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The market for premium teas is so small that it would be easy to overlook it. Most tea houses (and stores) in Europe and America actually prefer not to take the risk of purchasing leaves that cost more than 10 cents per gram according to my experience. But even if there's only a small demand for a high mountain Oolong or a high grade concubine, I feel that it's important for a tea house to have them on its menu. It shows a certain level of understanding and tea passion that can set it apart from other houses. It's like for a restaurant to have fine grands crus classés Bordeaux on their wine list. It shows they are serious and committed to excellence.
without a pitcher). I also showed that with great tea, you don't need to use so many leaves. A layer on the bottom of the gaiwan is sufficient. This is how a tea house can make premium tea more affordable for its customers. And the skilled pour also demonstrates the fact that tea brewing takes skill and calm.
1. "To clean the dry leaves like you would clean a vegetable or fruit before consumption."
The difference is that dry Oolong tea isn't a raw product, because it has been subject to a very high temperature (around 180 degrees Celcius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit) during the kill green process for 8-10 minutes. A lower heat is also later applied to dry (or even roast) the leaves thorougly. This is why most teas, even the most humble tea bag is free of germs and bacterias (and nobody rinses a tea bag, because you'd loose the best flavors after 2 seconds in hot water!)
And for the same reason, nobody is rinsing Japanese green tea. Because the first flavors are the nicest. And why should Taiwan Oolong be less clean than Japanese (or Chinese) green tea?
And how about those Oolongs that have been treated with lots of pesticides and fertilizers? Isn't it better to rinse them? For such leaves, the problems are not limited to the surface of the leaves. The best solution is probably not to drink them at all!
The answer is to do a thorough preheating of the tea vessel. A gaiwan or teapot that is preheated with boiling water will enable the proper opening of the Oolong leaves during the first brew. (It's because many people use the rinse to preheat the vessel that they feel it's necessary).
I demonstrated that it's possible to open even rolled Oolong leaves with just one brew. (This seems a good place to remind you of my Oolong Brewing guide, which summarizes all aspects of my technique. By the way, you get this guide for free with a free 25 gr sample of SiJiChun Oolong if you place a tea order of 60 USD or more on the Tea-Masters.com boutique! )
1. Spring 2015 Alishan Jinxuan, the most affordable high mountain Oolong
2. Spring 2013 Da Yu Ling Oolong, the highest plantation shows it still feels fresh and powerful.
3. Winter 2013 Yong Lung Hung Shui Oolong, the standard Dong Ding Oolong. Balance of roast and freshness.
4. Spring 2013 Concubine Oolong from Feng Huang, high oxidation with an organic method. Sweetness.
5. Spring 1999 Hung Shui Oolong from Yong Lung, the beauty and refinement of aged Oolong.


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Each publicly bid project results in a contract that is approved by city council. Awarded contracts are listed here by year, beginning in 2009.
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A searchable version of the city of Elgin's code can be found by clicking the link above.
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View the CAFR, issued each year by the City of Elgin. The CAFR provides the most in-depth look at the city's financial status. Financial statements, an independent auditor's report as well as useful statistical information such as the largest employers can be found within the CAFR. The CAFR is a technical document that is required by law, but for those without a financial or accounting background, it can be difficult to understand. The city's adopted budget is a more accessible document that strives to convey financial and policy information in an easier to understand way.
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The city currently has three TIF districts: Central Area, Bluff City and U.S. Route 20. TIF districts represent the most powerful economic development tool available to municipalities under Illinois law. TIF districts seek to increase property values by encouraging development within the designated area. When redevelopment occurs in a TIF district, additional revenue is generated, enabling additional projects to be undertaken. TIF districts generate revenue by allowing the city to capture the new tax revenues produced by the increased assessed valuation of properties resulting from redevelopment efforts. View TIF District Map.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Angelic Wisdom concerning The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom
By Emanuel Swedenborg
Love is the life of man (n. 1).
God alone, consequently the Lord, is Love itself, because He is Life iteself, and angels and men are recipients of life (n. 4).
The Divine is not in space (n. 7).
God is very man (n. 11).
In God-Man esse and existere are one distinctly (n. 17).
There is one God-Man, from whom all things are (n. 23).
The Divine essence itself is love and wisdom (n. 28).
Divine Love is of Divine Wisdom, and Divine Wisdom is of Divine Love (n. 34).
Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are substance and are form (n. 40).
Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are substance and form in itself, thus the very and the only (n. 44)..
Divine Love and Divine Wisdom must necessarily have being (esse). and have form (existere). in others created by itself (n. 47).
Divine Love and Divine Wisdom must necessarily be and have existence in others created by itself (n. 47).
All things in the universe are creations from the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom of God-Man (n. 52).
All things in the created universe are recipients of the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom of God-Man (n. 55).
All created things have relation in a kind of image to man (n. 61).
The uses of all created things ascend by degrees from last things to man, and through man to God the creator, from whom they are (n. 65).
The Divine, apart from space, fills all spaces of the universe (n. 69).
The Divine is in all time, apart from time (n. 73).
The Divine in things greatest and least is the same (n. 77).
Divine Love and Divine Wisdom appear in the spiritual world as a sun (n. 83).
Out of the sun that takes form (existit) from the Divine Love And the Divine Wisdom, heat and light go forth. (n. 89).
The sun of the spiritual world is not God, but is a proceeding from the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom of God-Man; so also are the heat and light from that sun (n. 93).
Spiritual heat and light, in proceeding from the Lord as a sun, make one, just as his Divine Love and Divine Wisdom make one (n. 99).
The sun of the spiritual world appears at a middle altitude, far off from the angels, like the sun of the natural world from men (n. 103).
The distance between the sun and the angels in the spiritual world is an appearance according to reception by them of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom (n. 108).
Angels are in the Lord, and the Lord in them; and because angels are recipients, the Lord alone is heaven (n. 113).
In the spiritual world the east is where the Lord appears as a sun, and from that the other quarters are determined (n. 119).
The quarters in the spiritual world are not from the Lord as a sun, but from the angels according to reception (n. 124).
Angels turn their faces constantly to the Lord as a sun, and thus have the south to the right, the north to the left, and the west behind them (n. 129).
All interior things of the angels, both of mind and body, are turned to the Lord as a sun (n. 135).
Every spirit, whatever his quality, turns in like manner to his ruling love (n. 140).
Divine Love and Divine Wisdom proceeding from the Lord as a sun, and producing heat and light in heaven, are the Proceeding Divine, which is the Holy Spirit (n. 146).
The Lord created the universe and all things of it by means of the sun which is the first proceeding of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom (n. 151).
The sun of the natural world is pure fire, consequently dead; nature also is dead, because it derives its origin from that Sun (n. 157).
Without a double sun, one living and the other dead, no creation is possible (n. 163).
The end of creation has form (existat) in outmosts, which end is that all things may return to the creator and that there may be conjunction.(n. 167).
In the spiritual world there are atmospheres, waters, and earths, just as in the natural world; only the former are spiritual, while the latter are natural (n. 173).
There are degrees of love and wisdom, consequently degrees of heat and light, also degrees of atmospheres (n. 179).
Degrees are of a two-fold kind, degrees of height and degrees of breadth (n. 184)..
Degrees of height are homogeneous, and one is from the other in succession, like end, cause, and effect (n. 189)..
The first degree is the all in every thing of the subsequent degrees (n. 195)..
All perfections increase and ascend along with degrees and according to them (n 199).
In successive order the first degree makes the highest, and the third the lowest; but in simultaneous order the first degree makes the innermost, and the third the outermost (n. 205).
The outmost degree is the complex, containant and base of the prior degrees (n. 209).
The degrees of height are in fullness and in power in their outmost degree (n 217).
There are degrees of both kinds in the greatest and in the and least of all created things (n. 222).
In the Lord the three degrees of height are infinite and uncreate, but in man the three degrees are finite and created (n. 230).
These three degrees of height are in every man from birth and can be opened successively; and as they are opened, man is in the Lord and the. Lord in man (n. 236).
Spiritual light flows in with man through three degrees, but not spiritual heat, except so far as man flees from evils as sins and looks to the Lord (n. 242).
Unless the higher degree, which is the spiritual, is opened in man, he becomes natural and sensual (n. 248).
The natural degree of the human mind regarded in itself is continuous, but by correspondence with the two higher degrees it appears when it is elevated as if it were discrete (n. 256)..
The natural mind, since it is the covering and containant of the higher degrees of the human mind, is reactive; and if the higher degrees are not opened it acts against them, but if they are opened it acts with them (n. 260).
The origin of evil is from the abuse of the capacities proper to man, that are called rationality and. freedom (264).
Evils and falsities are in complete opposition to goods and truths, because evils and falsities are diabolical and infernal, while goods and truths are divine and heavenly (n. 271).
The natural mind that is in evils and in falsities therefrom is a form and image of hell (n. 273).
The Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, created the universe and all things thereof from Himself, and not from nothing (n. 282).
The Lord from eternity, that is, Jehovah, could not have created the universe and all things thereof unless He were a man (n. 285).
The Lord from eternity, that is, Jehovah, brought forth from Himself the sun of the spiritual world, and from that created the universe and all things thereof (n. 290).
There are in the Lord three things that are the Lord, the Divine of love, the Divine of wisdom, and the Divine of use; and these three are presented in appearance outside of the sun of the spiritual world, the Divine of love by heat, the Divine of wisdom by light, and the Divine of use by the atmosphere. Which is their containant (n. 296).
The atmospheres, of which there are three both in the spiritual and in the natural world, in their outmosts close into substances and matters such as are in earths (n. 302).
In the substances and matters of which earths are formed there is nothing of the Divine in itself, but still they are from the Divine in itself (n. 305).
All uses, which are ends of creation, are in forms, which forms they take from substances and matters such as are in earths (n. 307).
All things of the created universe, viewed in reference to uses, represent man in an image; and this testifies that God is man (n. 319).
All things created by the Lord are uses; they are uses in the order, degree, and respect in which they have relation to man, and through man to the Lord, from whom [they are] (n. 327).
Uses for sustaining the body (n. 331).
Uses for perfecting the rational (n. 332).
Uses for receiving the spiritual from the Lord (n. 333).
Evil uses were not created by the Lord, but originated together with hell (n. 336).
The visible things in the created universe bear witness that nature has produced and does produce nothing, but that the Divine, out of itself and through the spiritual world, has produced and does produce all things (n. 349).
Two receptacles and abodes for himself, called will and understanding, have been created and formed by the Lord in man; the will for his Divine Love, and the understanding for his Divine Wisdom (n. 358).
Will and understanding, which are the receptacles of love and wisdom, are in the brains, in the whole and in every part of them, and therefrom in the body, in the whole and in every part of it (n. 362).
There is a correspondence of the will with the heart, and of the understanding with the lungs (n. 371).
From the correspondence of the heart with the will and of the lungs with the understanding, everything may be known that can be known about the will and understanding, or about love and wisdom, therefore about the soul of man (n. 394).
What man's beginning is from conception (n. 432).,


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What more can be said about the eigenvalues (especially the spectrum) of the $N \times N$ matrix ${\bf M} = {\bf A} + {\bf A}^T$ in terms of $\bf A$ if $\bf A$ is not symmetric and its eigenvalues are not necessarily positive ($\bf A$ is not necessarily positive semi-definite)?
- The eigenvalues of $\bf M$ are real since $\bf M$ is symmetric.
- $\sum_{i=1}^{N} \lambda_i({\bf M}) = {\rm trace}({\bf M}) = 2~{\rm trace}({\bf A}) = 2\sum_{i=1}^{N} \lambda_i({\bf A})$
The problem originates from principal component analysis. The principal components are the largest eigenvalues of the sample covariance matrix (SCM) $\bf C = ({\bf X}+{\bf W})^T({\bf X}+{\bf W})$ where $\bf X$ is a data matrix and $\bf W$ is a noise (white Gaussian) matrix.
Usually it is assumed that $\bf X$ and $\bf W$ are uncorrelated (when many samples are used) and the SCM can then simply be written as ${\bf C} = {\bf X}^T{\bf X} + {\bf W}^T{\bf W}$. The eigenvalue spectrum can under these conditions $quite~easily$ be determined using Weyl's inequalities since ${\bf X}^T {\bf X}$ and ${\bf W}^T{\bf W}$ are both Hermitian (or real symmetric).
However, when the number of samples is limited, the error (cross) terms ${\bf E} = {\bf X}^T{\bf W} + {\bf W}^T{\bf X}$ begin to influence the eigenvalues significantly. Since $\bf E$ is Hermitian, Weyl's inequalities can again be used to determine the eigenvalue spectrum of $\bf C$. Though, the eigenvalue spectrum of $\bf E$ is required to do so.
Setting ${\bf A} = {\bf X}^T{\bf W}$, it is clear that ${\bf A}^T = {\bf W}^T{\bf X}$, such that ${\bf M} = {\bf E}$.


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Who was/is The Crests V.s.The Flamingos ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
The Crests
Step By Step
Johnny Maestro and his Crests had a good thing going at Coed Records. Co-owner George Paxton was a music publisher whose output displayed a polish that a lot of New York indies lacked. The Crests had been Coed's flagship group since their 16 Candles just missed topping the pop hit parade (you'll find it on our 1958 edition).
Maestro's powerhouse leads and the harmonies of second tenor Tommy Gough, baritone Harold Torres, and bass J.T. Carter ensured that the multi-ethnic Crests kept posting hits: Six Nights A Week, Flower Of Love, and The Angels Listened In in 1959 alone. Step By Step, written by house songsmiths Ollie Jones (a former member of The Ravens and Cues) and Billy Dawn Smith, sailed to #14 pop in the spring of '60 with Gee (But I'd Give The World) residing on the opposite side.
"That got us back up in the Top Ten again," said the late Maestro. "It was a good song." Coed spared no expense. "That was great. The sound was phenomenal, the first time being there in the studio with live strings. A beautiful sound." Paxton's studio demeanor was calm. "He was kind of laidback. He never really had much to say. It was mostly the arrangers who had most of the say in the recordings. He'd throw his two cents in once in a while. He'd always be there, of course. But Bert Keyes and Billy Dawn, they were very instrumental in all of our recordings."
Between Step By Step and its Top 20 followup Trouble In Paradise, The Crests were flying high. But trouble loomed on the horizon. "'Trouble In Paradise,' I think, was the beginning of the end for the Crests," said Maestro. "The record company told us that sales started diminishing because of the integration of the group, and they felt that we couldn't get any national exposure on national TV because of that. So they made the decision to start recording us separately - me as a soloist, and the group with another singer. We were young, we just really had no say-so in anything. And they kind of told us to what to do, so we just followed them and figured they knew what they knew what they were talking about."
Maestro became a solo at Coed, nailing three 1961 hits. But he wasn't happy. "Being with a group all my life - all my vocal life, anyway - I was really used to being with the group in the studio and onstage. I had that support," he said. "So after a couple of records, I left the record company and just started traveling around the country with a band." Meanwhile, The Crests soldiered on without him. Maestro was singing with The Del-Satins, Dion's vocal group on Runaround Sue, but they wanted a bigger sound. They merged in 1966 with a horn band called The Rhythm Method. A new name was in order for the 11-piece outfit. "Someone at our manager's office made a comment, 'It's gonna be easier to sell the Brooklyn Bridge than sell a group of this size!'" laughed Johnny.
Buddah Records boss Neil Bogart wanted The Brooklyn Bridge to go bubblegum, but Maestro had heard a Jimmy Webb composition on a 5th Dimension album. "I said, 'This is a great song. I think we should arrange it our way and go into the studio,'" he said.The Brooklyn Bridge's Wes Farrell-produced rendition of Worst That Could Happen went gold in early '69, soaring to #3 pop. They scored lesser hits through 1970 and were still going strong when Maestro died March 24, 2010.
Various - Street Corner Symphonies 1960 Vol.12
Read more at: https://www.bear-family.de/various-street-corner-symphonies-1960-vol.12.html
Copyright © Bear Family Records
Copyright © Bear Family Records®. Copying, also of extracts, or any other form of reproduction, including the adaptation into electronic data bases and copying onto any data mediums, in English or in any other language is permissible only and exclusively with the written consent of Bear Family Records® GmbH.
More information about The Crests V.s.The Flamingos on Wikipedia.org


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Crocuses are showing up next to sidewalks in New York, so it must be Spring, which seems like a good time to finish a pile of links I started compiling in December and forgot about. Here goes…
- Mattresses, Brooms, and Art in Bulk, Tahtakale, Istanbul: Commerce Direct and Unadorned. By Stephen Lewis in Bubkes. I may have posted this already, but I like it a lot, so I'm pointing again.
- Scouting a New York City neighborhood where the sidewalk endsSlate. Originally in Scouting New York.
- Some of my own sets:
- 1947+ archive of shots with me in them
- Panos of Parliament in Canberra
- Canberra from above
- Lights on an apartment deck in New York
- Madrid in late December
- Kiglapait Mountains of coastal Labrador
- New York's skyline on approach to Newark
- WMCA/WNYC transmitter, from above, in the New Jersey meadowlands
- Scotland's Islay, from above
- Tibidabo, in Barcelona
- London to Newark, an incomplete and growing collection
- Approaching New York, a subset of the above
- Downtown Albany, another subset
- Some more fun with panos
- Broadcast Towers in Canberra, in Nfrastructure.
- Frontline.in: Trade Secrets Revealed. It begins, "The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership on intellectual property rights being negotiated secretly, as exposed by WikiLeaks recently, is breathtaking in its overweening ambition to cement the corporate takeover of as much knowledge as possible."
- Why are American Health Care Costs So High? A video explanation by the VlogBrothers. Here's more about those guys.
- Lululemon: If you can't beat your customers, ban your customers. By Timothy Geigner in TechDirt.
- Dave being Dave. Essential reading.
- Likewise, Phil being Phil. In particular: On Names and Heterarchy.
- Mars Needs Women. My column in the December issue of Linux Journal. In it I grab the third rail of gender. Nearly 100% of the magazine's subscribers are men, while most of its executives and owners are women. Interesting, no? Susan Sons replied with her own guest column in place of mine, two months later, with Girls and Software.
- Also in Linux Journal: Life on the Forked Road.
- A generic brand video, covered by Jeff Beer: "To illustrate this marketing strategy equivalent of paint-by-numbers, stock video footage firm Dissolve took its goods and created a masterpiece with the words of Kendra Eash's brilliant McSweeney's piece."
- Dear Google; Next Time You Invade My Home, Could You At Least Knock? (updated), by Steve Kamman in Strong Views, Lightly Held
- Site of the Week: Broadcast Peak, Santa Barbara, by Scott Fybush. Includes a kind mention of yours truly.
- Editor Describes Pressure After Leaks by Snowden.
- Brands, explained by a Vlog brother.
- L.P.D.: Libertarian Police Department, by Tom O'Donnell in The New Yorker.
- Landmark Supreme Court Decision Lets Americans Cram Cash Directly Into Politicians' Mouths, in The Onion.


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You may not have realized it, but visual artists have been deliberately manipulating your emotions and perceptions with color for at least 500 years now, and in an undisciplined way for many thousands of years before that. We do this using color harmonies mixed with specific value ranges to evoke exactly the mood we want you to feel.
In this post, I'll show you how it's done.
First the preliminaries:
In A Little Color Theory - Part I, I talked about the color spectrum and primary colors.
In A Little Color Theory - Part II, I talked about the Hue/Saturation/Value color model and how to mix any color using a pure hue, plus white and black.
Now we're going to talk about how to choose effective color combinations. If you haven't yet read my first 2 color posts, go ahead and do that now. The following post won't make much sense without that grounding. :)
Just to repeat what the slide says, Analogous colors are hues which are close together on the hue wheel. They're great for conveying intense moods and emotions. This is also the harmony of choice for realistic camouflage schemes and the like, as no individual color stands out more than any other.
My Tallarns are analogously painted. The majority of the army is painted in the red to yellow-orange range. With accents done in a yellow-green so that they're noticeable, but don't stand out.
And that cool Ork army that I posted pics of a couple of weeks ago? He's using the exact same analogous range that I am!
Here's some Death Company and the Nightbringer from GW's online catalogue. Lots of value contrast there, but they're still painted analogously.
Here's some Pixar examples:
Whether you want to communicate sheer terror or warm fuzzies, Analogous is the best way to communicate an intense feeling or unify a large number of elements like miniatures.
Two colors are complementary if they occupy opposite positions on the color wheel. This is the best way of showing contrast and drawing attention to a specific element in a painting or a particular feature on a miniature. Particularly if you paint most of your image or miniature with one color and some important detail with the other.
One feature of true complements is that they scintillate. Which is an optical effect that we see as a dark line between two complementary colors when they touch (you can see it in the slide). This effect is caused by our eyes not being able to tell where one color ends and the other begins. Because the two colors trigger opposing color receptors in our eyes.
Opposite colors on the older, more traditional color wheels don't all scintillate, by the way. Which is one way that we know the newer digital/print wheels are more accurate.
Besides a straight-up complement, artists will also contrast an analogous range of colors with a complement to that range. Or even use 2 complementary ranges. This allows for more color variation and interest at the expense of diluting the color contrast a bit.
Here's a Terminator that's been painted with a Split-Complementary color scheme. Notice how the armor pops out at you.
Here's another mini that's been painted using a split-complement. But notice how out-of-place that green is. It's way too noticeable because it doesn't fit the rest of the scheme that he's using.
Here's a Valk that was painted by Goatboy (Complements are his favorite harmony). It's something of a bad example because the complement isn't really used to draw attention to anything important. It's screaming LOOK AT ME! But once you look there's not much there. Sort of like BoLS itself. :)
This one's much better, as it uses the complement to really accentuate the liquor this guy's carrying. But the complement is broken by the grass and earth used on the base, which dilutes it somewhat.
Here's some of my old Dwarfs from the 90's. The Lord with the winged helm is painted in a straight yellow-blue complement. It should have been orange to blue, but I was still using the wrong color wheel. :)
The old Bugman's models (my first minis, their 3rd paint job) are painted in a split-complement of blue against a range of red to orange.
And finally we have my Slayers, which were painted in a double-split complement of red to orange contrasted with cyan to blue.
Some Pixar Examples:
Notice in these two images how your eye is drawn to specific spots that accentuate the emotional message. Also notice how evil the barracuda looks because it's very desaturated. If it was friendly like the sharks that show up in the film later, it would be more colorful.
Yep, can't help but look at the eye of that robot. In the second image the whole environment is against Mr. Incredible.
What Triads and Tetrads allow you to do is to show lots of different hues while still controlling the image somewhat. Basically, if you use these harmonies, you'll have to rely a lot more on controlling the saturation and value of your image or miniature to attract attention to a particular element.
Here's some Triad examples:
Red-Green-Blue for the Space Marine on the left. Magenta-Cyan-Yellow for the Daemons on the right.
Here's another Red-Green-Blue scheme, it's just more desaturated and subtle.
And for Pixar:
And some Tetrads:
Sorry, but it's amazingly difficult to find any minis that use Tetrads. While a lot of people will stumble into the other harmonies, this one really requires you to know what you're doing.
Lastly, I want to show some images that illustrate some Psychological effects that you can get with color. This is only the tip of the iceberg, of course. But it should get you thinking. We need more of this in the miniature painting realm.
Mr. Incredible is having a bad day. We know this not only by his performance, but because all the colors in these scenes are desaturated to an almost-gray.
You can see this in the world around you too. Look what happens to colors on a rainy day compared to a sunny one. The picture on the right is saturated and full of life. Even though they're sitting in the mud. :)
Notice how gray the environment on the left is as the lifeless defensive machines attack him. While in the image on the right we get warm fuzzies contrasted with the color of his old uniform to unite the two thoughts.
And lastly... Did you realize when watching Finding Nemo that Dori and Gill both had the same hue combination? Dori was introduced early on, so when Gill came around they were able to use her colors to make you like Gill without spending as much screen time on him. We also know that he's more hard-edged than her because he's got a lot more value contrast going on.
You could use this in 40K to make your commander stand out, whilst visually tying him to the rest of your force.
Neat eh? GO PAINT!!!


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The investing socialsphere has been all a-Twitter ever since Kedrosky predicted an upcoming super-seed crash.
The result has been a series of opinion pieces, both for and against, that tackle various aspects of the issue–whether super angels are a fad, if there is a seed bubble (I'm on record as saying that there is), what this means for entrepreneurs….
What's missing is a guide to the underlying assumptions behind these various positions. That's what I'm going to lay out in this blog post.
For the sake of argument, I'll simplify both the Super Angel and VC Revenge positions.
Super Angel
- Companies are much more capital efficient
- As a result, you can make money on smaller exits
- VCs funds don't make good seed investors because of the signaling issue (e.g. if they pass on your Series A, why would anyone else fund you)
- Besides which, angels can do more for early stage startups than VCs
VC Revenge
- Because it's so cheap to start companies, everyone is doing it
- The success rate on these seed stage companies is going to be very low
- Investors make money off home runs, not singles
- When the going gets tough, you need an investor that can support you through the bad times
Let's examine the assumptions required for each assertion to be true:
"Companies are much more capital efficient."
It definitely costs less to start a company. Back in 1999, when I started my first company, I had to pay $20,000 per month for a datacenter. Now I could probably get 10X the capacity from Amazon for $20 per month. For those keeping track at home, that's a 4 orders of magnitude reduction.
However, that efficiency only applies pre-salary; once you start to pay people, the costs really aren't that much lower. And if you're building a full-scale business, you're going to need people. Craiglist is a remarkable exception, not the rule.
Super Angel Assumptions
"As a result, you can make money on smaller exits."
You can make money on smaller exits, provided you sell early, before you start to incur those major people costs. Think of all the successful small exists that have occurred, like MyBlogLog. They made money for investors because a $20 million exit is highly profitable if you've only invested $500,000.
But the number of companies that took in less than $1 million in funding and cashed out for more than $20 million is vanishingly small (anyone want to provide an example?). And a $20 million exit returns at most $4-5 million to investors. It takes a lot of $20 million sales to support an industry (more on that later).
"VCs funds don't make good seed investors because of the signaling issue (e.g. if they pass on your Series A, why would anyone else fund you)"
Yep, chalk this one up for the angels. And if you're an entrepreneur and you think $250K will get you to profitability, you probably deserve your fate for being naive.
"Besides which, angels can do more for early stage startups than VCs."
Individual angels can be very helpful, just as individual VCs can be very helpful. But the numbers are starting to tell a different story.
I've heard folks slam VCs because they sit on 10-12 boards, and are spread too thin to help their companies. So how can we turn around and ignore the fact that there are a number of angels who will do that many deals in a single quarter?
Even if angels are willing to work harder (and from my first-hand observation of friends like Jeff Clavier and Dave McClure, that assertion is 110% true), can they really be an order of magnitude more productive on a unit time basis than a VC?
Super Angel Summary:
The super angel arguments hold try if you start a capital-efficient company and sell out before you need to get too big or pay a bunch of salaries. And if you're looking for a seed stage investment, angels are a better bet than VCs for signaling reasons. But don't bet on those angels being appreciably more available to you than an equivalent VC.
VC Revenge Assumptions
"Because it's so cheap to start companies, everyone is doing it."
So far today (June 30, 2010), 58 companies have been added to Crunchbase. And the day isn't over yet.
"The success rate on these seed stage companies is going to be very low."
If you define success as $100 million+ exits, this is absolutely true. As far as I know, the only such exit from the super angel world so far is Mint (covered in another post).
If you define success as making investors money and making entrepreneurs into millionaires, the list is far longer.
"Investors make money off home runs, not singles."
In 2009, VC investments exceeded $20 billion, with about 20% of that money going into early stage deals. Some of that was VC, but if we assume that only 25% of that early stage money came from angels, we're still talking about $1 billion invested.
If you need to come up with $1 billion in returns, one $5 million exit at a time ($20 million exit, investors hold 25% of the equity), that requires 200 such exits per year. If you assume the need to generate $2 billion in returns to justify the risk, that jumps to 400 exits per year, or about 8 per week.
We're not seeing anywhere close to that number of exits right now. And that's just for angel deals.
Assuming that $1 billion is invested at a rate of $500K per company, that's 2,000 investments. Can we realistically expect a 20% hit rate on seed stage investments?
The only way the math can possibly work as an asset class is if you have home runs as well as singles.*
* This doesn't preclude there from being a magical angel investor who gets a 50% hit rate on investments, but I think I have a better chance of meeting the Easter Bunny.
"When the going gets tough, you need an investor that can support you through the bad times."
Good VCs will support their companies during bad times. I've witnessed it myself at nearly every company I've started or worked at because–guess what–pretty much every company goes through tough times, even Google.
I don't think that super angels have a long enough track record in this area for a final judgment yet. On the other hand, seed stage deals do have an alternate backstop if they don't raise too much money.
The rise of the HR acquisition (where Google or its ilk acquire a small founding team for $1-2 million per top-flight engineer) gives startups with hardcore technical founders a strong put option in the event that they can't build a successful business.
VC Revenge Summary:
More companies are getting started than ever before. And unless their success rate (even at the $20 acquisition level) is freakishly high, simply hitting singles will not be enough to generate a good return for the asset class.
A lot of the super angel assertions hold true, provided you assume that you'll be able to achieve early exits. But as an asset class, angel investing at the current elevated rate looks like a bad bet unless the number or size of exits improves dramatically.
Angel investors who really are gifted at picking winners should succeed, but those that are essentially index funds are unlikely to generate strong returns unless they have the wherewithal to maintain their position in follow-on rounds…which makes them start to look an awful lot like VCs.
But whether or not you agree with my conclusions, you shouldn't lost sight of the fact that the super angel phenomenon is a good thing for the rest of the ecosystem. Entrepreneurs have more opportunities to get funding for their companies. VCs have the luxury of picking and choosing from a massive buffet of startups that have been able to operate and grow for 6-18 months on someone else's money.
And even those entrepreneurs who raise money at "bloated" seed valuations of $3 million rather than $1.5 million won't have much trouble raising a Series A at an up valuation; whether you have a $2 million or $4 million post on your seed round has a major impact on angel returns, but not on your ability to raise a true Series A of $3-5 million.
I welcome further discussion on this topic, and hope that as a community, we can focus on examining the numbers and assumptions behind these arguments.


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Sec. 2108. [42 U.S.C. 1397hh] (a) Annual Report.—Subject to subsection (e), the State shall—
(1) assess the operation of the State plan under this title in each fiscal year, including the progress made in reducing the number of uncovered low-income children; and
(2) report to the Secretary, by January 1 following the end of the fiscal year, on the result of the assessment.
(b) State Evaluations.—
(1) In general.—By March 31, 2000, each State that has a State child health plan shall submit to the Secretary an evaluation that includes each of the following:
(A) An assessment of the effectiveness of the State plan in increasing the number of children with creditable health coverage.
(B) A description and analysis of the effectiveness of elements of the State plan, including—
(i) the characteristics of the children and families assisted under the State plan including age of the children, family income, and the assisted child's access to or coverage by other health insurance prior to the State plan and after eligibility for the State plan ends,
(ii) the quality of health coverage provided including the types of benefits provided,
(iii) the amount and level (including payment of part or all of any premium) of assistance provided by the State,
(iv) the service area of the State plan,
(v) the time limits for coverage of a child under the State plan,
(vi) the State's choice of health benefits coverage and other methods used for providing child health assistance, and
(vii) the sources of non–Federal funding used in the State plan.
(C) An assessment of the effectiveness of other public and private programs in the State in increasing the availability of affordable quality individual and family health insurance for children.
(D) A review and assessment of State activities to coordinate the plan under this title with other public and private programs providing health care and health care financing, including medicaid and maternal and child health services.
(E) An analysis of changes and trends in the State that affect the provision of accessible, affordable, quality health insurance and health care to children.
(F) A description of any plans the State has for improving the availability of health insurance and health care for children.
(G) Recommendations for improving the program under this title.
(H) Any other matters the State and the Secretary consider appropriate.
(2) Report of the secretary.—The Secretary shall submit to Congress and make available to the public by December 31, 2001, a report based on the evaluations submitted by States under paragraph (1), containing any conclusions and recommendations the Secretary considers appropriate.
(c) Federal Evaluation.—
(1) In general.—The Secretary, directly or through contracts or interagency agreements, shall conduct an independent evaluation of 10 States with approved child health plans.
(2) Selection of states.—In selecting States for the evaluation conducted under this subsection, the Secretary shall choose 10 States that utilize diverse approaches to providing child health assistance, represent various geographic area (including a mix of rural and urban areas), and contain a significant portion of uncovered children.
(3) Matters included.—In addition to the elements described in subsection (b)(1), the evaluation conducted under this subsection shall include each of the following:
(A) Surveys of the target population (enrollees, disenrollees, and individuals eligible for but not enrolled in the program under this title).
(B) Evaluation of effective and ineffective outreach and enrollment practices with respect to children (for both the program under this title and the medicaid program under title XIX), and identification of enrollment barriers and key elements of effective outreach and enrollment practices, including practices (such as through community health workers and others) that have successfully enrolled hard-to-reach populations such as children who are eligible for medical assistance under title XIX but have not been enrolled previously in the medicaid program under that title.
(C) Evaluation of the extent to which State medicaid eligibility practices and procedures under the medicaid program under title XIX are a barrier to the enrollment of children under that program, and the extent to which coordination (or lack of coordination) between that program and the program under this title affects the enrollment of children under both programs.
(D) An assessment of the effect of cost-sharing on utilization, enrollment, and coverage retention.
(E) Evaluation of disenrollment or other retention issues, such as switching to private coverage, failure to pay premiums, or barriers in the recertification process.
(4) Submission to congress.—Not later than December 31, 2001, the Secretary shall submit to Congress the results of the evaluation conducted under this subsection.
(5) Subsequent evaluation using updated information.—
(A) In general.—The Secretary, directly or through contracts or interagency agreements, shall conduct an independent subsequent evaluation of 10 States with approved child health plans.
(B) Selection of states and matters included.—Paragraphs (2) and (3) shall apply to such subsequent evaluation in the same manner as such provisions apply to the evaluation conducted under paragraph (1).
(C) Submission to congress.—Not later than December 31, 2011, the Secretary shall submit to Congress the results of the evaluation conducted under this paragraph.
(D) Funding.—Out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, there are appropriated $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 for the purpose of conducting the evaluation authorized under this paragraph. Amounts appropriated under this subparagraph shall remain available for expenditure through fiscal year 2012.
(d) Access to Records for IG and GAO Audits and Evaluations.—For the purpose of evaluating and auditing the program established under this title, or title XIX, the Secretary, the Office of Inspector General, and the Comptroller General shall have access to any books, accounts, records, correspondence, and other documents that are related to the expenditure of Federal funds under this title and that are in the possession, custody, or control of States receiving Federal funds under this title or political subdivisions thereof, or any grantee or contractor of such States or political subdivisions.
(e) Information on Dental Care for Children.—
(1) In general.—Each annual report under subsection (a) shall include the following information with respect to care and services described in section 1905(r)(3) provided to targeted low-income children enrolled in the State child health plan under this title at any time during the year involved:
(A) The number of enrolled children by age grouping used for reporting purposes under section 1902(a)(43).
(B) For children within each such age grouping, information of the type contained in questions 12(a)-(c) of CMS Form 416 (that consists of the number of enrolled targeted low income children who receive any, preventive, or restorative dental care under the State plan).
(C) For the age grouping that includes children 8 years of age, the number of such children who have received a protective sealant on at least one permanent molar tooth.
(2) Inclusion of information on enrollees in managed care plans.—The information under paragraph (1) shall include information on children who are enrolled in managed care plans and other private health plans and contracts with such plans under this title shall provide for the reporting of such information by such plans to the State.
(e)[63] Information Required for Inclusion in State Annual Report.—The State shall include the following information in the annual report required under subsection (a):
(1) Eligibility criteria, enrollment, and retention data (including data with respect to continuity of coverage or duration of benefits).
(2) The information under paragraph (1) shall include information on children who are enrolled in managed care plans and other private health plans and contracts with such plans under this title shall provide for the reporting of such information by such plans to the State.
(3) Data regarding denials of eligibility and redeterminations of eligibility.
(4) Data regarding access to primary and specialty services, access to networks of care, and care coordination provided under the State child health plan, using quality care and consumer satisfaction measures included in the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey.
(5) If the State provides child health assistance in the form of premium assistance for the purchase of coverage under a group health plan, data regarding the provision of such assistance, including the extent to which employer-sponsored health insurance coverage is available for children eligible for child health assistance under the State child health plan, the range of the monthly amount of such assistance provided on behalf of a child or family, the number of children or families provided such assistance on a monthly basis, the income of the children or families provided such assistance, the benefits and cost-sharing protection provided under the State child health plan to supplement the coverage purchased with such premium assistance, the effective strategies the State engages in to reduce any administrative barriers to the provision of such assistance, and, the effects, if any, of the provision of such assistance on preventing the coverage provided under the State child health plan from substituting for coverage provided under employer-sponsored health insurance offered in the State.
(6) To the extent applicable, a description of any State activities that are designed to reduce the number of uncovered children in the State, including through a State health insurance connector program or support for innovative private health coverage initiatives.
(7) Data collected and reported in accordance with section 3101 of the Public Health Service Act, with respect to individuals enrolled in the State child health plan (and, in the case of enrollees under 19 years of age, their parents or legal guardians), including data regarding the primary language of such individuals, parents, and legal guardians.
[63] As in original. P.L. 111-3, §402(a)(2), added this second new subsection (e). For the general effective date [April 1, 2009]; the exception for State legislation; contingent effective date; and reliance on law, see Vol. II, P.L. 111-3, §3. For subsection (d) as it formerly read, see Vol. II, Appendix J, Superseded Provisions, P.L. 111-3.See Vol. II, P.L. 111-3, §402(b), with respect to the standardized reporting format; §402(c), with respect to standardized funding for the Secretary to improve timeliness of data reporting and analysis for purposes of determining enrollment increases under Medicaid and CHIP; and §402(d), with respect to a GAO study and report on access to primary and specialty services.


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Murder of the "sons" of Ahab and of Joram - Destruction of the adherents of Ahab in Jezreel - March on Samaria - Slaughter of the "brethren" of Ahaziah - Jehonadab the son of Rechab - Meaning of the Rechabite movement - The Feast of Baal at Samaria - Destruction of the Worshippers - Character of the Reign of Jehu - Decline of the Northern Kingdom - Commencing Decline of the Southern Kingdom. (2 Kings 10:2; 2 Chronicles 21:10; 24:17-26.)
WE have learned enough of this history to understand the seeming inconsistencies in the conduct of Jehu. Absolutely speaking, he was the instrument selected for executing the Divine punishment on the house of Ahab; and also in whose reign the national judgment upon Israel was to begin. Jehu himself clearly understood his mission as regarded the house of Ahab and the worship of Baal. But he accepted it as a national and, if the term may be used, a Jehovistic movement, without implying the necessity of true fear of the LORD, or of return to Him; and he carried it out as a Jehu. Alike as regarded his feelings and his methods, he was the instrument, not the servant of the LORD.
To such an one as Jehu even common prudence would have dictated to do what work he had, quickly, sharply, and completely. A dynasty that had extended over four reigns must have numbered many adherents, while on the other hand the demoralizing influence of the worship of Baal must have widely spread in the land. There was more than merely a mocking taunt in the reminder of Jezebel about the fate of Zimri. The mission as well as the rule of Jehu depended upon a rapid succession of measures which would alike anticipate the possibility of a counter-revolution, and render a return to the former state of things impossible. This explains the measures taken by the new king. Samaria was not only the capital, but a fortified city, where the main body of the standing army* lay. Here, as we know, had been placed the "seventy sons of Ahab" - understanding the term** in its wider sense, common in Hebrew, which included, besides the sons of Ahab, his grandsons, the children of Joram (comp. 2 Kings 10:3).
* We imagine that there was always the nucleus of a standing army, consisting of the king's body-guard, war- chariots, and horses (horsemen), as well as an arsenal, and that the rest of the host consisted of levies hastily made, and only partially drilled and disciplined.
** Similarly we must take the term "brethren" in a wider sense. The elder "brethren" of Ahaziah had all been killed in the invasion of the Philistines and Arabs; and yet they were "brethren" of Ahaziah - in the wider sense - who went to salute the children of the king (ver. 13), and who were slain by Jehu.
These royal princes of the house of Ahab were entrusted, some (in the Eastern fashion) for supervision, the younger for education to the "princes,"* - that is, the governor of the palace and the governor of the city (10:1, comp. 10:5) - to the "elders," and to certain prominent persons who had charge of them.
* So literally; the words "of Jezreel" are manifestly a clerical error, whether we emendate it into "of Israel" or "of the city."
These officials in Samaria would embody the possibility of a counter-revolution, and to them Jehu addressed on the morrow of his entry into Jezreel what really amounted to a challenge, to declare themselves for the house of Ahab, or else to make submission to his rule. The motives which decided their choice (ver. 4) show that their inclination was in favor of the old regime, while their fears dictated submission to the usurper. So Jehu had judged wisely in forcing an immediate decision, without exposing himself by marching with his small troop against Samaria.
But this was not all. Neither their allegiance nor his rule was safe so long as any of the royal princes lived; and, indeed, their destruction was part of his work and mission. To have killed them himself would have been a doubtful expedient, which, even if successful, might have given rise to popular reaction, and at all events brought him ill-will, while it would have left free the hands of the adherents of Ahab. It was therefore, from his point of view, the wisest policy on receiving the submission of the leaders of Samaria to order them to kill all the royal princes and bring their heads to Jezreel.* This would not only accomplish the primary object of Jehu, but, by making them participate in the crimes of his revolution, render any future movement against his rule impossible. At the same time the ghastly sight of those heads, sent to Jezreel by the chief representatives of the old regime, would offer an excellent opportunity for an appeal to the people.
* That, instead of coming with them to Jezreel, as they had been ordered (ver. 7), they sent the gory heads, is another indication of their feelings.
When, therefore, next day the heads of the seventy princes were brought in baskets to Jezreel, he ordered them to be laid "at the entering in of the gate,"* where the blood of Jezebel had so lately bespattered the wall, and the chariot of the conqueror passed over her body. And in the morning Jehu, pointing to the gory heaps, could tell the people** that not only himself, but all the chief personages under the late government, had part in the destruction of the house of Ahab; that those to whom they had been entrusted had chosen rather to slay these princes in cold blood than to take up their cause - that all had perished, and so the word spoken by the LORD through the great prophet Elijah had been fulfilled. Thus his rule and the slaughter of the house of Ahab had - as he put it - the support of all men and the sanction of God Himself.
* The practice of bringing in the heads of enemies in evidence of their being killed was frequent in antiquity, and on the Assyrian monuments also we see them laid in heaps.
** The expression "ye are righteous" (ver. 9) probably meant: Ye have taken no part in this revolution, and are unbiased; I appeal to you as judges! Josephus adds the somewhat realistic touch, that the messengers from Samaria, bearing the seventy heads, arrived as Jehu and his friends were feasting at supper, and that this was the reason why he ordered them to be heaped up against the morning.
It was now possible for Jehu to take possession of his capital without danger of opposition, and there to carry out his final measures against the old order of things. But before doing so he took care, so to speak, to secure his rear by killing all that had been connected with the house of Ahab in Jezreel, "all his great men," his friends,* and his chief officials.**
* So, and not "kinsfolks," as in the A.V.
** So the word should be rendered here as in 2 Samuel 8:18; 1 Kings 4:5. The "priests" of Ahab were slain in Samaria.
On his way to Samaria another tragedy was to be enacted. It was at a solitary place, in a locality which has not been ascertained, but which bore the name of "house of binding of the shepherds" - or, as the Chaldee Paraphrast calls it: "The house of assembly of the shepherds." Here, where evidently the roads from Jezreel and Jerusalem joined, Jehu and his followers met the forty-two princes, "the brethren of Ahaziah, king of Judah,"* who were going on a friendly visit to "the children of the king [Joram] and the children of the mistress," [lady-ruler, Gebhirah - evidently Jezebel].**
* The expression "brethren" must here be taken in the wider sense. In 2 Chronicles 22:8 they are called "the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah."
** Most commentators suppose that they were going to Jezreel, but from 10:1 we infer that the royal princes of Israel were at Samaria. As Jehu met them coming from the south, we must assume that he did not follow the direct road from Jezreel. If he had gone first to Megiddo, and thence to Samaria, this would explain how he might have met the "brethren of Ahaziah" coming from the south.
So rapid had been the movements of Jehu, and so great was the fear of him, that tidings of what had passed in Israel had not traveled so far as to arrest the journey of the princes of Judah. Jehu's order was to "take them alive." Whether they offered resistance, or this was part of the original order of Jehu, certain it is that they were all killed "at the cistern of Beth-Eqed,"* into which their bodies were probably thrown.
* This, and not "at the pit of the shearing house" (10:14).
As Jehu passed from the scene of slaughter he met a figure that seems strange and mysterious. "Jehonadab, the son of Rechab," who had come from Samaria to meet the new king, belonged to the Kenites (1 Chronicles 2:55). This tribe, which was probably of Arab nationality, appears so early as the days of Abraham (Genesis 15:19). Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, belonged to it (Judges 1:16). Part at least of the tribe accompanied Israel into the Land of Promise (Numbers 10:29-32), and settled in the south of Judah (Judges 1:16), where we find them by-and-by mixed up with the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:6). Another part of the tribe, however, seems to have wandered far north, where Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, slew Sisera on his flight from Barak (Judges 4:17, etc.; 5:24, etc.). Thus they appear to have occupied the extreme south and north of the country, and would even on that ground possess political importance. But what interests us more is their religious relationship to Israel. From the deed of Jael we infer that they were intensely attached to the national cause. Again, from the circumstance that Jehonadab, the son of Rechab - evidently the chief of the tribe - came from Samaria to meet Jehu, and from the anxiety which the latter displayed as to Jehonadab's views and intentions, as well as from the manner in which he treated him, we gather that the chieftain was a person of considerable political importance, while the invitation of Jehu: "Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah," shows that he and his tribe were identified with the service of Jehovah in the land. All this throws fresh light on the special injunction which from that time onward Jehonadab laid upon his tribe (Jeremiah 35:1- 16). They were neither to build houses, nor to sow seed, nor to plant or have vineyards; but to dwell in tents, and so both to be and to declare themselves strangers in the land.
This rule, which the descendants of Rechab observed for centuries, must, from its peculiarity, have had a religious, not a political,* bearing. It has with great probability been connected with Elijah,** but the important question has not yet been mooted whether it originated before or after the occupation of Samaria by Jehu.
* This is the view of Hitzig (on Jeremiah 35), who cites the instance of the Nabataeans, who, to ensure their freedom, abstained from agriculture. But this does not explain the abstinence from wine. Besides, why should this rule have only been laid down by Jehonadab, and if its reason had been to secure their freedom, would not the flight of the Rechabites to Jerusalem in the time of Jeremiah have been in direct contravention of their object?
** So Ewald (Gesch. d. Volk. Isr. Vol. 3. pp. 542-544), although parts of his analysis are fanciful.
We believe the latter to have been the case, and it seems evidenced even by the circumstance that Jehonadab came from Samaria to meet Jehu. We suppose that the ministry of Elijah had made the deepest impression on Jehonadab and his tribe. The very appearance and bearing of the prophet would appeal to them, and his words seem as those of a second Moses. Earnestly they waited for the results of his mission and of that of Elisha. And when the word of Jehovah to and by Elijah was being fulfilled - Hazael made king of Syria, Jehu king of Israel, and the house of Ahab destroyed, root and branches - they would naturally turn to Jehu, in the hope that a national return to Jehovah would follow. It was a kind of Old Testament John the Baptist's hope of a kingdom of God. Feelings such as these prompted Jehonadab to go and meet Jehu, while the latter, knowing the deep impression which the Rechabite movement in favor of the reformation of Elijah had produced in the land, would be anxious to secure his public support, perhaps even - so strange and mixed are our motives - to gain his approval. But what Jehonadab saw of Jehu must soon have convinced him that he was not one to carry out an Elijah- movement in its positive and spiritual aspect, however fitted an instrument he might be to execute Divine punishment. And so Jehonadab left Jehu to perpetuate in his own tribe the testimony of Elijah, by making them Nazarites for ever, thus symbolizing their dedication to God, and by ordering them to be conspicuously strangers in the land, thus setting forth their expectation of the judgments which Elijah had predicted upon apostate Israel.
We are now prepared to accompany Jehonadab, as after responding to Jehu's anxious challenge about his feelings toward him, he mounted Jehu's chariot to go with him and see his zeal for Jehovah. The first measure of the conqueror was to repeat in Samaria what he had done in Jezreel, and to kill all related to or connected with the family of Ahab. His next was, by a truly Eastern device, to seize and destroy the adherents of the religious rites introduced under the late regime. Although this was in fulfillment of his mission, it will be observed that it also afforded the best means of establishing his own rule, since the national worship of Baal was identified with the house of Ahab. Accordingly we imagine that when Jehu publicly announced that he meant to serve Baal even much more than Ahab, and proclaimed a solemn assembly for Baal, the gathering would be thoroughly representative. First, as we understand it, Jehu summoned all the prophets and priests of Baal, and "all his servants" - either the leading laity generally, or else those in Samaria itself - ostensibly to make preparation for his great sacrifice. Next, similar proclamation was made throughout the country. In both cases the object was to secure the attendance of all professed worshippers of Baal. On the day appointed, the courts of the Temple of Baal were thronged "from one opening to the other [the opposite]." To make the leaders of the new religion the more prominent, Jehu now directed that each of them should be arrayed in festive vestments,* and then, to prevent any possible mistake, since some of the servants of Jehovah might have followed Jehu and Jehonadab to the house of Baal, he ordered, on his arrival, to search for and remove any worshippers of the LORD.
* The vestments of the priests of Baal are also referred to by classical writers. They seem to have been of byssus. Generally it is supposed that all the worshippers in that temple received these vestments, in which case they must have been supplied from the royal chamber of vestments, since the temple-vestry, however well filled, could scarcely have furnished sufficient for such a multitude. But a more attentive consideration will lead to the conclusion that the "servants of Baal" who were so robed were only the prophets, priests, and other leaders of the movement. For a universal robing would imply an almost impossible scene of bustle and confusion in that crowded edifice, while the possession of a distinctive dress would have rendered needless the next direction (ver. 23), to see that those with them were not of the servants of Jehovah. Lastly, Josephus distinctly states that the vestments, which we imagine not to have been ordinary priestly, but festive robes were given to "all the priests," and he lays stress on the subsequent slaughter as that of "the prophets" of Baal. On other grounds also this view seems to commend itself, and it is certainly not incompatible with the text.
Neither of these measures would excite surprise, but would only be regarded as indications of Jehu's zeal, and his desire that the rites of Baal should not be profaned by the presence of strangers. The attendance of Jehonadab might seem strange; but he was in the train of the king whom he was known to have served, in whose company he had returned to Samaria, and with whom he had continued while he issued his mandates, and prepared for the feast of Baal. He might therefore be simply an adherent of Jehu, and now prepared to follow his lead.
The rest may be briefly told. As the sacrifices were offered Jehu surrounded the building with eighty of his trusted guards, who, on the given word of command, entered the building, threw down all they encountered, and penetrated into "the sanctuary* of the house of Baal," where all who had been marked out to them were slaughtered. Then they brought out the wooden images and burnt them, while the large stone statue of Baal, as well as the Temple itself, were destroyed. And completely to desecrate the site, and mark the contempt attaching to it, Jehu converted it into a place for public convenience.
* This, as surrounded by walls - is distinctive from the open court where the general worshippers were gathered - is designated by the words rendered in the A.V. "the city of the house of Baal."
"Thus," as Scripture marks, "Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel." Yet, as the cessation of idolatry after the return from the exile did not issue in true repentance towards God, nor in faith in the Messiah, so did not this destruction of Baal-worship lead up to the service of Jehovah. Rather did king and people stray farther from the LORD their God. Of the succeeding events in Jehu's reign, which lasted no less than twenty-eight years, no account is given in Scripture, except this notice, that "in those days Jehovah began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel; from Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, of the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan." And the Assyrian monuments throw farther light upon this brief record. They inform us about the wars of Hazael against Assyria, and they represent Jehu as bringing tribute to the king of Assyria. The inference which we derive is that Jehu had entered into a tributary alliance with the more powerful empire of Assyria against Hazael, and that when the latter had made his peace with Assyria, he turned against Jehu, and inflicted on Israel the losses thus briefly noticed in Scripture. Be this as it may, this at least is certain, that with the loss of the whole trans-Jordanic territory, the decline of the northern kingdom had commenced.
Nor was the state of matters more hopeful in the southern kingdom of Judah. The brief and bloody reign of Athaliah was, indeed, followed by the counter-revolution of Jehoiada, and the elevation of Joash to the throne. But the reformation then inaugurated was of short duration. After the death of Jehoiada, the worship of Jehovah was once more forsaken for that of "groves and idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass" (2 Chronicles 24:18).
And although the LORD sent them prophets to bring them again unto the LORD, they not only would not give ear, but actually at the commandment of the king, and in the very house of Jehovah, shed the blood of Zechariah, which, according to Jewish legend, could not be wiped out, but continued to bubble on the stones, till the Assyrians entered and laid low the sanctuary thus profaned. And even before that, the army of Hazael, though greatly inferior in numbers, defeated that of Judah, desolated and despoiled the land, and laid siege to Jerusalem. The Syrian army was, indeed, bought off, but the hand of God lay heavy on the king. Stricken down by disease he was murdered in his bed by his own servants, and they the sons of strangers. Thus had inward and outward decline come to Judah also. And darker and yet darker gathered the clouds of judgment over a land and people which had "forsaken Jehovah, the God of their fathers."


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New South China Mall in Guangdong Province opened in 2005. With 5 million square feet of shopping area, the mall can accommodate 2,350 stores, making it the largest shopping center in the world in terms of leasable space — more than twice the size of Mall of America, the biggest shopping center in the United States.
At the outdoor plaza, hundreds of palm-trees blend with a replica Arc de Triomphe, a giant Egyptian sphinx, fountains and long-stretching canals with gondolas.
Only problem is, the mall is virtually deserted. Despite the bombastic design and grand plans, only a handful of stores are occupied. "Most of it empty, with little consumer traffic and a high vacancy rate," according to a report last year by Emporis, a global building data firm. "It has been classified as a 'dead mall.'


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Warning: This document describes an old release. Check here for the current version.
Extensibility Guide
This discusses the various ways you can make Nimbus components behave differently, either by activating/switching pre-existing plugins or by creating a new plugin/component to replace a current extensibility point.
The Nimbus FAQ is good prerequisite reading for this section, especially this section.
Each Nimbus component can be sanely replaced by something that implements the same interface or protocol.
This provides a wide range of possibilities. For example, we were able to provide a drop-in workspace-control implementation that supports KVM. Another example is providing a scheduler based on an external resource manager (by using the workspace pilot).
Also in many cases the pieces can be used on their own.
There is an integration with OpenNebula discussed here, an integration with Nagios discussed here, and an integration with MDS discussed here.
On top of all this, most of the Java based components have the built-in ability to define their internal modules at runtime via configuration files. This is achieved by using the Spring framework dependency injection container.
The workspace service has the most of these internal "plug points" (around 50, all told, although it would be esoteric to replace some of them).
The major ones are outlined on the following pages:
- Scheduling/resource management
- Networking leases
- Usage accounting
- Propagation
- Request authorization
- Initial request intake
- Fine grained replacement for VMM control tasks
A beginning exercise to start developing plugins would be to:
- Look at the Spring configuration for one of the current plugins in the list above.
- Find the source code for the implementation listed.
- Create your own new Java class based on that other implementation and change something around or print something new and prominent to the logger.
- Then put the fully qualified class name of your new class into the Spring configuration in place of the original class name.
- Make sure a jar file with your new compiled class exists under $GLOBUS_LOCATION/lib
- Reboot the container to see your change take effect.


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She sounds like the most badass woman to ever rule pre-colonial South America: Queen K'abel of the Maya, one of the greatest leaders of Classic Maya civilization. Archaelogists have known about her reign through plaques that commemorate her reign. But now, a research team working in Guatemala has finally discovered her tomb — including her remains.
In addition to finding K'abel's decayed skeleton, the archaeologists uncovered a hoard of glistening jade jewels and a small alabaster vase adorned with the image of an older woman's face. The vase was inscribed with the queen's name, which confirmed the identity of the tomb's lone occupant.
Lead researcher David Freidel believes the discovery is significant, not only because the tomb is that of a notable historical figure in Maya history, but because the newly uncovered tomb presents a unique situation in which Maya archaeological and historical records meet.
Speaking through a press release, he noted, "The Classic Maya civilization is the only 'classical' archaeological field in the New World - in the sense that like archaeology in Ancient Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia or China, there is both an archaeological material record and an historical record based on texts and images."
According to the researchers, K'abel was one of the greatest rulers of the Late Classic period. She ruled with her husband, K'inich Bahlam, for at least 20 years (672-692 AD). She was also the military governor of the Wak kingdom for her family, the imperial house of the Snake King, and she carried the title "Kaloomte'," which translates to "Supreme Warrior," higher in authority than her husband, the king.
K'abel also is famous for her portrayal on the famous Maya stela, Stela 34 of El Perú (shown above left), which can be found in the Cleveland Art Museum.
Details of the study can be found here (pdf).
Images via AFP/Proyecto Arqueologico El Peru-Waka'.