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Graduate Research Symposium 2008
Saturday, March 1st 2008
New Schedule
|Coffee & Breakfast
|Gregory J. Anderson
| Welcome
By the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School
|Susan G. Letcher
|Community phylogenetic structure of secondary and old-growth forests in northeastern Costa Rica
|Tobias Landberg
|Allometric engineering of salamanders
|Frank Smith
|A Functional Analysis of the Homeobox Protein Dll-B in the Ascidian Ciona intestinalis
|Lori Benoit
|A molecular genetic study of Hydrilla verticillata, an invasive aquatic weed
|Leah Brown-Wilusz
|Hatching Plasticity in Spotted Salamanders
|Suegene Noh
|Are hybrid lacewings attractive?
|Adam Wilson & Natalia Norden
|R Statistics: Don't be scared!
|Kristiina Hurme
|Tadpole schooling in Leptodactylus insularum
|Katherine Shaw
|Sneaky Threespines: Characterizing geographic variation of sneaking behavior in Gasterosteus aculeatus of the Pacific Northwest
|Bryan Connolly
|The interaction of deer and invasive plant species in forests of the northeast
|Cory Merow
|America's Next Top Ecological Model
|Geert Goemans
|Eel sushi, delicious or deadly?
|Nicholas Tippery
|Quality or quantity? The challenge of sexual versus vegetative reproduction in the dioecious aquatic plant Nymphoides cordata (Menyanthaceae)
|Jessica M. Budke
|Examining the calyptra-sporophyte interaction in the moss Funaria hygrometrica
|Karolina Fucikova
|Systematics of the Green Algal Genus Bracteacoccus
|Speed Talks
|Cory Merow
|Cooperative Aliens Invade New England!
|Nicholas Tippery
|Reconstructing phylogeography using ancestral area likelihood analysis
|Maria Pickering
|Green Grads
The EEB Graduate Student Symposium is an all day event where graduate students present their research to other graduate students and faculty. Any EEB graduate student can present: BSMS, masters, PhD, old and new students. New graduate students usually present research ideas or preliminary data, while those more 'seasoned' students present their most recent results, often in preparation for upcoming spring and summer meetings.
This year we are trying out a new phenomenon, Speed Talks, in addition to our regular 15min presentations. There will be an almost unlimited number of 15min talks, and a limited number of speed talks. We would like to invite all EEB graduate students to give a 15min talk. Speed Talks have been seen at several large meetings over the last year (playing off the speed dating idea). These talks will be 3min presentation, PowerPoint optional. They are ideal for sharing side projects, amazing images or videos, great opportunities that others should take advantage of, or any other interesting things that you would like to share. Since this is new, we are going to have one small section of them in the afternoon. We envision these being given in addition to a regular 15min talk. If you are interested in participating in this section please let email@example.com know, the actual number of these talks is still flexible but we will take these on a first come basis
Lori Benoit
Tobias Landberg
Frank Smith
Karolina Fucikova
Green algae (Chlorophyta) are a morphologically heterogeneous group that is undergoing considerable revisions at present. Especially in coccoid genera, there have been striking cases of polyphyly, when species originally placed in one genus were shown to belong to up to three different classes. The coccoid chlorophycean genus Bracteacoccus Tereg was until recently considered monophyletic, but with the advent of new molecular data, it no longer appears as such. Work is being conducted with the ultimate goal of monographing the genus Bracteacoccus.
Leah Brown-Wilusz
We studied hatching plasticity in spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) embryos by exposing them to combinations of egg and larval predator cues. Animals exposed to egg predators hatched out earlier regardless of whether larval predators were present or not. Animals exposed to larval predators only had the largest tail areas and survived longest in lethal predation trials. However, animals exposed to both predators had intermediate tail morphology and survival times indicating costs of hatching out early. The early effects of hatching plasticity were no longer detectable at metamorphosis indicating there are no long-term costs of hatching plasticity on growth or developmental rates.
Susan G. Letcher
The emerging field of community phylogenetics permits ecologists to incorporate phylogenetic information into the study of ecological processes. Given the widespread evidence for phylogenetic niche conservatism (the propensity for closely related species to share the same suite of traits), phylogenetic structure in community data sets can be used to infer assembly processes. Phylogenetic clustering is generally interpreted as evidence for abiotic filtering, in which the match between organism and environment drives community assembly. Phylogenetic overdispersion is interpreted as evidence for strong biotic interactions, either in the form of competition between closely related species or facilitation between distantly related species. Currently, the only published work on community phylogenetics during succession has been conducted in microbial systems. I examined the phylogenetic structure of a chronosequence data set of woody vegetation from 30 sites in northeastern Costa Rica, ranging from 10 yrs to old growth. I found significant phylogenetic overdispersion in forests of all ages, but the scale at which I detected overdispersion varied along the chronosequence. At young sites (<20 yrs), the species pool for the age class showed overdispersion but individual sites showed little or no phylogenetic structure. In older sites, the species pool showed no phylogenetic signal, but individual sites showed strong overdispersion. These data suggest that biotic filtering operates throughout the successional process, and becomes especially strong as the forest matures.
Kristiina Hurme
The Neotropical frog Leptodactylus insularum exhibits tadpole schooling and female parental care. Leptodactylus insularum breeds in temporary ponds and the tadpoles develop quickly, reaching metamorphosis in only 17 days. In order to grow and develop quickly, L. insularum tadpoles maintain high activity and feeding rates. Increased activity in tadpoles may increase predation risk, and L. insularum tadpoles may overcome this cost by forming dense aggregations. In the field L. insularum tadpoles are only found in these dense schools, and these schools continually move throughout the aquatic environment, often led by the attending female. Contained schools rapidly deplete their food resources, suggesting that competition for food within these aggregations is high. I performed a mesocosm experiment to examine the effect of food level and density on tadpole growth and development. I found that high density and/or low food infer a cost to tadpoles, by delaying both growth and development rates. Further work will focus on whether this cost might be higher without the coordinated schooling behavior of the aggregations.
Adam Wilson & Natalia Norden
We will give an overview of the R Project for Statistical Computing and discuss the many advantages of conducting analysis in the R framework. These include ease of manipulating data, presentation quality graphics, powerful and flexible statistics, ability to archive methods through the use of scripts, spatial data analysis and linkage to GIS, availability for most operating systems, and no-cost availability.
Katherine Shaw
I propose to investigate variation in a conditional male mating behavior and provide an initial assessment of the environmental and genetic underpinnings of sneaking behavior in Pacific Northwest threespine stickleback populations (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.). Preliminary investigation suggests regional differences in the propensity of male sneaking behavior, an alternative tactic that allows males to escape strong intraspecific mate competition by fertilizing eggs in the nests of other males. This study system offers an intriguing opportunity to evaluate the patterns of expression of alternative mating tactics among populations rather than focus on variation within populations under variable environmental conditions. By utilizing methods to investigate both potential genetic and environmental components underlying phenotypic variation in oceanic (ancestral) and freshwater populations across regions, this work will enhance our evolutionary insight into the extent by which ancestral plasticity has shaped geographic variation in sneaking propensity.
Bryan Connolly
Cory Merow
Nicholas Tippery
The floating-leaved aquatic plant Nymphoides cordata (Menyanthaceae) is one of only two Nymphoides species native to North America, and one of only four dioecious Menyanthaceae species. Dioecy, the extreme gender specialization whereby individual plants are either staminate (male) or pistillate (female), has evolved independently multiple times in angiosperms and is considered advantageous for promoting outcrossing, i.e., sexual reproduction with genetically dissimilar individuals. In addition to being dioecious, N. cordata is capable of vegetative reproduction, a life history trait that is relatively common among aquatic plants. Although vegetative reproduction can increase population size without pollination or seedling establishment, it can lead to reduced genetic variation because all vegetative offspring are genetically identical to their parent. The interplay between vegetative reproduction (which generates genetically identical offspring) and sexual reproduction under dioecy (which requires genetically dissimilar individuals) presents an interesting challenge for N. cordata, which must balance population increase against potentially reduced genetic variation. Several populations of N. cordata in Connecticut were studied to characterize their relative degree of sexual versus vegetative reproduction. Future work using microsatellite markers will also be discussed.
Jessica M. Budke
Suegene Noh


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Police caught one driver going at 105mph on the M1 and another going at 94mph on the A41 during speeding patrols last night.
The checks were undertaken by the Beds, Cambs and Herts Roads Policing Unit as part of the January Think campaign to encourage safer driving.
The force posted about the speeders on social networking site Twitter.
In their first tweet, officers said: "Driver stopped travelling 105mph, admits to "Playing" in new hire car #ItsNotAGame."
The # symbol is used on Twitter to create trends between people talking about similar topics.
In the officers' second tweet, they said: "Speed checks also being carried out on #A41 #Berkhamsted. Driver recorded at 94mph in heavy rain #Think."

subset: commoncrawl


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The Falcons have reason to feel relief, beyond finally getting the much-discussed playoff win.
The fact they found their run game again gives them reason to believe they might get another one.
For all the individual parts of Sunday's comeback win over the Seahawks, their ability to run the way they used to was the most encouraging.
"It just lets us breathe a little bit," Falcons running back Michael Turner said, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "Now, we can go out there and play the way we're capable of playing."
Turner and Jacquizz Rodgers worked well in tandem, combining for 162 yards on 24 carries. The team's 6.4 yards per carry average on the day was well over their 3.7-yard regular season average. It was also their season high, as they didn't go over 146 in any regular season game.
In the old days, it would have been all Turner, but Rodgers added an outside component they had lacked, and it looked like a year spent experimenting finally paid off.
That they did it against a Seahawks defense which allowed 103.1 per game in the regular season was better news, but this week's test is tougher. The 49ers were fourth in the league in rush defense this year, allowing 94.1 yards per game.
"When we have the type of offensive roster that we have, we feel like that we have the ability to throw the football and run it," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "It's really going to be based on how people try to defend us."
The 49ers are sound enough they don't have to trick up their defense to stop people, but getting the run game going early could create opportunities for the Falcons potent passing game.


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The Orhan Cami (early Ottoman, one dome, early 14th century). A guide I used indicates it has a special meaning for Turks, without explaining why. I was informed by a viewer as follows:
"This mosque has a deep meaning for the local people. The mosque is known as "Kursunlu Cami" in that region which means "Mosque of Bullets". The original mosque was full of bullet marks left from the days of Greek invasion in 1921. Besides that, the ruins of other minarets in other pictures are from the same days. The previous city was even bigger and more developed than today's Bilecik. It was burnt down and devasted by the Greeks twice during our Independence war. Now the city could only dream and miss its glorious days. Seyh Edebali is the moral founder of the Ottoman Empire, his advices and guideness has established the principles of the new born state.He was the wise, respected holy man who first promised "an empire that will rise from a small clan" which will rule 3 continents."
I am slightly doubtful about the "kursunlu" part as in many other cities kurşunlu refers to a mosque having a roof made of lead (kurşun). For the rest I think the comment explains itself, thanks for the information.
For any use: see my Profile. NOTE: Many of my pictures are in sub-galleries (some within another, their name is in bold print)!


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The Course poster depicts the transformation from a classical sculpture into a digital matrix
L-R Participants Sue Aylwin, Michelle Kiely, Laura Maye, Scott Carey, Paul (Me), Donal O'Donohoe, (Terry O'Brien- not in photo) showing their work from the course.
The Tiger's Head designed and prepared for print by Michelle Kiely
The course which started May 1st ran for four Wednesdays and finished with students reviewing their own 3D prints. There were discussions about patenting, manufacturing, marketing and model optimisation. Participants are invited to keep the discussion about their own exploits in 3D printing. We look forward to their wonderful work!
If you or someone you know is interested in finding out about our course, please check our descriptor page
Prints were supplied by C-CAD, a local CAD provider and the collaboration of Jim Barrett for which we are most grateful.


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SOCORRO, N.M., March 3, 2004 – New Mexico high school juniors (and exceptional sophomores), take note: the application deadline for one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious research programs for academically gifted teenagers — the renowned Summer Science Program; is fast approaching.
Applications for the six-week residential enrichment program, which is held on campuses in Southern California and at New Mexico Tech, will be accepted up until Friday, March 19.
For more than 40 years, bright teenagers from throughout the world have come to the Summer Science Program, spending their days learning about astronomy and their nights performing hands-on astronomical research.
Since 1959, Summer Science Program has provided gifted juniors and sophomores selected from high schools across the nation and abroad with an intensive six-week summer residential program on a campus in Ojai, Calif. Last summer, the internationally renowned program opened its second operating site on the New Mexico Tech campus in Socorro.
After attending last year's session at New Mexico Tech, Sofia Salazar of Coyote, New Mexico, commented, "There is no limit to how much knowledge the human mind can intake, and, ultimately, how much and what it can produce."
Each summer, Summer Science Program's hands-on curriculum combines classroom lectures in college-level math, physics, astronomy, and computer programming with team research projects in which participants determine the orbits of asteroids, using their own observations, measurements, and software.
Students, parents, and teachers interested in obtaining an online application for the Summer Science Program, or who wish to obtain further information, are encouraged to visit the program's web site.


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We return again, this morning, to our gospel of Matthew which we've been studying for many years now with great blessing. And we're not quite finished. We're looking at the twentieth chapter of Matthew. Three verses set in the middle of this great twentieth chapter, and I want to read them to you, verses 17, 18 and 19.
And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside along the way and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes and they shall condemn Him to death and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He shall rise again.
That is very clear. There is no question about what He means. The words are simple. The thoughts are simple. The terms are precise. It's very clear exactly what He said. And that's exactly the way He intends it. This is the third and last prediction of our Lord regarding His death and resurrection. The first one He gave to the disciples in chapter 16, verse 21. The second one He gave them in chapter 17, verses 22 and 23. And this is the third and final prediction. The second adds detail to the first and the third adds detail to the second. This is a fuller prediction than any of the others.
Now it is obvious to anyone who knows anything about the Christian faith that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the center of biblical revelation. That it is the most important Christian truth. And so we are dealing with very crucial material here. The theme of this particular announcement, however, takes us beyond the earlier two which simply talked about Him dying and rising and this one seems to stress the nature of His suffering and the details of it. He doesn't just say He will die and rise. He doesn't just say He will be crucified and rise. But rather He explains detail by detail that He will be betrayed, He will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn Him to death, then hand Him over to the pagans where He will be mocked, scourged and finally crucified. And following that, He will rise from the dead. Tremendous amount of detail is given.
Now the theme of this particular prediction by our Lord is His sufferings. And He details them out. Some rejectors of the truth have tried to put Jesus Christ into a totally human category. Some of them have been more generous than others and said He was a well-meaning, loving, gentle, peaceful kind of individual who somehow got caught in a very hostile world and accidentally wound up getting crucified. Others have been less than generous to Him and said He was a self-styled, would-be conqueror who tried to pull off a coup of sorts only somewhere took a wrong turn and He wound up being a victim of His own revolution.
And then there are all of those possibilities in the middle that are generous or not generous to one degree or another. The fact is, however, that all of them are wrong. The sufferings of Jesus Christ were no accident. The sufferings of Jesus Christ were no miscalculation. They were no surprise to Him. They were no shock at all, but rather He gives here detail by detail precisely and exactly what is going to happen to Him. In fact, the first recorded words we have spoken out of the mouth of Jesus were, "I must be about My Father's business," and the last words before His death, "It is finished." It's very clear that He knew what He was about and He knew when He had finished it. And He finished it in His death.
He knew why He was on the earth. He knew every detail of it. And the fact that He knew every single detail of His sufferings indicates to me that He must have suffered through them a thousand times before He actually got there in the omniscience of being able to conceive all that that suffering would be.
Now I believe He wanted the disciples to understand this. They were so honed in on the glory of the Kingdom, they were so in tune with the glories of the Messiah, those prophecies they seemed well to understand. It was the suffering Messiah they didn't understand. And we don't want to be too hard on them because Jews today with all that they know still don't understand that. You see, the disciples were looking for a lion, they didn't know they needed a lamb. But Jesus knew that. And so our Lord calls them aside for the third time and tells them this.
Now I want us to look at the passage and just to consider several elements of what He said. First, the plan of suffering, the plan. "Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside along the way and said to them, Behold we go up to Jerusalem." You can stop there.
You get the feeling by His terms here that He knows what He's doing. Behold indicates a certain amount of surprise. It's an exclamation. It may seem startling to you, it may seem shocking to you, it may seem surprising to you, you may not understand it but we are going to Jerusalem. There's a resolution in His statement. There's a conviction.
It takes us back to Luke 9:51 where the text says, "And He set His face to go to Jerusalem." He was resolute in that commitment. He had while in the northern area of Galilee, finished His Galilean ministry, crossed the Jordan at a northern point, come to the east of the Jordan known as the Beyond called Peraea and He had been in Peraea coming south down the backside of the Jordan. Chapter 19 in the early part of 20 give us incidents in that ministry. Now He crosses the Jordan again, coming toward Jerusalem. He will go through Jericho. Chapter 20 verse 29 has Him departing from Jericho. So He crosses about Jericho, comes to Jericho and starts the long ascent to Jerusalem. It's only a matter of days really now until He faces the passion, the death and the resurrection.
And you'll notice it says, "going up to Jerusalem." They must have been already in motion that way. Already on the move. And when you go up, you really go up. Jericho is about a thousand feet below sea level, Jerusalem is over 5,000 above and as the crow flies, they're fifteen miles apart. So that's a very steep ascent. That's why the Bible says they were going up.
And you can imagine that they weren't alone, not Jesus and the disciples, because the Peraean ministry had no doubt congregated around them a mass of people. Chapter 20 again verse 29 says there was a great multitude that followed Him. And as this multitude is moving, it's Passover time, they're attracted because they would normally be on this journey anyway and as well they have now found themselves in the company of this wonder working Jesus, this astounding teacher and healer. And so as typically in the Galilean ministry, so here we find Him surrounded by these people. And He's moving toward Jerusalem.
And on the way He again feels the need to communicate what's going on to His disciples. And so He pulls them aside along the road. Get's them off somewhere away from the crowd and speaks to them. And what He says to them is "we go up to Jerusalem." It may sound shocking, it may sound strange, but that is exactly where we're going.
Now Mark 10:32 gives us the parallel account to this. And Mark says the disciples were--and he uses two words--amazed and afraid. They were amazed and afraid. And the reason for this is because they knew the hostility of the Jerusalem aristocracy. They knew that both the chief priests and the scribes were definitely enemies of Christ. They had enough experience to know that. They had already run into conflict with these people, the Pharisees namely, on several occasions. And they really couldn't see any point in going right into Jerusalem. They also knew that that's where the Roman seat was. Maybe they felt that if you're going to pull off a revolution, it ought to start up in Galilee and become sort of an ascending sort of accumulative grass roots revolution. You don't just walk a motley group of thirteen people into the city of Jerusalem and take over. And so they were somewhat confused. And I think really, in the negative side, they had...many of them had sort of given up on the Kingdom concept in its immediacy, at least emotionally if not intellectually. And all they could see was we're going to go right in there and die. In fact, in John 11:16, when Jesus said we're going to go to Jerusalem or to Bethany which is right in that proximity, Thomas who is called Didymus said, "We'll all go with You and die, too." Very pessimistic.
So, they are, says Mark, amazed and afraid. And then Mark tells us that Jesus walked in front of them. And they were in the back. He's like a commander who's leading his troups into battle and he puts himself in the most dangerous and vulnerable position. There are few pictures, really, in the gospels that are more interesting than that, more moving, more striking than that. Jesus faced steadfast, moving toward His own death on behalf of these disciples and they're afraid and amazed, cowering in the back, dragging behind Him, mingling both the anticipation of the hope of the Kingdom with the fear of death and not really knowing what to expect.
The word "amazed" by the way in Mark 10:32 is thambeo. It's a very rare word, only used by Mark three times and once in the book of Acts chapter 9 verse 6, it's used of Paul on the road to Damascus. And based on those four usages and the queries that come out of each time its used, it seems to me the best way to translate that word is "to be confused," or "to be baffled." To be unable to understand the situation. So it is that kind of amazement, it isn't the amazement of seeing something wonderful and awesome, it is the confusion and the chaos of the mind that comes when you can't make sense out of what's happening. And it's exactly what Paul was experiencing when he went blind on the road to Damascus and was confronted by the resurrected Christ. And that's how Mark uses it, I think, as well.
So, they are because of their confusion afraid and the word Mark uses is phobos from which we get phobia. They are having some real anxiety because of the confusion of wondering why in the world Jesus would be going to Jerusalem when He knows the people there hate Him and want to take His life. But He is so resolute. And the reason is because this is the plan, and that's what I want to get at. This is the plan, we go to Jerusalem. It has to be, folks. It has to be.
In fact, that's not all He said, that's just all the part that Matthew records. Luke in the parallel passage in Luke 18:31 says, "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished." So He says we have to go because it's the prophetic plan.
So, Jesus going to suffer is no accident. It is not a bad turn in a nice revolution. It is no shock. This was foretold by myriads of prophets. And people who accuse Jesus of being some misguided patriot or some well-meaning peacemaker whose revolution went array, not only not understand...do they not understand Jesus but they don't understand the Old Testament either. And all they do is demonstrate their ignorance. This is the culmination of the redemptive plan of God. And you can go back into the Old Testament and you will find passage upon passage upon passage predicting all of the factors of Jesus Christ's life.
Zechariah 9:9 says that He would enter into Jerusalem. Psalm 2, that He would know the fury and rage of His enemies. Zechariah 13:7, that He would be deserted by His friends. Zechariah 11:12, that His betrayal would be for 30 pieces of silver. Psalm 22:16, that He would be pierced on the cross. Exodus 12:46, that none of His bones would be broken, also Psalm 34:20. Psalm 22:18 says that His garments will be parted by casting of lots. Psalm 69:21 says He'll be given vinegar to drink. Psalm 22:1, He will cry out in the pain of distress. Psalm 22:31 that He will cry out the victory cry, "It is finished." Zechariah 12:10 says they'll pierce Him with a sphere. And Psalm 16:10, that He will rise from the dead. Psalm 1..10:1 even says He'll ascend into heaven.
All of those things are part of the Old Testament prophets. And you want a piece by piece detailed description of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in minute detail, you read Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 and Zechariah's prophecy and you'll have there explicitly a description of all the details of our Lord's death on the cross. So when He's going to Jerusalem, He is on schedule, on target, on plan, no deviation at all.
But as you go to the Old Testament, you know, it's interesting, there are not only...and I want to just talk about this for a moment...there are not only very explicit verbal predictions about Christ, but the whole sweep of the Old Testament, the whole flow of the Old Testament in its types and symbols and pictures demands that the Messiah die for the sins of the world. It demands that. Not only verbal predictions but the whole picture, the graphic of the Old Testament demands that.
Let me show you what I mean. The death of Jesus Christ is the primary event in history and also the primary event in the Bible. And as someone has said, it is the scarlet thread woven through the whole Scripture. And I think it really comes into focus, first of all, in the third chapter of Genesis. Because in Genesis chapter 3 you have Adam and Eve's sin. And immediately when they sin, they feel cut off from God. So the first thing they do is they hide themselves. They're estranged from God. There's a separation.
The second thing that occurs is that they immediately become aware that they're what? They're naked. And God comes and clothes them. And in order to clothe them with the skin of animals, there has to be death. And so some animals are slain to make clothes for them. Now that's a very important thought because if you listen very carefully to that account, you can hear the first soft sounds of what becomes an Old Testament symphony, that guilt and shame and separation are covered by sacrifice. It's a very important truth. And that's where that truth is introduced. Sacrifice is the only way to deal with guilt and separation from God. We find that not a verbal prediction of Jesus Christ but a setting in motion of truth that demands the ultimate Passover lamb.
Now as you follow along a little further in the writings of Moses and you come to Genesis 22, you find a second great and profound element of sacrificial truth is taught. God gave Abraham a son by the name of Isaac in whom all his hopes resided. He was to be the seed out of whose loins would come a generation of people who would number as the sand of the sea and the stars of heaven. An Abrahamic promise was bound up in Isaac.
And as God comes to Abraham and says, "I want you to kill your son," you can see the slaying of all of his hopes and dreams and all of the things that God had promised and planned. And yet Abraham is truly faithful and committed to do what God says so he packs a bunch of wood on Isaac's back and they start for the hill of sacrifice known as Mount Meriah. They get up there and Isaac puts the sticks down and then Abraham puts Isaac down on top of the altar that's been prepared and lifts the knife to drive it into the heart of his own beloved son. And at that moment, God stops his arm and he hears a ram in the thicket and he goes over, takes the ram and sacrifices the ram and God spares his son.
And the thing that sustained Abraham, Hebrews 11 says, and made him come to the point were he was willing to do that is that he believed God would raise Isaac from the dead. So committed was he to God keeping His promise that he figured in his mind if God says kill him, then God's going to have to raise him from the dead to fulfill His own word. And he believed God was a God of His word so he was willing to take his son's life so that God could raise him from the dead. But God held his hand and provided a ram. That is the second profound truth of redemption taught in the book of Genesis and that is substitution. God will provide a substitute.
And it says in Genesis 22:14 that Abraham named that place "The Lord will Provide." The Lord will provide. In the Mount of the Lord, it says, it will be provided. So then, we learn that sin can..and shame and guilt can only be dealt with by sacrifice and God will provide a sacrifice.
Now as you move a little further in the story of God's unfolding redemptive plan, you come to the twelfth chapter of Exodus and you get the third great principle in relation to redemptive sacrifice. God says I'm going to send the angel of death through Egypt and He's going to slay the first born of every house. If you want to be protected, you have to sacrifice a lamb that is unblemished, without spot, a pure lamb. Put the blood on the doorposts and the lintel, the angel of death seeing that will pass by you. In other words, you will be delivered from judgment by making a blood sacrifice.
Now that repeats what we learned in Genesis 3, that sin has to be dealt with by sacrifice. It also repeats what we learned in Genesis 22, that a sacrifice can be substituted for the guilty person. But then it adds a third and very important dimension to redemptive truth and that is this, that the sacrifice must be unblemished, must be pure.
Now we go from there to the wanderings of Israel and we get into the wilderness at Sinai. And God draws all the people together. Moses goes up the mount. God gives the law. And then God begins to unfold through Moses all of the intricate complex elements of the sacrificial system so that sacrifice for those people became a way of living. Every day, every national feast, every act of worship, every approach to God, every day of every year was based on sacrifice. So sacrifice became a way of life. They were giving bloody sacrifices day in, day out, year in and year out.
Now you bring all these pictures together. From Adam and Eve we learn that sacrifice covers the guilt of sin. From Abraham we learn that that sacrifice can be a substitute which God will provide. From the Passover, we learn that that sacrifice must be unblemished, without spot. And finally, from the centrality of sacrifice in the law, we learn the importance of sacrifice in a worshiping life. There will be no worship of God without sacrifice, none. And that is why the first of the five offerings was the burnt offering and the burnt offering was all offered to God. God needs to be offered the fullness of sacrifice in any act of worship.
So, God had to provide then a sacrifice to cover sin, who was a substitute, who was unblemished, who could redeem His people and provide the kind of sacrifice that could open up the way of worship forever. And that's why, you see, when Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the temple was rent and the sacrificial system was over because He was the one final sacrifice that created an openness to God from which we could worship from then on without ever having to offer another sacrifice.
So, you see, if you look at the Old Testament, it isn't just verbal prediction. The whole flow of it, the whole sweep of it, the whole concept of it is that there is the need for a sacrifice. That's what the Old Testament was saying. And so, our Lord says we go to Jerusalem. The disciples figure we're going there for the Passover, what they didn't know was that they were going there with the Passover lamb. You see, they were looking lion, but He was thinking lamb. They were thinking Kingdom, He was thinking sacrifice. They were thinking glory, and He was thinking suffering and then glory. I mean, on the mount of transfiguration in chapter 17, I'm sure they thought this was it, Peter, James and John. And then He went down the mountain and now He's going to Jerusalem and they are confused about that and they are afraid.
But He's on schedule. He says, particularly in the gospel of John and several places, I think at least six or seven different places, that I will do the will of My Father. And even after His resurrection when He met those disciples on the road to Emmaus, it says in Luke 24, "Ought not Christ who have suffered these things and enter into His glory?" He started at Moses, the prophets and I think He probably took them through a better lesson than I just gave you, but a similar one. Maybe He went all the way to Genesis 3 and said why do you think God took a lamb there? And Genesis 22, why do you think God provided a sacrificial offering there? Maybe He took them to the Passover and maybe He just took them through the whole flow of Moses and then the prophets, gave them the verbal predictions. Maybe they went to Isaiah 53, maybe they went to Zechariah. And then in all the holy writings, maybe He took them to the Psalms and showed them 22 and others. And said it's all there. And later on in that twenty-fourth chapter, it says in verse 46, "Thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer."
See, they just couldn't get that through that He had to suffer. But He was on schedule. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 says that He died, was buried and rose again according to the..what? Scriptures. And as 1 Peter 1:11 says, you know, they were...the prophets were looking at what they wrote and they saw two things, they saw the sufferings and the glory that should follow. And if you don't see both of those, you miss it. That's why Jews even today have missed Jesus as their Messiah cause all they can see is the glory, they don't understand the suffering. They don't know what in the world to do with Psalm 22, they haven't got a clue what to do with Isaiah 53 and they're lost in Zechariah also. Because if you don't see the suffering, you can't understand Christ.
But, you know, it wasn't anything new. When that little child was taken to the temple by his mother and there they met that man of God who was devout, waiting for the conciliation of Israel, the coming of the Messiah by the name of Simeon. And had asked the Lord that he would not die till he saw that Messiah. You remember that child was brought in, he picked Him up in his arms and blessed Him and talked about how He would be for the falling and the rising of many, and all of this. And then he said to Mary, "And your heart will be pierced through as with a sword." In other words, it will not be without pain and it will not be without suffering. And only a mother's heart could know the suffering that Mary knew.
And so, from the very beginning it was that way. And when He arrived and John the Baptist saw Him in John 1:29, the way he introduced His ministry, "Behold the...what?...the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." And when Revelation exalts Him, it says, "He was a lamb as though it had been slain and then He is the lion of the tribe of Judah." So He's going to Jerusalem because it's on plan. He's not going to have His plans go bad, I mean, He's on target.
Now let me talk about a second point. First the plan of His suffering; secondly, the predictions of His sufferings. He adds to what the Old Testament prophets say, His own prophecies. We go to Jerusalem. The Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and the scribes. Look at the detail. They shall condemn Him to death, shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, to crucify, a third day He'll rise again. I mean, He's predicting these things. And only God knows that. Only God can tell the story before it happens, right? Only God can make history before it even occurs. This is God in human flesh, who else knows all of that? I mean, who else can give all these incredible details: betrayal, handing over to chief priests, scribes, condemned to death, handed over to the pagans where He will be mocked, Matthew and Luke add He will be spit on, He says I'll be spit on. How did He know all of that? And then I will be scourged and then crucified and then rise again.
Well, how does He know all of that? I'll tell you, there's only one who knows that and that's God and that's who He is. This is no ordinary man. He knew how many husbands a strange woman he'd never met had and the one she was living with wasn't her husband. And He knew a conversation before a conversation occurred. He told His disciples to go get the colt, the foal of an ass and He told them the conversation that would happen when they asked the guy for the animal, before the guy even was asked. He forecast the fall of Jerusalem in Matthew 21. I mean, this is God. He calls Himself the Son of Man, that was His favorite term, He used it 80 times, or it's used 80 times, I should say, in the gospels. It's a term of His humiliation, but it also incorporates His exaltation out of that humility.
But He says the Son of Man, first of all, shall be betrayed. Now the verb betrayed is not here, it's simply the verb "to be handed over." But it was obvious that it implied the betrayal and that's why the translators put it in here because it was Judas who turned Him over. It was a betrayal.
And He was turned over the chief priests. The chief priests among the priests, and there were thousands of them, the chief priests were the upper echelon ones. There were the Levites, they were at the bottom of the priestly totem pole. Then there were the normal course of priests. And there was the guy who was the head of the daily course, the guy who's ahead of the weekly course, and then there was the sort of the captain of the temple, and then there was the high priest. And the guys at the top of the ladder were known as the chief priests. And so, these chief priests were the hereditary aristocracy. They were in the priestly line, they got their rank by heredity.
They were also accompanied by the scribes who got their rank not by heredity but by knowledge. They attained to knowledge by studying the law. They were the lawyers and nobody could interpret anything without them. Very much like today, if you want to interpret any kind of law, you get into any kind of legal situation, you have to have a lawyer. Well it was that way then. In trying to interpret the Mosaic economy, they had to have lawyers, quote/unquote, who really were the scribes who could come along side and explain the meaning of the law, interpret the law and so forth.
So, you had the hereditary aristocracy and you had the knowledge aristocracy and they made this body of people who ultimately condemned Jesus Christ to death because He so threatened the security of their system. Well, Jesus sees Himself being betrayed to them, to this executive body of the temple priesthood, being handed over. And indeed that's what happened. Judas betrayed Him. The priests were simply Christ rejectors who were in a position to pull off a fake and mockery trial and condemn Him to death. And that's what He saw happening and that is exactly what happened. This is not a surprise. This is exactly the way it was planned and He predicts the details.
Now obviously they couldn't kill Him because the Romans had removed their right to do that. And so they had to give Him over to the Gentiles, verse 19. After the condemn Him to death in a false trial, said He should die for what He's done, trumped up charges against Him, ultimately the charge was that He speaks against Caesar and so forth cause they knew that the Romans wouldn't like that. They delivered Him over to the pagans because the pagans, the Romans, had the right of execution and they alone could take His life. And you remember the story, Pilate couldn't find anything wrong with Him. But finally succumbed to crucifying Him because of blackmail. They said they'd tell Caesar and he already had two strikes against him in his relations with the Jews and Caesar probably would have taken him out of there and maybe taken his life with one other mistake. And so he succumbed.
But in the meantime, you read the story of what happened when they took Him down into the fort Antoninus. They mocked Him. Remember they put a reed in His hand, crammed a crown of thorns on His head. Spit all over Him. And they jeered at Him. And all of that kind of mockery He describes. Then they scourged Him. They lacerated His back with leather thongs in which there were bits of bone and metal in the end. And they did all of this because they were laughing to scorn at Him. And ultimately they crucified Him. And all the details are there and, of course, He rose from the dead.
So, you have the plan of the sufferings and you have the prediction of His sufferings. Now that takes me to the heart of this passage which I'd like to call "the proportion of sufferings." I don't know that I've ever really thought this through to the extent that I did in looking at this passage, but the thing that hit me as I read over and over this little section of three verses was how in detail He talked about His suffering. It seemed more detailed than any other time that Jesus ever spoke about this and I began to think about His sufferings and tried to look through the Word of God and see what I could learn.
The first thing I found out was that when referring to sufferings, using that word, it appears in the plural. For example, in 2 Corinthians 1:5 it means "the sufferings of Christ." In Philippians 3:10, the fellowship of His sufferings. First Peter 1:11, the sufferings. First Peter 4:13, the sufferings. Luke 24:26, suffered many things. Hebrews 2:10, the salvation was made perfect through sufferings.
In other words, I got the idea that it wasn't just one dimensional suffering. That the proportion of His suffering was beyond anything I'd ever thought about. I mean, I don't know how you've looked at it, but kind of growing up in the church, you sort of think of the suffering of Christ having to do with the nails, or the sphere, or the crown of thorns. The body has a way to deal with that kind of thing. That is a suffering, there's little question about it.
But Josephus writes in one particular account of three men that were crucified. They were left there until such a time as they should have been dead and taken down. Two of them lived, one died. Which is to say that crucifixion in and of itself didn't necessarily kill everybody. In fact there's a record even beyond those three of many who lived through crucifixion. That is why they scourge those that they especially wanted to die because the tremendous loss of blood, exposure of the internal organs and all the pain involved in that would speed up and make secure the death reality in crucifixion.
But there was much more to the suffering of Christ than just the nails on the cross. I mean, the body shock system has a way to deal with that kind of trauma. And so I began to think about all of the facets of His suffering. And with that in mind, I want you to look at Isaiah 53 for just a brief moment and see if I can't show you how clearly this is revealed and yet perhaps you have not thought of it in these terms.
The proportion or the dimensions of Christ's suffering. Isaiah 53 obviously describes the suffering of Christ. And it starts out in verse 2, for our benefit, that He has no form or comeliness and when we see Him there's no beauty that we should desire Him. And you have the suffering of being ugly. The suffering of being rejected. The suffering of no form, no comeliness. People turning away. It says in verse 3, "We hid-- as it were--our faces from Him." So ugly. There's a rejection kind of suffering. And that's what's pointed out in verse 3, He is despised. That's hated...rejected, filled with sorrow. The suffering of sorrow, the suffering of grief, the despising, the lack of esteem or regard or dignity or respect. So He was suffering the internal pain of knowing you're ugly and having people gaping at you in your ugliness. The suffering of being despised, rejected, filled with sorrow and grief and getting no esteem and no respect. And remember who this is. This is not one whose ever known this until the incarnation and one who never was worthy of it.
And then you have the suffering in verse 4 of bearing others griefs, of carrying others sorrow. Sometimes we suffer as much when we carry the pain of someone else as we do with our own. And then the suffering of being stricken, smitten and afflicted by God Himself, having God smash His fist of wrath against you. Blows from God where you find Him crying out, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
And then you have the suffering of being wounded and begin bruised. And here it's more physical. And having stripes against the body, the suffering of physical pain as well as inherent in that the wound of transgression, the bruise of iniquity and feeling the chastening of God to accomplish peace for someone else.
And then in verse 6 you have that lonely, lonely statement, "All we like sheep have gone astray, we've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord's laid on Him the iniquity of all of us." Here He is all alone, bearing all the sins of all the world, a cosmic kind of divine loneliness. And then in verse 7 you have the tremendous suffering of oppression, affliction and silence. He can't even speak. He can't even defend Himself. He can't push them away and say "Stop, I'm the Son of God. I will not have this." He has to suffer in absolute silence. He has to keep His mouth closed. The suffering of knowing you're right, knowing you're just and holy and pure and good and not being able to say it.
And then there's the suffering of prison, the suffering of a false judgment in verse 8, the suffering of death. That's what it means to be cut off from the land of the living. The suffering of being stricken by God to bear sin, the suffering of burial and being counted as a common criminal. And then the suffering of knowing that you hadn't done anything and you didn't deserve any of this, no violence, no deceit. And then the suffering of knowing it pleased God to do this to you, to put you to grief. And then the suffering of verse 11, the pain of the soul. And then in verse 12, the pouring out of the soul to death, being numbered or counted with transgressors, bearing the sins of many, and so forth. I mean, if you look at that that way, it's just overwhelming to conceive of the proportion of the suffering of our Lord. And I think that's what's in His heart this day as He goes up the hill to Jerusalem. I think this is what's in His heart, I really do.
Let me show you what He says here. First of all, I believe that when He talks about being handed over to the chief priests, He is suffering the pain of disloyalty. Now remember this, He suffered all of this in anticipation. Because He knew it was going to happen, He could suffer the pain even now. And the first pain I see here, the first area of suffering is the suffering of disloyalty. What the psalmist said in Psalm 41:9, "Mine own familiar friend has lifted up his heel against me, the one who ate bread with me." Here was one He loved, one that He walked with and talked with, one who affirmed to Him love and intimacy and care and trust and all of that and He was betrayed by Judas. And He was not only betrayed, He was betrayed with a kiss. The suffering of betrayal, the overwhelming suffering when someone close to you violates that intimacy and seeks to destroy you, the ugly sin, the deep pain of being betrayed by a friend.
And then I believe He suffered the suffering of rejection. He was turned over to the chief priests and the scribes and they condemned Him to death. John put it very simply. "He came unto His own and His own...what?...received Him not." And He sat over the city of Jerusalem, the Bible says, and He wept. He said, "How often I would have gathered thee as a hen gathers her brood and you would not." They just rejected Him. Isaiah said, you remember we just read it, He was despised and rejected of men. He was the stone the builders rejected. They didn't want a thing to do with Him.
And so, those He loved, His own people, those that He worked with and healed and taught, they rejected Him. The heartbreak is enough to crush you. Here He's been betrayed by a friend and rejected by His own people. And I believe in all of this He suffered a broken heart and that's why when the spear went in, out came a combination of blood and water. I think the anxiety had already crushed Him, burst Him. And then to add to that, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me," not only is He rejected by men, He's rejected by God...rejected by God. It says in Matthew 26:56 that all the disciples forsook Him and fled. He didn't have anybody...rejected by the people, rejected by the disciples, rejected by God. So disloyalty and rejection...
Thirdly, there was the suffering of humiliation...the suffering of humiliation. Notice it says they mocked Him. Once He got into the hands of the pagans, they mocked Him. They pulled at His beard, they crammed a crown of thorns on His head. They stuck a reed in His hand, put a robe on Him, said you're a king, you know. They'd spit on His face. They mocked Him. They scorned Him. They ridiculed Him. And then they nailed Him naked before the whole world. You see, that's emotional pain, that's pain for the soul not the body. The lovely, glorious, beautiful sinless Son of God is humiliated who should be exalted. He's embarrassed. He's ridiculed. And Peter says in 1 Peter 2:23, He never retaliated, took it in silence. I just can't imagine what it would have been like for Him to be spit on, but that's what they did. And so there's the pain of humiliation.
Then a fourth kind of pain that I see in this text, they scourged Him and crucified Him. But the reason they did that was because they had condemned Him. And I would call this the pain of unjust guilt, the pain of being held responsible for something you're not guilty of. I mean, you know, if we had been accused of something for which there was a severe penalty and weren't guilty, we'd be screaming all over the place. But in silence He had to accept the responsibility for sin that He never committed. And all the guilt of all the people that ever lived was put on Him. I can't imagine any pain or suffering more terrible than to be accused of a crime with a death penalty and you knew you didn't do it. And then they have been...put all the guilt, all the guilt put on you, just incredible.
Now you take those four things alone, the pain of betrayal and rejection and humiliation and unjust guilt, and that alone, if you never got nailed to anything, would be enough to kill you. And that's what I think was going on in the garden. I believe in the garden of Gethsamane that the suffering and anxiety of His soul over these things almost killed Him. And His body literally began to come apart at the seams and leak great drops of blood. The nails are not a big deal. It's the pain of bearing all the sins of all the people who ever lived when you're the spotless lamb of God. It's the pain of humiliation when you deserve exaltation. It's the pain of rejection, it's the pain of betrayal.
Well, you could add two more. There's the pain of injury and I think that's here, He points it up, the scourge. And there He's referring to the fact that He will suffer physically and scourging was a horrible thing. We'll see more about it future, but forty lashes was the Jewish thing and forty lashes basically the Romans. The Jews always stopped one short because they didn't want to break the law so they hit 39 and then stopped. The traditional way, the Romans did it with metal and bone in the end of these three leather thongs was 13 lashes across the chest and then 13 on each of the two shoulders. It usually took two men to do it because one wasn't strong enough to continue the whipping at the pace they wanted it. They would tie the hands to a post so the body slumped and they'd turn it around, take care of the chest, turn it around and take care of the back. And the organs would be exposed, the bleeding would be profuse and many people would die. And He suffered tremendous physical pain.
Finally, the proportion of His suffering extended to death, He died. You say, "How'd He die?" I don't think He died by the nails in His hands. He didn't die by the spear, it didn't go in till He was already dead. I don't think the thorn...the crown of thorns killed Him. It's possible that the suffocating of His organs is the physiological reason that He died, but I think it was the cumulative grief, anxiety, pain and suffering that all of that stuff brought upon Him that killed Him. And the greatest suffering is not physical, the greatest suffering is the suffering of the soul. And the proportions of Christ's suffering as I think Isaiah 53 is trying to tell us by almost to a point of being criticized from the literary standpoint, repeating over and over and over and over and over different words to say the same thing is an act on Isaiah's part by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to give us a little bit of an understanding of how wide and broad and vast the degree of His suffering was.
He's telling them this. And these blockheads...it goes right on by. And in the next breath they're asking which of them can sit on the right and the left hand in His Kingdom. So utterly insensitive...and that's, if you want to add one more, the suffering of unsympathetic friends. The suffering that comes when you need somebody and they aren't there...when you need somebody and they're not responsive, when they could care less about your pain because they're so involved in their own glory.
Well, we've seen the plan, the prediction, the proportion and we're right where I want to be, I want you to see the power of sufferings at the end of verse 19. "The third day He shall rise again." Suffering's not the end. Listen, those people that say Jesus' whole revolution ended in a grave are wrong. He rose out of that grave three days later. And as it said in Psalm 16:10, God would never leave HIs soul in the grave, He would never let His holy one see corruption, Jesus burst out of that grave and is alive to this very day and that is the power over His sufferings. Bless God for that. What a promise. He would conquer death.
How could they miss that? I mean, how could they miss...how could they not want to ask about that? I mean, they must have thought about death. They must have thought about dying and the future. Well, what would keep them from asking about that? He told them He had the power over His sufferings.
A last point, the perception of sufferings. What was their reaction? How did they perceive this? They're off on the side of the road, He's giving them this. How did they react?
"Then came to Him," verse 20, "the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshiping Him, desiring a certain thing of Him and He said unto her, What wilt thou? She said unto Him, Grant that these my two sons may sit the one on Thy right hand and the other on the left in Thy Kingdom. And Jesus answered and said, You don't even know what you're asking." That's how they reacted. They didn't come and say, "Lord, tell us more about the suffering, tell us more about the redemption, tell us more about the ransom, tell us more about the fact that You're the lamb, tell us about Your resurrection, tell us what..." No, they come with their mother. "Hey, we want to be on the right and we want to be on the left." And they didn't even get the message. They wanted a king, they kept missing the fact they needed a savior.
And they're no more thick than people today. They don't mind Jesus...I always think of that at Christmas. They don't mind Him a little baby in a manger. They don't mind Him a nice little guy with little children around His lap. They don't even mind Him too much as a king, it's the savior they can't handle. And Israel today is in the same situation...the same situation. It's the suffering that they won't accept.
Well, the good news is good news but it's got bad news in it and that's that there's a suffering Messiah. But if you understand 1 Peter 3:18, He suffered...why?...the just to the unjust that He might bring us to God. We couldn't get there any other way, you see. Why? Back to Genesis. When Adam and Eve sinned, they were separated. What reconciled them? Sacrifice. And when God ordained the elaborate sacrificial system in the Israel He was saying you don't come to Me unless you come by means of a sacrifice. And so, Jesus had to be offered, the just-- that's Him, for the unjust--that's us, that He might bring us to God.
Well, the dawn of all of this came like thunder on the Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and finally unscrambled the minds of those disciples and Peter stood up and preached a tremendous sermon on the meaning of the death of Christ and His resurrection. I'm glad they finally got the message. I hope you do too. Let's bow in prayer.
The effort this morning to teach you the Word of God is not as an end in itself, not for the purpose of having you have information about Christ, but that you might know Him and the salvation He offers, that you might in your heart understand the sufferings of Christ for you and the glory which is to follow, that you may enter into both by faith in Him. His death is your death. His life is your life. If you'd like to commit your life to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin, the promise of eternal life, you can do that in your heart right now the best way you can, as far as you understand it. You seek the Lord in that matter.
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The last time the Redskins hosted a Monday night game, Eagles quarterback Mike Vick had a night for the ages. Now, his career in Philly most likely belongs to the ages.
The declaration from coach Andy Reid that rookie Nick Foles will serve as the starter for the balance of the season likely means that Vick will never play another down for the Eagles. With a $15.5 million base salary due in 2013 and a short window after the Super Bowl to avoid guaranteeing several million of it, the Eagles will cut the cord on Vick, barring a dramatic reduction in the value of his deal.
That'll happen only if the next coach wants Vick, and if Vick wants to stay.
Complicating Vick's attitude toward the franchise surely will be the events that resulted in the decision to replace Vick with Foles. Per a source close to Vick, it's strongly believed that Vick would currently be playing, if the Eagles were still pursuing a playoff berth.
And so instead of dealing with the weekly speculation as to whether the Eagles are overstating Vick's concussion in order to justify sticking with Foles, the Eagles have decided to make the change and go with Foles and render irrelevant the question of whether Vick can play.
As a result, he won't play for the Eagles again this year — or most likely at any time in the future.


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1964 Corvette ZO6 "Scarlett"
Parked toJane Thurmond's 1964 Corvette
byLateral-G Magazine
Check out Jane Thurmond's 1964 Corvette affectionately known as "Scarlett!" This custom 'Vette is outfitted with modern brakes, suspension, and even LS power under the hood. Check out the article for a video and the full scoop!
Vehicle Info: 1964 Chevrolet Corvette


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Dee Dub
The throw that Ben made to Mendenhall that resulted in a touchdown how is that considerable a lateral/run play? It wasnt a backwards pass. Why wasnt that considered a TD pass? I have watched that play over and over and over. Ben releases the ball at about the 21 1/2 yard line and Mendenhall catches the ball at the 21 yard line( just a tad ahead of Ben). What am I missing here?


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Committee Involvement
Committee Involvement
Whether you're a seasoned professional or just beginning your career in the materials sciences, ASM members are encouraged to become more deeply involved in the Society through committee membership. ASM committees and councils capture key directional shifts in member needs and translate those needs into action items for potential development. Their input and recommendations enable the ASM Board of Trustees to establish effective policies, set meaningful budgets, and oversee society operations.
People across the materials engineering and science profession will tell you their occupation is far more than a job. It's a "love what I do" passion, a lifelong hobby that transcends "work for pay" to a pursuit that rewards on a much deeper level.
That's why ASM offers countless volunteering, mentoring, and teaching opportunities to fulfill your personal desire to give back, touch others, and inspire learning.
ASM Boards, committees, and councils meet on a regular basis. As the eyes and ears of the ASM Board, society committees and councils are invaluable for improving service to ASM members and customers.
Explore all of the volunteer opportunities that are available through the ASM committee infrastructure.
Learn why you should get involved in the rewarding work going on in ASM committees.
Learn more about how committees work.
Learn about ASM's Society Committees
If you enjoy working with other top professionals in your field, we encourage you to get involved on a technical or industrial program committee. Through the products they develop and refine, these volunteers provide information and expertise that make a direct contribution to the materials field. Learn about ASM's Technical and Industrial Committees.
For committee work in a focused, technical field, explore the many opportunities in ASM's Affiliate Committees.
Apply to Be a Volunteer


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'We're the Millers' wins two at MTV Movie Awards
The competition may have been stacked with dystopian death matches, hobbits, dramatic tear-jerkers, iconic newscasters and 70s con artists, but that didn't stop the locally filmed comedy "We're the Millers" from taking home two 2014 MTV Movie Awards Sunday in Los Angeles.
Will Poulter, who played Kenny in the raunchy road trip film, was on hand to accept the film's win for Best Kiss, which he shared with costars Jennifer Aniston and Emma Roberts. The make-out scene in question featured Kenny being taught how to kiss by Roberts and Aniston's characters, who played his fake mother and sister, respectively, in the film.
Poulter, who hails from Britain, also took home Breakthrough Performance for his role in the film.
The Millers' pair of wins came a few losses as well. Poulter lost Best Musical Moment for his rendition of TLC's "Waterfalls" in "Millers," while leading man Jason Sudekis lost in his category for Best Comedic Performance. Aniston was bested by "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire's" Jennifer Lawrence for Best Female Performance and "That Awkward Moment's" Zac Efron for Best Shirtless Performance.
Other Wilmington-filmed projects also lost their categories, including "The Conjuring's" Vera Farmiga for Best Scared-As-S**t Performance, "Iron Man 3's" Robert Downey Jr. for Best Hero. Joan Rivers was also nominated for Best Cameo for her brief appearance in the superhero flick.
Johnny Knoxville, star of the North Carolina-film "Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa," lost in his Best Comedic Performance category, while the film lost in the #WTF Moment category for a scene that involved a young boy doing a provocative striptease at a beauty pageant.
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" took home the award for Movie of the Year.
All of the awards handed out at the ceremony, hosted by talk show personality Conan O'Brien, were voted on by fans on MTV's website.


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Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center wins Business of the Year
Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center has been honored by the Prince William Chamber of Commerce with the 2014 Business of the Year Award (35 or more employees). Award winners were announced during the Chamber's annual Business Awards Dinner at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas.
"Sentara Healthcare has a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities we serve. I commend the work of our outstanding staff and physicians for their dedication to business excellence and to transforming health care in our community," stated Stephen Porter, president of Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center. "As many members of our team are also members of this community, we take pride in doing the right thing and helping to make Prince William County a great place to live and work."
The Prince William Chamber of Commerce Business Awards are a celebration of business excellence, recognizing members of the business community for their innovative and outstanding contributions to the local economy, quality of life and the Chamber. Nominees included businesses large and small from a variety of industries, showcasing the diverse organizations that blend to make Prince William a national leader for job creation and economic growth.
"We are proud to honor and celebrate our membership, those business and community leaders who truly represent the best of Prince William," said Chamber president and CEO Rob Clapper.
While the sizes and industries of the nearly 60 nominated businesses varied greatly, the Chamber noted that dedication to community service was a common thread.
"Each of the nominees regularly stepped outside of their organization to make a difference in the community they serve, whether through the Chamber or one of hundreds of local not-for-profit organizations," said Andrea Whaley, director of events for the Prince William Chamber of Commerce.
Pictures from the 2014 Business Awards are available at facebook.com/pwchamber, and a full list of nominees and sponsors can be found in the events section of www.pwchamber.org.


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Media Statements & Speeches
Acting Chairman Cheryl A. LaFleur Statement
March 12, 2014
On Publication of Wall Street Journal Article About Grid Security
"We take seriously our obligation to the American people to protect the reliability and security of our nations energy infrastructure and to enhance its resilience. Experts from FERC and other federal agencies work continuously with the electric industry to assess the threats posed by physical attacks, cyber intrusions, and severe weather; perform sophisticated modeling to identify and address vulnerabilities; and provide advice on security techniques and best practices. FERC also oversees mandatory reliability standards for the electric industry, including cyber security standards and standards that require planning for contingencies and emergency operations. On Friday, March 7, 2014, FERC ordered mandatory standards to protect critical facilities from physical security threats and vulnerabilities. At the same time, no single action or approach is sufficient. Building a resilient grid requires a comprehensive and ongoing assessment of how the system is planned, constructed, operated, and secured under a range of conditions.
"Todays publication by The Wall Street Journal of sensitive information about the grid undermines the careful work done by professionals who dedicate their careers to providing the American people with a reliable and secure grid. The Wall Street Journal has appropriately declined to identify by name particularly critical substations throughout the country. Nonetheless, the publication of other sensitive information is highly irresponsible. While there may be value in a general discussion of the steps we take to keep the grid safe, the publication of sensitive material about the grid crosses the line from transparency to irresponsibility, and gives those who would do us harm a roadmap to achieve malicious designs. The American people deserve better."


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Dec 14, 2017
Welcome to Episode 144 of the
Heroes of the Storm Podcast, Lords of the Storm. Here's a short
summary of the topics we'll cover in today's episode:
Music and Bumpers by Jake
Lords of the Storm is a weekly Heroes of the Storm Podcast. New episodes every Thursday!
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When, in December 2004, the tsunami hit Southeast Asia, the Grundfos Group stepped in offering considerable amounts of money donated by companies and employees around the world. The main objective was to restore the supply of drinking water, which was an essential precondition for enabling the survivors to start on the rebuilding activities.
The Indonesian Aceh province was hit the hardest. In the fishing village Calang on the west coast of Sumatra, all houses but one were washed into the sea, and 80 per cent of the 9,000 inhabitants in the village died.
Following consultation with the authorities in Aceh, Grundfos decided to focus its efforts in this area.
The pictures in this article were taken eight months after the disaster hit Calang.
Grundfos' efforts in Calang have now been completedBy mid-March 2006 four complete water supply systems were finished and officially inaugurated at a ceremony held in the rebuilt An-Nur mosque. In addition to representatives from the provincial government and leading religious leaders, the ceremony was attended by General Manager Iwan D. Irwanto of Grundfos Indonesia.
He said: "The money for these water systems was collected from among Grundfos employees from all over the world. We all feel that Aceh is a part of us."
The four systems supply a total of 600 families with clean water. A total of 33 Grundfos pumps are used, including the SP, SQ, CH, CR, JDF and JPF pumps as well as four reservoir tanks. New wells or boreholes have been established, and water quality is ensured by filtering the water through gravel packs and well screens. One plant has also been equipped with a simple reverse osmosis system.
In addition to these four systems, a similar system has been installed in a refugee camp in the country town Meulaboh, 200 km from Calang.


text: Tip! Some directors names are hard to spell and/or our system may have trouble parsing the results from time to time. If you can't find the director you're looking for, try searching part of the directors name. If all fails, try searching for a movie by the director, from the movie page you can click on the directors name with the correct spelling to find more movies from a particular director. If you still have trouble, we may just not hold that director in our database yet.


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Credit Unions Invited to Participate in Small Business Expo
|Congressman Sam Graves
Calling all credit unions! You're invited to participate in the 5th Annual Sixth Congressional District Small Business Expo in Kansas City on May 13, 2013. The expo is hosted by U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-District 6), who serves as Chair for the U.S. House Small Business Committee.
This informative event provides the opportunity to meet with Congressman Graves in the district and illustrate the importance of small business lending to credit unions. In addition to the congressman, there will be speakers from Hy-Vee, the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Department, Polsinelli, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Small Business and Technology Development Centers, Success Unlimited, Women's Capital Connection and Allens Consulting.
Please consider sharing this event information with any small business owners served by your credit union. If possible, consider having a representative from your credit union attend with any small business owner who participates.
Here are the event details:
|May 13
|8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
|KCPD Regional Police Training Academy
6885 NE Pleasant Valley Road, Kansas City, MO
Deadline is May 9!
Send the registration form to Shawna Searcy via email
or fax to 816-792-3976.
Registration forms were emailed to credit unions in the Kansas City and St. Joseph chapters. Please contact Amy McLard for more information and/or if you register to attend the event.
See below for a more detailed schedule of events.
|8:00-9:00 a.m.
|Registration & Business Expo
|9:00-9:30 a.m.
|Congressman Sam Graves
|9:30-10:15 a.m.
|Keynote Speaker, Hy-Vee
|10:20-11:30 a.m.
|Breakout Session 1
|11:40-12:50 p.m.
|Breakout Session 2
Discussion Panels
- Log in or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version


text: A new documentary centered around the youngest actor to portray British agent James Bond 007 (and for only one film) is coming to Hulu this May 20th. George Lazenby, a car salesman from Australia, famously conned his way into the role by going to meet with producer Albert R. Broccoli, securing an audition by claiming he had acting experience in his native Australia, which wasn't true. He was, however, able to pull off an audition that was good enough to convince fellow producer Harry Saltzman of his worthiness for the part, and thus On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) became the first Bond film without original actor Sean Connery appearing in the title role. Although audiences and critics had mixed reviews upon its release, OHMSS has, over the years, became one of the more favored entries in the Bond franchise. Incidentally, Lazenby is also the only actor to have received major recognition for his portrayal of the character, earning a Golden Globe nomination in 1970 for Most Promising Newcomer/Best New Star. Continue reading


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Emotion combines practicality, quality and design with a highly resistant, lightweight frame making it one of the most sophisticated strollers in the market. It also offers an adjustable seat and footrest, waterproof canopy, large shopping basket and removable wheels. All of which can be folded easily and compactly.
Height 32 3/4 in (100 cm) _ Width 39 in (46 cm) _ Length 17 7/8 in (84 cm)
Weight 13,2 lb (6 kg)
Height 27 1/4 in (22 cm)_ Width 8 1/2 in (46 cm) _ Length 17 7/8 in (70 cm)
Weight 13,2 lb (6 kg)
The BabyHome mama bag is a great way to accessorize the already fashionable and sophisticated Emotion stroller. This messenger style bag has an adjustable shoulder strap, a variety of inside pockets to stay organized and a fold out changing mat to make it easy to change baby on the go
Protect and easily carry the Emotion stroller with a travel bag. The heavy-duty, easy care fabric provides maximum protection for your stroller and is designed to leave the rear tires of the stroller exposed so the stroller can be wheeled behind you. The bag features a zippered opening, carry handles and backpack straps.
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Views: 181
Replies to This Discussion
Fred- I"m a 4.0 player, live near Prospect Park. Let me know if you'd like to play. I might even be able to do so today. Ardy
Hi Fred,
I'm a 4.0-4.5 player in the Midwood area of Brooklyn right now. Looking to play alot more during the summer so hopefully we can work something out. I am willing to go to Prospect Park or points south as well.
Hi David,
I'm out of town now until the end of August. Will let you know when I am back and hopefully we can work something out.
David- are you around this weekend to hit? I usually play in Prospect Park as well.
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text:
Junior Left-handed Pitcher Taken by Los Angeles in 33rd Round of Draft
SECAUCUS, N.J. — Rob Cerfolio, a junior left-handed starting pitcher on the Yale University baseball team, was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 33rd round of the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft on Saturday.
It is the ninth straight year that a Yale player was selected in the draft, which is the longest current consecutive stretch of draft selections by any school in the Ivy League.
Cerfolio (Birmingham, Ala.) was selected by the Dodgers with the 1,024th overall selection. He is the 29th Yale player to be selected in the draft during John Stuper's tenure as Yale's head coach (1993-present).
Cerfolio is one of 16 draft selections with Connecticut ties and one of 38 selections from his home state of Alabama. In his Yale career, Cerfolio has made 36 appearances with 23 starts. He has recorded 63 career strikeouts over three seasons. His performance in 2013 was his best by far, including a career-best 2.94 ERA and a career-high 29 strikeouts. In 2013, he led Yale in ERA, starts (8) and strikeouts looking (12), and he was second on the team in opponents' batting average (.273), strikeouts (29), and innings pitched (49.0).
Cerfolio is the second Ivy League player selected by the Dodgers and the sixth Ivy League player overall to be selected in the 2013 draft.
Report filed by Jon Erickson Jr., Yale Sports Publicity


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Former American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert got tossed in the pokey -- in Finland -- overnight after a brawl with his boyfriend outside a bar ... according to reports.
Lambert and Finnish Big Brother star Sauli Koskinen's argument reportedly started inside the bar in Helsinki, but eventually poured out into the street. Lambert allegedly got physical with people who tried to break up the fight, as well ... before police arrived and took him and Koskinen into custody.
They were arrested for multiple assaults, according to a Finnish newspaper.
6:02 AM PST -- Cops say both Lambert and Koskinen were questioned and released -- since neither party was injured.
Afterward, Koskinen blogged about the incident saying, "Publicity is not easy, but also celebrities are just human. Love is not easy either, but it lasts forever!"
See also
- Ray J -- Dragged Out By Cops After Vegas Club Spat [VIDEO]
- 'American Idol' Contestant - Busted
- Hollywood Nightclub Brawl -- Stun Gun and Girl Fight
More Today in TMZ History


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The Public Health project has been an amazing experience and we have achieved so much in such a short amount of time.
The day I started, our coordinator Casey and the other volunteers had taken a lady to the VI eye clinic to be checked after bringing her from a province called Mittapeap after doing home visits. After that day the elderly lady who had been declared blind in one eye and half blind in the other, had regained her vision and was so ecstatic about the result. After originally needing assistance to see where she was walking, she greeted us the next day so happily and explained that she could see all our faces and ahead of her clearly. It was already such a great result that I knew that this programme was going to be brilliant.
Volunteering in Cambodia
In the beginning we were gradually getting first aid kits together for 11 kindergartens and distributing them to all the kindergartens as we visited each for basic health checks. In each kit there was an explanation in both Khmer and English for both the teachers and volunteers with directions of use for each item. Going to all the kindergartens was so much fun as we were always so warmly greeted by 30 or so smiling faces saying 'hello teacher'.
In the health checks for the kindergarten children we could check their skin for cuts or rashes, check their eyes, take temperatures and sometimes help clean their teeth. We would mostly treated the children for cuts, high temperatures, coughs and colds that we could effectively improve with everything provided in the first aid kits. Usually we would then play with them for a while after which was always so much fun.
In most of the afternoons we did home visits in the area of the kindergarten where we were able to provide basic health care and refer people to hospital or health clinics that had more significant issues that we could not treat without them seeing a doctor. Therefore we would provide transport for those willing to go and also reassess people in the later weeks that required monitoring. We also had times where we would go to the office to enter notes on all the people we saw so we could easily track their progress and what they needed when we would go out to see them again.
My experience
It has been very interesting as one day is so different to the next as we visited many different provinces across Phnom Penh. We also spent some days out at KohDach Island visiting kindergartens and doing home visits which was great to see a very different area out of the city. I have learnt so much through the incredible guidance of Casey and in such a short amount of time. By the fourth week I was a lot more confident in recognizing peoples' problems, taking blood pressure and being able to treat them effectively or determine what clinic they needed to be taken to.
It has been such a rewarding experience and I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to be welcomed into the homes of Khmer people and to leave them seeing a big smile on their faces. We have also been able to provide continuity of care by outreaching to these impoverished communities and to successfully improve quality of life for so many.
Are you interested in joining this project?
If so, one of our experts can help.
Contact Us on:
This is a personal account of one volunteer's experience on the project and is a snapshot in time. Your experience may be different, as our projects are constantly adapting to local needs and building on accomplishments. Seasonal weather changes can also have a big impact. To find out more about what you can expect from this project we encourage you to speak to one of our friendly staff.


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January US consumer confidence from the Conference Board came in materially below consensus yesterday
Reuters: - Consumer confidence dropped in January to its lowest level in more than a year as Americans were more pessimistic about the economic outlook and their financial prospects, according to a private sector report released on Tuesday. The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes fell to 58.6 from an upwardly revised 66.7 in December, falling short of economists' expectations for 64. It was the lowest level since November 2011..
At the same time US equity markets continue to march higher. In fact the divergence between consumer sentiment and the stock market has become quite pronounced and is unlikely to be sustainable over the longer term. Ultimately, weak sentiment will result in lower sales.


text: I'm trying to create a Linux shell script that calls the following command: Code: /opt/rational/base/cots/flexlm.11.8/i386_linux2/lmstat -a My question is the above command lists some output that I need dumped into a text file and saved as $DATE_$TIME.txt and then I need the server to email that text file to a specific email address. My confusion is when I create this Linux bash script, do I need to enter the naming / email information into the script itself or should that be omitted from the script itself and specified in the Crontab line? I've never worked with scripts before so I'm not sure what is proper procedure and such.


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Everybody suffers from spam, but which approach to fighting spam is best for your organization? Experts emphasize that choosing the right product or service can make a big difference in spam protection. "Anti-spam technology isn't exactly rocket science -- but in a way, it kind of comes close," quips Jeff Brainard of Mirapoint.
"Anti-spam products are very complex. Products have their own unique characteristics," concurs Maureen Grey, research director at GartnerGroup. "Fighting spam is not an easy undertaking."
The anti-spam cauldron is bubbling over with more and more products and services. Some organizations are claiming positive experiences with outside host-based services, while other alternatives include software gateways and client-based filtering. For universities, SMBs, and others on lean budgets, open source software gateways like SpamAssassin and SpamCop are available free of charge. Another strategy adopted in some places is PerlMx -- a program that uses sendmail's MILTER interface -- for both virus scanning and spam filtering.
Administrators with more money to spend can also consider commercial products and services. Illinois Tools Works, for example, is a highly distributed and autonomous environment with over 500 different domains. The multinational corporation initially deployed an anti-spam hosting service among certain departments that requested such a service. Ultimately, though, users became annoyed when they weren't receiving all of their legitimate e-mails, according to Marc Pilano, IT director for the manufacturing corporation. In anti-spam speak, the service was turning in a high rate of "false positives."https://o1.qnsr.com/log/p.gif?;n=203;c=204660766;s=9477;x=7936;f=201812281312070;u=j;z=TIMESTAMP;a=20392931;e=i
Pilano claims that switching to Mirapoint's MessageDirector, a self-contained anti-spam gateway hardware appliance, fixed the problem. The rules in MessageDirector are customizable to either the domain or individual end user level. Ease of use is another big plus, according to Pilano. "You just put it in, and it works."
Meanwhile, commercial software gateways are being sold by more and more vendors, including Clearswift, Elron Software, BorderWare Technologies, and ActiveState. Some commercial gateway products are incorporating antivirus capabilities or Web page filtering or both, too.
Brightmail, Postini, and MessageLabs are a few of the popular standouts in anti-spam hosted services.
With so many choices, how does an administrator decide what, if anything, to buy? "You should look first at the organization's filtering requirements and then at the amount of money available. Next, you should try to find products or services that meet both of these requirements," advises Dan Keldsen, an analyst at SummitStrategies.
Before shopping around, here's a list of four questions you might want to ask yourself.
Page 2: Question 1: In-house Products or Hosted Services?
Question 1. What will work better for this organization - in-house products or hosted services?
"Host-based services can be a good choice for small businesses or other organizations without in-house expertise with anti-spam technology," notes Keldsen.
Knowledge of transport-level issues is particularly important in fighting spam, according to Gartner's Grey. "In particular, one should never use Microsoft Exchange, Windows SMTP Server, or Lotus Domino Server directly on the Internet. Those products should be protected from attack by Sendmail, Sun ONE, or one of the [anti-spam gateway] products. If that seems too much effort, you may want to consider engaging a service."
Yet some organizations, such as Illinois Tool Works, have found that certain hosting services lack the customization they want. "Many organizations don't want to lose control over their e-mail," points out Keldsen.
Pricing can be another big factor. One administrator said he was flabbergasted to find that a two-year subscription to a major hosting service would cost his university over $40,000.
Question 2. Which is better for your environment, a gateway- or client-based approach?
Product permutations abound. Generally speaking, though, anti-spam products -- gateway and client software alike -- let users or administrators set up filters for screening e-mail. Many e-mail clients come with their own basic filters. Examples include Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, Eudora, Netscape, and, for Macintosh clients, Mail for MacOS X.
In addition, third-party vendors provide add-in filtering products for many of these clients, as well as for Microsoft Outlook Express and Webmail --q two clients that don't have any built-in filtering capabilities of their own. For Unix boxes, PINE and Procmail (except for E4E) also provide built-in filtering.
"Client filtering can be an inexpensive way to go," observes Keldsen. End users also get autonomy. On the other hand, centralized administration is impossible, a situation particularly problematic in large organizations. Moreover, some open source and commercial SMTP gateways have started to offer levels of filtering not possible on the client side.
Some gateway makers claim to include heuristic and lexical analysis, as well as support for white and black lists, which automatically let in or screen out mail. Typically, these products assign probability scores to e-mail messages based on their spamlike characteristics.
White and black lists can be based on IP address range, "from" address, or content analysis, for example. At this point, many black listing capabilities still rely largely on databases of known spammers, such as RBL, DUL and RBL+ MAPS. It's typically possible to make manual modifications to the black and white lists as well.
For example, you might want to place the company president on the white list, so that all communications from his office are guaranteed to get through. Conversely, e-mails containing certain curse words might be consigned to the black list, suggests Brainard. As with some hosted services, many gateways are not customizable to the filtering requirements of individual domains and end users, points out Michael Osterman, principal of Osterman Research.
Scalability and resource consumption are other considerations. Rightly or wrongly, some administrators believe that SpamAssassin, for example, consumes too much processing power for large-scale implementations.
Also, the quality of rules-based engines can vary considerably. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for, insists Gartner's Grey. "In general, the lower-cost tools have less-rich logic and rely instead on action from the implementing customer. You can craft your own rules, but it takes a lot of time and attention, and the success of your handcrafted rules will be mixed."
Many products are still too young to be tried-and-true, contends Grey. "Some rely almost entirely on 'black lists' and 'white lists' -- blacklist everyone, then load your contact list into the system and white-list your contacts, and then block individuals, domains, or IP addresses as you go forward. Such systems require mountains of people time to build and maintain the lists, are not very effective over time, and are almost impossible to debug when your blocking lists begin to overlap."
Page 3: Blocking vs. Quarantining Spam
Question 3. Is it better to block or to quarantine?
Some anti-spam products block rejected e-mails entirely, bouncing them back to the sender. An alternative strategy is known by a number of names, including "quarantining" and "grey listing." In essence, rejected e-mails are isolated in a special area, such as a "grey folder."
This approach helps offset the problem of false negatives by ensuring all remains mail accessible to either end users or administrators (or both). Blocking, though, also has its adherents.
Some administrators think it isn't fair to senders to quarantine e-mails, particularly in the case where legitimate senders think their mail has gotten to its destination -- when, in fact, it may never even be seen by anyone unless a user or administrator bothers to cull through the undelivered mail.
Question 4. Do you want to combine antivirus or Web filtering or both with anti-spam measures?
Vendors are converging on the anti-spam market from a number of directions. Antivirus and Web filtering vendors are among those joining the crowd. Anti-spam filtering, though, is a highly specific discipline, and products that attempt to offer many capabilities are not necessarily best-of-breed across all functions, asserts Grey.
On the other hand, multifunctional products can carry some big advantages, states Keldsen. Systems integration is less of a problem, and the reporting process is a lot smoother. "You don't have to deal with five different kinds of reports from five different vendors," he illustrated.
Illinois Tool Works is using MessageDirector for anti-virus as well as anti-spam filtering. Pilani said he's pleased with the results on both counts. "Administrative time has been greatly reduced."
So far, the product has been deployed among about 6,000 of the company's 50,000 end users. Pilani, though, expects other departments will chime in soon. "Word is starting to get around throughout the company."
MessageDirector will work with any standards-based mail system, so departments wishing to keep using Exchange or Notes for e-mail can still do so while also starting to get anti-spam and anti-virus protection through MessageDirector.
Stay Tuned
If you do decide to invest in a gateway product, your work won't end with selecting a vendor, according to Grey. The Gartner analyst suggests a multi-phase deployment. "Turn the software on in audit mode. Then, assess the kind of spam that's coming into the organization. Based on that assessment, start to develop policies."
Choosing products and hosted services for spam protection is no simple matter, and with the continual addition of new features, the process could get even tougher in the future. In the next edition of this series we'll take a closer look at where some of these products and services appear to be headed.
» See All Articles by Columnist Jacqueline Emigh


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Nicki Minaj Wins Best Female Video for 'Starships' at 2012 MTV VMAs
Femcee Nicki Minaj took home the coveted VMA for Best Female Video for 'Starpships' at the 2012 MTV VMAs.
"Oh my god" was Minaj's response at the podium, and she said it like 10 times when she took the stage to receive her Moon Man. She was so surprised and appeared to have not expected the win. We're thinking Lil Kim is at home, cursing at her TV screen, given her bitter hatred for Miss Minaj.
In her acceptance speech, the rapper said, "Barbz, I know you out there. I love you so much." She never forgets to thank her fans. Minaj also gave props to the YMCMB crew, since how can she not? They're her peeps.
Minaj was completely and totally shocked by her win. She took the stage with an entourage and did her best Taylor Swift, the latter of which is known for her incredulous faces and expressions of childlike shock and awe whenever she wins something at an awards show.
Minaj looked hot too in her skintight black and red bedazzled cat suit, which showed off her bootay.
The only thing we were not feeling re: Minaj? The pee-yellow, larger-than-life wig she was sporting. The color, which Lady Gaga has worn on occasion, just isn't pretty or flattering. We like Minaj when she goes platinum blonde, like her beloved Barbie.