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Daily Archives: September 12, 2007
A Pastoral Letter from Bishop Jeffrey Steenson to the People of St. Clement's, El Paso
The Bishop of Louisiana Offers his Thoughts
National Catholic Reporter: Anglican schism?
[Rowan Williams]… has been warning some of his colleagues, he said, that "the underlying issue is not going to go away." Acts and decisions by one province have an impact — and sometimes a cost — elsewhere, and it is "an illusion" to imagine otherwise. "If we're going to be in any sense a global communion and not just the loosest possible federation of local churches, then not only do we have to ask about primacy, we have to ask about structures of responsibility." And he detects "a very strong groundswell of opinion in many quarters" toward that conclusion.
Maybe, but the Episcopal church in the United States took no such global view when it ordained Gene Robinson to the episcopate. Indeed, the presiding bishop at the time, Frank Griswold, announced that "we thought it was a local matter." For the American Anglicans, what they have done in ordaining Robinson, according to the procedures laid down in their church's constitution, is a legitimate prophetic action in the cause of justice and human rights. They have always regarded themselves as the cutting edge of the communion, and since the foundation of their church in the wake of the American Revolution, have understood their General Convention to be juridically independent.
Williams, as always, sees both sides of the question. "I do accept that there are moments when people say, truth before unity. I understand why the Reformation happened, why in the 1930s the German church divided so violently, where the only unity that could have survived the acceptance of Hitler's racial laws was a unity which absolutely undermined the integrity of the church." He commented: "Clearly some people in the United States have seen this as that sort of moment. I don't."
A Very Important Reread–Kendall Harmon: Closing the Jim Naughton-Bishop Sisk Loophole
Welcome to the Alice in Wonderland world of "process" which so dominates the upper echelons of the leadership life of the Episcopal Church. If words COULD be interpreted in a way that does not favor the leadership's goals, they are not, but when the wording does, they are interpeted that way, restrictively. There is some talk that this whole conflict and crisis among Anglicans is all about power, and it is not primarily about power, actually, but about truth and other things. Yet power plays a role, it is just that TEC leadership does not do much self-criticism about how they exercise their own power. Words mean what those in leadership in TEC want them to mean in too many instances. One wishes there would be some self-scrutiny on such matters because the implications would be considerable. The lack of honesty in this church in some matters has become intolerable. People are saying one thing and doing another and using words to mislead others into thinking they are not doing what in fact they are doing….
The key language in this resolution may be found here: Lambeth "cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions." Anglican practice needs to be in accord with anglican teaching. Therefore, there can be no pastoral practice in a local setting which either is or is seen to be somehow "legitimising or blessing"¦same sex unions." And this means that local blessings, whether in houses or churches or wherever, and whether they have official sanctioned liturgies or not, cannot be done, if they are of non-celibate same sex couples.
Lest there be any doubt about this, the Archbishop of Canterbury said at the concluding press conference of the Tanzania primates meeting:
The teaching of the Anglican Church remains that homosexual activity is not compatible with scripture.
Read it all. And note that Bishop Councell's article posted below is exactly legitimizing a same sex union in his diocese. This is the new theology and practice which TEC has embraced. Why will its leaders not admit this openly and honestly? Do they lack the courage of their convictions?
Craig Hazen: Humankind Was Created for a Purpose
Those who practice homosexuality have no chance of living the abundant life of which Jesus spoke. The objective studies (the results of which rarely appear in main stream media even when the research is done by pro gay and lesbian groups) are clear and compelling with regard to the inordinately high levels of social, emotional, spiritual, and physical difficulties experienced by those captured by the gay and lesbian way of life.
Given that an Episcopal priest is a shepherd of a local Christian flock, the question for the parishes of Cape May County is do we want a shepherd who has herself chosen a path that cannot lead to human fulfillment? To be a shepherd of God's people one must minimally have the Creator's view on what needs to be in place for individuals to experience the abundant life in Christ. So out of care for the well being of those who seek true spiritual guidance, installing a priest, a spiritual leader, who is a practitioner and defender of homosexuality is, by any measure the wrong way to go for Christians who seek the robust human flourishing of their fellow pilgrims.
Read it all. This article is posted as an alternative viewpoint to that of the Bishop of New Jersey posted earlier. An explanation from the editor is here.
USA Today: Most think founders wanted Christian USA
Most Americans believe the nation's founders wrote Christianity into the Constitution, and people are less likely to say freedom to worship covers religious groups they consider extreme, a poll out today finds.
The survey measuring attitudes toward freedom of religion, speech and the press found that 55% believe erroneously that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation. In the survey, which is conducted annually by the First Amendment Center, a non-partisan educational group, three out of four people who identify themselves as evangelical or Republican believe that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation. About half of Democrats and independents do.
Most respondents, 58%, say teachers in public schools should be allowed to lead prayers. That is an increase from 2005, when 52% supported teacher-led prayer in public schools.
More people, 43%, say public schools should be allowed to put on Nativity re-enactments with Christian music than in 2005, when 36% did.
Bishop Robert Duncan's Pre-Convention Report
It appears to many of us "" bishops, clergy, laity "" that a moment of decision has arrived in the Anglican Communion. The Windsor Report and Primates Communiques from Dromantine and Dar es Salaam have asked The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada to take clear actions committing these two Provinces of the Anglican Communion to "walking together" rather than "walking apart" from the Communion. After four years the official, as well as general, response from The Episcopal Church seems to be "we'll do it our way." Moreover rejection (by both the House of Bishops and Executive Council) of proposals to allow sufficient integrity to dioceses like Pittsburgh, concerning traditional Faith and Order, now seem all but final. A last minute reversal by the House of Bishops (prior to a September 30th deadline established by the Communion) seems most unlikely. In light of these events, with heavy hearts, and for the sake of our mission it appears the time has come to begin the process of realignment within the Anglican Communion.
Constitutional changes proposed for consideration at the 142nd Annual Convention would begin the process to exercise our right to end the accession of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh to the constitution and canons of The Episcopal Church of the United States of America. The accession clause first appeared in the Constitution of our Diocese in 1868. The effect of the changes would make clear the right to end any claim of spiritual or canonical authority of the General Convention over the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and would allow the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh to realign itself with another Province of the Anglican Communion. The proposed changes are written in such a way, however, that continuing membership in The Episcopal Church remains a possibility if The Episcopal Church were to reverse its "walk apart" from the Anglican Communion.
Where are we going? Nowhere. We stand where we have always stood. We are who we have always been. It is The Episcopal Church that has moved. It is The Episcopal Church that has become something new. If the Convention adopts the constitutional amendments proposed, it is re-alignment within the Anglican Communion that would be made possible. The argument is that this re-alignment would free the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh from any claim that it can be forced to be something different, from being carried somewhere outside the mainstream of Anglicanism, from being lured somewhere outside the mainstream of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Because the accession clause is a feature of our local diocesan constitution, adoption of the changes requires the action of two successive annual conventions. The proposed changes would therefore not take effect immediately, but would open a season of planning, discussion and decision-making in preparation for the second vote in 2008.
Diocese of Pittsburgh to Vote on Future Relationship to The Episcopal Church
September 11, 2007 – Today, the Diocesan Council of The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh began formal process that could lead to changes in its diocesan constitution by forwarding resolutions to Pittsburgh's Diocesan Convention Nov. 2-3. If ultimately passed by Diocesan Convention, those changes will open the door for the diocese to remain within mainstream Anglicanism even as the wider Episcopal Church continues to cut those ties.
"We are praying that the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops makes these votes unnecessary by unequivocally accepting all the requests of the worldwide Anglican Communion when they meet in New Orleans Sept. 20-25," said the Rev. David Rucker, president of Diocesan Council. "While we continue to pray for the House we must also prepare for the very real possibility they will not respond favorably. Thus, we are beginning the process that will allow our convention to consider this action in the event the Episcopal Church does not turn back," he added. The release of convention resolutions conforms to Pittsburgh's internal rules of order that require any proposed resolutions to be made public well in advance of the meeting itself.
To maintain the Episcopal Church's standing in the worldwide communion, the House of Bishops has until September 30 to take a number of steps. Among the actions requested of the House of Bishops by the leadership of the worldwide communion is an agreement to participate in a specific oversight plan for American Episcopalians who do not accept the liberal direction of the Episcopal Church.
Acting in March 2007, the House of Bishops rejected in advance the creation of this system of oversight for conservatives and hinted that they would not be able to act on the other requests. Actions by The Episcopal Church's Executive Council in June further signaled the church leadership's decision to allow no internal solution.
The Episcopal Church has been steadily moving away from biblical Christianity for more than 30 years. Church leaders are on record denying basic Christian truths, especially concerning the uniqueness of atonement and salvation by Jesus Christ and the primacy of Scripture in determining moral and theological teaching. The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, as well as a number of other dioceses, has worked for years to reconcile its differences with The Episcopal Church, or, failing that, arrange for an orderly and charitable parting of ways. Those efforts have been unsuccessful.
Near Ground Zero, Much Is Changed on 6th Anniversary
For the first time in six years, Sept. 11 fell on a Tuesday, the same day the planes flew into the buildings and changed everything.
Yet much was different at the increasingly familiar ceremony in Lower Manhattan, where families of the dead, public officials and visitors gathered to mourn and remember.
Unlike the awful, brilliant day of the attacks, this year's skies were moody and dark, alternately threatening and delivering rain. The ceremony took place not at ground zero, where construction cranes now rise like tentative fingers of hope, but near its southeastern corner, in Zuccotti Park.
The families began trickling in at 7 a.m., some clutching bouquets of flowers, others holding heart-shaped balloons, eventually filling the park by the hundreds and taking refuge from sporadic drizzle under a sea of dark umbrellas.
And then, as it has for five years before, the remembrance ceremony assumed its recognizable form. At 8:40 a.m., the Brooklyn Youth Chorus took the stage, and sang "The Star-Spangled Banner," their voices sounding like angels as mourners held aloft photos of people who, to them, are angels now, too. Afterward, the drummer for the New York Police Department marching band sounded a mournful heartbeat, and then the bagpipers began.
At 8:46 a.m., the moment the first plane struck the North Tower, a bell was sounded, as it has for six years now, and the gathered masses bowed their heads.
"On that day, we felt isolated, but not for long, and not from each other," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said. "New Yorkers rushed to the site, not knowing which place was safe or if there was more danger ahead. They weren't sure of anything except that they had to be here. Six years have passed, and our place is still by your side." In Washington, unlike previous anniversaries of the attack, President Bush spent the day in the city after attending a service at St. John's Episcopal Church and holding a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House.
The Bishop of New Jersey Makes Clear he Rejects the Mind and Teaching of the Anglican Communion
We in the Diocese of New Jersey respect the discernment of the local congregations as they search for and call clergy to serve in leadership. All clergy candidates are subject to the same reference and background checks, including conversations with the bishops and deployment officers of those applying from other dioceses. Among the questions that I always ask is the following, based upon one of the ordination vows in our Book of Common Prayer: "Is this priest's personal life a wholesome example to the people?"
I believe that gay and lesbian clergy, living in monogamous, faithful and stable unions, are a wholesome example to the people of our churches. Once assured of that, I welcome congregations to call such clergy to lead them in their life and ministry.
I have met the Rev. Debra Bullock, who comes with the very highest recommendations from her seminary faculty and from the clergy and lay leaders where she served in Chicago. She is a faithful, dedicated, hard-working, warm and talented priest. She will bring new life and new energy to St. Barnabas in Villas and to St. Mary's, Stone Harbor.
I welcome her to this Diocese and I give thanks that she and her partner will join our Episcopal community.
Diocese of Quincy Announces Synod Plans
The Diocese of Quincy, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, announced today that it will consider proposals at its October Synod that would cut its ties with the General Convention of the Episcopal Church if leaders of that Church continue to pull away from mainstream Anglicanism.
The Archbishops of the Anglican Communion have set September 30th as the deadline for the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops to give "unequivocal" assurance that they will stop advocating teaching and practices that are incompatible with Holy Scripture.
"We're praying the House of Bishops will have a change of heart when they meet in New Orleans September 20th-25th," said Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy. "As a diocese, our goal has always been to uphold the historic faith and order of the Church. This is reflected in our diocesan Constitution. If the Episcopal Church refuses to turn back, we will be forced to make a decision."
Fr. John Spencer, President of the Quincy Standing Committee, made it clear that the Diocese is not trying to preempt the upcoming meeting of the House of Bishops. "We're required to finalize proposed Synod resolutions now to meet canonical deadlines. It's not our intention to prejudge what the House of Bishops may or may not do when they meet later this month."
Spencer also stressed that Quincy is not acting alone. "Other dioceses will consider similar proposals this fall," he said. "They will announce their plans in due course. If the Episcopal Church continues to reject the pleas and counsel of the Anglican Communion, we'll be compelled to seek a home in a different Province of the Communion where we can practice the Christian faith in good conscience."
Quincy would join hundreds of parishes that have cut ties with the Episcopal Church in recent years to affiliate with overseas Provinces of the Communion. Many Episcopal Church leaders are on record denying basic Christian teaching such as the uniqueness of salvation through Jesus Christ and the primacy of Scripture in determining theological and moral teaching.
"It's become obvious over three decades," Bishop Ackerman said, "that two churches now exist under the same name. The original church encompasses the parishes and dioceses like Quincy who are committed to the authority of Holy Scripture and Christian orthodoxy. The second is a new culturally-driven religion that advocates revolutionary social change and has abandoned orthodox Christianity. Sadly, this new group has gained control of the national General Convention and Executive Council. Leaders of the Anglican Communion have repeatedly asked the Episcopal Church to repent and heal the schism they've caused in our Communion. The Episcopal Church has simply refused."
Last year, Quincy and six other dioceses asked for alternative oversight from an Archbishop outside of the United States. The House of Bishops and Executive Council both rejected the most recent proposal earlier this year.
"We've gone the extra mile in demonstrating patience," Spencer said, "and then some. But many of our people are simply unwilling to wait any longer, when we see absolutely no sign that the Episcopal Church will hear the pleas of our Anglican brothers and sisters around the world and turn back from the destructive path it is on."
Jonah Goldberg: The emotional half-life of 9/11
There are a lot of reasons why the emotional half-life of 9/11 has been so short, many of them good, or at least understandable. We haven't been (successfully) attacked at home since 9/11, for example.
But it's important to remember that from the outset, the media took it as their sworn duty to keep Americans from getting too riled up about 9/11. I wrote a column about it back in March of 2002. Back then the news networks especially saw it as imperative that we not let our outrage get out of hand. I can understand the sentiment, but it's worth noting that such sentiments vanished entirely during hurricane Katrina. After 9/11, the press withheld objectively accurate and factual images from the public, lest the rubes get too riled up. After Katrina, the press endlessly recycled inaccurate and exaggerated information in order to keep everyone upset. The difference speaks volumes.
A Letter to the Church from Clergy of the Diocese of Pittsburgh
We are ordained leaders in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and we write to our fellow Anglicans across this Church in this season of great importance concerning our future. We are glad followers of Jesus Christ, working for the mission of his Gospel, and have for decades labored for the reform and renewal of the Episcopal Church under Holy Scripture and through the Holy Spirit. We are deeply thankful for this call upon our lives; we love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we love this Church.
We write in a season where it is evident that differences of faith and practice have torn our Church and our Communion, perhaps beyond mending. We have all experienced this rending in painful and personal ways.
The presenting issue is the question of human sexuality, but underlying issues go deeper, to the very heart of our faith, including our understanding of the Triune God, the devastating impact of the fall upon human nature, the unique work of Jesus as the only Savior of the world, our understanding of God's Gospel mission to the world, the interdependence of our Communion, and "" above it all "" the final authority and full trustworthiness of Holy Scripture guiding us through these matters. Though our faith is in concert with the majority of our Communion and the historical roots of our Church, we now find ourselves fundamentally divided from the majority of the leadership in the Episcopal Church over these issues of first importance.
We have noticed a widespread and growing trend in The Episcopal Church: in many places congregations and dioceses are no longer free to recruit, develop or choose leaders who share their faith and values; mandatory diocesan assessments are used to fund causes that many believe are in opposition to their own principles; and, if the trend continues, acceptance of behavior Scripture reveals to be immoral and destructive will be soon required. Litigation and presentments are being widely used against congregations and their leaders who in conscience resist or who seek the freedom to realign with other parts of our Communion. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that opposition to classical, creedal, biblical theology and to our ministries is being orchestrated from the highest levels of the Episcopal Church. We wonder if we really are welcome here.
Mindful of Jesus' guidance we have worked to bring our concerns to the leadership of the Anglican Communion. We have been heartened by the broad attention and support we have received. We hoped that the Lambeth Conference, the Windsor Report, and the Tanzania Communiqué would provide a workable way forward for our ministries and the Anglican Communion itself.
We were stunned by the rapid, summary dismissal of the Tanzania Communiqué by our House of Bishops and Executive Council early this year. We understood this to signal a decided rejection of Communion authority, of our most deeply held values, and of our future ministries. We believe there shall be no viable long term future for our ministries in this church unless we make unacceptable compromises on matters of first importance. Many of us sense we are being compelled to realign. All of us believe we must act to protect the churches and people we serve. We now fear for the future of the Anglican Communion itself.
We do not want to act in haste or in a spirit of judgment. We are concerned that the history of the Church is littered with the wreckage of strife and division, and we do not wish to add to the ruins. We are mindful that our own hands are not clean in the development of this history, and are particularly brokenhearted over the pride that has too often accompanied our witness. We beg God and others across our Church for the forgiveness we need and for the opportunity for a different future than the one we fear is rapidly coming upon us. More than anything we wish to see God's Gospel healing upon our Church.
We have an urgent request for our leaders as they take counsel in the months to come.
In all humility, with all prayer, and with great respect for the importance of your leadership in God's Church, we beg you, implore you, to reconsider and comply with the unanimous requests of the Anglican Primates in the Tanzania Communiqué.
We believe this plan to offer the greatest and perhaps last opportunity for a much needed halt in the rending of our Church and for the "˜grace space' that might offer us a different, ordered, and hopeful way forward.
We shall be much in prayer in the coming weeks, seeking the leading and help of Him whose grace upholds us all.
The Rev. John P. Bailey, Vicar, St. Andrew's Church, New Kensington
The Rev. Ronald J. Baillie, Vicar, Church of the Good Samaritan, Liberty Boro
The Rev. Dr. James Bauer, Priest, Indiana
The Rev. Douglas R. Blakelock, Rector, St. Mark's Church, Johnstown
The Rev. Dr. Dennett Buettner, Priest in Charge, Church of the Savior, Ambridge
The Rev. Stanley Burdock, Rector, Christ Church, Brownsville
The Rev. Donald W. Bushyager, Assistant Rector, St. David's Church, Peters Twp
The Rev. Geoffrey W. Chapman, Rector, St Stephen's Church, Sewickley
The Rev. James Chester, Deacon, Shepherd's Heart Fellowship, Pittsburgh
The Rev. Dr. Ruth E. Correll, Assistant & Chaplain, St. Francis Church and Day School, Potomac, MD
The Rev. Dr. Daniel F. Crawford, Rector, St. Thomas-in-the-Fields Church, Gibsonia
The Rev. John T. Cruikshank, Rector, All Saints Church, Brighton Heights, Pittsburgh
The Rev. Dallam G. Ferneyhough, Priest-in-Charge, St. Luke's Church, Georgetown
The Rev. John E. Fierro, Rector, St. Paul's Church, Monongahela
The Rev. James Forrest, Associate Rector, St. David's Church, Peters Twp
The Rev. Matthew Frey, Rector, Church of the Advent, Brookline
The Rev. Dr. Jack Gabig, Director of the Children &Youth Initiative, Anglican Communion Network, Pittsburgh
The Rev. Canon Mary M Hays, Canon Missioner, Diocese of Pittsburgh
The Rev. John Heidengren, Rector, Prince of Peace Church, Aliquippa
The Rev. Marc Jacobson, Priest, Manila, Philippines
The Rev. Sam Jampetro, Church Planter, Coraopolis
The Rev. Paul Johnson, Assistant, Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh
The Rev. Carrie Klukas, Deacon in Residence, Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh
The Rev. Christopher M. Klukas, Rector, St. Martin's Church, Monroeville
The Rev. Dr. Grant LeMarquand, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies & Mission, Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge
The Rev. Canon John A. Macdonald, Director of the Stanway Institute for World Mission & Evangelism and Assistant Professor of Mission & Evangelism, Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge
The Rev. Canon Dr. J. Douglas McGlynn, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Parish Ministry, Nashotah House Theological Seminary, Nashotah WI
The Rev. Christine McIlvain, Deacon, Christ Church, North Hills
The Rev. Peggy Means, Assistant Rector, Christ Church Greensburg and Associate Priest, Seeds of Hope Church, Bloomfield
The Rev. Jonathan N. Millard, Rector, Church of the Ascension, Pittsburgh
The Rev. Gary D. Miller, Rector, Church of the Holy Innocents, Leechburg
The Rev. James C. Morehead, Assistant Rector, Shepherd's Heart Fellowship, Pittsburgh
The Very Rev. Dr. Peter C. Moore, Dean Emeritus, Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge
The Rev. James C. Morehead, Assistant Rector, Shepherd's Heart Fellowship, Pittsburgh
The Rev. Jeffrey Murph, Rector, St. Thomas Church, Oakmont
The Rev. Andrew Ray, Assistant Rector, Fox Chapel Church
The Rev. David B. Rucker, Rector, All Saints Church, Rosedale
The Rev. Rebecca C. Spanos, Deacon, Shepherd's Heart Fellowship, Pittsburgh
The Rev. Elaine Storm, Assistant Rector, St. Philip's Church Moon Twp
The Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge
The Rev. David D. Wilson, Rector, St. Paul's Church, Kittanning
The Rev. Karen Woods, Deacon, Seeds of Hope Missionary Fellowship, Pittsburgh
The Rev. Michael D. Wurschmidt, Rector, Shepherd's Heart Fellowship, Pittsburgh
The Rev. Dr. Mark Zimmerman, Rector, St. Francis-in-the-Field Church, Somerset
Reflecting on the Spirit of Sept. 11
The day after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the headline in Paris' Le Monde newspaper read "We are all Americans". Liane Hansen speaks with Jean-Marie Colombani, who wrote the article that ran beneath that headline about his reflections on that time.
Bishop Richard Harries on Hybrid Embryos
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology authority last week decided to allow licences to create cytoplasmic hybrid embryos for research purposes. These consist of an animal egg with its nucleus (containing its DNA) removed and the nucleus of a human cell inserted. The embryos are destroyed before they are 14 days old. Scientists want to create them in order to investigate debilitating, untreatable medical conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's and motor neurone disease.
There is fierce opposition to the HFEA's decision, not least from the Roman Catholic Church. Yet the head of the Authority's ethics and law committee is a churchman: the former Anglican Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries – now Lord Harries. He told Sunday what ethical considerations his committee took into account.
Cross-party criticism for Bush Iraq strategy
President Bush's strategy to bind the US military into Iraq for the remainder of his term – and probably beyond – was sharply challenged by both Republican and Democratic Senators today.
In the second day of the Congressional progress report on Iraq, the upbeat assessment from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker received a much rougher ride than it had yesterday at the House of Representatives.
Barack Obama, a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination next year, said: "We have now set the bar so low that modest improvement in what was a completely chaotic situation is considered success. And it's not. This continues to be a disastrous foreign policy mistake."
The presence of Mr Obama along with a clutch of other presidential candidates gave today's Senate committee hearings added political charge. Senior Republicans present have been nervously eyeing the prospect of entering the 2008 election without a consensus on Iraq.
Pressure on US Episcopal Church to Reveal Litigation Costs
Over 5,000 people have signed a petition demanding The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the USA reveals how much money it has spent since 2004 on litigation against individuals and parishes.
The online petition, sponsored by the American Anglican Council (AAC), was signed by 3,583 Episcopalians and 1,747 Non-Episcopal Anglicans.
The Rev Canon David C Anderson, President and CEO of the AAC said, "This petition represents a cry from thousands of current and former members of the Episcopal Church."
The petition is just one way concerned Christians are speaking out against TEC and its continued lawsuits against former parishes, priests and members.


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Seen @ Cujen
Saw this awesome collectiong of Google graphics and
just had to share it with all of you. I have seen some pretty good ones
especially during special occasions like Christmas, Easter and etc.
but I never took the time to save these different graphics.
My fav? Can't choose, this selection is just lovely. *grins*

subset: commoncrawl


text: ParaPlays Posted April 9, 2017 (edited) I remember going back to say v6 and before, smoke was effective, it looked good, was great for cover and concealment. In v9 and in recent versions the smoke is terrible, why has there been such a step back in terms of smoke? It's useless now. All standard smokes are only good as signal smoke. They are no good for cross streets or hiding troop movement now, and they seem to be playing at x100 too fast with smoke particle disappearing way to fast, with very very little spread. What happened? I use to love using smoke in squad to move and cover your approach,? now never use smoke, what happened? 6.40 < Old smoke. Also shows how scopes used to look Edited April 20, 2017 by Para Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Don't Forget! The first day of school is August 16. Other important dates are:
August 9 Kindergarten Camp
August 14 from 1:00-4:00 Meet Your Teacher
August 14 Extended Office Hours (Goldsmith Office open until 6:30 PM)
School starts at 9:00 AM. Students who are car riders should arrive at 8:40 if they are eating breakfast. There is no student drop off in the front of the building (Safety First!)


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Vickrey & Associates was the Mayor's Choice Award Sponsor for this year's event. The Mayor's Choice Award was established in 2000 to celebrate excellence in public design projects. On October 30, 2015, Vickrey attended the 2015 AIA Awards Banquet. Besides accomplishing the goals of clients and users, projects nominated highlighted design solutions that have made or could have positive impacts on individuals and communities. Vickrey provided professional engineering and surveying services for the following two nominated projects:
City of San Antonio - Plaza de Armas
Architect: Ford, Powell & Carson (FPC)
San Antonio, Texas
FPC, working with Byrne Construction as a Design/Build team, was responsible for the stabilization and renovation of the City's Plaza De Armas buildings. The City's goal was to animate the formerly vacant plaza after business hours with activity in the restaurant and gallery.
Gates Mineral Building
Architect: Drewry Martin
San Antonio, Texas
This 8,000 sq. ft. high-end custom office building is situated in an Oak grove in Northeast San Antonio.


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Human: Fall Flat has been available for a while now on multiple different platforms, a game that combines platforming action with physics-based puzzles and doughy ragdolls that make even the simplest of tasks a fun exercise in keeping full control of your limbs. It's like Gang Beasts, but instead of trying to fight with your friends, you get to work alongside them to solve puzzles thanks to the game's new co-op update, one that we've been getting stuck into recently.
The puzzles you tackle with your squishy little human are pretty simple to start off with, like using L2 and R2 (on PS4) to grab things with each arm respectively, and put these objects on buttons or move them out of the way, but things get much harder real quick. You'll soon need to be swinging on ropes or throwing stuff through windows to get where you need to be, but at the same time, the challenge also comes from working out what you need to do. By balancing both the ineptitude of your floppy character and the question of what you need to do to progress, Human Fall Flat throws up clever puzzles that kept us floundering for a while.
As you can imagine, the multiplayer update changes the game quite a bit, as single-player maps are now recycled to be played with friends, and we also get a brand new temple-themed level as well. Anywhere between one to eight players can work their way through the 10 different maps, but the fun isn't so much about the efficient solving of puzzles but the way that it often becomes dramatically harder with more than one person. The simple act of lifting a pole, for instance, becomes a mess of uncoordinated flailing as players wrestle for control of their own character as well as trying to work together with the others, and that's without even mentioning those players that aim to purposefully derail progress by grabbing ahold of others... you know who you are.
Although the multiplayer aspect doesn't actually make the game easier a lot of the time (anything but, in fact), it does make it a load more fun. While in single-player you'd probably be wandering around and progressing quite quickly, you can spend ages on one section just messing around with friends because that's really the appeal of these kinds of physics-based games. Just like with Gang Beasts the simple act of grabbing can produce endless hours of fun, and in one water-based map we had to take a break because of all the laughter.
As such Human: Fall Flat is a game that absolutely needs to be played with a proper headset, because connecting to randoms is going to produce one of the most frustrating experiences imaginable, as you can't laugh with them and they'll just hold you back anyway. Like in real life, if people are going to hold you back you might as well have a laugh and a joke about it while it's happening.
What we found just a little disappointing is that the multiplayer (and by extension the game as a whole) is a bit on the short side, with very few maps, a lot of which can be blasted through very easily on the first go. We also had a few connection problems which is worth mentioning, but these were few and far between and the game worked well other than that. Steam Workshop support would be a good add-on here, because this is a game that you definitely want to come back to again and again, but just with more content.
We did appreciate the variety that we saw within the levels, though. One level might see you climb over train carriages to get from one window to another, but then you might have to do some swinging and climbing up a castle in the next level. In fact, the castle level was a highlight all round, even letting us use catapults to throw us and our friends across the map.
Variety is also here in terms of visuals too. Admittedly a lot of the game is this light grey colour that you start off seeing in abundance, but as you progress these brightly coloured environments open up to you. What's great about this is that everything's really simple and uncomplicated in terms of design, so there's rarely a moment where we were scratching our heads wondering what to interact with, and you can even customise your avatar as well, whether that be to look like a builder or one of the cast of Breaking Bad.
It's also worth noting that you can have another friend jump in via couch co-op split-screen, so if a friend pops over uninvited while you're trying to lay a plank on a log or something similar, then you can wrangle them into helping you out. You can also do this via Share Play as well, so if one of you owns the game then you can share play even if the other person doesn't own it.
Human: Fall Flat does pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, especially with other players alongside you. There'll be a lot of falling as you all scramble to try and help or hinder one another, and this is why multiplayer is a hell of a lot more fun than the single-player. Sure, you'll find entertainment in ragdolling your way around the levels solo, but nothing quite beats someone clinching onto your squishy head while you're trying to climb something.
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Raw, adjective: 7. brutally or grossly frank: a raw portrayal of human passions.
"I'm bored' is a useless thing to say. I mean, you live in a great, big, vast world that you've seen none percent of. Even the inside of your own mind is endless, it goes on forever, inwardly, do you understand? The fact that you're alive is amazing, so you don't get to say 'I'm bored."
― Louis C.K.
(Spoken from the mouth of a 21st century American comedian, but these might as well be the words of an ancient Taoist monk. That sense of childlike wonder, the unchecked awe at being alive in a body that actually lives and breathes and sweats and wakes and sleeps all over again, every day, one which does so in the midst of a vast interwoven ecology doing the same thing, in different ways, in infinitely varying forms? That wonder, that paying attention, that actually seeing; well, it's the mark of a truly enlightened being — a yogi, if you will.)


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Day: January 16, 2014
Change Is In The Air
We are nearing the end of the second full week of 2014, and while I was thinking about that last night, I thought about the things that I hope to change this year. My New Years Resolutions, if you will. Not made at the end of the old, but after I have started a new one.
1) Body Shaming
No, I do not do this to anyone else, just myself. I have this goal to become a more healthy and fit version of me, but that will never be a reachable goal until I stop looking at myself and bashing what I see. No one put me into my current shape but me. I don't like it, so it is up to me to change it, right? Here is the lesson that friends and family have been trying to make me get through my stubborn head: I have to be smart about it. And, as I said above, in order to get there, I have to accept and -here's the hard part- like myself as I am now. The froming wrinkles, the stretch marks from pregnancy, everything. I am me, "As Is." If I cannot accept this version of me, what will ever make me stop hating what I see?
2) Negativity
I have to be able to lead by example. How can I encourage to believe in themselves when /if I do not practice what I preach? Mistakes and wrong moves are going to happen, that is a given, but when they do, admit it. Take ownership, responsibility. If you can correct it, do so and move on. If you can't? Then you have to be able to forgive yourself and carry on. Have faith in yourself, your strengths. Transform all of the "I think I can, if only…" into "Hell, yea! I did it!" Your own personal can of negativity-be-gone.
3)The "Quiet One"
Once upon a time there was a strong willed little girl, one who would say what she thought, and argue the definition of stubborn with a fence post… What happened to her? When did she lose her voice, her backbone? Find your voice!! Stop holding your tongue, speaking your mind on things. One of the things that makes each of us unique is our opinions. If someone does not agree with you? So what? Who cares? Lord knows, everyone else speak their minds on things. If relationships dissolve because of this, then the relationship was not that strong to begin with.
While you are finding that voice, one you have it, sing out! Music is a know mood lifter, so sing out loud, even if it is badly. Make someone sing along, or smile, or laugh with that rediscovered voice.
4) Bend the Sides of the Box
Being shy and introverted has led to a fairly lonely life. It is time to try new things, meet new people. Stop living in that perfectly shaped box. Stretch out your arms, if you push out the walls of your box, good! It means you're experiencing life. Give it a try, living a little more might just change your life.


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NSW Ambulance takes zero tolerance approach to abuse this New Year's Eve
NSW Ambulance is reminding the public of its zero tolerance policy to abuse towards paramedics and Triple Zero (000) call takers ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations across the state.
NSW Ambulance Commissioner David Dutton said it is unacceptable that frontline NSW Ambulance paramedics rendering emergency medical assistance should be subject to physical and/or verbal abuse.
"It is inconceivable that anybody would interfere with our paramedics while they are administering care to patients in emergency situations, but unfortunately it does happen," Commissioner Dutton said.
"Friends, family and bystanders have all been found to have assaulted our paramedics, but what is most shocking is that in majority of cases (81 per cent) it is the patient who is the offender.
"Tonight is our busiest night of the year and we ask for the cooperation of patients, their friends and families and bystanders so that we can do our job in providing emergency medical care to those in need.
"Our message is simple: Paramedics save lives and the next life they save might be yours."
The majority of assaults toward paramedics occur at the location of initial patient contact, with others occurring in or near the ambulance vehicle or at a hospital emergency department.
Common types of assaults reported include physical assaults such as spitting, biting, pushing, slapping, kicking and punching; verbal abuse and aggression; and threatened physical assault.
Commissioner Duttonsaid there would be no leniency from NSW Ambulance when it came to such abuse this New Year's Eve.
"While excessive drinking can lead to uncharacteristic behavior, our message is that no matter who you are, if you abuse one of our paramedics this evening you will be waking up tomorrow facing the consequences of your actions.
"NSW Ambulance works closely with the NSW Police Force to ensure that offenders are pursued to the full extent of the law."
"Whether it's a paramedic or a call taker on the receiving end, it is appalling to abuse the very people who are trying to help you," Commissioner Dutton said.


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New Delhi [India], November 14 (ANI): Amidst the busy promotional activities for her upcoming movie 'Padmavati', Deepika Padukone today shared a note written to her by none other than Hema Malini.
The Mastani of Bollywood shared the endearing note on her Instagram page.
The note reads, "Dear Deepika, The contents of the book that you so graciously launched take on an added meaning as I land over the baton to you for a glorious continuation of artistic excellence."
A few weeks ago, the 31-year-old actress attended the launch of Hema Malini's biography titled 'Hema Malini: Beyond the Dream Girl'.
Author Ram Kamal Mukherjee has penned Hema's journey till now in the book. From Hema's much gossiped platonic love affair with Jeetendra to the incident of bumping into dashing Dharmendra for the first time.
The book is divided into 23 chapters, of which two are dedicated to Hema and Dharmendra's daughters Esha and Ahana.
On the other hand, Deepika's upcoming film 'Padmavati' also starring Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh is all set to release.
Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the flick is slated to release on December 1. (ANI)


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Tritiyo Matra the third dimension is a program for open discussion on current affairs
where you can ask, vote, share, comments, download and more.
Everyday at 1:00 A.M. and 9:45 A.M. BST on
|Dr. Hasan Mahmud
|State Minister Environment and Forest
Name: Dr. Hasan Mahmud
Profession: Politician
Affiliation: Bangladesh Awami League
Current Position: State Minister Environment and Forest
Date Of Birth: June 5, 1963
Place Of Birth: Chittagong, Bangladesh
State Minister for Environment and Forest, Dr Hasan Mahmud was born on June 5, 1963 at Rangunia upazila in Chittagong.He completed his BSc Honours and Masters in Chemistry from Chittagong University (CU) in 1987 and 1989 respectively.The minister obtained his higher degree on international politics from Geneva in 1996. He did another post-graduation in Environmental Science from Breeze University of Brussels in Belgium in the same year.
Dr Hasan obtained his PhD degree in Environmental Chemistry from Limburg University in the years of 2000-2001.He has been involved with politics since his student life. He was the senior vice-president of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) unit at CU in 1986 and president in 1989-90.
Dr Hasan performed as the general secretary of Belgium chapter of Awami League (AL) since 1995 until he returned home in 2001. He had been the assistant personal secretary (APS) to AL chief Sheikh Hasina since November 2001.At the same time, he was also the central secretary for forest and environment affairs of the party.
Dr. Hasan, who ran in the general elections from Chittagong-6 constituency, pledged to take initiative to rebuild Mariamnagar embankment to save all the unions from the Karnaphuli erosion. He also said that he would try to make Rangunia free of terrorists and would build road and other infrastructures.


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South Korean Police Arrest No. 2 Man Behind Largest Pyramid Scheme
David Lee, Dec. 18, 2015, 9:59 a.m.
Prosecutors formally arrested the right-hand man to the mastermind behind South Korea's largest pyramid scheme, officials said Friday. The district court in the southeastern city of Daegu issued a warrant to arrest Kang Tae-yong, noting there are considerable reasons to believe he committed crimes. Two days before, Kang was extradited from China where he had been hiding since 2008.
Kang is accused of swindling about 4 trillion won (US$3.5 billion) from an estimated 40,000 people between 2004 and 2008, along with his boss, Cho Hee-pal. Kang told reporters on Wednesday that Cho died in 2011 and he had witnessed it. Cho was rumored to have died from cardiac arrest there four years ago, though his death has not been verified.


text: I have applied/bid for a tiny council one bedroomed semi detached adapted bungalow with a wet-room. Unfortunately after an adult lifetime of owning our own properties we were forced into renting for no fault of our own. So we cannot adapt the 3 bedrooned house that we are currently renting. The council will only let me bid on one bed properties. A local housing association agreed to put us on their list for a 2 bedroomed bungalow but they don't have any available and said they may not for over three years. I cannot wait that long as I'm struggling now with the stairs in this house, not just for getting upstairs but for getting into the bathroom and going down into the back bedroom. If we are successful in getting this tiny bungalow then it's going to be a huge challenge to downsize quickly. If we get it I will buy a large shed/summer house for extra space. I'm off to bed now, just felt like sharing that before I hit the hay. Lynne


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The current poultry industry in the developed countries, Sweden included, is dominated by a few commercial breeds. Most of the local breeds in Sweden became threatened by extinction when the commercial breeds became common. At present, there are eleven local chicken breeds originating from different parts of Sweden. Typically only a small number of birds in one or a few locations per breed were left at the time of rescue. Conservation of the Swedish local chicken breeds is coordinated by the Swedish association for local poultry (SLK, Svenska Lanthönsklubben).
Åsbohöna with chicks. Photo taken by Ronny Olsson.
Although these breeds have probably gone through severe bottlenecks, they still express high phenotypic variation, e.g. in body size and plumage colour. Genetic variation and relatedness of the Swedish local chicken breeds had to date not been investigated. Three molecular genetic studies recently shed light on relationships, population structure and genetic diversity within and between these native Swedish chicken breeds. In addition to the scientific interest, such results may be used for the sustainable management of these valuable chicken populations. Three molecular genetic marker systems were used in these studies: mitochondrial D-loop (mtDNA), microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). Mitochondrial DNA is passed only from the mother to offspring, and again only from female offspring to their offspring. Thus, mtDNA follows the maternal line. Microsatellites and SNP markers are autosomal markers and thus are inherited from both parents. Analysis of mtDNA showed that Ölandshöna were different from the other 8 investigated breeds, and that Swedish local chicken breeds have multiple maternal origins. It was concluded, that in the case of the Swedish local chicken breeds, the D-loop was not very informative for analysing relationships between the breeds, and in future studies autosomal markers should be used. Genetic diversity, relatedness and population structure of five Swedish chicken breeds were then investigated with 24 microsatellite markers. All the markers used in the study are a part of the 30-microsatellite panel recommended by FAO to study genetic diversity in chickens. Bohuslän-Dals Svarthöna showed low genetic diversity and a high molecular coancestry. This implies mating of relatives in the past, resulting in inbreeding in this population, which can have severe consequences for the population if not properly managed. In agreement with the previous study based on mtDNA and a priori knowledge on genealogical origins, the Skånsk blommehöna showed the highest genetic diversity. In general, the study showed low within breed diversity and highlighted clear genetic separation between the Swedish local chicken breeds. Low diversity is most likely a consequence of a small number of founders at the time point of rescue, followed by un-optimal breeding strategies with little control of within breed coancestry. The third study looked into the genetic diversity in two Swedish local chicken breeds, Bohuslän-Dals svarthöna and Hedemorahöna, using a 60k SNP chip that gives information on about 60 000 positions in the genome. The diversity on breed level was higher in Hedemorahöna than in the Bohuslän-Dals svarthöna. Genetic diversity on an individual-level, instead, was lower in samples from Hedemorahöna than in Bohuslän-Svarthöna. High inbreeding was detected in many individuals of Hedemorahöna. This could be due to subpopulations with very little exchange of animals between the subpopulations of Hedemorahöna. The study confirmed the distinctiveness of these two breeds, and confirmed the within breed population structure in Hedemorahöna. Proper management and conservation of the existing variation in the local Swedish chicken breeds is of utmost importance. If not properly managed, the diversity of these breeds is further threatened and problems of inbreeding depression will most likely arise. When owners introduce new animals into the flock they should aim at the relatedness to the existing birds being the lowest possible. These local chicken breeds are an important part of the cultural-historical heritage in addition to representing significant genetic diversity. With well managed conservation programs they will exist also for the future generations.
Englund T, Strömstedt L and Johansson A 2014. Relatedness and diversity of nine Swedish local chicken breeds as indicated by the mtDNA-loop. Hereditas 151: 229-233 Abebe AS, Mikko S and Johansson AM 2015. Genetic diversity of five local Swedish chicken breeds detected by microsatellite markers. PLoS ONE 10(4): e0120580. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0120580 Johansson AM and Nelson RM 2015. Characterization of genetic diversity and gene mapping in two Swedish local chicken breeds. Frontiers in Genetics doi:10.3389/fgene.2015.00044


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Title: The Third Planet
Also known as:
Tretya planeta (Original title)
Year: 1991
Genre: Sci-Fi / Drama
Language: Russian
Runtime: 93 min
Director: Aleksandr Rogozhkin
Writer: Aleksandr Rogozhkin
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103120/
A man and his daughter decide to venture into a place he had heard about where a sort of radiation can cure her from her illness, something that the doctors failed at. The place is called the Zone and is filled with abnormalities.
Our thoughts:
After watching and reviewing Rogozhkin's "Chekist" I wanted to give this a try. His filmography has a lot of comedies which I'm not really interested in checking out so I was happy to see he had made a few more films since "Chekist" was something special. With "The Third Planet" he went with something slightly less realistic - a sci-fi movie.
It seems like "the Zone" is something that really caught on in Russian films after Tarkovsky's "Stalker" (or the original book, but my guess is that the inspiration for the films is the film). "The Third Planet" also features such a place, and in this story we have a man and his ill daughter going there. They've tried getting help from doctors but it seems like there is nothing left to do. But the man remembers a place he heard about where she could get healed, and the two of them decide to go search there.
What differs this one from a movie like "Stalker" is that it doesn't really take the time to soak in the surroundings, which would've helped the film a lot. When they get to this place they just wander through different settings way too fast. There are some amazing and beautiful settings but the film just runs through them before we get a time to study them. It's everything from a forest to a basement setting. This is something that lost me a little bit because what could've been a fascinating adventure in a strange place just became a race from point A to B.
But it still manages to be a good movie. Like I said it has some beautiful locations and I prefer seeing them a little bit than having a movie set in some boring setting instead. The movie doesn't always make sense - hell, the dialogue is often confusing like hell. But it doesn't make it hard to follow or get into, which surprised me. It usually takes me a little bit before I get into a film like this but within seconds I was hooked. It's possible that the director's previous comedy films helped it in this aspect, because unlike a lot of other films this didn't feel so dead serious.
It is a weird movie, though. Outside of the fact that this man and his daughter are looking for a cure, it's hard to understand what's going on. Or know what they are talking about. We don't know why some characters do what they do, and we certainly don't know what the hell is going on in the Zone. Some weird things are going down, I tell ya! Scenes often feel like amateurish filmmaking where they just thought "People won't question this because they don't understand it", like with some of the healing scenes where they did whatever with their hands. But I quite liked it, it was interesting to see them pull off something that in current Hollywood would cost a few hundred millions. And I don't mean that the film have a bunch of effects, it has none of that, but it would have if it was made now and there.
"The Third Planet" might be heavily inspired by "Stalker" but it stands on its own two legs just fine. The look of the film has some similarities but it could just as well be the Russian nature doing it. What differs it a lot is that there is more action in this one, especially towards the end where they are chased by military men in gas masks. There's one that actually managed to be creepy too. It's a scene where the daughter stumbles upon a car with three gas masked men sitting in it, and they appear to be dead. She touches the mask of one of them and it just comes off, almost as if it had melted. Then the other two men start moving. When she shoots them some weird stuff is spraying out of them. Very effective scene, actually.
"The Third Planet" is a fairly short film considering what it is - a dystopian Russian film inspired by films like "Stalker". It's just about 90 minutes long and therefor it doesn't feel like a long, dragging adventure, but rather a quick run through the Zone to get what they are after. Of course, it loses some atmosphere and feeling because it never really settles down in one location, but I think it works alright within the movie. Definitely a film worth watching if you like the films of Tarkovsky, Lopushansky and similar.
Gore: 0.5/5
Nudity: 2/5
Story: 3/5
Effects: 2/5
Comedy: 0.5/5
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The research, published in the March 25 issue of Science, also demonstrates the first connection between RNA granules and glaucoma, as the humans and mice in the study developed glaucoma.
In the laboratory of Jackson Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator Simon John, Ph.D., study coauthors Stephen Kneeland, Ph.D., and Gareth Howell, Ph.D., identified a malfunctioning gene in a mouse strain that develops both cataracts and glaucoma. The gene, Tdrd7, fails to build an essential protein and disrupts the development of the mouse eye lens. Mice missing the protein developed high intraocular pressure and optic nerve damage—the hallmarks of glaucoma—as well as cataracts.
The John team learned that Salil A. Lachke, Ph.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, then a research fellow in the laboratory of Richard L. Maas, M.D., had found the same malfunction in a study of genetic data from patients with pediatric cataracts.
The research teams combined forces and discovered that the protein missing in the children and the mice belongs to a type of structure known as RNA granules. RNA granules function to regulate mRNAs in the cell. mRNA's primary job is to serve as a template to carry DNA-encoded information from the nucleus into the cytoplasm or body of the cell, providing the blueprints for protein production. The TDRD7 mutation affects mRNA regulation, and this misregulation was implicated in causing the cataracts. Furthermore, the human patients developed glaucoma following cataract extraction.
TDRD7 deficiency greatly reduces the number of stress granules that are produced in lens cells in response to oxidative stress, the researchers show. Stress granules, a specific type of RNA granule, are important to protect the cell in stressful conditions. Oxidative stress has been previously suggested to contribute to glaucoma by damaging the ocular drainage structures. The new findings imply that mice and patients with these mutations may not have adequate protection from oxidative stress in the drainage structures of the eye. With increasing age, their tissues may be more susceptible to oxidative damage resulting in high intraocular pressure and glaucoma.
Although further experiments are needed to be certain, this work is the first to suggest that RNA granules are important in modulating the oxidative stress response relevant to glaucoma. John notes, "There is a growing body of literature indicating that if you disturb oxygen levels in the eye—including after cataract surgery—the risk of developing glaucoma increases."
John says that mutations in the TDRD7 gene could cause a double jeopardy for childhood glaucoma. "First, they cause cataract, and cataract extraction may raise oxidative stress in the ocular drainage tissues. Second, they impair the formation of protective stress granules in response to oxidative stress."
In an indication of the paper's landmark status, Science is publishing the report together with a Perspective article on the study's implications for RNA granule research. Lachke, now an instructor in medicine, comments, "This is a good example of a 21st century collaboration, with major contributions by multiple groups, including basic and clinical researchers across multiple continents."
Jackson Research Scientist Richard Smith, M.D., a former eye surgeon now in the John lab, describes pediatric cataracts as "a very difficult problem to deal with" in the clinic. "The surgical techniques have gotten better," he says, "but a lot of these kids get cataracts shortly after birth, a period with substantially increased glaucoma risk following cataract extraction." Smith notes that while pediatric cataracts are relatively rare in the United States (occurring in about one in every 30,000 births), they are a major problem in other parts of the world, notably the Middle East. "In Saudi Arabia about one in 2,500 babies is born with juvenile cataracts," Smith says.
Glaucoma accounts for about 10 percent of all blindness, with about 4 million cases in the United States. The eye disease, which has no cure, is generally associated with raised pressure within the eye, called intraocular pressure, which damages the optic nerve. Earlier this month the John lab reported that they identified early stages of glaucoma in mice, and successfully blocked the disease in some of the mice by targeting some of the molecular events in those early stages.
Funding for the research came from the National Eye Institute, The Barbara and Joseph Cohen Foundation, and the Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research, Kuwait University, the American Heart Association and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. John and his collaborator Gregory Hannon of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory received support from Kathryn W. Davis.
The Jackson Laboratory is a nonprofit biomedical research institution based in Bar Harbor, Maine. Its mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human diseases, and to enable research and education for the global biomedical community.
# # #
Lachke et al.: Mutations in the RNA Granule Component TDRD7 Cause Cataract and Glaucoma. Science, March 25, 2011.
Joyce Peterson, 207-288-6058, The Jackson Laboratory
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text:
My perception is that yes, God does care, from environmental pollution to financial responsibility and economic justice. The nature of God, however, still asks something of us. Like Joseph remained in direct contact with God to evaluate Potiphar?s building blueprints and to interpret dreams, and Moses remained in integrity with his own Jewish roots and God, I think we need to recognize hypocrisy and mistaken priorities, and understand them sufficiently to build a culture of integrity.
Clarifying what God wants has become possible for me by recognizing the historical origins and accomplishments of activists and mind-body healing. Constantine, for example, was a critical ?activist? in that he transformed the position of Christianity in the Holy Roman Empire. As I recall, he invoked religious tolerance. By the time of Martin Luther in 1521, much corruption had set in as the result of choices by individuals up to Pope Leo. Martin Luther then represented a new activist effort for an honest expression of God through Christ. This process had reached a new level in St. Thomas of Aquinas about 250 years earlier with the Four Laws of God?s universe, the Eternal Law of God, Divine Law of the Scriptures, Natural Law of the Universe, and Human Law of Society. Luther as an activist might be seen to bring to bear the various laws on the Church?s conduct in 1521. The selling of indulgences for salvation was taking place, and so on.
As the show goes on and the Protestant Churches emerge, so does modern science, economics, and political philosophy. By 1776, the United States? leaders debated and developed the Declaration of Independence, and then later the Constitution, they deconstructed monarchy, and began to deconstruct aristocracy in political philosophy. I understand that someone urged George Washington to use the army to declare himself King. He said no. The American Revolution involved the Boston Tea Party early on, which represented the role of the large aristocratic British East India Company in trying to suppress small independent sellers. That same year, Adam Smith came out with The Wealth of Nations. I understand that he, Ricardo, Malthus, and Mills, not to mention Marx, all had some notion of limits to natural resources. David Korten addresses the assumptions of Smith, that fair play and no big bullies were supposed to be allowed.
The industrial revolution also began after DesCartes and Newton by 1687 had taken God out of daily life. Leibniz seems to have disputed Newton?s theology, for example. After James Watts? steam engine, also in 1776 or so, aristocrats and merchants were joining forces to create machine-run factories and corporations. They treated the workers like the stereotypical Aristocrats they were, harsh and cruel. Smith?s ?laissez faire? free markets became their ideology. The Church of England itself had emerged in the 1530?s because of the King?s divorce plans, and as the factories were built and run, lost none of its hypocrisy as it did not challenge the bosses? bad behavior.
The Quakers had emerged in the 1600?s, and represented one good example of the integrity of the Christian Church in aristocratic England. Then came Robert Owens, a boss who had a kind heart, and became an activist. In 1830, the office of the British prime minister assumed its modern form with Alex Gray, rounding out the political divisions of labor with Parliament in a constitutional monarchy. The English Civil War had begun that trend in 1649. Coming back to 1844, then, labor activism had met much resistance and oppression from the aristocratic merchant factory owners, but striking workers came to form the first cooperative business partnership in Rochdale by the ?27 Rochdale Pioneers?. As the idea both spread and appeared elsewhere, the International Cooperative Alliance was formed in 1895 in London.
The U.S.?s own inequalities between the privileged rich and the disenfranchised belies the rhetoric of liberty and equality, as discussed amply in Howard Zinn?s book, and emblematically shown in the Whisky Rebellion of 1794. A whisky tax had been levied to pay interest on bonds to the wealthy. Marjorie Kelly, Thom Hartmann, Joel Bakan, and William Greider then have written on the development of the Corporation since then. As the rich got their hands on technology, they made the most of it. The Railroad Barons are an early example. When the 14th Amendment came along, meant to benefit slaves by protecting them from being deprived of property, Corporations like the railroads stepped in and had themselves, as economic entities of wealthy, overly privileged persons, called not an economic interest, but ?legal persons.?
Labor unions had to struggle until they finally overcame oppression sufficiently to form the AFL in the late 1800?s. The American Cooperative League, now the U.S. National Cooperative Business Association, was founded in 1916.
Remember then the Anti-Trust legislation and Teddy Roosevelt the ?Trust-Buster?, with Rockefeller?s Standard Oil being split up. After the wealthy speculated and defrauded their stocks a little while later came the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression after 1929. A little while later FDR brought his New Deal. FDR, by the way, was called a ?traitor to his class? by some.
All the movements of the 1960?s represent the issues that are generally ignored by people focusing on corporate wealth, power, and privilege. Nowadays, they turn this reality into the privileges of consumers and the general standard of living.
Does God care who wins the election? I think he does. The Truth has set me free, and many people free. Look at how many food cooperatives already exist across the country, how many non-profit activist groups are in motion, how many green products are already available.
However, the problem of the poor is really the problem of the rich, and the rich liars worst of all. In this age of modern education, science, and technology, we who know the value of the environment and socioeconomic justice need to continue to deconstruct hypocrisy in its various forms. Unfortunately, the New Testament suggests the magic of Christ?s return. If the university can be understood as a fruit of Christ?s love, we can deconstruct the myth?s of Christ so that we can manifest the principles he taught.
God?s will through nature, like Moses? ?pillar of fire? is coming in the form of rising sea levels and other threats from Climate Change, and environmental degradation in its many forms. Republicans like to attack government regulation and taxes to let corporations act, to use force, and attack opponents like Democrats and create alarming and exaggerated half-truth smears whenever possible. Nixon was involved in violating the Constitution, and resigned in 1974. Ronald Reagan attacked environmentalists and contrasted them to jobs, deregulated the economy leading to junk bond scandals, the S and L debacle, and the Iran Contra Scandal. George HW Bush called himself the ?environmental president? for a kinder, gentler America, and attacked environmentalists as anti-employment. George W. Bush used the 9/11 attacks to create propaganda about WMD?s in Iraq and to use our forces to defy the U.N. and invade and occupy the country. He also furthered deregulation of the economy, unleashing further the forces of corporate interests and the consequences, like the global Wall St. meltdown.
Democrats have shown significant forebearance, as with John F. Kennedy when he resisted the use of military force on at least 4 occasions. Who killed him? Whatever CIA was involved in setting up Lee Harvey Oswald weren?t Democratic in spirit. That allowed Lyndon Johnson to escalate the Vietnam Conflict at the hawk?s behest. Jimmy Carter advocated human rights and promoted solar panels by putting them on the White House. Bill Clinton and Al Gore lead with Maya Angelou?s democratic poem and signed the Kyoto Protocol.
Like Joseph and Moses, educated activists can, and have to be the ones to deconstruct the myths and lies to lead our people to freedom and responsibility characteristic of the Democrats, though I?m also interested in the potential of the Green Party, and Republicans for Environmental Protection. Of course, as far as Republicans are concerned, until I see groups like Republicans for Whole Cost Accounting, Employee Ownership Property Rights, and Sufficient Regulation, Republican policies are based on the myth of tax cuts and deregulation for trickle down economics, or Voodoo Economics. As for Democrats, I would like to see them advocating for more entrepreneurial, small business activity, and employee ownership.
Thus, that is the job for us as activists, to get educated and entrepreneurial so that we can contribute to demystifying political, mostly Republican, smears and ideology, and empower all politicians that promote educated and just policies, which then follow the principles and commandments of Christ: love Moses' ten commandments of God, love God, love your neighbor, yourself, until you love your enemy. In the Seven Woes, he also points out love Justice and Lovingkindness. With the true nature of modern education as a Christian development, there are many options to avoid the use of force until absolutely necessary. Blockades, for example, like Kennedy used, and the Peace Corps., also from his administration.


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It's been a month since I last posted and presented my personal enquiry into the sublime to you all. Since then, I have been inundated with your thoughts and responses which have all been very helpful, thank you. It is really magical to have you on this journey with me. As many of you may know, I have just finished a painting titled '041120151204'. The piece did become an obsession and consequently it has a crazed, heavy, fanatical look about it. As it sits alone on my drawing board, a bit of a monster, it naturally creates a dent in the space around it. Heavy with more than just paint, it sits there like a black hole drawing everything in. I have no idea how this happened or how it is doing this. I feel quite surprised that I seem to have created something that has so much magnitude and illusionary prowess. It certainly was not planned and I can only put it down to something heavy being transmitted through me. A technicolour shadow, this piece will most certainly have to be hung on its own – it just dwarfs everything around it, including me. I know these leaves are big, but this one is the first one that manages to shrink its audience.
accomplished. Mission
|'041120151204' (Vitis vinifera) leaf, watercolour on Saunders Waterford paper, 76 x 56cm
The thing about his piece is it appears to concentrate time like no other previous leaf and time is intimidating. If we take it that the ripples of veins and colour represent the leaf's passage through life, and the intricate blobs of paint representing my own marks through time, this leaf has loads of both and their combination seems to be synergistic. The leaf is like a lump of igneous rock that has been left to cool slowly. It is weighty. The pain of pushing this beast out in time was mentally hard – gruelling in fact. It reminded me of when a fair ground ride is going too fast. One could feel the tickle in the gums below the front bottom teeth and that whoosing feeling which is just as horrible as it is good. I like this giddy effect and I know I am not alone.
I am interested in how a painting draws someone in – is it to do with escapism (through wonder) and if so, are even the most realist of works a form of escapism? As I have mentioned before, I have come to realise that when you paint something you end up having to confront all of reality, and eventually one ends up asking themselves what reality actually is. As Bachellard said in his Poetics of Space, "everything takes form, even infinity. We seek to determine being and, in so doing, transcend all situations to give a situation of all situations". Perception fascinates me. What is it that we actually perceive and what is it that we can't or choose not to. How do our different filtering systems operate and can we see beyond the mere physical? What makes something physical and can real things alter?
Recently I watched the film Don't Look Now for the first time and was so blown away by it I ended up watching it again a few days later. It's a modern Gothic thriller – but not in the ordinary sense in that it isn't super scary. Its primary focus is on the psychology of grief and how that in life nothing is quite what it seems. The plot is heavily preoccupied with misinterpretation and mistaken identity and the film is renowned for its innovative editing style. It often employs flashbacks and flashforwards and some scenes are intercut or merged to alter the viewer's perception of what is really happening. It also adopts an impressionist approach to its imagery, foretelling events with the use of familiar objects, patterns and colours. All in all it is very cleverly put together.
|Close up on the botanical watercolour of a Vitis vinifera (grape) leaf - work in progress
Recently I watched the film Don't Look Now for the first time and was so blown away by it I ended up watching it again a few days later. It's a modern Gothic thriller – but not in the ordinary sense in that it isn't super scary. Its primary focus is on the psychology of grief and how that in life nothing is quite what it seems. The plot is heavily preoccupied with misinterpretation and mistaken identity and the film is renowned for its innovative editing style. It often employs flashbacks and flashforwards and some scenes are intercut or merged to alter the viewer's perception of what is really happening. It also adopts an impressionist approach to its imagery, foretelling events with the use of familiar objects, patterns and colours. All in all it is very cleverly put together.
The film drew me in instantly, but it really got my vote when one tense scene towards the end featured only one half of Julie Christie's face. She looked like one of my leaves - the concealment of her features made you incredibly aware of edges, boundaries and the limitations of our perception. The similarity between the two was further exacerbated by the fact that I was at the time experiencing the same types of giddy emotions I feel when I look at one of my leaves because of the very nature of the narrative. The film is a tragedy, but there is also something beyond the simple moralistic story line of a tragedy in its most basic sense because there is something numinous going on – something uncontrollable and therefore in mind - sublime. One of the main characters is so busy focusing on the rational sense of his tragedy that he blinds himself to the irrational world of the sublime around him. There is also another character in the plot, but they function in the complete opposite way in that they cannot perceive our own 'reality', but have the gift of an irrational 'second sight'. This film epitomises everything I am trying to do with paint and when they showed half of Julie's face I admit a smile materialised across my face. Somehow we have arrived at the same point, a phenomenon that I find happens more often than we realise.
|Close up on the botanical watercolour of a Vitis vinifera (grape) leaf - work in progress
So maybe my work fits more closely with the Gothic - a movement that is primarily focused on decay, death, terror and chaos? Something that puts irrationality and passion over rationality and reason? The Gothic narrative, despite unsettling, still brings about feelings of pleasure, but it's method is to address the horrific, hidden emotions that individuals can harbour and provide them with an outlet. The strong imagery of terror and horror in Gothic stories reveals truths to us through fear. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick wrote "that the idea of a protagonist having to struggle with a terrible, surreal force is a metaphor for an individual's struggle with repressed emotions and thoughts. Personifying the repressed idea or feeling gives strength to it and shows how one, if caught unaware, is overcome with forbidden desire. These desires are mysterious, and mystery breeds attraction, and with attraction one is seduced." What interests me is that if we think about it in these terms, the Gothic movement never really ended as it lurks as a hidden movement in all of us all of the time, and more importantly - it draws us in. It is seductive.
|Vitis vinifera (grape) leaf - work in progress
There is also a difference between terror and horror that needs clarification at this point as I am not interested in the 'horrific'. The difference between the two is that terror supposedly expands the soul and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life; the other – horror – contracts them. Horror is not a source of the sublime, but terror is. In short, terror opens the mind to the apprehension of the sublime, while the abhorrence involved in horror closes it. Therefore I remain to be interested terror and not horror. I want people to be expanded by my work and not disgusted. They are not car crashes on the sides of roads.
The Gothic novel started the Romantic Movement, a movement which can be broadly viewed as an attempt to find emotional certainty from nature rather than from God. It is the imagination which serves the Romantics. It is their method of transcending the limitations of the human condition, giving them the licence to morph objects into a more profound form of reality. This movement is characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as the glorification of nature. Unsurprisingly, such a concept resonates with me very strongly. I sit in my studio for hours trying to capture and exaggerate intense emotions such as apprehension, terror and awe into an aesthetic experience using nature.
So, is my work as a painter concerned with the Romantic or Gothic? Well, like in all art, it depends on the observer's point of view. I personally resonate more with the Gothic subliminal side. My imagination rarely provides me with answers, it just leaves me in an unresolvable paradox of emotional ambiguity - things just get more complex and confusing. Romantic art on the other hand always seems to me to strive to reconcile discordant contradictions imaginatively by creating a sense of order. Such moralistic organisation is very apparent in the form of a tragedy (cross reference previous post) for example. With this in mind, perhaps there is a little bit of both of these elements at work as I always thought. I am not qualified to describe my work as 'sublime', but I do feel that there is something bewildering about the final product. Maybe it is related to the vast expenditure of labour needed to execute each piece or the vastness in scale, the dash of imagination and the overall complexity? Or is it just good old fashioned mother nature providing a feeling of wonderment? Most likely.
|Storm in the Mountains by Albert Bierstadt (c.1870)
So in the mix of painting like a mad woman, I am now reading about 'Sturm und Drang'. I have also done a bit of reading around Japanese culture and looked back at all the things that have influenced me to date, including a print out of John Waterhouse's tragic paintings of 'The Lady of Shallot' and 'Ophelia' which I have had pinned by my bed since I was about 18 years old. I am looking into 'ars moriendi' (The art of dying) and 'mementos mori' (remember that you must die) and studying the wondrous landscapes of Albert Bierstadt. I have also been completely mesmerised by the lighting techniques of Henri-Georges Clouzot in his film L'enfer (2.45 minutes in) after a friend suggested that I take a look:
I sit and remember the work I have made before. The giant plant cells hung in the school's dark room as an installation which ended up being so terrifying that several people dropped their wine glass and shrieked during the private view (this was not intentional). It seems I have always been fascinated with light. Even though I prefer the dark, we all need a drop of light in order to contextualise it. Dusk is my favourite time of day – I like how the colours of plants change and become more luminescent. Blue transforms into something else entirely under these conditions.
Today is aptly 'La Día Gótico' in Granada, and everyone dresses up for the event. I have been writing this post all month ready for my 'end of month posting' unaware that such a day existed in Granada. It wasn't until I saw several people in wigs, corsets, leather and lace in the supermarket today when I cottoned on. I felt rather misplaced in my pink flowery dress and beret. A romantic in a gothic world.
Complete list of botanical horror films
Complete list of botanical horror films
Bachellard, G., (1994), The Poetics of Space, Beacon Press
Hume, R. D. (1969), Gothic Versus Romantic: A Revaluation of the Gothic Novel, PMLA, 84:2, 282-90
Coleridge, S. T., (1817), Biographia Literaria, II, 12.
New Monthly Magazine, Vol. VII (1826).
Sedgwick, E. K., (1986), The Coherence of Gothic Conventions.
New York: Methuen.


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Rejoice! The moment all pubbers, MVM players and even some competitive 6v6 players have long hoped and dreamed of is finally here…It's the first 9v9 Highlander Winter One Night Cup, brought to you by TF2CSA and Gamezone.
Category: Clans
TF2 Competitive Clans
Apr 06 2014
9v9 Winter Highlander Cup
Mar 21 2014
Autumn 2014 – One Night Cup
It's One Night Cup time! TF2CSA and Gamezone are proud to announce the Autumn One Night Cup for 6v6 TF2.
Sep 03 2013
TF2 2013 Spring Ladder
The ladder is now live! The TF2CSA & GameZone Spring 6v6 Ladder is now live! The goal is to encourage more people to play 6v6 TF2. Participating rather than winning is the goal of this ladder/league. The success of this ladder my lead to future competitions / ladders attracting prizes and sponsorships. Share the love and spread …
Jan 08 2013
TF2CSA Update for January 2013
Hey everyone. Happy New Year, glad to see you all survived the end of the world. I thought I'd just give an update to everyone on what's happening in the competitive scene, for anyone interested. Basically, our scene is struggling at the moment, however the mixes over this festive season have been quite frequent. A …
Jul 30 2010


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Catholic Democrat's – How will the vote go?
American Catholics have a long history of loyalty to the Democratic Party. However, as the Democrats have evolved into the party of the culture of death, they have betrayed the loyalty of Catholics, and are no longer worthy of their support. This betrayal, however, raises an important question: has the average Catholic voter done his homework, and kept up with what the Democratic Party has become?
It appears that the answer to the above question is no. Many Catholics today have little understanding of how their faith should permeate their lives and their interaction with our society. They have been assimilated into our secular culture to such an extent, that they no longer posses a Catholic identity. They have accepted the liberal attitudes of our society, and are apathetic when it comes to following the Church's moral guidelines on the major issues of the day.
In this regard, they seem to be more interested in their pocket book than in matters of principle. They fail to understand that when they vote for personal gain, they gain nothing, as was the case in the last election. Obama wants to destroy the America we know, and turn it into a socialist dictatorial state. If he is allow to succeed, not only will Catholic's suffer, but the general population also.
A case in point would be an article, about Obama's first term performance, in the February 2012 edition of U.S. Catholic (Page 12). Some of the answers given seemed to be completely devoid of any connection to reality. Out of a total of 63 published replies to four questions (see pg. 15 of that issue) only three dealt with a pro-life or pro-marriage issue. Any serious concern about life issues was noticeably absent. The article stated that 51% of U.S. Catholic readers indicated that they would vote for Obama. This is a disgrace.
So, will Catholic's still vote for Obama out of blind allegiance to a party that no longer represents Catholic values? If they do, they will betray their faith, as well as Christ and his Church. They will be voting to continue the murder of 4,000 unborn children each day; for the destruction of their Church at the hands of the Obama Mandate; for the Socialist take over of America, and the end of our freedom; for the imposition of martial law under the NDAA. Ultimately, they will be voting to complete America's transformation into a godless, atheistic, Stalinist type state. This is evil, and to vote for it is evil.
See: Obama's "Catholic Plan" – youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vVN2MMuiedI#
Also see: Fr. Sam Maleetta's religious liberty homily – youtube.com/watch?v=ltTd81XpDnc
Please feel free to copy this post and email it to your contacts if you wish.


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The show is great at birthday parties, hens and stags dos, and family gatherings. Bachelorette parties are now more common and also coming-out parties (in all sorts of ways).
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Gerard Vwill come to you, wherever your party is. He entertains throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific including the USA and sometimes Europe and the Pacific.
This is surprisingly affordable. You might find cheaper acts, but none as good.
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This is clean fun, nothing you'll regret, nothing you'll be embarrassed by. Volunteers only, no-one is picked on. It is simply hilarious and often hilariously silly!
Gerard V was fantastic! In three words - Entertaining, funny, mind blowing. Gerard's show truly made the hens a memorable occasion for all. From our initial contact through to his follow up after our event, Gerard is super organised and a pleasure to deal with. Thank you so much.
From all of Erin's Bridesmaids
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Sri Balaji Tours & Travels is reckoned among one of the most reliable and trusted tour operators from Kharagpur, West Bengal. We present to you a wide variety of tour and travel packages for all Indian as well as International locations.
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Tests for diesel cars and lorries are to be tightened up to ensure vehicles have a critical exhaust filter if one had originally been fitted as standard, Roads Minister Robert Goodwill has announced.
Garages and testing stations will be required check for a diesel particulate filter (DPF) in the inspection of the exhaust system as part of the MOT test (or annual test for heavy vehicles) from February 2014.
The vehicle will automatically fail the MOT test if the filter had been fitted as standard but is found to be no longer present.
The filter works by trapping solid particulate matter from exhaust gases. This type of filter has been in use for more than 20 years and helps meet European emission standards, improving air quality and health standards.
Some firms offer services to remove the filter, claiming it will improve the economy. But it is an offence to drive a vehicle that has been modified this way, as it will no longer meet the emissions standards the car achieved when it was approved for sale in the UK.
Roads Minister Robert Goodwill said:
I am very concerned that vehicles are being modified in a way that is clearly detrimental to people's health and undoes the hard work car manufacturers have taken to improve emissions standards. It has become apparent the government had to intervene to clarify the position on particulate filter removal given the unacceptable negative impact on air quality.
This change to the MOT tests makes it clear – if you have this filter removed from your car it will fail the test.
The filters need to be 'regenerated' regularly through burning the soot to gas at a very high temperature, leaving behind a residue. If not carried out properly, regeneration can lead to a build up of soot, which can affect performance. This has led to some diesel vehicle owners opting to remove the filter, which makes their car illegal for road use.
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September 2019


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Turner can be seen playing an Epiphone Wiltshire in a photo in [this NME article](http://www.nme.com/news/arctic-monkeys/34185). Photo is captioned, "Alex Turner performs with The Rascals, Astoria, London, February 7, 2008. Pic: Andy Willsher"more
Miles Kane used a Epiphone wilshire in The Little Flames. There is also a photo of Alex Turner using this guitar when joining The Rascals for Is it Too Late?.more
In his very early days with The Castiles, Springsteen played an Epiphone Wilshiremore
Epiphone Wilshire can be seen 0:47 into the video. Jay Watson used it during Deezer Sessions in 2015 This guitar belongs to Dominic Simpermore
> Along with an Epiphone Wilshire and an oddball Dan Armstrong Lucite model, the Strat became one of his main stage guitars in the late '60s.more
Pedro Ramos can be seen playing the Epiphone Wilshire in this video. This is your backup guitar during the tours.more
In this live performance with Magazine, lead singer Howard Devoto can be seen playing an Epiphone Wilshire at 0:39.more
Malone can be seen in this photo playing an Epiphone Wilshire with the Tremotone Vibrato removed.more
My Epiphone Wilshire is the guitar I wanted from day one and I'm pretty happy with it. I'll start off with the issues, there's a slight rattle at the bridge (G string) and the high e string falls right out of the saddle when bending. I then switched back to a size .10 string set and had it setup, noticed that the added tension had almost eliminated that problem (emphasis on "almost").
However, this guitar can play like a dream when setup properly. First, the vibrato system has to be one the best for staying in tune, you can really hammer on it without much issue. The pickups sound good, like a cross between a Telecaster and a Les Paul model; a very unique and pleasent sound. I also find the fret access a great bonus.
Overall, I'd say it's not for everyone but I personally enjoy it, it's a very unique instrument, I'd recommend it for blues, rock, 60's pop and pushing it towards high gain stuff.
This guitar is great for live performances and even recording, it's light weight and has a beautiful finish, the tremotone vibrato may need to be set up properly by a professional, mine came set up out the box and I haven't had any problems with it. Only 398 original 1966 Wilshires were produced and are selling today for $10,000 or more. If you're not fortunate enough to own an original or can't afford that kind of cash, here's your chance to own one with the same classic 1966 Epiphone vibe and tone.
PRODUCT FEATURES Reissue of rare Epi classic with tremelo Mini humbuckers 60's SlimTaper neck™ SPECIFICATIONS Body mahogany Neck mahogany Neck Profile 60s SlimTaper™ Nut 1.68 Fingerboard rosewood with dot inlay Fingerboard Radius 12" Frets 22 medium jumbo Bridge Pickup NYT Mini-Humbucker Neck Pickup NYR Mini-Humbucker Controls Bridge Volume, Neck Volume, Bridge Tone, Neck Tone, 3-way pickup selector (toggle) Scale 24.75" Tailpiece Tremotone™ Hardware Nickel Tuners Premium die-cast 14:1 Color Worn Cherry (WC) Strings D'Addario® 10, 13, 17, 26, 36, 46
It's a good, stylish and versatile guitar with a characteristic sound. I like the sound of those minihumbuckers (not so common), and they give the guitar a sound in between full-size humbucker and P90. It feels and sounds like a much more expensive instrument so for the price, this is great!
Please don't overload us with details or your hands-on experience with this guitar, man.


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Birthday dinner at Casa
With the big hat and silly song!
Stack o' presents
A cake that big sister made for her
Lots of sillies
A puzzle she can do herself. This was her favorite gift.
Most of all, a day to celebrate our sweet Abi! We love you so much. :)