEALTH CARE VALE HEALTHCARE CENTER PLEASANTON NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER WHITNEY OAKS CARE CENTER DELANO REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER GEORGE L MEE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL D/P SNF COMMUNITY EXTENDED CARE HOSPITAL OF MONTCLAIR HILLTOP CARE CENTER CASA COLOMA HEALTH CARE CENTER CARLSBAD BY THE SEA PROVIDENCE LITTLE CO OF MARY TRANSITIONAL CARE CTR THE ROYAL HOME PORTERVILLE DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER SHANDIN HILLS BEHAVIOR THERAPY CENTER SONOMA DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER D/P SNF RIVERSIDE BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE CENTER VISTA PACIFICA CENTER DYCORA TRANSITIONAL HEALTH-SAN JOSE RADY CHILDREN'S CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL D/P SNF LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR CRESTWOOD MANOR - 104 DEPT OF STATE HOSPITALS - NAPA D/P SNF VILLA SIENA CRESTWOOD WELLNESS AND RECOVERY CENTER CRESTWOOD TREATMENT CENTER SAKURA INTERMEDIATE CARE FACILITY CRESTWOOD MANOR - FREMONT PARK MERRITT CARE CENTER TUSTIN CARE CENTER LONG BEACH POST ACUTE

GOLDEN STATE COLONIAL HEALTHCARE CENTER ST JOHN KRONSTADT CONVALESCENT CENTER ORANGEGROVE REHABILITATION HOSPITAL BEACHSIDE NURSING CENTER LODI NURSING & REHABILITATION MCCLURE POST ACUTE PROVIDENCE HOLY CROSS MED CTR D/P SNF TRACY NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER DEL MAR CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL VALLEY POINTE NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER KINGSLEY MANOR CARE CENTER PACIFIC COAST POST ACUTE VETERANS HOME OF CALIFORNIA - YOUNTVILLE - SNF ESKATON CARE CENTER GREENHAVEN SAN MIGUEL VILLA INLAND CHRISTIAN HOME MCKINLEY PARK CARE CENTER ARARAT CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL MOUNT MIGUEL COVENANT VILLAGE POWAY HEALTHCARE CENTER GRANCELL VILLAGE OF THE JEWISH HOMES FOR THE AGING THE BRADLEY COURT TOWN AND COUNTRY MANOR WESTLAND HOUSE REDWOOD TERRACE HEALTH CENTER SHORELINE CARE CENTER FRIENDS HOUSE NORTHPOINTE HEALTHCARE CENTRE LINCOLN SQUARE POST ACUTE CARE ENGLISH OAKS CONVALESCENT & REHABILITATION HOSPITA DEL ROSA VILLA SARATOGA PEDIATRIC SUBACUTE ADVENTIST HEALTH SONORA - D/P SNF EXTENDED CARE HOSP WESTMINSTER SHARP CHULA VISTA MED CTR SNF VINEYARD HILLS HEALTH CENTER TAHOE FOREST HOSPITAL D/P SNF SAINT FRANCIS MED CTR DP ACC CARE CENTER CASTLE MANOR CONVALESCENT CENTER UNIVERSITY POST-ACUTE REHAB SUN MAR NURSING CENTER SPRING LAKE VILLAGE DIAMOND RIDGE HEALTHCARE CENTER STANFORD COURT SKILLED NURSING & REHAB CENTER REGENTS POINT - WINDCREST REMINGTON CLUB HEALTH CENTER VILLA POMERADO D/P SNF VILLA RANCHO BERNARDO CARE CENTER AVIARA HEALTHCARE CENTER CARMEL MOUNTAIN REHABILITATION & HEALTHCARE CENTER LA PALMA NURSING CENTER VALENCIA GARDENS HEALTH CARE CENTER LINCOLN MEADOWS CARE CENTER VALLEY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL SNF MANORCARE HEALTH SERVICES (CITRUS HEIGHTS) REDWOOD CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL, INC SUNNY VIEW MANOR CASA DE LAS CAMPANAS SHIELDS NURSING CENTER BAYSIDE CARE CENTER DANVILLE POST-ACUTE REHAB ASISTENCIA VILLA REHABILITATION AND CARE CENTER ALAMEDA HOSPITAL D/P SNF CREEKSIDE CENTER CORONA REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER D/P SNF FREEDOM VILLAGE HEALTHCARE CENTER DESERT REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER D/P SNF ST FRANCIS EXTENDED CARE STONEBROOK HEALTHCARE CENTER THE DOROTHY & JOSEPH GOLDBERG HEALTHCARE CENTER LIFE CARE CENTER OF ESCONDIDO VILLA GARDENS HEALTH CARE UNIT EASTERN PLUMAS HOSPITAL- PORTOLA CAMPUS DP/SNF CAPITAL TRANSITIONAL CARE MANORCARE HEALTH SERVICES (SUNNYVALE) MANORCARE HEALTH SERVICES - ROSSMOOR GLENWOOD CARE CENTER MARINA GARDEN NURSING CENTER MOUNTAINS COMMUNITY HOSP DPSNF ALTA GARDENS CARE CENTER MARSHALL MEDICAL CENTER D/P SNF USC VERDUGO HILLS HOSPITAL DP/SNF MIRAVILLA CARE CENTER RIVERWOOD HEALTHCARE CENTER PALM VILLAGE RETIREMENT COMM. HERITAGE PARK NURSING CENTER COMM. HOSP. OF SAN BERNARDINO DP SNF HEALTH CARE CTR AT THE FORUM AT RANCHO SAN ANTONIO EDEN VALLEY CARE CENTER PIONEER HOUSE THE COVE AT LA JOLLA THE TERRACES OF LOS GATOS DANISH CARE CENTER ESKATON VILLAGE CARE CENTER OAKLAND HEIGHTS NURSING AND REHABILITATION GROSSMONT HOSPITAL D/P SNF ARARAT NURSING FACILITY TOTALLY KIDS REHABILITATION HOSPITAL - D/P SNF HEALDSBURG DISTRICT HOSPITAL DP/SNF SAN LUIS TRANSITIONAL CARE O'CONNOR HOSPITAL D/P SNF EMANATE HEALTH INTER-COMMUNITY HOSPITAL- D/P SNF WINDSOR MANOR ARROYO GRANDE CARE CENTER REDLANDS COMM HOSP D/P SNF ZUCKERBERG SAN FRANCISCO GENERAL HOSP & TRAUMA SNF GARDEN PARK CARE CENTER NORWALK SKILLED NURSING & WELLNESS CENTRE, LLC TERRACE VIEW CARE CENTER LEGACY NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER BARTON HOSPITAL D/P SNF SIMI VALLEY CARE CENTER CHAPMAN GLOBAL MEDICAL CENTER D/P SNF HILLVIEW CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL ROWNTREE GARDENS LAUREL CREEK HEALTH CENTER SAN FRANCISCO TOWERS CHILDREN'S RECOVERY CENTER OF NO CA D/P SNF SIENA SKILLED NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER BROOKDALE CARLSBAD COVENANT VILLAGE CARE CENTER SAMARKAND SKILLED NURSING FACILITY PALOMAR HEIGHTS POST ACUTE REHAB BELLAKEN SKILLED NURSING CENTER UNIVERSITY RETIREMENT COMMUNITY AT DAVIS CAMARILLO HEALTHCARE CENTER KAISER PERMANENTE POST-ACUTE CARE CENTER CEDAR CREST NURSING AND REHABILITATION CENTER VI AT LA JOLLA VILLAGE MISSION CARE CENTER BEL VISTA HEALTHCARE CENTER GLENBROOK PROVIDENCE ALL SAINT'S SUBACUTE LOMPOC SKILLED NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER VI AT PALO ALTO JONES CONVALESCENT HOSPITAL ALHAMBRA HOSPITAL MED CTR DP/SNF BAY AREA HEALTHCARE CENTER VETERANS HOME OF CALIFORNIA - BARSTOW BAYWOOD COURT HEALTH CENTER OAKVIEW SKILLED NURSING KINDRED HOSPITAL BREA D/P SNF VILLA SCALABRINI SPECIAL CARE SIERRA VISTA HEALTHCARE FOREST HILL MANOR HEALTH CENTER LAUREL HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CARE BELLA VISTA HEALTH CENTER SOMERSET SUBACUTE AND CARE CHAPARRAL HOUSE BROOKDALE CAMARILLO ALL SAINT'S MAUBERT CLEAR VIEW CONVALESCENT CENTER CLEAR VIEW SANITARIUM LAKESIDE SPECIAL CARE CENTER MOUNTAIN MANOR SENIOR RESIDENCE VETERANS HOME OF CALIFORNIA - REDDING FOOTHILL HEIGHTS CARE CENTER CREEKVIEW SKILLED NURSING MOCHO PARK CARE CENTER VETERANS HOME OF CALIFORNIA - FRESNO ANBERRY TRANSITIONAL CARE

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asylumabi-blog · 6 years ago

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Introduction

Hey, I’m Abi. I’m 22 years old, residing in Ballarat, VIC. This blog is going to be designated for all things Asylum/Sanitorium/Abandoned places related.

A little about me, and why I’m interested in the aforementioned. Both of my maternal grandparents (now deceased) were psychatric nurses at Ballarat Asylum (Ballarat Hospital for the Insane- before changing its name to Lakeside Mental Hospital shortly before its closure in 1996), as well as both my Aunt and Uncle being nurses there too. My Grandma was in charge of Ward 17, which I have been told was reserved for the more “severe” lunatics that were housed in the asylum. My Grandpa, as well as being a psych nurse, was in charge of Dana Street House, a home for young men who were intellectually disabled. This is now known as McCallum Disability services.

From a young age I have been told stories of the patients involved with places such as Lakeside and Dana Street. Whether or not these stories were age appropriate, well, without them I’m unsure I would’ve found this love for history.

Late in June, my partner and I were on our way back from a Funeral in Stawell (ironically), heading through Ararat when my partner asked me if I had ever been to Jward or Aradale. I had sudden flashbacks of my first and only time visiting Jward, although I had never been to Aradale. We decided to take a slight detour and suss out the heritage listed lunatic asylum for ourselves. It didn’t take much spotting to see this beautiful building peering down over the trees surrounding her, still standing as proudly as the day it was constructed in the early 1860′s. Immediately, I was intrigued. I had to get close. I had to explore. We sussed out the grounds, found a way to get as close as possible and ventured up to the front door. I’m confident in saying that from that very moment, I was hooked. Fast forward two weeks, we have visited Aradale 5 times, and several other asylums/sanitoriums/hospitals that I will be documenting on this blog.

This is my passion, and I look forward to sharing it with anyone else who may be interested in knowing about these places.

abi. x

#aradale #mental asylum #greenvale #lakeside #ballarat #history #historical #heritage

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rich-info · 1 year ago

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Building Dreams: Custom Home Builder Ararat's Commitment to Craftsmanship

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As a trusted pillar in the Ararat community, Custom Home Builder Ararat continues to redefine the landscape of custom home construction. Their dedication to quality craftsmanship, innovative design, and client satisfaction positions them as a beacon of excellence. In the hands of Custom Home Builder Ararat, dreams are not just realized – they are transformed into bespoke works of art that stand the test of time, creating homes that are as unique and extraordinary as the individuals who inhabit them.

#custom home Builder ararat

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sugarplumdancerdesigns · 2 years ago

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Design Home | 16 Aug 2022 | Ararat Chic | #designhome #interiordesign

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karmaonline244 · 3 years ago

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Newspaper report on pokies in rsl club 2022

Lakes Entrance Bowls Club | Lakes Entrance Bowls Club.

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Hurdle for RSL pokies plan | Dandenong Star Journal.

Australians are the world’s biggest gamblers in per capita terms with around $25 billion a year in losses and we even lose more than $1.5 billion a year on poker machines in RSL-branded venues. RSL Rewards winners announced. The winner of our 2021 Hyundai Venue is Graeme Ray, a member of Lakes Entrance RSL. The winner of New Zealand Getaway, after more than 500,000 entries across all Sub-Branches, the $5000 Grand Prize has been won by Gregory Buckley, a member of Greensborough RSL. Jul 06, 2019 · The North Melbourne Kangaroos pulled out of pokies in 2008, and the Melbourne Demons have vowed to do the same by 2022. The Geelong Cats and the Western Bulldogs have also signalled that they are.

News and media - Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.

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RSL South Australia advocates for improved benefits, treatment and welfare of ex-service and serving members of the Australian Defence Force and their families. RSL SA takes a premier lead with commemorative services remembering service and sacrifice. Despite reports of RSL clubs wanting to end their reliance on harmful pokies, without government support they may be liable for up to $1 million in licencing fees. Pokies are designed to be addictive and cause massive financial stress that can lead to family breakdown, crime, job loss, depression and suicide. The Shepparton RSL is the region's best venue for bringing people together for work and play. Experience the difference at the Shepparton RSL.

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Jun 15, 2018 · The Dandenong RSL already operates 63 electronic gambling machines (EGMs). Its submission said the new EGMs would put an extra $50,000 per year into its welfare program and $65,000 per year to employ a welfare officer. The club said it would not provide these further services if it was denied approval. Welcome To The Merimbula Rsl. Latest update: July, 2022. Merimbula RSL Club and the local community are rallying for 17-year-old Piper, one of our much-loved waitresses who has been in the Sydney Children’s Hospital since May being treated for a rare form of lymphoma with her Mum Kristy, who also works at the RSL. How you can support Piper. Featured. Sundays – Tuesdays Nambour RSL Club are a family friendly venue, welcoming you and your family into Mosaic Restaurant for lunch or dinner. Each Sunday – Tuesday, with any purchase of $18 or more, you. Continued. Learn more Sundays to Tuesdays.

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Dec 22, 2020 · A report by consultants EY has also raised concerns about the finances of the head office, RSL Victoria. “The immediate and long-term financial sustainability of RSL Victoria is in jeopardy,” the report said in August. Victorian RSLs are really struggling post-COVID and collectively have to pay the govt $68m in pokies licence fees come August 2022. PDF Downloads. 2021 Annual General Meeting. Annual Report 2021. 2022 Notice of AGM & Board Nomination Form. The mandatory vaccination policy has been revoked as of Friday 25th February in line with the governments easing of all restrictions.

Queensland clubs inside report: how the pokies are dying.

Australia is home to 0.3 percent of the world's population but 20 percent of its "pokies." The country leads the planet with an average $1,000 in gambling losses per adult per year. Ages 7-12 can win a Bendigo District RSL Gift Card to the value of $50. Starting on Monday 4th July 2022 all financial members for the 2022 - 2023 year are eligible to earn entries into our Members $30,000 Extravaganza drawn on Sunday 28th August 2022. Entry is available at the following areas of the Club; Diggers Bistro, Stonegrill Restaurant, and all bars within the Club. ABC News reports that an application for eight new gaming machines at the Robin Hood Hotel in Ballarat would take the total number of poker machines in the city to 645, below the state-legislated cap of 663.... As pokies continue to be a divisive political and community issue, a Northern Territory RSL club scrapped plans for poker machines as.