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CATIA for Engineers enables Digital Prototyping including Analysis and Simulation for design and validation of function quality and performance at all stages ofthe design.
Mechanical engineering is complex as assemblies are designed to perform a specific task with a specific target performance. Digital prototyping, combined with digital analysis and simulation, allows product development teams to virtually create and analyze a mechanical product in its environment. Mechanical engineers must be equipped with these tools so that they can gain insight into key factors in quality and performance early in the product development phase.
CATIA Aerospace Sheetmetal
Aerospace industry designers gain momentum with a pre-defined set of sheetmetal features.
Aircraft programs face a number of challenges due to the vast amount of complex sheet metal parts they must produce. Detailed manufacturing information must be gathered early in the engineering definition stage to prevent waste and unnecessary errors, while managing the consistency between manufacturing representations can be problematic.
CATIA Aerospace Sheetmetal Design is specifically dedicated to the definition of hydro-formed sheetmetal parts. You can capture company knowledge, such as design and manufacturing constraints so you can work with precision and speed.
Based on sheetmetal design and manufacturing processes, it empowers designers and manufacturing engineers with a pre-defined set of features that facilitate the design of sheetmetal parts and their respective tooling.
- Design complex hydro-pressed and break-formed parts quickly and efficiently
- Ensure manufacturability with concurrent access to both 3D and flattened part geometry
- Increase quality with administrator-defined environments
- Empower concurrent engineering and assess manufacturability constraints
- Draw with dedicated sheetmetal tools
- Sustain communication between suppliers and contractors
Dedicated Aerospace Interface for typical hydro-pressed or break formed aerospace partsWith Aerospace Sheetmetal Design, designers work with familiar aerospace features including: Web (planar or curved), Surfacic Flange (curved, double curved or planar), User Flange, and Joggle (On Flange or On Web). Bend allowance can be computed through user-defined neutral fiber when flattening. Parts may be decomposed with a unique multi-body capability for a better understanding of the design.
Work concurrently on unfolded and several folded statesCollaborators can sustain their design as a 3D formed part or a 2D flat pattern, switching from the folded to the unfolded view whenever desired. Moreover, different manufacturing preparation stages of the same part can be managed for the Strip Layout process.
Set up data management of external resources by the administratorAll the external resources such as design tables, catalogues, or rule sets can be defined by the administrator in environments for each kind of user. The administrator can guarantee that users will use the right profiles or parameters and that knowledge rules will be automatically instanciated in every new part. Plus, the company's standard sheetmetal components can be migrated from V5.
Process-centric solution based on experience acquired with key airframe manufacturersDue to the design approach's flexibility, users can initially define, in context, the outer rough characteristics with dedicated sheetmetal trade features. Later, the user can refine parts and define inner details such as holes, cutouts, or fasteners. Lastly, tooling designers can complete the process with forming tool definition. Relational design mechanisms enable the user to synchronize forming tools after any design and/or manufacturing parameters changes are performed.
Derive manufacturing view from designA dedicated manufacturing part derived from an engineering part enables users to define manufacturing specifications linked to engineering ones (standard excess, tabs, holes, etc., defined on flat pattern) as well as manufacturing parameters such as spring back angle and surface, height add-on, etc. Manufacturing data synchronization allows iterations with design changes.
Forming tool definition for manufacturing preparationCATIA Aerospace Sheetmetal helps tooling designers and manufacturing engineers to define the successive steps of the forming process. The forming block is carved with surfaces extracted from the manufacturing view part and can be cut with the forming tool NC cutting programming. Profiles, body punches or dies may be selected in an unequalled set of catalogues to supply Cutout, Corner Relief and Stamp creations. Other components, such as sole-plate or counter-form, can complete the forming tool.
Sheetmetal drawings with dedicated capabilitiesIn the context of a sheetmetal part, a drafting view of the part can be automatically generated, including the representation of bend axes, value and radius, line for upward /downward bends and stamps, for example. The folded view can be also added in the same sheet. The drawing generation supplies sheetmetal manufacturing. And a seamless export extracts documents in DXF format (the AutoCAD ASCII format) for nesting and NC cutting downstream applications.
Simplified exchanges with neutral formatsModify external sheetmetal parts, for example through international standards as STEP and IGES, thanks to feature recognition.


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So we're screaming up the N-52 "highway" from Limerick to Mullingar, crossing the midlands of Ireland at 100 kilometers per hour -- what that is in miles per hour, I don't want to know. Because it's far too fast for me, let me tell you.
While the Ford Focus we're in -- piloted skillfully by my daredevil brother, Michael "Mario Andretti' Kilcarr -- holds the road just fine, it's the road I have problem's with -- a narrow, twisting ribbon of asphalt that has absolutely no shoulder. In fact, both sides of the road are hemmed in closely by hedges and stone walls -- walls that are 1,000 years old in some cases, so they won't be ditched for a highway expansion project anytime soon.
The truckers here must navigate these 'highways' with cabovers pulling 48 foot trailers for the most part -- contending with the cars and many farmers who pull loads of peat along the road puttering along at 20 to 30 kph. Not a receipe for easy driving, let me tell you.
And the N-52 is a HIGHWAY mind you -- get down into the Ring of Kerry, and two cars can't pass side by side, and that's before you start worrying about the bicyclists and donkeys in the way. And truckers must find their way around these terrifying strips of asphalt because no other way exists to get the goods people need to live to their final destination. There's almost nothing like these roads back in the U.S., thank goodness.
Ah, but it's a glorious land all the same -- rich and green, with many places still untouched by the tides of times. Eight hundred year old ruins dot the countryside (even sharing spaces with new subdivisions) and it just adds to the flavor of this special place.
So good luck to Ireland's truckers -- may your journeys be safe on your tough roads. I, for one, have found them too much for me to handle, to say the least.

subset: commoncrawl


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Mina's Dish
Taking Root in Albuquerque
Beneficial Farms Community Supported Agriculture
I'm glad that eating organic is easier than it used to be. Conventional supermarkets offer some organic produce. Natural food markets abound. It might be time to join a community farm program such as Beneficial Farms CSA, which has been active in Santa Fe since 1994 and is now enrolling members in Albuquerque.
Priscilla Remke meets me over red drinks at Flying Star. Her new position as Beneficial's Albuquerque Operations Manager uses her talents as a proponent of Albuquerque's local agriculture movement. Remke was gardening organically and shopping locally long before it was fashionable, and she recognizes the importance of this approach. She explains that CSA is a mutually supportive system—in effect, members give farms an economic base, and farmers reward members with a tasty cornucopia on a weekly basis.
Remke tells me about Beneficial Farms (also known as Mesa Top Farm) located near Glorieta. Mesa Top's owner, Steve Warshawer, has been on the forefront of the collaborative farm movement in New Mexico and uses sustainable techniques of biodynamic farming developed by Dr. Rudolph Steiner. (Many will recognize Steiner as the creator of the Waldorf education system, Anthroposophy and other groundbreaking concepts.) Beneficial shares Steiner's approach to farming by offering work/study and exchange programs for folks who want to learn these Earth-friendly methods. As the Co-op's Enterprise Development Specialist, Warshawer found the Co-op to be a natural ally in making the Albuquerque Beneficial/CSA a reality.
Mesa Top is one of 40 family farms in the CSA. All farms use sustainable, chemical-free methods, and natural fertilizers and pest management. Primary suppliers are located within La Montañita Co-op's defined local foodshed (within 300 miles of Albuquerque) and range from the Southern Rockies to the Mid and Lower Rio Grande. While greens, root vegetables and fruits are always available, the varied climates extend the growing season, thereby increasing the variety of items—flours, quinoa and grapefruits are a few. Beneficial's year-round program augments winter selection with some fair trade items such as bananas from the Co-op. Anchor farms include Mesa Top, Vida Verde in Albuquerque and Shiraz Vineyard in La Luz. (Shiraz is popular for its figs, apricots, plums, persimmons and pomegranates in summer and frozen peaches and cherries in winter.) Many farms grow experimental crops and small-batch products that aren't yet available to large markets.
Organic, raw, aged and soft cheeses are made with milk from pasture-fed goats and Ayrshire cows. Eggs are the product of years of on-the-farm research to re-establish small-flock egg production in the Southern Rockies. Regionally grown grains and seeds comprise most of the chickens' diet. If you've never eaten an egg from a well-raised chicken, you must. The dark orange yolk and rich flavor make a spectacular scrambled egg. In this happy food chain, everybody eats well.
The Co-op truck brings the crops from the farms to the Co-op warehouse on Comanche where members pick up the weekly shares. Priscilla heads there to get things ready for the next distribution. We stop in the parking lot where she has a sample share in the back of her car. I spy fresh figs and a colorful assortment of greens ready for the kitchen. Time to get cooking.
For complete membership information: beneficialfarm.com
Questions? E-mail Priscilla Remke: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Recent media reports have highlighted how computer glitches and poor planning are plaguing a government department charged with providing an essential service. Regular people become frustrated with the lack of communication and are demanding answers. The department pleads ignorance and blames someone else. Sound familiar?
You might think I am referring to Obamacare. But in this case, I am talking about the computer fiasco with the state's unemployment insurance agency, the Employment Development Department (EDD). Many jobless Californians have gone weeks without receiving their benefit payments and have not had their phone calls and emails answered. With nowhere else to turn, many constituents have contacted my office for help, and even my staff has encountered significant delays in getting answers from state bureaucrats.
The major factor in the delay is EDD's attempt to upgrade its 30-year-old computer system. It launched the new hardware over the Labor Day weekend and was soon crippled by a computer glitch that hindered the payment of unemployment benefits to thousands of people for weeks on end.
Finding this unacceptable, the Assembly's Insurance Committee held an oversight hearing in November to investigate. As the committee's vice chair, I asked EDD's chief deputy director several questions about the problems. Unfortunately, it appeared to me that she was minimizing the problems. EDD should have anticipated that the computer upgrade would create major problems. They were overwhelmed, even after calling in extra staff and paying overtime, in trying to address the backlog. Gov. Brown then ordered EDD to pay benefits first and check eligibility later, a decision that I think might have led to the payment of some fraudulent claims.
Regardless of the excuses, EDD still needs to be held accountable for its actions. Only in government would an agency with such poor results still be in business. While a computer glitch is one thing, the department did not properly staff up to ensure that all the unemployment records from the old computer system were updated into the new system. It failed to adequately prepare for the possibility of a system breakdown, and in the process failed the unemployed. It also failed the employers who pay 100 percent of all unemployment claims and expect the money they pay to go to the truly needy.
The problems plaguing EDD are not unique. Government tends to have a poor track record of purchasing and designing computer systems to accomplish its various missions. We only have to look at the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, the official national website for Obamacare. The State Controller's Office recently abandoned a $250 million upgrade to the state's payroll system. The state court system also pulled the plug on its efforts this year to build a $2 billion computer system linking the state's 58 county courts — but not before it spent $500 million on the project.
A few million overspent there … $500 million wasted here … it's all serious money. Taxpayers deserve much better.
The state of California can begin restoring trust in the EDD is by reforming the way it does business. If the state shifted to a monthly verification process used by other states instead of the annual reporting process California uses now, it could recover $722 million in overpayments. That is $722 million of waste, fraud and abuse that could be put to better use.
EDD cannot change the past, but it can chart its future. Jobless Californians should not be subjected to yet another traumatic experience after losing their job. I will push for a legislative audit of the EDD so the residents of California will not be treated like this again.
Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills, is vice chair of the Assembly Insurance Committee and assistant Republican floor leader. He represents the 55h District.


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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a new study of U.S. preteen and teen girls, daily exercise was strongly linked to weight and obesity in white girls but not black girls.
Although it's still important to promote physical activity in all young people, according to the researchers that may not be enough to prevent black girls — who have a higher rate of obesity to begin with — from gaining weight.
"I think everyone would agree we need people to be active. It's not sufficient on its own to prevent weight gain, but it's really an important part of the equation," said Alison Field, who studies weight in adolescents and women at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston.
Still, the new findings "would suggest that… what we've been recommending may not be the perfect fit for African Americans," Field, who wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health.
One possibility is that along with other lifestyle changes, black girls need to get a lot more exercise than white girls to start making a difference in their obesity risk, she added.
But it's unclear why that would be the case, and just how much physical activity they would need.
Field said the results are "sobering" given that black girls typically are less active to begin with and getting teen girls involved and engaged in new types of exercise is particularly challenging.
The findings come from a second analysis of data originally collected by the National Institutes of Health, which followed girls in Cincinnati, Berkeley, California and Rockville, Maryland starting when they were nine or ten years old in 1985.
For the new analysis, James White of Cardiff University and Russell Jago of the University of Bristol, both in the UK, used data on physical activity, eating habits, weight and height from when the girls were 12 and 14 years old.
Physical activity was measured over three days with a device called an accelerometer, which is kept in a pouch above the hip and calculates how much time the wearer spends walking, running or otherwise being active.
At age 14, close to 16 percent of the black girls qualified as obese, compared to just five percent of white girls.
The researchers found the most active white 12-year-olds were 85 percent less likely to be obese at the second reading than the least active. That held up when they took into account girls' diets and how much time they spent sitting.
But for black girls, there was no clear link between physical activity at age 12 and obesity at 14.
The study, published Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, included 1,148 girls, split roughly evenly between black and white adolescents.
Another report published in the same journal found certain genes may affect a person's chance of being obese as a teen and young adult — but that those influences may also start as early as a few years of age.
Based on 32 small genetic sequences that have been tied to obesity in adults, people in New Zealand who had a higher genetic risk were heavier starting at age three, all the way through age 38 — the end of the study period.
Researchers led by Daniel Belsky at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina found that in their preteens and teens, people were more than twice as likely to be obese if they had more of those risky gene patterns than average.
That study involved 856 people of European descent — and the new findings in teen girls question whether those genes would be equally important in non-whites, Jose Fernandez from the University of Alabama at Birmingham wrote in a commentary published with the two studies.
Belsky said one way researchers can use the new information is to look at how interventions such as exercise or diet changes affect people with different genes differently.
Genetics certainly isn't everything, researchers agreed.
"The magnitude of genetic risks that we're (seeing) in this profile is small," Belsky told Reuters Health.
"Some of the kids at higher levels of genetic risk didn't become obese, and some of the kids at lower levels of genetic risk did become obese."
Field said most genetic differences related to obesity, including those between whites and blacks, can be overcome.
"There are certain people who are more susceptible for obesity and weight gain, but data suggest that at least for most people, there are things they can do in their lifestyle to lessen their genetic disadvantage."
SOURCES: bit.ly/L0qwBd and bit.ly/Md6BjC Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, online June 4, 2012.


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Consider the number of fixed points in a permutation chosen uniformly at random from the symmetric group on $n$ elements - this gives a probability distribution. For $k < n$, the $k$-th moments of this distribution are the same as the Poisson distribution with $\lambda = 1$.
Since you can't pick uniformly randomly from an infinite set, it doesn't make sense to ask if you get exactly the Poisson distribution in the limit of the symmetric group on a countably infinite set. But can you get there in another way? Is there a known way to take limits in some category of distributions and groups that leads to the Poisson distribution for the fixed points of some countably infinite group of permutations? Alternately, is there a known structure that can be put on $|S_\omega|$ that gives rise to a Poisson process that is analogous to the finite case?
Also, are there other infinite families of finite permutation groups that give rise to a similarly elegant characterization of the distribution of fixed points? Say by taking one of the families of finite simple groups and applying the same finite extension to each of them?
(Please excuse me if I accidentally posted this twice - I didn't see the first attempt go through.)


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Anecdotally, it just seems like there are more alpha females than males, with the best ones dominating their peers; the very best ones also having their way with the boys.
That's the case in tomorrow's renewal in which three three-year-old alpha fillies are poised the dominate older rivals; early favorite Plum Pretty (2-1), second favorite Royal Delta (5-2), plus the somewhat quixotic and evidently well named It's Tricky (5-1).
Most noteworthy in today's 28th renewal of this country's most important race for horses of the female persuasion is that the Bob Baffert-trained Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty did not draw the rail. That alone would make her tough.
Ironically, nine furlongs is one race where an inside slip should really help, especially a filly like the bullet-like Plum Pretty.
Irish Gypsy, 20-1 to win the Filly & Mare Sprint; Euroears, 4-1 to win the Sprint, and The Factor, 7-2 to take the Dirt Mile, all start out on the fence where, unless the rail is golden, Baffert's three runners start out at a disadvantage since all these races are at one-turn distances.
Prayer For Relief must have been the icing on the cake for Baffert, nightmarish visions of Lookin At Lucky dancing in his head.
Prayer For Relief drew the rail at a mile and a quarter and missed his plane, the result of spiking a temperature. There was no amplification whether it was the three year old colt or Baffert who got all hot under the collar.
As for Baffert's Ladies Classic favorite, she's out there in post 8 which, at Churchill Downs, leaves more than enough ground before reaching the first bend. Besides, she has a ton of speed and is extremely sharp.
Too sharp?
Therein lies the possible problem. Her performance figure in her dominant Cotillion was a significant lifetime best, setting her up for a major regression. However, late developing three year olds have an excellent record in this event.
Plum Pretty is the fastest filly on figures by a significant margin. She cannot be tossed out automatically.
It's Tricky ran well behind the favorite in that event and this filly has somewhat of a good-race, bad-race history. Not that her last was bad, but there's certainly room for improvement in the Ladies Classic.
However, it will be Royal Delta that they all will have to beat. She's back around two turns, her best game. She showed that in the Black-Eyed Susan, her coming out race.
Royal Delta reaffirmed that good form in the storied Alabama, the race Bill Mott was targeting since the spring. Mott's won a half-dozen Breeders' Cup events--half of those coming in the race that used to be known as the Distaff.
She has what's needed to give Mott his fourth score in this race. She has tactical speed when you want to use it, a terrific late finish but she's push-button, too, getting herself into races quickly.
Jose Lezcano rides her very well, but his form can be spotty at times, too, which adds a little more anxiety to the mix.
Havre De Grace will be looking for bigger game in the Saturday finale. In the interim the Ladies Classic will have to do. And so it, and Bill Mott, shall.


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Monday, May 10, 2010
Inspiration: How and What?
Points of Agreement
Nearly all involved in the controversy are agreed that the Bible is inspired in some sense. Nearly all are agreed as well that Scripture teaches divine inspiration, somewhere and in some form, every one of the words of Scripture He inspired.
It is also agreed that the Bible depicts human beings as both finite and fallen and prone to error in what they do, but that God overcame human fallibility in some sense when He inspired "holy men of God" to record some form of Scripture. This is where we come to a major fork in the road. Though we do not have equally direct and clear statements to the effect that God also ensures that there are sixty six divinely inspired books, many believe a compelling case for this kind of inspiration can be derived from passages in certain sixty-six books that many refer to as Scripture or the Bible.
This article aims to examine all of the relevant biblical arguments to see whether we have sufficient grounds for believing God has continuously overcome the limitations of men so that they produce a divinely inspired, word-perfect text of sixty-six books. The goal here is not to argue outside of scripture, but to make myself a kind of blank slate and only judge my view of inspiration from the passages that are referred to by those who believe in a divinely inspired, word-perfect sixty-six book Bible in the original writings, essentially to hold myself to the standard that the word-perfect, sixty-book divine inspirationists say that they hold themselves to.
"All Scripture Is Given by Inspiration of God"
This phrase from 2 Timothy 3:16 has become the proof text for those who believe in word-perfect and divine inspiration of every and all the Words of a sixty-six book Bible. However, upon closer examination, I believe we can show quite clearly how that this is a position that the men who hold to this view are reading into the text based upon their ill-conceived presuppositions. For instance, 2 Timothy 3:16 itself doesn't teach what the word-perfect divine inspiration men say that it does. They take from this one phrase far more than it says. Here's how.
The verse starts with "all Scripture." These are two words in the original Greek, pas graphe. "All writing" or "every writing." The understanding of graphe is "writing." The next word is an adjective, translated in the King James Version with several words, "is given by inspiration of God." It is only one word in the Greek, an adjective, theopneustos, God-breathed. One could understand this terminology several ways---"every God-breathed writing" or "every writing is God-breathed." It is grammatically correct and many scholars believe that the translation should be: "Every inspired scripture is also profitable." Seeing that as a possibility does bring some ambiguity to the meaning of this verse from the start. It's not best to base some doctrine of divine, verbal-plenary inspiration of a sixty-six book Bible on such questionable writing.
The phrase is saying that certain writings are God breathed. Question: Which ones? Nowhere does the Bible in which this phrase appears tell anyone what the writings were that God inspired, that He breathed. And the verse says "writings," not "words" or "letters." Especially when we look at the quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament and see that they don't match up "word for word," we really have a basis for seeing this as at the most a conceptual type of writing. "Writing" is in a general sense and not in any way specific.
Certainly the verse points a case toward God breathing out writings, but we don't have a basis for knowing what those writings are. And what certain men say are God-breathed, sixty-six books, they have no basis for knowing that those sixty-six were the ones that God breathed, or that he breathed two chapters or one chapter or five. And then we also know that the men to whom God breathed these writings were affected by the ruination of sin. Nothing in what men call the Bible, these so-called sixty-six books, says anything about whether the men wrote the books down correctly.
Do we know what was inspired and what was not? Nothing in these sixty-six books says anything about that, and all I'm trying to do is determine this based upon what the Bible itself says. And it says nothing about what are the writings and what are not. The sixty-six book Bible has verses in it that refer to books that are not among the sixty-six books. Why are they not included? It would seem that there is a biblical basis for including them, at least if the books in which they are mentioned are considered to be divinely inspired in such a way. When I base my position merely on what the so-called Bible says, I can't argue for what is inspired and what is not. There is no list included therein.
And then what exactly does this one adjective, found only here in the entire twenty-seven books men refer to as the New Testament, mean? We can't very well go to other verses to determine it's meaning. Is it a kind of divine inspiration at the level of William Shakespeare? Everyone has within him a spark of divinity, found in the image of God, that interacts with him in a way for his natural gifts to be used to their greatest extent. We can't say from this verse what exactly this "inspiration" is all about. Should we not build such a large case on a singular usage of a word? Wouldn't this word have appeared many more times if it really was so important?
"Holy Men of God Spake As They Were Moved by the Holy Ghost"
In addition to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, here from 2 Peter 1:20-21 is the only other proof text for the apparent doctrine of divine, verbal-plenary inspiration. Just to start, who are the "holy men" and what did they speak? It seems that we start with a lack of information right from the start by which we can make a decision. What came from holy men and what did not? And why were not all the books written by these holy men also part of the Bible? It smacks of subjectivity through and through.
And notice that it says that they "spake." Was everything that holy men spake, their oral words, actually moved upon by the Holy Spirit. And what was this movement? Many believe that "moved" means "to convey some burden" or "to be carried along." How does this relate to individual words and written ones at that? It seems that this passage does more harm than good for the cause of something written. It says "spake." Those are words from someone's mouth, not something in ink on some physical material, like parchment.
So far, a case for a biblical doctrine of word-perfect, divine inspiration of sixty-six books proves nothing beyond what is generally agreed: that God has given us to a certain degree a message. We don't know that it is in exact words, we don't know how many words, which words, or even books, and we don't know exactly how God went about accomplishing that. At the least, we've got to head outside of the Bible to determine how many books should be included in the whole. The Bible itself, as agreed upon the most conservative believers in inspiration, does not tell us how many books should be included. We have no Scriptural basis for determining what is God's Word and what is not and how exactly God made sure, despite the fallibility of sinful men, that we could even receive it in an untainted condition.
I recognize that many who read the above essay might be experiencing disgust and extreme revulsion. I understand. However, I wanted to argue against verbal-plenary, perfect, divine inspiration in the same manner as those who argue against perfect preservation of Scripture, so that they could get an understanding of what they sound like to us. I think my arguments above are just as good, even better, than what I hear against perfect preservation.
Aaron Blumer, the one whom I answered in my previous post, says he's taking his teaching only from Scripture. He says he's only letting Scripture have its say. I would ask him to show me where the Bible says there are sixty-six books and then within those books, and why within those books, why those paragraphs. Scripture might be inspired, but how do we know what is Scripture and what is not? He's got to make his argument just from Scripture.
As others read my general summary of positions, they may not want to think of what I've represented as being inspiration. But shouldn't they if they are going to be "open minded"? Haven't I been clear? Anyone who disagrees---should we just admit right now that they are closed minded and attempting to just obfuscate the issue? I think you get the point.
Aaron might think that he has a biblical basis for inspiration, one that we don't have for preservation. But that's only based on how you argue the issue. Aaron really does start with a predisposition toward the inspiration of the Bible when he comes to the two inspiration passages. Two. He is able to see them differently than the preservation passages, because he believes in the perfect inspiration of sixty-six books. I contend that the way he argues (and others just like him), what he writes, shows that he starts with a disposition not to believe in perfect preservation. Then he goes about looking at the passages. He's bound to be looking for arguments to eliminate the doctrine of perfect preservation.
36 comments:
I think you make a good point. I believe that we will never come to an understanding of the words of God and the recognition of them except by revelation by the Spirit. Contrary to gnosticism, which I have been accused, the Bible has evidence for this revelation occurring in every believer, if they but listen, just as we know that we have been redeemed personally. It is all by revelation grounded in faith only.
For a demonstration of this point, I offer several of many "proof" Scriptures.
Matthew 13:10-16 "And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear."
Matthew 16:17 "And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
We are saved by Grace through faith. And faith is a gift God gives us to know that we are saved. I think the same goes for hearing God's words, and knowing them as we receive (as he gives them) them.
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Believers for centuries have understood this as children, and they have also been persecuted for this simple faithful believing. I do not think that developing textual and historical reasons will ever help to produce faith in those who do not have it. (This is not meant to be harsh, but it is the truth. Hopefully, some who have just not used faith in comprehending the true words of God, will be jogged by this to do so.)
I am sorry if this is too simple, or even if this sounds elite to some. But God has chosen those to who he reveals himself.
Joe V.
- Lamblion said...
Although this is strictly revelant to this particular post, you did post an article on the LXX the other day, and somebody with White's blog critiqued it, as did the Textual Criticism blog.
Accordingly, I've written a short paper DEMONSTRATING that the LXX we possess today has been REVERSE ENGINEERED. You can read the paper here --
- Lamblion said...
By the way, I don't know a SINGLE native Greek who is also FLUENT in English who would agree that Theopneustos means "God breathed."
The Greek has an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT word for "breathe".
EVERY native Greek I know who is also FLUENT in English testifies that the correct translation is "inspired".
I could go into this in depth, but I don't really care to get into it.
Suffice it to say that modern translators who can't even pronounce Greek properly, let alone speak it, have grossly blundered in this translation just as they have with so many others, not to mention the theological disconnect with "inspiring" Scripture and "breathing" life into Adam, for the two are INFINTELY, SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT.
Think about it.
- Kent Brandenburg said...
I'm fine with "inspired." Of course, I was speaking as a fool in this particular post. But I understand the "God breathed" explanation. It is an etymological break-down. It shouldn't be translated "God-breathed," but you can get that picture in the compound word.
Thanks for the heads-up though.
- Lamblion said...
Yeah, I know where you're coming from, and I think I also know what you're trying to accomplish.
Good luck, as they say! -:)
And we both know "luck" don't exist. There is seed-worthy ground, and then there's all the rest.
Joe V,
Great scriptures, but can you tell me if you know where God has perfectly preserved his scriptures word for word?
You either missed the point or you are pulling my leg.
Joe V.
The posts above remind me of a post I made previously in regard to this issue: "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word" (John 8:43). We know that souls need to learn & be persuaded, especially when they have been taught incorrectly & have not seriously considered the truth for themselves. All of us face this dilemma. We are taught from the Bible & accept it as truth. However, it is not uncommon, in the course of carefully studying & preaching through books of the Bible, that we find that some of what we have been taught came from a shallow consideration of the passage, or traditions handed down by Roman Catholicism or Reformed Roman Catholicis, etc., etc. At this point each of us must decide whether we are willing to be corrected or whether pride or the possibility of some personal loss (particularly fellowship) will keep us from following the truth. When someone is repeatedly confronted with the truth, but will not "hear", then questions are raised in our minds. Consider: "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:17) or "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20). Early in my Christian life I was taught by charismatic & new evangelical teachers. It took awhile, but over a period of years of reading & studying the Bible, it became quite clear that the Bible did not teach what I had been taught. There was a cost to decide to follow truth, but those costs now seem minor.
We pray that some will be willing to accept the truth about perfect preservation.
- Aaron B. said...
Kent wrote: "I would ask him to show me where the Bible says there are sixty-six books and then within those books, and why within those books, why those paragraphs. Scripture might be inspired"
Well, that would be changing the subject. I'm writing about preservation and what Scripture says about that. For the purposes of these articles, the canonicity and inspired status of the 66 books we have is assumed.
- Aaron B. said...
Kent wrote: "he starts with a disposition not to believe in perfect preservation. Then he goes about looking at the passages. He's bound to be looking for arguments to eliminate the doctrine of perfect preservation"
I would encourage folks to just look at whether the arguments are sound or not. If they are, it makes no difference what I'm allegedly "looking for." If they are not, it also makes not difference what I'm "looking for."
The "Well, he's biased so he must be wrong" argument is pretty weak, though I'm sure it's good enough for those already convinced.
- Aaron B. said...
Joe V wrote: "Believers for centuries have understood this as children, and they have also been persecuted for this simple faithful believing. I do not think that developing textual and historical reasons will ever help to produce faith in those who do not have it."
Joe: faith has to be "in" something, does it not? Wouldn't we agree that it should be in God and what He says? If so, there are no shortcuts to faith other than examining what the Word actually teaches. So "faith" cannot be where you start, but where you finish after you have found out what God says. (Exception to this is the a priori belief that God exists and the Bible is His Word).
Again, anyone who looks at my writing fairly can see that my aim is to accurately discern what God has said so I can believe what He has said.
If you don't arrive at your "faith" that way, how do you get there? The traditions of men?
- Aaron B. said...
In case anyone might be confused. This article is not what I wrote at SharperIron.org and does not represent my view. I would encourage you to read what I actually wrote.
- Kent Brandenburg said...
You are missing the point of my writing this, or as you would say, obfuscating it. The point was to show the duplicate reasoning. This isn't a paraphrase of what you said, as you characterized it over at SharperIron. It's simply ME arguing against inspiration LIKE you argue against preservation. I just think I did a better job arguing against inspiration than you did preservation. Of course I believe that you believe in inspiration. I said that at the bottom of the post.
You can't separate preservation from the issue of canonicity. We have to know what He inspired to know what He preserved. I can understand someone not wanting to answer the question because it is at the crux of the issue here. Did God preserve every book of the Bible? Why 66? Why not 65 or 67? And you can see that you go outside of Scripture for your belief about what God inspired? Now you go outside of Scripture based upon Scripture, but you are going outside of it. That's a major point in TSKT. It's also what we see in John 17:8. That's the point you obfuscated in your representation of Strouse on that chapter. His churches would receive His Words. Do Christ's churches receive His Words?
As far as looking at your arguments. I've done that. I seem to be one of the few. Few are commenting on your actual arguments.
- Thomas Ross said...
I am totally committed to the KJV/TR, but I don't agree with some of LambLion's argumentation. It would be interesting to see him explain why all the verses with pneo in classical and Koiné Greek don't really mean "breathe." It is hard to take his comment seriously unless he shows how the texts cited in the lexica really don't mean "breathe" under pneo. If this is not done, I see nothing wrong with rendering Theopneustos as God-breathed (or with rendering it the way the KJV does either).
I also see no relevence to his comment about modern Greeks, unless they have done what I suggest he does for BDAG, Liddell-Scott, etc. I have never had a modern Greek tell me that Theopneustos does NOT mean God-breathed, because the only ones around own the Greek deli near our house and I haven't asked them. I wonder how many hundreds of modern Greeks LambLion knows, and how they explain the citations in the lexica.
I will not comment again on LambLion here unless he explains how the citations from Neander, 2 Macc, 1 Enoch, Ignatius to the Ephesians, and the Pseudo-Clementine literature cited in BDAG def. #3 on pneo really don't mean "breathe"—and he points out and fixes the grammar error in his own English comment above. If he does this, and looks up, cites, and explains away the entries in Liddell-Scott as well, I'll send him a gift certificate for the Greek deli in our neighborhood. I'll even do it if one of the vast numbers of scholarly modern Greeks he knows does the work.
I am also thankful for the useful material that LambLion has put out.
- Kent Brandenburg said...
Again, just to emphasize, where do you get the idea that what I wrote above was a "paraphrase of what you wrote"? I wasn't attempting at all to paraphrase what you wrote.
I would like for you to respond to this. I was trained in the critical text position but now hold the received text position.
As I understand the arguments, the received text position believes that Matthew 5:18-19 and other passages teach that God's people will have every word of His revelation so that there is no debate about what God teaches based upon what the text of Scripture is. Those who hold the received text position believe that revelation has been perfectly preserved in the Masoretic OT & Received Text NT.
The critical text position believes that every word of Scripture is preserved, but no one knows exactly what those words are. Their position is based upon accepting a general statement by passages like Matthew 5:18-19 but they try to show through history that no one has ever known (past the original copies) what the exact words of the OT & NT are.
First, do you accept this summary of the textual argument?
Second, my primary question for you and those who hold the critical text position is, WHAT PASSAGE OR PASSAGES TEACH THE AMBIGUITY OF THE EXACT TEXT OF SCRIPTURE? What passage of Scripture would indicate that the text would ever be unknown?
- Lamblion said...
Native Greek would never consult a lexicon that was made by anglo people who can't even pronounce Greek properly, let alone speak it, such as BDAG, et. al.
The Greek word for spirit is "pneuma".
The Greek word for breath is "pnoe"
The Greek word under consideration is "theoPNEUSTOS"
Figure it out.
This is what happens when you have people who can't even pronounce Greek properly, let alone speak it, nevertheless pontificating on a subject about which they are ignorant.
- Lamblion said...
Oh, by the way, the statement about me not knowing every native Greek is nothing but a red herring.
In the first place, I'm talking about native Greeks who are FLUENT in BOTH languages.
Notice that SIGNIFICANT distinction.
Secondly, when a small group of native Greeks, who come from various parts of Greece, and who are mobile within the Greek community, tell me that in their opinion most native Greeks would agree with them, I'd say that's a pretty good indicator.
Not to mention the clear confusion over the very Greek words themselves that was made in trying to refute this.
- Lamblion said...
Incidentally, I did not mean to imply that Thomas was ignorantly pontificating, but rather I was referring to the pontifications of CERTAIN people who have published works on Greek and who acclaim themselves as "experts" in a language they can't even pronounce properly, let alone speak.
- Lamblion said...
Just to make this matter perfectly clear, it is necessary, once again, to put Thomas on the right track, for he has shown a propensity to confuse what is actually written when responding to the writings of others.
Thomas stated - "It would be interesting to see him explain why all the verses with pneo in classical and Koiné Greek don't really mean "breathe."
I in fact never made any such assertion, nor did I even imply it.
The word we are talking about is "theopneustos"
We are NOT talking about "pnoe" or "pnew"
Thomoas immediately jumped to an entirely false conclusion and then proceeded to argue against it.
That's why it's called a strawman.
- Thomas Ross said...
My article:
Are Accurate Copies and Translations of Scripture Inspired? A Study of 2 Timothy 3:16
on my website deals with the material LambLion brings up on the etymology of Theopneustos; but I won't reprint it here.
- Lamblion said...
Quite frankly, given how confused you were on two plain Greek words, I wouldn't think your study would attract too much attention.
As wa already noted, the Greek word for spirit is "pneuman"
The Greek word for breath is "pnoe"
The Greek word underconsidertion is "theoPNEUstos".
That's clear for anyone who can even read Greek. You don't even have to be able to pronounce Greek properly, or even speak it. You just have to be able to READ Greek properly.
Once again, native Greek who are FLUENT in BOTH Greek and English testify that that "theoNEUMstos" means "inspired" from the Greek words "PNEUma" and that it does NOT mean "God breated."
Given the that the etymology of the word actually agrees with that, and given that the theology of the Bible agrees with, and not with the other, the issue is plain, especially for people who can even read Greek, let alone pronounce or speak it.
- Lamblion said...
Quite frankly, given how confused you were on two plain Greek words, I wouldn't think your study would attract too much attention.
As wa already noted, the Greek word for spirit is "pneuman"
The Greek word for breath is "pnoe"
The Greek word underconsidertion is "theoPNEUstos".
That's clear for anyone who can even read Greek. You don't even have to be able to pronounce Greek properly, or even speak it. You just have to be able to READ Greek properly.
Once again, native Greek who are FLUENT in BOTH Greek and English testify that that "theoNEUMstos" means "inspired" from the Greek words "PNEUma" and that it does NOT mean "God breated."
Given the that the etymology of the word actually agrees with that, and given that the theology of the Bible agrees with, and not with the other, the issue is plain, especially for people who can even read Greek, let alone pronounce or speak it.
- Lamblion said...
Obviously I had a couple of types in the previous note, and less they be descended upon, allow me to correct them --
Instead of "As wa already noted, the Greek word for spirit is "pneuman"..."
it should read "pneuma"
And Instead of "...testify that that "theoNEUMstos"..."
it should read "theoPNEUstos"
And instead of "...Given the that the etymology..."
it should read "Given that the etymology..."
- Lamblion said...
Yeah, and just to put a nail in the coffin of your article, you offered not an IOTA of proof for the etymology of Theopneustos.
Moreover, your inability to admit that "theoPNEUstos" is actually referring to the Greek wordc "PNEUma" and NOT to the Greek word "pnoe", is just a further proof of the hold that your traditions have upon you, traditions, by the way, that have been prosecuted by the multi-versionist crowd concerning this VERY word, along with its emphatically FAULTY theology, as I will show in a moment.
Before that, however, it is clear to anyone who is actually born of the Spirit that one of the MASSIVE problems today is the assertion by Bible "scholars" that they have more knowledge than the KJB translators, and that they are thus able to "correct" the "outdated" KJB. This from people who can't even pronounce Greek properly, let alone speak it.
Which is why native Greeks who are FLUENT in BOTH Greek and English have ZERO respect for MODERN anglo Greek "experts" who can't even pronounce Greek properly, let alone speak it, whereas, on the other hand, native Greeks who are FLUENT in BOTH Greek and English have GREAT RESPECT for the KJB translators, and which is why native Greeks who are FLUENT in BOTH languages adhere with virtual unanimity to the KJB when they read the Bible in English.
Once again, their proclamation that "theoPNUEstos" actually means "God SPIRITED" and NOT "God breahted", and seeing as how the actual COMPOUND PORTION OF THE WORD matches the Greek word for spirit and NOT breath, and seeing as how you are willfully blind to these FACTS, among other things, speaks volumes.
- Lamblion said...
When God BREATHED life into Adam, was God JOINED to his creation, as the pantheists assert, and as the many so-called Christian cults assert, especially those who believe man morphs into God, so that God and man share the same substance?
Which is it? When God BREATHED life into Adam, was Adam FALLIBLE or INFALLBIE, and was God thus SEPARATE from his creation or JOINED to his creation, sin and all? Which is it?
Conversely, when God INSPIRED the Scriptures, were the actual SCRIPTURES THEMSELVES, indeed, were they FALLIBLE or INFALLIBLE? Is God JOINED to his Word? UNLIKE ADAM AND THE REST OF HIS CREATION???
In fact, in every instance of God BREATHING he produces a FALLIBLE outcome, whereas in the actual GOD SPIRITED words of Scripture, and UNLIKE fallible Adam, in which God is SEPARATE from his creation, God is in fact NOT SEPARATE from his Word, nor is God's Word FALLIBLE, unlike Adam et. al. In fact, God's Word is INFALLIBLE, unlike FALLIBLE BREATHING man and animal.
This "God BREAHTED" mythology has been coined and propagated by Bible correctors and multi-version adherents who can't even pronounce Greek properly, let alone speak it, in contravention of native Greek and others who are actually FLUENT in BOTH languages, and IN DIAMETRIC CONTRADICTION TO THE PURE THEOLOGY OF THE BIBLE.
And that's just the BARE, BARE, BARE basics of the matter. All of the above, and then some, could be developed MUCH, MUCH more.
- Thomas Ross said...
What if pneuma is derived from pneo?
Note Parkhurst's lexicon:
Theopneustos is stated as being: "from Theos, God, and pepneusai, 3rd pers. sing. perf. pass. of pneo, fut. pneuso, to breathe."
- Lamblion said...
Because it's not, nor does your example demonstrate that. Not even close.
Nor do native Greeks who can actually speak their own language and who are familiar with their own etymologies believe that, and there's a very good reason for that, because the fact is, "theoPNEUstos" is a compound word made of "Theos" and "PNEUma" and this is a clear distinction between "pneuma" and "pnoe".
It's really quite simple.
Furthermore, in addition to the theology being bankrupt, this "God breathed" mythology is recent and also comes from the same sources who say that "monogenes" means "unique" which is utterly absurd, as my article here demonstrates --
In case the link doesn't post properly, go to my website and look under Articles | Textual Criticsim for the article.
Ad infinitum.
You apparently aren't aware of the fact that MODERN "bible" sholars have been REDEFINING Greek words left and right, with "theopneustos" being one of them, and you also apparently don't understand the dynamics behind it.
And always remember, the people who keep REDEFINING these Greek words are people who can't even pronounce Greek properly, let alone speak it.
You can keep beating your dead horse from now on if you want, but he will never wake up in a stable of truth or accuracy.
- Thomas Ross said...
2 Thess 2:8 employs pneuma for the idea of "breath," as does Genesis 6:17, etc. for "breath" of life is pneuma, etc. It would be too bad if all the verses from Matthew 4:4 and many other texts that speak of Scripture (the Word, the product of the breath of God) are not related to inspiration.
It would be great if some of the anonymous Greeks wrote books refuting all the lexica in English and giving people the true view which is hidden from the entire English world.
I wonder what word pneuma, spirit/wind/breath, comes from if it isn't pneo.
I am almost surely done with this comment series.
I am committed to the true derivation of monogenes from gennao.
- Cole said...
I appreciate this blog as a chance to share and ask questions, but please, remember to always present everything that you are sharing as Christ would—in a spirit of love and gentleness; this goes for admonitions as well. I've noticed some harshness and want to remind you to speak with encouragement so that you may edify each other in the faith.
- Lamblion said...
There you go again. You have a habitual propensity for miscontruing truthl.
2 Thessalonians 2:8 does NOT say the BREATH of his mouth.
2 Thessalonians 2:8 says the SPIRIT of his mouth. There is a HUGE difference. It doesn't surprise me that you can't comprehend even these SIMPLE truths since you are so blinded by your own traditions.
Secondly, you have ASSUMED that Matthew 4:4 has something to do with BREATH when it does not even REMOTELY have anything to do with BREATH.
You further ASSUME that native Greeks need to "refute the lexica" when you can't find a SINGLE, SOLITARY lexicon to support your contention that "theoPNEUstos" OR "pneuma" is a DERIVATIVE of "pnoe".
Which is utterly absurd. And even if you could ONE lexicon that HINTS at it, it would come from a person who can't even pronounce Greek properly, let alone speak it, such as is OBVIOUSLY the case with yourself.
In fact, as ANY one who understands Greek KNOWS, the Greek word "theoPNEUstos" is a compound word pertaining to "Theos" and "Pneuma"
And that fact that you are UTTERLY OBLIVIOUS to the FACT and the REASON that people who can't even pronounce Greek properly, let alone speak, have been REDEFINING Greek words, INCLUDING "Theopneustos", speaks volumes.
- Lamblion said...
To briefly sum up this matter, and then I am through with it...
In the first place, Thomas' utter confusion over a wide range of matters in this thread, such as his initial confusion over two PLAIN, SIMPLE Greek words, speaks volumes in and of itself.
Secondly, this "God BREATHED" mythology is relatively NEW, being propagated by the VERY SAME PEOPLE who assert that "monogenes" means "unique", which is utterly absurd, as well as the VERY SAME PEOPLE who have been REDEFINING NUMEROUS other Greek words, and ALL of these relatively NEW DEFINITIONS are coming from people who CANNOT EVEN PRONOUNCE GREEK PROPERLY, LET ALONE SPEAK IT. That in and of itself is all that a thinking person even needs to know.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit chose his words VERY, VERY, VERY CAREFULLY. That's why we call it VERBAL, PLENARY INSPIRATION. Had the Holy Spirit wanted to convey "pnoe" in 2 Timothy 3:16, he could have EASILY employed a compound word containing "Theos" and "pnoe". The fact that the Holy Spirit did NOT employ such a compound is SIGNIFICANT to ALL who actually understand what VERBAL, PLENARY INSPIRATION means.
Instead, the Holy Spirit employed a compound word using "PNEUMA". The Holy Spirit did NOT employ a compound word using "pnoe." Moreover, if "PNEUMA" and "pnoe" meant the same thing, then there would never have been a need for TWO DISTINCT Greek words. You see, the Holy Spirit HIMSELF makes a DISTINCTION between the TWO DISTINCT words.
Further still, the GROSS MISUNDERSTANDING of the theology between the two actus is palpitating, a theology which Thomas is clearly oblivious to.
And finally, as anyone with an OUNCE of even BASIC comprehension knows, a person who grows up SPEAKING Greek, and who grows up READING THE SCRIPTURES IN GREEK, and who grows up READING THE CLASSICS IN GREEK, indeed, that person is INFINITELY MORE QUALIFIED to comment on the meaning of a Greek word than are people who CANNOT EVEN PRONOUNCE GREEK PROPERLY, LET ALONE SPEAK IT.
A native Greek schoolboy is already reading the Classics by the time he is in our equivalent of the sixth or seventh grade. A native Greek schoolboy has NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER comprehending the Greek New Testament or the Classics.
When you have people who are FLUENT in BOTH Greek and English, who testify that this NEW MEANING of "theopneustos" is NOT ACCURATE, as opposed to people who can't even pronounce Greek properly, let alone speak it, who yet propagate this NEW DEFINITION, well, it strains credulity that anybody could even take the latter seriously.
And I'm not talking about the deli owner who may or may not be FLUENT in BOTH languages, and who may render an opinion while he's slicing a sandwich; rather, I'm talking about native Greeks (notice the PLURAL) who are actually FLUENT in BOTH Greek and English and who actually ponder and reflect on the matter before rendering a decision.
In short, the Holy Spirit was perfectly capable of making himself clear, and the fact that one doesn't know the difference between SPIRIT and BREATH, especially as demonstrated by the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 4:12, for example, or as used in Ephesians 6:17, well, suffice it to say such a person knows neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.
- Lamblion said...
Did you miss my previous comment before the last one?
You wrote, "Joe: faith has to be "in" something, does it not? Wouldn't we agree that it should be in God and what He says? If so, there are no shortcuts to faith other than examining what the Word actually teaches. So "faith" cannot be where you start, but where you finish after you have found out what God says. (Exception to this is the a priori belief that God exists and the Bible is His Word)."
I am not sure what you mean in your last parenthetical statement, but I hopefully assume that you mean that God gives faith to them that afterward indeed believe. So then if faith is necessary in order to believe correctly about God, and it is also foundational to any correct belief that the Bible is his true word, why would one expect that faith should not under-gird every correct understanding of anything about God. It seems as though you are attempting to say that faith under girds the foundation of belief, but afterward science takes over such that faith now depends upon sight.
This is wrong thinking.
Faith IS the substance (foundation) of things that are hope for and it Is EVIDENCE of things that are not seen. When speaking of the faith of God, the faith of Jesus, that has been put into us believers, it can never be referred to as blind faith. Faith IS the substance of vision when natural vision fails. The blind of physical eyes can see the kingdom of God by faith.
And believers can comprehend the true words of God by faith even when the whole world chases after scientific evidence. Faith is why I believe that God created the world in six days contrary (or so it seems) to the theories resulting from human observation that the whole world (and way too many folks calling themselves Christian) attempts to force folks to accept. In fact, creation is a fine example of faith in operation. At one time nothing that can now be seen was observable from anyone's perspective. Yet God knew.
Furthermore, faith is required to please God. He expects his people to believe him when they do not see, or when they are faced with the contrary. Abraham saw in faith the promises of God, though he never observed those promises with his eyes. Your line of argumentation would require that God show Abraham Christ so that he could believe in him. Your argument seems similar to the one the pharisees had when they confronted Jesus. Jesus told them Abraham saw his day and rejoiced. They scoffed at him.
(to be continued)
Joe V.
I have heard sermons where the preacher likened faith to sitting in an untried chair. I tell you that is not faith, but rather human reasoning based upon experience. Another way to say it is scientific observation and projection. The same can be said about expecting the sun to rise; it is experience and human rationalization.
Aaron, faith is what is foundational to any correct belief. Never can it be the result of observation.
So, by faith, KJB'ers understand that God has put his words into the English language. Before that he had put his words into Greek language, and Latin language. Not all the Greek was his words, and his people, by faith, knew the difference. Not all Latin was his words. Not all English Bibles have his words. His people, by faith, know where they are. Through faith, just as when they were first saved, comes God's direction to truth.
If we do not understand this as those who profess to be teachers of God's people, we are disqualified for that task we have assumed.
So to specifically answer your questions to me, through faith we are guided into what we should be certain. All Christians agree that the something of certainty our faith directs us to is the true God, in Jesus Christ. Through faith we know which words are God's words in which we may trust. If it were any other way, all men would be saved simply by observing nature and reading a Bible. But that is not how God saves men, is it?
Your statement, "So "faith" cannot be where you start, but where you finish after you have found out what God says." is completely unreasonable based upon the words of the Bible. Faith depends upon nothing but God's granting it. Faith is where all Christians must begin and remain in order to please God. And Christians do please God.
Joe V.
I guess Aaron ain't interested in reading the answers to his questions.
Joe V.


text:
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text:
HM Revenue and Customs is to appeal against the outcome of a tribunal which saw the former Rangers Football Club win its tax case.
Last month oldco Rangers won its appeal in principle against a bill from HMRC over its use of Employment Benefit Trusts (EBTs) from 2001 to 2010.
The tribunal stated that the "controversial monies received by the employees were not paid to them as their absolute entitlement".
Today a spokesman for HMRC said it is appealing against the decision.
"HMRC will seek permission to appeal the tribunal decision."
Rangers argued that the payments, thought to be close to £49 million, were loans rather than wages and not subject to tax.
The oldco was consigned to liquidation in June after it failed to exit administration via a company voluntary arrangement.
Parties need to apply to the tribunal to seek leave to appeal and HMRC has started that process, the spokesman said.
A First Tier Tax Tribunal heard Rangers' appeal over the EBT bill over 29 days and last sat in January.
It delivered a majority verdict two weeks ago which allowed the appeal in principle and declared that the assessments of HMRC be "reduced substantially".
Two of the three judges decided that only some of the payments made to players through EBTs were taxable but that many of them could be described as loans, as the club had argued.
Rangers was under the control of Sir David Murray when it began using EBTs. He sold the club for £1 to Craig Whyte in 2011, while the tax liability was in dispute. The old club went into administration in February owing up to £134 million to unsecured creditors, including HMRC.
Whyte had stated that the tax liability could have been as high as £75 million, including interest and penalties, for payments made from 2001-10.
Although no final figure was revealed in the 145-page verdict, Murray International Holdings (MIH), the former majority shareholders of the liquidated club, declared themselves vindicated after being left with what they described as "minimal tax liability".
In a statement, two tribunal judges agreed with the club's outline case.
They stated: "The majority view reflects the argument that the controversial monies received by the employees were not paid to them as their absolute entitlement.
"Thus the payments are loans, not earnings."
The decision came too late to save oldco Rangers from being wound up and does not directly affect the current Ibrox regime.
Charles Green led a consortium which purchased the business and assets of Rangers after they were consigned to liquidation in the summer.
The Ibrox side was subsequently relaunched as a newco in the bottom tier of Scottish football.


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text:
Exchange traded funds now represent 15 percent of all trading in the market, but how much of that 15 percent is coming from individual investors? ETFs have grown rapidly, thanks to institutional traders, hedge funds and even traditional mutual funds using their "rival" investments. No-commission fee-trading programs at discount brokers, including Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments and TD Ameritrade have made it easier for individual investors to use ETFs, too, but there are lingering misconceptions that are keeping more retail investors from migrating to ETFs.
Here are some of the most basic myths and truths about ETFs.


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You will recall that on January 18, 2010 I raved about Special Ed's deft decision to appoint California-born and bred Ted Morton as Alberta Minister of Finance and Enterprise and thereby set him up as Ed's logical successor. See: REPORT FROM ALBERTA: TORIES AND WILD ROSE ALLIANCE SET FOR THE MOTHER OF ALL TORY CIVIL WARS
I predicted that Morton's pure right-wing pedigree along with his reputed oratorical skills could very well stop the hemorrhaging of Progressive Conservative support over to the upstart Wildrose Alliance party now headed by that enticing political goddess, Danielle Smith.
Much to my surprise I have discovered that my rosy view of Morton's potential is not shared by a great many Tories, whether they still hold their party memberships or whether they trashed them already to join the party of the alluring Ms. Smith.
This afternoon I happened to share a glass of wine with two men who can only be described as establishment Alberta Tories. They were in the innermost sanctum of the Ralph Klein organization throughout his whole sorry tenure during Alberta's dark ages between 1992 to 2006. Over those dreary and unimaginative years whenever anything of consequence was going on these affable and erudite gentlemen (remember, they bought me the glass of wine) were at the very apex of power. They kept both the keys to, and the secrets of, the kingdom. They were among the strongest voices in the Premier's cheering section, and advanced and strategized many of the thin gruel of ideas that found their way into the half-baked policies of his misguided regime. In other words, they were Tories of influence.
Alas, these former movers and shakers have concluded at the same time as countless other Albertans, that the Morton appointment is simply too little too late to save the Tories. They are underwhelmed and unimpressed with Morton. They say his oratorical skills are overblown and his leadership skills wholly absent during his whole three-year tenure as a Stelmach minister.
Most surprising of all, they are convinced that Stelmach has no intention of setting Morton nor anybody else up as his successor and still harbours the delusion that he will survive and lead the Tories to victory in the next provincial election! As to anybody else in the wings who can save the PCs from oblivion, forget it, they say. It ain't gonna happen. With Jim Dinning happily ensconced in the cozy comfort of oak-paneled walls and expensive scotch in the private sector, the cupboard is bare for leadership candidates. Empty. Kaput. Finito. One of my hosts (remember, they bought the wine) has even bought his Wildrose Alliance membership.
If these men are right - and their survival instincts have served them well after more than a generation in PC politics - this is bad news for the Tories. The party will have to fight tooth and nail to remain in contention, and with Stelmach at the helm and in la-la land about his own abilities and future, that will be like fighting with one hand tied behind one's back.
These are dark days indeed for the once proud party of Peter Lougheed.


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Hedgehog 12 - Wooly Woodland Zipper Pouch
In Stock
This soft and sweet Wooly Woodland Zipper Pouch would make an amazing holiday gift (or "just because" gift). Fill it with all the gift receiver's favorite things.
• Features an embroidered fox, hedgehog, raccoon, or owl designed by Alyssa Thomas of Penguin & Fish.
• 6 1/2 inches wide x 5 inches tall
• 100% woven wool exterior that we've felted (or "fulled") making it soft and fluffy.
• Organic cotton lining from our Picnic Pals and Critter Patch fabric collections.
• Each is one-of-a-kind. No two have the same combination of design, fabric, zipper color, and lining.
• Perfectly fits a phone and a few personal items like nail polish and lip gloss. Or if you're like me, some fabric, embroidery floss, small scissors, needles and water soluble marker.
Domestic: $2.50
International: $6.50


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Development of an Organic ReagentIdea by Kkaustubh Kkaustubh | added on Jan 19, 2012 05:19AM Collaboration
A reagent must be developed to help synthesize and create and interconvert the molecules of varied functional groups in usage with minimum amount of energy and temperature and allowing more speedier reactions.
The reagent is a molecule which helps to interconvert one functional group to other.
Ex. Grignard's reagent...
There must be a molecule which can interconvert the large no. of functional groups into one another.
There are varied reagents developed for various organic synthesis; but there is no such reagent that can be used for maximum no. of organic conversions.
|professional chemists
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Welcome Back
In today's post I'd like to share some tutorials to help you take your art outside 🙂 Now the nights are getting lighter and hopefully by the time this post goes live, the weather starts to warm up, how about sketching in the garden or out and about. It's a lot of fun and doesn't have to attract an audience 😉 Here's some tips to make your field trips more comfortable.
How to make a travelling kit for sketching & painting
In this tutorial there are more tips about what I take with me on field trips and why.
It's a lot of fun to sketch outside in good weather, if you are well prepared and have your kit together it doesn't need to be hard. The less you take with you the more options you have about location and the less attention your drawing will attract. I hope you give this a try or let this inspire you to get your kit together for the warmer weather.
Best wishes and thanks for reading, see you soon
Billie 🙂


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The irony is unavoidable. Dan Madigan, the man who wrote See No Evil, with WWE wrestler Kane as the lead character, has a son named ... wait for it ... Kane!
Madigan can only shake his head at all the coincidences that pop up when telling his tale.
"Here's the goofy part, this is the God's honest truth. Me and my wife, Karen, had picked the name out years ago. We loved the name, because Kane Madigan sounds good. The first film I saw was through a guy named Kane. The odds of that! We thought that was a good omen, little did we know, but it was such a strange thing," admitted Madigan to SLAM! Wrestling.
A screenwriter for years around Hollywood, Madigan had dabbled in acting, and had worked in Disney animation, when his representative sent out some scripts to various production companies, including the newly-launched WWE Films. A conversation was started between Madigan and WWE when the company realized that he knew his wrestling -- turns out that Madigan had once considered a grappling career.
"I made the choice to either go to Killer Kowalski's Wrestling School or art school. But painting won over -- that's my first love," said Madigan. "So I became a starving artist instead, instead of a starving wrestler. I train, I grapple with Gene LeBell. I knew the guys."
WWE Films called his manager one day, asking if Madigan would pitch an idea for a Kane movie.
Madigan recalled the conversation with his agent.
"My manager calls me and says, 'Go down and pitch an idea for a Kane movie.' I go, 'What should I do?' He said, 'You'll come up with something.' I had this concept floating around in my head for a while, so I went down and pitched it. They loved it, so I wrote a 55-page treatment."
The key to the greenlighting of See No Evil? "Vince [McMahon] just freaked over it."
While it was exciting to see his first screenplay get made, Madigan admitted there were many, many frustrations as well -- hardly a new tale in Hollywood. According to Madigan, Lance Hendrikson called and wanted to be in the movie as the cop. "He'd lend a lot of credence to the title. They never contacted him. Go figure. Toby Hooper, the director of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he read the script and called me up. 'Dan, I want to direct this. I think it's great.' He thought the character I'd created was the new Leatherface for this generation. They never contacted Toby." The director ended up being Gregory Dark; "Greg's a very sharp guy. He saw what I was trying to go for."
In See No Evil, Kane plays a serial killer named Jacob Goodnight. "Unfortunately for the film, they changed the way the character looked, and the story, they lessened the intensity. They really did. As they told me, the last part of the script was an endurance test. They just sort of pulled back a little bit," said Madigan. "Hollywood, one thing you should know, kill your babies. The old saying is, you write something, you love it, but it doesn't matter because someone else who doesn't know writing is going to give you notes. I was getting notes from people who literally didn't know what they were talking about."
Madigan, who would work in WWE Creative as a writer for a brief while, definitely sees the connection between movies and wrestling: "The problem is there's too many egos involved. I've learned that you need a thick skin and you need to be pliable. You've got to know when to tap."
"The funny story was I was hired to write the movie, and at the same time, they asked me to submit some writing samples to WWE for Raw and Smackdown. I started watching the shows -- I'd always watched, but I started watching more intently. This is the time they were doing the Katie Vick storyline. I was watching and I said, 'What are the limitations that they are putting on?' As I watched the Katie Vick storyline, I said to myself, I guess with the exception of child snuff porn, they'll do anything."
Madigan submitted a 23-page outline of a group of masked wrestlers called The Coven coming in from South America, and that would possess people's souls. The climax of the storyline would have been a pay per view where Stephanie McMahon's soul was possessed and her father, Vince, would be spraying holy water saying, "The power of Vince compels you." The memory makes Madigan laugh. "On that alone, Stephanie said, 'We ought to hire this guy,'" he said, wishing the story had been carried out. "I was just throwing shit against the wall to see what I could do as a lark. But they loved it."
He is somewhat ambivalent about the experience. "In a way, I miss it because I got to make some good friends there. A lot of great people, a lot of behind-the-stage people are great, the boys, the agents. I'm married now. I was living in L.A. So it was kind of a strain," Madigan explained. "But as a writer, it's a real kick to see. Because as a screenwriter, you write a screenplay, it takes months, maybe years, and there's a complete change in the works, the concepts. When you're writing something for Vince, sometimes you write the day of the show and it's done that night -- literally, it's sometimes five minutes before the show goes on. It's nice to see your words come to fruition, to life. Like anything in life, there were some people I liked, and some people I wasn't too fond of."
His imprint is on some old storylines. "I did some good things, and stuff that was kind of suspect," Madigan said with a chuckle. "I did some stuff that the Canadian government wasn't too fond of, the Japanese royal family got some heat on me, the Church of England. If wrestling can't be the thing that you express yourself at, why are you there? You should push way outside the squared circle, there should be no limitations."
Now almost 39, or as he puts it, the "rough side of thirty," Madigan is weighing his options for a next project. He might direct a film in Nashville, or produce and write something. There are pitches going around town now. "First thing they pay me for, to be honest."
He had a healthy diversion over the past year with Mondo Lucha A Go-Go: The Bizarre and Honorable World of Wild Mexican Wrestling (Rayo/HarperCollins). Now on bookshelves, Mondo Lucha A Go-Go is Madigan's second book. His first was a novelization of See No Evil Simon & Schuster. "The critics seemed to appreciate the novelization a lot more than the film," he said.
Madigan hasn't completely ruled out a return to the wrestling world. The experiences there better prepared him for further times in Hollywood. "The Hollywood thing and the wrestling business, they're both, to some extent, cutthroat," he said. "Business is business."


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With the acceptance of raspberry ketone, it is harder to not be analytical of the weight accident supplement. After all, it was accustomed by a accepted celebrity doctor as the amount one phenomenon in a bottle. Basically, it is a admixture extracted from red raspberries, and afore it got acclaimed as a weight accident aid, it has been acclimated as a corrective ingredient. The affair about it is that it is extracted at low amounts. So, if you are cerebration of just bistro red raspberries to advice you lose weight, afresh you will accept to eat about ninety pounds of red raspberries every day.
But what it is the absolute accord with raspberry ketone? Here are the pros and cons of the weight accident supplement:
The supplement is natural, so it ensures a advantageous weight loss. What it does is that it increases the levels of hormone alleged adiponectin in the body. The hormone speeds up metabolism, authoritative it a accustomed fat blocker. Another account of the supplement is that it suppresses your appetence by accretion your leptin sensitivity. Leptin is a hormone that signals your academician that you accept acceptable amoroso in your fat beef – in short, it is what keeps you from accepting hungry.
The adeptness of the supplement to block the accumulation of fat and abolish appetence is the capital acumen why the supplement works as an able weight accident aid. The acclaimed physician may accept acclimated hyperbole in anecdotic it, but it does work.
On the added hand, there are assertive issues that may appear if you crop raspberry ketone. Well, it is not absolutely about the supplement accepting ancillary effects, but it is added of your attitude appear demography the supplement. The supplement does advice you lose weight even if you are just sitting down, and this is one of its attractions. However, this can get you to set unrealistic expectations. This can get you into cerebration that the supplement will do aggregate for you and all you allegation is sit around, absent about getting able to abrasion your angular jeans again.
What you should bethink is that weight accident supplements are there to "supplement". This agency they are there to complete a whole. You should do your allotment as well. Yes, you may be a actual active person, and you do not accept the time to do accepted exercise, but at atomic get every adventitious you can to airing or ascend the stairs. These things may assume trivial, but they do a lot of difference.
To sum up, raspberry ketone has all the important backdrop of an able weight accident supplement. And, accustomed your appropriate attitude while demography it, it can absolutely crop the after-effects you apprehend or even added than you expect.
Take allegation of your bloom and body. Get alone the accomplished superior bloom and weight accident supplements you allegation from Choice Nutrition Supplements.


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The Entertainment Software Association has itself a PR problem. This year, the ESA seemed more defined by its misses, such as an increasing number of publishers not renewing their memberships and an E3 that was widely considered to be lifeless and a shadow of its former self. But the ESA has just released its 2008 annual report and, after reading all 37 pages about intellectual property, piracy, and the US government, it's clear that most of the ESA's work isn't sexy. It is important, though, making the recent defections even more puzzling.
Fighting anti-game legislation
Perhaps the most important issue the ESA deals with is fighting laws that seek to make the sales of certain games to certain people a crime. In this respect, the ESA is batting 1.000; every law seeking to criminalize the sale of games has either been squashed or overturned.
"At the state level, not a single bill regulating the sale of violent games was enacted," ESA President Michael D. Gallagher wrote.
The report also makes notes of the ESA's success fighting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's gaming law in California. That case set a strong precedent. "With respect to scientific evidence, Judge Whyte found that there is no showing that violent games, in the absence of other violent media, cause injury to children," the report states. "In addition, evidence presented did not demonstrate that video games—even though interactive—are more harmful than movies, television or other speech related exposures."
These wins are important, and the ESA also notes that bills did pass that gave tax credits to game developers and publishers in numerous instances, but there are also education initiatives aimed at helping members of the government become more aware and comfortable with the games industry.
"ESA held state lobbying days followed by a reception in Sacramento, Calif., on June 13, 2007; Boston, Mass., on October 16, 2007; and Olympia, Wash., on February 19, 2007," says the report. "These receptions included game demonstrations by member companies including Microsoft, Activision, EA, Sony Online, Sony, Konami, Disney, and Capcom. In addition, ESA organized a tour of Epic Studios in North Carolina with local legislators." There were also like events in Florida, Utah, and California.
Video games are helping the economy, and the E-rating is king
Amid reports of the ESA working internationally to protect IP is information on just how strongly the games industry affects the US economy. The industry's growth from 2003 to 2006 was more than 17 percent, while the overall economy grew only 4 percent in the same period. The industry directly employs 24,000 people, with a striking average salary of $92,300 in 2006.
Where video games land, money follows. "California is the largest employer of computer and video game personnel in the nation, accounting for approximately 40 percent of total industry employment nationwide," the report stated. "These companies provided over $1.8 million in direct and indirect compensation to Californians last year. California's computer and video game industry grew by 12.3 percent last year, nearly three times faster than the state's overall growth, and added $1.7 billion to the state economy."
The report also stresses that the E-rating system is experiencing some large growth, both "as a percentage of total ratings assigned, as well as by overall volume."
This is apparently due to so many casual games in the PC and handheld markets. "Although the M-rated category garners a large amount of media coverage, it continues to decrease as a percentage of ratings assigned, and also continues to account for a smaller number of actual ratings assigned," the report pointed out.
Do you care? Maybe not. But you should
The problem with companies like Activision Blizzard and LucasArts leaving the ESA is that every gaming company profits directly from its efforts, whether they're a member or not. The work outlined in this report may not be fun to report on, but it's important to show how the industry is growing and maturing, both as an art form and an economic power.
While the media worries about the number of banners at E3 and the number of companies leaving the ESA, the association continues to do good work making sure the ratings system is strong, the industry is protected, and unconstitutional legislation is fought. A strong ESA is a strong gaming industry, and the report, while dry, is filled with good news.


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By Fran Blinebury, NBA.com
VIDEO: Damian Lillard joins Arena Link to discuss the big shot
PORTLAND, Ore. — Teammate Thomas Robinson says you ain't seen nothin' yet. This was just a start for the kid.
If that's the case, Damian Lillard's next trick will likely be a re-creation of that old McDonald's commercial with Larry Bird and Michael Jordan: "Over the freeway, through the window, off the scoreboard…"
It wasn't just a dagger through the heart of the Rockets. It was the kind of shot that defines a career, creates a legend and trails you like a permanent ray of sunshine long after the sneakers and jersey come off and the hair has turned gray.
The official play-by-play sheet called it a "25-foot, 3-point jump shot."
And Moby Dick was just another whale.
"I've seen him do that kind stuff, make shots like that for the past two years," said Wes Matthews. "From the first day you saw him out on the practice court, you could tell from the way he carried himself. He's just, well, different."
It's the difference that allows a neurosurgeon to poke around inside somebody's brain with with the sheer confidence, maybe the utter arrogance, that he just won't slip with the scalpel.
It's the difference that diamond cutter has when he knows that he won't turn that big, expensive bauble into cheap rock with a bad tap on the chisel.
"I mean, I got a pretty good look," said the 23 year old who might as well be an ageless Yoda doing tricks with a light saber. "Once I saw it on line, I said that's got a chance. It went in, but it did feel good when it left my hands."
It came after Chandler Parson's out-of-the-blue put-back had given the Rockets a 98-96 lead with 0.9 seconds left.
"The first thing I did when I saw Parson's shot go in was look at the clock," Lillard said. "I saw there was time. I knew we would have a shot. I just didn't know what kind."
It was the kind of shot that will replayed on the giant video screen at the Moda Center or whatever new-fangled arena comes next for as long as they play basketball in Portland. The biggest last-second shot in Blazers' history.
It came fittingly on a night when the franchise honored the legendary coach Jack Ramsay, who led the Blazers to their only NBA championship in 1977 and died on Monday.
Rip City — R.I.P. City — indeed.
Up on the screen, there was grainy old color film of Dr. Jack in his wild '70s disco era plaid pants and wide collars jumping for joy as his share-the-ball Blazers clinched the title.
Down there on the court, just an hour or so later, there were the linear descendants of those Blazers — who move without the ball, do all the little things and play unselfishly — leaping into each other's arm.
"When he made the shot, I didn't let him go for the next three minutes," said LaMarcus Aldridge, the workhorse who carried the Blazers, averaging 29.8 points in the series.
It was not just a Portland moment, but an NBA moment, the kind that should be frozen in Jurassic amber.
Lillard's was the first buzzer-beating shot to clinch a playoff series since John Stockton did it to the Rockets' ancestors in the 1997 Western Conference finals.
Put it a gold frame and hang it behind a velvet rope with:
— Ralph Sampson's rim-rattling prayer that beat the Lakers and sent the Rockets to the 1986 Western Conference Finals.
— Garfield Heard's heave for the Suns that forced triple overtime at Boston Garden In the 1976 Finals.
— Derek Fisher's running miracle with 0.4 seconds in Game 5 of the 2004 Western Conference finals that beat the Spurs.
— And yes, even Michael Jordan's hanging, leaning, drifting to the side jumper over a helpless Craig Ehlo in the Bulls' Game 5 clincher of the first round in 1989.
That last one started a legend. To hear the Blazers tell it, their second-year guard is already writing the first few chapters of his own.
"Oh, he's doing things all the time in practice and all season long in games that you just don't expect and maybe don't think are possible," said center Robin Lopez.
"I've been around the NBA for 10 years and played a lot of games with a lot of players and seen a lot of things," said guard Mo Williams. "I've seen shots, yeah. Have I seen a shot like that? Noooooo."
It ended a series that had three overtime games, only one margin of victory that was by more than single figures. The only double digit lead of the night lasted just 16 seconds. The biggest lead of the second half by either team was four. The cumulative score of the entire series had the Rockets ahead by two points.
Just like they led by two with 0.9 seconds left and when Lillard zipped away from the defender Parson and came zooming wide open right toward the inbounding Nicolas Batum.
"I clapped my hands at Nico," Lillard said. "He threw it to me and I turned. The rim was right there."
And Lillard let it fly.
If we ain't seen nothing yet, that next chapter will be a doozy.


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Foggy Procrastination...
We have had the oddest weather here in the Northwest, but it's been a bonus for me as I tend to write when it's foggy or cloudy, so this summer I've had the summer to write before it clears up at about 1-2 pm and the day turns warm and blue.
I'm procrastinating right now. Yes, right now at the very second. I am in the middle of proofing my manuscript, the third proof, and well, it looks perfect! It looks as if every error has been fixed and well, that's a little scary/exciting/incredible as it moves it even closer to publication.
So in procrastinating I decided to look at my blog and had to laugh when I saw my Facebook badge on the left side of this blog because it says my name and then says: Hometown: none.
It's kind of poetic. Someone with no hometown.
And my overthinking brain tells me that since I have no hometown that it must also mean that I have every hometown, which is a nice though.
I think I want to change my hometown to "earth" as that's accurate too.
Anyway, this is me procrastinating in real time. But I know I need to get back to my final proof. I cannot wait until I hold the book in my hands.
When it's printed and I find the box on my porch, you will be the first to know.
Thank you for reading and for all of your support.


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CIT-Force Options, Course #8080
This class is provided in accordance with the Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) Plan strategy #10a – Crisis Intervention Training Program for King County Sheriff, Police, Jail Staff, and Other First Responders.
This is an 8-hour class to educate law enforcement officers on issues related to Crisis Intervention. The course is designed to provide training to law enforcement professionals to use appropriate force options when dealing with someone in mental health crisis.
This class will combine hands-on physical force options training and classroom lecture
Options will include resource options and full spectrum force options to include:
Equipment Needs:
Required to bring:
Optional to bring
Overtime / Backfill Reimbursement
Who can attend our classes?
Dress Code and Identification:
Cost: None
Cancellation Policy:
***Is this class full or not available???? Please complete the Course Interest Survey. Please Note: This is not a waiting list. You will not be contacted by WSCJTC unless there is enough interest to generate a class being scheduled. At that time we will contact everyone that has shown interest so that applications can be submitted.
Rev Dec 2017