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Thursday, March 24, 2011
March27, Lent 3, The Keys of the Kingdom: Opening Your Heart
Note: This is from the Tiffany window at Old First. Photo by Jane Barber.
Exodus 17:1-7, Psalm 95, Romans 5:1-11, John 4:5-42
I spent my childhood here in Brooklyn, but I was born in Paterson, New Jersey. All my relatives lived in the Paterson suburbs. My uncle Bert lived in Prospect Park, which was Protestant and Republican, and where you got a ticket if you washed your car on Sunday. My aunt Jo lived in Midland Park — also Protestant and Republican. My aunt Betty lived in Haledon — Catholic and Democrat. The joke was that Prospect Park was Judea, Midland Park was Galilee, and Haledon was Samaria.
It was sort of fitting that my aunt Betty lived in Haledon, because she was the sister who was more or less the wild one. She was pretty, and I get the impression she was "hot". She always had boyfriends, and not from church. My mom remembers she dated a rich guy with a convertible. And then she went and married a Catholic. She was even active as a Democrat.
And she had a key. She had a key to the Haledon spring, on Tilt Street. The boro of Haledon had a natural spring of running water, what the ancients called "living water." This was good, because the Paterson tap water was so bad. The boro had enclosed it so that you couldn't get at it without the special key. I don't know who got those keys, maybe only to Democrats, but my aunt Betty had one. So my relatives would bring her their empty bottles and she'd go and fill them up, but not too often to get in trouble.
It was to the benefit of the Samaritan woman's neighbors that a fountain started welling up in her, and Jesus had the key that opened up her heart. The fountain flows out of her when she tells the villagers to "Come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did." But he had only said one thing about her life, just that embarrassing comment about her five ex-husbands and her current boyfriend. She had quickly diverted the conversation away from herself, and they talked theology, and about his mission, and his being the Messiah.
But that's what seems to have opened her up. And like a geyser the whole truth of her life rose up inside her, into her own mind and soul, at least. He did not have to tell her much to tell her everything. He just used his key. Her life rose up in her, and poured out to her neighbors.
We are not told her name. But she's one of the five women in the Gospel of John who are a big part of the story. She, and Martha, and three Mary's: Mary his mother, at the wedding in Cana and then at the cross; Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha, and also of Lazarus, who was raised from the dead; and Mary Magdalene, who on Easter Day met Jesus in the Garden, whom the later tradition suggests had been a prostitute, although the Bible itself never says that.
This Woman-at-the-Well seems more like Mary Magdalene than Jesus' mother. But she is like the Virgin Mary in her giving birth to a new life that has been conceived in her by the Holy Spirit. She is a model for all of you. For you to be a Christian is for you to give birth to the new you whom the Holy Spirit has conceived in you. Yes, you are you, but you also are another you, the new you in the old you, your new nature conceived in the womb of your old nature by the Holy Spirit and being born again. Each one of you is a Virgin Mary, even if the world regards you as a Mary Magdalene or a Samaritan.
Jesus does not require that you deny your past nor does he help you to escape it. Your old nature lives on in you. But he frees you from the guilt and power of your past and from the grip of your old nature, and the Holy Spirit makes your old nature the virgin mother of your new nature. All your sin and your pain and your frustration and mistakes and loneliness and suffering are give birth to your character and your hope and your love. Not the stagnant kinds of love you thought you had to accept, but God's love, poured into your heart and overflowing out.
She had tried to love, too much, and in her frustration she had given up, and her current man was a lover only physically. The sign of her frustration is her coming to the well alone, at noon, not sociably in the morning with the other women. She was not respectable.
This is the well of Jacob — Jacob who came as a stranger to a well and asked a woman for a drink and then it got romantic. She knows that story. And here is this strange Jewish guy who is crossing all the social boundaries, who wants to put his lips upon her jug, and she thinks, "the story of my life." She doesn't serve him silently, she engages him. Not done. They engage in what the social rules regarded as flirtation, and the disciples are embarrassed by. But her flagrant openness allows her to run back to her village and shamelessly tell her neighbors to "come and meet a man who told me everything I ever did." "But we already have a good idea of everything you ever did!" How close to the old self is the new self.
Your two natures always come together and they are both in everything. They are as distinct as life and death but they also are as inseparable as life and death. Don't look at yourself and say, "that good thing I did there was my new nature, and that bad thing there was my old nature." There are both of you in everything, no matter which of the two is at the moment in control. So you have to believe in the new one. I said last week you have to believe both in Jesus as the Messiah and in your own new life, because the old one has the evidence. Believe in it and go with it. The villagers believed in her and went with her, they could sense new water rising up in her.
What's the key? Is it the truth, the truth that Jesus tells about himself, as the Messiah, and the truth about herself? She only gave him a half-truth when he told her to go get her husband, but he responded with the whole truth. That's when she diverted the conversation to theology. Jesus patiently goes with her, respecting her but still engaging her. He does not judge her to condemn her, but as he talks about his mission she can sense the judgment in his words. He talks about "spirit and truth." Energy and solidity. Vitality and fidelity. Movement and commitment. Novelty and faithfulness. These are her issues. She understands herself. She thinks, "the story of my life," but now in hope instead of resignation. His talk about himself is what unlocks her.
I think the truth is only the teeth on the key, I think the key itself is love. He loves her. Not like other men have loved her, for her attractiveness, because she was hot, because she was loose, because they could take from her. He loves her only to give to her. He loves her only to give her back to herself. He loves her "in spirit", with his energy, and he treats her with honor and fidelity, he loves her "in truth". The deepest truth of all is that he loves her. People tell the truth in love, but the deepest truth is the love, the deepest truth about the world is the love of God for the world and for everyone of you within it, no matter how Jesus finds you at the well. That's a take home: the deepest truth about yourself is the love God has for you. Whatever else you say about yourself when you talk about yourself, the deepest truth about you is the love of God for you.
So back to my aunt Betty. When I was a teenager my brother and I lived in her house for a while. We needed a place to stay, and she took us in. I came to learn her generosity, her sense of humor, her candor and her openness, how direct she was and without pretense, and how unlike everyone else in our family she was not always judging everybody all the time. I learned the other side of her. I came to love her. Later on she became of member of the very conservative church in which she had grown up, which meant she had to forgive them of all their years of judging her. She had to believe in her own life. I am so proud of her. She's an example of what St. Paul says, that suffering produces endurance, and endurance character, and character hope, and hope does not disappoint us, for God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Copyright © 2011, by Daniel James Meeter, all rights reserved.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
March 20, Lent 2; The Keys of the Kingdom: Opening the Border
Genesis 12:1-4a, Psalm 121, Romans 4:1-5, 13-17, John 3:1-17
I want you to use your imagination. Imagine that on a clear day, you're high up in the air, and you're looking out over a great wide landscape, of farms and roads and villages and a city or two. But there you see a round valley, maybe a couple miles across, not very deep, a shallow depression in the landscape. The valley has its own towns and farms and such. Then notice there's the circle of a wall around it, just below the rim of the valley, and the wall is just high enough to block the sight from inside of the land outside.
You zoom in closer. You notice that the wall is painted with scenery, lifelike, like a movie set, so that it doesn't look like a wall, but like you're looking out into the wider world. Imagine now that you were born in this valley and that you live in it. It's all you know. You can't see the world outside. In the wall there is a single gate. And in the gate there is an iron door. The door is locked. You cannot open it. You do not have a key. You are locked inside this valley, this depression, although you are so used to it you think it's all the world. You have never seen the great outside, you cannot even imagine it.
The world outside is the Kingdom of God. Jesus says, "You cannot enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit." What does that mean, "born of water and the spirit?" Jesus says, "You cannot even see the Kingdom of God without being born from above?" What does that mean, "born from above"? Or does Jesus mean "born again"? His Greek words are ambiguous, they could mean "born from above," or "born again." Either way, what does he mean? He speaks in puzzling metaphors.
Nicodemus cannot track what Jesus means. After his third question he falls silent, like he can't stay in the conversation. What could Jesus mean? Even for us, it takes the whole remainder of the gospel of John to track what Jesus says, because Jesus will work on these metaphors all the way through chapter 21.
I can tell you this. The Kingdom of God is right here, it's not a far off country, which you have to journey far to go to, like Abram had to do. The Kingdom of God is not distant up in heaven or far off in the future, that you have to die first to get there. The Kingdom of God is right here, all around us, only you can't see it from the perspective of the world, which is all closed in on itself. You can't see it unless you are already out in it You have to enter it to see it, and you have to be born again to enter it.
Nicodemus was looking for it but he couldn't see it. He spend his whole life working for it but he could not enter it. Nicodemus was a scholar and a politician, and a member of the council of Judea. His political party was the Pharisees, which, like most Middle Eastern political parties, was both political and theological. The Pharisees were looking for the political restoration of the Kingdom of God in Judea, and the removal of the Romans. The Pharisees believed that the Romans were in power because God was angry at the Judeans and therefore had abandoned them. The Pharisees believed that the way to get God to forgive them and come back was for every last Judean to be scrupulously righteous, which perfect righteousness would win them God's forgiveness, and bring God back, and the Messiah would come and kick the Romans out like David did to Philistines, and take the throne David, and the Glory would come back to the Temple and the Kingdom of God would be reality.
But the political party in power was the Sadducees, and they were in the way. The Sadducees were the limousine liberals. They controlled the temple and had worked it out with the Romans. The Pharisees hated the Sadducees. So when Nicodemus saw Jesus cleanse the Temple, which is in the previous chapter of John, which was an insult to the Sadducees, Nicodemus thinks it's time to go under cover of the night and make an alliance with this new guy.
He's diplomatic in his opening, and Jesus comes back at him like this. "You want the Kingdom of God? You don't even know what you're looking at. You couldn't even enter it, you of all people who assume you have the right to it, just by virtue of your birth. Nope, you'd have to be born all over again." Jesus is saying that the issue is not the Sadducees or the Romans, the issue is yourself, Nicodemus. The Kingdom of God is already here, indeed, it's sitting right across from you, only you can't see it, the Kingdom of God is already here, only you can't enter it, unless you deal with the issue of yourself.
So what's the key, and what's the gate, and what's the wall? The wall is inside you. The border of the Kingdom of God is inside you. It's not out there. The Kingdom of God reaches into you, but you have a wall against it, a wall that's built of fear, like all encircling walls. So what are you afraid of? You do have much to be afraid of. If you look at the scenery on your wall, you can see what you're afraid of. What people might do to you, based on your real experience. The dangers out there you are painfully aware of. Or how you might end up if things go on like this. The mistakes you've made that you might repeat, the mistakes that you are paying for.
The gate is guilt, a bastion of great strength, which we have talked about at other times. And the iron door is unbelief. And the key, the key is belief, according to John 3:15&16. But unbelief is closer and tighter and safer and easier. But your belief will open the iron door into the world, the whole world, which is your proper inheritance, according to Romans 4:13, the whole world as the territory of the Kingdom of God.
So what's belief? What is it to believe? Well, you can believe in Jesus as the Messiah, and the kind of life he offers. Start there. And you can believe in the promises of God he offers, the promises we summarize in the Apostles Creed. We often say that we believe the Apostles Creed, but actually the Creed is a shortcut. It's the promises of God we believe in, of which the Creed is the summary. Here's a take home. If someone asks you, what do Christian believe in? You can say, we believe in the promises of God which Jesus has offered us. What Christians believe in is the promises of God that Jesus offers us. If you ask me what I believe, I can say that it's not in ideas about God but promises from God which Jesus has conveyed to us. The key is belief, and the lock is the promises, and when the door swings open it lets you out to find your place in the world.
You can also believe in something about yourself. You can believe there is another you. There's the you that lives on one side of the wall and the you that lives on the other. When you are baptized you become a dual citizen, it's like being born again in another country, so that you are a citizen there as well. And you have to grow up into it, and it takes time. It's not like you immigrated into it as an adult, but that you came into it like a newborn baby, and you have to learn it from the ground up like a child.
You know the old you, you know it so well, and, for all the grief you cause yourself, you love yourself. You don't know the new you near as well, but you can believe in it, you can believe the promise that the Holy Spirit has given birth to it in you. You can live into your new self, even as your old self is still with you. And you can even love that old self, that old troubling self. You regard your old and sinful self not in hatred but in love. Because the kind of people who live out there in the Kingdom of God are people who have learned to love even the unlovely, as God so loved the world.
Copyright © 2011, by Daniel James Meeter, all rights reserved.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Lent 1, March 13: The Keys of the Kingdom: Unlocking Satan's Riddles
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 83.
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7, Psalm 32, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11
The serpent in the garden is not evil by nature. The serpent is innocent until we give it power, until we believe it. The serpent gives voice to the attraction of the world, to the allure of nature, to the mystique of our desires and the seduction of our potentials. Our appetites distract us from the special devotion of our species to God, our flesh diverts us from the obedience to God which comes with the special station of Homo sapiens on the earth. The voice confuses good and evil. The voice makes a riddle of our meaning in the world and of our relationship to God.
The Genesis story is always true. It's a paradigm story, we repeat it all the time. In the Garden the voice was a serpent, today it is the good life, or economic growth, or the best for our children, whatever. It is attractive and reasonable. It never actually lies; it just never tells the whole truth. It speaks for the wisdom of the world, and for the certainties of experience, and for social science in the expertise of its small capacity. You can never answer this voice from within the world. The Genesis story is always true: from our life within the world we keep failing to solve the riddles of our existence and the riddle of good and evil. The only way to solve these riddles is from a perspective from outside the world but which still includes it, the perspective of the Kingdom of Heaven. The keys of the Kingdom unlock the riddles of good and evil in the world.
Our gospel lesson takes place just after Jesus' baptism, just after he heard the voice from heaven call him the Son of God. That title confirmed him as the Messiah, the heir of David, the rightful King of the Jews in whose reign the Living God would come again and dwell with them. Okay, so now what? Do it like David? Like Alexander the Great? Solomon began his reign by going on retreat to a lovely place to seek the will of God. Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray. More like Moses and Elijah.
His temptations are not three easy choices. The hardest temptations are not the ones to do what's clearly evil, but to choose the wrong good, which might be good by other rules. The devil dares him, "If you're the Son of God, then act like it. Shouldn't you be doing miracles? Back in the Exodus, didn't your Father make bread in the wilderness? If you saw 5000 hungry people and you had on hand only five loaves and two fishes, wouldn't you do a miracle?" Your followers will pray to you for help when they are suffering. Wouldn't you use your power to help them?
Jesus is determining the policies of his Kingdom. Yes, he will do miracles but not to save himself or win his people's loyalty. He will prove himself in the world not by breaking the laws of nature but by simple obedience, by faithfulness to the Word of God, even at great cost. Jesus' perfection is a moral perfection—not in being a superman or invulnerable, but in his faithfulness to the Word of God. He believes that the Word of God is the moral diet of ordinary human beings. That's the first key of his kingdom, the key that is the word of God, which opens many riddles in the world, by which we know what's good and evil in the world, which opens the mysteries of our own lives and our experience.
But opening this riddle leads right to another. Satan says, "Oh, 'every' word of God? Well, how about this one: it is written, 'He will give his angels charge of you.' Live by that word, Jesus, abandon yourself to God's incredible promises, I dare you. Why aren't you jumping? Do you doubt the promise of your Father to rescue you?" Where is your God? Where is your faith?
The riddle uses scripture, but it's a trick. This is not a true-to-life example of how we have to put our trust in God. It's not for getting rescued whenever we're in a scrape or for having a nice and easy life. To use our tie with God to play with God for a comfort of our own is "tempting God," as Jesus calls it here. The special care of God for us is for the purpose of enhancing our mission. God's special care for us is our incentive to risk a life of love and service, which love and service will probably lead to what, from the perspective of the world, might look like an increase in our suffering. The purpose of God's special care for us is to get us through the suffering that comes with our mission, not to keep us comfortable.
Jesus does not accept this dare, this artificial test. But three years later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he will pass an even harder test in this same subject. He will take the test upon the cross, he will have to enter the cold, dark door of death as if it's his Father's warm and loving care. He will trust in a silent and distant God without resorting to the supernatural. He will submit to all that we endure, and he will ask no miracle of God to free him from the burden of ordinary human existence. Because he has a key—the key that God's will for us contains God's care for us, and that God's care for us does not exempt us from the realities of our humanity, but gets us through the realities of our humanity for the sake of our mission and to do God's will.
Unlocking the second riddle leads you to the third. "Okay, so you're not going to resort to any special power, you're going to accept your limitations and be righteous within them. That means you're going to lose. Our side has the power, we are in control. We will beat you, we will bury you. So be realistic and make your peace with the powers of the world. I'll even make you Number Two, I'll let you run the whole thing. You can save your people just like Joseph did in Egypt when he was Number Two. It's Biblical. I'll be Pharaoh, you be Joseph."
The voice that every single politician listens to. The voice of the powers and principalities that tell you they control the world. In the Bible, the devil is not a voice from hell, he doesn't even live in hell (that will be the place of his punishment). The devil dwells on the surface of the ground, like the serpent in the Garden, but the original innocence of the serpent has been corrupted by all the human evil since Adam.
The voice now has the pride of its misery, it has sophisticated doubt and well-developed deconstruction, it has angry ingenuity and bitter independence. It seems more real, while obedience is less glamourous, less heroic, less cool. It feels that way to me. I don't want to be out of it with the world. I want to fit in. I want to enjoy it, I want to be included.
The third key is to worship God. To honor God and pledge to God your absolute loyalty, to confess your other loyalties and be released from them. The worship of God is not just praise, but also the of confession and absolution. This key unlocks so much. Because you have riddles in your life that Adam did not have, the riddle of your guilt, the problem we hold up high in Lent. Look, we have just read the Sermon on the Mount, and heard the teachings of Jesus, and we've had described the way of life that we must live inside the Kingdom of Heaven, and we recognize that we fall short, and we confess our guilt. And even by the standards of the ordinary world you feel your guilt. Your guilt and frustration can drive you to even greater doubt and unbelief than if you'd never heard of God. The voice of the serpent is most powerful when it reminds you of the truth of your guilt, as the problem you cannot solve. But it's not the whole truth.
The whole truth is only known from the news that comes beyond the world, the good news that Jesus not only taught us but also suffered for our redemption and forgiveness. The weekly promise of the gospel is the theme of our worship, the key that unlocks this riddle to open the mystery of grace in our own lives, the mystery of Christ in our place, the mystery of lavish love, the mystery of the world that finds its meaning and its truth in the love of God which overcomes the world.
Copyright © 2011, by Daniel James Meeter, all rights reserved.
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HP showed the strongest growth among the top six vendors, as its global PC shipments increased 6.5 percent in the first quarter of 2017. HP's shipments grew in all regions, and it did especially well in the U.S. market, where it had a 15.9 percent increase in PC shipments (see Table 2).
Dell has achieved four consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth. It had PC shipment increases in all regions except the U.S. Dell enhanced its channel program and expanded its share in the large-enterprise market.
The PC industry is also experiencing a price increase. Over two years ago, the price hike was attributed to the local currency deterioration against the U.S. dollar. This time around, the price hike is due to a component shortage.
"DRAM prices have doubled since the middle of 2016, and SSD has been in short supply as well," Ms. Kitagawa said. "The price hike will suppress PC demand even further in the consumer market, discouraging buyers away from PC purchases unless it is absolutely necessary. The price hike started affecting the market in 1Q17. This issue will grow into a much bigger problem in 2Q17, and we expect it to continue throughout 2017."
In the U.S., PC shipments totaled 12.3 million units in the first quarter of 2017, a 2.4 percent decline from the first quarter of 2016. The U.S. market has experienced a modest decline for two quarters. Much of the decline is attributed to the weak consumer market.

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Hi all, http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/HTML/2006-04-24-rdfa-primer is the current draft of the RDFa Primer. Yes, I'm trying "RDFa" on for size :) The usual disclaimer applies: this document has no formal standing within W3C and is subject change at any time. Important changes to note: 1) the Abstract is new. 2) Section 2 is entirely rewritten, thanks to a very productive offline discussion with MarkB (and a suggestion due also to DanC). In particular, we stay away from the URI ambiguity issues by using vocabularies (iCal and vCard) that are less people-oriented. This also seems like the right way to show people the power of RDFa: there are interesting, natural things to share in current web pages, like events and contact information, that RDFa can address quite well. 3) Section 3 and 4 are mostly unchanged, except for the dc:creator issue. From looking at the Dublin Core documentation, it seems that dc:creator should be a literal. So I made it a literal, and changed rel="dc:creator" to property="dc:creator". Of course, it's currently an XMLLiteral, so there may be some remaining issue to address here. Note that I have *not* addressed Alistair's comment that a XHTML fragment cannot also be a physical resource. Like Mark, Jeremy, and Pat, I believe an XHTML fragment *can* also be a camera or a person. I'm sure we'll face opposition on this problem, but this goes to the core of whether XHTML can be a first-class serialization of RDF. If it can't, it seems to me that the Semantic Web and the Clickable Web are hopelessly disjoint, and we've got a problem bigger than this task force. 4) Section 5 (and eventually additional sections) will dig into specific vocabularies, like FOAF, geoURL, etc... for readers who are particularly interested in these specific vocabularies. So far, they're not written up, and will likely be written up in WD #3 (next WG....) Note that I have not had time to address all comments by reviewers. I'm going to try to do that over the next 2-3 days. If you catch something specific, let me know ASAP. -BenReceived on Saturday, 22 April 2006 16:14:30 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Tuesday, 6 January 2015 21:50:20 UTC


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Amazing New Chardonnay from Lammastide – Just $12.99
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Eastgate House has undergone an extensive refurbishment and now provides modern office accommodation with excellent amenities including an onsite gym and coffee shop.
Already home to established office occupiers including Cardiff University, Royal College of Midwives and the Secretary of State.
Eastgate House offers occupiers flexible office premises with convenient access to public transport links and the city centre amenities.


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e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
e-mail: email@example.com of Mechanical Engineering,Stanford University,Durand Building 061,496 Lomita Mall,Stanford, CA 94305-4308
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com of Mechanical Engineering,Stanford University,Durand Building 061,496 Lomita Mall,Stanford, CA 94305-4308;Center for Tissue Regeneration,Repair, and Restoration,Veterans Administration Hospital,3801 Miranda Avenue,Palo Alto, CA 94304-1207
Department of Mechanical Engineering,Stanford University,Durand Building 227,496 Lomita Mall,Stanford, CA 94305-4308;Center for Tissue Regeneration,Repair, and Restoration,Veterans Administration Hospital,3801 Miranda Avenue,Palo Alto, CA 94304-1207;Department of Orthopedic Surgery,Stanford University,Durand Building 227,496 Lomita Mall,Stanford, CA 94305-4308,e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Contributed by the Bioengineering Division of ASME for publication in the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering. Manuscript received December 7, 2012; final manuscript received May 16, 2013; accepted manuscript posted May 22, 2013; published online September 13, 2013. Assoc. Editor: Tammy Haut Donahue.
Measures of mean cartilage thickness over predefined regions in the femoral plate using magnetic resonance imaging have provided important insights into the characteristics of knee osteoarthritis (OA), however, this quantification method suffers from the limited ability to detect OA-related differences between knees and loses potentially important information regarding spatial variations in cartilage thickness. The objectives of this study were to develop a new method for analyzing patterns of femoral cartilage thickness and to test the following hypotheses: (1) asymptomatic knees have similar thickness patterns, (2) thickness patterns differ with knee OA, and (3) thickness patterns are more sensitive than mean thicknesses to differences between OA conditions. Bi-orthogonal thickness patterns were extracted from thickness maps of segmented magnetic resonance images in the medial, lateral, and trochlea compartments. Fifty asymptomatic knees were used to develop the method and establish reference asymptomatic patterns. Another subgroup of 20 asymptomatic knees and three subgroups of 20 OA knees each with a Kellgren/Lawrence grade (KLG) of 1, 2, and 3, respectively, were selected for hypotheses testing. The thickness patterns were similar between asymptomatic knees (coefficient of multiple determination between 0.8 and 0.9). The thickness pattern alterations, i.e., the differences between the thickness patterns of an individual knee and reference asymptomatic thickness patterns, increased with increasing OA severity (Kendall correlation between 0.23 and 0.47) and KLG 2 and 3 knees had significantly larger thickness pattern alterations than asymptomatic knees in the three compartments. On average, the number of significant differences detected between the four subgroups was 4.5 times greater with thickness pattern alterations than mean thicknesses. The increase was particularly marked in the medial compartment, where the number of significant differences between subgroups was 10 times greater with thickness pattern alterations than mean thickness measurements. Asymptomatic knees had characteristic regional thickness patterns and these patterns were different in medial OA knees. Assessing the thickness patterns, which account for the spatial variations in cartilage thickness and capture both cartilage thinning and swelling, could enhance the capacity to detect OA-related differences between knees.
Illustration of the method used to build the thickness map based MR images. (a) Segmentation of one MR image (solid line) and results from the segmentation of more medial images (dashed lines; 1 slice out of 6 is displayed). (b) Reconstruction of the three-dimensional cartilage model. The plane corresponding to the image segmented in (a) is indicated by a solid line. (c) Thickness map for the bone-cartilage layer. Again, the plane corresponding to the image segmented in (a) is indicated by a solid line.
(a) Thickness map with superposition of the cylinder fit used to define the coordinate system. (b) Example of thickness cut extraction around a point located 60 deg posterior to the notch and at 25% of the medial-lateral width.
Illustration of the thickness cut extraction method. (a) The algorithm searches for the point within the search regions which provides thickness cuts that best match reference thickness cuts. (b) Thickness cuts for the best-matching points in the thickness map displayed in (a) and the reference asymptomatic thickness cuts (obtained with the training dataset) used for the searches.
Description of the sizes of the thickness cuts and the search regions as determined after the training phase. It is important to note that the best-matching points are located at the center of the search regions in this figure, but that these points can actually be anywhere in the search regions, depending on the individual thickness shape of the knee under analysis. It should also be noted that the search regions agree with the regions of thicker cartilage described in prior studies [20-22].
Decomposition of a thickness cut into its relative (zero-mean) pattern and its mean value
Illustration of the "thickness pattern alteration" (Δtp) metric used to evaluate the similarity between the thickness pattern of an individual knee and the corresponding asymptomatic reference thickness pattern. As depicted in the right plot, Δtp is sensitive to local cartilage thinning and/or thickening that modify the form of the thickness pattern. Note that global cartilage thinning or thickening (i.e., changes in the mean value of the thickness cut) does not affect Δtp.
Illustration of the regions used for the secondary mean thickness measurements. (a) Ovoid regions defined by the size of the bi-orthogonal cuts and centered on the individual best-matching points. (b) A set of eight standard regions of interest [9].
Thickness patterns for the four subgroups in the analysis dataset (n = 20 knees per subgroup). Each graph displays the average (black line) ± one standard deviation (gray area) of a subgroup along with the coefficients of multiple determination (CMD) for the subgroup. For comparison, the reference asymptomatic thickness patterns (obtained with the training dataset) are presented using a blue dashed line.
Box plots of the thickness pattern alterations (Δtp) for the four subgroups in the analysis dataset. The bars at the top of the boxes indicate significant differences between the subgroups (p < 0.008). The values at the top of the graphs correspond to the Kendall correlation coefficients (τ); the following symbols indicate significant correlations (¶: p < 0.01, ¶¶: p < 0.001, ¶¶¶: p < 0.0001).
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text:
Want To Ski In Your Climbing Boots? Alp Control Might Be Ticket
Colin Samuels, photographer and all-around denizen of La Grave in France, sent me an email about an interesting innovation that's now reaching a somewhat mature state of design. Colin is friends with pioneer extreme skier Anselme Baud, who recently returned from a Cho Oyo climb and ski expedition where he used a ski boot device called "Alp Control."
Alp Control is essentially a brace system that's supposed to provide skiing ergos while you're using soft climbing boots. Application is for routes where most of your up travel is without skis, perhaps even with crampon or rock climbing on steep terrain. When you get to the top you strap on the Alp Control and make your way down while still wearing your mountaineering shoes. Perhaps you even carve turns.
|Baud's setup, Alp Control on modified Emery Chrono binding.
Devices like this are not a new idea. Back in the 1970s Rossignol sold a cuff contraption that was intended for somewhat the same purpose, though more for transforming soft nordic boots to something you could use to crank more than simple survival turns.
In its marketed configuration Alp Control has a cord attaching your upper leg to the forebody of the ski, ostensibly to allow for rearward support that substitutes for having a boot cuff behind your leg. In the early 1980s Mike Lowe and Paul Ramer tried to market a similar device they called the "Knee Leash." According to Ramer, you just "leaned back in the powder, the Leash pulled your tips up, and making turns was unbelievably easy." You can imagine the ribald humor the term "knee leash" engendered, and as skiing powder isn't that tough anyway, the "Leash" never caught on. But it no doubt did function and it's interesting to see that same concept applied to skiing in a boot without rearward support.
|Photo from the Alp Control website tells an interesting story. What's with that binding? Looks like a hybrid that includes elements of the Naxo?
Blog not over yet, Colin wanted to mention his work with Black Diamond in managing the BD test center at La Grave. Which begs the question, can we start a WildSnow.com test center over there?
Hi all, Colin Samuels here, I will manage once again the Black Diamond Ski Test Center in La Grave this coming season at the Edelweiss Hotel. We will have all the New 2008 mid sized freeride skis and fatties (including Havocs, Verdicts, Zealots the new Megawatts!) set up with touring, alpine and telemark bindings. We will have women specific skis, and we will also some skis set up with skins so people can test skis while ski touring in the local area. We also will have newest packs (including Avalung packs), shovels and probes for people to test, as well as adjustable poles and Avalungs. The test center is open to all skiers. Interested people need to stop by the Edelweiss Hotel once in La Grave. No reservations are needed. The test is free and we let people try different pairs of skis if they wish; all we ask is that testers give us some written feedback the the gear they try out. All testers will receive a 10% discount off any BD Skis that they buy at the two local La Grave Ski shops (Magasin Twinner and Objective Meije).
17 Responses to "Want To Ski In Your Climbing Boots? Alp Control Might Be Ticket"
Matt Kinney
October 17th, 2007 10:18 am
thanks lou…good report. Gotta really enjoy the tinkering on those boots. That forward shin bar is real innovative. Hey but if it works on Cho Oyo……….
The knee leash really worked well as intended by ramer, with a full pack and/or sled on a down-hill run. Huge control gain.
Scott Bower
October 17th, 2007 10:52 am
That looks pretty cool.
I've done a fair amount of skiing into ice climbs with Koflachs and Silretta 500s. As a result I've also taken many awkward backward falls with a heavy pack. I finally got tired of this after tweaking my knee and started carrying leather ice boots and wearing AT boots on the approach and egress. Of course, this only works with climbs where you start from and return to a common point.
This is exactly the type of thing that might tempt me to try again.
October 17th, 2007 12:24 pm
Looks like lots of recycled Ramer ideas to me. That is not a comment to put down Paul. He was way ahead of his time (plastic telemark boots, self-arrest grips, climbing plugs, plate AT bindings, etc…). Its interesting to see other reinventing some of Paul's ideas.
October 17th, 2007 1:16 pm
Must echo Halstead's comment: Paul Ramer was WAY ahead of his time. WAY, WAY, WAY ahead. Anselme Baud's Alp Control combines, in a slightly different configuration, two of Ramer's classic ideas that were never accepted by (many) customers…the Motivaider and Knee Leash. Paul's rolling in his grave, LOL and reminding us, "I told you so!"
October 18th, 2007 11:00 am
Lou, two questions:
What material is the brace made of?
Also, what binding currently on the market do you reccomend for use with mountaineering boots?
October 18th, 2007 11:00 am
Lou, two questions:
What material is the brace made of?
Also, what binding currently on the market do you reccomend for use with mountaineering boots?
Chris Davenport
October 18th, 2007 11:15 am
Hey Lou,
My friend Colin Haley used a knee strap setup with Sportiva climbing boots and short Trab's to ski the Orient Express in June. Looked scary to me but he made it work and man, that setup was LIGHT!
October 18th, 2007 11:31 am
Tony, I'm pretty sure they're molded out of carbon fiber. As for what's on the market that works with climbing boots, as far as I know the only thing out there is the Silvretta 500. Used Silvretta 404 is a good bet too.
October 19th, 2007 8:39 am
in response to bindings, i sent some photos of the old emery chrono set up Anselme used, even going so far to reverse the toe piece to give added toe hold on his mountaineering Asolo boots which would pre release otherwise. the light emerys are still commonly scene in the alps for approach skis in addition to the 404's which are still sold.
October 20th, 2007 7:44 am
🙂 It seems, that the binding on the last photo is Nic Impex Evolution Light (Arva), that is not the same as Naxo (also mentioned at http://www.alpcontrol.com/summary.html).
Anselme Baud is cool to use Emery Chrono at Cho Oyu. In my opinion, this binding is for good just for traversing mountain ranges or some easy ski-touring, but not high altitude skiing or extreme. BTW, do you know, where he had got this Chrono binding? I suppose, that it is not produced for a long time.
February 20th, 2009 8:11 pm
More and more people in France, Germany and Switzerland have the opportunity to try AlpControl, and once they have tried (which is my case), they are astonished.
The Army of several european countries have equipped their groups of skiers with AlpControl, and people like Charles Hedric and Anselme Baud keep using it, which is a good sign.
This year, AlpControl was selected as a finalist at the ISPO in Munchen (Germany).
The concept is just great, and I wish you to be able to try it soon.
May 4th, 2010 4:22 am
That looks pretty cool. Thanks lou…good report. Gotta really enjoy the tinkering on those boots. That forward shin bar is real innovative.
May 5th, 2010 11:03 pm
That looks pretty cool. Thanks lou…good report. Gotta really enjoy the tinkering on those Boots. That forward shin bar is real innovative.
March 12th, 2011 9:34 am
Has anyone tried the Mountain Spring device by Alp Control, used for stabilizing mountaineering boots on the ski down? This looks to be an industry changing product, but with no US retailer, at over $500 with shipping, it could be big gamble. Does anyone have in anything to say about seeing or using this product?
September 18th, 2011 9:03 pm
Where can I buy these?
September 19th, 2011 6:25 am
Brice, I'd contact them, use alpcontrol for a message to g mail, let us know how it goes.
July 25th, 2012 9:54 am
I bought a pair and used them this last season with silvretta 550s. They are stellar and you can ski for fun not just for survival to get down. They were a pretty penny but I have skied some pretty gnarly terrain in them. They are softer than normal ski boots, of course, and I wouldn't take any jumps in them but they give you great control at little cost of weight in your pack. The buckles need some fine tuning in further development as they are fiddly to put on and make putting them on a bit time consuming. This makes them great for an approach and ski out or climb and ski down but not well suited for laps. Which is really the intent of this device anyway. Also when you attach it to your foot and lower leg you want to ensure that it flattens your foot so the ski is not tilted to one side or the other when you are standing neutrally. This takes a little time just doing some laps in a safe and familiar area to figure out. I would highly recommend these to anyone wanting to skin in their mountaineering boots. This opens up possibilities like stashing the skis and supports at the summit and then climbing a harder route that you wouldn't carry skis on and then have a speedy and fun descent cutting hours off on the way down. Although both of these could have been done (and I'm sure have) in ski boots I climbed Liberty Ridge and skied down Emmons glacier in this setup with a buddy and I also soloed the North Face route on Hood and Skied the Coopers Spur back to the car. Here is the video from Hood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTM9H3eKCjQ
In summary I would highly recommend this setup for the purposes stated above, the only downside being the cost and the buckles.


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Oh, to be Sandra Day O'Connor.
Sure, you have to put up with one or two derisive dissents from Justice Scalia each term and criticism in law reviews for approaching cases too narrowly or too personally. But you're still the one everyone holds their breath for in the close cases; that uncertain vote between the court's four traditional liberals and four conservatives.
Justice O'Connor's swing vote will likely be the deciding one in this term's biggest federalism case, that area of law in which the court's conservative majority has run wildest in the last few years. Federalism refers to the constitutional division of power and responsibility between the national and state governments. The court's five most conservative justices, including O'Connor, have ruled in a string of recent cases that it's a huge insult to the notion of states' rights—and to the whole founders-blessed federalist system—to allow people to sue states for discrimination in federal court. This term Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs will raise the stakes for O'Connor by pitting this notion of states' rights against gender equality—a doctrine for which she has also voiced considerable support.
Hibbs involves a challenge by the state of Nevada to the Family Medical Leave Act, the 1993 federal law guaranteeing an employee (in a workplace of at least 50 people) 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for a newborn, an adopted child, or a close relative with a serious health problem. In April 1997, after two years on the job as a welfare caseworker in Reno, William Hibbs asked for time off to help his wife recover from a serious car accident. Nevada's Department of Human Resources approved 12 weeks of FMLA leave for Hibbs and about 12 weeks of leave under the state's "catastrophic leave" policy. From June to the beginning of November, Hibbs stayed home for some 12 weeks. On Nov. 5, his supervisors told him he had a week to get back to work. When he didn't, they fired him.
Since Hibbs wanted to stay out through December by stacking his state and federal leaves, the underlying dispute in the case is whether he should have been allowed to use the two 12-week periods consecutively or if he had only one leave because FMLA doesn't apply to the states. The larger question before the Supreme Court is whether Congress can force states to give their employees FMLA leave in the first place. The answer hinges on the 11th Amendment, the conservative majority's favorite part of the Constitution of late.
The 11th Amendment says no lawsuit may be "prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State." And according to five justices, the amendment says more than that. (Never mind that these same justices rant about strict literal interpretation everywhere else.) In the last few years, the five most conservative justices have used the 11th Amendment as a weapon against Congress by arguing that it bans citizens from suing even their own state. This is particularly true when citizens are suing to enforce a federal anti-discrimination law. So, for example, the court sides against a nurse who works for a state hospital and gets laid off for having cancer or for being too old.
These Supreme Court decisions purport to prevent Congress from walking all over the states. But some court observers have speculated that there is more to the conservative justices' agenda. Yale law professor Jed Rubenfeld calls the court's approach "anti-anti-discrimination," arguing that what the justices really don't like is the notion of extending civil rights protections for reasons like disability or age or—hypothetically—sexual orientation. The court's majority hasn't figured out how to stop Congress from applying employment discrimination laws to private employers. But beginning in 1996, the court began holding that Congress can't use its power to regulate the states themselves. That left anti-discrimination enforcement against state hospitals, state universities, and state-everything-else on shaky ground.
The one way Hibbs may be able to get around the five conservatives and their states' rights affinity is by proving that the Family Medical Leave Act protects principally against gender discrimination. This is because the court has allowed that remedying gender discrimination may trump the 11th Amendment. So, Hibbs argues that the FMLA is designed to combat gender bias in the workplace in two ways: Employers often assume that women are more likely to need time off to care for a sick relative, which makes them less likely to grant leave to a male employee like Hibbs, and also makes them less likely to hire or promote women. Because the FMLA's family care provision ostensibly responds to these sorts of sex-based assumptions, Hibbs and the United States argue, the law falls within Congress' power to enforce the guarantee of equal protection, and so it applies to state employers. The district court judge who first heard the case didn't buy this argument. The federal court of appeals of the 9th Circuit did.
The battle between states' rights and gender discrimination is what makes this case a close, O'Connor-breaks-the-tie call. Scholars and judges often say that the best justification for federalism is that the states act as 50 different laboratories, experimenting with policy ideas on micro and local levels that are beyond the reach, or notice, of the federal government. By 1991, two years before Congress passed the FMLA, 46 state governments including Nevada allowed employees to take some kind of family-care leave. If those policies work well, or even just not badly, as Nevada's seems to, why should Congress be able to tell the states what to do?
On the other hand it's increasingly odd that an employee of a state university has fewer protections against gender discrimination than an employee of a private college. If we care about fighting the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which men and women are treated differently in the workplace, it seems more important to set a uniform standard than to worry about insulting the states. A Nevada victory in Hibbs would weaken the FMLA by leaving thousands of state employees across the country unable to enforce it—and so strengthen the gender bias that Congress sought to address. (Technically, the Department of Labor could still file claims on these workers' behalf, but that's likely in only a tiny number of cases.)
So, what do you make of the competing claims of states' rights and gender equality if you're Sandra Day O'Connor? For one thing, she tends to support both values, except when she supports neither. The justice voted with the majority in U.S. v. Virginia, the 1996 case that opened the Virginia Military Institute to female cadets. She also co-wrote the lead opinion in the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld the core of Roe v. Wade and stopped Pennsylvania from requiring women to notify their husbands before an abortion. Then, in 2000, feminists had reason to thank O'Connor again when she cast the fifth vote for striking down 31 state laws that restrict late-term "partial birth" abortions.
But in that same term, O'Connor joined her conservative colleagues in striking down the Violence Against Women Act, which allowed victims of gender-based violence to sue their attackers in federal courts. She also wrote the decision that blocked state workers from suing their employers under federal age-discrimination law, and she has voted with the conservatives in about two dozen other cases striking down federal laws over the last several years. O'Connor seems to take the independence of state governments particularly to heart because of her six years of service in the Arizona Senate.
O'Connor is often criticized for looking at cases too narrowly and even emotionally. This puts her in an especially awkward position in Hibbs, where she must choose between two values that are dear to her heart. If O'Connor votes her states' rights convictions in Hibbs and axes federal family care leave, she could also set up courts to ax other laws that matter to women—like the ones that protect them from losing their jobs because they're pregnant or come off as unfeminine or as too feminine. Those laws were hard-won victories of the 1970s and '80s. They've taken a bit of the sting out of Congress' failure to give feminists the things they really want, like an equal rights amendment or broadly available, publicly funded day-care for infants and toddlers. If the court takes away what Congress has given, even just on behalf of the states, it could shake the foundation for using federal law to address problems that affect women more than men. Does O'Connor, who was the first woman elected president of any state Senate, as well as the first female justice, really want to be the one to pry the first stone loose?
My bet is that she doesn't but that she also doesn't frame her choice in those terms. The biggest problem with Hibbs as a test case is that the harm it could do to women's rights is not immediately evident. If you stick to the facts, all that's at stake is whether some guy can stay home for six months without losing his job. O'Connor likes to stick to the facts. When she casts the fifth vote in a major case, she often writes a separate concurrence that reduces the majority's position to the slimmest of grounds. Here, she's likely to do that in an effort to ensure that the whole equal-rights-for-women façade doesn't come tumbling down. But she's also likely to see the case from Nevada's perspective and kick Congress out of the business of writing leave policies that cover state workers. The feminists will howl.
Another nice thing about being Justice O'Connor, though, is that it's her job not to care.


text:
A friend sent me the link to this clever little Shockwave Flash File that leads to the American Civil Liberties Union website. It's a skit about the Orwellian capabilities if and when national identity numbers are mated with persuasive computer technology.
Random thoughts ...
- We already have unique identifying numbers, our Social Security numbers, and I find I'm often asked to recite the last four digits as a semi-password.
- I've found that more than one business establishment knows from where I am calling if I use my land-line telephone.
- Those who complain most about illegal immigration and undocumented workers -- We need action! -- implicitly are calling for something like this because there may be no other way to gain control of the issue.
- It's also intriguing that the ACLU skit refers to a "national health insurance provider," and we are in the process of reordering the medical system in the USA in that direction.
- The real push for such identities won't come from the government but rather from international corporations in the name of efficiency.


text:
Very much a modern day tradition that is essential for any baby shower for all guests to write their ever lasting memories and wishes for the mum-to-be in this stunning Bambino Baby Shower Guest Book.
Finished in a lovely cream, detailed with coffee coloured stars scattered across the front cover and the saying 'Baby Shower'. Detailed with three silver plated raised icons featuring a pram, teddy bear and a rocking horse each embellished with a diamante stone for that extra sparkle.
Turn to the front page that is decorated with little stars and reads 'Waiting for Baby! Advice, best wishes, messages & kisses on your Baby Shower.' Followed by a space for the Mum-to-be's name, date of the baby shower and the venue. Finished with the words 'Twinkle Twinkle little star do you know how loved you are?' at the bottom.
Includes 40 pages, all lined ready for the lovely messages to be written, each page reads the saying 'Family & Friends' at the top.
Beautifully detailed with a lovely cream satin ribbon to tie the book closed.
Product Dimensions
H:18cm W:23cm D:1.5cm
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Welcome to the ArtBistro Training Center!
At ArtBistro, we value quality education in all areas of the arts. Feel free to submit a training article about a subject or material with which you have expertise or experience. We ask that your submissions be of good quality, and substantial in content, and — most importantly — written by yourself. Thanks for adding to our training database! Full Story
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Video Tutorial: How to Draw Valentine Hearts With WingsIt's never too late to show that special someone that you care. And, handmade gifts are straight from the heart. Learn how to draw a Valentine's Day heart with wings to adorn a Valentine card, a surprise love note, or even place-mats for a romantic dinner — Love! Here's how: How to Draw Valentine Hearts With Wings div.custom_widget {border:0px;}[widget:related_reads_videotutorials]Rated: +2
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Design a Successful Greeting Card LineEight years ago, Louisa Huang was working on her PhD in Education Administration when she made the decision to stay at home with her children. At the same time, a friend encouraged her to design a card line based on a charming birthday invitation Louisa had created for her son's party. Completely self-taught, Louisa designed about 30 greeting cards, forming her ...Rated: +15
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Covering 2.83 sq. km., Hadar constitutes 4.4% of Haifa's area. Its 37,170 residents make up 14% of the city's population. Hadar lies on Mount Carmel's northern slope between the Carmel area and the lower town area. It is now a neighborhood in flux with numerous new immigrants, mainly from the former Soviet Union, living there.The main street, Herzl Street, is a busy bargain shopping street with many shops, bazaars and discount houses. Some of the educational institutions like the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology and Kiach high school have moved away; some like Chadash, Bialik, Bosmat and Even-Pina high schools have closed down and some like the Re'ali school still exist.
Hadar is divided into four areas:
Hadar West has a population of 7,940 of which 62% are Arab. This area is home to the Ba'hai Shrine and the Universal House of Justice which are located in the Ba'hai Gardens sloping from the Carmel ridge down to the German Colony. The magnificent Ba'hai Gardens, which descend down the Camel slope to the German Colony area, are one of Haifa's main tourist attractions and they have recently been granted the status of a UNESCO World Heritage site. Adjacent to the site a wave of renewal has led to the opening of art galleries, antique shops and small coffee shops.
The following facilities and institutions can be found in this neighborhood:* Ma'ale Carmel elementary school* El Kharame elementary school* Nazarene Nuns elementary through high school* Sheizaf municipal high school* Center for advancement of learning* Shema - center for children and youths with hearing disabilities* Abas community center* Senior citizens clubs* SHIL – Citizens' Advice Bureau* Beit Chagall – center for painters and sculptors* The Ba'hai gardens and shrine* Massada station of the Carmelit (Haifa's underground funicular railway)
Hadar Elyon (Upper Hadar) has 10,340 people residing within it. The district contains many Charedi (ultra-orthodox ) enclaves and the relevant institutions.
The following facilities and institutions can be found in this neighborhood:* Leo Baeck elementary school* Yavne religious elementary school* Beit Ya'akov - Charedi elementary school* Beit Yosef - Charedi elementary school* Moreshet Torah - Charedi elementary school* Masoret Yisrael Charedi elementary school* Urim elementary school (special education)* ORT Chana Senesh technological school* ORT Chana Senesh community center* Nursing school* Bnai Zion Medical Center* Bnai Zion Outpatient Clinics* Family Health Clinics (Tipat Halav)* Senior citizens club (Milab)* Golomb station of the Carmelit (Haifa's underground funicular railway)
Hadar Merkaz (Central Hadar) is considered the heart of Hadar, and it has 9,450 people living in it. The Central Hadar area contains many of Haifa's architectural, cultural and historical landmarks.
The following facilities and institutions can be found in this neighborhood:* The Haifa Municipal Theater* The National Science, Technology and Space Museum – Madatech* Reali elementary and junior high private school – Hadar branch* The Central Library – Pevzner and the Graphotek picture library* Hadar community center* Binyamin Park* Memorial Park (Gan Hazikaron)* City Hall and the Municipal Engineering Authority* The State Comptroller's Office* Army Recruitment Center* Hotels: Lev Haifa, Migdal Haifa, Eden and Aliya* Migdal Hanevi'im office and shopping center* AlMeidan Theater* Senior citizens homes: Beit Margash, Beit Ya'ara, Nof Hadar, Graff and Hemdat Avot* Talpiot fruit and vegetable market* Leumit Health Fund central office* Me'uhedet Health Fund central office
Hadar East has a population of 9,440 and it is divided into three neighborhoods; Yalag, Geula and Ramat Viznitz. The first two are among Haifa's oldest Jewish neighborhoods and are mainly ultra-orthodox and Viznitz is a special neighborhood where most of the inhabitants belong to the Viznitz Hassidic community, headed by their own Haifa Rebbe Eleizer Hager.
The following facilities and institutions can be found in Hadar East:* Zichron Meir elementary school* Yahel Yisrael elementary and high schools for boys and for girls separately * Torat Emet elementary school* Ulpanat Tzvia girls junior high and high school* Beit Ya'akov Charedi girls school* Beit Ya'akov Charedi teachers seminar* Charedi synagogues, yeshivot and kollels* Etzion community center and senior citizens club* The Haifa Rabbinical Court* The Maccabi Health Fund central office* Family Health Clinic (Tipat Halav)


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Cerney Wick Dredging – An update from Mike Hynd and John Maxted
The dredging of the canal bed from Spine Road to Cerney Wick Roundhouse, begun by CCT volunteers in early September, has had a recent boost.
Gardiners Construction of Eastcombe near Stroud have very generously provided men and machines to level and profile the offside bank of the 3/4 mile length. This work has revitalised the Cerney Wick dredging project.
Cotswold Canals Trust Construction Director Mike Hynd explains…
"The project is a fine example of cooperation and teamwork between a number of organisations; professional and voluntary. The site is crossed by a 33,000-volt electricity supply to Cirencester!
We worked with Southern Electric Power Distribution PLC (SEPD), which operates the electricity distribution network to some 2.9 million customers across central & southern England. SEPD needed to install a new transformer for a 132kv supply to Cirencester. Its construction has been ongoing for the past 12 months or so.
During this time Cirencester has had to be fed via the 33 kv standby link which crosses the canal. The completion and commissioning of the new transformer allowed the 132 kv supply to be restored which then allowed them to dispense with "our" 33kv supply between 6th and 19th December. This mean that it was once more available as a standby supply for Cirencester during the Christmas break."
Mike Hynd is currently negotiating with two more organisations who have expressed interest in voluntary contributions to this project.
Praise from the Project Manager
CCT volunteer John Maxted, the Project Manager for the Cerney Wick dredging programme was full of praise for the Gardiners operatives.
"The work was completed in less than two weeks through the skill and care of the machine drivers.
The result is an offside bank that looks like a canal bank once more. It is a pleasure to the eye, given its appearance before work started.
Phil Chidley and Adam Wilson worked enthusiastically and conscientiously to achieve a result that is a credit to them, frequently seeking clarification that what they were doing was right. The only part they were not able to complete was the final levelling of the spoil mounds adjacent to the dredging. The material from the canal bed was too 'gloopy' to make that final activity practical. The spoil needs to drain before any further movement."
More good feedback for Gardiners Construction
Rob Sinfield, Gardiners Business Development Manager, takes up the story…
"While I was on a site visit to South Cerney I spoke with walkers on the canal tow path. They were very enthused by the work they could see Gardiners doing on the opposite bank. It is very clear to see the before and after of the work going on. The graded banks are going to look so much better.
Operating the yellow digger is Adam Wilson from our Eastcombe Head Office and the orange one is Phil Chidley, based at our Ludlow Depot.
Gardiner's Civil Engineering Division specialises in rivers and canals. At the time of working at South Cerney, we were also busy on projects for the Kennet and Avon Canal. We are also hoping to start soon with the Cotswolds Canal Restoration project, in and around Stroud."
Click on the icon below to find out more about Gardiners Construction.


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A more perfect match could not have been found. 3t's mission directly parallels that of their client's, Housing Visions. Canal Village, a 36 unit urban infill residential project, stabilized the neighborhood by re-establishing the urban fabric and creating a critical mass with buildings by utilizing and complementing the vernacular aesthetic.
The sounds of kids playing in the street can be heard again.


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Sleep: This should be a no-brainer, yet the majority of Americans are sleep-deprived and consequently suffering health effects. Sleep deprivation can contribute to memory loss, headaches, obesity, and cause strain on your heart. Figure out what's keeping you from getting adequate sleep and do something about it. For example, if you stay up late watching TV, DVR the program and watch it later when you don't have to wake up early.
Drink more water: If you find it difficult to drink the recommended eight glasses of water a day, remember that you can also increase your water intake via other beverages (coffee, tea, juice etc).
Try to stay away from sugary drinks, as these are full of empty calories. Water doesn't have to be boring, either! Try flavoring your water with lemon juice or cut up fruit.
Make healthier choices: It's so easy to pick up fast food or throw a TV dinner in the microwave after a long day. But, eventually, your body will show signs of a bad diet. You can still eat healthy, tasty food at home that's quick and easy to prepare. One of my favorite quick meals is a tuna and spinach salad.
I just use canned tuna (adding some all-purpose seasoning) and grill it on the stove in a saucepan, add it to a bowl of spinach, then add sunflower seeds and whatever dressing I have. It takes 10 minutes or less and is full of protein and antioxidants.
Try Holistic or Ayurvedic wellness: Ayurvedic medicine focuses on whole-body health, not just treating one specific area. One popular practice is oil pulling. I started oil pulling every morning when I was searching for a natural way to gain more energy.
Not only does this method work, I found it also whitens my teeth!
Create a game plan for the day: Take a few minutes each night (or in the morning when you wake up), to jot down your goals. It's helpful to number your goals in order of priority. You can reduce your anxiety and stress level as you cross off items and see that you're having a productive day!
In the stressful environment in which we live, it can be difficult to always make the right choices, but, if you keep these things in mind, they will greatly improve not only your overall productivity, but your overall quality of life.


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I have read one and a half dozen books written by Tom Clancy, but I don't recall having ever found in any of them as many mistakes as in Locked On. Perhaps it is because Mark Greaney wrote it and Clancy only lent his name to the book in order to sell more copies.
If you are into military and spy action, you will probably forgive Clancy and Penguin Books. It's annoying though...
On page 17, we learn that a tourniquet had been cinched tight high on the right leg of a man. Then, the same man was stripped to his underwear. I bet it was difficult without disturbing the tourniquet!
On page 67, Clark and Chavez, after renting a car in Germany, travel to France. Clancy states that they had picked a cheap rental because it would attract less attention. Clancy writes: it would take only one set of curious eyes to pick out this vehicle, to spend some time, looking it up and down, and to realize that it was not from around here. Spend some time? What about throwing a glance at the German licence plates? No way that a cheap rented car from Germany could possibly have French licence plates!
On page 86 (line four), the full stop at the end of a sentence in the middle of a paragraph is missing.
On page 119, here is what Clancy has to say about European-style floor numberings: he began sprinting to the third floor, which was, in the European system, four flights of stairs up from ground level. This is wrong: in Europe, the third floor is three flights of stairs up from ground level. Clancy got confused by the fact that in the US the floor at street level is called "first floor", while in Europe the same floor is called "ground floor". The European "third floor" is therefore what the Americans call "fourth floor", which is three flights of stairs up from street level. If Clancy had been correct, what number would the European assign to the floor at ground level? -1?
On page 197, when describing the tight security at a prison, Clancy writes: She would carry a purse with nothing of value in it because she would have to leave it in a locker, and she would not bother entering with her laptop or cell phone, because these would be taken from her immediately if they were on her person. This is an unfortunate sentence, because it implies that the guards in a top-security prison might steal from her purse if she left it in a locker. Also, "if they were on her person" is redundant and not convincing, as "on her person" seems hardly applicable to a laptop. But the real problem of this sentence is that it sets up a contradiction with what the author writes on the following page: the guard did not offer to help the much older woman carry her briefcase or pull her laptop bag. So, now she can take with her into the prison two bags while on the previous page she couldn't even carry a purse?
On page 359, Clark climbed out of his waders. Then, two pages later, he shed his waders. Well, I assure you that he had not put them back on in the meanwhile.
On page 432, Clancy shows some knowledge of German when he writes "gottverdammt door" [his Italics]. Perhaps he used the German word because he didn't want to upset some readers' sensibilities by writing "goddamn door". But he makes a mistake, because "door" in German is a feminine noun. Therefore, he should have written "gottverdammte door". This is what people who speak multiple languages do: their adjectives always agree with the gender of the nouns, even in mix-language sentences.
On page 477, Clancy shows us an excess of political correctness: It was a man, Ding knew this instinctively, though he could not take the time to try to identify who was plunging before him to their death. Come on! We know it is a man. Why not say: plunging to his death? I hate this way of using "they" as a gender-neutral way of referring to a single person. I know: I will probably have to get used to it. But in this case, it is ridiculous.
On page 620: he felt thick snowflakes on his beard and lips. Having had a full beard for decades and having experienced how it feels to go out when it is snowing, I can testify that beards are totally insensitive to snowflakes.
On page 684, Clancy refers to Colonel Gummensson, who was a General on page 637.
On page 686, the missile silo number106 is mentioned for the first time, while we know from a few pages earlier that the missiles are in silos 103, 104, and 109, because that is where guards were posted.
There are also several awkward or wrong expressions that a good author shouldn't have used. Here are those that I found inexcusable.
On page 4, Clancy writes: He pulled the wool blanket over his shoulder and flicked the straw from his beard that came with it. Since when do beards come with wool blankets? I would have written: He pulled the wool blanket over his shoulder and flicked from his beard the straw that came with it. Even He pulled the wool blanket over his shoulder and flicked the straw that came with it from his beard would have been better than what he wrote.
On page 45, the former President of the US is identified as Jack Junior's father. Why not Jack Senior, or Jack Ryan Senior?
On page 180, Clancy writes: no record of his visit was recorded. This is awkward English. What about: no record of his visit was made?
On page 183, another "pearl": Other than administering an X-ray that revealed a hairline fracture of the bone, then handing over a removable cast, a sling, and a course of antibiotics, Hendley's surgeon had little to do other than to remember to keep quiet about the entire matter. Clearly, Clancy wrote such a long and convoluted sentence that, buy the time he arrived to "little to do", he felt he needed to sneak in another "other than". He could have started the sentence with "After", rather than with "Other than". It would have remained "heavy", but at least it would have been correct.
On page 184, a "nifty" piece of dialogue: "Would that it always worked like that," Gerry said to the room. No, I haven't omitted or overlooked any word. What does it mean? I don't understand it.
On page 224: exploit some intelligence find by American intelligence. Besides the ugly repetition of the word "intelligence", the sentence seems at best awkward. Come on, Tom. You can do better than that!
On page 231: to become an agent of, but not an employee of, the ISI. This is correct, but the following would have been better: to become an agent, but not an employee, of the ISI.
On page 300: They learned pomp and circumstance from we English. Since when do we use "we" instead of "us" after a preposition? I hope that the practice doesn't take hold. But perhaps it's already too late and, unbeknown to me, most Americans already speak like that...
On page 309: we want to put our strength behind our friends and pull support for our enemies. I see what he means, but pull support from our enemies would have been better.
On page 332: he worried about the American who he had promised to protect. I understand that some readers might find whom too highbrow, but he could have dropped who (or whom) and live happy thereafter.
On page 355: he hiked through a small wood of loblolly pine where the slope of a hill led down into a tiny valley where a shallow creek wound from north to south near the fence line. Twice "where" in the same ugly sentence. The sad thing is that the details are totally irrelevant. With a 713-page novel, who would have missed them if Clancy had dropped this sentence?
Perhaps you are thinking that 22 mistakes and bad sentences in 713 pages are acceptable. I don't. But then, I've always been a perfectionist!


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Thursday, March 24, 2016
a crazy gift from my "big Sis"....and a really nice day!
of course, every morning starts with a dip in the hottub and a prayer (this one for my friend d, her husband and her mother)
this morning we skipped our gloopy shakes and had fresh -squeezed orange juice with regular oranges, blood oranges and a pamplemousse (french for grapefruit. sometimes i like to show off - bahahahah!
sorry for such a blurry pic but oh well - you get the idea!
now on to the greatest gag gift ever! my neighbour and 2nd best friend is getting married this summer. but they are having a "jack and jill" party on april 20th. i won't be able to attend because...well...um...i don't have any teeth in my head! and the end of april is when the denturist wants to see me for consultation on when to do my molding.
my big Sis C said that she would do everything she could so that i could attend the jack and jill party! so she sent me these:
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! they are baby soothers that have little lips and little teeth on them. the note she sent says " Suck on these it looks like you have teeth. See, told you i would look after you in time for the jack and jill shower. love always, Big Sis"! isn't that to die for? me and jambaloney laughed for a good 20 minutes, and then me and big Sis laughed when i called her to tell her i had received them! we love our sis and bro, c and g!
we have already taken several walks around the property today and many hottub dips. jam's been working on his contract and i have been responding to emails and such. but while we were out walking i thought i would take a pic of my favourite tree - it's a balsam fir. (i didn't realize i was standing on the other side of the clothesline)
this is my other favourite tree. it's a spruce that was hit by lightning. i call him a bonsai.
the is my other favourite tree - it's the only red maple on our whole property!
these are my other favourite trees - various evergreens - pines, spruce, tamarack.
and these are my other favourite trees - various evergreens and birch in amongst them.
i have a lot of favourite trees. and i love all of them equally and thank the Lord for them every single day.
here's my favourite guy in the whole entire world - jambaloney, watering the plants in the greenhouse!
and kids - i have always loved stew! and i have allllllllways loved doughboys (i think you 'mericans call them dumplings. and i think you put milk in yours? not sure. but doughboys don't have milk in them). but now that i have no teeth - doughboys have become my absolute favourite food in the world.
i slow-cooked the roast for 8 hrs, steamed all of the veg (potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and turnip) until they were soft then dumped them in the slow cooker with the roast for the last hour and a bit. then i was able to mash all of the veg, cut up the meat in tiny pieces and cut up the doughboy in tiny pieces. it felt like i had died and gone to heaven.
food, kids! i ate food! and i have been eating it, glumpy smoothies, baby food and juice ever since. i gotta run now and make more doughboys! i am putting them in everything from here on in!
it's only 5pm here....the sun is still bright and shining and bouncing off the snow....we'll be having supper soon (more doughboys for me - wahoo!), more walks, more hottub dips and praying for our friend d, and then snacks and watching a movie. jambaloney will have a smoked meat sandwich for snack. guess what i'll be having?
oh come on! i'll be having doughboys in broth! sending out lots of love. to all of you.
24 comments:
All that pretty white and green marred by those ugly black tires OMG :(ReplyDelete
I know down here they usually fit the patient with some temporary dentures until the swelling has gone down enough for the fitting. Surprised you guys don't have something like that. I hear they are terrible and don't fit but work well for short social functions.Replies
PP - my denturist, who might be a crazy scientist, doesn't want anything in my mouth until it is fully healed. he is waaaay excited that i can wait for another month before even doing the temporary dentures. he has never in his 20yr career had someone that could wait this long so he wants to "experiment" on me. all of my friends that have dentures say that they got them in too early and that they didn't heal properly so i am following this mad scientists' ideas fully. i can wait. and this guy tells me it makes a whole world of difference.Delete
other than that - did i tell you i got a mermaid tail off the intrawebs?!?!!?!? oh i can't wait for it to arrive. you are going to be so jealous!
much love you nutbag bro! always your friend!
You KNOW that not sleeping with your teeth can be a sign of getting old, don't you? ;-)ReplyDelete
Sweet Kymber,ReplyDelete
Love the pacifiers your sister sent. What a great gift, I laughed out loud when I read about them in your post today. Will you go to the get together with your pacifiers??
Brrr.....snow, keep it up there......we don't want any of it. Were expecting snow this weekend :-( Stop laughing.....I can hear you laughing all the way down here. NO SNOW!!!!!
As PP mentioned above, the dentists here will provide you with temporary dentures until your swelling goes down and they can measure you for your new teeth.
Sending you both hugs and love.
Sweet Sandy - you and my sis would get along great - you are both little mischeif-ers! i won't be going to th shower and my friend is ok with that...she understands that having no teeth is kind of a vanity thing. we had snowmaggedon for a couple of days and then we had fog, wind and rain...nothing better for getting rid of snow. we are almost snow free and the 2 week forecast is calling for warmer temps - woohoo! we might be done with snow. but there is always a chance of a snow in april.Delete
as for temp dentures my denturist wants me to heal completely before putting anything in my mouth. he has never had a patient in his 20yr career that can wait this long and he thinks waiting as long as you can really makes a difference. he's a bit of a whack-job, but so am i - so i am following his advice.
sending love always to my angel...you been there from day number one. something i will never forget. you and our other angel JUGM. friends have come and gone and good riddance to them but you and JUGM have been there from the very beginning.
love you hon! xoxoxoxxoxo
Just curious, is the dental work being handled by a private insurance policy or Canadian Healthcare?ReplyDeleteReplies
Mike - my dental work is being provided by a private insurance company that i paid a mighty good sum to while i was in the military and then rolled my military pension into a government pension. jam is covered under my pension too. but when we both turn 65, we'll be covered under the canadian healthcare. and since moving to the island, and seeing so many of our friends needing MRI's, cancer treatments, teeth being pulled and replaced...ALLLLLLL of which fall under canadian healthcare...i couldn't be more impressed. if you want more details, you have my personal email address. ask whatever questions you want and i will try to address them. sending love buddy!xoxoxoDelete
just a thoughtReplyDelete
how about planting a few more sugarbush maples and some other syrup trees. then get the 'spiles', or whatever they are called so you can get the sap if it turns out that you need it in future?
the deliberate agrarian has all the information as i know you know.
i love the smell of balsam fir.
thanks for everything.Replies
first off Deborah - Thank You for Everything! everyone of your comments has always been positive and always relayed information that we learned from.Delete
we plan on stealing some maple trees from around the island - the island is full of them - just not in our area. and we will replant them here for tapping purposes. jambaloney's stepdad has a sugar bush in quebec and makes the most beautiful maple syrup and jambaloney grew up learning how to do it. so thank you for that.
as for Herrick - what doesn't that man know??? thank you for always trying to point us to blogs and sites that can help us - we really appreciate that.
balsam fir is beautiful...as are all of our trees. we love them all equally.
we pray for you and your family day and night. i feel that when we pray at the river it is the most potent. we go to the river every day and pray.
you and yours are in our thoughts and prayers...every day. sending much love, as always. xoxoxoxo
Do you need to clean the teeth on the pacifiers?ReplyDelete
D'you know - I've never ever made, nor tasted, dumplings! Guess I'll have to try and make some when it's cooler and more dumplingish weather. Share your recipe please... :)Replies
Dani - yes the teeth will need to be cleaned - bahahahah!Delete
here is the doughboy recipe that i used:
2 cups of flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of baking powder
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup of luke warm water
add the dry ingredients and mix well. add oil and water and mix together - it will be glumpy. then add spoonfulls of the glumpy mixture to the top of your stew, soup, whatever....put a lid on and let steam for a good 15 mins.
i like my doughboys to be soaked on all sides so after 15 mins i flip them all and leave them in another 5 mins or so. the outsides will be wet but the insides will be dry.
i hope you enjoy! sending much love, as always! your friend,
It must be wonderful to be eating some "real" food for a change. I had a single molar tooth extracted today. That was a bad enough experience (even though it went well). I can't imagine the trauma ofhaving them all removed at once. :-(ReplyDelete
Have you considered naming your favorite trees?Replies
Herrick - after 2 weeks of juice and baby food - it is awesome to eat mushy food that tastes like food. it was pretty traumatic but i am healing well and i have the determination and belief to heal well so that i can get a nice set of dentures and maybe never have a headache again. i never connected the migraines/headaches to the grinding of my teeth - something i have done my whole life - so here's hoping eh?Delete
and i have named all of my trees because they are all my favourites! they are named "tree". i do the same with grass and flowers...i call all of the grass "grass" and i call all of the flowers "flower". i will say "hello flower" and jambaloney will say "that's a colt's foot or a dandelion or a lupin". and i will say "hello flower". it drives him nuts! thanks for stopping in - it's nice to have such a radical and deliberate agrarian stopping in at our blog! xoxo
Am I the only one confused, what's a Jack and Jill party? I love dumplings on stew, ours are made from suet and self raising flour mixed with water.ReplyDeleteReplies
kirsty - i had never heard of a jack and jill party before so it's not just you! instead of having a female wedding shower, a jack and jill party is a wedding shower for women and men and it involves lots of alcohol - bahahahah! and how surprised am i to find out that you guys call them dumplings, too! i thought the UK called them doughboys like us. learn something new every day eh? sending much love! xoxoxoDelete
I hope you are feeling better and healing well. Beaming you get better vibes. You take really good care.ReplyDelete
Hot tub in the snow. That is just crazy...ReplyDeleteReplies
TB - we get in the hottub even when it's snowing! there is nothing like freezing cold air in your nose and snowflakes landing on your tongue and your head while you are sitting in the hottub, looking at the stars and making plans for tomorrow. we love going out in the rain, the fog, the mist, the snow - but not in sleet or hail for obvious reasons. we try to get in the hottub minimum 3 times a day but usually more times only because of bad weather. on days that we can't get in - it sucks. because it is such a part of our life routine. know what i mean? sending much love buddy to the TB Clann. xoxoDelete
Your stew looks absolutely divine. Interesting about the name "doughboys," I love learning things like that. I guess we use milk in ours, who knows, I just mix them up with whatever I have on hand!ReplyDelete
I like Herrick's idea of naming all your favorite trees. You'd have a whole families' worth of names.
I so hope you get to feeling normal again soon. No teeth would be no fun.Replies
Leigh...that's one of my most shameful looking stews ever because i had to cook the living life out of it in order to be able to mash it. normally my stews are much more colourful.Delete
read my comment to Herrick above - i do name all of my trees - i name them "tree" - bahahahahah!
ya - no teeth is sucking pretty bad and having to eat all of this baby food and smoothies is making me crazy but i am healing up good and once i get my dentures...my denturist promised that he will make me dentures so perfect that i'll be able to eat corn off of the cob again! OMG! corn off of the cob! one of my favourite foods and i haven't been able to eat off the cob for over 6 years now! i'll wait a full 6 weeks with no teeth and eat baby food for that! sending love hon! xoxox
what kind of spa do you have?ReplyDeleteReplies
dindin - just looked up your very pleasant blog and am glad to see you here.Delete
our hottbu/spa is called a softub. ours is a 4-person and is incredibly large. they come in all different colours. they are portable and when empty only weigh about 75lbs so are very easily rolled from one place to another. many people have asked how much we pay for it to be running 24/7 and 365 days a year....our average is about $25 a month...that is cheaper than a meal out and this hottub is such a part of our life - it is medicinal and therapeutic...and fun! we love it.
you can find more info here: