text:
A common image of domestic violence: a woman on the brink of homelessness, taking refuge from her abusive spouse in a shelter because she has nowhere else to go.
But recent domestic violence cases in the news, from South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius allegedly murdering his girlfriend to CBS New York anchor Rob Morrison accused of choking his wife, are revealing what domestic abuse experts say has been the dirty little secret of the wealthy for too long.
From Stamford, Conn., to Beverly Hills, Calif., domestic violence in upscale communities has long had a unique stigma, the industry's few experts say. "Higher-income people hide behind what I call a veil of silence," says Dr. Susan Weitzman, founder of the Weitzman Center, an advocacy organization that raises awareness about what she calls upscale abuse. "They believe it's only happening to them. No one can hear you scream on a 3-acre lot."
Recent research on the relationship between domestic violence and the economy has focused on the effects of the 2008 recession and found that abuse is three times as likely to occur when couples are under financial strain. According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, three of four domestic violence shelters reported increases in women seeking help after September 2008.
But Weitzman and her peers say there's no comparable research for wealthy couples, reinforcing the public's ignorance of the problem and the culture of silence surrounding upscale abuse.
Frequent cycles of violence can characterize upscale domestic abuse, Weitzman says. Most abusive relationships include a so-called honeymoon period, in which the abuser tries to apologize with gifts and promises to change. But the wealthy clients Weitzman has worked with usually don't experience a honeymoon period. The violence can be unrelenting, she says.
After the violence, the first unique obstacle wealthy women face in getting out of abusive relationships is admitting the abuse itself, an already harrowing task complicated by the fear—and often the reality—of not being believed by peers.
"The woman is often disbelieved when she comes out," Weitzman says. "People will say, 'Look at your husband, look at your lifestyle.'" Weitzman says she remembers one client whose abusive spouse poured a glass of water on her during a marriage counseling session.
"All the therapist did was offer the woman a Kleenex," she says.
Linda Bollea, ex-wife of wrestler Hulk Hogan, says she knows the fear of coming clean about abuse all too well. In her memoir Wrestling the Hulk: My Life Against the Ropes, she alleges that her ex-husband emotionally and physically abused her. (He has filed a lawsuit against her for defamation.)
Bollea recalls the anxiety that "the empire would collapse after 'outing' the abusive spouse. It makes it scary and difficult to ask for help. Once the abusive spouse realizes their partner's unhappiness, it gets much more because now there is no fixing it."
That problem is only compounded in the courtroom, where high-income husbands can assemble what Weitzman calls "legal dream teams." She says she recently worked with a woman whose abusive husband hired six attorneys, each at $500 an hour, to fight for custody of his children.
"The women are left at the mercy of a system," says Dr. Jeanne King, a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse among the wealthy, "and that system becomes an insiders' club."
Even when the abusers are subject to legal proceedings, they are adept at manipulating the system. During one court battle, Weitzman says, a husband accused of abuse was asked to have his car appraised by forensics experts. When the experts got to the garage, they found the car disassembled into thousands of pieces.
"The disclosure of abuse only brings on a new warfare" for wealthy abused women, King says. "She's exposed his abuse from behind closed doors and possibly ruined his career, so now there's a campaign against her."
That campaign often involves stripping the abused woman of all her financial resources, says Jan Edgar Langbein, executive director of the Genesis Women's Shelter in Dallas.
"The woman may be living in an affluent household, but she often has as much access to finances as someone with no money at all," she says.
Expensive, painful custody battles are typical in cases of upscale domestic abuse, Langbein, King, and Weitzman say.
"The abuser will try to hurt you in the way it hurts most, by getting custody of the kids," Langbein says. According to data from the American Judges' Association, 70 percent of contested custody cases involving domestic violence eventually grant joint or sole custody to the abuser.
Langbein says she is seeing more and more affluent women seeking help from Genesis's non-residential programs, part of the overall growth in domestic violence around the nation in the last five years. But Weitzman says there is some good news: the highest-profile cases, from Chris Brown to Pistorius, are raising awareness about the pervasiveness of upscale violence.
And some women's shelters are developing specific programs for wealthy women. In 2007, a shelter in Naples, Fla., developed a "Women of Means" program. Similar programs have sprung up around the country, though Langbein says a nearby Dallas shelter with a separate program for affluent women has earned the disparaging moniker "the Prada group."
David Hopkins, partner at Schiller DuCanto & Fleck, a family law firm based in Chicago, has been working for more than a decade to level the playing field for abused women facing expensive legal battles when their abusers sue for defamation or custody.
He says he's worked with many clients with wealthy abusers. "In the most extreme cases, the abusive party is able to recoup irrespective of the cost," he says. "The goal is to financially destroy the victim."
To combat what he calls the "sheer vindictiveness" of unnecessary litigation against abuse victims, Hopkins helped pass statutory reforms to Illinois's Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act so that victims would have equal access to finances to pay for legal fees.
Despite advancements in treatment for wealthy domestic violence victims and legal developments to help victims fight back, there's much more work to be done to de-stigmatize upscale abuse, experts tell The Daily Beast.
"These are still the women who fall through the cracks of the system," King says.


text:
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text:
Everybody starts the year off with a list of New Year's resolutions — which are nearly all abandoned or forgotten by February. This year, keep that January motivation fresh in your mind by adding your resolutions to your work calendar now. Here are some suggestions from career experts about what goals to set for 2014.
Make a "greatest hits" list. "Everyone should take time at the beginning of every year to take stock of what they accomplished the prior year… and put those into writing in a resume-like fashion," says Monique A. Honaman, CEO and partner at ISHR Group. "It's much easier to have all of this information ready to go when you need it as opposed to having to create a resume from scratch and remember what you have accomplished for the past 10 years."
Establish one big goal. "We frequently spend more time hammering out the daily demands of life such that we forget to focus on the big picture," Honaman says. "Everyone should set at least one goal of something major that they want to accomplish for their career each year." Carve out time for yourself, just as you would for any other appointment, to work on your big-picture goal each week, she advises.
Seek out advice. "Find a trusted mentor who can help guide you towards your goals with a dash of realism about how to navigate the waters ahead," says Joseph Weintraub,a professor of management and director of the Babson Coaching for Leadership and Teamwork Program at Babson College. Even if you think you know the ropes, somebody more seasoned could give you advice about navigating your company's higher-up office politics. Weintraub says this person can be someone at your company, or someone highly-regarded in your industry who knows the unwritten as well as the written rules.
Set progress benchmarks. "Set stretch goals but don't bite off more than you can chew," says Roy Cohen, career counselor and executive coach. To keep your big idea manageable, come up with a few smaller goals that will help you accomplish your big achievement. Taking a class, earning a certification or writing an article for an industry publication could all be stops on the way to your final destination that will help build momentum towards it, Cohen says.
Do a quarterly check-up. "As is the case with quarterly performance reviews in organizations, take the time to do the reflection of where you are in accomplishing your resolutions by doing your own internal audit in your scheduling calendar by setting up a look at your resolutions every three months," Weintraub says.
Do a mid-year network check. "Ask yourself at the mid-year point, who have I connected with this year?" Honaman says. You don't want to be that guy or gal who gets a reputation for only getting in touch if you need a favor, she says. "Make the investment, and sustain your investment, by building a valuable network. If and when you do need to reach out, the connection is not cold."
Acquire new tech skills. "Learn how to better use technology to support all aspects of your job search," Cohen says. "The down-time around the holidays is great for coming up to speed on new technology applications or skills that need to be strengthened." Figure out your weak spots, then find classes, books or tutorials where you can learn or brush up on the skills you need to move forward.
Take stock of your accomplishments. At the end of the year, give yourself a personal performance review — and since you're not sharing it with anyone, don't dodge the mistakes and missteps you made during the year. "Be realistic in what you have done and not done towards moving towards your resolutions. Often failure along the way brings the biggest learning," says Weintraub. "The key is to learn from past mistakes," he says, by figuring out what you need to do differently the next time around.


text:
Stabilizer 100
How important is pH really?
Having the correct pH in your pool is crucial to your swimmers' comfort and also protects your pool equipment and surfaces from corrosion, staining and etching. The ideal pH range is 7.4-7.6. If the pH is too high or too low it can cause those pesky red, itchy eyes!
- Prevents free chlorine residual loss due to sunlight
- Reduces maintenance costs and chlorinating product consumption
- Skimmer use for outdoor, chlorinated pools only


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Thursday, August 03, 2006
I'm Feeling the Love
Turns out there's not really a shortage in the world, just in the places I've been looking. This had enitrely escaped my notice, which will surprise those who know me not at all. I appreciate all the pointers to the sort of yarn I had in mind, believe you me. Left to my own devices I might have stumbled around for years wearing socks in colorways like "Itty Bitty Baby Ducklings on Parade."
And I also appreciate deeply the offers to send me yarn, but darlings, you mustn't. Please don't ever interpret anything I say in here as a request for freebies. Money is precious. If you have a little extra, enrich your own stashes, or take your Mom out to lunch, or pay your kid's bail. I'm just glad you're here. There's no membership fee.
Meanwhile, the first sock is about 1/4 inch from toe shaping. No, I'm not going to show you a picture. Who wants to see a picture of that? Somebody asked what the yarn is. It's wool. I'm pretty sure it's from Regia. I lost the ball band somewhere between Wisconsin and Chicago. Should you find it, write and tell me.
I'm Franklin Habit. Who the hell are you?
I'm just finally getting around to writing about Monday's most enjoyable "Meet the Bloggers" event at Arcadia Knitting because it has been too hot to download the two photos I took. The heat wave is also the reason I haven't done laundry, or called Grandma, or finished shredding my old credit card statements, or vacuumed the living room, or learned Japanese.
What was I talking about?
The blogger thing at Arcadia. Right. Well, it was the hottest night of the summer–we're talking 111 degrees Farenheit after dark–and still about four dozen people showed up to eat cookies and play with wool. Quod erat demonstrandum, knitters are deranged.
Needless to say, I felt right at home.
Here are some of the deranged who held still for my camera. Please to identify yourselves in the comments, won't you, with links to your blogs? I swear I remember your names but not your blogs, which embarrasses the hell out of me. How the @#%%!* does Yarn Harlot do it?
Gail there on the left is just a little too happy about all the yarn. The absent Margene is represented by the sock, center. That's what they told me. The sock is Margene. Margene is a sock. (You see? Deranged. Deranged.)
Just behind Gail is Lynn. Lynn had been deeply moved by the post in which I described carrying a stitch marker in my bosom for several days without knowing. In a display of compassion worthy of Kuan Yin, she gifted me with two two markers rather more elaborate than my little orange rings of plastic. Lookee.
Could she have chosen better? No, she could not. Stitch markers that speak to who I am, to what I love. Stitch markers that reference my fascination with Orientalia and my long-time Anglophilia. Stitch markers way too substantial to ever get lost in this:
72 comments:
- Knit-Knot said...
Good Morning!
I never thought you were fishing for pressies.
You know sometimes it is fun to pick up a little something for someone - just because you can. There is joy in giving.
I will NOT be paying my kid's bail ever. They get arrested they are on their own. I also will not be paying my spouse's bail. I'd be hard pressed to convince myself to pay my own.
I suggest you don't pay Delores' bail either. - 11:48 AM
- Unknown said...
Now who's a hit-whore?
And I thought posing in knitted underwear was going beyond the pale.
You know that you'll be getting Google image search hits for years on that one picture alone, right? Now don't you feel like a piece of meat? Feels kind of good in a way, no? - 11:55 AM
- Anonymous said...
You say you're not asking for freebies and then you go and post cheesecake.
I think you're a little conflicted, you are.
And you made me blush. - 12:02 PM
- brewerburns said...
Nice. Very nice. Maybe Dolores is starting to rub off on you?....
- Alyssa said...
Looks like the Chicago blogger gathering was fun. I thought about going, but then I would have had to leave the air conditioning and that was simply not acceptable. Hopefully they host another dealy sometime when the temperature is a healthy 45 degrees and maybe on a weekend too!
Happy toe shaping:) - 12:09 PM
- Cheryl:) said...
all I can say is OH MY GLORY--don't do that to me-- my husband is living and working out of town--
I feel like I should send you presents just for that!! - 12:11 PM
- Anonymous said...
No - Franklin no worries - it would be pretty hard to get those stitch markers stuck. But I think I can make you feel better - - at least chest hair was your only problem.
At out SNB this story was relayed. A mamogram technician was preparing a patient for her exam. The machine was Xerox machine type and the boob had to be "adjusted". Use your imagination. As this was going on - low and behold on the exam table fell not one but two Cheetos.
Can't say any more - I still cry with laughter when I picture that one! - 12:20 PM
- Anonymous said...
I've been thinking about you - I got stuck in my new short sleeve top today! (The I-cord trim around the cap sleeve had shrunken in the wash so much that I could get it on - but barely off!)
- Anonymous said...
yummy yummy yummy beefcake shot (she said whilst grinning from ear to ear like the cheshire cat)
anne marie in philly - 12:39 PM
- Aidan said...
Is the photo a proof from your Knit1 centerfold spread?
What, in the Name of Liza, prompted you to post a titty pic? Now that you've shown your fans a bit of your bits, they are gonna want more. You are gonna have stalkers, Ruggelach, and it isn't going to be pretty. They aren't all pretty and sweet like Kathy Bates. One day you'll be giving an interview on Ellen and Rick Mondragon will pop out of the audience swearing the two of you were married in Toronto and that he really IS Mrs. Franklin Habit.
I love the stitch markers. I have to find out from whence they came. You know me and my Chinoiserie fetish. I must find a latern and teapot of my own! - 12:57 PM
- Anonymous said...
Franklin, I know you're not thrilled with your job right now, but I think if you're auditioning to do a porn spread you have to show more than that. Preferably in your leathers. (Hint, hint.)
- Anonymous said...
That would be me, second from left with the long straight hair. Not a bad picture really I was trying to smile and keep my tongue sucked up to the roof of my mouth. Pretty tough trick for a girl that can't drink from a straw and walk at the same time. My Blog
- LaurieM said...
Oh I do like that last pic! My hubby has a hairless chest, which is nice, but this is I look I don't get to see too often.
Why do all the photos of male models have smooth chests? What's up with that! - 1:21 PM
- Lee said...
Oh. Oh my. {fanning} Oh my.
Fabulous, darling. Just. Fabulous. - 1:28 PM
- Kathleen said...
Okay, rowr.
C...you lucky dawg, you. - 1:39 PM
- Angie said...
No offence Franklin but I've got one of those by my door.Let me tell you there is no feeling quite as cool as shaving your legs ..so if you ever feel the need go for it .What you said to those offering yarn was very sweet ,you've got an adoring public for sure( deserved).
- Carol said...
You may be feeling the love, but I'm feeling the lust.
Hoo-wee. - 1:46 PM
- Anonymous said...
Thank you. Just, thank you.
- Julie said...
I swore I wasn't going to mention this, but it might reassure you... I once lost a stitch marker for a couple days, and we're still not sure where, exactly, it was lost. (Theory has it, my cleavage.) I assure you I do not have chest hair.
Those suckers are little. It's not our fault. - 2:12 PM
- debsnm said...
That last picture scared the hell out of me! just sayin'
- Anonymous said...
I really didn't need to know that I was the sort of woman who would pause her mouse over that last picture to see if it got bigger if you click it.
Please don't post any pictures of any other parts of you, and let's never speak of this again. - 2:44 PM
- Susan said...
Oh your comments about sock yarn needs/cravings didn't seem like pleadings - they just seemed like well-reasoned-out rants. And when I came across some Sugar & Cream on sale for $1/ball? I did think of you and wondered if you needed/wanted any more - and just to be nice - because I could - kind of a 'Mama-E pay-it-forward' type of thing - not at all because you said you liked Peaches n' Creme and I thought that was any sort of a demand to have yarn sent to you... And as for that last picture - the heat must be finally getting to you, that's all I can politely say..... ;>
- CynCyn said...
i think we can now debate about the erotic art vs. porn... and i think all your readers now know why that stitch marker was clinging to your chest. I think many of your readers are now very envious of that stitch marker.
- Lyssa said...
The "Itty Bitty Ducklings on Parade" cracked me up. Just for the record, I'm a girl and I wouldn't wear pink and yellow and bright blue easter-eggy socks either.
Nice picture. - 5:00 PM
- Anonymous said...
so... uh... what's going on in the rest of the photo?
- Snarled Yarns said...
Take heart dear one you're not as hairy as all that. It is possible the stitch marker was in the bed and while sleeping you picked it up in your chest hair.
- Steph said...
It's too hot here (er, temperature wise) to read all the comments...
When you're finished those socks, how about a George Costanza-type pose? - 6:05 PM
- Brewgal said...
Yowza! And I just stopped by for the knitting content.
- Kit said...
*gasp* Dude, it's really NOT fair to tempt us gals with arty sepia photos of your VERY hot chest when you're gay. Not even a little. I will, however, forward the photo to my gay male friends for equal-opportunity ogling.
Damn! - 7:16 PM
- kbsalazar said...
I'd say that once sheared and spun, you've got enough there for half a sock, at least. :)
- Anonymous said...
I have been moved to profanity and hiding of my very large screen, because if the man next to me sees what you look like all spread out like that, sugar, I ain't no way gonna get away with giving you a hug at Rhinebeck.
Also, I am NOT going to show you mine just because you showed me yours. I'm sure you understand. - 7:31 PM
- Anonymous said...
Just a stitch marker? Hell, you could lose a small child in there. ;o)
And by the way, WOO HOO BABY! Keep posting! - 8:01 PM
- Beth said...
I think enough's been said about this rease of a post, but I did want to check if you're going to Stitches this year. I made an executive decision because it seems no one else would, and the bloggers are meeting Saturday night somewhere in the Hyatt at the convention center. Spread the word!
- Jillio said...
i just love reading your blog. your illustrations are...more deserving of any sort of cliche adjective i could pick to describe them. i like them. i like them a lot.
aw, who'm i kidding? i f*cking love the ones with sheep - especially the one in the conga line. :)
i even got one of the KIP 2006 shirts for my city - honolulu - because of the little sheepy doo on the top. yay!
thank you for making me smile with your sheep and with your posts. - 8:41 PM
- Cinderellen said...
mmmmmmmmm - pretty!
- Anonymous said...
Sweetie, isn't it awfully hot in that sweater you're wearing?
- marie in florida said...
oohh...man rug....lovely.
stop teasing us. - 10:21 PM
- Anonymous said...
I forgot what I came to say... maybe if I scroll up some, I'll be able to remember. Yeah, uh-huh. Scroll up.
- Jay said...
Holly ChittyChittyBangmang, Franklin - you're a hottie, aren't you?! Who's been hiding his canlde under a bushel all this time!?!?!
- lucia said...
Ahhh... You named 3 out of 5 which is amazing. You missed Dee, of Licensed to Knit and just in front of her, Lucia of "The Knitting Fiend" (aka 'me').
By the way, my knitting tote concealed the ribbing for seamless argyle sock. It is being knit in manly, manly colors -- black and white diamonds with red criss-crosses.
When the final sock is revealed you will see it is fit to cover the foot of an engineer. - 11:18 PM
- Rabbitch said...
Oh, I love me a little beefcake in the morning.
And didn't you know that's the only part of your post anyone would comment on? (I'm assuming here, I'm too busy searching the net to find out if I can legally marry a llama anywhere to read all of the comments). - 11:19 PM
- dragon knitter said...
now that's a sight to inspire the ladies (and laddies!)
sounds like y'all had agood time monday night. it's cooler here, has it cooled down there yet?
ohio gozymus (phonetically spelled, sorry, i'm not up on my japanese spelling) - 11:40 PM
- FiberQat said...
Knowing how intelligent you are, I figured eventually you'd find sources once the desperation hit you. But isn't it nice to know that there are people out there who want to enable--er assist you in any way they can?
It's a good thing I didn't read this at work or the guys I know in Customer Service would be all over you in a minute, and I don't think C would like that. - 11:41 PM
- Anonymous said...
Thing is - I distinctly remember OTHER people enthusing on their blogs over generous and pleasant gifts from you. There would be some magic and unexpected reason why you get to be generous but nobody gets to give stuff to you? I don't think so.
Pass on to your sweetie our compliments on his good taste and good fortune. - 12:18 AM
- Mel said...
Oh my! I never expected to get both a fun read AND beefcake.
As for stitch markers, you must, on principle, have something other than those little plastic thingies. Now you've got a good start. You should expand by looking through the offerings on etsy. There are some talented folks on there, and something's bound to catch your eye. - 1:19 AM
- Kathleen said...
For dragon knitter: Ohayoo gozaimasu. :)
- Cindy in (un) Happy Valley said...
OK, so I'm watching the local news this morning before I leave the house. And if you live in a relatively smallish rural community you understand the news is mostly whose barn burned down and who's been arrested for domestic violence. One of the commercials was an advert for a baseball tournament and where you can buy tickets, and one of the locations was Habits on Franklin Ave! I was still only drinking my first cuppa strawberry tea, so my brain wasn't fully engaged, but what are the odds?
- dpaste said...
I am censoring my response and sending it in a private email.
- Anonymous said...
Furry knitting men... thank the gods!
- Anonymous said...
Oh, Franklin, you are definitely have to come over to the other side!
- Anonymous said...
Whoa. Havin' a heat wave....
Wendy - 12:15 PM
- Calvin said...
Honey, I would LOVE to get lost in that. I'm very farklempth!!
- amysue said...
I feel like a bad person. I was looking at the quilts. It's not you, I'm just boring that way (also, at 45 probably old enough to be your mom if I was actually capable of spawning).
Great stitch markers. - 12:39 PM
- Anonymous said...
Love the chest...bald pecs don't do a thing for me...but if you are gay isn't it fruitcake not beefcake?
- Anonymous said...
So, is it okay for straight women to remark on what a lovely chest you have?
goodie ... what a very lovely chest.
I'm volunteering to check it for errant markers -- daily even -- but I'm sure that you have more attractive folks nearer to home to do that.
If not, Delores probably thinks she has some sort of prior claim anyway.
Thanks for that tho... (saving pic for background...) - 2:32 PM
- Anonymous said...
With sincere gratitude.........
- RoadSide said...
Im willing to bet you've just inspired someone to submit a pttern for "nipple-cozies" for the next issue of Knitty!
- Anonymous said...
So much for the vaunted Victorian sensibilities. But thank you!
Sorry to objectify you in this way but you had to suspect it would happen, non? - 8:19 PM
- Anonymous said...
Hot in Chicago!
The forcast? Who knows? I'm not
Talking fahrenheit! - 9:58 PM
- Anonymous said...
well i might be a day late and a dollar short-
i wa on another blog and she hand-dyes her own yarn. and has some really nice colores for sock. yes they are all one color.here's her
web page. hope you enjoy
really like reading your blog. - 2:45 PM
- boobookittyfug said...
I have come to the conclusion that the difference between artist's nude male model and male porn model is that the male artist's model shaves his naughty bits.
That said, you're gay, I'm married, what the hell business do I have getting all a-tither over your chest hair????
Sigh. - 8:59 PM
- Elizabeth said...
You see, the Harlot writes it all down. I saw her do it myself in Ann Arbor, MI. She is a genius.
- Norskybear said...
Franklin! You're not supposed to flash those photos until AFTER we release the new line of knitting porn! No freebies for the masses!
- FiberQat said...
Look for Regia Silk sock yarn. It comes in manly colors and is dreamy.
Ok back to my laundry. (had to look at the beefcake again) - 2:58 PM
- Anonymous said...
Jeeeeminee, Franklin! Don't do that to us poor straight girls! (okay, semi-straight) Judging by the photo, you have admirable chest hair and a very attractive chest to go with it. Not to mention a quite biteable chin. It's just not fair to make us drool over you!
- Zee said...
Good Lord! *sigh*
Didn't someone say we got a break regarding the heat wave?
That is just so unfair... - 6:10 PM
- Bev in TN said...
Your long time Anglophilia...? Reminds me of a conversation I had once with an otherwise intelligent co-worker: "I'm an Anglophile," I said, as if I had to explain why I watched any and all British-born productions on TV. Her response said with a deeply distressed look on her face, "Oh, Beverly, don't say that about yourself!"
P.S. Thanks for sharing your postcard from D. I just adore D. - 1:40 PM
- Anonymous said...
I may be a bit more substantial than a stitch marker, but I think I DID just get lost in that!
- Sharon Rose said...
OH my GOD I love that pic! And no, I don't mean the titty shot (nothing personal - I just don't go for hairy), I mean that fantastic capture of the laughing ladies. I can practically hear them! It makes me want to know them. Just another reason to come to Stitches next year, I suppose. I'll be roadtripping from Seattle in one of my London Taxis. They seat 7 if we don't buy huge bags of yarn. I'll take 5. :) Who's with me?
- Jeremy said...
For some reason, I'm getting hit with a HUGE backlog of your archives via RSS on my LJ, which I'm totally not complaining about; it helps me get through my horrible downtime at work. And without that spurt of entries, I probably never would have seen this post.
Daaaaaamn, that last pic is ... inspirational. Loving the Panopticon even more! - 9:08 PM
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cara mengobati bintik kutil pada kelamin cara mengobati menghilangkan kutil cara mengobati kutil kelamin kelamin keluar nanah obat kutil kelamin obat kutil kelamin tradisional


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What do you go to?
What do you go to in that moment when a bad day turns into the worst day? When that altercation turned into a situation and that situation is now a reality that is lingering and sticking?
What did you go to when your heart cracked and fell and darkness was suddenly not just the sun setting?
I thought I knew the answer to that question for Marco. I had heard it so many times.
Marco was a sponsored child. His sponsor wrote him faithfully for several years. At age twelve Marco's life darkened when a family situation (which he did not divulge) left him feeling hopeless.
He explained to us that in those days he needed encouragement. He needed hope.
Before he could finish his sentence I ran through all the options. ALL the options for a child in poverty, as if the list were vast?
The options that people I knew had run to: Drugs. Violence. Alcohol.
I waited for Marco's response, with less than bated breath, because I had already figured it out.
He responded,
"I turned to the letters from my sponsor."
He went to his room when the pain had become too heavy. He opened the box that held all the letters, all the letters that maybe his sponsor wondered if he received and read. He pulled each letter out. He read them. Over and over and over.
As he explained about the hope and encouragement that he extracted from those letters, one thought had taken up complete residence within me,
What if my letters were the alternative to drugs? To violence? To a path of hopelessness?
Marco shared his situation with his sponsor. His sponsor continued to write and pray and ask Marco how he was doing. One year later, Marco was baptized.
Today, Marco works for Compassion. He still talks to his former sponsor. They've met.
What if today, your sponsored child needs to hear she is loved? Or prayed for? Or that God has a plan for his life? What if God wanted to use your letters to pave a path of hope for a child in poverty who had next to nothing to turn to in the midst of distress?
Ok, I'm laying it on thick. I get that. But I'm not relenting. Not this time. This time there is a face and a name and a future that was realized.
This time, a boy in poverty was welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven, forever saved from an eternity apart from God. Saved from the other choices that would have tried to boast hope in an otherwise hopeless situation.
Your words to a child in a poverty are too precious to set aside. Too precious to become buried in a list of to-dos. They were all too precious to Marco.
You should write a letter to your sponsored child today.
And, after you write your sponsored child, be sure to keep following the Compassion Bloggers in Peru. They are brimming with stories. Their hearts are bursting and you can read why now.
Also, you can join a Twitter chat happening tonight at 9:00pm EST. The Compassion Bloggers will be online waiting to chat with you and answer your questions! Just log onto Twitter and search for #compassion. Then you're in.
I am telling you, there is nothing like a twitter party! Get your party hats out and leave your party pants at home (mostly because you will be joining from the comfort of your home ☺)
Tweet ya later!


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Thank you for all the wonderful entries in our Lets get Stitchy Challenge.
We really enjoyed visiting you all and hope you will remember to call back next week to see our Top5 choices.
Now on to our new challenge
' Get Ready to Celebrate Valentines Day'.
This fortnight we would like you to celebrate Valentines Day by including at least ' one heart', on your entry.
Our sponsor for January is Crafty- emblies and our lucky winner this month will win a £10 store voucher.
Lets see what our Design Team have been making.
Aren't they just fab!
Now its your turn. Just link up your entry below and we will come stop by for a peek!
Be sure to check out the rules at the top of the blog before entering.
And most of all....HAVE FUN!
The TIOT team.


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Biochemistry, Biophysics & Structural Biology (BBSB)
The Biochemistry, Biophysics & Structural Biology (BBSB) Home Area at UCLA offers training and research opportunities to foster future leaders in both academia and industry. Our world-class faculty and students use cutting edge technologies to study fundamental biological processes and tackle a wide range of diseases. Many focus on interactions among proteins, nucleic acids and small molecule metabolites and drugs. Multi-disciplinary approaches include X-ray crystallography, NMR, electron microscopy, EPR, computational biology, mass spectrometry, systems biology, live-cell and single-molecule imaging. We offer vigorous but also flexible curriculum to fit your individual needs. Our training environment features close interactions with training faculty and other students. Your study will be supported by state-of-the-art facilities. The BBSB home area is a community of over 50 faculty members from academic units across campus, including the David Geffen School of Medicine and the College of Letters and Science. We offer rich career advice and development opportunities.
*To apply for the BBSB Home Area from the UCLA Graduate Division website, please apply to "Bioscience- Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology".
Questions about the application process? Contact us!


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These ALPHA color code labels feature a wrap-around design and have a specific assigned color per LETTER for easy identification and retrieval of hard copy files. When the labels are placed in the same position on each file folder, file pocket, etc., a color/block pattern is formed. A good color code system saves time in filing and retrieval without misfiles and in most cases pays for itself in less than a year. Labels are protected by a clear laminate and contain a center slit to make it easier to apply to a file folder, file pocket, etc.
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Ray Lewis had his Super Bowl media availability Wednesday morning, and the first question was about the allegations that he attempted to obtain a banned substance, as reported by Sports Illustrated. The Baltimore Ravens linebacker vehemently denied the report for the second consecutive day.
"Honestly, and I'm going to say it very clearly again, I think it's one of the most embarrassing things we can do on this type of stage," Lewis said. "You give somebody the ability to come into our world, our world is a very secret society and we try to protect our world as much as we can. When you let cowards come in and do things like that, to try to disturb something ... the reason why I'm smiling is because it's so funny of a story because I've never, ever took what he says or whatever I was supposed to do.
"It's just sad, once again, that someone could have so much attention on a stage this big, where the dreams are really real. I don't need it. My teammates don't need it. The (San Francisco) 49ers don't need it. Nobody needs it because it really just shows you how people really plan things and try to attack people from the outside. It's just foolish, very foolish. The guy has no credibility. He's been sued four or five times over the same B.S."
Mitch Ross, owner of S.W.A.T.S., told Sports Illustrated that Lewis requested deer antler spray and other remedies to quickly return from a torn right triceps. The spray contains the banned substance IGF-1 -- a natural, anabolic hormone that stimulates muscle growth and plays an important role in childhood growth and development. Ross claims it's not a steroid.
A reporter asked Lewis if he's angry about dealing with the backlash of this story.
"Never angry," Lewis said. "I'm too blessed to be stressed. ... You can use the word agitated."
Is it a distraction?
"It's not. It's a joke, if you know me," Lewis said with a grin. "I tell them (my teammates) all the time, 'Don't let people from the outside ever come and try to disturb what's inside.'
"That's the trick of the devil. The trick of the devil is to kill, steal and destroy. That's what he comes to do. He comes to distract you from everything you're trying to do."
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.


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ANCHORAGE — State researchers looking for answers to Alaska's diminishing king salmon returns were urged Tuesday to take a look at the critical days after smolt leave fresh water and to closely examine how humans may affect salmon in marine waters.
"The two leading hypotheses for things that might cause declines of chinook salmon in the ocean are climate change and fishing," said retired University of Washington fisheries biologist Kate Myers.
She was part of a panel that spoke at the state's two-day Alaska Chinook Salmon Symposium, organized to identify gaps in a draft research plan that Gov. Sean Parnell ordered up after a summer of dismal king salmon returns.
Alaska commercial fisheries chief scientist Erik Volk said researchers have an idea of how to approach the problem but want to hear from federal and university experts. They also want to hear from fishermen who depend on the resource but were turned away from fishing to make sure there were enough spawning kings to lay eggs for the next generation of fish.
"What are those information needs and how are we going to fill them?" asked Volk, who is overseeing research with his counterpart in sport fisheries, Bob Clark.
Since a peak in 2006, salmon returns have declined in most watersheds the state monitors. The U.S. Department of Commerce in September declared king salmon fisheries failures in Cook Inlet plus the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, making commercial fishermen eligible for disaster relief.
The reason for the poor returns is unknown but researchers suspect ocean factors.
Myers echoed other speakers in calling for studies of salmon during their critical first year in saltwater, when they must grow enough to survive an ocean winter.
"That is a huge information gap and I would encourage a focus of research on nearshore habitats," she said.
Focusing studies on human effects, she said, might result in progress in learning about the open-ocean ecology of king sal-
mon. She urged researchers to look at climate change and ocean acidification plus the effects of industrial fishing.
"Not really focusing on the bycatch mortality but focusing more on the ecological interactions," she said.
Marine pollution, she said, "is one of those invisible things that nobody's really wanted to look at."
The interaction between wild king salmon and hatchery fish, including pink salmon, also has not been studied.
"This is a huge area and people have avoided thinking about it," she said. Meanwhile, there are plans for dramatic increases in hatchery production both in the Gulf of Alaska and on the Russian side, she said.
The state hopes to have a king salmon research plan in place by early December, Volk said.
The framework is a focused look at a dozen king salmon drainages representative of the diverse life history, genetic attributes and ecology of the state's king salmon populations.
The 12 rivers include the Yukon, Kuskokwim, Kenai, Susitna, Copper, Unuk, Stikine, Taku, Chilkat, Karluk, Chignik and the Nushugak.
"We're probably going to pitch quite a bit of work," he said.


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This is from The Washington Post, May 13:
All Adam Johnson was looking for was a place to live.
In May 2009, he was new in town and desperate for a spot in a Capitol Hill home he found on Craigslist that had a room available for under $600 a month — a steal by Washington standards. When he showed up for a tour of the house he was "laying it on thick," he remembers, trying to charm the two women living there.
A few days later, he got a "nicely-worded three-sentence rejection letter" from one of the roommates, Sarah Gillespie. Recalling the attractive blonde who laughed at his jokes, Johnson, a lawyer, dashed off a witty reply. When Gillespie and her housemates decided to host a barbecue the next weekend, she invited Johnson, thinking, "He was funny, why not?"
But she didn't have romantic designs. The day before she met Johnson she'd broken up with a boyfriend of two years. Besides, she figured he was a "typical D.C. lawyer," which had never been her type.
Follow this link to the complete, lovely story.


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A clinical syndrome characterized by development, usually in infancy or childhood, of a chronic, often widespread candidiasis of skin, nails, and mucous membranes. It may be secondary to one of the immunodeficiency syndromes, inherited as an autosomal recessive trait, or associated with defects in cell-mediated immunity, endocrine disorders, dental stomatitis, or malignancy.
Chronic Mucocutaneous Candidosis, Candidosis, Chronic Mucocutaneous
Candidiases, Chronic Mucocutaneous, Candidiasis, Chronic Mucocutaneous, Chronic mucocutan candidiasis, Chronic Mucocutaneous Candidiases, Chronic Mucocutaneous Candidiasis, CHRONIC MUCOCUTANEOUS CANDIDOSIS, CMC - Chr mucocutan candidias, CMC - Chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, Mucocutaneous Candidiases, Chronic, Mucocutaneous Candidiasis, Chronic


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Today we devote the second of our "Super Tuesday" Fun with Highways articles to the state of Ohio. Although the state is often known for its agricultural and industrial heritage, we choose to focus on its major urban centers here. Although not originally intended as such, it could be called "fun with bridges."
We begin near Cleveland, the state's largest metropolitan area. I-90 comes in from the east along the shore of Lake Erie. At "Dead Man's Curve", the highway makes an abrupt and rather angular turn to the south to become the Innerbelt Freeway along the edge of downtown.
[Burtcbl at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], from Wikimedia Commons]
The above view shows old and new aspects of the city's skyline. The Terminal Tower is the classic deco skyscraper from the early 20th century is visible in the distance. The highly geometric and sleek Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a contrast along the waterfront. In between, the Key Tower, the tallest in Ohio, combines elements of both.
I-90 intersects with the northern terminus of I-77 at a rather complicated interchange before continuing across the Cuyahoga River on the "Innerbelt Bridge."
[Photo by GandZ on Wikimedia Commons. (CC BY-SA 3.0)]
The bridge crossings over the Cuyahoga in Cleveland are numerous, and perhaps define the city as much as the skyline, if not more. Even the image above showing the Innerbelt Bridge carrying I-90, we see several others. There is a low-lying rail bridge crossing underneath at an angle. It is one of many low bridges that can be raised for water traffic on the river. I believe this one is no longer in use and is permanently in the raised position.
The most iconic of the many crossings is the Detroit-Superior Bridge carrying US 6 and US 20 across the river into downtown. The name seems a little odd, as we're not in Detroit and Cleveland is on Lake Erie rather than Lake Superior. But it connects Detroit Avenue with West Superior Avenue and thus the name is quite appropriate. It rises high above the river and is quite picturesque against the downtown skyline.
[Burtcbl at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons]
Looking towards the lake from this bridge, one sees how closely packed the crossings are, and the diversity of shape, height, function, and level of disuse. In the picture below, we see the blue bridge carrying a major freeway, State Highway 2, beyond that a rail bridge, and in the front the ruins of the older Detroit Avenue viaduct.
[By Craig Hatfield [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons]
The viaduct, like the unused rail bridge shown above, are quite interesting as artistic subjects, and even qualify as "hyperart" as described in conceptual artist Akasegawa Genpei in his book Hyperart: Thomasson (you can find out more about it here). Thus, it should not be surprising that I would very much like to visit this part of the city for artistic inspiration, to explore the bridges both in use and abandoned, as well as other places along in this industrial riverfront section of the city known as the Flats.
[Photo by Chris Hamby on flickr. (CC BY-NC 2.0)]
Cleveland has actually long served as a magnet for artists interested in urban and industrial landscape, so this is nothing new. Indeed, the city has seen the same cycle of others where rundown or neglected neighborhoods attract artists in search of low rent and inspiration, and then the costs of living rise. But it still seems to have much to offer and I hope to get the chance to visit soon.
We depart Cleveland continuing on I-90, and then switch onto I-71 to journey diagonally across the length and breadth of the state. It winds through the suburbs, crossing many other highways before intersecting our friend I-80, which runs across the state as the Ohio Turnpike. The Ohio Turnpike is familiar from numerous cross-country trips, with the rolling hills and suburbs giving way to a much straighter road over flat terrain and farmland as one heads west. But in this instance, we continue south on I-71 towards Columbus, the state's capital and largest city.
Columbus is in the middle of the state, and without much to get in the way it has developed the "standard" set of ring roads we see in many cities around the world: an outer beltway (in this case, I-270) and an inner belt around the downtown (a combination of I-70, I-71, I-670 and State Highway 315).
[Photo created by Alexander Smith on Wikimedia Commons. (CC BY-SA 3.0)]
Looking at the Ohio State House, it initially looks like something is missing: the dome that is ubiquitous on so many seats of government. It appears as if it has been shaved off. In actuality, this is part of the design, an older Greek Revival design that predates the current Capitol dome in Washington, DC, that was then used subsequently in most states.
Columbus does have its bridges as well, including the Lane Avenue Bridge which includes some classical elements in its otherwise modern design.
And of course I would be remiss if I did not mention Ohio State, as I have several friends who are devoted lifelong fans due to their connections to either the university of the community.
Leaving Columbus, we continue southwest on I-71 to Cincinnati.
[Photo by Rdikeman]
One stop we must make while in the city is to the Contemporary Arts Center. The CAC is perhaps most famous for its exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe in 1990 that still resonates in discussions of "controversial art" (though honestly Mapplethorpe's photographs themselves don't seem that controversial anymore, I have seen on multiple occasions in recent years). But the museum is more recently known for its building with fragmented geometric sections designed by architect Zaha Hadid; and for programs that feature architecture and design.
The city is home to the Cincinnati Art Museum. It is a relatively conventional art museum with a wide-ranging collection, but it does include yet another piece by Mark di Suvero for us to encounter is this series. Atman is another large red metal outdoor sculpture, but without the typical rounded element.
[Photo by Adam Norwood on flickr. (CC BY-NC 2.0)]
Cincinnati lies along the state's namesake river, which forms the border with Kentucky to the south. As such the city has its own set of bridges, though nothing to approach the density of Cleveland. The most interesting perhaps is the John A Roebling Bridge. One can see many of the elements that Roebling would ultimately use in New York for the Brooklyn Bridge.
[Photo by Rick Dikeman on Wikimedia Commons. (CC BY-SA 3.0)]
Another Cincinnati Bridge that has been in the news is the Brent Spence Bridge, which carries I-71 together with I-75 south into Kentucky. The bridge is featured prominently in the city skyline image above. It also one of the 15 bridges labeled by the Federal government as "structurally unsafe", which sounds quite bad (indeed, President Obama used it as a backdrop for a speech about rebuilding our infrastructure). The bridge itself made the case in 2011 when chunks of concrete fell from the upper deck to the lower deck. Proposals are currently being considered for a replacement.


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Piggy Jo was home last weekend , I sprang a surprise on her and served her this finger licking good sweet sour crab wrapped in artisan bread....I wished I had taken a snapshot of her expression ! :p My artisan bread turned out great with a crispy crust and soft interior . I really have to thank Peter Reinhart for his tips on how to make the crust... even Wild Boar loves this bread....dipping the bread into the flavorful crab scented sweet sour and chilli hot gravy...awwwww it was truly finger licking good and the fiery taste set my tongue dancing !
I concocted my own sweet sour sauce - Simple sauce yet heavenly delicious...YUMM YUMMY !
Ingredients for the sauce:-
This amount of sauce is for 1 kg of crabs
1 cup of sour plum sauce ,
4 tbsp of fermented soy beans (tau cheong ) ,
chilli paste - depends on how hot your tongue can take it :p
1/2 tbsp of chopped bird's eye chilli
1 tbsp of chopped parsley ,
1/2 cup of garlic paste ,
1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar ,
1 tbsp of caster sugar.
2.5 cups of water.
1 tbsp of corn starch - mix with 3 tbsp of water,
1 egg - beaten for thickening the sauce.
2 tbsp of cooking oil * I used grapeseed oil
I put in the crabs first and the gravy last


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Community rallies around boy mowing lawns to pay for school supplies
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - While most kids spend their summers relaxing, a North Carolina boy was working hard to prepare for the new school year.
For the last few months, Tyran Bell has been offering to mow lawns in his home town; however, instead of earning cash, he has been asking for supplies and clothing. That's because his family has been going through a tough time and he wanted to help out.
"It started out with helping my momma out so she can pay her bills and I can buy my own school supplies."
It wasn't long before word spread and his community stepped in to help. A local business owner made her business a drop off location for people to donate clothing and supplies to Tyran.
His mother, Tara Lewis, knows what a hard worker her son is.
"Not too many kids his age are willing to go out and make his own money, and they usually have their hand out wanting their momma to pay for everything, so I am very blessed because he's very helpful and he's a smart kid."
Lewis has had to take off time from work to assist her brother after he was in an accident. Since then, there has been an outpouring of support.
"You can tell he's concerned and he's worried about his mom," said Theresa Baab, owner of A1 Security Services. "Such an amazing kid should have help."
Now, thanks to his community, Tyran has all the school supplies he needs.
"Tyran has always been the kind of person that wants to give and do things for other people," Lewis said. "I think it's a blessing because now that someone has been able to bless him, he's able to bless somebody else."
The selfless 10-year-old plans to give any additional donated items to other local kids in need.


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Since this parable follows the triumphant entry and precedes the teachings of Jesus on the signs of the end times delivered on the Mount of Olives (called the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24, 25) on the Wednesday of the Passion Week, the experts in the chronology of the Gospels put this time of controversy on Wednesday morning (along with all of Matthew 21:19b through 23:37-39; see the chronology chart at the end of this lesson).
But a lot of modern commentators think that this parable and the one in Luke 14:16-24 are two separate tellings of the same tradition. Of course, Jesus himself could have used the same, or similar parables at different times in his full teaching ministry; but these commentators usually mean that Jesus told the parable once, and the Gospels re-used it with changes.
The differences between Matthew and Luke are significant though. In Luke the story starts with "a certain man," but here it is the King. In Luke it is a great supper, but here it is a wedding banquet. In Luke there is one invitation, but here there are two. In Luke the invited guests make excuses, but here they refuse and turn violent. In Luke the invited guests are passed by, but here they are destroyed. These are major differences. Each passage fits its context very well, and so if one were to conclude that it was originally one story, there would have to have been significant editing to make the parable work in the contexts. Matthew's parable is harsher than Luke's, but then it comes later in Jesus ministry in Matthew, at a time when he was facing severe opposition from the Jewish leaders. It is most likely that this parable was a separate story, not a re-telling of the one in Luke, although in some ways the two are similar.
1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'
5 But they paid no attention and went off--one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless. 13 Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
14 "For many are invited, but few are chosen."
The meaning of this parable in the context of the Lord's Passion Week, in which he was to be betrayed and crucified, is pretty clear--it condemns the contempt that Israel as a whole (and everyone in general) had (and has) for God's gracious invitation through Jesus the Messiah.
The focus of the parable is on the wedding banquet of the Son. The reference is naturally to the Messianic banquet, which is not only mentioned in the New Testament (Rev. 19) but also in the Rabbinic Literature. At the end of the age, the Jewish tradition held, all the people of God--Israel--would enjoy a Messianic banquet in their transition from this life to the life to come. The details of that banquet, or the New Testament's marriage supper of the Lamb, cannot be pressed too much since the circumstances are different, as we shall see.
We may also observe that the parable clearly intends to portray Israel's spiritual indifference to the invitation in the sharpest way, culminating in their killing the messengers of the covenant. In Matthew 23 Jesus will accuse the hypocritical leaders of killing the prophets.
The imagery of a wedding banquet turns to the serious message when the man without the proper wedding clothes is not merely thrown out of the banquet, but is bound hand and foot, and cast into darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is obviously the judgment scene that Jesus repeated so often with these very words. Thus the banquet is the celebration of those who enter the kingdom, and the exclusion is the judgment of God for those who reject the invitation of grace.
We could break down the passage into several parts, but it seems that there are three natural stages in the story--the invitation refused (vv. 1-3), the second invitation violently opposed (vv. 4-8), and the invitation given to any who would come (vv. 8-13). In this last section we have sub-points that we can use: the wider invitation (vv. 8-10) and the rejection of the guest who was not clothed in the proper attire (vv. 11-13). The parable ends with a short maxim (v. 14).
I. The people invited to the wedding banquet of the Son refuse to come (22:1-3)
A. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a wedding banquet (1, 2).
Here we see the true nature of a parable--it is an extended simile. The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a wedding banquet. But the point of this comparison will be the details of the story to follow, answering what there is about the wedding banquet image that was intended by Jesus to describe the kingdom. The parable will focus on who responds properly to the call.
The parable says that the King gave a wedding banquet for his Son. In the claims of Jesus, God the Father would be this King, and Jesus, of course, was the Son. The presentation of the King's Son, the Messiah, as a bridegroom is not uncommon (see 9:15; 25:1; John 3:29; Eph 5:25-32; and Rev. 21:2, 9). This is the New Testament counterpart of the Old Testament usage of marriage as a symbol of the covenant, i.e., that Israel was the wife of Yahweh, and in the end, an unfaithful wife (see Hosea) who followed after other lovers (gods). The imagery in the New Testament does not focus on God's relation to a nation in general, but on the special relationship between Christ and true believers. The anticipated union with Christ in glory is portrayed by John as a marriage supper (Rev. 19). Here and elsewhere Jesus uses the same idea to warn people not to refuse the invitation, and not to be found unprepared for the coming of the Bridegroom.
B. The special invited guests refuse to come (3).
The guest list was drawn up ahead of time, and when the time came for the feast, they were notified that it was ready. But these guests refused to come (they persistently refused, the tense is imperfect). These special guests would be the Israelites who were expecting the Messiah; they claimed to be closely related to the King, God. But when the King prepared the banquet for his Son, they would not come. In the New Testament Christ is often portrayed as the stumblingstone--people might have embraced an offer of the kingdom, but they had to determine what to do about Jesus? For help in this section, one need only look at the end of Matthew 23 to get the point: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing" (Matt. 23:37). For many reasons, but one primarily, the Jewish people did not accept Jesus as their Messiah when he came and extended to them the invitation to come to him (Matt. 11:28). They could explain it in so many ways, but it simply was that they did not believe in him.
This parable, then, portrays the expected guests as refusing the gracious invitation to attend the banquet. By refusing the offer of grace they refused a share in the banquet, and in the world to come--if they continued to refuse.
II. Those who continually refuse the invitation become violent (22:4-6).
A. The King graciously repeats the invitation (4).
The King extends his gracious invitation again, although this time he makes it even more appealing. He sent other messengers out to invite them again. This is so true of the way that the Lord calls people to himself, repeatedly and with all the incentives to appeal to people. In this parable the incentives are portrayed in the description of the banquet. The word used technically refers to a morning meal, like a breakfast but eaten mid-morning. However, the translation of "banquet" can be used because the wedding feasts often went on for days. So this would be the beginning of the days of feasting. And here there would be plenty to eat--the King says that his oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is ready for the feast. What could be more appealing?--the King himself extends the invitation, it is for a joyful time of celebration, and there will be so much there to enjoy. One is amazed that the invitation needed to be repeated at all! The invitation of the King was both a great honor--and a sovereign command (one does not refuse the King).
B. Those who continue to refuse turn violent (vv. 5, 6).
The response to this second invitation is rather surprising, to say the least. The people paid no attention to the messengers, but went off on their own business. But others seized the messengers and mistreated them and killed them! The King was so outraged by their treatment of his messengers that he sent his army to destroy the murderers and burn their city.
The violent and harsh conclusion of the story sets this parable apart for the one in Luke. In this context the opposition to Jesus had grown violent; and Jesus warned his enemies of the coming judgment they would receive. So the focus of the parable, although severe, is true to history. The Hebrews had often harmed and killed the prophets that God sent to them; and they were about to do the same with Jesus. But to refuse the offer of the King and murder his messengers was the same as committing suicide. That would even have been true in their days. But in the story this was not any king, but the King of Glory.
A survey of the Gospels as a whole is necessary to draw together the reasons for the Jews' rejection and hatred of Jesus. Again and again Jesus called them to come and follow him and he would give them eternal rest. Their unbelief in him lay behind their refusal. But perhaps as the repeated appeals of Jesus made the call clearer to them--that Jesus was the divine Son of God, that they would have to submit to him, and that they could only enter the Kingdom of Heaven through repentance of their sins and faith in his provision--they became more aware of what he was saying about himself and therefore what he was saying about them. Their violent response in killing the messengers the LORD sent anticipated their desire to kill Jesus--they did not want to hear anymore of their guilt and his grace.
And so, just as Jesus explained in the last section, the kingdom would be taken from them and given to a people bearing fruit. Those who angrily refused the gracious invitation to the wedding feast would be insulting and minimizing the King, and so his wrath would fall on them.
III. The King invites others to the wedding feast but expels those who do not prepare properly for it (22:8-13).
A. The King invites as many as would come to the feast (vv. 8-10).
Because the ones who were invited refused to come, the king now turns to others. He sends his servants out into the streets to invite all that they could find, whether good or bad. The banquet hall was soon filled with people wanting to have a share in the King's wedding feast for his Son. The call is not for the wise and the learned, certainly not for the smug and self-righteous, but for all who would come. He came into the world to seek and save that which was lost, not those who had rigorously kept the Law (or who said they did) and could claim to have the righteousness to enter the Messianic banquet. What is drawn into the hall are both good and bad people--but all in need of God's invitation to escape the sin and bondage of this world.
B. The king expels anyone who did not prepare properly (vv. 11-13).
The parable tells how the King arrived to see the guests who wanted to be at the wedding feast for the Son. But he found a man who was not wearing the proper wedding clothes. The King addressed him as "Friend"--but do not be mislead by this word in Jesus' teaching, for when he called someone "friend" it was always in an ironic sense and a word of judgment followed. Whenever Jesus called anyone "Friend," he usually made it clear they were not. In our story The King wanted to know how the man got in without the proper attire, but the man was speechless, a sign of his guilt.
Many interpreters take the proper wedding attire to be righteousness, and find many passages that seem to support that. But that may be pushing the symbol a little too much in this story. Where would he get the righteousness?--the King expected him to have it to join the wedding feast! Some have suggested that the King provided the attire (i.e., righteousness) but this man refused to have it. That is adding quite a bit to the parable, and such an addition is not necessary. We can leave the symbolism a bit general and just say that the man did not prepare properly to act on the invitation he received. So there was an invitation to the banquet, but not all who responded to the invitation were allowed to remain. The King had the man tied and cast out into the darkness, where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The outcome of this man's situation informs us of the true meaning of the symbolism. We have to say that the proper attire would correspond to all that Jesus said was required for entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven--true repentance for sin and faith in Christ, and then a commitment to love and obey the Lord as evidence of saving faith. In Jesus' day many people certainly wanted to enter the kingdom, but when Jesus started telling them to come to him and take his yoke upon them and learn of him, they went away. And in the day of judgment many will claim to have done good deeds, but Jesus will turn them away because they will not have dealt properly with the basic issue of salvation--they will not be prepared properly and spiritually to be received by the King at the wedding of the Son.
The lesson closes with an explanation ("for"). Many are "called," but few are chosen. The word "many" is not intended to be a restricted number; it is used several times in Isaiah 53 to speak of those for whom Christ poured out his blood. The invitation has gone out to all who care to listen, but some just refused, and some wanted to come but refused to submit to the requirements of entrance into the kingdom. So none of these will be present in the kingdom. Those Jesus refers to as "chosen" are the people who respond to the invitation to come, and respond in the proper manner so that they are prepared to enter the kingdom. Because the Bible refers to the recipients of grace as "chosen," we may conclude that it intends to say that God is not surprised by the acceptance of some and the rejection of many--in other words, sovereign grace is still at work, even though on the human level we see how some refuse and some accept and prepare.
In Jesus' experience the invitation to the Messianic banquet had been extended to the Jews first, those who had the promise of the covenant, the kingdom, and the King; but they refused. But then Jesus began to turn to the Gentiles, and as many as believed in him would enter the kingdom in the place of the others, even if the ones who believed were formerly prostitutes and sinners rather than scholars and sages.
More people will reject the invitation or fail to meet the requirement of faith in Christ than those who are chosen, that is, those who truly believe and enter the kingdom.
In our day the invitation goes out from the Church by the Spirit through the Church:. "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come'." And whosoever wills may come and drink of the water of life freely. Those who refuse, whether violently opposed to Christ, or pretending to be in Christ, will have no part in the kingdom, but will be cast into outer darkness.
This is the message of the Gospel, the good news. It is only good news if salvation delivers us from darkness (if there is no darkness, no judgment, then there is no reason for good news). The Church must carry the invitation to the world, even if the world might refuse the invitation, or even treat them violently and kill them.
This is a parable. Not every detail of the story should be given a specific equivalent, only the main points and ideas. If there are similar stories, we need to notice the differences as much as the similarities.
In interpreting the parable, the context is so important. Throughout the events of the Passion Week leading up the crucifixion, the conflict between Jesus and the leaders became much sharper than it had been in Jesus' public ministry before. Now everything was clearly set in order in the events and teachings for all to see, and in seeing the issue, the people would know that their decision to accept or reject the grace of God in Christ was truly a matter of life and death, eternal life and death. He made it clear that the only way they would ever see the kingdom of heaven was by him.
The story makes it clear that there is no reason, none at all, for people to reject a gracious invitation from the King to come to the wedding feast and enjoy all good things. The only reason they reject the invitation is that they do not believe the King, or they do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. But since this is a call from the King, from God Himself, the people are not free to take it or leave it, even if they think they can be non-committal. To reject the invitation of God to share in the Kingdom is folly--it is to choose death; or, to reject the offer of grace is to reject God's only provision for eternal life.
Matthew |
Mark |
Luke |
John |
Great Crowd Gathers |
12:9-11 |
The Triumphal Entry |
21:1-11 |
11:1-10 |
19:28-44 |
12:12-19 |
Jesus Visits Temple |
21:10-11 |
11:11 |
Cursing the Fig Tree |
21:18-19a |
11:12-14 |
2nd Cleansing of Temple |
21:12-13 |
11:15-18 |
19:45-48 |
Healing and Dispute |
21:14-16 |
Visit of Greeks |
12:20-36 |
Discourse of Unbelief |
12:37-50 |
Return to Bethany |
21:17 |
11:18-19 |
19:47-48 |
Fig Tree Withered |
21:19b-22 |
11:19-26 |
Authority Questioned |
21:23-27 |
11:27-33 |
20:1-8 |
Parable of Two Sons |
21:28-32 |
Wicked Husbandman |
21:33-46 |
12:1-9 |
20:9-19 |
Parable of King's Son |
22:1-14 |
Render to Caesar |
22:15-22 |
12:13-17 |
20:20-26 |
Sadducees' Question |
22:23-33 |
12:18-27 |
20:27-40 |
Great Commandment |
22:34-40 |
12:28-34 |
Jesus' Question |
22:41-46 |
12:35-37 |
20:41-44 |
Woes to Pharisees |
23:1-36 |
12:38-40 |
20:45-47 |
Lament over Jerusalem |
23:37-39 |
The Widow's Mite |
12:41-44 |
21:1-4 |
N.B. The identification of the year and the date of the Passion Week is based on the work of Harold Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Zondervan Publishing Company), and Robert L. Thomas and Stanley N. Gundry, A Harmony of the Gospels (Moody press, 1978).
The identification of 33 A.D. for the crucifixion is based on all the data, but especially the notice that John the Baptist began ministering in the 15th year of Tiberius, which was 29 A.D. Jesus' ministry covered four Passovers including the one in which he was betrayed and crucified. In the year 33 A.D., Passover, the 14th of Nisan, came on Friday (actually started Thursday evening and continued through Friday), so Jesus died on what we now call Good Friday. For the arguments and discussion of other views, see the work of Hoehner.


text:
GE Appliance Repair New York
Like it or not, every so often home appliances break down and require fixing. Relying on the age and also the appliance, routine upkeep using GE appliance repair services can conserve time, cash as well as in some cases the appliance. Ignoring the trouble can end up costing much more if the problem continues and if left neglected it could lead to needing to purchase a new appliance. Selecting the ideal fixing solution is available in useful, due to the fact that regular upkeep can really extend the life of the device and maintain it functioning correctly. GE appliance repair services are certified and also qualified solution professionals proficient in the field with the abilities and also understanding of business as well as understanding of the home appliance, which will conserve time and money for repair solutions.
In some cases, the proprietor's guidebook offers guidelines on repairing some normal repair services without damaging the appliance. If the device fails to begin:
Blown Fuse - Reset the breaker or replace the fuse.
Digital Versions - Reset the beginning switch. Transform the home appliance off and back on.
No Power - Reset the wall button located on the wall plug outlet.
Not Functioning - Make certain the plugs are linked, as well as the doors closed or secured.
No Power - Make the electrical outlet voltage is appropriate.
Solution Calls
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text:
On our recent trip to Coromandel we checked out
The Lakes Resort and Golf Club
a short distance from Pauanui.
There is also a gated resort style community there which we could
only see from a distance. The houses all looked very upmarket
but not our cup of tea!
While neither of us are golfers we enjoyed our little tour.
I had always thought I would like to take up golf when I retire
but now with one of my knees giving me grief
I feel I may be past it!!!
Do you play golf, I know it is a great way of exercising!
These are the 'bunkers' which look very tricky for a non-golfer like me!
I'm joining Maggie for Mosaic Monday
and I hope to catch up with you all there!
I may not visit you until the weekend because work gets in the way
of my fun blogging time!
Meantime, thank you all for your visits.
Take care and
be kind to one another
à bientôt


text:
Click on arrow to hear the song performed by Derek B. Scott, Professor of Critical Musicology, University of Leeds, to his own piano accompaniment c. 1980.
According to Professor Scott, this song helps to illustrate that the Victorian attitude to drink was not one of universal disapprobation. The emphasis, however, is on moderation. (Compare the later temperance song, "Throw Out the Life-line!")
Scott, Derek B. The Singing Bourgeois: Songs of the Victorian Drawing Room and Parlour. 2nd ed. Aldershot, Hampshire; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2001.
Last modified 10 September 2007


text:
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text:
When Pete Buttigieg arrived in England, he was a curious, bookish 23-year-old known to his friends as Peter.
The year was 2005. The Iraq War, unpopular among Buttigieg's college peers, was raging with no end in sight. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president, had lost the 2004 election to an increasingly unpopular Republican president.
And Democrats, like Buttigieg, were soul-searching.
"It felt like a pretty dark moment," said Dan Weeks, one of Buttigieg's friends from Oxford who now lives in New Hampshire and is active in Democratic politics in that early nominating state. They were eager, Weeks said, to find like-minded progressives who were not "content with the 'Clinton Third Way' status quo that had defined the Democratic Party for basically our lifetimes."
The Third Way refers to the moderate Democratic politics of the Bill Clinton era that sought to reconcile centrist economic ideas with progressive social ideas.
Weeks said the Clinton model had failed their generation. And he, like Buttigieg, was searching for a way out of that centrism.
He met the future mayor of South Bend, Ind., then a newly minted Harvard graduate, while at Oxford. Buttigieg was studying politics, philosophy and economics on a Rhodes scholarship.
And it was during this time that some of the seeds of his political ambitions took root.
In deep conversations in college dorms — nearly 15 years ago — the future presidential candidate joined friends to create an informal group with a mission: rebuild the Democratic Party that had suffered from repeated election losses.
The Democratic Renaissance Project
Every week or two, Weeks met up with Buttigieg and another dozen or so friends to debate and discuss politics. "We were nerdy types, I suppose," Weeks said.
Their group was like a book club but without books.
"We were students. It was our full-time job to try to think big thoughts and understand how the world works," Buttigieg said, recounting his Oxford days in an interview with NPR.
Together, they called themselves members of the Democratic Renaissance Project.
The name was kind of tongue-in-cheek, according to Sabeel Rahman, another member of the group.
"I certainly didn't think that we were actually remaking progressive politics," said Rahman, Buttigieg's roommate at the time. "It was more just a way ... for us to work through our own thinking."
Sometimes the friends met in common rooms in the ancient ornate colleges around Oxford; other times they gathered at a local British pub that had been frequented by a former Rhodes scholar whose reputation loomed large in their academic circles: Bill Clinton.
"It was very informal," Rahman said. "We would take turns hosting, and we'd bring some snacks or something. We'd rotate who would tee up a different topic of conversation."
But as ad-hoc as it seemed, there was also a clear sense of generational urgency; if these brainy, young Ivy League-educated students wanted to live in a better country, it seemed they had to fix it themselves. They felt obliged to prepare for public service.
"It was something more than just the camaraderie, which counted for a lot," Weeks said. "We were looking to challenge each other's thinking, especially at that moment, when after almost eight years of George W. Bush, a lot of us were feeling like the country was almost unrecognizable."
Sometimes the group would circulate writings by modern day political theorists about citizenship or progressive values.
"A lot of times we'd think through some of the policy debates of the day. The Iraq War was one that came up a number of times," said Rahman, who now serves as president of the progressive group Demos.
NPR contacted more than half a dozen former Democratic Renaissance Project members. Most declined to be interviewed on the record for this story. Buttigieg's friends are a high-achieving crew: They now work at elite universities, law firms and hedge funds. They didn't want to discuss campaign politics given their professional ties. Some are now financially supporting Buttigieg's campaign. Others certainly would vote for him. Weeks recently officially endorsed Buttigieg.
But, in a strange twist, at least two members have also worked for another 2020 presidential candidate: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
That includes Ganesh Sitaraman, a Buttigieg friend from his undergraduate days at Harvard who originally conceived of the Democratic Renaissance Project with him. In addition to the Oxford branch, the group had an outpost in Cambridge, Mass., where Sitaraman was studying.
Sitaraman is a close longtime adviser to Warren.
Centrist critic
During his Oxford days, Buttigieg felt there was a faulty theory circulating among Democrats — an assumption that in order to win elections they had to contort their values, work within the Republican framework and put a conservative spin on their message.
"There had been a smallness to the aspirations of our own party," Buttigieg said. "Because it felt like all those years, the whole first decade of this century, it felt like all that Democrats were doing was responding to Republicans."
There's an echo of this you hear from Buttigieg on the campaign trail, that includes a critique of his own party.
"If we want to win, we can't look like we're the party of 'back to normal,' " Buttigieg told Iowa Democrats earlier this year, in a version of a line he has repeated throughout the campaign. "What we have now isn't working, but 'normal' wasn't working either. That's part of how we got here."
Buttigieg said he was frustrated during the Bush years that the GOP seemed to have a monopoly on family, patriotism and morality. He felt like his party was focused on policy, and he wanted them to think more about values and philosophy.
"A big part of what we were doing was studying the right," Buttigieg explained. "One of the things that we had noticed was that it was actually the American right wing that had built the strongest relationship between kind of ideas and politics."
Buttigieg and his friends were obsessed with reforming the Democratic Party.
Rahman says he remembers one particular example in which they staged a debate at Oxford. The prompt was: "The Third Way Is Good For The Democratic Party: Yay or Nay."
"Pete spoke up. I remember he was against that Third Way approach," Weeks said. "He was a strong, and, I thought, certainly pretty compelling critic of that way."
And yet, ironically, Buttigieg's current critics accuse him of being a modern Third Way politician, a candidate overly focused on rhetoric rather than ideas.
When Buttigieg began his presidential campaign, he suggested some radical changes such as scrapping the Electoral College and reforming the Supreme Court. Now that he's seen as a more viable candidate, he's not as vocal about those ideas.
"I think over time, I've come to appreciate more the policy work that comes out of moderate organizations," Buttigieg said in trying to explain how he reconciles how people see him today with his vocal opposition to centrism while in graduate school.
Those friends who formed the Democratic Renaissance Project never came to a consensus on ideology among themselves. Most returned to the United States. Some joined universities; Buttigieg joined the consulting firm McKinsey. But every year they would still gather, sometimes in Washington or Cambridge, Mass., and debate ideas, often with a formal agenda and guest lectures.
At one meeting, they brainstormed where the country's politics would be in 10 years. The predictions were remarkably prescient: a country with worsening income inequality and tribalism. Around 2010, the group fizzled out. Today, some of the former members are more centrist, others more liberal.
But Rahman says there was something that united them.
"We came into that space not just with a sense of crisis but with a sense that progressive politics as it was being practiced in the post-Clinton era was not up to the task of what we needed progressivism to do," he said.
Many friends agree the focus on freedom, values and generational change Buttigieg speaks about on the campaign trail trace back to those days of soul-searching as liberal millennials living in a George W. Bush world.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
Defense Department officials are studying security issues raised by physical conditioning trackers that also can be used to track service members' whereabouts, a Pentagon spokesman told reporters Jan. 29.
The concern comes from a "heat map" posted by Strava — the makers of a fitness tracking application that shows the routes service members run or cycle in their daily exercises. These maps can show military bases and may be used to target individuals.
"We take these matters seriously, and we are reviewing the situation to determine if any additional training or guidance is required, and if any additional policy must be developed to ensure the continued safety of DOD personnel at home and abroad," Army Col. Robert Manning III said during a morning news conference at the Pentagon.
Wearable electronic fitness trackers upload data to Strava, which then publishes a heat map of the activity so people can download the maps to find good running or cycling routes.
Use privacy settings
"The rapid development of technology requires the rapid refinement of policy and procedures to enhance force protection and operational security," Manning said. "DOD personnel are advised to place strict privacy settings on wireless technologies and applications."
Service members are prohibited from wearing such wireless technologies in some areas and during some operations, Manning said.
Manning didn't say what the department will do about the issue. "We have confidence in commanders to employ tactics, techniques and procedures that enhance force protection and operational security with the least impact to individuals," the colonel said.
All DOD personnel go through annual training on information security. The training urges service members and DOD civilians to limit profiles on the internet, including personal social media accounts, Manning said.
"Furthermore, operational security requirements provide further guidance for military personnel supporting operations around the world," he said. The heat map incident re-emphasizes the need for service members to be cautious about what data to share via wearable electronic devices, he added.


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text:
A 'Sesame Street' Muppet shares her mother's struggle with addiction
One of "Sesame Street's" tiny, young Muppets is dealing with a big, adult issue as part of an effort to help families dealing with substance abuse.
Sesame Workshop, the organization that produces the beloved children's show, has created a series of videos that features 6-year-old Karli talking to her friends about her mom's struggle with addiction.
Karli came to "Sesame Street" in May to stay with a foster family because her mother was "having a hard time."
In the latest videos, she tells Elmo, Abby Cadabby and other friends that her mom had to go away for treatment and that she's now in recovery.
Karli told Elmo that her mom goes to meetings every day to help her stay healthy.
"My mom needs help learning to take better care of herself," she said in one video. "So she talks to people with the same problem."
Karli says she goes to a special meeting for kids where they can share their experiences.
In a statement, Sesame Workshop said that about 5.7 million children under age 11 in the United States live in households with a parent with a substance abuse disorder. That's one in eight kids, and doesn't include children who aren't living with a parent due to separation or divorce, incarceration or death as a result of their addiction.
"For children who connect to Karli, hearing, 'It's not your fault — you are not alone, and there are safe people and places that can help,' opens a path to hope and healing," Jerry Moe, national director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Children's Program, said in the statement. He was one of the advisers for the initiative.
The site has resources and activities for children and caregivers in English and Spanish.
It also introduces Karli to a 10-year-old girl named Salia, who shares what it has been like for her and her little sisters as their parents dealt with their addictions.
"I'm proud of Mom and Dad for asking for help, and not using drugs or alcohol anymore. And they're proud of me, for just being me," she said in the video.
Sesame Workshop says it wants children to know that they're not alone and to give them tools to help cope with the difficult feelings they're having if their parents are suffering from addiction.