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Friday's storm has left hundreds of thousands without power.
Federal agencies in the capital area will remain open Tuesday, with employees maintaining the option to telework or take unscheduled leave due to widespread power outages from Friday's storm, the Office of Personnel Management has announced.
Non-emergency workers must notify their supervisors if they intend to take advantage of this option, while emergency staff must report.
Several agencies were without power and partially closed Monday, including buildings at the Justice Department and the Army's Fort Belvoir in Virginia and Fort Meade in Maryland. Most of the power on the installations has been restored or is expected to be restored later Monday evening.
The fast-moving thunder and wind storm Friday night -- known as a derecho -- downed trees and power lines, killing at least 13 people and leaving millions of people in the mid-Atlantic region without air conditioning during a heat wave. It also caused 911 outages in Northern Virginia. As of Monday afternoon, more than 400,000 people in Virginia, the District of Columbia and Maryland were without power, according to a Washington Post tally. Utility companies told the Post many customers would have electricity by Tuesday, but some might remain in the dark until next weekend.


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Alice Garside - Conservation & Environment, African Bushveld Conservation in South Africa
I was so excited to start my experience in Botswana. I chose the Conservation project because I am very interested and passionate about wildlife and conserving what is left in the environment. Every day I looked forward to starting my first activity. The staff in Botswana were very knowledgeable about the animals and the habitats. I learnt so much and loved bird watching, which I never thought I would say!
I arrived early evening, just in time for super. All the volunteers and the staff sat together. The people in the camp were very welcoming. I met people from all over the world - France, Germany, England many more. I felt comfortable asking them questions about how the camp worked and what the project involved.
My Conservation project
Each evening on a white board our activities would be written out for all the camp to see and we would have time to prepare for the following days' work. I had two activities each day which varied. My tasks included identifying animal spoor, animal census, rubbish removal and many more. The first activity would be in the morning, then the other activity later in the afternoon after lunch time.
One of the days I had the opportunity to visit the local village (2.5 hours a way) to make bracelets with other volunteers. On the way we stopped off at a massive kjope (mountain of rocks). From here we sat and observed the most breath taking, beautiful view in front of us and enjoyed a picnic. The Tsatsileeta Basket Group kindly helped us create incredible patterned bracelets. They were so welcoming and the children were so happy to see us dancing and smiling for the camera.
My accommodation in Botswana
I soon got comfortable with my accommodation which was a six-person tent. In the camp there were six tents with bunk beds. It was a great way to feel part of nature; you hear all variety of noises. In my experience Hyenas came through our camp at night which was exciting!
Projects Abroad staff
The staff were absolutely amazing! They were so friendly and I could talk to them at any point and ask them anything. They were very knowledgeable, and enthusiastic. The cooks are fantastic; they filled me up every day without fail. They made me feel very comfortable while I was in Botswana; I wish I could have stayed longer! I loved every minute of my project; Botswana is definitely a place I will visit again in the future.
Final thoughts on my experience
I really enjoyed meeting everyone on the trip; I will never forget them. Every evening after dinner we would all gather around the fire to keep ourselves warm, grab sticks from trees to put our marshmallows on the end and melt over the fire. Card games were very popular, and we spent so much time in the evenings getting to know one another, laughing and chatting until we were too tired.
My best moment was the first sighting of an elephant! It was only metres away and so incredible to see. That was definitely something I will never forget. Also, just outside the ladies toilets at the camp, there was an elephant so close, I was so excited and blown away! Another amazing moment was when I saw a leopard! It was laying peacefully until we were too loud and full of excitement… It noticed us and strolled away. I thought I would never see one, and seeing one made my trip!
Alice Garside
Dit verhaal is een persoonlijke ervaring van een vrijwilliger op dit project en dus een momentopname. Houd er rekening mee dat jouw ervaring hiervan af kan wijken. Onze projecten veranderen constant, omdat we inspelen op de lokale behoefte en we voortborduren op de behaalde resultaten. Ook verschillende weersomstandigheden kunnen de ervaring beïnvloeden. Lees meer over wat je kunt verwachten van dit project of neem contact met ons op voor meer informatie.


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9 of the Coolest Secret Subway Stations in the World
If you're anything like us, you're fascinated by the secret worlds of underground transportation. What goes on in abandoned subway stations? Do mole people exist? Have we been approaching Platform 9¾ at the wrong angle? A couple months ago, we brought you a collection of beautiful abandoned train stations from all over the world. Now, we're going underground to bring you the bizarre stories behind some of the world's coolest and eeriest abandoned subways. Check 'em out after the jump, and hit the comments to let us know of any other secret stations on your radar.
City Hall Station — New York, NY
Image credit: Visual News
Have you ever ridden the 6 beyond the Brooklyn Bridge stop? If so, you may have already caught a glimpse of the abandoned City Hall platform where the train does its end-of-the-line loop. The gorgeous station was built in 1904 and in use until 1945, at which point it was unfortunately retired due to its small capacity and unsafe gap. Few have had the opportunity to visit the site on foot, but photos reveal magnificent arches, tiles, and windows. Who knew?


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For those of you who were not with us this morning, we have both this morning and this evening drawn our attention to the Prophet Isaiah. If you want to open your Bible now you may do so to Isaiah 5 and 6. In the light of the current crisis in our country, difficulty in determining who is to be the president and vice president, there has surfaced a major division and as I said to you this morning, it is really not a division about economics, it is not a division about taxation, it is not a division about social policy, it is not a division about what to do with the deficit, it is not a division about how to dispense prescription drugs. It is really a division about morality; it is a division over divine truth. We would like to think that those who are committed to the Bible and those who are committed to biblical standards and those who are committed to Christian morality could prevail, but we are finding out that it is extremely difficult to pull that off.
We are divided between those who want to give place to God and the Bible, and the moral standard that is indicated there and those who refused to have that intrude into their lives. It wasn't too long ago that those who were committed to the Bible prevailed no more. To understand this phenomenon in our own country we have been drawn back to the Prophet Isaiah, where in chapter 5 he indicts the nation Israel and chapter 5 as you remember began with a parable in which the Lord likened Israel to a vineyard. He Himself had planted that vineyard, planted it in a fertile hill, the very best place, did everything he could to guarantee that it would produce good grapes, that it would produce righteousness and justice, only to find out that it produced sour berries, inedible, it produced bloodshed and distress.
I pointed out this morning that the parable is really the story of Israel. God did everything He could to guarantee spiritual blessing, spiritual productivity, only to find out that the nation Israel apostatized, turned from Him, became spiritually bankrupt, rotten to the core. There is secondly in that fifth chapter what we call the penetration, verses 8 through 23 where God goes behind the parable to show the specific sins and we looked at those, grasping materialism, drunken pleasure, seeking defiant sinfulness, moral perversion, arrogant, conceit, and corrupt leadership. We noted that those are very parallel to our own time, God is His grace planted our nation in a very fertile hill and did for us many of the same things that He did for Israel, giving us beginnings in the Christian faith and sound commitment to biblical morality, and theology, and yet we have gone the same direction that Israel went without the protection or the promises of being a covenant people we find ourselves as Israel did on the brink of judgment.
For Israel that judgment was going to come in the form of the Chaldean culture, the Babylonians who were going to come and did come and destroyed Judah. The end of chapter 5, verses 24 to 30 describes the Babylonian invasion. It first of all describes them like a fire consuming stubble like a dry grass as the nation Israel collapsing into a flame. Israel is like rotted roots or dead blossoms that blow away in the dust. Verse 25 says, "The anger of the Lord is burned against His people and consequently He is going to send a judgment army." That army is metaphorically described in verses 26 to 30, "And they're going to come and obliterate Israel and the City of Jerusalem and even the temple so that all that is left is darkness and distress, and the darkness even obscures the light of the sun."
The holocaust of devastation was pledged and it did come to pass. Its final destruction in the year 586 B.C., and the reason given is in the end of verse 24, "For they have rejected the law of the Lord of Hosts and despise the Word of the Holy One of Israel." The real deadly sin in Israel was rejecting the law of the Lord of Hosts, rejecting the Word of God, the Holy One of Israel, and once they had rejected the Word of God they became very comfortable with the sins that are described in this chapter and that's what brought about the woe or the curse, or the damnation, or the judgment.
Back in the first chapter, the book of Isaiah actually begins with this diagnosis and this judgment, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, concerning Judah and Jerusalem which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judea, "Listen oh heavens and hear oh earth for the Lord speaks, sons I have reared and brought up but they have revolted against Me. An ox knows its owner and a donkey its master's manger, but Israel does not know My people do not understand," and we could add Me. "Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evil doers, sons who act corruptly, they have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away from Him. Where will you be stricken again as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint from the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it, only bruises, welts, and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil. Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire as the Prophet looks ahead to the judgment. Your fields, strangers are devouring them in your presence, it is desolation as overthrown by strangers, and the daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us a few survivors it would be like Sodom, we would like Gomorrah."
If God hadn't spared some and allowed them to be taken into captivity the whole race would have been obliterated, and so this is the judgment that Isaiah says is coming from God. We drew the parallel that America is very much like Israel, as I said we're not a covenant people but we have been a uniquely blessed people planted in this great land and given so much blessing, and such great beginnings in our infancy founded upon biblical truth, biblical morality, the Word of God and the Christian faith.
But like Israel we have rejected the law of the Lord of Hosts, have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. In our maturity, in our adulthood we have turned from God, we have abandoned God and we have become comfortable with grasping materialism, drunken pleasure seeking, defiant sinfulness, moral perversion, arrogant conceit, and corrupt leadership, and we are also going to experience the judgment of God.
It isn't going to be the Chaldean's; it isn't going to be the Babylonians, what is the judgment of God? For an answer to that let me turn to Romans 1 with you, turn please to the first chapter of Romans and let me show you what the judgment of God is as defined in Romans 1. In Romans 1, verse 18 we read, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." What we're learning here in Romans 1 is that God's wrath is a normal, expected, inevitable reaction from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness that is manifestly a suppression of the truth. America has had the truth, we've had the Bible, we've the Gospel, where all the years of our existence.
Progressively we have continued the suppression of that truth. That which is known about God is evident in them he says, where God had made it evident to them. It goes on to say since the creation of the world is invisible attributes is eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse. He says, "Every society has the knowledge of God, they have the knowledge of God through creation." A look at creation takes you back to the Creator. They have the knowledge of God through conscience, the existence of morality takes you back to a moral authority, a moral author, but our society has become convinced of the truth of evolution.
We now believe that every animal has the same rights as people. The environmentalists have literally gone berserk. I was listening the other day on the radio and there was a special report to tell you that early cancer detection in your cat could prolong its life. This environmental movement across America has reached proportions that could be generated only by evolutionists, where what is good for and beneficial to man is set aside for the preservation of soulless animals. There is no understanding that man is not like anything else, man is created in the image of God.
So we have literally taken a position against reason and against conscience. To deny the existence of God which reason demands and denied the existence of a moral law which conscience demands, and so it can be said of society, not just ours but all those that have come and gone before us. Verse 21, "Even though they knew God they did not honor Him as God," and that while it is true of all societies is especially true of us because we not only have the knowledge of God through reason and the knowledge of God through conscience, but we have the knowledge of God through Revelation. We're all the more culpable because we have had the Bible, the Word of God, and not all societies have had that.
God holds all societies responsible, they are all without excuse because there's enough revelation in reason and conscience to lead them back to a creator and back to a moral authority, and they're without excuse if they don't go to that point and than seek to know who that God is and what that God says.
For us, we have it all. We have had the revelation of reason and the revelation of conscience, and the revelation of Scripture, and the judgment, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against those who suppress the truth, who even though they knew God, verse 21, "Didn't honor Him as God or give thanks. They became empty in their speculations, their foolish heart was darkened, professing to be wise, they became fools, exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and birds, and forfeited animals and crawling creatures." That could describe a lot of things including those who worshipped the evolutionary model. No God, no Creator, no moral authority, it's just natural selection by chance.
Now what is the judgment? On nations that turn their back on God, nations that having known the truth reject it and suppress it, here is the judgment. Verse 24, "Therefore God gave them over," verse 26, "For this reason God gave them over," verse 28 the middle of the verse, "God gave them over." What is the judgment? The judgment is abandonment. When God looks at a nation and they have the truth, and they suppress the truth, and they turn from the truth, God turns them over, gives them over, that is abandonment. That is the removal of restraining grace, and the first step; you can tell when it happens. First in verse 24, "God gave them over and the lusts of their hearts to impurity that their bodies might be dishonored among them." The first thing that happens is immorality dominates. God literally gives them over to the fulfillment of their lusts; he turns them over in an unbridled, unrestrained way to sexual immorality.
We all know that, the 60's marked the beginning of that great sexual revolution which is still going on to this very day, prizing all the while more and more, and more immorality, making that the norm. You can tell when a nation has been abandoned because they will plunge into wholesale immorality from top to bottom. It will not only be done it will be approved of, it will become the standard for life, but that's just step one. Step two is in verse 26, "God also gave them over to degrading passions. Their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, that's lesbianism." Verse 27, "In the same way that men abandon the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error," which is of course a reference to any sexual disease including AIDS that is the built in penalty for that kind of behavior.
Here's homosexuality, you can tell when the wrath of God is revealed on a society that has turned it's back on the truth and suppressed the truth because the first step is a sexual revolution and the second step is a homosexual revolution, and we're there, we're there. We not only tolerate that we elevate those people. They're in high places across this land, increasingly more all the time, but that's not the end either. Verse 28, "They didn't want to acknowledge God, they didn't see fit to acknowledge God anymore, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, to a reprobate mind." First comes the sexual revolution, then the homosexual revolution, and than comes the depraved mind, the reprobate mind; now you're in trouble when you plunge into sexual immorality. Your body is dissipated, you're even more tragically harmed when you plunge into homosexuality because of its perversion and the implications, but the worst thing of all is not when your body is destroyed it's when your mind goes.
We now have a society where the people in the highest positions of leadership in the land, from those in Washington all the way down, those in the positions of education and the universities are advocates of sin. They are filled with all unrighteousness, verse 29, "Wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful," and that's just one day in the first section of the L.A. Times.
They not only know the law of God, they know the law of God, particularly in America, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, but they still do them and they also give hearty approval to those who practice them. That's why the president's approval ratings kept going up because he was doing exactly what the society loves. How do you know when a nation's been judged? We don't have to wait for the Babylonians, just watch God step back, just watch the effect of abandonment. First thing sexual revolution, second homosexual revolution, third a reprobate mind, and people sit and watch the mindless wretchedness of the Jerry Springer mentality, and find it humorous.
There's some key people that the enemy used liked Hugh Hefner to bring in the sexual revolution. There's some key people that the enemy used to bring in the homosexual revolution, some very prominent writers, and there's some key people that the enemy used to bring in a reprobate mind. I go back to Phil Donohue who was the first one to try to normalize every imaginable kind of deviant behavior, but its all evidence that God has stepped back. We are now experiencing the judgment of God.
Now with that let's go back to the sixth chapter of Isaiah. So here we are not unlike Isaiah, here we are and we know that our nation is experiencing the reality of judgment because of its abandonment of the law of the Lord of Hosts and the Word of the Holy One of Israel. We have turned our back on the word, we have turned our back on the God of the word, we want nothing to do with that in our society, we want to get it out under the supposed constitutional tenet of separation of the church and state, which is a false application of that principle. We want to get the Bible out of the public discourse, get God out of the picture, get Christianity out of the picture and because of that, like Israel the inevitability of God's judgment falls on us. We too are sick from the head to the toe. The judgment of God will come not from the Babylonians but it will come from the abandonment. It is a self inflicted wound that we will bear, the seeds of our destruction our built into the unbridled fulfillment of our lusts. We will literally destroy ourselves.
So like Isaiah the question comes, what do we do? Let's look at chapter six. There's a lot that can be said here, I'm just going to say enough to help you get the sense of it. Chapter six begins in the year of King Uzziah's death; you say is that important, well it is if your name is Uzziah, or maybe Mrs. Uzziah or a bunch of little Uzziah's, it's a pretty monumental day or year.
The point that Isaiah is making here is broader then just some personal trauma, broader then just some family death. The year that King Uzziah died was 740 B.C.; we're about 150 years or 140 some years away from the Babylonian invasion, so they had plenty of warning. God was very merciful, and God was very gracious to allow a century plus to go by before the judgment actually fell, but the seeds of that destruction were already in place and God has His own time table. I'm not sure that we can assume that our judgment is delayed. In fact it's, as I said, if you read Romans 1 our judgment is not delayed, our judgment is already occurring.
But what makes it significance is that Uzziah had been king for 52 years, that's a long time. Imagine having a president for 52 years, this was the king for 52 years and he was a very strong leader and he had brought peace, military strength, he had brought prosperity and on the surface everything looked good. As long as he was there it was as if God had a stamp of blessing. It was sort of like having a Christian president, sort of like having somebody who makes you believe that everything is well and that God is blessing, because Uzziah was essentially a good ruler and than he died; 740 B.C. and he died.
He didn't die a normal death, he died an extremely unusual death, God executed him. God struck him with a disease that killed him because he was feeling so confident about himself and who he was as king that he tried to invade the priestly office and function as a priest and he stepped across the law of God and violated that law and God killed him on the spot; serious.
Isaiah understood he had been preaching judgment; he knew the judgment was coming, he was well aware of the sins of his people; he had just chronicled them in the fifth chapter. He was well aware that Tiglath Pelezerwas already on the horizon of the northern kingdom to come and destroy that kingdom; he knew full well that the Babylonians would eventually come with their hoards to destroy the southern kingdom of Judah. He knew what was going on and yet there was this one lingering hope that we have this man Uzziah and he's still there and it's like that's sort of the stamp of God's approval, and than he died, executed by God.
Everything seems to be unraveling for Isaiah, so he does what you could expect him to do. He is the Prophet of God, he goes to the temple. In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted with the train of His robe filling the temple. He refers also to the temple in verse 4. Apparently he went to the temple and I'm quite confident that we can know why he went there; he knew Israel was the covenant people. He knew Israel was the vineyard of the Lord, he knew what God had invested in that vineyard, he knew what God expected from that vineyard, he knew that Israel was the people of covenant, promise, he knew that.
But everything was going wrong and now divine judgment was going to fall and he was scratching his head much like the Prophet Abaca who couldn't understand how God could punish Judah with a pagan nation. Read the Prophet Abaca and he just can't understand it, it is a massive problem. Yes Israel is bad but they're the covenant people, the Chaldean's are worse, how can you use them to punish Israel? Isaiah just wanted to check in at the temple and find out if God was still on the throne. Maybe everything had unraveled, maybe the power of Satan had overcome God, this just didn't make sense, this was a reversal of everything he had hoped for and everything he had anticipated and he went to the temple and I can tell it must have been an encouragement to him.
First it says, I saw the Lord, and he wasn't lying under the throne having been knocked off by somebody else, he was sitting on the throne. He was still sovereign, He was still in charge, this is as high as you can go, this is the throne, and there was God, and God was on the throne lofty and exalted, those words are very important. Nobody had usurped His authority, nobody had usurped his sovereignty, it wasn't going the way Isaiah thought it should go, and there are many people in America who are saying, this can't be right, where is the revival that we would expect God to bring? Maybe they want to check in and find out if really if God is sovereign.
There are those in theology who want to tell us that God doesn't really know what's going to happen, and God is a victim just like all the rest of us. He's up there wringing his hands wondering where it's all going to go. That's really a lie. God is sovereign, He's still on the throne as He was then, He is on that throne as sovereign, He is lofty and exalted, that is the throne of God is above every other throne so that no one can usurp or impinge upon his absolute sovereign power and authority, and the train of His robe is filling the temple. That is the emanating glory of God. He sees the true and living God in all His glory still sovereign, how critical this is. He sees God at the height of His glory and His sovereignty.
Then in verse 2, "Surrounding God are the Seraphim, Holy Angels, and they are there sort of hovering about the throne. This means that God is not only sovereign but He still has His angelic force. He still has the power of all the 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands of Holy Angels. He still has a greater force then any man. If one angel can slay 185 Assyrians and the angels of God are still surrounding the throne, then God still has His power as well as His sovereignty." He sees these angels with six wings and the six wings are described as two for covering the angel's face, why is that? Because angels are created beings and if they are in the very presence of God as created beings they can't look upon the Glory of God without being consumed. They can't see the full blaze of God's glory; this is emblematic of the fact that they have to cover their faces as Moses did in Exodus 33 when he saw God's glory. "They are there and God's glory is shining as brightly as ever and so they cover their face." This is reverence; with two other wings they cover their feet, this is humility. The place in which they stand as it were is Holy ground and with two it says, they hover like celestial helicopters in motion; two wings for reverence, two wings for humility and two wings for service. Here are the angels, viewing God with reverence, in His presence with humility, waiting to serve.
This is the view of God folks; that you have to start with, okay? When you come to a point like we are in this nation and you wonder what is happening and you fear the future, and you're anxious about the way things are going just remember this, God is still on His throne. He does not have diminished sovereignty, He does not have diminished glory and He does not have diminished power. He still has His sovereignty, He is still lofty and exalted, He is still aided by the vast multitude of Holy Angels.
There's one other thing we need to find out about. Okay, He's still in charge, okay He still has power, but has His nature changed so that He could somehow be comfortable with sin? Has it become okay for Him? Well we find that answer in verse 3, "One of those Seraphim called out to another," this is an antiphonal kind of voice back and forth, "Holy, Holy, Holy," and the reason you have that trihagienthat triple use of Holy, the only time any attribute of God is repeated three times and this occurs a number of places of Scripture, is to show the immensity or the immeasurability of His Holiness. He is not just Holy; He is Holy, Holy, Holy as if to say it cannot be conceived, it cannot be measured. The edge of it cannot even be discovered and so we have to say that God is not only sovereign, God is not only powerful, but God is Holy. Nothing has changed, He has not made any kind of peace with sin, He is still of purer eyes and to behold evil cannot look upon iniquity as Sabbach realized in his dilemma. God is still Holy so that whatever He does is absolutely right.
When you think about things in our country, I know its easy to get distressed and disturbed and some of you have been very disturbed, I got a phone call the other day from a friend of mine in Chicago who says, I have been so disturbed, I stayed up all night, and I have been concerned and worried and consumed with all that's going on and he said I finally got a hold of your book, Why the Government Can't Save You, and I went to sleep. He said, are you worried about this? I said; let me tell you, I am much more worried about my sermon on Sunday then that. There are lots of things I'm more worried about and the reason is because my God is still on the throne, and whatever He does and whatever He allows is consistent with His Holiness. His nature hasn't changed, His power hasn't changed, and His position hasn't changed and I think that's what Isaiah needed to know and that what might be what you need to know.
This is not the first time this has happened. This is the cycle of Acts 14:16, "That God has permitted all the nations in the past to go this way." This is something God has seen again and again, bright hopeful beginnings in the case of America, maybe in some ways unequaled except in the nation Israel, and yet this is the way it went. He's still Holy.
May I say something to you folks? This is the foundation of your life. Your view of God is the foundation of your life. If you don't believe God is sovereign worry, that's a reasonable response. If you believe like the process theologians that God is up there and hasn't got a clue what's going to happen, not only is He not making it happen he doesn't even know what's going to happen until it happens. If you believe that God is some benign being up there who can't get a handle on things worry, it's a reasonable response. Fear is a reasonable response, but the Bible presents God as sitting on His eternal throne, lifted up and exalted above all others as the sovereign with mighty power as expressed in the presence of Holy Angels and with absolute Holiness He is the sovereign, He is powerful, and He does what is right.
Furthermore, end of verse 3, "The whole earth is full of his glory, He extends His person and with His person comes His sovereignty and comes His power, and comes His Holiness to the whole earth." Nothing is going on in this planet that's outside His sovereignty. I'm telling you again this is the foundation of your life. Your view of God is the foundation of your life. That's why we worship the Lord when we come here, that's why we sing hymns to Him, that's why we read the Scripture that tells about Him, that's why when we preach we teach you out of the Bible the character of God, the greatness of our God, and our Christ and the Holy Spirit because believing that gives you a rock foundation to live your life on.
People ask me so much, does it bother you when people attack you, does it bother when certain things happen and I can honestly tell you, it doesn't bother me because I believe God is in charge of everything, everything. Isaiah got what he needed. God is looking for a man in Israel or Judah, God is looking for people today, but what He's looking for is not brilliance, it's not creativity, it's not education, its erudition, it's not oratorical skill, it's not all of the stuff that our country looks to for its leaders. What God is looking for today are those who have a strong foundation and that foundation is a true and right view of himself, this is where it starts. Your view of God is the foundation of your life; it is the anchor of everything.
But also, it has tremendous implications; back to verse 4, "As these angels are antiphonally expressing the Holiness of God, the foundations of the threshold trembled at the voice of Him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke," now the scene gets very, very serious. Holy, Holy, Holy isn't some light tune here folks; Holy, Holy, Holy elicits an earthquake and the whole temple in this vision begins to shake, and smoke begins to fill the temple. Does this remind of you any other historical event? Do you remember when God came down on Mount Sinai to give the law early in the Book of Exodus? Do you remember what happened? The mountain began to what? To shake and was filled with smoke. This is the presence of the Holiness of God and it's a terrifying presence, it is terrifying. It is terrifying even to Isaiah and it is designed to be so, because while we on the one hand will celebrate the sovereignty of God and celebrate His Almighty power as Elshadiand we will celebrate the wonder of His perfect Holiness, at the same time to be in His presence is a frightening reality.
Why? Because He's Holy and we're what? Sinful, we're sinful. It's not hard to understand a guilty criminal walking into a courtroom and trembling before a judge who is going to bring the law to bear upon him. This is far beyond that kind of intimidation. The whole building begins to shake as the Holiness of God begins to impact the environment in which this vision is taking place. Hebrews 12:28-29 says, "Our God is a consuming fire." Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and while we rejoice that He is sovereign and that He is powerful, and we rejoice that He is Holy, at the same time that has a traumatizing effect and it did on Isaiah.
Notice verse 5, "Then I said whoa is me," why did he say that? Do you think he knows what whoa means? He does, he used it six times in chapter 5, what does it mean? Damned, cursed, punished, "I'm damned he says, I'm doomed, I am ruined ______," says, "I am going to pieces." The word is I am disintegrating, I am crumbling; sometimes you talk about a person being broken, this is being shattered. Like dropping a glass jar and watching it splatter into pieces, that's what he's saying, I'm disintegrating, I'm going to pieces.
This isn't an unusual response; this was essentially what happened to Ezekiel. Ezekiel the Prophet in chapter 1 saw a vision of God and fell over like a dead person. This is essentially what happened as well to Peter, James, and John in the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus pulled back His flesh and revealed His Glory and all three of them fell over in a coma like dead people. This is essentially what happened to John the Apostle in Revelation 1 when he had his first vision of the glorified Christ and fell over like a dead man. This is traumatizing and any true vision of God is a traumatic reality. Why? Because the clearer you see God, and the more you see His Holiness, the more you expose yourself to Him, the more aware you become of your sin, and the more that Holiness frightens you.
That's why we say that the beginning of Evangelism to preach the Holiness of God. Nobody is going to run to God for forgiveness and grace if they haven't been traumatized by His Holiness. Isaiah says, "Woe is me, it's over, I'm done." He reminds me of Menoah, the father of Samson who came home one day and said to his wife write the will, fix everything, we're dead. She said what are you talking about, he said I saw the Lord. What was his point? If I saw the Lord, He saw me, I saw Holiness, He saw sin, we're dead. That's the trauma.
You can remember the story Uzziah who tried to stop the Ark of the Covenant transported on a cart from falling off and you never were to touch it, and he touched it and he was dead. It was the story of Leviticus 10 of Nadab and Abihu; the ground opened and swallowed them up. Coming into the presence of God reveals sin, the sinner has a reasonable and healthy fear and Isaiah sees his defilement, and he sees it in a most interesting way. Look at verse 5 again; this is what he says, "Why am I ruined? Why am I judged? Because I'm a man of unclean lips." In the vernacular he says I have a dirty mouth. Why does he say that? Well where he is most gifted and where he is most useful to God, even in that place because he was a Prophet, his mouth was used to speak the Word of God. Where he was most gifted and was most useful to God he saw his own wretchedness, to say nothing of everywhere else. In other words, to see it this way, the very best of me is wretched. Here is a man who's come to grips with the reality of his sin and he knows what he deserves, and what he deserves is to be damned. I'm a man with a dirty mouth, and you know the mouth is the place where you get in touch with your depravity, isn't it?
Just listen to what comes out of your mouth and you'll know how depraved you are because it's out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth what? Speaks. He says I am a man with a dirty mouth. Somebody would say to him, oh come on Isaiah, that is poor self esteem, you can't be going around mealy mouthing yourself and feeling bad, you're really wonderful, you're the greatest, you're the Prophet of all prophets, you're the big time prophet, you're the major prophet. You can't be going around discrediting yourself like that, you'll get yourself a bad self image, you'll feel psychologically inferior and you won't be useful.
Isaiah would say I don't think you get it, I'm not comparing myself to you, I just saw the Lord, I'm comparing myself to Him. I live among a whole people of dirty mouths, and this assessment comes because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Let me tell you something people, and this is about ministry and this is about preaching, and teaching, and the church, you must give people a vision of God or they won't know who He is and they won't know who they are. You have to show them the greatness and the sovereignty and the majesty and the glory and the power, and the Holiness of God so that they can see themselves as sinners in His sight and understand the judgment that they deserve and pronounce that curse upon themselves. It's a frightening thing to see God; it was a frightening thing for many people to see Jesus as we'll soon see in Luke chapter 5.
Peter saw Jesus one morning on the shore and he said, "Depart from me oh Lord for I am a sinful man," remember that? "I can't stand the intimidation of Your presence." I always remember the Disciples on the boat in Mark 4 and than in chapter 5, and they're out on the water and the storm comes up and Jesus stops the storm and it becomes silent. It says, "During the storm they were afraid, when Jesus stopped the storm it says they were exceedingly afraid." Because it is far more frightening to have God in your boat then a storm outside your boat; devastating effect, he understands what he's just seen, he's seen God and he's seen himself. God is Holy and he is not.
Let's call that first opening section the presence, the presence, Isaiah in the presence of God. Then let's come to the purification in verse 6, watch what happens. Somebody's going to say to Isaiah, you know Isaiah I don't know why you feel so badly about yourself, you're really the best man in the country, you're the one that God uses and God speaks through you, but Isaiah's not going to hear any of that. Isaiah just feels overwhelmed by his sins. This is what you could call a broken and a contrite heart, those are the words used in Isaiah 66. A broken and a contrite heart, or Isaiah 66 also says, "God is looking for someone who trembles at His word," and that's Isaiah. He is shaken to the foundation of his being immediately in the vision. Verse 6, "One of the Seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar." Now here's another introduction into the vision, in the temple there's an altar and that's altar for sacrifice and on that altar were burning coals where animals were laid as symbols of the great sacrifice that Christ would one day offer for sinners. That was the altar of sacrifice with its burning coals.
We're introduced to atonement here. The altar was the place of atonement. Here is a sinner; here is a self confessed sinner, a man who knows before Holy God that he is sinful. Then he confesses that sinfulness and he confesses at the very highest point his voice, his mouth where he speaks for God he is wretched and deserving of damnation. Then in that moment of deep and honest penitence, in that moment of confession, the Seraphim flies in the vision with a coal from off the altar taken with the tongs. Verse 7 says, "He touched my mouth with it." Just imagine next time you have a barbeque in your backyard putting one of those coals, red hot in your mouth, that's the imagery. "Behold says that Seraphim, this has touched your lips and your iniquities taken away and your sin is atoned for." Whoa, what a moment; repentance is painful that's the imagery.
Purging is necessary, his mouth needed to be cauterized, it needed to be cleaned, purged, and in that image of that vision that penitent, heartbroken, contrite, self effacing, self deprecating, self condemning Prophet, in the midst of his brokenness was forgiven, and the altar of atonement was applied to him. His iniquity was taken away and his sin was forgiven.
So now what you have - this is an amazing thing, is you have this beleaguered Prophet, heartsick over the events and the decline, and the demise of his nation. He has a vision of God, he has a vision of himself, he pronounces a curse realizing his utter sinfulness and unworthiness and immediately is forgiven. That was the purification.
Now we come to the main point, verse 8, let's call it the proclamation. This is really amazing, and this is going to answer our question, what is God looking for in a nation in crisis? "Then I heard the voice of the Lord," oh, first time, up until now only the angels have spoken. "Then I heard the voice of the Lord, God finally speaks, whom shall I send and who will go for us?" You can't just send anybody, you can't send people to preach salvation who haven't received it, so God says who am I going to send? Send where? Send to this nation on the brink of judgment. Somebody has to go to them; somebody has to preach to them.
I remember as a boy hearing somebody preach on this and they kind of gave the idea, the image that Isaiah stood up and said, here am I send me. I doubt it. The fact of the matter is there wasn't anybody else there but him and he may well have kept his head down, ashamed to look up the publican in Luke. He may well have been beating on his breast with his head down, even though he had been forgiven, feeling broken and humble, and he may have rather humbly and fearfully said I am here you could send me.
But what in the world is the Lord going to do with a dirty mouth Prophet who just pronounced a curse on himself? But verse 9, "He said go tell his people." Wow, let's stop right here for a minute. What kind of person is God looking for in a nation in crisis? A person who has a view of God that is accurate, who understands that He is sovereign, who understands that He is powerful, almighty, nothing is beyond His power, who understands that He is Holy, that is to say that everything He does is right and who understands that His Glory extends to all the earth, and somebody who not only understands and has a glorious view of God, an accurate view of God, but God is looking for someone who has an accurate view of himself, who knows himself or herself to be nothing but a sinner, worthy of judgment who has in true repentance cried out to God and been forgiven.
God isn't looking for perfect people, God is looking for purified people, understand that? Are you one of those? Do you have a true view of God? A true view of yourself? Have you been atoned for, as it were? Has the coal been placed in your mouth so that you have been purged and purified and your sins forgiven by your faith in that sacrifice offered once for all on that altar of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? The Lord says, "This is exactly who I'm looking for."
There were some other kings in Israel after Uzziah, before the captivity came. They played a role but the kings weren't the important people. There are presidents and vice presidents, and there are senators, and there are congressman, and there are all kinds of people in power in America, but they aren't really the important people. Who are the important people? Well the people who have a right view of God and the people who sins have been cleansed, right? That's us. We're the ones who have to answer this cry in verse 8, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us," that is for the trinity by saying "Here am I send me."
God isn't looking for great, intellectual brilliance, He isn't looking for oratorical skill, He isn't looking for literary genius, He's not looking for the movers and the shakers and the power brokers, and He's not looking for those people that the world assumes to be the leaders of choice, what He's looking for is people who have been cleansed.
So He says in verse 9, "Go and tell His people." I love this, here's what you tell them, and by the way this is quoted in four Gospels, Acts and Romans so it's a very important passage. He said go tell them this, "Go tell this people on the brink of judgment, go tell them. Tell them keep on listening but don't perceive, keep on looking but don't understand." Wow, how would you like that as your ordination mandate? You go out there and you tell them the Gospel, but you tell them also that they'll hear it but they won't understand it. "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, they're ears dull, they're eyes dim, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and return and be healed," and as I said that's repeated often in the New Testament. You go preach to those people and when you do it you give them the truth and than you tell them that you don't expect them to believe.
Their eyes are dull, their ears are fat, or their ears are deaf, their hearts are fat, they don't understand, they don't see, they don't hear. That's a discouraging ordination mandate, and I would ask the question Isaiah asked in verse 11, now that's the same question I would ask. Lord, how long? Wouldn't you ask that? How long do I do that? Like two weeks; this could get discouraging, how long do I do that? Oh He said do it until the cities are devastated and without inhabitant, houses are without people and the land is utterly desolate, the Lord has removed men far away and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. You just do it, and do it, and do it, and do it, and keep doing it until there's nobody left to do it too.
The judgment's coming, but just keep doing it. Preach the message, preach the message, go to this people and tell them about Me, tell them the truth. You can tell them that I'm a God of sovereignty and I'm a God of power, and I'm a God of glory, and I'm a God of Holiness, and tell them that I'm a God who forgives sin because you've experienced that. You tell them but don't expect them all them to hear and don't expect them all to see, and don't expect them all to understand or perceive, and don't expect them to return and be healed.
In fact, you know what's going to happen? The implication here and its expanded in the New Testament, the more you preach it the harder their hearts will become. It's part of the judgment. How long do I do that? You just keep doing it until nobody's left. Why?
That leads us to the last verse, the promise. This is a very complicated verse in the Hebrew - I'm not going to take a lot of time to struggle with it I'm just going to give you the sense of it. Verse 13, "There will be a tenth portion in it," stop right there. Not literally, but there will be a representative group, this is what we often call the Doctrine of the Remnant. Most won't listen, most won't hear, but there's a remnant there, there's a remnant there, there's a tenth. He says it's like a stump after the tree has been felled, there is a stump there and He calls them the Holy Seed.
Frankly folks, I don't have any illusions that I crank it all up and save the whole nation. I don't believe that a nation that has abandoned God, turned its back on God, walked away from the truth, literally subverted the truth, that has rejected the law of the Lord and the Word of the Holy One of Israel, I don't have any illusions that all of a sudden as the nation has been abandoned by God and plunged into immorality, homosexuality, and a reprobate mind that we're going to go through this nation and the whole nation's going to repent. There is a remnant, there is a remnant, there is a Holy Seed, there is a stump, there is a tenth out there.
That's our promise. That the Lord is going to use us to bring the saving Gospel to some. I love this phrase, "That Holy Seed, and when the tree has fallen the stump is still there, that Holy Seed, and there's life in that stump and it's our great privilege and responsibility to bring the message of salvation to them." So who is God looking for? He's looking for you. Do you understand who He is? Do you understand who you are? Have you been cleansed? Then God is asking you the same question He asked Isaiah, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Your answer is, here am I what? Send me, send me. You know you'll beat your head against the wall and you'll run into difficulty, and you'll run into resistance and you'll run into rejection, but there's a Holy Seed, there's a Holy Seed.
I remember flying, and I'll close with this, flying on an airplane - I was actually flying over St. Louis, I'll never forget it. The pilot had said we are currently flying over St. Louis and I looked out the window and of course it looks like anything else you're flying over, but I just remembered that comment and there was a young man sitting next to me who had gotten on the plane in Chicago and I had my New Testament opened and I was reading my New Testament, and he said to me, sir I hate to bother you but could I ask you a question? I said sure, he said, you wouldn't - I see you have a Bible, he said, you wouldn't know how I could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ would you?
Wait a minute, don't I have to prove the Bible or something. I mean I wouldn't know how you could have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; I baptized that young man right here some years ago. There is a Holy Seed and what God needs in this country, forget the politicians, what He needs is Christians everywhere, maybe in the political world, anywhere else and everywhere else who are willing to go with the Gospel and let the Lord use them to reach that Holy Seed. That's our calling and in that God is glorified and we are obedient and blessed.
Father, we thank You for the insight that we receive from Your Word and we just so greatly praise You. That no matter what's going on around us in our world, the Word of God speaks so particularly and relevantly and powerfully to our time and our condition. Make us that people; help us to know that we're more important then all the educators, and all the legislators, all the important people, and all those who are in positions of power because we are the only ones who can bring the message that changes the soul. Help us to realize Lord that there is the Gospel that promises eternal life and the Gospel alone. We're not even citizens of this world, our citizenship is in heaven. We're members of the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem and we are only here that we might be used to reach that Holy Seed. Use us Lord to communicate the Gospel, first to live it and make it believable, and than to speak it faithfully, and lead us to that Holy Seed that we might be the instruments that You can use to bring salvation, even in the midst of judgment. Thank You for that great privilege and all the glory we give to You, in Christ's name, Amen.
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LYNCHBURG, VA – The York College baseball squad opened their 2013 with a doubleheader split at Lynchburg College on Sunday afternoon in Lynchburg, Virginia. The Spartans won the opener 7-4 before the Hornets bounced back to post a 3-0 shutout in the nightcap.
The Spartans are now 1-1 while the Hornets stand at 4-4 for the campaign.
Game one was a strong showing for the Spartan offense as the York bats backed sophomore ace Dan Gurganus (Prince Frederick, Md./Huntingtown) for the victory. York opened the scoring on a pair of sacrifice flies from Andrew Hershey (Lancaster, Pa./Penn Manor) and Derek Pitzer (York, Pa./Dallastown) as the Spartans took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third.
York pushed the lead to 4-0 in the fourth as Dustin Worthman (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca) had a two-out RBI single and Colin Porter (Hanover, Pa./South Western) scored on a balk. The Hornets got to Gurganus for a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run double from Dan Savage, drawing the Hornets to within two at 4-2.
The Spartan offense dented the plate three more times in the sixth highlighted by an RBI double to right from Colbe Herr (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin), an RBI single to center by Porter and a wild pitch that scored Porter later in the inning. It could have been worse for the Hornets as the Spartans left the sacks packed in the frame.
The Hornets got an unearned run in the sixth and another unearned run in the seventh before Josh Miller (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Briarcliff) entered the game and threw the final three innings for the Spartans as he kept the Hornets off the board.
Gurganus earned the win as he allowed four runs, two earned, on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks. He scattered seven hits in picking up his first victory of the year. Miller tossed the final three innings, allowing one hit with two strikeouts and a walk in picking up the save.
Brandon Miller suffered the loss for the Hornets as he threw five innings, allowing six runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Dylan Ward threw the sixth inning for the Hornets and allowed a run on four hits. Charlie Thieringer came into the game in the seventh and proceeded to throw three perfect innings for Lynchburg.
Worthman led the Spartans, as he was 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored from the leadoff spot for the Spartans. Herr banged out a career-high three hits while he scored twice and drove in another. Porter finished the game 2-for-3 with a career-high three runs scored and an RBI.
Michael Kenah and Brock Shiflett each had two hits to pace the Hornets. Shiflett scored twice with an RBI while Kenah scored once for Lynchburg. Savage drove in two of the Hornets' four runs.
The story of the nightcap was the performance of Lynchburg starter Martin Henderlite as he twirled a two-hit shutout of the Spartans. Henderlite struck out nine and walked two as he handcuffed the Spartans all game long.
Lynchburg got to Spartan starter David Walker (Hanover, Pa./South Western) for two runs after the first two outs were recorded in the bottom of the first inning. Kenah singled to left and scored when Shiflett ripped a triple to right center. Walker then threw a wild pitch, allowing Shiflett to score the second run of the frame.
With Henderlite having a two-run advantage, he challenged the Spartan hitters. York had runners on first and second in the third but the uprising came with two outs and was quickly extinguished with a fly out to center. Henderlite ended the game by retiring 16 straight Spartans, as York couldn't get on track against the Hornets' big sophomore right-hander.
Ashton Paige led the Hornets with two hits and an RBI. Shiflett finished the game 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Hershey and Adam Bartholomew (Haddonfield, N.J./Bishop Eustace) notched the two York hits. Hershey had a single to right in the third and Bartholomew singled to center before being nabbed trying to steal second in the fourth. He was the last Spartan to reach base against Henderlite.
Walker suffered the loss as he allowed two runs on six hits with four strikeouts in four innings. Freshman Brad Wenzel (Blandon, Pa./Fleetwood Area) allowed a run on two hits with two strikeouts and a walk in his four-inning stint.
The Spartans return to action on Friday, March 1 when they travel to Richard Stockton for a non-conference contest.


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After RIM's latest train-wreck of a quarter, the clobbered BlackBerry-maker has announced that it is "exploring strategic options."
That's code for "We're desperately trying to sell ourselves."
And that's a good plan.
At this point, there's almost no foreseeable way for RIM to make a comeback. Their products have been leap-frogged by Apple and Google, they have a small and shrinking proprietary platform (operating system), and the distinction between the "enterprise market"--RIM's former stronghold--and the "consumer market" is disappearing.
So, the questions are...
Who might want to buy RIM?
What might they be willing to pay for it?
Let's take the "who" question first. We'll come back to the "how much" later.
Here are 7 companies that might want to buy RIM. There are several others that might be dumb bold enough t do it, but these are some that leap to mind.
Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola (Google), or Nokia: All of these smartphone makers are struggling for dominance in a fragmented market with low profit margins. In markets with low profit margins, especially "platform" markets like smartphones, market-share is a competitive advantage. All of these companies might look at RIM's meaningful but dwindling share of the global smartphone market and conclude that it made sense to own.
Microsoft: Microsoft is about to throw a Hail Mary pass in the mobile market in the form of the new Windows Phone 7. Microsoft is nowhere in mobile. Owning RIM would not give Microsoft a commanding position in the market, by any means, but it would put it somewhere in the market. Also, RIM is strong in the enterprise, which is where Microsoft is strong. The combination of Microsoft and RIM might be able to argue persuasively that they're a better choice for corporations than Apple or Android.
Facebook. Go ahead and laugh. Facebook's working on its own Facebook phone. It needs this because Apple and Google currently control the gateways with which hundreds of millions (soon to be billions) of Internet users will access Facebook. Facebook is also about to have a market capitalization of ~$100 billion. Facebook might conclude that RIM's expertise and distribution would be nice things to own.
Amazon. Amazon already makes its own tablet--the Kindle Fire. Lots of people think Amazon will soon make its own smartphones. Amazon doesn't care about building the state-of-the-art tablets. It just wants to make affordable tablets and smartphones aimed at the mass consumer market, gadgets that consumers can use to buy stuff from Amazon. Like any other acquirer, Amazon might want to blow up RIM's proprietary platform and replace it with Android or Windows, but RIM's gadget expertise and distribution expertise might be helpful.
Dell, HP, Acer, and other PC manufacturers who are getting absolutely clobbered because they're not making hit smartphones and tablets. All of these companies might view RIM as a way of leap-frogging into these businesses.
Intel. Intel has announced that it is going to make smartphones (in fact, it has already made some). Intel has pots and pots of cash and is hunting around for things to spend it on. We think Intel would be nuts to go into the making-smartphones-and-tablets business, but Intel apparently doesn't think so. So Intel might also buy RIM.
So that's 11 companies that might want to buy RIM.
And there are two other reasons why these companies (and others) might want to buy RIM.
First, RIM owns patents. Patents are being viewed as valuable these days. And patents are especially useful and valuable in the mobile market right now, if only as a way to extort money out of your competitors. One of the big non-Apple smartphone vendors might like to own those patents.
Second, RIM has $2 billion of cash and is still highly profitable. Yes, RIM's business will continue to crater, but it will be a long time before RIM stops generating cash. In fact, in the last quarter, RIM generated more than $600 million of cash. If someone bought RIM and stopped some of the dumb investments the company is probably making, it could presumably wring a ton of cash out of the company before it collapses. So there's even a financial reason to own it.
So, we imagine that the bankers helping RIM "explore strategic alternatives" will have lots of folks interested in seeing the pitch-book. And the threat that a competitor will buy it will probably goad lots of these folks to actually consider doing it.
Get the latest Google stock price here.


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Archbishop Nicholas Heath
Bishop of Rochester, England in 1539. Bishop of Worcester, England on 22 December 1543. He resigned the see in 1551, but was re-appointed in 1554. Lord President of Wales. Lord Chancellor. Archbishop of York, England on 19 February 1555. He recovered much of the property that King Henry VIII had taken from the diocese for crown use. When Elizabeth ascended the throne of England, Archbishop Nicholas acknowledged her as queen but not head of the Church. He resigned the see in 1559, the last Catholic bishop to hold the see, and retired to Cobham in Surrey, England.
- December 1578 of natural causes
- Catholic-Hierarchy.Org
- Cathedral Church of York, by A. Clutton-Brock
- "Archbishop Nicholas Heath". . CatholicSaints.Info. 7 November 2010. Web. 17 July 2019. <http://catholicsaints.info/archbishop-nicholas-heath/>


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TAMPA (AP) - Florida will be without cornerback Janoris Jenkins and three other starters against Penn State in the Outback Bowl.
Jenkins had surgery on his right shoulder recently and will miss the New Year's Day game. Right tackle Maurice Hurt and defensive tackles Lawrence Marsh and Terron Sanders also will miss coach Urban Meyer's finale. None of them traveled with the team to Tampa.
Hurt (right knee), Marsh (right hip) and Sanders (right shoulder) each had surgery after Florida's last game at Florida State on Nov. 27.
Jenkins is considered the biggest loss. The junior had started 36 of the 39 games, including all 11 this season. He has eight career interceptions, including three this season.
Moses Jenkins or Cody Riggs likely will start in his place.


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Google Thursday announced that prices of its fixed monthly data storage plans for its Drive service have been cut by as much as 80%.
The price for 100GB of capacity dropped from $4.99 to $1.99; the price for 1TB of capacity plummeted from $49.99 to $9.99; and the service is now offering 10TB of storage for $99.99.
Google Drive's new pricing chart (Source: Google)
Google Drive will continue to offer an initial 15GB of storage capacity at no charge.
Scott Johnston, a director of Google product management, said in a post on Google's blog site that the prices were cut due to "a number of recent infrastructure improvements."
"We're able to make it more affordable for you to keep everything safe and easy to reach on any device, from anywhere," Johnston wrote.
Data stored on Google's Drive can also be accessed from Gmail and Google+ Photos.
Google Drive users already signed up for previous plans will automatically be moved to a similar new plan at no additional cost, according to Johnston.
Lucas Mearian covers consumer data storage, consumerization of IT, mobile device management, renewable energy, telematics/car tech and entertainment tech for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed. His e-mail address is [email protected].
See more by Lucas Mearian on Computerworld.com.
Read more about data storage in Computerworld's Data Storage Topic Center.


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My favorite of the new sets if called Think Big so that is the set I will be highlighting today. My youngest girl is in first grade and she loves to read so she was the inspiration for this image. For this card, the girl was colored using copic markers, too many to remember actually. :) The colors were mainly chosen to go with the DCWV enchanted paper. Basic Grey paper was also used along with Stampin up card stock. All in all the card is pretty simple, I spent most of the time doing what I like best, coloring! In fact all of our new sets are well suited for coloring!
All of these 4 new sets are available for sale as of today in our STORE and are very affordable.
Think Big
Birthday Best
Berry Picking


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Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes
Click here to download TV listings for the week of Feb. 2 - 8, 2014 in PDF format
The Big Bang Theory Penny and Leonard (Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco ) rush Raj's (Kunal Nayyar) dog to the vet in this new episode. 8 p.m. CBS
The Vampire Diaries Caroline (Candice Accola) talks Elena and Bonnie (Nina Dobrev, Kat Graham) into going to the Bitter Ball, a dance for the brokenhearted, in this new episode. 8 p.m. KTLA
American Idol The Hollywood round continues. 8 p.m. Fox
Reign After King Henry (Alan Van Sprang) accuses her of adultery and treason, Queen Catherine (Megan Follows) tries to save herself in this new episode. 9 p.m. KTLA
King of the Nerds The latest Nerd War is LARP (Live-Action Role Playing). Jon Heder, Yaya Han and Kevin Sorbo are the guest judges. 10 p.m. TBS
CBS This Morning (N) 7 a.m. KCBS
Today Sochi; Gracie Gold; Ronan Farrow; Chris Pratt. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC
Good Morning America George Clooney; Chris Pratt; Buddy Valastro. (N) 7 a.m. KABC
Good Day L.A. Heather Dubrow ("The Real Housewives of Orange County"); Dave Berg; Christopher Titus. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV
Rachael Ray Dorothy Hamill, Brian Boitano, Tara Lipinski and Chad Hedrick. (N) 8 a.m. KCAL
Live With Kelly and Michael George Clooney ("The Monuments Men"); Karmin performs. (N) 9 a.m. KABC
The View Ana Navarro; TJ Grimaldi and Nicole Oulson; Vince Gill and Paul Franklin perform. (N) 10 a.m. KABC
The Wendy Williams Show Michael Ealy ("Almost Human"); Little Mix performs. (N) 11 a.m. KTTV
The Talk Kunal Nayyar; Edward Lee. (N) 1 p.m. KCBS
The Queen Latifah Show Bradley Whitford ("Saving Mr. Banks"); Sarah Paulson ("12 Years a Slave"); Jeanette Jenkins. (N) 2 p.m. KCBS; 7 p.m. KCAL
The Dr. Oz Show Health mistakes; harmful sweeteners; breast pain; myths. (N) 2 p.m. KABC
Dr. Phil A woman says she is terrified of her violent husband and details his abuse of her. (N) 3 p.m. KCBS
Steve Harvey Patti Stanger. (N) 3 p.m. KNBC
Katie Bernie Madoff's victims; other scams; Jennifer Beals. (N) 3 p.m. KABC
The Ellen DeGeneres Show Channing Tatum; Kate McKinnon; Darlene Love and Judith Hill. (N) 4 p.m. KNBC
The Doctors Weight loss; a carpenter accidentally shoot himself in the heart with a nail gun. (N) 5 p.m. KCAL
To the Contrary With Bonnie Erbé Benefit cap for unwed mothers; feminists on the Internet; Beverly Tatum, Spelman College. (N) 5:30 p.m. KOCE
The Arsenio Hall Show Will.i.am; Zoey Deutch; Jason Derulo performs. (N) 11 p.m. KTLA
Tavis Smiley Merry Clayton and Darlene Love. (Part 1 of 2) (N) 11 p.m. KOCE
Charlie Rose (N) 11 p.m. KVCR; 11:30 p.m. KOCE
The Daily Show: Jon Stewart Robyn Doolittle. (N) 11 p.m. Comedy Central
Chelsea Lately Jeff Wild; Cameron Esposito; Matt Braunger; director McG. (N) 11 p.m. E!
Conan Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohen, Steven Yeun, Danai Gurira and Melissa McBride ("The Walking Dead"); White Denim performs. (N) 11 p.m. TBS
Colbert Charlie Crist. (N) 11:30 p.m. Comedy Central
The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (Finale) Billy Crystal; Garth Brooks. (N) 11:34 p.m. KNBC
Late Show With David Letterman Michael Keaton; Beatles tribute from Sean Lennon and The Flaming Lips. (N) 11:35 p.m. KCBS
Jimmy Kimmel Live George Clooney; Matt Damon; John Goodman; Cate Blanchett. (N) 11:35 p.m. KABC
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Colin Farrell; Chris Pratt; 2 Chainz performs. (N) 12:36 a.m. KNBC
The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson John Goodman; Imogen Poots. (N) 12:37 a.m. KCBS
XXII Winter Olympics Figure Skating; Snowboarding; Freestyle Skiing. From Sochi, Russia. 8 p.m. NBC


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Home ... Who We Are ... Media Center ... People First Language
People with disabilities are – first and foremost – people who have individual abilities, interests and needs. They are moms, dads, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, friends, neighbors, coworkers, students and teachers. About 54 million Americans -- one out of every five individuals -- have a disability. Their contributions enrich our communities and society as they live, work and share their lives.
People with disabilities constitute our nation's largest minority group, which is simultaneously the most inclusive and the most diverse. Everyone is represented: of all genders, all ages, all religions, all socioeconomic levels and all ethnic backgrounds. The disability community is the only minority group that anyone can join at any time.
The language a society uses to refer to persons with disabilities shapes its beliefs and ideas about them. Words are powerful; Old, inaccurate, and inappropriate descriptors perpetuate negative stereotypes and attitudinal barriers. When we describe people by their labels of medical diagnoses, we devalue and disrespect them as individuals. In contrast, using thoughtful terminology can foster positive attitudes about persons with disabilities. One of the major improvements in communicating with and about people with disabilities is "People-First Language." People-First Language emphasizes the person, not the disability. By placing the person first, the disability is no longer the primary, defining characteristic of an individual, but one of several aspects of the whole person. People-First Language is an objective way of acknowledging, communicating, and reporting on disabilities. It eliminates generalizations and stereotypes, by focusing on the person rather than the disability.
Disability is not the "problem." For example, a person who wears glasses doesn't say, "I have a problem seeing," they say, "I wear/need glasses." Similarly, a person who uses a wheelchair doesn't say, "I have a problem walking," they say, "I use/need a wheelchair."
Historically, people with disabilities have been regarded as individuals to be pitied, feared or ignored. They have been portrayed as helpless victims, repulsive adversaries, heroic individuals overcoming tragedy, and charity cases who must depend on others for their well being and care. Media coverage frequently focused on heartwarming features and inspirational stories that reinforced stereotypes, patronized and underestimated individuals' capabilities.
Much has changed lately. New laws, disability activism and expanded coverage of disability issues have altered public awareness and knowledge, eliminating the worst stereotypes and misrepresentations. Still, old attitudes, experiences and stereotypes die hard.
People with disabilities continue to seek accurate portrayals that present a respectful, positive view of individuals as active participants of society, in regular social, work and home environments. Additionally, people with disabilities are focusing attention on tough issues that affect quality of life, such as accessible transportation, housing, affordable health care, employment opportunities and discrimination.
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Looking More Closely At Judge Gertner's Constitutional Analysis Of Copyright Awards In Tenenbaum Case
from the the-battle-is-on deptLast Friday, we quickly covered the news that Judge Nancy Gertner had declared the original jury award of $675,000 against Joel Tenenbaum for downloading and sharing some songs unconstitutionally excessive. Over the weekend, however, I had some more time to read the full ruling (posted by Eric Goldman) and get a sense of what Gertner's full argument meant. You can read the ruling here, and I highly recommend taking the time to read the whole thing:
So with that in mind, she clearly gave a lot of thought to the Constitutional questions, and goes back to the key point, that if the punishment is seriously out of line with any sort of "harm" caused, then it's unconstitutional. She notes that she must give deference to Congress' intent with the statutory rates it set for copyright infringement, as well as to the jury's verdict. But, even so, she suggests that the jury's award was way out of line with reasonable awards in other copyright lawsuits... and (more importantly) way out of line with Congress' intent of using statutory rates to deter infringement:
This award is far greater than necessary to serve the government's legitimate interests in compensating copyright owners and deterring infringement. In fact, it bears no meaningful relationship to these objectives.In attacking the Constitutional questions, Judge Gertner spent a lot of time highlighting the case law on the Due Process Clause, noting many, many cases where the Supreme Court has made it clear that there are limits to what should be considered Constitutional when it comes to jury awards -- even in the case of statutory awards (even if the courts often seem to rule that in the cases they're looking at, the line has not been crossed).
Defenders of both the original Jammie Thomas award and the Joel Tenenbaum award have frequently claimed that the case law (mainly the BMW v. Gore case) doesn't apply since that was not for statutory damages, where the rates are clear and already set. That's going to be a key point made in the inevitable challenge to this ruling. But Gertner aptly explains why it's reasonable to explore whether or not the award is unconstitutionally excessive, even when it's within the statutory rates, and even suggests that both the government and the RIAA are misreading other precedents -- with the key one being the Williams case, which found a damages award acceptable because it fell within statutory rates. Gertner points out that the RIAA and the government are taking that ruling out of context, and only looking at the result, rather than the actual reasoning.
At their root, the standards articulated in Williams, BMW, and State Farm all aim at providing defendants with some protection against arbitrary government action in the form of damages awards that are grossly excessive in relation to the objectives that the awards are designed to achieve. Indeed, early twentieth century cases such as Williams were the seedlings from which the Supreme Court's recent punitive damages jurisprudence sprouted.She also notes that even in the Congressional record in efforts to increase the statutory rates, Congressional members suggested that courts would make sure the actual awards were reasonable and not excessive:
In fact, Senator Orrin Hatch, a sponsor of the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999, which increased section 504(c)'s statutory damages ranges to their current levels, stated in remarks regarding a predecessor of that bill, "In most cases, courts attempt to do justice by fixing the statutory damages at a level that approximates actual damages and defendant's profits."That line right there might be pretty damaging to the RIAA's typical claim that courts are just supposed to assume that Congress knows best in setting the rates, and shouldn't try to approximate actual damages with statutory rates.
From there, Judge Gertner applies the test found in the BMW case, and points out that (contrary to some of the silliest claims from copyright system defenders), Congress clearly did not expect lawsuits against individuals sharing files for personal use when it set such high rates:
Later statements by Senators Orrin Hatch and Patrick Leahy, two sponsors of the Digital Theft Deterrence Act, strongly suggest that Tenenbaum is correct; they did not anticipate that individuals such as Tenenbaum who engaged in noncommercial file-sharing would be subjected to liability for statutory damages under section 504(c). Hatch and Leahy presided over a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled "Music on the Internet: Is There an Upside to Downloading?" on July 11, 2000.... During the hearing, the committee members demonstrated how the peer-to-peer system Gnutella is used by downloading and then playing a song by the band Creed. ... As the committee was downloading the Creed song, Senator Leahy proudly proclaimed that he was doing some of his own downloading on his laptop. ... When one of the developers of Gnutella pointed out to the committee members that they might be engaging in copyright infringement, Senator Hatch responded that their downloading and public performance of the Creed song qualified as "fair use" since it was carried out for "educational and governmental purposes." ... Nevertheless, the senators' willingness to download copyrighted sound recordings through a peer-to-peer network during a committee hearing suggests, at the very least, that they did not view such downloading as particularly reprehensible.I have to admit that I was unaware of these quotes from Senators Hatch and Leahy -- both of whom are normally seen as being very strongly in favor of strict copyright laws (Hatch, famously, once suggested coming up with a way to destroy the computers of file sharers).
And this inference from the senators' conduct is largely confirmed by their words. Although Senator Hatch noted that peer-to-peer technology had the capacity, "if misused, to rob [artists] of their livelihood," ... he also praised the development of Gnutella as "quite an accomplishment," ... And Senator Leahy added:[W]hen I go on college campuses, as many of us do, to talk and everybody is talking about what they have downloaded, how they share, and so on, and when my kids pick up a "Black Muddy River," which happens to be one of my favorites of the Dead, and send it to me -- they have heard a new version -- and I log on in the morning while I am having my breakfast and there it is, I mean this is a whole different world, and I think we have to recognize that on where we go.Senator Hatch's tolerance of, if not admiration for, peer-to-peer networks was even more on display at a special Judiciary Committee hearing held on October 9, 2000, at Brigham Young University ("BYU"). ... Shawn Fanning, the founder of Napster, was the star witness at this hearing, and Senator Hatch repeatedly praised Fanning, expressing how "proud" he was of Fanning and even suggesting that Fanning should become a professor at BYU or run for political office. ... Obviously, Senator Hatch's comments should be taken with a large grain of salt... But his comments nevertheless suggest that he did not anticipate that the statutory damages scheme over which his committee had jurisdiction would be applied to users of Napster and other peer-to-peer networks.
On top of that, Judge Gertner compares the fines for Tenenbaum with restaurants and bars that have not paid their licenses, noting that those are clear cases of infringement for commercial reasons, yet the fines are a small multiple of the cost of a license. She points out that this seems like a much more egregious case, yet the awards are much lower:
The jury's award in this case also appears egregious in light of the damages typically imposed on restaurants, bars, and other businesses that play copyrighted songs in their establishments without first acquiring the appropriate licenses. These defendants are arguably more culpable than Tenenbaum. Unlike Tenenbaum, who did not receive any direct pecuniary gain from his file-sharing, defendants in these cases play copyrighted music to create a more pleasurable atmosphere for their customers, thus generating more business and, consequently, more revenue.... In addition, defendants accused of unlicensed public performances often receive several notices that their conduct is unlawful before they are sued. Thus, like Tenenbaum's file-sharing, their infringing conduct is generally willful. .... Nevertheless, the awards in such cases are generally no more than "two to six times the license fees defendants 'saved' by not obeying the Copyright Act"--a ratio of statutory to actual damages far lower than the ratio present in this case.Clearly, this case is nowhere close to over, but it is still interesting to read through the details of the ruling. Obviously, Gertner knows this is going to be appealed, and she put a lot of effort into making the case for why this ruling was excessive, in hopes of having her reasoning help carry the later appeals.
Filed Under: copyright, damages, jammie thomas, joel tenenbaoum, nancy gertner
Companies: riaa