Regrettable Relatives

There have been all sorts of relatives since the time of Cain and Abel, Joseph and his elder brothers, Laban against Jacob as well as Esau and Jacob. As things turned out, David wished his nephews, the sons of Zeruiah, one of his sisters, had not joined his army. They had a lusty craving for violence without reverence for God and immediate reality, whereas David reverenced God above anything else. You and I need God to shield us from the troubles that relatives constitute. Some are more of a curse than a blessing.

The Weight of Womanhood highlights the incomprehensible avoidable pressures put on women by societal expectations, male folks and sometimes women themselves. There is this culture of taking women for granted or taking advantage of women. Laban used his two daughters to swindle his nephew, Jacob, the Philistine Kings, and high officials used Delilah against Israelite leader, Samson who had become a pain in the ass for the Philistines’ leadership. King Saul attempted to use his daughters rather than any of his sons to kill David. Certain cultures imply that one of the worst things a woman can do is to conceive and bear a girlchild. They turn a blind eye to the murder of millions of growing girlchild in the womb on yearly basis. Moses’ older sister, Miriam resented and antagonized his wife to the extent that God was incensed to punish Miriam. King Rehoboam robbed his eldest son of his right because he preferred one of his stepmothers to the eldest son’s mother. When Samson’s mother claimed that an angel had visited her to talk about the imminent conception and birth of Samson, his father did not believe her. She had to ask God to resend His angel to attest to her claim before Samson’s father believed her. Most men take women’s gynecological and maternal exigencies for granted. Once Hannah did not conceive and bear him a child quickly, though he was supposed to love her very much, Elkanah opted for a second wife, Peninnah who made life miserable for Hannah once she bore Elkanah children while Hannah remained barren. He did not do anything to restrain Peninnah from worsening Hannah’s miseries.

God authored and used several cabals in the Holy Scriptures and in every generation. He made Samuel the one-man kingmaker council to install Saul son of Kish king of their nation and also to later indicate David was Saul’s successor. He made Jeremiah the determinant of the destiny of nations in his lifetime through prophecies. Jesus operated with a three-man cabal made up of Peter, John and James. The trio had been professional and career partners before they became Jesus’ disciples just as John and James were siblings. Esther and Mordecai were cousins and they held sway as the cabal that controlled the reign of King Ahasuerus of the Persian Empire. Pharaoh made Joseph one-man cabal to run his empire on his behalf just as Darius made Daniel to run his Babylonian Empire on his behalf. Pharaoh and Darius appointed Joseph and Daniel respectively on merit. Daniel’s colleagues resented his emergence to their own ruinous regret. God made Moses, Aaron and Miriam who were siblings controlling cabal over their kinsmen during the last forty years that they lived. God made Moses’ and Samuel’s words to be law to the people. It is the privileges that go with the position of cabal that provokes human envy and jealousy and the attendant disgust. The fact that it is perverted by some is not enough reason to abhor it as if it is ungodly. It is prevalent in any setting no matter the size of the constituent. It is inevitable and as such, commendable and exemplary cabals should be identified and utilized appropriately. It should be encouraged with the excesses of council members curtailed appropriately.

What's happening to me?' Successful translator and linguist Helga Rohra was understandably good with words - that is, until she found herself getting in a muddle when she spoke. She started to forget the way home, even though she could remember her address. Her confusing symptoms increased and Helga was diagnosed with dementia at age 50 - but she hasn't let herself be labelled with the usual stereotypes. With entertaining vim Helga shows that her life is still as abundant and self-determined as ever, dismantling the negative stereotypes that often surround a dementia diagnosis. She speaks frankly and with humour about her diagnosis and life with young onset Lewy Body Dementia. She explains the changes in her everyday life and the challenges she faces, and shares practical tips that prove it is possible to live well with dementia. Helga also talks about her activism work, which has made hers one of the key voices internationally in dementia advocacy.

Readings in Fuzzy Sets for Intelligent Systems is a collection of readings that explore the main facets of fuzzy sets and possibility theory and their use in intelligent systems. Basic notions in fuzzy set theory are discussed, along with fuzzy control and approximate reasoning. Uncertainty and informativeness, information processing, and membership, cognition, neural networks, and learning are also considered. Comprised of eight chapters, this book begins with a historical background on fuzzy sets and possibility theory, citing some forerunners who discussed ideas or formal definitions very close to the basic notions introduced by Lotfi Zadeh (1978). The reader is then introduced to fundamental concepts in fuzzy set theory, including symmetric summation and the setting of fuzzy logic; uncertainty and informativeness; and fuzzy control. Subsequent chapters deal with approximate reasoning; information processing; decision and management sciences; and membership, cognition, neural networks, and learning. Numerical methods for fuzzy clustering are described, and adaptive inference in fuzzy knowledge networks is analyzed. This monograph will be of interest to both students and practitioners in the fields of computer science, information science, applied mathematics, and artificial intelligence.