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LG Nexus 5
Info Photos News Forum 100+ Reviews
Phone Scoop Review
Nov 11, 2013 by Eric M. Zeman
Phone Scoop tests Google's Nexus 5 on AT&T and T-Mobile's networks. Here is our in-depth look at Google's latest stock Android smartphone. It has the software many people want, but can the hardware keep up? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
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Best Nexus phone so far.
Carrier: T-Mobile
First I should say that I'm a phonaphile. I collect cellphones. It's a problem. I HAVE to have every new phone that comes out. I don't know why. The reason I'm telling you this is so you'll know when I say things I have something to compare it to.
This phone is the best Nexus phone so far, hands down. In my opinion its better than the GS4 and HTC One. I know the GS4 has more software features and a slightly better camera. However this phone has a MUCH better build quality than the GS4 and the screen in my opinion is more realistic in color accuracy and contrast. Now the HTC one is " all aluminum " which is great , but it's also heavier and is a lot slower and more cumbersome because of the Sense UI.
Not to mention this phone has things neither of those phones have. Such as built in wireless charging, photosphere camera, the newest version on Android OS and A snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.6 GHz.
Now this phone has its cons as well. Like the mediocre battery life and the slightly slow camera software. Also The SMS being embedded in hangouts ( which is annoying ). It took me 10 minutes to figure out how to text someone and not Google chat them. Lol
All in all this is a very solid phone and I feel the top Android phone out right now. Of course thats just my opinion. You should buy it and see for yourself.
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Best phone I have ever owned
Carrier: T-Mobile
The nexus 5 is my 4th Android device and the best one I have owned so far. I found the battery life to be excellent on the phone. With wifi and google now turned on and moderate use, the phone lasted an entire day for me. My HTC One s, would barely get through half the day when google now was turned on. As a previous reviewer mentioned, i also do notice the rattle from the power button. Not a big deal though. My last LG (LG G2X) was a nightmare and luckily this phone does not have any of the issues that one had. I highly recommend this phone as it is the best handset out there at its price point and better then most at higher price points.
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Love it!!!
For me this is one of the best nexus phone from Google.
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A good phone in a pinch
Carrier: T-Mobile
May we all have a moment of silence for the departure of an old enemy the HTC One S a phone no one wanted to take responsibility for...
Now for the Nexus 5 I am loving this phone granted it is no LG G2 or LG Gflex but it gets the job done.
Screen is wonderful
The audio quality is okay
lightening speeds LTE (I have noticed how some phone does slow down the network)
Well the look is not too appealing
the back does tend to get those oil marks..
and again it is a bit bland.
Good phone all in all if you do not like this phone send me your address and I will send you my HTC One S and you would love the Nexus 5
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Nexus 5, good but not great
Having been an ios user since 2008, android has perked my interest lately. I've tried the Galaxy S4 (twice) and now the nexus 5. First off, the Nexus is stunning to look at and hold, lightweight and not cheap feeling at all. In fact it's not as cheap feeling as the GS4. Pure google is good, although I thought I would like it better than the touchwiz version, but I was wrong.
Pros: screen size, battery life better than GS4, pure google is very clean to operate with none of the Samsung bloatware.
Cons: after using the gs4 and all it's gimmicks, I found I missed this gimmicks. Kitkat 4.4 actually removed. Key feature in email (attaching files)
Plastic back is very slippery to hold.
Corners are a bit boxy and uncomfy.
Camera seriously lacks in features (biggest complaint)
All in all, when you consider it's a $350 decide, off contract. It's a homerun, but if you can afford the galaxy line, go for it.
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Sent it back
- Bad battery compared to nexus 4 - 6-7 hours until zero from 100%. Nex4 lasts 20+ hours.
- Camera is about as bad as it was with nexus 4. Slow. Blurry. Pixelated.
- kitkat combines hangouts and SMS by force
- Rattles. (Buttons).
- no headset included
- LG support is terrible. (no advanced RMA)
- reception worse than n4


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Most of the best-rated and loved games in the office are clones of one title or another. But its great to see the freeware audience get a low-end version of the great gameplay that has been found in survival horror games like Resident Evil.
And although the authors note that their game was inspiried by H.P. Lovecraft, anyone who has tried Resident Evil will instantly realize what they were after.
Luckily for us that is the games strong point. The 2D engine is programmed exceptionally well, preserving all the great things of the RE franchise. The small special effects add to the overall mood of the game which you'll feel from the beginning of the dialogue.
Outside of some difficult controls (mainly due to the fact that you're playing with a keyboard), Fiend is a survival horror that deserves a look.

subset: commoncrawl


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Updated - Now in HQ and untagged.
Keeping warm in a gray sweatshirt, Robert Pattinson heads back to his car after stopping at a costume warehouse in Hollywood on Tuesday afternoon (October 5).
Before his fitting, the 24-year-old actor was spotted getting something to eat at a local In-N-Out fast food joint.
Thanks to setje of pattinsonlife


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Talk:San Francisco/Union Square-Financial District
Rudy Colombini And Spam[edit]
Can people please help me keep an eye out for spam from this guy. He has already been cited on Wikipedia as a 'persistent spammer'. See a discussion about him on Wikipedia here [1] and [2] This article documents how he has reportedly been trying to pass himself off as a member of the band 'The Divine Comedy' (..and not the obscure Goth band he was in of the same name), advertising his hotels on an encyclopedic website, replacing links to desirable and notable hotels with those of his own etc etc... All articles relating to him on Wikipedia have been deleted due to either his lack of notability as a musician, or as unwanted spam on an encyclopedic website.
There is also a lot of spam on Wikivoyage from the same IP address as was used on Wikipedia, 184.108.40.206 - this is almost certainly Rudy himself as this IP resolves to his offices at The Nob Hill Hotel, 835 Hyde Street, San Francisco. You can see a history of Wikivoyage edits from this IP address here [3]
network:IP-Network:126.96.36.199/27 network:Org-Name:Pacific Equities network:Street-Address:835 HYDE network:City:SAN FRANCISCO network:State:CA network:Postal-Code:94109-
Actually, he runs four hotels in total in the San Francisco - the first three of which were advertised on Wikivoyage, and all of which get horrible reviews (although saying that the James Court fares ok). He runs them through a company called Pacific Equities West LLC, see [4]
- Villa SOMA, 1554 Howard Street
- Nob Hill Hotel, 835 Hyde Street
- Fitzgerald Hotel Union Square, 620 Post Street
- James Court Hotel (a.k.a. The Nob Hill Pension), 1353-1355 Bush Street
When you look at the reviews from guests on websites like Tripadvisor it becomes apparent that these hotels have a real problem as they get unusually poor reviews. Almost half of the reviewers give the Nob Hill and the Fitzgerald Hotel just 1 star out of 5. Almost all of those complained about the management trying to scam them in some way like through extra credit card charges. Some guests were charged $500 for allegedly smoking in their rooms, when the guests in question apparently don't even smoke. Others booked the Nob Hill only upon arrival to shipped off to the lesser rated Fitzgerald without rebate or explanation. Still others complained about being double charged on their credit card. There were also many reviews that complained about the Nob Hill, The Fitzgerald and Villa Soma having a bed-bug problem. One of the reviewers of Villa Soma points out that this hotel it is listed on the 'Bed-Bug-Blog', and having checked on the reference on the blog, reportedly this building has had an ongoing problem with bed bugs for years. [5]
As you can see from the contributions history, he has been deleting references to his competitor hotels like the Inter-Continental Mark Hopkins Hotel, The Cartwright Hotel. The Crowne Plaza, Comfort Inn by the Bay, Holiday Inn Select Downtown etc [6] He has also added editorials suggesting that his hotels are among the "fanciest hotels" in San Francisco and comparable with establishments like the Ritz Carlton and The Huntington Hotel [7] - this is simply untrue. In an obvious attempt to make his hotels more visible, he has also been constantly editing an article to ensure that his hotels remain at the top of the list [8] and then listing his hotels under multiple districts in San Francisco. At one point he had the Fitzgerald hotel listed under districts North Beach, Marina, Nob Hill, Civic Center and Union Square - the Nob Hill Hotel and Villa Soma were also listed under multiple districts.
For these reasons I have deleted references to both the Nob Hill and the Fitzgerald Hotels. The Villa Soma references had already been removed.
He has also been advertising non-existent musical venues. [9] He has been advertising his property at 1353-1355 Bush street as one of the following:
- The San Francisco Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- Music City San Francisco
- Rudy Colombini's Center for the Performing Arts
The Wikivoyage postings made it sound like these are three separate and distinct venues, when in fact they are all at the same address and none of them actually exist at all yet. 1353-1355 Bush Street is a hotel called the James Court Hotel, a.k.a. The Nob Hill Pension [10] There are plans to set up a musical venue here but they are stalled, apparently due to objections. This is not going to come to fruition for at least 3-4 years, if at all. That's kind of deceiving for people who see one of these on Wikivoyage and then turn up only to find a hotel!
He has also been advertising three online blogs that are supposed to cover the events and happenings in Union Square, Nob Hill and North Beach, but all they really do is advertise his hotels and interests front and center. I am all but certain that the anonymous author of these blogs is Rudy himself. [11]
I have reverted most of his edits to date but please can you help me keep an eye out for future spam relating to the aforementioned Hotels, Venues and Blogs to ensure that they do not re-appear on Wikivoyage. Thanks. (WT-en) Asterix 17:08, 26 February 2008 (EST)
- I have checked various web reviews sites for the hotels in question, and I endorse Asterix's view of them. -- (WT-en) Colin 18:19, 26 February 2008 (EST)
One last quick point, I feel is really important. Just recently, I noticed a very suspicious pattern of reviewing for his hotels, across almost all the prominent Travel Websites that allow the public to post reviews. The suspicious reviews stretched all the way back to 2003. As an example, the most blatantly obvious of these were two reviews of the Nob Hill Hotel that were posted on 'Tripadvisor.com' - both reviews were posted within a week of each other, both had given the hotel a perfect '5 star' rating, and strangely, the Usernames supplied by the two supposed reviewers were identical to that of the manager of the James Court Hotel, and that of the Pacific Equities Finance Manager, both of whom work at Pacific Equities offices on 835 Hyde Street. Convinced of foul play, I contacted a total of six major websites online and reported Rudy Colombini, his management team led by Angelos Kolobotos, on suspicion of fraudulently posing as real guests and reviewing their own hotels in order to manipulate their ranking and popularity.
Afterwards, for legal reasons I guess, these sites would not give me any real feedback other than to thank me for the information, and to say that they had conducted a thorough investigation of the matter, and that any appropriate action had been taken. However, post investigation, I analyzed all six websites and cumulatively for the Nob Hill and the Fitzgerald Hotel alone, they had removed Fifty-Eight '5 Star' reviews - this represented a whopping 30% of the total number of reviews for these two hotels on those sites!! On Tripadvisor, the most popular of these sites, both hotels instantly crashed in their rankings, with the Nob Hill almost rated as the worst hotel in San Francisco at 221/231, and the Fitzgerald 211/231.
I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about all of this, but for all of the above reasons I don't think any of these hotels should be advertised on Wikivoyage. Furthermore, if anyone has a bit of spare time, it's also worth keeping an eye out for any other, even semi-positive reviews, of the aforementioned hotels. If you spot any suspicious ones, now and in the future - Report Them!! Thanks again, and apologies about the length of this. (WT-en) Asterix 13:20, 8 March 2008 (EST)
Reworking the Union Square/Tenderloin boundary[edit]
This came to my attention thanks to someone trying to add the Hilton Hotel to this article, which is hardly the first time. Under our current district breakdown, we've drawn a hard boundary along Mason Street, relegating the Hilton along with a few other adjacent hotels to the Tenderloin article. Now this is a boundary we've enforced, but naturally anyone from the Hilton isn't going to be happy about having their hotel listed as being in the Tenderloin. So we go through this again and again, a slow motion edit war that under the current circumstances will likely be carried out in perpetuity.
With this in mind, I'm wondering if we can tweak this boundary a little bit. What I'd like to propose, working off of this map, is to push Union Square's coverage a block west (to Taylor) north of Ellis. This will encompass the Hilton, a couple of other splurge hotels currently in the Tenderloin article, and a couple of nice theaters. South of Ellis between Taylor and Mason will remain in the Tenderloin, mainly because that's where you find the EXIT Theater, which is undeniably Tenderloin.
I'm not saying this is a perfect solution — I'm sure there will still be a couple of others hotels listed in the Tenderloin that will want to get in the Union Square article — but I think it'll be better than what we have now. Thoughts? PerryPlanet (talk) 00:22, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
- Actually, I'm gonna just plunge forward and go for it. It's a pretty minor shift, but I'll have this here to explain my reasoning. PerryPlanet (talk) 02:12, 7 February 2013 (UTC)


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Moderated by Walid Saleh, MD
Dr. Saleh is listed as a Top Obstetrician/Gynecologist by The Consumers' Research Council of America and recently received a 2010 Patient's Choice Award - given to less than 6% of doctors across the USA.
Dr. Salah is a long-time advisor to INCIID. He is also a proud supporter of the "From INCIID the Heart" scholarship program. Dr. Saleh and SIRM are generous donors to INCIID's mission and very popular with patients who are looking for individualized and compassionate patient care. Dr. Saleh answer's patient questions about Egg Freezing. SIRM now has a FREE Egg Freezing program for Cancer Patients - Feel free to ask your questions here. Dr. Saleh's professional member profile is located here. Visit the Sher Institutes for Reproductive Medicine (Dallas).


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One dead, seven injured in Toronto mall shooting
(CNN) -- One person was killed and seven others injured Saturday, June 2nd when shots were fired at the Eaton Centre shopping mall in Toronto, police said.
Six of the victims suffered gunshot wounds and one was grazed by a bullet, they said. The eighth victim was a pregnant woman who was knocked to the ground in the melee and suffered minor injuries. Two of the victims are in critical condition, including a 13-year-old boy, police said.
"At this time, we do not have the shooter," said Constable Victor Kwong with the Toronto police in response to a reporter's question, declining to provide more details.
Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said authorities do have a preliminary description of the suspect, but are waiting to release it to the public until they can gather more details.
"A lot of innocent people were hurt and a lot of innocent people were put at risk. And we will be relentless in our pursuit of the individual, or individuals, who were responsible for this violence," he said.
"This shooting was not only wanton and incredibly dangerous, but also reckless as to the safety of others," Blair said, adding that he does not know where the suspect might have fled.
Police are talking to witnesses and scouring video evidence of the shooting, which took place in the food court area. They were first alerted to the incident shortly before 6:30 p.m. ET.
"It's terrible when you hear something like this. My heart goes out to the families that have been affected by this terrible crime," said Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
A call to the mall confirmed that the shopping center was on lockdown. No other details were available.


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The 10-million litre Dubai Aquarium tank, located on the Ground Level of The Dubai Mall, is the largest suspended aquariums in the world.
It houses thousands of aquatic animals, comprising over 140 species. Over 300 sharks and rays live in this tank, including the largest collection of Sand Tiger sharks in the world.
There are numerous ways for visitors to experience the main Aquarium tank, which measures 51 metres in length, 20 metres in width and 11 metres in height.
Immerse your senses in a stimulating environment featuring vivid colours, spectacular marine life and incredible experiences. Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo at The Dubai Mall allows you to get up close and personal with more than 33,000 aquatic creatures. The world's largest aquarium window brings you face-to-face with enormous Sand Tiger Sharks, graceful Stingrays, giant Groupers and shimming shoals of pelagic fish. It all adds up to an underwater adventure that promises to be truly memorable.
Opening Hours
Come for the experience of a lifetime.
10:00am - 11:00pm [Sun- Wed]
Last admission: 10:30pm
10:00am - 12:00 midnight [Thu - Sat]
Last admission: 11:30pm


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Tots and Toddlers runs during term time and half term holidays every Wednesday between 9.45am and 11.45am in the village hall.
We are a friendly group of Mums and Carers and are always looking for new members. The group is open to any under school age children.
There are plenty of toys to play with, an activity table and a sing-song after packing up time! We provide drinks and snacks between 10.30 and 11am. The cost is £2 per family, but free for first-timers.
If you have any further questions, please contact Ruth Dunn on 01295 770587.
Printed 14 August 2020 at 23:21 hrs by 184.108.40.206


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A Woman Struggles with Guilt after Passing the Coronavirus to Her Mother - I keep thinking: What if I'd stopped going to work when the first people started to get sick? What if I didn't live with my mom? What if I'd stayed upstair...
1 hour ago
Writer's Email: email@example.com
Fone WST... +1318.717.9017
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." ~ Gaius Cornelius Tacitus
kalb video blog permalink
Posted by wst... at 13:56


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SL Research project 'successful' but
marred by technical difficulties …
Full PDF of Evaluation Report available here
The SLENZ team achieved "a remarkable success in creating and delivering" the core of the SLENZ Project, according to the official evaluation report of the $NZ500,000, Second Life research programme released today.
This was despite the fact that both the project and student/educator learning and engagement had, at times, been hampered by technical challenges and difficulties during the 18-month long project, said Michael Winter, the independent evaluator of the project. He is a veteran educator and senior researcher with CORE Education, of Christchurch, New Zealand.
At the core of the project were two builds – a Foundation Learning Centre and a Birthing Centre – which were used for virtual world teaching as part of the project to determine the benefits or otherwise of virtual world education, and how these benefits, if any, could best be harnessed.
"The creation and effective employment of the two builds is a great success of the team," Winter said. "In the process, the project team established a valuable corpus of experience in developing and using virtual world resources for tertiary education."
The pilot programmes, Winter said, had both increased the engagement of learners with a familiar game like environment where learning may intentionally be a product of serious play; had been successful in creating experiential learning situations not available in 'real life'; had had only limited success with providing the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to operate socially, technically, and ethically in an online global virtual world; but had provided an opportunity to "experience and practice collaborative, cross-cultural problem solving in social networking environments.
Although the report appears a little short on hard facts, figures and comparative measurements it contains much interesting anecdotal evidence from both students and educators and the conclusions reached by Winter should be helpful to all contemplating or launching a new educational programme within a Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) such as Second Life.
Winter said that the "success of the project", which incorporated Foundation (Bridging) Learning and Midwifery Education pilot programmes, had largely been due to the project management skills of the real life Project Manager (Terry Neal, of BlendedSolutions) who had been responsible for managing the budget, interpersonal communications, and ensuring that timelines were adhered to and deadlines met.
Winter also singled out the Project Developer (Aaron Griffths, of Fxual Education Services) for special mention. "As far as the design and development of the builds are concerned, the Project Developer almost single-handedly achieved a remarkable success with both builds," Winter said. "He was able to incorporate the differing needs of both the Foundation and Midwifery educators, and in many cases produced aesthetically pleasing and functional designs. The ongoing process of development generally met the required deadlines, although sometimes at some cost in terms of stress."
Winter made a number of recommendations for future projects exploring the use of virtual worlds in education, which should be useful to MUVE developers and researchers around the world. These included:
- The Project Team, and Lead Educators at each institution should become familiar with the IT processes, and strike up an ongoing working relationship with members of the IT team. This could be greatly facilitated by the identification of a senior manager to act as a champion of the project within the institution.
- Clear identification of the hardware and network needs required effectively to run the virtual world on the multiple computers within a particular institution. This would include addressing network security and fire walling issues.
- Clear communication with students who will be using the virtual environment off-site regarding hardware and software requirements to access and make use of all the features of the virtual world.
- An indication to students of the broadband requirements and hardware specifications to run the virtual world effectively on their own home computers, including connection speed, and the likely impact on broadband usage.
- Give more attention and time to ensure that users become fully familiar with using Second Life. This could involve a more thorough orientation process including working with buddies experienced in Second Life.
- Clear indication to students of expectations in terms of their participation and learning outcomes when using the builds.
- Ensure that each stage of the build actively involves and engages learners, and avoids them spending time "just looking".
Foundation Learning pilot
In his summary of his findings on the Manukau Institute of Technology Foundation Studies pilot programme, led by lead educator, Merle Lemon, Winter noted that the Foundation build had provided a rich environment for learners to develop their job-hunting skills, despite criticism of its external appearance.
"It provided the opportunity for students to review material they had learned in face-to-face sessions, and to practice dressing appropriately for, and taking part in, interviews," he said, but "for many participants, the experience was marred by technical difficulties, which highlighted the need for careful planning and good collaboration with the IT department before introducing virtual world learning into on-site programmes."
The MIT staff, Winter said, were generally keen to be involved in future work with virtual worlds, but stressed the need to resolve technical issues.
Midwifery Education pilot
In his summary of the Otago Polytechnic Midwifery pilot programme, led by lead educator Sarah Stewart, Winter said the two completed stages of the Midwifery build had represented "a significant success of the project".
He, however, again noted technical problems involving both hardware and connections to the internet – as well as navigation difficulties within Second Life by both students and tutors -as hampering the results in this distance education part of the SLENZ Project.
On the question of user navigation, he said, "It is likely that a longer and more careful period of orientation might help participants overcome these difficulties."
But he said, "Those students that accessed the build, and who were confident with the environment, reported a high degree of engagement and enjoyment of the experience, especially in working through the scenario with a buddy. They found this experience removed some of the stress, compared with face-to-face role-play. "
Filed under: Distance education, Education, Education in Second Life, Education in virtual worlds, Second Life, SLENZ Project, Virtual Worlds | Tagged: Aaron Griffths, BlendedSolutions, CORE Education, F/Xual education Services, Manukau Institute of Technology, Merle Lemon, Michael Winter, Otago Polytechnic, Sarah Stewart, SLENZ Project, Terry Neal, Tertiary Education Commission, VLENZ | 1 Comment »


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Your search for Wedding Transport produced the following results. If you would like to modify your search, please use the dropdown boxes below.
Wedding Transport | Wedding Transport UK | Overseas Wedding Transport | American Wedding Cars | Wedding Buses | Wedding Car Hire | Wedding Horse Carriages | Wedding Limo Hire | Wedding Sports Car Hire | Wedding Transport Hire


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If you are searching for the 13th edition of University Physics with Modern Physics for cheap prices, you are in luck. You can buy University Physics with Modern Physics online now in previously owned condition as published in 2011 by Addison Wesley publishers. Written by Hugh D Young, Roger A Freedman and A Lewis Ford, the text book has everything you will need to ensure you know the essential facts about university physics. Get the cheapest prices for discounted and pre-owned condition books here, and discover why so many other physics students buy University Physics with Modern Physics online from us. Hugh D. Young is the author of 'University Physics with Modern Physics (13th Edition)', published 2011 under ISBN 9780321696861 and ISBN 0321696867.[read more]
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It's hard to figure that it's almost been five years since my Dad passed away. I got to thinking about him on the subway this morning when a man came on the train with a bible in his left hand and started talking about Jesus. The man through the packed car slowly and was ignored by the passengers. I smiled as I remembered something Dad once said to a subway preacher. Dad looked up from his book when the preacher got close, looked up at him and in a loud, clear voice said, "Sir, your arrogance is breathtaking."
Ah, the old man was a good one.


text: miata_chick_01 0 Report post Posted September 24, 2004 hey everyone. I need some songs about loving someone secretly and not being able to let the feelings show. i like all kinds of music except rap and the real hard "smash your face off of stuff" rock. Anyone know of any? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


text:
don't just do something, sit there
Props on the title go to Eunomia commenter Grumpy Old Man who was commenting on the second of two very strong posts from Daniel Larison regarding the Iranian riots. Larison worries that too...
Erik Kain
/// June 16, 2009
Props on the title go to Eunomia commenter Grumpy Old Man who was commenting on the second of two very strong posts from Daniel Larison regarding the Iranian riots. Larison worries that too...
Erik Kain
/// March 13, 2009
Megan McArdle completely misses the point of "fake news", or at least she's missed the point of the Daily Show, which along with the fake punditry of Stephen Colbert is just about the best...
April 27, 2020
February 2, 2020
It took all of one day for the challenge of opening schools to become very clear in Georgia's largest school district, and this was just staff, not the 180k students of Gwinnett County.
Comment →
On Wednesday, teachers in Georgia's largest school district returned to elementary, middle and high school campuses to start in-person planning for the fall semester.
By the next day, 260 district employees had been barred from entering their schools, either because they tested positive for the coronavirus or had been directly exposed to someone who had.
Sloan Roach, spokeswoman for Gwinnett County Public Schools, which serves more than 180,000 students, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that most of the cases were tied to community spread, rather than being spread at the schools. Some of the employees who reported exposure to the virus had not come to work yet, Roach added.
"Given the number of [covid-19] cases in Gwinnett, we would expect to see positives among our employees based on the community spread in our county," Roach told the newspaper.
The outbreak has complicated the return to school in Gwinnett County, which this week had the highest number of new coronavirus cases in the state. Georgia has reported 195,435 cases and 3,842 deaths to date. But Gwinnett County's teachers and school administrators are hardly alone in dealing with the fallout of an early outbreak as they try to launch a digital-only return.
In a country facing "the worst economic crisis since the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939," the ruling socialist government is turning to a basic income system to mitigate the economic crisis.
Comment →
The coronavirus crisis has accelerated the debate in Spain over the introduction of a basic income, since state-funded social aid does not yet exist. It wasn't until the death of the dictator Franco in 1975 that a welfare state developed here, though it was rather week. Families with children receive hardly any support.
The introduction of a basic income was therefore the main election promise of the leftist Podemos party and they made the program part of their coalition agreement with the Socialists last fall. Now the Sánchez government is rushing to get the project off the ground to prevent hundreds of thousands of people from plunging into the abyss.
"It is a historic moment for our democracy," said Podemos leader and Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias, "the birth of a new social law."
Spain, after all, still hasn't fully recovered from the consequences of the financial and economic crisis of 2008. Even before the outbreak of the virus, the poverty rate hovered around 20 percent and the labor market is divided, with too few people enjoying permanent contracts with unemployment benefits, and too many having to make do with temporary contracts that often only last for a few days. According to statistics from the Spanish employment agency SEPE, 8.4 million people are now looking for a job.
Thus far, only regional governments have allocated aid money -- paltry sums that reached only 75,000 people, or barely a third of all the poor, according to social researcher Flores. Basic income would provide financial security for the most vulnerable 850,000 households.
But an "ingreso mínimo vital," literally a "minimum income to live," comes with strings attached. The program would only apply to people between the ages of 23 and 65 and they must have been registered as living in Spain for at least one year without interruption. They must also be actively looking for a steady job, be involved in a continuing education program or, in cases of drug dependency, be enrolled in a therapy program. The social welfare office would look into applicants' assets and existing income and that would be topped up to a level of 462 euros per month for singles and up to 1,015 euros per month for a family of five.
It's been less than a week and already Major League Baseball has a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on their hands.
Major League Baseball's season is less than a week old, but one team has already experienced a coronavirus outbreak that will sideline a chunk of its roster and has caused a game to be canceled. The Miami Marlins, who had four players test positive during their opening series against the Philadelphia Phillies, had an additional eight players and two coaches test positive on Monday, less than 12 hours before they were supposed to play their home opener against the Baltimore Orioles, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.
That means the Marlins have had at least 14 individuals become infected over the last several days. In response to the outbreak, the Marlins game against the Orioles on Monday night will not be played, Baltimore GM Mike Elias confirmed.
The Yankees-Phillies game for tonight (Monday, 27Jun20) has now been "postponed".
The Marlins' home opener in Miami against Baltimore is also postponed.
For the second time, and it would seem final one, the Republican National Convention has been cancelled. At least, the in-person part of it, and by none other than President Trump himself.
Comment →
The Jacksonville, Fla., component of the Republican National Convention has been cancelled, President Trump announced on Thursday, as cases of coronavirus continue to spike across the state.
"I looked at my team and I said the timing for this event is not right. It's just not right with what's been happening," Trump said at the daily coronavirus briefing.
"They said 'Sir, we can make this work very easily' ... I said there's nothing more important in our country than keeping our people safe, whether it's from the China virus or the radical left mob."
Presented without further comment, because I'm sure you folks will do plenty of that:
"I love history, I love poster art," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday. He also loves deploying a mountain analogy to describe New York's fight against COVID-19 and his and the state's efforts to flatten the curve of new infections. He declared that New York was "on the other side of the mountain" during one of his then-daily coronavirus press conferences in early May. Then, at the end of June, after COVID-19 infections began spiking throughout much of the rest of the country, Cuomo shockingly unveiled a huge model of an actual mountain during another press conference to physically illustrate the analogy again, even using his hand to demonstrate New York's journey up and over the metaphorical pandemic mountain:
While Cuomo has not yet held a coronavirus press event using the Catskills, on Monday he unveiled, for the second time this year, an old-timey campaign poster devoted to himself depicting not only his pandemic mountain but illustrating numerous other elements related to both New York's fight against the coronavirus and the quirky asides the governor liked to make across his more than 100 daily pressers during the outbreak.
Both posters have been based on Cuomo's own sketches and painted in a style inspired by a 1900s campaign illustration for a Nebraska politician named William Jennings Bryan. The first poster, released in January, depicted Cuomo's accomplishments as governor utilizing a ship as a metaphor for the state.
The poster, available from the State of New York for the low, low prince of $14.50 plus shipping and handling:
Comment →
The pressing issue of our time must be dealt with, and the international ramifications are immense...
Comment →
If it's unclear when the cliche of the socks-and-sandals wearer became associated with Germans, the country has a well-documented history as a master of orthopedic sandals.
Birkenstock is obviously one of the world's most famous brands in this field. German shoemaker Johann Adam Birkenstock established his family business in 1774. Their shoes with a cork insole were developed by 1945, and the first model resembling today's widespread Birkenstock sandal was invented in 1964.
The shoe's iconic status is largely due to the German-American designer Margot Fraser. While on a spa trip to Germany in 1966, she discovered how comfortable the sandals were. She started selling them in California in the 1960s, where they became popular among hippies.
In the 1980s, Fraser turned the brand into a multimillion-dollar business in the US. Today in North America, wearers of socks and sandals are rather seen as a West Coast phenomenon, satirized for instance through characters in the "Portlandia" television series and countless memes.
Another German orthopedic sandal with a cork wedge in the sole has recently gained popularity. The Wörishofer was developed in the Bavarian spa town of Bad Wörishofen in the 1940s. When Hollywood stars such as Kirsten Dunst and Maggie Gyllenhaal were spotted wearing them by 2010, the brand was added to the list of "ugly" shoes that became trendy, alongside Birkenstocks, Crocs and Ugg boots.
A close-up photograph of two feet wearing sandals and socks
Initially shower sandals, streetwear today: The Adilette
Meanwhile, the German footwear giant Adidas is behind another cult sandal. Its Adilette slides were designed in 1963 at the request of athletes who wanted a shoe they could wear in locker rooms and showers. With its orthopedic rubber sole and striped top, the iconic poolside model has since moved to the streets, and is often worn with socks too.
"Now on the streets of Berlin you'll find at every corner youths who look like the reincarnation of the formerly typical German tourist — wearing shorts, a fishing hat, tennis socks and trekking sandals," says Vogue's Sämann.
Over the past few years, countless lifestyle magazines have been enthusiastically reporting that the former fashion no-go is now the hip thing to do. Main bonus points of the trend: It gives more exposure to those expensive designer socks, while hiding unsightly toes.
In many threads, we have been speaking of Cancel Culture. Does this qualify?
We were due to publish Dean Young's new book in 2021. We have informed him that we are withdrawing our intent to publish.
In response, we'd like to offer his publication slot to an underrepresented writer, to offer a space he occupied to somebody who hasn't had the access he has https://t.co/xZVdTXy2yn
— Broken Sleep Books (@brokensleep) August 7, 2020
(Featured image is "Purple trudge" by Hackley Public Library and is licensed under CC BY 2.0)Comment →
Maryland's highest court has issued another ruling that limits the ability of police to cite marijuana as a reason to arrest and search people, saying officers may not arrest people based on the smell of marijuana alone.
"The odor of marijuana, without more, does not provide law enforcement officers with the requisite probable cause to arrest and perform a warrantless search of that person incident to the arrest," the court said in a unanimous ruling authored by Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera.
(Featured image is "smoke" by DaleKav and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)Comment →
There was a massive explosion in Beirut about an hour ago.
Footage from the massive explosion in Beirut Port, Lebanon pic.twitter.com/bdvzrS05Qf
— Beirut Today (@bey_today) August 4, 2020
Early reports is that it was a fuel ship.
Twitter User KenDeuel points out the phenomenon of the Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion.
(Featured image is the Flag of Lebanon.)Comment →
Today In 1993: 46-year-old Nolan Ryan takes care of business when Robin Ventura decides to charge the mound after getting hit by a fastball! #MLB #Baseball #History pic.twitter.com/RpPy4URPeA
— Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) August 4, 2020
Robin Ventura had a respectable career batting average of .267, acquired over an impressive fifteen year career. He hit nearly 300 home runs and drive in over 1000 hitters. He was also a manager for a while, albeit a largely unsuccessful one.
But really, all he'll ever be known for is getting punched in the face.
Update To Add: Some people say that Ventura is better known by some as the man who hit the "grand slam single"
Broadly, yes, though Met fans differ on this https://t.co/JtdvP926Jc
— Peel (@RHPeel) August 4, 2020
Well, I know which I would rather be known for.Comment →
How to Lose Friends and Influence No One
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Michael Siegel // 109 Comments
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Sunday Morning! Two by Arthur Schnitzler
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Thursday Throughput: Galactic Cannibalism Edition
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Book Review: "You Talkin' To Me?" E.J. White
August 7, 2020
The research shows that VP generally move the needle very little which makes sense. She is a good pick but I can't see how this is a game changer. She does work as a unity candidate I believe though.


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MySammy can help you:
- determine what employees are doing on their computer
- set individual goals for each employee to constantly improve their productivity
- empower employees to self-monitor their computer activities
Great management tool, data is presented in a quick easy to view format and provides detailed information too. - South Haven, MI
I am very impressed with the information MySammy gathers. - Baton Rouge, LA
I had ideas of employees engaging in personal activities during office hours, but I did not know the high extent until I installed MySammy. By announcing the presence of MySammy, nonproductive computer activity dropped significantly. I believe MySammy is a tool every company should get. - Chino, CA


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Aug 19, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – Federal officials today released new guidance to help businesses prepare for an expected resurgence of novel H1N1 activity during the upcoming influenza season, a document that clarifies how long sick workers should stay home and suggests ways to keep employees safe and business disruptions at a minimum.
The recommendations were released at a news conference at US Department of Commerce headquarters in Washington, DC, and streamed live on the government's flu Web site, where the guidance document is posted, along with a communication tool kit for businesses and employers. The guidance runs about 10 pages.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said the business community can help limit the impact of the flu pandemic on society, but they need to strike the right tone with employees. "In America, we love to praise the puritan work ethic, but we praise common sense and responsibility for the health of coworkers and the productivity of companies," he said.
Locke said the new guidance suggests that companies adopt flexible, nonpunitive sick-leave policies that support one of the most important measures for preventing the spread of the virus: staying home when sick. The recommendations advise against requiring a doctor's note for returning to work, because such requests are likely to further stress an overburdened healthcare system.
Locke also emphasized the document's advice for businesses to plan now for spikes in absences as well as possible school closures. "A little planning now ensures that the economy withstands whatever the H1N1 virus throws at us this fall," he said.
Kathleen Sebelius, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, said until a novel flu vaccine is available, employers can help mitigate the impact of the flu this fall by encouraging target groups to receive their seasonal flu vaccines. She said she hopes businesses will do some outreach ahead of time to encourage employees, especially those in high-risk groups such as pregnant women or young workers, to receive the novel H1N1 vaccine when it is available.
She encouraged businesses to keep in touch with their local health departments, because flu conditions can change rapidly.
One of the key components of the guidance is a recommendation on when employees who have had flu-like symptoms can return to work: 24 hours after fever ceases without assistance from fever-reducing medication. That new recommendation reflects revised guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), released on Aug 6, on how long those who are sick with novel flu should stay home. Earlier recommendations urged people to stay home for 7 days after illness onset or for 24 hours after symptoms resolve, whichever was longer.
Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said federal officials expect novel H1N1 activity to pick up again as school resumes and that now is the time for businesses to review and tweak their pandemic plans. "You're dealing with a tough economy and may not have had time to think through what a bad flu season really is," she said.
Dual preparedness levels
She said she has been traveling the country this summer meeting with critical infrastructure businesses to discuss pandemic preparedness issues. Earlier this week she spoke with oil and gas industry representative on the Gulf Coast. "The country needs to be prepared, but it also needs to be resilient," she said.
The guidance document urges employers to plan for two scenarios: a continuation of the level of novel H1N1 activity that was seen in the United States during spring and summer or a more severe outbreak. In the more moderate scenario, the recommendations say employees who have flulike symptoms at work should be separated from other workers and advised to go home. If sick employees can't be separated from cowokers before they go home, they should be given a surgical mask if they can tolerate wearing it.
If the pandemic becomes severe, the recommendations urge businesses to consider actively screening employees who report to work and devising alternative work environments for employees who are at high risk for flu complications. For example, pregnant women or those with underlying medical conditions could be allowed to telecommute or be reassigned to duties involving minimal contact with other employees, clients, or customers. A severe pandemic might also warrant social distancing measures in the workplace or cancellation of nonessential business travel, the document says.
Guidance draws praise
Tim Woerther, cochair of PandemicPrep.org, a preparedness consortium based in St Louis that includes business, government, education, and organizational groups, told CIDRAP News that the federal guidance contains much of what businesses with continuity plans already know, but he said the document is useful because it spells out what steps are important for companies that perhaps aren't as prepared.
"It's good that the guidance contains the sorts of things that we should be doing daily, and it's good to see federal officials endorsing these things for private industries," Woerther said.
He said the guidance is likely to be well received because it is flexible and doesn't include mandates for businesses.
See also:
Aug 19 HHS press release
Aug 19 CDC and HHS business pandemic planning guidance
Aug 6 CIDRAP News story "CDC shortens stay at home for those with flu symptoms"


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The Antelope Valley Tea Party – Or – A Republican Circle Jerk
I hope that in other parts of the country tea parties are more representative of a true anti-tax or anti-government attitude than they are here. In spite of the best efforts of the Campaign for Liberty and the Libertarian Party to focus the Antelope Valley Tea Party in Lancaster, California, this one was little more than a pep rally for mainstream Republican Party members.
Perhaps I shouldn't have expected much given that prominent local politicians were involved. In attendance were two State Assemblymen and one State Senator, all Republican, as well as the chairman of the local Republican Party. While the mayor of Lancaster was supposed to have been there but had to bow out at the last minute, conspicuous by his absence in any of the event literature was the mayor of Palmdale, a relatively better sort of Republican. (Not better enough to be Libertarian, but better than the average Republican … kind of like saying "taller than Deep Roy" but I mean it in a nice way.) Then again, he did have the gall to oppose a ruling family Republican in a primary race not long ago.
The event planners ensured that there would be no official question and answer session. I should have known that the politicians would not have shown up had they been faced with the risk of an unprepared question while the press was there to cover it.
I handed out fliers with twelve very pointed questions about the Republican Party's support for the recent California tax increases and the ballot proposition that would extend those increases from two years to four years. I was told that if I was handing out fliers I could not do it in the official tea party area but had to do it out in the parking lot.
It was good to see that people were heckling Assemblyman Steve Knight. He voted to put the tax extension proposition on the ballot. The next speaker was Assemblyman Cameron Smyth who, seeing the way Knight was fiercely heckled, instead talked entirely about our valiant troops overseas defending our freedom. Trying to get him to explain why he voted to put the tax extension proposition on the ballot by my own heckling led to someone nearby hushing me for not showing support for the troops.
Most of the rally afterwards centered on how illegal immigrants were to blame for all of our financial problems, or how we should concentrate all our attention on the Democrats in Washington. There was almost no attention paid to the Republicans and Democrats in Sacramento. It would seem natural for local politicians to discuss local issues, but that would reflect too poorly on their own behavior.
The last thing on anyone's mind (except for the LPers and the C4Lers) was how the Republican Party contributed to this mess. This pep rally was for the Republicans to convince themselves that they are not to blame for the mess they made. Sorry, I didn't fall for it. I hope other Tea Parties are better, but the Antelope Valley is were ideas go to die.
I did corner Assemblyman Knight after the rally. Apparently he knows my name because as soon as I introduced myself he talked to everyone but me. But I can be quite patient and after every single last distraction had finished talking to him he was willing to angrily defend his voting to put the tax hike on the ballot. Apparently the bill had some good stuff and some bad stuff, and for the sake of the good stuff he voted for the bill with the bad stuff in it. Also he angrliy said he does indeed endorse the Republicans who voted to raise taxes because otherwise the Democrats would get 2/3 in the legislature and taxes would be raised.


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Coach Tony Sparano will speak to the media in about an hour and he may or may not announce all of Miami's roster moves today. [Update 2:30: Sparano's presser has been postponed to Sunday. It makes sense because as you will read further on down the team is making cuts today but today's 53 may not necessarily be the 53 that goes into Buffalo week.]
This is what we know so far:
Pat White has been cut, Parick Turner has been cut, J.D. Folsom has been cut, Austin Spitler has been cut, Ryan Baker has been cut, Donald Thomas has been cut, Montavious Stanley has been cut. Baker, Spitler and Turner are practice squad eligible.
Others likely to get the axe in the coming minutes include Lionel Dotson and Andrew Gardner. Rolly Lumbala, Julius Pruitt, Erick Walden, Kevin Hobbs and Ross Weaver also have reason to worry about job security today.
The defensive line will likely be Jared Odrick, Kendall Langford, Randy Starks, Paul Soliai, Tony McDaniel, Charles Grant, and Marques Douglas. By the way, do not be surprised if either Douglas or Grant aren't on the team on Monday. I'm told the club will be searching the waiver wire and other sources for a younger defensive end to replace one of these veterans. The idea is to have a player that can be a contributor beyond one season. Grant and Douglas are likely one-year contributors. Obviously, this will depend on Miami's ability to find better, younger players on the market.
The Dolphins will keep three quarterbacks -- Chad Henne, Chad Pennington and Tyler Thigpen -- barring a last-second trade offer from some team.
Benny Sapp, acquired from the Minnesota Vikings two weeks ago, makes the team. Pat McQuistan, acquired from the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday, makes the team.
The club is expected to keep Lydon Murtha.
The Dolphins, meanwhile, are not interested in T.J. Houshmandzadeh, according to a source. Houshmandzadeh has been cut by the Seattle Seahawks.
Watch the tight end situation closely. I'm hearing that David Martin is on the outs and John Nalbone will make the team. The Martin portion makes sense because if he is on the roster the first week of the season, his entire salary is guaranteed. The Dolphins probably do not wish to do that.
Again, the Dolphins won't necessarily go with only two tight ends. The waiver wire may add a player at that position. It is also possible Martin gets re-signed after the first week of the season.
[Update 3:25: Martin has indeed been cut, according to his agent.]


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|*January 6 - 12
|Nothing New Under the
Read for This Week's Study:
|Ecclesiastes 1
Memory Text:
|"That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NKJV).
|The story is told of a Greek philosopher
named Diogenes who walked the streets of Athens with a lantern; his goal
was to find an honest man. According to one version of the story, he finally
found someone whom he believed fit his expectations. Diogenes, however, was
mistaken. The fellow stole his lantern, and poor Diogenes had to find his
way home in the dark.
Whether true or not true, this story reveals how easy it is to be cynical about life, how easy it is to put a negative spin on things.
Of course, in one sense, that's not hard to understand. The world can make a person cynical, negative, depressed. Just ask Solomon, at least the Solomon who appears in the opening chapter of Ecclesiastes. He looks in nature and sees reason to despair; he seeks wisdom and finds it depressing; he looks at life as a whole and finds it meaningless. And for beings who cry out for meaning and purpose in life, we see this as a hard conclusion to live with. Maybe that's why, even in industrialized countries with lots of wealth, people are depressed. Why else are millions and millions of dollars spent on antidepressants? Because people are happy?
Chapter 1 introduces the book. It begins with a look at the futility and meaninglessness of life lived without the knowledge of God.
*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 13.
|January 7
Kohelet in Jerusalem
"The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (Eccles. 1:1).
The word commonly translated "preacher" here, kohelet, is from the Hebrew root kahal, which means "to assemble," "to gather." In Greek, kohelet is translated into a word similar to the Greek word for "church," ekklesia; from this, of course, we get the name Ecclesiastes. The Jews just called the author, and the book, Kohelet.
There's been much debate over the centuries regarding exactly what the word kohelet means. Is he gathering people in order to expound his great wisdom? Or is he a gatherer of wisdom, as he himself suggests (Eccles. 1:13, 16, 17)? We'll have to wait for heaven in order to know for sure.
Read Ecclesiastes 1. Write out a short summary of what Solomon seems to be saying. Don't worry about understanding each phrase (no one does!); rather, focus instead on the general message and tone. What point is he making, and how do we understand these words from a Christian perspective? And, as you read, keep in mind who wrote them, when, and why.
On the surface these are words of a bitter man, a cynical man, a pessimist. All he sees is repetition, fruitlessness, and meaninglessness in life. Taken in isolation, his words sound like many modern atheistic philosophers, who bemoan the meaninglessness and futility of their existence. This, of course, can't be said about Solomon. Instead, remembering that we need to view this book in light of the whole Bible, we see, instead, the bitterness and cynicism that come from a life lived apart from God, a life lived in disobedience, a life lived only with immediate earthly things in view, as opposed to the greater picture of God and the promise of salvation. Taken in that context, his words fit perfectly with the overall theme of Scripture, however differently they are presented here.
|How much bitterness or cynicism do you see in your own life? What caused it? How can these things be purged before they poison your whole spiritual existence?
|January 8
Vanity of Vanities
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity" (Eccles. 1:2).
Most translations of this verse use the word vanity. The Hebrew word, hebel, means literally "vapor" or "breath"; it also carries the idea of emptiness, meaninglessness, and futility. The word will appear numerous times in Ecclesiastes.
When you think of "vapor" or "breath," what comes to mind? Why would Solomon use this image to talk about life in general? See also Ps. 144:4.
Again, think about the perspective that he was writing from: The years of his life, so full of potential and promise, were squandered on things that do not last, things of no permanent value. When most of your whole life is made up of hebel, of vapor, when you get to the end of that life the whole thing can seem like a vapor because it passed by very quickly and seemed so full of meaningless things.
Look up the following verses. How are they expressing, in their own way, the same idea presented above?
6:19, 20
What makes Solomon's words so powerful is that here was a man who had everything this world could offer. He, perhaps unlike anyone else, had his fill of worldly pleasures. As he himself said later, anything that he wanted he got (Eccles. 2:10). Yet, in the end, he calls it all meaningless, an empty vapor or breath. What a lesson about what's important in life and what isn't.
|Take stock of your life. How much of what you are doing could be deemed as hebel? What things are you striving for? What things do you think are important? If you get what you are striving for, might you one day deem them as hebel, as well?
|January 9
The Sun Also Rises
Solomon, in his earlier years, was apparently a keen student of nature, and from nature he learned many spiritual lessons (see, for instance, Prov. 1:17-19; 6:6-9; 17:12; 26:1-3, 11; 31:10). In his later years, as well, he was still looking at nature; given his frame of mind, however, we can't be too certain about the lessons he draws from what he sees.
Read Ecclesiastes 1:4-11. What point was Solomon making? How accurate were his conclusions?
Solomon was doing what's often termed "natural theology," the attempt to discern truth about God, reality, and life from nature itself Which is fine. Nature has been deemed God's "second book" (see, for instance, Ps. 19:1-7, Isa. 40:26, and Heb. 11:3).
How does nature speak to us about God? What are the limits of what it can teach us, especially in a fallen world?
However powerful the message of this second book, you can put the most brilliant and wonderful text before someone who can't read, and it will mean nothing to that person. Or, regardless of what you put before them, if they are not open to what it says, if their hearts are set in another direction, then not only will they not accept what the text or what nature says but they could draw the wrong conclusions from them. Solomon here, grousing over his life, looks at nature and draws a conclusion that's not necessarily the lesson to be learned. He's pouring his own negativity and his cynicism into nature itself.
It's easy to do. One eighteenth-century writer argued that, because naturethrough famines, pestilence, and floodsis so destructive, "man follows nature's impulses when he indulges in homicide." In other words, because nature kills, so can we. Talk about drawing a wrong conclusion! But again, this shows how easy it is to read our bad attitudes into what's around us.
|How capable are you at looking at things "objectively"? How often do you let your bad moods or negative attitudes impact your actions and words? Why is death to self so important in order to protect ourselves from projecting our wrong attitudes onto other things?
|January 10
Beyond the Cycles
Solomon looked around at nature and saw endless and seemingly meaningless repetition. The sun rises and sets, the wind blows, the rivers flow, and it goes on and on for generation after generation. What was, it will be done again; what will be, it already has been. "There is nothing new under the sun" (Eccles. 1:9, NKJV).
His tone, however, suggests that something is wrong in all this and that things shouldn't be this way. His attitude comes through clearly in the first verses of the chapter.
Read again Ecclesiastes 1:1-4. What is Solomon saying in those opening verses about the transience of humanity in contrast to the endless cycles of nature?
The earth goes on and on; we don't. We are nothing but vapor, hebel These thoughts get to the ultimate dilemma of humanity: We are beings capable of understanding the idea of eternity, of transcendence, of something greater than ourselves, and yet, we see that it's beyond our reach. The sun, the rivers, the wind-all were here before us and will be here long after we return to the dust. We come and go; the rivers, the sun, and the wind remain. No wonder life can seem to be, as Shakespeare wrote, a tale "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
How do the following texts answer the dilemma that Solomon touched on here in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes? 1 Cor. 15:26, 51-55; Heb. 2:14; Rev. 21:4.
|There have been many great thinkers, many great philosophers, with all sorts of elaborate and logical systems, all designed to explain the hard questions of life. But unless they can solve the question of death, they have no answers for the questions of life, for, in the end, all life is swept up in death. And, as one can guess, none of these philosophers has answered the problem (most of them are dead themselves). Only Jesus, by His death and His resurrection, has. Jesus has shown us that death isn't the end and that we, indeed, can one day be alive long after the endless cycles of life on this fallen planet have ceased to exist or even be remembered (Isa. 65:17). If not for that hope, Solomon would be justified in his pessimism.
|January 11
Wisdom "Under the Sun"
Verses 12-18 in chapter 1 of Ecclesiastes give more insight into the background of the author. Not only does he reiterate his role as king, he mentions that he had more wisdom than all before him in Jerusalem, more evidence pointing to Solomon. This all makes sense, considering that the reign of Solomon was one of great peace and prosperity. The king, not worrying about invaders or rebellion or economic collapse, had time to seek for knowledge and wisdom "under the sun."
Not ice
the phrase used here, "under heaven"
13), is another way of expressing the same idea as the phrase
"under the sun"
3, 9, 14), which appears more than twenty times, and only in
Ecclesiastes. What does the phrase mean, and how does it help us understand
what Solomon is saying
Under heaven, under the sun, is another way of talking about what goes on here, on earth. What we see here is, again, another example of the futility of all earthly knowledge and wisdom. The world, and all that's in it, can't answer the hard questions of life; indeed, the world and all that's in it cause many of the hard questions of life. The answer has to be from something greater than the world, above the world, something that has "overcome the world" (John 16:33). And that, of course, is Jesus. Otherwise, as Solomon sees here, the world leaves one frustrated, angry, cynical. He gains all this wisdom, and for him it brings only grief and an increase of sorrow.
German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, sounding like Solomon, wrote, "Everything in life ['under the sun'] shows that earthly happiness is destined to be frustrated."
back over
1:12-18. What things in particular does Solomon find so frustrating and
vain? Also, how do the words here fit in with
Notice Ecclesiastes 1:15: "That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered." What bent or broken things in your life just can't be fixed now; what things do you lack that the world just can't supply? How do these things make you long even more for the return of Jesus?
|January 12
Further Study:
|Ludwig Wittgenstein once said: "The world of the happy man is a different
one from that of the unhappy man." Go to Proverbs to get another view of
Solomon in a different period of his life. What differences in attitude do
you see? How does this show why a proper relationship with God is so important
in how we view life as a whole?
"Solomon was not complaining of the ceaseless cycles of nature, but saw in them a parallel to the cycles of human life (Eccl. 1:4). Is man's life, from generation to generation, a mere matter of repetition, with no more sublime object in view? Will there not be a climax to the life of the human race? Does not God have an eternal purpose that will eventually supersede this seemingly endless repetition of human activity from generation to generation?
"The scientific accuracy of the description here given of the motion of air masses about the surface of the earth is unparalleled in ancient literature and reveals an insight into the laws of nature greatly superior to that of most men in ancient times."The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 3, p. 1064.
"In its human wisdom the world knows not God. Its wise men gather an imperfect knowledge of God through his created works, and then in their foolishness exalt nature and the laws of nature above nature's God. Nature is an open book which reveals God. All who are attracted to nature may behold in it the God that created them. But those who have not a knowledge of God, in their acceptance of the revelation God has made of Himself in Christ, will obtain only an imperfect knowledge of God in nature."Ellen G. White, Healthful Living, p. 293.
Discussion Questions:
| As a class, spend some time in nature together and then discuss
the following questions: What revelation of God do we get in nature? What
can nature tell us about God? What can't it tell us? What wrong lessons can
we draw from nature? What does all this tell us about the importance of
revelation for a fuller picture of God?
Why is it so easy to get cynical about life? Is a certain amount of cynicism valuable? After all, this is a fallen world destined to destruction. How do we strike the right balance so that, while cautious about the world, we don't sink into the extreme negativity seen in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes?
|I N S I D E Story
|The Priest Started It!
by HOMER TRECARTIN
We had a delightful visitor at church recently. Joe is a retiree from the United Kingdom who has lived in Cyprus for the past seven years. Earlier in the week he had called the Middle East Union to get directions to the nearest Adventist church. He seemed so excited to know finally where a church was.
Joe explained that he had been watching 3ABN for several months and wanted to visit the church. But he could not find a street address for a church. Armed with the church's address, he showed up for church.
Over lunch he shared more of his story. He has been a faithful member of his church for 66 years. But one Sunday last summer his priest announced that the following week mass would be on Saturday so he could leave for vacation.
"But Father," Joe objected, "we can't do that. The Bible says we are to keep God's Sabbath holy."
The priest smiled and said, "It's OK, Joe. It won't hurt at all. In fact, the Bible says that Saturday is the Sabbath, not Sunday."
Joe was stunned and upset. He bought a Bible-the first he had ever held-and started reading it. He searched the channels on his satellite TV for something that might help, and he found a program that was discussing the Sabbath! He listened intently and wrote down all the Bible texts they read. He found answers to other questions, such as what happens when a person dies.
He realized that his priest was right-Saturday is God's true Sabbath! But suddenly Joe did not know what to do. He decided to ask another priest, but every priest he talked to told him simply to stop reading the Bible, for it would just confuse him.
But Joe loved God and was learning so much from the Bible that he could not bear to stop reading it. So, he turned to the television programs that had brought him the truth.
Joe had just one question: "Why don't Adventists celebrate Communion? I've heard nothing about that on television."
I smiled. "We do celebrate Communion. Today is Communion Sabbath."
Joe rejoices in his new knowledge of God's love and enjoys the fellowship he has found with his new family, those who keep the Sabbath because the Bible says to and not because it will let someone start their vacation early.
HOMER TRECARTIN was secretary-treasurer of the Middle East Union of Seventh-day Adventists when he wrote this. He currently lives in Maryland.
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text:
Tagged: Steve Stone
Word from SoxFest…
As SoxFest is being celebrated this weekend at the Palmer House Hilton, bits of news are filtering out. Here are some of the things that caught my attention:
* Adam Dunn, who last year endured what was arguably the worst season ever for a major league position player, was in the house. A slimmed down Dunn (that's not him above, but you get my point) said that all the Sox need is for last season's two biggest disappointments–himself and Alex Rios–to rebound and that would prove to be, in essence, two major offseason moves. He also said he can't wait for opening day and is putting the past behind him.
* Don Cooper, who Steve Stone called one of the Top 5 pitching coaches in the game, said he sees three openings in the bullpen with Matt Thornton, Jesse Crain, Will Ohman and rookie Addison Reed as the staples going into spring training.
* Jeff Manto, who has replaced Greg Walker as the Pale Hose hitting coach, said (and I'm paraphrasing) he would be nuts not to look to new skipper Robin Ventura and coach Harold Baines for help in dealing with the hitters.
* Speaking of the new manager, Ventura kiddingly said that Cooper is now his BFF as he approaches his rookie year at the helm of the ballclub.
* Kenny Williams put his cards on the table: If the Sox hit, they'll contend. See Dunn, Rios and Gordon Beckham for details.
* Williams also said we should expect righthanded hurler Nestor Molina, acquired in the trade for Sergio Santos, to be in the majors as early as mid-season this year.
* Joe Crede got the biggest applause when members of the 2005 World Champs were announced. Among the others were Pablo Ozuna and Cliff Politte.
* Ventura said he wants Beckham to have as much confidence at the plate that he does at second base.
SoxFest runs through tomorrow…
Can the Sox Win a Series in Toronto?


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First Look at Mark Foster Gages Sinuous Facade Proposed for 141 Chrystie Street
By Ondel Hylton
December 8, 2015
Yesterday, 6sqft revealed Mark Foster Gage Architects (MFGA) captivating supertall proposal at 41 West 57th Street. But on the more modest end of the size spectrum, the firm has envisioned an elegant and dynamic 11-story residential building at 141 Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side. The project would rise from a narrow site between Delancey and Broome Streets, which currently holds a two-story building that, at one point or another, held the shuttered nightlife venues LES Sports Bar, Mystique, Chrystie 141, and Inga.
More info and images in the post here.


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I am setting up a server with the following specs:
* Qty 4 Processors (AMD Opterons with 12 cores each)
* 32 GB Memory
* Qty 8 HDD (15K SAS Dual Port)
* CentOS 5.5
* JBoss
* PostgreSQL
It is likely that at a later point I will separate the application from the database but for now they are going to be on the same machine. I have read that PostgreSQL performance benefits from:
* Separate OS partition
* Separate xlog partition
* Separate pgdata partition
Since my single RAID 10 volume seems to have a total of 559808 MB available, this is the current partition plan:
* 337856 MB for OS
* 102400 MB for pgdata
* 51200 MB for xlog
* 68352 MB for swap
Here are some questions:
* How does my partition plan look?
* When installing CentOS, when I get to the disk setup step I need to define mount points - what should I enter for the pgdata partition? (ex. ref this example setup mount points /pgdata1 )
* What should I enter as the mount point for the xlog partition?
* For filesystem type, avoidance of corruption is more important than perfect performance so the plan is to use 'noatime' but leave 'data=ordered' for the partition mount options - what do you think?
* Any other considerations?
Note: It is likely that the total size of all databases in the pgdata partition will not grow beyond 20 GB in the next few years.


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Ning, Planet Noori, Pod::WSDL, WeBreakStuff, Basecamp, goPlan
Ning and Planet Noori
As I had promissed, I've tried Ning again. The first time I did it was when they went beta.
second when they were finally open, but in none of those times they've convinced me. After the latest upgrade, I decided to give it a shot again. So, for testing purposes, I decided to do a simpl
e private application for me and some friends to use, and... I didn't quit, the app is done and we're actually using it! So, I decided to fiddle some more, and ended doing the third version of Planet Noori now better than ever and Web 2.0. Finally, this great idea is usable, which doesn't really mean that Ning is good (as a matter of fact it has
some really annoying stuff), but it is good enough, and since they're the only ones doing this, they're getting a great user base. For them, I just have to say that they have here the great oppor
tunity - just keep getting better before alternatives appear and you're good.
After swapping some e-mails with Tarek Ahmed, he kindly purposed me to be the maintainer of Pod::WSDL. I rejected his offer, but I'll be a m
ain contributor for it from now on, and I'm the one who's going to do the 0.4 version. That will probably be a bug-fixes only release, including fixing this bugs.
WeBreakStuff, Basecamp and goPlan
Finaly, WeBreakStuff redesigned their website, which is now using Radiant (which I've talked about previously). In their new site we can see that they're organizing Barcamp Portugal for this summer, and since I'm on vacations at that time I'll probably attend it. Finaly, they are going to open private beta for goPlan, you just have to add a comment there and say you're interested to test it... I've already test the thing, as I told previously, and I'm really looking forward to get into the private beta, as I'm going to surely be a user of it after it is
And that's the news for now...


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Critical analysis: History's guide to better performance
As we saw in the wake of the events in Mumbai, India last Thanksgiving (and other such events around the world) the pundits come out in force analyzing the attack, the response, and everything in between. Arguments ensue as to whether or not things went according to plan, provided there even was a plan.
In any operation, fate, luck, or what Carl Von Clausewitz called "fog" may (read: probably will) come into play. We try to anticipate what may or may not happen and plan for it in our operations. Waco and other operations "gone bad" appear on the surface to be easy to analyze, and in some aspects they are. Casualties, failure to overcome resistance quickly, slow or no communications, poor intelligence, etc., can be readily pointed to as causes having an effect.
One has to realize that doing a proper critical analysis in no way should be viewed as slanderous or detrimental to those involved. We are not attacking the individual's courage, motivation, or personal attributes. In our profession we are loath to say that one agency or group did anything wrong for fear of insulting that agency.
However, if we are to learn from past errors, and we all make them, then political correctness has to take a back seat to truth and knowledge. There is usually nothing pretty about these operations especially if they go bad and the critical analysis is usually not very pretty either. However, we must do it if we are to learn, prepare, and win.
Many times, others criticize our operations after we have expended tremendous time and resources. This is the way it will always be—we can't help being armchair quarterbacks. However, the most critical of all should be the persons involved in the operation. This is where the truth must come out. There is no room for hurt feelings. If small things are overlooked during the critical analysis phase of an operation, more than feelings may get hurt the next time.
In order to understand the basic premise for doing a proper critical analysis, one must understand that during the planning phase of any operation, the planners will only know half the equation! In other words, the plan is always built upon what is known, rather than what is not known. The other part of the plan is known only to our opponent.
This idea was put forth by Clausewitz in his great work, On War and is central to proper planning, leadership, and conducting a proper critical analysis. It is also applied throughout as the principle of the "Objective," the first Principle of War.
Let's see what Clausewitz had to say about critical analysis. In order to comprehend what a critical analysis entails, we must understand that there are three different intellectual activities present.
First is the discovery, and subsequent interpretation, of actual facts. This is referred to as historical research, and is not the same as theory.
Second, the tracing of effects back to the causes – the cause and effect. This is really known as critical analysis proper.
Third, the investigation and evaluation of the means employed. This last activity is criticism proper, and involves praise and negative comments. Here we draw the lessons to be learned.
In the last two activities—which are truly critical parts of the historical inquiry—it is vital to analyze everything down to its basic elements, down to the incontrovertible truth. This is not the time to look for a cure for the symptoms of the failure but instead to the root causes of the failure itself. You must go all the way.
At times the truth is blocked by some obstacle, rendering the true causes (in the cause and effect) continuum unknown. In situations such as war, the facts are seldom fully known, and the underlying motives for what has occurred even less so. In addition, knowable facts may be intentionally concealed. By design or by accident, facts may not be recorded at all. Serious problems arise when known facts are forcibly stretched to explain effects, which then give those facts false importance.
All any theory demands is that the investigation be vigorously carried out to a point where judgment has to be suspended.
The abovementioned problems notwithstanding, all critical research is faced with another, intrinsic difficulty: effects in any conflict seldom result from a singular cause—i.e. forces were outgunned, communications didn't work, etc. There are usually several concurrent causes for a failure.
It is therefore not enough to trace, however honestly and objectively, a sequence of events back to their origin each identifiable cause still has to be correctly assessed. This leads to a closer analysis of these causes, and in this way, critical investigation get us into the theory proper.
In Waco and other such incidents for example, the politics transmitted from Washington D.C. to the operation site was a fundamental flaw in the plan, as was the leadership of the agency's hierarchy. All the weapons and courage of those involved on the ground could not make up for these major deficiencies. Keep this fact in mind as a potential issue within your own jurisdictions.
In a proper critical analysis, the examination of the means poses the question as to what effect the means employed had, and whether the effects conformed to the intentions with which they were used. To do this, we must reach the point of incontrovertible truth, never opting for some arbitrary assumption. Analysis must be pressed until the core elements are reached. Critical analysis should never use the results of theory as laws and standards, but only as aids to judgment.
The conduct of a proper critical analysis is not very difficult if one isolates the matter from its setting and studies it only under those conditions. Many times we are apt to change that setting in little ways to bring about a desired result.
Critical analysis, therefore, is not just an evaluation of the means actually employed, but of all possible means yet to be formulated or invented. One should not condemn a method without being able to suggest a better alternative. We can not blindly follow a single line of thought ("we lost the element of surprise" or "communications broke down"). The question that must be asked is, "Was there any other way to solve this problem?"
There usually is.
In doing a proper critical analysis, if praise or shame is to be handed out, the critic must try to put themselves into the position of the commander. In other words, he must gather everything the commander knew and all motives that affected his decisions such as politics, leadership, intelligence, support, etc. and ignore all that he did not or could not know—especially the outcome.
In considering the outcome, unless it was the result of chance, it is almost impossible to prevent that knowledge from coloring one's judgment of the incident. We see these findings in light of the known results. This is not only true of the outcome, it is also true of the facts that were present from the beginning—factors that determined the action taken. The critic will as a rule have more information than the participants (read: hindsight). A more comprehensive view is necessary so that subjectivity is minimized.
When pointing out that a commander made mistakes, it does not mean that we would not have made the very same mistakes. It could also mean that we would have made even greater mistakes. What it does mean is that we recognize these mistakes from the pattern of events and feel that the commander's knowledge, training, and experience should have seen them as well.
However, if we let politics (and politicians) manage tactical operations, we can ultimately predict the outcome. This is judgment based on the situation of events and, therefore, also on their outcome. But, in addition, the outcome may have a completely different effect on our judgment when the outcome is simply used as proof that an action was either correct or incorrect. This is called judgment by results. Thus we can say that an operation was incorrectly planned because the results prove it. That is taking the easy way out.
In any conflict, all action is aimed at probable—rather than certain—success. General Eisenhower called it a "realm of hope." The degree of uncertainty must be left up to fate or chance, (remember you are missing half the equation). However, we would like to keep this as slight as possible. If the incident goes well, we take great satisfaction and it is viewed as positive historical example of an idea or strategy. This can also be taken for a failure—the view taken then is to use it as an historical event to avoid when we encounter future actions. There is inherent danger in this if the event is not given a proper critical analysis.
The lessons learned could be the wrong ones such as the outcome of Columbine which was for all its analysis, an anomaly in the annals of active shooting incidents.
Critical analysis is nothing but the thinking that should have preceded the incident. Therefore, we use the theoretical principles (nine principles of war) to determine the facts of the situation. These principles should not be used as a checklist or as rigid external rules. They should be applied as self-evident truths. While this cannot always be completely achieved, it must remain the aim of any critical analysis. We do not need a 500 page report to tell us what went wrong and the reasons it did.
The causes and effects of any incident will determine the options available for future operations, but only if we do a proper critical analysis. This must be done regardless of the political or social consequences. To know where you are going prior to getting there is the basis of successful incident planning.
As Clausewitz said, "We should not take the first step without knowing the last."
- Tags
- Police Training


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Measurements of the amount of gas and ash being emitted from the volcano and their effects on rainwater are extremely important. They provide extra insight into the eruptive behaviour and also give valuable information on the health risk that the volcanic emissions may pose.
Ash is collected from several sites around the volcano weekly during light ashfall or after major ashfall events. Usually ash falls to the west and north-west of the volcano as a result of the prevailing winds. In Plymouth, ash thicknesses of up to five centimetres have fallen during a single event and, between 1995 and 1999, a total of more than 30 centimetres accumulated (see contoured map to the right).
COSPEC (Correlation Spectrometer) and DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectrometer) measure sulphur dioxide in the volcanic plume. While the lava dome is erupting it gives a good indication of the rate of extrusion. On Montserrat rates of sulphur dioxide emission have been as high as 4000 tonnes per day, but more commonly have been under 1000 tonnes per day. The FTIR (Fourier Transform Infra Red spectrometer) measures proportions of different gases in the plume; changes in these proportions give clues to what is happening deep in the magma chamber. Diffusion tubes detect sulphur dioxide at ground level and provide an indication of likely human exposure.
Rainwater is collected at several sites around the volcano. The chemical composition of the water is highly dependent on the amount of gases being emitted from the volcano, and whether the site is underneath the volcano plume. Rain from two kilometres west of the volcano is very acidic with pH as low as 2. The ash is also acidic, and together with water can cause severe corrosion.