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DISCLOSURE: VT condemns the horrific tragedy committed by the NAZI Party against Jewish Citizens of Europe during Word War II known as the "Holocaust". VT condemns all racism, bigotry, hate speech, and violence. However, we are an open source uncensored journal and support the right of independent writers and commentors to express their voices; even if those voices are not mainstream as long as they do NOT openly call for violence. Please report any violations of comment policy to us immediately. Strong reader discretion is advised.
by Sir Vojislav Milosevic
Nikola Tesla was one of the greatest and most gifted men ever to have walked this Earth.
A huge amount has been written about the prodigal genius of Nikola Tesla and so there may not be a great need to say more here about his life, his brilliance, his vision, and his achievements.
But in brief, Tesla was an extraordinary, intuitive, creative genius who, among a great deal else, invented alternating current (which powers the the modern world) and radio (for which Marconi is often falsely given credit).
Contemporary biographers of Tesla have deemed him "the father of physics", "the man who invented the twentieth century", and "the patron saint of modern electricity".
Much of his life's work was about providing for the world free (i.e. zero-cost) energy, which Tesla envisaged would be broadcast wirelessly through the air or through the Earth itself with no need for powerlines – but despite years of trying, he never obtained the funding to achieve this, one of his dreams.
It has long since been rumored that he invented or developed a significant number of electrical and electronic devices which were decades ahead of their time and would have been of special interest to US military and intelligence circles. Around 300 patents were issued to Tesla in 25 countries, many of them major and far-reaching in concept.
The reality of Tesla's murder was brought home to us after listening to this Youtube presentation.
Eric Bermen tells Greg Syzmanski how he discovered his former girlfriend was the daughter of ex-Nazi SS Commando Otto Skorzeny, and thereby quite by chance met the elderly Skorzeny who had been living for years in the US, working as a carpenter with a new identity supplied by the CIA after WWII.
Bermen (who sometimes uses the pseudonym Eric Orion) heard a full confession from Skorzeny, who was nearing the end of his life, and was given a shoebox full of over a hundred photographs to substantiate his claims.
Among a number of other highly significant revelations, Bermen heard from Skorzeny that he had personally suffocated Nikola Tesla on January 6, 1943, assisted by fellow-Nazi Reinhard Gehlen. Tesla was then 86 years old.
According to Skorzeny, he and Gehlen had tricked Tesla the previous day into revealing the full details of his most important discoveries. After the murder, they stole the contents of Tesla's safe, which were delivered to Hitler. (Note, of course, that the US military would have fully repatriated this treasure trove of innovation through Project Paperclip at the end of the war.)
Otto Skorzeny was Hitler's bodyguard & also an assassin, one of the many Nazis who ex-filtrated to the USA after WWII, as part of Project Paperclip. Many of these Nazi scientists ended up working for NASA, the CIA, and other US secret services.
Although he supposedly died in 1975 in Spain, Skorzeny resurfaced in 1999. Otto Skorzeny described how ("contrary to the CIA-written history books") he helped Hitler escape to Austria in a plane flown by a female pilot, Hanna Reitsch.
"Hitler did not commit suicide," Skorzeny recounted. "His double was shot between the eyes, and the dental records proved he was not Hitler. The Americans kept it a secret, worried the truth might anger the Russians."
Despite conflicting literary and historical accounts, Nikola Tesla, a Serb, was born on July 10, 1856, in Smiljan, Lika Serbian province, Austro-Hungarian Empire of that time, or what is now modern-day Croatia. Prior to World War I, Smiljan was on the border of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The son of a Serbian Orthodox priest who rose to the rank of Archbishop, Tesla had the opportunity to study a variety of topics contained in his father's personal library. As a young boy, he accompanied his father on trips to Rome, where he was able to study the lesser-known works stored in the Vatican's vast scientific repository.
Upon completing his studies in engineering and physics at the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria, Tesla attended the University at Prague. He demonstrated, early on, an innate ability to solve mechanical and scientific problems, especially in the area of electricity and its applications in power production.
After working for Edison Telephone Company subsidiaries in Budapest, Paris, and other cities throughout Europe, Nikola Tesla went to America, to meet the man whose company gave him his first job, Thomas Edison.
Tesla found it difficult to work for Edison (due to Edison's reneging on financial promises), but soon found backers to finance his research and development projects and his new inventions.
Financiers, such as John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan, George Westinghouse and John Jacob Astor were among those who saw the potential in Tesla's pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit to capitalize on his technological discoveries in electricity, wireless communications, and physics.
The only official documentation of Nikola Tesla's arrival to the United States was, again, produced at the Port of New York. [9] On April 7, 1882 a 25-year old Tesla arrived via the SS Nordland, which departed from Antwerp. He had returned, on this trip to the U.S., after lecturing in Paris.
Tesla's destination: New York. Tesla immigrated as a "laborer," though this label hardly befit the man who would become the most prolific inventor in history, with some 700 technological patents to his credit. Previous accounts of Tesla's association with Thomas Edison's projects place him in the United States in the 1870s.
Tesla in Colorado Springs Lab
His many technological discoveries were certain to have drawn the attention of those hungry for world domination and superiority.
By and large, Tesla's inventions and his career were excluded from our history books because his inventions and patents were stolen and then weaponized.
It was never intended for us to learn about the suppression of Tesla's advanced scientific discoveries, nor about those who profited from their theft – the orchestrators of the master plan.
Though much has been written about Tesla's successes and failures, few have detailed the behind-the-scenes financial activities which disclose a Nazi plot to acquire his technology, while research and development costs had largely been paid (unknowingly) by U.S. taxpayers.
Many of Tesla's patents fell into Nazi hands prior to and during World Wars I and II. As a result, Tesla continuously found himself in litigation over patent rights and other issues.
Although he had succeeded in winning the majority of his patent lawsuits, his technology had been repeatedly stolen and sold to the German Nazis and other foreign governments, so he never achieved the financial success he deserved.
The embezzlement of his capitalization went unchecked throughout Tesla's career. At the time of his death (by murder, according to Skorzeny) on January 6, 1943, Tesla died virtually penniless.
On Good Friday, Ortodox Christmas Eve, he was found in bed, dressed in solemn black suit, arms folded on his chest. They say that a great mind felt his death is coming , he put on the solemn black suit – and then died. An incredible lie and mission impossible, even for a great mind as it was Nikola Tesla.
Tesla's Ashes are preserved in a Gilded Sphere – His Favorite Shape
This is the ultimate proof that he was murdered and his killers dressed him in a suit and left him in the bed! His killers: Otto Skorzeny and Reinhard Gehlen. Nikola Tesla's successes in discovering new technologies did not go unnoticed by many industrial capitalists and world governments.
In fact, many of his inventions were developed through secret government programs which began soon after his discoveries in alternating current (AC), electromagnetic energy, electric motors, generators, coils, radio transmission, energy-saving devices, and wireless transmission technologies.
Since Tesla was often buried deep in research at remote labs, many of his financial and legal affairs were supervised by his closest associate, George H. Scherff.
Scherff often advised Tesla about pending patent litigation, contracts, proposals, demonstrations, and financial affairs.
As any trusty associate would, Scherff stood beside Tesla through all the ups and downs of his financial nightmares, sometimes arranging for extended credit at the Waldorf-Astoria, where Tesla often resided, or by obtaining a cash advance toward research he had been contracted to perform.
Near the end of his career, Tesla was evicted from the Waldorf for an outstanding bill which exceeded $20,000 – a rather large sum for those days.
As Tesla worked on secret U.S. government projects at Colorado Springs, Colorado, Scherff communicated to Tesla the status of his business affairs. Tesla spoke of hopeful, future financial successes, though Scherff repeatedly delivered the news of dwindling funds. Tesla had begun construction of a wireless power transmission tower ("Wardenclyffe," Shoreham, Long Island) with funds invested by J.P. Morgan.
Tesla's Tower
When Morgan discovered that the tower would transmit free electricity and radio waves, he cancelled the project and had the tower dismantled, then sold for scrap. Morgan was not about to allow Americans to receive free electricity, television and radio.
Tesla was devastated when he received the news, but continued on with his new inventions. The Rockefeller Connection Records show that 17 Battery Place is the Whitehall Building and was owned by Frank Rockefeller, who, with his brothers William and John D., also owned many of the companies with offices located there.
The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) had its world headquarters there, as well as a variety of oil, mining, and chemical companies.
Though Union Sulphur Company was run by its president, Herman Frasch, a German chemist who patented extraction methods for sulphur and petroleum, Frasch also worked for John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company (in New York, New Jersey, and Cleveland, Ohio), developing similar extraction methods.
Frank Rockefeller was also an investor of Buckeye Steel Castings in Columbus, Ohio. Buckeye manufactured automatic couplers and chassis for railroad cars owned by the Harrimans, the Rockefellers, and J.P. Morgan.
Eventually, Samuel P. Bush was promoted from general manager to president of the company after producing gigantic profits.
Samuel P. Bush's association with the Rockefellers and his subsequent position as Director of the War Industries Board afforded him the opportunity to create contracts with Remington Arms during the war, courtesy of Percy Rockefeller. Nikola Tesla's trusted assistant (sometimes referred to as "accountant" or "secretary") George Scherff, Sr., worked at Union Sulphur Company.
Normally, this association would not set off alarms, considering the state of Tesla's affairs. Scherff had every right to earn a decent living in order to support his family. That was "the American Way." But a careful examination of Union Sulphur Co. might reveal that someone was being deceived – Tesla, and Scherff was at the root of this deception.
Who was George Scherff? Who was George Scherff? Better yet, who was George H. Scherff, Sr.? There exists no legitimate record of a George H. Scherff being born in the U.S. from the late-1800s through 1925, yet, George Scherff was Nikola Tesla's assistant/accountant.
Only one photograph in public circulation records the face of George Scherff, Sr. -at the Association of Radio Engineers banquet of 1915 (above). Tesla is seen standing tallest in the middle of the back row, while Scherff stands at the end of the same row to Tesla's left, his hands visible at his sides.
If he was born in Germany, could his birthplace shed some light on this mystery? Probably – if they exist (it has become apparent that individuals associated with the Nazi Party commonly have all or parts of their genealogical records expunged – we will explore this further in the section of this article dealing with the "Bush" family tree).
In short, Otto Skorzeny claimed that the true identity of George H.W. Bush was "George H. Scherff, Jr., the son of Nikola Tesla's illegal-immigrant, German-born accountant, George H. Scherff, Sr."
Worth a thousand words: But this was not the only bombshell Otto Skorzeny delivered that day in late-1999. Skorzeny, producing a shoe box full of 60-years worth of his personal photographs, showed them to Berman, describing each one in great detail.
The collection featured a photo of a young, majestic Skorzeny in full S.S. Nazi military dress, next to his Fьhrer, Adolph Hitler. Then there were photos of Reinhard Gehlen (S.S. spy and assassin) Dr. Joseph Mengele (the "Angel of Death") Martin Bormann (Hitler aide and S.S. assassin) .
Eric "Orion" (Berman), in a live radio interview on Republic Broadcasting Network, January 17, 2006, detailed how:
"Skorzeny died on December 31, 1999. His body was cremated, I have a copy of his death certificate, and I saw his ashes. After the war, he helped George Bush found the CIA through Operation Paperclip and ODESSA."
Berman recounted how Skorzeny was found "not guilty" at the Nuremburg trials, and then ushered into the CIA. "Some 50,000+ S.S. Nazi war criminals, not just rocket scientists, were brought to America after the war."
Skorzeny, about age 90 at the time, was described by Berman as "very focused and very lucid, and he was still very mobile. He was still able to walk around – he was still very impressive and he had about the biggest hands I have ever shaken. He was 6′-4″and was a giant for his day. He towered over me, and I'm 5′-8″."
When asked why he thought Skorzeny entrusted this information to him, Berman responded,
"I was dating one of his daughters. He knew that I'm Jewish, first of all, I'm an honest guy and he thought that I would really try to do something about this and bring some justice, yeah, to these wanted Nazi war criminals.
His whole goal was…. they had screwed him over, including George Bush, they screwed him over….. and out of large sums of money over the years. This was his one last way of… you know, getting even with them."
A biographical article about Nikola Tesla appeared in the Tesla Tech, Inc. magazine, "Extraordinary Technology," Volume 4, Number 3, Aug., Sept., Oct., 2006. The article, written by Dustin Wallace, spoke of Tesla's childhood, some of his inventions, and his last days. Wallace wrote (pp. 21-22),
"The Yugoslav Monarchy in Exile was summoned to visit Tesla in the fall of 1942. However, Charlotte Muzar, a secretary, paid Tesla the visit. From his condition upon her arrival she felt as though he may not live through the night. Another friend of Tesla's, Kenneth Swezey visited him during the time and noted that he was existing on warm milk and Nabisco crackers alone.
It was apparent that Tesla was nearing the end of his time. By late December of 1942, Tesla began meeting with two U.S. government agents in order to share some of his most sensitive discoveries. These men carried away many of his documents for microfilming."
"On January 4, 1943, Tesla's faithful assistant, George Scherff, visited Tesla for the last time, Tesla was found deceased in his hotel room on the morning of January 8. 1943. He had passed away between those four days since Scherff's visit."
The article continued, "Following Tesla's death the United States Office of Alien Property, under the instructions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, confiscated all of Tesla's papers and property. This was an interesting maneuver considering that Tesla was a United States citizen."
The significance of this benign description of Tesla's inventions and his last days has a direct relationship to the previously unknown claims of Otto Skorzeny. As Skorzeny described (to Berman) in detail his involvement with George H. W. Bush (George H. Scherff, Jr.) in organizing the CIA by absorbing Nazi S.S. agents," he intimated that it was Reinhard Gehlen and himself who murdered Nikola Tesla on January 6, 1943 by strangulation/suffocation.
Prior to the murder, Skorzeny and Gehlen "spoke in great detail to Tesla about his most-advanced technologies and then stole the blueprints of his best, most-secret inventions."
Were these the "two U.S. government agents" about whom Dustin Wallace wrote? The timing of George Scherff's last visit to Nikola Tesla was suspicious, as well.
Skorzeny did not stop with these soul-cleansing disclosures. He went on to describe the aliases of himself Frank Edward P_ _ _ _ _, of south Florida (according to Berman, who claims he is trying to protect Skorzeny's daughter), Reinhard Gehlen (Hank Janowicz, Wayne, N.J.), and Dr. Joseph Mengele (Steven Rabel).
According to Berman;
"Gehlen was tipped off by the FBI about Skorzeny's unveiling of his identity and location, and Gehlen (Janowicz) then went into hiding. Mengele (Rabel), through a series of anti-aging hormone injections, a black hairpiece, and 'cannibalism' has maintained a youthful appearance."
Having investigated some of Skorzeny's claims, Berman had contacted the U.S. Justice Department to inform them that Nazi spies were being harbored by certain factions of the U.S. intelligence agencies, in particular, the CIA. "My thoughts were that, uh, I needed to try to bring these wanted SS Nazi war criminal, holocaust killers – terrorists, basically – to justice.
I wanted to call our government and tell 'em, 'Hey, that they're still alive.' I wanted to bring 'em to justice. That was my whole intention. I initially had contacted, or tried to contact Eli Rosenbaum, who was the Director of the United States Justice Department, Office of Special Investigations.
Basically, they, uh, thought it was a hoax and they told me that I was mistaken, and that according to the CIA, 'all of them were all dead and I was mistaken.' That's what they told me. I was wrong."
Director of Center for Counter Terrorism and World Peace (Centra za Anti-Terorizam i Svetski Mir). Milosevic graduated at the Faculty for Political Sciences in Belgrade in 1980 with postgraduate studies in Islamic fundamentalism. He has worked with UNESCO and UNCTAD, a journalist, counselor at the Protocol of the Federal Parliament, speaker, politician, and book author.
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On Sale
MEJI Dress
The MEJI Dress creates a double-hourglass effect.
Inspired by Yurei, Japanese ghosts, the wide hoop-bottom skirt will give the appearance that you are gliding through air.
With the option of a translucent plunging neck-line or an opaque high-collared one, this sleeveless dress can be combined with the ARMA Harness to transform you into an unforgettable belle of the ball.
MEJI Dress is made from the best quality natural latex. Body Shaping Design
Collection: - REI -
COLOUR COMBINATION 1st PICTURE
Triangle Colour* - Translucent Cloud Grey
Zip Colour* - Blue
Body Colour* - Royal Blue
Wear it with:

subset: commoncrawl


text: A light festive collection comprising Cape sets, Maxis, Tunics and Kurta sets, Pret at Radical is very appealing. We take classics and add our own twist to it making it contemporary yet wearable. Floral and discharge prints are fabulous and Our bright colour palette is on trend, making these the perfect pick for your next destination wedding!


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The fine folks over at the Mothership have updated their bowl projections following the full slate of Week 4 action. With the MAC continuing to flounder heading into conference season, but five teams are projected to make it to bowls this year in the latest projections.
Obviously Northern Illinois is still the favorite to win the MAC and is projected to go to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. The other three projected teams come as no surprise with Toledo, Bowling Green, Ohio and Ball State are all projected to make bowls. Based off the projections it looks like Jason Kirk has BG winning the MAC East, but falling short in the MAC Championship game, with Ohio coming in at No. 3 in the conference and Toledo and Ball State coming in after that.
Interestingly Ball State is projected to square off with North Texas in the Beef o'Brady's Bowl in a rematch of their Week 3 game that saw the Mean Green come away with the win.
Here's the full slate of projected MAC bowl appearances (* marks MAC primary bowls):
|Jan. 5, 2014
|Bowling Green vs. Arkansas State
|Dec. 28, 2013
|Toledo vs. Houston
|Little Caesars Pizza*
|Dec. 26, 2013
|Northern Illinois vs.Western Kentucky
|Beef O'Brady's
|Dec. 23, 2013
|Ball State vs. North Texas
|Idaho Potato*
|Dec. 21, 2013
|Ohio vs. Troy


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The GEO-SEAS project : a European network for marine and ocean geological and geophysical data
Graham, Colin; Schaap, Dick. 2009 The GEO-SEAS project : a European network for marine and ocean geological and geophysical data. Baltica, 22 (1). 10.Before downloading, please read NORA policies.
Download (10kB)
The Geo–Seas project will create a network of 26 European marine geoscience data centres from seventeen coastal countries including six from the Baltic Sea area. Researchers will be able to locate and access pan-European, harmonised and federated marine geological and geophysical datasets and data products held by the data centres through the Geo–Seas data portal, using a common data catalogue. The new infrastructure will be promoted to research communities, and new data products and services will be developed following consultations on research requirements.
|Item Type:
|Publication - Article
|BGS Programmes 2009 > Marine Geoscience
|Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:
|Baltica is an open-access journal which provides a rostrum for original and peer-review papers of international interests on various Earth science issues. Articles can be downloaded from: http://www.geo.lt/geo/index.php?id=710
|NORA Subject Terms:
|Earth Sciences
|Date made live:
|07 Sep 2009 14:39 +0 (UTC)
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Saturday 3 February 2018
The Future of Necromunda Seminar
The Future of Necromunda is exciting - so much awesome stuff, and this is just the beginning!!
Let's start with the next "classic" houses:
Other new factions:
Upcoming models:
And future pets for the classic houses - love the rat and the cat <3!
Last but not least - future characters and upcoming game settings!
15 comments:
- Anonymous3 February 2018 at 14:46
Looks absolutely brilliant. I'm so tempted to dabble into Necromunda. Just so short of time and such a big backlog of unpainted models.ReplyDelete
Those guilds might tip the balance though.Replies
It's a great game. I would recommend grabbing it now. I do feel you will get the feeling that your gang is evolving as you go from book to book, buying beasts one book, brutes the next, then maybe bikes / accessories / ash waste vehicles / Sump Sea Pirate ships :)Delete
Starting sooner I would say the better.
Sweet, love this expanded direction and particularly love the reference to Squat in name rather than Abhuman, I know there is no chance for a Squat Army as designers have no interest in biker Dwarves in space but it's nice to see a nod in canon that they existed...ReplyDelete
Will the Goliath Overlord be plastic? Some really nice stuff coming outReplyDeleteReplies
Think those upgrades and the 3 hired guns we've seen will be up for pre-order same time as Gang War 2?ReplyDelete
Those Water guild sketchs look great!ReplyDelete
Is this FW releases or a mix of FW and specialist games??ReplyDeleteReplies
Hi Chris. FW and Specialist Games are one in the same. This was just a seminar on the direction of Necromunda.Delete
The future sure looks great for Necromunda, really good to see how much is in the pipeline. Concerned that this may impact on other systems, ie HH and Bloodbowl given only team to date to have received a booster pack is SkavenReplyDelete
Pets! I mean, yeah, the rest of it is cool, too, but those pets are the best!ReplyDeleteReplies
I agree. I really want those Phyrr cats are absolutely awesome!! Can't wait to paint them ultra colourful.Delete
Did the orlocks have an overseer boss?ReplyDeleteReplies
Not seen any artwork of him/her yet, but I do assume that they will all get some king pin character.Delete


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Besides the fact that it's fun, there are many others reasons to get kids cooking at an early age. Cooking with children is one of the most valuable family activities because it makes them feel part of something bigger. Trusting them with important family tasks makes kids more responsible, and as a result they will behave accordingly. Cooking will engage all of their senses, smelling, touching, seeing, hearing and of course, tasting. Studies show that sensory experiences stimulate brain development. Moreover, it is a great opportunity to teach them how to eat healthy and fight childhood obesity. Here are 5 reasons that will encourage you to get kids cooking:
1. Mathematical concepts
Involving your children in the process of preparing a meal will introduce them to mathematical concepts within a meaningful context. Early learning is very important, especially when it comes to abstract concepts. Getting kids cooking will teach them about numbers, temperatures, measurement (1/2 cup is bigger than ¼ cup) and geometry (what is a 10 x 8 pan).
2. Literacy
When your children cook, they realize that reading has tangible results that they can use in every activity. Moreover, it provides a natural way to learn new words, as you talk about the cooking process and the ingredients used. You child will discover the purpose of literacy – to provide information or instructions. Following the instructions of a recipe to prepare a meal is an important reading skill, because they get to see a finish result.
3. Food knowledge
Another reason to get kids cooking is that it provides a great opportunity to talk about the origins of food, nutrition and food production. They will learn that spaghetti sauce doesn't come from a jar and pizza from the restaurant. Many children believe that bread is a raw ingredient. Making bread with them at home can be quite a learning experience. Furthermore, being involved in food preparation can stimulate a child to be more adventurous and try many new foods.
4. Family
Food is an important part of a family's culture and has a role in every day life and in special celebrations that bring everybody together. Repeating these traditions gives children a sense of belonging that follows them into adulthood. Moreover, if you get kids cooking, you will create a regular time to talk. As they grow, the pressures of peers, school and life will start to overwhelm them. Maintaining a tradition of cooking will allow your child to talk to you in a natural way and feel safe in a familiar situation.
5. Long lasting memories
Keeping the little ones close when you work in the kitchen will create some wonderful memories that can last a lifetime. From sharing a home-cooked meal with loved ones, to the sense of accomplishment after completing a small task, cooking with your children is worth every minute.


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Macro definition
Just started using textastic and it really is a great app, with well thought out and beautifully implemented features. The one thing it is missing which makes it unsuitable for anything other than small projects or minor edits is the inability to define and then use macros by recording a sequence of keystrokes/searches/etc and then allowing these to be repeated by selecting the macro. Even the ability to define a single macro quickly in this way can help speed things up, and the ability to save a few can transform the editing experience.
While it is not the same, Textastic does support TextExpander touch. Did you have a look at this?
I'd like macro's to use for converting JavaScript to bookmarklets and back.
Customer support service by UserEcho


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Sept. 17th, 2010
Good things are happening pretty quickly now. The Yale talk went well yesterday; more on that soon (video update!). I was able to secure support from two more companies: The Vitamin Creek and the Tunstall Organization, Inc. You can read a little more about their involvement at the end of this post. We've also been published in another NYC area newspaper. It's a medium-sized publication called The Scarsdale Inquirer, and we were published in the "Glancing Askance" column. I met the author of the column, Marc Wollin, while eating pizza at my new friend Salvatore Naimo's diner, Cavallo's Pizzeria. The article is incredibly well written, and I think it captures the essence of our tour perfectly! Marc also posts his stories to his blog; I've pasted an excerpt here:
"… Szelkowski certainly could have taken a more traditional approach to starting a business. After all, even in recession ravaged Michigan, most people looking for work don't take off on skates for a year. Why this direction? He says it had its roots when he spent a semester in Germany. While he and his fellow students felt out of place and out of control, he finally figured out the way to cope was to give that control up and ride the wave. 'For just a period of time, instead of living life, I let life live me,' he recalls. 'It's not to say that I was passive. I just learned to laugh with the punches. I learned to let life be an interesting and unpredictable experience. I let life be an adventure. I've never lived more fully than I did during that three month span. Never.' …" Read the rest…
Now its on to Harvard, Wellesley College, and beyond! For now, here's the story about how I got involved with my new partners Sabir Semerkant and David Tunstall:
Sabir Semerkant, CEO of The Vitamin Creek, has gone out of his way to provide both financial support and suppport via connection for the Freedom Skate. We had the opportunity to interview Sabir and a group of entrepreneurs he meets with each week, The Idea Team, to discuss my journey. Sabir, along with the idea team, provided a lot of great insights into the connection between entrepreneurship and freedom. They also provided us with some great ideas to help make this journey a success.
David Tunstall, CEO of the Tunstall Organization, Inc., has provided both financial support for the Freedom Skate as well as key ideas and connections to help us move forward. The Tunstall Organization is an accounting, consulting, and tax preparation firm that works primarily with non-profits and small businesses. David is the founder of "The Idea Team," which brought us in for some documentary filming and idea sharing. I suspect that our meeting with The Idea Team will be one of the central grounding scenes of the documentary. It covers so much about the philosophy, psychology, and motivation of my journey.


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Do you like knitting Christmas decorations? Do you fancy giving stranded colour work (fair isle) and beads a try? Then you must try my beaded Christmas Baubles - Jule Kos (which means Christmas loveliness - 'kos' is a word that's difficult to describe, it means having a lovely, cozy, time... kind of).
This set of four Christmas baubles, which are inspired by traditional Norwegian patterns, were designed for my Christmas Baubles workshop which I taught at Sitting Knitting last Sunday and at Spin a Yarn tomorrow.
I knitted mine in Navia Duo but any 4ply yarn will work. You'll need max 10g of each colour. The pattern is 30% off until 24 December 2015 and includes all four baubles. No coupon code needed.
The baubles vary in difficulty. The one below is probably the easiest one as the colour work is very simple and only on every third row. You can also omit the stranded colour work on this one and only work stripes and beads.
The beads are added using the crochet hook method. If you're new to this technique check out my video tutorial (scroll down and click on Knitting With Beads).
In the spring I'll be releasing a set of Easter themed baubles and I'm teaching an Easter Baubles workshop at Artesano (in Reading) in March. So if you missed my Christmas Baubles classes and you would like a fun way to learn stranded colour work, knitting in the round on double pointed needles and/or magic loop (circular needles) as well as adding beads using the crochet hook method, do check out my Easter Baubles workshop.
If you're a shop and would like me to book an Easter Baubles or Christmas Baubles workshop in 2016, contact me asap as I'm very close to being fully booked for 2016.


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Dungeness Crab
(Metacarcinus magister)
Subsistence fishery
Subsistence harvest of Dungeness crabs by Alaska residents is permitted in some Alaska state waters. Bag limits and seasons are generally more liberal and gear requirements less restrictive than for personal use or sport fisheries and vary by area. Crabs may be harvested by hand, dip net, using hooked or hook less hand lines, or with pots, ring nets or dive gear. Subsistence fishery catch may be shared with all members of the community.
Commercial fishery
Major commercial fisheries for this species occur in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Southeast Alaska. The Alaska Fishery and Fur Seal Industries publication made the first historical reference to the Alaska Dungeness crab fishery in 1916. This crab was first commercially canned at Seldovia in 1920. Today, Dungeness crab is processed by shore based processors, catcher processors, and floating processors. Crab product type varies; where processors are well-established and air service unreliable, crab are generally sold whole or in sections as a fresh or frozen product. However, where air service is reliable and processing capacity less so, crab are often shipped live to specialty markets where they can fetch a premium price.
Dungeness crab are caught by commercial fishers using circular pots typically baited with herring, squid, or clams. Pots are usually about 40 inches in diameter and 14 inches high. They are constructed of 3/4-inch round, steel frames wrapped in rubber tubing then covered with stainless steel wire mesh woven in 2-inch squares. Two 4-3/8" diameter escape rings are required to be built in each pot to keep the pot from filling with undersize crab.
The number of pots that can be set by a vessel and the fishing season varies by management area in Alaska.
Personal use fishery
Residents of Alaska may harvest Dungeness crab for personal use. This fishery is often incidental to recreational boat outings. Crab pots similar to those used in the commercial fishery, ring nets, diving gear, dip nets, and hooked or hookless handlines can all be used to harvest crab for personal use. Dungeness crab are sometimes stranded by minus tides and can be picked up by an observant beachcomber. Be forewarned, the mighty pincers of this crab can move quickly and catch you unaware!
Personal use anglers fish at depths between 3 and 20 fathoms where more legal sized male crab can be found. They usually bait their pots with fresh fish carcasses, the most convenient bait. The number of crab that can be kept varies, depending on the area fished. To take more than you can use is a waste and a shame, because the Dungeness crab is one of the great fringe benefits of living in coastal Alaska.
Dungeness crab are usually boiled for approximately 20 minutes. As a cautionary note, paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) has been found in the internal organs of Dungeness crab, therefore, butcher the crab before cooking and do not eat the internal organs including the "crab butter" (hepatopancreas). Where or when the toxin is found is unpredictable, but high levels have been found in Dungeness crab throughout Alaska. Take this one precaution and continue to enjoy one of Alaska's tastiest seafoods!


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2019 Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 And Interceptor 650 Review - First Ride
One platform; two personalities
Ever since my interview last December with Rod Copes, President of Royal Enfield North America, I've been looking forward to experiencing the new 650 Twin the company developed for the Continental GT 650 and the Interceptor 650. The common engine and chassis underlying these two models represent just one of "several" platforms slated to be released by RE in the next 3-5 years, according to Copes. Additionally, Copes claims that these platforms will all be aimed at the 400-700cc category because Royal Enfield wants to be the global leader in the middle-weight segment, which he thinks is underutilized as most manufacturers have been exploiting the heavy-weight market with its wider profit margins. Since I am a fan of both middle-weights and parallel Twins, these were heady statements to receive.
2019 Royal Enfield Continental GT 650
|Overall Score
Interview: Rod Copes, President Of Royal Enfield North America
With those thoughts in mind, I arrived in Santa Cruz, California where Royal Enfield had gathered over 100 members of the international moto-press for two days of riding the Continental GT 650 and Interceptor 650. Would the 650 Twin be enough to propel Royal Enfield out of the niche it's occupied in the U.S. with its funky small displacement Singles? The Himalayan has certainly turned heads in recent months and has proved popular with the MO staff. I could hardly wait to get in the saddles.
The 650 Twin
While Royal Enfield's 650 Twin May look dated, it's a decidedly modern unit – even with the air/oil-cooling. Every facet of the engine's character was considered during the development. For example, three mule engines were built early on so that the type of crankshaft could be considered. Development riders and RE officials were able to ride bikes with a 180-, 270-, and 360-degree cranks back-to-back to directly judge which achieved the proper character and sound they desired. In the end, a 270-degree crankshaft was settled upon.
A pair of pistons with a 78mm x 67.8mm bore and stroke brings the actual displacement to 648cc and breathes through a four-valve head. Each of the rocker arms in the SOHC head features a rolling follower to relay the valve timing to two valves via a pair of fingers. Adjustment is via screw and locknut for easy maintenance. Inside the cylinders, the compression ratio is kept to a relatively tame 9.5:1. Finally, the twin pistons have their inherent vibrations quelled by a gear-driven counter-balancer.
Although the counterbalanced 411cc Single in the Himalayan should have prepared me for the first time I eased out the 650's clutch and pulled into traffic, I was still shocked at how smooth the new engine was. It's hard to shake the impression left by the older 535 Singles. Nevertheless, the 650 is quite smooth. In fact, vibrations don't make their way into the pegs until the tachometer hits 5,500 rpm or the grips at about 6,200 rpm. The vibrations never become objectionable even when he engine is about to tap its 7,500 rpm redline. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Negotiating what passes for traffic in Santa Cruz, the RE's engine purred along, giving a delightful burble from its dual exhausts. The engine's torque even allowed me to pull along at about 1,500 rpm without downshifting when I felt lazy in the slow-moving traffic. Between 2,000 and 2,500 rpm, 80% of the engines claimed 38.4 lb-ft of torque are available. The slip assist clutch is remarkably easy to modulate, and I appreciate the non-adjustable lever's ease of use. For example, at one point during the second day's ride, we got stuck behind a truck painting lines on a narrow two-lane road. For almost 15 minutes, we crept along in first gear at approximately 5 mph, working the friction zone the entire time. The slip assist clutch saved the day! Commuters will thank Royal Enfield for including it.
When it came time to shift gears, the cogs change smoothly, though maybe not as buttery as the best Japanese models. However, I never missed a shift, even when banging clutchless upshifts.
The fuel metering from the dual throttle bodies is spot on. No matter the rpm or whether the engine is accelerating or decelerating, the throttle transitions are silky-smooth. I can't emphasize what a pleasure this engine is to sweep up and down through the rpm range. As the speed increases and the wind noise begins to drown out the exhaust note, a cool mechanical whine from the engine's primary begins to fill the rider's ears. Sweet. This is one fun engine.
Yes, the 650 Twin only makes a claimed 47 hp, so larger engines could rip its lungs out. However, that's not the point of this Twin. Like the larger-displaced Ducati Scrambler, the Royal Enfield's Twin is about elemental motorcycling or just plain fun. You can burble along enjoying the view and unintimidating power, or you can crouch down and wring the rpms out, enjoying the pleasures of riding a slow bike fast.
The chassis
A steel backbone frame with dual cradles support the engine. The rake is a reasonably sporty 24°. Up front, a 41 mm, non-adjustable traditional fork negates the bumps while, out back, dual, preload adjustable, coil-over reservoir shocks control the rear wheel. Wheel travel is 4.5 inches and 3.5 inches front and rear, respectively. The wheels themselves are 18-inch spoked items with bespoke tubed Pirelli Phantom Sportscomp RS tires.
2019 Royal Enfield Interceptor 650
|Overall Score
On the road at moderate speeds, the suspenders are in their happy place, gobbling up road irregularities. As the pace increases, however, their ability to cope with bumps gets tested. Overall, the suspenders are able to handle the initial impact quite well. It's the rebound that poses the problem.
The Royal Enfield's boingy ride is clearly contributed to by the lack of rebound in the fork. I'm less clear about what is going on in the rear. In a late night discussion with another journalist that had us outside the hotel bouncing an Interceptor on its suspension, he attempted to convince me that the back end was actually packing (i. e. not extending quickly enough from bump to bump, resulting in less available suspension travel). While the suspension forces we were able to generate by hand did have the back of the bike uncompressing much slower than the front, the sensations I've gotten from the seat told me that, after high-speed compression, the back rebounds too quickly. Clearly, I need to get some more seat time on this bike to be sure. However, I feel that the fact that I'm having this internal debate at all points to how well the suspension on the Royal Enfield Twins works for bikes in this price range.
With 18-inch wheels front and rear, I was prepared for potentially staid steering dynamics. I was wrong. The leverage provided by the Interceptor's wide bar and the GT's clip-ons allowed me to bend the bikes into a series of tight corners with surprising alacrity. While not the snap of a hyper-sports bike, it still provides the sure-footedness of a sporty standard. Our route ran the gamut from high-speed sweepers to tight-n-twisty first- and second-gear corners, so I was able to test the bikes in a good variety of conditions. (I hear we passed some amazing scenery out in the rolling hills and through the maze of redwoods, but I was too enthralled with the ride to notice.)
Aside from the excessive rebound I've already discussed, the only handling issue I noticed is an occasional tendency to wobble at high speeds. On both the Interceptor and the GT, this wobble briefly appears in the space between peak braking force and the turn in point of a corner. Once the bikes are banked over in the corner it tracks true. Additionally, on the Interceptor, I also experienced the wobble under acceleration when cresting a hill a high speed, lightening the front wheel. I believe the Interceptor's more upright riding position puts slightly less weight on he front wheel, making it more prone to the wobble. Regardless, the wobble occurs at times when the front suspension is uncompressing, so I think the symptom is related to the excessive fork rebound. While both bikes never do anything wrong, the wobble is unsettling the first few times it happens. I think it is just the bikes' way of letting me know I was exceeding their happy place.
I want to compliment Royal Enfield on its selection of the testing routes for the Interceptor and the Continental GT. Where some manufacturers might select roads with only the smoothest pavement in order to mask any shortcomings of their motorcycle, my two days of riding covered the full gamut of surfaces from billiard table smooth to bumpy tight corners and everything in between. Clearly, Royal Enfield was confident in their 650 Twins' capabilities.
Interceptor 650
While the chassis is exactly the same for the Twins, some particulars make the Interceptor unique. First, the handlebar places the rider in a comfortable upright position. The pegs assist in this by placing the rider's toes adjacent to the rear of the engine for an extremely comfortable rider triangle. Royal Enfield has given the bikes a retro styling that consistently plays across the motorcycle. The flat, couch-like seat offers plenty of room for two and looks like it would have been at home during the era of the Universal Japanese Motorcycle – and that's exactly what inspired Royal Enfield.
The era that the Interceptor's designers were inspired by comes from the years 1960-1970 in which the California youth lifestyle-inspired Interceptor 700 was manufactured. Although clearly a modernized vision of the 700, the Interceptor 650 feels true to its inspiration. When looking at the Interceptor 650, the resemblance is clear from the headlight to the chrome wheels to the fork gaiters to the seat shape and the dual shocks. Royal Enfield has created the right combination of modern and retro.
Continental GT 650
The difference between the riding position on the Interceptor and the Continental GT is pronounced but not radical. While the rider's body is canted forward, the reach to the clip-ons is not uncomfortable. The angle actually helps the rider combat the wind blast of highway-speed riding. With the upper body inclined forward, the feet naturally move rearward, and to compensate for this, the pegs were relocated approximately 1.5 inches back.
If you look closely at the photo above, there are only two other changes between the two models to note. First, the gas tank is not the teardrop of the Interceptor but rather it is narrower with a higher back for a more cafe racer shape. This does come at a 0.3 gallon cost, making the GT's capacity 3.3 gallons. The other change is the seat, which is shorter, flatter, thinner, and has a sporty hump. This, too, has a slight cost. In this case, the seat is firmer and its edges cut into my thighs as the miles racked up. Still, this is only a minor quibble that hasn't kept me from requesting the Continental GT to use in a shootout.
The verdict
I'll say again that I was surprised by the quality of the engine powering the Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT 650. Nothing, not even the Himalayan, had prepared me for the smoothness in terms of both vibration and EFI that I encountered during my two days of riding. Royal Enfield took aim at a hole in what it perceived that the major motorcycle manufacturers were offering to the worldwide markets and decided to deliver a product that could be sold unaltered in every market. What this means is that the same motorcycle is both EPA and Euro-5 compliant, as well as legal in many other countries, which lessens the cost of manufacturing and distribution.
The other goal for the 650 Twins was to price them competitively. Last year, Copes told me that they hoped to get them in for under $7,000. I don't think that even the most optimistic of us could've anticipated that the base price for the Continental GT would be a mere $5,999 or that the Interceptor 650 would be priced even lower at a $5,799 base price. In addition to the low price, RE is offering a three year warranty on the 650 Twins, complete with roadside assistance.
Join other Royal Enfield fans at the Royal Enfield Forum!
And that's not all. Minutes after announcing the U.S. Interceptor and Continental GT pricing in a worldwide livestream, Copes sat down with the North American journalists and stated that in the next 3-5 years, Royal Enfield would be introducing 2-3 new middleweight platforms (engine and chassis pairings) that would result in a total of 12 new motorcycles from the company – all ranging in price from $4,000-$8,000. Based on what we've seen in recent years from the company, I believe it. Royal Enfield has gone from producing 50,000 motorcycles in 2010 to an anticipated 950,000 in 2018. The company clearly wants to play an increasing role on the global motorcycle stage, growing its presence in the more mature markets, like the U.S. where it is actively expanding its dealer network. If the Continental GT and the Interceptor are examples of what is to come, we can't wait to see what is next.
2019 Royal Enfield Continental GT 650
+ Highs
- Smooth engine with broad power spread
- Cafe riding position increases sporty feel
- A lot of motorcycle for the price
– Sighs
- Suspension defines the limits of backroads shenanigans
- Slight front end wobble on corner entry
- Hard-edged touring saddle
2019 Royal Enfield Interceptor 650
+ Highs
- Smooth engine with broad power spread
- Upright body position for relaxed riding
- Surprising fit and finish for the price
– Sighs
- Excessive rebound from suspension
- Slightly more frequent front end wobble
- Brakes could be stronger
In Gear
Helmet: Bell SRT-M $350
- Jacket: Alpinestars Oscar Charlie Tech-Air Compatible $650
- Airbag: Tech-Air Race Airbag System $1,150
- Pants: Alpinestars Riffs $300
- Boots: Rev'It Regent H2O Boots $350
Gloves: Reax Castor Sport Leather Gloves $89
|Royal Enfield
Continental GT 650
Interceptor 650
|$5,999, $6,249 (Custom), $6,749 (Chrome)
|$5,799, $5,999 (Custom), $6,499 (Chrome)
|Engine Type
|4 stroke, air-oil cooled, 648cc parallel twin
|Bore and Stroke
|78mm x 67.8mm
|Fuel System
|Compression Ratio
|Valve Train
|SOHC, 4 valves per cylinder
|Final Drive
|Front Suspension
|41mm fork, 4.5-in travel
|Rear Suspension
|Twin, coil-over shocks, 3.5-in travel
|Front Brake
|320mm disc; 2-piston, single action-caliper; ABS
|Rear Brake
|240mm disc, single-action caliper, ABS
|Front Tire
|Rear Tire
|55.1 in.
|Seat Height
|31.1 in.
|31.6 in.
|Curb Weight
|435 lb (claimed, dry)
|444 lb (claimed, dry)
|Fuel Capacity
|3.3 gal.
|3.6 gal.
|Available Colors
|Black Magic, Ventura Blue, Mister Clean, Dr. Mayem, Ice Queen
|Mark III, Glitter & Dust, Orange Crush, Ravishing Red, Silver Spectre, Baker Express
Editor-in-Chief Motorcycle.com
More by Evans Brasfield
Join the conversation
Joe Gresh on Mar 30, 2019
I've just spent 7 days riding the Interceptor down in Baja. While I can't speak to long term reliability I can tell you the apperance of the 650 reeks of quality. It really looks well made. Nothing on it is crude or sloppy.
The thing runs great. It's a free revving engine that doesn't sound like a 270 crank. More like a 180. The 650 is light on its feet and steers like buttah. Top speed was 115 indicated sitting upright. This bike is nothing like a plodding Bullet.
I'd buy one of I had money laying about.
- See 2 previous
Evans Brasfield on Mar 30, 2019
Thanks for the report, Joe!


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Knowledge Transfer and Exchange in Work and Health Research
MetadataShow full item record
Knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) is the practice of preparing and disseminating research to those who can use it. The burden of workplace injury and illness can be great affecting workers, workplaces, the medical system, insurance systems and society as a whole. Occupational health and safety is an important aspect of prevention of workplace injury and illness. However prevention activities are varied and may not be based on the best available evidence, being therefore less effective than possible. The overall aim of the thesis is to examine and evaluate KTE activities and the conceptual basis for KTE in work and heath research. Specific objectives include i) providing an overview of the KTE approaches from the literature which target workplace audiences; ii) disseminating and documenting the uptake and use of an evidence-based tool (PE guide) across British Columbia; iii) document and describe the dissemination activities and the KTE experiences of research staff within work and health research organizations; and iv) examine the conceptual basis of the work and health KTE activities. This thesis consists of four manuscripts that describe three studies: a narrative review of the literature summarizing KTE approaches in work and health research, a study exploring the dissemination and use of an evidence-based guide, and a survey study evaluating the KTE activities of work and health researchers. Though different methodologies were employed the three studies used an organizing conceptual framework by Lavis et al. (2003) comprised of five questions: (1) What (information disseminated), (2) To Whom (target audience, and context), (3) By Whom (messengers), (4) How (KTE approach), (5) What effect (outcomes, impact). The review findings suggest a variety of KTE approaches to transfer work and health research knowledge to workplaces. The KTE approaches address various target audiences and workplace contexts related to health and safety and tended to be guided by conceptual frameworks. The evaluation of KTE approaches is challenging and future research should be designed to allow for more rigorous evaluation. The study describing the dissemination and use of an evidence-based tool reveals that respondents felt the greatest barrier to using the tool was a lack of time. However those that did use the guide reported using it for training purposes, sharing it, and integrating the tool into existing programs. In addition, new actions related to tool use included training, defining team responsibilities and suggesting program implementation steps. The dissemination study suggests that when evidence-based tools were used they helped work and health audiences overcome some challenges involved in using evidence in implementing injury reduction programs. The study provided a better understanding about the uptake and use of this type of tool. Work and health researchers reported that KTE activities were important and they felt confident about interactions with knowledge users. Respondents reported engaging in various KTE activities that extended beyond the typical academic approaches of 'publish and present'. However they reported that processes supporting KTE as well as the promotion and evaluation of research use could be improved. The KTE activities of work and health research staff address the categories of two popular KTE conceptual frameworks. However, only one-third of respondents reported using guidance from conceptual frameworks in practice. Future research should examine whether KTE activities based on conceptual frameworks have greater impact than those that are not so guided. Taken together the chapters provide a comprehensive picture of KTE in work and health research. The findings reveal important common elements of KTE from the literature as well as work and health research staff. The findings also provide some evidence that disseminating an evidence-based tool has impacts on practice. However work and health research staff KTE activities still focus on traditional academic avenues and often lack guidance form conceptual frameworks. Future research is necessary to further evaluate KTE practice in work and health.
Cite this version of the work
Dwayne Van Eerd (2016). Knowledge Transfer and Exchange in Work and Health Research. UWSpace. http://hdl.handle.net/10012/10946
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For severe mental health cases, a team approach
On a recent morning, members of the Ramsey Assertive Community Treatment team pull up to a table to discuss some of their 95 clients.
"She hasn't been hearing the voices," one the team members says of a woman under its care. "Listening to music helps with the voices because when she repeats the lyrics it helps distract the voices. She looks really good."
Meetings like this one offer hope for the approximately 2,000 severely mentally ill people in Minnesota who are living at home. It could help allow some people with severe mental illness to disprove the stigma that surround their diagnoses: that they cannot regain that ability to lead normal lives or that they will someday have to be committed to a hospital or treatment facility.
• Related: Minnesota's Mental State
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The Ramsey County team's 13 members, who include psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, vocational specialists and chemical health specialists, want to ensure that no significant detail in a client's treatment is missed.
More than 220,000 people received mental health services from the state of Minnesota in 2010, according to the latest data available. The team approach, reserved for clients with the most severe mental illnesses who are able to live at home, has proven so successful that state officials are evaluating how a modified ACT team approach could help clients in prisons, and people in remote areas of the state.
"We're essentially a hospital on wheels," says Bria Grudzielanek, Ramsey County team leader. "We're able to go out into the community and see people, so we do provide the most intensive level of service next to hospitalization."
The ACT team's hourlong meeting offers a chance for mental health and other professionals to provide their colleagues with an update on every client they've visited in the past 24 hours. They work with people who have been diagnosed with long-running mental illnesses, among them schizophrenia, depression, personality disorders and bipolar disorder.
Some clients hear voices, who think their neighbors are plotting against them or who are afraid to go out in public. Some are thinking about suicide.
All of the team's clients have been in treatment through other programs, but they've been referred to the ACT team because they need more intense supervision to make those treatments stick.
Grudzielanek's team discusses clients every day. That's what makes its members effective, she says. But more important, she says, is how the team works with each of its clients to develop a "client-centered" treatment plan.
"We're not here to tell you what to do," she said. "We're really here to help you and support you and you get to define what that support is going to look like for you."
Practically, that means clients can live in the community -- whether independently or in assisted-living situation -- and determine their own goals. It may sound simple to some, but symptoms like paranoia or extreme anxiety -- and circumstances such as homelessness and chemical dependency -- can interfere with a client's progress.
Once a client identifies a goal, the team assists in any way possible so the person can achieve it. For example, a client who is afraid to go out in public might set a goal of going to a Twins baseball game, something many would take for granted. That means the team will help the person learn to do things like getting to the ballpark.
"What we're going to be doing is practicing riding the bus so he can get used to the bus route there and know how to get there, practice using some de-escalation techniques, things to help reduce the anxiety so he can enjoy the game when he's there," Grudzielanek says. "And we're also working with him on walking, because he wants to build up his stamina so to be able to walk around the stadium when he's there."
The need for clients to exercise comes up a lot in the team meetings. Studies have shown a connection between physical health and mental health, so ACT team members make it a point to encourage clients to exercise when that fits into their goals. It's all a part of getting clients to "own" their health -- to avoid the crises that can arise when symptoms get bad.
"We definitely are here to respond to crises when they happen, because they do happen," Grudzielanek says. "We're working with people who have really severe illnesses. But our goal is to prevent those crises. So helping people recognize possible triggers or stressors and being able to deal with those before they get to a crises situation."
There are 26 assertive community treatment teams in Minnesota, spread almost evenly between the Twin Cities metro area and the rest of the state. Those services cost about $12,000 per client per year -- a tab largely paid through medical assistance or insurance. For clients who don't qualify, counties will pick up the cost.
ACT teams started in the 1970s, sparked by a movement to move patients from institutions. From the start, members of such teams have aimed to treat people with what are considered severe, long-term mental illnesses in their communities.
The goal from a treatment perspective is to keep patients out of the hospital. Given that the cost of keeping a patient in the hospital is thousands of dollars a day, Grudzielanek said it's a good deal.
"We are intensive; we are available 24-7," she says. "So we always have someone on call, we work weekends, we work holidays. But it is still better to have this than someone go in the hospital and get 24-hour care and pay for that. "
After the team's daily meeting wraps up, the real work begins -- work that inevitably involves a lot of driving.
"In a year I probably put [in] 40,000 miles or more," team member Yer Lee says with a laugh. "I stopped counting."
Lee, a social worker and vocational specialist, is often out of the office, meeting with employers who are willing to consider hiring ACT team clients, and helping clients find work.
On a recent appointment, he met with Kris O'Leary, a client who has a strong desire to work. They've met each week for about an hour or so to work on job applications, online job searches and interviewing skills. Lee also helps his client make phone calls and arrange follow-up conversations with potential employers.
O'Leary was diagnosed 12 years ago with paranoid schizophrenia after experiencing auditory hallucinations. He believed he was possessed, that his house was haunted. That confusion and fear led him to crisis. He was committed and spent time in a state hospital and group home before beginning with the Ramsey ACT team in 2009.
Working with the team, O'Leary said, brought some stability to his life.
"They showed me the correct path and how to handle my mental illness better with medication," he said. "I've been on a couple bad medications -- one gave me fainting spells and the other one made it so I couldn't sit still. ... It's been going okay. I haven't had an episode of paranoia in awhile."
Now 37, O'Leary is doing well on his medication. He manages a bank account, works out at a gym, and -- with help from a housing assistance program similar to Section 8 -- he's been renting a small spare apartment on St. Paul's East Side. It has the hallmarks of a bachelor pad: ashtrays, skulls for decoration and rock posters on the wall. On a recent visit, he wore a T-shirt with the band AC/DC's logo on the front.
Despite a consistent work history before his diagnosis and numerous job applications, O'Leary hasn't been able to get past the interview stage over the past few months. With that in mind, he and Lee have decided to try some practice interviews. Lee plays the role of a hiring manager at Subway.
After they wrap up, Lee asks O'Leary how he thinks he can improve.
"Just be more confident when I go in there with my answers, not waste all this time thinking about an answer," O'Leary says. "Just boom, boom, boom."
"How do you think you can change your confidence, though?" Lee asks.
"Getting a job," O'Leary replies with a laugh.
"Like with the interview itself? Because you said you don't have a lot of confidence in the interview," Lee says.
"Expect the questions."
When O'Leary finally lands a job, he will give Lee the green light to check in with his employer about how he's doing. It's that ongoing connection that he feels increases his odds of getting where he wants to be.
"Now I'm at a place where I'm living by myself, and the only person I really have to rely on is myself," he said. "The ACT team members, they show up every once in awhile: once a week, twice a week. But pretty much it's me on my own, fending for myself."
"I'd like to get a job, save up for a car, and take myself to school, college," he said. "I'd like to move on from this part of my life. Not really forget about it, just learn from it. Look back on it, say, 'I was there, that happened to me, and I dealt with it.' Progression, you know? Progress."
Grudzielanek, the ACT team leader, agrees with O'Leary that "progress" is the point.
"Ultimately we want to work ourselves out of a job where people do not need us anymore," she said. "So a lot of what we're doing is teaching skills to people, helping them learn to manage their symptoms, to be able to stay in the community -- to be able to live in an apartment, to be able to interact with others, be able to work or go to school, and do the things that they want to do."
On average, Grudzielanek said about once a month a client graduates, or "steps down" to a less intensive program. But there also are disappointments. A number of clients have died from their illnesses, or from other medical problems.
For the team's members, sometimes success is just keeping clients alive and functioning, and achieving small victories.
"You were able to get a job, or you made it to this class, or you joined the Y, you were able to communicate with your partner," Grudzielanek said of the small successes that can help clients.
"Just things that, being able to highlight those strengths and seeing them recognize, 'Wow, I did learn a lot, I did do a lot these past six months' is super exciting. People get better. That's one of the best things, that people do recover from mental illness. That they're able to live the lives that they want to live."
Return to: Minnesota's Mental State »


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Caring, Compassionate Help Your Health And Wellbeing Truly Matters To Us
Cisplatin is a chemotherapy drug. It is part of a category of drugs called alkylating agents that are used in cancer patients as a way to slow the growth of or kill cancer cells and tumors. Also referred to by the names Platinol® and CDDP, cisplatin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1978 for the treatment of many different types of cancer. It was arguably the most important cancer treatment breakthrough of its time.
Cisplatin works by eliminating the ability of certain cancer cells to duplicate their DNA, making it impossible for the cancer to grow. The manner in which the DNA strands are damaged begins a process called apoptosis (cell death) which is a naturally occurring process that causes the cells to die without the release of harmful substances into the body.
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Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Washington State football coach Mike Leach on Monday agreed to a five-year, $20 million contract extension.
The extension agreement came after Leach's name was linked to other jobs, most notably at Tennessee, in recent weeks. The Cougars went 9-3 in the regular season and are preparing for the Holiday Bowl against Michigan State.
The revised contract agreement will pay Leach $3.5 million in 2018, $3.75 million in 2019 and $4 million annually from 2020-22. Leach will also obtain a one-time retention bonus of $750,000 if he stays with the school through the 2020 season.
Leach's pool of money for assistant coaches will be bumped by $400,000 for the 2018 season, and the school acknowledged the need for a new indoor practice facility.
"Coach Leach has led a spectacular turnaround in the fortunes of our football program during the last six years, and we want to keep him in the Cougar family for a long time to come," school President Kirk Schulz said in a news release.
Schulz said the success of the football program had benefited the entire university.
"Intercollegiate athletics are a critical front door to every university," Schulz said.
This season, Leach guided the Cougars to a third consecutive bowl appearance, a first for a WSU head coach. He is also the first coach at WSU to post three consecutive winning seasons since Jim Sutherland did so from 1957-59.
"I would like to thank President Schulz and Washington State for their commitment to Cougar football," Leach said. "We have accomplished some great things in our time here and my staff and I are excited to lead WSU Cougar football into the future."
Washington State is digging out of a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, including in athletics. Leach, formerly at Texas Tech, was paid $3 million this season.
In his six seasons at Washington State, Leach is 38-37 and has qualified for four bowl games in the past five years. Before he arrived, WSU had only gone to 10 bowls in its history.
Additionally, WSU's attendance has gone from 76.1 percent of capacity in 2011, the year before he arrived, to 97.1 percent this season.
More AP college football: https://collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP\_Top25
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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The targets to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions to mitigate climate change are as much applicable to the road freight transport sector as they are to all other sectors of society. The aim of this research is to support the initiatives of the Finnish government for improving the energy efficiency and reducing the CO2 emissions of road freight transport. This is done by forecasting the future development and giving the policy makers guidance on effective measures for promoting road freight energy efficiency and CO2 reduction. In the study a new method was introduced for connecting the fuel consumption data and goods transport data gathered from the official Finnish road statistics. This method enabled a detailed analysis of the interrelations between the economy, road freight transport, energy consumption and emissions. This analysis was conducted for the years 1995–2010 and the results were used as background information in the Delphi panel of experts. The experts estimated the development of the Finnish road freight sector to the year 2030. Furthermore, a web-based survey was conducted among Finnish road freight hauliers and shippers in order to explore the attitudes and measures related to the energy efficiency. Expert panel workshops were also organised to identify obstacles for the development of the energy efficiency of road freight transport as well as a wide selection of measures to overcome them. The results indicate that the economic development of different branches has a great effect on the energy efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions of road freight transport. Reaching the carbon emission target for the year 2030 is possible in the light of the scenarios which were formed based on expert forecasts. However, the target can be achieved with very different development paths, e.g. the structure of the national economy and the volume of transport seem to vary widely in the different scenarios. In the proposed recommendations on the measures for achieving the targets, cooperation and division of responsibilities between various stakeholders of the road freight sector are emphasized.
|Translated title of the contribution
|Future of Energy Efficiency and Carbon Dioxide Emissions of Finnish Road Freight Transport
|Original language
|Tampere University of Technology
|Number of pages
|ISBN (Electronic)
|ISBN (Print)
|Publication status
|Published - 17 May 2013
|Publication type
|G4 Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
Publication series
|Tampere University of Technology. Publication
|Tampere University of Technology
|ISSN (Print)


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The Vista Network Monitor
The Vista Network Monitor is a utility which captures TCP/IP packets. Then its GUI reveals the frames source and destination addresses along with detailed information stored in the datagram header.
Topics for the Vista Network Monitor
- The Secret of Network Monitoring
- Typical Tasks for Network Monitor
- What's new in Network Monitor 3.3
- Data Capture
- Filters Make the Difference
- Enable Network Conversations
- 7 Tips for Windows Network Monitor
- NetFlow Traffic Analyzer
The Secret of Network Monitoring
The secret of success with the Vista Network Monitor is that you must have a clear purpose; you need a real problem to solve. If you just toy with Network Monitor you will soon get bewildered with all the data captured, and give up.
However, as soon as you have a mission, your desire to succeed will ensure that you home in on just the facts you need. Then as you solve the problem, so you become a minor expert on Network Monitor.
The classic mistake is thinking that Network Monitor is built-in to the Vista operating system and you activate it via the 'Features' or 'Windows Components'. In fact, the secret of installing the Vista Network Monitor 3.3 is to download this free utility from Microsoft's site.
What's New in Network Monitor 3.3
- Ability to capture on WWAN and Tunnel interfaces on Win7.
- Critical fixes to NM3.3 to operate correctly with Hyper-V.
- Right-click-add-to-alias. Right-click a frame in the Frame Summary window with an IPv4, IPv6, or MAC address to add that address as a new alias.
What was New in Network Monitor 3.2
- Network Conversations is a new feature which segregates related frames and displays them in groups.
- Process tracking works by categorizing packets based on the ID of the process. Check for rogue processes, also learn about 'good' processes.
- Improved GUI. Try resizing the windows, also drag and drop windows to achieve a clearer interface.
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WOL also has business uses for example, rousing machines so that they can have update patches applied. My real reason for recommending you download this free tool is because it's so much fun sending those 'Magic Packets'. Give WOL a try – it's free.
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Typical Tasks for the Vista Network Monitor
Troubleshooting connectivity problems.
Let us imagine that you cannot contact a server. If you capture the appropriate frames with the Network Monitor, you may discover from the destination address that your machine is trying to connect does not exist.
Calculating server response times.
Each packet has time /date information, thus you can measure response times for conversations between your computer and other machines on the network. If necessary you could initiate a conversation with a ping command.
TCP re-transmissions.
A large number of TCP re-transmissions could indicate an faulty wire (or wireless) connection.
Your first task is to find, and then research the P-Mode button. The 'P' stands for promiscuous capture.
Data Capture
In order to capture data, you should install both the Network Monitor and its driver on the local computer. The Network Monitor driver enables the Netmon executable to receive and display frames from your network card.
Once netmon.exe has captured the frames from the network card, its parsers analyze the raw and display the information in the GUI. As a result you can read the all the information carried within the packets, including unencrypted passwords and other sensitive information.
Filters Make the Difference Between Success and Failure
Filters, especially capture filters, make all the difference between seeing manageable data in the monitor, or viewing a mass of meaningless numbers. For example, create a filter which captures only http traffic.
Filter menu, Capture Filter –> Load Filter – Standard Filters. Scroll down to: HttpWebpageSearch.
Check the Capture Options
Before you begin, it's worth checking the 'Options' in your Vista network monitor.
Tools Menu –> Options –> Capture
- Temporary capture file: Size (of Buffer)
- Folder Location for the buffer
- Capture only first bytes of a frame. A useful setting to improve performance.
As the monitor driver (agent) receives network packets so it stores them in a temporary buffer.
Next the Vista Network Monitor compares the frames in the buffer with the capture filter. Any frames which match the capture filter are shown in the GUI. The rest of the frames are discarded.
Start with Standard Filters
Begin by at the Filter menu, click on the Capture Filter –> Load Filter – Standard Filters. Now make your selection, for instance IPv4Addresses.
You will soon learn of how the filter works, but does take a tries to obtain the results that you want. Just 'playing' can result in confusion, what helps is a clear mission, for example you just want to capture IPv4 addresses.
Type your Filter in the dialog box
Once you have tested some of the Standard Filters, I suggest you try using the IntelliSense of the Capture Filter box. Begin by typing a period (.) also called the full stop. Now you should see the top level names. Type 'p' and IntelliSense kicks in again and displays Protocol.
You could repeat the method and thus append TCP. The result should look like: .Protocol.TCP.
An Alternative Filter Method
Another way of creating filters is to work from a frame that you have already captured. Focus on the Frame Summary screen, then right-click an interesting entry. Next select: 'Add Source to Display Filter' from the drop-down menu. The knack is to select the 'Source' column for your click, filtering on the 'Time Offset' column does not make sense.
Save Captures
Save your capture to a file simply by clicking 'Save As' on the toolbar. A good option when you save is to select only those frames which match your filter criteria. Naturally you can revisit previous captures by using the Open Capture dialog box.
Copy Frames
At first the prospect of copying frames did not seem very useful. The benefit comes when you copy a bunch of frames into Excel and then employ the spreadsheet's math functions on the numeric fields. For example, calculating average response times.
Other uses of Copy include pasting the data into an email, and thus alerting other people of of rogue processes the network.
Quick Capture Statistics
When capturing, the Vista Network Monitor shows stats in the status bar at the bottom of the window:
- Displayed: The number of frames in the Frame Summary window.
- Dropped: The number of dropped frames.
- Captured: The total number of frames captured for a particular session.
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Think of all the frustration that this free SolarWinds utility saves when you are troubleshooting authorization problems for user's access to a resource. Give this permissions monitor a try – it's free!
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Enable Network Conversations
Isolating conversations is a new feature of the Microsoft Network Monitor 3.3. This feature groups captures, and thus you can see more easily what is happening. The key point is to select the conversation from the tree on the left of the Network Monitor GUI, you can expand the tree to see individual processes.
Using this technique you could research unknown processes; one day you may discover that a rogue program that has infected your network.
Advanced Topic – How Network Monitor Parses Headers
The Vista Network Monitor relies on two processes, firstly, capturing network frames. Secondly, a parsing engine which analyses the raw bytes of data and displays the results in a GUI.
Once you have mastered the basics of capturing and filtering the network traffic, you may wish to investigate a whole new world of parsers. On the one hand parsers teach you how packet collection works 'under the covers', on the other hand, parsers are the gateway to a new level of controlling the way raw data is displayed in the monitor. See here for a useful network traffic monitor.
Getting Started
Click the 'Parsers' tab next to the Start Page.
Begin with an overview of all the available parsers. As you gain in confidence and experience, you could try modifying and saving the new Parsers. However, to my mind being an expert at creating parsers is a different and higher level skill from troubleshooting data.
See also SolarWinds free Real-time Netflow Analyser »
7 Tips for the Vista Network Monitor
- Set 'Frame Truncation' to reduce your buffer size improve collection performance (Tools Menu, Options).
- Lookout for context sensitive menu variations.
- Copy and paste frames of your capture into Excel, then calculate totals.
- Try creating an Alias for IP addresses.
- Check out the Filters –> Color Filters.
- Get out of jail 'Restore'
View menu –> 'Window' –> 'Restore Default Layout'.
- It's worth checking the version number of the Network Monitor in the Control Panel. Go to Programs and Features, right-click on the Columns, choose 'More' and add the 'Version' tab.
The Vista Network Monitor has a Command-line Tool Called Nmcap.exe
If you prefer the command-line, you can control the Network Monitor via the Nmcap executable.
For example: nmcap /network * /capture /file guycap.cap
You can even use the same filters at the command line as seen in the Capture Filter GUI. Once you have created your filter in the GUI you could copy and paste it into the Nmcap command-line. The command-line syntax is /Frame 'Your Filter'.
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Configuring Windows Vista Topics:
Vista Tools and Extras


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Portable Categories
see the categories and sub-categories
- Air Velocity
- Chlorine
- Coating Thickness
- Compressed Air
- Concrete Thickness Meter
- Conductivity
- Crane Scales
- Dissolved Oxygen
- Endoscope
- Flue Gas Analysis
- Flue Gas Leakage
- Flow
- Gas Detection
- Humidity
- - Humidity Loggers
- - Measuring Instruments
- - Water Activity
- Light Intensity
- Multi-Function
- Particles
- Pressure
- Pyranometer
- Reinforcement Bar Locator
- Sound
- Speed/Rotation
- Temperature
- Thickness
- Turbidity
- Vibrations
- Water Leak Detectors
- Wind Speed
Water Activity aw
Water activity is an important consideration for food product design and food safety.
Food Product Design
Food designers use water activity to formulate products that are shelf stable. If a product is kept below a certain water activity, then mold growth is inhibited. This results in a longer shelf-life.
Water activity values can also help limit moisture migration within a food product made with different ingredients. If raisins of a higher water activity are packaged with bran flakes of a lower water activity, the water from the raisins will migrate to the bran flakes over time, resulting in hard raisins and soggy bran flakes. Food formulators use water activity to predict how much moisture migration will affect their product.
In addition, water activity helps limit or slow certain undesirable reactions, such as non-enzymatic browning, fat oxidation, vitamin degradation, enzymatic reactions, protein denaturation, starch gelatinization and starch retrogradation. This too maintains product quality and extends shelf life.
Food Safety
Water activity (aw) is one of the most critical factors in determining quality and safety of the goods you consume every day. Water activity affects the shelf life, safety, texture, flavor, and smell of foods. It is also important to the stability of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. While temperature, pH and several other factors can influence if and how fast organisms will grow in a product, water activity may be the most important factor in controlling spoilage. Most bacteria, for example, do not grow at water activities below 0.91, and most molds cease to grow at water activities below 0.80. By measuring water activity, it is possible to predict which microorganisms will and will not be potential sources of spoilage. Water activity--not water content--determines the lower limit of available water for microbial growth. In addition to influencing microbial spoilage, water activity can play a significant role in determining the activity of enzymes and vitamins in foods and can have a major impact their color, taste, and aroma. It can also significantly impact the potency and consistency of pharmaceuticals.
Water activity is used in many cases as a Critical Control Point for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) programs. Samples of the food product are periodically taken from the production area and tested to ensure that water activity values are within a specified range for food quality and safety. Measurements can be made in as little as five minutes, and are made regularly in most major food production facilities.
For many years researchers tried to equate bacterial growth potential with moisture content. They found that the values were not universal, but specific to each food product. WJ Scott in 1953 first established that it was water activity, not water content that correlated with bacterial growth. It is firmly established that growth of bacteria is inhibited at specific water activity values. FDA regulations for Intermediate Moisture Foods are based on these values.
Lowering the water activity of a food product should not be seen as a kill step. Studies in powdered milk show that viable cells can exist at much lower water activity values but that they will never grow. Over time bacterial levels will decline.
Definition of aw:
aw = p/po = ERH (%) / 100
where p is the vapor pressure of water in the substance, and p0 is the vapor pressure of pure water at the same temperature.
Water Activity and Moisture Content
Water activity is related to moisture content in a non-linear relationship known as a moisture sorption isotherm curve. These isotherms are substance and temperature specific. Isotherms can be used to help predict product stability over time in different storage conditions.
Examples of Foods
Substance aw
Distilled Water 1
Tap water 0.99
Raw meat 0.97 - 0.99
Milk 0.97
Juice 0.97
Cooked bacon < 0.85
Saturated NaCI solution 0.75
Point at which cereal looses crunch 0.65
Typical indoor air 0.5 - 0.7
Honey 0.5 - 0.7
Dried fruit 0.5 - 0.6
Water activity instruments measure the amount of free (sometimes referred to as unbound or active) water present in the sample.
Sigma offers a portable aw set that includes model 650, a multi-parameter measuring instrument / data logger (also accepts probes for temperature, humidity, velocity, pressure, CO, CO2), a pressure-tight precision humidity probe with certificate, a measurement chamber and 5 sample bowls (plastic).
Model 650, multi-function measuring instrument, incl. data logging, VAC module (volume flow measurement with error calculation), battery, Li cell and calibration protocol.
model 650 is the multi-function measuring instrument with which many specialists and professionals in industry and the trades simplify their measuring tasks. Model 650 includes functions for Temperature reference measurements, i.e. high precision: accuracy .1°C (1/100 resolution), and Humidity/Pressure reference measurements. Using model 650 you can perform all types of velocity measurements (thermal probes, vane and Pitot tube) regardless of whether in a duct, duct outlet or suction aperture. Checks indoor air quality or the air exchange number using CO2 probe - Checks ventilation in underground garages using CO probe- Checks transducers using the mV/mA measurement input- Logs data with date, time and location over long periods using the logger function in the measuring instrument. All probes and printer, except the aw probe set are optional.
pressure-tight precision humidity probe with certificate, measurement chamber and 5 sample bowls (plastic)
(Determines water activity)
Meas. range -20 to +70 °C
Meas. Range 0 to +100 %RH
Meas. Range 0 to +1 aW
1. Checks product quality in pharmaceutical sector
Advantage: Results are traceable to national standards
2. The trend display in model 650 automatically indicates when the equilibrium moisture has been reached and then the measurement is complete. Constant monitoring is therefore not required.
3 +4. Different measurement samples can be read in via barcode. Advantage: Additional information such as min./max. values, mixing ratios…are saved in the barcode.
5. Calibration on location with control and adjustment set, with DKD calibration certificate if required
Advantage: This provides additional assurance.


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And so it was - our 7th anniversary. What else can I get the man...* to keep him home and on my lap*? ...Astro...brilliant!
With the best service one can only imagine. I filled in the subscription form online - in less than a minute my phone was ringing. "Nah", I thought to myself. It can't be, I just pressed the submit button. But it was!!
Before I could even get over my stunned state, they'd already arranged for the serviceman to visit my home the very next day. Another surprise - the guy was on time and it took him only 15 minutes to get things running!
I was well rewarded after that... ;)


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Low Flying Planes' song, "Pea Soup" was one that we just recorded in the studio and it's all about how the band has come together over the years. The song talks about our lead singer, Devin (he wrote most of the song) and how all that he needs "is to live by the h.." He talks about how he listens to the radio, and plays Nintendo but the only way that he'll ever really understand the world is if he can play music. So, the chorus explodes with "What I need, what i need are the answers to come to me; this is what I want and who I want to be. Because it builds me up, starts it over and over again" His soul is 100% into the song at this point, This song is truly about what it means to be a musician. It has everything to do with being willing to go through whatever it takes. And it has nothing to do with giving up.
It sounds cheesy, but this song is really a crowd favorite. Finally, after a heart-wrenching solo by Fitch (our lead guitarist), Jenna (female vocals) jumps into a key change and brings it up to a B Major with an even more powerful chorus. The song ends with a run that is so awesome it feels like it was not performed by anything less than a full blown recording studio (Jenna has that effect on people!) AND IT'S OVER! The song ends, we end the set with it too. We want to remind people how much we appreciate them coming to see us perform and that we want to do it for the rest of our lives. Music, even though it's nice to get fans and tours, would be absolutely nothing without the passion, and that's what "Pea Soup" is all about (PS Just like music, Pea Soup only tastes good if it has a lot of love in it, that's why this song has it's name!)


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Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"
Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?"
Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."
Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" (John 1:44-49)
How Philip Was Wrong (And Nathanael Was Right)
Have you ever considered Nathanael and Philip's words in this passage? Philip gets it wrong on three counts, and Nathanael is right. Philip says to Nathanael, "We have found him…" But just a few verses earlier we read it was Jesus who found Philip. (John 1:43) Next we read how Philip tells Nathanael that Jesus is from Nazareth, which is wrong, because Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The idea (wrong though it was) that Jesus came from Nazareth was a problem for Nathanael, as it was for the religious leadership of the day. "Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee," they said to Nicodemus when he tried to defend Jesus. (John 7:50-52) So Nathanael, based on the information he had at the time, was right to question a prophet coming from the town of Nazareth, a city of Galilee. Then Philip gets it wrong a third time, he identifies Jesus as Joseph's son, when Jesus was conceived by God.
But even though Philip presents wrong information to Nathanael, Nathanael moves past all that and decides to go see Jesus for himself. And when he does, Jesus knows him. He even commends Nathanael for Nathanael's penchant for the truth: An Israelite in whom there is no deceit.
In Jesus' presence with the others, Nathanael recognizes that Jesus knows him. But he can't figure out how: How do you know me? He asks. Then after listening to Jesus for just few additional moments, Nathanael says to him, You are the Son of God.
When Christians Are Wrong
Do you see what happened here? Do you see how Philip made himself out to have found Jesus, and how he gave Nathanael wrong information?
Has that happened to you? Has someone misrepresented Jesus to you? Has a Christian leader presented information to you as though they knew it to be truth, when you knew they were wrong? Has a Christian exaggerated, or lied, or presented themselves in a way that made them appear to be more than they actually were?
I know it's happened to me. And I'm guessing it's happened to you too. No doubt Philip did these very things to Nathanael.
But Nathanael moved past all that and went to Jesus anyway.
I wound up doing the same. Even though I heard things from Christians that I knew were wrong, even though I heard exaggerations, even though some Christians made themselves out to be more than what they were, I recognized Jesus was someone worth exploring. So I moved past all that. I went to him. And what do you know–he saw me coming. He knew me. He knows me better than I know me. And once I was in his presence, like Nathanael, I knew he is the Son of God.
What can I say to move you to do the same? Don't you see, that if Jesus is who he says he is, then it doesn't matter what Christians have said or done. The truth is he appreciates someone who has a penchant for the truth. In fact Jesus taught that God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24) The truth is he knows you better than anyone, including you. The truth is he's the most important person you could ever get to know.
So do what Nathanael did. Come to him. Spend time with him every day. Hang with others who have a desire to do the same. Together with them, learn everything you can about him. Together with them, follow the words Jesus gives to you in the scriptures.
Move past what you've heard before, and come to Jesus. Nathanael did that and it changed everything.
You do it too.
[Image via Dennis Hill – Creative Commons]