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Ambassador's Meeting
Title: Ambassador's Meeting
Location: Chamber office
Start Time: 08:30
Date: 2014-01-27
Fair Oaks
Chamber of Commerce
10014 Fair Oaks Blvd.
PO Box 352
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
Ph. 916-967-2903
Fax 916-967-8536
Title: Ambassador's Meeting
Location: Chamber office
Start Time: 08:30
Date: 2014-01-27
The 21st Annual Taste of Fair Oaks will be held Friday, June 6, 2014, 6:00-9:30 p.m. at the North Ridge Country Club, 7600 Madison Avenue (at Mariposa), Fair Oaks. Area restaurants, wineries and regional microbreweries will be in attendance for guests to taste and sample the exhibitors' food and beverages. See our list of participating restaurants, wineries and breweries below.
In addition to the sampling of wine, beer, food and desserts, attendees will enjoy live music, a golf putting contest ($5,000 grand prize), gift raffle and silent auction. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Mercey Springs Foundation.
Taste of Fair Oaks flyer (PDF download)
For more information, call the Chamber, (916) 967-2903.
The "Taste" is the Fair Oaks Chamber's largest fund raising event of the year.
Attendees must be 21 or older to attend.
Tickets will sell out Fast Don't miss your chance to attend one of the Best Taste of Fair Oaks Events.
$50 at the door
Wineries 2014
Breweries 2014
Restaurants 2014
Join Us for Fiesta Days 2014 – May 3rd and 4th
Be sure to mark your calendar for the first weekend in May for the 65th Annual Fiesta Days Remembering the decades Celebration. The popular family event is packed with family activities and takes place in Fair Oaks Village. A free shuttle and parking are available at Sunrise & Fair Oaks Blvd at Scandinavian Designs.
The popular event is sponsored by the Fair Oaks Chamber of Commerce and Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District. We welcome major sponsorships and ones for individual events.
Events include:
Fiesta Days is here again and sponsors are needed. This is a great opportunity to advertise your business and to support the Fair Oaks Fiesta Days! There are many levels of sponsorship, depending on whether you want to sponsor a single event or the general event. The levels start at $100.00. Recognition will be based on the level of sponsorship.
Become a Sponsor! Sign up for Sponsorship Online
Fiesta Days Sponsorship Levels
Please contact the Chamber office at 967-2903 for details.
On Saturday, May 3rd , at 1:30pm, the "Great Race" will begin! It's fun to watch the Fair Oaks Fiesta Days Toilet Bowl Race and even greater fun to participate!! The race is an obstacle race, held on Fair Oaks Blvd. in front of Plaza Park. Entry forms (and rules) may be obtained at the Fair Oaks Chamber office, or call Kim at 967-2903.
Our Car Show this year will be on May 4th, from 7am-3pm. Pre-registration fee is $25.00, with a T –Shirt, Goodie Bag and dash plaque going to the first 150 pre-registered participants. Registration on the day of the event is $35.00. The proceeds go to benefit Bella Vista High School Safe and Sober Grad Nite and the Ronald McDonald House as well as the Fair Oaks Chamber of Commerce. Contact the Chamber office at 967-2903 for details.
On Sunday, May 4th , our annual Sun Run will take place!! Dust off those walking/running shoes and be a part of the premier event of Fiesta Days! There is a Children's run, a five (5) mile run, and a 2.3 mile walk. Contact the Chamber office at 967-2903 for details.
The Fair Oaks Sun Run has been an annual tradition in Fair Oaks, California for 33 years and – believe it or not – it hasn't gotten one bit easier! Regarded as one of the most beautiful and challenging courses around, it never fails to attract both the avid runner and those who are out to have a great time at a great event. Choose either the 5-mile run/walk or a 2.3 mile family walk which both start at Village Park in Old Fair Oaks. The 5-mile route winds through the beautiful Old Fair Oaks residential neighborhood with a keyhole loop to Sailor Bar. The course is half paved roads, half dirt trail and features the infamous four hills: Grand Daddy Hill, Hernia Hill, The Beast and Last Gasp. The 2.3 mile event stays on the paved roads through Old Fair Oaks. We also host the best kids' fun runs (1/4 mile and ½ mile) in the Greater Sacramento area.
For more information, please visit http://www.fairoakssunrun.com/registration.htm
Fair Oaks Chamber of Commerce Night
The Sacramento Kings look forward to hosting members, co-workers, and family of the Fair Oaks Chamber of Commerce for a night of celebration and recognition on Monday February 3rd, 2014. The Kings take on the Chicago Bulls at 7pm, so don't miss out!
Event Code: fairoaks
Special locations will be offered for family and friends of members (while supplies last), and a portion of each ticket will fundraise for your organization. Game tickets can be easily purchased and printed from home.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Alexander Kim at (916) 928-8171.
Sales Consultant, Ticket Sales & Service
voice: 916.928.8171 |
email: firstname.lastname@example.com |
Thanks to everyone who came to our 30th Annual Christmas in the Village.
We hope to see you next year! Save the date for December 6, 2014
We will be taking Vendor and Parade applications in July.


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Just assuming for a moment that Julia wins gold in Sochi. Has any skater gone on to have a great skating career after winning the big prize at 15? Or 16 for that matter?
4th place
Just assuming for a moment that Julia wins gold in Sochi. Has any skater gone on to have a great skating career after winning the big prize at 15? Or 16 for that matter?
Well...Julia seems to be keeping up pony-wise with the top ladies at the Grand Prix events so far but with all the top ladies in the same competition (Kim, Asada, etc.) the results may be very different...unless enough skaters fall on their jumps, she could squeak by with her jumps like Hughes.
"Nature is a damp, inconvenient sort of place where birds and animals wander about uncooked."
from Speedy Death
Of course she can but I still wouldn't bet on it at this point. What she is doing, though, is setting herself up perfectly for the next quad. Surely all of Kim, Kostner and Mao will be done by the time 2018 comes around. Someone will have to take the reigns and she seems the most obvious choice.
"Michelle would never be caught with sausage grease staining her Vera Wang." - rfisher
To answer the thread poll, although I see several skaters ahead of her worthy of Oly podium, of course it's possible the stars might align for her in that night.
It doesn't mean she can't win a medal or even the whole thing, since ice is slippery and anything's possible. She is a very consistent jumper and a good competitor, with the nerve and calmness seemingly beyond her years.
Julia's exhibition to Kill Bill http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQpExUKf-rI
This reminds me a little of her Kung Fu Panda SP. I hope she goes in a voidy direction like this in the future (I wouldn't expect it during the Olympic season).
I am really curious to see how Julia handles the pressure in her next competition. She had a lot of success at SC. Will she continue to perform well or will she choke under pressure? I hope she can handle the pressure. Being only 15 may help when it comes to pressure.
I also hope that she can stay injury free. Last season she had to withdraw from competitions due to an injury. I hope she can stay healthy and skates great in Sochi.
I think and hope she won't choke. IIRC, in the 2011-12 season she didn't fall once and I think popped only one jump. In the entire season. Last season she said she struggled a lot... got on the ice couldn't feel her legs and didn't think it was possible to jump. Still, she came away with senior GP silver and bronze, and another junior world medal. If she's in good shape this year, I hope she will continue to skate clean.
I picked yes, as in she CAN medal, if she rocks it like she did at Skate Canada and one of the top three falters. Given the inconsistent histories of Kostner and Mao ... this is well within the realm of possibility.
BUT, I wouldn't say she'd pull a "Tara Lipinski", as I highly doubt she can displace [a healthy] Kim for gold - in fact I see at least one of Kostner/Mao doing well enough for silver (my money's on Mao). I'm not even a fan of Yuna, but I just don't see her losing the gold (esp. to Lipnitskaya) if she shows up healthy - she's already got nerves of steel, and add in the fact she already has an OGM so anything she gets in Sochi would be a "bonus" - there'd be less mental pressure on her (plus she'd likely be well rested not having to compete in the team competition) ... anyway, I just don't believe Yulia can dethrone Kim as some have suggested, but sneaking in for a medal is certainly feasible.
That said, at this point, if any Russian lady can sneak in for a medal, I'm thinking it's her. Really think she should be the front-runner for those Olympic spots!
No, the injury wasn't related to growth spur. She fell on her head doing some spin in practice and had concussion.
Julia is a very consistent competitor with no real weaknesses. She has the difficulty in her jumps, she has spins, she moves well enough across the ice, plus she has that wow! factor. Right now she is my darkhorse pick for Sochi. She's a competitor through and through and that will bode well for her in Sochi. She struggled a bit last season but that was due to a growth spurt, injuries and the fact it was her first year senior. Prior to last year she was scarily consistent. It looks like she's getting back to that form...
She's 15 but she has nice presentation for someone her age and she's grown in terms of her musical connection/performance this year though she does still need work. She lacks the presence and maturity of many of the more seasoned veterans (Yu-Na, Carolina, Mao, Ashley, Akiko) as well as the flow and ease some of them have but she's got the consistency and she's building momentum. It's very unlikely that she'll win gold in Sochi and if she does that means it was a really crappy competition. Julia can medal but she will need each of the Big Three to make several mistakes for that to happen. I do think she has a great shot at 4th or 5th place and if she stays healthy she's a dead lock for one of those two spots on the Russian team.
My main concern for Julia as having long term career success (past Sochi) is her name. Call me silly or superstitious, but no Julia has had a great career, after early success and great natural talent(e.g. Soldatova, Sebasteyen, and pairs skater Obertas who appeared on track for an OGM early in her career).
I hope Lip will be break that trend, and have a long and successful career. i already sound like a fan, don't I?
Last edited by Vash01; 10-29-2013 at 10:12 PM.


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YOUTUBE -- A short music video making the rounds on YouTube humorously proclaims what we all know: dogs like socks!
User RobOfPsychostick uploaded the video earlier this week, and it already has more than 50,000 views.
If you're not a fan of heavy metal, then the song may be a bit much for you, but it's fun to watch the dogs play with socks nonetheless!
Watch online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swmuqGWgZCc


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The Tourist
Peter Travers
© 2010 by Columbia Pictures
I laughed like hell when this lame-ass thriller got a Golden Globe nod as Best Movie (Comedy or Musical). All the laughs are unintentional. And Golden Dildo acting nominees Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie hit career lows, producing the chemistry of high-fashion zombies. The worst of the year, by a mile.
• The Best and Worst of Angelina Jolie
• The 10 Best Movies of 2010
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Real news. Real funny.
Real news. Real funny
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TRAVERSE CITY — Dr. John Bruder figures he's spent "thousands of hours" skiing and enjoying the natural beauty of the Vasa trail over the years.
Saturday's experience surpassed it all.
"This was the most satisfying day of cross-country skiing of my life," he said.
Bruder took part in his 28th Vasa. It was his first in three years after being diagnosed with advanced lung cancer in 2010. He now skis with a portable oxygen tank.
A special "Ski With John" wave was incorporated into this year's 12K and some of Bruder's closest friends were there to share the moment with him.
"It was such a wonderful event — to be out with some of my closest ski friends and some new people who have just started to ski," he said. "It was well organized. The trail was in perfect shape. The weather was ideal. The whole experience combined made for the best cross country day I've ever had. I was really happy."
Bruder, an orthopedic surgeon, completed the 12K in 1:28:34, although the time seemed irrelevant on this day.
It was a ski that ended on a real positive note.
"I had a guy come up to me at the end," Bruder said. "He was probably 40, a little overweight. He said, 'Thank You. I've never done a ski race before, but I read your story and I figured if you could do it I could do it. Now I'm going to start getting in shape.' That made my day."
Williamsburg's Milan Baic and Lake Ann's Amy Powell will have company at the masters world championships in Italy this week.
Indiana's Randy Bladel.
He won the Vasa 27K classic race Saturday in a time of 1:44:00. It could have been a few seconds faster, but as Bladel approached the finish line, he stopped, turned around, and skied the final few yards backwards.
"I was just messing around, having a little fun," he said.
Bladel, who's won the 27K and 50K classic races here previously, opted out of the 50K Saturday to "rest" for Italy. He made it look easy, taking the lead early.
"I was surprised that a few people didn't go with me," he said. "I was just trying to see how many of the 50K people (who started earlier) I could catch.
"But what a beautiful day to ski. It was awesome. The track was firmer than I thought it would be. My skis worked well. It was a good day to ski."
Michigamme's Chris Steele placed second in 1:48:46.
"I've never been here before so I didn't know what to expect," he said. "It was a great course. Some of the best conditions I've seen this year. It was fast. It was fun."
As for Bladel?
"I didn't even see him the whole time," Steele said. "I had no idea where he was."
Bladel can now turn his attention to the world championships.
"Milan actually had a better reason to rest today than I did," he said. "He's a threat for a medal every year. I'm just one of the crowd over there."
Traverse City's Bill Brundage had a strong outing in his first race of the season.
"It couldn't be a better classic day," he said. "Outstanding."
Brundage posted a time of 1:51:28.
"I've had some injuries so I haven't been able to ski much lately," he said. "This feels good. I'm going to use this as a way to go for next year."
Northville's Amy Kostrzewa, a veteran Vasa skier, suffered a recent injury, too. She was hit by a cab driver and suffered a couple broken ribs before Christmas.
That didn't stop her Saturday. Kostrzewa won the women's 27K classic in 2:17:32.
"Beautiful conditions," she said. "The tracks were excellent, start to finish. Mother Nature really cooperated. And the wax was just right on my skis. I have to thank my husband for making those fast."
It was Kostrzewa's 16th Vasa.
"There were several times today when I was thinking this is the nicest Vasa ever," she said.
Ontario's Allan Magi made it look effortless in winning the men's 50K classic in 3:09:06. It was his first Vasa.
"Beautiful course," he said. "It was a little cold the first 10K, especially on the downhills, but after that it was nice, probably the nicest ski day of the year. Thanks to all the volunteers, it was great."
The 50K classic started at 8 a.m. with the temperature hovering near the zero mark.
"It was frosty," Magi said.
Magi skied with Williamsburg's Randy Smith for about 25K of the race.
"He got tired of waiting for me," the 51-year-old Smith said. "It was fun skiing with him as long as I could."
Smith came in at 3:19:59.
Smith echoed Magi's comments about the conditions.
"Best conditions we've ever had," he said. "Mother Nature came through. The groomers did a great job. It's the best the trail's been all year. Everything came together."
Minnesota's Kathy Sanville is packing a lot into the weekend. She's visiting her father, who lives here, and she's leaving a 50K classic champion.
Sanville won the women's race in 4:14:20.
"It was cold at the start," she said. "But we're used to it in Minnesota."
Sanville skied a race in the Czech Republic two weeks ago. She's tried skating, but prefers classic.
"My rule of thumb is I won't skate a race over 25K," she said. "It's too hard on the shoulders and the back. I just like classic."
Traverse City's Jo Pergrine won the women's 12K freestyle in 51:51 while Leland's Dave Butryn took the men's race in 41:35.
In the 12K classic, Oxford's Gwenn Stevenson and Traverse City's Barry O'Brien took top honors in 1:21:29 and 1:05:28, respectively.
In the 6K freestyle, Traverse City's Erin Lipp claimed the women's race in 22:23 and Interlochen's Ian Durand the men's race in 18:49.


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BLUEFIELD — See video below:
Area first responders are handling numerous calls about fallen trees and downed power lines as a storm comes through the Mercer County area.
More than 3,600 Mercer County customers are without power at this time, according to Appalachian Power officials. Another 941 outages have been reported in Tazewell County and another 304 are in Buchanan County. Giles County has 824 customers without power and another 154 have been found in Bland County.
Courthouse Road near Princeton has been blocked by a large tree, and a fallen tree that damaged power lines has been reported on Oakhurst Avenue in Bluefield. Downed trees have also been reported on East Cumberland Road in Bluefield.
High water has been reported on Stafford Drive in Princeton, according to Mercer County 911.
For more about the storm damage, read Friday's Daily Telegraph or visit www.bdtonline.com.


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July 30, 2014
MAKHACHKALA, Russia - - The father of the two Boston bombing suspects says he will travel from Russia to the United States this week to seek "justice and the truth."
Anzor Tsarnaev told The Associated Press that he has "lots of questions for the police" and he wants "to clear up many things."
In the interview on Sunday he said only that he planned to go in several days, but the suspects' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, told journalists on Monday that the father plans to fly to the U.S. on Wednesday.
She said the family would try to bring the body of their elder son back to Russia.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a gun battle with police. His 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar was later captured alive but badly wounded.
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Police, media claim carrier, manufacturers aren't doing enough to prevent phone thefts, and here's why they're wrong...
Today the New York Times published a piece on the explosion of cellphone thefts, the rise of the black market systems that wipe the phones and resell them, and the efforts - or alleged lack thereof - of carriers and manufacturers in not doing enough to prevent the thefts in the first place. The piece approaches the problem from all the wrong angles, and here's why...
Things go south almost immediately with a quote from District of Columbia Chief of Police Cathy L. Lanier, who says "The carriers are not innocent in this whole game. They are making a profit off this." Technically, yes, if a customer has to walk into a carrier store and buy a new phone because their previous one was stolen, then the carrier can take a profit on it. But the same rule applies if somebody steals my laptop or my car or my coffee when I'm not looking. I'm going to have to go buy a new one, and the seller is going to take a profit. That's how business works. Of course, with all of those excepting my unattended cup of coffee I can purchase insurance to cover their replacement cost on the occasion of all sorts of events, even thefts. That includes that smartphone.
I don't want to go down the "blame the victim" route, but let's be honest here: protecting something you hold in your hand and making it less desirable to purloin is not the job of manufacturers or carriers. In fact, they're in the business of making devices more desirable, because they want you to buy them. That a product being more attractive to legitimate buyers also makes it more attractive to thieves is just the way things are.
Once you walk out of the store with that shiny new iPhone or Lumia or Galaxy or BlackBerry, it's no longer the carrier's or manufacturer's responsibility to maintain physical security of the device. It's yours. Chief Lanier's jurisdiction saw a record of 1829 cellphone thefts in 2012, an average of nearly seven per day.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg singled out the theft of Apple iPhones and iPads accounted for 14% of crimes, supposedly making them single-handedly responsible for an uptick in the overall crime level for the city. While there's little doubt that many New Yorkers were robbed specifically for their Apple-branded devices, that 14% involves all crimes where iPhones and iPads were stolen, not just people who were targeted for daring to brandish an iPhone in public.
Continuing to harp on the "iPhone thefts driving rising crime rates" theme, we have to consider that the iPhone and iPad are highly popular devices. They sell incredibly well and report after report have shown that owners use them more heavily than those who have purchased other devices. There are more people who are using iPhones and other smartphones on the streets, and thus more targets of opportunity.
As The New York Times points out, carriers and manufacturers are working to make stealing smartphones they sell more of a pain. The major US carriers have partnered with law enforcement across the country to launch a stolen phone database. It is essentially a list of the unique IMEI numbers (International Mobile station Equipment Identity) from phones that have been reported stolen. Once a phone's on the list, in theory an attempt to activate it on the network should throw up red flags.
Unfortunately for these efforts, if you know what you're doing it's relatively easy to modify a phone's IMEI and circumvent the database. There's no law against it, but that's something that New York Representative Eliot Engel (D) wants to change with the introduction of the Cell Phone Theft Protection Act to the United States Congress. The legislation is intended to discourage the theft of cell phones by "requiring wireless commercial services to cut off service to a stolen phone" by creating a national stole phone database (done - independently by carriers and law enforcement without prompting of the federal government), requiring all phones in the US to have unique ID numbers (done - the IMEI was created by the industry for exactly this reason), mandating that carriers make it possible for customers to remotely wipe their devices (manufacturers are on this), and making it illegal to alter a phone's IMEI.
The last point is really the only "new" item to US law in Engel's legislation. It's already against the law in countries like the UK and Latvia to alter a phone's IMEI, expressly with the goal of suppressing phone theft and resale. There's just one rub, though: the act of stealing is already illegal. Altering an IMEI is trivial compared to actually stealing the phone, making doing so illegal isn't going to cause any crook to second guess what they're doing.
Manufacturers too have been on the track of working to make their phones less desirable to be stolen, or at the very least protect the data of the owner once they are. Apple, BlackBerry, Microsoft, and others offer built-in services for their devices that enable you to remotely track, ring, lock, and wipe devices on your account (BlackBerry and Microsoft also allow you to display a message on the device). These sort of features aren't built into Android by Google, however, unless you're on a Google Apps account. Numerous third-party apps are available to add remote security features to Android devices.
The issue with those services is one of consumer awareness. Most simply aren't aware that they have the option to remotely wipe a device if it's been stolen. Many would probably be pleased by the ability to remotely command their phone make a sound so they can figure out where they left it last night.
Of course, all of these services do no good if the phone's radios are turned off - once it's off the internet, no amount of back-end services are going to enable you to remotely wipe the phone. Criminals have grown saavy enough to know that the first thing you do after stealing somebody's phone is turn it off, if not immediately wipe it yourself. To imply, as Chief Lanier, Mayor Bloomberg, Representative Engel, and others have, that iPhones and Galaxies and Lumias are driving crime rates and that it's the responsibility of carriers and manufacturers to do something about it is absurd.
Carriers and manufacturers have been for some time working to minimize the incentive to steal smartphones. They're operating on market forces; consumers don't like it when the smartphone they've come to rely upon is stolen, so the industry has an incentive of their own to make it less desirable to steal them in the first place. The manufacturers and carriers that build the best systems to protect the data on a smartphone (and that's usually the most distressing part to anybody who has lost possession of their device) and do the best job of marketing that to customers will reap the benefits from customers who opt to buy their product.
The same game played out nearly a century ago as the automobile. As automobiles began to grow in popularity, so did theft of the new horseless carriages. Manufacturers eventually began to include alarms and immobilizers to deter against vehicle theft. Today, cars can be equipped with two-way alarm systems that alert you of exactly what's happening to your in distress automobile. But that hasn't stopped grand theft auto in the slightest sense. There are more cars on the road today than at any time in history, and everything from expensive and security-laden new Cadillac Escalade SUVs to old Honda Accord and Toyota Camry sedans continue to be stolen every day. If something is desirable, thieves will find a way to get their hands on it.
As technology advances, so will the techniques of criminals. No amount of technology is going to make it any less desirable to steal the smartphone I hold in my hand. It's an expensive piece of technology, and while we can do much to safeguard the data it holds, that data isn't what thieves are usually after - it's the hardware itself. Protecting my phone once I've walked away from the sales desk in the carrier store is my responsibility and my responsibility only. I don't hold Starbucks as responsible for the physical security of my coffee nor would I consider Honda complicit if somebody stole by car.
Just because it's a popular target for thieves doesn't mean make my smartphone any different.
Source: The New York Times
There are 21 comments. Add yours.
you may be too young to remember that stealing car stereos used to be a big epidemic. Know how it stopped? The mfgs started making products that were rendered useless when removed from the vehicles. You also see this with automobiles; care to guess why vehicles with OnStar aren't stolen more than other cars? It's because they are rendered inoperable once the theft is reported.
Learn from history, don't ignore it.
Nonsense, Richard... Maybe YOU should learn from history, eh?
Theft of stereos stopped being a big problem mostly because of the wonders of mass production. Car stereos fell so much in price that you can buy one today for 20-30$. It ceased being valuable enough to steal.
The falling prices also caused car manufacturers to put decent stereos in their cars. The factory installed models are practically impossible to steal, and because they were good enough for the vast majority of people, the demand for cheap, stolen stereos dropped like a rock.
(pretty much even the cheapest model these days include a CD player...)
And BTW Cars with onstar and other tracking systems get stolen too. They just get exported to third world countries, which would undoubtedly happen with cell phones too if a similar carrier operated system got introduced...
Go to crutchfield (or any audio store) and look at car stereos. The average price is around $265. If anything stereos have been getting more expensive over time due to DVD.
Google the top 20 stolen cars based on Insurance data. Not one of them is an OnStar vehicle.
The problem is you somehow put the word "cheap" into the argument.
iOS allows a message to be displayed when in Lost Mode as well.
Many, many smartphones get stolen from demonstration tables in carrier stores and electronics retailers every single day. All of those have to be replaced, at enormous cost, materially offsetting the profit margins on smartphones re-sold to customers whose were lost or stolen. Retailers are victims of theft, too. To imply that they profit from thievery is absurd.
"No amount of technology is going to make it any less desirable to steal the smartphone I hold in my hand"
Uhhh, sure....
So, why can't they make the phones where the IMEI is unable to be changed?
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and stipulate that there IS a reason.
So, why can't they manufacture the CPU in each smartphone so that it has a hardwired CPUID (like, for example, on Intel PC processors)? It should not need to be required, but if the manufacturers and carriers don't/won't do it on their own, why shouldn't, say, the FCC mandate that each phone have an unchangeable ID embedded in the CPU, and that the carriers share with each other the IDs of phones that are reported lost or stolen?
Who would steal a phone if they KNOW that it can never be used again after it's stolen? Answer: virtually nobody. Why? Because nobody would BUY a phone like that, and if nobody will buy it and the thief can't use it him or herself, then the majority of them won't bother stealing them.
It also wouldn't hurt if the carriers would allow users to opt into a reward program for lost phones. Take away the market for stolen phones and give a reward for people who find phones and take them to the nearest office of that carrier for a small reward (say $25 or $50? - still cheaper than the deductible to replace a phone via insurance) and you'll still have a few people who will steal phones just to get the reward, but at least people who lose their phones will have a reasonable chance at getting them back.
Well that sure were a couple of incredibly dumb ideas right there...
A reward program like that would just cause a massive spike in phones "stolen" from people who want to get their free 50 bucks. (And who could blame them, really?)
The CPU ID codes is also a really dumb idea for numerous reasons...
1: It would cost money to implement, and who do you think the costs would be pushed on? The consumers. And I dont want to pay more just because you can't look after your phone.
2: There is a vast market in used phones. A CPU identifier would interfere in a massive way. Want to bet that your friendly carrier would come up with a 50$ fee to "transfer ownership" or some nonsense like that?
The IMEI system is perfect as it is, since it provides a degree of accountability, but isn't overly aggressive or imposing.
Oh, and the last and most important reason why CPU IDs is a garbage idea? There's no practical way to implement it worldwide. If it was introduced through US carriers or the FCC, a cellphone thief would just pay 5-10$ to have it shipped to Mexico or Ukraine or France where the phone could be used again.
In the meantime, you can bet that the price of this useless programme would be passed on to the consumers...
I think that one way to help try to prevent this is for the phone not to be able to be powered off without knowing the pass code for the phone. As well as not being able to restore the phone if it has a pass code enabled. But the number one way to prevent or help prevent is always be aware of your surroundings.
Nice idea. Trouble is, you're always going to get those 'force reboot' situations where you need to be able to switch off I guess. Shame. Probably still worth doing though.
I think the phone makers do have some level of responsibility- the same as a car manufacturer has a responsibility to fit a decent car door lock. They should take reasonable measures if they can.
I'd like to see a worldwide blacklist for iOS devices (enforced at the operating system level, so it doesn't require the cooperation of all the carriers around the world). After a SIM change this world database should be checked the next time a data connection becomes available (mobile OR wi-fi) on iPhone, or maybe every week or so on iPad and iPod touch.
If your phone is stolen or you lost your phone someone should not be able to take that phone and activate it. The phone should be locked and prevent anyone from activating the phone. Right now the stolen phones are being sold and reactivated. The theft is making a profit and the carrier is making a profit.
I had a conversation on this subject the other day with a friend. I don't think manufacturers or carriers need to do anything. People need to learn to protect their own stuff. Take a look around next time you are in a public place. Look at how many people leave their phones unattended. I was at the bar with my friend and we saw people leave their phones at the bar while they went to the restroom. You go to a department store and you will see people place their phones on a display while they walk around to look at stuff. At some point there has to be personal responsibility.
A little off topic here but...
It is pleasing to me to see civil, reasonable, intelligent comments to _any_ online article. I have RSS feeds to the NYT, Washington Post, Tom's Dispatch, and a number of Apple-centered sited.
Generally speaking, with the exception of the NYT, it's not worth one's time to read reader comments: they are usually off-topic, insulting rants loaded with bad spelling and poor grammar.
It would seem that iMore has a much-better-than-average readership. In ten Comments, only one person was uncivil to the point of declaring someone else's post to be "dumb".
My two cents
I think the most important point of this whole story concerning stolen smartphones is a point that everyone is missing: Say the carriers do more to thwart the theft of the devices - well first of all the thieves need to know that the devices imei cannot work, but the whole point is that if the phone is stolen, whether the thieves can reprogram it or not, the original owner is not going to get back his phone. Nice Mr. theif is not going to return a phone that cannot be reprogrammed or activated - the phone is simply going to be tossed or used for parts and the original problem is still there - the rightful owner of the device having to replace it. Owning an expensive smartphone today is somewhat like owning expensive sneakers in certain neighborhoods a decade or two ago - thieves would not only steal the sneakers but the owners of the sneakers would get hurt. It is a no win situation. it is no different than someone stealing your wallet - a theft is going to happen no matter what safeguards any manufacturer or carrier puts on the phone.
Is the imei number really easy to change on most smartphones?
Though it was a thing you could do no a old dump phone not a new smartphone
While I do agree that manufacturers and carriers do not have any obligation to deter theft, I also think they could if they wanted to. Right now it is in their best interest for stolen phones to be easily formated and resold, so we will see very little security initiatives.
If manufacturers and carriers were losing sales due to theft, we would see solutions in a heartbeat. For instance, making the iPhone IMEI hardcoded, tying it to your Apple ID and only releasing the phone if you allowed it would be simple enough.
So, both sides have valid arguments, but if we follow the money it is easy to see that there is really no incentive, specially from carriers, to minimize theft profitability.
The point missed at least from the carrier's prospective is that the phone doesn't operate without their network. So they are complicit in the theft, or the use of the stolen property. It would be like dealerships owning the road when those cars are stolen. The carrier tracks the identification numbers of the stolen phone, so their network knows when your stolen phone is being used but do nothing about it. That creates a legal obligation. Other providers outside the US have blacklists which deter theft so that reported stolen phones cannot register on the network. ATT Tmo and others have just recently started the blacklist in the states after legal and social pressures to do so.
I do think there is more carriers can do though. I mean, they *can* track where phones are, even with Find my iPhone off. They could hand it off to the police.
There is then the other side of this though, a criminal sells his iPhone on Craigslist, then says "It was stolen!" and calls the cops/carrier, he can then theoretically get his iPhone and the money he sold it by denying that he sold it. I mean, yeah, a cop would say "It's possible the other guy sold the iPhone", but a carrier wouldn't.
If only Apple were working on some kind of security system that could render stolen devices useless without their owner being present... Oh wait, fingerprint technology and potentially a proximity iWatch security system ARE being worked on...


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Lighting efficiency improvements proposed for ASHRAE 90.1
Proposed changes to ASHRAE 90.1 will require automatic lighting controls in more space types and shorten the times before lighting is automatically reduced or shut off.
Addendum by to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2010, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, was developed in response to requests from the design community, which asked for a tabular structure for specifying the controls requirements. By putting these requirements into an easier-to-use tabular format, the provisions will be clearer, more likely to be complied with and easier to enforce, according to Eric Richman, chair of the standard's lighting subcommittee.
"The proposed addendum is the product of both the interest in increasing lighting controls use where practical and simplifying the standard," Richman said.
The 2010 version of the standard includes basic shutoff and occupancy sensor type controls in selected spaces. The addendum will increase the use of occupancy based control to all spaces in a building where practical. At the same time, additional partial on and partial off controls are added to further reduce full on lighting when spaces are typically unoccupied. For example, many spaces that are not always practical applications for full automatic off (such as corridors) would require at least partial automatic off when the space is unoccupied.
The new tabular format allows users to see all requirements for most interior space types and categories in one simple look-up table.
"This new representation and update of control requirements will reduce the time that lighting is on at full levels in many spaces and make the requirements easier to understand and therefore comply with and inspect to," he said. "Both of these conditions will improve energy efficiency of the building."
The addendum is open for public review till April 1, 2013. For more information, visit www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.
Also open for public review is addendum ay till March 17, 2013. The proposed addendum corrects a couple of small editorial issues and raises the threshold for when daylight responsive controls are required so that they are cost effective in all climate zones.
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Andrew E Neal is President of Southwest Digital Laboratory, a company specializing in digital forensics, information & technology security and secure commerce. He has over 25 years experience working in technology, computer security, trade security and investigations. As a resident of El Paso, Texas, much of his experience involves working with the international trade community. He holds several professional certifications in forensics and security, and is licensed as a private investigator and security consultant in multiple states.
Mr. Neal has authored articles for several trade publications including Inside Homeland Security and Managing Security Today, and has presented at numerous national and international conferences and seminars. Mr. Neal is an active member of several professional and community organizations, and often serves as an instructor or at the board level. He is also a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, teaching digital forensics for the Computer Science Department.


text: Op Art Note Card - Current Catalog Shopping Cart: 0 items Sign up for exclusive email promotions Checks Address Labels Greeting Cards Holidays and Events Gift Ideas Personalized Gifts For Your Home Stationery Personalized Stationery Personalized Stickers Personalized Thank You Cards Personalized Notepads Personalized Correspondence Cards Personalized Memo Pads Personalized Note Cards Calendars Home Office Wrapping Paper Photo Gift Center Dollar Deals Sale Home > Personalized Stationery > Personalized Note Cards Op Art Note Card Our bold, fresh optical art design communicates confidence and warmth. Personalized just for you, our notes are certain to express your thanks, renew a friendship, or applaud a job well done. Blank-inside note cards are 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and come with white envelopes. Personalized cards come in a gift package. Set of 24 (single design) Specify 1 line up to 18 characters. Product Code Product Description Qty Price 609202 Op Art Note Card $12.99 Check here to add personalization. NOTE: To avoid errors, please do not refresh this page or hit the back button while we process your order. Op Art Thank You Card $12.99 Pop Art Puppies Canvas Print $24.99 Pop Art Puppies Personalized Mug $12.99 Home|Featured Merchants|Tips|Contact Us|Privacy & Security|Site Map|1-800-848-2848|Request Free Catalog © 1998, 2014 Current USA, Inc.


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OKG7 things to do
Gazette staff
Insert whinny sound here. Now you're in the proper mood for Horses, the latest exhibition at JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker. Galloping through July 28, the art is created by Oklahoma artists Joe Andoe, Jean Richardson, Brent Learned and Jennifer Cocoma Hustis.
Daily, ongoing


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While recovering from ACL surgery last February, Pep Fujas spent spent two weeks in Silverton, Colorado with a 14-man crew building four gigantic backcountry-style hits that made up the slopestyle course for Red Bull Cold Rush. Last time Pep blew his knee, he served as a judge at Winter X Games.
It's not like Pep to sit on the sidelines. He's blown out his left knee once and his right knee twice and he's continued to redefine freestyle skiing with mind-blowing forays that blur the lines between the park and the backcountry.
As one of the most versatile and innovative skiers in the world, Pep proved himself in the competition realm (he took X Games silver in 2003), but his career progressed to suit his passions (slashing pow, skiing the backcountry and filming).
Fujas has won "Breakthrough Performer", "Best Powder" and "Best Trick" at the Powder Video Awards. He's a regularly featured athlete in Poor Boyz Productions films and in 1997 he founded film production company Nimbus Entertainment with skiers Eric Pollard, Andy Mahre and Chris Benchetler.
Fujas skied and filmed with Seth Morrison in South America in 2011 for the two-year Oakley documentary project "The Ordinary Skier." Always well spoken, Pep's insight can be heard throughout the film.
Fujas not only has two signature K2 ski models called the Kung Fujas and Fujative, but also his own wine label: Pep's Pinot.


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July 31, 2014
In Family First: if you ever wanted to learn how to download material from the library, here is your chance. The Digital Bookmobile is coming to Verona on June 12th.
Visitors to the Digital Bookmobile can learn how to download from the library and tour several colorful, informative exhibits inside an 18-wheel tractor trailer.
The event is free for readers of all ages. You will learn how to download digital books from the library through interactive demos and instructional videos. There is a "gadget gallery" featuring IPhone, Android Tablet, Blackberry, Nook, Sony Reader and Kindle machines. It will help you discover portable devices that are comptable with the library donload service.
Digital Library Specialists will be on hand to show you how easy it is to borrow eBooks and audiobooks.
For more information: http://www.digitalbookmobile.com


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News & Rumors
PlayBook Apps
BlackBerry Tablet OS
CrackBerry Polls
BlackBerry Apps
From the Forums...
PlayBook Games
BlackBerry Apps
CrackBerry Polls
BlackBerry Accessories
CrackBerry Polls
BlackBerry Tablet OS
PlayBook Games
We knew the BlackBerry PlayBook would be the first BlackBerry device from RIM to feature a non-removable battery, but since the PlayBook was unveiled at DevCon many of us have been wondering just how big of a battery would be inside the new tablet. Afterall, the PlayBook is fairly small in total size, but with dual core gigahertz processors and the ability to run flash, the PlayBook is going to want to suck back the juice.
Thanks to Jim Balsillie's speech at GITEX, we now know the answer to this one... 5300mAh. To put that into perspective, the BlackBerry Torch has a 1270mAh battery and the Bold 9700, known for it's uber long battery life, has a 1550mAh battery. So with 5300mAh, I'm guessing even with fairly heavy use the PlayBook should be able to make it through the work day and play time afterwards. I pinged Rene over at TiPb.com to see what size of battery the iPad sports, but apparently Apple doesn't give out those specs. One thing is for sure - RIM has always cared about the battery life of their products, and I don't think they'd make an exception on their first tablet.
On the memory front, while RIM didn't announce anything officially at DevCon they did have both 16GB and 32GB models on display. Also new on the GITEX PlayBook slides was the mention of a 64GB model. Good stuff - that's the one I'll be buying! :)
Yousif Abdullah Oct 18, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Power (Watt) = Current (A) × Voltage (V). Apple does tell what the power rating for the iPad battery is: "Built-in 25-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery" (http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/). Assuming nominal 3.7V voltage for a lithium-ion battery, we find this: 25W / 3.7V = 6.75675... ≈ 6.76A. In other words, something in the 6700mAh range.
AgentScribe Oct 18, 2010 at 12:55 pm
So, we're talking about a more efficient OS with the PlayBook compared to iPad? Let's hope!
Yousif Abdullah Oct 18, 2010 at 1:09 pm
In terms of hardware differences the iPad does need more juice to power that 9.7" display compared to the 7" display on the PlayBook. Architecturally, the two are quite similar. I know for a fact the QNX Neutrino RTOS is very efficient, but how it compares to iOS is something I do not know. What I do know, however, is that RIM is committed to deliver excellent battery performance. Here's to hoping the PlayBook has great, if not outstanding battery life. No need to compare to the iPad, the PlayBook is quite different on many levels that the comparison of raw numbers is irrelevant.
edhoru Oct 18, 2010 at 1:50 pm
ipad = 690.7 mAh/inch
PB = 757.14 mAh/inch
So the PB battery have more power for every inch of its screen.
BTW i don't think this means anything.
Yousif Abdullah Oct 18, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Power distribution is a science of its own that depends on many hardware components and elements of a device to be properly estimated and calculated. Besides, without the schematics and information that probably falls into trade secrets, the "simple mathematics" won't take you anywhere. Let's remember these tablet devices have some other components inside as well, so it's not about displays only.
setset Oct 18, 2010 at 2:23 pm
You are assuming that the nominal voltage is 3.7V. Reversing the math, given 5.3AH (5300 mAh). 25 W / 5.3 AH = 4.719 Volts.
If that is the case, it would be possible to charge via usb since voltage coming from a usb is V= 5 V±5%. Lowest would be 4.75 V. That would barely be enough to accept a charge. Real world, I can imagine some usb falling below this though not many.
Voltage needs to be higher on the USB or outlet to charge a battery. Voltage on most usb is generally 5V give or take 5%. If 5300 mAh is correct, then the battery will be rated at 4.7 V. 4.5 V nominal.
spialelo Oct 18, 2010 at 12:52 pm
This would make up for the headache the Storm 2 gave me before I gave it up for a Bold. I can't wait till this is released. I would actually use it for work too.
stoneworrior Oct 18, 2010 at 1:22 pm
The iPad has a 3.75v 24.8 WHR battery. Using a bit of simple mathematics, divide the watt-hour capacity of the battery by the iPod run time in hours and you get the power consumption in watts. 25-watt-hours / 10 hours = 2.5 watts.
milli-amp-hour is only good for comparisons between batteries that operate at the same voltage. Find out the voltage the Playbook runs at and we may get a better prediction of the runtime, although the Playbook has a Seven inch screen so we may be looking at much longer battery life over the iPad depending on the voltage the Playbook requires.
Yousif Abdullah Oct 18, 2010 at 2:08 pm
In some cases it may be less, but it is quite uncommon for a lithium-ion cell to operate on a voltage higher than 3.7V.
Also, you have your mathematics a bit wrong. You do not divide watt hours with operation time. A watt hour is the amount of energy a device consumes in an hour.
setset Oct 18, 2010 at 2:58 pm
@ Yousif Abdullah,
Nominal voltage is the range at which a battery operates. Sometimes, manufacturers use 3.7V to fall within specs. For example, my Seidio 2600mAh battery for my Curve is rated nominal 3.7V but it will not charge in my car while my GF's phone battery is also rated at 3.7V nominal. Her phone charges fine.
It is actually common for batteries to operate above 3.7V. If you test your battery hot off the charge, I'm sure you will see it test above 3.7V. In my experience, Nominal voltage is never accurate. My 48V LiFePO4 battery always reads 55V and above though it is rated at 48 V nominal.
I agree that RIM always takes battery life seriously so why would it be any different with this device.
I'm so excited to get one I can barely stand it. I will absolutely use this for work instead of my bulky laptop with terrible battery life. Sign me up for 64GB!!
Ebscer Oct 18, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Battery life will be fine. http://news.ebscer.com/2010/10/3-reasons-the-blackberry-playbook-will-no...
With different hardware and OS a direct comparison to the iPad will have to wait until release (and should be compared to the unreleased 2011 iPad anyhow)...
stoneworrior Oct 18, 2010 at 2:19 pm
@ Yousif Abdullah
The watt is a metric form of measurement for energy conversion, equal to one joule of energy per second. One watt is the rate at which work is done when an object is moving one meter per second against a force of one newton. My conversion is a real world evaluation not a textbook one and Lithium Ion battery Typical operation voltage is between 2,8V to 4,2V
4.2v for the higher energy consumption devices like let's say 7" tablet screens? Rim is known for long battery life and it is not a leap of the imagination to think they would not want a rave revue on the Playbook and its awesome battery life. Long battery life is what RIM is known for so 4.2v is not out of the question.
zensen Oct 18, 2010 at 5:05 pm
all the technical, mathematical jargon aside, can someone remind me how much external memory we can put into one of these. If i can get the 64gb + add an external 32 GIG memory card. that will just about do it for me. With one of those spare usb ports, I assume we can also plug in a external usb drive?
I'm not a big fan of non-removable batteries but if RIM can give us great battery life then I can somewhat forgive them. :P
rookie83#CB Oct 18, 2010 at 6:59 pm
I gonna wait a little just to get the 64gb model and that sounds like a good battery size and who cares what size the ipad battery is I want a playbook to go with my Storm LTE (4G) when it comes out!
bacon.jay Oct 18, 2010 at 10:22 pm
@ zensen: there haven't been any indications that there will be any external SD card slot, or any form of expandable memory at all, so my guess is that 64 is all that you'd be able to get, less what is used by any OS files or applications.
That aside however, I can't imagine it being that hard for RIM to find space for a microSD or even a standard SD card slot somewhere along the edge of the device. It would certainly be in their best interest to do that anyways.
ss1plus Oct 19, 2010 at 4:32 am
Don't forget that the Playbook works in tandem with your Blackberry phone and that all data is synced. What this means is that you'll already have SD Card storage capability on your phone which can be accessed on your Playbook. 64gb of memory on the Playbook plus 32gb SD card in your phone yields 96gb of total capacity.
Therefore, a movie stored on your phone's SD card will easily be played on the Playbook. No need for an additional SD slot on the Playbook.
zensen Oct 19, 2010 at 8:14 am
Hey bacon.jay. thanks for the reply. I just always assumed. I always get a bit nifty about devices that don't allow me to change the battery easily and removable storage is so prevalent nowadays that anyone other than apple not doing it just seems out of touch. I dont know why people don't hammer apple on that more or maybe I just really don't care to notice :P
Jimario, sounds great in theory but then your also relying on the battery performance of the phone and heavy use will drain that a lot quicker... I'd much rather have an additional SD slot than none at all. Surely implementing one would be beneficial, especially those who do consider Space a priority.
nolan.b Oct 19, 2010 at 1:56 am
"Buying" or indirectly hinting RIM to send in for full CB "review" ;)
partizan666 Oct 19, 2010 at 3:49 pm
You may be limited by the speed of the "tethering" between PlayBook and your Blackberry phone. I believe it will use Bluetooth and that may not be enough to stream a video stream of decent quality. Audio and productivity docs should be fine though. Time will tell :)


text:
Associated Press
The Associated Press
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Casie Cathrea beat defending champion Minjee Lee with a par on the 19th hole Thursday to advance to the U.S. Girls' Junior quarterfinals at Sycamore Hills.
Cathrea, the 16-year-old Livermore, Calif., player who was the low amateur in the U.S. Women's Open, won the par-4 18th with a bogey to extend the match, and finished off the 17-year-old Australian on the par-4 first.
Cathrea, a 3-and-1, second-round winner over Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, Colo., in the morning, will face Bethany Wu of Diamond Bar, Calif. this morning. Wu beat Samantha Wagner of Windermere, Fla., 1 up.
In the other lower-bracket quarterfinal, Lakareber Abe of Angleton, Texas, will meet Kathleen Scavo of Benicia, Calif. Abe beat Lilia Khatu Vu of Fountain Valley, Calif., 2 and 1, and Scavo edged Mai Dechathipat of Oakton, Va., also 2 and 1.
In the upper bracket, Megan Khang of Rockland, Mass., will face Sabrina Bonanno of Norridge, Ill.; and Yueer Feng of Orlando, Fla., will play Gabriella Then of Upland, Calif.
Khang beat Maddie Szeryk of Allen, Texas, 3 and 2; Bonanno topped Mexico's Maria Fassi 5 and 4; Feng beat Australia's Hannah Green 5 and 4; and Then routed Cheyenne Knight of Aledo, Texas, 6 and 4.
Senior British Open: SOUTHPORT, England — American Gene Sauers shot a 3-under 67 in windy conditions at Royal Birkdale to take the first-round lead in the Senior British Open.
Germany's Bernhard Langer, the 2010 winner, was a stroke back along with South Africa's David Frost, Australia's Peter Senior and the Philippines' Frankie Minoza.
Defending champion Fred Couples opened with a 74.
Russian Open: MOSCOW — England's Simon Dyson, Sweden's Rikard Karlberg and China's Liang Wen-chong shot 5-under 67 to share the first-round lead in the European Tour's Russian Open.


text:
Microsoft is out to prove productivity is more than PowerPoint
Big Data
Big data could revolutionize analytics, databases and enterprise IT.
Featured Stories
Related Topics
Articles about Big Data
Tableau's Q2: Data discovery darling beats estimates, revenue up 82 percent
Tableau's business intelligence and data discovery platform made significant sales gains for the quarter, with more than 2,200 new customer accounts added.
How auto insurer Progressive collected 10 billion miles of driving data from its customers
Progressive has quietly amassed a trove of driver data with Snapshot, its opt-in driving tracker device.
Can real-time labor analytics save U.S. standard of living?
The U.S. is going to get whacked by its aging population, lower workforce participation and declining productivity. Accenture argues that real-time labor analytics could be a fix.
IBM board adds Johnson & Johnson CEO, former Royal Dutch Shell CEO
IBM CEO Ginni Rometty highlighted both executives' experience in "running information-intensive global enterprises."
Microsoft is out to prove productivity is more than PowerPoint
The self-described 'productivity and platforms' company is championing this week some cross-divisional projects meant to show how enterprise and consumer tech can be combined to create new kinds of apps and services.
'Big data must operate within data protection law,' says watchdog, 'and here's how'
If the field of big data looks like a huge opportunity to those looking to harvest intelligence, then the Information Commissioner has three words for them: not so fast.
Pivotal and Hortonworks collaborate on Ambari for enterprise Hadoop
Pivotal said it will dedicate engineers to contribute installation, configuration and management capabilities to Ambari.
Pinterest logs 20 terabytes of new data each day
The budding social network wants to remind people that underneath all of the DIY wedding tips, it, too, is a big data company.
HP invests $50 million in Hortonworks, forges big data partnership
The two companies will integrate engineering strategies, collaborate on sales and make it easier for HP customers to adopt Hortonworks.
Hadoop's Tez: Why winning Apache's top level status matters
This week's announcement by the Apache Software Foundation of top-level project status for the Tez framework is a significant step, according to Hortonworks' Shaun Connolly.
Oracle Data Cloud builds off BlueKai merger for social, marketing deals
Despite nearing the dead middle of summer, it's already been a big time for big data at Oracle.
Teradata's Hadoop dreams lead to two company acquisitions
Teradata continues its mission to meld data warehouses and big data, announcing that it acquired the assets of Revelytix and Hadapt.
NSW Open Data Dashboard revamped as public demand mounts
NSW Minister for Finance and Services, Dominic Perrottet, has revealed that public demand for government data is on the rise, with some state government organisations receiving tens of millions of requests each month for data.
Invigor taps into BI market with acquisition
Invigor Group has acquired Search Results Group, worth AU$5.8 million, as its next step of transforming the company into a digital solutions group.
Yahoo buys Flurry to speed up mobile ad monetization
Yahoo sees Flurry as fueling the "next step" in its ongoing mobile-first strategy.


text:
By Bob Hertzel
Times West Virginian
Shannon Dawson was put in charge of Dana Holgorsen's quarterbacks and his offense this year after serving a couple of seasons as West Virginia University's wide receiver coach, which is sort of like going from doing junkyard graffiti to work that hangs in the Louvre in Paris.
See, the Holgorsen offense is thing of beauty when it is operating at its best, the evidence being 70-point outbursts against Clemson and Baylor, two rather major football programs, 69 against Marshall and 59 against Kansas.
But there are times, too, when it looks like it belongs on that junkyard wall, scoring 14 points three times last year alone against Texas Tech, Kansas State and Syracuse.
So it was that we approached Dawson to see why there is such a wide variance.
Here was his reasoning.
"You are dealing with kids who are unpredictable because they are 18 and 22 years old," he said. "I'm 35, and I'm unpredictable."
There are sports writers who are double that 35 and unpredictable.
They call it human nature.
"We have to deal with 20 offensive players who play in a game. How will they perform on Saturday? We're trying to prepare them as good as we can prepare them during the week. Sometimes it clicks; sometimes it doesn't," Dawson said. "Think about all the factors that go in. You've also got to deal with that defensive coach preparing his team. Sometimes it has a lot to do with what defense does; sometimes it has a lot to do with what we do."
The problem is that you score 70 points once … or three times in two years (OK, once was 69 points, but let's not quibble) and your fans begin to expect it to become a regular thing and have a hard time understanding how a Texas Tech can hold WVU to 14 points and then give up 53 and 55 the next two weeks to TCU and Kansas State.
Or how about scoring 70 on Clemson in a bowl game?
How does that happen?
Dawson says it's an aberration, really, and that "I wish everyone would forget about it. We don't score 70 points a lot, maybe three times in my coordinating career … and most of the time it's against a really inferior opponent where you can't help but score sometimes. You just keep scoring against a paid opponent."
Clemson was hardly Norfolk State.
"This was different because it was obviously an evenly matched game. Some would even argue it was not an evenly matched game because they were ranked higher, but it was a perfect storm," Dawson said.
Indeed it was, the defense clicking with the offense, even putting its own points on the board to turn the game around against Clemson.
Dawson believes if you want to see what the WVU offense really is, you have to throw out the Clemson game.
"It's like statistics. You throw out the top and you throw out the bottom and average," he said.
Well, maybe not throw it out.
"I don't really wish they would throw that game out," he admitted. "I just wish they'd forget about it."
See, an occasional 70-point game is a byproduct of the offense and the philosophy that Holgorsen carries with him.
"You think about different offenses prospectus. Some offenses have the mindset that believes a punt is a great play. They play a field-position game with the idea of let's get to the end of the game and win it there," Dawson said.
WVU does not follow that philosophy.
"We try to score on every possession, no matter if we are backed up on our own 1 or get a turnover. Our mindset is always the same. We want to attack," he explained. "With that mindset, if you do get someone on his heels, you are going to have a good day."
Neither system is right or wrong. It just depends upon your belief.
"Some of those offenses that are — quote-unquote — conventional slower offenses which average 28 or 29 points a game, but they win eight or nine games a year. It works in their system," Dawson said.
They play like Wisconsin, possessing the ball, running it, playing defense … and winning.
Teams like that possess the ball 36 minutes a game and dominate by wearing you down with power, riding their offensive line in 10-, 12-, 14-play drives, while Holgorsen's offense is built on speed and putting skilled players in one-on-one situations where the offensive players have the advantage.
If the advantage is huge or if, for whatever reason, the quarterback is having one of those days that come along every so often, any score is possible.
Email Bob Hertzel at firstname.lastname@example.com or follow him on Twitter @bhertzel.


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Peninsula Arts
Peninsula Arts
Drake's Circus
Monday - Friday
01752 58 50 50
Peninsula Arts operates from within the Faculty of Arts and serves as the arts and culture public programming organisation for the University of Plymouth. The year-round programme includes exhibitions, music, film, public lectures, and theatre and dance/ performance. One of its principle aims is to provide access to a programme of wide-ranging high quality arts and cultural experiences, which is informed by the expertise, research and scholarship of the University and its partners, to the communities of Plymouth and the South West and visitors to the region.
Venue Type:
Monday - Friday: 10.00am -17.00pm
Saturday: 11.00am - 16.00pm
Closed on Bank Holidays
Additional info
Parking available in the evenings on event nights.
Disabled access and facilities
Cafe (daytime opening)
Gift Shop
Play and Prosume
- 19 June — 30 August 2014 *on now
Coming Soon Exciting New Exhibition for Summer 2014! Check the Peninsula Arts website for updates.
Suitable for
- Any age
Signpost 12 + 21G Exhibition
- 7 — 8 August 2014 10am-5pm
Visit this fantastic exhibition of art from A Level students working in collaboration with professional artists from the 21 Group, presenting a wide range of approaches, techniques and media. Curated by the students themselves their artworks are a true observation of humanity, the environment and materialism with each artist gaining motivation from how they look, think and create. Visit www.devonportartsprojects.com for more information.
Suitable for
- Any age
- About
- | Collections
- | Exhibitions
- | Map


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The VeggieTales gang is back Aug. 5 in the all-new silly-song extravaganza "Celery Night Fever." It features the retro funkadelic sights and sounds of polyester leisure suits and disco balls - along with a timeless message of friendship and forgiveness. Terry Crews ("Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine") guest stars as the voice of the nefarious Bruce Onion. Don't miss it on DVD Aug. 5!
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Manager of Perfect Execution
Emerson Electric Co.
McKinney, Texas
After enrolling at Ross, Matt was impressed by the caliber and dedication of the Michigan Ross professors. "They're respected experts in the field and truly passionate about teaching. Their excitement and enthusiasm for their work was contagious."
Supply Chain Engineer
Ryder Supply Chain Solutions
Novi, Mich.
"The Ross MSCM program was ideal for me because it provided the broad academic basis for the field as well as a flavor of a top MBA program."
Crew Manager
LAN Chile, LATAM Airlines Group
Santiago, Chile
"The multicultural diversity and strong analytics at Ross really helped me with the job challenges I've faced. I was a lean manager working in Chile, Peru, and the United States, and we have merged with another airline. My experience at Ross helped me meet those challenges."
Supply Chain Supervisor
University of Michigan Health System
Ann Arbor, Mich.
"In my first year on a new job in a new industry, I've been able to show strong results and a lot of that is due to the Ross MSCM Program. Without that background, I would not have been able to jump right in and succeed."
Manager, Global Supply Chain
Microsoft Corp.
Redmond, Wash.
"When I first came to Ross, I knew I needed to gain confidence in my presentation abilities and everyday interactions. Working with career coaches — and on the job with Grainger during my summer project with the Tauber Institute — helped me understand how to interact in an American setting. That's invaluable when you're working in a global capacity."
Commodity Sourcing Manager
Parker Hannifinn
Richland, Mich.
"When you see a supply chain work well, it's an amazing thing. But there can also be near-catastrophic failures. I came to Ross because I wanted to understand more about the strategy behind the process. Working with a cross-disciplinary group of peers, including engineering students and MBAs, gave me great insight into different areas of business."
Senior, Advisory Services Practice
Ernst & Young Consulting
Dallas, Texas
When Raajan first heard about the MSCM Corporate Advisory Council (CAC), he didn't expect too much. "I thought, 'OK, I'll get to talk to a couple of VPs once or twice, but that will be it.' I was wrong." Comprised of a group of senior executives from Fortune 500 companies and consultancies, members of the CAC pair off with students to act as mentors. "I had an individual mentor, but we had access to all the mentors," says Raajan. "Getting so many insights directly from the people who manage the global supply chain was amazing. I also asked for specific advice about my own career path, which was immensely helpful." Though he's transitioning into a new job at Ernst & Young Consulting in Dallas, Raajan says he'll "always find excuses to come back to Ann Arbor." As a recent graduate, he's already started mentoring a few current MSCM students. "Ross has given me so much. I'd do it all over again if I could, but that's not practical. So I plan to stay connected by giving back and leveraging the network."
Malvika Bhatia
Sourcing Manager
Microsoft Corp.
Redmond, Wash.
After graduating from the University of Michigan with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering, Malvika co-founded a company that develops low-cost medical devices for limited-resource settings. As she was heading its business development and operations, she soon realized that her engineering background had not prepared her for the management of complicated global supply chains and operations. She decided to enroll in the MSCM Program to gain more knowledge in the field and hone her skills through the Tauber Institute for Global Operations, a partnership between Ross and U-M's College of Engineering. "Tauber is an amazing frontier to develop connections with companies, participate in action-based learning projects, and work on teams with diverse groups of people. For someone with limited industry experience, this helped me prepare for the working world through various modules, from leadership to project management," she says.
Rahul Chowdhury
Senior Manager, Global Business Process
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Bentonville, Ark.
When he decided to pursue an MSCM, Rahul had been working as a lead process consultant, mapping businesses to IT solutions. "I wanted to understand supply chain management on a global level. Ross is one of the best schools out there that offers this very specialized focus," he says. The 14-week Tauber Institute summer project also was a major attraction for Rahul. "I enjoy hands-on learning, being in the thick of things. But my favorite feature was the faculty interaction. Faculty advisers came in every week to provide active guidance and consultation on projects. They challenged us to ask the right questions and find the best solutions," he says. In addition to the faculty support, Rahul was impressed by the integrated resources provided by Ross' Career Services team, which include workshops on every aspect of career development. "They prepare you from the very start to effectively work with companies during your internship, projects, and job search. I left this program with more than supply chain management expertise. I am a better professional overall."
Amanda Hillman
Supply Chain and Manufacturing Consultant
Chicago, Ill.
Amanda's experience is unique — she was the first MSCM Program student to earn a dual degree through the Ross School and the School of Natural Resources and Environment. "There aren't many universities out there where you can have access to top schools and great resources in both subjects of your interest. Both the University of Michigan and Ross promote interdisciplinary approaches and encourage students to pursue this type of collaboration and study," she says. This allowed Amanda to focus her studies on the intersection of sustainability, business, engineering, supply chain, operations, manufacturing, and construction. When it was time to begin her job search, she was able to find a position that was just the right fit through one of Michigan Ross' many on-campus recruitment events. Looking back at her experience, Amanda is amazed by the strength and value of the Ross alumni network. "The program truly leverages the Ross community and their connections to create remarkable projects and opportunities, both during the MSCM Program and beyond," she says.
Shashank Kadetotad
Operations Manager
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Shashank chose Michigan Ross because of its reputation for exceptional operations faculty. "I knew I'd be learning from world-class professors," he says, "but the level of teaching at Ross is something I never could have imagined." In addition to his Tauber Institute project with General Motors Corp. in Germany, Shashank ranks Professor Izak Duenyas' "Manufacturing and Supply Operations" course as one of the highlights of his Michigan Ross experience. "Izak can explain extremely complex concepts in a matter of minutes. Plus, his sense of humor is out of this world." But in the end, it wasn't just the professors that left an impression on Shashank. "The admissions director obviously knows a lot about how to build a great class," he says. "My classmates' experience, diversity, and drive were incredible. I made lifelong friends." He has joined Amazon in an operations management role, which he landed through on-campus recruiting. Shashank says Ross Career Services was a great resource for resume tips and mock interviews, but he especially appreciated the career coaches' cultural insights. "In India, we don't engage in as much small talk, so learning how to connect with people in America is important, both for business and personal life."


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Red Meat
Michael R. Bloomberg, seriously misguided
According to an article in yesterday's edition of "The New York Times," Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, is supremely confident that if there's a God, he's going to heaven when he dies:
Mr. Bloomberg was introspective as he spoke, and seemed both restless and wistful. When he sat down for the interview, it was a few days before his 50th college reunion. His mortality has started dawning on him, at 72. And he admitted he was a bit taken aback by how many of his former classmates had been appearing in the "in memoriam" pages of his school newsletter.
But if he senses that he may not have as much time left as he would like, he has little doubt about what would await him at a Judgment Day. Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smoking cessation, he said with a grin: "I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I'm not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It's not even close."
The message of the gospel tells a different story. Rather than amassing a record and presenting it to God in order for Him to welcome us into heaven, Jesus amasses for us the only record God will accept (2 Cor 5:21). Every attempt to pad our resume with the good things we've done is reprehensible to the Father, flying in the face of the reality of the human condition (Rom 3:10) and spurning the precious gift of his Son for our salvation (Gal 2:21),
And yet, how often do we who confess to believe the gospel fall into a similar trap? We may not base our justification on our good works, but we so often smuggle into our justification our progress in sanctification in order to feel acceptable to God.
Before we (rightly) decry Mr. Bloomberg as seriously misguided, we need to grab a hold of the plank of our own waywardness and admit that at ground zero in our Christian lives, we subtly look for something apart from Jesus' finished work to find our own sense of "It's not even close."
So let us all repent. You and me and the former mayor. And then let's all rest in the good news that the only person for whom "it's not even close" has given himself to us forever.
Signs of Grace in the Twin Cities
I had a tremendous opportunity to share what God is doing here in the Twin Cities through this post at The Gospel Coalition.
Hope you're encouraged!
No Discovery Can Disillusion Him
A phenomenal word from J. I. Packer's classic, Knowing God:
There is tremendous relief in knowing that [the Father's] love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me....[F]or some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.
Sara's Story, written by Sara
I went into my freshman year at college with a plan to kill myself by Christmas break. I had excelled academically in high school and often reveled in my own sense of superiority. I wore black, I read existential literature, I had a lip ring. I was enlightened. More than anything I wanted to be tragic and important. I wanted to emulate the beauty that I had so often read about. I had a black hole inside of me that swallowed up anything and everyone around me. So that fall, instead of going to class, I woke up at noon and smoked pot in my dorm room. I ate mushrooms down by the river, and snorted cocaine and drank until I vomited through my nose.
When I came home for Thanksgiving, my stepsister noticed that I had lost a considerable amount of weight. She told my father, and he came down to the Twin Cities the following week and brought me home to Duluth where I was put into outpatient rehab.
After two months I convinced my parents that I was well enough to return to school for spring semester. And I did a little better. I attended one class, a creative writing course in which there was a boy on whom I had a crush. But I continued to do drugs and flunked or withdrew from the rest of my classes. At the end of the semester I moved into a rundown apartment in Stevens Square with my best friend and fully embraced the bohemian, hipster lifestyle. I did drink and apps in Uptown, I shoplifted designer dresses from Macy's, and supported my drug habit by becoming a stripper.
In February of 2007, one of my friends from the strip club invited me to go with her to a house in Uptown because she had a crush on one of the six boys who lived there. These boys all came from good, upper-middle class suburban homes and they, like me, had shunned their privileged upbringing to adopt the same drug-addled existence that I had. They had covered the walls of their house with obscene artwork and profane graffiti. The floor was littered with empty booze bottles and cigarette butts, and their eight cats had literally taken over the basement making that portion of the house unlivable. They called it "the Beatstreet." My girlfriend and I called it, "the Dumpster." It was essentially a crack house. And that is where I met my husband, Trent.
He was one of the six original Dumpster kids. The two of us made an instant connection, and from the day we met, we spent every moment, both waking and sleeping, together. We talked, we laughed, and we did drugs together. For the first time in two years, I felt like the world wasn't spinning out of control. And for the first time, I felt loved. I was a mess, but he didn't care. And that - that made me care for the first time about my own life. I quit stripping, I got a real job.
He and I moved into a cockroach-infested apartment on the corner of Franklin and Nicollet together. One night, after a long evening of pills and booze, we had a terrible fight that ended with him threatening to leave. I stood there in the middle of the trash heap that was our studio apartment and began to cry. I begged him not to go, not to leave me alone in the mess. I wept and wept. Then, out of nowhere, he asked if it was alright if we prayed together. I had never prayed or even believed in prayer but was so desperate. He held me and we prayed. I felt a little better, calmer at least.
We packed a change of clothes in a pillowcase and left the apartment. We got on the light rail and ended up homeless at Minnehaha Falls. We couldn't afford a hotel room so Trent called his parents, whose house he had been kicked out of prior to moving into the Beatstreet. He told them that I, his girlfriend (they didn't know we lived together) had been unwittingly duped into renting a cockroach-infested hole and asked them if I could stay with them while I looked for a new place to live. They agreed, and more than that, they also invited Trent back into their home so I wouldn't feel awkward, having only met them once before. They were very right wing, uptight, Republican types, everything that I was so obviously not. They had us sleep on separate floors and helped me to find a new apartment in Richfield.
So, Trent and I moved to the suburbs, stopped doing hard drugs at least, and were engaged by Christmas. We were married the following June and pregnant by July. And I, I was terrified. I wanted so badly for the baby to be a boy because I felt that I could never properly raise a girl, as I had been so very lost.
The following March, we had a beautiful baby daughter, and I was frozen with fear. I knew that I could only serve to screw her up, a fear that was reinforced by her colic. I suffered from post-partum depression, and Trent and I began to grow apart. A few years later, I became pregnant with my second child and the gap between us widened. We no longer found solace in each other, and our relationship became damaging for both of us. We fought all the time.
After one particular incident, I broke down to my mother-in-law and confessed the realities of our present and our past, including what I had done for a living back when Trent and I first met. She asked me to go to Bible Study Fellowship with her. Nothing else I had tried had worked so far, so I decided to go. They were studying Genesis. So I took my leftist liberal ideology and "out there" insights to the super uptight Edina ladies' Tuesday morning Bible study expecting to be met with much criticism and condemnation. But something surprising happened. I wasn't ostracized, I was listened to. They considered my opinions and treated me with the utmost respect even though I had treated them with very little.
And then something even more surprising happened, I began to listen to them. I still didn't believe what they believed but I respected them and I heard them. Trent and I also started to make headway by going to marriage counseling. Our relationship was still contentious, but we were again calmer. We started to hate each other less and less.
And then, one day, my in-laws asked to take us to church (they would have to because we didn't have a car). But we didn't like their church, so Trent suggested his brother's church, Redeemer Bible Church. And we came. We came and I still wasn't convinced. I enjoyed the story of the Bible, I saw what its narrative could do for people on an emotional as well as psychological level, but it didn't do that for me. Nevertheless, I began reading the Bible. I thought, "I understand all the literary nuances I'm able great observations, but I can't feel it; I don't feel it." I worried that maybe I wasn't chosen, that my mind just didn't work that way, that I was incapable of simple faith.
But I loved the Word just the same. I found it profoundly beautiful. I didn't have the gift of grace, but I had other gifts and I embraced them. I embraced my logical mind and quizzical nature and reveled in my cognitive approach to the Bible. Maybe I didn't believe that Jesus was the son of God, but I was moved by the story just the same and appreciated its significance.
And then, something miraculous and inexplicable happen. I was chosen. It was instantaneous and without cause. I believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and only God could have given that to me. I had tried long and hard and still simply could not believe until I could. It was nothing I did or didn't do; I just woke up one day and awoke. And it makes me want to cry. I feel so unworthy but so loved and so grateful.
And that's how I became a Christian, all of it really. God came to me before I even knew He existed. He spoke my language - he spoke arrogant, hipster, douche bag to me - the only language at the time that I spoke. He sent me my parents and my step-sister, he sent me Trent, he sent me my in-laws, he sent me my girls, he sent the BSF ladies, he sent me his Son. He gave my life a story from which I was able to acquire the learned skill of love so that I might come to understand the love he had for me the whole time.
No Finer Ambassador
The Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig, had this to say about Derek Jeter, who announced that he would retire at the end of the 2014 season:
In 21-plus years in which I have served as Commissioner, Major League Baseball has had no finer ambassador than Derek Jeter.
What a commendation!
Of course, every Christian is an ambassador, too: "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20).
May each of us strive for the commendation of being no finer ambassador for the Christian faith: "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matt 25:21).
Seven Goals for Youth Ministry
Here's a vision of seven characteristics we're aiming to develop in our church's students in Grades 7-12:
- They have a working knowledge of the essentials of the gospel, the contents of the Bible, the basics of theology, and the nature of the Christian life.
- They have a maturing personal relationship with Jesus as evidenced by a rich life of private worship (prayer and meditation on Scripture).
- They are critical Christian thinkers, running all the areas of human knowledge and enquiry through the grid of a Reformed worldview.
- They have maturing relationships with the members of their immediate family, relating to their parents more and more as brothers and sisters in Christ and seeking to love their siblings well, pointing them to the cross.
- They have a growing concern for their friends who aren't yet Christians and with humble boldness and joy actively seek to share the gospel with them.
- They serve in the local church in ways that complement rather than conflict with the realities of student life.
- They are just plain fun to be around because the gospel has made them normal, engaging, interesting, and interested in other people's lives.
Only Two Pastoral Problems
Paraphrasing the Puritan, John Owen from his book, A Treatise of the Dominion of Sin and Grace, Sinclair Ferguson says,
There are actually only ever two pastoral problems you will ever encounter. The first is this: persuading those who are under the dominion of sin that they are under the dominion of sin. That's the task of evangelism. And [second], persuading those who are no longer under the dominion of sin that they are no longer under the dominion of sin because they're Christ's.
Saved by Pastoring
I've been a pastor almost 19 years, and for 15 of those years I had been deeply troubled by the truth that I believed I needed the pastorate to stay on the straight and narrow. I'm such a weak person that I felt I couldn't survive as a Christian outside of the work of the local church.
My trouble over this came from remarks by men I respect to the effect that if my spiritual life would be weakened apart from pastoral ministry, I should reconsider whether or not I had been called to the office. But then I heard 1 Tim 4:16 with fresh ears:
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
What this means is that every pastor - not only me, but every pastor - is saved by his pastoring. What a relief! The fact that the Lord has called me to this work means that I need this work for my sanctification. It's one of the many reasons it's so important. We aren't just saving our hearers; we're saving ourselves.
Rescue Can Be Painful
The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, "You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves" (Exod 5:6-7).
But wait a second! Didn't God say that he was going to rescue his people from the Egyptians? Yes, he did:
The LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exod 3:7-8).
What happens in Exodus 5 doesn't seem as if the Israelites' redemption is moving forward; it seems like it's moving backward. But it's not. This is how God is going to rescue them – by hardening Pharaoh's heart and multiplying his miracles in the land of Egypt.
This is very instructive for us. We ask the Lord to rescue us and because of what Jesus has done, our daily rescue is certain. But often (can I say often?) the Lord's rescue is not the rescue of relief, but the rescue of refinement, as Paul Tripp would say. It's God's stormy grace.
Six Wonderful Truths Worth Celebrating
At the heart of Christianity is an exchange of records.
You bring your record to God (complete with all your sin and failure and guilt and shame and regret, along with your morality and religiosity), and in exchange, God gives you Jesus' flawless record in its place, which is all yours simply by trusting in Christ alone. This is the only ground of acceptance with God. Either you bring him Christ's record or you are rejected forever.
Martin Luther has famously called this "a wonderful exchange":
[T]his is that mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: [where], by a wonderful exchange, our sins are no longer ours but Christ's: and the righteousness of Christ is ours. He has imparted that [righteousness to] us, that he might clothe us with it, and fill us with it: and he has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them….[N]ow, the righteousness of Christ is…ours objectively…and so, our sins are…Christ's objectively….For in the same manner [that] he grieved and suffered in our sins...we rejoice and glory in his righteousness.
This marvelous paragraph contains at least six truths:
- Your sins are no longer yours. They don't even belong to you any more. They belong to Christ. And not just yesterday's sins; tomorrow's, too.
- Jesus' righteousness is yours. Your record is Jesus' record credited in your name. He has imparted it to you. Given it to you as a gift, something you didn't lift a finger for. So it's not just that your sins aren't yours any more; it's that what IS yours is Christ's perfectly lived life! And he's given you his life in a certain way…
- You are clothed in Jesus' righteousness. It covers you completely. It's wrapped around you like a blanket.
- You are filled with Jesus' righteousness. It's not only outside of you, covering you completely, but it's also inside of you, filling up your entire life.
- The wonderful exchange is objective. Your sin is Christ's objectively. His righteousness is yours objectively, which means that it's true whether you feel it or not. You may have woken up this morning suspicious of yourself, condemning yourself, "Who are you to go to church today?" "You're hung over." Or, "You just had a knock-down-drag-out with your wife." Or, "You just told your daughter you wish she'd never been born." So you wonder: "Can God accept me? Will he?" And you wonder because your behavior makes you feel so unacceptable. What do you do with this? You remember that the wonderful exchange is objective. Therefore, it doesn't matter whether or not or how much you feel accepted, you're objectively accepted because your sin isn't yours any more. It's Christ's. Objectively! And his righteousness is yours, too. The only righteousness that God does accept is objectively yours. And so…
- Your celebration over what God has done for you can be as high as Jesus' sadness was low when he suffered and died for your sins. The truth of the wonderful exchange leads to celebration. And no wonder. Nothing is more worth celebrating than the wonderful exchange of the gospel.