text:
This year, 5772, the last day of Pesach in Israel is on Friday. Is there any possible way that one could contrive to eat chometz on the shabbos immediately following Pesach?
Sign up
- Anybody can ask a question
- Anybody can answer
- The best answers are voted up and rise to the top
Per the Yalkut Yosef 448:5
It is permitted to eat Chometz on a Shabbos which is immediately after Sheviyi Shel Pesach - there is no Muktza involved, and you if it was sold to the non Jew according to Halacha you may eat it on the day of Shabbos immediately after Sheviyi Shel Pesach. However you have to be extra careful not to take the chometz on Sheviyi Shel Pesach since then you will be prohibited to eat it since you have done Baal Yiro'eh U'Baal Yimotzei. (Yechave Daas 2 Siman 64, Yabia Omer Orach Chaim 9 Siman 46)
As long as it's Pesach (i.e. until Friday at dark), a Jew cannot own any kind of chametz. Once Pesach ends, Shabbos immediately begins. A Jew cannot use money to (re)purchase chametz, and can't cook/bake any new chametz.
For this reason, even in Israel, observant Jews will use matza for their shabbos "challah" on the shabbos immeditaely after Pesach (known as the 8th day of Pesach in the Diaspora).
For Ashkenazi Israeli Jews, there is one way to make a clear distinction between the food on the shabbos after Pesach, and Pesach itself.
The custom of refraining from kitnyios on Pesach only applies to eating it. Ashkenazi Jews may own, do commerce with, and benefit from kitnyios throughout Pesach.
So, buy some Pesach-certified kitnyios food on Chol HaMoed. Once shabbos starts, break out the rice, corn, beans, have a festive kitnyios meal!
For shabbos lunch, I highly recommend a salami sandwich, on matza, with MUSTARD (another kitnyios item).
Since this question only applies in Israel, I must disagree with msh210's suggestion. Here in Israel, there is a high probability that the fresh chametz product came into existence with at least some forbidden assistance from a Jew. Even if it came from an Arab-owned bakery that is certified kosher - that kosher supervision doesn't apply on Pesach! So, you can't eat it because it wasn't under kosher supervision at the time it was baked, so you have no way of knowing what exactly is in the chametz product.
Eat bread at a non Jew's house.
I don't see why a gentile couldn't give you some on Shabas[1]; you could even eat it if he hadn't made it for you. Of course, consult your rabbi for practical matters rather than relying on what you read here.
[1] But see the comments to this answer.
This year my Rav, Rabbi Yaacov Haber, specifically dealt with this question in a shiur. He mentioned that according to the contract that he signs with the non-Jew, there is a specific clause written in that if, after the completion of Pesach, the Jew wishes to partake of his (the non-Jew's) chometz, he gives permission to do so, and the value will be deducted from the amount owing upon collection. Therefore it is permitted to partake of chometz that you sold to the non-Jew on the shabbos following Pesach, so long as this clause was in the contract of sale.
Muktzeh is not a consideration, since the chometz belongs to a non-Jew, and a non-Jew's property does not become muktzeh.


text:
The West Virginia House of Delegates should vote today on legislation to expand the state's Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program for another five years.
Senate Bill 435 is slated for its third and final reading today, and at least eight amendments are to be considered on the floor. The bill would extend the home rule pilot program through July 1, 2019, and allow more municipalities to participate.
Wheeling is one of four municipalities participating in the pilot program, along with Charleston, Bridgeport and Huntington.
"The city of Wheeling has worked hard with the Municipal League and the Legislature to see the program continues," said Wheeling Mayor Andy McKenzie. "We feel strongly about bringing local government to citizens. That's what home rule does. It allows issues unique to a community to be addressed. It's done well over the last five years. This legislation will hopefully allow more cities to have more autonomy."
Under the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program, Wheeling reduced the number of businesses licenses required in the city from 77 to just three. City leaders established a vacant structures registration program and began issuing conditional use zoning permits.
Other bills introduced by local lawmakers are set for action today in the West Virginia Legislature, which concludes its regular session at midnight Saturday.
Third Reading in House
SB 208 - (Senate President Jeff Kessler, D-Glen Dale) Making supplementary appropriation from State Fund, General Revenue, to Department of Commerce, Division of Labor, and DHHR, Division of Human Services
SB 524 - (Kessler) Supplementing, amending, and adjusting appropriations from State Road Fund to Department of Transportation
SB 526 - (Kessler) Making supplementary appropriation of federal funds to DHHR, Division of Human Services-Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
SB 557 - (Sen. Jack Yost, D-Wellsburg) Continuing Preventive Care Pilot Program
Second Reading in Senate
House Bill 2548 - (Delegate Mike Ferro, D-Marshall) Increasing the criminal penalties for assaults and batteries against athletic officials
Second Reading in House
SB 202 - (Kessler) Creating WV Spay Neuter Assistance Program and Fund
SB 331 - (Kessler) Permitting Courthouse Facilities Improvement Authority to issue bonds
SB 355 - (Kessler) Relating to final wage payment to discharged employees
SB 371 - (Kessler) Relating to prison overcrowding
SB 523 - (Kessler) Making supplementary appropriation of unappropriated money to various accounts
SB 525 - (Kessler) Making supplementary appropriation of federal funds to various accounts
SB 596 - (Kessler) Determining grant awards for Chesapeake Bay and Greenbrier River watershed compliance projects
SB 604 - (Kessler) Expanding definition of "electioneering communication"
First Reading in Senate
HB 2716 - (Delegate Phil Diserio, D-Brooke) Relating to the West Virginia Fairness in Competitive Bidding Act
First Reading in House
SB 185 - (Kessler) Relating to alternative-fuel motor vehicles and qualified refueling infrastructure tax credits
SB 190 - (Kessler) Relating to public-private transportation projects funding
SB 335 - (Yost) Permitting certain hospitals exemption from certificate of need
SB 394 - (Kessler) Relating to scholarships for dependent children of state troopers who die in performance of duty

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This panohead looks really nice, but it looks its hard to get one.
I have ordered and immediately paid with paypal on 15th August (in that time it was still available).
After few days and few emails with no answer Rob emailed me the package is shipping today (19th) and it will be at my friend in Wisconsin by Aug 25th (he will next day take the panohead with him to Europe).
On Thursday 24th it was still not delivered so i ask for tracking number and Rob told me they didnt send it!!
I understand that there are some problems in commutication whats on warehouse,
but dont understand why he told me they have shipped the package when they DIDNT....


text:
Everything but the Brush!
Location:Hilton Head Branch
Date & Time:Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 6:30pm – 7:30pm
We're getting creative tonight with paint, but we won't be using any paintbrushes. Create some amazing masterpieces using a variety of things incluing marbles, sponges, nets, string, and cooking utensils. It's lots of fun and very colorful. Be sure to dress for a mess! Kindergarten and up.


text:
Taking Your Business Scorecard Golfing
By tobyehatch-Oracle on Oct 28, 2013
Our workplace world is definitely changing. Not only are we taking work home, but we are working during odd hours in some very strange places. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jacques Vigeant, Product Strategy Manager for Oracle Business Intelligence and Enterprise Performance Management, on a Podcast, and he enlightened me about how our mobile devices and business scorecards are enabling us to be more accountable and keep a watchful eye on business – even while on the golf course.
Business scorecards have been around for many years - so I asked Jacques if he felt they had changed significantly due to technology. His answer was, "Yes, and no." Jacques agreed that scorecard enthusiasts are still passionate about executing the company strategy and monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), but scorecards and Business Intelligence (BI) as a whole have changed. He explained that five to six years ago, people did BI work at the office and, for the most part, disconnected from their computer and workplace when they went home – with the exception of checking email and making a phone call or two. But now, that is no longer the case. People are virtually always connected with work and, more importantly, expect their BI and scorecards to be 'always on,' regardless of whether they are at their desk or somewhere else.
Basically, the BI paradigm has changed from a 'pull' model, where employees are at their desks querying or pulling information from the system, to a 'push' model where employees expect their BI and scorecard systems to reach out (or push information) to them when there is something of note to learn or something on which they need to take action.
I found this very interesting. However mobile devices do have their limitations with respect to screen sizes – does it really make sense to look at your strategy/scorecard on tiny devices? What kind of scorecard activities can you really expect to be able to do? Jacques' answer was very logical. "When you think of a scorecard, it is really comprised of an organization of KPIs that are aligned with the strategic objectives of your company. KPIs are the heart of how you will execute your strategy. So, if you decompose that a little more, each KPI is well defined with the thresholds that you should keep an eye on and who is responsible for them. When we talk about scorecarding on a phone, we aren't talking about surfing the strategy and exploring the strategy map like we do on the desktop. In a scorecarding context, we use the phone more as an alerting mechanism or simple monitoring device for your KPIs."
Jacques gave a great example of an inventory manager who took part of an afternoon off to go golfing before winter finally hit, and while on the front nine holes, his phone vibrated. His scorecard was alerting him that the inventory levels for one of the products was below some threshold that he had set. From his phone, he had set up three options within Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management (OSSM) for this type of situation:
1. Contact the warehouse manager directly by phone and work it out (standard phone function)
2. Tap/hold the KPI and add an annotation to the KPI in OSSM using the dictation capabilities of the phone and deal with it more fully when he gets back to the office
3. Tap/hold the KPI and invoke a business process from OSSM to transfer product from another warehouse with higher stock levels to the one that needs it
Being on a phone should still give you options to quickly deal with situations as needed, but mobile phones are not designed for nor should try to replicate the full desktop experience.
We covered other interesting subjects in the interview, including how Oracle is keeping pace with mobile innovation and new devices such as Google Glasses, Galaxy Gear, Pebble Watches and more, and how Oracle is handling mobile security– which is great news for our mobile workforce.
To listen to the entire Podcast, click here.
To learn more about Oracle Scorecard and Strategy Management, click here.


text:
I have an XBox in my living room and my wireless router is in another room. I can't lay a line so I use the XBox with WiFi. Problem is I drop my connection semi-frequently (very annoying when watching NetFlix or playing an online game.)
I'm not sure what causes the issue but I'm wondering if a WiFi amplifier would help, so my questions:
- Is a WiFi amplifier a fair bet solution? Do they work?
- What's a good, affordable one?


text:
I'm writing a small little app that I want to submit to the Ubuntu App Review board, and one thing I'd like to do is for it to show the names of the detected Wireless SSIDs in a combo box. It's a PyGI app.
Has anyone got any pointers on how I can get those SSIDs from the system, preferably through a Python API? From dbus? From NetworkManager?


text:
In my Cocos2D game for iOS I have a relatively long running calculation that happens at a fairly regular interval (every 1-2 seconds). I'd like to run the calculation on a background thread so the main thread can keep the animation smooth.
The calculation is done on a grid. Average grid size is about 100x100 where each cell stores an integer. Should I copy this grid when I pass it to the background thread? Or can I pass a reference and just make sure I don't write to the grid from the main thread before the background thread is done?
Copying seems a bit wasteful but passing a reference seems risky. So I thought I'd ask.


text:
Main Content
Order as many items as you like with our $4.99 flat rate shipping.
This item ships within one business day.
Order as many items as you like with our $4.99 flat rate shipping.
Need it faster?
Rock out to your favorite jams at your next Phillies victory celebration or anytime with this portable Elegant iDock speaker! It features a vibrant team logo printed on each speaker and on the wireless remote control. Plus, it's compatible with iPod and iPhone, so you can blast your Philadelphia pride and tunes at your home or office. Go Phillies!
- Aux-In 3.5mm cable included
- Batteries not included
- Compatible with any stereo audio device
- Includes AC adapter
- Measures approximately 9.5" x 5.5"
- Officially licensed Phillies speaker
- Requires (4) AAA batteries
- Screen print graphics
- Wireless remote control included
- Made in the USA
- Brand: Nes Group
Phillies Customers also liked:
Special event items are produced by manufacturers only after the outcome of a game or event. These are advanced sale items and will ship immediately after they are received in our warehouse.
Manufacturer direct items are shipped directly from the manufacturer. These items are not available for international or expedited shipping.
Customized items can be personalized with options such as your name, your favorite number, and/or designs. Some options may be limited by league rules.


text:
I'm teaching an undergrad course in real analysis this Fall and we are using the text "Real Mathematical Analysis" by Charles Pugh. On the back it states that real analysis involves no "applications to other fields of science. None. It is pure mathematics." This seems like a false statement. My first thought was of probability theory. And isn't PDE's sometimes considered applied math? I was wondering what others thought about this statement.
As it happens, I just finished teaching a quarter of undergraduate real analysis. I am inclined to rephrase Pugh's statement into a form that I would agree with. If you view analysis broadly as both the theorems of analysis and methods of calculation (calculus), then obviously it has a ton of applications. However, I much prefer to teach undergraduate real analysis as pure mathematics, more particularly as an introduction to rigorous mathematics and proofs. This is partly as a corrective (or at least a complement) to the mostly applied and algorithmic interpretation of calculus that most American students see first.
Some mathematicians think, and I've often been tempted to think, that it's a bad thing to do analysis twice, first as algorithmic and applied calculus and second as rigorous analysis. It can seem wrong not to have the rigor up-front. Now that I have seen what BC Calculus is like in a high school, I no longer think that it is a bad thing. Obviously I still think that the pure interpretation is important. On the other hand, both interpretations together is also fine by me. I notice that in France, calculus courses and analysis courses are both called "analyse mathématique". I think that they might separate rigorous and non-rigorous calculus a bit less than in the US, and it could be partly because of the name.
In fact, it took me a long time to realize how certain non-rigorous explanations guide good rigorous analysis. For instance, the easy way to derive the Jacobian factor in a multivariate integral is to "draw" an infinitesimal parallelepiped and find its volume. That's not rigorous by itself, but it is related to an important rigorous construction, the exterior algebra of differential forms.
Finally, I agree that Pugh's book is great. As the saying goes, you shouldn't judge it by its cover. :-)
I think out of all the fields of mathematics, analysis has the MOST application. We are talking about the subject Newton created to be able to even talk about physics here!
While I agree that the paragraph is largely a sales pitch, I think it does hit on something else. It says that real analysis doesn't involve applications to other science. I take this to mean that when you are doing (or studying in a first course) real analysis you don't look at applications to science. This is in contrast to calculas, whereas many of the problems in calculus books are focused on all kinds of problems from classical mechanics and other areas.
Just a final note. I thing that Pugh's book is amazing, the best undergrad analysis text out there. Mainly because of the HUGE number of very good problems.
Reading the whole paragraph as reported above, it is clear that it is quite different from the title of this question. Saying that "X-theory involves no application in engineering" just means that an X-theorist, in her job, doesn't employ engineer's tools or language, and as an X-theorist she may even forget about engineering. It definitely does not mean that (i) problems of X-theory were not originated from concrete problems of engineering, nor that (ii) the results of X-theory have no applications in engineering. Actually, at the origin of even the most abstract mathematic theory there are concrete problems of applied science (maybe after several successive steps of abstractions), and also, the final applications are again back in concrete problems.
Abstraction (from abstractus: p.p. of abs+trahere: to take (something) away from) is the usual process by whom we take the essence of a problem in order to focus on it, not to distract ourselves (dis-trahere, to take here and there) by other unessential feature of it, and with the advantage to solve once for all several essentially similar problems.
I have a good undergraduate analysis book, "Real Analysis with Real Applications," by Kenneth R. Davidson and Allan P. Donsig. The book is divided into two parts. Part A deals with "Abstract Analysis" which includes theory, proofs, examples, and problems found in most undergraduate analysis books. Part B deals with "Applications" which include polynomial approximations, discrete dynamical systems, diff. eqns, fourier series and physics, wavelets, and optimization.
The comment on the back of the book seems to be saying "This is a math book." It says nothing about analysis in particular. To the extent that the book is a pure math, it is not a book about physics, horticulture, or sociology. But so what? You could say the same about any area of math.
This seems like a particularly odd thing to say about analysis since it can be applied so directly to other areas.
@ Pete,Victor and Greg: First,I agree with your interpretation of the paragraph Greg's referring to. Secondly,despite loving Pugh's book-I call it "Rudin Done Right"-I was also very disappointed at the very terse preface.You'd think someone with Pugh's teaching experience would have a LOT to say on the subject having taught so many years to some of the best students in the world. Third-I seriously doubt one of the world's experts in differential equations thinks real analysis is devoid of real world applications.But that being said-what compels people teaching this course to strip it down to Bourbakian purity? Tradition? Or something darker and deeper? I'm waiting for a balanced text at this level that unifies physical applications with a comprehensive introduction to real analysis. If it never arrives,I may have to write it myself.


text:
Something analogous to photobucket for the desktop - whose iPhone app is a bit useless to me because it doesn't enable importing from the camera roll. I'm looking for something that easily allows me to share a screenshot (to embed somewhere, for example in a forum, or on a Stack Exchange question) but don't want to junk up my flickr, Instagram, etc.
There's also the official Flickr app. It supports uploading photos and videos from the Camera Roll. Flickr specifically will require that you already have an account on the service, most Twitter integrated networks (yFrog, TwitPic) will "create" an account when you use it for the first time.
Flickr the site.
(Native to iPhone only, obviously works on the iPad using small screen emulation.)
If you don't want to "junk up" your flickr or instagram or whatever, you could just create another flickr or twitter account only for screenshots. Then you could use these specialized account settings in Flickit or Photoshop Express or whatever.
You could also use Dropbox. I love it for syncing files, and it easily works with images too.
If you have twitter, Echofon uploads pics from the camera roll to Twitpic very quickly. Otherwise, the Flickr iOS app works very well, and you can select any pic/screenshot from your library to upload. Thanks, Hope that helps.
I like the ImgurFree app. You can take a photo or import one from a Camera Roll. It uploads the photo to imgur and creates a link that you can quickly copy the link in your clipboard or post directly to Reddit, or Email it. Works great for me. It also keeps a history of all the images uploaded using the phone which you can quickly delete from Imgur site if you want.


text:
I understand that perpetual motion is impossible, but I became confused when a friend of mine told me that the orbits of the planets is an example of perpetual motion. Will earth's orbit ever end, and whats wrong with his statement. I'm asking for a simple answer to 'disprove' my friends 'theory'.
Perpetual motion is a system that produces work (energy) while maintaining its state (which implies it can forever produce energy without changing state).
Orbiting planets are not a perpetual motion system. NOTHING we know of or can explain is a perpetual motion system.
Orbiting planets APPEAR to be a perpetual motion system, because the length of time needed for an OBSERVABLE (measurable) state change to occur is enormous (many, many, many, many lifetimes).
Actually, what is impossible is a perpetuum mobile which is a machine or system that breaks the first or second law of thermodynamics. Planetary motions break none of those laws, therefore there is no contradiction with their "perpetual motion".
The question of the end of Earth's orbit is a different one though. Certainly, the Earth's orbit will end, most likely because the Sun will engulf the Earth as it grows to a red giant. If it doesn't end sooner.
Strictly speaking, planetary orbits are not perpetual motion. As the planet (and their star) rotate around their common center of gravity, they emit gravitational waves. Those gravitational waves drains the planet/star orbital system on energy so the planet eventually get's closer and closer to its star.
Now this orbital decay due to gravitational wave emission is ridicoulusly small so it has only been measured for extreme systems like binary neutron stars (which are heavy and may orbit each other within minutes, seconds or just a fraction of a second). Our planet Earth is subject to gravitational wave emission as well, but the orbital decay is so small that it in practice won't affect earth within the Suns lifetime, instead of Earth spiralling into and being devoured by our Sun, it will rather be our Sun (turning into a red giant) which extends beyond the current orbit of Earth and thus devours it.
So even by cosmological timescales, planetary motion around a star will go on for a long time, e.g for the lifetime of a sun-like star and beyond.
protected by Qmechanic♦ Jan 27 '13 at 19:32
Thank you for your interest in this question.
Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10 reputation on this site (the association bonus does not count).
Would you like to answer one of these unanswered questions instead?


text:
2008 Research Summary
Past and Present Aspects of the Self-Phase Modulation of Optical Beams
View Current Project Information
Ture K. Gustafson, P. L. Kelley and R. A. Fisher
Optical self-action effects occur when an electromagnetic field induces a refractive change in the medium through which the field propagates. The change in index of refraction then exhibits a back-action on the field so as to influence its propagation characteristics. Both spatial and temporal effects occur as discussed in the overview paper by Kelley [1]. The influence of these nonlinear effects can be significant.
In this effort we primarily consider the consequences of the phase evolution due to the temporal variation of this self-action, known as self-phase-modulation. While initially observed in association with self-trapped filaments of light in liquids, the development of low-loss optical fibers very rapidly led to its ease of generation and predictability. Recently, the development of photonic crystal fibers [2,3] has led to a significant increase in the strength of self-action effects and numerous diverse applications have resulted.
We are in the process of reviewing the development of the discipline from the early years; in particular, its observation in self-trapped filaments and mode-locked laser pulses, to its more recent developments.
There remain several outstanding problems to be addressed. In particular we are studying a generalization of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation to include higher order linear and nonlinear diffraction terms and its influence on self-action. The self-phase modulation of repetitive pulses from mode-locked lasers, which results in an optical frequency comb, has been of recent interest. The interval and spectral linewidth depend upon the stabilization of the pulse train. To lowest order, a slippage of the optical phase with respect to the pulse amplitude results in a perturbation of the frequency interval, which can be measured experimentally. This is generally related to the first order dispersion coeffcient. Higher order dispersion, which might be anticipated to give a frequency interval which varies linearly across the comb, does not appear to be influential. The role of self-phase modulation and other self-action effects in such pulse to pulse mutual coherence phenomena is of interest.
- [1]
- P. L. Kelley, IEEE Sel. Top. Quant. Electron., Vol. 6, No. 1259, 2000.
- [2]
- J. M. Dudley, G. Genty, and S. Coen, Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 78, No. 1135, 2006.
- [3]
- F. Zolla, G. Renversez, A. Nicolet, B. Kuhlmey, S. Guenneau, and D. Felbacq, Foundations of Photonic Crystal Fibers, Imperial College Press, 2005, ISBN 1-86094-507-4.


text:
That is wrong or right about this question and answer?
Question: Is there a cardinality which is greater than the continuum?
Answer: Yes and No. If there is a Universe where a given cardinal kappa is greater than the size of the continuum, then there is a Generic-Extension of this Universe where the size of the continuum is greater than kappa.
Edit: This question is basically about the size of the continuum, which has been discussed several times on mathoverflow. It is also about the philosophical position of whether there is the reality of the multiverse.


text:
Every year my family asks me what I want for Christmas. And for the past few years, I have been asking that same question of my son.
This year I thought I would extend that question to family, friends and readers. I hope you enjoy their responses as much as I have.
Dear Santa,
This year no one but God himself can get me what I am asking for: a healthy, happy baby and health and happiness for my son. So, Santa, you're off the hook with me this year. Unless, you can find an extra Keurig in your magic bag. Or perhaps, a name for our baby.
Little Man: Batman's Bat Cave and a remote control helicopter
Kim Biondi, Adena: I would just like to say that no matter what gifts are under the tree for me this year, I have been given the best gift of all - my health. This year could have turned out so differently for me, but I have been truly blessed. No material gifts can compare to that. And a Kindle.
Leslie Powell, Harrisville: A sweeper and to take all the kids to a waterpark
Lesley Applegarth, New Athens: A maid
Cheryl Engas, Tampa, Fla.: I want one thing, and it's for me and my grandsons to have my daughter, their mom, home for the holidays, even though we know that can't happen. That's what we want so much. Please, Santa, can you make that happen?
Sherry Wallin: I have all I could want for Christmas. I have my children, my wonderful finace (wish we were married already) and my family. Christmas this year can't get any better than that. Happy holidays, everyone.
Amanda Meeker, Wheeling: Shaye would like Barbie Cruise Ship, and she wants trucks for her little brother Chase.
Mandi Stevens: To tell the truth I would love to see my grandma Joyce Cole, my brother-in-law James Hayes, my step-daughter Elizabeth Stevens, my father-in-law Mike Stevens, my Pap and my sister-in-law Lydia Hayes, but God took them from us at a very young age. I would love to see who my step-daughter looks like. We love and miss you. Please keep our family in your prayers with the holidays coming up.
Petera Robinson, Weirton: T-mobile Galaxy note
Emily Beck, Rayland: Same thing I ask for every year, and that is for my children and family to have a wonderful Christmas. There is nothing better than family.
Mary Clark, Steubenville: I would like for my children and my two grandbaby girls to have a wonderful first Christmas with their mommys and daddys. For me, I would love to see my Momma and Daddy once again, but God has them with him. It would be nice if they could see and hold their two great-granddaughters. But I know that can't happen, so I'll ask for something and dedicate it in their memory, and that is for all our men and women in the military to be able to come home and be with their loved ones. Thank you and God bless.
Cindy Garan-Tirpak, Crescent: A maid with a Dumpster
Kimberly Bonecutter, Steubenville: My little girl, Alyssa, has been through a lot medically, and the only thing she asked for this year is one of those big dollhouses and some dolls with it to play with her twin sister and little brother.
Gordon Koegler, Wheeling: My 4-year-old grandson told me I need a power scooter because I am old.
Helen Freeman, Steubenville: I am asking for an iPhone 5. I would also like a more dependable vehicle, for either my current vehicle to be restored, or for me to get a new one all together
Dianna Noble, Steubenville: My daughter wants a Kindle Fire and a cell phone, and my son wants a cell phone and a game system.
Laura Jeter, Weirton: My wish for Santa is that the residents at Woodland Hills (where I work) have the best Christmas they've ever had.
Nikki Gillison, Steubenville: I am asking for twin beds and box springs for my two boys.
Christopher DiAgosta, East Liverpool: Asking Santa, God, whoever, for a home to celebrate Christmas in.
Paul Giannamore, Toronto: I have one actual wish, on the sappy side. I want a nice day with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, my son, his fiancee, my wife and my brother. Beyond reality, though, there's the intermediate wish: I want my brother not to have to fly through a snowstorm at Chicago O'Hare and be stuck wearing my clothes for a week at Christmas because the airline lost his luggage. And, to be purely materialistic, a black Chrysler 300 SRT-8 would be good for all the times I want to be a bad boy, eh, Santa?
Robert Gillison, Steubenville: I want a chiuawawa.
Howard Scivinsky, Brilliant: Being an old guy, Santa has brought me pretty much everything I need or deserve over the years. However, another new guitar would be nice, and of course, an amplifier to go with it would be great, or maybe some guitar strings, picks, a new microphone, how about a new guitar strap, one of those really cool ones with a skull on it, OK scratch the skull. I think Santa will bring me what I what the most: my girls, their husbands and children at home again with all the noise, Christmas paper to pick up, good food, laughter and nothing but a beautiful time with family celebrating the birth of Jesus.
Paulette Coss, Rayland: My only wish would be to have one day with the ones in our family who have passed. Just to hold them and tell them how much I love them and miss them.
Darlene Mullins, Steubenville: There are many things I could ask for, but I have two children with families that are out of work this Christmas. There are six children involved also, all who believe in you, Santa. I'm asking you for prayers that these children have something to open under the tree Christmas morning. Thank you, Santa!
Tina Heaton, Mingo Junction: All I want for Christmas is for my grandchild to be born healthy.
Patricia Harris, Wintersville: My daughter would like a bike, and my son would like Xbox games.
Cathy Berryman, Columbus: All I want for Christmas is for all of my family to be healthy and happy.
Michelle Kirkbride, Mingo Junction: There are a few things I want for Christmas: one, my baby boy to be born healthy; two, I would love to have my mom and sister back (they passed away two years ago and I only got one Christmas); three, a new phone.
Sarah Angel, Tiltonsville: I would like to have my grandma back for Christmas. She passed away six weeks ago, and my family is lost without her. She was such a BIG part of our everyday lives that some days we don't know what to do without her. The holidays will never be the same, and I would just like to skip over them. We are lost, and all I want for Christmas is my grandma back.
Linda Bowden, Toronto: I would love to have world peace and to bring our men and woman home to their families and no more fighting. Also we have been dreaming of owning our own home one day. And I wish nothing but the best for the people who were in Sandy. May they get what they need to help them rebuild their lives, and God bless all the children of the world. God bless each and everyone.
Lisa Evans, Wintersville: I would like an iPhone 5.
Donna Wilkins, Toronto: I would love for you to package up four bottles for each of my family members and my fiance: a bottle filled with an "abundance of joy;" a bottle of "total peace;" a bottle of "pure happiness" and a bottle of "unconditional love." Please make them refillable so they never run out. Thank you, Santa. (Milk and cookies will be waiting on the table for you)
Toni Streeter, Weirton: My daughter wants a Tinkerbell doll. My son Dante wants a car, and Ms. Isabella wants princess stuff. And this mama wants "Black Ops 2."
Nikki Miser, Steubenville: My friend and I met at the mission. She has a 3-year-old. I would like for her to have a great Christmas. For my two children they would like their bikes to be fixed. They are a 9-year-old girl and 11-year-old boy. She'd like lip gloss, makeup and barbie dolls. He would like WWE toys.
Shawn Moyers, Steubenville: I'd like to have all my kids together for Christmas. It would be the most spectacular gift I could have for the holidays. Other than that I would wish good health and fortune on those who need it, and a warm place and meal for our homeless who have none of our "normally" desired things.
Hillarie Ruckman: I really would love to have my doggie feeling better.
Shirley Wine, Prospect, Ohio: Please help all the hungry children - may they never have to go without something to eat or ever feeling rejected.
Veronica Phillips, Steubenville: For Christmas I wish there were more activities for disabled children. I have a 10-year-old in a wheelchair. Also, my children would like to see their grandma who is in Florida.
I hope everyone finds just what they want under the tree this Christmas.
From my family to yours, Merry Christmas.
(Letusick, a resident of Rayland, is a copy editor for the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)


text:
TechNet Radio: (Part 2) Windows Azure Virtual Machine FAQs
- Posted: Apr 08, 2013 at 7:00AM
- 58,219 views
Right click "Save as…"
Like what you heard? Try Windows Azure for FREE and enjoy the freedom to use your preferred OS, language, database or tool. Windows Azure can help you deploy sites to a highly scalable environment, deploy and run virtual machines, and create highly scalable applications in a rich PaaS environment. Give it a try!
We're here for part 2 of our Windows Azure IaaS series and in this episode we tackle the top Windows Azure Virtual Machines FAQs and common gotchas. Tune in for this Q&A session and get the answers to some of the most common issues we've seen customers run into plus stick around for a quick demo on how to setup and create your own virtual network.
Experience Microsoft's latest products with these FREE downloads!
Build Your Lab! Download Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 SP1 and Hyper-V Server 2012 and get the best virtualization platform and private cloud management solution on the market. Try it FREE now!
Don't Have a Lab? Build Your Lab in the Cloud with Windows Azure Virtual Machines. Try Windows Azure for free with no cost or obligations, and use any OS, language, database or tool. FREE Download
If you're interested in learning more about the products or solutions discussed in this episode, click on any of the below links for free, in-depth information:
Blogs & Articles:
Virtual Labs:
Follow @technetradio
Become a Fan @ facebook.com/MicrosoftTechNetRadio
Subscribe to our podcast via iTunes, Stitcher, or RSS
Oops, something didn't work.
Comments have been closed since this content was published more than 30 days ago, but if you'd like to continue the conversation, please create a new thread in our Forums, or Contact Us and let us know.


text:
Tattoo Medical Supplies
Please choose a body region on the right for you to pin point the problem area of your body.
Shop by Condition
Shop by Brand
For Medical Professionals > First Aid > Antiseptics > Alcohol Prep Pads >
Provides rapid-acting skin antisepsis prior to injection in non-sterile and sterile formulas. Contains 70% isopropyl alcohol.


text:
STARmeterTop 500
Down 35 this week
Samuel L. Jackson
Actor | Producer | Soundtrack
Samuel L. Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., to Elizabeth (Montgomery) and Roy Henry Jackson. He was raised by his mother, a factory worker. Jackson was active in the black student movement. In the seventies, he joined the Negro Ensemble Company (together with Morgan Freeman). In the eighties, he became well known after three movies made by ... See full bio »
More at IMDbPro » Contact Info: View agent, manager, publicist, legal and company


text:
Pursuing reconciliation
It's been pointed out how frequently and insistently St. Augustine stressed the need for Christians to forgive. For example, he urged forgiveness as the chief almsgiving they should perform during Lent. Someone has remarked that he was deliberately setting himself against a kind of culture of revenge characteristic of certain Mediterranean cultures. Here are the paragraphs that immediately follow the one cited yesterday and that set out more dimensions of the reconciliation that Christ commands his disciples to pursue.
People are quick to inflict injuries, but reluctant to seek reconciliation. Seek, he says, pardon from the one whom youve offended, from the one youve injured. He replies, I will not lower myself. If you so despise your brother, at least listen to your God: Whoever lowers himself will be lifted up (Lk 14:11). You who have already fallen dont want to lower yourself? Theres a big difference between lowering yourself and lying on the ground. Youre already lying on the ground and you dont want to lower yourself? You could well say, I wont go down, if you hadnt already been willing to fall.This is what the person who committed the injury ought to do. What should the person do who suffered the injury? What weve heard today: If your brother sins against you, correct him between you and him alone. If you neglect to do this, you are worse than he. He injured you and by doing so he gravely wounded himself. Do you not care about your brothers wound? You see him perishing, or already dead, and you dont care? You're worse by your silence than he by his insults. When someone sins against us, then, let us take great care, but not for ourselves: it is a glorious thing to forget injuries. But forget your injury, not your brothers wound. So correct him between you and him alone," intending his correction but sparing him shame. From shame he might begin to defend his sin, and you make him worse whom you want to correct. Correct him, then, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother, because he would have perished if you had not done so. But if he will not listen to you, that is, if he tries to defend his sin as something right, take two or three with you, because in the mouth of two or three every word is established. But if he wont listen to them also, refer it to the Church, and if he wont listen to the Church, let him be to you like a heathen and a publican (Mt 18:16-17) Dont consider him any longer in the number of your brothers but don't neglect his salvation for that reason. For we dont include heathens, that is, Gentiles and pagans, among our brothers, but we still are always seeking their salvation.This, then, we have heard the Lord so advising and with such great care commanding that he added this immediately: Amen I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound also in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, will be loosed also in heaven. You begin to consider your brother as a publican, you are binding him on earth; but make sure you bind him justly, for justice bursts apart unjust bonds. But when you have corrected him, and been reconciled with your brother, you have loosed him on earth. When you loose him on earth, he will be loosed in heaven. You have done a great thing, not to yourself, but to him, because he had done great injury, not to you, but to himself. (Augustine, Sermon 82, 6-7; PL 38, 508509)
About the Author
Rev. Joseph A. Komonchak, professor emeritus of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of New York.
36 comments
- All
- Editor Featured
These insights need to be better incorporated into the theology and practice of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which is too often treated as a way to "get right with God" without regard to the real damage our sins may have done to the fellow creatures we have offended. What bothers many non-Christians about Christians isn't so much their self-righteousness as their spiritual self-centeredness, their preoccupation with how their sins threaten their personal salvation rather than how they affect others. It isn't enough to say that this is a misunderstanding of what the church teaches. Non-Christians know Christianity not by the church's official teachings but by the fruit Christian faith bears in the lives of real Christians. What they know of the Christian God is a reflection of what they see in the actions and attitudes of Christians. I think Nietzsche speaks for many non-Christiansand maybe a few embittered Christianswhen he writes in The Gay Science:
Every sin is a slight to [God's] honor, a crimen laesae majestatis divinaeand no more. Contrition, degradation, rolling in the dustall this is the first and last condition of his grace: in sum, the restoration of his divine honor. Whether the sin has done any other harm, whether it has set in motion some profound calamity that will grow and seize one person after another like a disease and strangle themthis honor-craving Oriental in heaven could not care less! Sin is an offense against him, not against humanity. Those who are granted his grace are also granted this carelessness regarding the natural consequences of sin. God and humanity are separated so completely that a sin against humanity is really unthinkable: every deed is to be considered solely with respect to its supernatural consequences...
This may be trivializing the message, but I like that Augustine seems to address the one who has been wronged here. We don't live in a vengeance culture so much as one in which we are expected to blow off slights and injuries, suck it up, and move on. That attitude adds weight of the grudge list we all carry around, gives us a sense of victimhood, makes us feel like patsies ... I think that before it's possible to forgive, you have to tell someone, "You hurt me." Not in a way that invites an argument or a fight, but in a way that admits your own vulnerability. Then you ask for God's grace to accept whatever response you get.
Has one forgiven if one has not also forgotten?
Jimmy, that's such an interesting question. Down Here, I don't think we can always afford to forget. Maybe that makes our forgiving less perfect, but also less dangerous. In forgiving an addict, for instance, can you ever forget the dangers they pose to themselves and others? And wouldn't it be dangerous if you did?I've always assumed that in heaven our memories get wiped. There's nothing bad, no dangers there. And there's no time. Everything just stays the same forever. So we don't need to carry memories around that make us wary and safe.
Jean --Why would Heaven stay the same forever? I think of it as getting better and better as the blessed get to know more and more of the Goodness that is Infinite.
Ann, isn't change a function of development, which requires time? And if there is no time in heaven, then how can things change? At least in the earthly sense that we understand it? I see Purgatory as the place where, if there's anything left for God to work with, you get better and better.
Any time you start talking about different sorts of time, you get into philosophical tangles, I think. For one thing, notions of different times are involved with the notion of infinity, and that always seems to run us into contradictions. But as usual, I see philosophical contradictions as grounded in our inadequate concepts, so I just ignore them and wait for more clarification of them, which may or may not appear..In the meantime, I think of eternal things by using my concepts of this world and see how far those concepts can take us. In the case of Heaven, God's instantaneous eternity is not the same thing as aeveternity -- the sort of duration had by us human beings in our next world. Our time there (or so the scholastics believed) is somehow between our earthly time and God's eternity. And, because of my other theological beliefs, especially my belief in the communion of saints, I can't help but think that we'll make new friends in Heaven, and that will take time of some sort. Also it seems to me that the Kingdom will actually exist in this (revolutionized) world as well as in the aeveternity we seem to be promised. All this raises the question: what is time? As I remember, St. Augustine was fascinating on the subject (in his Confessions), but I don't remember just what he said about it. Add to that Einstein's shaking up of the meaning of "simultaneous", and I suspect that the modern mathematicians and logicians could help with some of the puzzles of many-dimensioned realities. Augustine would no doubt have loved them.
The Israeli philosopher, Avishai Margalit, has a wonderful book,The Ethics of Memory. One of his topics is to explore the circumstances under wish we ought to remember and those under which we ought to forget. This seems to me central to the question of how we interact with both our fellow humans (and also, perhaps, with our Lord) in matters of forgiveness. Margalit treats the questions in terms of both individual interactions and also in matters across political/social tribulations. He considerations are very acute and rich, and although not at all drawn in a Catholic or even a Christian context, very much worth consideration. Mark
For me and for many, the Prodigal Son is the near perfect model of forgiveness and reconciliation, whether the father is seen as Our Father in heaven or as any human being who has been wronged.As a human, he did not refuse his son's demand for his inheritance, although he must have sensed that nothing good would come of it. He did not pursue his son to argue against his folly or try to mitigate the harm he was doing to himself. He remained quietly at home, knowing that his dear son must endure the consequences of his actions before there was any real hope of a return.Did the father forget his son? Surely not. For he saw him when he was still a long way off, as if he had been watching every day, and came running to embrace him and kiss him. What the father had plainly put out of his mind was the injury done to himself. The story doesn't tell us explicitly, but I think that may have been a long, slow, fully conscious process. There's no denying that fresh injuries sting, and left to themselves they linger, hardening into resentment and constantly popping out of their hiding places in the mind to tell us how much we are aggrieved and how that ungrateful ________ deserves payback. They can't be overcome head-on. They need to be forgotten by patiently, even tediously turning away to better thoughts. I like to remember at such times that, for all my "troubles," I am in some ways one of the most fortunate people who have ever lived (keeping in mind, of course, Solon's advice to call no man blessed until he is dead).So the father kept his estate prosperous, cared for his workers, loved his dutiful but less forgetful elder son, and carried on in peace, until he was able to rejoice with an undarkened joy on the great day.
Ann, the Voyage of St. Brendan has long been a fascination of mine. It includes some interesting ideas about earthly and heavenly time. Mark, I find memory interesting. So much of the oral tradition before literacy was about not forgetting. You were told important stories that underscored your culture's norms and values, and you conformed to those stories. My theory is that now we can capture any amount of ephemera, important or not, and it all becomes "material" for our selective memories that we tailor to suit our own view of reality. Can we really forget things at will because it's ethical to do so? It seems to me that memory recedes over time (there's time again), and we can either let it do so or keep it alive actively. Anyway, apologies for taking the thread too far afield.
What should the person do who suffered the injury? What weve heard today: If your brother sins against you, correct him between you and him alone. If you neglect to do this, you are worse than he. He injured you and by doing so he gravely wounded himself. Do you not care about your brothers wound? You see him perishing, or already dead, and you dont care? Your worse by your silence than he by his insults.It seems pretty clear to me that Augustine is telling us that the victim is the lesser aggrieved party compared to the perpetrator. In other words, the sinners are damaging themselves more than anyone else. That is completely contrary to the US culture where society is focused on exacting 'justice' on the perpetrator; and where a typical response to societal evils is 'Its not hurting you'. Both are exactly the opposite of Augustine's prescription.Also, there is no admonition to forget, but rather to act.
"the Prodigal Son is the near perfect model of forgiveness and reconciliation"Was that yesterday's Gospel? (I ask, because at the Mass I went to I heard about separating out the sheep and the goats, and I thought it was supposed to be the Prodigal Son). And last week, when everyone else heard about the woman at the well, at the Mass I went to it was about destroying the barren fig tree.I like the Gospel readings I'm missing much more than the ones I'm hearing, so I 'm wondering what's going on.I think when you forgive (not necessarily forget), you do it more for your own sake than anyone else's. Life is so much better when you shed some of your grudges.And I think forgiveness is especially important in a family context. I know a few different people who have spent years angry at their parents (mostly for good reason); those who were able to put it aside were glad they did so (especially after some of those parents passed away).
Irene, there are two possible sets of readings this Lent. We are in year C so the readings should be the barren fig tree last week, the prodigal son yesterday, and the adulterous woman next week; unless there are some adults preparing to be baptized on the Easter vigil, in which case you would be hearing the readings of year A, that are more appropriate for RCIA candidates (and I don't remember what they are, except that, I think, the Samaritan woman is one of them.)
Not sure about why you would have heard about sheep and goats. Maybe yesterday there was a special occasion at your parish? Sometimes presiders may deviate from the normal readings when there is a good reason for it. (For example, tomorrow in Rome the cardinals are hearing some readings tailored to the occasion.)
Thanks Clare- I haven't been at my parish the past couple of weeks. (the barren fig tree one was actually a pretty nice Mass: that Sunday was also the Feast of Katherine Drexel and I went to Mass at her shrine in Philly). The sheep-and-goats was at a special Girl Scouts mass; I do hope all the little Brownies one day end up with the sheepI guess its good there's flexibility with the readings.
Just confirming Claire's info from 3/11 10:37. The Cycle A reading for yesterday would have been the story of the man born blind.I suppose many folks know this already: the US bishops' website has a pretty convenient calendar that shows the appointed lectionary readings - including all the options when there are options - for every day of the year.This URL is to the landing page for this past Sunday's readings, with links to the two sets of readings. You'll see the calendar for all of March on the right side of the page. That calendar also appears on the USCCB home page (www.usccb.org).http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031013.cfm
Since the issue of forgiveness has come on this thread also, I'm reposting what I sent to Ann Olivier on the previous thread of mine:Ann: In a tribute to your insistence on linguistic usage, I checked the OED and found these three descriptions pertinent to your question:
2. To give up, cease to harbour (resentment, wrath). Also, to give up ones resolve (to do something). Obs.3. To remit (a debt); to give up resentment or claim to requital for, pardon (an offence)4. To give up resentment against, pardon (an offender). Also (now rarely) to abandon ones claim against (a debtor).
Matthew Boudway's comment is deserving of a lot of consideration and conversation. Not to bore everyone with personal spiritual testimony, but figuring out this element of reconciliation - that I, the sinner, have responsibility not only to myself and to God, but also to the one who has been injured - has been one of the big turning points in my spiritual development. And, if I may say so, as an adult.The sacrament of reconciliation isn't a series of intermittent points on the timelines of our lives - it is a way of life. There are opportunities for reconciliation every day in our lives, either as the injurer or the injuree, or, not infrequently, both at the same time.Here is an article from America Magazine, written by Avery Dulles, SJ (I think before he became Cardinal Dulles) that is a pretty readable exposition of the sacrament and its dimensions.http://americamagazine.org/issue/404/article/when-forgive
One of the best treatments of asking for forgiveness as part of growth in maturity is in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. After playing a trick on Jim, and realizing the impact that it had, Huck apologizes to Jim. Huck grew up in a culture where dehumanizing a black man was part of the norm and his apology is an implicit recognition of the dignity of Jim.Asking forgiveness, and showing sorrow for hurting another, is a very, very difficult task but is most important. Forgiving, is also an act of grace and freeing from bondage.This section on forgiveness is very good and I will copy it for future reference. Forgiveness is so challenging for many people and the way Augustine explains it here is free of any sentimentality. I like how he links it to justice and that is important.Good reflection for the week. Thanks for posting it.
Again, and apparently I'm the only one, who finds this pretty radical and difficult to wrestle with:"What should the person do who suffered the injury? What weve heard today: 'If your brother sins against you, correct him between you and him alone.' If you neglect to do this, you are worse than he. He injured you and by doing so he gravely wounded himself. Do you not care about your brothers wound? You see him perishing, or already dead, and you dont care? Your [sic] worse by your silence than he by his insults."Augustine seems to make the victim responsible in some way for the offender. I can think of times when victims have duties to other to say something, e.g., failing to report a crime--say a sex offense that might be humiliating--which allows the offender to persist in his behavior.But to say that the victim who fails to remonstrate with the sinner is worse than the sinner? In all cases? That takes some thinking about.
Jean: Thanks for the "sic"; I've fixed the typo. I don't think that Augustine was legislating for "all cases."
Jean, I have certainly barely touched the large body of work by Augustine. But it really seems that in some cases his thinking was a bit off-key. This is especially true in his ideas about women, his ideas about marriage and sexuality. (and, for me, his definition of original sin). Some of his other conclusions might also reflect certain biases, perhaps arising from his life and his community and his time in history. I wonder sometimes why some of the ancients, great though they may be, and great especially for their time in history, are so often quoted as if they were stating a "gospel" truth. They were men - men who lived in a certain time in history, in confined communities and certainly influenced by the cultural contexts of their period of history, of their communities and of their generation. No one questions that Augustine was a great thinker, but he was not infallible. Certainly there is nothing wrong in challenging some of his ideas when they don't seem to make sense. Perhaps further study of his notions of forgiveness and reconciliation might clarify matters. On the other hand, perhaps this is it and some would agree that if this is all there is, he was wrong.
Anne, I don't think any one of the Church's fathers or doctors is infallible, but they do offer insights about the faith that may afford new ways to think about it. As above.Yes, I sometimes think St. Augustine can be off-putting about some things, and he takes quite a radical line on some things (as noted above). But I'm not sure temperance in faith is a virtue. At least that's worth thinking about.Father, with my reputation for typo's I've got no business [sic]ing anyone, really.
Jean and Anne --Yes, sometimes Augustine can be off-putting. But I think that it is at least partly because he exaggerates to make a point, to jog us into changing our ways. Even Jesus sometimes did the same thing -- the pluck-out-thine-eye thing that seems to have been a kind of rhetoric that doesn't work these days.
JAK --Thanks for the definitions. They're a help. I find forgiveness so complex that it's hard to even begin to analyse the meaning(s)/concept(s). But it's also hard because it is psychologically so difficult to confront it == we so often really, really don't want to forgive, what we really, really want is revenge, and even to think of ourselves as vengeful is extremely off-putting. What??? Sweet me vengeful? No way!!! But it's true nevertheless. So I want to avoid the subject even though it is central to Christian belief and practice.
I'm not sure about confronting the sinner, either. I've heard some pretty self-righteous people say really rotten things about others' behavior and then try and pass it off as "fraternal correction". I don't know what that means, but I don't usually see anything fraternal in the tone or comment of the person offering the "correction".And didn't Jesus have a whole lot to say about not judging other people, and worrying about the log in your own eye, not the speck in someone elses?
Perhaps we can all stipulate that none of this should be done self-righteously. But is that the only way in which it could be done? And what are we to make of Matthew 18:15-18, which begins: "If your brother offend you, go and rebuke him between you and him...."? Jesus also said this, and it was this text that Augustine was commenting on.
Ann: While looking for something else, I discovered that five years ago on this blog I initiated a thread on the philosopher Griswold's book on forgiveness. You'll find it here: http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=1503
On the theme of asking for forgiveness and giving and its relation to gender, allow me to offer a brief anecdote.I manage a court program for people with mental health issues and low to medium offenses. People have the opportunity to have their criminal charge withdrawn if they do certain specific things in a designated period. In cases of theft or simple assault, this involves a letter of apology. This seems like a fairly minor, reasonable thing to do. Surprise!For men, this is usually not a problem but for women this is hugely complicated and takes a lot of discussion, etc. The act of putting on a piece of paper and owning their side of the problem is a huge obstacle to overcome. Usually, the conversation is around well "they did x, y and z so why should I have to be the one to apologize...and on and on.."So our workers have to explain that they were the ones who were charged which in turns gets into a debate around justice, etc. Yes, their views are validated BUT....here is the present situation.The apology is usually written (albeit insincerely) but the act of doing that seemingly minor task is very, very difficult.
Fr. Komonchak said: Perhaps we can all stipulate that none of this should be done self-righteously. But is that the only way in which it could be done? And what are we to make of Matthew 18:15-18, which begins: If your brother offend you, go and rebuke him between you and him.? Jesus also said this, and it was this text that Augustine was commenting on.Jean responds: Worth thinking about whether the emphasis should be on "rebuke"? Or on "between you and him"?
George D, interesting observation. Is what you're observing a function of gender? Or of mental illness? Do your female co-workers notice the same thing? How do they explain it?
I don't think I should be rebuking people of whom I disapprove or who have somehow disappointed me; it just seems very self-indulgent and I'm not seeing it going anywhere good. What are some concrete examples of where this would be a useful exercise?
Jesus speaks of one who has "committed some wrong against you," which doesn't strike me as a matter merely of disapproval or disappointment. Examples: a co-worker who has told a lie about you; a sibling who has made a decision that concerns you without consulting you; the executor of an estate who does not tell you what you have coming to. Recent posts remind me of a description I heard of a class given by the famous Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., on fraternal correction. After citing the words of Jesus in Mt 18:16-18, he said that this authoritative word of the Lord states a positive command. But positive commands, unlike the negative ones, bind only under certain conditions. He mentioned two conditions: 1) that the fraternal correction be done out of love and not out of anger or for some low motive; and 2) that there be some spes fructus, some hope of success. He concluded, "Gentlemen, these two conditions are hardly ever both realized." Which, of course, meant that we could safely ignore the word of the Lord that it be the person offended who initiates the effort at reconciliation.
HI Jean:it is a function of gender. I am not in a direct service capacity. It is the female staff who are working with the female clients.It is not a result of mental health issue either.The clients that we work are all be considered "fit to stand trial" and "criminally responsible" (meaning even if they have a mental health issue that issue in and of itself did not have an impact on their conduct). Up here, we do not have not guilty by reason of insanity but an assessment by a forensic psychiatric facility that a person is not criminally responsible. It is ultimately up to the judge and not the psychiatrist to make that finding although, obviously, in almost all cases the judge relies on the assessment of the psychiatrist.All of our clients are fit and criminally responsible although if there is a question mark around that or if the offense is more serious, they can be referred or ordered for a fitness and criminal responsibility assessment which is a different process.Long story short, it does not have a lot to do with mental illness. The clients all have capacity and can make decisions (not always good ones, but decisions nonetheless). Most of the presenting mental health issues are in the mood disorder category coupled with some personality disorder. But what they are claiming is not always totally irrational. There are all kinds of situations that lead up to an action. But bottom line, even though that is true, you cannot say or do certain things and you have to be responsible for that.I agree it is an interesting anecdote that we observe from some but not all women (generally of course many men are the same and it is not uncommon across the board for clients to come up with all kinds of rationalizations or blaming others and so on). But I don't think that is unique to mental health either. Recognizing wrong doing and asking for pardon is difficult for all of us.
PSI came across an interesting article that found that in cases of divorce, women are statistically far more likely to blame their spouse for the dissolution of the marriage than vice versa. Men are more likely to take some blame themselves or other factors.Not making a judgement right or wrong about that.....just a finding I came across but cannot find the article at the moment.
"He mentioned two conditions: 1) that the fraternal correction be done out of love and not out of anger or for some low motive; and 2) that there be some spes fructus, some hope of success. He concluded, 'Gentlemen, these two conditions are hardly ever both realized.' Which, of course, meant that we could safely ignore the word of the Lord that it be the person offended who initiates the effort at reconciliation."Nobody's paying attention to this thread anymore b/c of the new pope, but I think that those who have been harmed by family members who are addicts often meet both conditions above.


text:
Samsung Series 4 43" PN43E450 Slim Plasma HDTV + $50 eGift Card for $399.99 + free shipping
Have you been on that new Paleo diet, HDTV? Because you are looking super slim.
5 Comments add a comment
Not only is this set only 720p, but it uses the "wide pixels" that the very lowest-quality plasmas sets do...it's a pseudo-HD 1024x768 rather than the normal 720p plasma resolution of 1366x768.
I own this TV - it has a beautiful image - you will not find a better plasma in this price range. Look up customer ratings online.
Checking the manual, it does state that 1024x768 is the display resolution which would seem to be a 4:3 format.
However, in another part of the manual it states this:
Screen Fit: Displays the full image without any cut-off when your TV is inputting HDMI (720p / 1080i / 1080p) or Component (1080i / 1080p) HD signals.
✎HD (High Definition) has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1080i/1080p (1920x1080) or 720p (1280x720) resolution.
No, it's not the "latest and greatest" but people seem to like it. 4.2 out of 5 stars at the mothership.
Plus, if you're not interested in the Dell gift card, you can get it shipped to your house with someone to set it up for you for $379.


text:
The North Face Snowtropolis Lace Women's Boots
Product not available for In-Store Pick Up
The North Face Snowtropolis Lace Women's Boots are designed to navigate the snow-covered city. The premium women's lace-up winter boots feature a waterproof, full-grain leather and suede upper with warm PrimaLoft Eco insulation for superior warmth. Sweater-knit collar can be worn upright or folded-down to show off the cute sweater-knit lining. Durable, winter-ready outsole provides stable, secure footing over frozen terrain.


text:
Spicy Indian Chickpea Stew
This spicy Indian chickpea stew mixes Indian spices with the chickpeas to create a wonderful entree. Make spicy Indian chickpea stew when you want something really flavorful, and serve it with basmati rice on the side.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 lemon
Fresh cilantro
Chop the onion.
Peel and mince the garlic clove.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the onion and garlic.
Cook until soft.
Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne pepper.
Cook for 1 minute.
Stir in the chickpeas, salt, and pepper.
Cook until the chickpeas are heated through.
Remove from the heat.
Juice the lemon.
Mince the cilantro.
Stir 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 2 tablespoons cilantro into the stew.
Per serving: Calories 207 (From fat 82); Fat 9g (Saturated 1g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 298mg; Carbohydrate 25g (Dietary fiber 7g); Protein 8g.


text:
You are here: Products > Lapidus
Click a Thumbnail to Toggle Images:
Find your local store
Schedule an appointment
Buy granite countertop sample
Disclaimer: Product image and product sample are not an exact replica of the pattern, texture and color of the countertop that you purchase. Nature creates the unique beauty of each natural stone slab, which can vary in pattern, texture and color from slab to slab. After you purchase your countertop you have the option to view slabs of your desired color(s). This service is not available in all areas and it is recommended that you check with your local The Home Depot store for details.


text:
#2. Power Gives You a False Belief in Your Abilities
We know the powerful are risk-takers. It comes with confidence, and that feeling that you can make the world bend to your will is the key ingredient in everything from politics to military strategy to playing NFL quarterback.
But as it turns out, it works the other way, too. Put us in a position of power, and our perception of our abilities leaves all logic and reason behind.
"Hut ... hut ... ANNEX CZECHOSLOVAKIA!"
This next study happened at Stanford University. The setup was similar to the hypocrisy experiment, in that researchers got the subjects into a powerful mood by having them write about a situation where they had power over another person. Then there were two control groups: One wrote about a time they felt powerless, and another wrote nothing and probably just made doodles of dongs on their notebooks. Again, these people were assigned to the powerful and powerless groups at random. It had nothing to do with their station in life or how much power they actually had in the real world.
Then the researchers made them an offer: They could roll some dice, and if they correctly guessed their roll, they'd get cash. But they had the choice of either rolling the dice themselves or letting someone else roll for them. The choice was nonsense -- dice is not a game of skill. That's the point of dice. If there's some guy who's really good at making dice land a certain way, he'd be at a craps table now putting a casino out of business.
Dice appreciate a good blow, but it doesn't change how they roll.
Yet, while both the less-powerful and the control group gave up the responsibility 30 to 40 percent of the time, a full 100 percent of the empowered subjects chose to roll themselves. Drunk on their little scrap of completely fake power, they assumed they could control a completely random outcome better than someone else. All because a guy in a lab coat tricked them into feeling powerful.
But it doesn't end there. Another study found that people with power see the world more positively and are therefore more likely to take risks based on the pure blind faith that things always work out for them because they're awesome. If you're keeping track, this basically means that people in charge see the world as a gumdrop palace in which they have superpowers.
"Ha-ha! My god-like power has rolled yet another Yahtzee!"
Are you starting to see a theme here? It's like even minor feelings of power trick you into thinking you're a part of some other, superior species of human. So with that in mind ...
#1. Feelings of Power Trigger a Lack of Compassion
In theory, politicians in the age of democracy should feel almost too much compassion. They spend oceans of money and time getting elected to posts that exist solely for the continued well-being of the people they serve. They hold town hall meetings to listen to their constituents, and they risk their political futures trying to pass laws for the good of their people.
And all they ask in return is the occasional blowjob.
A study in an issue of Psychological Science set out to test this idea. The method was a little different, as instead of a role-playing exercise, the researchers actually surveyed subjects about how powerful they felt in their own lives. Then they were divided into powerful and powerless based on their answers.
The subjects were then paired up, and one was told to relay an emotionally scarring event that had happened to him. The listener was hooked up to an ECG machine, and all of his stress responses were measured.
Nope, there's nothing inherently stressful about this.
The powerless people reacted the way you'd expect people would react when told a heart-wrenching tale. The powerful, on the other hand, felt nothing. Or at least, their responses couldn't be measured, whether they naturally felt no empathy or were just better at regulating their emotions.
The researchers had all of the subjects fill out a survey at the end and inquired about whether they'd like to stay in touch with the other experiment subjects after the experiment was over, to see if maybe they'd made any friends during this ordeal. The powerless subjects were into it. The powerful were not. They wanted nothing more to do with the stranger they'd just traded personal stories with.
This seems to indicate what we had always suspected -- that while politicians may pander to you by kissing your baby, they might as well be kissing a can of Beanee Weenees. The guy who stole your wallet at the laundromat will probably remember your name longer than they will.
"Shit, which one of you idiots did I take this thing from?"
Now find out why the person in charge has legitimate cause to hate you, in 5 Scientific Reasons You're a Bad Employee. And now learn why you should be fortunate they only hate you, in The 6 Most Horrific Bosses of All Time.
And stop by Linkstorm to learn why everyone on the Internet sucks.
Cracked.com is looking for a lead PHP engineer to join our team of award-winning badasses. For more info, click on this now working hyperlink!
And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get sexy, sexy jokes sent straight to your news feed.
Do you have an idea in mind that would make a great article? Then sign up for our writers workshop! Know way too much about a random topic? Create a topic page and you could be on the front page of Cracked.com tomorrow!


text:
Questions? Call now toll free! (866)666-9198
Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Telephoto Lens
5 Year Extended Warranty for Canon EF 300mm
5 Year Extended Warranty (ID: 22164)
3 Year Extended Warranty for Canon EF 300mm
5 Year Extended Warranty (ID: 22165)
Pro Tulip Lens Hood for Canon EF 300mm
to prevent glare and block the sun (ID: 22166)
Pro Hi-Res Filter Kit for Canon EF 300mm
3 Piece Multicoated Hi-Res Filter Kit (ID: 22167)
Multicoated UV Filter for Canon EF 300mm
Multicoated UV Filter (ID: 22168)
There are no accessory packages for this product, but we're working on it. Please call us for details about accessory packages for this product.
The Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM Telephoto Lens is the perfect choice for nature, wildlife and sports photographers. The lens is extremely light for its class and the Image Stabilization system offers up to four extra stops of performance. The EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM features Fluorite optics that deliver sharper images with less chromatic aberration, and Fluorine coating that keeps soiling, smears and fingerprints to a minimum. With a super-telephoto focal length, fast aperture and outstanding image quality, this lens provides reliability and exceptional results expected from the Canon line of L lenses.
With a third Image Stabilization mode (Mode 3) that activates IS only when the shutter button is fully pressed, and giving the equivalent effect of a shutter speed four stops faster, the EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM allows for easy panning and is ideally positioned for professional action photography. Fast, quiet Auto Focusing (AF) is provided by a ring-type fast Ultra-Sonic Motor (USM), dedicated AF algorithms and a high-speed CPU, which offers quick and accurate focusing during shooting. Photographers can also utilize full-time manual focusing functionality, which enables the adjustment and fine-tuning of focus even when the AF system is activated, providing even greater control over image capture. The Power Focus mode aids focusing during video shooting, allowing the photographer to smoothly adjust focus during filming by twisting the focus recall ring. With a security slot for wire-type security locks, buttons and switches are redesigned for intuitive, deliberate operation, and dust and water sealing keeps the lens functioning flawlessly in even the most challenging environments.A third Image Stabilization mode (Mode 3) activates IS only when the shutter button is fully pressed, and gives the equivalent effect of a shutter speed four stops faster
© 2016 Fumfie.com | All rights reserved
Call us at 866-666-9198
226 Beach 101st Rockaway Park, NY 11694


text:
6 Ways World of Warcraft is Worse Than Real Life
Did you know...
#6. WoW is a Lot Like Work
In World of Warcraft, like real life, you need money. WoW uses in-game gold as currency and to do the fun stuff ("raiding" and killing huge monsters) you'll need a lot of gold. And getting it isn't a whole lot more fun than working at Burger King.
You earn gold by "farming," which is the slang term for the monotonous quests players slog through each day, that generally involve killing X monsters, or collecting X items and getting gold in return. Over and over and over again. For hours.
Active players will need to do this tedious farming about two days a week, to fund the actual fun part of their game. So basically not only do you have to work a day job to pay for the game, but your character also has to have a day job to pay for his raiding.
Even stranger, enterprising gamers can make gold in a sort of commodities market that has formed in the WoW world. There is an in-game auction house where items are bought and sold between players. So you can sit there among the elves and monsters and act like you're on the floor of the stock exchange. Buy low, sell high, get rich.
There are even complex software plugins people use to track price histories and trends. There is speculation, price fluctuations, and selling panics. If you're asking why this is superior to, say, getting a similar job in real life, we suspect the answer is that in WoW you get to dress like this the whole time:
#5. WoW is Also a Lot Like Job Hunting
You know how during your first month in prison you want to find a gang to join, so somebody's got your back in case you get shanked in the yard? Well in World of Warcraft those gangs are called guilds.
Either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, guilds have plenty of people lining up ready to sacrifice their social lives to the group. Aspiring members are so eager that they are willing to go through a ridiculously involved guild application process. So you...
1. Register on the guild forum and fill out an application like this one.
2. Guild officers then go over your application, check out your equipment and contact you if you meet their standards.
3. If you measure up, you'll be allowed to go on some raids (missions) with them as an "app", where you're allowed only limited participation. This could go on for weeks.
"And you say if I do this, you'll let me in your guild?"
4. You will go on some more raids with them as a "trial", now with limited access to forums and guild chat. Again this could last for weeks or months.
5. Finally you will be made a full "member", assuming you've not been rejected at any of the previous steps.
You might have noticed that most political offices don't have that kind of vetting process. There are even websites featuring guild application tips and applicants often spend insane amounts of time putting together biographies or even animated presentations touting their skills.
And when applicants get turned down, it gets ugly.
At this point, guild shopping might sound suspiciously like job hunting to you, but it isn't. When you apply for a job, employers not only don't mind you applying for other jobs at the same time, they expect it. In WoW, you are expected to only apply with one guild at a time. So if the months-long trail period ends in failure, you start over.
And you do it all for the privilege of wearing the guild's proud name over your head everywhere you go.
#4. Prejudice is Alive and Well in the Game World
Like in any social environment, WoW has stereotypes. Of course the players can't see your actual race, but that's okay. You choose a race and class when you start the game, and you'll be stereotyped based on that instead.
For instance, you can choose to play as a Hunter. People will promptly refer to you as a "huntard" and start speaking to you loudly and slowly. Are hunters dumber on average than any other class? It's impossible to prove that kind of thing with hard facts or statistics, but yes.
It turns out a lot of new players and/or kiddies choose hunters when they first start playing (it's an easy class for the novice) so the "Hunter=Dumbass" stereotype was born and deeply entrenched in the culture.
Another class, Rogues, have a reputation for being assholes. Again, there's a reason for this. When playing against other humans, their most effective means of attack is to sneak up on people before they're ready, kill them very quickly, and use their abilities to run away before their victim's friends can get revenge.
Thus, players have figured out that many people select Rogues specifically because they enjoy this kind of hit-and-run behavior. Again we're not saying that all rogue players are bad people, but they are.


text:
Carmi's Thys Bax was 12th last Saturday in the 10-mile Tunnel Hill run in Vienna. Bax finished with a time of 1:09:36.
The local area was also represented two more times in the top 20 of the 225-runner field.
Timothy Roser of Enfield was 17th with a time of 1:10:12 and John Healy of Carmi was 19th with a time of 1:11:35.
Other area runners included Angie Healy of Carmi in 130th with a time of 1:35:51, Becky Belcher of McLeansboro in 133th with a time of 1:36:06 and Chuck Belcher of McLeansboro in 188th with a time of 1:49:39.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
Chuck Reeves deep diving into the structure and design of Geneva Framework beta 2
- Posted: May 11, 2009 at 8:12AM
- 37,551 views
- 2 comments
Loading user information from Channel 9
Something went wrong getting user information from Channel 9
Loading user information from MSDN
Something went wrong getting user information from MSDN
Loading Visual Studio Achievements
Something went wrong getting the Visual Studio Achievements
Right click "Save as…"
Oops, something didn't work.
Hey Chuck how's the baseball season going? Throw any no hitters? This is Juan... (you interviewed me June 2008) Great work!
Nice article in there, I will suggest this product to my boss and hope it won't fail me.
Comments have been closed since this content was published more than 30 days ago, but if you'd like to continue the conversation, please create a new thread in our Forums, or Contact Us and let us know.


text:
Once More, With Music
A Christmas Story
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, 205 W. 46th St. ($49-$159),
877-250-2929/ 800-745-3000, closes Dec. 30
New York
Recipe for a successful commodity musical: (1) Obtain the stage rights to a well-liked film; (2) write a script that sticks close to the original plot, so as not to upset the public; (3) add safe, uninteresting songs and fancy sets and costumes; (4) sit back and count the money. This, of course, is also a surefire recipe for a dull show, which is why commodity musicals are a blight on Broadway. Once in a while, though, the odd thing happens. "A Christmas Story," the stage version of Bob Clark's charming 1983 film about Ralphie, a sweet little kid from Indiana who longs to find an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle under the tree on Christmas morning, ought to be by all rights tedious in the extreme—but it isn't. Some of it, in fact, is really good, and none of it is less than watchable.
"A Christmas Story," mind you, follows the recipe in every way. Nothing happens in the show that doesn't happen in the film, all of the now-familiar plot twists are present and accounted for, the members of the cast endeavor mightily to suggest the well-remembered performances of their cinematic counterparts, and the reassuringly obvious song titles include "A Major Award," "Red Ryder Carbine Action BB Gun" and "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!"
So what works? Quite a lot, actually, starting with the staging. John Rando is a scintillating musical-comedy director—his "Guys and Dolls," mounted last year at Massachusetts' Barrington Stage, was the best revival of that classic musical that I've ever seen—and he and Warren Carlyle, the choreographer, infuse "A Christmas Story" with plenty of liveliness and flair. The kids are all terrific, from Ralphie ( Johnny Rabe) on down, and Walt Spangler's sets are appropriately festive.
After Mr. Rando, top marks go to Dan Lauria, lately of "Lombardi," who plays the role of Jean Shepherd, the radio raconteur who wrote the tale on which "A Christmas Story" is based and supplied the voice-over narration for the original film. Mr. Lauria catches Mr. Shepherd's dryly whimsical tone with unerring but unslavish fidelity. Little need be said of Joseph Robinette's book, which sticks to the source material with the requisite precision. As for the songs, by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, you'll have forgotten them long before you return home, though Larry Blank's no-strings orchestrations are impeccably tailored (the harp writing throughout is really lovely).
No miracles, in other words, but "A Christmas Story" does what it sets out to do with estimable craftsmanship. Even if you know the movie well, you'll likely be touched all over again by the way in which the musical version evokes the unpretentious pleasures of a small-town family Christmas. Judging by the response of the audience at the preview I saw on Sunday, your kids will have lots of fun, and you won't mind it a bit.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Lincoln Center Theater, Mitzi E. Newhouse
Theater, 150 W. 65th St. ($75-$85),
212-239-6200/800-432-7250, closes Jan. 13
Christopher Durang writes comedies with stiletto-sharp stings in the tail, some of which are devastatingly funny and others exasperatingly messy. "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" is one of the former, an inside-out medley of Chekhov's Greatest Hits in which key moments from the Russian playwright's oeuvre are scrambled into a camp cartoon about a melancholy Pennsylvania family whose members ( Kristine Nielsen, David Hyde Pierce and Sigourney Weaver) were named by their theater-loving parents after characters from "Three Sisters" and "Uncle Vanya." The trick up Mr. Durang's sleeve is that the play's onstage lunacy is the distorted outward manifestation of the deep-seated sorrows of its protagonists, especially Sonia (Ms. Nielsen), a sad sack who gets her biggest laughs simply by telling the awful truth about her unfulfilled life: "My relationships with men have been limited to 'Here's your change, ma'am' at the supermarket."
Not only does Ms. Nielsen have the best part, but she gives the best performance of the evening, the high point of which is a phone-call monologue that is as smartly written as any of Mr. Durang's glittering comic sketches. It's received by the audience not with well-deserved cheers but rapt stillness, the best "applause" of all. Mr. Pierce, by contrast, is a bit bland, while Ms. Weaver seems nervous throughout, perhaps because she isn't a natural stage comedienne and so never quite manages to make her punch lines land properly. The three supporting players, Genevieve Angelson, Shalita Grant and Billy Magnussen, are all excellent. Nicholas Martin's staging leaves nothing to be desired—the casting is the problem—and David Korins, the set designer, has conjured up a you-are-there country house that's ready to occupy.
I didn't think much of "Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them," Mr. Durang's last play, so it's a pleasure to report that one of our finest comic playwrights has returned to form. In common with the best comedians, he's never funnier than when he's making us chortle at other people's troubles, and for all its zaniness, "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike," like Chekhov's sad vaudevilles, is lit by the midnight sun.
—Mr. Teachout, the Journal's drama critic, blogs about theater and the other arts at www.terryteachout.com. Write to him at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Although this is an online course, I am not always online. Here's how frequently you can expect to hear from me.
I will respond to class email and discussion postings twice a day Monday through Friday. On the weekends I will respond once daily.
I will post grades for assignments and exams no later than five days after the assignments or exams are due.


text:
Bennington College is located in the southwest corner of Vermont, on the border of Massachusetts and New York State. The town of Bennington is home to 16,000 people.
Bennington has been co-ed since 1969; prior to that it was a women's college from its founding in 1932. Today, the female-male ratio is approximately 67:33.
In addition to a student's strong academic history, we are looking for evidence of exceptional maturity to handle the academic planning process, self-motivation, independent and creative thought, and an understanding of what it means to direct the course of one's own education. It is through a student's essays, teacher recommendations, school performance, supplementary materials, and interview that we are able to learn about undergraduate and graduate applicants.
Yes. Suppose you are interested in politics and science. Here are some ideas of different approaches you might develop in your thinking, your coursework, your writing and research.
All the better. You are free to explore subjects and courses in areas that are familiar as well as areas you may never have thought of studying before. Your work can include an array of interests: dance, chemistry, drawing, anthropology, philosophy, biology. Many aspects of your Bennington education will become part of your thinking, such as Field Work Term. From the start, you will discuss your discoveries with your academic advisor and then your Plan Committee and will begin to frame ideas and questions you would like to pursue.
The average class size is 13 students, with some classes of 5–6 and some of 20–30. Courses at Bennington are usually seminar/discussion based.
Field Work Term (FWT) is a seven-week winter term in January and February in which students work full time in jobs, internships, or volunteer positions that complement their studies, clarify their interests, and open possibilities for their future. FWT is required each year of all undergraduates and students of some graduate programs. Click here for some examples of the many places and positions students have explored during Field Work Term.
There are numerous student organizations on campus. Organizations may change from year to year depending on student interest; starting an organization is easy and encouraged. For more information, please refer to Clubs and Organizations list.
In addition to organizations on campus, many students are heavily involved in organizations within the College. Becoming a House Chair, House Representative (eco- or community- action), Peer Mentor, representing the Student Educational Policies Committee, or working with the Program Activity Council are some of the ways students shape life on campus. Organizations may change from year to year depending on student interest; starting an organization is easy and encouraged.
Yes, there are many. The Office of Student Life helps connect students with a variety of volunteer opportunities and community projects. Students have done impressive work in partnership with many community organizations, including PAVE (Project Against Violent Encounters), the 6 Bank Street Homeless Shelter, Four Winds Nature Institute, and local chapters of Habitat for Humanity. The Community Outreach and Action Program holds monthly service day projects, such as river clean-ups or visits to the veterans' home. The Quantum Leap program is a great opportunity for students who are interested in working with at-risk children and teenagers.
For more information, please refer to Clubs and Organizations list.
We offer intramural sports, including soccer, basketball, and volleyball. The Meyer Recreation Barn includes an aerobics room, Olympic and free weights, Nautilus equipment, cardiovascular exercise equipment, a climbing wall, and a sauna. We also have four tennis courts.
Bennington College seeks to provide financial assistance to all families who qualify for financial aid. Our financial aid process begins with a personal assessment of each applicant's ability to pay. See Financial Aid FAQ. We cannot always meet all of a student's documented need. Merit aid is determined by the Admissions Committee. Need-based aid is determined by completing the FAFSA, the Bennington College Financial Aid application, and the CSS Profile.
Yes. Housing is guaranteed for all four years. Instead of traditional dormitories, Bennington's student housing consists of 21 houses that accommodate approximately 30-45 students each; they are co-educational and integrate new and returning students. Each of the houses has a kitchenette and a spacious living room; most have fireplaces. In 2003, the Princeton Review ranked Bennington third in its "Dorms Like Palaces" category.
Bennington students study around the world, usually through accredited programs hosted by other colleges. Click here to learn more about study abroad options. Bennington is also a charter member of a consortium associated with the School for Field Studies. This program provides students with hands-on educational experience that addresses some of the world's most critical environmental issues. For one term, students may pursue such topics as marine ecology and management, biogeography, patterns of ecological diversity, and marine mammal biology and conservation in Australia, the Caribbean, Kenya, Mexico, or Costa Rica.
Some go to graduate school, law school, medical school, master's and doctoral programs. Some work in nonprofit organizations, commercial businesses, or government, perhaps continuing work they began during a FWT. Others launch their own businesses and organizations.