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|Course Code
|Course Type
|Postgraduate Degree (research)
|Minimum 3 years (Full Time), or up to 6 years (Part Time)
|Credit Points
From its inauguration the Doctor of Theology (ThD) has been used as the ACT's premier research degree for graduates who are already engaged in the ministerial profession as aspiring teachers in universities and theological colleges in Australia and overseas. The degree is designed to equip men and women as beginning researchers in the traditional fields of theology and provide a qualification recognised by theological and Bible colleges as well as universities for those who teach in these fields.
The ThD is awarded on the basis of the satisfactory completion of a thesis, though it is also possible that the degree might be awarded on the basis of work(s) published during candidature. The thesis, or portfolio of published works, must constitute a distinct contribution to theological learning and must show evidence of original research and the exercise of independent critical analysis. Although a candidate works under a supervisor, the candidate is expected to demonstrate independence of thought.
The award of the degree may be taken to certify that a candidate has been trained in the techniques relevant to the field of research, and is capable, without supervision, of applying these techniques to other research projects, and has become sufficiently familiar with a significant area of discipline within which the candidate has worked to be able to assess critically the present state of knowledge in the subject and to conceive original possibilities for further investigation with an increasing independence.
Entry Requirements
1. Academic Qualifications
Candidates must either be a graduate of one of the following awards of the ACT or its equivalent as determined by the Research and Research Studies Committee of the ACT.
- Bachelor of Theology (Honours) with First Class or 2A Honours.
- Bachelor of Ministry (Honours) with First Class or 2A Honours.
- Master of Theology (Research).
- Master of Arts (Theology) including a Distinction in a minimum 8cps research project and a 3.0 GPA overall, and
completed 8cp in Biblical Languages and 8cps in Biblical Language Exegesis at undergraduate level, if seeking to complete a thesis in the unit fields LA, OT, NT and TH. Those candidates who do not meet the minimum biblical languages requirement and are seeking to undertake research in the unit fields CH, PE, EM, PC and DM will need to demonstrate to the Research and Research Studies Committee that the biblical language requirements are not required.
- Master of Arts (Ministry) with a Distinction in a minimum 8cps research project and a 3.0 GPA overall, and completed 8cp in Biblical Languages and 8cps in Biblical Language Exegesis at undergraduate level, if seeking to complete a thesis in the unit fields LA, OT, NT and TH. Those candidates who do not meet the minimum biblical languages requirement and are seeking to undertake research in the unit fields CH, PE, EM, PC and DM will need to demonstrate to the Research and Research Studies Committee that the biblical language requirements are not required.
- Master of Divinity with an overall GPA of at least 3.0, including a Distinction in a minimum 8cps MA level project (**750 or **790)
2. Language Qualifications for Non-English Speaking Background Applicants
All applicants must demonstrate English language skills appropriate to this level of study. Candidates will either have satisfactorily completed a qualification solely in English at an approved tertiary institution OR have been resident in Australia with English spoken at home and work for at least 10 years OR have achieved a minimum overall band score of 7.5 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), with a minimum of 7.5 in reading and writing, 7.0 in listening and 6.5 in speaking.
Course Structure
The minimum time for candidature in the Doctor of Theology is three years. The maximum time for candidature is six years. Candidates may study full-time or part-time. Full time students will normally take 16 credit points per semester.
Credit points refer to the overall student effort including contact hours and time on assessment tasks. The degree requires the satisfactory completion of 96 credit points.
Higher Degree Research candidates may not be granted more than two (2) semesters of suspension of candidature during the term of their candidature, and may be granted no more than two semesters of extension of candidature prior to the examination phase of their candidature. The R&RSC will accept applications for suspension beyond the two semester limit on a case by case basis only for extraordinary circumstances, supported with written evidence.
Research Thesis
The ThD research thesis must be between 80,000 – 90,000 words in length and adhere to the following rules:
- The thesis must embody the results of independent scholarship and research. It may be either a critical and analytical study of existing material or, as is more usual, an original contribution to the subject. In either case it must show evidence of originality and independence of thought, posing a new insight into the topic or formulating an existing issue in a novel and useful way.
- Theses can be ±10% with no more than 100,000 in total (everything between the covers submitted to the examiner including appendices, excursuses, bibliography, footnotes, and title page)
- The candidate must demonstrate that he or she is aware of, understands, and is able to read and analyse the literature—including primary source and scholarly material in languages other than English—that is directly relevant to the topic as well as related areas of significance, and is able to make considered judgments.
- The thesis must be a work of appropriate literary standard. While assessing what constitutes a "distinct contribution to theological learning" is no easy matter, one way of gauging whether a candidate's work meets the criterion is to consider the extent to which the thesis is publishable. Criteria that will help decide whether a thesis is publishable are:
• there is emerging and/or growing interest in the subject area of the thesis such that the thesis, if published, would complement what has been published already, or, the thesis makes a radically new contribution to the subject area;
• the thesis is well-written, its ideas are accessible, and it would lend itself to easy conversion to published format;
• there are well-known, international scholars who could be advocates for the published version of the thesis.
Course Rules
All candidates must initially apply through a supervising college approved to prepare candidates for the ThD degree using the required ACT form.
Applicants that have the required ACT educational qualifications may be offered candidature in the degree by a supervising college, but all candidature is granted by the Research and Research Studies Committee.
All applicants with non-ACT qualifications must submit original or certified copies of transcripts or certificates of all tertiary study completed in theology or ministry to the Research and Research Studies Committee, which will determine granting candidature.
All candidates initially have provisional status. Candidates must satisfactorily complete all Confirmation of Candidature requirements by the end of their first full time year (or part time equivalent) of candidature to progress to full candidate status.
Candidates will be supervised at an affiliated college of the ACT approved to prepare candidates for the ThD.
Supervisors must be registered as a principal supervisor on the ACT Register of Supervisors.
Candidates and their supervisors must complete and submit the Higher Degree by Research Annual Progress Report to the Postgraduate Candidate Officer of the ACT via the postgraduate coordinator in the candidate's supervising college by the due date. Where unsatisfactory progress is reported the Research and Research Studies Committee may require the candidate to 'show cause' why candidature should not be terminated.
It is the candidate's responsibility to be aware of and fully comply with all rules and regulations related to the Doctor of Theology.
The candidates must be aware of the prescribed word limit for ThD theses. Theses must be at least 80,000 and no more than 100,000 words in length. See Guidelines for Theses in the ACT Higher Degree by Research Handbook.
The candidate should expect to submit to the supervisor coherent accounts of the research to date according to an agreed schedule.
Personal contact is preferable to merely submitting work by mail, especially if candidate and supervisor are situated in the same state of Australia. At least three annual face-to-face meetings per year are recommended. Supervisors are to submit an Annual Progress Report to the candidate's supervising college which will forward the report to the Associate Dean of the ACT. If a candidate's progress is considered to be unsatisfactory the Research and Research Studies Committee will advise the candidate and their supervisor their status is under review. Where a second unsatisfactory report is received the Research and Research Studies Committee may require the candidate to 'show cause' why their candidature should not be terminated.
Candidates should accept responsibility for maintaining negotiated regular communication with the supervisor and the progress of research agreed upon. If impediments arise, these should be immediately discussed with the supervisor.
Under exceptional circumstances, the Research and Research Studies Committee may vary the period of candidature.
For candidates who started the Master of Theology degree before February 2015 and transfer from the Master of Theology to the Doctor of Theology the time enrolled in the research component, but not the time spent enrolled in any coursework units of study, of the MTh will be deducted from the time allowed for ThD candidature.
Eligibility and conditions for transfer from the Master of Theology degree to the doctoral degrees, for candidates who started after February 2015, will be assessed at the time of approval of their provisional MTh candidature, according to the HDR Admission Criteria approved by the R&RSC February 2015.
Candidates who transferred from MTh to ThD must complete all confirmation of candidature requirements for the ThD within the first 12 months (or part-time equivalent) of candidature.
Once a candidate has transferred he or she shall not lodge their ThD thesis within (i) a minimum of 12 months full time equivalent from the date of transfer, and (ii) a minimum of 2 years full time equivalent from the original date of enrolment in the MTh.
Learning Outcomes
Graduates of the Doctor of Theology will be able to:
1. Demonstrate substantial expert knowledge at the frontier in an area of the traditional fields of Theology
2. Evaluate the various research principles and methodologies in an area of the traditional fields of Theology
3. Assess the received body of knowledge in an area of the traditional fields of Theology with a view to identifying areas that require further research
4. Formulate problems and questions, assemble data and literature, construct a theoretical and methodological framework, develop coherent evidence-based perspectives as the basis of independent expert inquiry
5. Design and execute an independent investigation leading to an original and significant contribution to knowledge in an area of the traditional fields of Theology
6. Demonstrate understanding of and compliance with ethical matters related to human participant research
7. Present theoretical bases, methodologies and results of research to, and engage with, non-specialists, peers and the scholarly community
8. Present research in writing suitable for publication, including a thesis of 80,000-100,000 words or portfolio of published work
9. As a leader and in groups, apply expert authoritative knowledge and understanding to ministry contexts and the wider community
10. Bring authoritative expert professional capacity to engagement with the challenges of contemporary Christianity, society and the wider world
11. Demonstrate capacity independently and collaboratively to generate new knowledge and understanding by original research in the traditional fields of Theology.


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Meikon Housing for Sony RX100 M4
The Sony RX100 camera has already become quite a legend.
An incredible power pack in a tiny housing. Fast and sharp!
The Meikon housing goes well with it... fits perfect.
It is equiped with a 67mm thread, ready for mounting any macro wetlens you_d like, or perhaps add a bit more wide angle..?
The housing comes with a handstrap, lens cap and extra O-ring.
Waterproof until 40 meters - and with build-in leak detector.
W:160mm * H:125mm * D:125mm
Weight: 660 g
The housing has a double flash mount (L-type) and optical fiber cables can easly be used.
It also has a "cold shoe" for mounting an armball or YS-accessory on the top.
(E.g. a flash or light)

subset: commoncrawl


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How can I download movies/program data from my DVR (Cisco ISB7050) to my computer?
How can I download movies/program data from my DVR (Cisco ISB7050) to my computer?
Hello, you might be able to transfer files to computer by using something like the following depending on the connections available in DVR. There is not certainty that it would work though:
The capture would be analog and also chances are even if you are able to transfer to computer, it could be unwatchable due to encryption.
I haven't used a Cisco DVR myself but at least for the HD-DVRs I know they don't allow you to transfer recordings because of possible copyright issues.
If none of the other options work one could try to disassemble it and put it's hard drive into thecomputer or an external case/connector. This will however void the warranty and it's not guaranteed your computer could actually read the hard drives contents.
Hello Dionicio,
You can check this ehow.com site which provides instructions on how to transfer the movies and other programs to your computer
Here is the link.
Check it...
I hope it helped..
How to Transfer DirecTV DVR Programs to a Computer


text: Aamir Khan picture Sharing is caring!Facebook0TwitterGoogle+Pinterest0Picture of Aamir Khan. Aamir Khan's next keenly awaited movie is 3 Idiots directed by Raj Kumar Hirani. Sharing is caring!Facebook0TwitterGoogle+Pinterest0(Visited 11 time, 1 visit today) Related posts: Shah Rukh Khan as a 75 year old man Hot Kareena Kapoor at 3 Idiots premiere 3 Idiots breaks Ghajini's record Aamir Khan's Facebook profile Rare photo: Bare-chested Aamir Khan with Shah Rukh Khan Talaash Theatrical Trailer: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee Aamir Khan – Femina March 2013 photo shoot Women's Day Special Shah Rukh, Aamir, Salman – Man's World magazine January 2016


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Monitise rounds up partners for new Finkit platform
By Finextra
Monitise, the financial services digital technology company, today announces the launch of the FINKit Partner Programme with founding partners Mastercard, BehavioSec, Currencycloud, Envestnet | Yodlee, Experian, fastacash, FICO, HID, iGeolise, LivePerson, MYPINPAD, Syniverse, and WorldFirst.
FINKit is a financial services sector-specific cloud-based platform and toolkit that frees banks from the constraints of their existing systems and enables them to continuously deliver innovation into production and into consumers' hands.
In a rapidly-expanding and increasingly disrupted market, collaboration is essential. FINKit sets the standard, enabling this collaboration while at the same time ensuring bank-grade security, performance, and compliance.
Mastercard is the first global payments technology company to join the FINKit Partner Programme. Explaining its involvement, Mark Barnett, President, Mastercard UK & Ireland, said: "FINKit is a fantastic platform for banks and partners to come together in a live production environment to deliver innovative services securely, reliably, and quickly. We are committed to working with Monitise to enable banks to deliver broad-ranging services such as tokenisation, payment security, location-based services, Masterpass digital wallet solutions, and more. Collaborations of this kind are critical for banks to get the most out of technology and deliver world-class customer service."
The new and fast-growing FinTech companies joining the FINKit Partner Programme benefit from increased exposure to large potential customers that might otherwise have been inaccessible to them. They also benefit from Monitise's decade of experience navigating the complex structural, technical, and regulatory environment of financial services. They can develop new products in the knowledge that the banks and financial services companies involved in FINKit are committed to putting innovation in customers' hands.
Nick Cheetham, Managing Director, Monitise FINKit, says: "We are delighted to welcome Mastercard as one of the founding partners of FINKit. It's a real vote of confidence in the value of FINKit. It's vital to simplify collaboration between banks and the wider industry and to get innovative new products and services into customers' hands delivering benefits quickly, rather than letting them stagnate in banks' 'innovation theatres'.
"Early response from current and potential retail banking clients suggests we have a founding group that will enable significant progress to be made in digital service delivery."


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Parent Child bushcraft
In the middle of beautiful Jämtland, in the centre of Sweden, lies the bushcraft camp of Davaj Northern bushcraft and trekking.
This is the perfect operating base for a couple of days of pure nature. If you think the Ardennes are beautiful and the Veluwe gorgeous, you will think you have found paradise here. There are 4 Lapland tents in the bushcraft camp where you can easily sleep with 2 persons. The camp is surrounded by vast woods and lakes with a small village here and there. This is the area where elk, bear and lynx still reside. The place where you can still build huts, stoke your own cooking fire and can walk for miles without being disturbed by other people.
Together with the guide you will head out each day and learn the fine art of living in nature. Some people call that ¨Survival¨, but it is much more than that!
You learn to recognize plants which you can eat, or which are medicinal.
You will have a look around in the vegetable garden at the camp to see what kind of goodies grow there.
You will bake bread using different methods, and you will try to catch a fish.
You will learn to use a map and a compass and we will see how you can find the four wind directions without a compass.
Furthermore we will make a cup and cutlery from wood and we will make fire, with and without matches!
In short, during this week you and other people will be intensely busy outdoors and learn that which was so common in the past: respect for and an insight into nature!
We provide this vacation in Augustus and September
The program:
Arrival and meeting the other participants at the bushcraft camp.
Overnight stay at the Lapland tent.
After breakfast we set to work outside. We will look for a tree from which we can make the cup. We will also make a walking stick. You will receive instructions on how to use a knife, gouge and axe. Then it is time for tea and bannock. The dough has to be kneaded and we make a campfire. Then we step into the canoe for a trip over the lake. We prepare our dinner over the campfire.
Today we set out for a rigorous hiking trip using a map and compass. We take along our backpack with our belongings and will look for tracks of the deer, elk, marten, squirrel, capecaillie and fox. During the breaks we make a fire and you can finish making your cup. Again we will bake bread and make a robust Swedish logger's soup for in the billy-can. During our hike we will definitely also take a refreshing bath in a lake.
When we have found a nice location we will set up camp. We will use branches, moss and stones to make a suitable sleeping place. During the summer months it stays light longer. So perfect for catching another fish in a nice spot, or sitting nice and warm by the fire and do some wood working.
We will prepare our dinner over a campfire again.
After we baked our bread and cleaned our camp we will continue our hike.
We will spend time collecting and recognizing plants and mushrooms.
We will approximately 10 to 12 kilometres back to the bushcraft camp, and there take a nice warm bath in the hot tub. For those who want to there's time for making a trip in the canoe over the lake or take a dive in the cold water!
On the quay at the water we will bake different pizzas in the oven.
The night is spent in the Lapland tent again.
It's the last day already. At the campfire we will share the talking stick. Everybody gets a chance to talk about his experiences and what he's learned. Those holding the talking stick do the telling and the rest listens.
After the lunch in the log cabin we clean away our things and those who arrived by plane or train will be brought back again.
€ 575,- per person, with a min of 4 and maximum of 8 participants.
Please contact us for a groep or other arrangements.
The use of sleeping bag and other camping gear


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Time to return from summer holidays
Time to reflect on the blessings of past months
Time to think about the autumn activities
Time to pray for grace and strength
Time to look, to listen, to learn, to love
Time to work, and worship, and witness
Time to see where God is leading
Sunday, 16 August 2015
It's Time…
2 comments:
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We got bad news yesterday. My SIL, 29 weeks pregnant, turned very, very ill and was instantly hospitalized. It was a close call and as I write, I'm waiting for some news about how it all turned out with mother and child after emergency c-section this afternoon. I'm wishing for some Christmas Magic for them, a smooth recovery and a healthy baby boy.
I still have some Christmas preparations to do. Tonight I'll be cooking and baking cookies. And wrap the last presents. It's good to be occupied. Late yesterday night, when waiting for more news I was making a last minute card for our secretary. The 365 cards challenge – to make a wreath - was PERFECT for me with all the small items to glue together keeping my mind off thinking. And I like how it turned out. Sorry for bad photo – I had to bring it to work and sneak out to take it to get some daylight.Take care!


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At the end of his reflection on the border security agreement which Stephen Harper and Barack Obama signed this week, Lawrence Martin writes:
In many respects, we have what might be described as our very own Republican Party at the helm in Canada. Public opinion prevents it from going as far in social areas as the GOP. But on war, on the security file, on trade and in many other policy domains, the similarities are apparent.
It's hard to disagree with that conclusion. A review of the government's record and future plans — the omnibus crime bill passed the House this week, and Peter Kent has announced that Canada will withdraw from the Kyoto protocol — suggests that we do, indeed, have a government which has wholeheartedly bought the Republican narrative.
Given the farce which is presently taking place in the Republican Party these days — Paul Krugman calls it a contest between the cynics and the clueless — Canadians have many reasons to worry. Martin speculates that the Harper government has triumphed because Canadians have matured. "With age," he writes, "Canadians have become more secure about their independence."
That depends on who you talk to. The natives of Attawapiskat displayed their independence this week by telling Mr Harper's third party manager to take a hike. And, if one considers the recent election results, only 25% of Canadians buy the Harperian definition of independence.
The simple truth is that Stephen Harper — despite his triumphal pronouncements — has always been prime minister by default. Canadians have grudgingly put him where he is. It's an appropriate response to a man who carries a perpetual grudge.
Stephen Harper may be a Republican. But it's too much of a stretch to claim that Canadians have become Republicans.


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Colonial Inn
Welcome to Concord's Colonial Inn, a landmark historic hotel in New England's charming town of Concord, Massachusetts. Here, you'll discover gracious service, a warm and welcoming location for meetings, creative cuisine and 56 spacious, well-appointed guestrooms with historic flair and modern amenities. Close to major highways and just 20 miles from downtown Boston, it's easy to visit our historic inn for a weekend getaway, unique wedding or productive business trip. We look forward to welcoming you as our guest.
Contact Information
48 Monument Square Concord, MA 01742
Phone: 978-369-9200


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Team Management and Motivation Training
Without the right training managers can only guess how to manage
Managing and getting the best out of people is one of the most important and challenging roles in any business. Yet, most people walk into management positions ill-prepared because they:
- were chosen for years of service or topic expertise rather than people skills
- don't have the training to understand, motivate and coach staff
- never had a boss or mentor who taught them how to lead a team.
And of no fault of their own, this too often leads to:
- a team culture of complacency, not continuous improvement
- resistance to change
- underperformance, low morale and high turnover
- added stress and negativity in the workplace
- the manager feeling as though they have failed and increasing ineffectiveness.
Team management and motivation skills boost confidence and results
Groupe Amplify are team management and motivation skills training specialists. We teach executives at any level the knowledge, techniques and practical skills to:
- get the best out of people while giving them greater job satisfaction
- motivate during change processes or uncertain times
- gain a commitment to high performance
- manage conflict and underperformance
- improve operating efficiency and effectiveness.
Find out how we can help you
"Excellent presentation with content being highly relevant to us."
Business Unit Manager
Our team management and motivation training courses
In-house group training - "Managing & Motivating Your Team For High Performance" - 1 day workshop
Our small group workshop is ideal for executives who have been promoted through the ranks because they are good at what they do and need training to give them the practical skills and behaviours to better manage and motivate their direct and indirect reports.
Participants will learn how to:
- develop a "way of working" all team members support and comply with
- set objectives that people both commit to and can deliver
- apply the four key leadership styles – Directing/Coaching/Supporting/Delegating
- direct and coach people to achieving a successful outcome
- effectively and productively give, ask for, and receive feedback
- prepare for and manage difficult conversations.
In-house coaching and facilitated sessions - 5-6 months
Our coaches work with leadership teams to correct what Patrick Lencioni refers to as 'The Five Dysfunctions' that derail effective teamwork and cohesion.
The aim is to rapidly increase levels of trust and respect, remove fear of conflict, increase individual and team commitment, improve overall accountability, and focus everyone on delivery results.
Our unique approach delivers a blend of individual and team coaching, combined with practical skills development in the areas of collaboration, innovative thinking, and persuasive communication as required.
Key benefits include:
- Greater capability to deliver the targeted results for the business
- Faster and better response to changing circumstances
- A more competitive and more sustainable business
- Executives who are more satisfied, happier and productive
- Lower turnover of people at executive and staff level.


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Retired Detective Rodie Sanchez
Retired detective Rhodes "Rodie" Sanchez worked for 32 years with the Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office. Rodie is an old school, flat foot detective trying to fit in the new high tech world of modern policing. He prefers getting information by word of mouth rather than through a smartphone.
A man of principle, Rodie recently came out of retirement to fulfill a broken promise he made to the mother of Eugenie Boisfontaine 18 years ago. He is determined to find the person responsible for killing her daughter.
When not focusing on work, Rodie often enjoys taking care of his many chickens, miniature goats, ponies, and donkeys on his property. He also gets a thrill out of joyriding in his classic Dodge Charger.


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No Chinese family can celebrate the recently passed lunar New Year festival without a prodigious mound of jiaozi, or dumplings – juicy parcels of dough-swaddled pork and leek that explode, scalding and garlicky, in the mouth.
For many Chinese, however, this New Year's dumplings have left a bitter after-taste thanks to spiralling food prices caused in part by a drought on the North China Plain that the UN food agency warned last week could have "devastating"consequences for China's annual wheat harvest.
In the village of Qingdepu in Shanxi province – one of eight provinces including Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei that account for three-quarters of China's wheat production and have experienced the lowest rainfall levels for at least 60 years – they are already feeling the pinch.
"Flour (used to make the dough for the dumpling-wrappers) is up by more than 40 per cent from last year," grumbles 42-year-old Hou Guifa, "and the price of pork (used in the fillings) by more than 25 per cent."
Mr Hou's house, like all the others we visit, is coated in a layer of yellow dust that blows in off the parched corn fields that lie beyond his window. "It rained in March," he recalls gloomily, "but hardly at all since then. The land yielded only half what it does in a good year."
"If you don't have a family member with another job (outside farming) you feel the impact. This year the children's hongbao [the traditional red envelope containing a gift of money] only had five yuan (50p). Last year it was 10."
China's drought is not the kind of biblical event that spawns charity telethons and rock concerts, but its impacts are being felt far beyond the tightened-belts of China's farmers and the children who bought a few less sweets this New Year.
Wheat prices in Chicago, a global benchmark, have hit their highest levels since 2008 amid fears that China's drought, if it worsens, could further drive up global prices that have already been elevated by the impact of the recent fires and floods in Australia.
Last week the UN's Food and Agriculture Agency issued a "special alert" – the first for anywhere in the world this year – warning that if rains don't come in China this spring the situation could reach "critical" levels in the worst-affected areas.
Although the mood of rural China is nothing like that of restive Egypt – where food prices have been partly blamed for fuelling recent political upheavals – the government in Beijing has moved swiftly to assist the nearly 3m people suffering direct consequences of the drought.
Both China's president, Hu Jintao, and prime minister Wen Jiabao have been on well-publicised morale-boosting tours of the region, promising more than £600m to dig emergency wells, speed up irrigation projects and subsidise next year's planting.
China's weather manipulation or "rain-making" machines have also gone into overdrive, with artillery batteries firing hundreds of silver iodide-filled shells into the sky to induce precipitation, which did succeed in triggering a light sprinkling of snow across the North last week.
"But it's still not enough," says another farmer in the next village along, scratching at the soil to reveal the dust-dry earth barely a centimeter below the surface, "when the snow melts it will have made almost no difference at all."
And in a global economy in which China plays an ever-more important role, the inflated price of a pork dumpling is no longer just a worry for China's peasant-farmers or their politically nervous leaders' in Beijing, but increasingly has knock-on effects for global investors too.
Sharply rising food prices – exacerbated by the drought – are a symptom of China's broader battle against inflation which a Bloomberg consensus poll expects to hit 5.4pc for January, far above the central's government's target and a sharp uptick from December's 4.6pc.
China's central bank moved pre-emptively to increase interest rates over the New Year holiday – to 6.06pc, the third hike since October – prompting analysts to warn that the cost of fighting inflation will be slower Chinese growth this year.
"The interest rate rise is a pretty sure indication that the government has looked at the data (for January) and doesn't like what it sees," says Tom Miller, managing editor of the GK Dragonomics consultancy in Beijing.
"Inflation is definitely a problem now. We could see three more interest-rate rises this year and further raising of bank reserve ratios, which will have an impact on the property market and cut headline GDP growth perhaps to 8.5 per cent from last year's 10 per cent." he adds.
Shanghai's stock-market has already shed 5pc this year on fears of shrinking liquidity, while in India the Bombay Sensex has dropped 10pc as emerging market investors retreat on fears that India's own fight against rising food prices and wider inflation will stifle growth there too.
But back in the corn fields of Shanxi the fears for growth are of a rather more pressing and prosaic kind, and not solely for next year's rains and harvest, but for the decades to come as China's population grow and its land and water resources come under greater and greater stress.
Those with long memories, like 85-year-old Wang Tianhai, the keeper of the Qingdepu village's Daoist temple, say they wonder what the future holds.
"We haven't seen it this dry since the Mao Tse-tung era," he recalls, "But when I was a boy, men dug the wells in this village with picks and shovels; the water was just a few metres below the ground.
"Now they bring a machine and drill for more than 200 metres down. It will take more than spring rains to change that."


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Stephen Douglas rushed his bill to organize the Nebraska Territory with slavery unmentioned, and thus excluded by the Missouri Compromise, into the eleventh hour of the short second session of the 32nd Congress. He found unexpected help in the person of David Rice Atchison, ordinarily a proslavery extremist. When historical figures change their positions suddenly, just as with modern politicians, one must wonder why. Past bills died due to lack of Southern support in the Senate precisely because the Missouri Compromise forbade slavery on the lands. While Missouri slaveholders, and their senator, had the most keenly personal felt and personal reasons to stand against such a bill they hardly stood alone.
What happened to Bourbon Dave? The answer might come from his nickname. Atchison liked his whiskey. The late hour, the rush, and the more freewheeling spirit toward the end of a session all argue that he might have lubricated his principles a bit more than usual. It would make for a good story but like historical interpretations that reset on the people in question lacking brainpower, I hesitate to adopt it. People of less than stellar intellectual powers often rise to prominence and sometimes their limitations do matter a great deal, but we do them and ourselves a disservice to assume any act that we can't immediately explain arises from the actors' limitations alone. To say it bluntly: even the most foolish or most vice-ridden people can have reasons aside their faults for what they do. We don't assume Atchison found reason to support slavery in his bottle. Why would we assume it of the contrary?
That said, in all fairness Atchison might have wondered himself. In the same speech where Bourbon Dave declared his reluctant surrender to the inevitable settling, and thus organization, of Nebraska, he wandered off to commend the people of eastern Tennessee who he saw as likely settlers and then:
I have said about as much as I intended to say, and a great deal more.
The Congressional Globe reports laughter. Could the other senators present hear some slurring, spot a sway in Atchison's step, or smell him from across the room? Possibly, but they could also take Atchison's line as a joke about his own long-winded oration. Furthermore, with the clock running out every minute Atchison spoke could reduce the odds of the bill reaching a vote before midnight when the session expired. Bourbon Dave might have meant just what he said: that he went on too long and inadvertently undermined himself.
Atchison certainly exerted enough effort in supporting the bill that we can dismiss his position as insincere. Thomas Rusk of Texas objected that clearing the Indians from Nebraska would force them down on south where they would then
scalp the women and children upon the borders of Texas.
Bourbon Dave answered that Texas could trust the Indians living beside Missouri, Arkansas, and Iowa. They did not raid or otherwise menace whites of any age or sex. In fact, they made a buffer between white America and the wild plains Indians that Rusk really ought to fear.
If Atchison changed his mind only for show, why engage the objections instead of leaving that to Stephen Douglas? Others can disagree, and I defer to the experts, but on the balance it seems more likely that Atchison made a calculated, sincere decision to support the bill and organize a free Nebraska at the close of the 32nd Congress.
But if not drink, then what prompted Atchison to throw in with Douglas? More on that tomorrow.


text:
I like Captain America.
Not because I'm a secret American patriot – I'm a proper British gent who likes tea and the word trousers. It is because out of all the superhero legends out there – he just cannot at all fit into the modern world
The main problem is his total persona of 'American' patriotism.
Now they is nothing wrong with being patriotic – I just fit into the crowd of pure cynics who cannot comprehend Americans passion and who puts it on level par with dictator celebration just to annoy them.
Back in the days of WWII he fitted in perfectly, he helped enlist American men, he made a nation believe they could win the war and he defeated the most evil Nazi of them all (Red Skull)
Comic book-writers though, could not let him lie down his shield and retire. He appears again and again woken up from cryogenic freezing in the following decades, having to face bigger distain towards American globalisation.
Ronald McDonald is the symbol of fast food, Captain America is the symbol of Americanisation and we know how popular there are these days
This distain may go a little bit unnoticed within the USA, however with a Captain America film on the horizon, then the following 'The Avengers' movie- producers might have to account for how the world feels.
They can either stick to their guns, and have it 100% patriotic, leading to huge profit within the good ole' USA but a $0.00 profit around the rest of the world.
Or they could (unlikely) have the character realise he is a national gimmick laughed at internationally, a corporate brand just like Dr Manhattan, that the fact as he stands for 100% Americanism he could gain more enemies then the Bush administration.
Either way it will be a huge political film – debated among patriots, cynics, communist, capitalists, terrorists, geeks and it will have explosions!