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ROSA KHUTOR, Russia (Feb. 10) - Patrick Deneen (Cle Elum, WA) skied his way into the medal finals, ending up sixth in the Olympic moguls competition at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. Canada's Alex Bilodeau made history, becoming the first freestyle athlete to repeat gold. His teammate Mikael Kingsbury won silver with Russia's Alexandr Smyshlyaev lighting up the crowd with bronze.
QUOTESPatrick DeneenThe Canadians have a few really strong skiers and today they showed that. The course is pretty crazy. It's a little different than it was yesterday and we're having to adapt to that each time. It's part of the sport though and it's something we know and adapt to as much as we can. The course didn't freeze last night like we wanted and it was warmer today which definitely had an affect on the hill.
RESULTSOfficial Results


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Hoboken officials have announced they are working on a number of initiatives to improve parking, transportation, and pedestrian safety. Changes now underway are intended to ease the parking crunch throughout the city, offer alternate ways to travel besides automobiles, and make walking around the city safer.
To create more parking spaces, parking will be allowed along yellow curbs from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., officials said recently. Residents will be permitted to park overnight at yellow curbs immediately following an intersection on various outbound streets (see accompanying diagram).
Red painted curbs are currently being marked at various intersections across the city so that people know how close to a corner they can park. The red paint designates the "No Parking" areas. Last month, Hoboken Grace Community Church recruited volunteers to spend two hours painting many of the curbs.
"There are certain laws to adhere to regarding Hoboken parking, and it involves all parties on equal footing." – Michael Damurjian
Alternate transportation to ease parking crunch
Recently released statistics show that alternative transportation methods are becoming more popular in Hoboken.
City officials hope the Corner Car (hourly Hertz car rentals) and Hop cross-town buses will ease demand for parking by encouraging residents to give up their own cars and use these services.
City officials say the Hop shuttle buses and Corner Cars have seen steady growth in ridership since they were implemented in 2009 and 2010. According to city statistics, the number of residential parking permit sales has dropped roughly 2,500 since 2005, a year in which the city sold nearly 20,000 permits.
However, over 2011, residential parking permit sales increased by over 700. City spokesman Juan Melli said that the number fluctuates, but overall the trend is downward.
Increasing pedestrian safety
Sacs said the city will continue to develop initiatives to increase pedestrian safety. During last month's City Council meeting, a resolution was passed to apply for a $20,000 Sustainable NJ grant to install curb extensions.
By rounding out the corner of a curb, the extensions decrease the street distance pedestrians cross, which increases safety. Officials said that many of these extensions will also feature a "rain garden" to help with the city's chronic flooding problem.
"They work as temporary reservoirs," said Sacs, adding that the "gardens" are typically a pit filled with gravel. "[The] gardens take a small amount of water and hold it into a reservoir for a period of time."
Sacs said the gardens typically dry up the water or naturally release it into the sewers after a few hours, which would likely happen after the heaviest rainfall had ended. The often overloaded sewers would thereby take in less water at a time.
Officials said they hope to get three to four pilot demonstrations out of the $20,000 grant, which would be used to demonstrate its impact on flooding.
Still problems
Some residents still have parking concerns. Michael Damurjian told the Reporter that he believes the number of cars now illegally parked near intersections has proven unsafe.
"As if parking in Hoboken isn't already a challenge, half the battle is dealing with cars that are parked in the yellow spaces at intersections," said Damurjian, who parks his vehicle on the street via a resident parking pass nearly every day. "You're nearly halfway through the intersection just to get a view of the street to make sure it is clear."
Sacs said that the recent installation of stanchions, or poles, near street intersections, has made the streets safer. The poles are designed to prevent cars from parking too close to the curb, which can block the view of drivers attempting to pass through intersections.
"For the past few years we've had fantastic results in pedestrian safety," said Sacs. "Collisions have dropped significantly. We're happy that the poles are a part of that effort."
"We haven't had any fatalities [since the stanchions were implemented]," said Mayor Dawn Zimmer. "We've gotten tremendous support and feedback on the stanchions. They really work to increase the visibility of those corners. We have so many people walking in Hoboken, which is great. We want to make sure that it is safe for everybody."
Officials said the stanchions, which have proven to be cost-effective, will continue to be installed until they are on nearly every street corner in Hoboken.
Residents who would like a particular street corner modified should email their concerns to email@example.com.
Damurjian also said that he finds the amount of double-parking, particularly on Washington Street, to be "annoying." According to Damurjian, much of the double-parking can be attributed to store owners and employees who block cars in along Washington Street.
"This is a non-issue for those who work in the city, but what about residents like myself who commute every day?" asked Damurjian. "It's a lose-lose when you are double-parked, since both parties are annoyed that they have to move their cars to begin with."
The Reporter took a ride down Washington Street at 12 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon to count the number of parking violations, which included double-parking, parking too close to an intersection, and parking in front of a bus stop or fire hydrant. Approximately 29 violations were counted in the 14-block stretch of Washington Street, equating to roughly 2 per block. One such violation even included a Port Authority Police vehicle.
Sacs said that currently, the Hoboken Parking Utility enforces double-parking in a "limited fashion."
"At the moment, the resources that we have to enforce parking laws do not allow us to put all our effort into one particular violation," said Sacs.
Sacs said that double-parking reduces speeding and slows down traffic.
"For the most part, double-parking creates temporary physical impediments along the roadway that actually contribute to reduced speeding on corridors," said Sacs. "Our primary concern [with] double-parking is [when it occurs] too close to intersections, or [when it] blocks fire hydrants or bicycle lanes."
Sacs declined to say that double-parking makes roads safer. However, Sacs said that the city will be "stepping up" enforcement on what are perceived to be the more dangerous examples of double parking.
"We're definitely stepping up enforcement on double-parking," he said, "but we're doing it in a balanced way that addresses the primary safety concerns as opposed to across-the-border enforcement."
Stephen LaMarca may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert to Air on NBC
NBC will present Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, a television version of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's 1971 musical, on Easter Sunday, April 1, 2018, the network announced today.
"As we continue to expand the profile of our live musicals, we are thrilled to be partnering with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to bring a new live staging of the iconic Jesus Christ Superstar to NBC," said Robert Greenblatt, chairman, NBC Entertainment. "Casting has just begun, but we want to fill out this classic show with as many recording artists as possible to give proper voice to what is the original rock opera score."
Jesus Christ Superstar was originally conceived as a concept album that hit #1 on the Billboard charts, and eventually made its way to the stage in 1971. It is based on the final week of Jesus' life. Other historical figures that play prominent roles in the musical include Judas Iscariot, Mary Magdalene, Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, Peter, Simon Zealotes and King Herod.
The 1971 Broadway-debut production opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre and starred Jeff Fenholt as Jesus and Ben Vereen as Judas. It was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for Vereen. The musical has been revived on Broadway three times. The most recent revival, in 2012 at the Neil Simon Theatre, starred Paul Alexander Nolan as Jesus and Josh Young as Judas.
Jesus Christ Superstar has been performed in nearly 20 countries and translated into 18 different languages. A 1973 film version, directed by Oscar winner Norman Jewison, starred Ted Neeley as Jesus and Carl Anderson as Judas.
NBC's other live musicals have included The Sound of Music Live, Peter Pan Live, The Wiz Live, Hairspray Live and the upcoming Bye Bye Birdie Live.


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MIAMI — Kris Medlen pitched eight innings of four-hit ball and the Atlanta Braves won his start for the 21st straight time, beating the Miami Marlins 3-0 on Wednesday night.
Medlen (9-1) lost the first two starts of his career in 2009. He hasn't taken a loss in any of his 26 starts since, with the Braves prevailing in the last 21 of those — making them the first team since the New York Yankees to have such a streak, according to STATS LLC.
The Yankees won 22 straight times when Whitey Ford started games from 1950 through 1953, a span interrupted by Ford serving in the Korean War.
Medlen struck out six, walked one and lowered his ERA from 1.62 to 1.51.
Chipper Jones' single in the third inning tied him with Lou Gehrig for 58th on baseball's all-time hit list. It was his 2,721st hit.
Rob Brantly doubled for Miami, which was shut out for the 16th time this season.
Craig Kimbrel picked up his 38th save in 41 chances for Atlanta, despite allowing a single to Jose Reyes to open the ninth and hitting Greg Dobbs with a pitch two batters later.
The Marlins honored Jones in a pregame ceremony, giving him a fly-fishing rod, reel and plenty of accessories. Jones has played more games (244) and collected more home runs (40), RBIs (165), hits (258), doubles (47) and walks (140) than any other opponent has against the Marlins.
So they won't have Jones to worry about anymore.
But Medlen, he might be a problem for years to come.
The first of Medlen's 10 starts so far this season was against Miami on July 31, when he allowed one run over five innings and the Braves picked up a 7-1 victory. Little did anyone know then how the next few weeks would go — he's now 8-0 with a 0.76 ERA as a starter, as opposed to his 2.48 ERA in 54 1-3 innings in 38 relief appearances to start the season.
Atlanta also made sure he had the lead before even taking the mound. Michael Bourn led off the game with a double and scored two batters later on Jason Heyward's sacrifice fly to center off Josh Johnson, whose woes continued.
Johnson (8-13) gave up five hits, three walks and three runs in six innings, striking out five. The Marlins have now lost seven of his last eight starts.
Dan Uggla scored in the second after drawing his NL-leading 89th walk, stealing second and coming around on Jose Constanza's single to center. The lead went to 3-0 in the third when Atlanta made Johnson pay for another walk — a leadoff pass to Martin Prado turned into a run on Freddie Freeman's sacrifice fly.
Medlen worked his way out of a little trouble in the fifth. Donovan Solano singled and went to third when Medlen's one-out pickoff throw sailed past first base. But Medlen got Bryan Petersen to pop up into short center field — Uggla, the second baseman, had his throw home go up the third-base line, but Solano was held anyway — and then Gorkys Hernandez grounded to shortstop to end the inning.
NOTES: Jones tied Lou Gehrig for 58th on baseball's all-time hit list with a third-inning single, the 2,721st hit of his career. "Every time he gets a base hit, he passes a different guy on the list. You sit back and go, 'Wow,'" Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. ... The Marlins and Braves both have Thursday off. Miami plans to pitch RHP Jacob Turner in New York on Friday against LHP Jonathon Niese, while Atlanta is expected to start RHP Tommy Hanson in Philadelphia on Friday against RHP Kyle Kendrick. ... Braves SS Paul Janish, who dislocated his left shoulder on Tuesday night, returned to Atlanta for evaluation. It's unknown if he could be back before the end of the regular season.


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Dropouts or hangers connect your frame to your gear derailleur and act as the intermediary to try and protect your frame from damage. Make inspecting your hanger for correct alignment a regular check and if in doubt speak to your local authorised Giant / Liv retailer.
All specifications listed are subject to change without notice.


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Rangers On A Roll, Podcast Up
by Erik Elken
We've been a little MIA due to scheduling conflicts, but fear not. We have been keeping up with the Blueshirts and like how they've been playing of late. We already take full blame if the Rangers now go on a losing streak since we did this podcast, but be sure to take a listen. Eric and I discuss two major things the Rangers have been doing that has been the difference in their play of late, plus Sean Avery and John Tortorella's comments for Joe Thornton. Be sure to send us your questions and comments at [email protected].
Let's Go Rangers!


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I want you to open the Word of God to the gospel of Mark - the gospel of Mark and chapter 14. With some apology to our guests, we are near the end of this great gospel, and so much has gone on in the past that you have missed, but it is all available these days - isn't it? - GTY.org. You can download our whole study of Mark along with everything else.
But as we come to chapter 14 of Mark, we find ourselves in verse 43 - verse 43. Let me read verses 43 through 52.
"Immediately, while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now, he who was betraying Him had given them a sign or a signal, saying, 'Whomever I kiss, He is the one. Seize Him and lead Him away under guard.' After coming, Judas immediately went to Him saying, 'Rabbi,' and kissed Him. They laid hands on Him and seized Him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear.
"And Jesus said to them, 'Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would against a robber? Every day I was with you in the temple teaching and you did not seize me. But this is taking place to fulfill the Scripture.' And they all left Him and fled. A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body, and they seized him. But he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked."
When I was a student in seminary, I was to write my dissertation before I could graduate. There were many subjects that I might have chosen to write a dissertation on, but my graduate dissertation was titled, "A Character Study of Judas Iscariot," because even as a young man, in my early twenties, he was among the most fascinating people on the pages of Scripture, an incomprehensible unbeliever. How could someone spend three years, 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the presence of Jesus Christ and do what he did? How can anyone be that evil? That wicked? That self-serving? That callous? That hopeless?
I wrote the dissertation. The committee accepted the dissertation, and I graduated. And many decades have past, and I still can't quite comprehend Judas. But let's back up a little bit. The Jewish ruling council, the Supreme Court of Israel, was called the Sanhedrin. That simply means the gathering together. It was a collection of religious leaders. Some among the sect of the Sadducees who were religious liberals but most among the sect of the Pharisees who were religious conservatives and among the Pharisees, a group of scribes who were the law experts.
They were all religious leaders. After all, Israel viewed itself as a theocratic kingdom. God was King, and religious leaders, therefore, served God by disseminating His will and His Word into the life of the people. They didn't necessarily agree on everything. They had strong agreement about how they interpreted the Scripture. As I said, the Sadducees were liberals and didn't believe in the resurrection and didn't believe in an afterlife and didn't believe in angels. And the Pharisees believed in all of that.
And there were even divisions among them. They didn't agree on everything. In fact, rarely did they agree on everything, but this time they agreed. They agreed right down to a man (with perhaps just one or two exceptions, like Joseph of Arimathea) but they were unanimous that they wanted Jesus dead - they wanted Him dead. They hated Him. They were jealous of His power, for who of them could raise the dead? Give sight to the blind? Hearing to the deaf? A voice to the mute? Who could make people walk? Heal them of all diseases? Deliver them from demons?
Who could create food? Control storms? Obviously, they were jealous of His power. They were also jealous of His popularity for His power had garnered Him popularity, the likes of which no person ever walking on this planet had received because none had ever done what He did. They were jealous of the accolades He received from the crowd. They hated His message. Theirs was a message of "earn your salvation by works" and His was a message of "repent for your sin and receive your salvation as a gift of grace," and they hated that because they were proud and self-righteous. They wanted to earn their way in.
They hated Him so much because He was encroaching into their space. He was taking over their position and their popularity. And then, this week, their hatred of Him was amped up when on Monday, He arrived, came into the city, and there were hundreds of thousands of people hailing Him as the Messiah. That frightened them even more, made them more hostile toward Him. Then He came back on Tuesday, went right to the temple where the leaders of the Sanhedrin essentially ran temple operations, selling animals and exchanging money.
And it was nothing but the Israeli mafia, a den of robbers, Jesus said. And He went in and threw them out. One man by himself with hundreds of thousands of people massed around that massive courtyard, He went in, threw over the moneychangers, threw the buyers and sellers of animals and emptied the place of the bazaars of Annas, the former high priest who ran that. Came back on Wednesday to the debris lying around, commandeered the entire place, and for one solid day that place echoed with the truth coming out of His lips.
Those three days had sealed His fate for certain if there was any question at all about whether they wanted Him dead. They had a problem, however. Chapter 14 says, "They were afraid of the people." How are you going to arrest this man? How are you going to pull off this execution with this kind of popularity? So in chapter 14, verses 1 and 2, they think, "Well, you know, maybe we'd better not do this during the festival." They can barely hold their hatred in another day, let alone another week or two.
But they know that it might be a bad thing to try to do this in public. They know there will be some repercussions with the people and a riot could start. That's not good. The Romans don't like that. And maybe they couldn't even handle the people. So they have a problem. They need to capture and arrest Jesus, shut Him down, and kill Him, but they need someone to point Him out in the darkness of the night when the crowds have all dispersed. But who? They can't and offer themselves to one of His twelve apostles. As far as they know, they're all loyal, and that'll blow their plan.
They have to wait until someone shows up. Who would that be? Who would do that? Everybody who followed Him was enamored with Him. Who would be a betrayer of Jesus? The people were on the side of Jesus when He cleaned out the corruption in the temple because they were all the victims of it. They were paying ten times what you should pay for an animal to sacrifice. They were getting gouged on the coin exchange. Who was going to do this?
Amazingly, someone showed up. Chapter 14, verse 10, "Judas Iscariot, who is one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them." He initiated it. Amazing. People didn't come to him and talk him into it, he initiated it. And they were glad when they heard this, verse 11. Yeah, where else were they going to find someone to do this? They promised to give him money and he said - another of the four gospels records, and it's in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all these events.
One of the other gospels says that he negotiated for 30 pieces of silver. They were willing to give him 30 pieces of silver (which, by the way, was the price of a slave). So he was willing to sell Jesus for the price of a slave, which is exactly the amount the Old Testament says that He would be sold for. Unwittingly, they fulfilled a prophecy that proves the validity, accuracy of the Old Testament. And so he began to seek how to betray Him at an opportune time. He's got to find a time away from the crowds at night in the dark.
Well, you know what we've covered in Mark 14. It's Thursday now, and they go together to an upper room where they have the final Passover, the final legitimate, official, Jewish Passover, and then our Lord institutes the Lord's Table or the Communion service, the Lord's Supper, with them there.
In the middle of that evening, that Thursday night, which goes essentially from sundown all the way to midnight - it's a long, prolonged time in which our Lord does extensive teaching, recorded in John 13 to 16, and lots of things are happening. But one thing that happens is the issue comes up of the betrayal. The issue comes up that somebody is going to betray Him. Verse 18 of chapter 14, "They were reclining at the table and eating and Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, one of you will betray me - one of you who is eating with me.'" They were just absolutely shocked.
Judas was such an adept hypocrite, such a skilled hypocrite, that they had no idea it was Him. In fact, it says they began to be grieved and to say to Him, one by one, all of them, "Surely not I?" They no more thought it was Judas then they thought it was themselves. That's how skilled he was as a hypocrite. Jesus said, "It's one of the twelve. One of you who is dipping bread in the bowl with me. It's one of you. For the Son of man is to go just as it is written of Him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had never been born." Better never born than forever in hell.
So Jesus unmasked Judas. The rest didn't get it, Judas did, and Satan entered into Judas, Scripture says, and Jesus sent him out and said, "Go and do what you do quickly." So that Thursday night, Jesus is left with the eleven. Judas, who's been looking for an opportune time now knows Jesus knows, leaves, goes to find the Sanhedrin members late Thursday night and set up the rendezvous. He knows where to find Jesus because he knows where Jesus and the disciples typically go at night. They go to the place where Jesus had just been, the garden of Gethsemane, from verses 32 to 42. He'd been there praying. That's where they would go.
Now remember, there's twelve apostles and Jesus. They were all pilgrims in Jerusalem. The place was basically drowning in population that came for the Passover. There weren't a lot of places to stay. Probably the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus couldn't accommodate them all, so there was a rich person in the city who had a garden on the Mount of Olives who provided the garden for them, and they went there at night. It was a place that the Bible says they resorted to (John 18, Luke 22:39) and it says that Judas knew it well. He knew that's where they'd be.
This is a perfect set-up for him. It's out of the city, it's on the Mount of Olives, and when the sun goes down in the ancient world, it's really dark. And so he sets it up to take the leaders of Israel and their entourage to find Jesus in the darkness of the garden of Gethsemane.
Our Lord is already there by the time we come into this passage in verse 43 because He came there in verse 32. Verse 32 tells us that He came to Gethsemane, He was there for a few hours, praying. You remember His prayer, "Let this cup pass from me" - three times - "nevertheless, not my will but yours be done," and He obeys the Father. I'll go to the cross if that's what you ask me to do, as horrific as it is to be alienated from you and be a sin bearer. He's willing to do it.
While He's praying, the disciples are sleeping. He warns them that it's dangerous to sleep when you should be praying because temptation is coming. The prayer meeting is ended when you come down to verse 41, middle of the verse, "The hour has come. Behold, the Son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let's be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is near."
They're up there. Here comes this entourage. And there are as many as a thousand of them in the crowd that's coming. They can see the torches. They can hear the crowd moving. Our Lord sees it, says, "Prayer time is over. Let's go." And He doesn't go the other way, He walks right into the crowd. That's where we pick up the story in verse 43. And here, early in the darkness of Friday morning, everything begins to get into motion for the execution of Jesus. He will be dead by about three o'clock in the afternoon. That's how fast this happens.
A betrayal, an arrest, two trials, one before Jews and one before Gentiles, each with three parts, a crucifixion and death - all by three o'clock. He'll be in the grave before sundown, so he will be Friday in the grave, Saturday in the grave, and Sunday a portion of that day in the grave, rising later on Sunday morning so that He fulfills the prophecy of crucified and buried for three days. God is in control of all these details. These mindless unbelievers who hate Jesus are step-by-step fulfilling the plan of God and no less culpable for doing it because they did it out of the hatred of their own hearts.
All right, let's step into the scene. First is the confronting crowd. "Immediately, while He was still speaking, still talking to His disciples, saying, 'Let's get up, let's get going, Judas is here, they're here" - Judas, one of the twelve - and it seems that that little descriptive of him, which we just read in another portion of this chapter, is the way Mark speaks the unbelieving idea that this man rejected Christ. He just can't get over it - one of the twelve, one of the twelve, one of the twelve. How can that be?
Judas, one of the twelve, the ultimate tragedy, the man with the greatest opportunity and privilege that could ever happen to any person, to be with Christ, the Son of God, that man, one of the twelve. Busy night for him. Lord sent him out. Judas was filled with Satan. You know what a demon-possessed person is like in the text of Scripture, we have descriptions of them. Well, he's possessed by Satan himself. There's a sense in which the devil has taken over control of him. It's a frantic night, then, for the devil-possessed Judas. He has to go find the Sanhedrin in the darkness of night.
Sometime, probably before midnight, before the Passover and Lord's Table meal was over, he has to get permission from them to get together their resources because he thinks he knows where Jesus is going to be because this is where they go, to the Mount of Olives, and he's familiar with it. And then he has to get permission from the Roman authorities to give soldiers to go along with the Jews because the Jews are afraid that even with their temple police, they couldn't handle something if it began to happen, some kind of crowd revolt, if the word got out.
So permission has to be gained for Roman soldiers, and not a small group but a speiran is the Greek word used, a cohort. A full cohort would be six hundred Roman soldiers. And the Romans would have extra soldiers at Passover because of the massive influx of people. They would have them there for security.
And by the way, there had recently been a Jewish insurrection against the Romans. And they put that insurrection down, and that's referred to in Mark 15:7, and one of the principals in that insurrection was a man named Barabbas - Barabbas.
So the Romans didn't like insurrections. The Romans would have accommodated Judas. So it's a busy night for this devil-possessed man, as he puts together the pieces of this little puzzle. Probably had to gain permission from Pilate himself, the governor.
But those places are so close by. Fort Antonia, where the Romans were and where Pilate was, is less than a minute walk across from the wall, the northeastern side of the temple, the northern wall of the temple. It's all very close, and he was scrambling to get it all done. He had betrayed the location and, therefore, the Son of God for thirty pieces of silver.
So the crowd shows up. It says in verse 43, "They were with swords and clubs." The swords would have belonged to the Romans, machaira is the word. They carried a small little dagger, a very lethal, sharp on two sides, two-edged dagger that they were very skilled at handling, for slitting throats and putting that dagger in the appropriate places to bring about a quick end to life. They were skilled with that. Clubs, they would have belonged to the temple police. The temple police didn't use deadly weapons. They controlled crowds with billy clubs.
So here comes the temple police, who were normally the ones who took care of the temple security, along with the Romans with their swords. And we learn a little more about this. Also we learn from John 18:3, John gives us further details, that they came with torches and lanterns, the only way you could light the night. It was critical that they be able to see where they were going and locate the Lord at the appropriate moment. So out of the blackness, out of the middle of that night, comes this huge crowd, hundreds and hundreds of them together - mindlessly, cowardly, unjustly, and profanely coming for the purpose of killing the Son of God.
The traitor then identifies the Lord. He tells them how he's going to do it. So you go from the confronting crowd to the betraying disciple. Verse 44, "He who was betraying Him had given them a signal" - or "a sign," - "saying, 'Whomever I kiss, He is the one.'" And then amazingly, Judas gives them the order, "Seize Him and lead Him away under guard." He also hated Jesus. But if Satan was speaking through Peter when Peter said, "No, Lord, you're not going to die," Satan was certainly speaking through Judas when Judas said, "Seize Him and lead Him away under guard."
By the way, this is a good indication that Jesus didn't wear a halo or Judas would have said, "It's the guy with the halo" or "It's the guy with the supernatural glow on His face." There was nothing external that could identify Jesus as divine. But there were obvious needs to be able to identify Him in the crowd and to make sure that somebody else didn't step up and say, "I'm Jesus," and then Jesus slide away and escape. The assumption was He would try to escape. That's another reason for the force, that He would try to escape, that He wasn't going to let this happen.
They didn't want somebody else to pretend to be Jesus while He got away, so Judas says, "I'm going to mark Him out, I'm going to mark Him out." "Whomever I kiss, He's the one. Seize Him."
A kiss, strong embrace, an ancient sign that could be delivered a number of ways. Slaves kissed feet. Inferiors kissed hands. And equals kissed cheeks. This is an equal. This is an act of affection, honor, love, respect. That makes it all the more ugly, doesn't it? I mean we've all been betrayed. We all know that. But with a kiss, this is hypocrisy at its blackest. The man of sorrows had many sorrows, and He can add this to the list. Verse 45 says, "Judas was unhesitating. After coming, Judas immediately went to Him saying, 'Rabbi, teacher,' and kissed Him."
By the way, the Greek verb kataphileō here means to kiss fervently - kiss fervently. It's got a preposition added at the front which intensifies the verb. This was an ongoing affection, expression of an affection. This is reminiscent of the prodigal son coming home and the father - remember? - in Luke 15, receiving the prodigal and kissing him all over the head. Boy, Judas really put on a dramatic show of false affection, designed to make it unmistakable exactly who was the one so the soldiers would know. Luke adds this, Luke 22:48, "Jesus said, 'Judas, are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss?'"
"Are you betraying the Son of man with a kiss?" Jesus could have destroyed him on the spot. He could have incinerated him on the spot. But He didn't. He submits to the betrayal in order that Scripture would be fulfilled. You remember the psalmist said - didn't he? - that His own familiar friend would lift up his heel against Him, and He would be betrayed in the house of His friends. Mark says no more about Judas. He kisses Him and he disappears off the pages of Mark's history.
So what happened to Judas? Matthew tells us. Matthew chapter 27 tells us what happened. "Judas, who had betrayed Him," verse 3, "saw that He had been condemned." What does that mean? Judas hung around after he betrayed Him that night. He hung around for the trial that morning. The trial went on in the early hours of the morning. And at the end of the trial, Jesus was condemned to death, and Judas is still hanging on the fringes, watching this happen. And when he saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priest and the elders.
He went back to wherever the Sanhedrin was located, and he gave them back the money. And he said, verse 4, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." And they said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself." What do we care? And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed and went out and hanged himself. Hanged himself? That's remorse. That's repentance not unto salvation. He went out and hanged himself.
He didn't do that very well because Acts 1 says that ultimately his body fell, smashed on the rocks, and his intestines came out. The rope broke or the branch broke as he suspended himself over the edge, and he died a horrific, tragic death. And people don't name their sons Judas - they don't even name their dogs Judas. Greatest illustration of wasted opportunity, squandered privilege ever - ever, ever, ever.
So they arrest Jesus. Verse 46, "They laid hands on Him and seized Him." John 18:12 says the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews, the temple police, arrested Jesus and tied Him up.
That takes us to verse 47. We have seen the confronting crowd. We've seen the ugly, tragic betrayer, Judas. Now we are introduced to another person in the drama. We'll call him the impulsive disciple - the impulsive disciple. Verse 47, "One of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear." This is strange. Startling incident. Fortunately, we know who this is. If we weren't told, we'd know anyway. We could guess that it would be Peter, couldn't we? We could guess that it would be Peter, impulsive, impetuous Peter. And we are right.
According to John 18:10, it was Peter. And according to John 18:10, the guy's name was Malchus and he was a servant of Caiaphas, the high priest. He wasn't even a police officer nor was he a soldier. What is Peter doing? He seems so often out of touch with the plan, doesn't he? Why is he doing this?
I'll tell you why he's doing this. He's got something to prove. Back in verse 29 of chapter 14, Peter said to Jesus, "Even though all may fall away, yet I will not." Peter was a confident guy. Wow, he believed in himself. You know, he'd fit in to the modern world ("If you believe in yourself, you can do anything.") That was Peter. He believed in himself. He wouldn't fail, he wouldn't fall. You say, "Well, there's some boldness there, some courage there." Sure, there is some boldness and some courage, but something had just happened that led Peter to be that courageous, and I'll tell you what it was.
John 18. John 18 gives the same account, same incident. But I want you to know what happened there. They all arrive, the entourage. Jesus walks up to the Roman cohort, the officers, the chief priests, the Pharisees, the massive crowd with their torches and weapons and lanterns, and Jesus says, "Whom do you seek?" Who you looking for? And they said, "Jesus, the Nazarene." And He said to them, "Ego eimi" - "I am." And he said the tetragrammaton, the name of God, the I am. And that's all He had to do was say, "I am."
Judas was standing with him, and when He said, "I am," they all collapsed to the ground. The whole crowd went down flat. They couldn't touch His power if He didn't give them permission. That's why He said, "No man takes my life from me; I lay it down myself." He asked them again, once they scrambled back up, "Who do you seek?" And they said, "Jesus, the Nazarene." He said, "I told you, I am."
Now, if you had just seen Jesus say, "Ego eimi" in Greek, different in Aramaic, but if you'd - let's take two words, one word in Aramaic, if you had just seen Jesus say one word and a thousand people collapsed to the ground, you'd feel okay, right? You'd feel like you could pull out your little knife and start through the crowd because at any moment, all Jesus would have to do is say another word, and they'd all go down again. It was an amazing, miraculous, triumphant, glorious powerful act of Jesus that infused Peter with strength. He needed to prove his loyalty again.
You say, "Where did he get a sword? What's he doing with a sword?" Well, Luke tells us that Jesus said in Luke 22:36 to 38, "You know, I sent you out, you didn't take a belt, you didn't take a bag, you didn't take extra shoes, you went out and you preached the gospel, and you were cared for and your needs were met, but in the future when I send you out, you better take a belt and you better take a bag, because there's going to be persecution out there. And by the way, you better take a sword."
He actually said to them, "If you don't have a sword, you better get one. Not to kill people." Christianity doesn't advance like Islam, it doesn't advance by killing people. And any supposed Christian effort to advance by killing anybody is false Christianity. But He said, "You're going to need a sword because you're going to be confronted, you're going to be persecuted, you're going to need to be able to defend yourself." In which the Lord advocates self-defense.
So Peter said at the end of that little conversation in Luke 22 - some of the disciples responded, "We have two swords, we found two in the group." Well, you can be sure Peter had one of them. Or for all we know, he's Two-Sword Peter. He may have gotten both of them. But he pulls one out and he whacks off the ear of Malchus.
Now look, he didn't have any surgical training, and I promise you he was better at throwing nets than he was at slitting throats because he missed the throat and hit the ear. He was not trying to cut off somebody's ear. He was trying to slit the throat because that's what you did with that. The guy ducked. And the Lord says, according to Luke 22, "Stop, no more of this - no more of this." This is wrong-headed, impulsive, and dangerous because in Matthew 26, He says to Peter, "Peter, put your sword away for whoever lives by the sword dies by the sword."
And our Lord, with that, advocates capital punishment in capital crime. That's a reiteration of Genesis 9. "Who sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." "Peter, they'll have a right to kill you if you kill somebody." That's our Lord advocating capital punishment. "Put your sword in the sheath." John 18:11, he says, "Put your sword in the sheath. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" And later Jesus says, "My kingdom is not of this world; otherwise, my servants would fight. The kingdom does not advance by force, it advances one person at a time by faith in Christ." Christianity makes no advance by the sword, none whatsoever.
People say, "Well, Christians are fighting in northern Ireland, and Christians are fighting in Bosnia and Croatia, and Christians - what about the Christian crusades?" None of that is Christian. It may have the word, it's not Christian - kingdom advances one soul at a time by faith in Christ. Well, we learned from the New Testament record that the Lord reached over and gave him a new ear. The only healing in the New Testament of a fresh wound. Peter, that's not how we do this.
So you see the crowd, the betrayer, and you see the impulsive disciple. And then in the next little scene, you see the glorious Christ, the triumphant Christ. "And Jesus said to them, 'Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would against a robber? Every day I was with you in the temple, teaching. You didn't seize me. But" - as if to say here and now - "to fulfill the Scripture.
You know, He is surrounded by this crowd of really tragic figures, corrupt, apostate, religious leaders, mindless, blind, ignorant, pagan, idol-worshiping Roman soldiers, killers by trade, weak, cowardly, wrong-headed followers and a wretched, evil betrayer. He's standing before the forces of hell and the forces of man. And he's just in charge. He says, "Why now? You think you're going to get resistance? Why all the soldiers? Why all the police? Why all the clubs? And where were you on Monday when I was at the temple? And where were you on Tuesday when I was there, and why didn't you arrest me on Wednesday?"
And what He's doing is unmasking the hypocrisy of this clandestine operation in which they're taking Him at night because it was a violation of all their laws. His glorious majesty is displayed by the crumbling of the crowd when He says, "I am." Displayed by the amazing calm, tranquility, as He asks reasonable questions. Am I some robber, some highwayman, some plunderer that you need all these soldiers and all these police? Have I ever tried to run from you? Wasn't I there every day this week? Where were you?
But the reason you're here right now in the middle of the night on a Friday is because today is the day Scripture is to be fulfilled. And in your witless, hostile anger, you are fulfilling the plan of God on schedule. That's why you're here. Scripture will be fulfilled. He will die at three o'clock in the afternoon, the same time the Passover lambs are being killed because He is the true Passover Lamb.
Now, a footnote that I mentioned last week, just briefly. Why would Satan try to keep Jesus from the cross, which he did earlier? Peter said, "No, Lord, you're not going to die, you're not going to die, you're not going to die," and Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan." It was Satan trying to keep Him from the cross. It was Satan who tempted Him and said, "I'll give you the kingdoms of the world. You can take popularity. You can take your satisfaction. You don't need the cross at His temptation."
If Satan wants to keep Him from the cross, then why does Satan enter Judas and have Judas go to the people who want to arrest Him so that they can kill Him? Why does Satan prompt Judas to go to the Sanhedrin to have Jesus arrested and executed? I don't know how Satan's mind functions, but it's pretty - simply reasonable to me that the one thing the leaders of Israel didn't want to do was arrest Jesus during the Passover. They said that, they didn't want to arrest Him, 14:2, "We don't want to arrest Him during this festival, this Passover."
Satan's thought may well have been, "If I can get this arrest going during the Passover, even if they get Him in the middle of the night, this is going to show up in the daytime, and the people will rise up and stop this crucifixion. And if the people don't stop it," Satan's thought must have been, "I'm going to make it so unbearable for Jesus with the spitting and the mockery and the crowning and the punches in the face and the beatings and the scourging and the whole thing, I'm going to make it so bad for Him that He's going to finally say, 'Stop, that's enough, I'm not going to die.'"
Do you remember in chapter 26, verses 51 to 54, He said to Peter when Peter pulled out the sword, He said, "Look, Peter, if I wanted, I could call twelve legions of angels right now." You know how many that is? Seventy-two thousand. Can you imagine what kind of defense 72 thousand angels would be when in the Old Testament one angel killed 185 thousand Assyrians? Seventy-two thousand angels could do some serious damage. "Put your sword away."
I think Satan must have thought, "If the crowd doesn't stop it, Jesus will say, 'I've had enough - I've had enough.'" You all saw The Passion of the Christ, you saw what He - and at some point He's going to say, "That's it, I'm done, I'm not going any further. I don't deserve this" and call the angels. No, Satan didn't want to get Him to the cross, he wanted to make it so bad that Jesus Himself would stop it. But He never did because He was obedient to the Father for your sake, my sake. There He stands in such majesty. "This is to fulfill Scripture."
So you see the crowd, it's an ugly crowd - the betrayer, even uglier. The impulsive Peter, disappointing, weak, cowardly in the end because verse 50 says - and here we come to the final point, the cowardly apostles, "They all left Him and fled." All of them, including Peter. They all left. That's what He said they would do back in verse 27. He told them, "You will all fall away" - "You will all fall away." And instead of praying against that temptation, they went to sleep during prayer meeting.
They were ill-equipped, weak, afraid, unfaithful, they fled. Zechariah 13:7 said that would happen, "Strike the Shepherd, the sheep will be scattered." And that prophecy was fulfilled. Unprepared, impatient, carnal, inconsistent, weak, they flee for their lives.
And then there's a closing picture of one person's cowardice. Listen to this. "A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body." He would have had his undergarments on, which they always wore, but nothing other than a sheet wrapped around that. They seized him. "He pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked." This is the only place that appears. Doesn't appear in Matthew, Luke, or John.
People say to me, "Who is that young man?" I have absolutely no idea who that young man is. How would I know? I'm looking at the same Bible you're looking at. I don't see a name. "And what is the linen sheet?" I have no idea, but I do know that when people went to sleep at night, they put a linen sheet on. And he wrapped himself in a linen sheet, and they tried to seize him, and he pulled free from the linen sheet and ran away. I love that about the Bible - it just says it because it happened.
If a committee wanted to organize this, they would say, "Take that thing out because it doesn't add anything to the story. What's the point? Who's the guy and why did he do it and what's the sheet?" I'll tell you what happened. I mean this we know. Somebody in the middle of the night heard a commotion, some guy, and thought, "What is going on?" and jumped out of his bed and just wrapped himself with a sheet and said, "I'm going to go out there and find out what's going on." And as he was poking around on the Mount of Olives, maybe he worked there, you know? Up on the - maybe he was in a vineyard up there.
And he's poking around out there and all of a sudden somebody thinks he's a threat that belongs to the crowd that goes around with Jesus, and they grab him, and he just runs. And the guy's left holding the sheet. And that, my dear friends, is a true interpretation of this passage. Anything more than that is pure speculation. Some people say, "No, no, that's Mark - that's Mark." It is? "Yeah, because it's a first-person account. Who would know that but the guy who was doing it? Who would know that?" "Maybe it's Mark. Maybe he just doesn't want to call himself that because he's embarrassed that he was running around without his clothes on in the middle of the night."
I don't know, maybe it was Mark. Maybe the reason it's here is because it was Mark and maybe somebody even suggested that before Judas went to the garden, he checked Mark's house because Mark's mother was one of the early believers and maybe checked to see if Jesus went there instead of to the Mount of Olives, and when Mark found out they were looking for Jesus, he threw his sheet on and jumped out the window because he was very young, his mother wouldn't let him go out in the middle of the night, and followed along and - well. Now we're creating some fiction here instead of what it says.
What's the point? The point is Jesus is alone. Everybody's gone. The apostles are gone and even a sort of a - I don't know, a normal follower of Jesus, just a guy who saw what was going on and the more he saw, the more he knew, and he was a follower. He was following Him. Get closer and closer and closer and he's gone, too. It's just to show that there's no one left - no one left.
And so alone, verse 53 says, they led Him away in the darkness of night to a kangaroo court to put Him through two trials with three parts each, six separate tribunals. Trumped up charges, bribed witnesses, corrupt judges, proverbial kangaroo court, get Him on the cross in the morning, He's dead in the afternoon.
In the end, nothing is to be said except that Jesus triumphantly, knowingly goes to the cross, fulfilling prophecy. There were prophecies about Judas, the betrayer, there were prophecies about the scattering of the disciples. There were prophecies about Him as the Passover Lamb that had to be fulfilled on Friday. There were prophecies about the cross, that He would be lifted up. There were prophecies about Him being pierced by the nails and the sword. It is all what Scripture says. Isaiah 53, "He is led as a sheep to slaughter." But He goes willingly. He does it out of love for His Father and love for you because it's your sins that He carried there.
Father, what an experience for us, to be there on the Mount of Olives that day through the eyes of Mark and the other writers of the gospel account and to experience the betrayal and arrest of Jesus, at least in a small way. Just adding to the gratitude which we have for His willingness to give His life, who was perfectly holy, sinless, and bearing this kind of scorn when He had only been worshiped forever by angels and adored and honored, to be kissed by a betrayer, to be arrested by sinners and to be judged, as it were, by you on the cross, to be punished for our sins.
The horrors of this are beyond comprehension, and yet His majesty and magnificence shines through. Oh, what a Savior is ours. And we praise you, O God, for giving Him to us and giving us to Him. In His great name we pray. Amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.


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Career Possibilities
Community College of Philadelphia gives you the tools you need to succeed in today's workforce. Our programs prepare you for high-demand, sustainable industries that feature good wages, employment stability and opportunities for advancement. You'll benefit from hands-on experience, verbal and written communication skills development, and critical thinking exercises. All of our programs are taught in small classes by dedicated faculty, giving you the personal attention you deserve. And many programs are shaped and enhanced by participating professionals from local businesses who ensure that everything you learn is relevant and rewarding.
Visit the College's Career Connections to see how they can help you plan for and achieve your career goals or check out Pennsylvania's JobGateway to find the programs and careers that match your career interests.
Business, Entrepreneurship and Law
Do numbers and ledgers make you happy? A career as an accountant may be for you. Our Accounting degree program gives you the fundamentals to seamlessly transfer to a number of four-year schools in the area, and our Accounting Paraprofessional proficiency certificate prepares you to enter the workforce.
Our Business, Entrepreneurship and Law options are numerous, including concentrations in Business, Culinary Arts, Digital Forensics, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality Management, Justice, Paralegal Studies and more.
Explore all of our business, entrepreneurship and law programs
Creative Arts
If you love to draw, paint, craft or sculpt, then the College's Art and Design program will get you into the studio and allow you to express your artistic side. In this program, you'll learn art history and theory while developing an impressive portfolio to showcase your work.
We also offer Acting, Digital Imaging, Digital Video Production, Music Performance, Photographic Imaging, Sound Recording Music Technology, and Theater programs.
Design, Construction and Transportation
Do you have an eye for structural design? The Associate in Arts in Architecture may be the perfect fit for you. Our Architecture program prepares aspiring architects and designers for transfer to a four-year professional school of architecture with a hands-on, interdisciplinary curriculum.
Other programs available include Automotive Service, Automotive Technology, Building Science, Construction Management, Facility Management, Interior Design and Energy Conservation.
See what design, construction and transportation career possibilities await you
Education and Human Services
Interested in a career in education, social services or mental health? A Behavioral Health/Human Services degree may be an option for you. This program leads to an A.A.S. degree and will give you a unique skill set and the acumen necessary to transfer to a four-year college.
There are many social and human services degree and certificate concentrations, including Early Childhood Education, Liberal Arts - Social/Behavioral Science, Psychology, and Recovery and Transformation
Look into options in the fields of education and human services
Health Care
Those who have an avid interest in the health care industry can enter programs like our Dental Hygiene degree program, which is the only accredited Dental Hygiene program in Philadelphia. Our expert faculty will help prepare you to take the required exams for licensing and certification as a dental hygienist.
We also offer degree and certificate programs in Clinical Laboratory Technician, Diagnostic Medical Imaging, Health Care Studies, Nursing, Medical Insurance Billing, Health Services Management, Respiratory Care Technology and more.
Explore our program opportunities for careers in health care
Liberal Arts and Communications
Those who are looking for a flexible program that lays the groundwork for a seamless transfer to a four-year college should consider a Liberal Arts degree. This program is ideal for students who may be undecided about career goals and wish to pursue a degree that gives them a chance to nar their area of study through course electives.
Students have many liberal arts concentrations to choose from, including American Sign Language, Communication Studies, Education, English, International Studies, Mass Media, Religious Studies, and Creative Writing.
Start on your path to a bachelor's degree with liberal arts or communications
Science and Technology
If you have your sights set on a career as a biologist, research assistant or scientist, then the Biology degree program is worth looking into. Students will get a highly interactive education that will provide a solid foundation for the pursuit of a bachelor's degree in biological science.
Other science programs and certificates include Applied Science and Engineering Technology, Chemistry, Engineering Science, Mathematics, Network Technology Management and Administration, and Process Technology.


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The games we see advertised the most aren't necessarily the best representatives for what has become an incredibly diverse medium. Yearly AAA installments and massive open worlds are all well and good, but simplicity is rarely on display — which makes two recent releases, Ape Out and Baba Is You, all the more delightful.
Both are, in a way, very simple games, but from that simplicity arises complex and enjoyable gameplay concepts that can entertain (or frustrate) for hours. It's a refreshing reversal of games that appear complex but ultimately have very little depth.
Ape Out is certainly the more simple of the two, at least in gameplay terms. You're an ape — a great ape. A gorilla, to be precise. And you have gotten out.
The smooth top-down action has you navigating a procedurally generated office patrolled by gun-wielding ne'er-do-wells. To prevent further ape blood from being spilled, you can either punch them — usually fatal, as you are strong — or grab them, which causes them to fire their gun. Then you can throw them into a wall. That's pretty much it!
A few things elevate the game beyond the apparently arcade-level concepts here. First is a distinctive visual style that combines a sort of watercolor or chalky effect with starkly monochrome characters and surroundings, making gameplay elements highly distinctive and recognizable while giving a definite look to the whole world.
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The controls are also smooth and largely predictable, letting you confidently move through the world without worrying whether you'll catch on something or whether your lunge will reach a guy — if you're not sure, it's exciting rather than frustrating. Well-spaced checkpoints make you master an area before passing on, but don't feel punitive, and new enemies and obstacles are introduced gradually and logically.
But the music is the most striking bit. A base beat of jazz drums accompanies each stage, growing in intensity as you progress to the next level (it can take as little as 20 or 30 seconds to do so), and every action adds a beat or cymbal crash to the mix. The responsive music makes it feel like a real soundtrack to your acts, while also spurring you on to greater ones.
As Penny Arcade pointed out, Ape Out is fun and original from the moment you pick it up. There's no boring tutorial, problematic dialogue, poorly characterized protagonist, obscure and frequently revised gameplay elements, and no "ludonarrative dissonance." In other words you never think "wait, would an enraged ape really do that?" (By the way, it's definitely violent — but in an absurd comic style, not graphic and horrible.)
Baba Is You is simple in a different way. Its graphics and simple grid-based movement place it in company with The Adventures of Lolo or similar block-pushing games from the '80s and '90s. The complexity of this game, however, comes from a mind-bending twist along the lines of Portal and The Witness: the rules of the game are actual blocks that you move around as well.
It sounds weird, but that's the game: In addition to rocks, water, walls and various other items, there are blocks defining the actual rules of that level with a crude, blocky logic, such as "flag is win" and "rock is push," meaning you win if you touch the flag and rocks can be pushed.
Perhaps the flag is embedded in an inaccessible fortress of walls, though. No problem. A couple pushes mean that now "rock is win" — so just go touch a rock and the level is complete. Or perhaps if you can reach it, the rule "wall is stop" can be shifted, letting you walk right through them to the flag.
The simple, cute graphics let you focus on the seemingly limited, yet actually maddeningly diverse, ways of combining and shifting the blocks of the level. "Eureka!" moments are elusive things, as the creator seems to have a knack for predicting how you might think and putting roadblocks in the way of obvious solutions. But there is that amazing feeling that you're a genius when you come back to an "impossible" level and see it with new eyes, solving it in a handful of seconds. That's the complexity of simplicity — a single breakthrough that takes half an hour to arrive at.
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I won't lie, though: Baba Is You is hard. It's hard as hell. In the forums are puzzle fiends shame-facedly admitting they can't beat the 6th level, or facepalming after a hint is offered. It's easy to develop a mental block and never get past it — but fortunately the game is fairly open, letting you take on the first few puzzles of various themed areas of the map rather than making you clear one before moving on to the next. This isn't a game you'll be done with in an afternoon.
Both Baba Is You and Ape Out cost less than $20 (on PC and Switch right now), in the sweet spot between the shovelware under $10 and "full" retail games twice the cost. Both are unique and created with obvious care and attention to detail. And neither ever requires more than two or three minutes of your time — though you can, as I did last night, lose hours just as easily as you would in a AAA title. This is simple done right.


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when connecting my Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1 (USB debugging off) to my PC running Ubuntu 10.10 the device seems to be mounted properly, but I can't transfer any file (I always get "Error creating directory: -1: Unspecified error").
I googled the issue, installed mtp-tools and mtpfs, tried several recommended methods, but I still can't use my tab as a mass storage device.
Anybody can help?


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- Departments
- Trial Court
- Jury Duty
- Jury Duty Handbook
Jury Duty Handbook
You have been called to serve as a juror. Nothing a citizen can be asked to do is more important. You will help to decide what happens to the liberty or property of other people. You will want to do your best to assure that the jury on which you sit returns a fair and impartial verdict.
The purpose of a trial is to do justice, by deciding a dispute between parties fairly and impartially. The value to the community of your service as a juror in that effort cannot be overstated. You can go home when your period of duty is over with a sense of an important job well done.
If you have never been a juror before, you may have questions about what happens in the courtroom and about your role as a juror. Read this handbook carefully and contact us if you have any questions.
Table of Contents
A trial is an orderly method for determining the facts of a dispute, applying the law to those facts, and deciding the case.
Your Role as a Juror
You've heard the term "jury of one's peers." In our country the job of determining the facts and reaching a just decision rests, not with "the government" or any other "higher authority," but with a jury, which is a small cross-section of the people in the community - fellow-citizens of the parties to the lawsuit.
Civil & Criminal Cases
You know that some lawsuits are civil matters, and some are criminal matters. In a civil case the court is asked to decide a dispute between private individuals or groups. In a criminal case, the court must determine whether someone has committed a crime.
Jury Selection
You and the others on the jury panel were selected at random to be called for jury duty. The first step in a trial is to select from among you the number needed to try the case - between six and fourteen - depending on the type of case.
Conduct of the Trial
Civil and criminal trials are conducted in much the same way.
Parties to a lawsuit are entitled to call witnesses to testify. Witnesses are sworn to tell the truth.
Order of Presentation
When the plaintiff's attorney (in a civil case) or the prosecuting attorney (in a criminal case) has finished presenting evidence, that side will rest.
After both sides have presented all their evidence, each attorney delivers a closing argument, summarizing his/her side's case and the reasons why the jury should decide in their favor.
Jury Instructions
After the closing arguments the judge will give Jury Instructions,which are statements of the rules of law which apply in the case you have just heard.
Jury Deliberations
After hearing the jury instructions, the jury moves to the jury room to consider the case and reach its verdict.
The Verdict
The foreperson will report to the judge when the jury has arrived at a verdict, which will then be read in open court.
During the Trial
There are some common-sense rules jurors must follow to assure fairness to all parties. The judge will review them with you before testimony begins.


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Mrs. Bullfrog by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Mrs. Bullfrog
It makes me melancholy to see how like fools some very sensible people act in the matter of choosing wives. They perplex their judgments by a most undue attention to little niceties of personal appearance, habits, disposition, and other trifles which concern nobody but the lady herself. An unhappy gentleman, resolving to wed nothing short of perfection, keeps his heart and hand till both get so old and withered that no tolerable woman will accept them. Now this is the very height of absurdity. A kind Providence has so skilfully adapted sex to sex and the mass of individuals to each other, that, with certain obvious exceptions, any male and female may be moderately happy in the married state. The true rule is to ascertain that the match is fundamentally a good one, and then to take it for granted that all minor objections, should there be such, will vanish, if you let them alone. Only put yourself beyond hazard as to the real basis of matrimonial bliss, and it is scarcely to be imagined what miracles, in the way of recognizing smaller incongruities, connubial love will effect.
For my own part I freely confess that, in my bachelorship, I was precisely such an over-curious simpleton as I now advise the reader not to be. My early habits had gifted me with a feminine sensibility and too exquisite refinement. I was the accomplished graduate of a dry goods store, where, by dint of ministering to the whims of fine ladies, and suiting silken hose to delicate limbs, and handling satins, ribbons, chintzes calicoes, tapes, gauze, and cambric needles, I grew up a very ladylike sort of a gentleman. It is not assuming too much to affirm that the ladies themselves were hardly so ladylike as Thomas Bullfrog. So painfully acute was my sense of female imperfection, and such varied excellence did I require in the woman whom I could love, that there was an awful risk of my getting no wife at all, or of being driven to perpetrate matrimony with my own image in the looking-glass. Besides the fundamental principle already hinted at, I demanded the fresh bloom of youth, pearly teeth, glossy ringlets, and the whole list of lovely items, with the utmost delicacy of habits and sentiments, a silken texture of mind, and, above all, a virgin heart. In a word, if a young angel just from paradise, yet dressed in earthly fashion, had come and offered me her hand, it is by no means certain that I should have taken it. There was every chance of my becoming a most miserable old bachelor, when, by the best luck in the world, I made a journey into another state, and was smitten by, and smote again, and wooed, won, and married, the present Mrs. Bullfrog, all in the space of a fortnight. Owing to these extempore measures, I not only gave my bride credit for certain perfections which have not as yet come to light, but also overlooked a few trifling defects, which, however, glimmered on my perception long before the close of the honeymoon. Yet, as there was no mistake about the fundamental principle aforesaid, I soon learned, as will be seen, to estimate Mrs. Bullfrog's deficiencies and superfluities at exactly their proper value.
The same morning that Mrs. Bullfrog and I came together as a unit, we took two seats in the stage-coach and began our journey towards my place of business. There being no other passengers, we were as much alone and as free to give vent to our raptures as if I had hired a hack for the matrimonial jaunt. My bride looked charmingly in a green silk calash and riding habit of pelisse cloth; and whenever her red lips parted with a smile, each tooth appeared like an inestimable pearl. Such was my passionate warmth that–we had rattled out of the village, gentle reader, and were lonely as Adam and Eve in paradise–I plead guilty to no less freedom than a kiss. The gentle eye of Mrs. Bullfrog scarcely rebuked me for the profanation. Emboldened by her indulgence, I threw back the calash from her polished brow, and suffered my fingers, white and delicate as her own, to stray among those dark and glossy curls which realized my daydreams of rich hair.
"My love," said Mrs. Bullfrog tenderly, "you will disarrange my curls."
"Oh, no, my sweet Laura!" replied I, still playing with the glossy ringlet. "Even your fair hand could not manage a curl more delicately than mine. I propose myself the pleasure of doing up your hair in papers every evening at the same time with my own."
"Mr. Bullfrog," repeated she, "you must not disarrange my curls."
This was spoken in a more decided tone than I had happened to hear, until then, from my gentlest of all gentle brides. At the same time she put up her hand and took mine prisoner; but merely drew it away from the forbidden ringlet, and then immediately released it. Now, I am a fidgety little man, and always love to have something in my fingers; so that, being debarred from my wife's curls, I looked about me for any other plaything. On the front seat of the coach there was one of those small baskets in which travelling ladies who are too delicate to appear at a public table generally carry a supply of gingerbread, biscuits and cheese, cold ham, and other light refreshments, merely to sustain nature to the journey's end. Such airy diet will sometimes keep them in pretty good flesh for a week together. Laying hold of this same little basket, I thrust my hand under the newspaper with which it was carefully covered.
"What's this, my dear?" cried I; for the black neck of a bottle had popped out of the basket.
"A bottle of Kalydor, Mr. Bullfrog," said my wife, coolly taking the basket from my hands and replacing it on the front seat.
There was no possibility of doubting my wife's word; but I never knew genuine Kalydor, such as I use for my own complexion, to smell so much like cherry brandy. I was about to express my fears that the lotion would injure her skin, when an accident occurred which threatened more than a skin-deep injury. Our Jehu had carelessly driven over a heap of gravel and fairly capsized the coach, with the wheels in the air and our heels where our heads should have been. What became of my wits I cannot imagine; they have always had a perverse trick of deserting me just when they were most needed; but so it chanced, that in the confusion of our overthrow I quite forgot that there was a Mrs. Bullfrog in the world. Like many men's wives, the good lady served her husband as a steppingstone. I had scrambled out of the coach and was instinctively settling my cravat, when somebody brushed roughly by me, and I heard a smart thwack upon the coachman's ear.
"Take that, you villain!" cried a strange, hoarse voice. "You have ruined me, you blackguard! I shall never be the woman I have been!"
And then came a second thwack, aimed at the driver's other ear; but which missed it, and hit him on the nose, causing a terrible effusion of blood. Now, who or what fearful apparition was inflicting this punishment on the poor fellow remained an impenetrable mystery to me. The blows were given by a person of grisly aspect, with a head almost bald, and sunken cheeks, apparently of the feminine gender, though hardly to be classed in the gentler sex. There being no teeth to modulate the voice, it had a mumbled fierceness, not passionate, but stern, which absolutely made me quiver like calf's-foot jelly. Who could the phantom be? The most awful circumstance of the affair is yet to be told: for this ogre, or whatever it was, had a riding habit like Mrs. Bullfrog's, and also a green silk calash dangling down her back by the strings. In my terror and turmoil of mind I could imagine nothing less than that the Old Nick, at the moment of our overturn, had annihilated my wife and jumped into her petticoats. This idea seemed the most probable, since I could nowhere perceive Mrs. Bullfrog alive, nor, though I looked very sharply about the coach, could I detect any traces of that beloved woman's dead body. There would have been a comfort in giving her Christian burial.
"Come, sir, bestir yourself! Help this rascal to set up the coach," sai the hobgoblin to me; then, with a terrific screech at three countrymen at a distance, "Here, you fellows, ain't you ashamed to stand off when a poor woman is in distress?"
The countrymen, instead of fleeing for their lives, came running at full speed, and laid hold of the topsy-turvy coach. I, also, though a small-sized man, went to work like a son of Anak. The coachman, too, with the blood still streaming from his nose, tugged and toiled most manfully, dreading, doubtless, that the next blow might break his head. And yet, bemauled as the poor fellow had been, he seemed to glance at me with an eye of pity, as if my case were more deplorable than his. But I cherished a hope that all would turn out a dream, and seized the opportunity, as we raised the coach, to jam two of my fingers under the wheel, trusting that the pain would awaken me.
"Why, here we are, all to rights again!" exclaimed a sweet voice behind. "Thank you for your assistance, gentlemen. My dear Mr. Bullfrog, how you perspire! Do let me wipe your face. Don't take this little accident too much to heart, good driver. We ought to be thankful that none of our necks are broken."
"We might have spared one neck out of the three," muttered the driver, rubbing his ear and pulling his nose, to ascertain whether he had been cuffed or not. "Why, the woman's a witch!"
I fear that the reader will not believe, yet it is positively a fact, that there stood Mrs. Bullfrog, with her glossy ringlets curling on her brow, and two rows of orient pearls gleaming between her parted lips, which wore a most angelic smile. She had regained her riding habit and calash from the grisly phantom, and was, in all respects, the lovely woman who had been sitting by my side at the instant of our overturn. How she had happened to disappear, and who had supplied her place, and whence she did now return, were problems too knotty for me to solve. There stood my wife. That was the one thing certain among a heap of mysteries. Nothing remained but to help her into the coach, and plod on, through the journey of the day and the journey of life, as comfortably as we could. As the driver closed the door upon us, I heard him whisper to the three countrymen,"How do you suppose a fellow feels shut up in the cage with a she tiger?"
Of course this query could have no reference to my situation. Yet, unreasonable as it may appear, I confess that my feelings were not altogether so ecstatic as when I first called Mrs. Bullfrog mine. True, she was a sweet woman and an angel of a wife; but what if a Gorgon should return, amid the transports of our connubial bliss, and take the angel's place. I recollected the tale of a fairy, who half the time was a beautiful woman and half the time a hideous monster. Had I taken that very fairy to be the wife of my bosom? While such whims and chimeras were flitting across my fancy I began to look askance at Mrs. Bullfrog, almost expecting that the transformation would be wrought before my eyes.
To divert my mind, I took up the newspaper which had covered the little basket of refreshments, and which now lay at the bottom of the coach, blushing with a deep-red stain and emitting a potent spirituous fume from the contents of the broken bottle of Kalydor. The paper was two or three years old, but contained an article of several columns, in which I soon grew wonderfully interested. It was the report of a trial for breach of promise of marriage, giving the testimony in full, with fervid extracts from both the gentleman's and lady's amatory correspondence. The deserted damsel had personally appeared in court, and had borne energetic evidence to her lover's perfidy and the strength of her blighted affections. On the defendant's part there had been an attempt, though insufficiently sustained, to blast the plaintiff's character, and a plea, in mitigation of damages, on account of her unamiable temper. A horrible idea was suggested by the lady's name.
"Madam," said I, holding the newspaper before Mrs. Bullfrog's eyes,–and, though a small, delicate, and thin-visaged man, I feel assured that I looked very terrific,–"madam," repeated I, through my shut teeth, "were you the plaintiff in this cause?"
"Oh, my dear Mr. Bullfrog," replied my wife, sweetly, "I thought all the world knew that!"
"Horror! horror!" exclaimed I, sinking back on the seat.
Covering my face with both hands, I emitted a deep and deathlike groan, as if my tormented soul were rending me asunder–I, the most exquisitely fastidious of men, and whose wife was to have been the most delicate and refined of women, with all the fresh dew-drops glittering on her virgin rosebud of a heart!
I thought of the glossy ringlets and pearly teeth; I thought of the Kalydor; I thought of the coachman's bruised ear and bloody nose; I thought of the tender love secrets which she had whispered to the judge and jury and a thousand tittering auditors,–and gave another groan!
"Mr. Bullfrog," said my wife.
As I made no reply, she gently took my hands within her own, removed them from my face, and fixed her eyes steadfastly on mine.
"Mr. Bullfrog," said she, not unkindly, yet with all the decision of her strong character, "let me advise you to overcome this foolish weakness, and prove yourself, to the best of your ability, as good a husband as I will be a wife. You have discovered, perhaps, some little imperfections in your bride. Well, what did you expect? Women are not angels. If they were, they would go to heaven for husbands; or, at least, be more difficult in their choice on earth."
"But why conceal those imperfections?" interposed I, tremulously.
"Now, my love, are not you a most unreasonable little man?" said Mrs. Bullfrog, patting me on the cheek. "Ought a woman to disclose her frailties earlier than the wedding day? Few husbands, I assure you, make the discovery in such good season, and still fewer complain that these trifles are concealed too long. Well, what a strange man you are! Poh! you are joking."
"But the suit for breach of promise!" groaned I.
"Ah, and is that the rub?" exclaimed my wife. "Is it possible that you view that affair in an objectionable light? Mr. Bullfrog, I never could have dreamed it! Is it an objection that I have triumphantly defended myself against slander and vindicated my purity in a court of justice? Or do you complain because your wife has shown the proper spirit of a woman, and punished the villain who trifled with her affections?"
"But," persisted I, shrinking into a corner of the coach, however,–for I did not know precisely how much contradiction the proper spirit of a woman would endure,–"but, my love, would it not have been more dignified to treat the villain with the silent contempt he merited?"
"That is all very well, Mr. Bullfrog," said my wife, slyly; "but, in that case, where would have been the five thousand dollars which are to stock your dry goods store?"
"Mrs. Bullfrog, upon your honor," demanded I, as if my life hung upon her words, "is there no mistake about those five thousand dollars?"
"Upon my word and honor there is none," replied she. "The jury gave me every cent the rascal had; and I have kept it all for my dear Bullfrog."
"Then, thou dear woman," cried I, with an overwhelming gush of tenderness, "let me fold thee to my heart. The basis of matrimonial bliss is secure, and all thy little defects and frailties are forgiven. Nay, since the result has been so fortunate, I rejoice at the wrongs which drove thee to this blessed lawsuit. Happy Bullfrog that I am!"


text:
Dual Cover Reveal: Down for the Count series by Christa Cervone.
On the Ropes (book 1) release May 5, 2015
Going the Distance (book 2) releases May 19, 2015
A murderer's child…A foster child…A troubled teen…Gabriel 'The Saint' Vega has never had an easy life. Being shuffled from one foster home to another after his father murdered his mother, he found himself in and out of trouble with the law. Never giving a damn about himself, let alone anyone else, his life was spiraling out of control; fast. Until one man and one sport changed everything.
Frankie Carbone taught Saint how to handle his anger and rejection; by fighting it out in the ring. On his way to stardom, Saint finds himself pushed into the spotlight and into the arms of more women than he can ever imagine; he's completely content with one night stands and random sex.
Then Salem Harris comes walking into his life and changes his game plan. Saint finds himself wanting Salem in all the ways that scare him. She is off limits; taken. But that doesn't stop Saint from going after what he wants, and he wants her.
Frankie showed Saint a new way of life with Boxing, but will Salem give him the one thing he's never known – love? Will Saint find himself fighting for the one thing he thinks he doesn't deserve or will Salem end up breaking his heart? Gabriel 'The Saint' Vega has had to fight for every good thing he's gotten in his life.
Born and raised in New England, Christa is a married mother of three. She began writing her first book, Broken, in October 2012, as a love story to her husband, Frank. During the writing process, Christa managed to keep her book a secret from the majority of her family and friends, including her mother. She finally revealed that she had written a book on her personal Facebook page just two weeks before Broken was released. Broken was released in February 2013, and within twenty-four hours of its release, it was on Amazon's Movers and Shakers list as well as in the Top 20 Erotica. Christa released her second novel, On the Ropes - Book One in the Down for the Count series, in February 2014. On the Ropes has also climbed the charts on Amazon, hitting the Top 10 Sports Fiction and the Top 20 Romance Sports Fiction lists. Book Two, Going the Distance, was released July 2014 and claimed the number 3 spot in the Interracial category as well being in the top 20 in Erotica on Amazon. Limitless Publishing has recently acquired the Down for the Count series and will be re-releasing the series under their publishing label in May 2015. Along with the Down for the Count series, Christa's new series titled, Can't Stop Lovin' You, will also be released under Limitless Publishing. The series will have at least four books, Dream On, What it Takes, Sweet Emotion and Hole in my Soul. Dream On is slated for 2015 release.


text: Character List and Analysis Peeta Mellark Peeta, the son of a baker, is the boy tribute from District 12 who claims to have been in love with Katniss since they were 5 years old. Even though they don't speak and Katniss doesn't consider Peeta a friend, he saves her life when they are 11 and she is starving behind the bakery. He gives her a loaf of bread, one that he burned on purpose, and ever since that moment Katniss has felt like she owes Peeta. During his interview before the start of the Games, Peeta professes his love for Katniss, which angers her since she believes that Peeta's comments make her look weak when, in fact, they make her even more desirable. While Peeta doesn't have much faith that he can win, he does tell Katniss that he wants to make sure that when he's in the arena, he remains true to himself, that he doesn't let the Games change him. Peeta causes Katniss to question her own identity and think about making a difference in the Games, wondering how she can be more than just a piece in the Capitol's Games. From the start, Peeta does everything he can to help Katniss survive. He joins the Careers in order to lead them away from her and even fights off Cato, who wounds him badly. To survive, Peeta uses his exceptional camouflaging skills to hide until Katniss finds him and nurses him back to health. While Katniss doubts Peeta's love for her, thinking that he is only keeping up the "lover boy" act, he seems genuine throughout the novel and feels betrayed in the end when he discovers that Katniss has not been as sincere as he has.