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5. Study and Exposition of Romans 2:1-16
A. Introduction
Someone has once quipped that the definition of a jury is: "twelve people chosen to decide who has the best lawyer." With the current state of litigation in America, it's no wonder that people are openly skeptical about truth and justice in our law courts. Indeed, the problem with justice is that it appears to be no longer admissible in our practice of law.
There is coming a day, however, when things will be different—radically different. It is a day Paul refers to in Romans 2:16 when God will judge men. There will be no need for lawyers; God does not need to listen to crooked defense strategies. There will be no need for remembering what actually happened; God is omniscient and omnipresent. He knows what happened better than we do; indeed he was there when the deeds were done. There will be no need to attempt to discern whether someone is actually telling the truth or not; again, God knows all things. In short, it will be a perfect situation: a holy judge who cannot lie or sin, be bought off or corrupted in any way. He will possess complete knowledge of all mitigating factors and circumstances and his verdict will be just with no opportunity for appeal. Indeed, there can be no appeal, for there is no higher court. It will be a radically different day, for an omnipotent, omniscient, and holy judge will take the stand and settle issues once and for all. The question surfaces, then, "on what basis does God judge people." Paul provides an answer in Romans 2:1-16: God judges people impartially, according to their works and the truth. Let's take a deeper look now.
B. Translation of Passage in NET
2:1 Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. 2:2 Now we know that God's judgment is in accordance with truth against those who practice such things. 2:3 And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God's judgment? 2:4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God's kindness leads you to repentance? 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment is revealed! 2:6 He will reward each one according to his works: 2:7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, 2:8 but wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey the truth but follow unrighteousness. 2:9 There will be affliction and distress on everyone who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, 2:10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek. 2:11 For there is no partiality with God. 2:12 For all who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. 2:14 For whenever the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things required by the law, these who do not have the law are a law to themselves. 2:15 They show that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them, 2:16 on the day when God will judge the secrets of human hearts, according to my gospel through Christ Jesus.
C. Full Exegetical Outline
I. Jews who judge Gentiles hypocritically, thus despising God's mercy, will themselves be judged by God impartially according to truth and their works (2:1-11).
A. Jews who judge Gentiles hypocritically are without excuse since they practice the same sins and will also be judged by God in accordance with the truth (2:1-4)
1. The Jews are without excuse when they judge Gentiles because they practice the same sins (2:1).
2. Paul and other Jews know that the judgment of God is according to the truth (2:2).
3. Jewish hypocrites will not escape God's judgment (2:3).
4. Some Jews show contempt for God's kindness, etc. not realizing that his kindness leads them to repentance (2:4).
B. That God's judgment is impartial is seen in that both Jew and Gentile have law and that both are judged on the same basis, i.e., works (2:5-11).
1. Jews who are hard-hearted and unrepentant are storing up wrath for themselves—a wrath they will receive on the day of God's righteous judgment (2:5).
2. God will reward each one according to his works (2:6)
3. There will be eternal life for those who by perseverance in good works seek glory, honor, and immortality (2:7).
4. There will be wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition and do not obey the truth, but follow unrighteousness (2:8).
5. There will be affliction and distress for those who do evil, and glory, honor, peace, for everyone who does good (2:9-10).
6. God is impartial (2:11).
II. God's impartiality in judgment is seen in that both Jew and Gentile alike are to be judged equally and fairly (2:12-16).
A. The fact that God is impartial is demonstrated in the manner of his judgment: those who sin apart from the law will be judged apart from the law and those who sin under the law will be judged by the law and only those who do the law will be declared righteous (2:12-13).
1. All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law (2:12).
2. All who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the law (2:12).
3. Those who hear the law are not righteous before God (2:13).
4. Those who do the law will be declared righteous (2:13).
B. The fact that God judges the Gentiles, not based on the Law of Moses which they did not have, but on the law of the conscience written on their hearts, demonstrates that he is indeed impartial (2:14-16).
1. The Gentiles are a law to themselves in that although they do not have the Mosaic law, they nonetheless do by nature things required in the law (2:14).
2. The Gentiles show that the work of the law is written in their hearts and their consciences bear witness (2:15).
3. Their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend them (2:15).
4. According to Paul's gospel, there will come a day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ (2:16).
D. Simple Point Outline
I. Jews Will Not Escape God's Judgment (2:1-11)
A. God Judges according to the Truth (2:1-4)
B. God Judges according to Works (2:5-11)
II. Jew and Gentile Alike Will Be Judged Equally and Fairly (2:12-16)
A. The Basic Principle of Impartiality (2:12-13)
B. The Application to the Gentiles and All Men (2:14-16)
E. Exposition Proper
Romans 2:1-16 is a powerful passage about the nature of God's justice. That much—and more—is quite clear. But the passage is not without its interpretive difficulties. One such difficulty worth discussing here involves the question of to whom the passage is directed. Some have argued that the principal referent for the passage is the moral Gentile who has not sinned like other Gentiles in the ways Paul has outlined in 1:18-32. Paul wants to have a word with this "moral person" before he moves on to speak to the Jews in 2:17-3:8. The primary arguments for this position are: (1) the for (γάρ, gar) makes good sense if Gentiles are still in view in 2:1-16, and (2) Jews are not explicitly mentioned until 2:17; (3) the Jews did not practice the same sins as the Gentiles so Gentiles must be in view in 2:1.
While this is certainly a reasonable option, it is not the best one. There are many indications in the passage that suggest that Jews are in view: (1) "passing judgment on someone else" is particularly a Jewish habit practiced against the Gentiles; (2) Paul says "we know" which indicates that he and his fellow Jews are in mind since the Gentiles do not know that God's judgment is in accordance with the truth (2:2); (3) showing contempt for the riches of his kindness, etc. is particularly relevant if Jews are in mind since they knew about these truths (i.e., from the abundant witness in the OT; [2:4]); (4) The Jews, not the Gentiles, knew that God's kindness does not mean weakness, but is intended to lead men to repentance (2:4); (5) the mention of the Jews in 2:17 is abrupt if they are not already intended in 2:1-16; (6) the "for" in 2:1 reads quite well when Jews are in view (see exposition); (7) Romans 2:1-16 may be based on texts like Wisdom of Solomon 11-15 which would indicate that the Jew is the specific target of the passage; (8) the Jews were indeed guilty of some of the same sins as the Gentiles (2:1, 21-24); (9) The manner in which Paul mentions the Jews in 2:17 indicates that they have been in view all along. The reason he waits to mention them explicitly in 2:17 is to prevent them from reacting negatively too quickly, closing him off, and refusing his indictments in 2:1-16. It will begin to dawn on them throughout the passage that they are in view, but this point will be brought home, without doubt, in 2:17ff.
2:1-4 The Jew who judges Gentiles has no excuse because at the same point at which he judges another he condemns himself. Why? Well, when he judges, he admits that such behavior is wrong, and worthy of just punishment from God, yet he himself knowingly commits the same sins.
Paul's point is that since God's judgment is based on truth and not on any fudging of the grades for the sake of the "chosen" crowd, the Jew is equally held accountable to God. Jews cannot condemn others for their sins when they practice the same ones. The Jew of Paul's day knew and approved of the fact that God's judgement is in accordance with the truth, yet he failed to apply it to himself because, in his zealous criticism of overt Gentile sin, he failed to similarly apply God's revealed standard to his own life. Paul says that God's impartial judgment extends to the covenant people as well. When it comes to God's judgment against sin, we must all examine our lives, for we have a tendency to throw the first stone, all the while conveniently forgetting that we all live in glass houses.
But how then, specifically, does the term therefore (γάρ, gar) in 2:1 relate to what has come before in 1:18-32? We have already argued that 2:1-16 as a whole speaks firstly and primarily to the Jew. But if this is the case, then how does Gentile sin mentioned in 1:29-31 stand as the basis (implied in the "therefore") for the condemnation of the Jew in 2:1ff? There have been many suggestions.
As we already mentioned, there are those who argue that this fact alone suggests that Jews are not in mind in 2:1ff, but rather Gentiles. Again, we point out that there is simply too much evidence in 2:1-16 that fits the Jew better. Also, the absence of any specific reference to the Jew in 2:1-16 is not difficult to account for.
On the other hand, some argue that perhaps the best way to view the connection is according to what both the Gentiles and Jews have in common, that is, knowledge of God, albeit in different, yet similar ways. Thus the term "therefore" in 2:1 is linked particularly, though not exclusively, with the term "know" in 1:32. The point Paul is making, then, can be put as follows: if the Gentile knows "God's righteous decree," then a fortiori the Jew should know it even better; "therefore" he is guilty as well. (The Gentile only had the revelation of God in nature and conscience, but the Jew had the added benefit of the clarifying revelation in the law of God [cf. vv. 12-13]). While this view is attractive in certain respects, Paul's point in 2:1 and following is not what Jews and Gentiles have in common, per se, that makes them culpable, but rather that God's judgment is fair and equitable and as such will be applied to all without discrimination. The issue is God's justice in respect to all men, including the Jew.
Therefore, the best way to understand the connection between 2:1ff to 1:18-32 (esp. 1:29-31), is not according to what the Gentile and the Jew respectively know, but according to what the Jews' response to God's judgment of the Gentile reveals. That is, when the Jew heartily agrees with God's judgment of the Gentile, and when he too condemns the Gentile, he reveals that he believes that God's judgment is in accordance with the truth. The problem is, however, that he somehow thinks he is exempt from God's judgement which will be meted out according to the same truth. Thus he thinks that when he commits the same sins he will somehow escape the judgment of God!
There was a common belief among Jews in Paul's day (though certainly not all Jews were guilty of this) that they were somehow better than the Gentiles and that God would not equally judge them for their sin. Perhaps the best passage in Jewish writings outside the OT where this is exemplified—and may be a text Paul has in mind here in Romans 2:1-16—is Wisdom of Solomon 11-15, and in particular 15:1-6:
But you, our God, are kind and true, patient, and ruling all things in mercy. 2 For even if we sin we are yours, knowing your power; but we will not sin, because we know that you acknowledge us as yours. 3 For to know you is complete righteousness, and to know your power is the root of immortality. 4 For neither has the evil intent of human art misled us, nor the fruitless toil of painters, a figure stained with varied colors, 5 whose appearance arouses yearning in fools, so that they desire the lifeless form of a dead image. 6 Lovers of evil things and fit for such objects of hope are those who either make or desire or worship them (NRSV; italics mine).
The point Paul wants to make in 2:4 is that the Jew who thinks he can sin and escape the judgment of God because he has a particular relationship with God—a relationship that the Gentile who was without the Law did not have—is sadly mistaken. This kind of Jew demonstrates contempt for the wealth of God's kindness, forbearance, and patience and does not realize the true intent of God's patience; God's patience and forbearance do not imply that God is weak, but rather they are expressions of his chosen method for dealing with sinners in order to lead them to repentance (μετάνοιαν, metanoian). Holding God's kindness in contempt is a very serious posture to advance against God and can only lead to divine wrath and anger.
2:5 An attitude of contempt for the kindness, forbearance, and patience of God can only be described as stubbornness (σκληρότητα, sklērotēta), the spiritually insensitive, hard-hearted refusal to acknowledge the obvious truth—an attitude which has dire consequences (cf. Deut 9:27; 10:16; Jer 4:4; Amos 6:8). Further, the person who continues in this posture is unrepentant (ἀμετανόητον) and is ironically storing up (θησαυρίζεις, thēsaurizeis)—not treasure, as one would expect with the expression "storing up" (Matt 6:19-20)—but wrath (ὀργή, orgē). Indeed, such wrath is being stored up for that final day when God's righteous judgment (δικαιοκρισίας, dikaiokrisias) will be revealed. At the present time, a hypocritical person may seem to escape judgment, but a day of reckoning will come when God's just judgment will be made manifest to all.
2:6 The manner of God's righteous judgment will be to reward (ἀποδώσει, apodōsei) each one according his works (cf. Ps 62:12; Prov. 24:12 LXX). Thus Paul shows complete continuity with the Old Testament on the manner of God's judgment, but speaks of the judgment as futuristic (cf. Hos 12:2; Matt 16:27; 2 Cor 11:15; 2 Tim 4:14).
2:7-11 In vv. 7-8 Paul shows how the principle of God's judgment finds its way among two classes of people. God will give eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον, zōēn aiōnion) to those who by perseverance in good works (ἔργου, ergou) seek glory, honor, and immortality. To those, on the other hand, who are characterized as having selfish ambition (ἐριθείας, eritheias), that is, who do not obey the truth (ἀπειθοῦσι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, apeithousi tē alhtheia) but follow unrighteousness (πειθομένοις δὲ τῇ ἀδικίᾳ, peithomenois de tē adikia), God will pour out anger and wrath (ὀργὴ καὶ θυμός, orgē kai thumos).
Paul carries on with the same thought in 2:9-10, only here he treats the two groups in the opposite order beginning first with the disobedient. He says that there will be affliction (θλι~ψις, thlipsis) and distress (στενοχωρία, stenochōria) on everyone who does evil. There is coming a time when human evil will be dealt with and no one will escape the judgment; no one will get away with evil (τὸ κακόν, to kakon). All will receive affliction because of their evil and they will suffer the distress that comes from being so afflicted (cf. 2 Thess 1:8-9). On the other hand, glory, honor and peace will be given to everyone who does good (τὸ ἀγαθόν, to agathon).
Thus 2:7-10 evidences a universality and equality in the judgment of God; all will receive according to their deeds. There is, nonetheless, an order to the judgment; it is to the Jew first and then to the Greek. But the order is not just chronological in that the Jews were first in salvation-history to receive the gospel and therefore they should be judged first. There is also a logical priority put upon the Jews. Since they did receive the gospel ahead of the Gentiles, they will be judged ahead of the Gentiles. The reason this is so is because there is no partiality (προσωπολημψία, prosōpolēmpsia) with God (Gal 2:6; Eph 6:9; Col 3:25; James 2:1). The Jews may have thought that they were the first to receive salvation and the last to receive judgment, but that would make God partial and unjust.
We must also comment briefly on the theology of these verses. At first glance it appears that Paul is referring to any non-Christian and affirming that if they're good enough—as demonstrated by their works—they will be saved. In fact, he has been so interpreted by various commentators. The problem with this view is that it throws Paul into hopeless confusion within himself (cf. Eph 2:8-9), even in Romans itself, and results in a "council of despair." For in the conclusion of 1:18-3:8, that is, in 3:9-20, Paul emphatically denies that anyone can be saved by their works. It is better to seek another solution.
Others argue that good works (v. 7) means "faith" and that the reference is to the Jew or Gentile who has faith. The problem with this view is that Paul does not use work (ἔργον, ergon) in this way, but instead often draws a sharp antithesis between faith and works (cf. 4:6).
It has been suggested that 2:7-11 refers to a purely hypothetical situation which would have been the case had God's saving work in Christ not come to expression in history. In other words, had Christ not come, people would have been saved on the basis of their works. There are at least three very obvious problems with this view: (1) that the situation is not hypothetical is clear from the fact that Paul is referring to living Jews who are storing up wrath against themselves because of their unrepentant hearts; (2) the Jew-Gentile order of judgment precludes God's revelation in the gospel having been already given in history; and (3) Jews were never saved in the OT on the basis of works. This is the heart of Paul's argument in chapter 4:1-25.
Further, some scholars argue that what Paul means by good works is the evidence of true faith in God whereas those who do evil are self-seeking (not God-seeking) and thus have no faith in God. Their lives evidence no trust in God. In short, the works Paul talks about are simply the evidence of faith or the lack thereof.
Finally, other commentators suggest that what Paul is referring to is the true condition for eternal life—a condition he will demonstrate (by the end of 3:20) that no human being can fulfill. Thus the true condition for eternal life, the very demand of the Law of God, is to produce the good without ceasing and without failure in the outcome, ever. Of course, no one can fulfill the demand.
The last two solutions are the best: (1) they adequately explain the passage internally; (2) they do not put Paul at odds with himself, either in Romans or throughout his writings; (3) they concur with broader NT ideas about the distinct, yet close relationship of faith and works in salvation and judgment (Matt 7:15-27; Gal 5:6, 19-21; 6:7-10; James 2:14-26). To decide, however, between the two, is not easy. In the end, however, we must remember that it is not exactly Paul's purpose at this point in Romans to discuss how one is saved, but rather to point out the nature of God's absolute justice in his method of judgement. That seems to be his point in 2:1-16.
2:12-13 In vv. 12-13 Paul explains the implications of v. 11 where he said that there is no partiality with God. Since this is true, the Gentile will not be judged by the law, but will perish apart from the law, whereas the Jew who had the law of Moses will be condemned by that law. Thus vv. 12-13 prefigure what the apostle will say in 3:9-20, namely, that all are guilty and will be punished according to God's justice.
But the Jew should not think that just because he was given the law that he is necessarily exempt from judgment, for it is not the one who has repeatedly heard the law read and taught on the Sabbath who is righteous, but only those who do the law will be declared righteous (δικαιωθήσονται, dikaiōthēsontai). To be "declared righteous" does not mean "to make righteous," but rather to be given a righteous standing before God even though one is still a sinner (5:1). It is only those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Paul could either mean that their obedience is evidence of justifying faith or hypothetically if a person could obey the law perfectly he would be declared righteous. If the latter is the idea, that person does not exist, as 2:17-29 makes plain (cf. also 3:9-20).
2:14-15 The reference to Gentiles (ἔθνη, ethnē) points not to Gentiles who are Christians, but rather to Gentiles as people without the Mosaic law (and by implication unsaved). If this identification is true, the for (γάρ, gar) connecting v. 14 with v. 13 really connects the thoughts of v. 14 with v. 12a. Thus vv. 14-15 are an explanation of why the Gentile without the law perishes. It is because he does have a law which shows that he is guilty.
The Gentiles do by nature (φύσει, phusei) the things required by the law. In the Greek text the term translated "by nature" could go with "who do not have the law" or with the following phrase "do the things required by the law." Paul uses the word to refer to Gentiles who do not have the law by virtue of their birth (cf. Rom 2:27; Gal 2:15; Eph 2:3) and so it is often assumed that the first interpretation is what is meant here: Gentiles by nature—because they grew up Gentiles and not Jews—do not have the law of Moses.
But Paul has talked about Gentiles possessing knowledge of God in 1:21 and in 2:15 he talks about them having the work of God written on their hearts. Because of this, and the fact that "by nature" can refer to inward realities (Gal 4:8), it seems best to take it with "do the things required by the law." That is, there are times (cf. the whenever) "when the Gentiles by virtue of their nature do things required by the law." Paul must be referring in some sense to the image of God in all men vis-à-vis their connection to Adam. The expression they are a law to themselves is another way of saying that the demands of the moral law are written within a man.
Some argue that the expression work of the law written on their heart (τὸ ἔργον τοῦ νόμου γραπτὸν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν, to ergon tou nomou grapton en tais kardias autōn) recalls the prophecy in Jer 31:33 and that the Gentiles Paul has in mind here are Christians. But while Gentile Christians do share in the new covenant of Jeremiah they can hardly be said to be a law to themselves. Also, the negative tone of the passage and the final clause of v. 15 indicate that Christians are not in view. Again, we return to our earlier stated thesis that Gentile non-Christians are in mind here, i.e., people who are unsaved and do not have the Mosaic Law. The context, it must be remembered, is not about salvation, but about the method of God's righteous judgment: the Jew by the Mosaic Law and the Gentile by another law, namely, that which God implanted within him to which his conscience bears witness.
The expression "work of the law" can be understood as the work which the law requires that we do. Our conscience (συνειδήσις, suneidēsis) bears witness to those works (attitudes and acts) which we know to be the necessary and right demands of the law, but is not to be identified with them.
Further, Paul says, when our conscience is not at peace, it is engaged in a conflict: it will either accuse (κατηγορούντων, katēgorountōn) or defend (ἀπολογουμένων, apologoumenōn) us. Thus the bottom line is secure: we are spiritually and morally responsible beings. No amount of denial can change this fact. For this reason, Paul says, the Gentile is held accountable before God, just as the Jew is for what he knows. The ultimate day of accountability will come when God finally judges men.
2:16 Unfolding the precise connection of v. 16 with v. 15 or any other part of 2:1-15 is difficult to say the least. Some scholars minimize the future aspects of v. 16 in order connect it closely with v. 15. The problem with this is that "on the day" in v. 16 seems to be a future reference to final judgment. Others say that the "accusing and defending" of v. 15 refers to a future event when Gentiles stand at the judgment before God. But this seems to deny the fact that Gentiles possess a conscience now and the accusing and defending is going on now. It is precisely this rebellion against God's moral law written on the heart that becomes the basis of their judgment in the future. There are those who argue that vv. 14-15 are parenthetical and v. 16 runs smoothly with v. 13 (see NIV). But to make so much material parenthetical to the point being argued (i.e., God's righteous judgment) is questionable at best. Perhaps the best way to see the connection is to understand v. 16 as the culmination of a process already in motion. The point is this: the attempt to "accuse and defend" will be brought into broad daylight on the day when God judges the secrets (τὰ κρυπτά, ta krupta) of men. That God will judge men's secrets is in keeping with the fact sin is often related to the conscience, i.e., the inward and hidden moral reasoning of a man (cf. Heb 4:13). That this judgment will take place, and that Jesus will be the judge, is in keeping with the gospel which Paul preached.
F. Homiletical Idea and Outline
Idea: Understand How God Judges!
I. Understand that God's Judgment Will Be according to His Truth and Our Works (2:1-11)
A. His Truth and Hypocrisy (2:1-4)
B. His Impartiality and Our Works (2:5-11)
II. Understand that God's Judgment is Impartial (2:12-16)
A. All Will Be Judged according to the Proper Basis (2:12-13)
1. Those without the Law (2:12a)
2. Those with the Law (2:12b)
3. The Basis of Judgment (2:13)
B. The Proper Basis for the Gentile: The Moral Law (2:14-15)
C. The Time of God's Judgment (2:16)
G. Contribution of Passage to Systematic Theology
The passage contributes to our understanding of God, man, and the final judgment. First, we learn from this passage that God's character is holy and that his justice is equally applied to all men. He judges in accordance with truth and impartiality.
Second, this passage helps us with our anthropology by its reference to the "conscience." The term conscience is used about thirty times in the NT, but this is one of the clearest uses with regard to a detailed description of how it functions. Man's conscience responds positively or negatively to the moral law written on his heart and his current experience of this phenomenon testifies to the fact that he is responsible to God.
Third, this passage teaches that there will be a final day of judgment and that men will be judged according to their deeds (cf. Acts 17:31).
H. Contribution of Passage to Discipleship and Church Mission
There are perhaps many applications which flow from this passage. We will discuss only one. Paul's comment about the law written on our hearts and the function of the conscience has value for apologetics and helping people understand that they are accountable to an ultimate law-giver. The fact that all people appeal to moral law suggests that there is a moral lawgiver. We are not saying that all people's morals are the same, rather we are talking about the fact of morality. This, no one can deny. And, it is hard to account for morality (the "oughtness" of moral decisions) from chance, evolution, or any non-personal source.


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A little bit more about myself
In a former life, I designed the first two prototypes of the Margaritaville™ Frozen Concoction Maker and helped define criteria for dripless spouts on coffee pots (something almost everyone wants). Then I decided to get into high tech. At MicroE Systems, I was involved with high accuracy optical linear and rotary encoders for precision motion control. I then moved on to servo-controlled laser beam steering devices which are used in many laser applications from laser marking, semiconductor wafer processing to laser eye surgery. At Cambridge Technology, I helped launch 16 new products, including a family of enclosed scan heads.
I came to Cognex almost a year ago wondering if handheld barcode scanners would be as exciting as servo-controlled laser beam steering devices. I am happy to report, IT IS!
The great thing about my job is I get to be at the center of everything and see the big picture. With engineering I can dive into the technology as we work on bringing new products (specifically handheld barcode scanners) to market and develop algorithms for our existing platforms. With manufacturing I work through new releases and product introductions. With sales I answer detailed questions about products and work on interesting applications for customers. Interfacing with our customers allows me to see the amazing processes and traceability efforts being implemented with barcodes across so many industries.
I think people's familiarity with supermarket laser scanners makes them not realize all the development and intelligence built into our high tech camera-based ID products. Of course our goal is not to make it complicated, but rather to harness the power and make it easy to use. Hopefully I can share some interesting details about barcodes and image-based barcode readers in this blog and make it an exciting and fun topic to learn about.

subset: commoncrawl


text: [LEFT] In keeping with JD's opening of the review thread for The Rings of Time by mid-month in case of not-unheard-of early arrivals, here's the review thread for That Which Divides, a new Pocket TOS novel by Dayton Ward to be released on February 28th, 2012. [/LEFT] His frequent writing partner Kevin Dilmore is absent from the cover this time, however an interview on StarTrek.com (mostly about Vanguard: Declassified) had earlier established him as a collaborator on the story. That Which Divides is set during the original five-year mission. Here is the blurb from the Simon & Schuster website: You can also read an excerpt here: http://books.simonandschuster.com/S...s/Dayton-Ward/Star-Trek/9781451650686/excerpt


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NEW YORK (AP) — Apple says that some celebrity accounts were deliberately targeted and hacked, leading to the posting of nude photos online.
The company says its investigation found that individual accounts had been compromised. It says there wasn't a general breach involving its systems, including the iCloud and Find my iPhone services.
The FBI said Monday that it was addressing allegations that online accounts of several celebrities, including Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, had been hacked, leading to the posting of their nude photographs online.
The FBI did not say what actions it was taking to investigate who was responsible for posting naked photos of Lawrence and other stars. Apple said at the time it was looking into that. Tuesday afternoon's statement was the first confirmation from Apple that accounts had been hacked.


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Death of the Keyboard? Let's Ask Alexa.
I have written often about my vision of the future of computer hardware and software. One thing I am certain of is that today's computer state-of-the-art will not be the same the state-of-the-art in a few years. Just ask anyone who owns a Radio Shack TRS-80 computer or has a collection of floppy disks or even CD-ROM disks. In that vein, I was interested in a survey which predicts that computer keyboards are already being replaced in many cases by voice input.
A survey conducted by Pindrop Solutions queried 4057 consumers in the UK, USA, France, and Germany. According to the survey, nearly half (48 percent) of the general public think keyboards will barely be used by 2023 as voice technology takes over. That's just two years away.
You can read more about the recent Pindrop Solution survey, the lack of keyboards in future computers, and even watch a video about the same subjects, in an article by Greg Nichols on ZDNet's web site at https://zd.net/2IFHP0q.
Of course, I never believe one article, so I went looking for a second opinion. I asked Alexa (Amazon's Echo device). Seeking a third opinion, I asked Google Home (Google's competitor to Alexa). Still not satisfied, I also asked the GPS navigation system in my automobile that is solely voice-controlled.
OK, so I didn't exactly receive clear predictions from any of these computer devices; but, all of them are excellent examples of the direction in which our computing devices are headed. I see four obvious trends: one about voice input replacing keyboards and three other closely-related predictions:
1. Keyboards are becoming less and less popular. New computing devices that depend less on keyboards are therefore becoming more and more popular. While some growth in voice input has occurred on Windows, Macintosh, and Chromebook systems, the largest growth of voice input has been on both mobile computing devices (cell phones, iPad and other tablets, in-automobile uses such as GPS) and similar computing devices that are not used for "traditional" programs like word processing, spreadsheets, and similar operations.
2. Expensive, general-purpose computers (Windows, Macintosh, Linux, etc.) are becoming less and less popular in the home. In fact, the manufacturers if Windows computers have been reporting declining sales numbers for several years now. Macintosh sales are still growing but not as fast as they used to. Instead, Apple's primary focus these days is on iPads, cell phones, and other specialized computing devices that are not general-purpose computing systems.
Instead, these are being supplemented or sometimes even replaced by cheaper, single-purpose computers designed only for specific tasks. The surge of Chromebooks has proven the interest in cheaper devices that still provide many of the traditional programs, now offered online, but many of these now provide touchscreen input, just like tablets and smartphones. Even more telling, you can purchase a Google Home Mini for about $40, several versions of Amazon Echo (Alexa) devices for about $25. and up, and voice-controlled GPS devices for $150 or so. Even the Waze GPS app is available for Android and iOS "smartphones:" is free and it even includes voice input capabilities. Yet all of these are computers. The difference is that these low-cost computers are designed for limited tasks, not for "general purpose" applications such as spreadsheets, word processing, and other traditional computer applications. Owners of such devices can simply ask their computers to perform common tasks like setting a thermostat or timer, building a shopping list, getting the daily news or weather, and finding the best route to a given destination.
3. Voice control of Windows, Macintosh, and Chromebook computers as well as smartphones already exists. For instance, look at Siri, Cortana, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Google Voice Typing, Dragon Naturally Speaking, and a number of other products that already convert spoken words into computer commands and text. Today's smartphones (primarily iPhones and Android phones) already have extensive voice input capabilities.
Comment: I grew to love Dragon Naturally Speaking several years ago when I slipped on wet ice, fell forward, and broke both arms. I "wrote" this newsletter through the use of Dragon Naturally Speaking's voice-to-text conversion for several weeks while both arms were in casts.
I later prevented the problem from happening again by moving to Florida where ice is not a problem.
4. Connections to the cloud are more and more commonplace, and that coverage obviously will become more and more popular every year as the internet continues to expand. More and more devices are now cloud-connected. The result is the computing-intensive tasks, such as converting spoken words into computer commands and text, can be "off-loaded" to very powerful artificial intelligence systems in the cloud with the converted commands and text then returned to the inexpensive cloud-connected devices. The result is cheaper computers for consumers and computing providers alike.
After all, you don't want to use a $20,000 server in your home to turn the lights off and on. However, thousands of $40 or even cheaper cloud-connecting computing devices in thousands of homes, connected to a single powerful $20,000 server in a remote data center, can be very cost-effective when the expenses are distributed across thousands of users. This is the business model behind Google Home, Amazon Echo (Alexa), Siri, Cortana, and other voice input computing devices.
In short, voice input applications are supplementing and (in some cases) replacing the old-fashioned keyboard-input applications. Indeed, keyboards may someday join floppy disks, CD-ROM disks, and 80-column punch cards in the local computer museum. This probably will happen whether we want it or not.
Did you ever see the Star Trek episode where Scotty encounters a computer from the 1990s, picks up the mouse of that computer, then speaks to the mouse saying, "Hello computer?" The process didn't work very well for Scotty.
That still remains science fiction today, but we all are getting closer and closer to voice input-controlled computing devices that have no need for keyboards.
Will the conversion happen overnight? Probably not. It will be slowly integrated into our lives and that integration has already started.
Will voice input ever completely replace keyboards? Again, I would say probably not, at least not for a long time yet. However, in many cases, using voice input is easier and safer than using keyboards. For example: I don't want to be typing on a keyboard while traveling on a superhighway at 70 miles per hour when I need to find where the next rest stop is. Voice input is far safer. Voice input is a great idea for many applications although not for all of them.
Is the slow disappearance of keyboards a good thing? I think so. Then again, I never did learn to touch-type! I much prefer voice input.


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Design your own instantly downloadable History Portfolio by selecting from among twenty-four multi-level units, or bundled themes, covering ancient thru modern history. Each robust, hands-on, unit is appropriate for children in grades 1st thru 9th.


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Illustrated Articles
The two common guinea pig fur mites are Trixacarus caviae (sarcoptic mange mite) and Chirodiscoides caviae. Chirodiscoides caviae mites may cause mild to no clinical signs at all. Trixacarus caviae mites can cause extreme clinical signs because they cause extreme itchiness. Affected skin will get thick, yellowish, and crusty, with hair loss and secondary bacterial skin infection. These mites cause such itchiness that your guinea pig may even go into seizures and die. Your veterinarian will treat the affected animal with topical or injectable anti-parasitic medications, and since mites live in the environment, the environment must be treated, as well. Trixacarus caviae mites are contagious to people.
Therapeutic laser is the application of light energy to areas of the body to stimulate healing. This light–tissue interaction is called photobiomodulation. In the past, therapeutic laser was often referred to as low-level or cold laser (as opposed to a surgical or hot laser).


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If you haven't made the short drive to Kirkville lately, come and check us out. We are a great golf course at a great value, with a friendly staff and a name synonymous to golf in Central New York for over 75 years.
We are an 18-hole championship golf course with 4 sets of tees ranging from 5755 to 6925 yards.
Our course was designed and built by Bill Grygiel, Sr., former professional at Drumlins in the mid 1950s. The current front nine were originally part of the Towne Isle Golf Course opened in 1957. Opening in 1966, Bill, with the aid of his youngest son Peter, added a second nine. Bill owned and operated Towne Isle until his death in 2005.
In 2006, Peter owner of The Golf Club of Newport, purchased it and changed the name to Olde Oak Golf Club, giving it new life. Numerous improvements have been made in the last several years, most notably with drainage and seeding.
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The publicist for a lesbian actress and musician who says she was escorted off a flight for "one modest kiss" of her partner says the encounter was not a stunt for her band's upcoming breast cancer awareness tour.
Leisha Hailey, best known for playing Alice Pieszecki in the now defunct Showtime lesbian life drama "The L Word," asked her Twitter followers to boycott Southwest Airlines Co. after the encounter Monday.
The airline responded that Hailey's display of affection was excessive and drew customer complaints.
The actress and her partner, Camila Grey, denied in a statement released Tuesday that the affection they showed toward each other was inappropriate.
"We want to make it clear we were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one modest kiss," the written statement said. "We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity. We were simply being affectionate like any normal couple."
Hailey and Grey acknowledge they became upset after the flight attendant reprimanded them. They said the attendant told them that Southwest is a "family airline."
"No matter how quietly homophobia is whispered, it doesn't make it any less loud," the statement said. "You can't whisper hate. We ask this airline to teach their employees to not discriminate against any couple, ever, regardless of their own beliefs."
Hailey and Gray said they plan to file a formal complaint with the airline.
The incident resulted in a national media spotlight for the actress, who now is a part of the electro-pop duo Uh Huh Her. Publicist Libby Coffey said Tuesday that the encounter was real and was "absolutely not" done for attention.
The airline said in a news release posted on its website: "Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender. The conversation escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground, as opposed to in flight."
Hailey tweeted that she was escorted off the flight after it landed. The statement said the incident with the flight attendant lasted five minutes.
The air carrier so far has limited its response to the four-sentence statement on its website. Phone calls and emails seeking comment were not returned.
"Initial reports indicate that we received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive," the statement said in part.
Details of how the couple was escorted off the flight were not included in the Southwest statement. Initial reports had the flight between Baltimore and St. Louis, but a tweet by the band says its members were flying from El Paso, Texas, to Los Angeles.
The band's Twitter feed also characterized the kiss as fleeting. "I didn't realize a small peck on the lips is regarded as excessive and never once did your stewardess mention other passengers," said the tweet from UhHuhHerMusic.
Hailey said in a tweet that she has an audio and video recording of the encounter between the couple and the flight attendant. It's not immediately clear who made it.
Hailey demanded a public apology and a refund from the airline.
Hailey was a musician before joining the cast of the cable drama featuring the lives of lesbian friends and lovers living in Los Angeles. The show is currently not aired.
Southwest's website says it is the official airline of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Herndon Graddick, senior director of programs at GLAAD, said in an email late Monday that "GLAAD contacted Southwest to call for additional actions beyond tonight's statement that ensure all customers feel comfortable and welcomed while traveling."
Earlier this month, the Dallas-based airline kicked off Green Day's lead man Billie Joe Armstrong for wearing his pants too low. The Grammy winner was escorted off a plane after failing to follow a flight attendant's directive to pull up the pants.
Southwest also removed director Kevin Smith from a flight last year because he didn't fit properly in a single seat. His first tweet read, "Dear (at)SouthwestAir I know I'm fat, but was (the) captain (...) really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?"
Hailey is preparing to launch a 21-city tour with Uh Huh Her to promote breast cancer awareness. One of the band's songs was included in the 2010 movie "The Kids Are All Right."


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Yamaha Aerox R 2008
2008 Yamaha Aerox R specifications, pictures, reviews and rating
2008 Yamaha Aerox R. Picture credits - Yamaha. Submit more pictures.
|Yamaha's profilation of this bike
|Want maximum credibility? With its liquid-cooled two-stroke 50cc engine pumping out sharply focused power, disc brakes front and rear, race-inspired bodywork, lightweight handling and the purest essence of Yamaha race expertise running right through the core of the bike, the Aerox R is the sportiest automatic Yamaha 50cc scooter you can buy.
|General moped information
|Yamaha Aerox R
|3.5 View the detailed rating of value for money, design and look, reliability, etc. Compare with any other bike.
|Engine and transmission
|49.2 ccm (3.00 cubic inches)
|Engine type
|Single cylinder, two-stroke
|2.7 HP (2.0 kW)) @ 6500 RPM
|3.7 Nm (0.4 kgf-m or 2.7 ft.lbs) @ 4500 RPM
|Bore x stroke
|40.0 x 39.2 mm (1.6 x 1.5 inches)
|Lubrication system
|Wet sump
|Chassis, suspension, brakes and wheels
|Frame type
|Front suspension
|Hydraulic and telescopic fork
|Rear suspension
|Hydraulic unit swing
|Front tire
|Rear tire
|Front brakes
|Single disc
|190 mm (7.5 inches)
|Rear brakes
|Single disc
|190 mm (7.5 inches)
|Physical measures and capacities
|Dry weight
|92.0 kg (202.8 pounds)
|Power/weight ratio
|0.0291 HP/kg
|Seat height
|828 mm (32.6 inches) If adjustable, lowest setting.
|Overall height
|1170 mm (46.1 inches)
|Overall length
|1743 mm (68.6 inches)
|Overall width
|690 mm (27.2 inches)
|Ground clearance
|185 mm (7.3 inches)
|1256 mm (49.4 inches)
|Fuel capacity
|7.00 litres (1.85 US gallons)
|Other specifications
|Electric & kick
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If you often use tools with particular settings, presets are for you. You can save these settings and get them back when you want.
Paint tools, which are normally in Toolbox, have a preset system that have been much improved with GIMP-2.8. Color tools (except Posterize and Desaturate), which are not normally in Toolbox, have their own preset system.
Four buttons at the bottom of all tools options dialogs allow you to save, restore, delete or reset presets.
Paint tool presets are described in Afsnit 5.1, "Tool Presets Dialog".
Color tool presets are described in Afsnit 5.1.1, "Color Tool Presets".


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Dir: Marc Isaacs. UK. 2012. 75mins
The Road: A Story Of Life and Death claims to follow immigrants down the Roman road - now called the A5 - from Holyhead in Wales, where the ferries from Ireland dock, to London's Marble Arch. This is a complete mis-steer. In fact, documentarian Marc Isaacs barely strays outside his own suburb of London, which the A5 cuts through. Still, though, The Road is a moving story of immigrants that has all the power of last year's Dreams Of A Life.
The Road: A Story Of Life And Death should perhaps be required viewing for all those tempted to come and seek their fortune in the UK's capital city.
Produced as part of the BBC's highly regarded Storyville strand, The Road should find festival ports of call, as well as solid TV exposure. It's a sombre bare-bones piece of film-making which is no easy watch as it tries to find a sense of purpose, but it comes together in a highly-affecting manner as Isaac's connections with his subjects result, literally, in A Story Of Life And Death.
Touting his own camera, Isaacs gets personal with his chosen immigrants over what seems to be a lengthy period of time. He starts out with a young red-haired singer called Keelta who has come to the UK hoping for a bright future and ends up in a Cricklewood bar which is also frequented by the sad-eyed Billy Leah who left Ireland 42 years ago to work on the roads and is now a lonely alcoholic.
Isaacs also finds a charismatic subject in Peggy Roth, the 95-year-old happy widow who fled pre-war Vienna but lost her mother to the Holocaust. Iqbal Ahmed, whom Isaacs credits as co-screenwriter, is a lonely concierge at a Maida Vale hotel; a Burmese immigrant is attracted by the Collindale monks who spend 18 hours a day chanting for peace. And Brigitte Krafczyk is a former air hostess who runs a hostel for language students.
As Isaacs looks around the city, mostly clouded over and damp, his camera captures a cold and difficult place in which his subjects yearn for human contact. As Iqbal muses: "You don't fit in back home, and you don't fit in here either." A man waiting in vain by the side of the road for construction work comments that he watches how people treat their dogs and wishes they would treat him in the same way.
The Road: A Story Of Life And Death should perhaps be required viewing for all those tempted to come and seek their fortune in the UK's capital city.
Production company/sales: Bungalow Town, www.bungalow-town.com
Producers: Rachel Wexler, Aisling Ahmed
Screenplay: Mark Isaacs, Iqbal Ahmed
Cinematography: Marc Isascs
Editor: David Charap
With: Keelta O'Higgis, Peggy Roth, Iqbal Ahmed, Brigitte Krafczyk


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(adds BBC statement paragraph 8)
By Belinda Goldsmith
LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - The BBC faced mounting pressure on Sunday to take action against one its most high-profile sports presenters for criticising the appearance of France's Marion Bartoli who won this year's Wimbledon women's singles title.
John Inverdale incensed radio listeners before Bartoli beat German Sabine Lisicki when he asked if people thought her father told her when little that she was never going to be "a looker" like Maria Sharapova so would have to fight harder for success.
The BBC, Britain's publicly funded broadcaster, apologised for the comments after a storm of protests on Twitter, admitting the remark was "insensitive".
Inverdale said on Sunday he had written to apologise to Bartoli and told listeners ahead of Sunday' men's final that he used "a clumsy phrase" about Bartoli in trying to make a point that not all players need to be "6 ft fall Amazonian athletes".
But the apology from the 55-year-old, who has presented BBC shows since the 1980s, failed to calm the fury about his remark made 24 hours earlier and the lack of action taken by the BBC.
"This is appalling. Tennis is one of the worst offenders in sport in terms of the focus on women athletes' looks and the BBC needs to take action," Sue Tibbals, chief executive of the Women's Sports and Fitness Foundation, told Reuters.
"I thought Bartoli was an absolute inspiration, so spirited and gutsy, and she does not deserve these outrageous remarks. This is not a one-off event from this presenter."
A BBC spokesman, however, said the corporation had apologised and so had Inverdale and that there were no plans for further action to be taken.
Bartoli, 28, won the admiration of Centre Court on Saturday when she won her first grand slam title in a straight-sets victory over 23-year-old Lisicki that earned her 1.6 million pounds ($2.4 million) in prize money.
The Frenchwoman, celebrating her success in becoming the first Frenchwoman in seven years to win the coveted Wimbledon women's title, shrugged off Inverdale's comments.
"It doesn't matter, honestly. I am not blonde, yes. That is a fact," Bartoli said in a press briefing late on Saturday.
"Have I dreamt about having a model contract? No. I'm sorry. But have I dreamed about winning Wimbledon? Absolutely, yes."
Twitter users praised Bartoli's dignity as they called on the BBC to act against Inverdale.
Many of the Tweets included the hashtag "Everyday Sexism", which has gathered a large following as people tweet examples of causal sexism in the workplace and public life.
"Isn't it time the BBC woke up to the sexism at the heart of its sport broadcasting?" tweeted feminist blogger Leopard.
"#BBC apology over sexism comments not good enough. suspend #Inverdale & hold enquiry. Sexism is on par with racism," tweeted yvonneridley.
The incident came after the BBC has this year faced one of the biggest crises in its 90-year history.
A sex scandal involving the late TV presenter Jimmy Savile threw the broadcaster into turmoil and raised questions about the organisation's ethics, leading to the appointment of a new head, Tony Hall. (Editing by Ed Osmond)


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News and Views
by Austin Bay
By the first week of October 2001, American's chit-chat class had lost patience with America's new war in Afghanistan. Television's hype-drenched talk shows claimed the Pentagon had botched it. The gloomiest prognosticators (most of them from the political left) foresaw a Himalayan defeat, with U.S. soldiers outsmarted by wily, inspired "resistance fighters." As fighting raged and Afghan winter blizzards arrived, millions would starve.
A column of mine published during that period argued for patience, perseverance and a little faith. "Afghan demographics -- religious, tribal and ethnic fractures -- create a politically fragmented society," the column noted. "It takes time to seed CIA and Special Forces teams among rural tribes, particularly in the Pushtun-dominated south. Developing personal relationships with tribal elders is a glacial process. Green Beret majors have to sit down and sip a lot of tea, as chieftains scrutinize promises of aid. Uncle Sugar wants my warriors now, but where will the Americans be in three years?"
Why should the locals worry about three (or more) years of American commitment? After the 1975 American bug-out from Vietnam -- which ultimately led to the deaths of millions of innocents in Vietnam and Cambodia -- citizens of the world had good reason to doubt U.S. commitment and staying power. When the United States quit Somalia in the wake of the "Blackhawk Down" battle in Mogadishu, enemies like Osama bin Laden concluded America was "a weak horse."
But come September 2007, six years later, the Afghan chieftains who lined up with America know they made a good decision. Fundamental change takes a long time, especially when a war-ravaged society like Afghanistan must expand the "human capital" of modernity -- produce the skilled teachers, accountants, electricians, nurses, policemen and farmers who brace stable, prosperous communities.
U.S. and international-sponsored Provincial Reconstructions Teams (PRTs) play a critical role in this type of "capacity building," Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, Said T. Jawad, told me in a phone interview earlier this week. PRTs have a number of responsibilities, including classic developmental tasks like building roads and power-generation infrastructure.
However, "the best way of making use of PRTs is to engage them in building capacity," Jawad said, "... by training teachers, teaching tax collectors, helping police officer to be truly professional."
Jawad suggested that, at the moment, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) aren't as effective as PRTs at this kind of training. But these types of skills "are the ones that must be enhanced to build a civil society."
"Six years after 9-11," he said, "while we have made significant progress in Afghanistan in the formal building of institutions -- particularly the (Afghan) Army -- we will need to enhance the capacity of Afghan government to deliver services." Education of "service deliverers" is essential to improving that situation."
"The Afghan people still do not feel safe," the ambassador acknowledged. "Protection provided by international forces and the Afghan government is not adequate."
Since this is particularly true along the Afghan-Pakistan border, I asked Jawad if a "cross-border counter-attack" by Afghani and allied forces to destroy Taliban and al-Qaida bases in Pakistan was inevitable.
"There is no doubt that the sanctuaries are operating on the other side of the border," he replied. Pakistan has a capable military but "lacks full commitment" to deal with the terrorists. Pakistanis must be convinced that "it is in their best national interest, and in the interest of regional and global stability, to act."
At the moment, Afghanistan prefers to pursue a long-term diplomatic strategy with Pakistan. "Afghanistan has promised Pakistan we will be their best ally," the ambassador said. "We will provide them access into Central Asia. ... I think more and more Pakistan's administration and military are realizing supporting terrorism is a very dangerous game. It completely undermines Pakistan and destabilizes it, as well."
To pinch a phrase from 2001, Afghan diplomats are "sipping a lot of tea" with their Pakistani counterparts. Their diplomacy is a frustrating process -- as they talk, suicide bombers kill on a daily basis. NATO, the Afghan Army and the United States may launch a cross-border counterattack, but the diplomatic approach acknowledges Pakistan's political fragility. It is encouraging that the Afghanis are assuring the Pakistanis that Afghanistan is a "committed ally."


text: I've in the past seen messages on this board concering access to sequences derived from the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank. I've recently finished putting the latest PDB sequences into the Entrez database distributed by NCBI, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to remind folks that Entrez can be an easy way to retrieve a sequence from PDB. PDB-derived sequences can be identified within Entrez by using the keyword "pdb-structure". This will find either all PDB-derived protein sequences or all PDB-derived nucleic acid sequences, depending on which category one selects. Particular sequences within these groups may be found by pdb id-code, "accession number" in Entrez, or by looking for protein names and the like in "text terms". The pdb-derived entries contain "text-terms" derived from PDB COMPOUND and SOURCE records, as well as from other PDB record types. One can also find PDB-derived sequences by searching for descriptive names in the Medline abstracts included with Entrez. About 90% of the citations in PDB are linked to the corresponding Medline citation, and if you can find the paper that reported a structure, you can then ask for the associated sequence. Sequences may be written out of Entrez in different formats, including FASTA sequence files. The pdb sequence reports in Entrez combine information provided on pdb ATOM and/or HETATM records with the explicit sequence given on SEQRES. (In about 1% of cases ATOM/HETATM and SEQRES cannot be linked unambiguously, due to missing data or inconsistencies. In these cases biopolymer sequences are derived from ATOM records.) Because of this linking the sequence reports contain a fairly rich annotation, including secondary structure, disulfide bonds, bonds to nonpolymer groups, and descriptions of modified biopolymer residues. They also contain the residue numbers assigned by pdb on ATOM/HETATM records, so that one can unambiguously identify the coordinates in the pdb file that go with each residue in the sequence. PDB-derived sequence reports in Entrez are derived automatically from pdb files, and I update the collection with each new release of pdb. Network Entrez version 9.0 came out on February 10, and its database includes all polypeptide and nucleic acid sequences on the "October, 1993" Brookhaven CD, which I received in late January. Steve Bryant 2/16/94


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Mom And Dad Become Grandparents [VIDEO]
This is nice. It'll put a smile on your face. It's the moment this Mom and Dad find out they will be grandparents.
I flashback to the birth of my 2 year old son when I watch this video. There is no better joy than bringing a little one into the world, no matter how screwed up life is around you. In that one moment, they become forever your world and your life.
Watch the video below. And to be clear, these are not my parents so don't congratulate me. LOL!


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NASHVILLE – Offering middle-school math teachers bonuses up to $15,000 did not produce gains in student test scores, Vanderbilt University researchers reported Tuesday in what they said was the first scientifically rigorous test of merit pay.
The results could amount to a cautionary flag about paying teachers for the performance of their students, a reform strategy the Obama administration and many states and school districts have favored despite lukewarm support or outright opposition from teachers' unions.
The U.S. Department of Education, in part through its Race to the Top competition, has pushed states to find ways to reward teachers for their performance in an effort to make teaching careers more attractive and retain those who are most effective. Teachers' unions have often objected to merit pay on the grounds that they don't have fair and reliable ways to measure teacher performance. In most school districts, teacher pay is based on years of experience and educational attainment levels.
The report's authors, of the National Center on Performance Incentives (NCPI) at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education, stress that their research design was just one of many possible approaches to giving teachers incentives to boost student achievement. The Nashville teachers who hit the mark based on their students' test scores received a bump in their paychecks for their efforts but no additional mentoring or professional development. Neither their principals nor fellow teachers knew who participated in the experiment or who received bonuses.
Matthew G. Springer, director of the federally funded NCPI, said pay-for-performance is not "the magic bullet that so often the policy world is looking for."
At least in this experiment, Springer said, "it doesn't work."
The study was conducted from 2006 to 2009 in partnership with the nonprofit RAND Corporation. A local industrialist and Vanderbilt benefactor, Orrin Ingram, put up the nearly $1.3 million in bonuses.
Some 296 middle-school math teachers – two-thirds of the district's middle-school math teachers – volunteered to participate in the experiment. Half were placed randomly in a control group, while the rest were eligible for bonuses of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 if their pupils scored significantly higher than expected on the statewide exam known as the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program.
One third of the eligible teachers – 51 of 152, or 34 percent – got bonuses at least once. Eighteen teachers received bonuses all three years.
Except for some temporary gains for fifth-graders, though, their students progressed no faster than those in classes taught by the 144 other teachers.
The local teachers' union in Nashville agreed to the experiment in collective bargaining, according to Erick Huth, president of the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association. He said the results were not at all surprising.
"I've believed for a long time that what improves instruction is having an instructional leader who is able to get all players in a school to collaborate," Huth said
The bonuses amounted to as much as 30 percent of teachers' yearly salaries here in the Music City, where the scale runs from $36,000 to $64,000, Huth said. The nation's 3.2 million public school teachers earned $53,910 on average in 2008-09, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
The study was released at a two-day conference, "Evaluating and Rewarding Educator Effectiveness," at Vanderbilt's Peabody College that drew participants from Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. and other places conducting their own experiments with performance pay. Some states have moved to tie teacher and principal evaluations to student test scores.
The study did not shake the faith of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in merit pay.
"While this is a good study, it only looked at the narrow question of whether more pay motivates teachers to try harder," said Sandra Abrevaya, a spokeswoman for Duncan. It did not address the Obama administration's push to "change the culture of teaching by giving all educators the feedback they need to get better."
The Nashville experiment, known as POINT (Project on Incentives in Teaching), doled out the $15,000 bonuses to those teachers whose students performed "at a level that historically had been reached by only the top 5 percent of middle school math teachers." Teacher performance was calculated by using a value-added model, which predicts how students will do in a given year based on how they performed in the previous year. The teachers had to hit the 80th and 90th percentiles to pocket the $5,000 and $10,000 bonuses, respectively.
The study's design, in which teachers were judged against percentile benchmarks rather than their colleagues' performance, sought to preserve collaboration among teachers.
Go deeper
Follow The Hechinger Report's live tweets from the conference
In surveys about the program, most teachers said they were already effective without the incentive of additional pay. Eight in ten said they didn't change the way they taught to improve their odds of earning a bonus. Many teachers came close to getting a bonus – so close that they would have qualified if their pupils answered two or three more questions correctly on the 55-question state exam.
The Nashville math teachers, according to the study, "expressed moderately favorable views toward performance pay in general, though less so for POINT in particular." The experiment ran smoothly, although the teachers became less enthusiastic over the three years. "They did not come away … thinking it had harmed their schools," the study said. "But by and large, they did not endorse the notion that bonus recipients were better teachers."
The fact that many fifth-grade teachers teach multiple subjects to the same students may have been a reason for the positive impact of merit pay found in fifth grade, according to the study's authors. But "the effect did not last. By the end of 6th grade it did not matter whether a student's 5th grade math teacher had been in the treatment or control group," the study said.
The researchers said the Nashville experiment didn't stir the negative reactions that have attended some other merit pay programs, but it "simply did not do much of anything."
Springer of NCPI said the study lays a foundation for further experiments on a topic that educators have been debating "for over a century."
Tennessee Commissioner of Education Timothy Webb said the Nashville study shows, "Money alone is not enough to encourage people to go into challenging schools and teach the most difficult students." He stressed the importance of improving teachers' working conditions, not just their pay.
Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., said he does not believe the study says much of value and worries it will only confuse the issue.
"The fact that teachers don't respond to cash bonuses like rats do to food-pellets does nothing to diminish my confidence that it's good for schooling if teacher pay better reflects the contributions that teachers make," Hess said. "Serious proponents of merit pay believe the point is not any kind of short-term test-score bump but making the profession more attractive to talented candidates."
William Slotnik, executive director of the Boston-based Institute for Compensation Reform and Student Learning at the Community Training and Assistance Center, has argued that performance-based compensation tied directly to the educational mission of a school district can be a lever to transform schools. But he said it will take more than financial incentives to improve student achievement and that merit pay "is hard to get right. … If all you are doing is focusing on money, there is no track record in that resulting in the kind of changes needed to do this work well."
Christopher Connell is a freelance writer. Liz Willen contributed to this article.


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Interested in videos about wine? See more at our Section on Interesting Articles about wine!


text:
There haven't been many scenarios like The Weeknd's, where a debut artist gets a three-disc official debut. The mixture of sex, drugs, and women isn't an unorthodox combo. However, at the time of The Weekend's first mixtape release House Of Balloons, distorted beats over a high-range falsetto was fresh and incredibly difficult not to pay attention to.
Essentially, Trilogy is a repackaging which joins House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence together to introduce The Weeknd to a mass audience. Every mixtape is even sequenced the same as it was in its release. The only real element that's been added is a 10th track to punctuate the end of the three mixtapes with "Twenty Eight,""Valerie," and "Till Dawn (Here Comes the Sun)." It's a telling picture of how much has changed for the Canadian artist whose true identity was kept under wraps for some time before the House of Balloons mixtape was released. Unlike the covers of his mixtapes where women were the main focus, on the Triology compilation cover we're able to see Abel Tesfaye with the arms of a blurred woman around him.
"High For This" (Entourage fans, remember that awesome teaser?) and "Lonely Star" still resound as great album openers. Heavy musical influence really shines in "Twenty Eight," where Abel evokes Michael Jackson with pleading vocals in one of the most love ailed tracks in Trilogy. Bonus track, "Valerie," has the Canadian vocalist poignantly singing, "There comes a time in a man's life/He must take responsibility/For the choices he has made," before he declares his love. "Till Dawn (Here Comes the Sun)" really finalizes the end of Trilogy with the simple thought of an impending sunrise.
In the land of The Weeknd's Trilogy, decadence still reigns supreme. Rolling blunts, declaring one's love, propositions for threesomes, and prescription drug addiction are scenarios that serve as the soundtrack of the over-indulgent young nightlife and its resulting dawn. The mixtapes remain practically untouched, giving any new The Weeknd fans a genuine look into what allowed an unknown artist to transform himself into someone who breathed new life into R&B.


text:
Exchange & Returns
1) If you are not satisfied with any Product or the terms of any entitlement to Services you have purchased from us, you may return the Product to us or cancel the entitlement to Services and obtain a refund if you contact us within 14 Calendar Days of the arrival of the product(s). If you choose to return a product, you will be liable to pay the transportation charges.
2) You are liable for the costs of returning a Product.
3) If a Product was supplied in error, is incomplete or faulty and you believe that you are entitled to a replacement or repair, please telephone us from the UK on +44 800 802 1197 or from the Republic of Ireland on + 353 1 5242721 USA- 855-981- 7177. Alternatively, please send us an email to email@example.com . In the event that you are entitled to a replacement or repair, the transportation charges will not be applied.
4) If you have received the ordered Product(s) and have simply changed your mind about purchasing them you may return the Product(s) to us for a refund, provided that you pay the transportation charges. You will also have to inform us of your decision to cancel the contract within 14 working days of delivery of the Product; and the Product(s) must be returned in their original condition and packaging.
5) Please note that while the Product(s) remain in your possession you are under a duty to ensure that the Product(s) are kept safe and secure.
6) Steps to Follow to Claim a Refund:
- Please telephone us on +44 800 802 1197 (from the UK) or + 353 1 5242721 (from Ireland) 855- 981-7177 (USA) or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com stating the problem/issue. - Please send a couple of images of the problem or issue to the email address stated in the previous point.
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8) Following these steps will help ensure the Product(s) arrive at the correct destination and in good condition within a timely fashion. Please note that your failure to follow this procedure may result in the returned Product(s) being rejected upon receipt and you may forfeit your right to a refund.
9) Please note that we reserve the right to reject any Product(s) that are not returned in accordance with the provisions set out above.


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Design & Interior Architecture BFA Exhibition: Opening
Friday, April 28, 2023
9th Avenue Gallery
2014 9th Avenue, Downtown Seattle, Seattle
Friday, April 28, 2023
9th Avenue Gallery
2014 9th Avenue, Downtown Seattle, Seattle
Ages 13+
Cornish College of the Arts Box Office
Will Call and in-person Box Office services will not be available through the Spring 2022 season, until further notice. PDF tickets are now available at the time of online purchase and can be shown on your phone or printed out at home.
No over-the-phone sales at Cornish.
The following policies and procedures will be in place for all Cornish events ticketed and unticketed, at all venues, galleries, and event spaces at least through the Spring 2022 season and will be updated as needed to address evolving public health guidelines. Policies are for all Cornish students, faculty, staff and public attendees.
Cornish requires proof of vaccination for entry to all events, including (but not limited to) performances and gallery viewings. Individuals unable to be fully vaccinated, including children under 12 and people with a medical or religious exemption, must have proof of a negative COVID PCR test (taken within 72 hours of the performance). Cornish staff will check for proof of vaccination and/or negative COVID PCR tests at the doors as a condition of entry. Additionally, masking is required inside the venue. Concessions will not be available through the Spring 2022 season, until further notice.
More details on Cornish's COVID safety policies can be found HERE.
2 for $10 Sundays: A TeenTix member may purchase a $5 ticket for themselves and another person of any age ($10 total) for Sunday shows at this venue. If there are multiple performances on a Sunday, it is at the venue's discretion to decide which performance is eligible for this deal. Always call ahead to plan for companion tickets.
TeenTix is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, originally founded as a program of the Seattle Center in 2004.
TeenTix launched TeenTix LA as the first official chapter of TeenTix. More info on TeenTix LA at la.teentix.org.
Copyright © 2023 TeenTix


text:
16 June 2011
louisiana conservative blog welcomes a "black conservative" blogger
"Catfish" makes his grand introduction to LouisianaConservative.com LIVE from New Orleans, Louisiana at the Republican Leadership Conferenceokay homes, we'll give ya some shine...but first -- naturally, we dont agree with much, if anything, that catfish writes. although, we're in agreement certainly with the concept of conservatism, which is of course not practiced in any way whatsoever by the modern RINOrepublican party ... and his pimpin' the huckster is particularly painful ... however, he writes:
"After being an independent all my life because I refused to be a democrat just because I'm black, and I was skeptical yet uniformed of the republican party, I have fully identified as a conservative because I have listened fully to both sides."another thing he writes is that he was born in 1979 and fortunately missed out falling victim to the spell that ronnie raygun and his astrologer cast to promote the ronnie raygun fairy tail. so it could be interesting to watch and see if catfish ever has his "eureka!" moment and goes back to being an independent.
catfish also noted that he's "willing to openly praise and criticize, agree and disagree just the same for any speaker who steps up to that mic, regardless of my conservative views."
UPDATE: louisiana conservative.com "delicate palate for catfish...and reggie"
Posted by wst... at 20:14


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from Cornell University:
Gypsy moths wreak havoc, but their own enemies
are not far behind.
See all of those brown streaks hanging on the bark
of the oak tree?� They are Gypsy moth caterpillars
killed by the fungal pathogen Entomophaga maimaiga.
courtesty of USDA.
ITHACA, N.Y. � If you live in a section of the
country where gypsy moths are a relatively new menace, have no fear, help is
not far behind.
Cornell University entomologist Ann Hajek told a
national conference earlier this month that when the gypsy moth � whose
caterpillars have defoliated entire forests � started spreading westward more
than 100 years ago from New England to Wisconsin, its fungal and viral pathogens
followed close behind.
�We were pretty surprised,� Hajek says. �No one
knew how long it took the pathogens to chase their hosts.�
The findings are important because gypsy moth
populations can develop unpredictably and erratically, with lots of
caterpillars eating all the leaves off of most of the trees, Hajek told attendees
at the Cornell-hosted Eighth Annual Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease
workshop and conference, June 3-4, in Ithaca. Land managers, she says, can rest
assured that pathogens will follow the migrating moths, providing natural
Gypsy moths are slowly moving west across the
United States after being introduced to Massachusetts from Europe in 1869. They
migrate slowly because the females do not fly. By tracking the edges of the
migration, where population densities are low, researchers have an opportunity
to investigate how long it takes their viral and fungal pathogens to catch up,
Hajek says.
The fungal pathogen, entomophaga maimaiga, was first reported in 1989 and attacks the
caterpillars. The virus, lymantria dispar
nucleopolyhedrovirus, which was accidentally introduced near Boston in
1906, also infects gypsy moth caterpillars.
Hajek and colleagues studied �leading edge�
populations of moths and pathogens in central Wisconsin in 2005-07. They set
pheromone traps west of the migrating population and then traveled east to lay
traps to catch the flying males. Once their traps caught more than 74 moths
each in single year, there was a more than 50 percent chance of finding the
fungus in that area in the following year. When more than 252 moths were
trapped in a year, there was more than 50 percent chance of finding the virus
the next year.
�Our data show that the fungus spreads into lower
density leading edge populations sooner than the virus, but the virus
eventually colonizes the populations, too,� Hajek says.
Fungal spores actively shoot out of the moth
cadavers and disperse in the environment, thereby spreading quickly. The virus
spreads from one caterpillar to another, and possibly via parasitoid flies and
predators, which is a slower process, she said.
Hajek has also discovered that the efforts of land
managers to release the pathogens along the leading edges of spreading moth
populations are ineffective and unnecessary. Hajek and colleagues found no
association between the release of pathogens nearby and presence of the
pathogens among the moths.
�These results suggest that the pathogens are
dispersing on their own and land managers don't need to release them in leading
edge gypsy moth populations, because they'll get there on their own anyway,�
said Hajek.
The conference was sponsored by the Cornell
University Center for a Sustainable Future, Institute for Computational
Sustainability, National Science Foundation and Cornell.
All articles are copyrighted and remain the property of the author.Article URL:
By Robin Jennings, Heirloom Roses
Photographs courtesy of Heirloom Roses
Fall is actually one of the best times to plant roses. To learn more click here for an informative article.


text:
Where is Robert Pattinson these days? Most definitely not living it up in the club.
Although HollywoodLife reported Tuesday Pattinson has been easing his pain in the wake of girlfriend Kristen Stewart's cheating scandal by partying with pals in his hometown of London, sources tell Us Weekly their story simply isn't true.
In fact, one staff member at 93 Feet East — the East London club where Pattinson, 26, supposedly kicked up his heels — says the Bel Ami star hasn't been there at all this week.
"I've checked with bar staff, security, door staff, promoters and no one saw Rob at the club. No one," the club's employee says. "The website said he was in a cap and with his sister, so I guess he would have looked like anyone, but someone would have seen him. The club was packed so someone would have seen."
In fact, the photo used to show Pattinson out and about was taken nearly one year ago, in November 2011.
So what is the "beyond devastated" Twilight hunk up to lately? Hiding out in California, multiple sources confirm to Us.
Pattinson is "really depressed," one source close to the actor says. "He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know if he should forgive [Kristen] or not."


text:
Action / Adventure / Comedy
01 April, 1923
After Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the silent film era's third genius was Harold Lloyd, who stars in this Horatio Alger-style story of an average country boy trying to make good in the big city. The Boy (Lloyd) leaves his sweetheart, The Girl (Mildred Davis, later the real-life Mrs. Lloyd) in Great Bend while he pursues his fortune in a teeming metropolis. The Boy lands a job as a clerk at a fabric counter of DeVore's, a huge department store, but he lies in his letters home to his beloved, pretending to be the store's manager and spending his earnings on lavish gifts. The Boy's roommate, The Pal (Bill Strother) makes money as a human fly, performing attention-getting stunts. Promised $1,000 by DeVore's real manager if he can devise a publicity gimmick, The Boy convinces his friend to climb the 12-story establishment and split the winnings with him. On the day of the event, however, The Pal is busy dodging The Law (Noah Young), forcing The Boy to make the arduous climb solo. Dodging a variety of obstacles, The Boy climbs higher and higher, eventually dangling from the store's clock tower, in the film's most memorable image.~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide


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About MICrODEC
The MICrODEC is an open-source platform for Digital Signal Processing (DSP) that is approachable for those familiar with programming Atmel microcontrollers. For those unfamiliar, we hope its a fun excuse to learn.
The hardware itself is of moderately high quality (44.1ksps, 16bit, stereo, -96dB noise, 3Hz - 18kHz frequency response), and has built in features for use with audio effects (wet/dry mix, feedback, mic./instrument/line level inputs). Because of the high data rate, the MICrODEC does not allow for as much processing time as low-end ADC to PWM style microcontroller audio interfaces, but, with 6 seconds of sample time, plenty of useful functions can be executed in the ~400 free clock cycles per sample. And, at a lower cost in comparison to high-end DSP units, it provides a good platform for sound installations where more than a few units may be required.
Features yet implemented
- All initialization routines for the codec, microcontroller, and memory - The codec is capable of multiple sample rates, and these can be easily changed to trade-off between audio quality and processing time. The codec also has an on-board headphone driver and microphone input which can be enabled, although the off-board hardware is much better. Both input and output filters can be modified, along with gain and internal signal path.
- FTDI cable header - This will allow for connection to computers, and future bootloading capability. All of the necessary components are attached to mimic the Arduino bootloader.
- Clip and level LEDs - The level LED comes on at approximately -35dB, and becomes brighter with more signal. The clip LED turns on, and stays on for 1 second, every time the signal goes above approximately -3dB. 0dB is when distortion begins.
- Variable gain input stage - The front end presents an input impedance of 520k to AC signals, and has a variable gain of 0db to +34dB.
- Socketed op-amps - Just in case you want to fiddle around with the sound. We suggest the TLC074 for good frequency response and output drive, but unless your listening on headphones at the output, you probably won't notice too much difference with the less expensive TLV274.
- Optional jumpers - There are jumpers for installing a hard bypass switch between the input and output. There is also a jumper for installing a foot-switch in parallel with the rotary encoder push-button.
Features not yet implemented
The current MICrODEC implementation is fun to use, but there are a number of things that would make it even better.
- Internal USB - There is currently an FTDI cable header onboard, but it would be far more convenient if the case did not need to be removed to take advantage of it.
- MIDI - An optional MIDI board would allow the MICrODEC to be controlled by external pedals, synths, and computer software. Sample MIDI code has been written and tested, so merely a break-out board is required. Currently, there is only one USART for both MIDI and USB, so a solution to allow for both is needed.
- C code - The Arduino header file has a lot of the C functionality, but it would be good to have a bit more.
The Firmware for the MICrODEC is divided into 2 parts. The first is a Main File, which deals with initializing the microcontroller and codec, and handles the interrupt routine. The second is the Function Bank, which holds all of the commands which are executed when an interrupt is called (once per audio sample). This may or may not be the best implementation. It has the advantage of being more portable, as different programs can be dropped into the Function Bank, without having to worry about conflicts in the Main File. On the other hand, no processing can occur during idle time outside of the interrupt loop.
Stock Functions - What the MICrODEC ships with.
microdec1.zip - Full AVR Studio project with stock functions, main file, and lookup tables.
microdec1.hex - Compiled hex file with the Stock Functions.
User Written Programs - Can be added to the Function Bank.
Useful Functions (in assembly) - These can be used to save you time when programming. They are usually optimized for speed, and have 16b and 32b math operations, along with procedures for talking to the codec or other tasks required by the microcontroller.
Programming Example - A delay program, with extensive comments, designed to demonstrate programming the MICrODEC in assembly.
Programming Tips - Techniques that will make your experience more programming and less debugging.
Modifications, Additions, Enhancements
Talking MIDI
Talking to the serial port
Use in a modular synthesizer
Files: Version 1.0
Files: Datasheets
4M SRAM (SRAM chips may vary, but all have the same interface)
Other Reprogrammable Audio Platforms
There are a lot of people who have made audio processing platforms. Have a look and see if any of them are more suited to what you're interested in doing. Each has its ups and downs, the major tradeoffs being cost, complexity, and audio quality.


text: About Redux Reps is an international artists management agency representing a select, diverse roster of outstanding photographers and directors specifically to the advertising and commercial marketplace. With a mutual appreciation and admiration of craft, we strive for greatness and work to connect photographers and clients together to create outstanding work (and we try to have as much fun as possible along the way). The agency, based in New York, is a division of Redux Pictures.Representation and internship inquires: firstname.lastname@example.com Redux Reps provides artists with exceptional management, development, support and guidance in pursuing advertising and commercial work. Please feel free to submit your work for review and consideration. Internship candidates must be extremely organized, detail oriented, and have a strong interest in photography and film. Experience in fast-paced work environments and multi-tasking skills are a must. Some knowledge of photoshop and mac platforms preferred. College credit available.


text:
Keyword Search
Live Fire Day ~ Gables Sporting Goods
Gables Sporting Goods hosts a live fire demo day in Douglasville, Georgia. Thanks to Vergara Rifles, Dead Air Armament, KFS Industries Inc., Swarovski Optics, and all the shooters who came out in support of Rome's event. Photography By: © 2016 Lloyd R. Kenney III Contact Info: email@example.com More


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