text:
Fisheries Policy Process
February 2006
by Trish Rea
February 2006
Scott Macindoe opened
the meeting with a welcome to Robin Connor and everyone present.
From the outset it was
important we understood what the Ministry's objective of the Shared
Fisheries Policy Development process was. If it was the same objective
as the Soundings process, as articulated by Jenni McMurran
at a public meeting in the year 2000, then there was no point in
The objectives of Soundings
were to:
Robin stressed that he
had not been informed that the objectives expressed during the public
consultation phase of Soundings were Ministry policy,
and that he had never seen those objectives published in any Ministry
At this stage of the process
his team had been tasked with analysing the problems associated
with the current framework and develop options to improve the management
of shared fisheries. Fiscal considerations were not part of the
analysis process.
However, it was notable
that at no stage had Ministry refuted those objectives, considering
we have published them for the past six years.
There are many outstanding
issues about the unfairness of the current system, how it has evolved
and the impact mismanagement has, and is, having on non-commercial
fishing interests. If the Ministry of Fisheries was looking for
a fiscally neutral solution then it would be a sign the Ministry
have no goodwill and no willingness to undo those injustices.
Robin was not at this
meeting to discuss integrating recreational fishers into the Quota
Management System (QMS). He was clear the QMS is a commercial management
The absence of case studies
in Ministry proposals was highlighted as being a demonstration of
poor process. With the stated intention of achieving management
changes through the implementation of Fisheries Plans it was important
to have some meaningful reference point. The current crop of "proof
of concept" Fisheries Plans were meaningless.
Southern Blue Whiting,
Foveaux Strait oysters and the Coromandel scallop fishery had no
relevance to problems associated with shared fisheries. Snapper
8 (SNA8), snapper 2 (SNA2), Hapuku (HPB), Flounder 1 (FLA1) and
grey mullet 1 (GMU1) would be more relevant to this allocation discussion.
Some benefits of case
The Fisheries Act 1996
is explicit in management objectives, section 13 states fisheries
are to be managed at or above the level that can produce Maximum
Sustainable Yield (MSY), or moved towards that level, of Bmsy. After
twenty years of the Quota Management System (QMS) the Ministry had
not achieved this objective in many of our fisheries. i.e. SNA8
is at half this level.
It is in the fishing industry's
interests to have fisheries below MSY because they can still maintain
their catches. In a rebuilding fishery the recreational catch would
increase with the increasing biomass, an undesirable benefit from
a commercial fishers perspective. The Ministry accepts that recreational
catch would increase if fisheries were managed at a higher level.
Conversely, in a declining
fishery recreational catch drops as the commercial sector fishes
the biomass down. This constitutes a reallocation from the non-commercial
sector to commercial fishers. This initial reallocation is not acknowledged
in any management decisions and is a fundamental problem that needs
to be addressed. The recreational sector want the reallocation
reversed and fisheries managed at or above Bmsy, as a first step.
Whether Fisheries Plans
or some other mechanism is used to implement management objectives,
one of the outcomes of this process will need to be the delivery
of a firm allocation guide, or future planning will stall on this
Additionally, opening
the door to eventual legislative change leaves the recreational
sector vulnerable to domination of this Shared Fisheries Policy
Development process by commercial interests, as they have all the
rights and resources.
Before discussion of the
key issues and challenges as set out in the document provided, 'Notes
for Meeting with Recreational Fishing Forums and Key Stakeholder
Groups January-February 2006' (Appendix One) commenced it was noted
that the an important issue of capacity and structure to represent
recreational interests was raised at the previous week's meeting
of the Recreational Fishing Ministerial Advisory Committee (RFMAC).
Another major concern
is that the Ministry have accepted the fishing industry's argument
that if reductions are to be made then both commercial and recreational
catch needs to be reduced proportionally. The threat of having to
pay compensation seems to have influenced the Ministry's advice
and subsequent Minister's decisions; the most recent example of
this is the snapper 8 decision [1]
. If Ministry maintain their rigid stance on
having a fiscally neutral solution to the allocation issue then
it would inhibit advancement of this process.
The outstanding issue
to be addressed is that there was never a proper process to set
the initial allocations and MFish have already acknowledged this.
Unless this is addressed then progress is unlikely.
There is also a problem
of no incentives for either commercial or recreational fishers to
conserve fish. The Ministry's proportional reduction of catches
in SNA8 failed to take into account the conservation efforts made
by the recreational sector. There has been a 26% voluntary reduction
in catch by recreational fishers since 1995 through increased minimum
size limits, reduction of hooks on longlines and daily bag limit
On the other hand, commercial
fishers are using trawl gear designed to catch 25cm snapper. The
same gear is catching red gurnard and leatherjackets which usually
only grow 20-30 cm [2] . No
account is made of the significant number of undersized snapper
caught in the same trawl and discarded.
It is apparent that management
needs to be more responsive to maximise good recruitment years and
have the ability to make selective changes to ensure those recruitment
cycles are protected from overfishing, are allowed to grow and replenish
depleted fisheries.
The management objective
of MSY versus other strategies including, Maximum Economic Yield
(MEY) from a higher biomass, or optimal yield, also needs to be
discussed in more detail.
Robin was very keen to
go through the key issues and challenges that had been identified,
the fundamental concepts and not so much management tools that would
be an outcome of more discussion after the actual problems had been
From our perspective it
was important that the history of the fishery is taken into account.
There was some urgency to introduce the QMS in the 1980's to rebuild
severely depleted inshore fisheries to MSY. Commercial fishers were
compensated to fish to sustainable levels, a total over $128 million
of which over $40 million applied to inshore fisheries. We have
had twenty years of a quota system and the rebuild objective has
not been met.
Added to this is the reality
that recreational catch has been unprotected from the impacts of
commercial fishing. Moyle's Promise, which we still maintain is
valid, was a means of protecting what was, and is, an inexplicit
portion of the fishery. It has only been the abandonment of Moyle's
Promise that has enabled proportional reductions to be made.
Ministers of Fisheries
are consistently denied information that would give them a complete
scenario. Last year's decision for SNA8 is an excellent example.
The Minister was not advised that recreational fishers had conserved
between 800 and 1600 tonnes of snapper since 1995 to assist in the
rebuild. Nor was he reminded that commercial fishers had taken over
6,000 tonnes in excess of their initial allocation. If deficient
advice were being given to Ministers now we would need some sort
of guarantee that all the important details are given to the Minister
to enable him to make a balanced decision based on all the facts,
in the future.
A positive outcome from
this process is the possibility to include a more specific rebuild
timeframe in a new management framework.
The recreational sector
also wanted Ministry to manage fisheries according to the Fisheries
Act, at or above a level that will produce MSY. Important shared
fisheries should be managed at a level well above MSY to allow for
the time lag between acknowledging a problem in a fishery and making
any changes. This delay can be anything up to ten years.
Throughout the Ministerial
Consultative Group (MCG) process and the Reference Group process,
following Soundings , recreational representatives unsuccessfully
asked for the participation of tangata whenua, MFish science and
operations staff to be part of the discussions. It was important
to have these groups involved in any future discussions, without
their involvement progress was unlikely.
Ministry do not believe
the current framework provides for the aspirations of all interests
and are looking for criteria to assist MFish and the Minister in
his decision-making role.
It seems the Ministry
and Minister uses every opportunity they can to tout the QMS as
the world's leading fisheries management regime. This is particularly
galling to the recreational sector as we have many fisheries well
below what the legislation requires and therefore these fisheries
do not provide for our social, cultural and traditional needs.
It is not clear what the
fiscal constraints of this process are. We need to know what they
are before we can commit to involving ourselves in this Shared Fisheries
Policy Development process. Compensation has already been paid out
to commercial fishers during the introduction of the QMS, the Treaty
of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims) Settlement Act 1992 resulted in compensation
to Maori, it is unrealistic to expect a fiscally neutral solution
to recreational fishers' concerns.
Fisheries resources are
precious. If we have had some of our fish taken off us unjustly
then there may have to be a fiscal response to reverse that injustice,
if it can be clearly demonstrated.
The decision for proportional
reductions in snapper 8 could have been used as a case study had
the Ministry wanted to clarify the legal boundaries of when compensation
is due during a reallocation process.
MFish could have chosen
to reduce commercial catch only and leave the recreational allowance
at 360 tonnes. Under threat from industry that any reallocation
will be challenged in court, Ministry succumbed and reduced the
recreational allowance by 50 tonne. This was a missed opportunity
to clarify the law and would not have been hugely expensive exercise,
if proven wrong, considering the tonnage involved.
There is only one conclusion
we can draw from this scenario and that is that Ministry have no
intention of reallocating fish back to the recreational sector or
paying compensation to address past injustices.
Had the Ministry advised
the Minister of the true cause of the decline in SNA8 and the failure
to gain a rebuild then his decision could have been quite different.
Their failure to also advise on the conservation efforts of recreational
fishers, that over 26% of their catch had been conserved, was also
a mistake. The Ministry could easily have given the Minister one
option to rebuild that fishery, to cut commercial catch only. The
Ministry have not been fair in this process.
The public are clearly
demonstrating their concern for our fisheries by conserving fish
voluntarily. The SNA8 decision crushes any incentive to conserve
fish, as those efforts are not recognised during allocation processes.
Ministry personnel have acknowledged this lack of incentive at a
recent hui of the Hokianga Accord. This is a serious flaw in the
current system.
While Robin's objective
for this process is evident, we also need to be clear about what
the Ministry's objective is. Robin and the recreational sector need
to ask for, and receive, an unambiguous answer. The answer will
determine whether recreational representatives will continue to
participate in the policy development.
Both Robin and Lindie
Nelson are working through the analytical process to determine if
progress can be made, they do not have any pre-conceived ideas and
are open to suggestions from all sectors.
Recreational fishing representatives
would welcome the opportunity to meet again to discuss the Shared
Fisheries Policy Development process. An invitation was extended
to Robin to be at the next Hokianga Accord hui on the 6th and 7th
April to discuss the issue.
Collectively we have the
capacity to work through this issue with Ministry. We do not have
a lot of resources but are willing to get involved if the process
is meaningful.
Conflict between sectors
is continually being promoted by the Ministry as being the reason
for the need to instigate a new allocation policy. Our conflict
is not with industry; it is with the Ministry and their flawed interpretation
of the law and implementation of the QMS. MFish perceive the conflict
as a conflict of interests.
It was surprising the
Ministry were prepared to conduct this process knowing full well
that the Kahawai Legal Challenge is due to be heard in the High
Court from June 6 th . Additionally, the December 2005 report [3]
given to the Minister did not mention the outcome of the case
could have implications for future fisheries management decisions.
The Ministry's willingness to continue without the benefit of a
decision from the judiciary was surprising.
Ministry were asked if
a policy definition of section 21 of the Fisheries Act 1996 existed.
We are well aware there are definitions for sections eight to thirteen
of the Fisheries Act. Along with a definition of section 21 representatives
also asked for the final report from project X, both documents were
required urgently.
Recreational representatives
made it very clear we were not interested in having our recreational
fishing rights integrated into a property rights regime such as
the QMS. Ministry do not have that ambition either.
Those at the meeting agreed
that another discussion with Robin would be beneficial. If we do
not continue to be involved in the development stage we run the
risk of not having our concerns included in the process as it moves
The Ministry's objectives
for this process needs to be clearly articulated, but haven't been
as yet. Recreational fishers need to be assured that the Ministry's
objectives are not the same as they had previously, to cap the recreational
catch and avoid compensation issues for the Crown. If they remain
the same then there is no point continuing to be a party to this
The option4 team have
been focussing their efforts on the allocation issue for the last
six years and cannot afford to have the message misinterpreted by
others. There is little faith that the Ministerial appointees to
the RFMAC or the regional recreational forums could deliver the
level of expertise required to have all recreational fishers concerns
Historic grievances had
been settled for commercial fishers at the introduction of the QMS,
for Maori through the Treaty of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims) Settlement
Act 1992, so this process needs to address grievances held by the
recreational sector.
Representatives could
continue to argue over shares in a diminishing resource but, from
a recreational fishers perspective, it was advantageous to institute
changes that would contribute to the increased biomass of our shared
fisheries. There are many effective ways to reduce fishing related
mortality by all sectors, the framework to provide for these tools
need to be an outcome of this process.
Finally, the proposal
to use Fisheries Plans as a mechanism to implement management changes
is unrealistic if the allocation issue is not resolved fairly.
Overall, this was a positive
meeting and was an opportunity to present the perspective of recreational
fishers to the leader of the Shared Fisheries Policy Development
process. Another meeting will be convened within the next month
to continue discussions.
In the meantime the snapper
8 decision needs to be reviewed as it contains most of the concerns
option4 have about current management and the allocation process.
The documents requested also need to be analysed to inform the debate
as we go into the development phase of the public discussion document,
due for release at the end of June this year.
Common New Zealand Marine Fishes, 1998, C.Paulin.
Shared Fisheries Policy Development report, Ministry
of Fisheries 16 December 2005.


text:
Fred Holcomb was born in Tacoma, WA and now lives and works in Seattle. He has studied at the University of Washington School of Art and The Rhode Island School of Design. He has a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Washington and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA.
He has exhibited widely in the Pacific Northwest and is represented by Linda Hodges Gallery in Seattle and Butters Gallery in Portland, OR.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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text: Adolfo "Harpo" Celaya – an intimate story with a U.S.S. Indianapolis survivor Matt Brode Weather November 12, 2018November 27, 2018 1 Minute https://kvoa.com/news/local-news/2018/11/12/man-of-courage-u-s-s-indianapolis-survivor-speaks/ Share this:TweetShare on TumblrMoreEmailPrintLike this:Like Loading... Related Taggedatomic bombenola gayhistorymatt brodesharksshipwreckuss indianapolisww2 Published by Matt Brode Chief Meteorologist at KVOA-TV. The NBC affiliate in Tucson, AZ. View all posts by Matt Brode Published November 12, 2018November 27, 2018


text:
The Texas Commission on Public School Finance working group on outcomes met Wednesday afternoon at the Texas Capitol to discuss early childhood education, post-secondary readiness, and post-secondary completion and assessments.
Texas Education Agency (TEA) deputy commissioner Penny Schwinn was the first to testify before the working group, which is led by Todd Williams and includes Pflugerville ISD Superintendent Doug Killian, state Sen. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood), state Rep. Diego Bernal (D-San Antonio) and high school teacher Melissa Martin. Schwinn said that Texas spends $7 per student on testing. Sen. Taylor pursued a line of questioning that indicated support for going to more online testing, asking Schwinn to explain the security and cost benefits of online tests versus those using pen and paper.
Schwinn testified that online tests are cheaper and suggested there could be some security benefits by reducing the potential for physical tests getting lost in the mail. Sen. Taylor suggested online tests would give districts more flexibility in determining test dates and allowing follow-up tests later in the school year. Rep. Bernal stated concern over connectivity, in particular with regard to districts that may not have reliable internet access. Schwinn noted that recently-passed legislation allows districts to spend instructional materials allotment (IMA) funds on technology.
According to Schwinn, only 59 percent of Texas children are "kindergarten-ready." Just 45 percent meet grade level expectations in third grade reading. The overwhelming data show students with high quality early childhood education are significantly more likely to graduate from school. According to Schwinn, funding universal pre-K for four-year olds would cost the state $1.7 billion. Universal pre-K for three- and four-year olds would cost $3.4 billion.
Schwinn also noted that significant performance gaps remains between white and non-white students, as well as economically disadvantaged and non-economically disadvantaged students. Regarding special education, Schwinn said far fewer Texas students receive special education services for dyslexia than students nationwide. Dr. Killian pointed out that is likely a result of the erstwhile special education "cap" instituted by the agency.
Alief ISD Superintendent H.D. Chambers appealed to the group to provide the necessary funding to achieve the desired outcomes of policymakers and practitioners. Chambers indicated that educators must also be paid better salaries. Barring these, Chambers warned that efforts to institute better education policies will be doomed to fail.
With regard to early childhood education, Chambers attributed improvements in kindergarten readiness in Alief ISD to better professional development for pre-K teachers and putting better quality teachers in pre-K classrooms. Chambers suggested public-private partnerships could be a viable option without additional state funding for pre-K. Chambers also affirmed there is a meaningful difference in quality between alternatively certified teachers and those trained by traditional programs, despite an increase in the employment of less qualified alternatively certified teachers.
Sen. Taylor made clear that any increases in teacher pay should not be across the board, rather they should go to the highest performers. Martin, a teacher, noted the overwhelming pressure placed upon teachers, not to mention the steadily increasing costs of health care without a commensurate increase in pay. Chambers testified the state is in the middle of a "teacher crisis" in which not enough qualified teachers are available to meet the demands of schools.
On the subject of testing, Chambers questioned whether the STAAR is as useful and accurate as previous tests such as the TAAS and TAKS. While Texas schools saw steady improvement on the previous tests, Chambers pointed out that STAAR scores have stagnated. Killian joined this theme by raising concerns over the usefulness of STAAR data compared to previous tests.
The full commission will meet Thursday.


text:
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text:
> Jensen Healey & Jensen GT Tech > Ignition > Misfire after 30 minutes
|Moderated by: Greg Fletcher
|It would seem I have an ignition problem... She runs very well for 30-ish minutes, then starts misfiring at low revs, dies at idle, can be started again if speed is available, but using the starter will not cut it. After a few hours, starting is easy again.
There is spark when pulling a plug and looking, but not enough to trigger my timing light. Coil (Lucas, gold) is lukewarm. Dizzy is a 43D with a Pertronix Ignitor II.
I'm more than ready to go crank fire with a Megasquirt now, but I would have liked to go to a GTG this weekend.
Then it suddenly strikes me, it could be the tachometer at fault! I still run the original configuration.
Frank Schwartz
|Well, the voltage to the coil runs through the tach...I, (opinion) suspect the coil...and is there a resistor in the circuit? If so, make sure it is correct..and that the red and black leads from the Pertronix unit are on the coil and not on the resistor... Now that sounds odd, but the Pertronix must be on both sides of the coil. If you have another coil, try it and see what happens...It seems obvious that something is breaking down and my first thought would be the coil..and second..the resistor...
Let us know what you find.
|No resistor, AFAIK the gold coil is a 12V coil. Pertronix is correctly connected.
I can't seem to provoke the problem standing idling in the yard and I don't have a spare coil. I may just try to patch another circuit to the coil and see what happens.
|I doubt it's the tach (unless it's the actual bullet connectors on the tach itself just being dirty). The tach electronics proper don't actually have anything to do with the ignition circuit. I don't remember my wire colors offhand, but the way it works is that there is +12V coming into the one of the tach bullet connectors on a white wire (guessing on the color). The tach "connection" it attaches to just has a wire inside the tach that runs through a small coil (physically, not electrically) and then back out to the outside of the tach, with another connector. That connector is then connected to the wire which goes to the coil. There's no actual electrical connection between that +12v feed through the tach body to the coil and any internal tach components.
What's inside the tach between those two connectors is basically just a jumper wire.
|I jumped the tach, and it seemed to be cured - for a little while... It is maybe looking like the alternator isn't all well, seeing only 12.4 volts at the battery at idle. It should have been a lot higher while running, even at idle?
Frank Schwartz
|Yes...it should be 13.6 or even better...maybe your battery is old or defective?? Most last about three years or four...if it is older, I would be suspicious. Most car parts stores can check it for you..they run a test and give you a computer printout. I'd start there..also have you checked the fuel filter back at the tank???
I had a similar problem with my Interceptor that turned out to be an alternator that was heat sensitive. It worked fine when cold but when it got all the heart from the engine (and it really gets hot under the hood of an Interceptor) it would fail and the ignition module would stop working when the voltage got low...took a long time to find that problem..but you do not have an ignition module, per se...however, I did personally have had a Pertronix unit that went bad. Just totally failed and would do nothing...Took it back to speed shop and they gave me another. First time I have ever had one of those go bad...but I don't think yours could be intermittent..could it? Or heat sensitive?? Have you tried a different coil???
So, let's start with the battery...and then the alternator ...after making sure the fuel filter is not getting clogged...and let us know.
|I'm pretty convinced the problem is electrical, I pulled a main jet to check for fuel on the emulsion tube, and there was fuel to the ridge below the top holes, I think that is about right. Still no sign of life.
It is clear that the problem is heat related, but there may be more than one fault. I just got a new battery, but even at the second attempt it didn't quite fit, some adjustment with a cutter and the welder required...
Tom Bradley
|I agree with Answerman that it is not likely to be the tach. It is most likely something in the engine compartment. I would check all the electrical connections to see if something is loose or corroded. A bad coil or resistor is also not likely, though possible. Sounds like the alternator may not be charging the battery, which would cause the battery to loose charge faster when driving than when sitting idle. Another possibility is the electrical switch on the steering column. I have had these go bad on me. This can be more of a problem when driving than when idling because there is more bouncing around which can cause the connection to go bad. Hot wiring directly from the battery to the + side of the coil will bypass everything, which will at least show you the general area of the problem.
I also had a problem like this when I first started my car after several years sitting. In my case it finally turned out that the engine was running way too rich at speed so the plugs were getting fouled causing misfires. adjusting the carbs fixed it.
|I am more than a little confused, since it runs well under load and speed, getting stuck in traffic on the other hand is an absolute nightmare.
As soon as I have modified the battery tray somewhat, a new battery will go in, it will be interesting to see if that changes anything. The Pertronix has adaptive dwell, so it would be strange if the coil overheats at low revs.
Tom Bradley
|Cranking the starter takes over ten times as much current from the battery as does running the engine. So if the starter still cranks OK under conditions when the engine misfires, then the battery should not be the problem.
Are you sure the engine is not overheating? Stop and go traffic is the worst for that. Possibly the gauge in the cabin is reading low? It could also be a vacuum leak or sticking weights in the distributor making the ignition timing when idling inconsistent. You might watch the tach to see if the idle RPM's are steady under all conditions.
If you have the original tachometer setup (current drive rather than voltage), the tachometer reading in the cabin is probably not accurate with an electronic ignition. Mine was reading almost 30% high before I did a voltage-operation conversion. You might want to check the idle RPM's with a tune-up gauge from the auto parts store. If you are setting the idle RPM's using the cabin gauge, you may be setting it too low for reliable operation.
Frank Schwartz
|You never told us if the battery checked bad or not...and if it was good, if the alternator was good.
|I have been shortish in the messages because I had to type on a phone and not a computer. Had forgotten the password to this site and the password reset doesn't work because it send to the email you initially registered from. That address was disused 6 years ago...
Battery: Functioning but getting old (mfg 06) and seems weak. I don't have too much cranking time left in it when the engine starts playing games.
Alternator: It is only ten years old, just changed before I bought the car and looks good. The charge light goes out like it should after starting, but I haven't had time to investigate further. It is a suspect due to seeing that it is dropping the voltage down at idle when warm.
Overheating: Doubt it. Electric fan directly on the radiator, needle rock steady. Due to a production error on the water pump I am measuring at the water rail below the carbs (Dell'Orto) but I think Lotus used to measure there.
Tach: current drive, have the kit to make it voltage triggered. Trouble getting a round tuit...
Jumped the coil feed off another circuit for testing, apart from seeing a lower voltage drop battery -> coil, no difference in behaviour.
Idle speed: Principally set by ear, reading about 1k on the dial. Does not sound like a 700 RPM idle. Incredibly difficult to set idle speed when warm, either it stays where it is or it revs up to 1500-2000 (by ear), probably due to advance kicking in.
Idle mix: 3 turns out to 4.5 turns out makes no difference to behaviour really, apart from the smell of the exhaust. Wideband lambda meter is on the todo list.
Distributor: Mech advance only unit, true state unknown, but looked fine when installed 6 years ago when I changed the engine. Pertronix Ignitor II unit installed. Plug leads are blue silicon leads, probably installed just before I bought the car. Major PITA to get to the dizzy. :-(
Coil: 4 year old Lucas Sport (gold) coil. No visible damage, estimated temp when I have problems ~60C (can hold it for about three seconds before it's painful).
Ways forward: What I haven't done, but is worthwhile is to swap batteries when it is dying. Pull into the yard, wait for it to die (usually within seconds of falling into idle), attempt a start on the old battery, that failing - connect the new one and see if it fires. If it does, the voltage while cranking is too low to get reliable spark. A relay sending voltage straight from the battery to the coil is also something that cannot do harm.
The end result is still that I have been having ignition trouble with this car since day one, it is time for computerized crank fire. But that takes some time to build, so that will be next season...
Tom Bradley
|Unless you are a musician, setting the idle by ear is probably not that reliable. The best way I found to check this is by recording and analyzing the exhaust note. I used a microphone connected to my lap top and Audacity software (free!). 1000RPM = 16.7 CPS or 60mS between pulses. An added benefit is that you can see the missing pulses when the engine misfires. If the missing pulses are always a multiple of 4 apart, then it is one particular cylinder that is misfiring. In that case it could be one unreliable spark plug, wire, Dellorto channel or even the distributor cap. The distributor cap in particular was not designed for the kind of voltages produced by electronic ignitions. Mine tended to go bad fairly often. I ended up coating the outside of mine with clear epoxy to get it more reliable.
The jumper wire between the battery and the coil does not have to be anything fancy. I just used a test wire and alligator clips. There really is not that much current flowing in that circuit.
Rather than switch batteries when the car dies, you might try connecting jumper cables to another car and see if that does the trick. Much faster.
Frank Schwartz
|On my son's JH, we found that replacing the distributor cap made a world of difference..we watched the engine in the dark and could actually see a spark on the distributor cap..replacing it worked great....also on another car I worked on recently (JH) I never could get the idle set right and it turns out that one cylinder had zilch compression and it turns out it had a burned exhaust valve...remove all plugs..check compression on each cylinder. And your battery was bought in 06?? or is six years old??? Try a new battery...just assuming it works even if it is old is useless...
Let us know
Frank Schwartz
|Another thought...the vacuum retard unit on the distributor is usually bad , and if connected to the system allows air to be sucked in and is not good. Block off the vacuum line going to this appendage and it helps.
|There may be (probably is?) multiple issues here. The alternator needs a checkup, the battery replacement and so on so forth.
Thanks for the reminder on distributor cap and rotor, they may well be heavily scorched by now. Note to self: Always the simple things first... My DD (a Vanagon on Megasquirt) eats rotors and caps, probably since it is running optimal coil charge at all loads and speeds. I don't know how old the cap is in this engine, but I have never changed it. Shame it's such a PITA to get to...
The battery was made in 06, so ten years old, will be replaced as a matter of course. Thought of the jumper cables after I posted, whatever is easier is debatable, really depending on how many cars I have to move to get a battery within jumplead reach. The yard does not have much space left unused.
I'm only a hobby musician, playing 15-20 gigs with a jazz big band every year. Is that musician enough for you? :-) Good idea on the sound analysis though, I can tell if all cylinders are running, but until it starts shaking I can't really tell they are running unevenly. Haven't sensitized myself to that sound pattern, I guess. To see the power of sensitizing, pick some artifact and have someone show you an example of when it is bad. Good candidates are end-of-roll markers on film shown 7 seconds before the end of the roll, and MPEG artifacts on TV. Once you start seeing them, you can never go back to not seeing them. But that was an aside.
At least I know I don't have any vacuum leaks in the distributor. It has no vacuum connections, it's a 43D. Makes for lousy fuel economy, but at least it has mechanical advance.
|Well, some seller on Ebay just got an order for a tune-up kit. I don't need the points and condenser, but is was £9.50for the lot, can live with that.
Jim Ketcham
|I had a similar problem in one of my JHs. When the car was warmed up it would die and not start again until it cooled. In my case I eventually found it to be a faulty rotor. It appears that their are substandard rotors on the market where the rivet is too close to the contact and eventually shorts out under high temp conditions. This has been documented fairly well (Google it). I bought a couple of rotors from the guy that sells "red rotor" and that appears to have solved the problem ( been running well for 2 years now). The good news is it's a low cost, easy thing to eliminate. I unfortunately did not discover it until I replaced my Petronix, Coil, plug wires, plugs...
Good luck,
|Again, the simple things first, Jim. It's so easy to forget, one starts chasing the expensive bits before checking basics. Crossing my fingers here, having an intermittent runner is worse than a non-runner.
|Got to the dizzy last night, as the adverts say "some (dis)assembly required"...
Dizzy cap didn't look too bad, have seen a lot worse scorching than that. Not quite sure what that grey, greasy substance is, though.
Rotor, with a rivet. Could this be the smoking gun?
Reviewing the history of my ownership, the ignition situation has been deteriorating since I first installed that engine. I was having problems with stalling, then restarting. Since I was running a resistor coil and points, and jumping the resistor made it start easily I assumed the problem was that the bypass circuit in the starter just had failed.
The points and resistor coil were then replaced with a Pertronix and a 12V coil, and things were well again - for a while.
|You mentioned the coil is too hot to hold for any period of time, either there is increased resistance in the circuit (plugs/gaps, dizzy cap gaps, lead starting to beakdown) or the coil resistance has gone to pot. I've got a lucas gold and it gets a slightly warm, max. Have you tried swapping the coil out?
Last edited on 05-11-2016 01:54 pm by UKJames
|60 degrees after 45 minutes shouldn't be an issue, the inlet manifold was much hotter.
|Back from an hour mixed-traffic testing, not a misfire in sight after replacing rotor and dizzy cap with fresh (and rivet-less) items. Grand sum total for fix: 16£
|The cheap fixes are always the most satisfying! Glad you got it sorted.
|Still working and rapidly building confidence, not scared of city traffic anymore.
The more I think about it, the more likely is it that the problem was building ever since I installed the engine. Really happy that it looks like it's fixed.
Has anyone rebuilt a Smiths voltage gauge, btw? Mine is reading all over the place.
|No idea about reconditioning the gauge or even where you would source parts if they were needed. New ones are availability from Merlin in the UK if you are stuck.
|I've not delved into the inner workings of a volt gauge but have managed to bring back to life the tach and fuel sender, it is probably a fairly simple mechanism, a good clean and reassembly may well do the trick?
Tom Bradley
|Before replacing or rebuilding the voltage gauge, you might want to check the ground connections on the back of the instrument panel. Loose connections turned out to be the problem back when I had jumpy gauges. The way the ground was connected on mine was pretty sloppy and unreliable.
|Doesn't sound unlikely, actually. It seems to read right right after starting up, reading 1-1.5V low after a while.
Edit: missing half a sentence
Last edited on 06-06-2016 08:17 pm by subwoofer
|I don't think there is much that even can be rebuilt on the gauge. For what it's worth, I do have one I pulled out of my bits car. I can test it to see how it reads and if it passes, I'm sure we can work something out.
|Not really a priority, knowing it reads wrong after a while is ok, may look into it after rewiring the car, or it may have to give up the space for an oil temp gauge instead. Much more useful info really.
|Finally got to the bottom of the misfire problem, it did reoccur but only after quite some time driving. It would idle just fine, then suddenly give up the ghost and die, just as if it was a fueling issue.
The solution was simple, again cheap, again ignition related. I won't get into details, but I suddenly saw my timing light go dark when it stumbled. Turns out the Pertronix Ignitor-II has an undervoltage lockout feature, so the ignition module was actually shutting down at idle as the module warmed up. Connected as per instructions (red wire to + on coil) the voltage drop through the ignition switch, tach, crummy old wiring, compounded by the hotter coil was enough that it would just go into shutdown when the rpms were low enough that the alternator wasn't really charging. One misfire or stumble could be all it took.
I really think I solved it this time.


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I found everything useful. Stages of development, trajectories, predictors especially. This was one of the best courses I have attended as it deals directly with the problems my team encounters on a daily basis when working with young people. All in all, an excellent course. Ross Woodfield, Young Person's Worker, Inroads.
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Booklet - excellent. Exercises to reinforce learning. Being inspired to do some thinking about these issues. The trainer was very good at explaining very difficult concepts and there was lots of good groupwork and discussion. Thank you so much for the two days. It has been so useful and thought provoking. You have helped us to understand a huge wealth of material in an accessible way. Julie Coulthard, Drug Education Consultant, Bristol City Council
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Peer-Reviewed Articles
6. Joshua Tschantret. 2019. "Honor and Terrorism: Cultural Origins of the Lethality of Terrorist Attacks." Forthcoming at Social Science Quarterly. [PDF]
5. Joshua Tschantret. 2019. "Nuclear Legitimacy: Why Insurgents Seek and Destroy Nuclear Technology." Forthcoming at Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. [PDF]
4. Joshua Tschantret. 2019. "Revolutionary Homophobia: Explaining State Repression of Sexual Minorities." Forthcoming at British Journal of Political Science. [PDF] [Appendix]
3. Joshua Tschantret. 2019. "The Old Terrorism: A Dataset, 1860–1969." International Interactions 45(5). [PDF] [Appendix]
2. Joshua Tschantret. 2018. "Cleansing the Caliphate: Insurgent Violence against Sexual Minorities." International Studies Quarterly 62(2). [PDF] [Appendix]
1. Joshua Tschantret. 2018. "Repression, Opportunity, and Innovation: The Evolution of Terrorism in Xinjiang, China." Terrorism and Political Violence 20(4). [PDF]


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If you are interested in broadening your Filofax collection to include accessories, here's a recommendation for you: the Finsbury wallet (purse). I've been wanting a pink one for a long time, and discovered it's on its way out. So I knew I had to grab it fast! I found it on the Filofax France website for half off, and delivery to the UK was fast and reasonably priced. Click here for the product page.
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7 comments:
Laurie this is beautiful (and would match my personal and mini finsburys). However I need to use a bigger wallet to be functional! I enjoyed drooling over the pictures though....... as vacuous as that may make me look. hahaReplyDelete
CB you're in luck! ;D They make a larger version:ReplyDelete
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Non Steve!! But all I need to do is check the equivalent on Filofax uk!ReplyDelete
The Adelphi purse is also stunning.
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Even more treats have landed on Fig & Cherry's desk! At this rate, I doubt I'll feel like indulging in any chocolate on Easter Day, but how can I care while I'm shovelling macarons down my gob?
These little beauties are from Baroque Bistro Patisserie on George St in Sydney and are the three newest flavours to launch for the Winter season.
Chai ($2.50): delicately spiced and filled with Valrhona 'Tenariva' milk chocolate ganache – these were my favourite of the bunch.
Chestnut & Pear ($2.50): Poire William liqueur and fresh pear filled with crushed chestnut butter cream – the butter cream was totally lick-able and the colour was a surprise. Perhaps the liqueur is red?
Black Truffle: Flavoured with Black Perigord truffles and filled with white Callebaut chocolate ganache – for serious macaron connoisseurs only, it's rich, rich, rich!
Available from June 1st – sorry you have to wait almost
a whole month two months to taste them! (Thanks to Joey for pointing out in the comments that I totally forgot about the month of May. Lol.)
Don't worry, they're worth it.
I'd love for you to drop by again and let me know what you think, chat to you then.
Disclosure: Fig & Cherry received these macarons with compliments from Wasamedia and Baroque Bistro Patisserie.


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Thursday, October 02, 2008
Embrace Life
Genesis 1:1-2:3[1]
Some of you know that I planned on starting a sermon series today on the topic "Embrace Your Life." In light of the events of the last 10 days, I must confess that I wondered whether I should go ahead with my plan. What I realized is that, just as the force of a hurricane dredge up all kinds of debris from the Gulf, so the stress of displacement and disruption uncovers what we have buried within ourselves because it is too hard to face. I decided that I would go ahead with my plan—what better time to try to learn to embrace the life we have than when we're all struggling with the residue of our lives in the wake of disaster.
The idea for this series came to me from reading what I consider to be one of the great self-help books of all time. I'm referring to Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore, a Christian Psychologist. His message is that instead of the obsessive pursuit of "Your Best Life Now," or a "Better You," the best way to find true happiness in life is to embrace life as it is, with all its wonderful complexity: good and bad, joy and sadness, pleasure and pain, fulfillment and disappointment.[2]
Moore uses ancient myths to make the point that we don't find fulfillment in life by trying to "make" it better. Stories like the "Odyssey" or "Tristan and Isolde" remind us that we don't find happiness by trying to get rid of whatever is causing us pain or frustration or discouragement. Rather, our "problems" become the means of motivating us in the very ways that make life more joyful, peaceful, and fulfilled. [3]
The ancient stories help us remember that life is wonderfully complex. There is a bewildering diversity about it. There is a frightening unpredictability about it. Behind every cloud is a silver lining, but behind every "silver lining" is also a cloud of darkness that we would rather not have to face.[4] Love includes the joy of being intimate with another human being as well as the pain of distance and the sadness of bereavement.[5] Work can be incredibly stimulating and it can also be numbing in its boredom.[6] Then there are families—many of us are positively frantic to escape the influence of our families, only to discover that we might as well try to escape from our own shadow![7]
Moore argues that the ancient wisdom about life depicts life as a tapestry that includes both light and darkness, both joy and pain, both happiness and sadness.[8] Trying to remove those threads that don't fit our schemes only unravels our lives. A different approach is to step back and learn to recognize the beauty of the whole fabric of life—all of life, life just as it is. Those threads and colors and patterns that we initially want to remove or change may in fact lead us to a deeper appreciation of life in all it's complexity—and therefore become the source of joy and fulfillment in life that is more complete and lasting.
I would suggest this is also the wisdom of the Bible regarding our lives. Our fundamental Bible stories also encourage us to embrace life in all its imperfection. The stories of Creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Abraham and Sarah and their family help us to appreciate the beauty of life—which includes both "good" and "bad." The story of Creation is where it all begins in the Bible. Though it is doubtful that it is the first story to have been written in the Bible, the Creation story serves as a basis for much of the way we view our world and our lives.
Other creation stories of that time portrayed the deities as capricious and malicious. Creation was intended only to serve their every whim. Human existence was an afterthought or even a nuisance to the gods.[9] In stark contrast, Genesis reveals a God who broods over creation like an artist over a great painting or sculpture.[10] The idea here is that what comes from this intense creative work is something that is beautiful and of immense value to the artist.[11]
And the result of this creative brooding is not only a world that is ordered according to the Creator's design, but also an incredible diversity of life in all colors and shapes and sizes! The waters of the deep are instructed to "swarm with an abundance of living beings" (Gen. 1:20, Inclusive Bible)! The earth is to bring forth "plants that scatter their own seeds and every kind of fruit tree that bears fruit with its own seed in it," along with "all kinds of wild animals, and cattle, and everything that crawls on the ground" (Gen. 1:24). And at the end of it all, "God looked at all of this creation, and proclaimed that this was good—very good" (Gen. 1:31, Inclusive Bible).
When we look at the world of nature today what do we see? Do we see a thing that can be used to benefit us? Or a beautiful web of life that includes us along with all nature? Many look at the world of nature and ask why God would have created so many different kinds of living creatures—there are over a million identified species of insects! A scientific answer might point to the way the great "circle of life" is deeply connected. A more biblical answer might simply suggest that God created such diversity because it was necessary to make creation "very good"!
One of the most important lessons from the story of Creation is that our obsessive compulsion to change everything, to "make" everything into something else (more appealing, more attractive, more profitable, etc.) fails to recognize the inherent beauty in all of creation.[12] The biblical view of creation is that God has filled everything with life and beauty. An outlook that is consistent with this not only views all of creation with reverence, but also sees beauty in everything and everyone.[13] The Bible's story of creation encourages us to say, "Everything is beautiful, in its own way!"[14] It encourages us to embrace our life just as it is, with all its wonderful complexity.
[1] © 2008 Alan Brehm. A sermon preached by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 9/21/08 at First Presbyterian Church, Dickinson, TX and at A Community of the Servant-Savior Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX.
[2] Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul, xii, xvi-xvii, 4, 14.f
[3] Moore, Care of the Soul, xv, 9-10, 16, 18-21.
[4] Cf. Moore, Care of the Soul, 16-17.
[5] Cf. Moore, Care of the Soul, 89.
[6] Cf. Moore, Care of the Soul, 180-89.
[7] Cf. Moore, Care of the Soul, 26-27, 31-32.
[8] Cf. Moore, Care of the Soul, xix, 19.
[9] Cf. Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, 12-13, 24-25; G. Wenham, Genesis 1-15, Word Biblical Commentary, xlv-liii; cf. also Jürgen Moltmann, God in Creation, 72-73; Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 3.1.89-90, 243-44.
[10] cf. Gen. 1:2, The Inclusive Bible: "the Spirit of God was brooding over the surface of the waters." Some scholars would interpret "Spirit" here as a great wind! Jürgen Moltmann argues that in a very real sense the Spirit of God still broods over creation—"Everything that is, exists and lives in the unceasing inflow of the energies and potentialities of the cosmic Spirit. … Through the energies and potentialities of the Spirit, the Creator is himself present in his creation." Cf. Moltmann, God in Creation, 9; cf. also ibid., 10-16, 96, 99-100, 258. Contrast Barth, Dogmatics, 3.1.56-59, 106-110, who insists that it is the "Word" that brings creation out of the "formless and void" chaos of the primeval world, whereas the Spirit "hovers and broods over it impotently because wordlessly" (p. 108)!
[11] Cf. Brueggemann, Genesis, 36-37; cf. also Moltmann, God in Creation, 75-76, where he presents creation as the communication of God's love, and therefore the communication of God's goodness to his creation.
[12] Cf. Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul, 277-280; he defines beauty (p. 279) as "the quality in things that invites absorption and contemplation"; i.e., beauty is a source of imagination that allows us to appreciate the sacred in everything around us.
[13]Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Source of Life: The Holy Spirit and the Theology of Life, 48-50.
[14] Ray Stevens, "Everything is Beautiful," Barnaby Records, 1970.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Rule Number One
Some of the most memorable lines come from films that are entirely forgettable. In the "Karate Kid" series, a boy named Daniel is "adopted" by a kind Japanese man named Mr. Miyagi, who teaches him Karate as a means of helping Daniel learn to stand on his own two feet and choose the right path in life. At one point, Mr. Miyagi takes Daniel to his family dojo, where there are only 2 rules to learn: "Rule number one—Karate is for defense only; rule number two—first learn rule number one." In some ways our lesson from Romans today reminds me of that line—"Rule number one" is and always has been to love God with all your heart and to love others as you love yourself. After all that Paul has said about God and the Gospel, it seems like where he winds up is "Rule number two: first learn rule number one!"
We've covered a lot of ground over the last few months as we've worked our way through Paul's letter to the Romans.
· We've looked at faith as trust in God's love that never gives up on us.
· We've seen God's grace as God's great "Yes!" to all humankind.
· We've caught a glimpse of what God is about in this world—to restore us all and the entire created order to our rightful place in relationship to Christ.
· We've heard the good news that Jesus the Christ died and rose again to set us free from everything that would bind or oppress or destroy us to enjoy a life that is full of living hope, lasting joy, and genuine love.
· We've heard that when we encounter God's grace and God's constant love in the new life we have through our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, we are changed in such a thorough way that there is no going back.
And after covering the whole sweep of "salvation history," in effect Paul comes back to the heart of what God has been about from the very beginning—a "rule number one": love God and love others. At the conclusion of all our theology and preaching, all our spirituality and worship, we come right back to where it all started:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deut. 6:5) and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18).
Although the subtle truths of the Gospel can be deep and complex for us to grasp, this is not hard for us to grasp at all. That's why Paul says the one who loves others fulfills the whole of God's Law, God's torah, God's truth.
But the real question, and where the difficulty comes in, is how we actually carry out the commandment to love others. You've all heard the saying, "We have to love other people but we don't have to like them." I think that betrays a fundamental misunderstanding about the kind of life that God has asked of us from time immemorial.
What does it mean to love another person in the way the Scriptures have taught us from the earliest days? Paul says it means that love does no harm to others (Rom. 13:10). In a sense, he echoes the famous Rabbi Hillel, who summarized the whole of torah in a kind of "negative golden rule": "What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah. The rest is explanation." Sounds a bit like "first learn rule number one"!
Jesus echoed the same idea in his version of the "golden rule": "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Matt. 7:12). In effect he says to treat other people the way you want them to treat you. And Jesus said this "sums up" the whole of the "law and the prophets." Again, it sounds a bit like "first learn rule number one"!
One of the interesting features of the Reformed tradition is the way in which our Confessions spell out what that looks like in very specific terms.
For example, in the Heidelberg Catechism of 1562, loving your neighbor as yourself is defined in terms of showing "patience, peace, gentleness, mercy, and friendliness" to all, even your enemies (Heid Cat 4.107)! It means to "work for the good of my neighbor wherever I can and may" (4.111), and "to defend and promote my neighbor's good name" (4.112). In the Westminster Shorter Catechism of 1647 it means to have "a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor" (Shorter Cat 7.080). [2]
So what does it look like in our day and time to go back to "rule number one"? I think, in the most basic sense, loving others means respecting others as human beings and treating them with dignity—the dignity of one who is created in the image of God and made the object of God's love.[3] In a very real way it means doing what it takes to promote the well-being of another person. But at the end of the day, "The imitation of
[1] © 2008 Alan Brehm. A sermon preached by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 9/7/08 at First Presbyterian Church, Dickinson, TX and at A Community of the Servant-Savior Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX.
[2] For further examples in various aspects of life, see Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 163-189; 282-288 and Hans Küng, The
[3] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life, 255: it means combining, "respect for the other person's freedom" to be an individual "with deep affection for him or her as a person." See also ibid., 258, where he says, "the basic law of the community of
[4] Luke T. Johnson, Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospel, 201; Moltmann, Church in the Power, 278, calls this "a life in accordance with the gospel of Christ." Cf. also ibid., 283-84.
Redeeming Evil
I think a person has to go through life with "eyes wide shut" not to recognize that we live in a world in which evil is very real. All I have to do to demonstrate the reality of evil in this world is to simply mention Auschwitz and Buchenwald,
Our tendency is to resist evil; we want to take the side of the victims and rush to their protection. But Jesus said clearly that we are not to resistevil, but to redeem evil. I think his words reflect the wisdom that when you respond to evil with force, you only increase the evil. Resisting evil in this way perpetuates the "vicious circles of death" that continually spin downward in a hopeless spiral of exploitation, violence, hatred, and destruction.[2] It is impossible to avoid the truth that fighting fire with fire leads inevitably to the point where we become what we are fighting.
I think what Jesus and Paul are trying to get across to us is that evil can only be defeated by being absorbed. Only a love that is willing to suffer has the power to overcome evil and redeem it.[3] There is no other way to solve the problem of evil in this world! Only the willingness to respond to hostility with peace, to respond to hatred with forgiveness, can redeem evil. That is precisely the response God has made to evil in Jesus Christ. As Frederick Buechner says, "Christianity … ultimately offers no theoretical solution [to the problem of evil]. It merely points to the cross and says that, practically speaking, there is no evil so dark and so obscene—not even this—but that God can turn it to good."[4]
You may remember that we heard something similar from the Apostle Peter just a few weeks ago. You may remember he said, "Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing" (1 Pet. 3:9). And he said that as we do that we are following in the footsteps Jesus left for us: "When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten" (1 Pet. 2:23). There is a clear consensus in the NT about our calling to respond to evil with kindness and gentleness, with love and mercy.
In a very real sense it is the attitude reflected in the Prayer of St. Francis:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not seek so much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.[5]
I think that's what Jesus meant when he said those who want to follow him would have to take up their cross. He wasn't talking about the burdens of life, as in a "cross to bear." Rather he was calling us all to follow his pattern of responding to evil by not retaliating, with love and mercy and kindness and forgiveness. "Forgive them, for they know not what they do!" That's what it means to overcome evil with good!
This may seem too hard a task for us. After all, we ourselves are just as fallen as those around us. I think one thing that can inspire us is the example of Christ—not to mention the many examples of saints throughout the ages. But I think this is where faith becomes essential. I think the only way we can redeem evil with a loving response is if we share the confidence that that "nothing evil is permitted to occur that God does not bend finally to the good."[6] I think we can only take up our crosses if we know that "God's light is more real than all the darkness, that God's truth is more powerful than all human lies, that God's love is stronger than death."[7] It is not an easy task, but we can overcome evil by redeeming it because we trust that, as Frederick Buechner says, "Though all is far from right with any world you and I know anything about, … all will be right at last."[8]
[1] © 2008 Alan Brehm. A sermon preached by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 8/31/08 at First Presbyterian Church, Dickinson, TX and at A Community of the Servant-Savior Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX.
[2] Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God, 293, 301-303, 329-335; cf. also Walter Wink, The Powers that Be, 39.
[3] Jürgen Moltmann, "Love and Sorrow," in The Gospel of Liberation, 74-75; cf. also Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 284.
[4] Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, 24.
[5] See Leonardo Boff, The Prayer of Saint Francis: A Message of Peace for the World Today.
[6] The Study Catechism, 1998; cf. also Stephen Shoemaker, GodStories, 67: it is "the stubborn faith that there is no evil dark enough that God somehow, someway, sometime cannot redeem." See further Paul Tillich, "The Meaning of Providence," in The Shaking of the Foundations.
[7] Henri Nouwen, Here and Now, 32.
[8] Frederick Buechner, The Clown in the Belfry, 113.
New Life in a Fallen World
Almost thirty years ago I went off to college as a very young "ministerial student." I didn't really know much of anything about anything, but I wanted to study the Bible. One of the things the college I attended did with young ministerial students like me was to have us undergo pretty extensive testing. And one of the "tests" was to rank the activities of the church in order of importance. At the ripe age of 18, I think I ranked worship pretty close to last!
In fact, one of great principles of the Reformed Faith is that our "chief duty" before God is to worship. Now if by "worship" we mean going to church services, that might sound pretty ridiculous. But I think what I failed to grasp as a young man—and what many still fail to grasp—is that "worship" includes much more than what we do on Sunday! In a very real sense, when we truly understand what God is about in our lives, we cannot escape the realization that all of life is our "worship."[2]
That's Paul's point in our lesson for today from Romans. Paul has covered a lot of ground explaining his gospel—a gospel that consists of the promise that because of Jesus' death and resurrection we all have new life, a life that truly is life.[3] Paul has gone to great lengths to elaborate the good news that God has determined from all eternity to be the God who has mercy on us all.[4] Was all that really just to give us something to talk about in church? Was it all just to inspire great poets to compose beautiful hymns? Don't get me wrong—I love the beauty of worship. But that's not all there is to it. In fact, as Paul presents it, that's not even the primary point!
Paul insists that the wonderful Good News of God's grace and love carries with it a summons, a call, a claim on our lives—everything about our lives.[5] The primary point of worship, according to
Paul goes on to explain what this looks like: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God" (Rom. 12:2). On the surface of things, it's relatively easy to understand what Paul is talking about. We live in a world that is a fallen place, a society that operates based on principles that are not only contrary to God's grace but in fact positively resist a life defined by God's grace. It doesn't take a Ph. D. to recognize that!
But the difficulty comes in the doing of it! So what makes the difference between "conforming" and being "transformed"? I think Karl Barth is right when he suggests that it's a humble recognition that we are all fallen—and we are fallen in every aspect of our lives. And the word he uses for it is repentance.[8] I think we will have to agree that one of the fruits of a genuine encounter with God is the humble recognition that we share all the same problems that we see in everyone around us. And when we humbly recognize that, it has to make a difference in the way we live.
But I think there's another factor here. Humble repentance is important, but if that's the only distinction to the Christian faith it seems a bit gloomy! I think it's essential to recognize that the message of God's unconditional love, God's all-inclusive grace, and God's irrevocable acceptance inspires in us a deep sense of joy![9] Yes, I said joy. I realize that we may not be used to associating the words "joy" and "worship." But joy is one of the most important sources of the kind of worship in all of life that Paul is talking about.
Joy comes from recognizing that, already in this fallen world, we experience at least a taste of the new creation that God is working toward.[10] And I think that we are fooling ourselves if we fail to recognize that joy is one of the most important ways in which we can live our faith, we can practice our worship, in this fallen world. While humble repentance is important, the kind of transformation of all of life that Paul has in mind here can only be motivated by joy!
[1] © 2008 Alan Brehm. A sermon preached by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 8/24/08 at First Presbyterian Church, Dickinson, TX and at A Community of the Servant-Savior Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX.
[2] Karl Barth, Epistle to the Romans, 426-36.
[3] See Hans Küng, The Christian Challenge: A Shortened Version of On Being a Christian, 146, 285-86, 312.
[4] Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 2.2: 28-29, 53-54, 218-19, 221, 223, 232, 259; cf. also Jürgen Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom, 53, 151.
[5] Barth, Romans, 207-8: "Grace … is the indicative which carries with it a categorical imperative" that we should live our entire lives to fulfill the prayer, "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"; cf. ibid., 211, 220-22, 234; see further, Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.3, 510.
[6] See David Peterson, "Worship and Ethics in Romans 12," Tyndale Bulletin 44 (1993): 271-88; cf. especially 275, where he says that "spiritual worship" should be translated "understanding worship," meaning "the worship which is consonant with the truth of the gospel."
[7] Barth, Romans, 431: "The problem of 'ethics' is … identical with the problem of 'dogmatics': Soli Deo Gloria!"
[8] Barth, Romans, 436-37: he defines repentance as the "affirmation of the full ambiguity of our temporal existence."
[9] Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 109, says that new life in Christ is to be "celebrated as the feast of freedom, as joy in existence and as the ecstasy of bliss."
[10] Cf. Moltmann, Church in the Power, 279.
Random Kindness?
Thirty-five years ago, Karl Menninger, the man whose very name was once synonymous with Psychiatry, wrote a book with a strange title: "Whatever Became of Sin?" In it, Dr. Menninger outlined his thesis that we have gradually eliminated what was once known as "sin"—first by redefining it as a "crime" for which the state was responsible, and then redefining it again as an "illness" for which nobody is responsible![2]
And yet, with all due respect to Dr. Menninger, we do have some notion of sin.[3] We see giant corporations reaping huge profits while the buying power of the average consumer goes down the drain, and we call that "sin." We see governments forcibly imposing their will on other nations and we call it "sin." We see people indiscriminately pursuing sexual satisfaction to the destruction of others and even themselves and we call it "sin." "Sin" is what other people do—whether it's financial or political or sexual, "sin" inevitably concerns "them."
I think one reason why we don't like St. Paul telling us that we've all sinned is that we'd much rather focus on someone else's sin. But there's that pesky Apostle, telling us yet again that we've all sinned. He does it in our lesson from Romans this week right in the middle of making the point that all those who are now seemingly "excluded" God will include in the benefits of salvation! Paul says, "God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all" (Rom. 11:32). That language offends us. What kind of a God "imprisons" people in disobedience? But once again it's easy to miss the point Paul is trying to make: the reality is that we've all imprisoned ourselves in our own disobedience, and God works to include us all in mercy!
Again, I like the way Gene Peterson puts it in The Message: "In one way or another, God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside so that he can personally open the door and welcome us back in." When you read Paul's statement in that light, you can see that the emphasis is on all. Yes, Paul wants to remind us that we've all fallen into the trap of sin, we've all wandered into the prison of disobedience. But we have to understand what Paul means by "disobedience." "Disobedience" is first and foremost dis-belief, un-faith, the unwillingness to respond to God's gift and claim with trust. Beyond that, "Disobedience" in this context doesn't mean standing up for a different point of view (as in civil disobedience), it's going our own way regardless of the consequences to ourselves or others. "Disobedience" here is not a courageous refusal to be coerced by the powerful, it is indulging in the satisfaction of our own desires at the expense of others. "Disobedience" is not simply accidentally failing to follow the rules, it's willfully doing what is destructive to oneself and/or others. And Paul insists over and over again, that we have all fallen short, we have all given in to the temptation of indifference toward others, or to the opposite temptation of using others for some form of self-gratification.
But what he insists on with even more conviction is that in response to our disobedience, God works to extend mercy to us all, to include us all in the embrace of salvation. God's plan is to see to it that we all may enjoy the free gift of new life. And Paul says that this happens because of God's grace (
God's kindness may be undeserved—by us all—but it really isn't a random in any way. In fact, God's kindness is very intentional: God has determined from all eternity to be the God has mercy on us all! God deliberately chose to include everyone—especially those who seem to have been excluded. That's what Isaiah the prophet had said long before Paul:
And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, … these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of
God's purpose is about inclusion, not exclusion. That's always been true. God called Abram and Sarah, not just to single out one family, but in order to "bless all the families of the earth" (Gen. 12:3). What God chooses—always has chosen and always will choose—is to extend kindness to us all![5]
[1] © 2008 Alan Brehm. A sermon preached by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 8/17/08 at First Presbyterian Church, Dickinson, TX and at A Community of the Servant-Savior Presbyterian Church, Houston, TX.
[2] That this continues to be an issue 35 years later can be seen in Norman L. Keltner, "Whatever became of Sin? Revisiting Menninger's Question," Perspectives in Psychiatric Care July-Sept 2005.
[3] Cf. David H. Kelsey, "Whatever Happened to the Doctrine of Sin?" Theology Today 50 (July, 1993): 169-78.
[4] Cf. D. Mark Davis, "The Centrality of Wonder in Paul's Soteriology" Interpretation 60 (October 2006): 415, "when Paul tries to communicate the mystery that, in Christ, God is fulfilling the covenant to both Jew and Gentile, Paul is pointing to a grace which lies beyond both comprehension and language."
[5] cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 2.2: 232, "the end and aim of all God's ways … is the act of His free mercy"; cf. also 2.2: 259.


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Laurentiu Rebega: 2019 Will Be A Complicated Year for Europe, Change Is Coming Mr. Juncker
Guest post by Laurentiu Rebega – member of the European Parliament for Romania
On the 1st of January 2019 the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union was taken over by Romania.
This seems to be a cause of concern for many Brussels officials and the liberal mainstream media because, since its accession in 2007, my country has been labelled the "black sheep" of the Union.
Those concerned, have, of course, some objective reasons to be concerned, including the poor state of the economy and the weak performance of the teams that have paraded through the government.
But the critical point is the bizarre political system in Romania, which has led to the fact that, since 2005, the President and Prime Minister belong to opposite political camps.
The effect has been a nearly permanent political blockage of any and everything.
The struggle between the two power poles in Romania on ways resembles the current situation in the United States, where the new Democrat majority in the House of Representatives seeks to block the Trump Administration, using absolutely any reason or pretext.
Romania is not a big and powerful country like the United States.
In the Romanian elections, the probability of foreign interference is very significant, but no one has ever dared to investigate it. We have no Special Council to assemble a grand jury.
For this reason, many Romanian politicians prefer to listen to suggestions coming from foreign distant chancelleries (Brussels, Berlin and Moscow) instead of listening to the wishes and dissatisfaction of their own citizens.
2019 is an electoral year in the European Union.
In May, Members of the European Parliament will be elected, and in autumn the new Commission, which is actually the EU executive, will be constituted.
In the past ten years, Brussels's power has been the result of a tight agreement between the two major European parties: EPP (center-right) and S & D (center-left).
This "big coalition" followed, in fact, the pattern applied in Germany by Merkel's own Chancellery. It is the German solution!
In other words, European problems and, above all, the nationalist reaction in many countries stem from imposing this rigid inflexible German model of hegemony in Europe.
These past days have been marked by Jean Claude Juncker's remark – the President of the Commission, who suggested that Romania "would not be prepared to take over the presidency of the EU Council "
In fact, there was a diplomatic nuance to his insulting remark:
Romania would be well-prepared "technically" but would not be able to give a "political impetus" to the Union over the next six months when the all-important Brexit dossier has to be managed and the budget for the next financial term has to be adopted.
In fact, it was not Jean Claude Juncker who spoke, but the electoral interests behind him.
For whom will the Romanians actually vote in five months?
Obviously, with the one who will politically capitalize the presidency of the Council!
But the political polarization in Romania means that the summit meetings in the next semester will be chaired by the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Juncker's political ally, while the ministerial meetings, where actual details are set, will be handled by the members of the Romanian Government, an opponent of the President and, implicitly, of Jean Claude Juncker himself.
After all, what Juncker says about Romania's ability to lead the EU Council is equivalent to saying that you can "drive" a roller coaster car. Regardless of who gets in the car, the path and the speed are predetermined, and the person in charge is the guy standing on the ground and pressing the buttons.
Those in the car can shout, have fun, be frightened, but they are simple participants in a game where the only real problem is the resistance of the infrastructure.
Therefore, the problem is whether the current institutional structure of the European Union can still support the discretionary policies of large member states, while ignoring the mood and citizens' dissatisfaction.
Today Europe is dissenting from East to West and from North to South!
The EU itself must change or it will cease to exist.
In a way, the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council is an experiment: if it ends well, the merits will go to the current European mainstream political leadership; if it is a failure, the fault will belong to the corrupt and irresponsible Romanian politicians.
Unfortunately, we live a historical moment in which old policies and old parties, whether right or left, have lost both the ability to lead and innovate, as well as the connections with the people—their citizens.
However, I believe that regardless the slick political maneuvers in Brussels, the European elections of 2019 will mark a profound and deep change involving close ties with the people's will.
Mark the date; change is coming Mr. Juncker.
Populism across Europe is on the rise and it will not be abated.
Laurantiu Rebega is a member of the European Union Parliament from Romania
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Don't panic! It's just a cheese, but as the name suggests, it's pretty powerful.
Black Bomber Extra Mature Cheddar Cheese is a moreish blend of rich, sharp flavours and has a smooth creaminess on the palate.
It's creamy and sharp, but balanced with a certain sweetness.
Surprisingly creamy cheddar, with added depth.
The infusion of Guinness elevates the cheddar and makes it ever so moreish.
Eye-catching and mouth-watering Irish goodness.
The only all black cheddar cheese…
Deliciously creamy mature cheddar, blended with Yorkshire charcoal.
A great talking point for any dinner party.
Aged 18 months with a seriously nutty and earthy flavour.
Stemming from the rich mountain pastures of the Franche-Comte region.
The aftertaste is slightly more bitter, insanely moreish and really well rounded.
This Gruyere sets itself apart with its intensely nutty and buttery character.
Having matured for at least 10 months, this Gruyère AOP has a more assertive and intensely aromatic character.
A tangy and intense farmhouse cheddar, with a distinct fresh citrus bite.
Tangy and rich, this extra-matured, unpasteurised Cheddar wakes up even the most drab of cheese boards.
Luxuriously creamy, strong and sharp with a slight sweetness and a touch of acid.
The bombs have a full flavoured taste that leaves you wanting more.
The Lancashire Bomb is presented in a traditional black wax.
This fruity, sweet ewe's milk cheese will have your mouth watering.
A hard, brittle cheese with a surprising moistness. The flavour yields a grassy, tangy after-note.
Manchego has a beautifully intricate, but inedible rind.
Classic and brilliant.
Initially sharp, packing fruity and salty flavours then mellowing to a deep buttery finish.
This crystalline, grainy textured cheese has a beautifully strong and full aroma.
From a sweet and grassy aroma, to a crumbly texture, this cheese will definitely have you coming back for second helpings.
Ribblesdale Mature is nutty, fruity and has a slightly caramelised milk flavour, while closer to the rind it becomes more 'goaty' and rounded – but always balanced.
Slightly tart with a gentle sweetness. Creamy and milky.
King Richard III is a traditional, cloth-bound, cows' milk cheese that's moist and creamy, with a honeyed flavour and lower acidity than modern, mass-produced Wensleydale cheeses, and a world away in flavour.
When young, this cheese is clean and fresh tasting, with a mild, slightly lemony, lactic flavour that becomes honeyed.
Traditionally oak-smoked, with a smooth texture and a mild smokey flavour.
Smoked Northumberland is primarily a smooth and mellow cheese, with long-lasting overtones of smokiness.
A good place to start on a journey into artisan smoked cheese.


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Home > American Minerals – March 20 > MS1315 Woodhouseite
Woodhouseite - Sold
- Champion mine
- White Mountains
- Mono County
- California
- 6.7 by 3.1 by 3.0 cm – Small cabinet specimen (under 10 cm)
Woodhouseite is a member of the alunite group, specifically a calcium aluminum phosphate sulfate. Lemmon (1937) named the mineral in honor of Charles Douglas Woodhouse (1888-1975), professor at University of California at Santa Barbara, mineralogist and mineral collector.
This specimen was collected prior to 2008 by Chris Lehmann, a California collector. Woodhouseite here completely forms a single tablet, 6 mm across on massive white quartz. A druse of colorless quartz crystals accompanies the prominent woodhouseite crystal centered on the matrix. A large crystal for the species. This specimen has saw cuts in the backside.


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Heres a few ideas that would make mpc live super exciting
1. Probability feature for midi notes similar to the analog rytm function
2. Vinyl and tape stop fx for live perfomances this would be amazing. Just in general having the effects the roland sp404 has would be awesome not to need both pieces of gear.
3. Customize start screen for the live - I'd love to see alot less when starting the mpc live. Aesthetically would give more of an analog vibe similar to the older mpc's when in standalone mode
Mpc is great product i think minor improvements like this will help us users continue to enjoy using it as our main workstation
Help get this topic noticed by sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, or email.
Hey Shawn,
Thanks for posting!
Happy to hear you're enjoying using your MPC! If you have some ideas for the MPC workflow, please be sure to submit this as a feature request with the MPC 2 Software's built-in feedback module. The feedback module is represented by a smiley icon at the lower right side of the software next to the browser icons. This information goes directly to the Akai team for consideration!
If you need an alternative method of submitting feedback, you may use the following links:
MPC - Submit a Feature Request
MPC - Submit a Bug Report
Thanks for your feedback!
Nick, both your links go to the same page. Is it for request, bugs or both?
Hey BezO,
The pages do look the same but URLs are slightly different - one for feature, one for bug. Please select the appropriate link depending on the nature of your feedback. Thanks!
I did post it there too
just figured i'd share it here to see if anyone agreed


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Dog rage
Hong Kongers have an inexplicable fondness dogs that look like deformed obesed rats. Those short, stubby, neckless creatures with too large a head that scuttles around like sewer rats. I can't really say which of the following I hate more - thoses fucking bastards or their owners.
I refer to those owners who only take their dogs out for walks once a month (walks, mind you, not just out to take a dump), only when they feel like it, so these stupid dogs with brains the size of a peanut hardly ever gets out or have any human contact outside the 400 sq feet box that they live in. They are not trained to behave themselves, since there is no need! So, when they see kids or runners they completely freak out and start barking like mad and chasing people.
Today I saw one such creature, a particularly ugly one, being "walked" by a woman speaking on her mobile phone. The stupid dog started freaking out when it saw me running towards its direction and predictably started barking and chasing after me. What the hell was going on in that pathetic excuse for a brain? That it fucking owns the place? That I would be distasteful enough as to play with it, disgusting creature that it is? I shouted for it to piss off to no avail. The stupid owner pretended nothing was happening. I had to stop running and point my finger at it screaming at the top of my voice "GET BACK YOU STUPID DOG!" Finally it backed off.
As I went up the little hill at the end of the park, there they were again, dumb and dumber. Stupid fucker started barking and chasing again, and the stupid owner again pretended she was deaf and blind to what was going on. I yelled at the dog, and yelled at the woman "IT SHOULD BE ON A LEAD!"
I swear I will kick it's punched in face next time it barks at me. I'll kick its head in.


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City Link revives old fortunes
The urban renewal at Perth City Link is set to boost market interest in the cluster of heritage-listed buildings in the nearby north-west precinct and drive up capital values in the area.
JLL managing director John Williams said capital growth in the precinct next to Kings Square and the bigger Perth City Link - the area bounded by Hay, Milligan, Wellington and Williams streets - would occur over the next three to five years.
While the benefits of the Perth City Link and Kings Square have been well documented, Mr Williams said there had been little discussion about how the projects would affect change in the city's older precincts.
"The pocket between St Georges Terrace and Wellington Street, and abutting the Perth City Link project area, contains the highest concentration of heritage-listed buildings in the Perth CBD," he said.
"Due to its position, the area will provide a crucial thoroughfare, connecting the office district on St Georges Terrace and Northbridge's cultural and entertainment precincts."
According to Mr Williams, increased pedestrian traffic through the north-west precinct would generate private interest and create business opportunities for retail and dining.
"Ironically in this development- driven CBD economy, it will be the absence of development and large, developable land holdings in this area that will prove a significant source of value," he said.
"Sites in this precinct are typically smaller, below 1000sqm with many less than 500sqm, with fragmented ownership, so it has been difficult for developers to amalgamate sites and facilitate economic development on a large scale. This has involuntarily assisted the preservation of many of the area's heritage buildings, such as those in King and Queen Streets, as well as the Mortlock, Rechabite and Bungalow buildings on Hay Street, to name just a few."
Many of the precinct's 19th and early 20th century buildings were originally constructed for warehousing and manufacturing applications, a built form that has in the past proved difficult to repurpose and subsequently, difficult to let.
Because of low market rent levels, speculative refurbishment on most of the heritage buildings has not been viable and many of the buildings' basements and upper levels are not well used.
"It has only been in the past 10 to 15 years that some sympathetic refurbishment has been actioned, producing some unique refurbishment of office and living spaces such as the Country Road building on Murray Street, and the Butterworth buildings on Hay Street," Mr Williams said.
When the rejuvenation does begin, he said the area would be enhanced by buildings that honour traditional built form and the character and identity of the streets.
"As progress on the City Link development ramps up and the first buildings in Kings Square are completed and occupied, so too will the nearby area's appeal to occupiers," he said.
In the next three to five years, Mr Williams said stronger demand and higher rents would justify more refurbishments and help to make the area more desirable. He said the increase in property values would be a direct consequence of the increased levels of interest from occupiers.
"The end result will be an increase in potential net income, which when capitalised, will increase values."
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First Solar Is Sold Out Through 2020. Who Cares About Weak Earnings?
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First Solar stock jumped 5.8% on Friday morning as the company said it has booked so many contracts for its newest solar film that it is sold out through 2020, and 30% of its capacity is sold for 2021. That news apparently trumped the company's weak quarterly results.
First Solar (ticker: FSLR) posted a 64-cent loss, worse than analyst expectations for a 15-cent loss. Revenue also fell below expectations, coming in at $532 million, versus expectations for $586 million. High costs in the company's engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) division hurt results, so that the company's gross margin was 0%.
Editor's Choice
First Solar, based in Arizona, is the leading U.S. provider of solar film to utility companies that are installing solar. It's a hot industry, largely because several states have demanded that utilities increase the amount of power they generate from renewable sources. Its earnings, like others in the industry, can be volatile, but analysts expect it to post positive numbers for the rest of the year.
Some analysts think the company's challenges are one-time events, while the positive news in the quarter could last. The problems in engineering and construction—which contracts with power companies and others to design and build power plants and grids—included bad weather, high labor costs due to the tight labor market, and financial problems at a subcontractor. "We see these as one-time problems," wrote Cowen analyst Jeffrey Osborne. "Management overhauled the EPC team and it now reports to a different group internally." He sees the stock rising $80 from a recent $63.36. Barron's has also been bullish on the stock.
There are other positive signs. The company appears to be able to charge higher prices for its film than analysts expected, Osborne noted. And it has been able to ramp up production at some factories, another indication that First Solar will remain a central player in the solar industry.
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