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Activist investor Carl Icahn refuses to back down as eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) continues to engage him in a war of words over the company's corporate governance and the future of PayPal.
On Thursday morning, Icahn released his third open letter this week. He responded to eBay's rebuttal Wednesday, reiterating his opinion that board members Scott Cook and Marc Andreessen have conflict of interests with overseeing eBay.
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"Having Mr. Cook on the board while planning PayPal's future is akin to having Pete Carroll, coach of the Seattle Seahawks, sitting in when the Denver Broncos were constructing their game plan for the Super Bowl," Icahn wrote.
Cook is the founder of Intuit, a competitor of PayPal, and Andreessen and Silver Lake Partners purchased a controlling stake of Skype from eBay before selling it to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).
Less than 10 minutes after Icahn released his letter, eBay chairman and founder Pierre Omidyar issued a statement saying Icahn made "unsubstantiated claims" about eBay and its board that are "false and misleading."
Omidyar, eBay's largest shareholder with an 8.37% stake, reiterated his full support of Cook, Andreessen and eBay CEO John Donahoe. He also took a swipe at Icahn's relatively new status as a shareholder and his proposal to spin off PayPal.
"This is not a new idea. It is a question our board has asked ourselves as we periodically evaluate strategic options for the company," Omidyar said.
It was unclear if Omidyar had seen Icahn's latest rebuttal prior to the publication of his own comments.
In response to Icahn's accusations about Skype, Omidyar said Andreessen recused himself from all deliberations on the deal. Andreessen and Silver Lake purchased a controlling stake in Skype from eBay before selling it to Microsoft more than a year later.
Icahn also challenged eBay to a public debate; eBay has not yet responded to the offer. On Wednesday, Icahn promised to detail a business plan to spin off PayPal in the coming weeks.


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jendral_hxr wrote:Pardon me, I am new here.
Anyone goes for night-riding?
Not on MTB, it's great fun but you need decent headlights, which tend to come in around £100 each.
I do ride home from work in the dark sometimes (15 miles on the A5, stressful) and it's ok, I have a reflective cover on my hydration pack, but tend not to use lights because I can see farther with acclimatiseation to the dark and being able to see into the distance is an important safety consideration for that particular road.


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MattBaily.ca © 2007-2013 All Rights Reserved. All prices are in Canadian Dollars (CAD).
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2011 August 22
Frederique Constant (and sister company Alpina) have a history of interesting sports sponsorships. Alpina sponsors the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race, while Frederique Constant has been a part of the Lake Geneva Regatta for classic boats (commemorated by the Runabout series), and has also worked with the Austin Healey owners club for the Healey line. The latest limited edition from Frederique follows that same idea of a classic watch for a classic event – the Peking to Paris chronograph commemorates the legendary automobile rally between China and France.


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Solutions 4 You started a ministry called H.E.L.P. - H.ealthy E.ducational L.ifestyle P.rograms. By donating you're efforts, marketing skills or money with US, you are truly helping the world to become a much healthier and Ultra-Safe place to live. It takes US a tremendous amount of energy, money and time to learn and research about health issues, nutritional products, and raw materials in which to re-educate our customers with.
April 1st, 2011, Cheryl will be officially 11 years healed of Advanced Stage 3-C Ovarian Cancer without the use of chemotherapy, medications or radiation. She credits her victory over the cancer to her faith in God and the knowledge, understanding and wisdom that He has given her on natural healing.
We are always looking for new ways to H.E.L.P. reach people and re-educate them. Currently the most popular (lack of funds) is to hold seminars. This is best at churches, convention centers, hotels and your local Y.M.C.A. We would like to reach tens of thousands of people at one time and we have been given a chance to create our own health show that would be produced and shown on television by CharterMedia® on the Charter Cable® network. The show would be a 30-minute program to be aired 3-6 times per week, with 120 30-second commercials per month. This would allow us to reach tens of thousands of people at one time. PLEASE Donate...We Need Your H.E.L.P.
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Dems win key tax fights
The emerging fiscal cliff deal is enough to leave Republicans with a major New Year's hangover.
The package being negotiated by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden amounts to a defeat for the GOP on multiple fronts.
Story Continued Below
(PHOTOS: 11 side effects of going over the cliff)
It not only raises tax rates, but also extends stimulus-era tax policy, prolongs emergency unemployment benefits, maintains targeted tax breaks derided by the party as corporate handouts and revives limits on deductions for the wealthy that have been dormant for almost a decade — all policies that the GOP has fought. It's expected to raise $600 billion over 10 years.
Above all, the emerging deal would shatter 20 years of Republican orthodoxy on taxes, undercutting a core part of the party identity that had been built around giving no quarter to any tax increase — ever. An eventual vote on this tax package would mark the first time any Republicans have voted en masse on a tax increase since President George H.W. Bush famously recanted on his "read my lips" promise.
Democrats are making concessions of their own, especially on the threshold at which tax rate hikes should kick in. After a campaign that centered on raising taxes for those making more than $250,000, the deal would instead raise the bar to $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for married couples. Democrats also failed in their bid to subject more inheritances to a steeper estate tax and increase the debt ceiling as part of a fiscal cliff package.
(Also on POLITICO: Breakthrough on fiscal cliff)
Still, conservative commentators were quick to pan the deal and urged GOP lawmakers to fight it.
"Republicans should kill the compromise plan for the fiscal cliff," Erick Erickson wrote on his Web site Monday.
There are plenty of uncertainties remaining as the clock ticks down to Jan. 1. Lawmakers in the Senate could block a swift vote on the deal. The House could amend it or reject it in whole.
McConnell is working to avoid such a rebellion. He spoke on the Senate floor Monday afternoon and said that the deal solves the most urgent aspect of the fiscal cliff — tax policy — while leaving room to work on spending cuts.
"Let's pass the tax relief portion now," he said. "Let's take what has been agreed to and get moving."
( PHOTOS: 12 Republicans resigned to higher taxes)
In an afternoon appearance at the White House, President Barack Obama touted the deal for raising tax rates on top earners. But perhaps the most symbolic win for Democrats is the continuation of key stimulus-era tax provisions.


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Missionalia (Online) vol.42 no.1-2 Pretoria abr./ago. 2014
Forming Good Habits: A case for the homeless in the City of Tshwane1
E Baron2
This article aims to address the issue of habit formation in the context of homeless people in the City of Tshwane. Subsequent to the conversation and Bible study with the group of homeless people, the author introduces the emerging themes that emanated from the encounter. The article demonstrates the formation of good habits and the struggle to get rid of bad habits.
Keywords: Habit formation, Habituation, Tshwane, homelessness, Urban Mission.
The phenomenon of homelessness in South Africa is an undeniable fact. Many people are sleeping under bridges and on pavements, creating their own shelters with whatever they can get to have a "good" night's rest. Many homeless individuals have a regular spot where they sleep at night, while others tend to struggle to get another spot for the next night. Besides shelter, food and other basic physiological needs, homeless people also experience the challenge of forming good habits. Living and sleeping under bridges and on pavements creates an environment in which habits are adopted and practised. This, as I will illustrate in this contribution, is also the case in the engagement with homeless people in the City of Tshwane. During the Bible studies and interaction with this group of homeless people, it became evident that they have developed some bad habits, which they are struggling to get rid of. They struggle to transform particular ways of doing things, in order to behave and act in the best interests of themselves and others. Striving towards forming new good habits is not easy but, as observed through the group discussions, this remains a struggle. As part of analysing the context, the homeless were asked three questions. Their responses to these questions attest to the bad habits among them and their struggle to get rid of them. In the light of their own feedback, they expressed the ways in which they could change these bad habits.
This article aims to address the forming of new habits in the context of the homeless people in the City of Tshwane, by starting with a brief introduction on the discourse around the formation of good habits. Secondly, a brief discussion on the methodological approach of Gerald West will be described that will serve as an analytical tool in this article, to address the issue of bad habits, and to develop a remedy from the synthesis that arises from the transformative encounter between trained readers and untrained readers.3 Thirdly, the texts (i.e. the focus text and the other secondary texts) that were used during the Bible study will be discussed from a trained reader's theological reading of the text. Then, fourthly, the texts are discussed from the perspective of the homeless, and how they made sense of the particular texts that were discussed. Finally, when the interpretation and comments on the text are carried out from the perspective of the trained and untrained readers, the article focuses on the themes that emerged from the encounter, and finally draws some conclusions.
At the beginning of the new democracy in South Africa, there were many celebratory aspects in our society - for instance, the adoption of our new constitution, which promised to protect the basic rights of all the people in this country. The reconciliation process which was steered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, under the leadership of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and its vice-chairperson Alex Boraine, was also one of the celebratory moments and processes which unfolded on South African soil and of which, as a nation, South Africans could be proud.
Despite these and other celebratory aspects that pointed to the bright side of the "new (democratic) South Africa", there were also those instances like corruption that were hovering over our beloved country (Boraine 2014:91). Those bad habits, which also include the involvement in corrupt activities that are being perpetuated in our societies and communities, are threatening the moral fibre of South Africa. Former president Nelson Mandela alluded to this "dark side" during his term of office, referring especially to issues like corruption. His response to this pervasive immoral conduct is well articulated in his State of the Nation address of 1999:
Our nation needs, as a matter of urgency, an 'RDP of the Soul'. When we succeed in changing our own way of doing things, when we make progress in transforming society at all levels, we shall not only be improving our own quality of life. We shall also be laying the basis for a future of hope for our children and grandchildren (Mandela 1999).
The changing of "how we do things," as referred to by the former statesman, would mean in an Aristotelian sense a change of character, which Nelson Mandela refers to as the "RDP of the soul." We should change our being (character) to be good. When discussing the issue of good habits, two related areas of discussion are considered important before engaging with the feedback of the homeless people in the City of Tshwane. The first is to ask what is a "good" person, and secondly, how we become good people. This quest in search of what it means to be good is notably documented in the classical writings of Plato and Aristotle (Conradie 2006:57). Aristotle made a significant contribution to the idea of being a good person, and he focused on four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, temperance, and courage. Thomas Aquinas, a theologian and philosopher in the tradition of scholasticism, followed this Aristotelian tradition (of virtue ethics) which subscribed to the idea that it is not only about making good or "the right" choices, but that one should be a person of virtue (character). Aquinas focused in his treatise on three theological virtues: faith, hope and love (Conradie 2006:57-61). It is important to note that there are other virtues also that contribute towards being a "good" person.
These virtues, which constitute a good person in the way that Aristotle and Aquinas posit, are cultivated from a variety of sources. One of those sources is the community in which a person is born and raised. This notion is advocated by scholars such as Macintyre, Bansikiza and Hauerwas. Alasdair Macintyre (1981; 1984) emphasised in his book After virtue the value and role that communities (the polis) play in the formation of people's virtues, while the emphasis of Bansikiza (which is also focused on the role of communities) makes special reference to African culture (Bansikiza 2001:11). Stanley Hauerwas, an American theologian and ethicist, places emphasis on Christian communities as the source of morality. Davis (1993:3) reflects on Hauerwas' view and states that the individual living the moral life outlined in the metaphors and stories of the Christian narrative tradition will challenge the social conditioning of his or her time, becoming transformed and striving to bring the love and peace that was portrayed through the life of Jesus to the world. These scholars believe that it is through one's life in the community that an individual learns how to behave and to act.
After a brief discussion on what constitutes a good person, at least according to two Ancient Greek Philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, and the role of a faith community in becoming "good," it is now appropriate to discuss how a person can become "good," which is indeed of paramount importance, especially for this article which focuses on how good habits can be formed. Johannes van der Ven (1998), who is an influential Dutch theologian, wrote in his book, Formation of the Moral Self, of the seven modes which can serve as impetus in the life of an individual in his or her pursuit of becoming a good person. The modes he refers to are discipline, socialisation, transmission, development, clarification, emotional formation and education for character. The mode of discipline is quite important, as it relates to the idea of forming good habits. Aristotle's notion of attaining the four cardinal virtues, which were referred to earlier, is in line with this mode of discipline. According to Aristotle, the cardinal virtues can be developed through knowledge and training (Conradie 2006:57).
The training referred to by Aristotle is the same as saying that one should be disciplined in order to become a good person. Van der Ven argues that discipline is one of the informal ways of forming good character, and takes place as a result of the influences of parents and community life (see also Kretzschmar 2009:104). Furthermore, Van der Ven (1998) shows that discipline is an act of habituation - which means to form appropriate habits, which will help a child (and which occurs throughout a person's life) to perform the desired actions. According to the theory of Van der Ven, the mode of discipline will strongly lean towards the act of a person taking responsibility for his moral self and form appropriate habits to become a good person. The participation of one's self in the process of changing one's character is also articulated in the treatise of Wogaman (1979: Ch.2; cf. Koopman 2007:112), when he refers to the formation of one's character as an anthropological activity. He refers to the role that the Holy Spirit plays in the formation process, but adds that it is not only the work of the Holy Spirit but also of the individual, if the individual desires change.
The pursuit of becoming a good person through the practice of adopting good habits has also been explained by some psychologists, particularly through the role of the brain, and puts the focus on the biological, cognitive processes, while other psychologists focus on the role of outside influences and stimuli. The biological process in habit formation resonates with the notion that there is a particular area of the brain that is responsible for the forming of habits. The basal ganglia (Kosslyn & Rosenberg 2011: 60), which is the brain structure that is identified as the one which plays a role in habit-forming, is explained as follows: "[w]hen you learn to put your foot on a car's brake automatically at a red light...", it is then that "... the basal ganglia is busy connecting the neural signals produced when you see the stimulus (light) with the parts of the brain that produce your response (moving your foot)" (Kosslyn & Rosenberg 2011:60).
According to the psychologists who support the aforementioned theory, the action of habituation4 and dishabituation5 appears as an automatic process and, as Sternberg & Sternberg (2012:177) remark, occurs already hours after birth. Various tests were performed that show how infants habituate to certain aspects in their lives in terms of attachment (Berk 2013:430), categorisation (Berk 2013:234-235) and object perception (:230-231). These research studies were performed and pointed out how children habituate (form habits in relation to) these aspects. This theory therefore accentuates the idea that habituation (the process of forming habits) is primarily a biological process.
The forming of good habits is also articulated as part of research that was done by some behavioural scientists who focused on how people learn through being regularly exposed to a specific stimulus (Meyer et al. 2008:262-271). One of these scientists is Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) who was known for his research that was carried out by testing a dog, and thereby attested as to how people learn through being exposed to a specific stimulus (Meyer et al. 2008:270). This theory of learning new behaviour is called "classical conditioning." Pavlov noticed that the dogs used in his experiment salivated before they were provided with food, and made the conclusion that "any neutral stimulus such as a bell, which initially did not elicit the salivatory reflex, was sufficient to evoke a flow of saliva if, on a few occasions, it was presented at the same time as the food. Pavlov called this the conditioned reflex, because salivation is an involuntary reflex to food" (Meyer et al. 2008:252-253).
The constant exposure to a specific stimulus causes an individual to react habitually in the fashion to which the person was conditioned. A good example is the persuasive appeals used in the marketing and advertising industry. The advertisers use some celebrities and place them next to the item, product or service that they want to market, and want their audiences to purchase. If the advert of the particular product or service is repeated often enough on television or billboards, the product will subconsciously be linked to the celebrity, and will be favourably observed (provided the celebrity is a credible figure according to the market audience). This is one of the examples of how the theory of Pavlov (also known as classical conditioning) explains the learning of new habits. It also explains why certain people become "automatically" positive - and sometimes even addicted - to a certain product or any other performed action (Meyer et al. 2013:269).
Another way of conditioning, which is referred to as operant conditioning (where behaviour is controlled by stimuli that come after the act) is through acts of punishment or reward; by censuring or praising people for bad and good behaviour (Meyer et al. 2013:270-277). These two actions (i.e. punishment and reward) act as methods to reinforce good and bad behaviour and, according to behaviourists, play a role in a person's decision to abstain, proceed or concede in his or her way of doing things (which was the concern raised in the State of the Nation address of 1999 by former president Nelson Mandela) (Meyer et al. 2013:270-277). Taking all these ways of habituation into account, it is fair to say that habituation serves as a way of changing or forming a person's character (Meyer & Moore, 272-273), irrespective of the particular psychological theory one regards as the best explanation for habit-forming behaviour.
Research Methodology
Besides the brief background sketch on the discourse around the forming of new habits, the author also engaged in discussions and conversations with the group of homeless people, to prevent this article from being a reflection on habituation presented solely from a scholarly vantage point. The reflections of the homeless people in the City of Tshwane were studied by using the contextual Bible study approach of Gerald West (1993), as explained in previous articles. According to West (1993:11-12), to read the Bible contextually means at least to make the commitment: (1) "to read the Bible from the perspective of the South African context, particularly the perspective of the poor and the oppressed;" (2) "to read the Bible in the community with others, particularly with those from contexts different from our own;" (3) "to read the Bible critically;" (4) "a commitment to individual and social transformation through contextual Bible study." The author used this approach as a guideline when interpreting the focus text in Ephesians 4:17-25. The secondary texts that were also reflected upon during the discussions with the group were Mark 9:42-48, 1 Tim 4:7 and Rom 12:1.
The following sections will provide a theological, trained reader's perspective of the focus text. In this section the author discusses the commentators' remarks on the focus text, and what they regard as the original meaning of the text. Then the author presents the views of the homeless group ("ordinary" or "untrained" readers) that were collected from them during the Bible studies that created a space for them to share their views, without pressure or prejudice. How the homeless people understood the texts was important and was therefore also documented by the author. To make sense of habit formation in the context of the homeless, the author discussed the major themes that emerged from the two perspectives and vantage points - both scholarly and "ordinary."
Theological Reflection
Before engaging with the original purpose and reason for the writing of the focus text, the authorship and audience to whom the letter is addressed will be briefly discussed. Besides some uncertainty around the authorship of the book of Ephesians (see Harvey 2012:75; Macdonald 2000:15; Vanhoozer 2009:124-125), most commentators concede that Paul is the author and that this book was most probably written by Paul while he was in prison (most probably in Rome). With regards to the audience to whom the letter was addressed, MacDonald (2000:17) believed there were at least two recipients. He believed that the "we" used by the author throughout the focus text referred to the Jewish Christians living in the city of Ephesus, and when it used "you," it referred to the Gentile Christians also living in Ephesus. Morris (1994:135) regards these Gentiles (who were also part of the Christian community in the city of Ephesus) as the recipients of the letter. In general, the Jewish community, whether Christian of non-Christian, referred to Gentiles as those who do not acknowledge or worship the one true God. They are also referred to in other New Testament epistles as "pagans" (Morris 1994:135; The New Interpreter's Bible 2000:428). But Paul addressed these Gentiles who had become Christians and reminded them of the other Gentiles, and of their sinful lifestyles and behaviour. He reminded these Gentile Christians of how they had lived in the past, but also how they needed to change their behaviour - having become Christians.
The Gentile Christians who were the recipients of the letter were admonished by Paul throughout the focus text. This admonition is better understood when the focus text is placed within the broader framework of the whole letter. It is within the broader framework of this letter that Harvey (2012:75) argues that the following themes are put forward. The Christian Gentiles should have an "Understanding of the believer's wealth, walk and warfare in Christ." According to Harvey (2012:75), this particular section (Ephesians 4:17-25) forms part of the "walk in Christ" section. This particular section was also tagged by Hendrickson (1967:208), but he identified the theme as "renewal." These notions of Harvey and Hendrickson put emphasis on the conduct of Christians, how they should live and conduct their ways, but also how they should change their ways, if their present behaviour is not acceptable to God.
Furthermore, in the quest towards a better understanding of the purpose of this letter, and of Paul's admonition in the focus text, notice should be taken of the relevance of the context. In the first century, the city of Ephesus was a thriving commercial centre, with a predominantly Gentile population and just enough Jews to support a synagogue. Harvey (2012:129) pointed out that much of the city's commerce "related to the temple (of Artemis), and two major spring festivals celebrated the Artemis cult." Moreover, he comments that "Magic played a major role in the worship of Artemis and made the city a centre for occult practices."
The focus of Ephesians 4:17-25, according to Morris (1994:133), should be read in the light of all God has done for His people (sending His Son). Paul uses the word "therefore" at the start of the focus text (v.17) to urge them as Christians in Ephesus not to go along with the evils that manifest themselves through the lives of the Gentiles living in the city of Ephesus. Paul urges them to live the new humanity brought about through the cross of Christ (Eph 2:11-22).
The reason why Paul focused their attention on how they have to live in the new humanity in Christ could be because he "recognized the pull exerted on the new Christians by their former habits" (Morris 1994:134), especially when we take their own context and the Gentile city in which they were residing into consideration. Paul brings his point across by the insertion that they "should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk." According to Morris (1994:134) this refers to the way in which they habitually walked. They were used to (conditioned by) the lifestyle of their fellow Gentiles before accepting Jesus Christ, which now constrains them to adopt a different lifestyle. But if they continue to live like the Gentiles, Morris warns that they will walk farther and farther away from God, proceeding in the "ways of the Gentiles." When Paul focuses on the type of actions that are typical of a Gentile lifestyle, he emphasises their "lack of sensitivity," which means insensitivity to the pain of other people, but also to the will of God, acting as the supreme arbiters of their own actions (leading to licentiousness) (Morris 1994:137).
Throughout the focus text, the difficulty of "putting off" the "former self," which refers to a Gentile lifestyle, is reflected by Paul as a difficult, strenuous exercise, which is often painful, since the old life is "not easy to shed" (Hendrikson 1967:214). To "put away the old man" means that being a Christian is entering a whole new way of life" (Morris 1994:140):
It does not mean to carry on with the old way with perhaps a few of our worst habits dusted off. but to become a Christian means more than eliminating a few minor bad habits (Paul urges that we be renewed in the spirit of our minds); it means a complete overhaul, the re-making of all of life.
The "putting off" referred to by Paul in this text is to be done once and for all, as it is in the original text in the aorist tense and the infinitive, whereas "renewal" or "putting on" is in the infinitive and present tense, which means this should be a perpetual and continuous action that should take place (Barth 1974:505). This "putting off," according to Paul, is part of an inward change, especially when Paul speaks of the "spirit" and the "mind" (Morris 1994:141). Roberts (1991:141) seems to have the same line of thought as Morris, when he refers to the spirit or the mind as the innermost being (as the text refers to), as "the deepest part of one's being, the place where ideas have their origin." The inner part, the spirit of the mind, is exactly the place where change and the "putting off" of the old habits should take place.
After the "putting off," Paul starts to focus his attention on the "putting on." Hendrikson (1967:215) points out that the positive (to put on) should be given the same weight as the negative (to put off), and he also stresses the success of the above action, as Morris does. The success of the "putting off' lies in being "renewed in the spirit of one's mind." He explains that the renewing of the "spirit of one's mind" happens as an act of God's Spirit which powerfully influences the human spirit, also the mental attitude, state of mind or disposition (Hendrikson 1967:215).
In reflection on this passage of Scripture, the New Interpreter's Bible (2000:431) remarks: "We all know that whenever we decide to make a major life change, perhaps to adopt a new habit of diet and exercise or emotional and spiritual health, the transition takes time and discipline." Taking this remark into account, we can make the following conclusion, after the overall exegesis of the text - that the decision, which is the inward change, should take place once and for all, whereas the process of forming new ways of living which is acceptable to Christ takes time and discipline.
The Encounter
Before engaging with the homeless in their interpretation of the focus text (Ephesians 4:17-25), a general discussion around the issue of habituation preceded the discussion of the focus text, in order to ascertain a sense of the broader context of the homeless people. In their response, the group admitted that they had bad habits which were not good for them and mentioned, amongst others, some bad habits like biting their nails and getting angry easily, while others also reported their smoking habits which could put them at risk for various health-related issues. They also mentioned how they were incapable of handling their own finances, although it did not involve much money. Sometimes they also say some bad things to others, without minding their words.
They also went further and described the impact or the influence such habits had on their daily lives. They mentioned how some of those bad habits embarrass them. One participant also expressed himself in the following way, when referring to a personal incident that happened: "I once said something bad to my husband and it ended up with a fatality: my husband killed our child, and I feel ashamed in my heart." They reported also how their bad habits created a guilty conscience within them, especially when their bad habits resulted in poor physical, mental and spiritual health, and how it caused them to feel guilty. Furthermore, it caused them to live a sinful life, to desire other people's property, and also caused them to lose important material things in life.
Their struggle to get rid of these bad habits was evident in their responses to the question as to how they think they could change their bad habits. They mentioned that they constantly tried various ways, which included ignoring and trying to avoid perpetuating these bad habits. They often tried to be nice to people and to pray about their bad habits, in their quest to get rid of those bad habits, but it did not necessarily free them from the grip of these habits. They also engaged in efforts to get help to control their anger, and in some cases they also ventured and got involved in good relationships, in the quest to abandon their bad habits. Further actions included focusing on the things they enjoyed in life, and attending some counselling sessions.
A final focus of the general discussion around habituation was based on the feedback from the group that their remedial actions did not always pay off. Their belief was that in order for them to get rid of those bad habits, they should "take one step at a time." One of the homeless even remarked that the reason they often failed to get rid of their habits was also because they live "with wrong company," while others responded that it was partly due to their failure to "take control of [their] life," and "relying on [their own] strength more than involving God."
The second part of the discussion with the group was trying to understand how they understood the focus text (Ephesians 4:17-25). Their perception and interpretation of the text does not differ greatly from the scholarly interpretation. The focus text for them is about change. It is about changing a bad action to a good action. It is also to get rid of the old self, to stop lying and to start preaching the Word of God. Besides the focus text, there were secondary texts that were used during the encounter. Their responses to the text in Mark 9:42-48 were that the text is about "doing the right things." Others said: "It is also to admire but not to sin" and that the text is "calling us to change our bad habits." The group also argued that this text signals a warning not to cause the young and the innocent to turn away from the Lord. According to the group, the next passage (1 Tim 4:7) was about the idea of being trained in what is good. The last text that was presented to them during the discussion was Rom 12:1, and in their feedback they made it clear that this text is mainly about people not being "like the world, but transforming their minds."
During the discussions and conversations with the group, contextual meanings emerged of what the formation of good habits entails. The meanings that emerged after taking into account the voices of the homeless and the theological interpretation of the text brought forth a few emerging themes that need some discussion.
The first theme that emerged was the continuousness of habit-forming behaviour. Habituation, as emerging through both perspectives (both scholarly and ordinary readers), showed that it is not a "once-off" deal, but needs to be part of one's everyday life. It should be seen as a process. The forming of good habits will always be part of any individual's life, until they depart from this earth. This is confirmed through the scholarly and theological interpretation of the focus text, in particular where Paul used the image of "putting off' and "putting on." These two actions should be part of the life-long process of becoming a good person with good habits. The homeless people also reflected on how they had attained their bad habits and on how, in order to acquire new habits, they should abandon the old ones. They indicated that no one will ever reach the stage where the process of getting rid of the old habits and attaining good habits comes to an end; they committed themselves, instead, to the continuous struggle of this process in their everyday lives.
The "putting off" and "putting on" in the voice of Paul in the focus text is not just articulating the process, as stated in the former paragraph, but it also points to the effort required by each individual in their endeavour to acquire new habits. The forming of good habits has to do with a person's own actions, and efforts in the process of striving to become (imperative) what God has already made that person (indicative) in and through the cross and resurrection of Christ.6 The group of homeless people spoke at length during the discussions about their own involvement in the process and of their struggle to get rid of the old habits and to form new, good ones. Their arguments are in line with the argument of Paul, that the person's effort should be to "put off" and "put on." The behavioural perspective also underlines the involvement of outside influences and the conditioning of a person's behaviour, which underline the notion of personal responsibility.
Habituation is a feasible process. It emerged, through the encounter with the homeless, that it is indeed within an individual's reach to learn and acquire new habits. The acquiring of new habits therefore is perceived also by the homeless as an attainable action. The homeless conveyed their periodic failure to get rid of the old habits, but it did not mean that they were not capable of forming good habits. However, they only emphasised the difficulty of doing so. What makes this discussion even more complex is when we take into account the psychological explanation for habituation, one of the viewpoints to the biological processes that are involved in the forming of new habits, and the role of the brain in habituation. When new habits are formed, the brain creates new neural pathways, and erodes the old ones. This implicitly means that it is, at least from the scholarly perspective, not easy to get rid of the old. But this also does not mean that new neural pathways cannot be created, when we also take into account the experiences of the homeless and their remarks.
This contribution engaged with a group of homeless people in the City of Tshwane, in order to get their contextual understanding of the issue of habituation. The focus text in Ephesians 4:17-25 was interpreted from a scholarly perspective, but also from a "grass roots" or "pavement" perspective, listening to the experiences, sentiments and understanding of a group of homeless people. They identified the "bad habits" that found expression in their lives on the pavements of the City of Tshwane. They are engaging in various ways to "take off" those habits in the Pauline sense and "putting on" new ones, with the hope that they will manage to live a life that is good - and valued by others.
Bansikiza, C. 2001. Restoring Moral Formation in Africa. Kenya: AMECEA GABA Publications. [ Links ]
Baron, R.A., & Branscombe, N.R. 2012. Social Psychology. 13th Edition. Boston: Pearson [ Links ]
Barth, M. 1974. The Anchor Yale Bible. Ephesians. Introduction, Translation and Commentary on Chapters 4-6 by Markus Barth. New Haven, London: Yale University Press. [ Links ]
Berk, L.E. 2013. Child Development. Ninth Edition. Boston: Pearson [ Links ]
Conradie, E.M. 2006. Morality as a way of life. A first introduction to ethical theory. Stellenbosch: Sun Press. [ Links ]
Harvey, J.D. 2012. Handbooks for New Testament Exegesis. Interpreting the Pauline Letters. An Exegetical Handbook. Grand Rapids, MI: Kegel Publications. [ Links ]
Hendrikson, W. 1967. New Testament Commentary. Exposition of Ephesians. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House. [ Links ]
Koopman, N.N. 2007. Towards a Human Rights Culture in South Africa. The role of moral formation. NED GEREF Teologiese Tydskrif, 48 (1&2): 107-118. [ Links ]
Kosslyn, S.M, Rosenberg, R.S. 2011. Introducing Psychology. Brain, Person, and Group. Boston: Pearson. [ Links ]
Kretzschmar, L, Bentley, W, Van Niekerk, A (eds). 2009. What is a good life? An Introduction to Christian Ethics in the 21st Century Africa. Parow: AcadSA Publishing. [ Links ]
MacDonald, M.Y. 2000. Sacra Pagina Series. Volume 17. Colossians and Ephesians. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press. [ Links ]
Mandela, N. 2006. State of the Nation Address. Pretoria: Government Gazette. [ Links ]
Meyer, W.F. Moore, C., Viljoen, HG. 2008. Personology. From Individual to ecosystem. Fourth Edition. South Africa, Sandton: Heinemann Publishers. [ Links ]
Morris, L. 1994. Expository Reflections on the Letter to the Ephesians. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books. [ Links ]
Sternberg, R.J., & Sternberg, K. 2012. Cognition. 6th ed. Canada: Wadsworth. [ Links ]
The New Interpreter's Bible. 2000. Volume XI. Nashville: Abingdon Press. [ Links ]
Van der Ven, J.A. 1998. Formation of the moral self. Grand Rapids, Cambridge: Eerdmans. [ Links ]
Vanhoozer, K,J. (eds) 2008. Theological Interpretation of the New Testament. Great Brittian: SPCK [ Links ]
West, G.O. 1993. Contextual Bible Study. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications. [ Links ]
Wikipedia. Habit. Accessed online from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habit on 2014/10/30 [ Links ]
Wogaman, J.P. 1979. Christian Moral Judgement. London: SCM Press. [ Links ]
1 This article was published as a chapter in the peer-reviewed book Pavement Encounters for Justice: Doing Transformative Missiology with homeless people in the City of Tshwane (Mashau & Kritzinger 2014), that was a result of the Meal of Peace Project of the Dept. of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology at Unisa. The editors and the authors (as copyright owners), have given permission that this version may be published in Missionalia, as an accredited South African journal.
2 Rev Eugene Baron is a lecturer in the Dept of Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology, at the University of South Africa. He can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.com
3 West (1993:8) makes the distinction between trained readers, whom he regards as those who "have had some Biblical studies training", and the ordinary readers of the Bible, who are those who "have had no formal Biblical studies training." In this article the author uses the word "trained" to refer to a scholarly perspective on habit formation, and "untrained" (or "ordinary") reader to refer to the homeless people who were part of the discussions.
4 According to Berk (2013:142), habituation refers to a gradual reduction in the strength of a response due to repetitive stimulation.
5 Dishabituation refers to the process of enhancing a particular habit that was weakened through the continuous performing of that habit and stimulating it by making use of a new stimulus.
6 In this respect it is important to underline the point made earlier that Eph 4 should not be read in isolation from Eph 1-3, in which the indicative of God's salvation through Christ is explained and celebrated. Eph 2:1-10 is particularly pertinent in this regard to prevent one's reading of Eph 4:17-25 from becoming a moralistic exercise in self-improvement.


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Getting started
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== The basics... ==
== The basics... ==
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An introduction to GoMo Learning
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The Church of St Matthew in Maindee, Newport, was a church that I knew quite well in the mid-1990s when I was living in south Wales. I remember that the sanctuary fittings were attractive although I did not pay them all that much attention.
Even in the 1990s the future of the church was somewhat precarious, and the concern over whether it could remain open was greater still when I went back to the church, in 2010, to record the artwork there. The floor of the church had dry rot, and it finally closed in 2014.
The reredos was one of two in Newport by the artist Allen Henderson, the other being at the Church of St John the Baptist, where there is also a figure of the Virgin and Child and a set of Stations of the Cross by the artist. The sanctuary windows were unattributed, but were a very fine set of four two-light windows, slightly reminiscent of contemporary work by Heaton, Butler & Bayne, commemorating members of the congregation who fought in the First World War.
One of the two windows (of 1931) on the south side of the church had been attributed to Samuel Evans' studio in the Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire, and when writing my chapter on war memorials for Stained Glass from Welsh Churches, I decided to illustrate one of the sanctuary windows. However, I was not certain who they were by and tried looking in the diocesan archives in the National Library of Wales. This was unsuccessful, and so I visited Gwent Archives in Ebbw Vale in the hope that they might have something about the windows in the parish archives. I was delighted to discover the faculty for the windows which stated that they were also by Samuel Evans & Co.
This made it easy to attribute the earlier of the windows on the south side to the same firm, and similarities could be seen in the later window that had already been attributed to Evans' firm, although there were plenty of differences as well.
Samuel Evans, like T.W. Camm and his brothers, had worked in the stained glass studio of Chance Brothers in Smethwick, and when the studio closed in the mid-1860s, these artists set up their own stained glass firms. This week I paid a visit to the Sandwell Archives in Smethwick to see if I could learn much more about the firms, or about the stained glass studio of Chance Brothers. The archives of Chance Brothers and of T.W. Camm (and also the separate firm, Camm Brothers) are quite extensive, but all that seems to be held for Samuel Evans' firm are a dozen cartoons.
Nine of these cartoons are of windows whose location (according to the catalogue) is unknown, but two of them had a note to say that they were in Newport (unknown county). When I ordered one up it turned out to be the cartoon for the figure of St Agnes, by chance the same figure that I had chosen to illustrate in the book. And very beautiful the cartoon is. I didn't have time to order more up, but I expect that more of the cartoons were for that commission, possibly all of them if they included the figure of David in the south wall.
While writing this post I was curious to see what had become of the church in Maindee, Newport. The answer via the website of the South Wales Argus came easily: the church was demolished in May.


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Decision : 32 COM 8B.9
Examination of nomination of natural, mixed and cultural proprerties to the World Heritage List - Joggins Fossil Cliffs (CANADA)
The World Heritage Committee,
1. Having examined Documents WHC-08/32.COM/8B and WHC-08/32.COM/INF.8B2,
2. Inscribes The Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Canada, on the World Heritage List on the basis of criterion (viii);
3. Adopts the following Statement of Outstanding Universal Value:
The Joggins Fossil Cliffs have been termed the "coal age Galápagos" and are the world reference site for the "Coal Age". Their complete and accessible fossil-bearing rock exposures provide the best evidence known of the iconic features of the Pennsylvanian (or Carboniferous) period of Earth History.
Criterion (viii): Earth's history, geological and geomorphic features and processes: The "grand exposure" of rocks at Joggins Fossil Cliffs contains the best and most complete known fossil record of terrestrial life in the iconic "Coal Age": the Pennsylvanian (or Carboniferous) period in Earth's history. The site bears witness to the first reptiles in Earth history, which are the earliest representatives of the amniotes, a group of animals that includes reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, and mammals. Upright fossil trees are preserved at a series of levels in the cliffs together with animal, plant and trace fossils that provide environmental context and enable a complete reconstruction to be made of the extensive fossil forests that dominated land at this time, and are now the source of most of the world's coal deposits. The property has played a vital role in the development of seminal geological and evolutionary principles, including through the work of Sir Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin, for which the site has been referred to as the "coal age Galápagos".
The boundaries of the property are clearly defined in relation to logical stratigraphic criteria and include all of the areas necessary to fully display the fossil record of Joggins including the cliff face and foreshore rock exposures, and include both the most fossiliferous strata and younger and older rocks that provide geological context. The inland extent of the property is defined based on the eroding top of the cliffs and this is a fully justifiable and logical basis to cope with the dynamic nature of this coastal property. A relatively narrow buffer zone is defined, which is not part of the inscribed property, but is sufficient to control coastal development which could otherwise threaten the values of the property.
Requirements for Protection and Management
The property has effective legal protection and has the strong support of all levels of government, including in relation to the provision of funding. Some aspects of the legislation, such as for the licensing of fossil collection are cumbersome and would benefit from review, although can be better implemented if site managers are empowered to do so. The site is well resourced, including through the provision of a new visitor centre, and is managed in a way that can be considered to set international standards. The effective process of community involvement and partnerships between scientists, museums and economic interests are also noted, and the biggest challenge of the property will be to maintain the level of performance and resources required in the future.
4. Notes the very high quality of documentation of the nomination and the process of community engagement in its preparation, over a period of almost ten years, as models in the preparation of nominations and in effective management of World Heritage properties;
5. Recommends that the State Party widely publicise the results of its monitoring of fossil resources produced by natural erosion and the development of educational and research collecting policies, which could serve as a model for such management elsewhere.
DocumentsDecisions Report
Context of DecisionWHC-08/32.COM/8B.Add


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Protests stall Berlin Wall removal
Demonstrators protest removal and relocation of 22-metre stretch of wall
Hundreds of angry protesters on Friday prevented construction workers from removing a section of one of the few remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall, part of a plan to build a road to a new luxury condominium being built on the banks of the reunited city's Spree river.
Crews only managed to remove one section from the famous East Side Gallery before about 300 protesters pressed too close for work to continue. Demonstrators then wheeled in a mock wall section they had set up in front of the gap.
The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall and is one of the German capital's most popular tourist attractions, with Nicolas Cage recently mugging for snapshots with his wife Alice Kim during time off from the Berlin film festival. It was recently restored at a cost of more than $2,600,000 Cdn to the city.
The wall section stood on the eastern side of the elaborate border strip built by communist East Germany and, when the border was closed, carried none of the graffiti that covered the western side of the wall.
On Friday, a protester carried a sign asking "does culture no longer have any value?" in bold letters, with "die yuppie scum" written in smaller letters.
"With our art we documented the peaceful revolution — it is a document that needs to be saved for the next generations," said artist Kani Alavi, whose mural of hundreds of people streaming through an open wall is not affected by the construction. "If we destroy it now, we have nothing left to illustrate our past — we have to fight for keeping this historic document."
Authorities OK'd removal, relocation
The respite is likely only temporary, however, despite calls to halt the construction permanently.
Local city district chairman Franz Schulz told Bild newspaper that historical preservation authorities had given a construction firm all the permission needed to dismantle the 22-metre section of the 1.3 kilometre stretch of the wall for the Living Levels condominium project.
Volker Thoms, a spokesman for project developer Living Bauhaus, said construction would continue in the "coming days" but sought to allay concerns, saying that the sections being removed would be reconstructed in the riverside park that runs behind the East Side Gallery.
"The artists aren't very happy about this, but in the end their paintings and their art will not disappear, it will just not be in the wall but behind it," he told The Associated Press.
Another small section of the East Side Gallery was removed a few years ago in conjunction with the building of a new sports and concert arena.
Thoms said the road will give pedestrians access to a new footbridge across the Spree that was destroyed during World War II and is being rebuilt by the city, as well as another condo project.
Crews removed 1.5 metre section
The East Side Gallery was transformed into an open-air gallery months after East Germany opened its borders on Nov. 9, 1989, and is now covered in colorful murals painted by about 120 artists. They include the famous image of boxy East German Trabant car that appears to burst through the wall; and a fraternal communist kiss between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and his East German counterpart, Erich Honecker.
Crews were only able to remove one approximately 1.5 metre section on Friday from a mural depicting a stylized version of another Berlin landmark, the Brandenburg Gate, before the protests stopped the work.
Robert Muschinski, one of the protest organizers, called the demonstrators' success a "historic moment."
"It's a scandal and it's embarrassing," he said. "Today we showed the world we would destroy a longtime part of our history in favor of the interests of private investors."


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Monday, February 9, 2009
Memory Monday: Family Food
As it so happens, I had intended to write about family food a couple of weeks ago, but when I heard about the death of Aunt Joy, priorities were changed and the subject was postponed. Speaking of Aunt Joy, as I mentioned in that article our favorite dish was Boozy Fruit Salad. Aunt Joy also thought I was old enough to learn how to cook, so she taught me some of the basics of cooking; the main dish I remember learning from her was mashed potatoes (mashed potatoes may seem like a simple dish, but good mashed potatoes are another thing altogether). I also have fond memories of my grandmother Sallie Brinlee's wonderful breakfasts, which I wrote about in Visiting with Grandma Brinlee.
The first dish that came into my head when I got the idea to write this article was an incredibly delicious candy made by my Aunt Irene, my mother's next-youngest sister, who gave my mother the recipe. The candy is associated with Christmas in my memory, which is probably correct, because this candy is very labor-intensive to make. The problem is that I cannot remember the name by which we referred to this candy; it is probably something like chocolate pecan balls. I thought for sure that the recipe would be in my mother's old recipe box, but I went through all of the recipes in there and could not find it. As I remember, the candy consisted of a small ball made out of condensed milk, powdered sugar, vanilla, and pecans dipped in chocolate and paraffin. These calorific little confections were so incredibly delicious that it was nearly impossible to eat just one. It was difficult to hide them, because in the warm winter weather of Texas/Southern California, it was best to keep them in the refrigerator. I remember going to great pains to calculate exactly how many I could sneak from the refrigerator without it looking like some s-e-r-i-o-u-s filching.
So, along with Missing Photo Album Number 4 (one of my mother's old photo albums that I cannot find), the mysterious candy recipe will continue to haunt me until I find it.
With the exception of a few special treats and holiday foods, food was generally not a very exciting item in our house; my father was a meat-potatoes-boring vegetable or salad kind of man, and did not even care much for fried chicken. Memorable foods included: divinity fudge and any cake with my mother's white icing on it (both items that benefited by the dry climate of northeast Texas and the San Bernardino desert), her Christmas fruitcake (a back- and arm-breaking production that she taught me how to make), and tuna gravy on toast (which was actually what we ate when we had to save money, but it was a treat to me). The most disgusting dish I can remember was my mother's stewed tomatoes, which included bread and sugar. The less said the better.
After my parents divorced and my mother and I moved to Texas, she got more adventurous in her cooking, and I think we began to enjoy our meals more. As I leafed through her recipe box, I noticed a number of the recipes had adjectives such as "Mexican," "Italian," and "spicy," something which would not have been served in our household when I was little. When I went off to college, my roommate taught me how to cook, and we would find interesting recipes (a lot of which included eggplant, a favorite of mine) to prepare. Together with out boyfriends, we put together some decent meals and even invited a couple of professors to dinner. I would take recipes home to Mom that didn't include any ingredients that couldn't be purchased in our small town grocery store. The biggest change I remember was that we ate a lot of dishes with mushrooms.
I did discover one truly wonderful food while I was still in high school: kolaches. Almost anything called "kolache" is delicious, but these Bohemian (Czech) kolaches are close to heavenly. Bohemian kolaches are the puffy yeast dough kind with various fillings (cream cheese, poppyseed, prune (known as lekvar in some places), or other type of jam) rather than the crispy tube or star pattern type more common among the Slovaks (different part of Texas) and Rusyns. We were on a band trip to Houston to perform in a big State Honor Bands concert (we were the class AA Texas State Honor Band that year), and someone's grandmother had sent along a basket of these heavenly clouds. The memory of the one kolache I ate haunted me for years, until I found a good recipe for these kolaches in the Joy of Cooking cookbook my mother bought for me for Christmas; I knew it was the right recipe when I saw that it called for lemon peel in the dough – that is what makes the dough taste so wonderful.
Here is my mother's recipe for "Easy No-Cook Divinity":
In small mixer bowl, combine frosting mix (Fluffy white Betty Crocker dry mix), 1/3 cup corn syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/2 cup boiling water. Beat on highest speed until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Transfer to large mixer bowl; on low speed, blend in 1 lb. confectioner's sugar gradually. Stir in 1 cup nuts. Drop mixture by teaspoonsful onto waxed paper. When outside of candies seem firm, turn over. Allow to dry 12 hours or overnight. Store candies in airtight container. Makes 5 to 6 dozen candies.
7 comments:
Greta, I loved reading about your cooking adventures. I had to laugh because my husband loves breaded tomatoes and would even trade for that in the high school cafeteria! Weird! And his mom put sugar in everything. I've eaten kolaches and agree--they are divine! Your creamed tuna on bread was my creamed chipped beef on toast. Sure enjoyed your post. Thanks!ReplyDelete
Greta, you brought back some great memories of my days in the kitchen with Grandma. We never made Kolaches but, I agree, they are good. The little chocolate covered pecan balls were made every Christmas by one of the ladies in the family. I've never tried creating them. You've made me want to pull out a similar recipe I have and give them a try.ReplyDelete
Did you ever find your Mom's recipe? I'll share mine with you, if not.
Hmm, I'm sitting here wondering about how long it took for you to decide how many of those chocolate covered pecan balls you could appropriate before someone would become wise. My sister was the chocolate lover when we were children. My mother could never find a place to hide the chocolate that Marcia couldn't find. This was a fun post to read!ReplyDelete
I won't make fun of your husband for his strange taste in food, because I'm sure that I like some foods that others would find strange, too! Thank you for your encouraging comments.
Yes, absolutely, I would love your recipe for the chocolate balls! My daughters and I can try to make them at Christmas time. They must be a Texas thing. And I highly recommend the Joy of Cooking kolache recipe - though it's labor-intensive, too.
Thank you for your kind comments. You obviously understand the "art" of filching food, if only by observation. I think my daughters have inherited the talent - I never see them taking the food, but then it's all gone.
Your posting stirred up so many food memories. Stewed tomatoes with bread and sugar is a dish my grandmother used to make. Although I have not had it in a long time, I'm craving for it now. (Smile)
My grandmother also put sugar in everything like rice, grits, and stewed tomatoes.
Divinity, kolaches, breaded tomatoes...mmmmmm! Brings back a lot of memories of my mother's kitchen and now I must go....I think I have some stewed tomatoes waiting to be breaded and..yes...sugared! ;-)ReplyDelete
Professor Dru and Cheryle,ReplyDelete
Wow, I never suspected that stewed tomatoes have so many fans! Though I like the idea of sugar on rice and grits. As a matter of fact, I think grits are under-appreciated; I like a lot of foods of that sort, from the coarser end with grits to the finer end with Farina (anyone remember Farina? - We can only find it in a couple of stores here.)


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McCullum Scores 28 In Monarchs Exhibition Loss
By ODU Athletics
NORFOLK, VA. (NOV. 4) -- Andre McCullum (Whiteville, NC.) scored a game high 28 points and hauled in 11 rebounds in the Monarchs, 76-68 exhibition loss to Global Sports.
Senior center Skipper Youngblood added 14 points with ten boards and three blocked shots.
|Senior Skipper Youngblood fights for position against Global Sports in a Thursday night exhibition.
The Monarchs, down ten at halftime, and 14 (52-38) with 18:03 left in the game rallied and got to within one, 56-55 with 8:44 remaining as McCullum hit four straight free throws. Steve Myers made a layup and two free throws by Jeron Roberts helped Global pull away down the stretch.
Global had four players in double figures led by Steve Meyer (Texas San Antonio) and H.L. Coleman (Wyoming) with 11 points each. Coleman also hauled in nine rebounds and Rodney Odom (UNC Charlotte) added ten boards.
The Monarchs shot .393 from the floor and .529 (18-34) from the line. Old Dominion's defensive pressure forced GLobal into 25 turnovers, while the youthful Monarchs committed 16, only five in the second half.
The Monarchs return to action in a week when they host Court Authority in their final exhibition game.
Head Coach Jeff Capel announced that freshmen centers Joe Principe (Gladstone, MO.) and Charles Dunnington (Washington, DC.) will be red shirted this year.


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The Library: General Health
This report addresses physical health, smoking and physical activity; sex including sexual activity, sexual health and HIV, access to GPs and health-related services, and marginalisation including Trans, disability and long term health impairment and Deaf lives. The report makes recommendations for future strategy and service development.
- Academic Findings Report (PDF 1224 kb) 221 pages - July 2008
- Community Summary (PDF 146 kb) 2 pages - April 2009


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Prince Among Slaves: The Cultural Legacy of Enslaved Africans
September 4, 2011
Prince Among Slaves: The Cultural Legacy of Enslaved Africans encompasses a nationwide series of thought-provoking presentations that use the award-winning NEH-supported documentary film as their centerpiece. In all, fifteen public screening-and-lecture events reached a large, diverse audience, deepening public understanding about the impact and legacy of American cultural and religious history in the antebellum era, and its influences on our pluralistic society today. The NEH-funded website features rich content expanding on three theme areas—identity, Muslims in early America, and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade—with video by project scholars, archival images and more.


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Message Board
Susan Kay Law Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Law has written!
Author Law's Book Reviews
A Wanted Man
Avon, Aug 2004, 5.99, 384 pp. ISBN: 0060525193 In 1884, the pampered daughter of a tycoon Laura Hamilton has finally escaped her gilded cage as she crosses the country by train to paint a panorama of the impact of the Union-Pacific on the nation. Although her father reluctantly allowed her to go, he provides her with an escort and bodyguards. During a train robbery, Sam Duncan rescues Laura. Later he tells her that her father hired him as a ...
A Wedding Story
Avon, Oct 2003, 5.99, 384 pp. ISBN: 0060525185 In 1899 penniless widow Kathryn Bright Goodale goes to the Waldorf-Astoria to see explorer �Lord� James Bennett who is giving a talk there. Twelve years ago they met and passion exploded until he learned she was the wife of his friend �Doc�. Kathryn needs James to help her win the Great Centennial Race because she needs the $50K prize since her agreement with her late spouse of fifteen years was t...
Marry Me
Avon, May 2002, 5,99, 384 pp. ISBN: 0380819074 In 1899 Philadelphia, her beloved sister and brother-in-law might not think she lives up to her surname, but Emily Bright wants independence so she heads to Montana to homestead and claim her own land. Not long after Emily selects her lot, Jake Sullivan returns home only to find a pretty eastern filly living on his acres. Jake demands Emily give up her claim and leave. Emily refuses saying he ab...


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|MLBPA Press Release
Scholarship awards are based on the volunteer activities, academic achievements and leadership skills of high school students serving as Action Team Captains -- those students responsible for planning and organizing Action Team-related volunteer activities and encouraging their peers to heed the call to get involved. This school year, more than 50 Major Leaguers and 250 Action Team Captains in 146 high schools across the country are working together to inspire and train the next generation of volunteers.
On behalf of all Major Leaguers, its an honor to recognize the dedication and passion for community service that Action Team Captains demonstrate throughout the school year, said Colorado Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs, an Action Team player and member of the scholarship review committee. Having worked closely with Action Team Captains in Denver, Im amazed at how committed these young people are to helping people in need. They prove that you dont have to be a celebrity to make a difference in the lives of others, and their actions are leading hundreds of their peers to support causes they believe in.
The Action Team has expanded its reach every year since its launch in 2003. To date, Action Teams of high school students and Major Leaguers have inspired more than 25,000 students to serve over 100,000 people in need. There are Action Teams in 30 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and each month the Action Team Captains participate in a conference call hosted by legendary broadcaster George Grande that features a Major Leaguer and an Action Team High School of the Month.
An Action Team, school-based curriculum developed by the Players Trust, in partnership with The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition, carries the message of volunteerism and teaches valuable community service skills to 700,000 high school students in more than 5,000 classrooms across the United States.
Action Team applications and additional information can be received by sending a request to firstname.lastname@example.com. To view a brief Action Team video, please visit the Players Trust channel on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/MLBPlayersTrust
Receiving scholarships from the Major League Baseball Players Trust are:
Fabiola Arroyo, Sultan, Wash., Sultan High School
Takirah Carter, Kansas City, Kan., J.C. Harmon High School
Carlos Collado, Jackson Heights, N.Y., H.S. for Arts & Business
Nancy DeGott, Bloomfield, Ind., Bloomfield Junior/Senior High School
Michelle Diemer, Kansas City, Kan., J.C. Harmon High School
Joseph Engleman, Chicago, Jones College Prep
Luke Fesko, Lakewood, Ohio, Lakewood High School
Nic Gregg, Sultan, Wash., Sultan High School
Jacob Guenette, Sabattus, Maine, Oak Hill High School
Neil Kirschling, West Deptford, N.J., West Deptford High School
Alison Krzesniak, Loogootee, Ind., Bloomfield Junior/Senior High School
Nykole Mitchell, Mill Creek, Wash., Mariner High School
Michela Moe, Kihei, Hawaii, St. Anthony Junior/Senior High School
J. Andrew Morgan, Hingham, Mass., Boston College High School
Jessica Munoz, Hayward, Calif., Mt. Eden High School
Lesley Pace, Aurora, Colo., Cherokee Trail High School
Charlene Pacubas, Kahului, Hawaii, St. Anthony Junior/Senior High School
Sarah Ritter, Cincinnati, Seton High School
Elizabeth Shmidt, Plant City, Fla., Plant City High School
Alimpon Sinha, Cheswick, Pa., Fox Chapel Area High School
Esteban Soler, Long Island City, N.Y., Queens Vocational & Technical H. S.
Christopher Sullivan, Plant City, Fla., Plant City High School
Rachel Toon, Bloomfield, Ind., Bloomfield Junior/Senior High School
Trinh Tran, Hayward, Calif., Mt. Eden High School
Devon Walsh, Lakewood, Ohio, Lakewood High School
Paulichia Woody, Dallas, School of Ed. and Social Services
Eduardo Zapata, Houston, YES Prep Public Schools North Central
Through the Players Trust, Major Leaguers contribute their time, money and celebrity to call attention to important causes affecting the needy and to help encourage others to get involved in their own communities. In partnership with Volunteers of America, the national human service organization, the Players Trust created and helps administer the Action Team, a national youth volunteer initiative currently inspiring the next generation of volunteers in cities throughout the United States. For more information on the Major League Baseball Players Trust, please visit www.MLBPLAYERS.com.


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Makes an impression, is fun and instantly noticeable. The BMW 1 Series impresses right away with its sporty design, dynamic driving characteristics and perfect connectivity.
The design of the BMW 1 Series can be described perfectly with a single word: dynamic. Thanks to its ideal proportions, it emphasises its uncompromisingly sporty aspiration with every detail and fascinates from every angle.
"With paint, upholstery and decoration options the striking character is retained, while customers are provided with more choices."
Ultimate driving pleasure on the straights. Adrenaline-fuelled excitement on every corner. The combination of direct steering, precisely tuned suspension and optimum axle weight distribution offers agile performance. And with the Turbo inline 6-cylinder petrol engine under the extended bonnet, the BMW 1 Series exhibits unrivalled dynamics in the compact class.
"We are allowing our customers to choose the operating tool with which they feel most comfortable."
Experience seamless connectivity: with an intuitive operating concept, intelligent driver assistance systems and unique digital services, you are guaranteed an unprecedented driving experience.
The BMW M140i is power in its purest form, exhibiting a spectacular performance of 0 to 100 in 4.6 seconds. Powered by the M Performance TwinPower Turbo inline 6-cylinder petrol engine with an impressive 250 kW, its equipped with multiple high-performance components for endless driving fun.
Dynamic outside. Exclusive inside. The exciting design stands for ultimate sporting flair, powerful dynamics and pure driving pleasure. With its progressive contours, athletic design language and high-quality equipment, the BMW 1 Series is the perfect match for an urban lifestyle.
The front radiates thrilling dynamics with every detail and a passionate temperament. The self-assured appearance with accentuated headlights, distinctive double kidney grille and large air inlets demonstrate powerful athleticism and an untamed forward thrust.
Underlining the sporting character is the progressive light design that is characterised by the flat front headlights. Now available as standard with full LED technology on the entire BMW 1 Series range, they emphasise the typical BMW face with four eyes and purposefully point towards the distinctive double kidney grille.
The BMW 1 Series offers optimum road grip with its sporty 16-inch, 17-inch or 18-inch wheels as standard. Depending on the variants. The best example is provided by the exclusive 18" 719 M light alloy wheels in Jet Black with double-spoke styling and mixed tyres*, which are perfectly partnered by the M Sport brakes with Dark Blue brake callipers.
*Included as standard on the BMW M140i
The colour-contrasting rear diffuser insert in Dark Shadow metallic creates a particularly dynamic appearance and is part of the standard equipment in the BMW M140i. Optimally coordinated with these features are the exhaust pipes in Black Chrome.
A perfect ending: athletically shaped wheel housings, a broad stance, distinctive bumpers with enlarged tailpipe trim strips and characteristic L-shaped LED rear lights are not only eye-catchers but also an expression of the inspiring dynamics.
Less fuel consumption, more driving pleasure: BMW EfficientDynamics is the strategy to minimise fuel consumption and CO2 emissions while at the same time increasing dynamics and driving pleasure. The approach covers the drive system, energy management and vehicle concept itself.


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Find the perfect domain name to fit your needs! .WS (WorldSite) is the only domain extension to offer all of the following features:
- Domain names that work just like a .COM
- Internationalized Domain Names: Get a domain in YOUR language!
- Emoji Names: A domain name that transcends language: .ws


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by Len Lear
When local chanteuse Michelle Schulman sings an aria from Rossini's "Mose" or Puccini's opera, "Edgar," or Mozart's "Don Giovanni," her transcendent, ethereal voice pays great homage to the lyrics and the melody. It transports the audience to a rhapsodic place, like the mellifluous tones of a songbird or a dulcet wind whispering through majestic trees.
Schulman, who is as humble as her talent is other-worldly, and pianist Alex Ramirez will perform a concert of songs and piano solos, featuring music from Hollywood films, Saturday, April 20, 7:30 p.m., at the Philadelphia First Church of the Brethren, 8707 W. Cheltenham Ave. in Wyndmoor. The selections will come from "Showboat," "The Music Man," "Hello Dolly," "The Wizard of Oz," etc.
As glorious as Michelle's singing is, however, the Northeast Philadelphia native and Manayunk resident has also battled an eating disorder all of her adult life, ballooning up to 425 pounds late in 2004, despite having tried dozens of diets, therapies and expensive "fat farms." (When Michelle was featured in a Local Life article on April 8, 2004, about her operatic career, she weighed 375.)
"I was binge eating," she said. "I had an uncontrollable addiction to food. One night I went to five fast food restaurants in a row, and each time I ate what for most people would be one complete dinner … I could not sing any more because breathing had become such a problem. I could barely walk up a flight of stairs or walk to the corner. I had horrible back pain all the time, and I could hardly stand upright."
As a last resort, Michelle went to the Optimum Health Institute near San Diego, a 35-year-old facility whose guiding principle is that a strict raw-foods diet will produce significant health benefits not only for obese people but also for people with virtually any medical ailment.
The theory behind the raw-foods diet is that cooking destroys the enzymes in food that are required to maintain good health. The diet is even more restrictive than a vegetarian or macrobiotic diet. Those who follow it generally eschew cooked, refined or processed foods, so supermarkets are pretty much off-limits. Raw foods practitioners eat lots of organic vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds in countless combinations and lots of soups and juices made from these foods, as well as herbs and spices for seasoning.
For the last five years Michelle has been working at Arnold's Way Raw Vegetarian Cafe' and Education Center, 319 W. Main St. in Lansdale (215-361-0116, www.arnoldsway.com) as a raw vegan chef. At one point she had lost 175 pounds! (Arnold's Way is the only raw foods restaurant in the Delaware Valley.)
"I was a raw vegan for three-and-a-half years," she explained, "but I fell off about two years ago when I was doing a lot of catering. It was a very stressful time. We catered two parties for 200 people, mostly raw vegan food! The first party we did was for Bernard Michael Beckwith of 'The Secret,' who was featured on Oprah and Larry King Live. He and his wife, Rickey, were speaking in Philadelphia. They are raw vegans, and they wanted their VIP event catered raw vegan."
After falling off of her raw foods diet, Michelle did gain back about 100 of the 175 pounds she had lost as a raw vegan, "but I'm grateful I did not gain back all of what I had lost, thank God. The raw vegan diet is the first diet I've ever been on that I didn't gain back more than I lost! I do drink green smoothies for breakfast almost every day now, and I do still eat a percentage of my food uncooked. I still eat a mostly vegan diet."
For exercise, Michelle enjoys walking. She wears a pedometer most days and tries to walk between 3,000 and 7,000 steps a day. "The more I walk, the better I feel, and the better I do with my weight. My problem has always been binge and emotional eating, so I have a hard time sticking to plans if I get emotional, wanting to soothe myself with food."
Michelle's long-time vocal coach, Badiene Magaziner, is a highly in- demand vocal instructor in New York City who has worked with several Broadway child stars. She had an operatic career in Germany for many years and was hand-selected by (composer) Gian Carlo Menotti to star in "The Consul" at the Kennedy Center.
"I also really enjoy singing in my living room to YouTube videos!" said Michelle, who requested that her age be withheld. "My neighbor, Rose, in her late 80s and very hard of hearing, tells me she enjoys hearing me through the wall. I can hear her when she is in her kitchen and I am in the living room and singing, so I give her a little serenade nightly though the wall. Really, YouTube.com is an incredible resource for musicians and singers that I could not live without."
Schulman and Alex Ramirez perform two concerts, "From Opera To Broadway" and "Great Voices of the Hollywood Films," frequently for local charities, non-profit organizations, churches, synagogues, nursing homes and retirement homes.
Schulman also sings regularly with the Amici Opera Company, led by Ralph Tudisco, which has been featured often in Local Life. (Tudisco also teaches opera courses at Temple University's campus in Ambler.) In recent months Michelle has sung the role of Lucrezia in Verdi's "I due Foscari," Anaide in Rossini's "Mose," Queen Isabella in Franchetti's "Cristoforo Colombo" and Lady Macbeth in Verdi's "Macbeth."
"Lady Macbeth and Mozart's Donna Anna ('Don Giovanni') are my two favorite roles," said Michelle, "for different reasons. Lady Macbeth is so dramatic and evil, plotting with Macbeth, with lots of variety to what she sings. And Donna Anna, which I've also sung three times with Amici Opera, is in mourning throughout the entire opera because her father has been murdered, but through my sadness, I get to sing the most blissful music, so I never tire of that role."
Michelle and her fiance', Cliff Bolt, an accordionist and pianist, are working on a program of songs and arias that they will perform at the High Note Cafe in South Philly (date not determined yet). "I think it will be very special," said Michelle. "You should hear Cliff play Wagner's 'Tannhauser' on the accordion. It just brings tears to my eyes and sends shivers up my spine."
Alex Ramirez, Michelle's regular accompanist, began his piano studies at age three in Texas, where his family was living at the time. At age five, Alex became the youngest person ever to study piano at the University of Texas. During middle and high school he won every major youth piano competition in the state of Texas.
Tickets to the April 20 concert are $18 in advance, $20 at the door. More information at 215-572-6649 or email@example.com


text: Are you talking about your location as it's displayed on your profile? Or your contact info? Move your cursor over the gear next to your name at the top, a drop-down menu will come up. Click on preferences. To change your displayed location click on Edit Profile, which is on the right. Your contact info will be under Account. Hope this helps :)


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Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 Shockproof Autofocus Flexible Premium Leather Texture Stitch Case Back Soft Cover - Egyptian Blue
- Extremely Ultra Thin and Light Weight - Our Leather Texture Pro-Tech Autofocus Cases provide 360 degree protection to your device while maintaining its slim profile. Its Anti-slip leather texture matte surface gives fine appearance, fingerprint-resistance and comfort in every grip.
- Raised Lips for Camera and Screen - This Case gives your phone an all round protection. Its intelligently designed upper lips extend over the sides of the phone to give an extra safety to your screen and camera on a fall and when kept down on a flat surface.
- Perfect Fit - This Tough Armour Case is made in mould designed especially for your phone model so it takes care for smallest details of your phone such as sensors, protruding camera, speakers, Strap Access Design, Tailored cutouts, Responsive Buttons.
- Finger Grip - The area near FingerPrint Sensor is Techniqely Designed slightly underneath so the Ergonomic design does not interfere with Finger Scanner
- Flexible, Fine Quality Material - Made up of high grade Polycarbonate materials that are non toxic & odourfree to protect environment and also does not affect your health unlike other cases. Also, it is highly strong and made up of tough material keeping Easy to remove & install, anti finger print, anti scratch & washable.
- Dispatch To Courier in 3-4 Working Days
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Share with Friends
Drop Tested
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the Drop Protection
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pocket friendly
The UbrosNetwork Pro-Tech case features a newly designed patterned TPU for a grip that's also stylish. The hard PC bumper reinforces the phone for peripheral protection while keeping the feel of the Smartphone. Shock-absorbing TPU with a hard PC frame offers reinforced perimeter security. Ubros Network Pro-Tech Case is custom designed to hug every curve and edge of your phone and utilise this tech for everyday, impact with its extreme dual-layer protection containing a shock-absorbent layer and rigid exterior. The edges are curved to provide an ergonomic grip and easy access from pockets. Always stay ready for an adventure with Ubros Network Pro-Tech Cases.
- Premium Ubros Network Autofocus Pro-Tech case
- Installation instructions
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UbrosNetwork Presents Premium Quality Leather Effect Autofocus Pro-Tech Gel Case. Looking for a high-quality phone case to help you get the most out of your new handset? You've come to the right place. This phone case is a stylish, lightweight and easy-to-use accessory that even helps you get extra focus from your phone's camera! Made out of silicone gel with a stylish leather effect, this phone case is soft and supple, ensuring it fits snugly to the body of your handset. Once equipped to your phone, the flexible chassis of the case provides a durable barrier against damage; this helps it to reduce or even fully absorb the force of impacts, allowing your phone to look newer for longer than ever before!
Main Pro of this case is Camera Focusing Assistance : That's not all; this handy phone case also features an auto-focussing camera cut-out. This handy feature will assist in providing better photos. It guarantees the ultimate experience when using your camera, ensuring smoother and less busy images!
- Unequal technology absorbs and dissapates impact
- Sleek, low profile design
- Smooth, seam-free surface feels great in hand
- Rounded edges
- Thin & Light Polycarbonate Case


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The most noticeable change from Sawmill 8.1 to Sawmill 8.5 is the improved performance and memory usage. Sawmill 8.5 has a completely new "under the hood" mechanism for accessing its files and databases, and as a result, it uses memory more efficiently. It adjusts its memory usage to the available system memory, so it won't exceed the available memory, and it won't use too little memory either, which could cause slower performance. New memory management settings in the Preferences allow you to tune Sawmill's memory usage, so it can use more if it's the only thing running on a dedicated system, or less if it has to play nice with a collection of other programs on the same system.
The net result of these enhancements, and a slew of other performance optimizations, is a speed improvement of 50%-100% in most operations of Sawmill 8.5, compared to Sawmill 8.1.
Sawmill 8.5 adds a new feature called "Snapons." Snapons are extremely flexible, and provide a method of modifying a profile and its database according to instructions defined in a standard module. For instance, you might attach a "downloads" snapon to your profile, and it would immediately add a "downloads" field to all your reports, showing the number of downloads of a particular file from your site. Or you could attach a "bounce rate" snapon, and you would get table columns and graphs showing the bounce rate for your web site.
Snapons can be used to implement almost any Key Performance Indicator (KPI). A number of snapons for common KPIs are included with Sawmill 8.5.0; more will be added in the future. It is also possible to create your own snapons; or our experts can create one for you, to implement your favorite KPI.
The entire Sessions analysis in 8.5 is now implemented as a snapon; among other benefits, this allows session information to be removed from a profile in a single operation; that was an extremely time-consuming and error-prone operation in 8.1 (involving hundreds of manual profile edits). It is also possible to have multiple session analyses in a single profile, by attaching more than one instance of the Sessions snapon, for instance by user and by IP address, which was not possible in 8.1. And like most snapons and database filters, the database does not need to be rebuilt when attaching or detaching Sessions; database filters act directly on the database, and do not need the log data to be re-parsed, and database fields required by snapons are added or removed dynamically from the database as necessary.
Sawmill 8.5 introduces a new type of filter, Database Filters, which operate directly on the main table of the database, after data has been parsed and imported from the logs. These are usually used in conjunction with Snapons: a snapon will often add a database field, and add a database filter to populate it, and a report field to report it.
Sawmill 8.5 features a greatly improved Profile menu, which replaces the Config menu of earlier versions. This menu, which is available from both configuration pages and Reports, shows all available sections of the profile in a unified pull-down menu. Database Build and Update, Reports, Database Info, and all Config pages are available immediately from this menu.
The Admin menu link has also been enhanced, to allow immediate access to all pages of Admin, from any page of the interface (including Reports, Admin pages, and Config pages), without having to go through the Profiles list.
The Overview report in Sawmill 8.5 has been enhanced to allow unwanted fields to be hidden. In Sawmill 8.1, the Overview always showed all database fields; in Sawmill 8.5, it now shows report fields instead which also provides additional flexibility in formatting over database fields, and only those that are needed.
The New Profile Wizard has been enhanced in several ways, most significantly through the addition of a dynamic search field in the Log Format selection page. With support for more than 850 log formats, and more being added all the time, it could be difficult to find the particular format in Sawmill 8.1 if it didn't auto detect; in 8.5, you can type a part of the name, and as you type, it will show you a list of all matching plug-ins.
We've been working to improve all aspects of the Sawmill user interface. Most of these changes are small, but they add up to a significant overall enhancement of the user experience.
Sawmill 8.5 now includes a Password Reset functionality, which allows a user to reset their own password, if they've forgotten it, though a link emailed to that user's address. If your Sawmill installation has a lot of users, this automates one of your most frequent support tasks, saving you time.


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Termanology Presents St. Da Squad - Hennessy
Video for single "Hennessy" (produced by MGI) featuring Ea$y Money, Stalion & Superstah Snuk off ST. DA SQUAD street album out now. TERMANOLOGY and ST. Records bring the debut CD from Term's crew ST. DA SQUAD, repping the 978 (Lawrence & Haverhill, Massachusetts). Featuring production from Fizzy Womack, Don Cannon, Statik Selektah and others, this new joint brings you that gritty Termanology shit while also putting ST. DA SQUAD on the map. ST. Da Squad is Termanology, Ea$y Money, Hectic, Artisin, Ghetto, Superstah Snuk, Clip, Stalion & DJ Deadeye
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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Søk på Miljolare.no
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Sustain.no is an educational tool for sustainable development. The site includes activities complete with guidelines for how the pupils can investigate, discuss and communicate their results.
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Sustain.no is provided by the Norwegian Centre for Science Education
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