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One of the Left's great challenges is to understand when the great watershed of change is upon people and seize the time. Racism, sexism, inequality, and uncertain futures have weighed heavily on the conscience of many a movement. For every great moment, hundreds of crushing defeats never to be remembered are handed down. Once in a rare moon, stunning defeats like the 1965 Selma to Montgomery demonstrations or the Long March galvanize participants and become iconic — something history recalls as a moral victory that alters the fates of those involved. But how often does that happen? It's much more seldom than you'd think.
The expectation of sure and monumental societal shifts is not isolated to progressives. The Right has more than its share of individuals who believe in the surety of change. In some alternate, albeit anecdotal, universe, Left and Right, extreme flavors in particular, share a view that society, whether through greed, excess, loss of the moral barometer, or any number of factors, has lost its way and its people need to wake up to that reality. In some cases, these subcultures of doom can shake people from slumber and even influence their outcomes. No one will probably ever know how much blood committed people have spilled for the sake of change, either to spark it or stop it.
In Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth (PM Press, 2012), James Davis, Sasha Lilley, David McNally, and Eddie Yuen in four essays beautifully plumb the history of these hopes, even mad ones. Part history lesson, part ideological soul searching, Catastrophism is a dense yet enthralling attempt to not only understand what brings Left and Right to believe in the inevitability of renewal, but also to take apart these visions in hopes of educating readers about what true social change means and why nothing can truly replace mass grassroots organizing.
It is not hard to figure out where even well-adjusted people adopt the idea of the certainty of social collapse. Generations upon generations of popular culture has normalized the notion that the world is folding and that it is now on the shoulders of a few brave souls to battle for the future. It's not just the wildly popular Christian Left Behind series to latch onto this storyline. You'd be hard pressed to not find in the cultural landscape images of a dying world, which is a plot device in so many books, films, and television serials. McNally reminds readers that horrific imagery has been for years a harbinger of public sentiment, especially a metaphor for what people fear most. With Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero famously tapped into the zombie for a cultural criticism of capitalism as inherently cannibalistic. The monsters of modern film seem numbingly banal, with their assorted social awkwardness, relationship problems, and lusts, and yet they still play the same cultural functions as classic monsters like vampires. The average American is plunged each day into this world where conflict, death, and chaos are at every turn; Hollywood has merely found a way to profit. The make-believe world, McNally says, masks real worries of neoliberalism, austerity, and similar horrors which now rule our daily lives.
Themes of fictional wars against the undead pock our imaginations and, increasingly, the political intelligence of the public. The far right, as Davis investigates, has been virtually sculpted by beliefs in social apocalypse for nearly a century or more. As the first Roman Catholic presidential nominee, Al Smith's losing bid for president in 1928 is widely credited by historians to be in part due to worries of conservative Christians that the White House would be controlled by the Pope. Later, Minister Arno C. Gaebelein fought the New Deal, believing it was a cover for Russian Communism and, under that, Satan himself aiming to make all people his loyal servants. Such ideas have endured to this very day, where the Pat Buchanans and Billy Grahams of the scene see the specter of one world government poised to vanquish traditional Christianity at any moment. The Obama Administration has been a popular target for a spectrum of conservatives, from disgraced pundit Dinesh D'Souza to Texas conspiracy guru Alex Jones, as the iron first ready to seize true Americans' freedoms. With such storm troopers apt to destroy life as we know it, ideologies like dominionism, which holds that natural resources were offered to humanity by God for its use and their exhaustion will hasten Christ's return, find a large and influential audience. Farfetched as they sound, such concepts on the Right are plentiful.
Sadly, such fear mongering has created an especially nasty political class with a consistent message: those who are different than you are out to take what is white America's, and it's time to fight. California Republican Brian Bilbray forecast future terrorists "coming in on a Latin name," while anti-immigrant activists like John Tanton use colorful rhetoric to suggest the Third World is ready to pounce on the West's bounty. As the recent conviction of 33-year-old white nationalist Anders Breivik suggests, some are willing to viciously "defend themselves" from their imagined multicultural menace. "This growth in extremism has been aided by mainstream media figures and politicians who have used their platforms to . . . spread the kind of paranoid conspiracy theories on which militia groups thrive," the Southern Poverty Law Center notes in its survey of far right extremists.
Lilley, co-host of radio program Against the Grain, and Yuen take on the Left's fascination with catastrophe, and do so incisively. Marxists and anarchists of many stripes have opined that capitalism is bound to fail, though such claims misread capitalism's changeability and underestimate the Left's need to out-organize the powerful. Yet in the last half century, clandestine U.S. groups like the Weather Underground Organization and the Earth Liberation Front, with hopes of kicking off a revolution with brash expressions of direct action, ended up winning little to nothing. In numerous cases, these erstwhile movements hoping for mass revolt instead disconnected themselves from that potential in their misunderstanding of contemporary politics. Anti-civilization anarchism, which speaks of destroying enemies and dismantling the infrastructure, even if it means people die as a result, surely sounds insane to most. In other circles, the rise of repression, Nativism, financial collapse, and political corruption is hailed as a harbinger of revolutionary change, that greater suffering ripens the potential for an uprising. Catastrophism contends no result should be considered automatic. Marx's theory of crisis, Lilley reminds readers, did not depend on capitalism's breakdown. Theorist Anton Pannekoek expanded on this view by positing that the matter was defeating capitalism in spite of its durability not because of the supposed inevitably of its failure.
Lilley refuses to legitimize the point of view of liberals who regard the Left as well as the Right with condescension, equating all left-wing political theories with catastrophism and tsking them away as outgrowths of extremism. What about the election cycle-driven liberal catatrophism that demands progressives set aside their principles or else right-wing candidates could spell disaster for millions? Among the liberal crowd, defeating conservatives is a rallying cry that is more important than food, education, justice, and virtually every other core value. "Such fear-mongering in the service of the status quo reaches its apex with perennial liberal scares about impending fascism," Lilley writes. "Such scares reached a fever pitch after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, when various liberals decided that the Constitution had been ripped up, replaced by a dictatorship."
Although consciously not a dictionary of strategies, Catastrophism's authors are clear on what does not work — "and what works at great cost." The book is best when exploring political areas without easy answers. It is certain to spark the debate its authors intended, and perhaps create conversations about the need for the kind of organizing that must happen to initiate the diverse social justice agenda many progressives profess to want.
Ernesto Aguilar may be contacted at <firstname.lastname@example.com>.
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Boundless CF-710 Vaporizer
The Boundless CF-710 vaporizer performs like a dab rig but looks like a wax pen, delivering smooth, flavor-rich vapor from wax concentrates in a whole new way. Boundless Technologies, makers of the Boundless CFX vaporizer, have rethought the way we vape waxy oils with a stem straw design that extends the vapor path for smoother hits. Featuring a powerful battery, state-of-the-art wax heating tips, and a sleek, compact design, the Boundless CF-710 allows you to enjoy excellent vapor production from a device that fits in your hand. Ideal for home or on-the-go use, the Boundless CF-710 vaporizer provides milky dab rig hits free of harshness from a portable device that won't weigh down your pocket.
How does the CF-710 work?
The Boundless CF-710 features a heating tip on the opposite end of the mouthpiece to offer an exceptionally long vapor path. Simply dip the heating tip into a glass wax concentrate jar while taking a hit through the stem-straw mouthpiece. Because the heating element is kept further from the mouthpiece, the vapor has longer to travel and cool off before it reaches your palate. This unique vaporization method is ideal for wax concentrate enthusiasts who prefer comfortable, flavorful vapor, or those who like to take big hits with no harshness. Because you don't load the Boundless CF-710 as you would a vape pen with an atomizer or an enail, there's no mess to clean up afterward, making for an altogether seamless and convenient experience.
The Boundless CF-710 battery
The Boundless CF-710 features a powerful 16500 LG lithium ion battery that vaporizes wax concentrates very thoroughly and efficiently. Convenient for portable vaporization of wax concentrates, the Boundless CF-710 vaporizer charges in just 2 hours and provides over an hour of continuous vaping on a full charge. The Boundless CF-710 is incredibly easy-to-use. Just dip the heating element in waxy oil and press the button. The vaporizer heats up in just seconds, convenient for vaping on-the-fly or taking quick hits at home with no wait time. Charge the Boundless CF-710 vaporizer from just about anywhere via Micro-USB..
The Boundless CF-710 style – sleek and stainless
A sturdy yet sophisticated stainless steel build holds up to life's wear and tear while giving the Boundless CF-710 a great look and feel. This compact vaporizer is easy to carry with you in your pocket and hide in your hand while vaping. The simple-to-use single button control makes taking quick heats easy, and gives the Boundless CF-710 a minimalist look. The Boundless CF-710 is the go-to vape for wax concentrate lovers looking for big hits that are smoother than the average wax pen from a unit that's sleeker than the usual e-nail.
Key Features of the CF-710:
- Stem-Straw Mouthpiece
- 900mAH Battery
- 5 Second Heat Up
- Portable Dab Hits
- Compact 5.5″ Design
- 100% Stainless Steel

subset: commoncrawl


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I knew my ancient computer had to be replaced. I was holding out until I finished my book on second wave feminism in Philly and somehow got it published. I didn't want to have to deal with transferring all those files.
The plan was, after I finished the book, I'd get out those back issues of Consumer Reports I was saving for this purpose, do the research, and get the best deal I could on a computer. Well, best laid plans and all that.
Lately, the computer was getting really, really slow and making weird noises. I was having trouble re-booting, and when we went to Block Island I left it on. I decided it was worth wasting electricity, so I wouldn't have to worry about re-booting. (From an environmental perspective, very bad, I know.)
I have a publisher interested and was making the revisions she wanted so I could get the manuscript back to her by the beginning of October as promised. At this critical moment, my computer made a very loud, horrible sound and then the screen went black. Rick said it sounded like a power supply problem.
My students were always claiming something like this happened to them when they didn't hand their papers in on time. This may be payback for never believing their stories.
So I had no time to do research to get the best possible deal on a new computer. I went to Staples (because it's five minutes from my home) and bought the cheapest CPU from a manufacturer whose name I recognized and hoped that the extra hundred I paid for file transfers would work. I had thought I was backing everything up with Simple Save, but apparently not.
I finally got the wretched computer set up and then discovered there was no wireless adapter. So, back to Staples. I asked them why they didn't tell me the computer did not come with a wireless adapter—I thought that was standard these days. The sales person acknowledged he should have told me.
Why am I bothering to write all this boring stuff? Maybe the real question is: why can't I deal with the possibility of going without a computer for one day??


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Thunderbolt, developed by Intel, steps up USB port technology by supporting both high‐speed data and video. Harnessing Thunderbolt through a USB-C port created in partnership with USB-IF, Thunderbolt 3 is the fastest port available. It connects Thunderbolt devices, all HD and 4K displays, and billions of USB-C devices using one compact, reversible cable.
The increasing mobility of the workforce coupled with the decreasing size of devices created a challenge within the tech sphere: How to support desktop speeds and applications—on mobile devices. Thunderbolt was developed as a solution to this challenge. Thunderbolt 3 supports the fastest data and most video bandwidth on a single cable.
1. Ethernet 2. Firewire 3. Thunderbolt 2
4. DisplayPort™ 5. HDMI® 6. USB-C 7. USB-A
Thunderbolt, DisplayPort, PCI Express, and USB
Up to 40 Gbps total bandwidth
Supports dual 4K 60Hz displays
Up to 85W power delivery
The new wave of Thunderbolt 3 Docks from Belkin brings fast data transfer, ultra-high definition monitor support and all the features you want from your ideal workstation.
Take full advantage of Thunderbolt technology with cables and accessories from Belkin.
A unit of data transfer rate measuring bandwidth speed by the billions of bits transferred per second.
The most common universal connector on the "other end" of most current USB cables, Standard USB is often suitable for use with computers, car chargers, wall chargers, and many other devices.
A port designed for use with an industry standard connector to communicate data and supply electric power between devices.
USB 3.1 is the updated, Gen 2 version of USB 3.0. Gen 2 successfully doubled the transfer speed rate of Gen 1(USB 3.0), taking USB from 5 Gbps to 10 Gbps.
A new type of USB connector, hailed as the new standard. Smaller, faster, and more user-friendly than previous USB types, USB-C has widespread support from industry leaders, meaning USB-C will come to replace all other USB types.
A non-profit organization founded by the companies that developed the Universal Serial Bus (USB) specification. The USB-IF's mission is to support and advance USB technology.
Quickly becoming the new standard for high-quality digital video, 4K refers to a horizontal resolution of 4,096 pixels, or "4K" pixels.
A miniaturized version of the DisplayPort interface, Apple developed audio-visual digital interface Mini DisplayPort in 2008.


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Mental health officials brief stakeholders on KCK facility
Published January 31st, 2014 at 5:38 PM
A new short-term mental health facility in Kansas City, Kan., will have the capacity to serve community needs and will not abandon patients after they are treated, the operators of the facility said at a Friday forum.
There should always be adequate space in the facility because the focus of the treatment will be quick interventions that allow further treatment of the individual through community-based supports, said Dalyn Schmitt, CEO of Heartland Regional Alcohol & Drug Assessment Center in Mission, Kan., one of three organizational partners in the new crisis-stabilization facility.
The plan is for the treatment center to house patients for no more than 10 days, and organizers said staff will treat some clients in a matter of hours.
The main intent of the new operation, according to the partners, is treating individuals who might otherwise wind up in jail or a state mental hospital. Services might include adjusting a client's medication or simply allowing someone to come down from a high so counselors can work with the individual to find help through an outside agency.
The organizations expect to open the center by April. It will operate out of the old Rainbow Mental Health Facility, at 2205 W. 36th Ave., a former state-run center that closed more than two years ago.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Shawn Sullivan, secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, unveiled the plan during a Jan. 23 appearance at the Wyandot Center, the community mental health center in Kansas City, Kan.
Wyandot Center will manage the new center through a newly created subsidiary. The other organizational partner is the Johnson County Mental Health Center.
An audience of more than 100 individuals attended the 75-minute forum held in the Mission office of the Johnson County Mental Health Center.
Along with consumers, attendees at the meeting included representatives from law enforcement, social service providers and state government. State Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore, a Kansas City, Kan., democrat, also attended.
The facility will have 10 beds for longer-term stays, said Wyandot Center CEO Pete Zevenbergen. The building will have a capacity to serve approximately 20 more people at a given time, including in a sobering unit where stays might be as short as three hours.
"We are hopeful that we are going to see a decrease in some of these consumers in the jail that are not being best served there," said Wyandotte County Sheriff Don Ash. "We support this 100 percent."
Gary Bachman, interim director of the undergraduate social work program at Park University in Parkville, Mo., cautioned that leaders of the effort not create a "brief interlude" of treatment and then discharge the patients with no support network. That happens too often in mental health, he said.
The leaders said that wouldn't happen because of the close coordination with other service providers. They also said patients would benefit from obtaining treatment close to home instead of at a distant state mental hospital.
"There won't be any dumping," Zevenbergen said.
Wyandot Center will operate the new Rainbow facility under a three-year, $3.5 million contract with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.
Rainbow once served as a 50-bed inpatient facility. State officials closed all but six of Rainbow's beds in 2011 after federal surveyors cited a lack of staff at the hospital and the state fire marshal found safety violations.
At that time, the state transferred Rainbow's 30 residential beds to Osawatomie State Hospital. Those beds will remain in Osawatomie, according to the state.
Moore said the Rainbow facility should fill a gap in care between confinement in a jail or a mental hospital and community-based services. "We are missing that middle step it feels like," she said.
Other details provided by Zevenbergen include:
- That Wyandot has hired a director for the facility. He did not identify the director, who he said has a nursing background.
- The partners need to make about $75,000 of renovations to the building.
- The new facility is utilizing about a third of the space in the building.
- Planning and negotiations with the state took about a year to complete.
Donavan Gardner, a staff member at a consumer organization in Kansas City, Kan., expressed support for the plan.
"I think it will go a long way," he said. "I think it will be very successful."
Major Funding for Health coverage on KCPT provided by Assurant Employee Benefits and the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.


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Gum Disease (Gingivitis)
Gingivitis is the medical term for early gum disease, or periodontal disease. In general, gum disease can be caused by long-term exposure to plaque, the sticky but colorless film on teeth that forms after eating or sleeping.
Gum disease originates in the gums, where infections form from harmful bacteria and other materials left behind from eating. Early warning signs include chronic bad breath, tender or painful swollen gums and minor bleeding after brushing or flossing. In many cases, however, gingivitis can go unnoticed. The infections can eventually cause the gums to separate from the teeth, creating even greater opportunities for infection and decay.
Although gum disease is the major cause of tooth loss in adults, in many cases it is avoidable.
If gingivitis goes untreated, more serious problems such as abscesses, bone loss or periodontitis can occur.
Periodontitis is treated in a number of ways. One method, called root planing, involved cleaning and scraping below the gum line to smooth the roots. If effective, this procedure helps the gums reattach themselves to the tooth structure.
Pregnancy has also been known to cause a form of gingivitis. This has been linked to hormonal changes in the woman's body that promote plaque production.


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Originally published at Grist.
A recent post on Grist attempted to dismantle the intellectual foundations of free-market environmentalism — the application of markets and property rights to solve environmental problems. But far from toppling a burgeoning movement within modern environmentalism, it succeeded only in misrepresenting the subject.
To recap: Clark Williams-Derry claimed that while free-market environmentalism may be effective in some areas of the environment (e.g., fisheries management), its reliance upon unrealistic assumptions about the real world largely relegates it to useless intellectual theorizing. In particular, the Coase theorem — an important component of market-based environmentalism named for Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase — amounts to "a quirky but not particularly relevant bit of theoretical math."
While there is certainly much more to free-market environmentalism than the work of Coase (see Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book Free Market Environmentalism for more details), I focus here mostly on the misinformed critique of Coase that has been used to discredit free-market environmentalism.
So, who is Coase, what is his theorem, and what does it have to do with free-market environmentalism?
Ronald Coase's 1960 paper "The Problem of Social Cost" [PDF] challenged the way economists thought about competing uses of resources. In short, the Coase theorem states that if property rights are fully specified and the costs of coordinating transactions between agents are zero, bargaining will lead to an efficient outcome, regardless of how rights are initially assigned.
To illustrate: suppose a farmer and a refinery are both located along a river. According to the Coase theorem, as long as property rights to the use of the river are clearly defined and the costs of transacting with one another are zero, the amount of effluent disposed in the river by the refinery will be the same regardless of who has the property right. If the farmer had the right to have the river's water free of the refinery's waste, the refinery could compensate him in exchange for a partial right to discharge effluent into the river. If the refinery had the right to use the river for effluent discharge, the farmer could compensate the refinery in exchange for less effluent released into the river.
In this stylized example, voluntary negotiations between the farmer and the refinery will result in the optimal amount of effluent discharged in the river, as long as property rights are defined to one of them. This would occur without taxes imposed, water-use regulations devised, or subsidies doled out to try to control the use of the river.
But as was correctly noted (and astute readers have no doubt picked up on), the real world is much more complex; negotiation is costly, multiple agents are often affected, and information is diffuse. So, Coase's theorem — and free-market environmentalism in general — is irrelevant in the real world, right?
Wrong. Coase's chief accomplishment was to encourage the economics profession to move away from the abstract mathematical tinkering that often bears no resemblance to the real world. He introduced the world to the reality of transaction costs, the costs of coordinating exchanges in the market. For decades, economists had devised policy prescriptions based on faulty assumptions of perfect competition, complete information, and, although it wasn't framed in these terms, zero transaction costs. As Coase later wrote, "What my argument does suggest is the need to introduce positive transaction costs explicitly into economic analysis so that we can study the world that exists."
Despite the claim that his theory is "mathematical," Coase's work lacks even a single equation. Coase's ideas are about reality, not theoretical math — a reason why he rejects what he calls "blackboard economics" because "it does not study the real world."
Building upon Coase's essay on social cost, economists began focusing attention on property-rights institutions and their ability to lower transaction costs. Free-market environmentalism recognizes that when property rights are well defined, disputes over resource use can often be resolved locally and cooperatively. This is in sharp contrast to the conventional command-and-control approach to environmentalism that is characterized by top-down management, special interests, and zero-sum "I-win-you-lose" outcomes.
This is not to say free-market environmentalists don't believe in the presence of high transaction costs. To be sure, sufficiently high transaction costs can present significant hurdles for market-based solutions. But oftentimes, this presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs to step in and define property rights that lower such costs. These environmental entrepreneurs, call them "enviropreneurs," are the often-unrecognized agents of change that contract with rights holders to keep water instream for fish and wildlife habitat, compensate livestock owners for their losses due to wolf depredation, and develop ecosystem-services markets for water quality and endangered species habitat.
Of course, the transaction costs associated with some environmental problems can be too high for even entrepreneurs to handle. For property rights and markets, the atmosphere is in many ways the new frontier. However, in such instances, the common-law legal system historically played an important role in resolving resource conflicts in a Coasean manner.
Before being shoved aside in the 1970s by the more politically attractive federal statute law, common law made it clear that no polluter had the right to impose unwanted costs on the owners of private property. Centuries of legal precedence affirmed that people had a legal right to have their property free from pollution. Upon examining the history of the common law, economists Roger Meiners and Bruce Yandle concluded that the common law "can protect the environment more effectively and fairly than can congressional statutes and bureaucratic regulations."
When property rights are well defined, the free-market-environmentalism approach is bottom-up, not top-down. This addresses the key knowledge problem that plagues much of environmental policy. How do distant policymakers possess the information necessary to design the "socially optimal" tax, regulation, or subsidy that will result in the optimal level of pollution?
It is here that the ideas of another, perhaps more important, luminary of free-market environmentalism, F.A. Hayek, come to light. Knowledge in society is dispersed and "not given to anyone in its totality," he wrote in his seminal 1945 article. Hayek suggested that the information required to effectively allocate resources depends on very specific circumstances of time and place. Because of this fact, the spontaneous ordering among the many supersedes the special wisdom of the few. Hayek's emphasis on market institutions and decentralized decision making is the essence of free-market environmentalism.
Curiously, many discussions of environmental policy ignore Hayek's knowledge problem, assuming instead that regulators and politicians will yield effective environmental results. But alas, much server space has been occupied by those frustrated with the sad result of political environmentalism.
Critics admonish free-market environmentalism because "complete information is impossible" in markets, but fail to apply the same logic to government. Whereas markets are by their very nature decentralized collectors of knowledge, public officials are far from omniscient or benevolent purveyors of sound environmental policy.
Free-market environmentalism is already working to end overfishing, encourage resource stewardship, and increase stream flows, and the environmental community is beginning to recognize it. Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund, recently remarked that "harnessing the power of the market is often the best way to achieve the greatest environmental benefit at the lowest cost." As we work on today's environmental problems, we'd do well to accept free-market environmentalism into the broader environmental movement.


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"Blue Lightening"
A limited edition artwork by Nick Barwis
The Art
My artworks are made using up to 60 separate component photographs which are melded together to produce a realistic yet visually pleasing composition. Each artwork is printed on cotton canvas paper using fade resistant inks and is then hand finished with additional inks to produce a truly unique limited edition artwork. Each artwork is numbered and hand signed by the artist and comes with a certificate of authenticity.
To offer some exclusivity and maintain the value of my limited editions this print is one of a maximum of twenty five produced
Art Size 42cm x 30cm (17.5" x 12.5" approx)
Overall Size including mount 50cm x 40cm (20" x 16" approx), which will fit a standard ready made frame (A3+Mount) so you don't have to spend a fortune having it bespoke framed
A small selection of frames are availalable in the Frame section of this store.
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www.jackstaxi.net• A British Company
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Lamination and Thermoforming MADE IN ITALY
Come and see our creations. This is the onlyway to fully enjoy the attention to details we put in our job.
The quality of our selected raw materials, linked to the most updated processing techniques, gives our products a better output and they tend to be less subject to wear and tear.
We are obsessed about quality.
We are firmly convinced of our ideas and we believe in our products. We are passionate in what we do and how we do it, ensuring to our customers the best quality accessible on the market.


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Holy Icons |
One of the first things that strikes a non-Orthodox visitor to an Orthodox church is the prominent place assigned to the Holy Icons. The Iconostasis (Icon-screen) dividing the Altar from the rest of the church is covered with them, while others are placed in prominent places throughout the church building. Sometimes even the walls and ceiling are covered with them in fresco or mosaic form. The Orthodox faithful prostrate themselves before them, kiss them, and burn candles before them. They are censed by the Priest and carried in processions. Considering the obvious importance of the Holy Icons, then, questions may certainly be raised concerning them: What do these gestures and actions mean? What is the significance of these Icons? Are they not idols or the like, prohibited by the Old Testament? Some of the answers to these questions can be found in the writings of St. John of Damascus (f776), who wrote in the Mid-Eighth Century at the height of the iconoclast (anti-icon) controversies in the Church, controversies which were resolved only by the 7th Ecumenical Council (787), which borrowed heavily from these writings. As St. John points out, in ancient times God, being incorporeal and uncircumscribed, was never depicted, since it is impossible to represent that which is immaterial, has no shape, is indescribable and is unencompassable. Holy Scripture states categorically: No one has ever seen God (John 1:18) and You cannot see My [God's] face, for man shall not see Me and live (Ex. 33:20). The Lord forbade the Hebrews to fashion any likeness of the Godhead, saying: I7ou shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth (Ex. 20:4). Consequently, the Holy Apostle Paul also asserts: Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man (Acts 17:29). Nonetheless, we know that Icons have been used for prayer from the first centuries of Christianity. Church Tradition tells us, for example, of the existence of an Icon of the Savior during His lifetime (the Icon-Made-Without-Hands) and of Icons of the Most-Holy Theotokos immediately after Him. Tradition witnesses that the Orthodox Church had a clear understanding of the importance of Icons right from the beginning; and this understanding never changed, for it is derived from the teachings concerning the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The use of Icons is grounded in the very essence of Christianity, since Christianity is the revelation by the God-Man not only of the Word of God, but also of the Image of God; for, as St. John the Evangelist tells us, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). No one has ever seen God; the only Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known (John 1:18), the Evangelist proclaims. That is, He has revealed the Image or Icon of God. For being the brightness of [God's] glory, and the express image of [God's] person (Heb. 1:3), the Word of God in the Incarnation revealed to the world, in His own Divinity, the Image of the Father. When St. Philip asks Jesus, Lord, show us the Father, He answered him: Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father (John 14:8, 9). Thus as the Son is in the bosom of the Father, likewise after the Incarnation He is consubstantial with the Father, according to His divinity being the Father's Image, equal in honor to Him. The truth expressed above, which is revealed in Christianity, thus forms the foundations of Christian pictorial art. The Image (or Icon) not only does not contradict the essence of Christianity, but is unfailingly connected with it; and this is the foundation of the tradition that from the very beginning the Good News was brought to the world by the Church both in word and in image. This truth was so self-evident, that Icons found their natural place in the Church, despite the Old Testament prohibition against them and a certain amount of contemporary opposition. St. John Damascene further tells us that because the Word became flesh (John 1:14), we are no longer in our infancy; we have grown up, we have been given by God the power of discrimination and we know what can be depicted and what is indescribable. Since He Who was incorporeal, without form, quantity and magnitude, Who was incomparable owing to the superiority of His nature, Who existed in the image of God assumed the form of a servant and appeared to us in the flesh, we can portray Him and reproduce for contemplation Him Who has condescended to be seen. We can portray His ineffable descent, His Nativity from the Blessed Virgin, His Baptism in the Jordan, His Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor, His sufferings, death and miracles. We can depict the Cross of Salvation, the Sepulcher, the Resurrection and the Ascension, both in words and in colors. We can confidently represent God the Invisible not as an invisible being, but as one Who has made Himself visible for our sake by sharing in our flesh and blood. As the Holy Apostle Paul says: Ever since the creation of the world [God's] invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made (Rom. 1:20). Thus, in all creatures we see images that give us a dim insight into Divine Revelation when, for instance, we say that the Holy Trinity Without Beginning can be represented by the sun, light and the ray, or by the mind, the word and the spirit that is within us, or by the plant, the flower and the scent of the rose. Thus, what had only been a shadow in the Old Testament is now clearly seen. The Council in Trullo (691-2), in its 82nd Rule, stated: Certain holy icons have the image of a lamb, at which is pointing the finger of the Forerunner. This lamb is taken as the image of grace, representing the True Lamb, Christ our God, Whom the law foreshadowed. Thus accepting with love the ancient images and shadows as prefigurations and symbols of truth transmitted to the Church, we prefer grace and truth, receiving it as the fulfillment of the law. Thus, in order to make plain this fulfillment for all eyes to see, if only by means of pictures, we ordain that from henceforth icons should represent, instead of the lamb of old, the human image of the Lamb, Who has taken upon Himself the sins of the world, Christ our God, so that through this we may perceive the height of the abasement of God the Word and be led to remember His life in the flesh, His Passion and death for our salvation and the ensuing redemption of the world. The Orthodox Church, then, created a new art, new in form and content, which uses images and forms drawn from the material world to transmit the revelation of the divine world, making the divine accessible to human understanding and contemplation. This art developed side by side with the Divine Services and, like the Services, expresses the teaching of the Church in conformity with the word of Holy Scripture. Following the teachings of the 7th Ecumenical Council, the Icon is seen not as simple art, but that there is a complete correspondence of the Icon to Holy Scripture, for if the [Icon] is shown by [Holy Scripture], [Holy Scripture] is made incontestably clear by the [Icon] [Acts of the 7th Ecumenical Council, 6]. As the word of Holy Scripture is an image, so the image is also a word, for, according to St. Basil the Great (f379), what the word transmits through the ear, that painting silently shows through the image [Discourse 19, On the 40 Martyrs]. In other words, the Icon contains and professes the same truth as the Gospels and therefore, like the Gospels, is based on exact data, and is not a human invention, for if it were otherwise, Icons could not explain the Gospels nor correspond to them. By depicting the divine, we are not making ourselves similar to idolaters; for it is not the material symbol that we are worshipping, but the Creator, Who became corporeal for our sake and assumed our body in order that through it He might save mankind. We also venerate the material objects through which our salvation is effected the blessed wood of the Cross, the Holy Gospel, and, above all, the Most-Pure Body and Precious Blood of Christ, which have grace-bestowing properties and Divine Power. As St. John Damascene asserts: I do not worship matter but I worship the Creator of matter, Who for my sake became material and deigned to dwell in matter, Who through matter effected my salvation. I will not cease from worshipping the matter through which my salvation has been effected [On Icons, 1,16]. Following his teachings, we, as Orthodox Christians, do not venerate an Icon of Christ because of the nature of the wood or the paint, but rather we venerate the inanimate image of Christ with the intention of worshipping Christ Himself as God Incarnate through it. We kiss an Icon of the Blessed Virgin as the Mother of the Son of God, just as we kiss the Icons of the Saints as God's friends who fought against sin, imitated Christ by shedding their blood for Him and followed in His footsteps. Saints are venerated as those who were glorified by God and who became, with God's help, terrible to the Enemy, and benefactors to those advancing in the faith but not as gods and benefactors themselves; rather they were the slaves and servants of God who were given boldness of spirit in return for their love of Him. We gaze on the depiction of their exploits and sufferings so as to sanctify ourselves through them and to spur ourselves on to zealous emulation. The Icons of the Saints act as a meeting point between the living members of the Church [Militant] on earth and the Saints who have passed on to the Church [Triumphant] in Heaven. The Saints depicted on the Icons are not remote, legendary figures from the past, but contemporary, personal friends. As meeting points between Heaven and earth, the Icons of Christ, His Mother, the Angels and Saints constantly remind the faithful of the invisible presence of the whole company of Heaven; they visibly express the idea of Heaven on earth. In venerating the Icons, then, the Orthodox are championing the basis of Christian faith the Incarnation of God and, consequently, salvation and the very meaning of the Church's existence on earth, since the creation of the Holy Icons goes back to the very origins of Christianity and is an inalienable part of the truth revealed by God, founded as it is on the person of the God-Man Jesus Christ Himself. Holy Images are part of the nature of Christianity and without the Icon Christianity would cease to be Christianity. The Holy Gospel summons us to live in Christ, but it is the Icon that shows us this life. If God became man in order that man might be like God, the Icon, in full accord with divine worship and theology, bears witness to the fruits of the Incarnation and to the sanctity and deification of man. It shows him in the fullness of his earthly nature, purified of sin and partaking of the life of God, testifies to the sanctification of the human body and displays to the world the image of man who is similar to God by grace. The Icon outwardly expresses the sanctity of the depicted Saint, and this sanctity is apparent to bodily vision. Thus, according to St. John Damascene, those who refuse to venerate an Icon also refuse to worship God's Son, Who is the living image and unchanging reflection of God the Invisible. Be it known, he says, that anyone who seeks to destroy the Icons of Christ or His Mother, the Blessed Theotokos, or any of the Saints, is the enemy of Christ, the Holy Mother of God, and the Saints, and is the defender of the Devil and his demons. |
Excerpt taken from "These Truths We Hold - The Holy Orthodox Church: Her Life and Teachings". Compiled and Edited by A Monk of St. Tikhon's Monastery. Copyright 1986 by the St. Tikhon's Seminary Press, South Canaan, Pennsylvania 18459. To order a copy of "These Truths We Hold" visit the St. Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary Bookstore. |


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How to Sing Karaoke With Your iPhone Using TuneWiki
Saturday, 26th April 2008, 11:04 pm
TuneWiki turns your iPhone into a Karaoke machine by automatically displaying lyrics to your music in real time
TuneWiki turns your iPhone into a Karaoke machine by automatically displaying lyrics to your music in real time.
To install and use TuneWiki please follow these instructions:
Step One
Launch Installer by pressing its icon on the SpringBoard.
Step Two
Press the Install tab at the bottom of the screen.
Step Three
Press to select Multimedia from the list of Categories.
Step Four
Press to select TuneWiki from the list of Packages.
Step Five
Press the Install button at the top right hand corner of the screen
Step Six
Press the large Install button that appears.
Step Seven
When done you will be return the Categories list. Press the Home button to return to your SpringBoard. You will notice a new TuneWiki icon. Press it to launch the application.
Step Eight
Press the OK button the bottom left corner of the screen.
Step Nine
You will be presented with a list of the music available on your iPhone. Press to select an artist.
Step Ten
Press to select a song you would like to use.
Step Eleven
TuneWiki will begin playing your song and display its lyrics on the screen. The lyrics in white indicate the current line and the lyrics in grey indicate the next line to be sung.
The TuneWiki Community also provides access to song lyrics search, Top 10 Artists, Top 10 Songs, and Google Locate.
You can access these services through the Community button in TuneWiki.
You can read more about TuneWiki here


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Welcome to Forgotten Videos, GRAMMY winners edition. For some, these videos are forgotten, for others just filed away, and for others still, a totally brand-new discovery. Our aim is to take you on a little trip down memory lane or help you discover new music, GRAMMY-style.
Tina Turner
"What's Love Got To Do With It"
With Valentine's Day less than two weeks away, some may be asking themselves, "What's love got to do with it?" That question earned soul legend Tina Turner the prestigious Record Of The Year GRAMMY in 1984 for this hit, which propelled the then-45-year-old artist back into stardom in arguably one of the most celebrated comebacks ever.
Prior to the release of 1984's Private Dancer, Turner was in the midst of a somewhat tumultuous career (and personal life), evidenced by her divorce from the late Ike Turner in 1978, with whom she fronted one of the hottest R&B acts to emerge in the '60s, and a dry spell on the Billboard charts as a solo artist. But with Private Dancer Turner went from a proud Mary to a fierce queen. The album, which also features a disco-tinged cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and earned the songstress an Album Of The Year nomination. "What's Love Got To Do With It," which likely still causes females around the world to boycott Valentine's Day in favor of turning this tune up at their Singles Awareness Day parties, shot all the way to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. So with a GRAMMY Award, a Top 10 album and a No. 1 hit, what does love have to do with it?
According to Turner (and songwriters Graham Lyle and Terry Britten), love is just a second-hand emotion. And she makes that clear in this video, as she struts down the city streets in a leather mini skirt, with teased hair and flirt-ready red lipstick and nails to match. As she makes her way through the city, she stops for a quick dance with a variety of men, but never stays too long. Eventually she comes in between a couple she finds dancing in the street, and begs the question, "Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?" We now known Turner was speaking from the point of view of someone who'd been hurt and decided love was just an old fashioned notion. She's ready to take a new direction and this time focus on her own protection.
That focus was enough for Turner, who walked away with five GRAMMY nominations and three wins at the 27th Annual GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 26, 1985, including Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for the aforementioned hit and Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female for "Better Be Good To Me." "What's Love …" even inspired Brian Gibson's 1993 film of the same name, a biopic centering around Turner's past abusive relationship with Ike Turner and mustering courage to break free.
Turner's GRAMMY success has continued, with eight wins to date, her latest coming in 2007 for Album Of The Year for her contributions to Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters. At the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards in 2008, Turner returned to the GRAMMY stage for a special performance with one of R&B's newer divas, Beyoncé, for a sparkly, soulful performance of "Proud Mary," proving she's still got it and love may still have nothing to do with it.
"There's an expression, 'You'll never get out of this world alive,'" Turner told O, The Oprah Magazine in 2005. "It's true. We won't. Go forward. Do your best with your makeup, hair and clothes."
This year "What's Love …" will be honored with one of The Recording Academy's most prestigious recognitions — an induction into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame.
What does love have to do with it? Got any Forgotten Video recommendations? Leave us a comment.
Follow GRAMMY.com for our inside look at GRAMMY news, blogs, photos, videos, and of course nominees. Stay up to the minute with GRAMMY Live. Check out the GRAMMY legacy with GRAMMY Rewind. Explore this year's GRAMMY Fields. Or check out the collaborations at Re:Generation, presented by Hyundai Veloster. And join the conversation at Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.


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AMACO C41 Pear
Regular price $20.00/
Pint Size
Mid Fire Cone 5/6
AMACO Pear is a bright, glossy yellow-green that pools and accents textured ware. Mixable with the other colors in the Celadon line.
Safety Warning
Tableware producers must test all finished ware to establish dinnerware status, due to possible variations in firing temperature and contamination.