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Sunday, December 30, 2012
The Sixth Day of Christmas: The Bells of Dublin
This seems like a good Sunday song during Christmas...
No real video here, but enjoy the Chieftans play The Bells of Dublin & Christmas Eve.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
The Fifth Day of Christmas: Some Children See Him
James Taylor sings Some Children See Him.
I first heard this carol when I was a young child - my parents had a Tennessee Ernie Ford Christmas album with this song on it, and it has always been one of my favorites. I guess hearing it as a child and knowing it was a Christmas song about children's experience made it particularly appealing to me.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
The Feast of the Incarnation
|Nativity set from Haiti
We've heard this Christmas story enough times to burnish and gild it, so that we forget that sheep are smelly, that shepherds were despised, that unwed teenage mothers do not find having babies out in the animal quarters to be romantic, that God Almighty coming to live among us as a helpless infant is preposterous.
We forget that Caesar Augustus was also known as a Prince of Peace because of his Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, enforced by installing legions of troops in every province of the Empire. Augustus was considered a god, the savior of the people, and it is against the backdrop of Empire, of the great socio-political and economic system overseen by the mighty Caesar Augustus that this Christmas story takes place.
All the world was busily engaged in commerce and politics and cultural activities, while outside in a barn, the true prince of peace is born, the true savior comes, and no one takes any notice, except for some rough shepherds, the Imperial equivalent of migrant workers.
And yet the power of the story is intensified through the stark contrast of this birth and this life and this peace and this savior over against the life and rule of the warrior emperor Caesar Augustus, creator of the Pax Romana but NOT the creator of the stars of night.
Which is what we say Christmas IS in the Church - the feast of the Incarnation. The nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ is not just about his birth but about how and why God chose to come and live among us and what that means to us and for us now.
Of course, we say every week that we know what this is about. We recite in the Creed:
For us and for our salvation, Jesus came down from Heaven. By the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and was made man.
The incarnation is at its heart a story. A story with skin on it, the story of a person sent from God
who shows us what God is like; the story of the man from heaven who became human so that we might become divine.
And through story, through this particular story, we come to understand through something other than reason or logic. Through this story we understand that busy empires are not concerned with teenaged mothers who give birth in back alleys nor with their babies and their care. That busy empires do not have the time or inclination to receive the songs of angels, much less notice God's appearance.
We understand that God chose to come among us as a helpless infant born in irregular circumstances and resting in a feeding trough instead of as a powerful emperor resting on a throne. And that the good news of his coming was announced to the poor, not to the powerful, and that the real prince of peace does not deploy troops or issue decrees that demonize or marginalize the non-powerful.
We understand that the story of God is not just something that happens in an alternate universe but in real people's lives every day. We may live under the rules of whatever Empire we are born into but those rules are not the ones under which God prefers to operate.
Incarnation is God's story with skin on it, having to do with not only the life of Jesus, God made man, but also the lives of all humans. It means that God cares for those whom the world pushes aside. It means that there is a connection between heaven and earth, between mystery and not just the ordinary but the grubby earthy realities of human existence.
That connection is in the person of Jesus, who stands between heaven and earth, as the one who lifts us from the mire of our brokenness and brings all of humanity into the realm of dancing stars and singing angels into the very heart of God our creator. And so we find ourselves looking into the manger and finding not just a baby, but a pathway into the mystery itself.
This story of a vulnerable baby born to a powerless mother on the edge of society challenges us to see Christ in all vulnerable, powerless, marginalized people. And not only to make that connection in our imaginations but to put our hands to work for their good, for their dignity and well-being. The story of the incarnation is supposed to teach us to care, not only for Baby Jesus and his beautiful mother, but for all those for whom Jesus came.
Children have a great avenue into the Christmas story through the venerable tradition of the Christmas pageant. They literally inhabit the story, they put on costumes and play out the parts. They learn the story from the inside out, with their own bodies, another way of thinking about incarnation. They learn by playing all the parts and imagining themselves to be their characters. By putting themselves in the shoes of others, they just step into the mystery.
After every children's pageant I see a few come away with shining eyes and I know that they were living in the story and not simply playing at it. Their inching toward the baby in their animal suits, their standing in awe beside a tinsel-haired angel took them into that other world and gave them their own stories to bring back and to tell, about the time they held their breath as a baby was brought to the arms of a very young girl waiting at the altar.
And that it is our calling to put flesh on God's love for all humanity through our caring for God's people ourselves, not in the ways of Caesar and Empire, but in the ways of the God. To care for them as if they were that vulnerable mother and helpless infant lying in an animal's trough, surrounded by glorious angel song.
Monday, December 24, 2012
The Best Christmas "Pageant" Ever!
This is two years old now, but it's still the best Christmas pageant ever. Thanks to the children (and their adult assistants) of St Paul's Auckland, New Zealand for this version of The Christmas Story.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Collect for the Fourth 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.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Saturday Music Extra: Birthday Jazz
Today is my son's 18th birthday. He's the trumpet player. Here he is playing with one of his combo groups. This is Prime Directive by Dave Holland.
Music for Advent: O Come, O Come Emmanuel
The Piano Guys play this Advent favorite. Enjoy.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Friday Afternoon Advent Snow Break
Wishing you peace this day as we all move ever closer to Christmas.
Musical Psalm for Friday in the Third Week of Advent
Part of Steven Faux's Psalms Project, Volume II, this track was inspired by footage James Faux filed while on the front of a car as it broadcast a popular gospel song round Kyampisi village in Uganda.
The singer only sings the first two verses of the Psalm, so here's the whole thing from the Book of Common Prayer:
Psalm 67
May God be merciful to us and bless us,
show us the light of his countenance and come to us.
Let your ways be known upon earth,
your saving health among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity and guide all the nations upon earth.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.
The earth has brought forth her increase;
may God, our own God, give us his blessing.
May God give us his blessing,
and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Almost there!
The waiting has been hard, but it's almost over. I've said my prayers and lit/gazed at my candles and read my devotions and said more and more prayers. I'm not sure I will ever be properly and fully ready for Jesus to come, but I'm working on it.
I'm traveling today for a quick visit with hubby and son for my son's birthday and to attend a concert before returning to Virginia for Advent IV, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Then I'll be back on the road again for some R&R with the family. Check back daily for music, prayers, and nativities during the twelve days of Christmas!
Psalm for Thursday in the Third Week of Advent
Psalm 30
I will exalt you, O Lord, because you have lifted me up
and have not let my enemies triumph over me.
O Lord my God, I cried out to you,
and you restored me to health.
You brought me up, O Lord, from the dead;
you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.
Sing to the Lord, you servants of his;
give thanks for the remembrance of his holiness.
For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye;
his favor for a lifetime.
Weeping may spend the night,
but joy comes in the morning.
While I felt secure, I said, "I shall never be disturbed.
You, Lord, with your favor, made me as strong as the mountains."
Then you hid your face,
and I was filled with fear.
I cried to you, O Lord;
I pleaded with the Lord,saying,
"What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit?
will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?
Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me;
O Lord, be my helper."
You have turned my wailing into dancing;
you have put off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy.
Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing;
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks for ever.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Wednesday Advent Angel
This angel lives on the (Episcopal) Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan.
She looks expectant.
Psalm for Wednesday in the Third Week of Advent
Psalm 85:8-13
I will listen to what the Lord God is saying
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him.
Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth have met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth shall spring up form the earth,
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed grant prosperity,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness shall go before him,
and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Music for Advent: Come thou fount of every blessing
I posted this last year, but because I love this arrangement, I'm posting it again this year. This is Sufjan Stevens, from his album Hark. It's not normally considered an Advent song, but it is a call for God (as the fount of every blessing) to come be part of our lives.
Psalm for Tuesday in the Third Week of Advent
Psalm 34:1-8
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall ever be in my mouth.
I will glory in the Lord;
let the humble hear and rejoice.
Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord;
let us exalt his Name together.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me out of all my terror.
Look upon him and be radiant,
and let not your faces be ashamed.
I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me
and saved me from all my troubles.
The angels of the Lord encompasses those who fear him,
and he will deliver them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are they who trust in him.
Monday, December 17, 2012
A cup of kindness
It's been kind of rainy and gloomy here. It seems appropriate as we move quickly toward the solstice - the shortest day, or more aptly, the longest night.
A number of churches hold a longest night service on the 21st, in the same vein as what some call a Blue Christmas service. It is geared toward those who are grieving, who have perhaps lost loved ones in the last year, who are for whatever reason not up for a jolly holly Christmas. Our church will have one - a service in the chapel with candles and a soup supper afterwards - on Friday. Last year we had a harpist (not sure about this year - I'm actually out of town on the 21st). It was lovely.
Some of us have trouble feeling our feelings. Maybe we were taught not to feel them so much when we were little. I know that is true for me. Maybe we are afraid of our feelings. What if we get carried away, what if our feelings overwhelm us and we end up swept up in their tide. What if we end up like jelly outside the jar, just a quivering mass spreading out into nothing?
Or maybe we just don't want to show our feelings to others. Whose business is it anyway that we are sad or uncomfortable? Just leave us alone.
There are many people who are experiencing the longest night right now. Right now in the midst of our putting up Christmas greenery and shopping and singing and feasting. All the nights may seem like the longest night, now and for a while yet.
We all have rough edges and we bump up against one another all the time. As the nights grow longer, let us be kind. You never know what's going on with the people you meet this time of year.
Let us all be kind.
Psalm for Monday in the Third Week of Advent
Psalm 25:3-8
Show me your ways, O Lord,
and teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long.
Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love,
for they are from everlasting.
Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions;
remember me according to your love and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
Gracious and upright is the Lord;
therefore he teaches sinners in his way.
He guides the humble in doing right
and teaches his way to the lowly.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Who are these like stars appearing?
But I thought about the readings a lot today. I was glad that we sang "Comfort, comfort ye my people." It was a hard day and this is a day of hard readings, at least from the Gospel of Luke.
John the Baptist calls out rather unkindly to the people who are gathered around him, gathered perhaps because he is a novelty, perhaps because everybody else is going to see and hear him.
"You brood of vipers!" he spits. "Did someone tell you to run and hide from the Day of the Lord, which is surely coming soon? It isn't running and hiding that you are called to do.
The world is broken. And so we all need to change."
The world is indeed broken. And we need to change it. Hearts are broken. Lives are broken, systems are broken, communities are broken. We are a broken people and things need to change.
There is a reason why we celebrate God's coming to live among us year after year. And it isn't about presents or big meals or snow or Christmas trees and carols. We celebrate God's coming to us every year because every year we need God to come among us again. Every year we see again how broken our world is and how much we need healing and how much we need our wounds bound up and how much we need love that overflows and knows no bounds. Every year we need to hear again that God will destroy evil and the world will be made right in the fullness of time.
This year perhaps you are the one whose wounds need binding up. Or perhaps you are the one who is called to do the binding.
Perhaps you are the one who needs your tears wiped away. Or perhaps you are the one who is called to hold a hand or give a hug or provide the tissues.
Perhaps you are the one who feels as if you cannot go on. Or perhaps you are the one who is called to hold someone up and walk with them for a few steps.
Perhaps you are lonely. Or perhaps you are called to be a friend.
Perhaps you are hopeless. Or perhaps you are called to hold up a vision of hope.
To quote Mr Rogers, "In times like these, look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." Maybe you are called to be a helper. And if you are so called, then light your candle and step forward.
I think maybe the whole world is broken today after the slaughter of yet more innocents. And so - and yet - we live in hope, again, that indeed on that day God will wipe away every tear. And there will be plenty of tears to wipe away. But that is indeed our hope.
Don't run and hide. Light your candle and step forward. The world is broken. Help change it.
Who are these like stars appearing, these, before God's throne who stand? Each a golden crown is wearing; who are all this glorious band? Alleluia! Hark, they sing, praising loud their heavenly king. Who are these of dazzling brightness, these in God's own truth arrayed, clad in robes of purest whiteness, robes whose luster ne'er shall fade, ne'er be touched by time's rude hand? Whence comes all this glorious band? These are they who have contended for their Savior's honor long, wrestling on till life was ended, following now the sinful throng; these, who well the fight sustained, triumph by the Lamb have gained. These are they whose hearts were riven, sore with woe and anguish tried, who in prayer full oft have striven with the God they glorified; now their painful conflict o'er, God has bid them weep no more. Lo, the Lamb himself now feeds them on Mount Zion's pastures fair; from his central throne he leads them by the living fountains there, Lamb and Shepherd, Good Supreme, free he gives the cooling stream.
(Words by Theobald Heinrich Schenck (1656 - 1727); translated by Frances Elizabeth Cox (1812-1897).
Charlotte Bacon, 6, Daniel Barden, 7, Olivia Engel, 6, Josephine Gay, 7, Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 6, Dylan Hockley, 6, Madeleine F. Hsu, 6, Catherine V. Hubbard, 6, Chase Kowalski, 7, Jesse Lewis, 6, James Mattioli, 6, Grace McDonnell, 7, Emilie Parker, 6, Jack Pinto, 6, Noah Pozner, 6, Caroline Previdi, 6, Jessica Rekos, 6, Avielle Richman, 6, Benjamin Wheeler, 6, Allison N. Wyatt, 6.
Rachel Davino, 29, Dawn Hochsprung, 47, Anne Marie Murphy, 52, Lauren Rousseau, 30, Mary Sherlach, 56, Victoria Soto, 27, Adam Lanza, 20, and Nancy Lanza, 52.
Collect for the Third Sunday of Advent
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Rachel is weeping for her children...
A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.
(Jeremiah 31:15)
Pray for the people of Newtown, Connecticut, today and in the difficult days to come.
Friday Afternoon Advent Snow Break
This is some of the really fluffy kind of wet snow. You can almost see the individual flakes!
It's not snowing here, but it's fun to look at.
Lovely, no?
Psalm for Friday in the Second Week of Advent
Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,
nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
Their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and they meditate on his law day and night.
They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither;
everything they do shall prosper.
It is not so with the wicked;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes;
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked is doomed.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Santa Lucia
We interrupt this Advent to remind you that today is the feast day of St Lucy (Santa Lucia in Italian - remember the song?).
Lucy was a 2nd century martyr, probably killed in the Diocletian persecution. Not much is truly known about her, although a number of traditions have sprung up around her, including that she plucked out her own eyes in defiance of her fiancé who she was trying to throw over in an effort to remain a virgin dedicated to Christ. The fiancé was not too happy about Lucy's decision (especially the part where she was giving away her dowry to the poor in Syracuse, where she lived) and he denounced her as a Christian to the authorities. The part about the eyes is probably not true (the guy claimed it was what he liked best about her) but nonetheless sometimes she is portrayed holding a platter with two eyes on it.
More likely you have seen depictions of a young girl in a white dress wearing a crown of candles on her head. The Northern Europeans celebrate Lucy as the bringer of light (it is dark this time of year after all), and of course Lucy means light. The eldest daughter dresses up as Lucy on this day and wears a wreath of candles at night. I recall the American Girl doll who is dressed this way.
Anyway, it will be a good night for some candles (it will be dark here in Virginia by 5:00). Happy St Lucy's Day!
Psalm for Thursday in the Second Week of Advent
Psalm 145:1-4, 8-13
I will exalt you , O God my King,
and bless your Name for ever and ever.
Every day will I bless you
and praise your Name for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
there is no end to his greatness.
One generation shall praise your works to another
and shall declare your power.
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The Lord is loving to everyone
and his compassion is over all his works.
All your works praise you, O Lord,
and your faithful servants bless you.
They make known the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your power;
That the peoples may know of your power
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;
your dominion endures throughout all ages.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Wednesday Advent Angel
My Murano glass angel. She was a gift from my wonderful husband some years ago. Isn't she beautiful?
I love the glitter.
Psalm for Wednesday in the Second Week of Advent
Psalm 103:1-10
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
He forgives all your sins
and heals all your infirmities;
He redeems your life from the grave
and crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness;
He satisfies you with good things,
and your youth is renewed like an eagle's.
The Lord executes righteousness
and judgment for all who are oppressed.
He made his ways known to Moses
and his works to the children of Israel.
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
He will not always accuse us,
nor will he keep his anger for ever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so is his mercy great upon those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our sins from us.
As a father cares for his children,
so does the Lord care for those who fear him.
For he himself knows whereof we are made;
he remembers that we are but dust.
Our days are like the grass;
we flourish like a flower of the field;
when the wind goes over it, it is gone,
and its place shall know it no more.
But the merciful goodness of the Lord endures for ever on those who fear him,
and his righteousness on children's children;
On those who keep his covenant
and remember his commandments and do them.
The Lord has set his throne in heaven,
and his kingship has dominion over all.
Bless the Lord, you angels of his, you mighty ones who do his bidding,
and hearken to the voice of his word.
Bless the Lord, all you hosts,
you ministers of his who do his will.
Bless the Lord, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion;
bless the Lord, O my soul.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
What do you find comforting this Advent?
These are the readings for Tuesday in the Second Week of Advent from the Eucharistic lectionary:
Isaiah 40:1-11
Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.'
A voice says, 'Cry out!'
And I said, 'What shall I cry?'
All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.
Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
'Here is your God!'
See, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
And the Gospel reading:
Matthew 18:12-14
Jesus said, "What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost."
What wonderful readings! As I read through them again today, I thought about what I find comforting these days, which is not necessarily what I might have found comforting another year (or will find comforting in the future). These readings are so gentle - glad tidings, a God of strength and might come to care for the people who are small and mortal. And Jesus assures us that God does not wish to lose any of us, even when we wander off.
What is sometimes hard about the reading from Matthew is what's also hard about Luke's story of the prodigal son.... If you have ever been the one who wandered off and then was found, then you are filled with love and gratitude for the God who has come to find your and/or welcomed you home.
But if you're the one who hasn't gone astray, the "good one" who did what was right and didn't mess up and need saving in the first place - well, then maybe you don't like the idea of the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine "good ones" to go after the Big Mess Up One. And probably you really don't like the idea that God is happier over that one who was lost but now found than all the "good ones" who didn't need chasing or forgiving.
What about me? the good ones ask. I didn't screw up. I did what I was supposed to. Why don't I get a party? Why am I taken for granted?
All I can say is this: let us rejoice that we have a God who wishes for everyone to be saved. And who comes to all of us - maybe God has to go a little farther to reach some of us, but all of us are within God's reach. God knows our frailties and foibles and loves us and cares for us and forgives us anyway. And if we haven't strayed very far, well, that's what God hoped for all along. It's hard not to have the party be for us, but we are still always invited.
These stories are not about us. They are about God. They tell us who God is. God loves us all and pursues us out of nothing but love. That's what kind of God we have. And I find great comfort in that.
Sung Psalm for Tuesday in the Second Week of Advent
This is a recording of an a cappella quartet singing Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (Dutch composer, 1562 - 1621)'s setting of Psalm 96, Chantez a Dieu. The credits are at the end of the video.
Since they are singing in French, here's the BCP translation of Psalm 96:
Psalm 96
Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the whole earth.
Sing to the Lord and bless his Name;
proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations
and his wonders among all peoples.
For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
he is more to be feared than all gods.
As for all the gods of the nations, they are but idols;
but it is the Lord who made the heavens.
Oh, the majesty and the magnificence of his presence!
Oh, the power and the splendor of his sanctuary!
Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples;
ascribe to the Lord honor and power.
Ascribe to the Lord the honor due his Name;
bring offerings and come into his courts.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness;
let the whole earth tremble before him.
Tell it out among the nations: "The Lord is King!
he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity."
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
let the sea thunder and all that is in it; let the field be joyful and all that is therein.
Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joy before the Lord when he comes,
when he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with his truth.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Advent Options
It's a busy time of year for all of us. Even if we are not Santa, we have our lists. Even if we are trying to keep Advent and not rush to Christmas, there's still much to do. Shop, wrap, mail to people far away. Cook, attend events, visit. Put gas in the car, buy groceries, get a hair cut. Participate in seasonal (or regular!) outreach opportunities. Decorate. Write cards.
When life gets this way, I am tempted to put my nose to the grindstone and grind away. No time for fluff, be efficient. Do what needs doing in all areas of life. And of course in my line of work, there is a lot that needs doing. All of the regular priestly activities - pastoral visits, funerals, preaching and teaching, meetings - plus extra seasonal ones, including helping people with their holiday anxiety.
So, last weekend I faced a dilemma. I had a day off and my instinct was to get out my to do list and go at it with intention. I really have a lot of stuff to take care of. But then I thought, hey, it's going to be 65 degrees today (in December!) and when will I get another chance to go to the beach if I don't go today? What to do?
So I went.
It was such a good idea. For all the usual reasons - fresh salt air, exercise outside, saying my prayers as I listened to the ocean and watched the beautiful waves and sky and the sunset and all that. You all know how I feel about being at the ocean. Plus the winter-at-the-beach thing - many loons in their winter plumage riding the waves, some tundra swans and gannets who have come south for the winter doing fly-overs.
And the best part was a large pod of dolphins cavorting just off shore. Almost as soon as I arrived, I saw them and followed them up the beach for several miles. I love seeing them - they have this other life underwater and every now and then come up to let us see them. Sometimes they are playing and you can see just enough to know that they are having fun. It was wonderful to watch them.
And I thought, right. I was going to vacuum and buy the same yogurt I always buy and look for a parking space in the shopping center, and I would have missed this.
Getting stuff done is good and important, but it is not always necessary. Make the decision to feed your soul and pick up some yogurt on the way home from work.
|What I saw at the beach last Saturday.
Psalm for Monday in the Second Week of Advent
Psalm 85:8-13
I will listen to what the Lord God is saying,
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people and to those who turn their hearts to him.
Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth have met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth shall spring up from the earth,
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed grant prosperity,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness shall go before him,
and peace shall be a pathway for his feet.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Open the Way Again! The Lord is Coming!
This time of year, we are bombarded with images. Most of them are happy images reflecting the season - the smiling faces of children, holiday lights, glittering stars and snow, families gathered around the table or the tree or a roaring fire. Some of these images are sad - people without shoes or food, advertisements for Blue Christmas services. Some of them are put out there to influence us - happy shoppers laden with bags of gifts, abandoned animals needing homes - while other images are those of our own making - memories of our own Christmases past, present, and future.
All these images crowd around in our heads and hearts vying for our attention. There's so much going on in these days of preparation, it's downright dizzying.
But I would like to ask you to set aside all those images for a few minutes in order to consider the images offered to us today in the wonderful scenes from the Advent readings. I'd like to ask you to clear your minds of sugarplums and to-do lists and first consider the image of a road.
That's right. A road. Not Interstate 64 or the street in front of your house, but a road in the middle of a vast nowhere. A road on which many feet have travelled, a road that might best be called "a way." Like a pilgrimage "way." A road that has seen throngs of people walking on it over centuries and centuries, time out of mind. Once, the people walked slowly and sorrowfully along that road with their heads down and their feet chained together. Throngs of people were led away from their homes into captivity and exile along this road that seemed to close up behind them.
But then, one joyful day, the road was reopened for another use. See the road being cleared of hazards, the sorrowful twists and turns straightened out, the arduous hills smoothed and gentled, the rocks and roots dug out and cast aside. Look toward the east, says Baruch, and see the formerly huddled and chained people now silently gathering in the dawning light, their heads lifted in awe and wonder as they cautiously emerge from a place of darkness, gathering to return home along that same road through the vast wilderness.
This is God's highway through that wilderness, a highway modelled on another old road: God's path from Egypt to the Promised Land, now ready to be trod again by God's people who have been crushed under the heavy burden of captivity to a world that seeks only to use them up and throw them away. See God's people begin to slowly stream down the road toward home, see their trembling hands dropping their burdens, see the relief on their faces as their captivity melts away. See how God has brought them safely home along this road.
It was the road to captivity and now it is the way of salvation for God's people. See God's hand at work in the clearing and smoothing of the way. Hear God's voice gently gathering the people. Imagine their anticipation. Imagine their relief at laying down the things that keep them in chains, assured that they will have everything they need from here on out.
No. Another image. See the world's powers gathered together in their strongholds. See the big names in their big offices, the important ones doing their important work with an eye toward how they might hold on to their power. See how they huddle together, their backs to everyone else. See how some of the religious figures huddle, too, tending their ideologies and their positions with care.
See how the people are distracted, caught up in the day-to-day pressures of life, burdened again by the world's demands and in thrall to their possessions. See how the people are really broken, walking wounded, floundering, some of them hungry and out of their minds, while others try to outrun the sense of despair that creeps along behind them like a shadow, by piling on more and more activities and possessions and dollars. See how they keep their heads down and arrange themselves with their schedules and their stuff in postures of defense.
But see, too, a lonely figure well outside the strongholds and seats of power. See him in the wilderness far away from the shops and the glitter. See him watching expectantly in the darkness and suddenly becoming infused with something that both the important ones and the people have either turned their backs upon or cannot see in their busy-ness, something that strengthens him and inspires him, something like fire that prompts him to call out: Open the way again! The Lord is coming! The Lord is near! Open the way of the Lord!
And now turn and lift your mind's eye to see the light that is breaking in the east and see the clouds and the glory streaming from them in the darkness. See now that the old highway that was built for the people's salvation long ago and time out of mind is now being prepared anew, this time for the Lord to travel upon. See that the way is now being cleared for God to come to us.
God is planning to intrude on our busy lives, to interrupt us even as we tend to our defenses, to come to us in love as love that knows no boundaries. Our salvation is drawing near.
And so let us take off our garments of sorrow and affliction and put on forever the robes of love that come from God and place on our heads the diadems of the glory of the Everlasting. Let us stand expectantly in watch and open ourselves to the fire that will fill us with passion and burn away all the junk that captivates us.
Let us prepare the way, the old and ancient way, for the Lord to come and save us.
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How to Build a Life in the Humanities: Meditations on the Academic Work-Life Balance (Paperback)Anthony Grafton (author), Garrett Sullivan (author), Greg Colon Semenza (editor), Garrett A. Sullivan (editor)
- In stock online
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Number of pages: 245
Weight: 3358 g
Dimensions: 216 x 140 x 14 mm
Edition: 1st ed. 2015
"One of the many good qualities of the essays in this book is that collectively they offer a panorama of humanists' lives. In them every major step in the humanist's career, from graduate school to retirement, comes in for imaginative, sympathetic, and precise description. Even if you are not a humanist especially if you are not a humanist let me urge you to read this book from end to end. Do it, and you will learn a great deal much of it the sort of thing that no polemic could teach you. This is a book I wish I could have read when I was much younger. Nothing like it existed then and nothing like it exists now." - Anthony Grafton, Henry Putnam University Professor of History, Princeton University, USA
"This collection of tart, lively essays puts the 'humanity' back into the humanities, and contributes to a robust ongoing conversation on life and lifestyle within the academy. How to Build a Life in the Humanities is an imaginative and valuable book." - Leonard Cassuto, Professor of English, Fordham University, USA and contributor to The Chronicle of Higher Education
"This valuable, deeply moving book punctures widely accepted ivory-tower notions of college and university teaching and shows that humanities professors face ongoing pressures - emotional, financial, familial, and social - that make juggling their personal and professional lives extremely complicated and yet, more often than not, unusually fulfilling. Semenza, Sullivan, and the other contributors to this wonderfully multifaceted volume put Life - with a capital 'L' - back into academe." - David S. Reynolds, Distinguished Professor, English & American Studies, CUNY Graduate Center, USA
"In an era when the humanities are widely considered dead in the water, and humanists the out-of-touch eggheads who haven't yet gotten the memo, this candid collection lets tenured (with a couple exceptions) humanities scholars describe the challenges, inspirations, and ambivalences that accompany their personal and professional lives. Humanizing the humanists, these essays open a window into the inner life of the humanities professor down the hall." - Karen Kelsky, author of The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job
"Skip the blogs. Semenza and Sullivan have collected for us a collection of deeply engaged personal essays that explain what heretofore could seem an utter mystery: what is it like - and what could it be like - to have a life in the humanities? If you are looking to get in to the profession, are in the profession, or a bewildered family member or friend, these short pieces reveal a whole world to you, a world we all need to know better as higher education struggles to stay alive in recognizable form. I wish I could say a television mini-series on par with legal or medical drama is forthcoming; but until then this book is the next best thing." - Ken Jackson, Professor of English and Associate Dean, The Graduate School, Wayne State University, USA
"Everyone's happy to tell us all the things we need to do to gets jobs and tenure. But it took Semenza and Sullivan to compile the how-to book for the rest of our lives. The contributors to this thoughtful and remarkably upbeat collection offer advice and reflection, confession and philosophy, humor and gut-wrenching observation about life and work, but mostly life, for those of us who, despite it all, keep practicing the humanities." - Paula M. Krebs, Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bridgewater State University, USA
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Couldn't get plots
in statistiXL
Hi! I downl.loaded a trial version yesterday, and am trying to do a Factor Analysis. I'm getting all the chart data back, but no plots. I checked the correct buttons under the plot tab (as shown in the example), but I can't find the plots anywhere when the analysis is returned. Can you help?
That's a bit of an odd one! I take it that you aren't getting any error messages raised? If you run through the example included with statistiXL (rather than using your own dataset) do the plots appear? Is there a statistixl.log or statistixl.txt file in the program folder where you installed statistiXL (typically c:\program files\statistixl)? If so could you please email it to me at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Thanks for the offer. I was going to send you the information you requested, but then I decided to print out the charts to look at. Five blank pages after the spitting out the charts, the printer printed the graphs. I guess they were buried somewhere on the results page and I just didn't see them.
Anyway, I was able to see what the plots looked like. Thanks for offering to help!
The plots should appear to the top right of any printed output. i.e. you will get the normal text based output and then level with the top of that and off to the right should be the plots.


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I'd really like to review the published version of Basic Roleplaying. But I can't. As a playtester we are supposed to recieve a copy of the final published rules but while everyone else seems to have recieved theirs I have yet to see a copy in the post as yet. I'm not sure if I got lost in the … [Read more...]
BRP is on the Truck
Basic Roleplaying has been loaded onto a truck and is on it's way to Chaosium. It's expected to arrive Tuesday June 24th. After which I imagine the pre-orders and playtester copies will be shipped out. That ought to keep the Shipping Shoggoth busy. Chaosium has also posted the final table of … [Read more...]
Basic Roleplaying – It's Out!
The core BRP rule book is at the printers, on schedule for a late June release, but Chaosium have announced that copies can be purchased now in PDF format - see here! And the new BRP isn't the only PDF available - see here - and they have indicate that more PDF titles are likely to follow. … [Read more...]


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Precisely defining artificial intelligence is tricky. John McCarthy proposed that AI is the simulation of human intelligence by machines for the inaugural summer research project in 1956. Others have defined AI as the study of intelligent agents, human or not, that can perceive their environments and take actions to maximize their chances of achieving some goal. Jerry Kaplan wrestles with the question for an entire chapter in his book Artificial Intelligence: What Everyone Needs To Know before giving up on a succinct definition.
Rather than try to define AI precisely, we'll simply differentiate AI's goals and techniques:
Some people use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning interchangeably. In this guide, we'll treat Artificial Intelligence as the broadest term which includes all Machine Learning techniques, and we'll treat Deep Learning as subset of Machine Learning techniques.
While deep learning is deservedly enjoying its moment in the sun, we're particularly excited about ensemble techniques that use a wide variety of machine learning and non-machine learning based approaches to solve problems. Google's AlphaGo program, for instance, uses Monte Carlo tree search in addition to convolutional neural networks (a special type of neural network) to guide the search process. We expect most autonomous driving systems to use traditional search techniques for route planning and deep learning for "safe path detection".
One other distinction you might see as you continue your AI journey is between hard/soft, strong/weak, and deep/narrow AI. All of them basically distinguish between systems that work in a specific domain (soft, weak, narrow) such as vision recognition and language translation with systems that can generalize across many specific problems and continuously learn. Google's DeepMind and OpenAI (in general) are working on hard/strong/deep AI. Google Brain (in general) is working on concrete capabilities that make all Google products better (e.g., better Inbox Smart Replies, better face and object detection in Google Photos, better search results in Google search, etc.).


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Normally taken over two years, the Master of Performance (MPerf) develops performers' practical skills, complemented by options which reflect current vocational and professional needs. Such skills are particularly relevant for those who aim to enter the profession as practitioners at the highest level and who need to meet the current practical demands of the music industry.
The MPerf qualification can also provide the basis for further artistic development through the RCM's Level 8 Artist Diplomas in Performance or Opera.


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Here I would like to write about the simple fitness device project I had been working on. It is based on the course Real time Bluetooth Networks in Edx.
To build a fitness device which runs on a Real Time Operating System.
- Understanding of the types of schedulers and its implementation
- Creation of threads
- Implement blocking and sleeping semaphores
The RTOS makes use of 2 event threads and 6 main threads. A Round Robin scheduler is implemented with FIFO queues, blocking and sleeping features. The 2 hardware components used are MK-II Booster Pack and TM4C123GXL microcontroller.
The MK-II Booster Pack has all the necessary sensors embedded on it. It has an LCD display, 2 switches, a joystick, accelerometer, microphone, buzzer light and temperature sensors, while the TM4C123GXL is the microcontroller in which the algorithms are written.
The user code takes inputs from light, microphone, accelerometer, sound sensors and switches. It performs simple measurements of light intensity, sound, calculations for number of steps walked, temperature and it displays these values in a LCD display.
The 2 event threads are run using hardware timer interrupts and the 6 main threads are switched using the SysTick timer. The threads are as follows.
Thread0 : Event thread, samples microphone input at 1000 MHz
Thread1 : Event thread, samples accelerometer input as 10 Hz
Thread2 : Main thread, to detect steps, it runs about 10 Hz
Thread3 : Main thread, take input from buttons and outputs to buzzer or LED.
Thread4 : Main thread, measures temperature. Runs at 1 Hz.
Thread5 : Main thread, output numerical data to LCD, runs at 1 Hz.
Thread6 : Main thread, measures light, runs 1.25 Hz
Thread7 : Main thread, it does not sleep or block, hence keeps the OS running even when all the threads are sleeping or blocking.
What is an RTOS?
A software which manages resources in a computer system such as memory, I/O data, processors, schedules and switches tasks accordingly within the expected timing constraints is called a Real Time Operating System (RTOS).
Working of the RTOS
To build an RTOS, it is essential to understand the SysTick timer, semaphores, FIFO queues, creation of threads, thread switching and launching the OS. The RTOS has the following structures and functions.
- Struct tcb{}
- OS_Init(void)
- void SetInitialStack(int i)
- int OS_AddThreads()
- int OS_AddPeriodicEventThread()
- void static runperiodicevents()
- void OS_Launch()
- void Scheduler(void)
- void OS_Sleep(uint32_t sleepTime)
- void OS_InitSemaphore()
- void OS_Wait()
- void OS_Signal()
- void OS_FIFO_Init()
- int OS_FIFO_Put()
- uint32_t OS_FIFO_Get()
SysTick Timer
A timer has to be present for the switching of the threads to happen. Hence, there is a core device in the Cortex M architecture called SysTick timer which is commonly used to generate periodic interrupts. These interrupts can be used to measure the time and run the threads accordingly. It is a 24 -bit down counter that runs at the bus clock frequency. It has 3 registers.
SysTick Control and Status Register (STCTRL)
SysTick Reload Value Register (STRELOAD)
SysTick Current Value Register (STCURRENT)
To configure the SysTick timer to generate periodic interrupts, the following steps have to be followed.
- Clear the ENABLE bit in STCTRL register
- Set values into STRELOAD Register.
- Write any desired value to STCURRENT Register.
- Set clock source as System clock in STCTRL.
- Enable the interrupts INTEN in STCTRL.
- Estabblish the priority for Systick interrupts using the SYSPRI3 Register.
Once the value in the STCURRENT register decrements to 0, the COUNT bit in the STCTRL register is set and STCURRENT is again reloaded with the value present in the STRELOAD register. Later the COUNT but is cleared. This way, periodic interrupts are generated with SysTick Timer to run the scheduler.The SysTick ISR works on the bus frequency, hence the frequency of interrupt is fbus/n+1.
Where 'fbus ' is the bus frequency and 'n' is the reload value in STRELOAD register.
The smallest processing unit in an operating system is called a thread. They are the dynamic execution of a program.
A thread consists of a thread control block, stack and a program.
Thread Control Block (TCB) :
It is a structure that holds the attributes of the thread. It has one stack pointer which points to the stack for this thread, a link to see that the task control block forms a linked list and other attributes such as sleep and block.
It is the image of each thread and contains the set of codes which is to be executed.
Stack :
It is an array of contiguously allocated data which has details of respective threads. It shows where the program execution is starting etc. The stack is created using the SetInitialStack() function. The TC's stack pointer points to the starting of the stack and the program counter (second last register) points to the program associated with the respective thread.
Thread Addition :
The OS_AddThreads() function is used to connect the threads with each other i.e connect programs associated with each thread with the TCB and initial stack.
Launching the OS and switching between the threads :
The OSLaunch() function is used to launch the OS. First configure the SysTick timer is done. Initially, the interrupts are disabled, the STCURRENT value is set to 0 and the SysTick is given the lowest priority. This is so that the event threads are given higher priority and do not switch out before the main thread switches. Set the reload value and enable the clock . The periodic events are also initialized in the OS_Launch. Finally, the Start_OS() function is used to set the stack pointer of the CPU with that of the first thread.
The StartOS function is written in assembly so that it is easy to manipulate the registers of the stack. It sets the first thread to the CPU stack pointer.
Once the thread is initialized and the OS is launched and the first thread is successfully running, after a given time slice mentioned by the SysTick timer, the thread must be switched so that other tasks can run. Hence, once the SysTick timer goes off after the time slice, the SysTick Handler is called to switch the threads.
First we disable the interrupts, push all the stack registers and processor stack pointer of the old thread back to the respective thread's stack and TCB. Next an OS function is responsible for the sequential execution of the threads. It gives the threads the notion of concurrent processing. The threads do not run simultaneously, but run one at a time, switching between threads. This function is called a scheduler. The scheduler points to the next thread which has to run. (i.e the RunPtr now points to the next thread's stack pointer). The scheduler skips the blocked or sleeping thread. Later pop the registers and enable the interrupts.
Note : 16 stack registers and the stack pointer in TCB are involved during the thread initialization and switching.
This thread switching is done every time the SysTick goes off. In order to improve the speed of switching, the OS_Suspend function is introduced. If the thread finishes running before the time slice, then it calls the OS_Suspend. This function simply triggers the SysTick interrupt again and the thread is switched in the SysTick handler. The STCURRENT is reset to zero in order to give full time slice to the next thread.
Event Threads :
They occur when there is changes in the hardware status eg, I/O triggering or ADC sampling. They are functions which don't have any parameters or return values and the time to execute an event thread are short and bounded.
Semaphores :
After the successful OS launching and running of threads, we need a synchronize all the threads and run in order to build an real time processing embedded device. Hence, we use the concept of semaphores to synchronize and communicate between the threads.
A semaphore is basically a flag or counter that is used to communicate between the threads. It had 3 functions namely, OS_InitSemaphore, OS_Wait, and OS_Signal
This function is used to initialize and store the semaphore value.
If the OS_wait function is called with the semaphore value less than 0, then the thread will be blocked so that the scheduler skips this thread while switching. This is called blocking semaphore.
This function will just increment the counter and if any thread is blocking on this semaphore, then it will be released.
First In First Out (FIFO) Queue :
This queue is used for creating a buffer interface between threads to store and transfer data. The data produced by threads is stored in this buffer and other threads can process this data as long as the buffer is not empty.
The below snippet is a 1 semaphore implementation where OS_FIFO_Init() function initializes variables and semaphore for the FIFO. The OS_FIFO_Put function stores data from the threads into the buffer and the OS_FIFO_Get() function returns the data from buffer to other threads.
The links for the Codes and Video are as follows :
- https://github.com/parth98988/Real-Time-Bluetooth-Networks
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFkNRn67_rY
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012
I Have A Surprise For You - Part 2 of "It's Poison Ivy!"
After I had laughed aloud at Dr. Robinson's last statement. He then said, "You know I saw you trying to memorize the eye chart on the wall. So, I have a surprise for you."
"What do you mean?" I asked, very innocently.
Dr. Robinson replied, "After I had finished with my last patient, I walked past this room and saw you memorizing the chart on the wall."
"Oh," I offered.
"So, your surprise is...I'm going to make you read the chart that I use for my 2 year old patients that can't read, yet," he said. The doctor took a seat on a stool with wheels next to me.
With a mild state of panic in my voice, I asked, "What?"
"You heard me. I'm going to use the chart with the birthday cake and candles," said Dr. Robinson as he moved the huge, black eye exam apparatus in front of my face. He continued, "Now, you should see several birthday cakes with candles on top of them. Look at the first cake. How many candles do you see?"
Trying not to laugh, I asked, "How many candles do you see?"
"Charles," the eye doctor replied.
"Okay. I see some candles," I said. "They're blurry, though," I mumbled.
"How many?"
"Four," I wildly guessed.
"Let's look at the next cake. How many candles do you see?" asked Dr. Robinson.
"Two," I guessed again.
"Now, let's look at the next one. How many?"
"Hell, I dunno," I mumbled. I then said aloud, "Three."
The doctor pushed the apparatus to the side and said, "Charles, you are as blind as a bat. But, you have a healthy pair of eyes." Dr. Robinson slid three feet on his stool toward his work station and scribbled some information on my chart. I then had a question.
"May I have a prescription for eyeglasses, please?"
"Why do you need eyeglasses? You wear contact lenses all of the time."
"Well, I like to wear eyeglasses at night when I go to bed," I replied.
With a puzzled look on his boyish face, Dr. Robinson repeated, "At night when you go to bed?"
"Yes," I replied.
"Well, you don't need your eyeglasses on when you are asleep, Charles," the eye doctor offered.
"Yes, I do. I like to see what I'm dreaming at night. I don't like for my dreams to be blurry," I replied.
Burying his head in my chart and trying to contain his laughter, Dr. Robinson wrote me a prescription for contact lenses AND eyeglasses, and then we said our goodbyes until next year. He then shuffled out of the exam room hoping that the poison ivy would quickly heal - "down there."
Until next week....keep praising HIS name!
Sir Charles
(All of my books and ebooks are available at http://www.iuniverse.com/ and http://www.xlibris.com/ - Charles Carroll Lee. They will make for some nice summer readings. Just saying...)
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
It's Poison Ivy
During one office visit after I had to experience that puff of air in both eyes and escorted to the exam room without my contact lenses, I sat in a comfortable leather exam chair. It reminded me of a chair from "Star Trek" or "The Jetsons." Before, I had gotten comfortable in the chair, I had studied the high-tech eye chart on the wall. I wanted the eye doctor to think that I now had 20/20 vision. He would have exclaimed, "It's a miracle!" After a few minutes, I heard a tap on the partially open door. Dr. Robinson peeked in and entered the semi-dark room. For a man as young as he, the doctor was shuffling like an elderly gentleman.
"Why are you walking so slowly?" I asked after our usual pleasantries.
"Well, do you remember that I bought a farm, last year?" asked Dr. Robinson.
I replied, "Yes, I do."
"This past Saturday, I was doing some yard work around the barn. Pulling weeds, mowing the grass and that sort of stuff. Then, I had to use the bathroom. The house was so far away, and I couldn't make it there in time. So, I went into the bushes and pulled "it" out and held "it" as I relieved myself. You know, I wasn't wearing gloves when I was pulling weeds. After that, I broke out in a rash with some swelling "down there," Dr. Robinson offered.
"Really," I said in amazement.
"Yeah, I went to the doctor because it was bothering me and "it" began to swell real bad. My doctor said that it's poison ivy! I have to put some cream on 'it' " he said.
Trying not to laugh, I said, "I'm sorry to hear that. Your wife must be disappointed."
"Not really. She's glad that it's now big and swollen," Dr. Robinson offered as a matter of fact.
I laughed aloud at Dr. Robinson's last statement. He then said, "You know I saw you trying to memorize the eye chart on the wall. So, I have a surprise for you..."
Now, if I can get at least two nice comments this week, I will publish the rest of this blog post on Wednesday.
Until next week...keep praising His name!
Sir Charles
(My books and ebooks are available at http://www.iuniverse.com/ and http://www.xlibris.com/ - Charles Carroll Lee)
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Mother Gertrude's Pound Cake Recipe
1/2 pound butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
5 well beaten egg yolks
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 cup of milk
1 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract
Beat well then fold in stiff egg whites. Pour into a cake pan and bake at 325 degrees until done.
The Green Berets
Now, I had already purchased a couple of boxes from the scouts at church and bought and donated a few boxes from my co-workers. So, I thought that I had made my contribution for the year. However, I still sat in my truck somewhat terrified of the green berets; yet, impressed by their strong sense of entrepreneurship. "They may grow up to be CEO's of Fortune 500 companies, chief fundraisers for non-profit organizations, corporate executives or even college presidents," I thought aloud. Realizing that I could not sit in my truck all day and in desperate need of caffeine (because my head was aching from caffeine withdrawl); I held my breath and made a mad dash to the front door. En route, I was constantly pelted with, "Hey! Hey! Mister! Wanna buy some cookies?!" from across the lot. They made it seem like I was committing some sort of high crime and misdemeanor for not purchasing another box of girl scout cookies. The guilt was almost overwhelming. Well, not really.
The trip from my truck to the inside of Starbucks seemed like an eternity. After I had placed my order with the barista, I decided to stay inside and drink my coffee and read the newspaper for a while. I had figured that once I was done, the lovely young ladies would have packed up and vacated the shopping center for the day. No such luck. By this time, the green berets had the building surrounded - wearing dark sunglasses, berets and armed with boxes of cookies like they were holding machine guns. "Dear Jesus, please get me to my truck safely. Amen," I had prayed. Taking a deep breath and not wanting to be noticed by the scouts, I opened the glass door and did four quick cartwheels and two back flips with lightning speed - just like the ninja warriors in the movies. Okay, that was a bit of a stretch. Actually, I sprinted to the truck, hopped in, and flew out of the tiny parking lot. So, during the next two weekends, I found myself sneaking around and dodging the green berets at Starbucks and Target like a stealth cat. I could not wait for the month of March to be over.
Fast forward to this March, it was my turn to read the Sunday announcements at church. When I had arrived at my place of worship, dressed in my best suit and tie, I picked up a bulletin and realized that another name was listed next to the church announcements. The front of the bulletin read, "Girl Scouts Sunday." I marched toward the pastor's study, called his name from the corridor (as I normally do) and tapped on his door.
"Come in," the pastor requested.
Entering his study, I asked, "So, I don't have to read the church announcements, today?"
"That's correct. It's "Girl Scouts Sunday", and they will be taking care of the church announcements," the pastor replied.
"Well, I wish I had known it was Girl Scouts Sunday; because, I would've worshipped at Bedside Baptist with the Reverend Samson Knight (like Samsonite - the mattress)."
The pastor replied, "See, that's why I didn't tell you. The girl scouts gave you a Sunday off from reading the announcements."
I thought, "Yes, indeed. They are some wonderful young ladies. I guess they are making up for harassing me in the Starbucks parking lot, last year."
Until next week...keep praising His name!
Sir Charles
P.S. Since I have received about four comments from my last post ( I was hoping for way more), "We All Have To Suffer," Mother Gertrude's pound cake recipe has been posted and published under, "Mother Gertrude's Pound Cake Recipe." It's really is very good. Of course, I couldn't find her recipe for Lemon Supreme Cake.
(My novels and ebook are available at http://www.xlibris.com/ - Charles Carroll Lee)
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
We All Have to Suffer
Mother Gertrude also enjoyed baking fruitcakes doused with liquor during the Christmas holidays for all of her dear friends. She used to make my cousin, Tommy, go to the bootleg joint to "pick-up" her necessary ingredient. I think Tommy was her willing partner in crime - sort of speak. Often, when I visited Mother Gertrude and Papa, my second order of business, after informing them of my hectic day in kindergarten, was to ease into the kitchen. I pulled a chair close to the ice-box and climbed on top of it until I could peek inside the cake tin. I had prayed that I would find a lemon supreme cake. Instead, I found a regular ol' pound cake. I released a loud noise.
"Ugh!" I had exclaimed.
Walking into the kitchen, Mother Gertrude asked, "What's wrong?"
"You don't have any lemon supreme cake?" I asked, still standing on the chair.
"No. I have sugar (diabetes), now. So, I'm not going to eat lemon supreme or chocolate cakes anymore," she replied.
"So, we all have to suffer because you have sugar?" I asked.
"Yes, indeed," she replied.
"You want some jello with custard?" Mother Gertrude offered. (Read my blog post: "Jello and Fried Fish with Eyes")
"Oh, hell no!" I thought. After a moment, I replied, "No, thank you. I don't need all of that cake anyway," as she helped me from the chair.
Days later while spending the night with Mother Gertrude, Papa and my cousins and aunt, Mother Gertrude walked into the somewhat dark kitchen, reached for a napkin on the table and placed her hand inside of a box on top of the refrigerator. She pulled out several crackers, placed them in her napkin and returned to the bedroom. Now, watching one of her favorite television programs, The Lawrence Welk Show, with Papa and enjoying the crackers; her teenage granddaughter, Tee Tee, entered the bedroom to talk for a few minutes. Suddenly, Tee Tee gave her a strange look.
"What's wrong with you?" Mother Gertrude asked as she bit into her fourth cracker.
"What are you eating?" asked Tee Tee.
"Crackers. Want some?"
"Those are not crackers. Didn't you noticed that they are shaped like a postman and a milkman and a fire hydrant?" Tee Tee asked.
"What?!" asked Mother Gertrude.
"You are eating Zsa Zsa's dog biscuits that's on top of the refrigerator."
Upon hearing this bit of information from my cousin, Mother Gertrude released a scream that could have awaken the dead. Papa laughed hysterically along with Tommy, Tee Tee, Aunt Ellen and me. Needless to say, the box of dog biscuits were moved to another kitchen location. And even though Mother Gertrude has gone to her eternal reward (no, the dog biscuits didn't kill her), this story still brings back funny family memories.
Now, if I get at least two page views and comments on this blog post, I may publish Mother Gertrude's lemon supreme or pound cake recipe (if I can find it) on next week.
Until next week...Keep praising His name!
Sir Charles
(My novels and ebook are available at http://www.xlibris.com - Charles Carroll Lee)
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Central Region Cooperative is currently offering a new 3-year term note program to our patron members. The term notes will pay interest at 3% annually and mature on December 31, 2021.
Minimum investment in the term note is $1,000. As with the previous term notes, a Note Program Disclosure and Note will need to be signed.
Central Region Cooperative (CRC) is also opening its demand note program to member patrons. CRC is currently paying 2% annual percentage rate of interest on demand notes. Interest rates paid on demand notes are subject to change at any time by action of the CRC Board of Directors. Funds invested in the demand note program can be withdrawn at any time. If you are currently invested in the demand note program you may optionally choose to reinvest those funds in the term note program.
Minimum investment in the demand note is $1,000. As with the previous demand notes, a Note Program Disclosure and Note will need to be signed.
You may contact any of the offices listed below to participate in either program. Should you have specific questions about either program you may reach out to Chuck Braun at (320) 833-5321 (Ext. 1262).


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Marina Bay Sands
The Overview
Nowadays, Singapore seems to be in a constant state of flux. First came Genting's Resorts World Sentosa, home to Southeast Asia's first Universal Studios theme park; then came Las Vegas Sands Corporation's Marina Bay Sands (MBS). Designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, the 855,000-square-meter MBS rises from reclaimed land in the city's downtown, with three 55-story towers capped by a 340-meter-long cantilevered floating garden. And like its Vegas counterparts, the opulence of MBS does not stop at its façade. Inside, this property packs an overloaded menu with over 2,500 guest rooms, high-end designer boutiques, restaurants helmed by Michelin-star chefs like Daniel Boulud, Guy Savoy and Tetsuya Wakuda, and a glitzy, atrium-style casino. Come nightfall, head up to the Sands SkyPark, which with its restaurants, nightclubs, a public observatory and a 150-meter infinity pool, makes the perfect spot to drink in views of the city's ever-changing skyline.
Tel: +65 6688 8888
Website: marinabaysands.com
Facebook: facebook.com/marinabaysands
Twitter: @marinabaysands
Published on Nov 19, 2010
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Hosted by the Electric Infrastructure Security Council. Their CEO is Avi Schnurr, who's big in the holocaust industry.
If an EMP would be detonated over the USA, it would mean NO cell phones, NO drinking water, no grocery stores open, since they not only wouldn't have electricity, the trucks delivering the food wouldn't start or run. No AC or heat, in short, back to the Stone Age, with anarchy descending upon the land as the strongest fight over food and water.
If you remember back to the Israeli masterminded 9/11 False Flag, on that day, the Pentagon was running a number of war games, simulating plane hijacking:
WAR GAMES ON SEPTEMBER 11THWhich gave a perfect cover for Israel and American traitors in the WH, Pentagon, CIA, FBI and NSA so they could pull off the biggest False Flag in history, leading to endless 'Wars for Wall Street and Israel' and a police state.
On the very morning of 9/11/01, five war games and terror drills were being conducted by several U.S. defense agencies, including one "live fly" exercise using REAL planes. Then-Acting Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard B. Myers, admitted to 4 of the war games in congressional testimony.
On September 11th, the government also happened to be running a simulation of a plane crashing into a building. In addition, a December 9, 2001 Toronto Star article, stated that "Operation Northern Vigilance is called off. Any simulated information, what's known as an 'inject,' is purged from the screens". This indicates that there were false radar blips inserted onto air traffic controllers' screens as part of the war game exercises.
Moreover, there are indications that some of the major war games previously scheduled for October 2001 were MOVED UP to September 11th by persons unknown.
Interestingly, Vice President Cheney was apparently in charge of ALL of the war games and coordinated the government's "response" to the attacks.
If the USA is attacked with an EMP, it won't be North Korea or Iran or Syria, it will be the same SOBs that pulled off 9/11.
You might even remember that about 10 years ago, the neoCONs--mostly Jew war mongers--were predicting that Iran was going to detonate an EMP over Kansas, and repeatedly shrieked that we just have to attack Iran to protect Israel, oops, I mean the USA.
Take Frank Gaffney[close friend of Avi Schnurr], for instance, for the last 30 years or so a lickspittle of Likudnik Grand Pooh-Bah Richard Perle.Israeli papers were warning about North Korea setting off an EMP over the USA as far back as 2013.
In an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV, Gaffney essentially warned that "any day" now, Iran could detonate exo-atmospherically, somewhere over Kansas, a specially designed multi-megaton thermonuclear weapon, which could wipe out our entire electricity grid, causing a "catastrophic disaster."
"Such an attack could really cripple our 21st-century society, and I would suggest sort of push us back into preindustrial society in the blink of an eye. It would translate over time – not immediately but over time – into the deaths of perhaps as many as nine out of 10 Americans, because our society simply can't be sustained without electricity and all of the infrastructure that supports our urban settings."
So, Gaffney appears to have gone from Likudnik neo-crazy to just plain crazy. What could conceivably have moved Gaffney to make such charges?
Wonder why they never worry about an EMP being set off over Israel, or do they know something us GOYIM don't? And why detonate one over Kansas instead of DC or Manhattan?
Why would these maniacs attack the USA like this? Maybe to cover up their massive Wall Street frauds, since those TBTF banks are in worse shape now than 2007, an EMP would be one way to dump the toxic slop and blame the resulting crash on NK or Iran, instead of where it belongs; On the back of those who control the FED, the US Treasury, Hollywood, the MSM, have 4 out of 9 Supreme Court seats, have Congress wagging its tail and have boxed in Trump, making him all but incapacitated.
Trump is going to be taught that one doesn't interfere with the Israeli plot to bust up Syria and steal more of their land.


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Local Information: Mountshannon, Co. Clare
The award-winning Sunrise Bed & Breakfast boasts panoramic views over Lough Derg. With free onsite parking, the property is just 2 minutes' walk from the lakeside village of Mountshannon and a 5-minute stroll from the harbour.
Note: Map is an approximate indication ONLY. Please contact Sunrise Bed & Breakfast for directions and precise location prior to your visit.


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Rocking Horse Winner: Gabe The Brilliant Bulldog
December 28th, 2011 by David Erickson
Gabe's no one-trick pony…so to speak. Found at YouTube from Sittingbullies.
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A recent case out of New York's Supreme Court, Appellate Division: Second Judicial Division is generating a lot of discussion among practitioners on a condo listserve; I don't personally find the case particularly surprising or troubling in its result.
The case involves the Village View Condominium, in Queens, New York. The Association's bylaws, according to the court opinion, included no restrictions on pet ownership in the condominium, and further state that "unit owners 'and their pets' shall not disturb the other owners."
Ms. Donata Forman had a pet dog, which weighed less than four pounds, that she would take to and from her unit in a shoulder bag. The Association Board conceded that no one outside of the defendant's apartment had heard the dog bark when he was inside the apartment.
The court noted that New York Real Property Law § 339-v[1][i] requires that an association's bylaws set forth "[s]uch restrictions on and requirements respecting the use and maintenance of the units… as are designed to prevent unreasonable interference with the use of their respective units and of the common elements by the several unit owners."
Because the rule conflicted with the bylaws, and because it affected Ms. Forman's use, the court deemed it invalid, and remanded the case to the lower court for the entry of a judgment declaring that House Rule 1 is invalid.
It seems rather foolish of the board and their counsel to have taken this case as far as they did; not only is there the express conflict between the bylaws and the rules, but there seems to be no harm in this woman's ownership of her dog. Most likely, the board was concerned about "bad precedent" or a "waiver" argument, but both the conflict and the bad facts could have been avoided by prohibiting pets that make noise or disturb others. (Of course that opens the door for factual disputes, but that's probably better than adoption of an unenforceable rule.)


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Ready, Fire, Learn: Leadership, Building Emotional Fitness and Succeeding Through Other People w/Adam Hergenrother
Most entrepreneurs think the best way to learn is to consume as much knowledge as possible, but the greatest learning comes from taking aim and getting into action. Why is "failing forward" such a powerful teacher? Why is it so important to hire an assistant now, instead of later? On this episode, we are joined by Adam Hergenrother who shares the mindsets, actions and behaviors that have been instrumental to his success.
There's never going to be a perfect time to hire an assistant. -Adam Hergenrother
Takeaways + Tactics
- When hiring the right people, it should create a value of both time and money.
- There's no real learning without experience
- Confidence is an asset
At the start of the show, we talked about how Adam got started and the amazing story of how he turned his life around. Next, we talked about the importance of being willing to invite failure if you want to move forward. Adam also talked about why there's never a perfect time to hire an assistant, and the one thing that gets in the way of the growth of entrepreneurs. Towards the end of the show, we discussed how to build up the emotional fitness to handle the problems that will come your way as you grow your business.
We also discussed:
- The factors that make hockey stick growth possible
- Why confidence is an asset
- Why there's no real learning without experience
- The chemistry of a transformation
You are better off taking a shot and learning from failure than you are analyzing and never making a move. Success looks like a whole series of failures, so learn to invite failure. The good stuff's on the other side! The only way to get hockey stick growth is to invest in the platform of models, systems, accountability and the x-factor: people who execute. To get to the next level, you must be all-in.
Guest Bio
Adam Hergenrother is Founder and CEO of Adam Hergenrother Companies. In less than ten years, Adam has built this rapidly growing company through his commitment to thinking big and never giving up. Fearless and purposeful; unconventional and systematic, Adam sets a seemingly impossible goal then quickly gets to work on closing the gap to achieve it: no limits, no regrets. Go to herggroup.com for more information.


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Item Lost: LL Bean lunchbox.
Description: black, vinyl, rectangular, zipper pocket on front. Filled with yummy lunch, heart shaped sandwich and love note. Thanks for looking while I make another one!
I should have known something was amiss when we were out the door and chatting in plenty of time. I'd even managed to give Big Sister and her goldilocks and shampoo and blow dry. Some days I think I'm less stay at home mother and more sherpa. Since we've stopped using our buggy for the school run, we're often loaded down like mules with rucksacks, PE kits, lunches, water bottles and various warm weather gear. Baby Sister carries fists full of dolls and random toys. She is still irked that I won't let her push her shopping trolley to the school gate. I cannot imagine time standing still could move slower. We might have to leave now to make it for Thursday. Afternoon pickup.
Well. We are all carrying things except Big Sister. She doesn't carry anything but she gets out the door in a uniform for a long school day so I try not to comment. Very often. Today, though, I noticed she could hoist an entire Barbie for "Treasure Tuesday" (sadly she didn't pack the Lilly Pulitzer one).
I know what you're thinking. Barbie - not such a high brow sharing item, but Big Sister is happy at school. She went from 2 morning per week preschool, then my homeschooling, to all day school all in a year. So if she wanted to bring in a piece of toast I'd tell her it was the best toast ever and that her friends were going to go crazy for it. Last night asked me to make a "Momma on a Stick" which is a photo of me affixed to a popsicle (lolly if you will) stick. That's derivative of Big Brother once asking to bring in very Baby Sister to share in class. I thought that might be disruptive, so instead I made him a nearly life-sized "Baby Sister on a Stick" to take instead. Big Brother is the same little guy who asked if he could bring Biggest Brother for show and tell. Their very nice teachers coordinated and in a celebrity appearance, Biggest (Third Grade) Brother visited Big Brother and his First Grade friends at the appointed time. Fun was had by all. But the Momma on a Stick got nixed at the last moment for Barbie. I get it.
The lunch isn't the first we've left something on a bussie and surely won't be the last. Just last week we left a big white (you know the type) paper handle bag of chocolate chip cookies. Loyal readers, you know that look some effort to compile that here. The chocolate chip cookies and my signature white handle bag, too. The cookies were for the school talent show (where beer and wine were also served!). Fortunately, it was one of our favorite drivers that day and he happily let me dash back on where a kind man handed me the gift bag with huge gold star and "TALENT SHOW!" adorning. It happens.
So today I was carrying Big Sister's things and Baby Sister sometimes, too. The boys had their rucksacks and PE kits, hats and gloves, but must have left a lunchbox on the bus. S'alright! No worries. I can't fuss at Big Brother about it. He's been so cheerfully ready and organized in the mornings. They've all been great students of becoming urban.
And I walked out the door without my keys.


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Chineasy Methodology
Learning Chinese is just like a child breaking down complicated models into building blocks. The child then starts grouping elements and soon he/she realizes that no matter how fancy and complicated the models are, they are all built out of the same set of building blocks.
Most Chinese characters are built out of roughly 100 building blocks. ShaoLan, Creator of Chineasy, designed a program that correlated each character and prioritized the most common and useful elements. ShaoLan teamed up with Noma Bar to create a groundbreaking visual approach to teaching basic building blocks. Each character is designed to reflect its etymology and meaning.
With the mission to expand the methodology of learning Chinese, ShaoLan started the Talk Chineasy daily podcast in 2017. This 7-minute daily podcast helps you learn one useful phrase each day with several related vocabularies. Just like the building blocks, you'll accumulate more than 365 phrases after a year. Within the first 90 episodes, you'll even be able to introduce yourself intelligently with basic Chinese.


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The general situation in the South China Sea (SCS) was relatively peaceful and tranquil before July 2010. At that point, then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the first time tried to "upgrade" the SCS into a (global) maritime commons. Leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait may well have to face her if she is elected as the next American President in November.
In January 2013, the Republic of the Philippines (ROP) instituted arbitral proceedings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) against the People's Republic of China (PRC), pursuant to Articles 286 and 287 of the December 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and in accordance with Article 1 of Annex VII to the Convention. In May 2016, Antonio T. Carpio, who is an incumbent Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the ROP, revealed that the PCA will not announce its verdict, until either June or July of this year. The PCA assists temporary tribunals to resolve disputes among States (and similar entities), intergovernmental organizations, or even private parties, arising out of international agreements. The cases span a range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, and related sovereignty. It is expected that Manila can score some propaganda points but not many. After that, the Chinese nation1 will still have to tackle some thorny, unresolved issues, just two of which I will now turn to.
The first issue concerns the nature of the Chinese U-shaped line. To be sure, the original boundary marker on the map was borrowed from the land territory, when the Republic of China (ROC) government was still ruling the Chinese mainland. Up to this day, both Taipei and Beijing have not yet officially spelled out the nature of this line. This marker is different from the official maps published in both Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. In most publications, they only mention the 11-dash or 9-dash line. Unofficially, we see the following interpretations: 1. boundary line; 2. historic waters, which is a common definition including historic bays, pools, sounds, straits, or even the sea; 3. historic rights of line; and 4. Chinese possession, for example, of the Nan Sha Qun Dao / Spratlys or the line of attribution of the islands therein. The fifth one is put forward by me: Everything within the U-shaped line is a double-insurance package of historic waters and non-historic waters, the latter of which refers to the sum of internal waters, territorial waters, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone, continental shelf, and other sea areas — "Qi Ta Hai Yu" as mentioned in the December 1999 Marine Environment Protection Law of the PRC.
We can certainly emphasize that the U-shaped line has its international regimes (ir) dimension. The term "ir" is abstract. Another term, "maritime commons" is even more abstract than the term, "ir". A commons also has its "ir" and non-"ir" dimensions. Regimes only exist in our minds and hearts. Regimes come and go. To many, if not most people in the West, they can readily grasp that abstract term, "ir". If international regimes are formed, maintained, and sustained in certain area, the outcome of each regime can bring about 100 percent common good to all the parties using the SCS, plus airspace, outer space above this body of waters, and cyber space. To shore up each regime at sea, both Taipei and Beijing should first publicize the mechanisms involved in such cases, such as which vessel is 100 percent responsible for countering terrorism at sea, and measures such as training captains and crew members to strictly comply with legally binding normative instruments such as code of conduct.
Hugo Grotius promoted the freedom of the sea doctrine, and the Chinese nation, thanks to him, definitely can enclose portions of the SCS as their national or private property.
The second issue is that the U-shaped line has been criticized for its excessiveness. Some academics and experts have referred to that body of water as internal waters with no innocent passage nor freedom of navigation allowed, while others have treated it as historic waters. Regarding the former, what the Chinese nation should emphasize is that the line is exceptional, in accordance with the March 1962 seminal study, Juridical Regime of Historic Waters, Including Historic Bay (United Nations Document A/CN.4/143).
What should both Taipei and Beijing do with the SCS? First, in August 2006, Beijing at the UN said for the first time it will handle the SCS issues politically. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait should cooperate politically and coordinate with each other.
Second, in the 21st century, a community of countries still possesses historic waters. In May 2016, Beijing said more than 40 countries support its SCS position, and, in the following month, the number increased, reaching close to 60. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait should try to garner support from all those countries which have historic waters. J. Ashley Roach and Robert W. Smith, while acknowledging that what they have written does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the US Naval War College, the Department of Navy, or the Department of Defense, have identified the following 19 countries that have historic waters: Argentina, Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Italy, Kenya, Libya, Panama, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uruguay, Vietnam, and the United States. We can also add Nicaragua, Norway, Tonga, and the ROP. If Manila can have historic waters, why can't the Chinese nation?
Third, both ROC and PRC under the one China principle must remind the world that Hugo Grotius promoted the freedom of the sea doctrine, and the Chinese nation, thanks to him, definitely can enclose portions of the SCS as their national or private property. To be sure, a state property rights regime has continuing relevance in contemporary (general) international law.
Finally, in line with the fifth interpretation mentioned above, Taipei and Beijing should designate a maritime commons area within the U-shaped line, which is equivalent to "other sea area," so as to pacify an assertive Washington and other maritime powers. I would propose that Taipei and Beijing should jointly create a corporation to govern that privatized commons.
In sum, the U-shaped line is not infamous because historic waters, as acknowledged in the March 1962 UN document, simply cannot be properly defined in the first place.
1. Other terms are: two-halves China, Bicoastal China, both Republic of China (ROC) and PRC under the one China principle, Taiwan Authority of China and Mainland Authority of China.
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Sarah Louise – Boudoir Photo-Shoot
Team J9e Boudoir Shoots are always full of surprising fun elements. Sarah is a budding model hoping to push her career towards topless glamour. We thought we would take her right out of her comfort zone and dress her back up! You can almost taste the french with this shoot! The ending pillow fight was fun! I got such an awesome shot I thought I'd … Continue reading Sarah Louise – Boudoir Photo-Shoot