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There is no doubt that David Brandt Berg, also known as "Moses David" during the 1970s, and later as "Father David," during the 80s, and still referred to as "Dad" by his followers, was one of the most controversial characters of the twentieth century. To put it bluntly, he was probably one of the greatest sources of religious "scandals" ever, which was not a hard thing to do, if, as a Christian, you begin to claim and show by your actions that you really believe that sex is perfectly alright with God, and even a legitimate means to show His love to our fellowmen, which is the one "sin" that established Christianity won't ever forgive him for.
But let's have a look at "established Christianity" and all it has accomplished for God over the past 16 centuries, that has left its biggest imprint on history, and thus made the greatest impression on unbelieving observers' minds: After the surge of the "Just War" theory that "Saint" Augustine cooked up (along with some of the most fervent doctrines creating the myth that sex was evil), Christianity finally had an excuse to discard the "Love Your Enemies" dogma of its Founder in favor of the common policy to hit back when the enemy strikes, or even hit before he has a chance to strike.
The crusades and incessant European wars that followed were the sad monument of what happens when followers of Christ discard His teachings for one of the Devil's lies, just as the very first two people ever created did, whose pattern and example we have since followed unceasingly.
As Jesus said "If ye abide in My sayings, ye will be My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31, 32).
Since the church obviously did not abide in His teachings, but took on their own, they obviously were not truly His disciples, and consequently did not know, much less impart the truth to others, and instead of freedom, what resulted was spiritual slavery that sometimes was crueler than that of the preceding Roman empire.
Paul had seen it coming.
Let us not forget to mention the "dark ages," which the Catholic church brought over Europe instead of the "Light of the world," through the next most impressive tool the "Holy Church" used to make itself unforgotten: the "holy" Inquisition.
If torture and enslaving mankind with perpetual fear of hellfire is your idea of "salvation," then you certainly need to read no further. Just as Jesus warned His disciples of the religious leaders of His day, whom He called "blind leaders of the blind," I won't expect you to see my point, either.
Finally, the glorious and "enlightened" twentieth century brought us the "War to end all wars," instigated by the "Christian" nations of the world with 40 million dead and wounded on either side, followed, only two and a half decades later by the greatest and darkest of all wars yet, sanctioned and celebrated by pastors and churches on either side, with few exceptions.
Those Christians who stood up for true Christian values during the 3rd Reich in Germany, died as martyrs in Hitler's prisons and concentration camps, as their predecessors had during the ages before them.
And while America went down in history as the "great liberator," she soon became the oppressor of countless other nations around the world, which culminated in the recent unprecedented post-cold war era under the Bush administration, during which the atrocities of that supposedly Christian nation have reached such proportions that it would finally wake up some more of its own citizens.
While David Berg was one of the first Americans I ever heard to make politically incorrect statements like "I'm ashamed to be an American" as early as the 70s and 80s, under the Bush administration more people turned out to be ashamed of their country.
As he himself confessed repeatedly, he was a man who made mistakes and had weaknesses, like all of us. Some of the ways in which he conducted his organization during his life-time, and some of his policies retrospectively appear inexcusable and perhaps unpardonable to some. Especially members of the younger generation that grew up within the Family and feel disgruntled about having been robbed of opportunities to lead a "normal life" seem very bitter and unforgiving about their upbringing. I understand their viewpoint, too. If I still believed in the System, I might feel the same way about having cheated myself out of opportunities to climb the ladder of success, or just lead a "normal" life like everybody else. As Ricky Rodriguez, the famous ex-member of the Family in his farewell video to the world before committing his atrocious crime and subsequent suicide seemed to hold in most bitter resentment against his unconventional upbringing: "We didn't even have a f—ing TV!"
Maybe my own daughter may feel the same way about it some day, and may wish to kill me for that, too, but I will probably still feel the same way about it then as I do today, that refusing to expose my family to the flow of media propaganda and the tidal wave of questionable entertainment is in all of our best interest, and a substantial amount of people might actually agree with me.
So, how can a rationally thinking person in the 21st century honestly and in clear conscience subscribe to the views and teachings of one of the most controversial, politically incorrect and scandalous religious figure of the 20th century? What's in it for me? It certainly isn't conducive to popularity or success in my career!
Well, if you have seen the 1999 movie "Matrix" featuring Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishbourne, you may be able to at least remotely grasp where I'm coming from if you remember the scene in which "Morpheus" (Fishbourne) presents Neo (Reeves) with the choice between the blue pill (which would allow him to continue life as usual) and the red pill, which would reveal to him what the Matrix really is: "Remember, all I'm offering is the truth."
Evidently, a lot of people can live without it, and like one of the villains in the same movie, the traitor Cypher, they would be happier if nobody had ever told them the truth. However, some people can't. They need it so badly, they are even willing to die for it, or live a life less luxurious and comfortable than their complacent contemporaries.
One of David Berg's earliest writings was an assessment of the perhaps similarly controversial religious figure in Russia at thje beginning of the 20th century, entitled, "Rasputin – Hero Or Heel?" I remember reading this discourse as a teenager, and never would I have imagined myself someday writing a similar defense of its author.
But since it's quite unlikely that I may never have become a Christian without the movement he brought to life, I think I owe him that one, and so, following a few of the reasons why I'd still put my hand in the fire for this man:
1. He Really Fed the Sheep
One of the Scriptural grounds on which the Family bases their belief that David Berg was a prophet, or perhaps more specifically, the "David of the End," consists of prophecies in the Old Testament made about a coming prophet named David during "the latter days" (Hosea 3:5) or "in the cloudy and dark day" (Ezekiel 34:12). While most Christians believe these prophecies to be fulfilled in the life of Jesus, we see a more ultimate fulfillment of those prophecies in our own time, when the "fat shepherds" of established Christianity have specialized in feeding themselves (Ez.34:2, 10) while God's sheep are scattered "upon all the face of the earth (Ez.34:6) and "none did seek or search after them" until the Lord Himself decided to seek them out and raise unto them a shepherd to feed them, His servant David (verse 23).
While church Christians may consider such a claim preposterous, I am a living example that the prophecy is true. While the lack of love I found within the catholic church of my own upbringing (see John 13:35) turned me into an atheist by the age of 10, I doubt that I would have been "found" by any of the established flocks of the churches, since their form of "evangelism" usually consists of waiting inside their church buildings on Sunday mornings to come and be fed of the meager portions of God's Word contained in the preacher's sermon, and I've heard some in which that ingredient was omitted altogether.
Father David committed his life to spreading the Gospel to the lost sheep, and one of his greatest sins he ever committed was his success in doing so, which evoked the Scribes and Pharisees of his day to the same religious jealousy that Jesus had to experience.
That is not to say that anyone ever deemed him to be on the same level as Jesus; to the contrary.
While some churches or pastors don't seem to be quite sure whether Jesus truly was the divine Son of God or just one of history's "great philosophers," there has never been any doubt in the minds of any member of the Family, that Jesus was and is the Messiah, the only way to Salvation.
2. His Emphasis on Witnessing
A Salvation that Dad would not withhold from the rest of the world, or the lost sheep. While the concept of Salvation itself is only a vague one in many churches, especially in Europe, and definitely throughout the Catholic church, much less an issue to be preached or imparted to their members, and usually only vaguely ensured by regular church attendance, David Berg devoted the primary function of his organization of followers to the cause of preaching that Gospel ("Good News") to "every creature" in "all the world," as Jesus had commanded His disciples to do in Mark 16:15 and elsewhere.
Consequently, the Family was very successful at it right from the start, much to the chagrin of most churches, only some of which followed suit in similar efforts to fulfill Jesus' command to His followers of then and now.
Making it one's duty to tell others about their faith in order for them to find the same faith, assurance, peace and joy that they have found themselves is not always easy, since it is not viewed as the politically correct thing to do, and in some countries it is even forbidden.
But as for the Early Christians, it has been the Family's credo that "we ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29, 4:19, 20).
3. He Re-Established the Life-Style of the Early Church
– Which isn't the only aspect in which the Family is probably the closest thing to the Early Church in recent history.
One of the bases for the communal way of life practiced in the Family by most of its members right from the start was the concept on which some speculate that Karl Marx founded his philosophy, found in no other place than the Bible, and more precisely, the Book of Acts:
"All that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need" (Acts 2:44, 45). Or, "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common" (Acts 4:32).
I don't know of any other worldwide evangelistic Christian movement that practices the life-style of the Early Church to the extent the Family does. If you know of any, please drop me a line.
Likewise, the Family has adopted another truth from the Book of Acts that is being totally ignored by the bulk of what calls itself Christianity today: That "the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 'Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will ye build Me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of My rest?'" (Acts 7:48, 49).
While established "Churchianity" invests a large part of their resources and efforts into their buildings, contrary to the practices of the Early Church of the first 3 centuries and the ignored portion of Scripture cited above, The family continues to "teach and preach Jesus Christ in every house" (Acts 5:42).
4. His Un-daunting Faith in God and His Word
A life-style in which an entire organization of followers devoted their time and effort to no other profession than the "high calling of Jesus Christ" to share the message of His Love and Salvation with the rest of the world requires faith. Faith that dares to believe that Jesus wasn't kidding when He said that if God fed the birds and clothed the lilies in the fields, then He would do likewise for those of us who "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Mt.6).
He promised that "all these things" we need for daily living "would be added unto us," a truth I have only seen believed and practiced to such an extent by the Family.
While most other Christians I know of continue to slave away as "batteries for the Matrix" five or six days a week, the Family International, based on the heritage of faith it has received from its founder, continues to invest practically all of its time and resources into the establishment and growth of God's Kingdom on earth, not investing in material things like buildings, as most of their counterparts would, but building God's true House of the "living stones" of living souls and human beings, which, after all, and according to David Berg, is what God's Kingdom truly consists of (see Luke 17:21).
5. Correct Interpretation of Scriptures
a) Post-Tribulation Rapture
Nobody wants to go through hard times, including myself. We all want happy times, and doubtlessly, God intended for us to enjoy life, which was one of the key elements of David Berg's teachings. We all know that God loves us and only allows those things to happen to His children who love Him, which are going to work out for their good (Romans 8:28). So, it's understandable that most Christians reject the idea that they would have to go through the most horrible period of world history. It's understandable, and we all sympathize and feel the same way. Nevertheless, we have to trust God that He knows what He's doing, even when He announces that the church will have to go through the Great Tribulation Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24, adding that He would only return after those days.
It takes faith that God will keep us through something like that. After all, most people have been so used to leaning on their own arm of the flesh when it comes to supporting themselves and their families, they know nothing about Matthew 6 and "seeking first the Kingdom of God" so that "all these things" (food, clothing, etc.) would be added unto us. It costs too much to let go. Nevertheless it changes nothing about the fact that the Scriptures clearly say that Jesus won't return until after the Tribulation, and that the church will have to go through it, last not least in order to be purged and made white. If you ask me, and according to "Dad," never before has the church needed purging so badly.
This is and will always remain bad news and an unpopular gospel, but it merits to be repeated for those who are actually interested in the truth, not just doctrines pleasant to the ear. Dave Berg and his crew have been escorted out of churches as early as back in the 60s for challenging pastors on the grounds of preaching the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, which really amounts to nothing but a cunningly concocted twisting of Scriptures to make them fit that fairy-tale of wishful thinking.
It remains to be seen whether we and the obvious interpretation of the Scriptures are right. We would wish for everyone including ourselves that we weren't. But in this case the truth is so obvious that we'd do a whole lot more wisely to prepare for what's inevitably ahead by strengthening our faith through the Word of God, instead of having our ears tickled by easy-way-out tales of Jesus whisking believers off just before the Tribulation happens.
b) Eternal Salvation vs. Eternal Insecurity
Another false doctrine taught by a vast majority of churches is that anyone can lose their Salvation. Jesus saves, but you can lose that Salvation, if you sin again. Dad used to call this doctrine "Eternal Insecurity."
I have written much elsewhere on this topic and so has Dad. It just had to be said once again. "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life," no matter what any preacher says in order to ensure through fear that his congregation should faithfully return every Sunday morning.
6. He Refused to Compromise with the System
There are few religious teachers who have taught as uncompromisingly about or against the System as Jesus and some of His early followers did in their references to "the world," throughout the New Testament.
Some more radical teachers started out writing about "the System" in their earlier years, such as the Franciscan Richard Rohr, who seems to have succumbed to the pressures of the Catholic Church in more recent years, and we all know what became of the hippy movement, and how most of those former System haters became some of its most loyal followers.
People change, and once they become older and more "mature," they often veer from their earlier, more radical viewpoints, and there have been countless such cases in the Family, who felt and acted quite "revolutionary" during their earlier years, but succumbed to the lure of a more comfortable life once they reached their mid thirties or forties.
Yet unlike any of those, David Berg remained a rebel and an iconoclast, a dropout from the System from the time he founded the Family until his death, even though his viewpoints may have changed slightly on certain other topics or doctrines, leaving the world a special heritage, namely a gem of a small, yet worldwide community that still represents – as a movement and international fellowship – the only actual existing alternative to the System that I personally know of. If you know of any other, I beg you to let me know, since I'd be very interested.
7. Love, for Him, Was the Most Important Thing
Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another." I won't tell you any stories. It's not as if I had always seen and witnessed that love in every single member of our community. In fact, there have been times when there was a blatant lack of it.
It's not like the Devil wasn't on our track, and there are many attractive ways to get ambitious leaders who are here today and gone tomorrow too distracted with other matters than love, even in the life of a full-time member of a "Family of Love."
Maybe there have been people in the Family for different reasons than love. Maybe some started out with good intentions, but later were caught up in internal "politics," or confused lust with love, or whatever. We're all sinners and have to battle our ultimately selfish hidden motivations at one time or another.
So, while the Family, as a body of believers, is and has been far from perfect, I think it's still the one outfit in this world among Christian movements, where love plays the role of utmost importance; which is significant in so much as that God is love. Ours may be a simpler gospel in this aspect than that of some. But what could be more simple and yet be more all-engulfing than that three word statement from the 1st epistle of John?
If God is love, then love is the most important thing. And like any other church or group of believers, the Family may at times fall short at putting that into practice, but at least it's one universal truth that is pretty much there on everyone's mind, throughout the Family. Regardless of our failures, we know that love is what matters most, and that's a spiritual course we've inherited from our founder.
8. He Liberated Us from the "Sex Is Sin" Dogma of the Churches
Most Christians carefully separate the love that Christians are supposed to have for each other from the type of love the world (as in agnostics, or the secular realm) often refers to, that most touchy of all subjects, the infamous 3-letter word.
Christians are still so influenced by the anti-sex dogma, that you won't find any videos on Godtube on which a woman isn't completely dressed, as if the human body were something to be ashamed of, and not something of which God said, "It is good," after He had made it – in His own image, after all; male and female.
No wonder a lot of people must think that Christians are nuts. It doesn't compute with them that if there is a God, He should have created such an awesome means for the human race to procreate and then be as mean to declare it a sin. That's just like the doctrine of Eternal Insecurity: "I'm giving you Salvation, but I'm going to take it away from you again."
But God is far from being that type of mean "Ogre in the sky" as which this brand of Christians would portray Him to the world, and I, personally, am very thankful for David Berg's reminding us of the fact that it was actually God's first commandment ever to His children, to "be fruitful and multiply;" in other words, to have sex; and there was nothing, whatsoever, wrong with it.
9. He Offered an Alternative to the Slavery of the System
In Ezekiel chapter 34, which talks about a shepherd named David who should feed the flock, unlike the fat and selfish shepherds who only feed themselves, a prophecy which we, the Family, believe, was fulfilled in "our" David, the Lord says that we will know that it will have been He, Who will "have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them" (v.27). The yoke has accordingly been a key Family symbol since our earliest days, signifying that we took the Lord's yoke upon us, which, as He says, is "easy," and His burden light (Mt.11:29, 30), in exchange of the much heavier yoke of System bondage and slavery to money.
While it would be an unrealistic portrayal and statement to say that there is never any financial pressure in Family Homes, it is yet safe to say that the fear of survival that is usually the driving force that will make people invest the bulk of their lives and time on earth they're given into jobs that they only truly enjoy in the rarest and luckiest of cases, has been replaced by a solid faith in the fact that God wasn't just kidding when He promised repeatedly, and all over His Word, that He was going to take care of us, especially if we take care of His business and make the task of getting His Word and message out to the world our business.
After 3 decades of living and relying on that principle, I can only say that I have not found God to be a liar or break His Word, ever, and I'm most grateful for the heritage of faith handed down to me and my family by our founder, and I pity those brothers and sisters of mine (in other communities) who have not yet made the experience that God is absolutely reliable in this aspect.
So, one can truly say that this heritage of freedom from the slavery of "Egypt," which has sometimes been another way our "Moses" used to describe the System, was handed us by the man who led us with the rod of God's Word into an alternative life-style, and probably one of the most unique you will find on this globe at this time, the beginning of the 21st century.
10. Like all God's True Prophets, He Was Persecuted and Maligned
I met the Family at the age of 13, and was almost immediately confronted with negative press coverage about Dad and the Family, resulting in police raids of Family communities, interrogations by mocking, unbelieving police officers, and, of course, subsequent confrontation with my family.
Thankfully, I had been reading my Bible, which had mentally prepared me for this sort of thing. After all, hadn't Jesus said, "Blessed are you when men shall revile you and speak all manner of evil against you falsely"? "Rejoice, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." In other parts He even went as far as to say, "Woe unto you, if all people speak well of you," and Paul drives it to the top when he says, "All that would live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution." And he wasn't talking about a little bit of gossip here, either, or mere mental or psychological mobbing, but actual persecution, involving incarceration, which is what the Early Church, for the first 3 centuries of its existence, was used to, often resulting in their execution and martyrdom.
Jesus never indicated that His true followers were going to be members of the vast, recognized and politically correct majority, nor members of the establishment, but He always prophesied that we were going to be a persecuted minority, hated by the world, because we don't belong to them (John 15:19).
So, it doesn't surprise me much that Dad has become one of the most infamous religious leaders of our times. By the fruit of his life's works and of his words in my own life, I have come to know him (Mt.7:20), and when I compare that with the fruit of bloodshed and murder that established, so-called Christianity is bearing in poor third world countries like Iraq, I know whom I'm going to trust.
11. His Political Position Concerning War, the U.S. and the Mideast
Jeremiah Wright, the former and retired preacher of Barack Obama's church, was not the first to have issued the outraging statement that caused such a big stir earlier this year, 2008, when he said, "God damn America!" Our founder had made the same statement already decades ago, and on the same grounds: the warmongering nature of this supposedly great Christian country and society, and the shedding of innocent blood, for which, I and probably some of my brethren still believe that God will hold the U.S. responsible, along with those Christians who were in favor of, supported, participated in this un-Christian political conduct, and made it possible.
The same applies to the crisis in the Mideast. Most Christians only see that the Jews are supposedly still somehow God's people, and thus have the unquestioned right to take away the land from the Palestinians that on all other but religious grounds belongs to them, oblivious to the fact that there is, since 2000 years, a new pact, a new Testament in existence between God and men, based not on flesh and blood or heritage, but only the blood of one man: Jesus Christ.
So, while most Christians in the "enlightened," Western world side with Israel, as "God's nation" (obviously totally ignorant of everything the New Testament says on that matter, much to the shame of their preachers and pastors), and wait for Jesus to whisk them out of this world just before it's going to get really bad, lest they should actually reap what they have sown, I thank God for having sent us a prophet who gave us the rarest of all treasures in these times: the truth.
12. His stance toward the theory of Evolution
Last but not least of all do I have to hand it to David Brandt Berg, whom I prefer to call Dad, that he managed to make of me one of those ludicrous lunatics, the most despised by all educated people and intellectuals referred to as Creationists.
Long before any Ben Steins ever took up the torch to shine a light on the absolutely monstrous bias of the so-called scientific world against people who would even dare to consider that a Creator might have been involved in the origin of our species, and long before the scientific evidence that gave birth to "Intelligent Design" became available to the brave and chosen few, and long before the term "Creationist" was ever coined, Dad had already enlightened us about the "Big Lie."
Which is one reason why he also vehemently encouraged his followers to home-school their children instead of sending them to the Moloch of the System's public brainwashing institutions, and I regret that I lacked the courage to heed his advice.
If you want your children to maintain their faith, the worst you can do is expose them to the poison they're going to be forced to swallow in public schools.
And I could go on and on about Dad's "weird teachings" on "spirit helpers", which actually really only means that there are not only evil spirits in the spirit world, which is what most Christians seem to believe, but a "cloud of witnesses" of saints in heaven, rooting for us, cheering us on, and helping us from beyond the veil.
Or I could tell you how from the very beginnings of his movement he always made sure that we would look to God for guidance, not to him, nor any man, and that it had to be God and God alone to keep this movement alive, and how he taught us incessantly to give God the glory and the credit for anything we would ever accomplish.
How he taught his followers of the power of praise as a positive force of faith, way before that kind of lingo was ever popular in the churches…
Or about his efforts to give us a clearer picture of Heaven, by making attempts to have our Family artists portray what the Bible actually has to say about Heaven, the place where it's really happening.
Or his knowledge of Bible prophecy that is enabling us to discern the signs of the times unfolding before us, deciphering the handwriting on the wall, leaving us not in the dark about what the "god of this world" is up to.
I could probably write a whole book about the one of his teachings I personally consider one of the most valuable, namely the importance of every child of God learning to communicate with the Lord personally, and receiving His directions for us personally on a daily basis, availing ourselves of the gift of the Holy Spirit referred to as "prophecy," along with the other 8 gifts, referred to in 1Corinthians chapter 12.
Or the "7 Ways to know God's Will," or his fighting spirit and relentless conviction as a furious voice for the truth, decades before others started having the guts to say anything similar to the things he said.
I don't blame you for not believing in prophets, and certainly the highly controversial type, such as David Berg was, but I don't envy you either, and I assure you, you don't have to pity me. Perhaps some day it's actually going to turn out that truth was more than a matter of personal opinions and views, after all, and there was more than what we were told to believe by "the machines," all along.
If you should ever get interested in that stuff called truth, don't worry: as rare as it is, its supply always far surpasses the demand for it, so there'll always be plenty to feed on for those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Matth.5:6). There'll always be plenty to find for anyone who starts seeking (Mt.7:7), and there's lots to receive for the asking.
The One Who made these promises never broke His Word.
He may be all-powerful, but that's simply one thing He cannot do.


text: Posted October 31, 2017 1 minute ago, toddfan said: Does anyone have the egg description, please and thank you! "This warm egg is tangled in the roots of a dead tree." That said, they're the only thing dropping in the non-Halloween biomes, you can't miss 'em. Share this post Link to post

subset: commoncrawl


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Requirements on Long-Term Accessibility and Preservation of Research Results with Particular Regard to Their Provenance. Andreas Weber, Claudia Piesche. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 11 April 2016.
The importance of long-term accessibility increased when the "OECD Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding" was published. The description of the long-term accessibility of research data now has to be a part of research proposals and a precondition for the funding of projects.
The demand for long-term preservation of research data has developed slowly and are established in only few research areas. Existing solutions for the long-term storage of specialized data are specialized and usually not designed for public use or reuse.
At universities, the support for the preservation of research data is mostly limited to the provision of high-available disk storage and appropriate backup solutions. Collaboration is limited tools to support the search of metadata are very rare. "The institutions that could play an important role, like libraries or IT centers, hesitate to build up solutions, because policies for the treatment of research results are not yet installed by the administration." Solutions to manage research data would also need a very sophisticated rights management system to protect data from unauthorized access, yet also providing access.
"Long-term preservation in a more classical sense means the bit stream preservation, and aims at a subsequent use of data in content as well as in technical purpose." A solution for the long-term preservation of research data should be compliant with OAIS. To access the specific research data, a unique identifier would be needed and the storage has to satisfy the "norms of long-term preservation".
"Currently the most important standard is the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model. The OAIS model specifies how digital assets can be preserved through subsequent preservation strategies. It is a high-level reference model, and therefore is not bound to specific technology. Although the model is complex, systems for the long-term storage of digital data will have to meet the requirements."


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Select An Industry:
Air Products supports veterans transitioning into the civilian workforce and can assist you in finding job opportunities within our facilities. We offer an internal network of military veterans to provide mentoring and support for veterans joining our team.
Improve Plant Mechanical integrity, reliability, cost and on-stream factor. They also investigate equipment failures, determine root cause of failure, and participate in the planning and execution of minor and major shutdowns.
This list is intended to serve as a guide to find positions that could be a good fit based on your military experience. Veterans with several years in the civilian workforce may have the skills necessary for other opportunities.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Hockey Hangover: December 14
Kings 0, Bruins 3
Senators 3, Sabres 2 (OT)
Hurricanes 1, Maple Leafs 2 (OT)
Stars 1, Rangers 0
Red Wings 4, Penguins 1
Flyers 5, Capitals 1
Canucks 1, Blue Jackets 2 (SO)
Islanders 3, Canadiens 5
Devils 3, Panthers 2 (SO)
Flames 1, Predators 2
Wild 1, Jets 2
Sharks 3, Avalanche 4 (SO)
Quick Stats:
Tukka Rask, BOS (40 saves, shutout)
Richard Bachman, DAL (34 saves, shutout)
Brad Marchand, BOS (2 goals)
Tonight's Games:
Bruins @ Senators
Blackhawks @ Wild
Coyotes @ Ducks
Highlight of the night:
Adam Larsson turns the puck over in the slot and Stephen Weiss feeds Kris Versteeg who beats Martin Brodeur with a between the legs shot.
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What You Need To Know About Alexandria VA
Alexandria is located in Virginia. The first thing to note about Alexandria is that it is an independent city. It is also a census designated place, recognized by the US Census Bureau. It covers an area of 15.5 square miles, of which only 0.4 of it is water. It borders several areas including Rose Hill, Arlington, Lincolnia, Bailey's Crossroads, Huntington and Belle Haven in Virginia, as well as Washington, DC.
According to the 2010 census, the population of Alexandria was found to be 139,966, with a median age of 34 years. Later statistics provided by Data USA through the American Community Survey show that by the year 2015, the population had grown to 149,315 with a median age of 36 years.
Data USA showed that in 2015, there were 92,575 people that were employed in Alexandria, and the median household income was $89,134. The median property value was found to be $502,500 and the general poverty rate in the city stood at 8.34%.
Alexandria is known as the highest income city in Virginia. It is also the 7th largest independent city in Virginia. There is another portion on the west and south of Fairfax County that is also called Alexandria. A distinction is sometimes made by calling the independent city, "City of Alexandria".
Alexandria is known for its high number of state employees due to its close proximity to Washington, DC. They constitute those who work in the federal civil service, the U.S military as well as other private companies that provide services to the federal government.
Alexandria is also known for many prominent people including Robert E. Lee, who was a Civil War general. It was also home to two former presidents – Gerald R. Ford and Richard M. Nixon, who both lived in Parkfairfax.
Alexandria has many landmarks. One of them is the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. It was designed like the old Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt, and in the year 2015, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark.
Another landmark is Christ Church, whose construction began in 1765 and was completed in 1773. It has since gone through several renovations, but has retained some of the original features. They include one hymnal rack that was hand carved, hand-lettered plaques of the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed and the Golden Rule. George Washington was a member of this church. The church was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
Other landmarks in Alexandria include Gadsby's Tavern, the Little Theatre of Alexandria, and Alexandria City Hall. Other places of historical interest are the Alexandria Black History Resource Center, and the Fort Ward Park and Museum, among others.
Click here to learn about Vienna in Virginia.
If you are in Alexandria and are looking for tree trimming services, call Genesis Tree Service of Fairfax on (703) 495-7889.


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I'm in love with Spirit Jerseys, y'all know this. What you may not know, is that I was born in Texas, and it has ALWAYS held a HUGE piece of my heart. (Ask my Mama) Because of that, I'm constantly searching for more ways to show off my pride for my home state. I've got my eye on this fun shirt for my next "selfish" purchase. I'm not sure I'll go with Royal Blue, but I'm definitely going to own one of these some day! Find it HERE. ;)
These are the cutest necklaces I've ever seen in my entire life! For real y'all, aren't they adorable!? Find them here.
Is there a better way to show your Texas Pride than to brand your front door with this precious door hanger!? I think not!
Find it on Bourbon and Boots. Link here.
There's no cuter way to stay hydrated! ;) Really though, this is adorable. Support Small Businesses, and buy it here.
If y'all haven't watched Friday Night Lights before, you should probably fix that AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. It's a great little show with some fabulously quotable moments. Such as the one on this shirt below. ;)


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(1) $\pi(n)$, the number of primes at most $n$, is asymptotic to $n / \ln n$.
(2) In the Erdős-Rényi random graph model, $p = \ln n / n$ is a sharp threshold for the connectedness of the graph $G(n,p)$ on $n$ vertices with edge-probability $p$.
Is there any connection between these two, or is the ratio $n / \ln n$ natural enough to arise in several unrelated circumstances by happenstance?
(I ask as neither an expert in random graphs nor in number theory.)


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We are looking for an exceptional and ambitious Sales and Business Development Manager!
In the Global Academy of Coaching Leadership Coaching Certification, students from across the globe develop their self-confidence, clarity, influence, and become exceptional life coaches, taught by the best professors in the world. Global Academy of Coaching Certification is proud to be accredited by the International Coach Federation.
Our company culture is based on entrepreneurial approach:
We value Results.
This means that you are likely to be working independently and in a steady manner.
We get things done.
No matter what the challenge may be, we find a way to achieve our goals.
We are decisive and have fun while we work!
We are looking for an exceptional and ambitious Sales and Business Development manager to create new revenue streams for the prestigious Global Academy of Coaching.
Besides having experience in business development, we are expecting you to have strong interpersonal, communication and leadership skills, a focus on organization, and enhanced multitasking abilities. B2B sales, marketing and strategic analysis are important aspects of the position, along with exceptional negotiation skills and the ability to close deals.
The ideal candidate has experience researching market trends, targeting relationships and using proven methods to develop our business strategy while retaining marketing partners.
Responsibilities and duties:
Qualifications and skills:
Sounds like you?
Send us your short video cover along with resume and cover letter!
Leave a Reply.


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Reference: 17/TX/01/38 ISBN: 1 84057 827 0Published Date: 17/02/2017
The objective was to develop a sampling and analysis programme to determine the range of concentrations of radon in public water supplies. The study focussed on sampling groundwater sites that had previously been classified as being of medium and high Hazard potential of containing radon in water. Over 300 samples were analysed from 124 England and Wales public water groundwater supplies with the majority from sites classified as medium radon hazard. Most of the sites classified as High Hazard sites were also sampled. All samples were recorded as having radon concentrations below 100 Bq/L-1 with the vast majority below 50 Bq/L-1. The low concentrations of radon found in samples from public water supplies provide some reassurance for public health protection.
Reference: 14/TX/05/2 ISBN: 1 84057 704 5Published Date: 27/01/2014
The disinfection by-product (DBP) rule requires water companies to keep DBPs in drinking water as low as possible without compromising the effectiveness of disinfection. In the UK, emphasis has been on the regulated DBPs, mainly the trihalomethanes (THMs), but other DBPs must not be present at concentrations that constitute a potential danger to human health.
The large number of known DBPs makes measurement impractical, if not impossible. Accordingly, a pragmatic risk-based approach to identify potential DBPs has been developed, based on knowledge of factors which lead to their formation and mitigation. DBPs have been categorised according to their chemical structures and the potential risks for these categories, based on toxicity, likely occurrence and concentration.
This approach has been encapsulated in a spreadsheet-based risk assessment tool that enables the potential formation of DBPs at treatment works to be quickly assessed, and the works to be ranked according to the risk.
Reference: 10/TX/04/17 ISBN: 1 84057 562 XPublished Date: 24/06/2010
The National Demonstration Programme(NDP) has been established to further an understanding of how current and advanced treatment processes used at wastewater treatment works affect the concentration of certain endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC). This project has undertaken the co-ordination of the NDP investigations, the establishment of quality control procedures for data collection and the interpretation and reporting of the results obtained. The study has shown that, where adequate receiving water dilution is available, EDC removal by conventional nitrifying treatment processes is sufficient to meet tentative predicted no-effect concentrations for the substances of concern. Where adequate dilution is not available, more advanced tratment may be required but this would result in significant additional cost and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Of the three advanced treatment processes investigated (oxidation using ozone or chlorine dioxide, or adsorption using granular activated carbon), the most cost effective was found to be ozone at a dose of 1 mg/l.
Reference: 09/TX/04/16 ISBN: 1 84057 525 5Published Date: 18/02/2009
The feminisation of wild fish (termed 'intersex') has been associated with elevated concentrations of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in some wastewater treatment works (WwTW) effluents. To further an understanding of how current WwTW processes affect treated effluent EDC concentration, a National Demonstration Programme (NDP), managed by UKWIR, has been undertaken collaboratively by all 10 water and sewerage companies in England and Wales and the Environment Agency.
The NDP consists of two elements; the investigation of new or advances treatment processes aimed at achieving high standards of EDC removal; and the investigation of EDC removal by extensive monitoring at fourteen wastewater treatment works.
This project has been concerned with providing technical and logistical support to the monitoring of the fourteen sites. The report contains an extensive body of robust data regarding the occurrence, treatment and release of EDCs from conventional WwTW.


text: Home > Sports NBA: Dwyane Wade to return to Miami, as Cleveland agrees to trade — report ABS-CBN News Posted at Feb 09 2018 02:19 AM | Updated as of Feb 09 2018 02:55 AM Share Save Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Dwyane Wade hopes to finish his career where it all started — in Miami. Ken Blaze, USA TODAY Sports/Reuters Dwyane Wade is on his way back to where it all began — in South Beach. The Cleveland Cavaliers are sending the future Hall of Famer back to the Miami Heat via trade, ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted on Thursday, part of a flurry of changes the Cavaliers made as the trade deadline neared, hoping they would help LeBron James extend his dominance in the Eastern Conference and convince him to return next season. READ: Jordan Clarkson to the Cavs, as Isaiah Thomas goes to Lakers — report Miami will send a heavily protected second-round pick to Cleveland for Wade, league sources tell ESPN. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2018 At 36 years old, Wade is in the twilight of his career. He is averaging a career-low 11.2 points and started only thrice for Cleveland, a team he joined in the off-season hoping he and James could rekindle their success during their title years in Miami. Wade played his first 13 seasons in the league with Miami, where he won 3 championships. He moved to his hometown Chicago in the 2016-17 season, before joining James in Cleveland. But that didn't come to fruition, and now the Cavaliers have elected to inject fresh legs into a team that has languished behind the well-coached Boston Celtics and the cohesive and deep Toronto Raptors in the East Minutes earlier, Cleveland landed Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. from the Los Angeles Lakers; Rodney Hood from Utah; and George Hill from Sacramento. (For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.) Share Save Facebook Share on Twitter LinkedIn NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwyane Wade Read More: NBA Cleveland Cavaliers Dwyane Wade /sports/02/09/18/nba-jordan-clarkson-to-the-cavs-as-isaiah-thomas-goes-to-lakers-report/sports/02/02/18/nba-canaan-has-surgery-after-shocking-broken-ankle/sports/02/02/18/nba-why-durant-doesnt-like-free-agency-rumors-calls-them-sickening/sports/02/03/18/nba-mitchell-scores-40-as-jazz-rout-suns


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Annual Report 2013
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- List of abreviations
Management and Regulatory Bodies
|Management body
|Responsibilities of the management bodies are defined by the IDGC of Centre Charter under the Joint-stock Companies Federal Act
|Charter and internal documents
|Meeting regularity
|Form of meeting
|General Shareholders' Meeting
|Shareholders decide on the following key matters of the Company's operations at General Shareholders' Meetings (hereinafter – GSM):
|IDGC of Centre Charter, Articles 10-14.
Regulation on the procedures for planning and holding General Shareholders' Meetings (approved by the Annual GSM on 17.06.2011, Minutes dd. 21.06.2011 No. 01/11)
|At least once annually.
An Annual GSM is held at least two months after and no later than six months after end of the financial year.
An Extraordinary GSM is held by decision of the Board of Directors.
|Board of Directors
11 members
The IDGC of Centre's Charter specifies a broader range of issues considered by the Board of Directors in preliminary approval of transactions:
|IDGC of Centre Charter, Articles 15-18.
Regulation on the procedures for convening and holding meetings of the Board of Directors (approved by the Annual GSM on 15.06.2012, Minutes dd. 20.06.2012 No. 01/12)
|According to the Board of Directors' work plan, and
As necessary but at least once every six weeks.
|Management Board
at least 3 members
|IDGC of Centre Charter, Article 22. Regulation on the Management Board (approved by the GSM on 17.06.2011, Minutes dd. 21.06.2011 No. 01/11)
|According to the Management Board's work plan, and As needed, but at least once a month
|General Director
|The General Director oversees current operations of the Company in accordance with the decisions passed by the GSM, the Board of Directors, and the Management Board of the Company. The General Director is responsible for all matters of controlling current operations, with the exception of matters that are the responsibility of the GSM, the Board of Directors, and the Management Board.
|IDGC of Centre Charter, Article 23


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old age
Irina Mlodik: "old Age – it's time to get paid"
Is it possible to prepare for your own old age and how to behave with elderly relatives? This is the story of a psychologist, author of books and articles on child and adult practical psychology Irina Mlodik.
What is old age?
This, if we are lucky and everything is positive, is an inevitable part of our life. After all, if we happened to grow old, then we had enough strength and desire to live, we did not die young. Meanwhile, not everyone enjoys the opportunity to grow old, for most people, old age is associated with disease, powerlessness, helplessness, poverty and dependence on the help of others. Therefore, many are replacing the idea of old age as such. Especially as old age creeps up, as a rule, steadily, but imperceptibly.
Those who remember about old age and prepare for it:
They save money in order to be financially independent in old age and not to experience serious restrictions and deprivations;
They are invested in their health, in prevention, to maintain vigor, mobility, activity and independence as long as possible;
Create and cherish a variety of relationships: with spouses, children, friends, not to be lonely in old age;
Keep and maintain interest in life, so as not to lose the actual meaning of life and involvement.
Those who deny old age don't think about it: Continue reading


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SUBIC BAY FREEPORT - Staying true to its commitment to "spur development" in neighboring areas, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) will be releasing a total of P81.3 million in revenue shares to local government units (LGUs) in communities adjacent to and affected by the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
SBMA Chairman Roberto Garcia said the funds will be made available starting the first week of February.
The total amount to be released consists of P73.82 million, which is the net amount due for the current period, and P7.48 million, which serves as refund of the 10 percent retention withheld in the second semester of 2011.
The LGU shares to be released are part of the five percent corporate taxes paid by Subic Bay Freeport-registered enterprises from July to December 2013. Two percent of this is being paid directly to the SBMA treasury, while the other three percent is remitted to the national treasury through the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
The direct payment scheme was implemented by the SBMA starting August 2010 to ensure the prompt release of LGU shares.
In the scheduled release, Olongapo City will receive the biggest share of P19.76 million, while Subic, Zambales will get P12.06 million; Dinalupihan, Bataan, P10.2 million; San Marcelino, Zambales, P9.84 million; Hermosa, Bataan, P8.3 million; San Antonio, Zambales, P7.17 million; Morong, Bataan, P7.03 million; and Castillejos, Zambales, P6.94 million.
The LGU shares, Garcia said, are intended to support developments projects in the recipient communities, specifically for health, education, peace and order, and livelihood generation programs.
The LGU share is determined according to the following criteria: 50 percent population, 25 percent land area, and 25 equal sharing.
Garcia said the SBMA is intent on helping neighbor LGUs attain a faster pace of development by providing regular and timely assistance.
"The SBMA continues to implement an intense marketing strategy to attract new investments, because aside from the jobs it will create for the residents, it will also generate revenue shares for the local government units," Garcia explained.
Garcia also said that the SBMA is now eyeing to attract investors to the San Antonio Economic Development Area in Zambales. This is after the San Antonio municipal government converted a 10,000-hectare area in the municipality for development into an additional secured area of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. (30)
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Irene Martinez bio
Irene Martinez, PA-C
Physician Assistant
Irene was borne in Tijuana, Mexico. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California and is a License General physician in Mexico. She immigrated to San Diego and continue her education earning certifications as a Respiratory therapist and Lactation Consultant. In 2008 she graduated from Standford University Primary Care Associate Program as a Physician Assistant. She joined Diabetes and Endocrine associates in April 2009 working in the El Centro, CA office. Her passion is educating, treating and coaching patients with Diabetes.


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Previous Issue
Next Issue
- Do it, Lucian. One Doom. One legacy.
- -- Doctor Doom
Appearing in 1st story
Featured Characters:
- Black Panther (K'Shamba) (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- M'Tolla (First appearance)
- Wakanda Ruling Council (First appearance)
- Numerous members of the Wakandan resistance
- Another unnamed manservant
- K'Shamba and M'Tolla's child (First appearance)
- T'Challa (Mentioned)
- Doctor Doom (unknown impersonator) (Only appearance; dies)[1]
- Doctor Doom (Lucian) (First appearance)
- Doombots (First appearance)
- An unknown manservant
Other Characters:
- Spider-Man (Only in flashback)
- Hulk (Only in flashback)
- Earth-2992
- Castle Doom in Latveria
- The Capitol Building and other locations in Wakanda
Synopsis for 1st story
It is the year 2099. The scene opens on Castle Doom, in Latveria. There we find Doctor Doom, bedridden, and kept alive by machines. He summons his servant, Lucian to his side, and tells him the time has come. Doom removes his mask, revealing an old, wrinkled face, marked by time and illness, but not scarred as Doom's should be. As he hands the mask to Lucian, the two repeat their vow: One Doom, One Legacy. Lucian incinerates his fellow imposter and takes the role of Doom as his own. Outside Doom's bedchamber, he encounters another servant, who is relieved to find his master's health has improved. The false Doom tells the servant, "Lucian defied me for the last time -- I have rid myself of him." The body is now little but a large pile of ashes. "Clean up that mess."
Elsewhere in the world, a man dreams of being a warrior. With a knife in each hand, he attacks a great, black panther. "He rips at my flesh. I rip at his. He bites me. I bite him. My struggle is worthy of his struggle -- and his of mine. But ultimately my efforts are futile. The Panther Devours me. And I welcome it."
K'Shamba is awakened by persistent knocking at his door. K'Shamba answers and finds a man waiting with a long, black car. An emergency meeting of Wakanda's ruling Council has been called, and he is needed. K'Shamba goes to get ready and says goodbye to his wife, M'Tolla, who is pregnant with their first child.
Moments later, at the Wakandan Capitol Building, K'Shamba is the last councilman to arrive. He is greeted with derision from the older council members. They lecture him on the importance of the council and remind him it was the council that held the nation together after T'Challa's bloodline died with his son. Only the council, they lectured, kept every citizen from becoming a would-be usurper to the throne when no heir was available. As the youngest, newest member of the council -- brought on to maintain a balance after his father, the previous councilman died -- they feel he does not understand just how important the work they do is.
"Oh, I understand all too well how important the work you do is. Not very. This council is a joke! Any proposal that doesn't further your goal to line your pockets is refused. You think only of yourselves while our country withers and dies. And you come to me...." K'Shamba's indictment is cut off when an army of doombots crash through the wall and into the council chamber. K'Shamba fights, the whole time yelling. "it's our vibranium deposits! Doom must be after them! This is probably just a first strike! If we can scramble our military -- launch a counter-attack...." It is only then that K'Shamba begins to realize that he is the only one fighting. The other councilmen are already surrendering, and Doom advises K'Shamba to do the same.
In the end, it took Doom a mere six weeks to conquer Wakanda. The skies, streets, and rooftops of Wakanda are thick with doombots. A battered K'Shamba bursts into his home, greeted by a shocked and relieved M'Tolla. "I thought Doom was keeping the council in the dungeons! I thought I'd never see you again!" K'Shamba says they were all officially released when the official signed the country over to Doom, but he suspects the release was only part of the plot. He may plan to kill all the councilmen separately, out in the open, rather than kill them all at once in the dungeons and risk inspiring a revolt.
They speed away in their car but are interrogated by a Doombot when K'Shamba stops to check a burned-out market for food. The Doombot explodes before it can the pair into custody. K'Shamba owes his good fortune to a motorcycle-riding freedom fighter, who wields a set of three guns bound together with duct tape. The fighter tells K'Shamba that the commotion will undoubtedly be detected by the other Doombots. The fighter tells K'Shamba that the resistance has food and shelter where they'd be safe, and that would be honors to have him.
In the tunnels beneath the capital, K'Shamba meets the resistance, a force of men armed with knives, guns, rocket launchers, and even traditional spears, each with their family, all organized during his incarceration. They fight, striking at Doom's forces where they can. In the third week of combat, the aged leader of the resistance passes on the mantle to K'Shamba, who has distinguished himself as a leader and a warrior.
In the fourth week K'Shamba leads a massive assault, carving through the doombots to reach a transmission tower, where they send a distress signal to the U.N. Unfortunately, there is still no response days later on any frequency. They speculate that Doom has found a way to scramble outgoing transmissions; the Wakandan resistance is on its own. They push on, and in the fifth week they attack the occupied Capitol Building directly; even Doom concedes (to none but himself, of course) "this is not going as planned."
Fresh from a hard won victory, K'Shamba rallies his troops: "We need to attack again. Soon. Now. Immediately. We need to continue to catch him off guard. He won't expect a second offensive so soon. He thinks we lack the manpower to do this.
"He's right." K'Shamba recognizes the need for more men, for aid, whether from another country or more of their own citizens. The aged former leader claims to have just the thing needed to inspire more Wakandans to revolt. He had been saving it, all this time, waiting for the rightful heir to the throne, a true warrior king. K'Shamba searches for some words, something to mark the occasion. Ultimately his efforts are futile. He dons the black mask. "The Panther devours me. And I welcome it."
The new Black Panther is spotted on the roof of a bombed-out building. The sight is enough to inspire revolt. The Panther leads his new army against the doombots, pushing the battle all the way to the Capitol Building, and up to Doom himself. It did not take six weeks to drive Doom's forces from Wakanda. Victorious, the Wakandans bow before their new warrior king.
Having arrived back at Castle Doom after narrowly escaping Wakanda, Doom surveys the land from his balcony. "You are truly a great leader, master," remarks one of his manservants. "In the face of defeat, you still stand proud and strong. Even now you have an air of victory surrounding you.
"The Latverian flag no longer flies over Wakanda," responds Doom, "but my presence is there -- unknown, undetected, and no less influential. In truth, I can think of no greater victory... Can you, K'Shamba?" Hundreds of miles away, the new warrior king sits on his throne with a zombie-like gaze and answers his master's voice: "No, sire. I cannot."
- The Marvel Knights 2099 series of one-shots were released to commemorate the fifth (technically sixth) anniversary of the successful Marvel Knights imprint.
- Publisher: Dan Buckley
- K'Shamba is also the name of the Black Panther's son on Earth-2149 (Zombie World).
- K'Shamba's child was born sometime between his escape from the doombots and the third week.
See Also
- Write your own review of this comic!
- Discuss Black Panther 2099 Vol 1 1 on the forums
- 14 Image(s) from Black Panther 2099 Vol 1 1
- ↑ First and only known appearance to date besides flashbacks
|Like this? Let us know!


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Nov 24, 2005
King Abdullah of Jordan: "Dedicate reform as a concept"
And yeah, OK, King Abdullah is half British (on his mother's side) which may account for some preference for the Anglo-American point of view. So I am aware of several sources of likely bias.
But why is Jordan, a small Muslim country surrounded by enemies whose population is totally infiltrated by Palestinians, leading the charge against Militant Islamism? Surely it's not only sympathy for the wedding party who was bombed by Zawaqawi, nor watching American soldiers fight Militant Islamists next door that motivated Abdullah to take such a risk. Could it be that he's drunken of the American Koolaid? Maybe he sincerely believes that democracy really is an effective form of government, that it will let the most people live their lives the way they want to?
Some liberals may say, "what arrogance to try to impose our world view on other populations! If the populance acquiesces to dictatorship whether from active choice (as in the cases of North Korea and Vietnam) or from passivity (as in Iraq), we should let them 'enjoy' their choice." I suppose it's a credible argument that the American strategy of military invasion and occupation is no different from the Militant Islamists' 'jihad' to save the world from Western heretic decadence. They're trying to save our souls, or at least our morals from ourselves.
So who is more righteous? Is it more morally justifiable to use force to create an enviroment where people can choose to be observant or not, or to enforce an environment where people have no choice?
Nov 21, 2005
Mis-Behavin' PC: Repair or Replace?
- Buy a flash stick with enough capacity, like 128 MB or more. Put your content files on it so if the whole PC crashes and burns, you at least still have your files. Usually, this just means copying the huge file "My Documents" onto your flash stick. Even if you do decide to move to a new PC, you can load all your files onto the new one easily. This should cost about $40-50. You COULD use a CD to do this, but flash sticks are useful and easy on a continuing basis for file transfer.
- Copy to a blank CD those applets that you've added to your PC after its initial installation, for which you don't have CDs or are not on your installation CDs. This would include your browser customization, cookies, etc. Such things are a PAIN to reproduce and some favorite applets have been retired and are gone for good except on your hard drive. Unfortunately you'd also be copying some of the software problems. If you copy your entire Programs file onto the CD, you should have 'picked up' all these little applications. Blank CDs are cheap, like fifty cents or less. There are web-based storage that you can back-up to, then download again, but I'm paranoid about privacy.
- Now, take your PC to Fry's or another competent PC repair place and ask them to diagnose your hard drive (about $60-70 dollars). Sometimes, they can 'clean up' your hard drive, get rid of 'offending' software including possible bugs, viruses or erroneously executing programs, increase your RAM (this chip can cost up to $70) ... and make your old PC work better.
- If they cannot diagnose/fix the causes of your problems, they can reformat your drive, then reload your original software. Then you PC should be like the first day you got it. You reload your content from your flash stick (which may restore your bugs also.)
- If the source of your problems is a damaged hard drive, then a drastic step is to replace your hard drive. New drives, depending on the capacity, a new PC drive can cost $50-$100 and having a pro reload your software is probably another $100.
The decision is alot like for cars: repair or replace? I have seen bare-bones new laptops for less than $1,000. And I know people who've been very happy with their 'pre-loved' laptops, or eBay bargains.
Your old PC is probably fully depreciated by now, and your time, effort and emotional state are worth a lot too. A brand new PC for Christmas can feel just great!
Nov 20, 2005
US Occupations: Success or Failure
- 1945 Germany
Ordered by Roosevelt
Status = Still there. Successful democracy, good economy, trusted ally
Years total = 60
- 1945 Japan
Ordered by Roosevelt
Status = Still there. Successful democracy, good economy, trusted ally
Years total = 60
- 1954 South Korea
Ordered by Truman
Status = Still there. Successful democracy, good economy, trusted ally
Years total = 51
- 1962 Vietnam
Ordered by Kennedy
Status = Lost. Socialist state, failing economy until US trade pact, 1996
Years total = 12
- 1983 Granada
Ordered by Reagan
Status = Won. Removed Marxist regime and Cuban troops.
Years total = <1
- 1989 Panama
Ordered by Bush I
Status = Won. Removed Noriega and his Communist supporters, and drug trafficking.
Years total = <1
- 1991 Iraq (Desert Storm)
Ordered by Bush I
Status = Won. Dictatorship, Oil for Food kleptocracy, WMD killed thousands, ethnic cleansing of Kurds
Years total = less than 1
- 1993 Somalia
Ordered by Clinton
Status = Lost. 19 US soldiers killed. UN took over again after failing to disarm combatants and deny civil rights.
Years total = less than 1
- 1995 Bosnia
Ordered by Cinton
Status = Still there. Pacified region, stopped ethnic cleansing, arrested and put on trial A FEW of the major offenders.
Years total = 10 so far
- 2001 Afghanistan
Ordered by = Bush II
Status = Still there, democratic election, freedom for women, ejected Al Qaeda, revival of heroin economy.
Years total = 4, so far
- 2003 Iraq (Iraqi Freedom)
Ordered by = Bush II
Status = Still There, interim democratically elected government, rebuild infrastructure.
Years total = 3, so far
What's the correlation between how long US forces stayed and the result? Does 'correlation' mean the same as 'causative?'
It seems the long occupations that the US armed forces have done involve 4 phases:
- Set up logistics and supply lines in preparation for war. Back in WWII, this took years to get ready, but we were starting from no standing army. Even Desert Storm took 6 months to set-up, for both sides, for us and for the Republican Guards. Tommy Franks' autobiography, "American Soldier," talks about how he (and the rest of the armed services, White House, State Department, etc.) managed to shorten the set-up time to MONTHS, invading Afghanistan barely 3 months after the attack on the US of September 11, 2001.
- What Tommy Franks calls "kinetics" -- bombs, bullets, killing, maiming
- Pacification -- root out, capture and imprison enemy combatants who won't give up
- Reconstruction -- the purpose is to give the locals a relatively secure period in which to set up a government that we like.
The US forces' mission for the last phase, Reconstruction, is a police function. Legal scholars have good arguments for both sides of whether it was the original intent to use our armed forces as policmen. Posse Comitatas says we cannot use the armed services for police functions inside the US, but I don't know the legal issues for foreign lands. And is the National Guard governed differently?
Most countries that we've occupied don't have an effective police force, or the existing police is not 'right thinking' after "kinetics" so US forces stayed to police the conquered. Our continued engagement in Bosnia is a police function. Bush Pere tried to defer that function to Saddam in 1991! That's what we're doing in Afghanistan now, and when we get through Phase 3, we will have to police Iraq for years.
So, my opinion is except in the cases of unworthy adversaries such as Noriega (Panama) and Grenada where we executed all phases within weeks, the length of the Reconstruction phase depends on the local people.
Everyone would agree that by 1960, Germany and Japan were stable and self-sufficient. They didn't need US forces to keep the peace while they build the government and economy. So why did we stay? US forces stayed because Germany wanted continued US spending on bases and to defray their cost to hold the line against Soviet tanks. The Japanese spent 2% of the GDP on defense because the US is paying for it. Why should they want us to leave when our occupation is worth so much money? Ditto South Korea, although there are bad sentiments against US occupation. Now that Kim Jong-il has nuclear weapons, I wonder whether the S. Koreans have revised their opinion of US forces' continued tenure there?
Our occupation of Afghanistan and of Iraq might follow the same pattern. Conspiracy theorists and even some serious policy analysts believe that the our presence in Iraq is the spearhead for US military bases, to set-up (Phase I) in the heart of that Moslem dominated region. I believe that the occupation of Iraq is indeed the Phase 1 for eventual 'kinetics' against Iran, and to send a wake-up call to the militant Islamists of Indonesia.
Nov 18, 2005
Exit Strategy for US Commitments in Iraq?
This post is a commentary on an article , "What Good is NATO?" by Clifford D. May, the president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. His article is about a report by former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar about the future of NATO, so I recognize the information loss and distortions that my post, a second derivative, implies.
Several assumptions:
- Militant Islamism is responsible for at least some of global terrorism
- Militant Islamism's goal is to wipe out democracy
- NATO has fulfilled its original mission (defend Europe against the Soviet Bloc)
- NATO needs a new mission
The provocative recommendations of Aznar's report are:
- approval of democracy-building as an objective of peace operations over and above the goal of nation-building.
- creation of an operational command for post-conflict democracy-building operations, establishment of a joint fund to finance these missions and creation of a 'Partnership for Freedom
- NATO must become a veritable Alliance for Freedom, one whose primary objective is to defeat terror[ism]
My Opinion:
I absolutely agree that Militant Islamism, or militant anything-ism, must be defeated. I doubt that even Foaming At The Mouth Lefties or Foaming At The Mouth Right Wing Crazies have any apologists for militancy. (Well OK, we've experienced Socialism and Facism, opposing ends of the militant political spectrum. I withdraw my previous statement.)
A global effort that is supported by many countries would work better than a unilateral American effort. Such an effort would be less contentious in the hyper-partisan American domestic political arena. That's probably why Aznar's report is enjoying support from US Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman as well as from Republican Senator Jon Kyl. And such a proposal might dampen objections from those who insist that only world organizations, instead of national initiatives, have any legitimacy to deal with just about any issue. (Why don't such people appreciate nations that step up, that expend their own wealth and lives to solve problems, instead of waiting for world groups to get their collective acts together while the victims of terrorism continue to die?)
On the one hand, 're-targeting' an existing organization such as NATO may conceivably save at least part of the learning curve to establsh a new organization. But we all can chant in proper choral form the litany of problems with large bureaucracies such as NATO:
- Stuck in the past
- Self serving, maybe even corrupt
- Slow moving, paralyzed by bureaucracy
- Mired in a culture of internal politics
- Myopically focused on internal lines drawn for old battles; unable to re-organize
- etc., etc., etc.
On the other hand, using NATO to achieve goals has these advantages:
- NATO already has the mandate to defend, if not promote democracy as a form of government
- Revising its mission would say out loud that "Yeah, we're nation-building and furthermore, building democratic nations"
- It has a huge force that's already existant and on-site
- Funding processes are already in place
- Funds are already allocated
- Participants already know each other's agendas and constraints
- Participants already know how to horse-trade with each other
- The organization already has the veneer of international participation
And, THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGE OF ALL:
NATO is already remote controlled by the US
So, if the US gets other NATO members to accept this idea of re-targeting NATO, and gets more of our allies to join it, we can still run the global war against terrorism, hand over to the new NATO our responsibilites in Iraq and move on to the next candidates for democratization: Syria and Indonesia. We can shut up the crassly irresponsible self-serving partisan rhetoric that doesn't even address the issue of defeating terrorism and building enduring democract governments.
Nov 11, 2005
Pacifying Fallujah, examples of failures
The locals apparently can't do it. 25 years of victimization by Saddam made sure they had no weapons, no leadership, no organization and maybe not even the idea that they are responsible for themselves, nor the confidence that they can do something to control their lives. So who's left to stop the chaos other than our troops?
The Left often says that the UN should mediate conflicts, not the US. I think our armed forces would LOVE for the UN to spend its gold and its lives instead of ours, but the UN has been ineffective.
Look at Somalia for an alternative policy and outcome. The civil war has completely destroyed the infrastructure so that it is extremely hard to maintain even a subsistence economy. The UN tried to disarm the entire population and failed. So we tried in a half hearted way. We were thrown out. We lost lives and didn't help the people. Now, 10 years after we withdrew, the Somali people are still suffering and no one is helping them. Was that a better outcome?
Bosnia is another example. We intervened after a YEAR of blatent ethnic cleansing while the Europeans did nothing and the UN wrung its hands. Clinton said our troops would be there for a year. That was 1992.
And the Nazis during WWII. Who defeated them? How long are we in Germany and Japan? The strongest must help the weak; it's our duty.
Whether or not US intervention in all these cases was just or legal, the fact is we must try to affect a good outcome. War creates an environment that causes people to be crazy, fearful, depressed... and prevents people from running their lives. My parents, an example of young people just starting a family in the 1940s, had bright futures until the Japanese invaded and the Chinese Communist Revolution exacerbated an already bad situation. My parents lost everything, twice.
If the US decided to withdraw our troops worldwide tomorrow, will the lives of the Japanese, Taiwanese, South Koreans, Bosnians, Iraqis, Afghanis... be better? Our lives would be better because we'd get another post-war bonus. All that money we're spending on helping those foreign countries can now be spent at home.
I would like to experience world peace. I believe that all people, whatever their political allegiences, all want the best outcome. The disagreement among the ideologies is on how to achieve the best outcome, not whether or not to achieve a good outcome. I don't think people who disagree with me are evil. They might be mis-informed or think differently, but they don't want people to have worse lives. I hope people with whom I disagree also give me credit for not being evil.
Paris' Banlieues are Burning: Schadenfreud for the French
I should be ashamed to take delight in the French's misfortunes, but I'm not.
The French told us that we should appease Muslim extremists, that 'taking them on' is the wrong policy. The French went on to say that they have so much more culture, knowledge, finesse, experience, etc., etc. in managing national issues than we idiotic children so we should follow their advice. They might have partaken a bit of Schadenfreud when our guys were getting killed in Iraq.
So now, their liberal immigration policies, combined with their Chauvinistic culture and Socialist economic practices have blossomed to riots all over their country. I hope the Muslim underclasses of Germany and Great Britain decide to emulate.
You might say what's happening to them and how they deal with it has nothing to do with us. But it DOES affect us because their policies HURT us by:
- radicalizing the Muslim youth, who might graduate to being suicide bombers. Exerpted from The Economist:
The role of Islam in the rioting is more complicated. Some- consolidating the 'brotherhood of Muslims" worldwide (exerpted from The
commentators see signs of a jihad on the streets of Paris. Ivan Rioufol, a columnist for Le Figaro, called it "the beginnings of an intifada". Yet intelligence sources suggest that this is not organised violence but anarchic rioting, helped by internet and mobile-phone contact. Roughly half of those arrested have been teenagers, most of them in their own suburbs, since they lack the transport to go anywhere else. Even in Evry, where the petrol-bomb store was uncovered, officials say that the teenagers involved were petty criminals, not radicalised fanatics. This was the angry rebellion of a beardless, Nike-wearing teenage underclass.
- weakening their economies
Officials are particularly concerned by French Muslims now in Iraq, and by recent converts, especially those who found their faith in prison; ...
- destablizing their governments
Even assuming that the rioting works itself out, no mainstream politician is likely to emerge unscathed. The far right will surely gain support. But the Socialist Party has been too split to offer any sensible suggestions. And the centre-right government has been left looking impotent, confused and more engrossed by the undeclared contest between Mr de Villepin and Mr Sarkozy ahead of the 2007 presidential election than by the need to formulate social policy.
America might have to expend our lives and treasure to save their asses again.
Off-Shoring is an inexorable economic trend
Tom Friedman, a columnist for the New York Times, not at all a conservative fringe writer, said it much better than I in his book "The World is Flat."
Here are my points:
- Some companies have learned from years of experience that the hidden cost of management, responsiveness, and the opportunity cost of innovation make off-shoring not worth it, so they're bringing some jobs back. This topic isn't only a labor issues, it's a technology innovation and IP management issue.
America isn't graduating enough baccalaureate level scientists and engineers. 40 years of 'alternative education' exacerbated by 25 years of political correctness, multi-culturalism and other social costs designed to boost egos rather than train scientists and engineers are showing their impact. If we had lots of American-born engineers, our engineering wages would be more competitive with those overseas (supply and demand, remember?).
One of America's highly demanded products is graduate level education. Our graduate level education, especially in science and engineering (including medicine) is un-rivaled in the world. But more and more graduate students are not American-born because American youth would rather be entertainers or lawyers than engineers and doctors. Nothing wrong with that, just that Indians, Koreans, Chinese, Israelis, Egyptians, Russians, Turks... would rather be engineers and doctors.
If we are indeed capitalists and believe in the fairness of the Invisible Hand -- the free market -- then we will see that off-shoring is following a natural economic trend. Just like the argument that illegal Mexican immigrants take the jobs that Americans don't want, at a pay level that Amercians won't accept, off-shoring is a symptom of the exact same thing but in high tech.
Off shoring is not new. The US used to have a steel industry, a textile industry, a ship building industry, a semiconductor fabrication industry, a computer assembly industry... all moved to countries with lower labor costs. Do we miss them? Sure. Has our economy suffered? No. We grew from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based one -- a knowledge-based economy.
Our best national strategy is not protectionism, unionism, railing at natural economic evolution and the fundamental tenents of capitalism. Our best strategy is to run faster than everyone else on the technology and innovation treadmill -- invent more, commercialize faster, be more ingenius, invest more venture funds, spend more on R&D, sponsor more applied research, help entrepreneurs more in our tax policy, rationalize our intellectual property policy, establish free trade zones, and yes, retrain workers into jobs that have high economic value. We know how to do it and have been doing it for generations. Responsible citizens have the duty to SUPPORT these programs.
We should be happy and grateful that talented people from all over the world want to HELP us by making personal sacrifices to come here and LEARN what we teach, then work here, then take their knowledge home to help their country be richer, to give their people more choices. We should be proud that so many people admire the way we reward talent, hard work and risk taking by trying to be like us, trying to attain our lifestyle.
Instead of complaining about how our former jobs have moved to lower paid people overseas, we should make ourselves suitable for new jobs, jobs that are worth $150,000 in US dollars. Jobs that increase knowledge, improve lives, that eventually will move to other economies. The American torrent of innovation and 'can do' attitude are America's greatest gifts to the world.


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Tom Cruise has revealed how proud he is of his daughter Suri.
Cruise explained on GMTV that Suri came on set during the filming of Knight and Day and created her own bakery scenes during breaks.
He said: "It was great because my family was on set every day and Cameron's (Diaz) family were on set and it was like we were in this imaginary bakery and Katie [Holmes] was stood there ordering in between takes."
Diaz admitted that she was also taken by the 4-year-old.
The actress said: "She had her own little bakery and she would tell you what's going on today. It was like, 'These are what muffins we have today', and she played out all these scenes, it was so fun... Suri was going around serving all of us."
Cruise added: "Suri is very special. She is incredibly loving and she is very creative, she draws, she acts, she writes. In between takes she would have her own little scenes going on."


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text: As I am typing this there is a US Rifle Team contingency in New Zealand competing. The World Long Range and Palma Championship is next year in January of 2019, but there are members from all of the countries that go the year prior to check out the surroundings. The World Long Range Championship… Read more »


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Transfigurations Great and Small – February 11, 2018
Posted on February 13, 2018 by admin No comments
Sermon Preached by the Reverend Louise Kalemkerian
St. Paul's on the Green, Norwalk, CT
The Last Sunday After the Epiphany
February 11, 2018
2 Kings 2:1-12; 2 Corinthians 4:3-; Mark 9:2-9; Psalm 50:1-6
In the name of our dazzling, amazing, all-loving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Every year on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, as we stand on the brink of Lent, the lectionary gives us the story of Jesus' Transfiguration. I think that the reason we get it at this point is to strengthen us through our Lenten journey, and to remind us that the end of this journey is Resurrection. In fact, there are some scholars who link this event directly to the Resurrection.
The readings from Second Kings and the Gospel of Mark are dazzling, two of the most beautiful stories in scripture: Elijah's ascent to heaven and Jesus' transfiguration. These are mystical stories where heaven and earth meet in an extraordinary human being. At the same time, these stories are profoundly human, speaking of love, loss and transformation.
The Transfiguration describes a theophany, a revelation of God's divine glory and always near- to-us presence. Mark tells the story with simply. Jesus goes to a mountain to pray, accompanied by his dear friends, the disciples Peter, James, and John. And there they see him transfigured, dazzling white, shining with the glory of God, and talking with the great prophets Moses and Elijah. The disciples are terrified, and so shaken up that Peter suggests, "Hey, let's pitch some tents and stay for a while so we can process what just happened here."
In the climax of the scene, Jesus is called by God, who confirms his identity as God's Son. "This is my Son the Beloved; listen to him!" This experience is a turning point for Jesus as well as his disciples. And the call is for us, too, to "listen to him."
While the text doesn't give us the background, the Transfiguration event took place shortly after Jesus had told his disciples that he was going to suffer and die, noted in the previous chapter. Of course, the disciples didn't want to hear it. Peter protested so vehemently that Jesus scolds him and calls him Satan. We probably would react similarly if we heard someone we love tell us that his/her death was on the horizon.
"Listen to him," says the voice affirming Jesus. Listen and understand that rejection, transformation, suffering, death are integral to Jesus' life's work. And part of ours as disciples. This is the way of the cross. Not easy words to hear. Like the Collect says, that we may be strengthened to bear our cross. The Gospels are clear that there is only one way to be changed and transformed. And that is to die. To take up our cross and follow Jesus. To die daily to self and then to allow Jesus to raise us to new life in him. The life which we and Jesus chose at our baptisms is a life where day by day we must choose to love and not to hate, to be friends and not enemies, to forgive and not to hold grudges, to heal and help and hold and not to injure, wound and scar. It is the choice to live such a life that eventually cost Jesus his own. I think this is valuable to remember at the eve of our Lenten journey.
Jesus chose the cross. He chose to go to Jerusalem and he accepted the suffering that he received. He could have refused. Likewise, we too are called to choose our cross, to choose to follow Jesus in ways that are not popular, to identify with and serve the least of Jesus' brothers and sisters, to speak truth to power.
Bible scholar Rodney Hunter reminds us that it is important, when speaking of the way of the cross, to be clear about what it does not mean. It does not mean that we should seek or regard suffering as a spiritual good in itself or as inherently saving and redemptive—as centuries of misguided Christian theology and piety have often maintained. Jesus did not die because his suffering as such could purge the world of sin and evil. He died because the powers of evil sought to destroy his witness to nonviolent love, justice, and truth. His passion revealed the transforming power of divine love, a powerful, assertive love that does not dominate and defeat evil so much as challenge, expose, and seek to transform it. Such love alone ultimately carries the day; it alone is truly redemptive and saving.
Christians are therefore not called to exhibit a passive love that simply tries to be good and avoid evil. Nor is the way of the cross a private bearing of personal woes for the sake of Jesus. It is rather a vigorous, active pursuit of social and personal justice through a love that refuses to play the world's power game of domination, exploitation, greed, and deception. The transfiguration story is a call to affirm the ultimate truth of God's way of salvation, and to begin living it with all our heart, soul, and strength in the confidence that Jesus' nonviolent way is truly the way of salvation, healing, and eternal life.
The word "transfiguration" comes from a Greek word from which we also get the word "metamorphosis," both having to do with being changed or transformed. When I hear "metamorphosis," I think of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. That kind of transfiguration involves the same being, permanently changed in body and appearance. Mark's transfiguration scene is different. It is temporary, giving a momentary glimpse into a deep reality, a deep truth—a deep truth about who Jesus really is.
Have you ever witnessed a transfiguration, an experience of God so filled with holiness and beauty and awe that you didn't want it to end? So powerful and precious that you knew it was God acting, and not your imagination? Was it in a church, out in nature in a breathtaking sunset, in a conversation with another human being or in holding a new baby?
I recently heard such a transfiguration story, a story of love and loss and transformation. A couple, high school sweethearts, married 60 years, was struggling with life's challenges. The wife had serious physical ailments, while the husband was grappling with memory loss and cognitive issues. Between their illnesses, it became apparent that the husband could no longer be cared for at home, so he was moved to a care facility. His condition worsened to the point where he seemed to no longer know family. His family would visit him regularly and he seemed not to recognize them. It was heartbreaking.
Then shortly after Christmas when his wife and children had gone to the facility to visit him, they were walking toward him in the corridor when suddenly there was the light of recognition in his eyes. He opened his arms in embrace and as his wife walked toward him, he hugged her, told her that he was sorry for his illness, and that he loved her.
In that moment he was transfigured, and so were his wife and children. In that moment, the sadness of his illness was overcome by the beauty of his transfiguration back to the person he had been.
In that moment, earth and heaven came together in that hospital corridor. In that moment God's love and goodness filled the space.
I wholeheartedly believe God wants to give us such experiences, wants to reveal God's self to us. I also am certain it doesn't require a holy mountain or a desert island experience. I believe God wants to show God's self to us in the ordinary of life, in the day to day we all undergo. I think what God asks of us is an openness and willingness to trust that God will show up and reveal God's self.
As Jesus' disciples we are called to follow his example of meeting the needs of those whom society has ignored. To do justice, to advocate for the voiceless, to feed the hungry and champion the sick and isolated. To love and not to hate, to be friends not enemies, to forgive and not hold grudges. This is the cross we're invited to take up, as Jesus did. This is the road that Peter James and John, and all disciples in every generation are invited to follow. And to walk this road, we need the transforming beautiful experiences such as they had with Jesus. Perhaps God is asking us to pay attention and they will find us.
1. Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 1, Kindle locations 16262-16310.


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