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Is there a way to go off course in desert racing? We're pretty sure there is, but that's not to say Riot Racing's buggy slows down much when it cuts a corner. This is the Best in the Desert Parker 425, out in Parker, Arizona, and it's awesome.
This onboard from last year with Josh Daniel driving and Allen Hickerson in the co-driver's seat makes for a good drinking game. Just take a shot every time the car looks like it's about to flip over and crash.
Warning: you will be wasted within a few minutes. Also, only play this game if you are 21 or older.
(Hat tip to DustyVentures!)


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Tough streets of Manchester to the sex trade of Tokyo and the vagueness of law
Tough streets of Manchester to the sex trade of Tokyo and the vagueness of law
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Manchester – innovation and criminality
Manchester is located in north-west England and this vibrant city is where the Industrial Revolution came alive and Manchester was deemed the first modern industrial city in the world. At its height the city claimed many notable firsts and this applies to the site of the first railway station in the world; where scientists first split the atom; the development of the first programmable computer; and where the first Trade Union Congress took place.
Not only this, Manchester was internationalist in outlook and Marxism and free trade were theories that run through the veins of the city despite the competing thought patterns of both theories. Friedrich Engels spent much of his life in Manchester and the surrounding region and Karl Marx visited.
Alternatively, the Manchester School was focused on economics from the angle of limited government and anti imperialistic in nature. The Manchester School focused on free trade and laissez faire and the 19th century witnessed many revolutionary changes.
The majority of the 20th century would witness the decline of Manchester but by the end of this century the phoenix was gradually rising from the ashes. Despite this, the city will never reach the heights of the middle 18th century to the late 19th century but a new spirit began to emerge in the last few decades of the 20th century.
Yet just like the era of power Manchester was always blighted by areas of poverty and today social deprivation and powerful subcultures have emerged. Therefore, gangs have fought over the drug trade and other areas of crime in Manchester.
This notably applies to Cheetham Hill (I went to school in Cheetham Hill), Longsight, Moss Side and Salford gangs. In recent times new ethnic gangs have moved in and Pakistani gangs have a clear advantage because of the links to heroin in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Gangs in Moss Side came from the Afro-Caribbean community or were mixed blood but Salford gangs were mainly white. However, ethnicity was not an issue but protecting areas was and in Salford famous families were also instrumental and the set up was different.
Crime statistics in Manchester are well above the national average and areas like Ardwick, Ancoats, Benchill, Collyhurst, Harpurhey, Moston, Wythenshawe, and others; all have social deprivation issues alongside the areas of high gang activity which have already been mentioned.
Tokyo and the sex trade
Therefore, when I moved to Tokyo it was a welcome change to reside in a city which was free from high crime rates. Of course the Japanese yakuza is based in many areas of Tokyo and you have Chinese gangs and others but overall the gang culture is structured.
Also, other factors behind crime or criminality in Manchester appear to be missing in Tokyo and most violence in Manchester takes place outside gang issues. Petty violence and random attacks is the real cause for concern and the same applies to muggings or people breaking into your property.
Tokyo was a million miles away in this area and despite having several cultural mishaps during my first stay in Tokyo I soon adapted to the changed environment.
I remember walking around Harajuku and Shinjuku at night and not batting an eyelid about worrying about crime and being attacked. I watched in amazement when so many young adults could go home at night without any fears and the same applied to when people accidently walked into each other.
Yes, you have pockets of deprivation in Tokyo and this applies to parts of Minami Senju, Sanya, and other areas; however, crime figures in Tokyo are very low and the fear of being mugged or a random attack of violence does not enter the radar.
However, one area which is different is the sex trade because the sex trade is very big in Tokyo and the choices available are vast. More worrying, you have places where young girls, some aged 15, and I dare say sometimes younger; enter places whereby Japanese men watch them getting changed or they flash their panties and so forth.
The one reality of Tokyo is that amongst the neon lights and highly developed areas you have a budding sex trade which caters for chican (groping), normal prostitution, and a plethora of other options which are all connected to the sex trade.
In Manchester the sex trade also exists but not to the extent of Tokyo and the perverse nature of elements of the sex trade in Tokyo would not be tolerated in Manchester or throughout the United Kingdom in general because of legal factors.
Indeed, the sex trade in Manchester is often linked with drug addiction and it is a dangerous game to play. I often walked home along Cheetham Hill Road at night and you have a red-light area close to the city centre and along this road until the shopping areas starts in full.
Ladies of the night in Cheetham Hill are involved in a dangerous trade and pimps control them. This form of prostitution will exist to an extent in Tokyo but this is the main way in Manchester and ladies will be picked up and paid in cars and this clearly leaves them vulnerable and in danger.
This does not apply to Tokyo because the sex trade can be found in many parts of Tokyo and it is set amongst high quality buildings, wealthy areas and located within shopping districts and entertainment areas.
In my article called Tokyo and the booming sex trade: the mirage of reality; I comment that "It is reported that the sex trade generates $15 billion dollars a year in Japan but it is not just the enormous money that it generates which is astonishing; it is the diversity on offer. This applies to brothels which come under so many different names and this applies to image rooms, soaplands, pink salons, delivery health, and a vast number of names and services are provided."
"Therefore, you can easily visit a fake train carriage and grope ladies in your "chikan heaven" or you can buy used panties at vending machines or visit a place and pick married women and so much more."
Also, it is clear that young females are in demand and once more Tokyo caters for young girls who range from being around 15 or a little younger and they will be paid to sit or talk amongst themselves while flashing their panties to the paying adult males.
This type of vice would not be tolerated in Manchester but the nature of Tokyo, and Japan, appears to be "anything goes" providing the money is not visibly being given for sexual favors openly.
Anti-prostitution laws are vague in Japan and the same applies to the sex trade because while distribution of child pornography is a criminal offence the same does not apply to watching videos of children being abused in the comfort of your own home.
The seedy side of Tokyo is one issue but when it involves minors then you would think that the police would be pro-active. However, while the police may want to do more the legal system ties their hands and it is the political leadership and the legal system which is to be blamed for allowing this in Japan.
Sarah Noorbakhsh states that "Girls in uniform, some as young as 15, sit sprawled out on the floor of a small room, chatting or reading books. Skirts are rolled high, some have their legs folded up against their chest, and none the girls give much notice to the fact that their colorful panties are on display–to the paying customers in the next room."
It is clear that the police are having trouble in stopping this because the legal system is so vague and open to many loopholes. Therefore, the main hope is the breaking of labour laws because child protection laws appear to be ineffectual.
Sarah Noorbakhsh continues by stating that the"Police are attempting to target the clubs to curtail this new expansion into the fuzokuindustry. Club "Yokohama Mambo" was investigated by police last month in an attempt to press child welfare laws against the venue, but because the girls are free to come and go as they please, the law wasn't applicable. Authorities finally landed upon the Labor Standards Act, as it stipulates youth may not work in places that are hazardous from a hygienic or social welfare standpoint. They hope to investigate similar premises under the same law."
The seedy side of Tokyo was unknown to my childhood in Manchester because the sex trade and images of young teenagers is potent within Japanese culture and this certainly applies to the booming sex trade of Tokyo.
This thought pattern did not exist in my native Manchester and while the sex trade exists it is not prominent and based in every major district of Manchester. However, in Tokyo the sex trade is visible in parts of Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Ueno, and recently it is increasing in Shibuya and you also have other areas outside of the major areas of Tokyo where the sex trade flourishes.
Of course different cultures and laws throughout the world will have different thought patterns and in Islamic nations like Saudi Arabia old men can marry young girls of eight and nine years of age. This also happens in Yemen and other Islamic nations where Sharia Islamic law is powerful.
Despite the violent side of Manchester being a reality I can at least understand this but why men are allowed to watch young girls or you can view child images in your own home without fear; even when the images are extreme; then I can't fathom why this is allowed. The same applies to Islamic nations like Saudi Arabia allowing old men to marry children and all in the name of Islam.
Elements of the seedy side of Tokyo are meeting a high demand and prostitution and the sex trade is thousands of years old and Tokyo will not be unique. However, it is a clash of culture to seeing it so prevalent within the culture and the plethora of options is mind boggling to my upbringing in inner-city Manchester.
However, for Tokyoites the violence of inner-city Manchester and drug related issues will also be mind boggling.
Of course, Manchester is also a great city and you have many areas which make me proud and this applies to past history, the recent music scene and the richness of sport in my hometown.
Similarly, Tokyo is an amazing city which is ultra modern and the fashion scene is amongst the best in the world. Also, Tokyo is an economic powerhouse and this city is rich in culture.
Yet the one side that I fail to understand is the seedy nature of this city which caters for groping women on "fantasy trains" or watching young girls showing their panties and so forth.
Sarah Noorbakhsh – "Fuzoku lite: "Aquarium of girls" offers thrills for herbivore men
Please visit http://www.japansubculture.com for more articles.
http://moderntokyotimes.com (please visit)

subset: commoncrawl


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OBITUARY: Craig B. Porter
Feb. 17, 1946 – Jan. 30, 2013
Craig was born on Feb. 17, 1946 to Dr. Bennett J. and Violet Porter in Albert Lea,
He moved to Lake Tahoe in 1963, and was employed at Harrah's for 30 years.
Craig was preceded in death by his wife Jill Watson-Porter, and parents
Dr. Bennett J. Porter and Violet Porter.
He is survived by brothers Dr. Bennett J. Porter (Jean) and Dr. Thayer (Gene) Porter (Dorothy) and several nieces, nephews, and an extended Tahoe family.
Services will be held on Mar. 5th at 1:00 p.m. at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church,
341 Village Blvd. Incline Village, NV.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite charity.


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I'm working on a site that has to have compatibility with older versions of PHP, which suffer from a high-bit issue in the Blowfish
crypt() implementation. Essentially, non-ASCII characters are not processed properly, and it may be possible for an attacker to reduce the brute-force space. There's a fix in 5.3.7, but I'll need to support earlier versions.
In order to work around the issue, I'm thinking of Base64 encoding the password prior to running it through
crypt(). The idea is that
base64_encode() is binary safe, and the output will never contain any characters whose most significant bit is set.
Is this a safe assumption, or should I look at an alternative method?


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Students to chat with Space Station
About 250 students from Davenport and nearby Illinois schools have an appointment to talk with astronauts on board the International Space Station on Friday.
The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. for students gathered at the Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science in Davenport.
Participating students are from North High School, Smart Middle School and Buffalo Elementary in Davenport. In addition students from elementary schools in Rock Island and Moline in Illinois are invited.
Their conversation with astronauts Kevin Ford and Tom Marshburn will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency's website.
NASA works with educational organizations in the United States to improve teaching and learning in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics using the unique environment of space and the human spaceflight program.


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Michael Chandler and Pat Curran retain title belts in Bellator's debut on Spike
Michael Chandler wasted little time in submitting Rick Hawn (Esther Lin/MMA Fighting).
Sometimes a first impression is a double-take.
That was the case Thursday night when the Bellator Fighting Championship made its debut on Spike TV and two of its champions put on shows that demonstrated why they own the belts.
Pat Curran opened the Irvine, Calif., main card -- and Bellator's new residency on the former TV home of the UFC -- with a masterful five-round picking apart of Patricio "Pitbull" Freire to successfully defend his featherweight title for the first time. It went into the books as a split decision, but the rounds Freire (17-2) won were razor thin, while Curran (18-4) seized control as the fight wore on.
The other championship bout? That can be summed up in two words: Michael Chandler. Or more appropriately: Michael! Chandler!
The lightweight belt holder also was defending for the first time, and he protected the strap like a mama bear protects her cubs, dominating Rick Hawn on the way to a second-round submission victory. Chandler (11-0) had captured the title in a thrilling back-and-forth battle with Eddie Alvarez back in November 2011, but there was no back and forth this time. Hawn (14-2), who represented the United States in judo at the 2004 Olympics, couldn't stop Chandler from taking him down and keeping him down, and the champ's second-round takedown led to a rear-naked choke that elicited a tapout at 3:07.
"Me and [grappling coach] Neil Melanson worked that about 16,000 times right there, and it worked out, man," Chandler said afterward in the cage, taking about the finish. "It's a crazy game, but I love it."
Chandler is not so much in love, oddly enough, with where he stands as a mixed martial artist. "I've got a lot of improving to do, I'll tell you that much," he said, later adding, "If you ain't moving forward, you're moving backward."
Moving forward presents another kind of challenge for Chandler: Who's next for the promotion's 155-pound king?
If Bellator's contract litigation with Alvarez resolves in favor of Bjorn Rebney's promotion and it gets to retain the services of the ex-champ, a rematch between Chandler and the man he dethroned would be a big hit. But if Eddie ends up in the UFC instead, then what? Well, eight fighters begin the Season 8 lightweight tournament later this month, and just as happened when Hawn won last season's tourney, a challenger will emerge.
—Jeff Wagenheim


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Compare cheap flights to Butuan
When is the cheapest time to fly to Butuan?
Discover Butuan
Butuan is located in Mindanao, the southernmost island group of the Philippines. Being one of the earliest cities, it is famous for historical showcases catering to those looking for a taste of Southeast Asian history, or to discover how the first Filipinos lived. The city also has the Philippines' second largest river, the Agusan River. Butuan has been a flourishing city with sophisticated naval technology and metallurgy since the 10th century.
Relive history
Eleven nearly 1,700-year-old Balangay (balangay being the oldest watercraft used in the Philippines) have been discovered in Butuan, with some already in the Balangay Shrine Museum where other artifacts are on display. Travelers can also cruise along the Agusan River, which is not only the second largest river in the Philippines, but also an important trade route and water source during the country's early days.
Other historical stops include the ruins of Banza Church, where early Filipinos first converted to Christianity, and the Magellan landing site where Ferdinand Magellan first arrived before proceeding to shape the Philippines' history. For the adventurous, Mount Mayapay is a 675m-hiking challenge to the tabletop summit.
Flights to Butuan
Two direct Manila-Butuan flights every week on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays are offered by Cebu Pacific, with single scheduled flights on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. PAL Express also flies to Butuan, offering daily flights that leaves Manila at 6:10a.m.
Need to Know
Since domestic airlines no longer serve snacks and drinks on board, it is best that you have a meal or snack before your flight to avoid feeling queasy while airborne. Otherwise, there are snack items and drinks available at the on board snack bar of both airlines where you can purchase food items and pay in pesos or US dollars.
Cebu Pacific still provides free baggage allowance of 20kg per passenger, plus one hand-carried baggage of up to 7kg, which must be small enough to fit in the overhead bin. PAL Express on the other hand has three different baggage allowances. For Regular Economy travelers, the allowance is 10kg; for Premium Economy, it's 20kg and one hand-carried baggage up to 7kg. The Budget Economy class does not come with free baggage allowance.
Today's currency rate
Temperature average in February
Rainfall average in February
327.4 mm
Cheapest time to fly to Butuan (BXU)
All prices refer to return flights to Butuan and include taxes and charges.
Our experiences customer support team is there to help you every step of the way.
With the Skiddoo Price Promise, if you find a cheaper price online we'll match it!


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- Income Investing
Muni Funds Backslide, Post Weekly Outflow
- Order Reprints
- Print Article
Municipal-bond fund flows might be the handiest barometer of retail bond-investor sentiment, and that sentiment turned negative in the latest week, with muni mutual funds and ETFs reporting a $26 million net outflow, per Lipper data. It's pretty small as outflows go, but it puts an end to a streak of three straight weekly inflows, which had been similarly unconvincing. The past four weeks have produced an unremarkable average net inflow of $141 million.
Similar data released Wednesday by the Investment Company Institute showed muni funds reporting a more robust net inflow of $531 million in the most recent week, up from a mere $29 million inflow the week before.
The iShares S&P National AMT-Free Muni Bond (MUB) ETF closed Thursday at $108.05, up 18 cents on the day and up just 1 cent from a week ago.


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Gary Weisman
Gary Weisman was born in Chicago in 1952. He was educated at the School of the Chicago Art Institute, and Columbia College, Chicago. In 1982, Weisman became a drawing instructor at Manatee College in Sarasota, Florida, and from 1986 until the present, he teaches at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Weisman is the recipient of various awards and commissions, and is represented in collections across the United States.Weisman has participated in group exhibitions since 1987, and from 1989 has had various solo exhibitions.
In Weisman's sculpture, his intense search for contemporary content seems to continually involve a retrieval of the past. Being figurative, his work confronts the preeminent motif of all historical sculpture. His figures reflect the influence of the canons of Greek design, the romance of the Renaissance and, later, Rodin, as well as the universal sculptural language of Brancusi or Egyptian stelae. Most of all, Weisman's work continues the timeless preoccupation we have with ourselves, our bodies, and the human condition. In it, he extrapolates the drama that our bodies and beings create, and inspires in the viewer a sense of awe for the heroics we can mentally construct, or physically perform.
It is Weisman's ability to touch upon a spiritual component that holds such promise for the future for this young sculptor. Spirit is an ingredient that often manifests itself later in an artist's life, and Weisman's ability to touch upon it, now, distinguishes his work more than any other factor. Weisman insists on doing each stage of creating a sculpture by himself. As his own modeler, caster, foundryman, and patinist, he is able to exploit the characteristics of each process to enhance the end result he envisions. The fortitude, knowledge, and skill to work in this fashion are rare attributes, today.
Excerpts from "Gary Weisman, Sculpture and Drawing" by Frederick S. Osborne, Director, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Selected Awards
|Who's Who in America
|Honored at the White House, Washington, DC
|New York State Council on the Arts, New Yorj, NY
|Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
|Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art Fellowship, PA
|Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art Fellowship, PA
|National Academy of Design, New York, NY
Notable Public & Private Collections
|Art Museum of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
|Cantonet & Contonet, Dubai, UAE
|City of Philadelphia, PA
|City of Chicago, Midway Airport, Chicago, IL
|Chicago Public Library, Chicago, IL
|Elmhurst Hospital, Queens, NY
|John O Hern, Director, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
|Museo Arte Contemporanea Sicilia, Catania, Italy
|Norton Art Museum, Palm Beach, FL
|Parc Foundation, Lafayette, LA
|Pepsi Co., New York, NY
|Ralph Lauren Corp., New York, NY
|Standard Chartered Bank, New York, NY
|Tom Armstrong, Director, Whitney Art Museum, New York, NY
|Tri Star Film Corp., Hollywood, CA
|United States Embassy to North Vietnam
Selected Solo Exhibitions
|Stanek Gallery, Graham Building, Philadelphia, PA
|Sirona Fine Art, Miami FL
|Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY lecture
|Sirona Fine Art, Miami, FL
|Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
|Arcadia Fine Art Gallery, New York, NY
|Steuben Glass, New York, NY
|Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
|Brandon Michaels Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
|Eric Chen, Imavison Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
|Wendt Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
|Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, NY
|Fred Baker Gallery, Chicago, IL
|Gallerie Yoram, Beverly Hills, CA
|Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, ON
|American Cultural Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Selected Group Exhibitions
Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019, Stanek Gallery, Philadelphia, PA,
The Contemporary Figure, Stanek Gallery, Philadelphia
|Art Toronto, Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, ON
|Museum of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, PA
|Art Toronto, Odon Wagner Contemporary, Toronto, ON
|International Art, Beijing, China
|Taipei International Art, Taiwan
|New York Armory, New York, NY
|Chesterwood, National Historic Site, Chesterwood, MA
|Art Australia, Melbourne, Australia
|Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
|Corning Museum of Glass, Aids Benefit, Corning, NY
|Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
|Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
|Art Museum of the University of Kentucky, Louisville, KY


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You are here
A Fashion Designer's Home in the Hamptons
Dennis Basso, a couture fashion designer who has dressed the world's most beautiful women, lavishes every corner of his Hamptons retreat with blue-and-white splendor
"Dennis absolutely lights up a room. He's larger than life," says interior designer Kenneth Alpert of Dennis Basso, his friend and client for 35 years. "If you wake up in a bad mood, you should call Dennis. He's like a vitamin B-12 shot."
An eye for glamour and unflagging energy have made Dennis Basso a brand name, with a 10,000-square-foot flagship store on New York's Madison Avenue and boutiques around the world. In his 30-year-plus career, Dennis has dressed many of the world's most famous and beautiful women in gowns and furs, including Elizabeth Taylor, Glenn Close, Jennifer Lopez, and Sofia Vergara, whose ample curves are accented by one of his furs in a recent Vanity Fair cover story.
In addition to his couture, the fashion designer has a bridal collection, a line of ready-to-wear, and even home accessories—including sumptuous faux fur throws sold on the QVC shopping channel. (A TV natural, Dennis appears regularly to present his collections.)
An Alexander Calder watercolor hangs in the living room.
Photography: Tria Giovan
Produced by Bonnie Maharam
Interior designer: Kenneth Alpert, KA Design Group, 595 Madison Ave., 16th Floor, New York, NY 10022; 212/223-0314, kennethalpert.com.
Area rug (custom, sisal, leather bound): Stark, starkcarpet.com.
Painting above mantel ("Blue Skies," by Alexander Calder, gouache): Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, michaelrosenfeldart.com.
Chairs; coffee table; sofas (custom); mirrors; drapery: owner's collection.
Chair fabric (discontinued); throw pillow fabric: Brunschwig & Fils, brunschwig.com.
Sofa fabric; hurricanes on mantel ("Wood Base Hurricane in Silver" #6821621710FY): Ralph Lauren Home, ralphlaurenhome.com.
White urns on coffee table (French porcelain, 1930s); blue-and-white vases on mantel (Ch'ing dynasty); lamps flanking mantel (antique French chinoiserie); floor lamp (antique, hand painted); glass beads on table (giant worry beads, Mikonos); blue-and-white dishes (vintage Chinese): owner's collection.
Blue Sitting Area
Taking a break from this harried pace means heading to the Hamptons home in Water Mill, New York, that he shares with husband Michael Cominotto. Don't expect to find either one lounging by the pool, though. Their idea of relaxation might involve hosting a dinner party for 40, an impromptu cocktail hour by the outdoor fireplace, or spiffing up guest rooms with bouquets of hydrangeas fresh from the backyard for their frequent weekend guests. "We love to entertain, and for us it's not work. It gives us great pleasure," Dennis says with all sincerity in his wonderfully deep gravelly voice. "One of my friends tells me the house has been coined Hôtel du Cap for the service we provide. And we do want to make our guests feel as comfortable as possible."
Blue-and-white ceramics are displayed in an intimate sitting area between the living and dining rooms.
Lounge chairs; fabric; drapery: owner's collection.
Round table (silver leaf bamboo tea-height table); side table (wrought-iron base from antique balcony, with limestone top); vases (Chinese Export porcelain and antique Delft pieces); lamp (antique); art (by Robert Motherwell): owner's collection.
Carpet (sisal, leather bound): Stark, starkcarpet.com.
Desk Area
Dennis and Michael built their Hamptons home 17 years ago on a two-acre potato field, and have added to and renovated it over the years with the help of Alpert.
An antique 1920s secretary multitasks as a display case for blue-and-white dishes and also a place to pen a note.
Black-and-White Kitchen
While Alpert was the interior designer for the projects, he readily shares credit with Dennis. "When we did the kitchen, Dennis came to me with the inspiration. He wanted black-and-white checkerboard floors and a very white kitchen," says Alpert. The gallery hallway was Dennis's vision, too, modeled after something similar in a magazine.
"That's what makes working with Dennis so great. You give Dennis a platform and he runs with it," Alpert says. The designer focuses on selecting furnishings, fabrics, paint colors, and wallcoverings, and Dennis takes over accessorizing.
Three oversize Charles Edwards light pendants that Dennis found in London hang from the wood plank tray ceiling.
Cabinetry (custom, inset cabinet doors, brushed nickel hardware); exhaust hood; center island; black granite countertop: Central Kitchens, centralkitchenscorp.com.
Backsplash (white beveled oversized subway tile); checkerboard flooring (black and white marble): Shelly Tile Ltd. 212/832-2255.
Ovens; rangetop: Wolf, subzero-wolf.com.
Light fixtures over island ("Hanging Square Drum Shade Light," large #HS.322.LG, custom): Charles Edwards, charlesedwards.com.
Bar stools: TK Collections, tkcollections.com.
Collection of blue-and-white Mexican pieces: Uriarte Talavera, uriartetalaveraus.com.
Dining Area
"For most of my clients I do it all, but not for Dennis. I get a room done and then Dennis opens up his closets, and the next thing you know it looks like they've lived there 100 years," Alpert says.
Checkerboard marble tiles flow from the kitchen to a French-door-lined hall that leads to a back stairway.
Table (forged iron): custom.
Chairs: TK Collections, tkcollections.com.
Dining Room
Dining room walls are sheathed in horizontal wood planks painted white, a treatment that adds a casual feel to the beach house and provides a clean backdrop for the deep blue chairs and accessories.
Many furnishings are custom made, including a dining table that can be configured multiple ways to host any number of guests. "The table breaks apart and can become three tables that seat 12 or four tables that seat eight," says Dennis. "We can bring in some additional round tables, and we have our own mahogany ballroom chairs. We've been able to seat up to 62 people in that dining room.
"We've done a lot of celebrating in this house—Christmases to engagements to birthdays to dinners for no reason," he adds.
A pair of 1890s wrought-iron chandeliers hang above the custom table. Chairs are covered in a Nancy Corzine fabric. The Italian carved-wood dolphin plant stands date from the 1920s.
Table (custom); chairs; chair fabric; drapery; sideboard (custom, ebony and gold leaf vein, marble top): owner's collection.
Chandeliers (mid-18th-century): John King Antiques, London, 011 44 207 730 0427.
Pedestals (Italian carved oak, 1920s): owner's collection.
Lamps (ebony and silver, 1930s): Carlton Davidson Antiques, carltondavidson.co.uk.
Stemware ("Grand-Lieu"): Saint-Louis Crystal, saint-louis.com.
Dinnerware (1930s Tiffany): owner's collection.
Candlesticks and silver (vintage): Creel and Gow, creelandgow.com.
Tea Service
An antique silver tea set sits beneath a painting by Jean Dubuffet.
Silver tea service (family heirloom); art (by Jean Dubuffet): owner's collection.
Cozy Library
Walls in the master bedroom and library are covered in grass cloth and raffia, giving the rooms a warm, cozy vibe. Arm chairs with faux fur throws sit in front of the fireplace inviting a sit with a good book, or maybe even a nap.
Chairs; ottoman: owner's collection.
Chair-and-ottoman fabric; drapery; hurricanes on mantel ("Glen Plaid Hurricane in Brass" #6821621223EW): Ralph Lauren Home, ralphlaurenhome.com.
Faux fur throw: Dennis Basso Home, qvc.com.
Topiary ("Preserved Boxwood Tree Topiaries"): Restoration Hardware, rh.com.
Table (early 18th-century opium bed); floor lamp (vintage): owner's collection.
Collection of coral and quartz: Creel and Gow, creelandgow.com.
Master Bedroom
Alpert used wall treatments to define the moods and roles of various rooms in the 8,500-square-foot house. Sand-toned raffia wallcovering provides a casual and textural backdrop for the Nancy Corzine "Watermill" bed and "Valmont Lounge" settee. French doors open to the pool deck.
Bed ("Watermill" #9018Q); chair ("Valmont Lounge" #2050): Nancy Corzine, nancycorzine.com.
Wallcovering: grasscloth.
Art behind bed: by Robert Natkin, robertnatkin.com.
Chinese garden stool: vintage.
Area rug (sisal, leather-bound): Stark, starkcarpet.com.
Bedside table; lamps: owner's collection.
Master Bath
The vintage-style sink faucets are from Perrin & Rowe.
Flooring: Carrara marble.
Bathtub ("Vintage" #K-700-0): Kohler, kohler.com.
Tub filler and sink faucet (Edwardian Collection by Perrin & Rowe): Rohl, rohlhome.com.
Subway tile backsplash: Waterworks, waterworks.com.
Guest Room
A departure from the blue-and-white palette of the rest of the house, the guest room has a more neutral palette with shades of brown. Four framed etchings hang above the brown linen headboard. The bed is dressed with crisp white linens with brown detailing.
Fabulous Porch
A 4,000-square-foot two-story addition was completed in 2010 to create a spacious dining room, eat-in kitchen, butler's pantry, laundry room, and three upstairs guest rooms. A gallery-like hall with French doors opening to the pool connects the new rooms. It also forms one leg of the house's U-shape that embraces the pool and deck area. French doors in the living room open to the mahogany deck area, too, so guests can easily spill outside to enjoy the pool, ocean air, and the green lawn that rolls toward a tennis court.
Their first addition to the home though was an outdoor pavilion for entertaining (of course) with a sitting area grouped in front of a wood-burning fireplace, a bar, and a dining spot.
Two massive circa-1850 lanterns on each side of the outdoor fireplace were scored at a Paris flea market after a quick phone consult with Alpert. "We hadn't even built the pavilion yet but we figured we'd find a place to use them," Dennis says. "We sent an iPhone photo to Kenneth and he said, 'They're fabulous, go for it.' "
Guests often gather around the wood-burning fireplace in an area dubbed the "lantern lounge" because of the antique fixtures.
Sofas: Janus et Cie, janusetcie.com.
Chairs and fabric: Weatherend Estate Furniture, weatherend.com.
Carpet ("Darrin Outdoor Rug"/Navy, Beige #114392): Frontgate, frontgate.com.
Table ("Wright Cocktail Table" #07016-484); throw pillows (custom): Lorin Marsh, lorinmarsh.com.
Ceramic stool ("Classic Garden Seat"): Ballard Designs, ballarddesigns.com.
Coral-framed mirror on mantel: custom.
Wall lanterns (French, early 1800s); owner's collection.
Deck Bar
An overhang protects an outdoor sitting and dining area. The large lamps on the bar are from William-Wayne & Co.
Lamps on bar (from William-Wayne); fern ("Kimberly Queen Fern): owner's collection.
Outdoor Dining
When setting a table, Dennis artfully mixes new and vintage dishes, glassware, flatware, and linens—in his signature blue and white. "Even if we just have four people, the table has to be pretty," he insists. In minutes, he can dress the terrace table (custom made in Italy with a blue-and-white ceramic top) with a casual combination of deep blue Tiffany chargers, Royal Copenhagen plates, Pottery Barn glassware, and antique flatware.
White wicker chairs surround the ceramic-topped table, which is just outside the kitchen. "This is our go-to table for dining when the weather is nice," Dennis says.
Table (ceramic on stone base); chairs; chargers (by Tiffany); stemware (from Pottery Barn); flatware (Italian); placemats and napkins (by Josef Frank): owner's collection.
Plates ("Blue Fluted"): Royal Copenhagen, royalcopenhagen.us.
Blue-and-White Tabletop
"I've heard Dennis say he could set a table for 40 people in blue-and-white splendor without renting a thing—everything is theirs," Alpert says. "With the table, he's a magician." The couple's garage rivals any catering house, lined with shelves of dishes and tabletop accoutrements, all carefully numbered and categorized.
"I have a great love for blue and white, as you can see," says Dennis, whose collections include Chinese export porcelain, Mexican Uriarte, Dutch Delft, and Denmark's Royal Copenhagen.
A custom ceramic table made in Italy is set with Pottery Barn stemware, Royal Copenhagen plates, and Tiffany chargers.
Pool Deck
Plants climb latticework on an exterior wall of the kitchen addition, adding greenery and softness to the deck space.
Fencing: custom.
Planters ("Orangerie"): Walpole Outdoors, walpolewoodworkers.com.
Ferns: Kimberly ferns.
Deck landscape and flowers: Kim Jon Designs, kimjondesigns.com.
Settee: owner's collection.
Fabric: Sunbrella, sunbrella.com.
Umbrellas: Thayer's Hardware & Patio, thayershardware.com.
Homeowner and fashion designer Dennis Basso


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WASHINGTON — Brian Ching's 89th-minute goal earned the Houston Dynamo a 2-2 draw against D.C. United and a valuable road point at RFK Stadium on Saturday.
The forward's tally canceled out goals from DC's Charlie Davies and Chris Pontius, which came either side of a first-half Brad Davis penalty.
Looking to take revenge from a 4-1 loss earlier in the year, DC dominated possession in the first 20 minutes, creating a number of scoring opportunities that they couldn't convert.
The hard work finally paid off in the 31st minute. Midfielder Dax McCarty hustled to keep a ball in play on the left wing. He found Josh Wolff running away from goal, who kept the ball moving to Chris Pontius. From 25 years out, the midfielder took two touches to find space and fired a driven shot past a sprawling Tally Hall.
Just 10 minutes later, Houston got on the board. Brian Ching received the ball in the DC box and goalkeeper Bill Hamid dove in, reaching for the ball. Ching eluded Hamid, and his left foot caught the Dynamo striker. Referee Mark Kadlecik pointed to the spot, and Brad Davis stepped up and converted the penalty to tie the game in the 41st minute.
United weren't content to sit on the tie and continued to press forward. McCarty almost scored off a corner, and Hall came up huge to save Davies' header. Right before the half, Hamid then had to be alert to keep out a Will Bruin header.
While DC started the game on the front foot, Houston came out of the gates in the second a much different side — this despite having to sub off playmaker Davis for Colin Clark. In the 58th minute, Hamid tipped a speculative volley from Danny Cruz onto the bar, and Perry Kitchen's lunging block off Bruin kept it tied.
As DC struggled to seize momentum, Houston kept pressing in search of their first win on the road. Clark, in a lively substitute's role, sent a low cross in that eluded a diving Hamid, and Cruz hit off the post with an empty net.
Despite Houston's bright performance in the second half, DC took the lead again in the 73rd minute. Substitute Fred played a cross-field ball to the right wing for Andy Najar, who danced past Clark. A Houston defender intervened to strip Najar, but Davies was there to poke home past Hall.
The Dynamo were down but not out. Throwing numbers forward in search of an equalizer, it came in the 89th minute. Clark had time on the left wing, and curled in a cross to an unmarked Ching for the tying goal.
Scoring Summary:
DC -- Chris Pontius 5 (Josh Wolff 4, Dax McCarty 2) 31
HOU -- Brad Davis 2 (penalty kick) 41
DC -- Charlie Davies 8 (unassisted) 73
HOU -- Brian Ching 1 (Colin Clark 1, Geoff Cameron 3) 89
Misconduct Summary:
HOU -- Kofi Sarkodie (caution; Reckless Tackle) 74
DC -- Chris Pontius (caution; Dissent) 96+
HOU -- Danny Cruz (caution; Delaying a Restart) 96+
Houston Dynamo -- Tally Hall, Kofi Sarkodie (Cam Weaver 78), Jermaine Taylor, Andre Hainault, Corey Ashe (Mike Chabala 68), Danny Cruz, Je-Vaughn Watson, Geoff Cameron, Brad Davis (Colin Clark 46), Brian Ching, Will Bruin.
Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Boswell, Hunter Freeman, Jason Garey, Tyler Deric.
D.C. United -- Bill Hamid, Jed Zayner, Perry Kitchen, Ethan White, Daniel Woolard, Andy Najar, Clyde Simms, Dax McCarty (Fred 59), Chris Pontius, Charlie Davies (Stephen King 85), Josh Wolff (Blake Brettschneider 69).
Substitutes Not Used: Brandon Barklage, Chris Korb, Conor Shanosky, Steve Cronin.
Referee: Mark Kadlecik
Referee's Assistants: Rob Fereday; James Conlee
4th Official: John McCloskey
Time of Game: 1:53
Attendance: 15,734
Weather: Cloudy and 84 degrees


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How to
Use the Activities
Inquiry Question
The following activities will help students learn more about how technology has affected warfare and how wars are memorialized.
Activity 1: Victory or Defeat?
Activity 2: Technology and Warfare
Activity 3: Remembering the Battle of Midway
Explain to students that on September 13, 2000, Midway Atoll was designated as the Battle of Midway National Memorial. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service administers the Memorial. One monument to the battle has already been constructed. In January 2002, the Fish and Wildlife Service formed a planning committee to develop a strategy for a public dedication for the memorial and to plan commemorative exhibits. Ask students what they think should happen? Should structures surviving from the battle, like the magazine shown in Photo 6, be preserved? Why? How should they be marked and interpreted? What is the best way to commemorate a battle that took place at sea? Ask local veterans' groups if they can locate someone who participated in the Battle of Midway who would speak to the class about his experiences. Ask the veteran how he thinks the battle should be remembered.
Ask the students whether there is an alternate way to help Americans remember the battle given the difficulty of traveling to Midway. Can they think of an appropriate site for a memorial marker? Have them work in small groups to prepare an inscription of about 100 words that could be placed on an interpretive marker. Then have the class compare the groups' ideas and chose one they think best presents important information about the Battle of Midway.
Activity 4: Local War Memorials
1Edmund L. Castillo, Midway: Battle for the Pacific (New York: Random House, 1989), 149.


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It looks complex, but put Inon's X-2 housing in perspective and you will appreciate its grace. Meant for Panasonic's micro four thirds GF1, the X-2 adds bulk, but only enough to make your camera around the size of an SLR.
This approach spares divers from adding thick casing to an SLR, and winding up something, well, much larger than an SLR. And with a window for the GF1's LCD screen, you won't need to squint through a viewfinder when you're at massive allowed depths of up go 246 feet. The X-2's beauty comes at a price, costing around $2,200 (and $150 for each attachable light), but really, when you're almost 250 feet underwater, don't skimp on equipment. [Inon via Wired]


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Harvard wrestling, men's lacrosse and women's lacrosse will appear 10 times on ESPN3 and WatchESPN.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard Department of Athletics is pleased to announce that it has partnered with ESPN to broadcast select wrestling, men's lacrosse and women's lacrosse games live through ESPN3 and WatchESPN this spring. ESPN3 will pick up the broadcasts from the Ivy League Digital Network, which will be produced in-house by Harvard.
The wrestling team's regular-season finale versus Lehigh, which will be held at Lavietes Pavilion on Feb. 23, will be the first event to hit the ESPN networks with action slated to begin at 12 p.m. The Crimson will host a youth dual prior to the match pitting Smitty's Wrestling Barn out of Danville, N.H., against the Doughboys of Lowell, Mass.
The men's lacrosse team will have three games broadcast on ESPN3 and WatchESPN beginning with its March 22 meeting with Dartmouth. The games against Boston University (April 8) and No. 10/8 Princeton (April 19) will also be available nationally.
The women's lacrosse team will appear on ESPN3 and WatchESPN a total of six times including March 26 when it plays host to Boston College. The squad will also play against Vanderbilt (April 2), Brown (April 5), No. 15 Princeton (April 12), Boston University (April 16) and Dartmouth (April 25) in front of a national audience.
ESPN3 is available online to all customers with a subscription to a participating cable provider. The WatchESPN App is available on all mobile devices and requires a video subscription from an affiliated provider. To learn more about ESPN3 and WatchESPN, click here.
All 10 games which will be broadcast through ESPN3 and WatchESPN will also be available through a subscription to the Ivy League Digital Network.
Broadcast Schedule
Sun., Feb. 23
Wrestling vs. Lehigh
12 p.m.


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Turtle Beach has quite a reputation among gamers for being the go-to guy when it comes to headsets. They aren't cheap, but for serious game fanatics, the payout is usually worth it.
With Call of Duty: Black Ops II now hitting the shelves, Turtle Beach has released a series of limited-edition headphones to go along with the game. Pocket-lint has been playing through the new game with the top-of-the-line Ear Force Sierras plonked on our heads. So how do they sound?
The Sierra headphones are designed for tournament gamers, those who need to be able to get the most from their headphones when they play online. As such, they aren't wireless, because of the interference caused by multiple wireless headsets at a gaming event. There is, however, the Ear Force Tango model, which is a touch more expensive at £299, and comes with a wireless unit.
The Sierra comes in at £279, which is quite an asking price for a wired gaming headset, but it doesn't disappoint. In terms of build, you get a Black Ops II emblazoned set of earphones, with a matching orange and black wrapped lead.
Inside the 'phones is a printed Turtle Beach logo, with the top cushion that rests on your head also wrapped in orange and black. They aren't exactly restrained, but definitely suit the gamer and Call of Duty style.
Attached to the headphones is a large volume controller with eight different sound preset buttons that you can either customise to make your own or opt for the specially designed Treyarch offerings. These are designed to either enhance certain elements of the single-player campaign, or give you the edge in multiplayer by doing things such as raise bullet and footstep sounds.
The headphones really come into their own when you realise just how customisable that Dolby Surround is. You can, for example, select the angle of each speaker, to adjust the 3D effect. It is also possible to adjust the volume of individual speaker groups in the virtual 5.1 setup. All of this is done via the simple to use LED backlit touch-sensitive volume controller.
The microphone on the Sierra headset can morph your voice in order to disguise it while you are playing multiplayer, a handy feature should you like to annoy people regularly online.
In practice, we spent a long time fiddling with the sound settings to try to make our own favourites, but soon discovered the Treyarch offerings were vastly better. It is also possible to download and install on to the headphones other settings for other flagship games - Assassin's Creed III, for example.
The headphones were capable of an impressively bass-heavy sound and were very detailed with a highly convincing 3D effect. There are other headphones that cost the same which might sound better with music, but these are designed specifically for surround sound games. As such, you get a vastly enhanced Call of Duty experience. It does depend somewhat on the quality of the game soundtrack, Forza Horizon, for example, sounded amazing.
Voice chat was also clear and crisp and of the standard you would expect from a Turtle Beach headset.
They might cost, but these top-of-the-line Sierra headphones are seriously persuasive for a Call of Duty fan. There are cheaper options, such as the £89 Ear Force Kilo, which we haven't heard yet. These come without the customisation, but are said to provide similar bass performance, although we can't be sure.


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Fallone defends signing recall petition
Law professor challenging incumbent justice
A candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court confirmed he signed a petition for the recall of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, but said it would not affect his ability to judge cases related to the governor, should he win the court seat.
Ed Fallone, a professor at Marquette University Law School, is challenging incumbent Justice Pat Roggensack in the April 2 election. Justices serve 10-year terms.
Fallone's name was one of several hundred thousand on petitions submitted to the Government Accountability Board, seeking for Walker to be recalled.
"The act of signing a recall petition is the constitutional right of a private citizen," Fallone told WISN 12 News.
"There is no requirement, either under the mandatory disqualification provisions or the code of judicial conduct, that would require me to recuse myself in any matter involving the governor in the future," he said.
Walker's opponents succeeded in forcing him to a recall election on June 5, 2012, but Walker won the election over the Democratic candidate, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
In his campaign, Fallone has tried to highlight what he calls the "dysfunction" on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In 2011, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley accused Justice David Prosser of trying to choke her during an argument in chambers. Roggensack was a witness to the argument and reportedly physically separated Prosser and Bradley.
Roggensack has told reporters the justices are getting along fine now, and she pushed back against Fallone's court dysfunction argument.
"The dustup is certainly shocking, but I wasn't involved in it. I didn't do it. Doesn't it feel a little unfair to you that I'm getting tapped with this? It feels unfair to me, frankly," Roggensack told WISN 12 News.
"If I were before a judge and the judge were going to judge me based on what someone else did, I wouldn't think much of that judge. Yet that's what Ed Fallone wants the public to do," Roggensack said.
Click here to read more on the debate between the candidates.


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Thank you, John, and musicians, thank you all for worshiping the Lord with us tonight. And again, we're all on a place of trying to recover from the testimonies that we heard. Our Sunday nights are so remarkable. I used to say this is our miracle service, there's no question about it. The one great miracle that the Lord is performing all the time is the miracle of salvation, transforming lives and what a thrill to hear the testimonies again tonight as we do every Sunday night together.
There is in the city of Los Angeles a rather famous place, certainly well known among our Jewish population, it's called the Simon Wiesenthal Center. I've had the privilege on a number of occasions to participate in the Larry King television program with the rabbi from the Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Hyer(?), an interesting and gracious man. I've enjoyed getting to know him a little bit.
You might know of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and not know anything about Simon himself. Let me tell you a little bit of his story.
He was a prisoner in the Maudhousen(?) Concentration Camp in Poland...a Jew, of course. One day he was assigned because all the prisoners had certain duties to perform, he was assigned to clean out garbage from a barn in the middle of that concentration camp that had been converted into a hospital which was used to give medical treatment to SS German soldiers who were wounded. Toward evening when he was fulfilling his duties of cleaning out the rubbish in that place, a nurse took him by the hand and led him to a bed where there was lying a young SS trooper. The story goes that the young man was 21 years of age. The biographer says his face was bandaged with puss-soaked rags, eyes tucked somewhere behind the gauze. He grabbed Wiesenthal's hand and clutched it. He said that he had to talk to a Jew. He could not die before he confessed the sins he had committed against helpless Jews, and he had to be forgiven by a Jew before he died.
And so he told Wiesenthal his sad tale, how he belonged to a battalion that had gunned down many Jews, men, women and children. On one occasion, a number of them who were trying to escape from a house that the troopers had set on fire, and when they ran for their lives they were mowed down.
Wiesenthal listened to the dying man's story. First the story of his youth, his innocent youth. And then the story of his participation in evil and the massacre of Jews. After hearing the story, Wiesenthal pulled his hand away. No, the biographer says he jerked his hand out of the hand of that dying SS trooper and walked out of the barn. No word was spoken and no forgiveness was given.
Wiesenthal would not, could not forgive. But he was not sure he did right. He has written his own story in a book called The Sunflower. That book ends with this question, "What would you have done?" Thirty-two eminent persons, mostly Jewish, contributed their answers to Wiesenthal's hard question. Most said Wiesenthal was right, he should not have forgiven the SS trooper, it would have not been fair, why should a man who gave his will to the doing of monumental evil expect a quick word of forgiveness on his death bed? And what right had Wiesenthal to forgive the man for evil he had done to other Jews? And if Wiesenthal forgave the soldier, he would be saying that the holocaust was not so evil. One respondent said, "Let the SS trooper go to hell."
Well, that's a far cry from what the Lord asks of us, isn't it? And yet many of us feel the same way when we are unfairly treated, when we are hurt, when we are wounded, when we are maligned, when we are mistreated in far less horrible ways than this. And sometimes our hate is the only card we hold. Our only weapon is our contempt. Our only way of consolation is to get even. And why should we forgive anyway?
It was some years ago I wrote a book called The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness. People always ask me, which is my favorite book of the books I've written? And that's like asking me which is my favorite child or grandchild. That's very hard, in fact it's impossible to pick. But of all the books that I have written, this one seems to me among the handful that are the most important. For never are you more like God than when you forgive....never. Never are you less like God than when you will not forgive. And that comes straight from Jesus who said, "Forgive your enemies and demonstrate that you are children of your Father." Never are you more like God than when you forgive.
Forgiveness is critical in our lives. In fact, every violated relationship that is ultimately ended is ultimately ended not because of the violation but because of the unwillingness to forgive. You can recover from any violation, from any breach if you forgive. But when there will never be a reconciliation, it will be so because someone will not forgive.
Among those who are Christians in the fellowship of God's people, this is absolutely unacceptable. Unforgiveness is a serious sin.
Now open your Bible to Matthew chapter 18 and we're going to learn from our Lord Jesus about forgiveness. In the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, we have a message from Jesus, from beginning to end it is one great message interrupted only in verses 21 and 22 because Peter poses a question. And Matthew tells us that Jesus gave him an answer. Everything else is right out of the mouth of Jesus after the beginning of verse 3. It is a long presentation by our Lord on the childlikeness of the believer.
We've been working our way through the chapter. We are converted. We become like children. And that's how we enter the Kingdom of heaven. We enter the Kingdom like children. Once we are in the Kingdom, we are still children. We are to be protected like children, not doing anything to lead any other believer into anything harmful or sinful. We are to be cared for like children. We are to be disciplined like children. We've been working our way through all of these elements, all of these features and characteristics of life among the children of God. We protect each other. We care for each other. We confront each other's sin and put each other through a process that calls us back to holiness and obedience.
And now we come in verse 21 to the responsibility to forgive one another like children. And I might add at this particular point, remember our Lord is in a house in Capernaum, very possibly Peter's house, and as a living illustration of what He's talking about, He's holding in His arms a little child. And the little child is the illustration of believers. And here He's going to tell us that it's critical as children that we forgive each other. Typically we don't have much trouble forgiving children because we know they're weak. We don't have difficulty forgiving our own children when they wrong, when they disobey us, when they talk back, when they sin. We are eager to forgive them because we love them and because we understand they're weak. And so it is in the family of God.
There has to be vast room for forgiveness. And as I said, never are you more like God than when you forgive. And Proverbs 19:11 says, "It is a man's glory to pass by a transgression." Never are you more noble, never are you more exalted as a human being than when you forgive, when you pass over a transgression. Ephesians 4:32 says that we are to forgive one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Or in the words of Colossians 3:13, "Forgive one another even as Christ forgave you, so also do you." We are to forgive because it is godlike. We are to forgive because we understand that we are weak and we fail and we sin and we are ever and always in need of forgiveness. We are to forgive because it is the noblest thing we do. We are to forgive because God in Christ has forgiven us.
You have some wonderful models of forgiveness in the Old Testament. Genesis chapter 50, you have Joseph forgiving his brothers for the horrific deed of selling him into slavery. In 1 Samuel 24 you have David in verse 7 forgiving his enemy Saul. In 1 Samuel 25 you have David forgiving Nabal. In 2 Samuel 19, David forgiving Shimei who cursed him.
You have a lot of illustrations of forgiveness. The greatest illustration of forgiveness is God in Christ. Forgiveness is basic to Christian experience. Paul wrote a letter to his friend Philemon who had a runaway slave named Onesimus and Paul had met him in Rome, led him to the knowledge of the gospel. He was converted to Christ, Paul says you've got to go back. And he writes the letter called Philemon, pleading with Philemon to forgive him and take him back.
Forgiveness is so basic with God's dealings with us that it must also be basic to our dealing with one another. Yes, we admit we're weak, sinful, foolish, prone to disobedience, ignorant. We need lots of forgiveness. Instead of being eager to condemn, we need to be eager to forgive.
Paul addresses this if you look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And I think in a very personal way there was a man in the assembly of the Corinthian church who had given no small amount of grief to Paul himself and consequently to the church. Paul didn't have an ounce of vengeance in his own heart. He knew himself as the chief of sinners, in need of much forgiveness. And he writes with regard to this case, beginning in verse 5 of chapter 2 in 2 Corinthians, "If any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me but in some degree in order not to say too much, to all of you." He admits that there's somebody who has brought sorrow to all of us, somebody who sinfully has inflicted us all.
Verse 6 he says, "Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority." Somehow, someway in the church there was inflicted upon this man a proper discipline for that sin. Sufficient is that punishment so that, verse 7, "On the contrary, you should rather forgive." It is now time, you have inflicted the man, he has been confronted by his sin, he has been demonstrated to be culpable. You've gone through the process, obviously some process of restoration. Now it is time to forgive and comfort him, lest someone...lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Look it, that's enough. You confront the sin. You deal with the sin. You gain your brother, as we learned earlier in Matthew chapter 18, and now it is time to flood him with forgiveness and encouragement.
So, in verse 8, "Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him, for to this end also I wrote that I might put you to the test where you're obedient in all things. By whom you forgive anything, I forgive also." You don't have to be vengeful toward him, thinking that I am. You don't have to imagine that I want to inflict him with pain, that I want to get back at him. You forgive him and you will be doing what I have done. "Indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan. For we're not ignorant of his schemes."
You want to put yourself in a position to be overtaken by a scheme of Satan? Then be unforgiving...be unforgiving. That's a wide-open door for Satan to move in. I forgave the man. That's enough. Love him, forgive him, encourage and comfort him, enough is enough. It is time for forgiveness. And if you don't forgive, you're going to put yourself in a position to give advantage to Satan.
Forgiveness then in the New Testament is very, very important issue. Back to Matthew 6, for a moment. In Matthew 6 it comes down to this in the words of Jesus, verse 12 in this familiar prayer often called the Lord's Prayer, really the disciples' prayer. "And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." Or, "Forgive us our sins as we also forgive those who sinned against us. There's a sense in which, we're not going to enjoy the fullness of God's forgiveness if we don't forgive others. Cause if we don't forgive others, we are in sin. And that's why verse 14 follows it up. "If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. If you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." You're going to be in a situation even as a believer where before the Lord you have sin that has not been dealt with and you're going to be under discipline and chastening rather than enjoying the joy of confession, repentance and forgiveness.
How important is forgiveness? Never are you more like God than when you forgive. Never are you more noble than when you're forgiving. That is, it is the glory of a man to overlook a transgression. When you forgive others, you free yourself of the sin of unforgiveness and you open the flood gates of God's blessing and He forgives you. Forgiveness is critical in the life of the church of Jesus Christ.
Individual families break up, marriages break up, churches break up. Why? You often probe and say, "Well wait a minute, why did this happen, why did this happen?" In the end, it happens ultimately because somebody or more than one somebody won't forgive. There isn't any relationship where sin doesn't exist. There isn't any relationship where offenses don't happen, whether you're talking about a marriage, a family, a friendship, a Bible study, a church. We can't survive without forgiveness. I need it, you need it, everybody related to me needs it, everybody related to you needs it as well. We have to live in the midst of a constantly forgiving environment. This should be our highest joy. It should be our delight because it is God's joy and delight to forgive us.
Now the whole subject is introduced by Peter. And you can return to Matthew chapter 18 and the Lord has been talking about sin. He's been talking about when somebody sins in the church, you go to him. If he repents, you've gained your brother. If he doesn't repent, take two or three witnesses, confront him. If he still doesn't repent, tell the church. Send the church. If he doesn't listen to the church and repent, put him out.
Now Peter is listening to all of this. Peter usually speaks for himself and the rest, he's kind of their spokesman. We can well assume that they were all probably having the same thoughts. Okay, so you're going to confront somebody who sins and they're going to repent. Because that's usually what happens.
Sometimes in a communion service here at Grace Church, I give you a name and I describe a sin of someone who will not repent. They won't respond when some individuals go to him. They won't respond when two or three go with him. They won't respond when the church goes after them. And so finally when we mention their name, the category of their sin, we put them out. But that is very unusual. All kinds of things are being resolved before you ever get to step four because as true believers when we're confronted by somebody who says, "That's a sin," if we love righteousness and hate sin, the basic response is going to be, "Oh, I'm sorry, forgive me." Normally no one wants to have their name announced in church. That's a pretty resolute sinner who may well not be a believer at all, but only a sham believer who will run that all the way to that extreme. So most of the time you're going to go to your brother, you're going to confront your brother and your brother is going to repent. Or if he's a little resistant the first time, by the time you take two or three, he's going to see this thing as you see it and he's going to repent, or she's going to repent. Most of the time that's resolved at that level. So that poses the question...just how often do we do this? And that's the question that Peter asks, verse 21.
"Peter came and said to Him, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?'" Peter's getting the picture. When somebody sins, you go to him, you confront him, he repents. And guess what? We tend to be creatures of habit, don't we? Not just nominal, marginal, nondescript habits, but sinful habits. We all have our sort of bent, categories where we are more susceptible to temptation and sin. So how many times is this going to happen? Peter also knows his own heart and he knows that he also falls into the similar trap again and again and again. So, Lord, how often am I going to confront my brother? Have my brother repent and I'm going to forgive him how often? And then feeling very magnanimous he says, "Up to seven times?" And he's patting his own back when he's saying it.
From among the group in the house in Capernaum, Peter comes forward, probably came close to Jesus and asks this important question...a question that may have been rumbling through the crowd. You know, Peter does have a quick tongue, but he also has got a very inquisitive mind. I love inquisitive people. I am a very inquisitive person. There are people who know me well who label me as the most inquisitive person they have ever known. I hope that you're the beneficiary of that. I'm that...I'm not satisfied with a superficial understanding of anything. I drove my parents crazy asking them questions. Thank God if you have an inquisitive child. That is potential because kids who want answers, solve problems and problem solvers move the world. And by the way, I would much prefer hanging around inquisitive people. It can get pretty boring around people who ask no questions. Why? Because I've got tons of answers just waiting to be given. I love inquisitive people.
That was Peter. I like him for a lot of reasons, that's one of them. And so he says, "Now just exactly how many times am I supposed to do this? Seven times?" Now there is some magnanimity in that. You remember it was Louis XII who said, "Nothing smells as sweet as the dead body of your enemy." Well that's a little different approach, the approach that caused the French Revolution, by the way. But forgiveness is foreign to fallen man's nature. What is consistent with fallen man's nature is anger, hatred, vengeance, retaliation, grudge, grievance. It shows up in our culture in the ubiquitous lawsuit. But God's people are to be like Jesus who hanging on the cross said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," or Steven falling on his knees while they're crushing the life out of him with stones in Acts 7:60, crying out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And having said that, he died. That's a Christian attitude, to forgive at once every sin the sinner sins at once cause God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. We hold nothing against the person who has wronged us, whether he has settled with his sin with God or not, whether he has settled his sin with me or not, I forgive. The restoration of the relationship may not come immediately, but I free my own heart from any grudge and I forgive.
Now certainly this is the attitude implied in the discipline process in 15 to 18. He comes to the sinner, confronts the sinner, the sinner repents, you've gained your brother, that's it. Reconciliation. Gain your brother is reconciliation. That's the whole idea. When he confesses the sin, you don't hold it against him, you forgive and you've gained your brother. We always forgive in our hearts. Full restoration comes when true repentance comes. But that's the picture here. You go to the person, you confront the person, the person repents, now you've got not only forgiveness but reconciliation.
And so, Peter's getting the message. And he asks, "What is the extent of this? What's the extent of this forgiveness? Seven times?" Jewish tradition limited forgiveness to three times. You get three strikes and that is it. They based it on Old Testament prophet Amos, several passages in Amos. And a statement in Job 33:29 that didn't say this but the rabbi said all kinds of ways of tweaking the Scripture to make it come out to their liking. They said three acts of forgiveness was the limit. If three transgressions filled up the measure that God would forgive, then we couldn't go beyond God. Rabbi Joseph Ben Hannena(??) said, "He who begs forgiveness from his neighbor must not do so more than three times." Rabbi Joseph Ben Yahoida(?) said, "If a man commits an offense once, they forgive him. And if he commits an offense a second time, they forgive him. If he commits an offense a third time, they forgive him. The fourth time, they do not forgive." So the rabbis put boundaries on forgiveness. Peter was raised in the culture, that's the way he would have understood it.
So, doubtless, when Peter says seven times, he thinks he has reached the heights of generosity. He probably thought he would be commended by the Lord for being so kind. And, you know, Peter's been three years with Jesus, so he understood something of the Savior's heart, something of His attitude, something of His mercy, something of His forgiving spirit. He caught something of the love of Jesus, something of the forgiveness of Jesus that broadened him from the narrowness of Judaism. He advanced, let's say, beyond the men of his age and the men of his nation. And so he says seven. To which our Lord replies, "Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."
Whoa! That must have taken his breath away. He could do the math. Four hundred and ninety times? Now that is not to say you count and when they hit 491 it's over. The number is so large that keeping count would be impossible. There's nothing binding in the 490. The Lord just picks up on Peter's choice of the number seven and multiplies it by the numerical ten and seven to show the endlessness of forgiveness.
In Luke chapter 17 and verse 4, Luke says, the discussion must have gone on and Jesus said a few other things because in Luke 17:4 Jesus says, "If he sins against you seven times a day and returns to you seven times saying, 'I repent,' forgive him." Four hundred and ninety times on the big picture, and even if it's seven times in the same day, you forgive, you forgive, you forgive, you forgive and you keep on forgiving.
This is unending. No limits, no boundaries, it is relentless, endless, constant forgiveness. And then to seal this in the minds of the listeners, He tells a wonderful story. Jesus begins the story in verse 23. "For this reason, the Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents."
Now let me stop here for just a minute. Very familiar story. You have a king who has a kingdom. It's a picture of God and His heavenly Kingdom. This king had some slaves. These slaves, obviously in this story context, had been given responsibility. They had been given money to function in their delegated realms. Maybe they were regional governors, or regional leaders. They were responsible to the king to give an accounting of what they did with the money. It would involve fiscal responsibility, collecting taxes, using the money for the expression of the will of the king. When the accounts were being settled, there was one of these responsible people who had received a delegated duty, who was brought before him, owed him ten thousand talents. Now this is just an impossible amount...absolutely impossible. Total revenue in a given year in Idumaea, Judea and Samaria is six hundred talents. The total revenue in Galilee is three hundred talents. Ten thousand talents, are you kidding? This is incomprehensible.
In other words, he owed...the point of the story is he owed the man an amount that never could be paid, an incredible, incredible sum. In fact, ten thousand may not even be a number. It is the largest number in the Greek language that has a word, it's the word murion, myriad. It is the highest Greek enumeration expressed in a word. I suppose today we would say, he owed him a zillion, beyond the ability to calculate. This is the debt that he owes. There's 25 cents that says since he didn't have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had and repayment to be made. He could never pay it all back, so the king had every right to sell him and his wife and his children into slavery to get whatever he could get, maybe a few cents on every dollar, if you will.
He had every right to do that. The man was in his debt. The man had no ability to pay. The only thing the man had was himself and his family and they happened to have value in a slave environment, let them be sold. Let me get what will be some meager compensation. Verse 26, "The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, I'll repay you everything.'" Nice try, fella. Ignorant penitence, couldn't pay it all, no way, impossible. But verse 27 says, "The lord of that slave felt compassion, released him, forgave him the debt ."
It's a picture of God, isn't it? The sinner comes before God with an unpayable debt. He's embezzled gospel opportunity. He's embezzled common grace. He's embezzled general revelation and privilege. He's embezzled his opportunity to honor God. He's wasted his life. He's racked up a bill of sin that is beyond his capability to ever pay. And God says, "Well, it's an unpayable debt but I could send you to hell and get some compensation." Hell is forever because the souls in hell, even though they're there forever do not pay back the debt they owe. It's unpayable. But then the slave falls down and says, "Have patience with me, I'll repay you everything." That's good intention. That's like the prodigal son who starts home and says, "Make me one of your hired servants and I'll earn my way back."
That's the assumption that you can buy your way to God, that you can buy your reconciliation, that you can buy your debt by good works, if you do enough good works, God will cancel out your sin because your good works will outdo your evil ones. He was wrong about that, of course. But for the sake of the point of the story, Jesus doesn't go into that, it just says the lord of the slave felt compassion, released him, forgave him the debt. And that's how forgiveness works, right? The Lord says forget it, you don't need to earn it, I give it as a gift, right? That's the prodigal. The prodigal comes home. He says I'm going to tell my father this, make me one of your hired servants. When he gets home, he drops that part of the speech because his father kisses him, embraces him and reconciles him before he's done one single thing to earn his way back.
Well, Peter and all his friends are listening to the story. It's an incredibly simple story and it's one they would grasp. And they would think...what a king, what a king who would forgive an unpayable debt just because he had compassion and who would forgive the thing completely just because the man asked without ever having to do anything to earn that forgiveness, he released him and forgave him the debt. How wonderful.
Of course, that's their story, isn't it? That's their story. They had come to Christ. That they had been forgiven of all their sin simply because they asked. By now they know salvation is a gift and it's a free gift given by God. So they buy into the story here. I'm sure they were thinking to themselves, well it was obvious this was a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven, this is God, this is God forgiving us who owe an unpayable debt of sin. And He gives us a gift just because He has compassion and because we ask penitently. This is our story. How wonderful.
And then the Lord takes the knife out.
But, verse 28, that slave went out, found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii. It's about well a day's wages, one denarii, so a hundred days. Small amount compared to ten thousand talents. "The slave went out, found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, seized him, began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.'" This is outrageous. This is frankly unfathomable. Who's the picture here? Who is in the picture? This is the Christian who has been offended, this is the Christian who has been sinned against by a family member, by a fellow Christian who will not forgive, though forgiven. No, we are here to take all the forgiveness God will give, right? Would you say the Lord forgives you seven times a day? How about 490 times a day? We'll gladly take all that we can get. But when somebody offends us, we get them in a strangle hold, seize him and say, "Pay back what you owe," and we hold a grudge.
So, verse 29, this fellow slave fell down when he let go of his throat, began to entreat him saying, and he gave the same speech, same words, "Have patience with me and I will repay you." And guess what? He could. He could pay back a hundred denarii. He could. "He was unwilling, however, and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed." This is not just right. "So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported all to their lord what had happened."
The slaves who knew the story came back to the lord, the king, and said, "Wait a minute, you know what happened? You know that slave you forgave completely all that unpayable debt? He went out and wouldn't forgive somebody who owed him just a little bit that could be paid back, he strangled him and threw him in the debtors' prison. And summoning him, his lord said, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you asked. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?'" This is outrageous behavior.
Within the family of God, among the children of God, within the body of Christ, lack of forgiveness toward any other believer who has sinned against us in any way is an outrage because we are the ones who have accepted the full forgiveness of God. Will we not give our own meager acceptance? If God who is most holy is so offended by every sin and will forgive, we who are least holy should be eager to forgive."
Then there's a penalty for not forgiving. Verse 34, "His lord moved with anger handed him over to the tormenters till he should repay all that was owed him. So then My heavenly Father shall do to you if each of you doesn't forgive his brother from your heart." You're going to be in trouble with God if you don't forgive. He's going to hand you over to some kind of spiritual discipline and extract out of you everything that he can get by way of that discipline if you don't forgive. You forgive for all the noble reasons that you're never more like God like when you forgive. You're never more noble as a human than when you pass by a transgression. You forgive because it frees your heart from bitterness, vengeance, revenge, retaliation. You forgive because God has forgiven you in Christ. And you forgive because if you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven, but rather God will turn you over to the tormentors.
You know, I don't like to be on people's bad side, do you? I don't want to be on my wife's bad side, my kids bad side, anybody I know, I want to be on their good side. But there's somebody I want to be on the good side of more than anybody else, and that's God. I don't want God calling out the tormentors and coming after me. I want to live on the good side. I want to be on the side of blessing. I want to be on the side of joy. I want to be on the side of comfort and encouragement. And so I want to be eager to forgive.
Simon Wiesenthal didn't have it right, but then he didn't know Christ. And he hadn't experienced the forgiveness of God in Christ. We have. There's no place for a lack of forgiveness. In fact, next Sunday we're going to have the Lord's table. Jesus said, "Don't even think about coming to worship Me if you have something in your heart against somebody else. That just escalates your culpability, cranks up the discipline of the Lord. It doesn't mean we forget the wrong. You're not necessarily going to forget it. There's some stages in this, and I'll close with this. There's really three stages in forgiveness.
Number one is suffering. This creates the need for forgiveness. Not every hurt needs to be forgiven. I've actually had people come to me right here when I'm talking to folks after the service, and say, "I need to ask your forgiveness."
Really, who are you? I don't know anything about you, I don't even know who you are.
"But I know you don't know who I am, you've never met me but I need to ask your forgiveness."
Well I just want to let you know that I don't have any reason to forgive you because I don't have any knowledge of anything you've ever done.
"Oh, but let me tell you what I've done."
Why? Why?
Forgiveness is elicited in suffering to start with. Not everything needs forgiveness. Not...not the things I don't know, how silly is that. And I try to stop him...Oh, oh, oh, I don't want to know. Why do I want to know? Not every hurt requires forgiveness. Not every little annoyance, every little slight, "Oh, so-and-so didn't speak to me when they passed by...oh. Do you think they'll come and ask for forgiveness?"
Get over it. Get over it. Get over it. Things that need forgiving are morally evil. Things that need forgiving are morally evil, they are acts of injury, disloyalty, betrayal, unrighteousness, transgression. That's the first stage. There needs to be some moral suffering.
Second, I call the stage of surgery. Here is the inner response where the forgiver performs spiritual surgery on the wound. And you're your own surgeon on this, aided by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. You begin to cut out the attitude of unforgiveness and sew up the wound.
Third stage is starting over. Forgiveness is complete when the alienated people reconcile. Suffering and then that heart surgery and then start all over, it's a new day, it's fresh, it's clean. That doesn't mean you forget the wrong. But you remember it, and every time you remember it, you rejoice in forgiveness. Did you get that? It doesn't mean you forget the wrong, it means every time you remember it, you rejoice in the forgiveness. It doesn't mean you excuse their sin. No, you acknowledge the sin, you blame them for the sin, and then you forgive the sin. And it doesn't mean we free ourselves permanently from the cycle of pain. There can still be recurring emotions from past pain. But when they come again, you rejoice that you have forgiven.
This is the only way we're going to make it in the body of Christ and keep our unity, isn't it? Because we are going to offend each other. Be a forgiver. Be known as a forgiver. Be a constant forgiver, a generous and magnanimous forgiver, a forgiver who goes from forgiveness to demonstrable affection. If you're having trouble with that, start praying for the person you're having trouble forgiving on a regular basis.
So never are you more like the Lord then when you forgive. Forgiveness is critical to the life of the people of God at every level, marriage, family, all relationships and the life of the church. What has kept this church together all these years in this amazing and remarkable unity? It's not that we're a perfect people...far from it. It's not that you have perfect leaders...far from it. It is that we are eager to forgive. This is a reconciling community. This is a group of people who embrace and forgive and forget and set aside. We treat each other like children. We care for each other like children, protect each other like children, discipline each other like children and we forgive each other like children. Frankly, I'm convinced that on the one side paradoxically this is not a good place to sin because you're probably going to get confronted. But paradoxically on the other side, this is the best place to sin because when you repent this congregation is most likely to embrace you in forgiveness and love. That's what we've been called to do as children of God.
Father, thank You for Your Word again on this subject and we certainly have just touched the surface of it, but it's such a rich and magnificent subject for us. Fill our hearts with affection, love and forgiveness for our enemies, those that wound us and hurt us and mistreat us. We heard a wonderful testimony of that tonight from Choyce(?) in baptism, how when you came into his life, all of a sudden all the people he hated because of their abuse of him became people that he cared for and loved and desired to come to know You. This is Your mighty work in our hearts. You have forgiven us an unpayable debt, may we be eager to be gracious and forgive those around us and to be reconciled to them for your sake, the unity of Your church, the solidarity of the testimony of Your transforming power through the gospel. And we thank You that the Spirit of God makes this happen. It is the Spirit who is the glue, the bond that holds us together in peace. We desire that to honor You in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.
Well, we're going to turn a corner next Sunday night since we did a fast track through Matthew 18. I'm not yet exactly sure what it's going to be, but I'll tell you next Sunday morning. Looking forward...I've got about ten options, so trust the Lord, but it's been wonderful, delightful, to go through the eighteenth chapter of Matthew together.
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The philosophy of the Department of Physical Education and Athletics is consistent with the mission of the United States Merchant Marine Academy. The athletic program plays an integral part in helping the Academy to achieve this mission. Through participation in athletics, qualities such as leadership, industriousness, resourcefulness, loyalty, sportsmanship, cooperation and responsibility are developed. As a result, young men and women are "given the tools" to achieve success and become future leaders in our nation.
The athletic program competes at the NCAA Division III level and is guided by its principles. The highest priority is placed on the overall quality of the educational experience and the objectives of the program, which must be met while working within the NCAA Division III framework.
Among the objectives of the athletics program are:
- To provide midshipmen with a variety of opportunities to
participate in organized sport.
- To assist every Midshipman in achieving a "total person" concept. This enhances the development of the social, emotional, physical and mental aspects of each person, and helps improve an individual's quality of life.
- To work within the guidelines, rules, and regulations for participation in a particular activity.
- To encourage scholarship, sportsmanship, fair play and a sense of responsibility among all athletes, staff and spectators at all athletic events.
- To field disciplined and competitive athletes and teams, which promotes a positive image of the Academy.
- To provide all midshipmen the means to achieve their goals through quality administration, coaching, medical support staff, equipment and facilities, while working within the guidelines of the institution and the NCAA.
- To schedule appropriate competition for all athletes and teams.
- To promote the development of self-confidence, competitiveness and discipline through fair competition.
- To promote the general welfare of the institution by providing activities that inspire Academy pride and encourage interaction among midshipmen, faculty, staff, alumni, family, friends and the community.
- To recruit and assist the Admissions Department in recruiting quality student-athletes for the Academy.
To provide midshipmen with a broad range of varsity, intramural, club and physical fitness activities that support the "total person" concept.
Department of Physical Education and Athletics Objectives
- To provide the midshipmen with a variety of opportunities to
participate in intercollegiate athletics.
- To enhance the development of the social, emotional, physical and mental aspects of each Midshipman through activity, thus improving the quality of life for them.
- To encourage scholarship, sportsmanship, fair play and a sense of responsibility amongst all athletes, staff and spectators at all athletic events.
- Develop habits of regular physical activities that improve physical ability.
- To encourage followership – working together for a common goal; knowing and understanding your role; taking orders.
- To provide a physical education program that supports the graduation and STCW requirements for every major.
- To meet and maintain physical requirements set forth by the institution and Naval PRT.
- To provide the midshipmen with a variety of club sport activities.


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So I was wondering for a list of good diy diagnostic, repair softwares (not obd).
I am aware of Autodata, Vivid and Mitchell on Demand.
What else do you know? I am also looking for a software that will allow me to see every piece of specific engine, virtually dissemble it and such.


text: Welcome to global2.vic.edu.au. You have registered with Global2 and by doing so have agreed to the Terms of Service. This is your first post. To edit or delete this you need to learn how to drive your blog dashboard. To access this simply add the code /wp-admin/ to the end of your new Global2 web address.


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Every living thing takes in supplies—like food, oxygen, water and minerals—and gets rid of waste. For one-celled organisms, that's easy to do, since the supplies and waste don't have far to go. But for more complex living things, supply networks have to move supplies and waste to and from every cell. Explore and find out what keeps supplies on the move.
Exhibit Highlights
Blood and Hearts
How fast does a mouse's heart beat? How much blood is in an elephant's body? Guess and learn.
Blood Highways
Catch a ride on a red blood cell and get a tour through the human circulatory system.
Pump It Up
Pump blood to the brains inside a model of a child or a giraffe, and find out how much pressure's on!


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Imagine sitting around a naturalistic rock fire pit, such as this one, enjoying hot dogs and s'mores with your family.
Imagine yourself sitting around a warm fire. Can you hear the snapping and crackling of the wood? Do you feel the warmth of the fire on your hands and face? Can you hear and see your family and friends talking and laughing as they sit around the fire, toasting marshmallows? That could be your backyard, if you had a fire feature.
This natural gas fire feature is a combination of fire and water. It is decorative, functional and an eye-catcher in any garden or patio. • This gas fire feature is made of a concrete pillar and a copper bowl. It heats up those cold fall days, yet it is also a decorative element for any garden or patio. • This Chiminea is made of wrought iron and copper. It is small, portable, inexpensive and available in most retail hardware stores. It is a fire feature that a homeowner can add to their landscape without expertise knowledge or help.
Fire features come in all sizes, shapes and styles and there is one for every budget. If you have been considering adding a fire feature to your landscape, take the time to do your homework. Here are several things to consider:
This is another fire feature that is easy to build from precast concrete block. This one is fueled with natural gas and features lava stones and metal decorative logs.
• How much do you want to spend? An outdoor fireplace can be expensive to design and build, but a portable fire pit can be inexpensive and purchased from a local hardware store.
• Where do you want to locate the fire feature? How far away from your home should it be to be safely located?
• A fire feature is a focal point of your landscape. Will it complement your property and house architecture? Will it add value to your property?
• What type of building materials do you want to use?
• Do you want natural gas, propane or a wood-burning fire feature?
• Will you need to have a gas line installed?
• Do you have local and state laws restricting outdoor burning or seasonal restrictions?
• Do you have neighborhood or association restrictions?
• Will you need construction permits?
If you have been thinking about adding a fire feature to your landscape, start with a budget. Then shop around for the best choice for your family. A fire feature makes a great focal point in any outdoor living space, and it creates a warm, wonderful place to entertain family and friends all year round.
A version of this article appeared in a May/June 2014 print edition of State-by-State Gardening.
Photography courtesy of Debbie Clark.


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