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Lesson 107: The King on the Cross (Luke 23:26-49)Related Media
I always feel inadequate to preach, but I never feel more inadequate than when I preach on the crucifixion of Jesus. There is simply no way that I can do justice to this most profound event in the history of the world. Meditating on the cross of Christ should evoke many feelings in our hearts: mourning for our sin that put Him there; horror at God's dreadful judgment that required such a price; gratitude for the great love and mercy of the Savior; and awe at the fact that such as One as He would do such a thing as this for such a sinner as I. Yet I lack the ability to set forth all of these things as they ought to be explained and applied. And so we all must cast ourselves afresh on God and pray that He would use His Word in our hearts beyond my ability to preach and beyond your ability to listen.
Today I am going to present an overview of the crucifixion as described by the Holy Spirit through Luke. In subsequent weeks, I am going to go back and pick out some of the details that call for more meditation than a single message allows. Today I want to set before you four broad themes that the cross displays:
The cross displays the awfulness of human sin, God's dreadful judgment, His amazing love, and His amazing Savior.
1. The cross displays the awfulness of human sin.
Down through history, wicked men have done some terrible things: slaughtered innocent women and children, tortured people for pleasure, and resorted to cannibalism and other evils too hideous to mention. But never has the human race stooped so low as when they crucified the Lord of glory and mocked Him while He was hanging on the cross. The horror of violence is proportionate to the innocence of the victim. If one mobster shoots another mobster, we tend to say, "That's too bad, but he had it coming."
But if a man tortures and murders a little child, we recoil in horror, because the child did nothing to deserve such terrible treatment. But while children are relatively innocent, Jesus alone is truly innocent and undefiled (Heb. 7:26). He was never tainted by sin in thought, word, or deed. He gave up the glory of heaven and came to this earth, not for Himself, but to lay down His life for sinners. He went about doing good to all. His teaching and His miracles proved Him to be God's anointed one, or Messiah. For men to disregard all of His miracles (which they tacitly admit when they say, "He saved others"), to make sport of torturing such a one, and then to jeer as He hung on the cross with His life slowly ebbing out of Him, was the most heinous crime imaginable!
The Bible says, "Men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). The darkness of the human heart was never as dark as when they crucified the Son of God. Thus God sent darkness over the land as a portent of His judgment to come, when men who do not repent will be cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 25:30). This was not an eclipse of the sun, which is impossible during a full moon. Rather, it was a miracle sent from God so that sinful men might tremble at His power and judgment.
The hardness of the human heart is seen in that the Jewish religious leaders did not even cease their mocking, but paid no attention to this miraculous sign in the heavens. John Calvin (Calvin's Commentaries [Baker], "Harmony of the Gospels," 3:317) says that "their amazing madness ought to strike us with horror," (the French edition says, "Make our hair stand on end") that they would be so blind as to ignore this warning from God. He then adds, "But this is the spirit of stupidity and of giddiness with which God intoxicates the reprobate, after having long contended with their malice." He darkens their minds, so that seeing, they do not see (Matt. 13:14).
Those who witnessed this horrific event had different reactions. The religious leaders are the most guilty, since they had seen Christ's miracles and heard His teaching, but knowingly and willfully rejected Him and even taunted Him as He died (23:35). The Roman soldiers also were guilty of mocking Him (23:36-37), but it was more out of ignorance and stupidity. Many just stood and watched out of curiosity, perhaps not knowing what to think (23:35). The thieves on the cross both mocked at first, although the one soon came to repentance (23:39-43; compare Matt. 27:44; Mark 15:32). The multitudes, after witnessing the whole spectacle, went away beating their breasts, perhaps vaguely recognizing that something terrible had taken place (23:48). Perhaps this was the initial working of God's Spirit in convicting them of sin in preparation for Peter's sermon on the Day of Pentecost. Christ's acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee stood at a distance, probably out of fear and confusion (23:49).
Luke paints this whole scene to show us not only the sin of those who crucified the Savior, but to get us to examine our own hearts. While we may not be as guilty as the religious leaders, we all are guilty: "All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him" (Isa. 53:6). Allow the spectacle of the cross to overwhelm you with the awfulness of your own sin!
2. The cross displays God's dreadful judgment against sin.
Being sinners by nature, we tend to minimize both our sin and God's wrath against sin. We think that our sin isn't all that bad, and we can't understand why God would get so worked up about it. But as Calvin explains, "It was an astonishing display of the wrath of God that he did not spare even his only begotten Son, and was not appeased in any other way than by that price of expiation" (ibid., pp. 316-317). "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23), and nothing less than the death of God's own Son could satisfy His holy wrath that is justly due for our sin!
God's judgment is seen in several ways in this story. I've already mentioned the darkened sun as one portent of the wrath to come. It should have made every person there shake with fear and cry out for God's mercy. Also, Jesus warned the daughters of Jerusalem who wept for Him of the coming judgment on the city. For the Jews, children were God's blessings; it was a curse to be barren. But Jesus warned that the days were coming when they would say, "Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed" (23:29). So great would be the suffering and slaughter, that it would be better not to have children than to watch them starve and be hacked to pieces by the Roman swords. At that time, men would call to the mountains to fall on them, since that would be a more merciful form of death than what awaited them. If it was unnatural for Jesus, the "green tree," to be burned, how much worse would it be when God's judgment was poured out on the guilty, dried up nation, ready for the fire?
But God's temporal judgments on Jerusalem were nothing in comparison with the eternal judgment that Jesus often warned about. He used the most descriptive language to picture the torments of hell. In addition to describing it as a place of outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, He called it a place "where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:48). He pictured the rich man in torment, crying out for a wet finger to cool his tongue, "for I am in agony in this flame" (Luke 16:24).
Sometimes I think we err in focusing on the physical suffering of Jesus on the cross, while we miss the fact that it was just a glimpse of the spiritual agony He endured. It is significant that none of the four gospels use much detail to describe His physical suffering. Luke simply says, "They crucified Him" (23:33). Granted, most of his readers had witnessed crucifixions, so they knew the awful suffering it entailed. It was one of the most horrific, slow, tortuous deaths ever invented. But I think that G. Campbell Morgan is right when he says that he often wished that no one had painted a picture of the crucifixion. He explains,
I am not denying the tragedy of the physical, but I often feel that in connection with our children, we are in danger if we talk too much with them of the nails and the thorns and the spear. These were merely the incidentals, all of them necessary, I grant you, to work out into visibility before these poor human eyes of ours, something of the unfathomable sorrows of God in Christ in the Cross. Yet there is always a danger lest for very pity of heart, we become more occupied with the physical suffering, than with the spiritual agony. (The Gospel According to Luke [Revell], pp. 266-267.)
The point of Christ's suffering on the cross was that He bore God's dreadful judgment that we deserved, thus satisfying His wrath for us. If Christ crucified is your Savior, you will escape the day of God's wrath on sinners. As Paul triumphantly puts it, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).
I must underscore that you cannot eliminate or skim over this point about the cross revealing God's wrath against sin and be a true Christian. In my next point I will talk about God's amazing love as seen in the cross, and it is true. But to skim over God's wrath and rush on to His love is to miss the offense of the cross. That offense is that we are sinners deserving of God's judgment. We can do nothing in ourselves to appease that judgment. What we cannot do, God did, not sparing His own Son, so that no one can boast before God.
James Stalker points out how that, just as in Christ's day there were religious men who said, "Come down from the cross and we will believe you," so there are still such men. He says, that they "have no sense of their own unworthiness or of the majesty and the rights of a holy God. They do not understand a theology of sin and punishment, of atonement and redemption; and all the deep significance of His death has to be taken out of Christianity before they will believe it" (The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ [Zondervan], pp. 103-104). So we must see in the cross the awfulness of human sin and the dreadfulness of God's judgment before we move on to the next point.
3. The cross displays God's amazing love toward sinners.
As Charles Wesley put it in his great hymn, "Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God shouldst die for me!" That is the only explanation for why Jesus did what He did. If He had stood on His rights, He would have said, "They deserve what they have coming. Let them all pay for their own sin! Why should I have to suffer in their place?" Thank God that He drank the cup of God's wrath because of His unfathomable love!
That love is seen in what is called Christ's first words from the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (23:34). I hope to deal with this verse in more detail in a later message. In passing, I will say that although many weighty early New Testament manuscripts do not contain the verse, there are reasons to believe that it was a part of Luke's original gospel. Christ's words here breathe the same spirit that He taught in the Sermon on the Plain, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" (6:27-28).
Just as the gardener in Jesus' parable asked the owner of the fig tree to give it another year (13:6-9), so Jesus here pleads for another chance for this guilty nation (Norval Geldenhuys, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke [Eerdmans], pp. 608-609). And, God, who could have made the ground open and swallow these rebels on the spot, because He is full of love and mercy, answered the prayer by giving Israel 40 more years before judgment fell. He sent them the preaching of Peter on the Day of Pentecost and the ministry of the apostles and other believers, and many thousands came to repentance and faith.
We should learn here what Calvin calls the astonishing (p. 291), inestimable (p. 302) love of God towards us in Christ. He further notes (p. 303) that all the sufferings that Christ endured are here portrayed so that we may see more clearly how much our salvation cost Him. When we reflect that we justly deserved what He endured, we might more and more be moved to repentance. And, Calvin says, God here plainly shows us how wretched our condition would have been if we had not a Redeemer.
Christ's prayer for those who so badly mistreated Him should give hope to the worst of sinners. Yes, you have abused and mistreated the Savior by your life of sin. Yes, your sin put Jesus on the cross. You need forgiveness. And forgiveness is precisely what Jesus prays on behalf of guilty sinners! He doesn't offer it based on your deserving it, but simply because of His great love and mercy. It cost Him dearly, but it is free to you if you will receive it. The cross reveals God's amazing love for sinners.
4. The cross reveals God's amazing Savior for sinners.
Luke wants every eye to be on the marvelous person of Jesus Christ. The titles that His enemies mockingly hurled at Him are true, even though they did not believe. He is "the Christ of God, His Chosen One" (23:35). He is "the King of the Jews" (23:37, 38). He is the innocent (or righteous) one (23:47), who had done nothing wrong (23:41). Note these five contrasts about His person:
Jesus is fully human, yet fully divine.
As a man, Jesus was so weak from His night in the garden and His scourging that He could not even bear His own cross. His terrible physical suffering on the cross shows His full humanity. He felt the same physical agony that the two thieves did. His emotions felt the sting of the mockery. He felt the disappointment of His disciples' fearful defection. His soul agonized for the coming judgment that He predicted for Jerusalem. As a man, Jesus entrusted His soul to God at the point of death, just as He had trusted the Father throughout His earthly life.
And yet the fact that the creation groaned with the power of the sun being darkened shows us that this was no mere man who hung on that cross. He could predict accurately the horrible destruction of Jerusalem. His death fulfilled David's prophecy in Psalm 22:18, of the soldiers casting lots and dividing His garments among them. He was the Christ of God, God's Chosen One, the promised King of the Jews. As God, He could promise salvation to the penitent thief on the cross, granting him forgiveness and the assurance that he would be with Him that very day in Paradise. As God in human flesh, He was truly innocent of all wrong. He is, in Paul's words, "our great God and Savior" (Titus 2:13). Anyone who denies either the full humanity or the full deity of the Lord Jesus Christ has denied the very essence of the Christian faith.
Jesus is innocent and righteous, yet He bore our sins.
Throughout the story of Christ's trials and crucifixion, Luke repeatedly affirms His innocence. Three times Pilate proclaims it (23:4, 14-15, 22). The thief on the cross repeats it (23:41). The centurion reaffirms it (23:47). Jesus Christ is the righteous one, our Advocate with the Father, who is the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:1-2). I think that Calvin (p. 327) is right here in saying that this Roman centurion was probably not converted so as to utter this testimony of Christ, but rather "was only for a moment the herald of Christ's divinity."
Christ could not have been the Savior of others if He had sins of His own. If He had blemishes on His character, He would not have been an acceptable lamb for the sacrifice for the sins of others. But by His offering of Himself, Jesus abolished that old sacrificial system, symbolized by the tearing of the veil in the temple (23:45). Those sacrifices could not permanently cleanse the worshipers (Heb. 10:1-4), but Jesus, by the one offering of Himself, once for all paid the price of our sins (Heb. 10:11-14)! This is why, by the way, the Roman Catholic celebration of the Mass is such an affront to God. They claim that the wafer actually becomes the body of Christ and that weekly they are sacrificing Him again and again, and that the worshipers must continually take His sacrifice in order to be progressively cleansed. But Scripture plainly proclaims that rather than suffering repeatedly, "now once at the consummation He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Heb. 9:26).
Jesus was rich, yet He became poor that we might be rich in Him.
When the soldiers gambled for the very last possession that Christ had on this earth, His clothing, He was literally stripped of everything. Calvin observes (p. 298,
For the Evangelists exhibit to us the Son of God stripped of his garments, in order to inform us, that by this nakedness we have obtained those riches which make us honorable in the presence of God. God determined that his own Son should be stripped of his raiment, that we, clothed with his righteousness and with abundance of all good things, may appear with boldness in company with the angels, whereas formerly our loathsome and disgraceful aspect, in tattered garments, kept us back from approaching to heaven.
Or, as Paul put it, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9).
Jesus is full of mercy, love and forgiveness, yet He is the Judge of all.
I've already touched on this, so I will only mention it in passing. You see the Lord's compassion in speaking to the women lamenting along the way to the cross. His thoughts were not on His own suffering, but on what they and their children would suffer. You see His compassion and mercy in His prayer for His persecutors, as well as with the thief on the cross. Yet, His mercy and love do not negate the sober fact of judgment. He was crucified in our place because God does not brush over sin. All sin will be judged. Either you trust in Jesus as the one who bore your judgment, or you will face it yourself.
Jesus is the crucified one with no followers, yet He is King of all.
Jesus was basically alone on the cross. John's gospel records how that apostle, along with Mary, the mother of Jesus, were there at the cross. But the rest stood off at a distance. The sign over the cross, stating the criminal's offense, read, "This is the King of the Jews." It was Pilate's dig at the Jewish leaders. They had forced him into crucifying Jesus, so he got back at them by saying, "Here is your Jewish King!"
But Luke wants us to see that Jesus is truly not only the King of the Jews, but of all the nations. Though He was crucified in shame, He is risen and coming again to reign in power and majesty. Luke wants each of us to ask, "Is the crucified Jesus my King?"
John Gordon was a respected general for the South in the Civil War. After the war, he was running for the U.S. Senate, but a man who had served under him in the war, angry over some political incident, was determined to see him defeated. During the convention, he angrily stamped down the aisle with his anti-Gordon vote in hand. As he saw Gordon sitting on the platform, he noticed how his once handsome face was disfigured with the scars of battle. Overcome with emotion, he exclaimed, "It's no use; I can't do it. Here's my vote for John Gordon." Then, turning to the general, he said, "Forgive me, General. I had forgotten the scars."
If your love for the Lord has grown cold, go back to the cross and remember the scars—not just the physical scars, but the scars of God's wrath that Jesus bore in your place. Let His amazing love turn your heart from sin and give you more devotion to serve Him.
Discussion Questions
- The Puritans often talked about the exceeding sinfulness of sin. How would it help us to see this more in our day?
- The idea of God's wrath toward sin is not popular now. How can we properly emphasize it without people shrugging us off?
- Discuss: We cannot properly understand God's love until we have understood His wrath against sin.
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2000, All Rights Reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation
Related Topics: Crucifixion, Hamartiology (Sin), Love, Soteriology (Salvation)


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Today is one year from the first post on this blog and tomorrow it will be one year since my first outfit post here.
La Bohème is one year old! And what better way to celebrate this than thanking you guys for being here with me. It's not a simple "Thank you!", oh no, is a big, big giveaway "Thank you!". My friends and artists agreed to help me give you some amazing prizes.
Let's get this started!
Diva Style is offering this beautiful dress in sizes S-M or L for you wonderful ladies. You can also buy a lot more products here.

subset: commoncrawl


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José Antonio Bautista (born October 19, 1980 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican professional baseball player who primarily plays as a right fielder and as a third baseman with the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball. He has also played first base, second base, left field, and center field in his career.
In the 2010 season, Bautista set a Toronto Blue Jays single-season team record by hitting 54 home runs, making him one of 26 players in the 50 home run club. That season he was the home run champion of both the American League and Major League Baseball.
On July 3, 2011, Bautista set the all-time MLB record for the most All-Star votes received by a single player with 7,454,753, which surpassed the previous record of 6,069,688 set by Seattle's Ken Griffey Jr. in 1994.


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RICHLAND, Wash. -- Electrons -- bits of negative energy that shock you when you touch a door handle -- spur the chemical reaction between an acid and a base, according to new results in the journal Science. The findings may help researchers someday precisely control chemistry in systems ranging from biology to energy technology.
The team of experimental and theoretical chemists from three research institutions used two of the simplest acids and bases -- hydrogen chloride and ammonia -- to investigate how the two react to form the product ammonium chloride in the absence of help from their surroundings. The result revealed that supplying or removing an extra electron -- not one already residing in the molecules -- can make the reaction go from acid and base to neutral molecule or back again.
"The dream of chemists is to control chemical reactions," says coauthor Greg Schenter of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash. Adds coauthor Maciej Gutowski, formerly of PNNL and now at the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK, "We want the reaction to happen when we want it to happen, and to go along a certain chemical pathway."
"We may be able to use this to get hydrogen out of the solid state, like in hydrogen storage materials," says Schenter. If so, that might lead to economic, safe and practical hydrogen-fueled automobiles. The fundamental result could help illuminate biological reactions as well, such as when radiation damages DNA within cells, says coauthor Kit Bowen of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.
"Its value in my mind is that this reaction is a simple prototype. There are some very complicated reactions that occur this way," Bowen says. "It also shows that environmental effects are very important in reactivity."
The reaction is so common in everyday life that students to grandmothers are aware of it in some way. Many people know not to mix window cleaner and toilet bowl cleaner: compounds in each like to react, sometimes giving off dangerous fumes and leaving ammonium chloride in their wake. But what many people don't know is that if you take just one molecule each of the troublemakers, ammonia and hydrogen chloride, the two just can't get their act together.
In water, the reaction between ammonia (NH3) and hydrogen chloride (HCl) is a textbook example of acid-base chemistry most of us learn in high school. By its chemical nature, the nitrogen in ammonia prefers to be attached to four hydrogens rather than the mere three it has, so it steals the hydrogen from hydrogen chloride.
The theft leaves chloride alone and negative. But the nitrogen molecule (now called ammonium) has gained a positive charge from the stolen hydrogen, and that attracts the chloride. The attraction is not as strong as the so-called covalent bond between the nitrogen and its fan base, but the ammonium and chloride form an ionic bond, one that forms when opposites attract. To a chemist, this looks like NH4+Cl-.
But that's in a crowd -- not so in private. Previous research has shown that when one ammonia molecule exists in isolation with one hydrogen chloride molecule, nothing happens. All the necessary, classical components are there: positive hydrogens (also called protons) and negative electrons, but still, nothing happens. Researchers have long suspected additional electrons floating around in the high-volume environment could somehow help the ammonia and hydrogen chloride molecules to react. If so, an ammonium chloride in nature would really look like [NH4+Cl-]-.
"Extra electrons are everywhere," says computational chemist Schenter. "When you rub a balloon in your hair, you knock electrons off your hair and the balloon's surface and you get static electricity. You can't get away from them."
To test the idea, the experimentalists, led by physical chemist Bowen, had to do the reaction in reverse. First, they created a molecule of ammonium chloride adorned with an extra electron -- [NH4+Cl-]-. Using a beam of light, they then measured how easily different colors of light knocked off that electron. Losing the electron leaves behind an offkilter NH4+Cl-, which immediately rearranges into a cozy pair, NH3 and HCl.
With computer programs developed to understand the nature of chemical bonding and structure at the DOE's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory on the PNNL campus, the theory and modeling team took that data and used it to gauge how closely the chloride's hydrogen was sidling up to the ammonia's nitrogen when the extra electron is around. The resulting picture showed how losing the surplus electron can cause ammonia and hydrogen chloride to transform into ammonium chloride.
"It's like a switch," says Schenter. "In the presence of electrons, it behaves one way. Without electrons, it behaves another way."
The researchers solved another riddle as well. Chemists have long wondered about that interaction between that cozy pair, one molecule of ammonia and one molecule of hydrogen chloride. The bond could be either ionic in nature or more like a so-called hydrogen bond, weaker than both ionic and covalent bonds but with characteristics of each. Comparing the data in the absence and presence of electrons, the theoretical team determined the types of arrangements the nitrogen, hydrogens and chloride could be in. From these, they concluded the molecules formed a hydrogen bond.
Understanding the reaction brings hope that chemistry will have a clean future. "If you can control the reaction, you can operate in a safe, environmentally friendly way," Gutowski says.
Reference: Soren N. Eustis, Dunja Radisic, Kit H. Bowen, Rafa³ A. Bachorz, Maciej Haranczyk, Gregory K. Schenter, Maciej Gutowski, Electron-Driven Acid-Base Chemistry: Proton Transfer from Hydrogen Chloride to Ammonia, Science, February 15, 2008, 10.1126/science.1151614.
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy's Offices of Basic Energy Sciences and Biological & Environmental Research, part of the Office of Science.
The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory is a DOE national scientific user facility located at PNNL that provides integrated experimental and computational resources for discovery and technological innovation in the environmental molecular sciences to support the needs of DOE and the nation.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a DOE Office of Science national laboratory that solves complex problems in energy, national security and the environment, and advances scientific frontiers in the chemical, biological, materials, environmental and computational sciences. PNNL employs 4,000 staff, has a $760 million annual budget, and has been managed by Ohio-based Battelle since the lab's inception in 1965.
The Johns Hopkins University, founded in Baltimore in 1876, was the first American research university, dedicated not only to teaching but also to discovery and to putting knowledge to use in humanity's best interests. Today, the university comprises 10 schools and divisions and has campuses throughout the Baltimore-Washington area and in Italy and China. For information, visit www.jhu.edu.


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Avalanche Canada is anticipating increased uncertainty in their forecasting as backcountry lodges and heli-ski operations shut down in an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus.
"As always, accurate avalanche forecasts remains our priority. However, the early closure of many backcountry operations, in response to the COVID 19 pandemic, will soon affect our data stream," reads a news release from the organization.
The Mountain Information Network is going to become even more important than usual for avalanche forecasting to continue and the organization is calling on back country users to submit their observations.
"Even the most basic data will be helpful, so please consider posting to the MIN. We are also encouraging avalanche professionals to keep providing whatever data they have," the news release said.
If you have any questions about the MIN, or want to deliver information directly to the forecasters, please email email@example.com or call 250-837-2141, extension 104.
In response to the pandemic, the organization has cancelled all outreach events, reduced field operations and employees have been given the option to work from home.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.


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Climate Change and Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
More Fact Sheets
- General Public
- MSW Planners
- State Officials
- Elected Officials
- Civic Groups
- PAYT & Climate Change
- Climate Change & MSW
What is the Greenhouse Effect? | What Are the Consequences of Climate Change? | What Is the Link Between Solid Waste and Climate Change? | What are Greenhouse Gases? | The Balance Sheet: Measuring Climate Change Benefits of Waste Reduction | The Link Between Waste Management and Greenhouse Gases | You Can Make a Difference! | How Are EPA's Waste Reduction Programs Helping Reduce the Effects of Climate Change? | More Information
Two Environmental Issues With an Important Underlying LinkRising levels of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are causing changes in our climate, and some of these changes can be traced to solid waste. The manufacture, distribution, and use of products-as well as management of the resulting waste-all result in greenhouse gas emissions. Waste prevention and recycling are real ways to help mitigate climate change.
This site describes the connection between climate change and solid waste, explains how waste reduction can help slow the effects of climate change, and outlines the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) efforts to address this important issue.
What is the Greenhouse Effect?
The atmosphere that surrounds the Earth contains many types of gases, including those known as "greenhouse gases." Greenhouse gases absorb and retain heat from the sun. They regulate the Earth's climate by holding warmth in an atmospheric blanket around the planet's surface. Scientists call this phenomenon the "greenhouse effect."
Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature on Earth would be 5°F instead of the current 60°F. Excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, however, raise global temperatures.
What Are the Consequences of Climate Change?
What's so bad about warm days and balmy nights? Why try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Unfortunately, increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will not create a worldwide tropical paradise. The Earth's atmosphere supports a balanced variety of climates on which diverse ecosystems depend. Human activities that thicken the gaseous "greenhouse" around the planet threaten to disrupt that balance.
In the last 100 years, scientists have detected an increase of 1°F in the Earth's average surface temperature. There is international scientific consensus that human activity is responsible for some of this increase. A rise of only a few degrees in the Earth's average temperature could result in:
- Wider fluctuations in temperatures
- More frequent and intense storms
- Flooding of beach, marsh, and other low-lying coastal areas
- More precipitation in some areas and not enough in others
- Wider distribution of certain diseases
It is clear, however, that any climate change will not be easily reversed. Because greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere a long time, turning back climate changes may take decades or even centuries.
What Is the Link Between Solid Waste and Climate Change?
Waste prevention and recycling-jointly referred to as waste reduction-help us better manage the solid waste we generate. But preventing waste and recycling also are potent strategies for reducing greenhouse gases. Together they:
- Reduce emissions from energy consumption. Recycling saves energy. That's because making goods from recycled materials typically requires less energy than making goods from virgin materials. And waste prevention is even more effective. Less energy is needed to extract, transport, and process raw materials and to manufacture products when people reuse things or when products are made with less material. The payoff? When energy demand decreases, fewer fossil fuels are burned and less carbon dioxide is emitted to the atmosphere.
- Reduce emissions from incinerators. Diverting certain materials from incinerators through waste prevention and recycling reduces greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.
- Reduce methane emissions from landfills. Waste prevention and recycling (including composting) divert organic wastes from landfills, reducing the methane released when these materials decompose.
- Increase storage of carbon in trees. Forests take large amounts of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it in wood, in a process called carbon sequestration. Waste prevention and recycling of paper products can leave more trees standing in the forest, continuing to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The Link Between Waste Management and Greenhouse Gases
You Can Make a Difference!
By choosing to prevent waste and recycle, you can help curb climate change. For example, assume your office throws away 100 tons of white (office) paper each year. If you recycle just half that paper instead, look what happens:
The Balance Sheet: Measuring Climate Change Benefits of Waste Reduction
To help measure the climate benefits of waste reduction initiatives launched by EPA and others, EPA conducted a comprehensive study of greenhouse gas emissions and waste management. The study estimates the greenhouse gas emissions associated with managing ten types of waste materials: office paper, newspaper, corrugated cardboard, aluminum, steel, plastic (HDPE, LDPE, and PET), food scraps, and yard trimmings. The waste management options analyzed are waste prevention, recycling, composting, incineration, and landfilling.
This research indicates that, in terms of climate benefits, waste prevention is the best management option. Recycling is the next best approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Also, the research enables users to tailor their analysis of greenhouse gas emissions based on the characteristics of their waste stream and the waste management options available to them.
EPA estimates that increasing our national recycling rate from its current level of 27 percent to 35 percent would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 11.4 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE, the basic unit of measure for greenhouse gases) over landfilling the same material. Waste prevention also makes an important difference: by cutting the amount of waste we generate by just 5 percent, we could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by another 10.2 million MTCE. Together, these levels of recycling and waste prevention slash emissions by more than 20 million MTCE-an amount equal to the average annual emissions from the electricity consumption of roughly 12 million households.
Every little bit helps! For example, if for one year people in an office building of 2,000 workers recycled all the office paper, cardboard, newspaper, and plastic waste they generated, greenhouse gas emissions could fall by 440 MTCE, equivalent to taking about 330 cars off the road that year. If just one household generated 5 percent less waste newspapers, aluminum and steel cans, and plastic containers and then recycled what remains, 374 pounds of carbon equivalent could be reduced.
How Are EPA's Waste Reduction Programs Helping Reduce the Effects of Climate Change?
The United States is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 1992, the United States joined 160 other countries as a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which calls on countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Since 1994, the United States has been implementing the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), a blueprint for achieving voluntary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors of our economy. The CCAP contains some 50 separate initiatives, including one that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through waste reduction and recycling.
In December 1997, the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to a historic Protocol on climate change. The so-called "Kyoto Protocol" sets binding emissions targets and timetables for emissions reductions, encouraging the use of market-based measures to meet those targets. The specific limits vary from country to country, but are similar for Europe, Japan and the United States; for the United States, the target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level 7% below 1990 emissions over a 5-year period spanning 2008 to 2012. United States ratification of this Protocol will require the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate.
Waste prevention and recycling can make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The waste reduction and recycling initiative is expected to contribute at least 5 percent of the total greenhouse gas emission reductions called for in the CCAP. To help achieve these kinds of greenhouse gas reductions using waste prevention and recycling, EPA is supporting a number of programs, including:
- WasteWi$e. WasteWi$e is a voluntary partnership between EPA and U.S. businesses, state and local governments, and institutions to prevent waste, recycle, and buy and manufacture products made with recycled materials. More than 700 organizations participated in the WasteWi$e program in 1997.
- Pay-As-You-Throw Programs. EPA is providing technical and outreach assistance to encourage communities to implement pay-as-you-throw systems for solid waste. Under pay-as-you-throw, residents are charged based on the amount of trash they discard. This creates an incentive for them to generate less trash and recycle more. On average, communities with pay-as-you-throw see waste reductions of 15 to 28 percent.
- EPA/CBOT Partnership. The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Recyclables Exchange is an online exchange, developed with EPA support, that helps develop markets for recyclable commodities, thereby diverting more materials from the waste stream.
- Waste Reduction Demonstrations. EPA has funded over 20 projects that demonstrate innovative waste reduction approaches with potential to achieve significant carbon emissions reductions.
For More Information
- Climate Change and Waste: Reducing Waste Can Make a Difference - This folder and its series of fact sheets address the links between climate change and municipal solid waste management.
- Go to EPA's Global Climate Change & Solid Waste Web Site


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Ice Cold
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Series: Rizzoli & Isles #8
Narrator: Tanya Eby
Unabridged: 9 hr 48 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: 06/29/2010
Genre: Fiction - Thrillers
In Wyoming for a medical conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles joins a group of friends on a spur-of-the-moment ski trip. But when their SUV stalls on a snow-choked mountain road, they're stranded with no help in sight.As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town's previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness—someone who is watching Maura and her friends.Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura's charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless—and the chilling truth about Maura's fate.


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Ponette1997 Drama
A four-year-old girl must come to terms with the loss of her mother and the reality of death in this award-winning French drama. Little Ponette (Victoire Thivisol) is riding in a car with her mother when they're involved in a serious accident; Ponette survives, but her mother does not. Her father (Xavier Beauvois) initially reacts with anger over his late wife's careless driving, while her Aunt Claire (Claire Nebout) tries to comfort the child by telling her about Jesus and the resurrection. However, none of this does much to reassure Ponette or clarify her confusion about the practical realities and spiritual dilemma posed by death. In time, Ponette and her cousins Matiaz (Matiaz Caton) and Delphine (Delphine Schiltz) are sent off to boarding school, where they have to resolve their confusion and loss on their own. Writer and director Jacques Doillon carefully coached Victoire Thivisol (who was too young to read the screenplay) through her performance; the results earned the child Best Actress honors at the 1996 Venice Film Festival.~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide


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John Stanley was born in London on 17th January, 1712. At about the age of two, he had the misfortune to fall on a marble hearth with a china basin in his hand, an accident which left him almost blind – apparently he was still able to distinguish colors and possibly some shapes.
He began studying music at the age of seven. Under the guidance of Maurice Greene, composer and organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, he studied "with great diligence, and a success that was astonishing" (Burney). At the age of nine he played the organ, probably as an occasional deputy, at All Hallows, Bread Street. The organist died on 23rd September 1723 and exactly one month later eleven-year-old Stanley was appointed organist to the church at a salary of Ł20 per annum. The St. James's Evening Post reporting the event stated that Stanley "is become the Surprize of the Town for his ingenious Performance on the Harpsichord and Organ; and, in the opinion of good Judges, bids fair to equal, if not exceed the Merit of his celebrated Predecessor."
When he was fourteen "in preference to a great number of candidates" (Burney) he was chosen as organist at St. Andrew's, Holborn and at the age of seventeen became the youngest person ever to obtain the Bachelor of Music degree (B.Mus.) at Oxford University.
In 1734 he was appointed organist to the Society of the Inner Temple - a position he held until his death. It was at the ancient Temple Church that his brilliant playing upon the organ and harpsichord attracted the attention of many fine musicians including Handel who regularly visited the church to hear him. Stanley was also an outstanding violinist and led the subscription concerts at the Swan Tavern in Cornhill and at the Castle Tavern in Paternoster Row.
In 1738 Stanley married Sarah Arlond (daughter of Captain Edward Arlond of the East India Company) who brought him a dowry of Ł7,000 per annum. Sarah's sister Ann, who at this time lived with them, became the blind composer's copyist.
Though virtually blind, Stanley had a remarkable memory which helped him direct many of Handel's oratorios and to enjoy music-making and card games with his many friends. If he had to accompany a new oratorio he would ask his sister-in-law to play it through just once - enough to commit it to memory. He frequently played the organ at the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and was first choice to play at charity events and at the launch of any newly built church organs. He even found time to teach. His oratorio Jephthah was first performed in 1757.
After Handel's death in 1760 Stanley began a partnership with the composer John Christopher Smith in order to continue with the performances of oratorios at Covent Garden. For the first season Stanley composed 'Zimri'. Stanley accompanied all oratorios, and played a concerto during each interval. Also in 1760 he composed an ode in memory of the late George II and as homage to George III; it was first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre. On the occasion of the King's wedding in 1762 he composed a dramatic pastoral Oratorio, Arcadia.
Handel had been a Governor of the Foundling Hospital, London. The Hospital's Chapel organ was Handel's gift, and Handel himself directed eleven performances of the Messiah there, so raising 7,000 Pounds for the charity. Continuing yet again in Handel's footsteps, Stanley was elected a governor of the Hospital in 1770, and from 1775 until 1777 he directed the annual performance of Handel's Messiah in aid of the hospital funds.
In 1779 Stanley succeeded William Boyce as Master of the King's Band of musicians. In this capacity he composed many New Year and Birthday odes to the King but unfortunately this music has not survived. Stanley's last work was probably an ode written for the King's birthday (4th June 1786). Stanley never heard its performance - he died at his home in Hatton Garden on 19th May, 1786 aged 74.


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Robots have already taken over the world. It may not seem so because it hasn't happened in the way science fiction author Isaac Asmiov imagined it in his book I, Robot. City streets are not crowded by humanoid robots walking around just yet, but robots have been doing a lot of mundane work behind closed doors, which humans would rather avoid.
Their visibility is going to change swiftly though. Driverless cars are projected to appear on roads, and make moving from one point to another less cumbersome. Even though they won't be controlled by humanoid robots, the software that will run them raises many ethical challenges.
For instance, should your robot car kill you to save the life of another in an unavoidable crash?
License to kill?
Consider this thought experiment: you are travelling along a single-lane mountain road in an autonomous car that is fast approaching a narrow tunnel. Just before entering the tunnel a child attempts to run across the road but trips in the centre of the lane, effectively blocking the entrance to the tunnel. The car has but two options: hit and kill the child, or swerve into the wall on either side of the tunnel, thus killing you.
Both outcomes will certainly result in harm, and from an ethical perspective there is no "correct" answer to this dilemma. The tunnel problem serves as a good thought experiment precisely because it is difficult to answer.
The tunnel problem also points to imminent design challenges that must be addressed, in that it raises the following question: how should we program autonomous cars to react in difficult ethical situations? However, a more interesting question is: who should decide how the car reacts in difficult ethical situations?
This second question asks us to turn our attention to the users, designers, and law makers surrounding autonomous cars, and ask who has the legitimate moral authority to make such decisions. We need to consider these questions together if our goal is to produce legitimate answers.
At first glance this second question – the who question – seems odd. Surely it is the designers' job to program the car to react this way or that? I am not so sure.
From a driver's perspective, the tunnel problem is much more than a complex design issue. It is effectively an end-of-life decision. The tunnel problem poses deeply moral questions that implicate the driver directly.
Allowing designers to pick the outcome of tunnel-like problems treats those dilemmas as if they must have a "right" answer that can be selected and applied in all similar situations. In reality they do not. Is it best for the car to always hit the child? Is it best for the car always to sacrifice the driver? If we strive for a one-size-fits-all solution, it can only be offered arbitrarily.
The better solution is to look for other examples of complex moral decision-making to get some traction on the who question.
Ask the ethicist
Healthcare professionals deal with end-of-life decisions frequently. According to medical ethics, it is generally left up to the individual for whom the question has direct moral implications to decide which outcome is preferable. When faced with a diagnosis of cancer, for example, it is up to the patient to decide whether or not to undergo chemotherapy. Doctors and nurses are trained to respect patients' autonomy, and to accommodate it within reason.
An appeal to personal autonomy is intuitive. Why would one agree to let someone else decide on deeply personal moral questions, such as end-of-life decisions in a driving situation, that one feels capable of deciding on their own?
From an ethical perspective, if we allow designers to choose how a car should react to a tunnel problem, we risk subjecting drivers to paternalism by design: cars will not respect drivers' autonomous preferences in those deeply personal moral situations.
Seen from this angle it becomes clear that there are certain deeply personal moral questions that will arise with autonomous cars that ought to be answered by drivers. A recent poll suggests that if designers assume moral authority they run the risk of making technology that is less ethical and, if not that, certainly less trustworthy.
As in healthcare, designers and engineers need to recognise the limits of their moral authority and find ways of accommodating user autonomy in difficult moral situations. Users must be allowed to make some tough decisions for themselves.
None of this simplifies the design of autonomous cars. But making technology work well requires that we move beyond technical considerations in design to make it both trustworthy and ethically sound. We should work toward enabling users to exercise their autonomy where appropriate when using technology. When robot cars must kill, there are good reasons why designers should not be the ones picking victims.


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We are now in the main section of the book and Paul's main argument. I want to spend a while looking at these verses, because they introduce so much of that center section.
Paul starts with an ethical exhortation clearly concerned with the life that the Philippian Christians are going to live, and the witness to the culture around them, and the unity that that life is going to bring to the experience of that local congregation. In fact, it's very clear throughout this passage that Paul is concerned about the Philippians' humility.
As we study this large section of the letter there are two great themes that are going to be coming back over and over again throughout. I want to briefly introduce those two things this week, and then look briefly at the two verses that we'll study over the next several weeks.
I. Two Great Themes
The first, gospel humility creates a united front in a local congregation. It is a huge truth that he is wanting the Philippians to imbibe by everything he says in this passage. That is not humility from emulating really fine, godly, sweet, wonderful parents, but humility that comes from the gospel coming to bear on your own life in such a way that you know what it is to have received the utterly undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus Christ personally, and that reality radiates everywhere in your life.
The Apostle Paul just keeps hammering home on this is because of the second theme in this middle section of Philippians: Unity does not just happen. You cannot have unity in any organization, and especially in the local church, simply by abstaining from doing anything outrageously destructive of it. Paul in this whole section is going to say the fundamental thing that has to happen for unity to reign in a congregation of Christians is gospel humility. There can be no unity in the church without gospel humility.
Paul himself was an example of this. Paul was on what you might call the 'progressive' side of early Christianity, and James was on what we might call the more 'conservative' side of Christianity. There have always been groups in the church. But notice, Paul, the leader of this so-called progressive side of Christianity, is deeply desirous that people in Philippi - who were the product of his ministry - give an offering to help Christians back in Jerusalem under the leadership of James, under this "more conservative" Jewish side of Christianity. Paul wants those Gentiles to be giving to those Jewish Christians in Palestine because Paul could think of no better way to express the reality that there is neither Jew nor Greek because of the gospel work of Jesus Christ than for these Greek Christians, who are held in a little bit of suspicion by those Jewish Christians, to give to the Jewish Christians in their need.
Paul is all about that. He will travel land and sea in order to go back and bless those Christians who are most suspicious of his work. Oh, boy, does that have ramifications for us! If we would learn something of that lesson, it would be dramatically fellowship-transforming.
II. Worthy of the Gospel
Now, let us briefly look at Philippians 1:27 and 28 and I will outline the significance of what Paul says in the first clause. In the coming weeks, we'll work out what it means to live a life worthy of the gospel.
Paul is giving the Philippians an exhortation in this passage, and that exhortation crumples me to my knees. Before he's got the last syllable of it out, I'm going, "Lord, could you give me some help on this? You're asking me to conduct myself, to live my life, in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ? I would like to volunteer. I would like to get in the line right now and ask for some help." But Paul is giving help and encouragement to you before he finishes the verse, and he's especially giving it by way of pointing you to your motivation, even in the short first clause of Philippians 1:27: "Conduct yourselves…."
The motivation comes in these words: Paul says that we are to conduct ourselves in light of the gospel of Christ; and as imposing as that is at first glance, there's some and very real encouragement in that phrase. And so in both the exhortation and the verb used – conduct yourselves, live this way, walk this way – there's encouragement; and in the phrase the gospel of Christ there is encouragement.
Paul says fairly directly three things in this passage. He tells you that you need to realize your new citizenship, and that's going to be one of the encouragements, one of the motivations to living in a manner worthy of the gospel – realizing your citizenship. Secondly, he's going to tell you to live in light of the gospel. And when you realize what that means, what the gospel was for you, that's a real encouragement. And then, thirdly, and implicitly, he's reminding you that you need to know the gospel and its implications. Studying the gospel is a life-long pursuit. Knowing the gospel and seeing it worked out in all of the ramifications that it has into every area of our life is a life-long pursuit. It's something that we are always seeing deeper implications of. It's something that we're always seeing new applications of in our life.
We will explore those three things next week.
Read more...


text: Typically made of a ceramic material, the baker is constructed with a base and a dome-shaped lid. While the base is glazed for ease of clean-up, the remaining surface area of the container is porous to allow the steam and moisture to be held and circulate within the lid to allow the sugar in the roasting garlic to caramelize. The open space in the lid enables more moisture to accumulate thus improving the results when roasting the garlic to be spread on bread or to be used in soups and sauces.


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ImageMalcolm Gladwell by the Business Makers
"Influencer theory" as it is discussed today on the social web is a pop myth. The various schools of thought lack the substantive analytical scientific study and proof to be considered legitimate or factual. Yet they are used by tens of thousands of marketers to strategically position themselves, their companies or clients online.
Auburn Professor Robert French said in a comment on Friday's round up of these theories on SmartBrief and pictured below, "Frankly, all of the efforts in social media that I have seen aimed at defining influence and influencers are tools that seek to (a) drive sales of a company/interest, (b) try to elevate a company/interest into some form of 'thought leader' or (c) pseudo-research disguised as marketing promotion — maybe even (d) sell a book… You can't build a theory on anecdotal evidence."
State of Influence Theory Infographic by Jess3, based on discussions of influence on Welcome to the Fifth Estate.
When exploring the infographic in depth notice the alignment of top-down versus bottom-up influence concepts, as well as the basic offsetting of these two theory families, with Gladwell and Watts taking opposite sides. The Gladwellian top-down theories include One Percenters, Trust Agents, leaderboards, and to some extent Free Agents (to be fair, Kanter and Fine's theory sits within their larger theory of networks). The Watts bottom-up family of theories include the Magic Middle and Groundswell.
Indeed, when you look at the two popular schools of thought, the worse for the wear is the more popular top-down school, first propagated by Malcolm Gladwell. This school holds that there are "uberinfluencers," a few types of people that can move entire networks and organizations toward action. Unfortunately, as time has moved along (from left to right), these theories have become less and less data centric, and as French says, built on conjecture.
Every top-down single theory is positioned within a marketing book with the exception of leaderboard technologies, which are selling their services. In essence, these ideas are increasingly popularized by bloggers and companies who have directly benefited from their school of influence becoming popular. In the case of the most popular theory – Trust Agents – we see a reinvention of the one percenter theory with a healthy dose of Edelman's Peer Trust study in it.
The idea of an uberinfluencer is reminiscent of the romantic era of cigarette advertising, when the Leo Burnett Agency creation the Marlboro Man touched off an icon of male sex appeal. Unfortunately, he was more likely alone in the desert dying from lung cancer.
Similarly, the uberinfluencer theory is very popular, and dramatacizes the impact of one person in the midst. America loves the idea of a strong man/woman leading the pack. But as time has shown, these theories do not apply universally to contagious events online and in real life. It was quite amazing to see Malcolm Gladwell's proclamation that the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted last fall, only to have his words thrown in his face three months later with the Middle East uprisings.
There are some elements of truth to the top-down theories. Content creators or voices are important, and some become important due to their ability to generate peer trust (originally depicted as Connectors in Gladwell's book), both of which can help set off word-of-moth events. When, where and how has become less and less specific as these theories have evolved.
The Contrarian Bottom-Up School
Image: Duncan Watts by the SESConferenceSeries
The bottom-up group, started by Watts in 2003 in direct response to Gladwell's theories, has a different view, believing in a more networked effect to contagious events. Influence lies in smaller groups, more individuals and ideas/movements spread through weak ties. As an idea becomes popular in small groups and spreads, content creators and conversationalists notice it, and like their friends, help spread it across their extended relationships. This is the networked effect of influence.
All three of the bottom-up theories have the same weak point, that they are introduced within marketing books and, in the case of Sifry, a technology service measuring and selling blog influence. However, all three used analysis of data they collected to form their theories. At the same time, they have not had their results verified or replicated by third parties.
Watts, however, did a great deal of data analysis after his book came out while he was with Yahoo. He sparked an epic criticism of Gladwell in Fast Company, "Is the Tipping Point Toast," and continued to revalidate his theories:
"A rare bunch of cool people just don't have that power. And when you test the way marketers say the world works, it falls apart. There's no there there." And then, "'All they'll ever say,'" Watts insists, is that a) there are people who are more influential than others, and b) they are disproportionately important in getting a trend going."
Well said, and true, at least in this marketer's experience. The Magic Middle of all the theories has had the most weight with blog contagions, but as Watts so well makes clear in his work, contagious events are very, very unpredictable, and who will start them is an unreliable guess at best. There is more to it than simply marketing. There must be a need, and a societal readiness.
Back to the Fast Company article: "If society is ready to embrace a trend, almost anyone can start one–and if it isn't, then almost no one can," Watts concludes.
The less popular, but much more data centric bottom-up theorists hold that social network influence is not the domain of reach. They go further to show the strength of relationships matter more, that relationships and roles (a la Li and Bernoff's Technographic profile) can change by the time or situation, and that more contagious events start below the uberinfluencer level, then rise up as events unfold.
Chasing Influence
As we can see, none of theories have nailed how ideas spread through communities. Only Watts's work has yet to have a major hole punched in it, other than to say it is frustratingly murky and undefined. It seems that influence has yet to be defined in the social web era, much less in the 100 years of prior sociological study.
What is clear is that influence is perceived as online power. As long as other people are willing to pay to promote their ideas, products and services, influence theory will continue to evolve (or devolve, depending on theorist). But for now, despite evolutions and wrinkles, it still appears to be a battle between Gladwellian uberinfluencers and Wattsian groundswells.
As to the myth of the uberinfluencer, it has as much likelihood of producing a contagious event as Barack Obama's odds of resolving the debt crisis without the help of U.S. Senators and Congressmen in both parties. Yet, as long as we live in a time where popularity and attention are valued, this myth will remain strong. Welcome to pop culture.
What do you think of the State of Influencer Theory on the web?


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I used the Stampin' Up! Lovely Friends stamp set bundle from the upcoming 2017-18 Annual Catalog to create my card for the Happy Inkin' Thursday Blog Hop today. We've got a color challenge this week and this is what I created for it.
I started by adhering a panel from the Delightful Daisy DSP pack (available June 1) to a Thick Whisper White card base with Multipurpose Liquid Glue. I stamped the sentiment from the Lovely Friends photopolymer stamp set (available June 1) in Night of Navy ink on a panel of Whisper White card stock. I adhered the panel to a panel of Night of Navy card stock with SNAIL and then to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals.
I stamped the flower images from the Lovely Friends stamp set in Night of Navy and Daffodil Delight inks (background images stamped on scrap paper once) on a panel of Whisper White card stock. I cut the flowers and two sets of leaves from Old Olive card stock with the matching Lovely Laurel Thinlits Dies. I adhered the Daffodil Delight flower with a Stampin' Dimensional to the card front and the smaller flowers and leaves with Glue Dots.
I adhered strips of Delightful Daisy DSP to both sides of the inside of the card base with SNAIL. The I stamped the sentiment and flowers from the Lovely Friends stamp set in Night of Navy and Daffodil Delight inks on a panel of Whisper White card stock and cut them out with the Lovely Laurel Thinlits dies. I also cut the two background banner pieces from Whisper White card stock and the wreath pieces from Old Olive card stock with the Lovely Laurel Thinlits dies.
I adhered the wreath and background banner die cuts to the inside of the card base with Fast Fuse Adhesive and then adhered the stamped banner and flowers with Glue Dots to finish the inside of the card.
Alright, on with the hop! Click the button below to hop over to see what Shelagh Freemantle has created today.
And just in case you get lost along the way, here is a list of the team members involved in the hop today:
- Amy Koenders – You Are Here
- Shelagh Freemantle
- Mary Deatherage
- Jari Francis
- Kristi Gray
- Jaimie Babarczy
Facebook Live Video Tutorial
You can see my Facebook Live video tutorial for using the new Lovely Laurel Thinlits Dies here!
May 16-31 Host Code: 3S6TEX22
Use this host code when you order and receive a free gift from me! If your order is over $150, please do not use this code, but you'll still get the free gift. The free gift is your choice of any item valued up to $10.00 in the 2017 Occasions Catalog or the 2016-17 Annual Catalog! That includes some of the Host Exclusive stamp sets! See my Rewards page for full details.
If you need any stamping supplies, I'd be very happy to be your Demonstrator. Just click on the Order Stampin' Up! Online Now button on the right side of the screen to go directly to my online store or drop me an email if you have any questions. Happy Stamping!
- Visit my online store here.
- Shop the Clearance Rack here.
- Earn FREE Stampin' Up! Products – Join my Running Shoe Rewards Program – My online customer thank you program!
- In addition to my online store, also take PayPal payments for orders – Check my Rewards page for more information.
- I offer gift certificates for Stampin' Up! merchandise too! Click on my Gift Certificates page for more information.
Card stock cuts for this project:
- Thick Whisper White – 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ card base
- Night of Navy – 3-3/4″ x 5″panel, Layering Ovals Framelits die cut
- Old Olive – four Lovely Laurel Thinlits die cuts
- Whisper White – 3-5/8″ x 4-7/8″ panel, seven Lovely Laurel Thinlits die cuts
- Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper – 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ panel, two 1″ x 5-1/2″ strips
Stampin' Up! items used to create this project:


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Microsoft Confirms Windows RT OEM Partners, Details Collaboration:
Microsoft is making some huge changes with the release of its Surface tablet, but that doesn't mean the company is totally leaving its hardware partners behind. To show that it's still faithful to (at least some of) its OEM relationships, Microsoft on Monday confirmed the initial Windows RT partners and detailed the collaboration process required to build the upcoming ARM-based devices.
Dell, Lenovo, Asus and Samsung all made the cut to deliver Window RT devices at launch. Currently, the only officially announced Windows RT devices include the Surface RT tablet and the Asus Tablet 600. But according to Microsoft, we can expect not only several WinRT tablets coming from its four initial partners, but also PCs with "full keyboard and touchpad solutions, whether removable/dockable or a traditional clamshell."
In the Monday blog post, Microsoft's vice president of its Ecosystem and Planning team Mike Anguilo goes on to describe how the company is working with its manufacturing partners to bring the totally new ARM-powered PCs to market. The company has worked very closely with Dell, Lenovo, Asus and Samsung (as well as its silicon partners like Nvidia) in order to make sure that the hardware integrates well with the radically different software. Each hardware company has shared very early versions of its devices with Microsoft, and according to Aguilar, "designs were informed and revised by our collective efforts through development and testing."
Missing from the list of WinRT partners are HP, HTC (which is not surprising considering news from earlier this summer), and Acer, whose executives have been very vocal about their distaste for Microsoft's Surface. But Aguilar's blog post seems to indicate that Microsoft considers Surface only one piece of the Windows RT ecosystem, echoing what other Microsoft execs have said in the past.
Aguilar highlights a few of the key areas that Microsoft and its partners focused on while building the Windows RT devices. Specifically, always-on battery technology played a large role. Microsoft wants its Windows RT devices to stay in a connected standby state without using too much battery power.
The company released some stats to show how well Windows RT batteries are currently performing with the RTM (release to manufacturer) code. With HD video playback, the devices have between eight and 13 hours of run time, and in connected standby they last for between 320 and 409 hours — up to around 17 days.
Microsoft also outlines the typical measurements of the upcoming lineup of Windows RT devices. Weights vary between 520g to 1200g, or around 1.14 to 2.65 pounds, and devices are between 0.33 to 0.61 inch thick. For comparison, the new iPad measures at 0.37 inch and weights 1.44 pounds, while the MacBook Air is 0.68 inch at its thickest and weighs 2.38 pounds. That puts the Windows RT devices at comparable sizes to what is currently available on the market.
Beyond battery power and size, Microsoft also worked with its partners to make sure that the WinRT devices would be able to "share information intuitively and easily." This means that at least some of the WinRT tablets and PCs will come with built-in NFC capabilities. And the devices will also support all or at least most of the standard sharing technologies including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WWAN, and USB.
Synaptics is one example — to create several touchpad-specific gestures that mimic the touchscreen interface gestures. We already saw a few of these in the Release Preview of Windows 8, such as swiping in from the right to pull up the Charms bar. But Microsoft is also showing a few more that will make their way to the Windows RT touchpads, such as two-finger scrolling and two-finger pinch. (See graphic above.)
I've had some hands-on time with the Surface RT tablet, and like many others, was impressed with Microsoft's own take on the Windows 8 and Windows RT hardware experience. But as CEO Steve Ballmer said at his keynote speech at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference: "Surface is just a design point. It will have a distinct place in what's a broad Windows ecosystem. And the importance of the thousands of partners that we have that design and produce Windows computers will not diminish." That means that it's still in Microsoft's best interest to work closely with its partners to make their devices competitive, both alongside and with Surface.
And from Aguilar's post, it seems that the company is right on that track.
As much as we want Microsoft to screw its hardware partners and as gorgeous and full of potential Surface is, Microsoft isn't Microsoft without at least some partners. It's clear, however, Microsoft is at least being very selective when it comes to something as unfamiliar as Windows RT. The company is playing a much larger collaborative role in the hardware development process, making sure that the devices that do come out will be just as, if not more, impressive than Surface.
But the company hasn't changed all of its approaches. In a classic Microsoft-esque manner, the company assures us that there will be enough choices that "allow every customer to find a PC that fits their needs and lifestyle perfectly." You can expect to see a large variety of devices, in a broad range of form factors, coming from the four initial hardware manufacturers.


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Dorothy Janis, who made a few film appearances at the dawn of the sound era and was the widow of bandleader Wayne King, died Wednesday morning, March 10, 2010, in the Phoenix suburb of Paradise Valley, according to musician Lew Williams, who received the news from Janis' granddaughter. Janis, one of the last surviving performers to have played at least one major role in silent films, was either 98 or 100, depending on the source.
A pretty, petite brunette with sensuous lips – according to (possibly made-up) reports from the period, she was half-Native American – Dorothy Janis was born in Dallas on Feb. 19, 1910 or 1912. Her most notable movie role was that of the half-Pacific Islander, half-white heroine in W.S. Van Dyke's The Pagan (1929), one of MGM star Ramon Novarro's biggest box office hits.
In the film, which has no dialogue but features a music score, Novarro got to sing Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown's highly popular "Pagan Love Song," at times accompanied by Janis – who actually just mouthed the lyrics; another female voice was heard on the film's soundtrack.
Shot on location in French Polynesia, the deceptively simple The Pagan also happens to be one of the best productions made during that difficult transition from silent to talking pictures. The paragraph below is from my Novarro biography Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro:
"Similar in theme to White Shadows in the South Seas, The Pagan presents European civilization as indisputably the villain—an uncommon approach in films of the period. On the surface, the story is about a carefree but wealthy half-caste, Henry Shoesmith, Jr., who attempts to please a ruthless white trader so he can romance the man's 'Christian duty,' a pretty half-caste girl. On a deeper level, The Pagan deals with the subversion of the island's way of life by white invaders, from their belief that the value of nature lies only in pounds and dollars to their imposition of an alien and unsuitable religion. Although both Novarro's and Janiss' characters are part European, their behavior is all idealized Pacific Islander: playful and innocent. Renée Adorée's Madge is the only good white character, though, significantly, she is a prostitute and an outcast in her own Euro-Christian society. Frances Marion and Novarro himself wrote the initial treatments—he expressly wanted to emphasize that the 'pagan' Henry Shoesmith behaved more like a Christian than the intolerant followers of Jesus—though Dorothy Farnum received the final adaptation credit. John Howard Lawson, one of the future Hollywood Ten, was responsible for the perceptive intertitles."
Before The Pagan, Janis had appeared in three minor releases: the oaters Kit Carson (1928) and The Overland Telegraph, and the drama Fleetwing (1928), playing opposite minor leading man Barry Norton. Her only talkie was Lummox (1930), starring the former wife of cowboy star William S. Hart and 1910s leading lady Winifred Westover, then attempting a motion-picture comeback. Though directed by the renowned Herbert Brenon, an Academy Award nominee in the first year of the awards, Lummox was not a success.
Janis' only other film appearance was in Harry Garson's The White Captive, shot on location in Southeast Asia for Universal. In the Sept. 27, 1930, issue of the Norwalk Hour, a brief note mentioned that Garson "reports some of the most remarkable jungle material ever secured and the first to be taken with sound equipment." Perhaps Garson was making that up, or perhaps his work was ruined either during the trip back to California or at some local lab, for The White Captive was deemed unreleasable. The film did, however, gain a certain degree of notoriety when the wife of technician Sidney Desmond Lund, with whom she had recently gotten married, filed a $25,000 lawsuit against Janis for stealing her husband's affections during the months-long shoot. The lawsuit was eventually dropped.
Janis made no more films after that. At about the time of the scandal she met Wayne King, whom she married in 1932. Their marriage lasted until his death in 1985. "After I met Wayne," Janis would tell author Michael Ankerich nearly six decades later, "it was to heck with it all."
In the early '90s, Ankerich published an account of his correspondence with the actress in Broken Silence: Conversations With 23 Silent Film Stars. With Ankerich as the middle man, about ten years ago I attempted to interview Dorothy Janis for my Novarro biography. Unfortunately, I never heard back from her.
A few months ago, Janis was able to watch a print of The Pagan that Lew Williams had given her. (Every once in a – long – while, the film is shown on Turner Classic Movies.) A family member told Williams "she enjoyed it immensely."
With Dorothy Janis' passing, I can think of only two surviving performers who had major adult roles in silent feature films: Barbara Kent (Lonesome) and Miriam Seegar (Valley of the Ghosts).
Note: Warner Home Video has released an "on-demand" DVD of The Pagan, but unlike what I had posted earlier that was not the print Janis saw.
Silent Film Actress Dorothy Janis' Recent Photo
March 25 update: Dorothy Janis, a.k.a. Dorothy King, was one of the last living adult performers to have had at least one major role in silent feature films. Janis died on March 10, 2010, at the age of 98.
I posted an obit on that date, explaining that Janis, the widow of bandleader Wayne King, was featured in a handful of movies right at the time when silent pictures were giving way to talkies. In fact, her one major silent film appearance wasn't exactly in a silent film, for W. S. Van Dyke's MGM blockbuster The Pagan featured a music score and the popular ditty "Pagan Love Song."
Ramon Novarro, one of MGM's top stars and a trained (but non-professional) opera singer, is the pagan who initially sings the love song. He's later accompanied by Janis, who gets to sing – or rather, lip-sync to – it a couple of times in the film.
Janis had lived in the Phoenix, Ariz., suburb of Paradise Valley since 1959. Summers were spent at her home in Carbondale, Col. She and Wayne King were married for 51 years, until his death in the mid-'80s.
Also of interest is that in a death notice published in the local paper, Janis' birthdate is shown to be Feb. 19, 1912 – not 1910 as found at most online sources.
The photo at the top of this post was provided by Kathy King, one of Janis' grandchildren.


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Summer's just around the bend, and this week's episode of Lifehacker is all about making the most of your time in the great outdoors (or staying cool when you're indoors).
In all, this episode highlights how to:
- Go glare-free on your gadgets' screens for less than a nickel
- Relieve that pesky mosquito bite with toothpaste
- Stay cool this summer without constantly running your air conditioner
- Save your soaked gadgets with rice
- Make your own solar-powered sun jar
- Create the ultimate exercise playlist
This week's downloads of the day are focused around Google's slate of outdoors, tracking, and stargazing tools: Google Latitude, Google Earth, Google Sky, and the Android-only Google Sky Map.
We've been incorporating more original video with our posts in the past year, but the Lifehacker show represents a fun new supplement to the site. It doesn't replace what we do here every day, but our hope is that it will offer a new perspective on a few of our favorite tips. So far this season, we've:
- Learned a little about surviving the urban jungle
- Upgraded our office and hid our cords
- Hacked our weekends with a few of our favorite outdoorsy tricks
- Untangled your wires and boosted your Wi-Fi
- Cracked Windows passwords, padlocks, and Wi-Fi
- Shared some of our favorite clever repurposing tricks
- Supercharged your camera, took better cameraphone pictures, and painted with light
- Customized our phones, laptops, apartments, and so on
- Made better coffee, cut an onion without crying, and saved time with no-knead bread
- Scored free money, made free phone calls, and got free space on Dropbox
- Set up remote access to our home computers, remote controlled our BitTorrent downloads, and set up a remote security camera
Give it a watch and let us know what you think!
Grab it in any format you like: If you don't want to watch it in your browser right now, you can catch the show wherever you want, and in nearly whatever format you like. Visit the episode page on Revision3 to download HD or phone-friendly versions of the show in MP4 or WMV. You can also subscribe in iTunes or via RSS, watch it on YouTube and subscribe to our channel there.
Save a Soaked Gadget, DIY Air Conditioning, and the Best Workout Playlist | Revision3
You can contact Adam Pash, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook or at email@example.com.


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The Business of Smart GridMay 24, 2010
(This post contains external links. Please review our external linking policy.)
Shannon Fraser serves in the Office of Energy and Environmental Industries, where she advances opportunities for U.S. energy companies through policy dialogues and export programs. Shannon has specialized in a number of energy sectors, including smart grid and transmission/distribution.
What is a Smart Grid? How does it impact U.S. Industry?
Signs of U.S. innovation, job creation, and economic revitalization are now underway with the numerous smart grid programs that are being implemented throughout the United States. As of May 4, 2010, eighty-three of the smart grid projects funded through the stimulus bill are being integrated in local communities throughout the United States. In total, the U.S. government has put forward $4.5 billion of smart grid stimulus funds as well as $7 billion of broadband deployment funds which will ensure that the required communications network for smart grid reaches all local and rural communities.
With all of the recent smart grid talk, what exactly is smart grid technology? How will consumers and industry be impacted by this new grid system? What market opportunities are available to the new, emerging smart grid companies, and how will a smart grid system foster job growth and a new, innovative clean energy economy in the United States?
Smart grid, quite simply, is a system which integrates the traditional transmission and distribution (T&D) network with an over-lay of information communications technologies (ICT). The smart grid allows your power lines to communicate with your air conditioner, electric vehicle, wash machine, and cell phone, thereby allowing for you to proactively manage your energy use and electricity bill. From a business perspective, electricity-intensive industries will be better able to track and manage their overall energy usage, thereby encouraging energy efficient practices and solutions throughout the facility.
The United States has taken an all-encompassing approach to the smart grid, highlighting a two-way flow of electricity and information to/from power plants, customers, equipment, appliances, and vehicles. The definition of smart grid in other countries depends on the current T&D infrastructure in the country, as well as government and industry priorities and policies. It is worth noting that a country will need basic T&D infrastructure before embarking on smart grid integration – if a country does not have power poles and transmission lines, then they are far away from developing a smart grid network.
The Department of Energy estimates that the benefits of a modernized grid system in the United States will span from $46 to $117 billion by 2023. With a more secure and reliable grid network, U.S. businesses are estimated to save $100 billion per year, funds which can be redirected to the installation of new equipment in a facility and the hiring of new workers in a factory. With recent federal smart grid funding programs, we have already witnessed U.S. companies that are taking on new workers. Itron, smart grid company based in Waseca, Minnesota recently added 40 new workers to its facility, in addition to 120 new employees at its operations in South Carolina.
Countries worldwide are also implementing smart grid stimulus programs at local communities. Australia, Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Japan, and South Korea are among the growing number of countries which are advancing the development and deployment of smart grid systems through public-private programs. In many instances, U.S. companies are partnering with in-country utility companies and partnering companies to integrate U.S. smart grid components into the grid network. Moreover, the emergence of electric vehicles, smart appliances, and smart products will foster greater international trade opportunities in the smart grid sector.
The International Trade Administration will highlight the business benefits of smart grid at the June 9, 2010 conference on "The Business of Smart Grid: Benefits for Minnesota's Companies and Workforce." Coordinated in partnership with the Minnesota Trade Office and the University of Minnesota, this one-day program will highlight the emerging business and job creation opportunities generated by recent smart grid initiatives that impact numerous sectors of U.S. business and industry.
About the International Trade Administration-Manufacturing and Services
The International Trade Administration (ITA) strengthens the competitiveness of U.S. industry, promotes trade and investment, and ensures fair trade through the rigorous enforcement of our trade laws and agreements. ITA works to improve the global business environment and helps U.S. organization compete at home and abroad. ITA supports President Obama's recovery agenda and the National Export Initiative to sustain economic growth and support American jobs.
The Manufacturing and Services (MAS) unit of the International Trade Administration (ITA) is dedicated to enhancing the global competitiveness of U.S. industry, expanding its market access, and increasing its exports. MAS industry experts and economists perform strategic research and analysis in order to shape and implement trade policy, create conditions that encourage innovation, lower the cost of doing business, and promote U.S. economic growth.


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Twitter shares OK for Islamic investment, group finds
By: Thomson Reuters
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/
Shares in Twitter Inc have been found eligible for investment by Islamic funds, according to IdealRatings, a company that screens stocks to determine whether they meet Muslim principles.
IdealRatings said it had vetted Twitter in response to requests from fund managers and individual investors around the world. The social media company's share price soared in last week's New York Stock Exchange debut after a $1.8 billion initial public offer.
Islamic fund managers follow guidelines such as bans on investment in firms involved with tobacco, alcohol and gambling. Since Islam frowns on monetary speculation, they also shun some companies that use interest payments or have high debt levels.
Sharia investing rules
Twitter joins some other big U.S. technology firms, including Google and Microsoft, in being found compliant with Islamic or sharia principles by IdealRatings, a California-based firm which provides screening services to major fund managers and compilers of equity indexes.
Top stocks which have been found non-compliant include Citigroup, because of its use of interest, and luxury goods group LVMH, because it produces alcohol. IdealRatings has found about 15,000 of the 42,000 securities it has looked at globally to be sharia-compliant, it said.
There were a total of 786 Islamic mutual funds globally with $46 billion of assets under management in September, up from $41 billion at the end of 2012, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Twitter has political significance for many people in the Muslim world because it was used to coordinate mass protests against the autocratic governments toppled by the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.
Mohamed Donia, chief executive of IdealRatings, said his company had examined the material on Twitter and decided most was positive for users, including tweets from Islamic scholars.
"There is a lot of content but the majority of content is useful for the community," he said by email on Monday.
Individuals should seek their own Islamic advice before investing in any company.


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The signalman in the foreground of the photo is Frederick Lacy, The picture was probably taken in Cemetery West signal box, located on the old railway line from West Hartlepool station, in the early 1920s. His son, Thomas Lacy, also followed in the same work at the same locations.
Date (of image) : 1920
Donor : Garry Lacy
Most of these images are of Hartlepool (prior to 1967 West Hartlepool) Station.
'OLD' HARTLEPOOL STATION. The first Hartlepool station was opened around 1840 and according to Robert Wood's book 'West Hartlepool' p.24, appears to have been part of a Dutch ship brought onto land. The cabins housed the Booking Clerk and Station Master. The first proper station building was located at the junction of Commercial Street and Bond Street. It can be seen on old maps as a curved building, to the north of the fish quay, and is often labelled as a Goods' Shed. The later station opened to the west of this in Northgate in November 1878. It was also at this time that a new direct line to West Hartlepool opened. There had been an earlier line which crossed the Slake over sluice gates but this was cut to make an entrance to the Coal Dock. For many years after WW2, Hartlepool Station passenger service was solely for school trains from the colliery towns which carried Henry Smith School pupils. It was closed in 1964 after the 1963 Beeching Act, which resulted in the closure of the Easington, Horden and Blackhall Stations. Children from then onwards were brought into the town by bus.
WEST HARTLEPOOL STATION. West Hartlepool's first station was at the end of the line from Stockton in Middleton. Trains then halted at Stranton station, which was in Mainsforth Terrace close to Burbank Street. The next station built was opposite the old Custom House which is in Victoria Terrace, now part of Hartlepool Marina area. Next a large station, called the Leeds Northern Station, was opened in 1853 in Mainsforth Terrace and photographs of this station can be seen below. It was not until 1878 that a new connecting line meant that trains ran again between Hartlepool and West Hartlepool.
Finally the present station was opened in 1880 in Church Street and the Mainsforth Terrace station was for many years a goods' station.
West Hartlepool station became Hartlepool station in 1967 when Hartlepool and West amalgamated.
SEATON CAREW STATION. The current Seaton Carew station has been on the same site since the mid-1800s.
GREATHAM STATION. This station came after Seaton Carew on the line south. It was well away from the centre of the village and was adjacent to the Cerebos factory. For many years it was very well used as a simple route from town for Cerebos' workers. It closed in 1991.
HART STATION This station was at the north end of the town.It was at what is now the Hartlepool end of the Hart to Haswell country walk.More detail »
Workmen and women from HartlepoolMore detail »


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As a person raised Catholic, I was drawn to the topic of this novel. Who doesn't want to be a kind, caring person? To do good works? To make the world a bit better each day? OK, maybe not serial killers, some Wall Street tycoons, mafia types, mercenaries, etc. but on the whole most people try (at least part of the time) to be good.
This 2001 Nick Hornby novel zeroes in on Dr. Katie Carr, a London wife and mother, who deals with boils and warts and patients struggling to breathe. She's a physician for Britain's National Health Service. She's married to David, a stay-at-home husband who writes an acerbic column for the local paper about all the myriad things that send him into rages, for instance, older adults not taking their reserved seats in the front of bus and annoying other passengers by tottering when the bus suddenly stops.
David is wickedly funny but horribly mean, crusty, and exceedingly cynical. The novel opens when Kate tells him spontaneously and without planning to that she wants a divorce. Over the phone, no less. But marriages are as tricky to wrangle out of as to enter, so they don't split up that easily. And shortly after this divorce conversation, David has a kind of conversion. He visits Dr. Goodnews for his aching back, and Goodnews soon moves into their house, steering David him from his life of caustic wit to one of good works: giving their cab fare home from the theater to panhandlers, providing homes for the homeless (a plan that gives them another roommate and does the same for five of their neighbors.)
Not only does David aspire to do good works, but Kate, who is confused, perplexed, and not sure what she wants to do with her life, does the same. She's continuously questioning her values--didn't she become a doctor to be good? Isn't it enough to do merciful work? Can't her home life be peaceful and serene? Is that being selfish? Is it too much to ask to have possessions though half the world owns so very little? Must she share her own kitchen with the poor and oppressed?
It's one of those rare novels about ideas that is both funny and enjoyable. I read it straight through on the plane ride home from Vegas, actually Seattle, via Vegas. But Vegas sounds like the right city to be reading this book.
For other books on being good check out Julia Alvarez's Saving the World. For a nonfiction take on this subject, try Eckhart Tolle's, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.