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the Third Sunday of Lent
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Bible Commentaries
Clarke's Commentary Clarke Commentary
Verse 1
The seventh day is consecrated for a sabbath,
and the reasons assigned, 1-3.
A recapitulation of the six days' work of creation, 4-7.
the garden of Eden planted, 8.
Its trees, 9.
Its rivers, and the countries watered by them, 10-14.
Adam placed in the garden, and the command given not
to eat of the tree of knowledge on pain of death, 15-17.
God purposes to form a companion for the man, 18.
The different animals brought to Adam that he might
assign them their names, 19, 20.
The creation of the woman, 21, 22.
The institution of marriage, 23, 24.
The purity and innocence of our first parents, 25.
Verse Genesis 2:1. And all the host of them —. The word host signifies literally an army, composed of a number of companies of soldiers under their respective leaders; and seems here elegantly applied to the various celestial bodies in our system, placed by the Divine wisdom under the influence of the sun. From the original word צבא tsaba, a host, some suppose the Sabeans had their name, because of their paying Divine honours to the heavenly bodies. From the Septuagint version of this place, πας ὁ κοσμος αυτων, all their ornaments, we learn the true meaning of the word κοσμος, commonly translated world, which signifies a decorated or adorned whole or system. And this refers to the beautiful order, harmony, and regularity which subsist among the various parts of creation. This translation must impress the reader with a very favourable opinion of these ancient Greek translators; had they not examined the works of God with a philosophic eye, they never could have given this turn to the original.
Verse 2
Verse Genesis 2:2. On the SEVENTH day God ended, c. — It is the general voice of Scripture that God finished the whole of the creation in six days, and rested the seventh! giving us an example that we might labour six days, and rest the seventh from all manual exercises. It is worthy of notice that the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Samaritan, read the sixth day instead of the seventh and this should be considered the genuine reading, which appears from these versions to have been originally that of the Hebrew text. How the word sixth became changed into seventh may be easily conceived from this circumstance. It is very likely that in ancient times all the numerals were signified by letters, and not by words at full length. This is the case in the most ancient Greek and Latin MSS., and in almost all the rabbinical writings. When these numeral letters became changed for words at full length, two letters nearly similar might be mistaken for each other; ו vau stands for six, ז zain for seven; how easy to mistake these letters for each other when writing the words at full length, and so give birth to the reading in question.
Verse 3
Verse Genesis 2:3. And God blessed the seventh day — The original word ברך barach, which is generally rendered to bless, has a very extensive meaning. It is frequently used in Scripture in the sense of speaking good of or to a person; and hence literally and properly rendered by the Septuagint ευλογησεν, from ευ, good or well, and λεγω, I speak. So God has spoken well of the Sabbath, and good to them who conscientiously observe it. Blessing is applied both to God and man: when God is said to bless, we generally understand by the expression that he communicates some good; but when man is said to bless God, we surely cannot imagine that he bestows any gifts or confers any benefit on his Maker. When God is said to bless, either in the Old or New Testament, it signifies his speaking good TO man; and this comprises the whole of his exceeding great and precious promises. And when man is said to bless God, it ever implies that he speaks good OF him, for the giving and fulfilment of his promises. This observation will be of general use in considering the various places where the word occurs in the sacred writings. Reader, God blesses thee when by his promises he speaks good TO thee; and thou dost bless him when, from a consciousness of his kindness to thy body and soul, thou art thankful to him, and speakest good OF his name.
Because that in it he had rested — שבת shabath, he rested; hence Sabbath, the name of the seventh day, signifying a day of rest - rest to the body from labour and toil, and rest to the soul from all worldly care and anxieties. He who labours with his mind by worldly schemes and plans on the Sabbath day is as culpable as he who labours with his hands in his accustomed calling. It is by the authority of God that the Sabbath is set apart for rest and religious purposes, as the six days of the week are appointed for labour. How wise is this provision! It is essentially necessary, not only to the body of man, but to all the animals employed in his service: take this away and the labour is too great, both man and beast would fail under it. Without this consecrated day religion itself would fail, and the human mind, becoming sensualized, would soon forget its origin and end. Even as a political regulation, it is one of the wisest and most beneficent in its effects of any ever instituted. Those who habitually disregard its moral obligation are, to a man, not only good for nothing, but are wretched in themselves, a curse to society, and often end their lives miserably. Exodus 20:8; "Exodus 23:12"; "Exodus 24:16"; and Exodus 31:13; to which the reader is particularly desired to refer.
As God formed both the mind and body of man on principles of activity, so he assigned him proper employment; and it is his decree that the mind shall improve by exercise, and the body find increase of vigour and health in honest labour. He who idles away his time in the six days is equally culpable in the sight of God as he who works on the seventh. The idle person is ordinarily clothed with rags, and the Sabbath-breakers frequently come to an ignominions death. Reader, beware.
Verse 4
Verse Genesis 2:4. In the day that the Lord God made, c.] The word יהוה Yehovah is for the first time mentioned here. What it signifies see on Exodus 34:5-6. Wherever this word occurs in the sacred writings we translate it LORD, which word is, through respect and reverence, always printed in capitals. Though our English term Lord does not give the particular meaning of the original word, yet it conveys a strong and noble sense. Lord is a contraction of the Anglo-Saxon [A.S.], Hlaford, afterwards written [A.S.] Loverd, and lastly Lord, from [A.S.] bread hence our word loaf, and [A.S.] ford, to supply, to give out. The word, therefore, implies the giver of bread, i.e., he who deals out all the necessaries of life. Our ancient English noblemen were accustomed to keep a continual open house, where all their vassals, and all strangers, had full liberty to enter and eat as much as they would; and hence those noblemen had the honourable name of lords, i.e., the dispensers of bread. There are about three of the ancient nobility who still keep up this honourable custom, from which the very name of their nobility is derived. We have already seen, Genesis 1:1, with what judgment our Saxon ancestors expressed Deus, the Supreme Being, by the term God; and we see the same judgment consulted by their use of the term Lord to express the word Dominus, by which terms the Vulgate version, which they used, expresses Elohim and Jehovah, which we translate LORD GOD. GOD is the good Being, and LORD is the dispenser of bread, the giver of every good and perfect gift, who liberally affords the bread that perisheth to every man, and has amply provided the bread that endures unto eternal life for every human soul. With what propriety then does this word apply to the Lord Jesus, who is emphatically called the bread of life; the bread of God which cometh down from heaven, and which is given for the life of the world! John 6:33; John 6:48; John 6:51. What a pity that this most impressive and instructive meaning of a word in such general use were not more extensively known, and more particularly regarded! See the postscript to the general preface. I know that Mr. H. Tooke has endeavoured to render this derivation contemptible; but this has little weight with me. I have traced it through the most accredited writers in Saxony and on Saxon affairs, and I am satisfied that this and this only, is its proper etymology and derivation.
Verse 5
Verse Genesis 2:5. Every plant of the field before it was in the earth — It appears that God created every thing, not only perfect as it respects its nature, but also in a state of maturity, so that every vegetable production appeared at once in full growth; and this was necessary that man, when he came into being, might find every thing ready for his use.
Verse 6
Verse Genesis 2:6. There went up a mist — This passage appears to have greatly embarrassed many commentators. The plain meaning seems to be this, that the aqueous vapours, ascending from the earth, and becoming condensed in the colder regions of the atmosphere, fell back upon the earth in the form of dews, and by this means an equal portion of moisture was distributed to the roots of plants, &c. As Moses had said, Genesis 2:5, that the Lord had not caused it to rain upon the earth, he probably designed to teach us, in Genesis 2:6, how rain is produced, viz., by the condensation of the aqueous vapours, which are generally through the heat of the sun and other causes raised to a considerable height in the atmosphere, where, meeting with cold air, the watery particles which were before so small and light that they could float in the air, becoming condensed, i.e., many drops being driven into one, become too heavy to be any longer suspended, and then, through their own gravity, fall down in the form which we term rain.
Verse 7
Verse Genesis 2:7. God formed man of the dust — In the most distinct manner God shows us that man is a compound being, having a body and soul distinctly, and separately created; the body out of the dust of the earth, the soul immediately breathed from God himself. Does not this strongly mark that the soul and body are not the same thing? The body derives its origin from the earth, or as עפר aphar implies, the dust; hence because it is earthly it is decomposable and perishable. Of the soul it is said, God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; נשמת חיים nishmath chaiyim, the breath of LIVES, i.e., animal and intellectual. While this breath of God expanded the lungs and set them in play, his inspiration gave both spirit and understanding.
Verse 8
Verse Genesis 2:8. A garden eastward in Eden — Though the word עדן Eden signifies pleasure or delight, it is certainly the name of a place. See Genesis 4:16; 2 Kings 19:12; Isaiah 37:12; Ezekiel 27:23; Amos 1:5. And such places probably received their name from their fertility, pleasant situation, c. In this light the Septuagint have viewed it, as they render the passage thus: Εφυτευσεν ὁ Θεος παραδεισον εν Εδεν, God planted a paradise in Eden. Hence the word paradise has been introduced into the New Testament, and is generally used to signify a place of exquisite pleasure and delight. From this the ancient heathens borrowed their ideas of the gardens of the Hesperides, where the trees bore golden fruit the gardens of Adonis, a word which is evidently derived from the Hebrew עדן Eden; and hence the origin of sacred gardens or enclosures dedicated to purposes of devotion, some comparatively innocent, others impure. The word paradise is not Greek; in Arabic and Persian it signifies a garden, a vineyard, and also the place of the blessed. The Mohammedans say that God created the [Arabic] Jennet al Ferdoos, the garden of paradise, from light, and the prophets and wise men ascend thither. Wilmet places it after the root [Arabic] farada, to separate, especially a person or place, for the purposes of devotion, but supposes it to be originally a Persian word, vox originis Persicae quam in sua lingua conservarunt Armeni. As it is a word of doubtful origin, its etymology is uncertain.
Verse 9
Verse Genesis 2:9. Every tree that is pleasant to the sight, c. — If we take up these expressions literally, they may bear the following interpretation: the tree pleasant to the sight may mean every beautiful tree or plant which for shape, colour, or fragrance, delights the senses, such as flowering shrubs, c.
And good for food — All fruit-bearing trees, whether of the pulpy fruits, as apples, &c., or of the kernel or nut kind, such as dates, and nuts of different sorts, together with all esculent vegetables.
The tree of life — חיים chaiyim of lives, or life-giving tree, every medicinal tree, herb, and plant, whose healing virtues are of great consequence to man in his present state, when through sin diseases of various kinds have seized on the human frame, and have commenced that process of dissolution which is to reduce the body to its primitive dust.
Yet by the use of these trees of life - those different vegetable medicines, the health of the body may be preserved for a time, and death kept at a distance. Though the exposition given here may be a general meaning for these general terms, yet it is likely that this tree of life which was placed in the midst of the garden was intended as an emblem of that life which man should ever live, provided he continued in obedience to his Maker. And probably the use of this tree was intended as the means of preserving the body of man in a state of continual vital energy, and an antidote against death. This seems strongly indicated from Genesis 3:22.
And the tree of knowledge of good and evil.] Considering this also in a merely literal point of view, it may mean any tree or plant which possessed the property of increasing the knowledge of what was in nature, as the esculent vegetables had of increasing bodily vigour and that there are some ailments which from their physical influence have a tendency to strengthen the understanding and invigorate the rational faculty more than others, has been supposed by the wisest and best of men; yet here much more seems intended, but what is very difficult to be ascertained. Some very eminent men have contended that the passage should be understood allegorically! and that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil means simply that prudence, which is a mixture of knowledge, care, caution, and judgment, which was prescribed to regulate the whole of man's conduct. And it is certain that to know good and evil, in different parts of Scripture, means such knowledge and discretion as leads a man to understand what is fit and unfit, what is not proper to be done and what should be performed. But how could the acquisition of such a faculty be a sin? Or can we suppose that such a faculty could be wanting when man was in a state of perfection? To this it may be answered: The prohibition was intended to exercise this faculty in man that it should constantly teach him this moral lesson, that there were some things fit and others unfit to be done, and that in reference to this point the tree itself should be both a constant teacher and monitor. The eating of its fruit would not have increased this moral faculty, but the prohibition was intended to exercise the faculty he already possessed. There is certainly nothing unreasonable in this explanation, and viewed in this light the passage loses much of its obscurity. Vitringa, in his dissertation De arbore prudentiae in Paradiso, ejusque mysterio, strongly contends for this interpretation. Genesis 3:6.
Verse 10
Verse Genesis 2:10. A river went out of Eden, c.] It would astonish an ordinary reader, who should be obliged to consult different commentators and critics on the situation of the terrestrial Paradise, to see the vast variety of opinions by which they are divided. Some place it in the third heaven, others in the fourth some within the orbit of the moon, others in the moon itself; some in the middle regions of the air, or beyond the earth's attraction; some on the earth, others under the earth, and others within the earth; some have fixed it at the north pole, others at the south; some in Tartary, some in China; some on the borders of the Ganges, some in the island of Ceylon; some in Armenia, others in Africa, under the equator; some in Mesopotamia, others in Syria, Persia, Arabia, Babylon, Assyria, and in Palestine; some have condescended to place it in Europe, and others have contended it either exists not, or is invisible, or is merely of a spiritual nature, and that the whole account is to be spiritually understood! That there was such a place once there is no reason to doubt; the description given by Moses is too particular and circumstantial to be capable of being understood in any spiritual or allegorical way. As well might we contend that the persons of Adam and Eve were allegorical, as that the place of their residence was such.
The most probable account of its situation is that given by Hadrian Reland. He supposes it to have been in Armenia, near the sources of the great rivers Euphrates, Tigris, Phasis, and Araxes. He thinks Pison was the Phasis, a river of Colchis, emptying itself into the Euxine Sea, where there is a city called Chabala, the pronunciation of which is nearly the same with that of Havilah, or חוילה Chavilah, according to the Hebrew, the ו vau being changed in Greek to beta β. This country was famous for gold, whence the fable of the Golden Fleece, attempted to be carried away from that country by the heroes of Greece. The Gihon he thinks to be the Araxes, which runs into the Caspian Sea, both the words having the same signification, viz., a rapid motion. The land of Cush, washed by the river, he supposes to be the country of the Cussaei of the ancients. The Hiddekel all agree to be the Tigris, and the other river Phrat, or פרת Perath, to be the Euphrates. All these rivers rise in the same tract of mountainous country, though they do not arise from one head.
Verse 12
Verse Genesis 2:12. There is bdellium (בדלח bedolach) and the onyx stone, אבן השהם eben hashshoham.] Bochart thinks that the bedolach or bdellium means the pearl-oyster; and shoham is generally understood to mean the onyx, or species of agate, a precious stone which has its name from ονυξ a man's nail, to the colour of which it nearly approaches. It is impossible to say what is the precise meaning of the original words; and at this distance of time and place it is of little consequence.
Verse 15
Verse Genesis 2:15. Put him into the garden - to dress it, and to keep it. — Horticulture, or gardening, is the first kind of employment on record, and that in which man was engaged while in a state of perfection and innocence. Though the garden may be supposed to produce all things spontaneously, as the whole vegetable surface of the earth certainly did at the creation, yet dressing and tilling were afterwards necessary to maintain the different kinds of plants and vegetables in their perfection, and to repress luxuriance. Even in a state of innocence we cannot conceive it possible that man could have been happy if inactive. God gave him work to do, and his employment contributed to his happiness; for the structure of his body, as well as of his mind, plainly proves that he was never intended for a merely contemplative life.
Verse 17
Verse Genesis 2:17. Of the tree of the knowledge - thou shalt not eat — This is the first positive precept God gave to man; and it was given as a test of obedience, and a proof of his being in a dependent, probationary state. It was necessary that, while constituted lord of this lower world, he should know that he was only God's vicegerent, and must be accountable to him for the use of his mental and corporeal powers, and for the use he made of the different creatures put under his care. The man from whose mind the strong impression of this dependence and responsibility is erased, necessarily loses sight of his origin and end, and is capable of any species of wickedness. As God is sovereign, he has a right to give to his creatures what commands he thinks proper. An intelligent creature, without a law to regulate his conduct, is an absurdity; this would destroy at once the idea of his dependency and accountableness. Man must ever feel God as his sovereign, and act under his authority, which he cannot do unless he have a rule of conduct. This rule God gives: and it is no matter of what kind it is, as long as obedience to it is not beyond the powers of the creature who is to obey. God says: There is a certain fruit-bearing tree; thou shalt not eat of its fruit; but of all the other fruits, and they are all that are necessary, for thee, thou mayest freely, liberally eat. Had he not an absolute right to say so? And was not man bound to obey?
Thou shalt surely die.] מות תמות moth tamuth; Literally, a death thou shalt die; or, dying thou shalt die. Thou shalt not only die spiritually, by losing the life of God, but from that moment thou shalt become mortal, and shalt continue in a dying state till thou die. This we find literally accomplished; every moment of man's life may be considered as an act of dying, till soul and body are separated. Other meanings have been given of this passage, but they are in general either fanciful or incorrect.
Verse 18
Verse Genesis 2:18. It is not good that the man should be alone — לבדו lebaddo; only himself. I will make him a help meet for him; עזר כנגדו ezer kenegdo, a help, a counterpart of himself, one formed from him, and a perfect resemblance of his person. If the word be rendered scrupulously literally, it signifies one like, or as himself, standing opposite to or before him. And this implies that the woman was to be a perfect resemblance of the man, possessing neither inferiority nor superiority, but being in all things like and equal to himself. As man was made a social creature, it was not proper that he should be alone; for to be alone, i.e. without a matrimonial companion, was not good. Hence we find that celibacy in general is a thing that is not good, whether it be on the side of the man or of the woman. Men may, in opposition to the declaration of God, call this a state of excellence and a state of perfection; but let them remember that the word of God says the reverse.
Verse 19
Verse Genesis 2:19. Out of the ground, &c. — Concerning the formation of the different kinds of animals, see the preceding chapter.
Verse 20
Verse Genesis 2:20. And Adam gave names to all cattle — Two things God appears to have had in view by causing man to name all the cattle, c. 1. To show him with what comprehensive powers of mind his Maker had endued him and 2. To show him that no creature yet formed could make him a suitable companion. And that this twofold purpose was answered we shall shortly see; for,
1. Adam gave names; but how? From an intimate knowledge of the nature and properties of each creature. Here we see the perfection of his knowledge; for it is well known that the names affixed to the different animals in Scripture always express some prominent feature and essential characteristic of the creatures to which they are applied. Had he not possessed an intuitive knowledge of the grand and distinguishing properties of those animals, he never could have given them such names. This one circumstance is a strong proof of the original perfection and excellence of man, while in a state of innocence; nor need we wonder at the account. Adam was the work of an infinitely wise and perfect Being, and the effect must resemble the cause that produced it.
2. Adam was convinced that none of these creatures could be a suitable companion for him, and that therefore he must continue in the state that was not good, or be a farther debtor to the bounty of his Maker; for among all the animals which he had named there was not found a help meet for him. Hence we read,
.... v.Genesis 2:21
Verse 21
Verse Genesis 2:21. The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, c.] This was neither swoon nor ecstasy, but what our translation very properly terms a deep sleep.
And he took one of his ribs — It is immaterial whether we render צלע tsela a rib, or a part of his side, for it may mean either: some part of man was to be used on the occasion, whether bone or flesh it matters not though it is likely, from verse Genesis 2:23, that a part of both was taken; for Adam, knowing how the woman was formed, said, This is flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone. God could have formed the woman out of the dust of the earth, as he had formed the man; but had he done so, she must have appeared in his eyes as a distinct being, to whom he had no natural relation. But as God formed her out of a part of the man himself, he saw she was of the same nature, the same identical flesh and blood, and of the same constitution in all respects, and consequently having equal powers, faculties, and rights. This at once ensured his affection, and excited his esteem.
Verse 23
Verse Genesis 2:23. Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, c. — There is a very delicate and expressive meaning in the original which does not appear in our version. When the different genera of creatures were brought to Adam, that he might assign them their proper names, it is probable that they passed in pairs before him, and as they passed received their names. To this circumstance the words in this place seem to refer. Instead of this now is זאת הפאם zoth happaam, we should render more literally this turn, this creature, which now passes or appears before me, is flesh of my flesh, c. The creatures that had passed already before him were not suitable to him, and therefore it was said, For Adam there was not a help meet found, Genesis 2:20 but when the woman came, formed out of himself, he felt all that attraction which consanguinity could produce, and at the same time saw that she was in her person and in her mind every way suitable to be his companion. See Parkhurst, sub voce.
She shall be called Woman — A literal version of the Hebrew would appear strange, and yet a literal version is the only proper one. איש ish signifies man, and the word used to express what we term woman is the same with a feminine termination, אשה ishshah, and literally means she-man. Most of the ancient versions have felt the force of the term, and have endeavoured to express it as literally as possible. The intelligent reader will not regret to see some of them here. The Vulgate Latin renders the Hebrew virago, which is a feminine form of vir, a man. Symmachus uses ανδρις, andris, a female form of ανηρ, aner, a man. Our own term is equally proper when understood. Woman has been defined by many as compounded of wo and man, as if called man's wo because she tempted him to eat the forbidden fruit but this is no meaning of the original word, nor could it be intended, as the transgression was not then committed. The truth is, our term is a proper and literal translation of the original, and we may thank the discernment of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors for giving it. [A.S.], of which woman is a contraction, means the man with the womb. A very appropriate version of the Hebrew אשה ishshah, rendered by terms which signify she-man, in the versions already specified. Hence we see the propriety of Adam's observation: This creature is flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bones; therefore shall she be called WOMB-MAN, or female man, because she was taken out of man. See Verstegan. Others derive it from [A.S.] or [A.S.], man's wife or she-man. Either may be proper, the first seems the most likely.
Verse 24
Verse Genesis 2:24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother —
There shall be, by the order of God, a more intimate connection formed between the man and woman, than can subsist even between parents and children.
And they shall be one flesh. — These words may be understood in a twofold sense.
1. These two shall be one flesh, shall be considered as one body, having no separate or independent rights, privileges, cares, concerns, c., each being equally interested in all things that concern the marriage state.
2. These two shall be for the production of one flesh from their union a posterity shall spring, as exactly resembling themselves as they do each other.
Our Lord quotes these words, Matthew 19:5, with some variation from this text: They TWAIN shall be one flesh. So in Mark 10:8. St. Paul quotes in the same way, 1 Corinthians 6:16, and in Ephesians 5:31. The Vulgate Latin, the Septuagint, the Syriac, the Arabic, and the Samaritan, all read the word TWO. That this is the genuine reading I have no doubt. The word שניהם sheneyhem, they two or both of them, was, I suppose, omitted at first from the Hebrew text, by mistake, because it occurs three words after in the following verse, or more probably it originally occurred in Genesis 2:24, and not in Genesis 2:25; and a copyist having found that he had written it twice, in correcting his copy, struck out the word in Genesis 2:24 instead of Genesis 2:25. But of what consequence is it? In the controversy concerning polygamy, it has been made of very great consequence. Without the word, some have contended a man may have as many wives as he chooses, as the terms are indefinite, THEY shall be, c., but with the word, marriage is restricted. A man can have in legal wedlock but ONE wife at the same time.
We have here the first institution of marriage, and we see in it several particulars worthy of our most serious regard.
1. God pronounces the state of celibacy to be a bad state, or, if the reader please, not a good one and the Lord God said, It is not good for man to be alone. This is GOD'S judgment. Councils, and fathers, and doctors, and synods, have given a different judgment; but on such a subject they are worthy of no attention. The word of God abideth for ever.
2. God made the woman for the man, and thus he has shown us that every son of Adam should be united to a daughter of Eve to the end of the world. 1 Corinthians 7:3. God made the woman out of the man, to intimate that the closest union, and the most affectionate attachment, should subsist in the matrimonial connection, so that the man should ever consider and treat the woman as a part of himself: and as no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and supports it, so should a man deal with his wife; and on the other hand the woman should consider that the man was not made for her, but that she was made for the man, and derived, under God, her being from him; therefore the wife should see that she reverence her husband, Ephesians 5:33.
Genesis 2:23-24; Genesis 2:24 contain the very words of the marriage ceremony: This is flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone, therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. How happy must such a state be where God's institution is properly regarded, where the parties are married, as the apostle expresses it, in the Lord; where each, by acts of the tenderest kindness, lives only to prevent the wishes and contribute in every possible way to the comfort and happiness of the other! Marriage might still be what it was in its original institution, pure and suitable; and in its first exercise, affectionate and happy; but how few such marriages are there to be found! Passion, turbulent and irregular, not religion; custom, founded by these irregularities, not reason; worldly prospects, originating and ending in selfishness and earthly affections, not in spiritual ends, are the grand producing causes of the great majority of matrimonial alliances. How then can such turbid and bitter fountains send forth pure and sweet waters? See the ancient allegory of Cupid and Psyche, by which marriage is so happily illustrated, explained in the notes on Matthew 19:4-6.
Verse 25
Verse Genesis 2:25. They were both naked, c. — The weather was perfectly temperate, and therefore they had no need of clothing, the circumambient air being of the same temperature with their bodies. And as sin had not yet entered into the world, and no part of the human body had been put to any improper use, therefore there was no shame, for shame can only arise from a consciousness of sinful or irregular conduct.
EVEN in a state of innocence, when all was perfection and excellence, when God was clearly discovered in all his works, every place being his temple, every moment a time of worship, and every object an incitement to religious reverence and adoration - even then, God chose to consecrate a seventh part of time to his more especial worship, and to hallow it unto his own service by a perpetual decree. Who then shall dare to reverse this order of God? Had the religious observance of the Sabbath been never proclaimed till the proclamation of the law on Mount Sinai, then it might have been conjectured that this, like several other ordinances, was a shadow which must pass away with that dispensation neither extending to future ages, nor binding on any other people. But this was not so. God gave the Sabbath, his first ordinance, to man, (see the first precept, Genesis 2:17,) while all the nations of the world were seminally included in him, and while he stood the father and representative of the whole human race; therefore the Sabbath is not for one nation, for one time, or for one place. It is the fair type of heaven's eternal day - of the state of endless blessedness and glory, where human souls, having fully regained the Divine image, and become united to the Centre and Source of all perfection and excellence, shall rest in God, unutterably happy through the immeasurable progress of duration! Of this consummation every returning Sabbath should at once be a type, a remembrancer, and a foretaste, to every pious mind; and these it must be to all who are taught of God.
Of this rest, the garden of Eden, that paradise of God formed for man, appears also to have been a type and pledge; and the institution of marriage, the cause, bond, and cement of the social state, was probably designed to prefigure that harmony, order, and blessedness which must reign in the kingdom of God, of which the condition of our first parents in the garden of paradise is justly supposed to have been an expressive emblem. What a pity that this heavenly institution should have ever been perverted! that, instead of becoming a sovereign help to all, it is now, through its prostitution to animal and secular purposes, become the destroyer of millions! Reader, every connection thou formest in life will have a strong and sovereign influence on thy future destiny. Beware! an unholy cause, which from its peculiar nature must be ceaselessly active in every muscle, nerve, and passion, cannot fail to produce incessant effects of sin, misery, death, and perdition. Remember that thy earthly connections, no matter of what kind, are not formed merely for time, whatsoever thou mayest intend, but also for eternity. With what caution there fore shouldst thou take every step in the path of life! On this ground, the observations made in the preceding notes are seriously recommended to thy consideration.
These files are public domain.
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Genesis 2". "The Adam Clarke Commentary". https://studylight.org/


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Team identifies 13 new tumor-suppressor genes in liver cancer
Over the years, hunting for cancer-related genes and understanding how they work has been an important, although time-consuming, exercise. At Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), five different research groups have now combined their expertise to speed up the rate of discovering cancer-related genes and validating their function in living animals.
The result of the collaborative effort is a large-scale, rapid, cost-effective genetic screen that in a preliminary test succeeded in uncovering 13 new tumor suppressors – genes that inhibit the activity of cancer genes. Tumor suppressors are important in cancer development generally, and specifically in liver cancer, where they frequently have been found to be missing in people who develop the illness.
These discoveries, published online ahead of print on Nov.17 and scheduled to appear in the November 26 issue of Cell, "are a huge step forward in understanding the genetics of cancer and open up a host of new strategies to improve its diagnosis and treatment," according to CSHL Professor Scott W. Lowe, Ph.D., the corresponding author of the study. Other authors include Scott Powers, Ph.D., Director of the Human Cancer Genome Center at CSHL, and CSHL Professors Gregory J. Hannon, Ph.D., W. Richard McCombie, Ph.D., and Michael Wigler, Ph.D.
Pinpointing Tumor Suppressor Genes
Tumor suppressors are a crucial component of intracellular signaling networks that protect against uncontrolled cell proliferation. The benefits of such genes can be lost when DNA undergoes alterations, including mutations or deletions of entire stretches of chromosomes. A highly efficient genome-sequencing technique developed several years ago in the Wigler laboratory has made it possible to scan the genome of cancerous cells for, among other things, deleted portions of chromosomes where tumor suppressors are likely to reside.
Dr. Powers performed a genomic analysis of human liver cancer samples that provided a basis for the work of the combined teams. Powers' lab scanned the genomes of liver cancers from more than 100 patients to compile a list of deletions of chromosomal regions. These regions were hypothesized to be the location of most of the missing tumor suppressor genes. A comparison of this list with the genome sequence of a normal human cell revealed the identity of approximately 300 genes within the deleted chromosomal segments.
Chromosomal deletions aren't limited to cancer-related genes alone; any number of "passenger" or unrelated neighboring genes can inadvertently also be lost. The team therefore had to pinpoint the tumor suppressors among the 300 genes. "Genomic analysis of human tumors is important," Powers observed," but combining it with functional screening in mouse models is a notable step forward."
The usual route of characterizing a gene's function is to mutate it in mouse embryos and then create lines of mice that can then be examined for the mutation's effects. Lowe's group bypassed this step, which is time-consuming, by engineering mutations into the genome of adult mouse cells and then re-injecting these cells into adult mice. The team used a method honed by Dr. Hannon of introducing stable mutations into mouse cells via RNA interference, or RNAi, a technique in which small RNA molecules are introduced into cells to shut off specific genes.
RNA sequences that corresponded to all the 300 or so deleted genes were obtained from an RNAi "library" compiled by the Hannon lab. Lowe's team introduced these RNAi tools (known as "short-hairpin RNAs, or shRNAs) into progenitor cells that develop into mature liver cells, albeit ones engineered to over-produce a cancer gene product called Myc.
In cells with these Myc mutations, an additional "trigger" such as the shutting off of a tumor suppressor gene via RNAi would be sufficient to cause cancer. The engineered cells that carried a Myc mutation and an shRNA were injected into mice. Dramatically, those that received cells in which a tumor suppressor gene had been "silenced" by an shRNA developed tumors within a month.
The scientists homed in on the identity of the silenced tumor suppressors by simply isolating and analyzing the genetic material from the tumors. Their strategy identified 13 new tumor suppressor genes, most of which had not been linked to cancer before.
A rich and unexpected payoff
"The nature of these new genes is not obvious and we wouldn't have guessed their relationship to cancer if we hadn't followed this approach," says Lowe. "They may now allow us to make headway into poorly understood areas of cancer."
The newly identified tumor suppressor genes affect a wide array of cellular activities, including maintenance of cell structure, cellular metabolism, cell proliferation and control of the levels of various tumor growth-enhancing proteins in the cell's nucleus. In one instance, the team's strategy also uncovered not genes in isolation but an entire network of genes that go awry in liver cancer. "Given that the cancer puzzle involves multiple genes in various combinations, we need to find all the hits that make the cell tip over the edge," says Lowe, explaining one advantage of his team's broad strategy.
Some of the genes identified might also lead to new strategies for cancer therapy. For example, some of the newly discovered tumor suppressor genes "code" for proteins that are secreted, which indicates that their ability to prevent cancer is dependent on their presence outside the cell. Reversing the loss of such proteins – by replenishing their levels via injections – is an easier fix than having to correct a defect in the genome via gene therapy.
In other words, the CSHL team's new strategy now makes it possible to rapidly filter from genomic information those genes that specifically impact cancer development in living animals, and thus focus follow-up studies on those that might be most clinically useful.
Source: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

subset: commoncrawl


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The Town of Wadena will not forward any anonymous communications to Council or staff. All correspondence must provide contact information for follow-up.It is important to note that letters addressed specifically to Mayor and Council are included under Correspondence on a council agenda and that once they are received they are public documents. Correspondence only to the Mayor is given directly to the Mayor and may not necessarily be presented at a meeting or on an agenda. All correspondence is opened and handled by administration.
Letters are opened and circulated to a lead staff member for follow-up and response. Letters addressed to Mayor and Council are circulated to them for review. Letters marked CONFIDENTIAL on the outside of the envelope AND addressed to Mayor AND Council will be presented in an in-camera session of a Committee of the Whole at a Regular Meeting of Council.If the contents of a letter marked confidential are not deemed confidential under the Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (LAFOIP), the letter may still be deemed public information. Letters received that are perceived to contain confidential information under LAFOIP, may have portions redacted from public view and may be discussed in-camera.Correspondence is posted as part of the Council Meeting package in the Agenda Center on the Town website. The personal information contained in a letter to Mayor and Council is collected under the Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act(LAFOIP) and will be used only to respond to the letter writer. This means that while your name will appear on the letter, your contact information (mailing address, telephone number, etc.), under LAFOIP, will be blocked from the public.
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WOOSTER, OHIO–I've seen a lot of fossils in my blessedly long time as a paleontologist, and I've had the opportunity to study them in many exotic places. I'm often reminded, though, that one of the best preserved and most diverse fossil faunas is in my backyard: the Cincinnati Region. The fossils here from the Upper Ordovician are extraordinary, and they will always be a resource for paleontological research. They're just plain fun to find, too. There is a reason why so many American paleontologists have educational roots in the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana area.
Sure, the setting is not always glorious. Instead of castles in the distance, we are often working in roadside ditches, but the fossils are so fascinating that we forget the prosaic American recreational weekend traffic zooming by to local parks, lakes and rivers. In the above image you see Katherine Marenco ('03), Richa Ekka ('13) and Kit Price ('13) today on our first outcrop of the in eastern Indiana just south of Richmond (C/W-148 in our locality system). It is an outcrop of the Whitewater Formation (Richmondian, Upper Ordovician) known by many Wooster geologists from paleontology course field trips to Indiana. It is chock-jammy-full of fossils, as you can see from the random shot below:
We are here today to collect material for Kit Price's Junior (and then Senior) Independent Study project. She will be studying bioimmuration processes in these rocks. We will have more on her study after we unpack and clean the treasures we collected today.
Accompanying us on this field trip is Dr. Katherine Nicholson Marenco (Wooster '03), shown above. She is visiting to Wooster to renew work on Jurassic bioimmuration and aragonite dissolution in the Portlandian of southern England, the topic of her Senior Independent Study in 2002-2003. She went on to graduate school and a post-doc position and is now at Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania. We are very fortunate to have her with us because of her expertise on the topic of "upside-down encrusters" and her many creative ideas. We look forward to much collaboration! (You can see her in this old page on Paleontology at Wooster.)
Richa Ekka (above) generously volunteered to help us find and collect fossils. You may remember Richa from her very recent work in Estonia. (It is difficult to believe that just two weeks ago we were on islands in the Baltic.) Richa, as always, found great specimens.
Here is Kit working on our last Cincinnatian outcrop near Brookville, Indiana (C/W-111). Note the very dry grass, a result of the continuing drought in this part of the state. The temperatures today, by the way, were in the pleasant high 60s and low 70s.
Finally, we just had to share a photograph of our rented field vehicle: a Dodge Avenger. We think this is the trendiest car color of 2012: burnt pumpkin.
More in later posts on what we found on this field trip, and Kit's developing Independent Study project. It was a spectacular field day with excellent fossils and great conversations.


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Apple finally seems to be ready to show off a new iPad mini to the world, according to invites it sent out to members of the media today. The invitations are likely for the unveiling of a smaller tablet device, set for announcement on October 23 in San Jose at the California Theater at a 10 AM PT event.
The iPad mini is rumored to have a number of different characteristics, including an aluminum design with two color options like the latest iPhone 5, cellular network connectivity, a display that may not provide true Retina resolution in order to keep costs down, and an estimated delivery date of late October or early November. There are also rumors that Apple will introduce a slightly refreshed full-sized iPad at this event, with a Lightning dock connector and slightly improved specs. Price will be the big wildcard here, for the iPad mini especially: estimates range from as low as $249 to around $399 as a starting price for the new tablet.
Earlier today, we also saw rumors that could indicate a variety of model options for the iPad mini, including different wireless connectivity options or display specs. If Apple does go in for a large number of configuration options, this could be one of the most significant divergences from its existing product launch strategies to date.
Here's about all we do really know about the iPad mini: It's smaller (probably around 7.85-inches) – and that's about it. Apple will go into detail about screen resolution, how it will work for developers, battery life and camera capabilities next week, so stay tuned as we bring you the news live. And look out for news about refreshed Macs, too, including possibly a new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and a refreshed iMac design.


text: Terlet USA offers a complete line of replacement scraper blades for a wide range of heat exchanger equipment such as Contherm, Hoyer, Crepaco, Cherry and Gram. These parts match all OEM specifications and are offered at the savings of factory direct prices. In addition to new blades, Terlet USA also offers a recondition program for old blades and stocks many styles of blades for fast shipment.


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First Listen: Steve Reich, 'WTC 9/11'
Audio for this feature is no longer available.
WTC 9/11 (2010) for string quartet and prerecorded tape
Kronos Quartet
David Harrington, violin
John Sherba, violin
Hank Dutt, viola
Jeffrey Zeigler, cello
Mallet Quartet (2009)
4. I. Fast
5. II. Slow
6. III. Fast
Sō Percussion
Eric Beach, Jason Treuting, vibraphone
Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, marimba
Dance Patterns (2002)
James Preiss, Thad Wheeler, vibraphone
Frank Cassara, Garry Kvistad, xylophone
Edmund Niemann, Nurit Tilles, piano
"It was like the twisted steel of Berlin, Cologne and Tokyo come to rest four blocks from where we live." Composer Steve Reich uses those words to evoke the bright and yet terribly dark September day a decade ago. In Reich's WTC 9/11, out Sept. 20, we hear not just his own compositional voice, but also — through the use of documentary recordings — what he calls the "speech melody" of those who bore witness to Sept. 11. They range from NORAD air-traffic controllers and New York firefighters recorded that day to friends and neighbors recalling events years later. Reich weaves the pitches and rhythms of those voices into a work of terrible sorrow and haunting power. (You can listen to Reich talk about creating WTC 9/11 as well.)
Reaching deep into the immediate chaos and accumulated pain of that day, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer pulls out layers of meaning from the initials "WTC." They stand for World Trade Center, but they also refer to Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier — which Reich chose not to quote directly, but rather honor in spirit.
Inspired by a good friend, fellow composer David Lang, Reich delves into the spiritual and metaphysical dimensions of another "WTC" — the "world to come." Reich, who is immersed in Judaism, draws in the voices of women who fulfilled the Jewish obligation of shmira, or sitting with the victims' remains before burial, chanting Psalms and other Biblical passages to accompany the souls of the dead. But layers of anxiety about our current lives and time in history lurk in that phrase, as well. As Lang says at the piece's conclusion, "The world to come. I don't really know what that means."
For WTC 9/11, Reich's musical companions are longtime colleagues, the members of the Kronos Quartet, who commissioned this piece as well as one of his most widely celebrated works, 1988's Different Trains for string quartet and tape. Here again and as ever, Kronos plays with fierce beauty and deep intelligence.
From the intense grief and undiluted force of WTC 9/11, we circle back to the kind of abstract instrumental music Reich has produced more frequently in the past several years, including the first recording of 2009's Mallet Quartet, co-commissioned and performed by the vibrant group So Percussion. Played on two vibraphones and two five-octave marimbas, the low bass notes of the marimbas sound warm and rich, while the ringing vibes peal out the melodies of the outer movements. But the core here is the surprisingly spare and delicate slow movement.
The album concludes with Reich's Dance Patterns. Composed in 2002 for choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and filmmaker Thierry de Mey, Dance Patterns was part of an hour-long film titled Counterphrases of de Keersmaeker's Choreography. It is scored for two vibraphones, two xylophones and two pianos, with the last instruments functioning as equally percussive partners: a refracted reflection of the rhythmic, harmonic and melodic interplay at the core of Reich's lifework.


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Were Obsessed! And, This Time Its With Huda Kattans Wardrobe
She's known for her revolutionary makeup products but, we're not here to talk about that – this time. For this piece, we will be focusing solely on Huda Kattan's fashion sense, and boy, does she have a great one.
We've scrolled through her personal Instagram account @hudakattan, and compiled a list of our 10 favorite looks. We've even included where each product is from, should you wish to recreate them.
Look 1: Neon Power
Why We Love It: We're massive fans of color and this look is no exception.
What Huda's Wearing: Sunglasses: Celine | Jacket: Vetements | Top: Les Rêveries | Pants: Frame | Clutch: Chanel
Look 2: Lady Boss
Why We Love It: The bold red lip and chic dress scream confidence and, we're all about that.
What Huda's Wearing: Beret: Christian Dior | Sunglasses: Le Specs X Adam Selman | Earrings: Vintage Chanel | Dress: Balmain | Belt: Vintage Chanel | Boots: Gianvito Rossi
Look 3: Pretty In Pink
Why We Love It: It's pink and, oh so fun. We're loving the twin pigtails and scrunchies, too.
What Huda's Wearing: Sunglasses: Gigi Hadid for Vogue | Earrings: Vintage Chanel
Top: Alaïa | Jacket: Christian Dior | Skirt: Christian Dior
Fanny Pack: Christian Dior Skates from Amazon
Look 4: Trend-setter
Why We Love It: It puts the "fly" in frequent flyer. Imagine rocking up to your flight in that getup?
What Huda's Wearing: Earrings: Alison Lou | Sunglasses: Acne Studio | Bracelet: Cartier | Top: Vintage Chanel | Pants: Vintage Chanel | Shoes: Gianvito Rossi | Bag: Louis Vuitton
Look 5: Parisian Chic
Why We Love It: What's not to?
What Huda's Wearing: Beret: Christian Dior | Sunglasses: Loulou | Top: Alaïa | Skirt: Christopher Kane | Shoes: Dr. Martens | Bag: Chanel | Socks: Vetements
Look 6: Glistening in Gold
Why We Love It: The cut is incredibly flattering, the boots are fierce, and the Versace print is stunning – we'll take four, please.
What Huda's Wearing: Sunglasses: Loulou | Top: Versace Tribute Baroque SS 1992 | Pant: Versace Tribute Baroque SS 1992 | Belt: Versace | Bag: Saint Laurent | Boots: Aquazzura
Look 7: Spec-Tacualr
Why We Love It: It's comfy and chic, without trying too hard. We like.
What Huda's Wearing: Sunglasses: Chanel | Top: Nili Lotan | Pant: 66°North | Bomber Jacket: Fendi | Shoes: Sorel
Look 8: Seeing Yellow
Why We Love It: It reminds us of Clueless, and that film is a classic.
What Huda's Wearing: HatRead More – Source
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SWEDEN, N.Y. -- A woman used a "large-bladed kitchen knife" to sever the head of her 7-year-old son 10 days after she was released from a hospital mental health unit, authorities said Friday.
Monroe County Sheriff's deputies arrested 36-year-old Hanane Mouhib after Abraham Cardenas was found dead Thursday night in the family's home in the town of Sweden, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of Rochester in rural New York. She was charged with second-degree murder.
"There's absolutely no explanation for us," Sheriff Todd Baxter said at a news conference Friday. "The word 'evil' comes to mind."
According to public records, Mouhib is a licensed nurse practitioner who had worked at a Rochester psychiatric center.
Stay on top of breaking news stories with the ABC11 News App
Baxter said the sheriff's office received three 911 calls from the home in quick succession around 8:20 p.m. Thursday, one of them reporting a suicidal woman with a knife. When deputies arrived, they had to use pepper spray and a stun gun to subdue Mouhib, who refused to drop the knife, Baxter said.
Court papers say Mouhib used the knife to stab the boy in the upper back then cut his neck, severing his head.
RELATED: Police say 'overwhelmed' mom tried to behead son with bow saw
Mouhib's husband, mother-in-law and a 10-year-old boy were in the house with her, Baxter said. He said they hadn't seen any warning signs and were taken by surprise at the slaying.
Mouhib had recently called the sheriff's office seeking assistance with mental health problems, Baxter said. Deputies arranged for her to be taken to a hospital psychiatric unit March 5 and again March 8, when she was admitted to Rochester General Hospital until March 26, he said.
Mouhib is being held in the county jail without bail. She had not been assigned a public defender at midday Friday. Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley said a preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 11 but she plans to present the case to a grand jury before that.
Abraham Cardenas was a first-grader at Barclay Elementary School in the Brockport district.
"This is a very shocking situation for us," District Superintendent Lesli Myers said. She called Abraham "an engaged learner" who "lit up a room any time he entered it." She said grief counselors would be at the school when students return from spring break Monday.


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You can use the new OpenType features in Microsoft Word 2010 with a font that supports these features to make your document look professionally printed.
The OpenType features include ligatures, number spacing options, number form options, and stylistic sets.
In this article
Apply OpenType features
On the Home tab, click the Font Dialog Box Launcher.
Click the Advanced tab.
Under OpenType Features, select the options that you want.
OpenType features
When font designers create fonts, they often add designs for special features. Selected OpenType fonts include some or all of the features below, and you can check with the font provider for details. With those fonts, these features are available for you to apply to your text for to make it more polished and easier to read.
For example, the fonts in the Microsoft ClearType Collection – Calibri, Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia, and Corbel – contain various OpenType including small caps, ligatures, number forms, and number spacing. Gabriola, a newer font originally released with Windows 7, includes even richer OpenType feature support, including extensive use of stylistic sets.
Ligature options
A ligature is a combination of characters that is written as a glyph, which is written as though it is a single character. Most often, ligatures are made up of pairs of letters. The OpenType standard specifies four categories of ligatures, but the font designer decides which to support and in which group to put any given combination of characters. The descriptions below are guidelines about each type of ligature that might be used.
Standard Only The standard set of ligatures varies by language, but it contains the ligatures that most typographers and font designers agree are appropriate for that language. For example, in English, the common ligatures are related to the letter "f" and are seen in the phrase "five spiffy flowers."
Standard and Contextual Contextual ligatures are ones that the font designer believes are appropriate for use with that font, but they are not standard. The combination of standard and contextual ligatures gives you the set of ligatures that the font designer thought appropriate for common usage.
Historical and Discretionary Historical forms are ligatures that were once standard but are no longer commonly used in the language. They can be used for a "period" effect. Discretionary ligatures are those that the font designer included for specific purposes. In general, you are more likely to want to apply historical or discretionary ligatures to just a portion of your text. In English, the phrase "check your fast facts on Fiji Islands" can show you some of the historical ligatures.
All All ligature combinations that are available for a font are applied to the text.
Number spacing options
Default The default number spacing is specified by the font designer of each font.
Proportional Numbers are spaced more like letters, with varying widths. For example, an 8 is wider than a 1. This spacing is easier to read in text. Candara, Constantia, and Corbel are three of the Microsoft fonts that use proportional spacing by default.
Tabular Each number has the same width. This means that in a table column, for example, all three-digit numbers will align. Tabular spacing is also useful for math. Cambria, Calibri, and Consolas are three of the Microsoft OpenType fonts with tabular spacing by default.
Number form options
Default The default number form is specified by the font designer of each font.
Lining Lining numbers all have the same height, and they don't extend below the baseline of the text. Lining numbers are easier to read in tables, boxes, or forms. Cambria, Calibria, and Consolas are three of the Microsoft OpenType fonts that are set to Lining numbers by default.
Old-style In Old-style numbering, the lines of the characters flow above or below the line of the text (which makes the numbers easier to read). For example, some numbers, such as 3 and 5, extend below the baseline or are centered higher on the line. Candara, Constantia, and Corbel are three of the Microsoft OpenType fonts that are set to Old-style numbering by default.
Stylistic set options
You can change the look of your text by applying a different stylistic set to your text. A font designer may include up to 20 stylistic sets in a given font, and each stylistic set may include any subset of the characters of the font.
For example, if your text is formatted as Gabriola, you can choose between 7 stylistic sets, each of which changes the formatting of each of the characters in your text.
When a stylistic set contains other features, such as contextual alternates, those features are activated as part of selecting that stylistic set.
When you click the number of a set in the Stylistic sets list, the Preview box shows you how the text will look.
Default The default stylistic set is specified by the font designer of each font.
1-20 The stylistic sets are provided by the font designer. Not all fonts offer a variety of stylistic sets.
Text in the Gabriola font, with the default stylistic set applied
The same text, with stylistic set 4 applied
The same text, with stylistic set 5 applied
The same text, with stylistic set 6 applied
Use contextual alternates
Select this check box to provide fine-tuning of letters or combinations of letters based on the surrounding characters. You can use this feature to provide script that looks more natural and flowing. You can also use contextual alternates to provide specific letter forms at the start or end of words, next to punctuation, or even at the end of paragraphs.
Some fonts include contextual alternates for whole words, such as of and the.
Text in the Segoe Script font
The same text, with contextual alternates applied. The difference is subtle. You can see it in the shape of the letter h.
Note: Word 2010 does not support contextual alternates for the end of a line that is followed by an automatic page break.


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This blog post is just another teaser for the upcoming release of the Thematic Mapper app and its purpose is to show off some of the advanced and truly unique in-map analytics functionality that will soon be delivered into the hands of MapDeck users.
Take this very common scenario which demonstrates Thematic Mapper's distinctive capability: a user/researcher has statistical data covering a whole country but what is needed is only a summary report that profiles a specific geographic region. This area could be an individual sales or franchise territory, an economic region, local government area, or even a single postcode or suburb.
Filtering data on online maps in real-time by location of interest is not an easy task because of the limitations of current online map publishing technologies which require data and map styles to be pre-configured in advance by a publisher. This process cannot be left to individual users.
So, the traditional approach is to cut data into specified geographic areas as the first step in the publishing process and then to use only each subset of data for analysis and for display on the maps.
This is a very time consuming and inefficient process, especially if you have to analyse and publish a few dozens or more area profiles. Not to mention that the process has to be repeated for each user that requires a different set of custom areas (such as sales or franchise territories that each business defines differently). This is the reason why to date the access to customised spatial information has been so difficult and expensive.
What the user really needs is the ability to easily "hide" the boundaries outside of the area of interest (that is, mask those with irrelevant data) and to limit the statistical calculations to only a selected subset of data.
Thematic Mapper does this all effortlessly and on-the-fly. Like in the following example, where postal areas have been clipped to a custom geographic region, defined as "Greater Sydney", and then joined with postal area data from the ABS' Basic Community Profile 2011 and from the Household Expenditure Survey 2009.
In-map analytics with MapDeck's Thematic Mapper |
The resulting map highlights where the largest sub-markets within the Greater Sydney region are and what the total estimated size of that entire regional market is, in dollar terms per annum.
This is yet another example of the power of Thematic Mapper, a truly personalised in-map analytics solution. Sign up to MapDeck.com for a free test run of Thematic Mapper when it is released.


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Kenichi Ito finished in 16.87 seconds, shaving more than half a second off his 2012 run of 17.47 seconds.
The 30-year-old Japanese has been training for a decade. He studies how primates move through books, videos and zoo visits, and even tries to move on all fours in his everyday life.
Ito hopes racing on four limbs will one day become an official track and field event.
Carlos Martinez, an official adjudicator for Guinness World Records, was on hand to witness the attempt and announced afterward that Ito had set a record.
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City of Avondale, Maricopa County, and Non-profit Trellis Partner to Bring Affordable Homes Ready for Occupancy in Summer 2022
Video: Comments from OfficialsPhotos
Avondale, Ariz. (Nov. 17, 2021) – Construction is now underway on a project that will bring new affordable homes to the West Valley for low to moderate income homebuyers. The collaborative project between the City of Avondale, Maricopa County, H&B Builders, Architectural Resource Team, and the community housing development organization Trellis, will bring three new homes to vacant lots located at the northwest corner of Elwood Street and El Mirage Road.
The new homes will be sold to low to moderate income buyers. For a family of four to qualify, the maximum income is $63,200 per year. As part of the program, prospective homebuyers will receive homebuyer counseling through Trellis and qualified first-time buyers may receive down payment assistance. To ensure that the homes remain affordable to the buyers for the long term, the homes have been designed with energy efficiency in mind.
"Avondale is a community that seeks to provide a wide range of housing options for our residents. This includes workforce housing to meet the needs of our young families. We are pleased to partner with Maricopa County and Trellis on this project," said Avondale Mayor Kenn Weise.
To support its goal of providing affordable housing options throughout the county, the Maricopa County Human Services Department partnered with the City of Avondale to provide $445,000 of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development HOME Investment Partnerships Program funding to support Trellis with the design by the Architectural Resource Team and construction of the project by H & B Builders.
"We are thrilled that through this collaboration, in just a few short months, three families will have the stability, security, and sense of community that comes with homeownership," said Jacqueline Edwards, director for Maricopa County Human Services. "With the explosion in housing prices, buying a home can seem far out of reach. It is our priority to continue to provide affordable housing opportunities, such as this partnership in Avondale, that allows families to thrive and be connected to their local community."
Trellis at Avondale homes are also fully integrated "smart homes" allowing future homeowners to closely monitor water usage and energy consumption with such features as Wi-Fi capable switches and outlets. According to Glenn Karlson, Trellis Director of Real Estate Development, "Trellis is not just a typical affordable homebuilder– we build our homes to be future-proof, environmentally friendly, and technologically advanced. Our overall goal is to help bring a high-quality home to the market that also lives comfortably and sustainably. Affordable should never equate to a lower quality-built home."
The homes are near local amenities including Friendship Park, grocery stores, and the amenities and events taking place at the Avondale Civic Center Complex.
With permits already issued by the City of Avondale, construction is set to begin immediately. The three homes are projected to be ready for occupancy in summer 2022.
For more information on the project and to inquire about purchasing one of the homes, contact Glenn Karlson at Trellis at 602.424.4025 and visit www.TrellisAZ.org.
Media Contacts:
Ingrid Melle, City of Avondale, 623.333.1614, firstname.lastname@example.com
Amy Bolton, Maricopa County Human Services, 602.679.4792, email@example.com Contact Glenn Karlson, Trellis, 602.424.4025, email@example.com
About Maricopa County Human ServicesAs the fourth largest county in the nation and home to some of the nation's fastest-growing cities, Maricopa County's population is large, growing and more diverse than ever. Maricopa County's Human Services Department has five divisions that provide services and programs to people of all ages and abilities to promote their well-being. From offering early education to career training and employment services to case management for aging and adults with disabilities – the Human Services Department serves as a leader in the region to support strong families, neighborhoods, and community relationships. Learn more about the financial, educational, and support resources available to eligible Maricopa County residents at www.HSD.maricopa.gov.
About the City of AvondaleAvondale, Arizona is a community where people share a deep sense of pride in what has been accomplished and how far we have come. In Avondale, there is a strong belief that the blending of a broad spectrum of cultures comes from a true sense of harmony throughout the community. Here, people and businesses are welcomed with open arms and supported in a way that exemplifies a dynamic, intelligent, and driven city, ready to take on the future. Avondale is Aspiring. Achieving. Accelerating. Learn more at www.AvondaleAZ.gov.
About TrellisTrellis, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was formed in 1975 to make stable homes and communities possible. Trellis helps individuals and families across Arizona with homeownership counseling, financial access, and neighborhood development - operating under the vision of an Arizona where everyone has a place to call home. Learn more at www.TrellisAZ.org.


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Colonel Simon Perkins Mansion |
The Colonel Simon Perkins Mansion, situated on a hill overlooking downtown Akron, is one of the best examples of a Greek Revival residence in Ohio. The house was completed in 1837 by the son of one of Akron's founders. Col. Perkins was instrumental in the formation of Summit County in 1840, and brought the Ohio and Erie Canal through Akron. The canal created the source for motive power that led to the development of the town as a milling and warehouse center, and as such, Akron is often referred to as "a child of the canal." Architectural historian Walter C. Kidney, in his book, Historic Buildings of Ohio, speculates that Issac Ladd was the house's builder. Ladd constructed a similar house in Warren, Ohio, near Youngstown. The house is constructed of square, random laid, rough faced sandstone. Dressed stone quoins lintels, sills and water table contrast with the rough faced stone walls. One of the houses most impressive features is the two-story portico. The shallow sloped hip roof is pierced by two tall chimney stacks and a balustraded viewing platform or "widow's walk." Entered from the stone portico, the main entry is framed by sidelights and a transom. The house also exhibits elements of the Federal style, as can be seen in the elliptical frieze windows on the side elevations and the delicate interior woodwork.
Adjacent buildings include an 1865 office building, and an 1895 Shingle style carriage house, which includes a windmill. A dry-laid sandstone wall runs along the street edges of this corner property. Descendents of the Perkins family continued to occupy the house until 1945, when it was sold to the Summit County Historical Society. The interior of the Perkins Mansion was restored in 1986 and the house and grounds now serve as headquarters for the historical society and a house museum open to the public. The Colonel Simon Perkins Mansion is located at 550 Copley Rd., in Akron. The house is open to the public from 1:00pm to 4:00pm, Wednesday-Friday from April-December. For further information call 330-535-1120 or visit the Summit County Historical Society's website. The Colonel Simon Perkins Mansion has also been documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey . |
Canal Home | List of Sites | Maps| Learn More |
Itineraries | NR Home | Next Site
Essays: Transportation | Ethnicity| Industry| Preservation
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The game is played with a single pack of 52 playing cards. After thoroughly shuffling the deck, a row of eight cards is dealt face up to start the tableau. A further five rows of eight cards are dealt face up on top of the first to form eight columns of six cards each. The final four cards are dealt to the first four columns so that the first four columns in the tableau each contain seven cards and the last four columns on the right each contain six cards.
The object of the game is to build the four HomeCells up in ascending suit sequence from Ace to King. e.g. A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K with cards of identical suit.
The exposed card at the end of each tableau column is available for play. You may move it to an empty FreeCell at any time to release the card beneath, but it's a good idea to keep the FreeCells empty for as long as possible. As each Ace becomes available it may be transferred to one of the HomeCells. The HomeCells are built up in ascending suit sequence to the King. You may move an exposed card from end of a tableau column or from a FreeCell to another tableau column if it will form a descending sequence of alternating colours, e.g. 6 on 7 or Q on K just like in Klondike. Empty spaces in the Tableau can be filled by any card you like, but don't waste them as empty tableau spaces are very powerful as we will see later. You keep moving single cards, one at a time, until the game either blocks or comes out.
Although the rules of FreeCell permit you to move just one card at a time, the empty FreeCells allow you to move an entire sequence of packed cards:
Now imagine if one of the above FreeCells were already occupied by a card leaving only three empty. It wouldn't be possible to transfer a five card sequence with single card movements; you could only move four. As a rule of thumb, the size of the packed column that you can transfer is equal to the number of empty FreeCells plus one (this increases if you have empty tableau columns as we will see later). It would be rather tedious if you had to juggle all these cards around manually in order to move a packed sequence and you'll be pleased to hear that just like any decent computer version of FreeCell worth its salt, Solitaire City automates this process for you. You may move an entire packed sequence of cards to another column by clicking on the card that heads the sequence and dragging the entire sequence over, just like you do in Klondike and other games. You'll then see the cards make their correct single card moves, but it will all happen quickly and automatically saving you much time and effort. Solitaire City will also calculate the maximum sequence size that you can move based on the number of empty FreeCells and tableau columns and will only let you drag the permitted number of cards.
Usually, the maximum number of cards you can move at once is equal to the number of empty FreeCells plus one. However, this number doubles for every empty tableau column (unless you're moving the sequence to an empty tableau column, then that column doesn't count). This is because an empty tableau column acts like an extra FreeCell, only it's more powerful because you can pack extra cards onto it. If you had four empty FreeCells and an empty tableau column then you would be able to move a sequence of ten cards rather than five, by moving the first five packed cards to the empty tableau column using the four FreeCells as temporary storage space as in the above example. You then move the remaining five cards to their destination column by using the four FreeCells and finally you move the five cards you packed into the empty tableau column over to the destination column, again using the four FreeCells as temporary storage space. It sounds complicated, but Solitaire City does the move automatically for you. Just drag the entire packed column over and watch the magic happen. Whenever you move a sequence of cards using an empty tableau column, it's called a "Supermove".
One of the most common uses for a Supermove is to move a four card sequence from one column to another when there is only one empty FreeCell but you have an empty tableau column. The following set of diagrams illustrate how it's possible to move the packed J, 10, 9, 8 sequence from the first tableau column to the exposed Q at the end of the second column using a single empty FreeCell and an empty tableau column:
Once again, you don't need to concern yourself with this complicated move while playing Solitaire City. Just drag the entire packed sequence of cards over to the second tableau column and then watch the computer go to work. It's good to know what's going on though so you understand why the computer will allow you to drag say four cards one time and only two at another.
Press the right mouse button over a covered tableau card to reveal more of the card.
FreeCell Strategy FreeCell Game Variations FreeCell Game Numbers FreeCell Scoring


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A "record plat" is a plan or a map of a plot of land that includes a description of the land and everything on it, including boundaries, roads and buildings. To find your plat, consult the interactive map on the Planning Department website. A search box at the top right will accept an address, plat number or town so you can zoom into a location. http://www.mcatlas.org/plats/
Show All Answers
To improve quality of life in Montgomery County by planning the natural and built environments for current and future generations.
The five-member Planning Board manages the physical growth of communities through its review of plans, zoning, development applications and subdivision proposals. The Board is also responsible for the development and management of Montgomery County's nationally recognized 36,512-acre park system. Meet the Montgomery County Planning Board.
To plan for the brightest possible future for Montgomery County and its residents. Montgomery Planning's recommendations ensure that communities are designed and equipped to keep pace with the way we live, work and play now and decades from now. The Planning Department creates great communities by developing master plans, reviewing applications for development and analyzing various types of information to help public officials plan for the future. The Department provides recommendations, information, analysis and services to the Montgomery County Planning Board, the County Council, the County Executive, government agencies and the public. For more information, visit www.montgomeryplanning.org.
The Planning Department's headquarters, often referred to as the Maryland Regional Office building or MRO, is located on the edge of downtown Silver Spring at 8787 Georgia Avenue next to Spring Street. A new M-NCPPC building is currently under construction in downtown Wheaton where Montgomery Parks and Planning will reside along with other Montgomery County agencies. View the project page for more information on the new headquarters.
Master and sector plan project pages with links to plan documents are part of Montgomery Planning's web site. You can click on a map of Montgomery County at http://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/communities/ and be directed to a plan and information about your community.
An interactive, digital map called the Development Finder is regularly updated by the Planning Department to show proposed developments in Montgomery County. This map can be searched by address and the search diameter can be changed from between 1 to 10 miles to find any development plans in the pipeline: http://mcatlas.org/devfinder/
Ways of getting involved with the planning process include community engagement events, public testimony about plans and proposed development, social media, interactive digital maps and online outreach. Please contact staff at Montgomery Planning with any comments or questions. Check out the Connect With Us page on Montgomery Planning's website for more.
Zoning specifies permitted land uses and regulates the size of land areas as well as the scale of buildings in order to guide growth and development. Montgomery Planning maintains an interactive, online official zoning map of Montgomery County, indicating land uses in specific areas. Users can search by address at http://www.mcatlas.org/zoning/. Case numbers for all previous zoning and conditional use approvals are indicated on the digital map.
The Montgomery Planning's Development Applications and Regulatory Coordination (DARC) Division manages the timely review of development applications for consistency with adopted master plans as well as impact on the environment, quality of design, compatibility with neighboring uses and the availability of public facilities (water and sewer, transportation, schools). The application process involves several stages, including sketch, site and preliminary plans, that require Planning Board approvals. This review process can take up to 120 days.
Once the plans for the development project are approved by the Planning Board, the applicant must apply for a building permit at Montgomery County's Department of Permitting Services (DPS). A building permit is required for all new construction, additions, alterations and changes of use in Montgomery County and municipalities, with the exceptions of the City of Rockville and the City of Gaithersburg. Learn more about DPS.
If you have a question about your property, you can call Montgomery Planning's Information Counter at tel. 301-495-4610 or visit the counter on the second floor of the Planning Department headquarters (8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD). You can also email email@example.com and your inquiry will be directed to the appropriate staff.


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World's shortest woman wants to be Bollywood star
Updated: 2011-12-17 16:25
NAGPUR, India — A high school student in central India was recognized as the world's shortest woman by Guinness World Records on Friday as she turned 18 and said she hopes to earn a degree and make it in Bollywood.
Jyoti Amge (C), the world's shortest living woman, offers a piece of cake to the Guinness World Records adjudicator Rob Molloy on her 18th birthday in the central Indian city of Nagpur December 16, 2011. [Photo/Agencies] |
Jyoti Amge stood just 62.8 centimeters (24.7 inches) tall — shorter than the average 2-year-old — when Guinness representatives visiting from London measured her at a ceremony attended by about 30 relatives and friends in the town of Nagpur, in Maharashtra state.
A teary-eyed Amge, dressed in one of her finest saris, called the honor an "extra birthday present" and said she felt grateful for being small, as it had brought her recognition. After receiving a plaque, she and her guests cut a birthday cake.
"I have put Nagpur on the world map. Now everyone will know where it is," said Amge, who says she dreams of one day becoming a Bollywood film star as well as pursuing a university degree after she finishes high school this year.
"I want to be an actor," she said.
She measured 7 centimeters (2.76 inches) shorter than 22-year-old American Bridgette Jordan, who had held the title since September.
"Jyoti encourages us all to look beyond mere size and to just celebrate our differences," Guinness adjudicator Rob Molloy said.
This was not Amge's first Guinness record. Until Friday she was considered the world's shortest teenager, but in turning 18 qualified for the new title. She has grown less than 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) in the last two years, Guinness said in a statement, and will grow no more due to a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia.
Her teenage title brought the chance for multiple Guinness-sponsored trips to Japan and Italy for tours and meetings with other record holders, she said.
The title of shortest woman in history continues to be held by Pauline Musters, who lived in the Netherlands from 1876 to 1895 and stood 61 centimeters (24 inches) tall.


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Some of the most satisfying moments in putting together the Bill Everett Archives volumes have been discovering hitherto unknown works that seemingly no one knew existed, and that fall outside of Bill's normal modus operandi - i.e., working as a virtual lifer for Marvel Comics, creating the Sub-Mariner in 1939, doing all those horror books in the 1950s, and co-creating Daredevil in the 1960s.
We're still one story away - Target Comics #8 - from completing
Everett's 1938-42 work in volume 2. If you have this comic, please email
Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives v1 focused on Bill's earliest Golden Age comics - from 1938 to 1942 - for companies other than the oft-reprinted Marvel superhero work. Heroic Comics: The Bill Everett Archives v2 completes that material and then moves into some of his most stunning work. And it's been this pursuit - especially the 1950s canon - that has led to some fantastic surprises.
The most recent is a story in Crime and Punishment for the company, Lev Gleason, (in)famous for its Crime Does Not Pay title and other books that brought the crime genre into comics. Collectors and historians have assumed that when Everett came back from WWII he jumped right into the Sub-Mariner books and then into the horror work. In fact, circa 1949-50, just after the Marvel heroes died off in 1949, and before the horror genre overtook that company, Everett did reach out to some other publishers to either fill a gap or load up on income, given that he would be bringing three children into the world around these years.
Everett wrote the following in a 1961 letter to comic fan, Jerry Defuccio: "Things got rough about 1949, and I felt it advisable to pack up and move back to New York. I left my family (two kids by now) in Erie, Pa., with my sister and her family, and came to N.Y. by myself. I picked up comic accounts with Quality Comics, Eastern Color, and, of course, with Stan Lee. Things finally started to good in '50, and my family joined me (four of us lived and worked - in one tiny room in a mid-town hotel for six months!), and we eventually moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey, where I brought a small house."
Everett reestablished his connection with Steve Douglas, editor at Eastern Color, and did a number of adventure and romance stories in books like Heroic Comics and Personal Love. But any 1950 Lev Gleason connection was unknown until I received an email from Mr. Monster creator, Michael T. Gilbert who sent me scans of "The Button" from Crime and Punishment #31, cover-dated October 1950. (Click on the above image to see the signed splash panel.)
Bill had done a couple of stories in 1942 for Silver Streak Comics published by Gleason, but that was while Everett was working in the Funnies Inc. studio, packaging stories for other companies. Still, in 1949/50, Everett must have reached out to Lev Gleason editor Charles Biro for some freelance work and was thrown this story. (Mr. Gilbert also sent me a text story from Silver Streak Comics #1, cover-dated Dec. 1939, that had an Everett illustration - another unknown Everett contribution!)
So far, that's the only Everett crime story for Biro/Gleason we've uncovered. Everett's not in the issue on either side - you can check out full books of the rest of the title at comicbookplus.com. Why possibly only one? Perhaps the same as why Everett only did one story for DC Comics in late 1959. Gleason editor Charles Biro and DC editor Robert Kanigher were reputed to have a "hands on" editorial style and Everett loved the freedom he had under Stan Lee.
Regardless, here's hoping we continue to uncover more Bill Everett in our journey of bringing you unreprinted works from this comic-book legend.
We're still one story away - Target Comics #8 - from completing Everett's 1938-42 run in vol. 2. If you have this comic, please email me.


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James "Rhio" O'Connor Mesothelioma Scholarship Fund
Cash Awards
$1,000 Every Month!
Rhio O'Connor was diagnosed with a deadly cancer (mesothelioma) and given a year to live. Instead of giving up he found his own path to health and outlived his prognosis by more than six years. This path to health included creating his own treatment protocol which consisted of vitamins, minerals, vegetables and fruits components, essential fatty acids, amino acids, enzymes, herbs, a healthy (primarily vegetarian) diet and mind-body medicine. This protocol along with Rhio's optimistic spirit, belief in something greater than himself, and the ability to make tough choices helped him beat his prognosis and live with a cancer considered "incurable" for many years.
Alternative therapies like the ones used by Rhio are considered highly controversial. Orthodox medicine reminds us that alternative therapies are untested and unproven. There is little regulation controlling their quality, potency or safety and just because it is natural doesn't mean it is safe. In respect to cancer, they may provide false hope and cost the patient valuable time and money.
Alternative practitioners have a completely different perspective. They believe that alternative therapies are not tested and approved because they are naturally occurring and as such are difficult to patent. A pharmaceutical company will not invest the many millions of dollars in clinical testing to get FDA approval and bring an herb, vitamin or mineral to market because it cannot exercise a monopoly on its production, sale and pricing. Alternative practitioners point to the thousands of published animal and cell studies that demonstrate the efficacy and safety of various alternative approaches in cancer. Finally, alternative practitioners can describe many anecdotal reports of cancer patients gaining a benefit from alternative approaches (like Rhio) and also a long history of alternative cancer practitioners who were subject to government censorship.
Both sides would agree that cancer has become a national disgrace. On January 22, 1971 President Nixon declared a "war on cancer" during his state of the Union Address. Since then the National Cancer Institute has expended an estimated 100 billion dollars in its search for a cure. Over the same period, cancer has become the leading cause of death in this country for Americans under the age of 85.
Writing Prompt
Please address some or all of the following questions:
- Should cancer patients and doctors be able to use whatever treatments they like in treating cancer? Why?
- What are some examples of "alternative therapies" and why do cancer patients use them when they are not FDA approved?
- Should medicinal medicine and folk medicine have any relevancy in cancer?
- It is estimated that it costs over $400 million to bring a new cancer drug to market. Does that establish roadblocks for the testing and approval of alternative therapies?
- What changes or improvements should be made in our healthcare system and the way we treat cancer in this country so that cancer is no longer the leading cause of death in Americans under age 85?
Essay Length
The essay must be no fewer than 700 and no more than 1,500 words in length.
Apply to Enter
To receive a scholarship application which will include the rules and deadlines please send an email to: firstname.lastname@example.com. Please put the word "Scholarship" in the subject line.