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A Gathering of Crumbs from the Web: What I've been reading
December 27, 2010 / Jody+ / 1 Comment
Perfect Power Casts out Love, from The Mockingbird Blog
"The interesting thing is that, even though God reveals Himself in suffering in the cross, clear revelation doesn't register at all. We are still so impressed with power and assertion that we turn the Christian insight, which is clearly the opposite of our idea of power, into power. If we could only convert Congress to Christianity, then everything would be OK. We would have the power brokers on our side. If we could only get people to behave a certain way, everything would be OK. So, we'll really earnestly engage in behavior modification."
The Archbishop of Canterbury's Christmas Sermon
"The story of Jesus is the story of a God who keeps promises. As St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 'however many the promises God made, the Yes to them all is in him'. God shows himself to be the same God he always was. He brings hope out of hopelessness – out of the barrenness of unhappy childless women like Sarah and Hannah. He takes strangers and makes them at home; he brings his greatest gifts out of those moments when the barriers are down between insiders and outsiders. He draws people from the ends of the earth to wonder – not this time at the glory of Solomon but at the miracle of his presence among the humble and outcast. He identifies with those, especially children, who are the innocent and helpless victims of insane pride and fear. He walks into exile with those he loves and leads them home again."
Small Change: Why the Revolution will not be Tweeted, by Malcolm Gladwell. In this piece Gladwell comments on the claims made for "social media" (as though there's really any other kind):
Some of this grandiosity is to be expected. Innovators tend to be solipsists. They often want to cram every stray fact and experience into their new model. As the historian Robert Darnton has written, "The marvels of communication technology in the present have produced a false consciousness about the past—even a sense that communication has no history, or had nothing of importance to consider before the days of television and the Internet." But there is something else at work here, in the outsized enthusiasm for social media. Fifty years after one of the most extraordinary episodes of social upheaval in American history, we seem to have forgotten what activism is.
Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy, by Frank Rich, from the New York TImes
For Stewart, the hyperpartisanship of the modern news media remains the nation's curse. "The country's 24-hour politico pundit panic conflict-onator did not cause our problems," he told the throngs at his rally to "restore sanity," but it "makes solving them that much harder." At Beck's rally to "restore honor," the message seemed to be that America's principal failing is a refusal to recognize that God "is our king." If Stewart's antidote was more civility, Beck's was more prayer.
Stewart's point is indisputable as far as it goes. Beck's, not so much: If prayer hasn't cured this highly prayerful nation by now, it may be because our body politic has long since developed an immunity to it. But both rallies, for all the commotion they generated, have already faded to the status of quirky historical footnotes. The reason is that neither addressed the elephant in the room — or the donkey. That would be big money — the big money that dominates our political system, regardless of who's in power. Two years after the economic meltdown, most Americans now recognize that that money has inexorably institutionalized a caste system where everyone remains (at best) mired in economic stasis except the very wealthiest sliver.
The Great Depression ended the last comparable Gilded Age, of the 1920s, and brought about major reforms in American government and business. Not so the Great Recession. Last week, as the Fed's new growth projections downsized hope for significant decline in the unemployment rate, the Commerce Department reported that corporate profits hit a record high. Those profits aren't trickling down into new jobs or into higher salaries for those not in the executive suites. And the prospect of serious regulation of those at the top of the top — the financial sector — is even more of a fantasy in the new Congress than it was in its predecessor.
Ross Douthat on the Partisan Mind, from the New York Times
Imagine, for a moment, that George W. Bush had been president when the Transportation Security Administration decided to let Thanksgiving travelers choose between exposing their nether regions to a body scanner or enduring a private security massage. Democrats would have been outraged at yet another Bush-era assault on civil liberties. Liberal pundits would have outdone one another comparing the T.S.A. to this or that police state. ("In an outrage worthy of Enver Hoxha's Albania …") And Republicans would have leaped to the Bush administration's defense, while accusing liberals of going soft on terrorism.
But Barack Obama is our president instead, so the body-scanner debate played out rather differently. True, some conservatives invoked 9/11 to defend the T.S.A., and some liberals denounced the measures as an affront to American liberties. Such ideological consistency, though, was the exception; mostly, the Bush-era script was read in reverse. It was the populist right that raged against body scans, and the Republican Party that moved briskly to exploit the furor. It was a Democratic administration that labored to justify the intrusive procedures, and the liberal commentariat that leaped to their defense.
This role reversal is a case study in the awesome power of the partisan mindset. Up to a point, American politics reflects abiding philosophical divisions. But people who follow politics closely — whether voters, activists or pundits — are often partisans first and ideologues second. Instead of assessing every policy on the merits, we tend to reverse-engineer the arguments required to justify whatever our own side happens to be doing. Our ideological convictions may be real enough, but our deepest conviction is often that the other guys can't be trusted.
Will Willimon: Thoughts on Children's sermons
December 25, 2010 / Jody+ / 15 Comments
I had someone approach me earlier and comment that, in the past, priests at this congregation have done children's sermons on Christmas Eve (indeed, I was invited to give one last year, before I became priest-in-charge of the congregation). The unspoken question was why I had not. To be honest, I am uncertain what I think, finally, about the idea of a children's sermon. On the one hand, I think it demonstrates the fact that we don't give enough credit to children while on the other, I think it short-changes the Gospel by assuming that every truth should be able to be communicated best in a way that young children will understand.
It's an appropriate theme given the season. Children often understand more than we give them credit for, and, unfortunately many of us who preach regularly have a hard time grasping the fact that if a sermon doesn't have anything for the children to understand, then most of the adults aren't going to get anything out of it either–not because they're slow or unintelligent, but mostly because we've failed to communicate in a clear and understandable way.
So, the jury is still out, but I find these observations by Bishop Will Willimon, former dean of Duke Chapel, now Bishop of the North Alabama conference of the UMC, to be quite convincing and in line with my experience. One of my favorite parts of the article follows, but I encourage you to read the whole thing:
I fear that children's sermons tend to backfire, saying to parents and children that which we do not intend to say. We wouldn't interrupt the congregation's worship with, "And now I would like all those of you who are over 65 to come down front while I say something sentimental and sappy to all of you old folks." That would be ugly. So why do we single out the children saying in effect, "Boys and girls, I know that you are bored stiff by Christian worship, that you can't get anything out of what we do when we praise God, so come down front and I'll take a few minutes to try to make this interesting for you."
{Read it all}
Glorious Strangeness
On Christmas Eve Christians come face to face once again with the inescapable strangeness of our faith. Try as we might to cover it up by focusing on other things; thinking of parties, presents and sweets, shops, malls, and people-packed streets–we just can't accomplish it. The truth comes out.
Maybe we start to hear it as a whisper, but it ends, tonight as a shout. Maybe a quiet shout. But a spirit-filled shout as we come to this place, beautifully decorated and carefully arraigned, to hear again the story at the heart of it all. The truth proclaimed by those angelic messengers in the skies above Bethlehem all those centuries ago:
Do not be afraid; for see–I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord (Luke 2:10-11).
Luke does amazing things in this section of his Gospel, in setting up a clear contrast between the greatest of earthly powers, and the power and authority of God. The chapter begins in the very halls of power: a decree went out–literally from the side of–Ceasar Augustus that all the world should be registered/enrolled/taxed. One man. The emperor, who claimed divine privilege and ruled an empire that believed itself the center of the world (as empires usually do). This is power. To announce a decree and have it go out into the whole world–or at least all the parts of the world that counted.
Luke takes us from the seat of imperial power and traces the lines of authority. This command went out when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So great is the power of the Emperor that because of his declaration, "all went to their own towns to be registered" (Luke 2:3).
This is authority. The emperor says jump and the people of the empire say "how high?" There were even inscriptions in honor of Augustus that praised him as a savior "who has made war to cease and who shall put everything in order" (NJBC p. 683).
But something else is happening here. Joseph is brought to our attention. Joseph, a simple man. But maybe not completely so. He is traveling to his ancestral city, Bethlehem, the city of David, the legendary King of Israel. The associations called forth by the mention of King David, of the house and family of David are strong. Whenever these names start being thrown around, it's a sure sign that something related to Israel's future is transpiring.
So Joseph, a descendent of David, comes to David's city. Unlike Augustus, he has no power or authority to speak of. He can't even get a room in the inn for his pregnant bride, Mary. He is not a man who makes decrees. But he doesn't have to. He and Mary are faithful and Jesus is born in Bethlehem, in a manger, according to the word and decree of God Almighty. With Christ's birth, far away from the center of political power, a different sort of authority is exercised, and the Angels of God–his messengers–appear not to the great men of the age, but to simple shepherds tending their flocks. This is a different sort of proclamation, with a different sort of authority.
And the good news announced to those shepherds; simple people, representatives of all those who great people presumed to use as pawns, to manipulate and oppress, was a challenge to the claims of Caesar. Not a challenge to his earthly rule, but a challenge to the presumption of claiming to do things which only God can do. Bringing order may lessen the occurrence or brutality of war, but it certainly doesn't end it; and may only result in greater effectiveness at the task. No. Caesar cannot end wars. The people of the day may have believed that it was Augustus who would put everything in order, but those who hear the story that Luke shares, know that it was not Augustus and is not any of those who claim such authority today who can make such promises or hope to live up to them, but that it is instead the babe born in a manger, with livestock bearing witness, who offers true peace, and true salvation.
This is why, when the Angels had given the shepherds their message, suddenly the Heavenly Host–the Angelic Armies of God–appear in the night sky and declare peace rather than war. In Christ, God has declared peace with humanity, and in Christ, we can be truly at peace with God.
So tonight, we cannot hide from the strangeness of our faith–that God sought us out in the form of a little child. That the ruler of the universe was born in a stable to a young woman of flesh and bone. That the Almighty was once a little baby without ceasing to be God. That as a babe he needed the care of his mother and the protection of his father. And that as God he offers us salvation.
Tonight, on this eve of the anniversary of his birth as one of us, we celebrate his purpose for all of us. And that is a truth, no matter how anyone might try bury or ignore it, that comes through loud and clear. Tonight we take up the declaration of the Angels all those years ago: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors." Amen.
A Purified Conscience
December 19, 2010 / Jody+ / 0 Comments
[This is a brief reflection for the 4th Sunday of Advent]
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(Collect for the 4th Sunday of Advent)
Over the past several weeks, as we've observed the season of Advent, we've reflected on the theme of waiting. We've been reminded of the need to practice patience and considered what it means to proclaim on the one hand that the Messiah has come, and on the other, that we await the consummation, the fulfillment of his work in the Kingdom of God. Like Lent, Holy Week and Easter (the Paschal Cycle), Advent, along with Christmas and Epiphany (the incarnational cycle of the church year) highlights the great tension at the heart of Christianity. It highlights the tension in a different way from Lent and Easter, but it highlights it nonetheless. We proclaim that the Messiah has come but are forced to admit that the world is still broken.
Over the past weeks the lessons appointed in the lectionary have provided us with an image of what it is we're awaiting. On that first Sunday of Advent, we rejoiced to hear God's promise in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, that all nations would stream to his holy mountain, and dedicate themselves to learning his ways. On the second and third Sundays Isaiah directed us to consider what it is we are awaiting during this advent season. We considered that, like Isaiah, we still await the coming of the righteous judge, the one who will judge not by what his eyes see or his ears hear, but with righteousness and equity. But recognizing the ways in which Jesus exercised his authority and judgment during his earthly ministry demonstrates to us that we have seen the righteous judge and await his return.
Last week we considered the fact that it is not only the Righteous Judge that we await, but the one who will being healing to the afflicted, relief to the suffering–indeed, the one who will restore all of creation. We again heard the promises of God in the words of Isaiah, and felt the concern and the frustration of John as he languished in Herod's jail cell. Then, we heard the words of Christ to John, echoing the promise of Isaiah, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them" (Matt. 11:4-5).
Today, on this final Sunday of the Advent season, we shift gears. We move from hearing the Gospel stories of Jesus ministry, to hearing of the circumstances of his birth. We transition from the theme of self-preparation for the second coming, to the theme of celebration for the first, for the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, in a babe in a manger. And as we make this transition we are challenged: have we prepared ourselves? Have we been able to quiet our hearts and minds in the midst of the season, not only for the coming return of our Lord, which may occur at any time, but even for the appropriate celebration of his birth?
And so it is that on an occaison of many distractions we hear the story of how Joseph overcame his own anger, frustration and distraction in order to become a husband to Mary and an earthly father to Jesus. The circumstance that Matthew treats in a few words could hardly have been more frustrating and even volatile. The New Revised Standard Version unhelpfully uses the term "engaged" to refer to Mary and Joseph's relationship. They were betrothed, and though the term may not be used today, it had a specific meaning at the time: namely it meant the couple were married in every way except that they had not yet (usually) taken up residence together. The relationship was as binding as marriage, and would've taken a divorce to break. Joseph would doubtless have been frustrated at the news that Mary was pregnant, even if they had not been betrothed, but the fact that they had been said to him that she had broken their contract and shamed them both. Joseph demonstrated something of his character in that, while he planned to divorce Mary, he planned to do so quietly, so as not to damage her reputation too badly.
With the aid of a welcome angelic messenger, Joseph is able to put these thoughts behind him and to commit himself to caring for his new wife and her child. Joseph could have disregarded the message, but he did not, and as one preacher put it:
"He looked after her, loved her, and struggled down that road from Nazareth to Bethlehem with her. Once the child is born and reaches maturity Joseph just fades away and is mentioned no more. If Mary is extraordinarily faithful in accepting God's calling to be Mother of the Eternal King, the Messiah, in his own way, Joseph shares in that faithfulness to a remarkable degree.
It is not too late to get Christmas right this year, to stop, reflect, realize that all you have done since Thanksgiving has maybe been many things, but it isn't Christmas. This year, perhaps in the next few days, you can stop thinking that all depends on your presents and your cooking. It all depends on God's giving."
It all depends upon God's giving…
That's the message for us on this fourth Sunday of Advent. Earlier in the season we've considered what we're awaiting. Today, we focus on being prepared to receive it, on purifying our consciences to welcome the coming Lord. The good news is that even in this we are not left to depend solely or even primarily on our own strength, but instead we pray for God the Father's "daily visitation," to make us worthy mansions for his Son.
So indeed, the season's preparations at their heart do not depend upon our presents or our cooking, and the preparations of our hearts do not depend upon our own feats of spiritual asceticism, but instead, we are taught to depend upon the grace of God in all things. And being in a place to understand that is perhaps the best form of Advent preparation.
A word on the Jewish-Christian Schism
I thought I might have use for this observation in my sermon, but it didn't really fit. Be that as it may, I wanted to share this remark of Martin Buber's:
"Premessianically our destinies are divided. Now to the Christian, the Jew is the incomprehensibly obdurate man, who declines to see what has happened; and to the Jew, the Christian is the incomprehensibly daring man, who affirms in an unredeemed world that redemption has been accomplished. This is a gulf that no human power can bridge. But it does not prevent the common watch for a unity to come to us from God, which, soaring above all of your imagination and all of ours, affirms and denies, denies and affirms what you hold and what we hold, and that replaces all the creedal truths of earth by the ontological truth of heaven, which is one." (Martin Buber, "Two Foci of the Jewish Soul" The Martin Buber reader: essential writings, p. 113)
St. Nicholas: Defender of the Faith
December 9, 2010 / Jody+ / 5 Comments
As demonstrated by the number of stories surrounding St. Nicholas of Myra, as well as the traditions surrounding Santa Claus, Nicholas certainly had an impact on people, and his memory—though clouded by myth and commercialism—is alive and well. One of my favorite St. Nicholas stories doesn't necessarily fit in well with the image of
"Jolly old St. Nick" but it is, interestingly enough, befitting the reputation of keeping a list of who's naughty and nice.
In the fourth century, you couldn't get much more naughty—theologically speaking—in the minds of orthodox Christian leaders than Arius of Alexandria. As Archbishop Rowan Williams has argued, Arius (who was a priest of the Alexandrian Church) was actually a theological conservative. He didn't like the idea of Jesus being seen as God's equal, and so, he argued that the Word of God (the Logos) was not co-eternal with the Father and that Jesus was not divine. Instead, the Word was the first among God's creations—therefore, having a beginning and being somehow less than fully God. In contrast, the position that became enshrined in the Nicene Creed was that the Word/Son is co-eternal and of one substance with the Father, and that Jesus Christ is divine. The Bishops and priests at the Council of Nicea debated this issue hotly.
During the debate Nicholas became particularly frustrated with a proponent of Arianism (some claim Arius himself) and, being "overcome with Apostolic zeal," smacked him. Nicholas is on several reconstructed lists—including the best—of those Bishops who were present at Nicea and who agreed to the orthodox formula, but he is not on all. While some maintain that this means he was not actually present, the more likely scenario is that later copyists wanted to limit knowledge of what was seen as an embarrassing outburst.
It is said that Nicholas was censured for his action, and deprived of the honor of wearing the ornaments of a Bishop—which is why Nicholas is usually depicted without a mitre in Eastern Orthodox Iconography.
This event is enshrined in a fresco depicting the Council of Nicea at Soumela Monastery in Turkey. Notice the lower left of the scene:
Here it is in more detail:
There's no doubt that St. Nicholas was a generous and holy man. Just remember the part about him making a list and checking it twice.
The Prophet Isaiah
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear… (Isaiah 11:3)
The Prophet Isaiah's Call
A common tool in the storyteller's art, whether in comedy or drama, is to rely on misunderstanding to advance the plot. One only has to think of stories such as Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, in which the drama is often driven by misunderstanding or deception.
I'm sure all of us could think of any number of instances where a fragment of conversation, or a glimpse of activity out of context have been the basis for severe judgments and accusations. But while these things may be just the thing for the storyteller, they can be very damaging in everyday life.
The fact of the matter is that we have a tendency to see what we want to see, or what we fear to see. The human mind does not like the unexplained, and failing a clear explanation, we will often insert our own. This happens in basic and complex ways. For example, some of you may have seen those spelling games or chain emails where people intentionally misspell words and get people to read them in order to demonstrate that spelling is optional. Well, of course, spelling is not optional, but placing things in a context primes the brain to see what it expects to see. For example, just this week a friend of mine posted a comment on Facebook and made a reference to several different Dioceses/regions of the Episcopal Church, including Eastern Oregon. In a comment after his initial post, he corrected himself writing that he, of course, meant "easterN" Oregon, emphasizing the N that he had left out of his initial post. Of course, I myself read "eastern" and not "easter" as did others. A simple example of our brain seeing what it wants to see, of inserting something to help something "make sense."
This desire to fit things into categories has a great affect on our memories. Our memories are central to who we are and our self understanding. St. Augustine wrote at length about it, describing it:
"Great is this power of memory, exceeding great, O my God,–an inner chamber large and boundless! Who has plumbed the depths thereof? Yet it is a power of mine, and appertains unto my nature; nor do I myself grasp all that I am. Therefore is the mind too narrow to contain itself" (Confessions, 174).
The power of memory helps to hold us together, connecting the past to the future, providing a sense of continuity. But memory is also malleable, and subject to the failings of human nature. Rather than being set and unchanging, we now know that our memories are constructed on the fly. This construction is what accounts for the variance in the way two people can recall the same events. Even with something as simply as color, for example, studies have shown that our brains often run what we see through a sort of mental "photoshop," seeing what we expect. This type of process is is the foundation for the unreliability of eye-witness testimony, for example, despite our necessary reliance on it in our legal system.
And here we get to the point of what misperception and the malleability of memory have to do with us in this second week of Advent. It has to do with the understanding of what exactly we are waiting for.
As I reflected on the scriptures for this week I was struck by some of the distinguishing characteristics the Prophet Isaiah assigns the Messiah, the Son of Man:
He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. (Isaiah 11:3-4)
It's intriguing that the Prophet sets up a dichotomy between judging by what the eye sees or the ear hears and judging with righteousness. But perhaps this distinction makes sense when we consider the role of the prophetic tradition in Israel.
In ancient Israel, the prophets, unlike the monarchy or the priests, were not given authority by virtue of position or institutional structures. The prophets were the wild cards–they were the people who heard directly from God and who, as part of their responsibility, challenged those in power to remember the commands they had been given by God–not only the letter, but the spirit. As such, they would speak God's judgment on Kings and the ruling classes. Many times they ended up as martyrs for their efforts. Remember Jesus' prayer, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets…" (Luke 13:34).
Given this tradition, it's unsurprising that Isaiah would oppose judgment based upon what is perceived with judgment that is based in righteousness. In that time–and perhaps more than is comfortable to admit, in ours–the poor and the meek did not have justice to look forward to. Those with the authority to judge them may very well have been basing their judgments on "objective" facts. On what they saw or heard. But Isaiah and the other prophets knew the truth that it has taken a few thousand years to support scientifically: people see what they want, even when they don't do so consciously, and because of this, the only hope for true justice is in the future, with the coming of the one who will judge the poor with righteousness and the meek with equity.
This is not meant to say that the poor and the meek are the only ones to be judged righteously, but to emphasize that, unlike those with more power and authority, or even those that are more visible to society, they need to hear the truth that God is on their side, because no one else is.
Today, we can celebrate the ways in which we have achieved a closer approximation of justice, while striving to do even better, but as Christians we have to recognize that in the end, there is only one righteous judge. This judge is the one Isaiah prophesied, and the one of whom John warned the Pharisees and Sadducees:
Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
"I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:9-12).
In this season of Advent, as we approach Christmas and the celebration of our savior's birth, it can be easy to loose sight of what exactly we're waiting on. As we wait, we proclaim that the one who can judge the hearts of men and women has indeed come, and exercised his judgment and mercy from the throne of the cross. We testify also, that he will come again, and that finally, we will no longer have to trust in the frail abilities of human magistrates. The lesson to whole onto is twofold: to make sure we are bear fruit worthy of repentance being prepared for a righteous judge; and to remind ourselves that good fruit is the result of receiving the mercy and forgiveness of the God who loved us too much to leave us to our own devices, and who instead came to us all those years ago in a humble village, offering us forgiveness of sins and the hope of everlasting life. Amen.
Living in the Already, awaiting the Not Yet.
December 4, 2010 / Jody+ / 1 Comment
People get ready, there's a train a-comin'
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'
Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord
-Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield wrote these words the year after the 1963 civil rights march on Washington DC. In a 1993 interview, Mayfield said that the song was a product of "the preachings of my grandmothers and most ministers when they reflect from the Bible." As often happens, something distilled from the scriptures can serve as a means for us to reflect back on their meaning. They can serve as a lens. The most significant examples of this, of course, are the Creeds themselves; distilled from scripture, they serve as a lens through which we read and interpret scripture. But similar things occur in popular culture, as the work of those shaped by the faith reflects its impact. In the case of Mayfield, these lyrics reflect an uplifting hopefulness, but this is not always the case.
Biblical prophecy can be a confusing and complex subject that attracts a lot of well-meaning but misguided interpretation. Jesus recognized this when (as we talked about a few weeks ago) he warned his disciples not to trust those who would gain a following for themselves by spreading a message that capitalizes on anxiety and fear–to not trust those who say "I am he" and claim that the end is at hand.
In the section of Matthew's Gospel that we consider today (Matthew 24:36-44), Jesus puts further emphasis on the futility of attempting to calculate when the end will come, saying "concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matthew 24:36). And yet, despite such warnings within scripture itself, there have always been those who attempt to peg the day and the hour. One of the more colorful examples of this phenomena comes from the book O Lost by Thomas Wolfe (the "original" restored version of Look Homeward, Angel). At this point in the book, the main character and his brother are outside their home in Pensylvania when a column of Confederate troops come marching past, some of whom ask for water. As they march by, the boys hear someone calling out:
"Hit's a-comin'! As sure as you're livin', hit's a-comin," he shouted cheerfully. And, seeing the two boys, he shouted his strange message happily to them, smiling kindly with pleased idiocy. "Hit's a-comin', boys. Tell yore folks. Armageddon's here."
"You don't need to tell 'em Stinkin' Jesus is here," a mountaineer shouted. "They can smell him already."
Bacchus Pentland answered their roar of laughter with a good-humored smile. Then, when he could be heard again he said: "Hit's a-comin'! The kingdom of Christ upon the earth approacheth. He'll be here a-judgin' an' dividin' by eight o'clock to-morrow moring. I've got it all figured out accordin' to 'Zekiel." (O Lost: A Story of the Buried Life, p. 11 )
The irony of the story is that Bacchus Pentland and the other Confederate soldiers with whom he is marching are headed toward what will be the end for many of them, as they move toward the killing field of Gettysburg. The novel is also illustrative in that the main character runs into Bacchus later on in the story, only to find that he's calculated yet another date for the end. Those who try to calculate the end find themselves making multiple attempts when it doesn't occur. In fact, several denominations have their origins in the failed speculations of their founders. But while the attempts of Bacchus Pentland are comical and sad, there are others who inspire fear by playing upon anxiety.
As one commentator has written, when the disciples ask when the end will come:
Jesus does not answer [their] question of when the Temple will be destroyed, nor has he given them an answer to their question concerning the sign that will signal Jesus' coming and the end of the age. Rather, Jesus tells them how they must learn to wait in this time between the times. Christians have been unable to heed Jesus' warning not to try to calculate the day and the hour he will return. Jesus plainly tells us that only the Father has such knowledge, but the temptation to be God, particularly by those who count themselves Christian, is hard to resist. Desperate to have a handle on history, Christians have used the very apocalyptic imagery that Jesus deploys to prevent attempts to determine the end of the age to do exactly what Jesus says cannot and should not be done, that is, to try and know what only the Father knows (Matt. 24:36). (Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible), 203-204)
On the other end of the extreme are those Christians who would look down upon such attempts to calculate the end, but who nonetheless believe that Christians can somehow shape the direction of history. While we should never deny the call we have to support progress and to aid others, we must never confuse our own efforts with the salvation of God.
As Stanley Hauerwas writes "Those who attempt to read the 'signs of the times' in these two quite different ways have little use for one another, but ironically they share in common the belief that Jesus has answered the disciples' questions. […] Both temptations–to employ Jesus's apocalyptic imagery to predict the end time or to discern the movement of history–betray the character of Jesus's training of his disciples. He is trying to teach them how they must live in the light of his coming" (Hauerwas, 204-205).
Learning how to live in the light of Jesus' coming is precisely what the season of Advent, which begins this morning, is all about. In the context of preparing to celebrate the incarnation of God in human flesh–the coming of the almighty in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, we also remind ourselves to be prepared for Jesus' return. It is during this season where we recognize and remember that we live in a tremendous tension as Christians, a tension perfectly distilled and reflected back at us by various messages of Advent and Christmas, both sacred and secular.
We live with the tension of proclaiming the Kingdom of God as something that is already present–and what better way to proclaim that, than to remember God became flesh and dwelt among us–while at the same time, we recognize that we are still awaiting its consummation and perfection. One might say we live in the midst of the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy (Isaiah 2:1-5).
Through the spreading of the Gospel, people who would never have heard of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have been brought to faith. Entire cultures have been formed and fashioned and nations have sought knowledge of God.
As we consider the rest of Isaiah's proclamation, we can, I believe, see the places where the already fulfilled runs right up against the not yet. In so many ways, whether through the recognition of human rights, the formation of forums for international dialogue and negotiation, humanitarian efforts–we can see that many areas where war was once the only option have now been dealt with in other ways. Yet at the same time, we still live in a time when people have not, in fact, beat their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.
Likewise, people have been fed and clothed, and many have access to medical care who have never had it before. But still thousands starve, or die of disease. We live in the time between. We can celebrate the accomplishments that have been made, we can put the practices of the Kingdom into action in our own lives, but we must always keep the teachings of Jesus before us.
We are called both to be patient and to anticipate, to be about the work of the Kingdom here and now, and to yearn for the day when it will be fully revealed. We are called to work within the household of God with the knowledge that the Lord himself could return at any moment, all the while being prepared to wait. We are called to reflect on the state of our souls, to celebrate the birth of a child who is God, and to anticipate his coming again. Most of all, we are called to live in hope as we await the full establishment of God's Kingdom… we're called to endure the world as it is, hoping, knowing that it will not always be so.
In the end, I think Mayfield's lyrics ring especially true for this season of Advent and what we are to be about: "People get ready, there's a train a-comin' you don't need no baggage, you just get on board." Amen.


text:
/**
 *
 */
package uk.ac.lkl.server;

//import javax.persistence.Id;

import com.googlecode.objectify.annotation.Cached;
import com.googlecode.objectify.annotation.Id;

/**
 * Uses Objectify to maintain store the channels in a BC2NetLogo connection
 * Used to re-establish communication after failures
 *
 * @author Ken Kahn
 *
 */

@Cached
public class BC2NetLogoChannels {

    @Id private String sessionGuidAndUserGuid;
    private String channelToNetLogo;
    private String channelFromNetLogo;
    private String reconnectionCounter;

    public BC2NetLogoChannels(String sessionGuidAndUserGuid, String channelToNetLogo, String channelFromNetLogo, String reconnectionCounter) {
	this.sessionGuidAndUserGuid = sessionGuidAndUserGuid;
	this.channelToNetLogo = channelToNetLogo;
	this.channelFromNetLogo = channelFromNetLogo;
	this.reconnectionCounter = reconnectionCounter;
    }

    public BC2NetLogoChannels() {}  // for Objectify

    public String getChannelToNetLogo() {
        return channelToNetLogo;
    }

    public void setChannelToNetLogo(String channelToNetLogo) {
        this.channelToNetLogo = channelToNetLogo;
    }

    public String getChannelFromNetLogo() {
        return channelFromNetLogo;
    }

    public void setChannelFromNetLogo(String channelFromNetLogo) {
        this.channelFromNetLogo = channelFromNetLogo;
    }

    public String getReconnectionCounter() {
        return reconnectionCounter;
    }

    public void setReconnectionCounter(String reconnectionCounter) {
        this.reconnectionCounter = reconnectionCounter;
    };

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I now think Sam will win too.
Hmm whose your money on ladies? I am thinking Lisa.
Meh. Louise can do better anyway. She seems like such an amazing woman and is waaaaay too good for Blake.
Agree, she is a great catch.
I think lisa will win. He seemed to say more to her. Then again it could be editing.
It's a sign of my great maturity that I find it highly amusing every time she writes 'peen'.
He doesn't even suit Sam they just don't match !!
I say Lisa but who knows with all the editing !
I think Sam but I don't think she is ready to get married.
God i can't wait for this show to be over. I don't know why but im sick of it and wanna know the winner already lol!
I don't think i'll watch another Bachelor. Drags on too long with the same old stuff.
I reckon Sam will take it out.
I actually really like Sam! & I hope he wins but I think it will be Lisa (just based on how he acts around her - could be editing though). I loved Louise, poor thing. I do think she deserves better though!
All times are Australian EST. The time now is 22:14.


This year, the energy will reach new heights with the newest voice on the world stage, Maku Soundsystem (featured at Globalfest 2011). Their driving rhythms are grounded in Afro-Colombian traditions and their gaitas come from Colombia's indigenous heritage, as they present their music with the freedom of young Colombians hailing from urban Queens.
The annual Encuentro/Encounter of Colombian Musicians in New York music festival, founded by Colombian bandleader, pianist, and composer Pablo Mayor and his wife flutist Ana Povich de Mayor, continues its effort to provide a platform for Colombian artists in New York to present their art, while bringing these treasures to the attention of the international audience.
The festival coincides with PAMAR'S Latin American Culture Week, using the opportunity to showcase Colombia's rich musical heritage and developments to the broader international and Hispanic community. The six-hour extravaganza will begin with a dinner set featuring the sophisticated Andean sounds of Alejandro Flórez-Tibaguí, gaita, bullerengue, and other Afro-Colombian rhythms with Grupo Rebolú (for those who wish to dance from the beginning), New Orleans jazz-with-a-Colombian twist (drummer Martin Vejarano's Chia's Dance Party), Caribbean vallenato with Alejandro Zuleta Vallenato Collective, and other artists ranging from rock to classical guitar (including Lucía Pulido's right-hand man Sebastián Cruz and his Cheap Landscape trio), gradually transforming as the night unfolds into an all-out dance party with Pablo Mayor's driving Folklore Urbano Orchestra and the wildly fun Gregorio Uribe Big Band.
Special guests to include Limon Dance Company's Daniel Fetecua and his Pajarillo Pinta'o Dance Company.


Ceres II is the perfect trad climbing carabiner. At only 30 g, these compact wire gates will lighten up any rack. Available in 8 color options, they are ideal for pairing with alpine runners, racking gear, or building into quickdraws for days when you just want to clip bolts at the local crag.


According to Porter's Five Forces Model, for my part, competitors has elevated total because of the internet and e-Commerce. Uploading your multimedia in your favorite social community will be instantaneous. This may give the employee full access to all of their regular files and knowledge, including e-mail and other applications, while away from the workplace. This doesn't even include social media akin to Fb, Twitter, and MySpace, which allow folks to speak with a large number of pals at a time, in addition to to publish photos and comments.
Movies have grow to be in style on the Internet, so many news websites are starting to use video clips to enrich, and typically even replace, written stories. While you select AT&T Internet service you also get access to a nationwide network of Wi-Fi hotspots†, helping you save data and even preserve battery life.
Only accountable digital cellphone suppliers will promote service to customers in the E911 coverage area. The Internet allows greater flexibility in working hours and site, particularly with the unfold of unmetered high-speed connections. Web providers also use HTTP to permit software programs to speak as a way to share and change enterprise logic and information.
As an illustration, if the AI favors engagement, like on Fb and YouTube, it can incentivize divisive content, as a result of divisive content could be very efficient to maintain individuals on-line. The range of obtainable forms of content material is much wider, from specialised technical webcasts to on-demand standard multimedia services.
Connecting a single computer to your high-pace Internet could be very easy to do. Merely join a community cable into your modem, and then into the network card in your laptop. End-customers who only entry the Internet when needed to perform a operate or obtain info, symbolize the bottom of the routing hierarchy.
In the future my wife got here in from choosing up our kids at her sister's home and needed to know why we didn't have Internet service by way of our Direct TV subscription. You will have to use your ISP-assigned IP tackle (the one assigned to your router) to have somebody from the Internet connect to your FTP server. Governments would cost customers a payment to access the service, both by offering their very own retail service or by outsourcing to a state-run internet service provider that will help communities unable to handle their own service.
Frequent methods of Internet entry by users embrace dial-up with a computer modem via phone circuits, broadband over coaxial cable , fiber optics or copper wires, Wi-Fi , satellite tv for pc , and mobile phone know-how (e.g. 3G , 4G ). The Internet could typically be accessed from computers in libraries and Internet cafes Internet entry points exist in many public places similar to airport halls and coffee shops.
First up AT&T The monopolizing entity of the Big 3 phone companies few can compete with the blanket availability of AT&T's services and products worldwide. Homes with a number of related gadgets can stay related and enjoy the advantages of high pace internet.
Companies will should be specific and transparent with their users on how they plan to make use of their private information, and to reveal what knowledge is saved on them. The social-media giants turned consideration merchants," bent on hooking users no mater the consequences.
There are a lot messenger services and email companies providing this service totally free. The primary is that the U.S. is a really huge country, and enormous swaths of it are sparsely populated, making it inefficient to connect small, rural communities to excessive-pace networks.
This text will permit shoppers to teach themselves on the perfect deals potential for bundled companies. Research networks are likely to interconnect with giant subnetworks equivalent to GEANT , GLORIAD , Internet2 , and the UK's national research and schooling community , JANET Each the Internet IP routing construction and hypertext hyperlinks of the World Large Internet are examples of scale-free networks 51 Computer systems and routers use routing tables in their operating system to direct IP packets to the next-hop router or destination.
These toys wirelessly connect with on-line databases to acknowledge voices and pictures, figuring out kids's queries, commands and requests and responding to them. For the primary time ever, we have launched unlimited satellite tv for pc internet in choose areas. The Internet allows laptop users to remotely entry different computers and knowledge stores simply from any access level.
You would still acquire the opposite advantages of digital telephone service, and add a telephone line this manner. Newscasters or journalists over the internet can simply edit their articles or add updates anytime. Internet reliability declare based mostly on U-verse High Velocity Internet service.
You spent numerous time on Facebook, and folks have been getting hooked on it. The numbers for these providers are so monumental that they'll only be shown utilizing the 60 second time scale. Geographic and service restrictions apply to AT&T Internet services. If you are waiting to your satellite tv for pc internet service to be installed, you'll want to purchase the entire wi-fi networking equipment that you will want.
1. With the appearance of the Internet people spend an excessive amount of time emailing and surfing the internet as a substitute of getting off the pc and experiencing life. It is mainly a downloadable software program that uses the internet to connect to a network of satellite tv for pc channels.
Broadband, or high-pace, Internet connection is what many customers at the moment use of their house. Telephone Service- Digital Voice: Unlimited local and lengthy-distance calls from your own home telephone to wherever in the U.S. and now Canada, anytime. After your satellite tv for pc internet system has been set up you will be ready to attach your wireless network.
These platforms enable the IoT to attain its transformational potential, letting businesses handle units, analyze knowledge, and automate the workflow. These providers are broadband so they're generally going to work with wireless networking tools that has traditionally been used to create wi-fi networks for land based mostly broadband internet companies.
Add limitless information and by no means suppose twice about streaming, gaming, conferencing, working, file sharing or every other internet usage. Since a lot of our lives take place on-line, a devoted Internet connection is crucial. Optimise your Wi-Fi entry at dwelling with superior modems and residential networking devices.
You can too purchase any available monthly Internet pack even when you have purchased unlimited internet pack besides every day pack and Fb pack. So each time you will have a Black Lives Matter, social media responds by empowering neo-Nazis and racists in a means that hasn't been seen in generations.
Whenever you want a reliable internet connection for electronic mail, surfing, purchasing, managing your accounts and more, High Pace 10 will do the job quicker than DSL. These could be the principle the explanation why some folks at the moment are using the Internet and its popularity for their own sinister enterprise or interest.


text:
namespace il2cpp
{
namespace icalls
{
namespace mscorlib
{
namespace System
{
namespace Runtime
{
namespace Remoting
{
namespace Contexts
{
    class LIBIL2CPP_CODEGEN_API Context
    {
    public:
        static void RegisterContext(Il2CppObject* ctx);
        static void ReleaseContext(Il2CppObject* ctx);
    };
} // namespace Contexts
} // namespace Remoting
} // namespace Runtime
} // namespace System
} // namespace mscorlib
} // namespace icalls
} // namespace il2cpp


Our silver finish Autism awareness keychain suspends an Autism awareness puzzle ribbon and features multi colored puzzle pieces beside colorful beads.
Keychain measures 3 1/2" long X 1" wide.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this keychain will be donated to the Autism Society Of America.


TEHRAN, Mar. 09 (MNA) – Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Jalal Firouznia and the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis met and held talks over issues of mutual interest.
During the meeting which was held at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut on Friday, the two sides conferred on issues of mutual interest as well as the regional developments.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis started his mission in Lebanon mid-February.
Firouznia also met with Lebanon's Tourism Minister Avedis Guidanian and discussed over a host of issues to explore the ways for boosting bilateral ties in the field of tourism.


With its tall roof and very funky aligning body bits this is one of the ugliest BMWs ever.... So I have no idea why I find this car very cool. Maybe because it`s becoming retro or smthn and this one will be Alpina. Every one of these cars have some great beater feel to them and "Freude am Fahren" comes to mind when looking at it.
Normally I don`t post very early WIP pics because I find them boring but the contest rules say to, so here they are.
I wouldn't say it's the ugliest, the new ones like 1-series is more uglier.


This is a list for African-American themed TV movies. TV movies may or may not be released on VHS or DVD, so these films can be difficult to find. Many times, these films were recorded on VHS when the film came on TV. Luckily, many of them have been discovered. These particular movies I am listing generally consist of an all Black cast, Black actor/actress that was lead role or supporting lead and/or the theme of the movie was centered around African-Americans.


text:
GW under scrutiny for inflated admissions data
By Cory Weinberg Nov 12, 2012 5:22 AM
Administrators disclosed Thursday that GW botched admissions statistics for nearly a decade – but questions linger about the origin of the flawed data and who was responsible.
The University mistakenly overreported the percentage of freshmen that graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class by up to 20 percent – relying on an estimation system that skewed the data. The oversight prompted GW to strip the Office of Admissions of record-keeping responsibilities.
The admissions office had tabulated 78 percent of the Class of 2015 as top high school students, but this summer, the provost's office spotted an error that showed the figure was actually 58 percent. That finding could bruise GW's national ranking in U.S. News & World Report, but likely only by a few slots, if any.
About two-thirds of high schools nationwide don't rank their students. But the admissions office estimated that admitted students who earned top standardized test scores and grade point averages were in the top 10 percent of their high school class anyway – even if they weren't ranked.
GW hired the audit firm Baker Tilly and came clean after a month-long investigation of last year's enrollment data. Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Planning Forrest Maltzman said the firm found no other accounting errors but declined to provide a copy of the report or a reason as to why it would not be released.
Results of the investigation were presented in a closed-door meeting of the Board of Trustees last month. The firm never discovered who set up the estimation system, Maltzman said, adding that the private audit found it was done "without malice."
"We've taken away from [the admissions office] the responsibility for recording the data," Maltzman said. "It was a bad system. It's bad across administrative units to have the same unit responsible for bringing in the class and then telling us about the class. It doesn't make sense. That's no longer going to happen."
Maltzman would not comment on which staff members in the admissions office, if any, would face ramifications for a decade's worth of false data.
"I can't discuss any particular personnel issues. That's sort of a longstanding policy that everyone in the world has," Malzman said Friday. "What I can tell you is nobody who was responsible for the data is in a role where they are responsible for that data in the future."
Kathryn Napper, associate vice president and dean of admissions, declined to comment on the data inflation, whether the office had ever reviewed its admissions data before and other questions. Napper has been dean of admissions for 15 years and has overseen a steady ascent in GW's selectivity and academic standing.
The Office of Academic Planning and Assessment will take over the data reporting and outside firms – like Baker Tilly – will audit admissions data more regularly.
GW has already been planning a search for a new enrollment management chief after the long-serving administrator who oversaw admissions, Robert Chernak, retired in June. His departure moved the admissions office under Provost Steven Lerman's purview, and Maltzman said the provost asked him to evaluate past practices to "really kick the tires" before the new hire.
Representatives from Baker Tilly did not return requests for comment.
The University's percentage of top high school students had been an outlier among many of the schools it considers its competitors. For example, 62 percent of freshmen at New York University, a higher ranked school, came from the top 10 percent of their high school classes. That statistic was 59 percent at Tulane University and 55 percent at Boston University.
Before the misreported data was uncovered, the percentage of GW freshmen in the top 10 percent of their high school class had shot up over the last five years since it was 67 percent in 2008.
But despite the gap between GW and its peer schools, Scott Jaschik, co-founder of the news website Inside Higher Ed, explained that the University likely overlooked the data because it fit with administrators' view of students as top-performing.
"Seventy-eight percent says the norm here is to be a top-10 percent student," he said. "There's less incentive to double-check something when it makes you look good. That's just human nature."
In a University-wide email sent by University President Steven Knapp, and in subsequent statements and interviews given by Lerman and Maltzman, officials have tried to take responsibility and calm the aftermath.
"I deeply regret this error and want to assure you that corrective action has been taken and safeguards put into place to prevent such errors from occurring in the future," Knapp said in a statement.
'Embarrassing,' but probably not a rankings dive
The Department of Education does not collect the misreported data, but the U.S. News ranking, the gold standard in higher education, weighs the statistic as about 6 percent of its total methodology, among factors like student retention and selectivity. GW holds the No. 51 slot on the list, a ranking that has remained mostly stagnant for more than a decade.
Robert Morse, director of data research for U.S. News said Friday that the organization could revise the rankings this year to bump GW down.
"If it does change GWU's current 2013 ranking, it would be a slight change, however, we are still trying to carefully make that actual determination. We are not commenting on future rankings," he said in an email.
But the incident has come under more intense scrutiny from national media, with long write-ups in The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Washington Post. GW is the third top university to report data misdeeds this year.
Emory University, No. 20 in the U.S. News ranking and one of GW's competitor schools, admitted in August that it intentionally inflated admitted students' SAT and ACT scores – leading to the resignation of top admissions officials. The school verified last year's admissions information in time to hold onto the ranking.
In January, a senior administrator at Claremont McKenna College, a top liberal arts school near Los Angeles, admitted to intentional fabrication of student test scores since 2005, after a law firm investigated the data falsified by a top admissions official.
Morse said those two and GW are the only schools out of 1,400 schools U.S. News ranks that admitted to incorrect submissions, but more are stepping up to report wrongdoing now.
"We think the fact that schools are coming forward and going through the pain of these public disclosures about their data misreporting shows how serious schools are taking the issue of data integrity and how they want to be accurate going forward," he said.
Over the past decade, fewer high schools have reported students' class rank, administrators and higher education experts say – a trend that likely only led to a more noticeable data discrepancy in more recent years.
That trend also likely explains the error, said former University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, who led GW when the misreporting began before stepping down in 2007, ending his 19-year presidency.
Trachtenberg, who has criticized the stranglehold that U.S. News has over universities, called the incident "embarrassing" but said admissions officials were likely only "anxious to please" the magazine and its research director, Morse, by estimating the number of students in the top 10 percent of their high school class.
"Why didn't it come to the attention of Bob Morse that he was asking questions that people couldn't give him answers to? By continuing to ask the questions he was putting [the admissions office] in an impossible situation," Trachtenberg said.
But the crisis will blow over because of the narrow scope of false data that was reported, he said.
"If you've got people cooking the books, they're not going to cook the books in one area. They're going to cook the books to make the [University] look gold-plated," Trachtenberg said. "It was more stupidity than malice. The world will move on. You fix it."
'Disappointment,' not outrage
Lerman, GW's second in command, made his first public comments Friday to a meeting of faculty leaders, a day after the news broke.
And he used a word that summed up the mood: "disappointment."
It was an honest mistake, he said, one that went back to the 1990s and was not "in the spirit in the ethical standards to which we hold ourselves."
"In no uncertain terms, it's something we'll make sure is something will never happen again," Lerman said.
Economics professor Donald Parsons, usually one of the administration's sharpest critics on the Faculty Senate, said he appreciated that the administration openly and promptly announced the error.
Physics professor Bill Briscoe, another professor who has stirred debate at the Faculty Senate, said after the meeting that administrators are handling it well.
"We have to take it at face value. It's been going on for a long time, so it's not really their fault," Briscoe said.
Tactically, it made sense for the University to go public with the mistake now, said Amanda Griffith, an assistant economics professor at Wake Forest University, who studies how the rankings affect students' college decisions.
If the University reported new numbers to U.S. News to correct the error next year, it would have raised suspicions because the percentage of students who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class would have fallen dramatically, she said.
"It's better for them honesty wise to show they had this accounting problem and we're fixing it," she said.
This article appeared in the November 12, 2012 issue of the Hatchet.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Amanda Hensel
If a passion for music and a knack for writing make a career, then color Amanda Hensel lucky. She is the product of writers -- apparently when you add two news journalists together, you get one music journalist. She currently resides in 'the live music capital of the world,' where she snagged a journalism degree from the University of Texas. Although she's grounded in Austin, Hensel's name travels -- in her short career, she has cited her passion writing for AOL Music Blog, Fringe Magazine, the Houston Press and various other publications.
Miranda Lambert Has Landed in Vegas and She's Already Actin' Up [Pictures]
It's a hot one — no, seriously.
Kane Brown and Wife Katelyn Introduce Surprise Baby Girl
Report: Dog the Bounty Hunter Believes Brian Laundrie Is Alive — and That He's About to Catch Him
Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman says he's closing in on missing man Brian Laundrie.
Miranda Lambert's Beloved Dog of 13 Years, Waylon, Has Died
"Today I lost one of my best friends," Lambert says.
Top 10 Independence Day Songs
Nothing brings out the patriotism in us like Independence Day.
Joe Diffie Dead of Coronavirus: Travis Tritt, Kelsea Ballerini and More Mourn the '90s Country Star
Joe Diffie's death is a painful shock to the country music community.
10 Things You Definitely Didn't Know About Billy Ray Cyrus
We tip our hats to the man who made our hearts all achy and breaky.
Miranda Lambert Is Married, Says She Found the Love of Her Life
Miranda has tied the knot!
Reba McEntire's 'Stronger Than the Truth' Is Heartbreaking [Listen]
It's a painful breakup song that will hit you in the gut.
Jake Owen's Baby on the Way Is Another Girl, and He's Given Up Drinking
"I'm good at making girls."
Chris Young Took Cover in Trailer Behind Stage During Las Vegas Shooting
Chris Young was backstage at the sold-out Route 91 Festival in Las Vegas just after midnight Monday morning (Oct. 2) when a gunman opened fire.
Jason Aldean Safe After Las Vegas Shooting: 'Tonight Has Been Beyond Horrific'
Jason Aldean and pregnant wife Brittany have reported themselves safe after a mass deadly shooting in Las Vegas on Monday morning (Oct. 2).


text:
The pottery pig worth a champagne dinner
The china pig that RAAF troops guarded with militant dedication
It may look like a tacky trinket, but to the members of the No. 10 Squadron RAAF based at Plymouth, England during World War II it was worth a lot. It was a mascot, but it was also so much more than that. The white china pig was kept in the officers' mess and "zealously guarded" to ensure it remained in one piece. Squadron members were promised to be treated to a champagne dinner at the Hotel Australia, Sydney, NSW if it was unbroken at the end of the war. This photo was taken in 1942, and Australian War Memorial records of the figurine intact in 1944 but unfortunately we have no information about whether the piggy made it all the way home to Australia, or if any soldier got their champagne dinner. [Australian War Memorial]


text:
package com.google.gapid.widgets;

import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Point;
import org.eclipse.swt.graphics.Rectangle;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Control;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Layout;

/**
 * A {@link Layout} that centers a single child control
 */
public class CenteringLayout extends Layout {
  private final Mode mode;
  private int defaultWidth = -1, defaultHeight = -1;
  private int currentWHint, currentHHint, currentWidth = -1, currentHeight = -1;

  private CenteringLayout(Mode mode) {
    this.mode = mode;
  }

  public static CenteringLayout center() {
    return new CenteringLayout(Mode.Center);
  }

  public static CenteringLayout goldenRatio() {
    return new CenteringLayout(Mode.GoldenRatio);
  }

  @Override
  protected Point computeSize(Composite composite, int wHint, int hHint, boolean flushCache) {
    if (flushCache) {
      flushCache(null);
    }

    Control[] controls = composite.getChildren();
    if (controls.length == 0) {
      return new Point(wHint == SWT.DEFAULT ? 0 : wHint, hHint == SWT.DEFAULT ? 0 : hHint);
    }
    computeChildSize(controls[0], wHint, hHint, flushCache);
    return new Point(currentWidth, currentHeight);
  }

  @Override
  protected void layout(Composite composite, boolean flushCache) {
    if (flushCache) {
      flushCache(null);
    }

    Control[] controls = composite.getChildren();
    if (controls.length == 0) {
      return;
    }
    if (currentWidth == -1 || currentHeight == -1) {
      computeChildSize(controls[0], SWT.DEFAULT, SWT.DEFAULT, flushCache);
    }

    mode.setBounds(controls[0], composite.getClientArea(), currentWidth, currentHeight);
  }

  @Override
  protected boolean flushCache(Control control) {
    defaultWidth = defaultHeight = -1;
    currentWidth = currentHeight = -1;
    return true;
  }

  private void computeChildSize(Control control, int wHint, int hHint, boolean flushCache) {
    if (wHint == SWT.DEFAULT && hHint == SWT.DEFAULT) {
      if (defaultWidth == -1 || defaultHeight == -1) {
        Point size = control.computeSize(SWT.DEFAULT, SWT.DEFAULT, flushCache);
        defaultWidth = size.x;
        defaultHeight = size.y;
      }
      currentWidth = defaultWidth;
      currentHeight = defaultHeight;
    } else if (currentWidth == -1 || currentHeight == -1 || wHint != currentWHint || hHint != currentHHint) {
      Point size = control.computeSize(wHint, hHint, flushCache);
      currentWHint = wHint;
      currentHHint = hHint;
      currentWidth = size.x;
      currentHeight = size.y;
    }
  }

  public static enum Mode {
    Center() {
      @Override
      public void setBounds(Control c, Rectangle s, int w, int h) {
        c.setBounds((s.width - w) / 2, (s.height - h) / 2, w, h);
      }
    }, GoldenRatio() {
      private final double phi = 1 / (1 + Math.sqrt(5));

      @Override
      public void setBounds(Control c, Rectangle s, int w, int h) {
        c.setBounds((s.width - w) / 2, (int)((s.height - h) * phi), w, h);
      }
    };

    public abstract void setBounds(Control c, Rectangle s, int w, int h);
  }

}


text:
Q: smalltalk: how to select the first n items from a collection I have an collection c, I basically want to split the collection into two parts: the first n items into one list and the rest to another. Obviously, I can use do:, but is there a better way to do it?

A: I don't know about the other dialects but pharo has this useful methods: first: last: allButFirst: allButLast:
So you can do something like:
firstPart := c first: 10.
secondPart := c allButFirst: 10

A: You can use copyFrom: to:.
For example:
firstTen := myCollection copyFrom: 1 to: 10.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


From time-to-time, member churches within the Halifax Association may have individual employment opportunities available. As information is made available to us, it will be posted below for you to download.
Please be sure to contact the designated church directly with any questions you may have and for application - the Halifax Association has no involvement in the hiring process and is unable to assist or answer questions unless otherwise stated in a job listing.


text:
The virtual story so far…
Posted by theministry on 1st July 2020
With tales of a poisonous dart frog, a land with no children and a skateboarding chicken nugget, volunteer writing mentor Adam Keeper updates us on the latest happenings from our virtual writing lab, The Story Engine.
When Ministry of Stories had to temporarily decamp from its secret location behind Hoxton Street Monster Supplies, the Chief broke the emergency seal on the filing cabinet marked 'Research & Development' and found an elegant solution for socially distanced writing – The Story Engine.
The Story Engine was originally piloted in 2015 by young writers aged 11-12 and designed to their exacting specifications. The site includes a writer's notebook, seasoned tips for getting started or unstuck, and sage advice from the Inspirational Jellyfish. Despite its virtual setting, The Story Engine retains the Ministry's innovative twist by providing live online mentoring sessions from its fantastic volunteer writing mentors.
The Story Engine's virtual sessions have the familiar feel of sitting at a table in one of the Ministry's writing labs, with mentors on hand to offer rolling feedback and provide rousing words of encouragement. The rapport between mentors and young writers helps build confidence in their creativity and inspires them to share their work with others.
As always with Ministry of Stories writing projects, young people's imaginations remain at the heart of The Story Engine, and their young writers are continuing to be just as creative and prolific as ever, despite the current uncertainties in the world around them. As one of The Story Engine's volunteer mentors, I've been dazzled by stories about a land with no children, the travelling essentials of a poisonous dart frog and a skateboarding chicken nugget.
After less than two weeks of operation, the Story Engine has 44 active writers, working on a breathtaking 73 pieces of writing, and the Chief has already rubber-stamped nine fantastic poems and stories for publication on the site. However, this is just the beginning. Ministry of Stories is due to open up The Story Engine to partner schools and organisations in Hackney and Brighton, to as far away as Sydney, Australia. So until we can physically meet again, rest assured that young writers can still find an outlet for their burgeoning imaginations.
Read more original stories published by our young writers on The Story Engine.
A huge thank you to Adam Keeper and all our volunteers who continue to virtually mentor our young writers and to all our funders and supporters for continuing to make writing spaces possible for our young people during this challenging time.
NEXT PAGE: Volunteers' Week 2020


Avoid Eating THIS In The Summer!
5 Things You Must Include In Your Skin Care Routine!
Budget Jhumka's You Need To Try This Wedding Season!
Still Looking For Your Perfect Lehenga? These Budget lehengas Will Blow Your mind!
Top 6 Sunscreen Lotions – Which Is Your Number# 1?


Despite the claims of various promoters of new therapeutic techniques, there is no evidence supporting the superiority of one technique over another. However, there is ample research data showing that responsiveness to a patient's particular problems and goals is a strong predictor of effective therapy. In other words, understanding what the patient wants and how they want to use therapy to get it.
Over the past several decades, SFPRG has developed an empirically derived method of case formulation – the Plan Formulation Method (PFM) – that serves as a useful guide for decoding the patient's plan and offers coaching to the therapist as to how to be most effective.
The PFM provides a simple, reliable, learnable framework for understanding a patient's conscious and unconscious goals, the pathogenic beliefs or schemas that prevent the patient from pursuing goals, traumatic experiences that contributed to the development of pathogenic beliefs, and how the therapist can optimize responsiveness to the patient's problems, needs, and goals. In short, it points you towards not just WHAT to do, but HOW to be as a particular person's therapist. There is research evidence suggesting that therapists who are trained in PFM and use the formulation to guide their interventions are more responsive to their patients and achieve superior therapeutic results.
In this course, you will learn the fundamentals of Control-Mastery Case formulation and begin applying it immediately to your cases. You'll learn how to integrate Control-Mastery formulation into your existing manner of working and strengthen the work you're already doing.
"As an old hand who's practiced from a control mastery framework for many years, I thought it would be a real learning experience to attend an intro workshop and review the basic tenets of CMT with fresh eyes—and it certainly was! Trevor Ahrendt is a great presenter—scholarly, clear, thorough, and humorous. He thoughtfully covered all of the basic concepts underlying CMT: the historical background, pathogenic beliefs, how safety shapes the therapy experience, the ways that patients test therapists, and how to respond. Not a slow moment throughout—and I'd do it all again!
Peter Howard, PhD, Clinical Psychologist"
Trevor M. Ahrendt, Psy.D. is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist (PSY26754) working in private practice in San Francisco where he offers individual and group therapy. He received his doctorate from The Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA. He currently serves on the board of the San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group and has served on the board of the Northern California Group Psychotherapy Association.
While Dr. Ahrendt has trained in a variety of therapeutic approaches while has spent the bulk of his time learning Control-Mastery Theory in depth. He offers regular introductory courses on CMT and the integration of CMT and Group Therapy.


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For a fantastic holiday centerpiece, collect knobby branches and spray paint them red - matte for a more subtle look, gloss for more glitzy. Arrange them in a large blue and white ginger jar sans lid or a large blue and white Chinese bowl. A fabulous faux coral look for about $5.00 for a can of paint.
I'd know this image anywhere. It;s one of my favorites too! Oscar has the most elegant style. Just a super classic!


This one, courtesy of Wikipedia, is for all the former Mad Magazine readers out there. Never let it be said that Wikipedia isn't needlessly detailed about some pretty quirky stuff.
If you really want to get lost in Wikipedia, go ahead and click the link about halfway down the page to the article on metasyntactic variables. It'll be the single nerdiest thing you do today!


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CREATE INDEX pg2_ao_bitmap_idx1_a0 ON pg2_ao_table_bitmap_index_a0 USING bitmap (numeric_col);


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Dit is een overzicht van afleveringen van de jeugdserie Peppi en Kokki van de KRO. Er waren 83 afleveringen van Peppi en Kokki. Ze werden op televisie uitgezonden door de KRO in het jaar 1972 tot en met 1978.

 De afleveringen Als verstekelingen, Als privé detective en Avontuur onder water zijn verdeeld in drie delen of in afleveringen.
 De aflevering Peppi en Kokki Gaan een dagje uit is in twee delen verdeeld of in afleveringen.
 De afleveringen Een dagje naar het strand, De bom moet barsten en Aan boord van het oorlogsschip zijn afkomstig uit de film Peppi en Kokki bij de Marine.

Volgens Nan de Vries zijn er echter 88 afleveringen gemaakt. Ook in 1977 werd over dit aantal afleveringen gesproken in diverse kranten.

Afleveringen

Seizoen 1 (Nogal Wiedus)
 De afleveringen uit seizoen 1 werden uitgezonden als onderdeel van het kinderprogramma Nogal Wiedus.
 (Afleveringen met een tussen haakjes hebben ook een andere naam of zijn hernoemd).

Seizoen 2 (De nieuwe avonturen van Peppi en Kokki)

Seizoen 3 (De avonturen van Peppi en Kokki)

Seizoen 4 (Peppi en Kokki)

Titel/uitzenddatum onbekend
* Van afleveringen 16, 51 en 56 zijn de titels onbekend. Van onderstaande is wel een titel bekend, maar geen exacte uitzenddatum.

Externe links
 Aflevering-lijst van Peppi & Kokki van de site televisiegeheugen.nl

Peppi en Kokki

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


How you acquire energy?: Selling TF2 Items, arenas, vana runs etc.
Why should we accept you into our guild over the other applicants we get? Abit hard to answer....However, i can Support help if needed , if you need a extra person for anything i can be their to help :>.
I stars Playing since August.
2pm - 8pm or more.
i have killed : Roumoulus Twins, Jelly King, Snarbolax and Lord Vanaduke.
I have not tried but maybe.
to be honest i dont have been on the sahdow lair.
waiting or buying ce with cr.
Faust lv.6, Avenger lv.7 Horned Owlite Shield.
Have you been in any guilds previously? If so, which ones?
Team Fortress As Officer and Even Flow as Officer.
Why should we accept you into our guild over the other applicants we get?
.Becouse, I am always helping people with missions, gifting things, i always help a friend called azulshonda to sell things and as a traslator. Also i know english and spanish i can be a translator.
I am always trying to improve my armor, weapons also i can help in anytime at anymoment.
And sorry for my misspelling.
Applicants please send friend requests to the following people with a note saying "Knightmare Try-out"
Just accepted 3 new members.
Want to join knightmare! I will email you tomorrow about my stuff.
Time i play per day on average: usually busy on weekdays, but i can squeeze in some time then usually. I'd say about 2-4 hours a day.
Time I play per week on average: About 12-18 hours.
Tiers im experianced with: 1,2,3 and Shadow lair 1 (though im yet to beat it, lost on boss).
Areas able to solo: All tiers, (excluding vanaduke) as well as tier 1 and 2 danger rooms.
How i aquire energy: Mostly by grinding, but i occasionally buy it (no more than 1600 at a time).
Why I should be accepted: I am mature, I am friendly, and i never abuse any power i get in guilds. I also give materials to those who need them ( I have way to many).
Thank you for following directions 100% Gingermace. It was quite a pleasent change from a lot of applicants. Lol.
So have you had your tryout?
Council members have been rather busy as of late, we try to get around to doing tryouts, but for the most part this largely depends on if we can find someone who we can boost off of so we can get it started soon. Also, a couple of the council member's (mine included) pass has expired, so we are not quite as willing to go out of our way to do these tryouts, although we still try to do them.
Apologies in advance for those waiting, we try to get around to doing them, and apreciate your support in Knightmare.
Not familiar with your forum name if so.
'lo folks. A quick query: are you still accepting members or has the last spot already been taken? Just wanted to know before filling out an application.
I do not know if you are still recruiting but I guess I'll give it a shot.
About how many hours do you play per day on average?: 3h-5h usually, but weekends may go up to 6h.
About how many hours do you play per week on average?:Multiply it by 7 please.
What are your normal play hours (GMT):Weekdays its 12pm-1pm start. Weekends its 2am-3pm... quite random timings on weekend.
What tiers do you have experience with? (1,2,3+ shadow lairs?): Tier 1, 2, 3.
Are you able to solo all content minus shadow lairs and danger rooms?:Not for FSC, but the rest yes.
How you acquire energy?:Buy from market.
4*: Ascended calibur, Avenger, Vile Striker, Silversix, Ash Tail set, Dark Thorn Shield.
I may seem noob with only 4* gears but I am an active player and is advancing fast to 5* with the help of some friends. Also, I am mature with fairly good playing skills in Spiral knights. I observe the rules and do not annoy people. I love going on runs and participate actively.
I discovered the game on Saturday, January 7, 2012, the same day of my registration.
I've clocked around 5 or 6 hours in the game thus far, and intend on playing a lot more in the future. As for how many hours I get a day, Monday through Thursday, it's likely I won't be able to squeeze any time in due to schoolwork. Friday through Sunday, however, I should be able to fit in about 3 or 4 per day. During school vacations, however, I should have at least 5 a day.
Again, I probably won't be able to play Monday through Thursday. However, it's highly likely I will be online Friday evenings, and afternoons on Saturdays and Sundays, depending on shopping and outside-activity schedules. So on average, I estimate about, oh, 9 hours maybe?
I operate more or less on GMT +5. Again, my playing hours really depend on what I have scheduled, but on average I estimate I could be on from: around 5:30 or 6:30 PM to 8:00 or 8:30 PM, sometimes 9:00 if I can sneak it in, on Fridays; and most or all afternoon and a large chunk of the evening on weekends.
I have done quite a few solo excursions in Tier 1. However, being a greenhorn and rather ill-equipped, the farthest I've gone is the first Terminal.
Unfortunately, in my limited time of playing SK, I have not yet encountered any bosses.
Up to now, all my experiences in the Clockworks have been solo (I think I've only gone on one party expedition, back during the Rescue Camp portion of the game). Due to my level, it's doubtful I'd be able to solo all content, though I feel I'm able to hold my own in a fight.
As of currently, I have no energy stored, only what's in my mist tank. In the future, I intend to acquire energy through the trade feature.
Seeing as I don't have a lot of gear, I'll just list everything. Please bear in mind, I'm currently in the process of saving up for better stuff.
My first day of playing, I unwittingly set myself up for a game of Blastnetwork, and promptly went on to blow myself up more times than I can count. I haven't entered since, but I think I can now safely play without detonating a bomb in my face every five seconds. However, I think my primary focus for now will be exploring the Clockworks and trying to get more gear and crowns so I don't expect to be particularly active in either of them.
Even though I'm a fledgling player and perhaps not the most active, I believe I have a lot to offer to the guild in terms of skill in the game and ability to strategize and socialize with other players. I am a mature and amiable individual capable of demonstrating patience, loyalty, confidence, discipline, integrity, and team spirit. My aim is not to use Knightmare as an easy way to obtain loot and level, but rather to become part of an active player community and grow with the guild. I hope to learn from and fight alongside other members of Knightmare, while interacting with players from around the world and contributing positively to the guild. In short, while I most definitely am not the strongest or best-equipped candidate, I still feel that I would be a good addition to Knightmare, and would be honored if I could join.
We are always recruiting as we always have people going inactive.
We currently have 2 inactive members who can be booted if a promising applicants turns up.
We also urge anybody interested to hold off until you are in full 5* gear as you will most likely not be accepted, not that you cant apply again in the future, just that it wastes our time.
Why accept me over others? Because I think myself to be very loyal to my guilds, I am active in guild activities and I help out members whenever I can. I also feel I can help your nice guild in runs or SL runs, i think i will be useful In and out of the clockworks. Thank you for taking time to read my lengthy post!
Sharkiez created Knightmare in beta long before Chris actually joined Knightmare. Knightmare was pretty good for about 2 months in Beta then died off....and same goes to launch Knightmare started a bit strong, and then vanished for a good 2 to 3 months, and now is back alive again, so the "17 months" is most likely a bit of false advertising I guess, but the guild has been alive for over 1 year, but the ownership has changed due to Chris aka Christina stole the name after beta due to Sharkiez logging in one day after the launch.
The 17 months is from the time I took over knightmare until today.
If you are not interested in applying, please move on. No need to try to make us look bad. We don't do it to you.
@Kennys --- I have no reason to make you guys look bad at all....I was answering a question a player asked about the title it is misleading.
@Chris --- Game has not gone public for 17 Months, and the last time I talked to Sharkiez after beta...he was upset he was not the true owner of Knightmare makes me wonder if you even had ownership during beta, but regardless it dosent matter to all the beta players the guild you call yours is forever Sharkiez easily one of the coolest players who would yell at you for wearing a chaos set lol.
Admit it, I agree with NJ here. It was pretty cheap to just take the name from the real owner.
Actually, it makes me wonder, is Sharkiez even in your guild?
Probably not. But NJ, remeber, NO trolling!!!
Chris i dont mean to troll around and i think its a really good guild, but man... really?
I don't mean to troll at all just hate when facts don't line up. Why lie even on the internet. Regardless, I think I answer the question Erridunno asked.
NJ, you online? i sighned up for EoS once, but i got denied i guess.
solo'd or been to the core?
Sharkiez was inactive for like 6 months when I took over Knightmare due to complete lack of leadership.
Sharkiez didn't even come back for more than a week after the game released and asked me for a guild invite and then removed himself when he went inactive.
People have sent me screenshots of you making up stories in haven about us to make us look bad.
Anymore troll posts here will be emailed to support.
EDIT: Now for the reason I lol'd since, looking back a few hours after the fact, I'm sure it's not clear to pretty much anyone but myself why that's funny because of how tired I am. I would like to note though, that I'm not intending to be offensive in any way since that seems to be an issue here, I'm merely pointing out what's being perceived as nothing more than a bystander.
You claim that "Knightmare" wouldn't be where it is today without you. That much is inherent simply by how you carry on in here and around the forums; whether or not you directly claim that is not my concern. Even with that in mind, there's no doubt that Knightmare is a big guild, and it must be assumed that you've done something right as a result, so I will commend you for that. But the statement I quoted - a complete lack of leadership - just comes out funny coming from the current leader of anything.
This next part is just grounded in pure opinion and you're free to disregard it if it doesn't hit you just the right way, but a guildmaster that's completely committed to a guild - that's inclusive of all events, past, present, and future - wouldn't outright state that the previous GM demonstrated a complete lack of leadership, not in such a public manner at least. If you want to say such things within the guild, by all means do so, but showing that sort of public disrespect shows to everyone else is that you have some sort of axe to grind or point to make, and at the very least, it shows that you can't appreciate your own guild through everything it has actually been through, but rather just the things that would make the guild look good under your leadership in comparison to someone else's.
In essence, it's almost like you're trying to prove to yourself more than anyone else that Knightmare's better now than it was in the beginning.
Guys... calm dowwwn and take a chil pill or something. NO more TROLLING Knightmare or Christina.
Im sorry if you felt like you were being critisized. I was just trying to make a point there.
No offence to anyone, but I sorta defend the KNightmare, so... Leave them alone or I will Bite YOU!!!!
Sharkiez logs on for the first time 10 days after the game releases.
Nj this game was in alpha testing almost 2 years ago.
That fact alone points out your lies.
Thanks for your time troll.
We are celebrating our 17th month of existence.
Christina I can't be mad at you for not being able to do simple math since everyone knows from beta Knightmare hasn't been around for 17 months and was not even an active guild for moth its existence, but hey I guess the bar for being successful is not as high for certain players regardless have fun leading Sharkiez guild.
Man NJ really tries to keep up on his Knightmare history... Here's to our biggest fan! Thanks njthug!
"Man NJ really tries to keep up on his Knightmare history... Here's to our biggest fan! Thanks njthug!"
Mmm i'm going to go ahead and say that's not a proven statement. more of a theory. and doesn't really have any relativity to this.
Ah, but indeed it does have relativity to the topic being discussed right now. You see, if Nj wasn't as privy to the knowledge at hand, eventually he'd make the same mistake. And if I were a GM, I'd do everything I could to keep from doing things such as false advertising, overstretching my guild's reputation for my own personal benefit, and things of that nature. So it's not so much a "theory" as it is a general rule one should abide by, regardless of the situation.
Ball's in your court, champ.
Pretty sure the history was.
Which has absolutely no relevancy at all whatsoever, because I'm pretty sure Dogrock or... hell, anyone in his guild in general wouldn't let that one happen.
Around what day did you start playing Spiral Knights (or how long ago)?: Wed 18th 2012 Around 8pm Central time, i forget bc i had a stomach ache.
What shadow Lair bosses have you killed?: Non who is that ? Can i get fired by the boss ?
Have you been in any guilds previously? If so, which ones? Nope no one ever talks in towns ... its quite sad.
Are you active in Blastnetwork? Lockdown?: Not sure what that is, only thing coming to mind is, I am with T-Mobile ? LOL and my phone is Unlocked ?
I am a very funny character very easy to get along, though I do say odd things here and there that make no sense. I know my manners, i respect female and younger gamers. I get quiet upon drama and will do my own thing when i smell drama. Not very Drama Compatible i am. I listen and talk my mind so you will always get the true opinion of things. AND then I just wanna have some fun gaming online again haven't played a MMO since i owned a mac.
Retequizzle stop showing how mad you are. Honestly if you have nothing better to do than rage in our guild recruitment thread then you really need to get out more.
@ Germanese Let me know when you are online for a tryout!
Ret has been brainwashed by NJ it seems, lol.


Warranty Periods: 5 years Limited Warranty. Corrosion and oxidation resistant results in an ability to withstand various acids found in fruits, meats and vegetables. Care & Maintenance: Wash with a mild soap or mild detergent and then rinse thoroughly daily with fresh tap water; For heavier cleaning, use a paste of bicarbonate soda or a soft bristle brush. Rub in the direction of the polished surface as softly as possible. Rinse with fresh tap water.DO NOT use any metallic souring pads and steel wool pads, solvents, bleaches, drain cleaning products or any other liquids or agents which could lead to staining or discoloration.


Talking candidly about obstacles, personal demons and fear of following ambition ROB.GREEN releases his first single of 2017.
OUT NOW. Exclusively for streaming.
The self-titled, self-released ROB.GREEN EP marks ROB's third studio EP. Debuting in the Top 40 of iTunes Albums Chart in it's first week (and #3 in iTunes RnB Chart!), gaining international critical acclaim for the innovative, continuous shot music video for Blue; the EP's debut single; ROB.GREEN EP is his most prolific release to date.


This quick and easy Honey Beer Bread is a great addition to your St. Patrick's Day meal!
Don't you just LOVE bread? Honestly, I don't know if there is anything that smells or tastes better than a loaf of bread, hot from the oven. But most days, I don't have time to bake a loaf from scratch because of the time needed for the dough to rise. That's where this Honey Beer Bread steps in. Just a few ingredients and you will be eating a loaf of fresh warm bread in under an hour!
While we are on the subject, let's talk about the beer. You can use whatever kind of beer you like, but remember…good bread starts with good beer. You can use a dark, malty beer or something lighter; this is really up to your own personal preference. Just pick a type of beer with a flavor you enjoy drinking. Using dark beer gives the bread a stronger beer flavor and a little darker color. Light beer gives it a lighter color and IPA's will have a stronger hoppy taste. So, depending on what kind of flavor you are going for, choose your beer accordingly.
So now that we have the beer covered, let's talk about flour. Many recipes for beer bread use self-rising flour. While this makes it super easy, because there are fewer ingredients to measure, self-rising flour isn't something I typically have in the cupboard. Do you? If you do, then you can substitute 3 cups of self rising flour for the regular flour, but BE SURE to omit the baking powder and salt from the original recipe.
FYI, on a a little side note…In recipes that call for self-rising flour, for every cup required, you can substitute a mixture of 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. (Just in case you come across a recipe that uses self-rising flour and you don't have any).
Back to the flour in this recipe. One thing you need to be sure to do is SIFT. I know…I usually don't sift flour either. But for this recipe, you really need to. Sifting the flour lightens it, so it isn't as compact when you measure it. In this case, since there are so few ingredients, it really does make a difference. If you don't sift the flour and then measure, your bread may be heavier. So please, sift the flour, then spoon into the measuring cup to measure. If you don't have a sifter, a wire sieve works too. If you don't have either, then lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup, being sure not to tap the cup and cause the flour to settle.
OK, now onto the sweet side. Some recipes don't use any sugar, which I think is really a necessary ingredient. I tried one recipe this way and it had a very strong beer flavor. I really missed the sweetness. This Honey Beer Bread uses a little sugar and honey, which sweetens your bread and gives a little honey flavor.
The last variation in many recipes was the melted butter that goes on the outside. Some had you pour it on before baking, while others did it at the end. I found that when you pour the melted butter over the batter before baking, your bread will get the nicest crunchy, buttery crust. YUM!
So that's it! A can of beer and a few simple pantry ingredients all mixed up in a bowl with a spoon and you will have this hearty, sweet and malty bread in under an hour! Slather on some butter, maybe a drizzle of honey and serve it warm with your Irish dinner (or ANY dinner). It couldn't get any easier! Happy St. Patrick's Day! Happy Baking!
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray; set aside.
To measure flour: Sift flour; spoon into measuring cup; scrape off excess flour with straight edge.
Pour 3 cups flour into large mixing bowl; add baking powder, sugar and salt; stir together to combine.
Add beer and honey; stir with spoon until combined.
Spoon batter into prepared pan; pour melted butter evenly over all.