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"Teaching, Preaching, Healing," Ensign, Jan. 2003, 33
New Testament
Teaching, Preaching, Healing
Adapted from an address given at a Church Educational System religious educators conference at Brigham Young University on 8 August 2000.
We quickly and rightfully think of Christ as a teacher—the greatest teacher who ever lived or ever will live. The New Testament is full of His teachings, His sayings, His sermons, His parables. One way or another, He is a teacher on every page of that book. But even as He taught, He was consciously doing something in addition to that, something that put His teaching in perspective.
Following the Savior's initial call to those first disciples (not yet Apostles), the work began. This is what Matthew says: "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people" (Matt. 4:23; emphasis added).
Now, the teaching and the preaching we know and would expect. But we may not be quite as prepared to see healing in the same way. Yet from this earliest beginning, from the first hour, healing is mentioned almost as if it were a synonym for teaching and preaching. At least there is a clear relationship among the three. In fact, the passage that follows says more about the healing than the teaching or the preaching.
Matthew continues: "And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them" (Matt. 4:24).
What then follows is the masterful Sermon on the Mount, six and a half pages that would take six and a half years to teach properly, I suppose. But the moment that sermon was over, the Savior came down from the mountain and was healing again. In rapid succession He healed a leper, the centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, then a group described only as "many that were possessed with devils" (Matt. 8:16). In short, it says, He "healed all that were sick" (Matt. 8:16).
Driven to cross the Sea of Galilee by the crowds that swarmed around Him, He subsequently cast devils out of two who were dwelling in the Gadarene tombs and then sailed back to "his own city" (Matt. 9:1), where He healed a man confined to bed with palsy, healed a woman with a 12-year issue of blood (in what I think is one of the sweetest and most remarkable moments in all of the New Testament), and raised the ruler's daughter from the dead.
Then He restored the sight of two blind men, followed by the casting out of a devil which had robbed a man of the ability to speak. That is a quick summary of the first six chapters in the New Testament devoted to Christ's ministry. Then this verse. See if it has an echo for you: "And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people" (Matt. 9:35; emphasis added).
That is, of course, except for a few words, exactly the verse we read five chapters earlier. Then this:
"But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
"Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
"Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest" (Matt. 9:36–38).
With that He called the Twelve and charged them with this directive. "Go," He said, "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
"And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:6–8; emphasis added).
We know the Savior to be the Master Teacher. He is that and more. And when He says the bulk of the harvest yet lies before us and that there are far too few laborers, we immediately think of the missionaries and others who need to teach. But the call is for a certain kind of teacher, a teacher who heals in the process.
Now, let me make myself absolutely clear. By "healing," as I have been speaking of it, I am not talking about formal use of the priesthood or administration to the sick or any such thing as that. That is not the role of those called as teachers in our Church organizations.
But I believe our teaching can lead to healing of the spiritual kind. I cannot believe that so much of what Matthew wrote could be focused on the context of the Savior's ministry to distressed, troubled, distraught people if it were for no purpose. As with the Master, wouldn't it be wonderful to measure the success of our teaching by the healing that takes place in the lives of others?
Let me be a little more specific. As you teach, rather than just giving a lesson, please try a little harder to help that spiritually blind basketball star really see, or that spiritually deaf homecoming queen really hear, or the spiritually lame student body president really walk. Could we try a little harder to fortify others so powerfully that whatever temptations the devil throws at them, they will be able to withstand and thus truly in that moment be free from evil? Could we try a little harder to teach so powerfully and so spiritually that we really help that individual who walks alone, who lives alone, who weeps in the dark of the night?
"Therefore, What?"
Perhaps a lesson from life in the Quorum of the Twelve will help me say what I want to say on this point and avoid any confusion on your part.
President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and himself a master teacher, has a question he often asks when we have made a presentation or given some sort of exhortation to one another in the Twelve. He looks up as if to say, "Are you through?" and then says to the speaker (and, by implication, to the rest of the group), "Therefore, what?"
"Therefore, what?" I think that is what the Savior answered day in and day out as an inseparable element of His teaching and preaching. His sermons and exhortations were to no avail if the actual lives of His disciples did not change.
"Therefore, what?" You and I know that too many people have not made the connection between what they say they believe and how they actually live their lives.
Pray that your teaching will bring change. Pray that, like the lyrics of a now-forgotten song, your lessons will literally cause someone to "straighten up and fly right" (Nat King Cole, "Straighten Up and Fly Right" [1943]). We want them straight, and we want them right. We want them blessed, happy in this life, and saved in the world to come.
God Is in Charge
The book of Acts, which introduces the post-Resurrection portion of the New Testament, is technically called "The Acts of the Apostles." That is an important ecclesiastical idea in the book, namely that the Apostles were ordained representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ and were thus authorized to continue to lead the Church in His name.
But consider what they faced. Consider the plight, the fear, the confusion, the devastation facing the members of the new little Christian Church after Christ was crucified. They may have understood something of what was happening, but they couldn't have understood all of it. The people must have been very fearful and very confused, and the Brethren had their hands full trying to provide leadership.
Not surprisingly, from the outset (at least from the first verse of the book of Acts) the declaration was that the Church would continue to be divinely led, not mortally led. And that was important for the people to hear in that terrible hour of confusion and fear. Indeed, a more complete title for the book of Acts could appropriately be something like "The Acts of the Resurrected Christ Working through the Holy Spirit in the Lives and Ministries of His Ordained Apostles." Now, having said that, you can see why someone voted for the shorter title—but my suggested title is more accurate! Listen to Luke's opening lines:
"The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
"Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen" (Acts 1:1–2; emphasis added).
The direction of the Church was the same. The location of the Savior had been altered, but the direction and leadership of the Church were exactly the same. Then, having made that introductory point, we get manifestations of the Lord's power through the Holy Ghost at every turn. The first teaching of the resurrected Christ to the Twelve in the book of Acts is that they "shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts 1:5) and that "ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8).
After He ascended to heaven before their very eyes, Peter got the remaining members of the Church together—all 120 of them. (Can you see what an impact these troubles and opposition had had on their numbers?) One hundred and twenty people gathered, and Peter said, "Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas" (Acts 1:16; emphasis added). In filling Judas's vacancy in the Twelve, they prayed exactly the way the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency pray today: "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these … thou hast chosen" (Acts 1:24; emphasis added). And Matthias was called.
But that first chapter which turns everyone heavenward, so clearly dramatizing the divine guidance that would continue to direct the Church, is only preparation for chapter 2. In those passages, the very name Pentecost comes into the Christian vocabulary as synonymous with singular spiritual manifestations and a divine outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the people. Revelation came from heaven with the sound "as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house" (Acts 2:2), and it filled the brethren. "There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. … And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak … as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:3–4).
Peter, as chief Apostle and President of the Church, stood and acknowledged this outpouring. He quoted Joel, saying that God would in the last days "pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
"And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy" (Acts 2:17–18).
Peter continued: "Ye men of Israel [he's speaking to the larger congregation], hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you … this Jesus hath God raised up … by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear" (Acts 2:22, 32–33; emphasis added).
It is a magnificent passage. Those not yet baptized, moved by this Spirit, asked what they should do. Peter told them to be baptized for the remission of sins and to "receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38), and 3,000 of them did so. Later, when the lame man was raised to health on the steps of the temple and the crowd thought Peter and John had done something wonderful, Peter chastised them, said it was not mortal power or any holiness from the disciples that made the man to walk, but rather that of Jesus, whom these people of Jerusalem had "delivered up" and "killed" (Acts 3:13, 15). He then testified that Jesus was still leading the Church through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit and would continue to do so until He came again in "the times of restitution of all things" (Acts 3:21).
When 5,000 more people joined the Church, the local Pharisees and Sadducees were stunned. They demanded to know how all of this was being done. Peter gave the classic answer you must always give others. "Filled with the Holy Ghost," he declared that it was done in and "by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth" (Acts 4:8, 10; emphasis added). Christ was not only directing the actions of His Apostles through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit; He was also speaking through them by the same Spirit. This is a lesson about the governance of the Church of Jesus Christ, both ancient and modern.
The Father and the Son direct this work still, having Their impact upon Church leaders, teachers, and individuals through the means of the Holy Ghost. And it is through that same instrumentality that we must have our impact upon those we teach.
Teach by the Spirit
Please teach by the Holy Spirit. If we do not teach that way, then by scriptural definition we are teaching "some other way" (D&C 50:17). And any other way "is not of God" (D&C 50:20). Give your students the opportunity for a spiritual experience in every way you can. That is what the New Testament is trying to do for you. That is the message of the Gospels. It is the message of the book of Acts. It is the message of all scripture. Those spiritual experiences recorded in those sacred writings will help keep others on track and in the Church in our day, just as such experiences did for those members in New Testament times.
The scriptures say, "The Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach" (D&C 42:14). This teaches not just that you won't teach or that you can't teach or that it will be pretty shoddy teaching. No, it is stronger than that. It is the imperative form of the verb. "Ye shall not teach." Put a thou in there for ye and you have Mount Sinai language. This is a commandment. These are God's students, not yours, just like it is Christ's Church, not Peter's or Paul's or Joseph's or Brigham's.
Take heart. Let the Spirit work in you in ways that you may not be privileged to see or even recognize. More will go on than you think if you are honest in your heart and trying to live as purely as you can. And when you get to those supreme and nearly impossible-to-teach moments of Gethsemane and Calvary and the Ascension, I would ask that you remember, among many things, the following two applications you could make.
Christ Remained True
First, in His unspeakably wrenching and nature-shattering pain, Christ remained true.
Matthew said He was "sorrowful and very heavy … exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Matt. 26:37–38). He went alone into the garden, intentionally left the Brethren outside to wait. He had to do this alone. He dropped to His knees and then, the Apostle says, He "fell on his face" (Matt. 26:39). Luke says He was "in an agony" and prayed so earnestly His sweat became "great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44). Mark says He fell and cried, "Abba, Father." This is not abstract theology now. This is a Son pleading with His Father, "All things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me" (Mark 14:36).
Who could resist that from any child, especially the perfect Child? "You can do anything. I know You can do anything. Please take this cup from me."
That whole prayer, Mark noted, was asking that if it were possible, this hour would be stricken from the plan. The Lord said, in effect, "If there is another path, I would rather walk it. If there is any other way—any other way—I will gladly embrace it." "Let this cup pass from me," Matthew records (Matt. 26:39). "Remove this cup from me," records Luke (Luke 22:42). But in the end, the cup did not pass.
In the end, He yielded His will to the will of His Father and said, "Not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). That is, for all intents and purposes, the last moment in the divine conversation between Father and Son in Jesus' mortal ministry. From there on the die had been cast. He would see it through no matter what.
And from that last declaration in the Old World we get this first declaration in the New. To the Nephites gathered at the temple, He would say, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, … the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and … I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning" (3 Ne. 11:10–11). That is His own introduction of Himself, the declaration He feels will best tell these people who He is.
If you can leave your students with one principal commitment in response to the Savior's incomparable sacrifice for them, His payment for their transgressions, His sorrow for their sins, leave with them the necessity to obey—to yield in their own difficult domain and hours of decision to "the will of the Father" (3 Ne. 11:11), whatever the cost. They won't always do that, any better than you and I have been able to do it, but that ought to be their goal; that ought to be their aim. The thing Christ seems most anxious to stress about His mission—beyond the personal virtues, beyond the magnificent sermons, and even beyond the healing—is that He submitted His will to the will of the Father.
We are all willful people too much of the time. Therefore, the message the Savior has for every one of us is that our offering, in similitude of His offering, is a broken heart and a contrite spirit (see 3 Ne. 9:20; D&C 59:8). We must break out of our petty selves and weep for our sins and for the sins of the world. We must plead with others to yield to the Father, to yield to the Son, to yield to the Holy Spirit. There is no other way. Without likening ourselves to Him too much, because it would be sacrilegious to do, please know that the cup that cannot pass is a cup that comes in our life as well as in His. It comes in a much lesser way and to a much lesser degree, but it comes often enough to teach us that we have to obey no matter what.
Christ Knows the Way
The second lesson of the Atonement that I would ask you to remember is related to the first. If those you teach feel that they have somehow made too many mistakes already, if they feel that they live and labor lower than the light of Christ can shine, teach them that God has "a forgiving disposition," that Christ is "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, long-suffering and full of goodness" (Lectures on Faith [1985], 42). Mercy, with its sister virtues of repentance and forgiveness, is at the very heart of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Everything in the gospel teaches us that we can change if we really want to, that we can be helped if we truly ask for it, that we can be made whole, whatever the problems of the past.
In spite of life's tribulations, there is help for all of us on this journey. When Christ bids us to yield, to submit, to obey the Father, He knows how to help us do that. He has walked that way, asking us to do what He has done, but He has made it very much easier for our travel. He knows where the sharp stones and the stumbling blocks lie and where the thorns and the thistles are the most severe. He knows where the path is perilous, and He knows which way to go when the road forks and nightfall comes. He knows that because He has suffered "pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind … that he may know … how to succor his people according to their infirmities" (Alma 7:11–12). To succor means "to run to." I testify that Christ will run to us, and is running even now, if we will but receive the extended arm of His mercy.
When we stagger or stumble, He is there to steady and strengthen us. In the end He is there to save us, and for all this He gave His life. However dim our days may seem, they have been a lot darker for the Savior of the world. As a reminder of those days, Jesus has chosen, even in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, to retain for the benefit of His disciples the wounds in His hands and in His feet and in His side—signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and the perfect; signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn't love you; signs, if you will, that problems pass and happiness can be ours. Remind others that it is the wounded Christ who is the Captain of our souls, He who yet bears the scars of our forgiveness, the lesions of His love and humility, the torn flesh of obedience and sacrifice.
These wounds are the principal way we are to recognize Him when He comes. He may invite us forward, as He has invited others, to see and to feel those marks. If not before, then surely at that time, we will remember with Isaiah that it was for us that a God was "despised and rejected … ; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," that "he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53:3, 5).
I love this work. Cherish your opportunity to immerse yourselves this year in the majestic New Testament and in the life of Him of whom it testifies. This is His Church, and we are engaged in a great work with a magnificent privilege to love the scriptures and learn from them and to bear witness to one another that they are true.

subset: commoncrawl


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Kendrick signs for $2.45 million
Update - 2:58 p.m.
With Ben Francisco's $1.175 million deal and Kendrick's $2.45 million deal, the Phillies now have $164.825 million guaranteed to 21 players next season. At this point, righthander Joe Blanton seems sure to be dealt, since the Phillies do not want to have $11 million locked up in starting pitching beyond their top four. If money were not an issue, it would make sense to have Blanton remain at No. 5 and Kendrick provide depth in case of injury. But money is always an issue.
Kendrick figures to compete with Vance Worley for the fifth spot in the rotation. Keep in mind that Kendrick still has options, so the Phillies could send him to the minors without exposing him to waivers, although they would still owe him the entire $2.45 million.
If Blanton remains, Kendrick and Worley would be among a group of players competing for the last couple of spots in the Phillies bullpen. Worley would seem to project as more of a reliever than Kendrick becaues of his off-speed stuff, but as of the winter meetings Ruben Amaro Jr. was saying he still looked at both as starters.
Subtract Blanton's $8.5 million salary and the $11 million the Phillies received from the Astros as part of the Roy Oswalt deal and the number drops to $145.325 million, which is more in line with what they spent last year. That said, the Phillies may have used some of Oswalt's $11 million to defray the 2010 payroll, and there is no guarantee they are able to unload all of Blanton's salary.
Update - 2:48 p.m.
The Phillies have avoided arbitration with Kyle Kendrick, with the sides agreeing on a $2.45 million deal, the club has announced.
Update - 2:14 p.m.
Agreements between teams and players are rolling in. The latest notable contract with regards to the Phillies and Kyle Kendrick comes between the Yankees and Phil Hughes, who agreed to a $2.7 million deal.
Hughes has 3 years, 114 days of service time compared with Kendrick's 2.159, but Hughes also spent most of 2009 as a reliever.
Hughes Career: 103 G, 57 GS, 31-18, 369.0 IP, 4.19 ERA, 105 ERA+, 7.9 K/9, 3.2 BB/9
Kendrick Career: 93 G, 83 GS, 35-24, 483.2 IP, 4.69 ERA, 92 ERA+, 4.2 K/9, 2.6 BB/9
Earlier we said that John Lannan's $2.75 million agreement with the Nationals provided a good idea of the absolute ceiling on Kendrick's 2011 earning potential. We still think the Phillies will be hesitant to go much north of $2 million.
Today is "I'll-Show-You-Mine-If-You-Show-Me-Yours" Day in Major League Baseball, when player agents and team representatives gaze into each other's eyes and reveal their desired salaries for the 2011 season.
Yes, it's time to swap arbitration figures, which is pretty much the equivalent of writing a number on a piece of paper and then sliding it across a wooden conference table to another party.
Barring a last minute deal, the Phillies will engage in the act with Kyle Kendrick at some point today. The righthander is their only remaining arbitration case, with Ben Francisco having agreed to a one-year deal last week.
Thanks to some comparable players who have signed contracts, both this offseason and in the past couple, we have a pretty good idea what Kendrick should end up signing for. But first, a quick refresher on this unique process:
1) From the time he breaks into the major leagues until the time he becomes a free agent (after six full seasons in the bigs), a player's salary is based on a combination of service time and performance.
2) In most cases, a player has no control over the salary his club assigns him in his first three seasons in the majors. He starts at the major league minimum of $400,000. Most clubs award a modest raise in each of those first three seasons. Kendrick, for example, made $480,000 last season.
3) Players have some control over their salary once they become eligible for salary arbitration. Most players become eligible after three full seasons. But a select few qualify with a designation that is known as a "Super-Two." These players have more service time than most of the other players in their class. Kendrick, for example, logged full seasons in 2008 and 2010. But he also spent most of 2007 with the team, breaking into the majors in June of that year. That left him with 2 years, 159 days of service. A major league baseball "year" is 172 days. So Kendrick, with nearly three full years of experience, qualified.
4) Back in December, the Phillies offered Kendrick arbitration, which guaranteed him a contract for 2011. They could have declined to offer him arbitration, but he would have become a free agent.
5) In early January, both sides separately decided on a number they thought Kendrick deserved to earn in 2011 and filed that number with the league and player's association. Until today, neither side officially knows the identity of the other side's number. In the meantime, both sides attempt to work out a deal on their own, whether it is for one season or a multiple seasons.
6) Today, the two sides swap numbers. They'll continue to work to hammer out an agreement. But if they fail to reach one, the case will go before a panel of judges in early February. At that point, the judges will pick one of the two numbers -- the player's number or the club's number. It is an either/or proposition.
Now that we have that out of the way...
The arbitration process is shrouded in secrecy, but the Phillies should be trying to sign Kendrick for around $2 million.
We don't have to look too far into the past to find some cases that should set some parameters for a deal.
Earlier this week, the Detroit Tigers agreed to a $2.3 million deal with pitcher Armando Galarraga, who was in his first season of arbitration. Meanwhile, the Nationals agreed to a $2.75 million deal with John Lannan.
Here is how those three pitchers stack up in their careers:
Kendrick: 83 GS, 35-24, 483.2 IP, 4.69 ERA, 92 ERA+, 1.425 WHIP, 1.2 HR/9, 2.6 BB/9, 4.2 SO/9
Galarraga: 78 GS, 23-26, 475.1 IP, 4.58 ERA, 97 ERA+, 1.361 WHIP, 1.4 HR/9, 3.5 BB/9, 5.7 K/9
Lannan: 95 GS, 28-38, 566.1 IP, 4.10 ERA, 103 ERA+, 1.411 WHIP, 1.0 HR/9, 3.3 BB/9, 4.6 K/9 (458-2.75)
Galarraga and Kendrick have pretty identical numbers. Galarraga has three full years in the bigs, compared with Kendrick's two, but the two players are only really separated by 32 days of service time (Kendrick - 2.159, Galarraga - 3.019).
They've made about the same number of starts with the same number of innings pitched. Kendrick has a better record, but Galaragga has marginally better peripherals.
Lannan, meanwhile, has significantly more service time (at least with regard to first-year eligible players), a significantly lower ERA and ERA+, and nearly a half a season more starts and innings than Kendrick.
So when you look at this year's market as a guide, $2.75 million would seem to be the absolute ceiling for a pitcher like Kendrick.
Galarraga's deal would seem to represent a fair price, particularly when compared with arbitration cases in recent offseasons.
Prior to last season, Rangers righty Scott Feldman signed a $2.425 deal with the Rangers. He had asked for $2.9 million, while Texas had countered with $2.025 million.
Prior to 2009, Brian Bannister and the Royals settled on a one-year, $1.7375 million to after exchanging figures of $2.025 million and $1.45 million.
Here are how those players stacked up with Kendrick heading into theri first arbitration year:
Kendrick (2.159 service time): 35-24, 4.69 ERA, 92 ERA+, 483.2 IP, 4.2 SO/9, 2.6 BB/9,
Bannister (2.158 ST prior to 2009) 30-38, 4.79 ERA, 93 ERA+, 538.2 IP, 5.1 K/9, 2.9 BB/9
Feldman (3.091 ST prior to 2010): 24-21, 4.58 ERA, 100 ERA+, 430.2 IP, 5.0 K/9, 3.4 BB/9
The Phillies could argue that Bannister's track record heading into arbitration is nearly identical to Kendrick's. Kendrick's representatives will likely try to argue the merits of his winning record, and his contributions to a team that has made the playoffs in each of the four seasons in which he has pitched for them, and could argue that Feldman is a better comparison.
Which could be why the two sides have yet to agree to a deal. If Kendrick is asking $3.0 million, and the Phillies are offering $1.9 million, that could be a significant gap to bridge. History suggests they wind up settling for somewhere around Galaragga's deal. But the Phillies could be hesitant to go that high for a pitcher who isn't even in the rotation at this point. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. We should get a better idea once the figures are revealed.


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Microsoft's jazzed up Office to run on tablets, cloud
The newest version of Office will make better use of the cloud and social networks, and CEO Steve Ballmer says an uncompromised version will run on tablets.
With the newest version of Office, Microsoft is touting more flexibility regarding where and on what device you can access its key productivity software.
Office remains a crown jewel for Microsoft, and its latest revamp puts the software in line with the new Microsoft look, where it fits in with Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and the updated Xbox, among other products. While Office remains a dominant product used by most people in businesses, it faces competition from low-cost alternatives, including Google's suite of Web-based office applications.
Microsoft hopes to keep its lead going with Office and is embracing all the latest technology trends. The company plans to sell Office as an online subscription service. It will integrate with social networks, including business-centric network Yammer, and have better integration with Skype. It'll also play nice with tablets.
CEO Steve Ballmer said the new Office will run just as well on a traditional PC as it will on an ARM-based device, which right now are made up of tablets. He stressed that Office on a tablet will be an "uncompromised experience" and that it wouldn't be a "junior version" of the full PC edition.
The company spent a decent amount of time showing off the touch-screen capabilities of Office, demonstrating how users can swipe, tap, and pull off other gestures to create presentations. Users can also use a stylus on their projects.
That's important because Microsoft is still making the case that a Windows 8 tablet is still worth buying. Android tablets have had made little dent in the market dominated by Apple's iPad, but Microsoft has made a strong case with its
Cloud also played a big part in the presentation. The company plans to use its SkyDrive as a central repository for files and data from Office. After you sign in, you'll see the same settings, templates, dictionaries, and recent documents across all your Windows devices -- PCs, tablets, and smartphones.
Using Word as an example, Kirk Koenigsbauer, a corporate vice president for Office, showed how users can insert pictures through the traditional Office.com clipart, through image searches via Bing, by opening something from SkyDrive, or by grabbing something from Flickr. Even further, Office can incorporate live multimedia into its documents, with a user embedding a live YouTube video, for example.
Through the SkyDrive integration, people receive a message asking if they want to work on the same document they were using on a different device. And by storing documents directly on SkyDrive, users can share them with colleagues and friends.
Microsoft hopes its customers will move with it toward a subscription service, rather than a onetime retail purchase. The company is dangling SkyDrive space and Skype minutes as a carrot to lure people into the online subscription model.
A demo of the new version of Outlook also revealed how to go through e-mail messages and quickly go through in-boxes by tapping on messages. A new Quick Actions tab lets people move, delete, flag, or forward messages as well. Finally, a feature in Outlook called Peek offers an interactive look at People, Calendar, and Tasks.
Office is hoping to get more social. Microsoft also showed off a five-person video chat using Microsoft's Lync application, and demonstrated the ability to share files such as a presentation. The company talked up Yammer, the business social network it acquired earlier this year, which works with Sharepoint, a program that allows you to share and view pictures, video, and Office files.
Other Windows 8 programs include digital note-taking app OneNote, which works on multiple devices using different input, from touch, pen, to keyboard.
Ballmer and Koenigsbauer used an 82-inch touch-enabled display, which they said would come in handy in meetings, presentations, and lessons.
Microsoft will launch with three tiers of subscription service: Office 365 Home Premium, Office 365 Small Business Premium, and Office 365 ProPlus. The company said it would provide more pricing information in the fall.
For now, the customer preview is available here.
CNET's Lance Whitney contributed to this story.


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Sometimes I prepare for a class that simply doesn't happen. I had one of those this week: I was to teach a three-week class on Food and Jewish Ethics, and the timing simply wasn't right. There were not enough people signed up, and the management at Lehrhaus Judaica and I regretfully pulled the plug.
It's a pity, because I was really excited about it. I was going to spend the first class meeting talking a bit about how Jews do ethics. Then we were going to brainstorm what ethical issues come up when one contemplates the dinner table, and choose two to four topics to hash out over the remaining classes. The specifics would be driven by their interests. But 10 am on Wednesdays was not a good time, despite some interest, so we'll have to find another time slot and give it a go perhaps in the fall, perhaps in the evening.
So, was the preparation a waste? Not at all. For one thing, those lovingly prepared lesson plans are waiting in my Dropbox folder for another opportunity. All I will need to do is refresh my memory, see if any new ideas have sprouted in the back of my mind since I prepared them, and I'm off to the races. So that's all good.
But there's a deeper reason why it wasn't a waste: time spent studying Torah is never wasted. I approach my own table now with renewed awareness. When I pick up a piece of nice matzah, I am drawn to read the back of the box: where did it come from? Who made it? When I look at the vegetables in the fridge, I am much more aware of a host of issues. The chapters I read on hunger led to check on the status supplies at my local food bank (not good), leading me to dig a little deeper for tzedakah.
As Mishnah Peah 1.1 says, "Talmud Torah keneged kulam" — "the study of Torah leads to them all" [the things that are valuable both in this world and in the world to come.]
And those are my thoughts at the beginning of Day 5 of the Omer.
Related articles
- Resources for ethics: Ethical wills (ASL video) (terptrans.com)


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Four people died and more than 100 were injured as violence returned to Bangkok over the weekend. Riot police held their lines by using water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets to force back thousands of protesters attempting to storm government buildings by throwing rocks and homemade explosives.
Attempts to unseat the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra appear to be entering their final phase, as protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban declared a "day of victory" on Sunday. He gave the embattled Thai Prime Minister two days to step down. Thaugsuban has since moved to an undisclosed location.
READ MORE: Protesters Clash With Riot Police in Bangkok


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If your garage, like so many others, has become an overflow storage area for sporting equipment, holiday decorations, and totes too numerous to mention, then it's time to reclaim some space. With winter just a few months away, now is the perfect time to clear the clutter, get organized, and make room for that car that's been kicked to the curb. After all, who wants to be chipping ice of the windshield while a perfectly good garage goes to waste? Here's how to get things in order with a little garage triage. (See also: How to Downsize and Declutter)
First things first — hit the clicker, open the door, and start sorting. Getting a handle on what you've accumulated in the garage is the first step in getting organized. At this stage, don't worry about the grand vision of how you want the space to look, just focus on making room. Sort in piles — one pile for items that can be donated to charity, one for items that can be sold or passed on to friends, one for items to keep, and one for trash. (See also: 25 Things to Throw Out Today)
Once you've cut the clutter, it's time for cleaning and cosmetics. Does the floor need to be power washed or sealed? Could the interior walls use a fresh coat of paint? Are there cracked windows, burnt out bulbs, or shaky steps? A little TLC now will help the final product feel more complete and motivate the rest of the process.
Once you've spruced things up, it's time to get creative about storage. Start by looking up. The most important real estate in any garage is floor space, so make more of it by storing things vertically. The more you can get off the floor and out the way, the easier it will be to use your garage for it's primary purpose. Here are some ideas for vertical storage:
Shelving hung at shoulder height and going 4-5 feet up is perfect for storing cans of paint, small bins, seasonal yard supplies, and more. Start the shelving at shoulder height to retain floor space and avoid banged car doors and tight squeezes. Store a folding step stool under the shelving to reach items that are higher up.
Classic pegboard and hooks are still a perfect and cost-effective solution for organizing frequently-used tools and smaller items like tape, twine, and paint brushes. The pegboard solution keeps items in plain sight and easily accessible — no frustrated rummaging through boxes and bins.
Large hooks are a garage's best friend. Use them to hang rakes, snow shovels, clippers, hoses, and watering cans. Larger plastic-coated utility hooks are great for hanging bicycles, too. Getting bikes off the floor helps keep the space organized and prevents damage. To learn more on how to properly store bikes using hooks, check out this article on wikiHow. (See also: 15 Awesome Storage Solutions for Under $10)
Bins, boxes, and cans are ideal for storing larger items like holiday decorations, sporting equipment, bulk cleaning supplies, pet food, and more. Avoid the "I wonder what I put in that bin" phenomenon by color coding your storage. For example, use green bins or boxes for lawn and garden supplies, yellow for cleaning supplies, red for holiday decorations and other seasonal items, etc. Since these storage containers are accessed less frequently, a color-coded approach helps you immediately narrow the search when you need something. Post your color key on the wall for easy reference.
Creating a single flexible workstation in your garage can save space, time, and money. Make any work bench pull double or triple duty for automotive and household repair, woodworking, crafts, and small gardening projects. Equip the space with general tools and supplies, but organize project-specific materials in color-coded containers or small wheeled cabinets for quick cleanup and storage. (See also: Screwdrivers to Saws: Stocking Your First Toolbox)
Garages are where we drop at the end of the long day or where we try to pull ourselves together at the last minute before we start the day. A bench helps on both counts. Designate a spot to sit down, kick off your shoes, or decompress after a marathon day of lawn-mowing or car repair. Use under-bench storage for grimy utility boots, paper towels, or hand-sanitizer.
Garages are most families' last stop in their mad dash out the door. Capitalize on this fact by designating a go station in your garage. Store last-minute grab-and-go items like energy bars, extra hats, gloves, reusable grocery bags, pet leashes, and other supplies on a bench or shelf. It'll help you stay organized during those last-minute morning rushes. Hang a whiteboard or chalkboard for reminders or to exchange quick family messages.
Though it's tempting to ignore our garages and keep them in a perpetual state of clutter-chaos, getting organized has its advantages. Garage clutter has a way of creeping into the rest of our homes, and the things we love have a way of getting lost, damaged, or tossed out when there's just too much stuff to deal with. In just one weekend of focused effort you can transform your garage from "eek!" to chic. Oh, and you might even get your car off the street in the process.
What's your garage like? What are your favorite garage organization hacks?
Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.
Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.


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Conference Venues in Manchester
If you are looking to hold your next conference or event in a city destination that will inspire your audience and produce the best out of your visitors, then look no further than Manchester.
Conferencing in Manchester is the perfect place to conduct your business meetings and corporate events.
There is plenty of choice to find the perfect venue for your needs, find me a conference have over 130 venues situated in the heart of Greater Manchester alone, all of which offer a unique experience to your conference guests.
Manchester hosts the top two premiership football teams, and that winning mentality is prominent in the homes of these footballing giants, and you can choose between these two excellent Manchester venues and many more.
Manchester United Football Club's Old Trafford is perfect for any United Events and Manchester City Football Club's Etihad Stadium are great venues for any football enthusiast.
However, away from football Manchester hosts a fantastic and varied range of meeting venues and venues for conferences.
On find me a conference you can choose from a selection, of conference centres, conference hotels, conference rooms, meeting rooms, training rooms and conference facilities or even something a little different.
The Lowry is a world class performance and visual arts centre which manages to combine all you would need from a conference and meetings venue within an innovative and inspirational environment.
The conference facilities throughout the city of Manchester are second to none, with all venues in Manchester striving to provide an environment conductive for excelling at business.
Meeting room hire in Manchester is a must for all conference venue bookers, it was the destination for the 2011 HBAA annual forum, hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games and is the venue for events at the 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Conference venues in Manchester benefit from great transport links nationally and internationally, there are also plenty of hotels in Manchester to stay in with great late room deals or last minute hotels offers.
For those travelling by car, the City ring road connects Manchester to Motorways North, East, South and West (M60, M66, M62, M6 and M56).
Manchester Airport is the only global gateway to the North of England, with over 210 destinations worldwide being flown to and from.
Excellent rail and tram networks link meetings visitors to conference venues in Manchester to destinations throughout the UK, including trains from London to Manchester in just over 2 hours.
Although Manchester is a great destination for any corporate event, venues in Manchester are equally adaptable to lend themselves to private parties and private functions.
Find me a conference have access to hundreds of Manchester venues that are perfect for wedding venues or holding any private party.
So if you are looking for a venue in Manchester for conferences, meetings or private parties, call 01775 843411 to speak to one of our specialist venue finders, alternatively email your requirements direct and find me a conference will find the ideal venue for you.
Find me a conference are here to find you the best rate on room hire, for all your corporate events. With hundreds of meeting rooms and function rooms available we can find the best venue for your event. Use our venue finder today!
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This Keto Sausage and Bread Stuffing is going to be the star of your Thanksgiving table! Made with my famous low carb cheesy skillet bread and plenty of sausage, it's full of traditional stuffing flavor without all the carbs.
It's about time I finally gave this popular keto stuffing an update! Except I didn't actually change anything. My Spicy Sausage Stuffing has always been one of my most popular low carb holiday recipes and you just don't mess with that. So I simply made it again and took some pretty new pictures.
This is by far my family's favorite stuffing recipe. I've made a few others and they were pretty great too. But this is the one my family requests year after year. This is the keto stuffing we serve to guests and everyone raves about it. I would even go so far as to say that this may just be the best keto stuffing recipe out there.
Yeah, I am bold like that. And pretty darn confident that you will love it as much as we do.
Traditional Sausage Stuffing
When you ask someone what Thanksgiving dish they miss most on their low carb or keto diet, the overwhelming majority say stuffing. And can you blame them? That delectably moist, savory bread pudding that soaks up the turkey juices and gravy so well. I totally get that. My first few years on low carb, I simply skipped the stuffing altogether and its absence was sorely felt.
But last year, I came up with a truly low carb, gluten-free stuffing that instantly became a family favourite. It was such a hit with my kids, they seem to like eating it more than the turkey. And it's been our standard recipe for 5 years running now.
While it might seem like an oxymoron to call this a traditional sausage stuffing, that's what the end result is like. Yes, you have to use keto bread but that's really the only difference. Beyond that, it uses almost all of the same ingredients you would find in conventional sausage stuffing, and you make it much the same way.
The end result is virtually indistinguishable from the high carb stuff. It's everything you want in a stuffing recipe: the bread is soft and soaks up all the other flavours, but the top has crispy bits from baking in the oven.
How To Make Keto Stuffing
- Start with some really good keto bread. The whole recipe is based on my Cheesy Skillet Bread, which is perhaps one of my best savoury creations of all time. Not exaggerating – that stuff is heavenly. Soft and tender in the middle, crispy around the edges, and it dries out well, allowing it to soak in all the other flavors.
- Cut the bread into small cubes and dry it out in a warm oven. This is an important step for any sausage stuffing recipe, as you want the bread to absorb the eggs and cream.
- Brown your sausage. We like spicy Italian and we buy bulk sausage so we can easily cook it in a pan without having to remove the casings. Try to find sausage that doesn't have a lot of additives or any sugars.
- Saute the celery, onions, garlic, and herbs in the fat left behind from browning the sausage. All the flavors combine so well that way and the fats make the stuffing all the more luscious.
- Add some chicken broth, eggs, and cream to help bind the stuffing ingredients together.
- Bake uncovered so that the top gets a bit crispy while the middle stays soft and tender. Like any good Thanksgiving stuffing.
- Serve with turkey and all the trimmings, and enjoy all the goodness the holiday has to offer!
Make Ahead Keto Stuffing
Are you one of those planner types who likes to get half of your holiday feast cooked in advance? Good news! This low carb stuffing recipe freezes really well. I've made it several weeks in advance and just thawed it on Thanksgiving day and it's just as good.
Simply prep and bake the stuffing in whatever dish you plan to serve it in. Then let it cool and wrap it up tightly with foil or plastic wrap. It's good in the freezer for several weeks. Thaw it at room temperature and then place it in a low temp oven until warmed through.
You can also freeze any leftovers wrapped up tightly as well.
So that's it, my friends! It's really not hard to make and this keto stuffing recipe has all the traditional flavor and texture of classic sausage stuffing. I daresay that your guests will have no idea they are enjoying a healthy version of their favorite Thanksgiving side dish.
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful keto feast.
More keto thanksgiving recipes you might like:
Keto Spicy Sausage and Cheddar Stuffing
- 1 recipe Cheesy Skillet Bread
- 12 ounces spicy Italian sausage
- 1 cup diced celery
- ½ cup diced onion
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup low sodium chicken broth
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- A day or two in advance, make the skillet bread and cube into ½ inch pieces. Preheat oven to 200F.
- Spread bread cubes on a large baking sheet and bake 2 to 3 hours, until well dried and crisp. Let sit out overnight to continue to dry.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add sausage; sauté until just cooked through, about 6 minutes, breaking up large chunks with a wooden spoon.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer sausage to a large bowl. Add celery, onion, garlic, sage, salt and pepper to skillet and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add to sausage.
- Preheat oven to 350F and butter a large 13x9 inch glass baking dish. Add cubed bread to sausage mixture. Add chicken broth and toss to combine.
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with cream and pour over mixture in bowl. Toss until well combined and transfer to prepared baking dish. Bake 35 minutes, uncovered, until top is crusty and browned.


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Chewing – it's an issue. Ok, not for me personally and by that, I mean my dog isn't a big chewer. Since I got him (at about age five), he gave up chewing furniture thanks to daily vigorous exercise. But that doesn't fix it for everyone.
Most dogs love to chew. It's a canine thing.
So, if you're motivated to be part of the growing pet industry and want to solve a problem, invent a new super-strong nylon dog chew made with food-grade bacon, peanuts, chicken, mint and maple wood natural flavours with no chemicals.
That's what the owners of Benebone did. Manufactured in the US, Benebone started with the Wishbone shape and recently expanded into Dental Chews, Pawplexer and Maplestick. (Amazon.com affiliate link)
Benebone are good for casual not aggressive chewers who might bite the bone in half or knock out pieces larger than a grain of rice. The Benebone should remain intact, and if it cracks, replace it. The point is to wear down the product gradually and once it's smaller than a sugar cube in diameter, it's done.
Benebone comes in a variety of sizes, and the company suggests you select the largest your dog can handle (error on the side of bigger), don't use with puppies and don't use if you (or anyone in your house) is allergic to peanuts, pork, chicken or maple wood.
Most importantly, don't let your dog actually eat Benebone. Bones should last a few weeks, but not longer than one month. The Pawplexer (our test product with Sasha – an active chewer) is designed to insert an edible treat through the centre such as a bully stick or jerk.
Other shapes, like the Wishbone and Dental Chew, are designed to make it easy for dogs to grip.
OK, clearly the idea is Benebone gives moderate chewers something flavourful to gnaw on other than the couch leg. If you'd like to try it yourself, I've got two to give away – for dogs 30 pounds or less.


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It definitely does take less than one might think.
Halfway through Fred Brock's book Retire on Less Than You Think: The New York Times Guide to Planning Your Financial Future, I was mentally drafting a review that would call it good but kind of basic for most Wise Bread readers. Then it clued me in to an oddity of federal law that could make the difference between keeping or losing my health insurance. That one bit is not only worth the price of the book, it could easily be worth my entire life savings. Actually writing the review, I realized the book is full of bits like that. I happened to know most of them already, but I've been studying this stuff for years. I have to say this is a must-read book for anyone who hopes to retire before they're 65.
[Updated to add: A revised version of this book has come out since I wrote this review. Check out Retire on Less Than You Think, Revised Edition: The New York Times Guide to Planning Your Financial Future.]
Brock spends nearly a third of the book on one rather obvious idea: You can retire on less if you spend less money! This will, perhaps, not be a great revelation to the average Wise Bread reader. To be fair, though, the book is aimed at affluent New Yorkers (and affluent folks from other east and west coast cities) who would be shocked at the notion that they might live anywhere other than where they do. Perhaps it is important for those readers that he so patiently makes the case that you can spend less money without reducing your standard of living at all--and that you can spend a lot less money if you're willing to make only slightly more drastic changes in the way you live.
In fact, the best parts of this book are in this area, because Brock talks about actual people who have retired on less money than some people might consider possible. He covers a pretty wide range from barely frugal at all to pretty darned frugal (such as Elton Pasea who saves enough of his $1200 a month from social security and a pension to take annual bicycling vacations in Europe).
Brock goes to quite a bit of effort to debunk the notion that you'll need to be able to replace 70% or 80% of your pre-retirement income from savings or your pension in order to retire. Rather, you need to replace that fraction of your spending (which had better be less than your income, if you're hoping to retire early).
After making the case that early retirement is within the reach of almost anyone who lives on less than they earn, he gets into the good stuff. There's a chapter on simplifying your life that's good, if a bit basic. A chapter on deciding where to retire with some good resources for finding someplace affordable and some sound advice on choosing to live near family and with access to things you want to do. There's a section on analyzing your assets, with some good info about reverse mortgages for people who own a house. There's a chapter on health insurance that had that great tidbit for me. It rounds things out with a chapter on social security and then some worksheets, suggested resources, and an excellent index.
(The tidbit for me, by the way, had to do with the the federal law HIPAA. That's the law that prompted all of your doctors and pharmacies to start giving you privacy notices. It also assures that, if you change employers and go from one group plan straight to another, the new plan can't exclude coverage for preexisting conditions. (I knew that part.) It also (and this was news to me) requires insurers to offer coverage to anyone who has left a job, continued their coverage under COBRA, and then exhausted the COBRA coverage. I'm still covered under my employer's insurance as part of my severance package, but I hadn't been planning on exhausting the COBRA coverage--I'd been planning to use that only as a back-up in case I had trouble finding insurance. I didn't understand that by getting an individual policy earlier, I'd lose access to guaranteed, non-cancelable insurance! That one point is probably of interest to only a small number of people, but it's critically important to anyone leaving a job and not yet eligible for Medicare.)
Retire on Less Than You Think by Fred Brock. It's a short book--you could read it in an afternoon. But in addition to advocating for the idea that a simplier life lets you follow your bliss--to retirement or where ever else it might lead you--there are dozens of bits of information that could spell the difference between a happy retirement and having to go back to work in your old age.
Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.
Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
"HIPAA ... requires insurers to offer coverage to anyone who has left a job, continued their coverage under COBRA, and then exhausted the COBRA coverage."
My experience with this required coverage is that 1) it is minimal (usually a state-mandated minimum of coverage) and 2) it is EXPENSIVE. Note that the insurance companies are *not* required to offer you the very same plan you COBRAed, or the same COBRA price you were paying... just *a* plan.
In North Carolina (and probably other states), the plan you are offered after COBRA expires has no prescription coverage, and is basically catastrophic health insurance. The details of the plan are mandated by the state of NC. Before counting on this plan, it would be a good idea to check out your state's minimum required plan... probably on the state's .gov page somewhere, maybe on the Insurance Commission home page or some such.
That all said, it is still better to have limited, expensive coverage than no coverage at all, and perhaps (I don't know the HIPAA law on this point), using this post-COBRA coverage for a while and then getting, say, a new employer-based plan, would count as continuous proof of coverage and thus eliminate new waiting periods for pre-existing conditions. I'm not sure on that one, though.
Anyway, great review... I'm off to buy the book.
Well, I went to amazon to get the book, and found that it was written in 2004! No thanks... things have changed way too much since then.
However, a revised edition will be published in December of 2007 so I've pre-ordered it and look forward to getting it early next year.
There are definitely limitations to HIPAA, and it isn't decided that I'll go with a HIPAA plan. (A lot more research to do before I make any decision.) But before I had been thinking that I ought to get an individual plan early, so that if I turned out to have trouble getting insurance, I'd have time to come up with an alternative. Now, though, it seems like it would be safe to stick with COBRA to the end (while doing cost-benefit analysis between the HIPAA plan and an individual plan, that might be cheaper but would be cancelable if I got sick).
One advantage with waiting is that I've currently got cheap insurance from my employer (while my severance period lasts), so I'd only have to pay the high COBRA rates for a few months at the end. I had been worried that, if I waited, I might get stuck with no insurance and not enough time to come up with a solution.
I agree that this is a good book to read -- I own this book and several others. My favorite is "Retirement on a Shoestring" by John Howells. I have many health issues and would love to retire but can't yet because of family issues. When I'm forced to retire by my health, I don't think that I can live on social security and my savings. I'm also extremely worried about the direction that our country is headed: foreclosures, jobs going overseas, war with Iran(?), etc. In the meantime, I am busy "right-sizing" and trying to hang on. Am currently reading "Right Sizing Your Life" by Ciji Ware and highly recommend this book!
All I could think when I saw this was the title of the book just didn't sound right. Retire on less than you think? I didn't realize retirement was paid for by thoughts. Retire on less than you think you need makes more sense. Semantics, I know.
Plus, I would imagine most people either really under-estimate or over-estimate what they need to retire on.
In any case I'm just tired of retirement books telling people like me, who already have retirement accounts and are in their 20s-30s: "Good for you! You started young, don't worry!" Maybe I'm just getting burnt out on personal finance.
Thanks for the review. I have feeling of lot of boomers will need all the practical retirement information they can get. I just discovered your site!


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Malone is useful even if you have your own bug trackerTuesday, February 28th, 2006
Martin Meredith blogs that it would be good for other distros also to adopt Malone. Most of the larger distros have established bugzilla's or their own custom bug trackers, though, so we specifically designed Malone so that it can link to those external bug trackers rather than requiring them to adopt Malone.
Right now, it still requires opening a bug in each of the upstream trackers, which is a pain.
In the future, I think we should see if we can get permission from the upstream bug tracker operators for Launchpad to be able to open bugs directly in their trackers. So, from Launchpad, if we had permission from Mozilla, you should be able to say "this bug in Ubuntu's Firefox package is also in upstream, please open a bug report for it". And that should report the bug in bugzilla.mozilla.org, then link it in all the right ways in Malone.
The problem will definitely be the risk of filing unnecessary dups in the upstream tracker. Bugzilla is getting good at getting people to check that the bug they are reporting has not already been reported. We need that same level of defense in Launchpad (though with the ticket tracker slowly improving, we should see more problems starting out there, being handled by the community, and graduating to Malone only once they are verified). And we need a way to make sure that Launchpad does not get a bad reputation for being used to poke dups into upstream bug trackers.


text: Originally appearing here. Last month NORML posted a letter from Tennessee Congressman Steven Cohen — co-sponsor of HR 2306: The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011— to Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske, which called upon the Obama administration to support changing cannabis' status as a schedule I prohibited drug and to respect the laws of states that have legalized it for its medical utility. "We should not deny the thousands of Americans who rely on the benefits that marijuana provides," Cohen wrote. "There is no evidence that marijuana has the same addictive qualities or damaging consequences as cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine and should not be treated as such." On Monday, October 3, Drug Czar Kerlikowske responded to Rep. Cohen. In his reply, summarized here, Kerlikowske alleged that the Congressman's concerns regarding the federal scheduling of cannabis are unwarranted because, "We ardently support research into determining what components of the marijuana plant can be used as medicine." Kerlikowske added, "In fact, the federal government is the largest source of funding for research into the potential therapeutic benefits of marijuana, andevery valid request for the use of marijuana for research has been approvedby the Drug Enforcement Administration." Really? So how does the Drug Czar explain this headline — from Saturday's edition of The Washington Post? Marijuana study of traumatized veterans stuck in regulatory limbo Getting pot on the street is easy. Just ask the 17 million Americans who smoked the federally illegal drug in 2010. Obtaining weed from the government? That's a lot harder. In April, the Food and Drug Administration approved a first-of-its kind study to test whether marijuana can ease the nightmares, insomnia, anxiety and flashbacks common in combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. But now another branch of the federal government has stymied the study. The Health and Human Services Department is refusing to sell government-grown marijuana to the nonprofit group proposing the research, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. That's right, the Drug Czar is claiming that the federal government 'ardently supports' medical marijuana research just days after the US government formally denied a request for an FDA-approved clinical trial to assess cannabis' therapeutic safety and efficacy. Wait, it gets worse. The ugly truth is that the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the agency that oversees 85 percent of the world's research on controlled substances, is on record stating that its institutional policy is to reject any and all medical marijuana research. "As the National Institute on Drug Abuse, our focus is primarily on the negative consequences of marijuana use," a NIDA spokesperson told The New York Times in 2010. "We generally do not fund research focused on the potential beneficial medical effects of marijuana." For once a government agency was telling the truth regarding cannabis. NIDA categorically does not support such research — despite the Obama administration in 2010 publicly issuing its "Scientific Integrity" memorandumstating, "Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration." That is why an online search of ongoing FDA-approved clinical trials using the keyword "cannabinoids" yields only six studies (two of which have already been completed) worldwide involving subjects' use of actual cannabis despitehundreds of favorable preclinical and observational studies clearly demonstrating its benefit. Just how blatant is Kerlikowske's latest lie? Consider this. According to the White House's 2011 National Drug Control Strategy, released in July, only fourteen researchers in the United States are legally permitted to conduct research assessing the effect of inhaled cannabis in human subjects. That's right, only fourteen! And even among this absurdly limited group of investigators, most are involved in research to assess the drug's "abuse potential, physical/psychological effects, [and] adverse effects." So says the White House. Ardent support for medical marijuana research? Please Gil, don't make us laugh. Tennessee Congressman Steven Cohen recently wrote a letter to Gil Kerlikowske, the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, requesting that the Obama Administration remove marijuana from the list of Schedule I controlled substances. In Kerlikowske's response, he claimed that the government "ardently support[s] research" on marijuana's medicinal uses, and that the DEA has approved every valid marijuana research proposal. His false statements arrived just days after publications began writing about the Department of Health and Human Services refusing to sell government-grown marijuana to MAPS for FDA-reviewed research.


text:
Here is my second card, which is the result of respritzing the stamp and giving it another press:
The NBUS sediment is from the Waltzingmouse Stamps "Compact Sentiments" set. For this card, I brushed the flower center with Wink of Stella for a little extra pizzazzle.
|With son Daniel, grandsons Adam and Henry, and DIL Rachel
Click the Home tab under my blog banner which resets the post.
Click Page Down to reach the end of the post.
Click Comments and the pop-up box opens.
Click Jump to Comment Form; no more car pool tunnel!


text: At a time when cloud computing services for productivity tools are gaining steam, you would think that desktop software like Office 2010 would be on a downslide.?But Office 2010 is doing just fine thank you very much, despite the onset of the cloud. Microsoft reported this week in a company blog post commemorating Office 2010's one-year anniversary that corporate customers have adopted Office 2010 software five times faster in its first year than Office 2007 did in its first year.Office 2010 is also the fastest-selling consumer version of Office ever, says Microsoft. The software giant reports that nearly 50 million customers are using the Web-based version of Office (Office Web Apps) as well. Office Web Apps were created in part to fend off the threat of Google Apps, which has been struggling with enterprise adoption.But however many Office 2010 upgrades Microsoft racks up, the new Office can be a disruption in the workplace, especially if your user base is moving from Office 2003 \u2014 i.e. before the Ribbon interface.After an Office 2010 migration is complete, support issues will invariably pop up. In a recent report entitled "Lessons Learned: Microsoft Office - Ensuring a Successful Migration" IT services and staffing company Technisource offers four Office 2010 support tips for staying ahead of user gripes, reducing service desk calls and making the most of your Office 2010 investment.Make Training MandatoryTraining for both employees and the help desk team is critical and should take place before an Office 2010 deployment, writes Technisource. This will cut down on user complaints and confusion once Office 2010 is up and running. Training is something a company can do internally. Microsoft offers Office 2010 support and commercial training programs and free online guides are also available. Goodbye Menus, Hello RibbonThe controversial Ribbon design introduced in Office 2007 that uses ribbons instead of menu bars for navigation and editing is confusing for new users. But Microsoft has tools available to help users and service desk workers learn the new interface and command structure. The Office 2010 Interactive Guide is a useful online tool that teaches users where menu and toolbar commands are located in Office 2010. The guide also provides a printable list of Office 2010 commands and buttons.Give Workers Quick Reference GuidesIn addition to formal training, Technisource recommends providing a "quick reference guide" that outlines the differences between Office 2003\/2007 and Office 2010. Such guides can be purchased or can be compiled internally.One Technisource client cited in the report developed short guides showing users the basic differences between Office versions, and posted the guides on the company's help desk support Web site. IT programmed the message users receive when they call the help desk to direct them to where the reference guides are located online. Also links to the reference guide are emailed to users when they call the help desk, and if required, the company's IT support professionals walk users through a sample of the guide.Customizing Office 2010One way to alleviate Office 2010 support calls is to prevent situations from happening at all. Technisource notes that there are a variety of customization possibilities with Office 2010 that will help provide users with a standardized and easy-to-navigate environment. One basic example: Putting key functions like "Print" in the Quick Access Toolbar to alleviate calls to the Service Desk asking, "How do I print?"Shane O'Neill covers Microsoft, Windows, Operating Systems, Productivity Apps and Online Services for CIO.com. Follow Shane on Twitter @smoneill. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline and on Facebook. Email Shane at firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Forged Hope - Entries - Round 3
by Massive Voodoo
Ladies and Gentleman,
Week after week we will show you the entried of the Forged Hope Program.
You can find the other rounds here:
Round 1
Round 2
You will find these posted galleries of the entries linked up to the event section - click here!
One thing we have to clear up. On the post of the last round, we showed this image:
We didn't want to say the entries so far are not the best. I hope no one tought that, the entries are all great and we tried to say that the Best is obviously the end of the competition, when everything is posted and the 'prize ceremony' is over.
To say it with the words of Frank Sinatra:
When you know in your heart that you've found that one
That's when you know for certain
Still the best is yet to come
Now let's continue with the third set of entries... and again, they are really cool.
by Oliver SpäthA damaged world, wild and full of dangers. Not many humans are left, just one little city, or not a city at all, more some kind of a hidden place with a big wall and some weapons.
Their resources are limited. Not much water, food, nearly no electricity and no machines or any electrical equipment. So they started building robots for the help to hunt, to collect fruits, electrical parts, tools and machines of the old world.
We don't know if there are any other survivors out there, in the deserts and jungles, the nature takes back all the human cities and roads. After all this atomic tests and wars in the past the complete environment changed in a really bad way, mutated plants and animals and even more dangers, which we don't know about. Some survivors travelled out to find answers before, but they never returned. So we started building the robots. We have already build heavy robots with big guns and armour, to defend us. But they are too slow and need too much energy when they go outside for exploration. So we built this new series, fast and light robots, which collect information about the environment and got messages if they find any other survivors or tribes. So he is out there, running, and making hundreds of kilometers, collecting information and searching for other humans...
And some words about the different elements and to my thoughts on this project:
I wanted to catch a scene of a running robot (running is another big hobby from me). He has a GPS-watch and an oil drink in the hand. And some letters are pinned on his metal body, this messages are for other survivors. On the base you can see different elements for example a human skull, a destroyed road and a gun, this elements stand for the wars of the humans. This has been some years before, you can recognize that, because all the elements were grow over with plants. Beside that you can see a the head of a destroyed robot, this shows the actual dangers in the world, the head doesn't lie there for a long time. The rabbits were just out there and enjoying their lives, while they get scared away of the running robot. With the jumping rabbit and the robot, I wanted to catch a very dynamic and sudden scene.
The Collector
by Erik LuxHe is the Collector, built to find the remains of the ancient civilization, collect and bring them to his Creator.
He is the 2nd of its kind. What happened to no. 1? Better don't ask, it's a tough world out there!
He is still young. He was activated barely two weeks ago. Yet his paint is fresh and only a few scratches are visible, but this is changing faster than he would like. Always with him, his faithful companion K-9.
His job is not easy, so many debris everywhere, but little useful material. But he takes it seriously, because he knows that so much depends on it and people need him and the things he finds.
And sometimes, though not very often, it's a real treasure.
Theo Mechanic
by Maximilian Ullrich
Named after my son Theodor, I decided that my robot should be a mechanic.
He fixes everything that is useful, from the kitchen blender up to a B71. But his heart belongs to his red jeep with white shelby stripes.
Theo has a small hideout where he gathers his tools and other useful stuff. His pride are his aviator glasses which he has exchanged for a defective refrigerator.
And a small side entry by Maximilian:
Hans the Guardian
Hans is standing so long in front of his door he should guard that he no longer knows why and what is behind it.
But he is dutiful and ready to fight, and he knows no fear as long as his batteries are charged.
by Siggi HaukeThey are robots ...
Living in a world of scrap and metal ...
Built to help the human survivors ...
Some robots are blue ... some robots are orange* ...
If they are orange, they carry metal from here to there ...
Blue robots are built to paint. With their paintings they bring colors back in the wastelands ...
Humans need colors to keep their good will of live ...
Thank you #A.R.T.1
*Model 'worker' #W42
Resting atop a Skyscraper 2332 AD
by Arne WilkensAs an homage to the well-known picture of the New York Construction Workers on a crossbeam back in 1932 I started to work on my robots for the forged hope contest. In a setting exactly 400 years later. If you wanted to read more about the story behind the original photography follow this link.
And here's my (short) story of these 3 for the contest, even if I am not really into writing something about this as a story is visible on it's own if knowing the story behind the original photography.
"Years after the devastating destruction of mostly everything knowen as civilisation humans slowly started to take over the earth again. Collecting junk, harvesting fruits and vegetables, hunting animals and defending against the beasts, mutated from regular animals after the devastation. But they also needed a home.
Constructed from junk people started to use robots as little helpers for mostly every task. So are these 3 constructionrobots, building a new centre fpor robotic research, development and construction. This shot was made during a short rest, while new materials were delivered to the 63rd floor."
We hope you liked the 3rd round of entries! The next round will be shown on Monday!


text: Spoken about only in whispers, the Nowhere Man can only be reached by the truly desperate, he can ―He will do anything to save them. Evan Smoak is the Nowhere Man. Taken from a group home at twelve, Evan was raised and trained as part of the Orphan Program, an off-the-books operation designed to create deniable intelligence assets―i.e. assassins. Evan was Orphan X. He broke with the Program, using everything he learned to disappear and reinvent himself as the Nowhere Man. But his new life is interrupted when a surprise attack comes from an unlikely angle and Evan is caught unaware. Captured, drugged, and spirited off to a remote location, he finds himself heavily guarded and cut off from everything he knows. His captors think they have him trapped and helpless in a virtual cage but they don't know who they're dealing with―or that they've trapped themselves inside that cage with one of the deadliest and most resourceful men on earth. Continuing his electrifying series featuring Evan Smoak, Gregg Hurwitz delivers a blistering, compelling new novel in the series launched with the instant international bestseller, Orphan X.


text:
There's no point beating around the bush. "Being Bobby Brown," the reality show spotlighting the R&B singer whose rap sheet might be longer than his catalog, is undoubtedly the most disgusting and execrable series ever to ooze its way onto television.
And when you consider the competition from the celebrity reality genre alone, that's says something.
What gives "Bobby" that dismal distinction?
Is it the lionizing of a lowlife convicted of failing to pay child support for his out-of-wedlock kids, drunk driving and a cocaine-related parole violation? (And let's not forget his spousal "slap-boxing" arrest.) Is it his insufferable ego (he calls his son, Bobby Jr., "special to me because he carries my name")? Is it his constant crude comments (he tells wife Whitney Houston to "bring that ass in quick. I'm going to show you what I'm going to do with it.")? Or is it just his disgusting persona as, in the second episode, he speaks of removing excrement from his wife's derriere? (No, I'm not going to quote him.)
It's all that, and then some. If the eight-part series was intended to improve Brown's image, it fails miserably.
Not only does it reveal Brown to be even more vulgar than the tabloids suggest, but it manages at the same time to rob Houston of any last shreds of dignity. She alternately shies from the camera and performs for them.
At one point, she asks the offscreen crew of this so-called reality show, "What are we supposed to be doing here?" It's also a question for anyone who tunes in.
"Being Bobby Brown" (Thurs. June 30, 10-11 p.m., two episodes, repeating 11-midnight, Bravo


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A mostrar 1–12 de 315 resultados
Ao efetuar a submissão, estou a concordar com a Política de Privacidade e RGPD e sobre a forma como os meus dados são recolhidos, armazenados e tratados.
© 2023 Surprise Me Now!.
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text:
Humans have caused climate change by pumping ever more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and we must quickly cut these emissions.
True, but what has this got to do with unions?
Well, at their core unions are organizations that bring people together to fight for the common good. This essential truth is reflected in the structure, philosophy and history of most unions.
But exactly whose "common good" a union is fighting for can vary widely.
Is it narrowly defined as immediate job interests of local union members? Is it the common good of all those working in a particular trade? All union members in one industry?
Or is it more widely defined as the common good of every union member? Every worker in a particular country? Of all Canadians? All the workers of the world? Every person in the world? Or even wider as the common good of all life on the planet?
The truth is every thoughtful union member, and especially every union leader, must consider the common good from many different perspectives. Everyone has more than one self-interest and therefore more than one common good.
No one is solely a pipefitter, nurse, front desk clerk; or employee of General Motors; we are also children, parents, residents of a city or town, citizens of a country, inhabitants of a planet who are dependent on a common environment, and much more besides.
But unions often find it easiest to fight for the narrowest common good, the immediate self-interest of workers in a particular trade, industry, or company. Higher pay, improved benefits, better job security — members almost always cheer if a union achieves these things. Fighting for all life on the planet or against inequality is a bit more complicated.
But there is another reason as well why unions find it easiest to fight for the narrowest common good. "Looking after No. 1" is what capitalism tells people to do. You are a consumer. Buying more is what life is all about.
In fact, proponents of capitalism argue there is no such thing as the common good, that we are all simply individual consumers and therefore unions are an illegitimate intrusion into the free market. Still, if workers are going to unite for any purpose it had better be limited to stuff like higher pay, something that allows people to buy more and does not challenge capitalism.
So, here's the reality we face: In so far as a union, its leadership and members have bought into capitalism, the greater the likelihood that union will choose to focus on a very narrow self-interest and ignore such issues as climate change or inequality. Some unions do buy into capitalism despite the fact it does not like workers joining together to fight for any common good, whether narrowly or broadly defined. If it were up to capitalists there would be no unions at all. Capitalists — the bosses — are not our friends. The more people buy into their system the weaker unions are.
And the opposite is also true. The more people come together to fight for the common good, the stronger unions are. The more unions fight for the widest common good, the more people will be on our side and the stronger unions will be. The more unions fight the existing system the stronger unions are.
History shows that the periods of greatest growth in unions were times when capitalism faced widespread challenges and the periods when unions have shrunk, like during the past 20 years, were times when opposition to capitalism was weak.
History also shows that unions have been willing to fight for the widest common good despite opposition from the rich and powerful. Unions were part of the struggle to end slavery and child labour; unions helped win universal voting rights, public education, equal rights, Old Age Pensions, Medicare, the 40-hour work week, paid vacations and numerous other social programs that have benefited society as a whole.
It won't be easy to stop global warming. Many brothers and sisters earn their living extracting oil, building private automobiles and mining coal, industries that must shrink or disappear to save our planet. Of course this raises difficulties inside the labour movement because it pits narrow self-interest against the wider common good.
But progressive unions were not deterred by similar internal problems in the struggle for civil rights or against sexism and homophobia. As in those battles we must do what is necessary and right. We must demand jobs that do not harm the environment. We must not shy away from battling climate change because there is no more important common good than the health of our environment. We must learn from and work with environmentalists.
But environmental activists must also learn an important lesson from the long history of the labour movement: Capitalism is the problem and certainly not the solution.
The capitalist drive to maximize profits explains the externalizing of environmental costs. Capitalism is a system of small minorities profiting at the expense of others. Private ownership of what are social means of livelihood allows capitalists to make decisions that pass the real costs of industry to communities, workers, future generations and other species.
Capitalism requires growth. But what happens when the environment needs a smaller human footprint? When, at least in wealthier countries, we must learn to live with less stuff?
If a capitalist economy shrinks for a sustained period the system goes into a crisis. Banks crash, unemployment rises and wars suddenly make sense to rich people in order to get their system growing again.
Supporters of capitalism claim the system is based on freedom and choice, but when it comes to the environment for many people this amounts to the freedom to choose between destroying the planet or having a job. The promoters of tar sands, fracking, coal mining and pipelines are explicit about this. The business pages are full of stories quoting the captains of the carbon-industrial complex as telling us: "You must choose between economic prosperity and what is good for the environment, because you can't have both."
With capitalism they are correct.
Yet some environmentalists, as well as some union members, look to capitalism for solutions. That's like expecting Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to tell the truth. A sustainable, democratic economy is incompatible with a system run in the interests of a tiny minority that constantly demands more profit.
Science leaves little reasonable doubt that the burning of currently known reserves of coal, oil and natural gas will push atmospheric carbon dioxide levels past a tipping point, after which rising global temperatures will irreversibly undermine the conditions on which human life as we know it depends.
Despite the evidence, today's capitalism rests on the expansion of fossil fuel production and use.
In Canada, capitalist investment is focused on expanding tar sands production. The promoters claim that these developments will create jobs. But every analysis shows more jobs would be produced if equivalent investments were made in solar, wind and geothermal power. Far more jobs could be produced by investing in domestic employment for domestic markets, in the production and distribution of sustainable local agriculture, clothing, etc. Even more jobs would be created by investments in childcare, elder care, social housing, public transit and other green infrastructure.
More jobs but less profit. Capitalists invest in fossil fuels because corporate profits now largely depend on cheap fuel. Equivalent profits cannot be made meeting actual human needs.
So, unions and environmentalists share a common enemy: an economic system run by and for the wealthiest people in the world.
Together we can fight for a different sort of economic system that will prosper in harmony with the environment. Or apart we can fiddle with capitalism as our planet burns.


text:
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text:
Last week, we got a peek at an alleged upcoming Walmart ad that indicated an official price drop would be coming to the Wii. Today, it appears that retailer Toys R Us may have heard the same thing.
While the Walmart listing we saw didn't put a price tag on the Wii—currently still at its launch price of $249 USD—the Toys R Us version does, pegging the new MSRP at $199. And that's with Wii Sports included, not a stripped down package. The ad is purportedly from the end of September, due to hit the week of the 27th according to the tipster that forwarded a shot our way.
That's a week earlier than we were expecting based on the Walmart tip we received, but still not official in any capacity.
If accurate, that would mean a price drop announcement from Nintendo sometime within the next two weeks, possibly during the Tokyo Game Show. Nintendo won't be exhibiting officially at the yearly game show, but will be present at the Kyoto Cross Media Experience 2009.
We contacted Nintendo to get clarification, but were told "Nintendo does not comment on rumors and speculation." And they don't comment on blurry shots of Toys R Us circulars either!