Daily Archives: May 26, 2020

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (PRESS RELEASE) - Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart has discontinued testing for the coronavirus in Panama City due to low demand for its drive-thru testing service.

Ascension Medical Group began to offer COVID-19 swab testing on April 21 at Tommy Oliver Stadium to supplement other testing efforts in the community. In four weeks, the AMG team tested 234 people. Only two people tested positive for the virus.

"The turnout was fairly low and now there are several other organizations providing the testing," said Justin Labrato, chief operating officer of Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart. "The good news is that our testing suggests the prevalence of COVID-19 in Bay County appears to be very low. Just 1% of those we tested were found to have the virus whereas statewide in Florida, about 7% of people tested to date were confirmed to have COVID-19."

If there is a spike in cases in Bay County or other areas of Northwest Florida, Ascension Sacred Heart can quickly ramp up its mobile unit to provide testing where it's needed most.

According to the latest report from the Florida Department of Health, there have been 86 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among Bay County residents, and 13 people had to be admitted to a hospital.

There are four other sites performing nasal swabs in Bay County, including two that require no out-of-pocket costs. Patients with symptoms may call the Department of Health in Bay County at (850) 872-4455. Also, PanCare is providing testing to persons with or without symptoms. PanCare can be contacted at (850) 215-4181.

"We urge county residents to continue to take measures to stay safe and prevent the virus from spreading," Labrato said. "That means washing hands frequently, and if you are around other people, wear a mask and avoid hugs, handshakes, large gatherings and close quarters."

Even though area hospitals are caring for patients with COVID-19, physicians and hospital leaders want to reassure the public that individuals who need emergency care should not delay treatment. Ascension Sacred Heart hospitals and emergency rooms are well prepared to safely care for people with symptoms of heart attack, stroke, and other serious conditions.

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Ascension Medical Group Sacred Heart pauses drive-thru testing in Panama City because of low demand - WJHG-TV

Editor's note:NCR is sharing with our readers a nine-day Novena for Pentecost resource created by board member and composer Dan Schutte. Schutte writes, "if there's ever a moment when we all could use the light and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, it's now. While we wait till we can be together again for Sunday worship, this is a way we can join our hearts in prayer." The entire Novena for Pentecost can be found here.

Feast of the Ascension

As the Risen Christ prepared to leave his work in the hands of his followers, he instructed them to gather in the upper room and devote themselves to prayer as they awaited his sending of the Holy Spirit. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost is often considered to be the first novena.

Pentecost is considered the birthday of the church, the day when that first community of believers was baptized with the Holy Spirit and sent out to tell the world about the Risen Christ. The storm of the present pandemic is inviting all of us, whether we like it or not, to rethink how we live in this world. It's also beckoning us to reimagine ourselves as church, as that community of baptized believers who are sent to recreate the world.

And so, let us join those first disciples in these nine days of prayer, a way for us to be together even while we are separated by space, to ask God to make us ready to receive the Spirit and follow unafraid where that Holy Breath of God might take us.

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Novena for Pentecost: Feast of the Ascension - National Catholic Reporter

GONZALES Two principals behind Bernhard Capital Partners' plans to build a regional sewer system in Ascension Parish say they're going forward with or without parish government.

But, they sure would like the parish to come along with them in the Ascension Sewer LLC consortium, now or in the future.

"We're gonna build a system. Ascension Sewer," Jeff Baudier, managing director of Bernhard Capital, told the Parish Council utilities panel recently. "We've got, you know, 17,000 customers and growing. We plan on building the premier environmental water company in the state of Louisiana and beyond and we're gonna start in Ascension Parish."

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"We would like the parish's 2,000 customers," he added later, "to be a part of it."

Baudier and Tom Pertuit, another partner in the Ascension Sewer LLC consortium, delivered their two-sided message earlier this week, making for an interesting roundin an ongoing game of poker over the future of municipal sewer service in the parish.

A little more than a week earlier, Parish President Clint Cointment had laid out his own 10-year, $100 million plan to build a regional system without Bernard Capital or the consortium's involvement, saying it was the private sewer group's turn to propose something better.

Cointment's proposal came as a separate parish committee of council and administration officials some of whom sit on the Utilities Committee have been meeting in secret to negotiate with Bernhard and Ascension Sewer. They want a public-private partnership to build the same type of regional system that Cointment has proposed doing solely through the parish.

Last year, Bernhard proposed a $215 million plan to bring together its 17,000 customers and parish government's 2,000 customers. The 30-year deal would cost ratepayers $57.90 per month to start but locks in escalation of rates for the first 10 years, ending at more than $82.41 per month.

Cointment's plan, a high-level proposal that lacks some of the deeper engineering and financial data built into the Bernhard plan,proposes monthly fees of $45 to $55 per month over the 10-year period and banks on significant grant funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

His plan would also start an inspection program at $11 per month for individual home treatment systems.

Both plans aim for regional plants that discharge into the Mississippi River and so remove wastewater from local waterways. State and federal regulators have tightened water quality rules in those local rivers and bayous due to the ecological damage that years of poor treatment have created.

At the end of last year, the former administration and council came close to approving a deal with Bernhard until Cointment and some newly elected council members asked for the vote to be handed off to the new parish leaders taking office in January amid objections over aspects of that plan.

The parish negotiating panel met over Zoom on April 30, and parish and Bernhard officials said the consortium was asked to deliver an update of its plan for the parish and estimates of what it would cost the parish to operate sewer on its own.

In a public meeting on Tuesday, Baudier told the council Utilities Committee that consortium officials were preparing to make those submissions when officials learned about Cointment's plan in the media and felt they needed more engineering and financial data related to his plan.

"To be honest, we can't respond to that presentation. It's not an analysis. It's not a plan. It's a summary with some conclusory statements about a plan," he said.

But Cointment said that his administration would not provide that information to Bernhard while the parish was negotiating privately with the consortium.

To do so would require parish staff to generate the information being sought, Cointment added, because it doesn't exist yet.

"If we're gonna negotiate and continue to do negotiations in executive session, what's public and what's not? And that's a good question to ask as we continue these negotiations. Should we be doing these negotiations out in public or should we be doing them in executive session," he asked. "And do we have to do extra work so they can provide a proposal, at taxpayer expense?"

Some council members asked whether a public records request could be filed for the information, which would require a parish response within 72 hours. Under the law, however, that response can be only that the government doesn't have the records requested or that the parish is for some reason legally barred from providing them.

Council Chair Teri Casso questioned if the parish was obligated to provide the information under an agreement the council signed last year to exclusively negotiate with the consortium.

David Fleshman, one of the attorneys representing the parish in the deal, told her that the agreement does obligate the parish to exchange information with the consortium and the parish has done that.

"I don't think it extends to anything they request, whether it's related or not," Fleshman said.

Some council members have said they want to be able to compare Ascension Sewer's and Cointment's plans. Councilman Aaron Lawler argued that at some point the administration should have what Bernhard wants if the administration does go forward with its plan.

"The other part of this, to me, is I think we get the best deal if there's competition," he said.

Under prior administrations, the parish's lack of customers has been seen as a major stumbling block to financing an entirely parish-owned system due to the upfront cash for a new regional plant and related land and piping. A tax revenue subsidy, higher user fees or both were seen as likely necessities without outside capital.

The parish already subsidizes its current customers, who pay $42.50 per month, with local tax revenue.

Baudier told the council that if the subsidy for the parish's current capital costs and operational expenses since 2014 had been paid strictly through user fees, parish ratepayers would have paid $158 per month. That works out to about $2.8 million in annual subsidy.

He said Ascension Sewer had factored in those costs but he can't tell, based on what the parish has publicized, if the administration has done the same.

The Utilities Committee directed the administration to turn over what information it had. The negotiating panel is expected to meet again soon in closed session to hear from the consortium.

Excerpt from:

Ascension Sewer to parish council: We want to include you in sewer plan, but will go without you - The Advocate

I am writing this on Ascension Day. If churches were open (and they are not), if public worship was held today (which it cannot be) and singers could sing (which they cannot) we might be hearing one of those familiar Ascension Day anthems, like God is gone up. Or, if we could sing hymns (and we really must not) we might have a stab at Hail the day that sees him rise. Ascension Day knows where it is going. It is going up.

Now, up we think, is where authority and power can be found. We talk about high-ranking and higher powers. It is a fundamental assumption for us that ambition will get us to the top. So, up is where the action is. Ascension Day then, can be a bit of a pain in the neck, as we all crane our heads to look upwards, to where the ascended Christ has sits down on a throne, on the right hand of power. Think of all those wonderful paintings in the domes and ceilings of our churches and palaces where God sits on high, deciding things, ruling, and generally being the boss and top dog. Ascensiontide really does invite us to look up to God (which is no bad thing) and to think about his power (which might be a bit more problematic).

I have listened to many conversations about decision-making and authority in the last few days. Are we following the science? Who gets to decide whether children return to school? What does moral authority look like in this crisis? Is the government offering strong leadership? The questions matter; lives and livelihoods are at stake. We need people who can make the right decisions; we rely on them. We have depended absolutely on the expertise and decision making of the medical profession and we will on go on doing that. I live in a world where people have power and authority. Where decisions are made that affect me. I do not always like it, I am not always sure the decisions are wise or right. I am married to a primary head teacher who has spent the last two weeks juggling what has often seemed like contrary and conflicting decisions. It is not always comfortable living under authority. I do not always look up to some of the people who have power. Even so, sometimes my life depends on them; sometimes I need them to do what they must do. They have their privileges, but they bear great burdens. In the Abbey we pray for them daily. People on high can be a bit problematic

So, today, I would like to tidy up a little confusion. Looking up, on Ascension Day, we must not fall into the trap of thinking that the God is just another decision makes, the biggest boss of all. That would be, I am afraid, bad theology. God does not make decisions about us. God did not, at the end of last year, decide on a pandemic, nor tomorrow will God make the rain fall on Oswaldtwistle or the sun shine in Clyst Honiton. God does not change his mind, nor do one thing one day and another the next. God has no agenda and no to do list. God is ever the same. God is always and forever a pouring out of love. No whims, no fancies, no decisions, and no strategy. On Ascension Day, Jesus carries his life (and yours and mine) into the heart of that love, forever.

We do not keep Ascension Day well if we give ourselves a pain in the neck. We do not keep it well if it makes us grovel in exaggerated obedience. God is indeed the only One who can create, the only One who can redeem. All things do depend on God. Even so, there are no decisions to be made and it is not obedience, or resignation, that is required from us. It is not power that we worship, it is love.

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A Reflection on the Ascension - Westminster Abbey

DistractionsOffbeatWhat the Christian celebration of Ascension Day means, the traditions around it and where it's a public holiday.

Thursday, 21st May 2020, 5:28 pm

Ascension Day, also known as, Holy Thursday, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord or The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, commemorates the moment Jesus ascended into heaven.

Today (21 May) marks Ascension Day in 2020. Heres everything you need to know about the meaning behind the observance and how its marked.

What is Ascension Day?

Christian celebration, Ascension Day, commemorates the moment Jesus ascended into heaven 40 days after Easter to sit at his Fathers right hand.

Jesus disciples in Jerusalem watched his departure from Earth.

Acts: 1:1-11 of the Bible? show Jesus farewell to the apostles. The passage states: Then they gathered around him and asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

He said to them: It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

What happened to Jesus on Ascension Day?

Jesus led his disciples up to the Mount of Olive in Jerusalem. He then said that the time had come for him to be returned to God.

The King James Bible states after Jesus ascended, two angels descended from above and said to his followers: Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

When does Ascension Day take place?

The celebration takes place 40 days after Easter Sunday, on the sixth Thursday after Easter. The day is also called Holy Thursday.

The date changes each year because the dates of Easter change every year.

Ascension Day can take place as early as 30 April 30 and as late as 3 June in western Christianity.

This year, Ascension Day takes place on Thursday 21 May.

However, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Easter at a different time of year as it observes the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar.

By this calendar, Ascension Day can fall anywhere between 13 May and 16 June.

Is Ascension Day a public holiday?

In the UK, Canada, the USA and Australia, Ascension Day is not a public holiday.

However, Ascension Day is a public holiday in France, Germany, Austria, Indonesia, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Vanuatu.

In Portugal, people usually honour the feast by making wishes for peace and prosperity and making symbolic offerings to God made out of olive and wheat.

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Ascension Day 2020: What the Christian celebration means, traditions around it and where it's a public holiday - iNews

There was nothing subtle about the Spanish flu pandemic that hit Cape Ann in the Indian summer of September 1918.

A fish cutter down on the waterfront or a letter carrier working at the post office would have felt fine and appeared healthy in the morning. And then be desperately ill or dead before supper was served.

The disease is characterized by sudden onset, a physician only referred to as Dr. Blue told The Associated Press in a Gloucester Daily Times story dated Sept. 14, 1918, that reported the first deaths in the state.

The deadly virus, later bestowed the title H1N1, recognized no social, geographical or generational boundary, killing without prejudice in Cape Ann and throughout the world.

Deaths were highest in three age groups: children younger than 5 years old; 20-to 40-year-olds; and those 65 and older.

The high mortality in healthy people, including those in the 20- to 40-year age group, was a unique feature of the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the 1918 H1N1 virus has been synthesized and evaluated, the properties that made it so devastating are not well understood.

Victims in Gloucester and the surrounding towns were stricken walking down the street. Workers in factories, shipyards and offices fell out as the virus spread like a jailbreak.

The symptoms followed their own ascension of despair.

First there is a chill, Dr. Blue said. Then fever with temperatures from 101 to 103 (degrees), headache, back ache, reddening and running of the eyes, pains and aches all over the body.

Two days later, on Sept. 16, the Times front-page story listed three Spanish flu deaths in Gloucester. More alarming, 300 more cases erupted in the city. In some cases, whole families were stricken.

The crisis was escalating and the medical forces being marshaled to combat it faced a critical shortage of nurses World War I still raged and the new generation of physicians, inexperienced in the ways of the pandemic, was at a sharp disadvantage.

There was no vaccine andno antibiotics to treat secondary respiratory infections.

There was no real public health infrastructure or international network of aligned public health agencies. No social media. No internet. Information traveled at a snails pace. Everyone, it seemed, was on their own.

Still, much from 1918 sounds eerily familiar today.

Control efforts worldwide were limited to nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as isolation, quarantine, good personal hygiene, use of disinfectants and limitations of public gatherings. which were applied unevenly, the CDC stated in its history of the Spanish flu pandemic.

In the early rounds on Cape Ann, East Gloucester was particularly hard-hit. As was the main post office and the postal annex both of which were fumigated and the ranks of mail carriers.

One of the deaths reported on Sept. 16 was mail carrier Sherman R. Walen, whose family ultimately would lose five members. Another mail carrier, Samuel E. Curtis, died soon after.

The other two new city deaths reported in those editions were Lillian Martin and 23-year-old William J. OBrien Jr., whose father was a well-known Western Union telegraph operator in the city.

At that point, the citys Board of Health took no action and the school administration left the schools open. Within days, schools were closed and students ordered to stay at home.

On Sept. 17, the Board of Health closed theaters and premises used for public dance, amusement, lectures and entertainment. The action was deemed necessary in view of the epidemic of grippe in this city.

The next day, the Times reported no deaths in Gloucester from the Spanish flu in the past 24 hours. It ran a front page headline No More Deaths From Influenza ... Believe that the epidemic will soon be checked.

A tad premature, that.

On Sept. 19, the Times, still holding to the sunny side of the street, reported two more Spanish flu deaths with the caveat: although it is generally believed that the situation locally is well in hand.

A day later, four more Spanish flu deaths were reported and city and the Red Cross opened a number of emergency treatment centers, including one at the G.A.R. Hall, and scrambled to find nurses and physicians to staff them.

Still, the Times reporting strained toward optimism.

A marked decrease is looked for in the number of new cases now, and with clear weather and warm sunshine, the situation should improve, the paper stated.

But the deaths not only continued, they exploded.

Contact Sean Horgan at 978-675-2714, or shorgan@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanGDT

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Ascension of despair: First a chill, then fever ... pains and aches all over the body' - Gloucester Daily Times

#OneYearDON is a look back at All Elite Wrestlings debut event with match by match retrospectives on how talent has fared in the year since the event as well as other profiles looking at how some performers have progressed from one Double Or Nothing to the next. This one looks at Cody Rhodes and rise to become a main event star after discovering his true worth after departing WWE.

On May 22, 2016, Cody Rhodes left the bright lights, big city of the WWE Universe, and for the first time in pro wrestling career was on his own. He had grown up in the WWE Machine, signing with WWE in May of 2006 and starting in one of their developmentals in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). His father and mentor, The American Dream Dusty Rhodes, had passed away the previous June in 2015, and his older brother, Dustin Rhodes, remained in WWE under the warpaint of Goldust. For the younger Rhodes, the grind had become too much. Four years ago, he walked out the door and began his own story on his own terms. Two days later, his wife, Brandi Rhodes, would also be granted her own release from WWE, joining her husbands odyssey of self-discovery.

For three years, Cody Rhodes went on a trek throughout the independents, working in the US for the likes of EVOLVE Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Smash Wrestling, DEFY Wrestling, and House of Hardcore; he stormed the UK as well, wrestling with WCPW (later Defiant), Revolution Pro (RevPro), Southside Wrestling Entertainment (SWE), IPW, and Preston City Wrestling (PCW). He even wrestled in Europe with Irelands Over the Topp (OTT) Wrestling and Germanys Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw). If his indie onslaught wasnt impressive enough, he managed to work for both Ring of Honor and IMPACT Wrestling at the same time, and debut with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in 2016. Cody would have a historic calendar year for marquee events in 2016, starting with WWE WrestleMania 32 in April, followed by appearances atPWG Battle of Los Angeles (September 3, 2016), TNA Bound for Glory (October 2, 2016), ROH Final Battle (December 2, 2016), NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 (January 4, 2017) andwXw 16 Carat Gold 2017(March 10, 2017).

On December 10, 2016, Cody Rhodes debuted with NJPW via vignette, announcing the introduction of The American Nightmare and the newest member of Bullet Club. Rhodes would rise quickly within the dominant stable, ascending to the top alongside The Elites Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. But despite his feud with leader Kenny Omega, Rhodes always felt like second fiddle to Omega in the public perception. While he had shed the stink of latter WWE gimmicks like Stardust, won the World title in ROH, and the NWA Worlds Heavyweight title atAll Inin September of 2018, Cody Rhodes was just not universally accepted as a true main event player yet. While he definitely had his supporters, his naysayers decried he was riding on the coattails of Bullet Club or living off brand recognizance from his days in WWE. But all of that changed when All Elite Wrestling presented their debut PPV, Double or Nothing, on May 25, 2019.

After departing ROH and NJPW at the end of 2018 alongside The Elite and Adam Hangman Page, it was revealed at midnight on New Years Eve 2018 that Rhodes would be joining his former Bullet Club mates in AEW, a new promotion that would soon rise to challenge the WWE on major cable television. With Rhodes alongside Omega and the Bucks being named Executive Vice Presidents of AEW, it only skewed his detractors more that he would wrongfully push himself to the main event scene. But Codys first feud out of the AEW gate was instead a story of family strife against his brother Dustin Rhodes, that became symbolic of the Attitude Era fans versus the Modern fans, with a promo that had the entire pro wrestling world holding its breath after airing in the weeks leading up to Double or Nothing. And by the pay-per-views conclusion, it set a new bar for emotional storytelling in the ring and remains, arguably, AEWs best in-ring match yet.

Those waiting for Cody to jump into the main event picture following his brotherly feud had to wait though. With a renewed buzz around Cody akin to his departure from WWE three years prior, Cody instead used his name to push the names of Darby Allin, Shawn Spears, and Sammy Guevara into the AEW zeitgeist. When he was finally pushed into a World title match against Le Champion Chris Jericho at AEW Full Gear in November of last year, it was made very clear that if Cody lost the match, he would not be able to compete for the World title again. In his loss, Rhodes showed that he had taken himself out of the main event story, in a way to show the world that he would not use his backstage authority to keep himself in the World title hunt. For Cody is two very different men on business conference calls, Cody is an executive who portrays a wrestler, while on TV he is a wrestler who happens to be an executive. Hes found a very convincing balance with both positions that seemed to have erased many peoples original concerns.

His popularity continued to rise within the fanbase of AEW, as the thunderous reactions from those in attendance soon became some of the loudest each night. He continued to work with new talent in AEW, working with The Butcher & The Blade in the closing months of December, while chasing his former friend MJF. In seemingly doing less than he had done in the short years prior as far as accomplishments go, his first year with AEW has made him arguably AEWs biggest folk hero. Selflessly facing newer or more unknown talents with greater frequency and helping elevate to higher levels, while being the face of the fans both in the ring and in the boardroom. Cody will finally get his chance at AEW gold again on Saturday at this years Double or Nothing when he faces Lance Archer in the finals to crown the first AEW TNT Championship. His journey has been one of a humble warrior after four years, Cody Rhodes has finally found the exact person he is a man capable of taking the throne by every means necessary.

Stay tuned toLast Word on Pro Wrestlingfor more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catchAEW DynamiteWednesday nights at 8pm ET on TNT andAEW DARKTuesday nights at 6pm on theirYouTube Channel. AEW Double or Nothing is on Saturday, May 23, at 8pm EST on FITE.tv.

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#OneYearDON: The True Ascension of Cody Rhodes - Last Word on Pro Wrestling

Editorial: Gaming / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Instagram / News / Discord

Garena continues to work on new content for Free Fire. A few days ago he announced the arrival of Clu, a new character. If you are interested in getting more news for mobile gaming, then you cannot miss the new event that is available from today and with which you can get an interesting appearance.

Today, May 25, the Phoenix Ascension event arrived at the title, with which players will be able to try their luck to obtain the new aspect of the same name, apart from other very useful objects.

Thanks to this event, users will be able to get a specially designed grenade, one and a box as lower rank rewards, but with a little more luck, you can even get an evolution stone, 2 Spike Spike scrolls and the Ascension Pack of Phoenix. Odds of getting it are very low, but it is possible to get each prize with 10 diamonds.

If you want to get the Ascension of the Phoenix outfit or any of the available rewards, just go to the event section and make spins, each cost 10 diamonds, while the 5-turn pack is worth 40 diamonds. So, if you plan to do many spins, we recommend doing them in series of 5 in 5.

In case you missed it: Garena warned that he is working to suspend hackers and cheats.

Although these rewards do not appear, you can get Emblem Tokens, which will help you to obtain the prizes. When you find an Emblem Token, one of the prizes we are talking about will be unlocked. If you manage to get all 5, you can redeem them for the jackpot, which is the new outfit.

We remind you that you can change the rewards you get in the spins and that you do not need. Just select 3 and you can make a free spin. On the other hand, you should know that the rewards you get by making turns will not go to your collection, so you must select the ones you want to keep and save them manually.

We leave you with a picture of the event and a live-action video of the outfit.

Ascension of the Phoenix web event

What do you think of this addition? Will you spend your diamonds trying to get the Ascension of the Phoenix outfit or another available item? Tell us in the comments.

Garena is conducting an interactive series with the community in which the protagonist is a motorcyclist. The mobile title is experiencing its best moment and as proof we mention that it recently reached its peak of daily users.

Free Fire is available on mobile with iOS or Android. You can find more news related to it by checking this page.

Stay informed with us, at LEVEL UP.

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Free Fire receives beauty and royalty in Ascension of the Phoenix outfit - Explica

Today has been an odd day for many as people take off (leave the house?) to try and scramble some semblance of a holiday for the long weekend.

In a new turn certainly unexpected to many Belgium has partially opened for the long weekend while adhering to the current measures, with even second homes now accessible. Thats what were focusing on today.

Regardless of if youre searching for activities, considering going shopping, or wondering if you can go to your second home (you can) Heres a recap of the answers, peppered with some of the more pressing news of the day.

With so much information, and so little time to catch up before it potentially changes again, here are some of the top stories from around the country to get you up to speed.

How confident are you about economic recovery and Europes ability to bounce back after the pandemic? Join us on our webinar next Monday 25 May to share your ideas and engage live with the speakers and moderators.

Belgium in Briefis a free daily roundup of the top stories to get you through your lunch break conversations. To receive it straight to your inbox every day, sign up below:

252additional people have tested positive for the new coronavirus (Covid-19) in Belgium in the last 24 hours, confirmed the federal public health ministry onThursday.

This brings the total number of cases in Belgium since the beginning of the pandemic to 56,235. The total reflects all people in Belgium who have been infected, and includes confirmed active cases as well as patients who have since recovered, or died from the consequences of the virus.

175of the newly-infected people live in Flanders,56live in Wallonia, and21live in Brussels. Read more.

With Ascension kicking off a long weekend for many people, the coronavirus crisis sees even more businesses in Belgium closed than on a normal bank holiday. Heres a recap for you.

A video showing violence against police officers in Belgium aims to draw attention to a situation that cannot continue.

Shared on Twitter on Wednesday evening by the Free Trade Union of Civil Servants (SLFP), the video shows violence against police officers on duty in the municipality of Anderlecht. Read more.

Starting with the ascension holiday on Thursday, Belgium is entering into a long weekend under lockdown.

While no true excursions are permitted until further notice, the latest measures mean that some cultural visits are permitted, as well as some personal activities. It is worth noting, however, that while some rules have been relaxed, those still in place have no room for bending.

So, heres what you can do and what to look out for.

People in Belgium will once again be allowed to visit their second home, an update to theMoniteur Belge the countrys official gazette has confirmed.

Property owners will once again be able to travel to their second residence and will be able to have four visitors in line with current social measures as long as they are the same visitors as elsewhere.

The persons are obliged to stay at home, or in a second residence of which they are either the owner or the tenant for a duration of at least one year, with the exclusion of mobile second residences that have not yet been installed at a fixed location, the publication reads. Read More

A decision by the mayors of four Brussels communes to make it compulsory to wear a face mask in some shopping areas is likely to be over-ruled by the Brussels region, it emerged during a plenary session of the regional parliament yesterday.

However, it remains unclear who is supposed to take the decision.

In the first week of May, Etterbeek mayor Vincent De Wolf (MR) took the unilateral decision to impose the wearing of a face mask in certain busy shopping areas of his commune, including the Rue des Tongres and the La Chasse area. Read more.

One of the first measures to be introduced back in March to help combat the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) was the immediate closure of all bars and restaurants.

Now, more than two months later, while other measures like the closure of shops and hairdressers have been relaxed, the horeca sector (hotel-restaurant-cafe) remains in lockdown. There is as yet no official indication of when that might end, but the sector itself is hoping for and preparing for a return in June.

According to Comeos, the federation for commerce and service industries, the horeca sector is losing 47 million a day from the lockdown. Some restaurants have been able to limit the damage by operating a takeaway and/or delivery service in the meantime, but for most and for all bars, cafes and tearooms the losses have been substantial. Read More.

Jules JohnstonThe Brussels Times

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Belgium in Brief: An Ascension Weekend Primer - The Brussels Times

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Ascension is one of those Christian realities of which we are so spuriously familiar. Just what exactly was the Ascension? He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the FatherSo goes the Creed we Catholics profess on Sundays and Feast Days. But what was it, literally?

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Was the Ascension of Jesus literal space travel? Did Jesus take off into outer space? If so, how far did he go out into the Final Frontier? Wouldnt that mean he has a trajectory and velocity? Was he quick enough to leave the solar system? Or, like Dr. Manhattan in Alan Moores WATCHMEN, could he be chilling out on Mars or some other solar system planetary body or moon? Is he watching us from up there?

If the Ascension is literal space travel, did Jesus become radioactive when he passed through the Van Allen radiation belts? Could we see him with the Hubble space telescope? If these questions sound like mockery, that is not my intention. They are given to provoke critical reflection as to the meaning of our Lords ascension, what it can mean in contrast with absurdities.

Is the Ascension of Jesus a physical reality? And was it like any other historical event? When did it happen exactly? Many Christians in the pews would swiftly and mechanically respond like well-trained parrots, FORTY DAYS after Easter Sunday!

But analysis of the New Testament reveals that dating the Ascension proves troublesome. The anonymous, unknown author of Luke-Acts tells the story twice. In Luke 24:50-53, he gives a frankly bizarre story of the Ascension happening the evening following Jesus resurrection. But this same author, in his follow-up work called Acts, tells of Jesus Ascension happening forty days after the resurrection (Acts 1:1-12)! What gives?

If we turn over to the Fourth Gospel called John, that text does not provide a description of the Ascension. But we can assume that it happened sometime during the day of the resurrection after Jesus appeared to and commissioned Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18) and when he later appears that night to the Eleven minus Thomas (John 20:19-23). As a matter of fact, the Johannine Jesus group acknowledged multiple Ascensions and DESCENTS of Jesus! Whats up with that?

Cultural anthropology and cognitive neuroscience may shed some light on things we understand via spurious familiarity. What if I told you that human beings are capable of making a round-trip journey between the earth (i.e., consensus reality) and the sky (i.e., alternate reality) all the while keeping their feet firmly planted on the ground? Scripture shows us examples of such round-trip sky journeys (e.g., the astral prophet John in Revelation 4:1-2).

Some make one-way sky journeys, and have yet to complete the circuit (like Enoch in Genesis 5:24; Elijah in 2 Kings 2:1-12; Ezra in 2 Esdras 8:19b). If they havent died already, eventually they will when they get back, at least according to Israelite tradition. They eventually die if they have not already.

Israelite tradition also tells of a postmortem sky journey into alternate reality, an experience given everyone when they die. We could say that this one-way trip happened to Jesus in his Ascension, except that occurred after his resurrection, when his life was transformed and raised by God. Just prior to being raised by God, just after his death, Jesus had journeyed to what some cultures imagine as the roots of the Axis Mundi or Cosmic Tree of Life, and there had proclaimed Gods salvation to them that sleep (an ancient belief expressed in the Gospel of Peter 41).

In later documents, the resurrection appearance narratives (like in Luke and John) seem to have a tendency to separate the resurrection from the ascension. But even so these later documents dont figure them to be two successive events. The later Jesus groups separated them so as deepen their understanding of the Risen Lord.

The author of the essay we call Hebrews gives praise to the high priest Jesus who prepared a new and living way into the sky vault sanctuary (Hebrews 10:19). This author exhorts believers to enter that sanctuary right now, immediately. Not after they kick the bucket! Not after Jesus comes back and establishes theocracyright now while they still are breathing.

Look how similar that is to John 14:4, where the Johannine Jesus tells his disciples: Where [I] am going you know the way (so as to prepare a place for them, because he would come back again and take them to himself, so that where he is they also may be). Is he talking about a heavenly afterlife? Ask many theologians and catechists to explain that and they will respond that Jesus is talking about going to heaven after you die, in the afterlife. But was that what the Johannine community understood by these words? This is doubtful, folks.

Turning to the very late document called 2 Peter, readers are exhorted to grow in virtue for in this way entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you (2 Peter 1:11). Some scholars have understood richly provided referring to repeated access into that eternal kingdom.

Then look over at Colossians 3:1-3

Do the believers behind these documents seem to be preoccupied with some end-time experience? Could they be anticipating an afterlife with Jesus? It doesnt seem so. In contrast, it looks like some New Testament people were already enjoying such sky journeys or one-way ascensions into Alternate Reality regularly and routinely while they were still alive. When they eventually died, their death would only render permanent what these believers already were frequently experiencing.

As scholars like John Pilch and Morton Smith point out, we can see evidence from within fifteen or twenty years of Jesus death and resurrection of early Jesus group believers enjoying ascensions while living. Would it be wrong to assume that Jesus, before his death, instructed his followers in this practice? If that is true, how come we seem to have forgotten this in our later Christianity?

Perhaps in later posts we will revisit the questions above concerning the Ascension of Jesus in light of what we know concerning altered states of consciousness, one of which is the sky journey.

Read more:

Ascension of Jesus and Other Sky Journeys | Fellow Dying Inmate - Patheos