351. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart / WALK THRU THURS - Nehemiah 2:11-12
Channel: Croak and Crow
Date: 2022-10-28

☘️ Old Irish Blessing:
May you see God’s light on the path ahead when the road you walk is dark.
May you always hear even in your hour of sorrow, the gentle singing of the lark.
When times are hard may hardness never turn your heart to stone.
May you always remember when the shadows fall—You do not walk alone.

Watch us talk in American English.
30 minutes

Nehemiah 2:11-12 (NIV)
Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls
11 I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days 12 I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.


The Holy Spirit guides us and the Holy Spirit guides people to us.
#croakandcrow #spencercartier #unitarystate
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Dutch foreign ministry is investigating reports that China has set up two illegal police stations in the Netherlands, which it uses to harass dissidents.

The ministry’s announcement came on Wednesday after Dutch media reported that the Chinese posts in Amsterdam and Rotterdam purported to offer diplomatic assistance but that they had not been declared to the Netherlands’ government.
The “police stations” were being used to silence political opponents, according to a Chinese dissident living in the Netherlands cited by broadcaster RTL and investigative website Follow the Money.

China’s foreign ministry said the reports were “completely false” and said the “service stations” were meant to help overseas citizens do things like renew driving licences.

The Netherlands said it was taking the claims “seriously”.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now investigating the activities of the so-called police centres. When we have more clarity about this, appropriate action will be taken,” Dutch foreign ministry spokeswoman Maxime Hovenkamp told the AFP news agency.

“It is true that we have not been informed about the centres through diplomatic channels.”

Activists have struck more often in European museums in recent months, but it was the first time in the Netherlands. They draw attention to the destructive consequences of climate change. So far, no works of art have been damaged, but the museum world is not reassured that this will remain the case.

One of the activists in the Mauritshuis had his head glued to the glass after being doused with a red substance; on a video of the action, it appears to be canned tomatoes. Another stuck his hand to the green wall next to the artwork. They were dressed in shirts from the British activist group Just Stop Oil, which has said it is not behind this stunt but believes it is justified, given the seriousness of the climate crisis. The Hague police have arrested three Belgians.

One of the activists noted that the nearly four-hundred-year-old painting is behind glass and therefore not in danger. Even in previous daubing campaigns – such as last weekend, when climate activists in Potsdam, Germany, smeared a painting by Monet with mashed potatoes – the artworks themselves were not damaged, thanks to a glass plate.

Algorithms used in the recruitment of staff are confirming existing prejudices, research by the Radboud University commissioned by jobs website Nationale Vacaturebank has found. The jobs agency matched 9,000 anonymous CVs with 12 million job descriptions using artificial intelligence. It found women and men were matched with jobs in traditionally female and male sectors like childcare and the building trade, and that women were linked to jobs earning significantly less money. The reason the algorithms are biased is partly because the system is based on data put in by people, Gido Schoenmacker, lead data science at the agency, told RTL Nieuws. ‘The algorithms amplify prejudices. What we see is that women are less likely to get certain jobs because it has always been men that have been selected for them.’ The jobs agency wants to use self learning systems more often to match people to jobs but sometimes they learn the wrong things, Schoenmacker said. ‘Our own research and that of Radboud University will help prevent this.’ One example of algorithms learning from people’s prejudices can be seen at Amazon, where the algorithms were found to have a preference for white men. The use of language is one element the algorithms pick up on, Schoenmacker said. Words such as ‘success oriented’ and ‘winners mentality’ are more often found on men’s CVs and in the job descriptions for higher paid jobs. If the algorithm is set up in such a way that it can no longer find clues to distinguish men from women, prejudices based on sex no longer play a role. One of the models applied in the research narrowed the pay gap from €1,680 to €180. The system can learn anything you like, Schoenmacker said, but if it is a good tool to match people and jobs remains to be seen. The jobs agency will start a trial using the system next year.

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