text:
This debate opened straight after he died, but it was many years before the texts we call the 'New Testament' began to appear. The New Testament is not a single book. It is a compilation of 27 books, written between the years 50-150 CE, in Koine, a form of ancient Greek used widely after the conquests of Alexander. They are diverse texts, written in different places and styles with different theologies by a range of authors, and they didn't come together as the 'New Testament' until over three hundred years after Jesus died.
The running order opens with the four Gospels. They are followed by a series of letters or 'epistles' by various writers, and the volume closes with the weird visions of the book of Revelation. Rather than examine every book, we will focus upon the Gospels and the letters of Paul. Unsurprisingly, we can understand their writing process better by putting the texts into the political and ideological context of ancient Palestine and Rome.
The letters of Paul
|Saul's conversion, as imagined by
Gustave Doré
Although he never met Jesus, Paul was, as far as we know, the first person to write about Christianity. His self-appointed role was to travel the Mediterranean establishing churches, but he could not be everywhere at once, so he sent letters to particular individuals or communities to address problems and inspire followers. These letters would be written down by scribes (probably slaves), copied, and circulated around the churches. The process is explicit in the texts themselves:
And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. (Colossians 4:16)
Paul's first letter – and thus the first book of the New Testament to be written – was probably 1 Thessalonians, written in about 50 CE, twenty years after Jesus died. Thirteen epistles or letters are attributed to Paul. Scholars generally agree that at least seven of the letters really were written by his own hand – 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans. These were probably written between 50-58 CE, more than ten years before than the first Gospel. The rest of the Pauline letters were probably written not by Paul himself but by followers writing in his name. It is unlikely that they were ever intended to become 'scripture'. Early Christians believed that Jesus's second coming was going to happen very soon, probably within their own lifetimes, so the letters were intended only to meet immediate issues. Indeed, one of the limitations of the correspondence is that they are an incomplete account of his theology. Paul's opinions were only preserved when he had occasion to write about particular questions.
Paul was writing during the early years of the church, when Christianity barely existed independently of Judaism, and had no scripture, no sacerdotal (i.e. priestly) hierarchy and a weak infrastructure. It was a collection of scattered Jewish-Christian communities, held together by travelling preachers. As we shall see, Paul had a profound influence upon its development.
A tension in early Christianity
In this unsettled world we can identify two main camps – the Judaic ideology of Jesus himself and his peasant followers, and the communities set up by Hellenist diaspora Jews. The unquestioned leader of the former was James [3], Jesus's brother based in Jerusalem supported by the apostles Peter and John. The most prominent leader of the latter was the convert, Paul.
James took over as leader of the early movement after Jesus's death and supposedly ran it for thirty years. Our main sources for James are books in the New Testament, as well some apocryphal works and references by Church fathers. There is one epistle attributed to James, but he would almost certainly have been illiterate, so it must be pseudepigraphical, i.e. written in his name by someone who considered it faithful to James's ideas. The epistle, which discusses faith and temptation and scorns the wealthy, exhibits a respect for Mosaic law:
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. (James 2:10)
Whether or not new recruits were obliged to live by the Jewish law was a very important question, and the common view was probably that they should, as this was a Jewish movement. We can be fairly certain from various scraps of evidence that James, like Jesus himself [4], believed the Christian message was a form of Judaism and was an advocate of Mosaic law.
According to Acts 15 and Galatians 2, the Jerusalem church held a meeting – usually dated to around 50 CE – to decide whether or not Gentiles joining the movement had to be circumcised. James said they didn't, advising instead:
[We] should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. (Acts 15:20)
We should take anything in the book of Acts with a grain of salt, but allusions in other texts suggest the decree, at least, may be historical. James shows a liberal hand in his judgement, but he still expects even Gentile converts to respect some of Mosaic law's minimum requirements.
Unlike the illiterate James, Paul was educated in Greek and was reportedly a Roman citizen. He was dedicated to converting the Gentiles, and was happy to cast aside Mosaic law to achieve this – to be cynical, it was hard to convert a man to your religion when one of the conditions was the removal of his foreskin. Though Jesus had denied he came "to abolish the Law or the Prophets", Paul was not greatly interested in what Jesus had to say. He rarely mentions or quotes him, and even directly contradicts him [5]; and when he begins his ministry he chooses not to consult the apostles in Jerusalem who knew Jesus personally, but to tour the Greek diaspora with his own version of the message. He is quite scathing about the Jerusalem church, saying "what they were makes no difference to me" (Galatians 2:6), and dismissing them as "those who seemed influential" (Galatians 2:2) and "seemed to be pillars [of the church]" (Galatians 2:9). He asserted that "all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse" (Galatians 3:10) and that Mosaic law was "a veil" that Christ removed (2 Corinthians 3:15-16).
Paul does not say Jesus's Jewish followers must abandon Mosaic law, but he doesn't think Gentile converts need to keep it, in fact he forbids them to. He considered himself a "minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles" (Romans 15:16), an apostle who would bring all nations to worship the god of Israel. It was not necessary to keep the Jewish law because salvation came not through the law but through Jesus. For Paul, Jesus was the messiah and the son of God, and you did not have to be a Jew to worship him. Familiar though this position seems today, he was probably in a minority in the early years, and had to fight to make his case. Christians – as they later came to be known – began to postulate that Jesus was God soon after his death, but did not yet agree on what that meant, and for contemporary Jews Paul's position was controversial. He was doing away with the earthy rebel Jesus many of them remembered, and the idea that Jesus was literally the son of God was blasphemous. There was a tension therefore between Paul's radical position and James's.
This conflict takes a very physical form in Acts 6, when the Hellenist Stephen is stoned to death for saying Jesus "will change the customs that Moses delivered to us." As reported in Acts 21, Paul is summoned to Jerusalem, where he gets into trouble for teaching against Mosaic law. He is told to go through a purification ritual (known as a Nazirite Vow).
We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that… you yourself also live in observance of the law. (Acts 21:23-24)
There was no choice but to submit, because one cannot win an argument about Jesus with his own brother. Towards the end of the week, a crowd of Jews seizes Paul and shouts for his arrest, saying he is teaching against the law and has brought Greeks into the Temple. Because of the uproar, Roman soldiers arrest Paul and he ends up being sent to Rome, where he is executed in possibly around 67 CE. James dies at about the same time, depending on which chronicler you believe, in Jerusalem.
The Jewish War
In 66 CE Judea and Galilee successfully rebelled against Rome, at last, and won four years of independence while Rome was preoccupied with a civil war. Roman troops reconquered Judea and in 70 CE sacked Jerusalem, destroying the Second Temple and killing countless people. As Josephus recorded it:
[The Romans] ran every one through whom they met with, and obstructed the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole city run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of many of the houses was quenched with these men's blood.[6]
This was the third great catastrophe to befall the Jews, after the Assyrian destruction of the kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE and the invasion by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. The trauma of this devastating experience is impossible for us to imagine. Rebuilding the Temple was forbidden.[7] All Jews had instead to pay to maintain the centre of Roman religion, the Temple of Jupiter. Judaism was no longer a respected cult. The Jerusalem church, the most authentic heirs to the life and teachings of the real Jesus, led by people who had actually been his disciples, disappears.
Roman troops looting treasures from the Temple. Photo: Steerpike.
Reza Aslan argues that after the war, it was wise to move messianism away from the revolutionary politics that had proved so disastrous. Now that the Jews were pariahs, the Gentiles – above all the Roman world – were the only realistic audience for the message of the nascent Christian church.
With the Temple in ruins and the Jewish religion made pariah, the Jews who followed Jesus as messiah had an easy decision to make: they could either maintain their cultic connections to their parent religion and thus share in Rome's enmity (Rome's enmity to Christians would peak much later), or they could divorce themselves from Judaism and transform their messiah from a fierce Jewish nationalist into a pacifistic preacher of good works whose kingdom was not of this world.[8]
Everyone interested in Jesus needed to shift their ground from seeking an earthly kingdom to seeking a spiritual one; Jesus needed to be identified not as a revolutionary nationalist executed for sedition but as a spiritual figure who transcended politics. Of course, Paul had already solved this problem, by redefining what a messiah was and transforming a movement for Jews into one for all nations. Aslan concludes:
The choice between James's vision of a Jewish religion anchored in the Law of Moses and derived from a Jewish nationalist who fought against Rome, and Paul's vision of a Roman religion that divorced itself from Jewish provincialism and required nothing for salvation save belief in Christ, was not a difficult one for the second and third generation of Jesus's followers to make.
It was also not a difficult decision for a Jewish ruling class of priests and nobles, shaken by a series of popular uprisings directed not only against the Romans but against their own class hegemony. This is the backdrop to the writing of the four canonical Gospels.
The Gospels
Though the letters of Paul were written first, it is reasonable that the New Testament opens with the four Gospels, as they describe the life and deeds of Jesus. (The English word Gospel derives from euangelion, Greek for 'good news'.) They are by far our most important source for Jesus.
The Gospels included in the New Testament are the best known, but there were quite a few others too, some of which, such as the Gospel of Thomas, still survive. For this article we shall confine ourselves to the four that ended up in the New Testament.
|Papyrus 52, a fragment of John's Gospel
believed to be the oldest extant
New Testament manuscript.
It dates to roughly the first quarter
of the second century.
The Gospels represent a continuation of the process whereby Jesus's followers try to make sense of who he was and what his followers should believe. It is difficult even to talk of 'Christianity' at this time, because there is ideological diversity: each writer asserts their own opinion about how Christians should relate to Mosaic law, and their own Christology, i.e. theory of the nature of Jesus.
The first Gospel to be written was Mark in about 70 CE, forty years after Jesus's death. It is a terse and breathless narrative, whose author believes Jesus will return within the present generation's lifetime. Probably writing as Roman troops ransacked Palestine and lay seige to Jerusalem, Mark (as we shall call him for convenience) warns his readers to expect suffering before they are saved. Despite some apocalyptic passages he does not explicitly mention the destruction of the Second Temple, perhaps because he finished his book just before it happened. In chapter 13 he does describe a terrible 'tribulation' during which Jesus will descend from the clouds to 'gather his elect', an apocalypse that will happen very soon: the current generation will not die out before it happens. Mark would have been influenced by Jesus's own apocalyptic message, but perhaps also by the Roman troops putting his homeland to the sword as he wrote. His Jesus offers hope to a suffering community.
Mark shows Jesus making modifications to Mosaic law, e.g. declaring all foods fit to eat, but sees him as coming in fulfilment of Jewish scripture, not in opposition to it. Mark's Jesus is continually misunderstood by those around him – even the disciples don't quite seem to get it. The Jewish scribes and Pharisees consider him a threat and eventually get him executed. Significantly, the only person in the Gospel who realises that Jesus is the son of God is the Roman centurion overseeing the crucifixion (15:39). Jesus was rejected by the Jews, and it is the Gentile world, represented above all by Rome, that will recognise and embrace his movement.
Written a decade or two later, Matthew and Luke both have a strong resemblance to Mark, with similar events, sequence and wording, which suggests they used it as a source. Scholars have labelled the three texts 'Synoptic' Gospels because of their close relationship ('synoptic' implying 'seeing together'). Many historians argue that Matthew and Luke also used a now-lost collection of Jesus's sayings known as Q (from the German Quelle or 'source'), because of details their books have in common, and the writers then added their own material too, including conflicting accounts of Jesus's infancy and of the resurrection. However, the two Gospels' differing theologies suggest they were written independently of each other within different communities, and each may not have known of the other's work.
Matthew was clearly considered an important and complete account by the early Church, and became the opening text of the New Testament. The author, who may have been based in Antioch, rewrote and expanded upon Mark, adding the Christmas story, the sermon on the Mount and the Lord's Prayer. Familiar with Jewish laws and customs, he was primarily writing for Greek-speaking Jews and seeks to place Jesus more strongly within the Jewish tradition. He argues that Jesus came in fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies and calls for the respecting of Mosaic law, but thinks the law comes second to loving others. The first principle was: "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (7:12).
Despite Matthew's emphasis upon the cult's Jewish roots, in his Gospel the Jewish leaders reject Jesus, even after witnessing his miracles, and are presented as hypocrites and enemies responsible for his eventual execution. John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Sadducees "a brood of vipers" (3:7), and Jesus challenges the priesthood by making a scene in the Temple:
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." (21:12)
Then in chapter 23 Jesus makes an entire speech of 'seven woes' against the Jewish leaders, where they are again a "brood of vipers". It is important to note that Matthew is not condemning Jews per se, as anti-Semites have liked to conclude, but the leadership. Perhaps his community was facing hostility from the local Jewish authorities at the time.
The Gospel also supports the very Christian notion of salvation through Jesus, as illustrated by the story in chapter 14, verses 22-33: the disciples are in a boat, beaten by a storm at sea, and they see Jesus walk to them across the water. Peter tries to imitate him, but begins to drown because his own faith is not strong enough, so Jesus intervenes to save him: "And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'" Whereas Paul thought Gentile converts didn't need to obey the Mosaic law, Matthew is trying to create a Christianity in which arguably even Gentile converts must observe the law, to the extent that some scholars believe he wishes to promote a sect within Judaism rather than a new religion. Whatever the truth, Matthew puts his version of the cult into a contradiction with Judaism when he recognises Jesus as the Messiah offering salvation through faith, and even he appeals to Gentiles too. After the Resurrection, Jesus gives his disciples an explicit commission: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (28:19).
Luke strongly emphasises the spread of Jesus's teachings to Gentiles. It was written at about the same time as Matthew (roughly 80-90 CE) and forms a two-part work with the book of Acts. Together these comprise about a quarter of the New Testament, making it the largest contribution by a single author. Jesus himself never preaches to non-Jews, so Luke-Acts seeks to explain how a Jewish Messiah became the focus of a Gentile religion, claiming that Jesus and the apostles approached the Jews first but were rejected. Acts proves Luke's pre-occupation with converting the non-Jewish world. It describes how the apostles spread the word after Jesus's ascension into heaven, and above all the career of Paul after his conversion. In Acts, in town after town Paul begins by preaching to Jews, is angrily rejected, and preaches instead to Gentiles who respond by forming a church.
Luke's view seems to be that the Jews have their laws and customs that they will uphold – just as every people has its laws and customs – but that Gentiles need not uphold Jewish law because they're not Jews, and can become Christians without being bound by them. Although Jesus was a Jew, his message is for everyone. He says: "repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (24:47). Thus Acts ends in Rome itself, symbolising the spread of the message to the whole world.
The fourth Gospel is very different, containing about nine-tenths original material telling different stories. The last to be written, in around 90-100 CE, John has more dialogue, less action, and its own preoccupations such as an interest in signs. There are three letters in the New Testament attributed to John which, if not literally by the same author, seem to be products of the same community. For John, the world is a wicked, hostile place and Jesus represents a light in the darkness. John shows little interest in the matter of whether to follow Mosaic law, and 'the Jews' in this Gospel is generally a derogatory term indicating enemies of Jesus. John wanted to emphasise Jesus's spirituality and divinity. It is clear from the beginning that in this Christology, Jesus is eternal, existing before and after he was incarnated in human form, and equal to Yahweh. We don't see that in the other Gospels. In fact, this is the most 'divine' version of Jesus, and the nearest to later Church orthodoxy.
Each of the four Gospels is interested in creating a particular ideology of who Jesus was and what his message meant. They are attempts to mould the real Jesus into a form agreeable to the writers' own ideological context and, to varying degrees, one that could be embraced by non-Jews in the Roman empire [10], so that by the time the last of the four, John, was written, Jesus was no longer a radical Jewish nationalist but had become the eternal equal of God.
If Paul and the Gospel writers are so keen to spread Christianity beyond the Jewish world, why do they so often emphasise Jesus's roots inside Judaism? Especially when it is becoming a new religion? Partly of course, they are themselves Jews (though not necessarily all of them) and interpret Jesus in the light of what they already understand. Bart Ehrman offers a further explanation, arguing that antiquity was very important in the ancient world: a Christianity going back a millenium was much more venerable and respectable than one created very recently, in the reign of Emperor Tiberius. "Even by the second century," he writes, "Jesus was considered 'recent'. If something recent is automatically suspect, then a religion based on Christ is in peril." However, "if Jesus is predicted by the Jewish prophets and Moses, then the religion he established is very old indeed."[11]
The Gospels as historical sources
The Gospels are not eye-witness accounts. Illiterate and without any education in Greek, Jesus's original disciples were in no position to write down their experiences. None of the Gospel writers knew Jesus, nor do they claim to: the texts are testimonies of faith, written decades after he died.
There is little or no archaeological evidence to confirm any of the events of the Gospels – we must take the texts on trust. They share many similarities, probably because their writers relied on common oral traditions and even written sources such as the postulated Q. However, they cannot be considered reliable historical documents, because they also have many discrepancies. There are far too many to explore here, but a good example is how they report the story of Jesus's birth, known as the Nativity. In Mark and John there is no birth story at all. In Matthew, after Jesus is born in Bethlehem he is visited by wise men [12] bearing three gifts; Herod comes to kill the child but the family is warned in a dream and flees to Egypt, only returning to Judea after the massacre of children is over and Herod has died. In Luke, Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem because of a Roman census; there is 'no place for them at the inn' so Mary places her baby in a manger (feeding trough) after he is born; some nearby shepherds are told of the Messiah's birth by angels and visit the family; about a month later Jesus is taken to the Temple at Jerusalem where he is praised by Simeon and Anna, then the family goes back to Nazareth.
Matthew and Luke, knowing of the prophecy in Micah 5:2 that the Messiah is supposed to be born in David's hometown of Bethlehem, have both contrived stories to explain how Jesus, widely known to be a Nazarene, could have been born there. But these are completely different stories, with very little in common save the birth in Bethlehem and the family's ultimate residence in Nazareth.
All four Gospels were written decades after Jesus's death, in another country, in another language (Greek rather than Aramaic). Without the benefit of first-hand observation, their writers would have taken their information from stories that had been in oral circulation for decades. In 1 Corinthians 11:23, Paul is commenting on the Last Supper and uses the phrase "for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you". He never met Jesus, so this probably refers to him passing on a tradition he has heard from other followers. There are also passages in Paul that sound like Jesus but aren't reported in the Gospels, such as 1 Corinthians 9:14 ("those who proclaim the Gospel should get their living by the Gospel"), which again is probably evidence of an oral tradition.
And [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7)
That's all. The Nativity is a wonderful story that enjoys the contrast between Jesus' royal, Davidic lineage and the impoverished conditions of his birth. But the popular, mass-consumed version of the story has come a long way from a difficult and dangerous first-century childbirth in a rude, mudbrick home in Nazareth. The story illustrates how deeply the real Jesus has become obscured by both the New Testament texts and the fond legends of later generations.
It is often assumed, even by lifelong Christians, that the New Testament offers a coherent and consistent ideology. It does not. The Gospel writers disagree on many points and even hold contradictory views. That is to be expected, because the various books were written by different people or communities in different geographical regions who may not even have been familiar with each other's texts, and were trying to make sense of a very challenging series of ideas and events. There was no central authority dispensing orthodoxy; the nearest thing to such a body, James's circle in Jerusalem, had been obliterated by the rampaging Romans. We have to approach each book as we would a work of literature, with an eye to who wrote it and for what purpose, and be prepared to notice when the purposes don't match up.
Jesus as Messiah and God
If Jesus's crucifixion had been like any other, he would have been just another failed rebel, noted in the history books alongside the likes of Judas the Galilean. However, his followers believed he was resurrected. That was the birth moment of Christianity, prompting a process by which the historical Jesus became the divine saviour of humanity with a special relationship with God.
Jesus himself, as reported in Mark, doesn't like to describe himself as the messiah, and he discourages his followers from saying it too – this odd situation is known as the 'messianic secret'. The Romans must have thought he was claiming to be King of the Jews, because they killed him for it, but Jesus prefers to call himself the 'Son of Man', a phrase from the book of Daniel which implies kingly ambition but is too ambiguous to be as explosive as 'messiah'. The likely explanation of the messianic secret is that the historical Jesus did not think he was the messiah. His followers, convinced of the opposite, explained his silence by pretending that he was keeping it a secret.
At his death Jesus had failed to achieve the things the messiah is meant to achieve. There were differing conceptions of the messiah in Judaism, but none of a messiah who was crucified as a criminal and raised from the dead. Either Jesus was a fake, or the messiah had to be redefined. His followers opted for the latter. They had assumed he was the messiah during his lifetime – his death seemed to contradict that, but then God had vindicated him by resurrecting him from the dead, so the problem was to work out what sort of messiah he was. This approach ensured that his cult, unlike the movements of other failed rebels, stayed alive.
All four Gospel writers and Paul believe that Jesus is the messiah, though they don't have identical views of what that means. For Mark and Matthew, the messiah must suffer in order to redeem the sins of humanity, so his execution was a necessity willed as part of God's plan. For Luke, the messiah was a prophet and martyr, with no theme of redeeming sins: his death prompts people's repentance for rejecting him, and they are forgiven that way. For John, Jesus is eternal and fully equal to God, and removes humanity's sins through his sacrifice. There is no 'messianic secret': Jesus performs public miracles "that you may believe that Jesus is the messiah, the Son of God." For Paul, the resurrection heralded a period when the dead would begin to rise up at the end of time: the messiah would shortly return to Jerusalem, and all the world, Jew and Gentile alike, would be embraced into Israel.
In all these conceptions, Jesus was a suffering messiah who died for the sins of the world and was resurrected by God, thereby conquering sin, to return in judgement in the future. This was a messiah spliced away, though not entirely or immediately, from Judaism, and shorn of dangerous, nationalist politics.
All four Gospel writers and Paul believe Jesus was, in some sense, the son of God. In Jewish tradition, the term 'son of God' refers to people who have a special, intimate relationship with Yahweh, mediating the divine will in some way. It is very unlikely that Jesus himself thought he was the literal 'son' of God. He only claims it in the Gospel of John. In 8:58 he says, "Before Abraham was, I am." Not only does this mean Jesus was alive many centuries earlier, making him supernatural, he is repeating Yahweh's answer to Moses when asked who he was (Exodus 3:14). Plainly he is claiming to be God. He also says things like "I and the father are one" (John 10:30) and "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
But John's Gospel was written about sixty years after Jesus's death by someone who had never met him. If Jesus had made such an audacious claim, it would be astonishing if it failed to become part of the oral tradition around him. We may reasonably conclude that the real Jesus did not think he was God, and that his followers in his lifetime didn't think he was either.[13] Only after some of his followers believed they saw Jesus resurrected did speculation of his divinity start, as Bert Ehrman explains:
Once the disciples claimed Jesus was alive again but was (obviously) no longer here with them, they came to think that he had been taken up to heaven (where else could he be?). In ancient Greek, Roman, and Jewish thinking, a person exalted to the heavenly realm was divinised – himself made divine. That's what the earliest Christians thought about Jesus. After that a set of evolutionary forces took over, in which the followers of Jesus began saying more and more exalted things about him – that he had been made the son of God at his resurrection; no, it was at his baptism; no, it was at his birth; no, it was before he came into the world; no – he had never been made the son of God, he had always been the Son of God; in fact, he had always been God; more than that, he had created the world; and yet more, he was an eternal being equal with God Almighty.[14]
Paul seems to think differently. For him, God and Jesus aren't the same thing, and Jesus isn't quite as important as God. In 1 Corinthians 11 he asserts a hierarchy: "Man is the head of woman, Christ is the head of man, and God is the head of Christ." Despite this unorthodox position, which eventually became heretical, Paul's works were included in the New Testament. In fact, many scholars consider him the true founder of Christianity. In his lifetime his ideas were controversial and had been rejected by the apostles in Jerusalem, but in the post-Jewish Revolt world they were much more attractive. He already had a long record of teaching Christianity to the Gentiles, and his theology was perfectly placed to benefit from a shift from a Jewish to a Gentile audience. The early followers who thought Jesus was preaching only within Judaism, and that his followers would have to convert to Judaism if necessary, were partly defeated by the limitations of their own impoverished origins, because they were illiterate and therefore, like everyone who actually met Jesus, did not write their doctrines down.[15] Paul did, which made his ideas more durable and easier to spread. His posthumous ideological victory is illustrated by a simple statistic: out of the 27 books of the New Testament, only one is attributed to James, but fourteen, more than half, are attributed to Paul.
It is hard to say how far the Gospels are directly influenced by Paul. But the shift of emphasis is clear. Jesus the radical Jewish revolutionary became Jesus the universal spiritual leader, Jesus the son of God. Later Church leaders turned instructions like 'love your enemy' or 'turn the other cheek', which Jesus had intended as good advice for inter-Jewish relations, into universal instructions of peace and non-violence (ignored by nominally Christian governments ever since). As an orthodox, hierarchical Church gradually extended ideological hegemony, the differences between the various conceptions of Jesus that had existed in different communities and within the New Testament were glossed over: a "homogenisation, rather than illumination, of their distinctive emphases", as Ehrman puts it.
The reinterpretation of Jesus's relatively obscure original movement was so effective that a couple of centuries later the Roman emperor himself would convert to this new faith and make it the official religion of imperial Rome.
The Christian religion did not fall intact from the sky but developed through a process of ideological struggle. The arguments over how to interpret Jesus and his movement began immediately after his death, and even the sealing of the New Testament canon, or the official doctrine agreed at the Council of Nicaea three hundred years after Jesus's death, failed to create a Christology acceptable to every Christian. The supposed resurrection of Jesus caused tremendous theoretical problems.
The biggest problem, of course, was the question. If you want to know 'why was this preacher raised from the dead by God?' there is no 'correct' answer, proved beyond doubt by signed and dated letters and archaeological artifacts, any more than you can uncover the 'true' stories of Tiamat or Jupiter. Much like art, religion is partly a figurative world, where the concrete elements must jostle with subjective interpretations.
Jesus never thought he was founding a new religion. He was a Jew preaching a liberal version of Judaism to other Jews, trying to prepare his people for an impending apocalypse. But his followers were chosen from the uneducated peasantry, which left the task of recording his teachings to an urban, Greek-speaking elite. The smashing of Judea helped to break the Church's link with the 'authentic' school of Jesus, leaving his legacy in the hands of those who would formerly have been considered heretics. This Hellenistic faction of early Christianity reinvented him in the tradition of the Greek or Roman demi-god: a spiritual being, unconcerned with such earthly matters as the liberation politics of Palestine. The Gospel writers tried to argue that the movement was not a break from Judaism but a fulfilment of its scriptures. In practice, they launched a new religion addressing Gentiles instead. Jesus's cult was no longer Jewish, but universal. Jesus of Nazareth had become the Christ.
[1] The Pharisees were a religious society of Judaism. Whereas the Sadducees, the party of the high priesthood, insisted on the Torah as the source of law even centuries after the time of Moses, the Pharisees were a party of laymen and scribes who spoke up for a more democratic Judaism and a more progressive relationship between scripture and contemporary social issues.
[2] The story of Paul's conversion is told in chapter 9 of Acts, written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke.
[3] The existence of Jesus's brother lays down an obvious challenge to the theory of Mary's perpetual virginity.
[4] Jesus: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18).
[5] E.g. Jesus says one isn't allowed to eat meat sacrificed to idols, Paul the opposite; Jesus says the law continues until the end of heaven and earth, Paul thinks it is abolished; and so on. There is a powerful scene in Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ in which Paul tells Jesus face to face that he will tell people whatever he needs to, regardless of what Jesus thinks.
[6] Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War (ca. 75 CE), as translated by William Whiston. The Bar Kokhba Revolt, launched in about 132 CE and crushed by Roman troops, had even more devastating consequences, with massive death and depopulation: it was arguably the most decisive cause of the Jewish diaspora.
[7] The loss of the central Temple explains why Jews no longer sacrifice animals as outlined in the Torah, and now pray instead. This was also the era when authority shifted from the Temple priesthood to the rabbis (the flowering of Rabbinic Judaism).
[8] Reza Aslan, Zealot (2013).
[9] Even early Christians, who lived much closer to the time of writing, were confused about the Gospels' provenance: for example, the second century bishop Papias seems to have believed Matthew was originally written in Hebrew and translated into Greek later.
[10] This helps explain the peculiar trial scenes in which Pilate is infeasibly sensitive to Jewish customs and lets the Jews decide who is executed: the writers are trying to absolve their (Roman) target audience from responsibility. Blame for Jesus's death was instead transferred to the Jews that rejected him, which has provided a scriptural justification for anti-Semitism ever since.
[11] Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (1997).
[12] We aren't told how many 'wise men' there were. The assumption that there were three is a later tradition, probably based upon the three gifts. They are not three 'kings', either.
[13] Once Christians believed Jesus and God were the same, they had to deal with many difficult questions about the precise relationship between them. The complex doctrine of the Trinity was an attempt to resolve this.
[14] Bart D. Ehrman, 'How Jesus Became God', Huffington Post 29 May 2014.
[15] Or if they did, their writing has vanished without trace, which perhaps tells its own story.


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Hey guys. We're trying to fit in some time to lay down more effective wiki data editing guidelines and page styling techniques and since the "which games do you want to see on TNT?" discussion went so well (except for you lunatics who want Mount & Blade, of course), I figured I'd check in and ask you guys about what you'd like to see addressed.
Topics like "how to properly edit release dates on Giant Bomb" and "why you shouldn't mess too much with the Accessory pages right now" will also be covered here. So, along those lines, what do you want to know? Which questions need to be answered?
- An appearance in a compilation does not mean that a game was "released" on that platform.
EXAMPLE: Just because Mappy was released in a Namco Museum collection for the PlayStation does not mean that the game page for Mappy should be attached to the PlayStation platform. The Namco Museum page covers that relationship. Only platforms with a dedicated release of Mappy should appear on the Game page. A wiki section detailing its appearances in compilations is appropriate here, as well.
EXCEPTION: Though Game Room (360) may look like a similar situation, its nature as a free shell for purchased games excepts it from the above rule. The games in this compilation are purchased separately. If Game Room didn't have achievements of its own, which forces a game page to achievements relationship on our back-end, it would probably exist in our system as a subsection of the Xbox Live Marketplace platform, which, to be clear, is the platform that Game Room releases should be tagged with.

subset: commoncrawl


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Give Us a Call: (608) 782-7300
Home > Care & Treatment > Sports Medicine > Sports Physical Therapy
Gundersen Health System Sports Physical Therapy delivers comprehensive, evidence-based care to return injured individuals to activities as quickly and safely as possible. Utilizing our state-of-the-art facility, our experts provide evaluation and treatment to assist in recovery from an injury or surgery; provide return-to-activity guidelines; and perform biomechanical analysis of throwing, running, cycling, and golf swing mechanics. Services are provided by our highly trained, licensed physical therapy experts who have advanced credentials as board-certified sports clinical specialists and/or certification in athletic training.
Treatments we offer:
Our state-of-the-art facility offers cardiovascular equipment, isotonic and isokinetic strength training machines and a functional area for return-to-activity and sport-specific training.
Sports Physical Therapy services are available in Onalaska, Wis. and Winona, Minn. Our team offers extended hours to accommodate patients' work and schedules. We offer appointments as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 5:30 p.m.
Sports Physical Therapy is a department of Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center.
Request an Appointment
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Every day, Gundersen Health System delivers great medicine plus a little something extra—we call it Love + Medicine.


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Thu. January 7, 2010 | Keith Niebuhr
Leon Orr got great news Wednesday.
The NCAA Clearinghouse had cleared him, paving the way for Orr to enroll early at Florida. Today, the former Gulf star is moving his things up to Gainesville. On Friday, he might take his first college class.
"I was real excited to know I passed through the Clearinghouse," Orr said.
Orr, a 6-foot-5, 315-pound standout, is one of the Gators' prized recruits. A top-100 prospect according to Rivals.com, he is projected to play on the defensive line at Florida, but could very well end up on offense.
When reached Thursday morning, Orr was packing.
He is being driven to Gainesville by Gulf assistant Kenneth Hollar.
"I'm happy and I'm greatful," Orr said. "I'm ready to take the next step. But I'm going to take baby steps. I'm excited, but I'm cautious at the same time."
--KEITH NIEBUHR (email@example.com)


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Main Content
Undergraduate Program:
Why Join the Pamplin Undergraduate Program?
Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business places great emphasis on its undergraduate program. The best faculty teach in the program, and many also serve as advisors for student organizations affiliated with the college. The college and the university also provide significant resources to assist students with undergraduate academic advising and placement activities. The Pamplin College of Business's undergraduate program has been consistently ranked in the top 50 by U.S. News and World Report. It was ranked 39th in the 2015 report (23rd among public universities).
Why Choose the Finance Program?
The Finance program is one of the strongest undergraduate programs in the Pamplin College of Business. It is also the largest, graduating over 300 students per year (including double majors). Students continue to choose finance as their major of choice as they learn more about the faculty, training, and placement opportunities that the finance program provides.
The Finance Department's faculty are internationally recognized experts in their respective fields. Their ongoing research allows the faculty to bring the latest concepts and ideas into the classroom. In addition, many of the faculty members have significant real world experience that enables them to connect finance theory with its practical applications, discuss current events with useful insights, and provide students with relevant career advice.
Finance majors consistently have one of the highest placement rates (approximately 80%) and median starting salaries ($56,700 in 2014) among the majors in the Pamplin College of Business. Over 100 companies and government agencies came to Virginia Tech's campus last year to recruit finance majors, including major corporations, financial institutions, consulting firms and government agencies. A list of them is provided HERE.
Virginia Tech's finance majors enter a wide range of finance career paths, including corporate finance, financial planning, wealth management, commercial banking, investment banking, insurance, real estate and consulting. Our finance majors are also hired by a number of agencies of the governments of Virginia and the United States. For a more detailed description of the career paths available to finance majors, please visit our Careers in Finance webpage.
The Finance Department's undergraduate core curriculum provides its students with finance and accounting knowledge and skills that they can apply to a broad range of finance careers. Once students have finished the core curriculum's requirements, they can then choose from six different tracks offered by the department: Corporate Financial Management, Investment Management/CFA, Financial Services Management, Financial Accounting, Certified Financial Planner, and General Finance. These tracks provide students with advanced, specialized coursework that is designed to help them to gain employment and succeed in their desired fields.
Outside of class, the Finance Department's students also have to opportunity to join and participate in a number of student organizations that provide additional experiential learning opportunities. A number of the department's most senior faculty members work with these organizations as faculty advisors. Examples include BASIS and SEED, two groups that each manage $5 million investment funds, and the Financial Planning Association, a professional group for students interested in careers involving financial services for individuals. Additional information about these and other student organizations is provided HERE.
Finance students also have access to a large number of internship opportunities with dozens of employers that recruit at Virginia Tech. Most internship opportunities are for students who have finished their junior year, but some are available for sophomores. Students can also participate in the university's Cooperative Education Program, in which students work for a company for a semester or more during the school year. In addition, students can expand their learning by participating in undergraduate research and independent study projects with the department's faculty members.


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|You are in: Business
Friday, 28 June, 2002, 07:12 GMT 08:12 UK
Smart phones a hard sell
But, device makers and mobile phone manufacturers are looking to so-called communicator devices to entice consumers into replacing their mobile phones and handheld computers with a single device.
A lot of players are betting on the devices to give their businesses a boost. The first generation of such devices are flooding the market, but so far demand has been tepid with demand limited to early adopters.
Grim and grimmer
The economics driving the convergence of mobile phones, handheld computers and handheld e-mail devices such as Research in Motion's Blackberry are simple.
Handheld sales were off 12.1% annually in the first quarter of this year, and mobile phone maker Nokia recently issued lowered sales outlooks.
Price pressures have depressed margins for both handheld and mobile phone makers, and device and mobile phone makers are looking for ways to differentiate themselves in ways other than lower prices.
In addition, mobile phone carriers are on the hunt for new profits to pay for their next-generation networks, and they think wireless data holds the key for a rebound.
Handheld computer and mobile handset makers are battling to find the right mix of features and size to win the hearts of Road Warriors, those always-on-the-go business people who never want to be out of touch or without their key contacts to close the deal.
For handheld maker Handspring, they see the opportunity to tap into the giant market for mobile phone handsets, which dwarfs the handheld computer market.
From the earliest days of the handheld computer dating back to Apple's Newton in 1992, handheld sales have totalled 30 million units, said Handspring's Brian Jaquet.
But mobile phone handsets sales number in the millions each month. "There is a lot of muscle put behind convergence," Mr Jaquet said.
"Whoever gets the right compromises when it comes to size, functionality and price will see a tremendous upside," he said.
But Mr Jaquet admits that it will take time. Buying a handheld computer for $150 is a much easier decision than buying a handheld computer cum phone that sells for twice that price or more.
Stiff competition, slow sales
Handspring's entry into the market, the Treo, has been met with rave reviews.
But Handspring has a lot of competition not only from other handheld makers but also from mobile phone makers including powerhouse Nokia with its vision of the communicator device in the Nokia 9290.
Research in Motion, which makes the Blackberry mobile e-mail device, also is in the race. RIM sells a Blackberry that also has mobile phone capabilities.
But so far, sales have been less than stellar. Last year, these all-singing, all-dancing devices sold only 1.07 million units worldwide, according to IT consultancy IDC.
Steve Baker, an analyst with NPD Techworld, is not surprised by the small numbers.
These products are relatively expensive, and the first generation of many products usually attract a limited number of early adopters, he said, adding, "It would be flawed to expect these devices to explode on the scene."
Right now, users are trying to determine what is the right form of these communicators. Every maker of these devices comes at them from a slightly different perspective.
Handspring's Treo is a handheld computer that has phone and e-mail capabilities. RIM's entry is a Blackberry with phone capabilities, and Nokia's communicator is reminiscent of a Psion handheld crossed with a phone.
Mr Baker adds that these companies are fighting over a relatively small number of people who want all of these capabilities in a single device, and users of such converged devices value voice, e-mail and information organiser capabilities differently, fragmenting an already small market.
"How much demand there will be in the US for a device that does all of these things is a decent question," he said.
But device and mobile phone makers see an opportunity to differentiate themselves and enter into new market areas, less stagnant than markets they now target, he said.
Even if RIM or Handspring are able to get a small percentage of the mobile phone market, there is a lot of opportunity there, he believes.
See also:
02 Jun 02 | Science/Nature
30 May 02 | Business
15 Apr 02 | Business
04 Feb 02 | Business
10 Jan 02 | Science/Nature
Internet links:
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It may seem a little odd to some, but presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney extended his condolences today to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the death of his father.
Ben-Zion Netanyahu, a historian and Zionist activist, died today in Israel. He was 102.
Romney called the Israeli prime minister his "friend" in his statement. The two men have been friends for years, and their relationship was forged in the 1970s when they were young up-and-comers sizing up companies for the Boston Consulting Group.
"This is a loss for all of Israel and for all who care about Israel," Romney said about the elder Netanyahu's death.
Romney has frequently criticized President Obama's handling of the Middle East, saying the Democrat has "thrown Israel under the bus" and undermined its negotiating position with Palestinians.
Catalina Camia leads the OnPolitics online community and has been at USA TODAY since 2005. She has been a reporter or editor covering politics and Congress for two decades, including stints at The Dallas Morning News and Congressional Quarterly. Follow her at @USATOnPolitics.
USA TODAY's Jackie Kucinich (@jfkucinich) and Fredreka Schouten (@fschouten) also contribute to the OnPolitics blog.


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|You are in: Politics
Wednesday, 6 December, 2000, 14:55 GMT
Fresh chance of hunt ban
MPs are to be given a free vote on whether to ban hunting with dogs.
Plans to introduce the long-awaited Bill were announced in the Queen's speech on Wednesday.
Under the proposals, MPs will be able to chose whether to support an outright ban, introduce regulation or back self-regulation for hunters.
The free vote means MPs will be able to vote with their consciences and will not be required to follow party lines.
As a result of the free vote, a bill outlawing hunting is expected to pass through the Commons.
However, it stands a high risk of being defeated in the Lords where many peers are sympathetic to the pro-hunting lobby.
Pressure groups
The three options being put forward by the government have come from three pressure groups Deadline 2000, the Middle Way Group and the Countryside Alliance.
The options to be put before MPs are:
The Burns inquiry, published last June, examined the case for banning hunting. It found that between 6,000 and 8,000 jobs depended on hunting.
It also revealed that up to 400,000 foxes are killed each year.
Ministers had toyed with the idea of holding local referenda to allow communities to decide whether to allow hunting in their areas.
But that idea has been dropped after failing to attract much support from either pro or anti-hunting groups.
Historic opportunity
The Bill was hailed as a "historic opportunity" by the Deadline 2000 coalition of anti-hunting groups.
Spokesman Douglas Batchelor, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: "Parliament has debated hunting many times before but never with a government bill and a guarantee of parliamentary times.
"This is an historic opportunity to finally end this cruel and barbaric practice which has no place in modern society."
But the Bill is likely to face fierce opposition from the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance and its supporters in Parliament.
Countryside Alliance President and Labour peer Baroness Mallalieu told BBC News 24 she was "quite certain" there would not be a ban before the next election.
She said she was uncertain how many MPs would vote against a ban but many peers opposed it.
And she thought "Sensible people on all sides" would agree a compromise proposal involving supervision and licensing of hunts.
"It is wrong to use the criminal law to enforce your personal prejudices," Lady Mallalieu added.
MPs have tried to outlaw fox hunting for more than 50 years.
The most recent bill, introduced in November 1997, was withdrawn six months later after heated debate in the Commons and after an estimated 250,000 people marched on London protesting against the bill.
Those who support hunting say it is part of the rural way of life.
Those opposed say it is nothing more than cruelty to animals.
A bill banning hunting in Scotland is currently going through the Scottish Parliament.
See also:
23 Nov 00 | UK Politics
16 Sep 99 | UK
07 Aug 00 | UK Politics
09 Jun 00 | UK
Internet links:
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Tue. May 28, 2013 | Matt Baker | Email
Player of the year: Courage Okungbowa, Sr., Wiregrass Ranch
Why we picked him: Okungbowa was the No. 1 player on perhaps Tampa Bay's most dominant team to earn the award a third consecutive season. "This year I felt I was really focused," Okungbowa said. He led the Bulls to a perfect regular-season record, a Class 4A region title and the program's second trip to state as a team. Okungbowa was knocked out in the first round at state in No. 1 singles but teamed with Agie Moreno to advance to the semifinals in No. 1 doubles after a three-set tiebreaker victory.
Most impressive accomplishment: Okungbowa didn't lose a set until the second round of regionals. Wharton's Sam Chaffin stole the first set, 6-2 and led 3-1 in the second before Okungbowa rallied, without his best stuff. He took the second 6-2 and barely beat the rain to claim the last set and seal his team's trip to state. "I was able to find a way to win," Okungbowa said.
Future plans: Okungbowa signed with FAMU in February. He plans to study computer information systems while playing tennis for the Rattlers.
Did you know? Okungbowa's recruitment with FAMU started on a whim. He was competing in a junior tournament in Tallahassee when one of the directors called FAMU's coach to tell him about Okungbowa. The Rattlers coach stopped by and invited Okungbowa to take an unofficial visit. He made an official visit later and accepted the Rattlers' scholarship.
First team
Agie Moreno, Fr., Wiregrass Ranch: Advanced to the semifinals in No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles to earn two of his team's four points at state.
Patrick Deslaurier, So., Springstead: Eagles' top player stumbled at districts in No. 1 singles but still helped Springstead win the Class 3A, District 6 title — the first in program history.
Austin Riddaugh, Sr., Pasco: Helped the Pirates win a second straight Class 2A, District 6 title with a win at No. 1 singles; teamed with Josh Morris to advance to the state semifinals at No. 1 doubles.
Niels van Dam, Fr., Wiregrass Ranch: Reached the state semifinals at No. 3 singles for one of Tampa Bay's top teams.
Alejandro Feliciano, So., Wiregrass Ranch: Added depth for the Bulls at No. 4 singles and teamed with Foresight Okungbowa to take the eventual state champs to three sets in No. 2 doubles.
Second team
Dan Lukish, Fr., Mitchell
Foresight Okungbowa, So., Wiregrass Ranch
Carl Zee, Sr., Springstead
David Dollbaum, So., Land O'Lakes
Josh Morris, So., Pasco
Honorable mention
Anclote: Sead Neziri; Fivay: Gio Garnada; Gulf: Victor Cao; Hernando: James Ortega; Hudson: Andrew Goetz; Land O'Lakes: Christopher Mo; Mitchell: Tony Nguyen; Nature Coast: Jesse Dewitt, Conner Schwefringhaus; Pasco: Alex Mitchell; Ridgewood: Alex Dziedzic, Dylan Disbro; River Ridge: Alex Koutsos; Springstead: Hank Deslaurier; Sunlake: Chris Wilkinson; Wesley Chapel: Ralph Herz; Zephyrhills: Luke Messina
Coach of the year
Dave Wilson, Wiregrass Ranch: The Sunshine Athletic Conference coach of the year led the North Suncoast's most dominant team in any sport to edge Springstead's Joe Nicolai for the award. His Bulls reached state for the second time in program history, didn't drop a set until the region tournament and swept all-SAC first team honors.
Player of the year: Star Makarome, So., Wiregrass Ranch
Why we picked her: Makarome dominated the North Suncoast again during a condensed schedule. She cruised to consecutive district titles at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles. She didn't lose a game in singles at districts and lost only two all season entering the Class 4A state tournament. "I feel consistency-wise, I'm better," Makarome said.
Most impressive accomplishment: Though she fell short of her second-place finish as a freshman, Makarome still fared well at state. She and teammate Tiffany Garner took a bye into the quarterfinals in doubles, and Makarome was the top seed in singles before falling to the eventual champion in the state semifinals. She said she enjoyed the team aspect and the fact that Wiregrass' boys team qualified for state, ramping up the excitement. "That was a huge thing for all of us," Makarome said.
Future plans: Makarome still has two years of high school remaining. She hopes to play tennis in college and ultimately aspires to pursue a professional career. Tennisrecruiting.net considers her a five-star talent, and she won the National Open junior doubles championship this month in Georgia.
Did you know? Makarome thought about not playing this season to focus on junior events, as many top players do. She didn't decide to return to the Bulls until just before the spring. "I just went with the flow and hung out with my girls," Makarome said. "All in all, it was another great experience. Great memories from this season. I really can't complain." Makarome is undecided about returning to high school tennis next spring.
First team
Kavya Avancha, So., Land O'Lakes: District runnerup in singles won a Class 3A, District 6 championship in doubles.
Victoria Chavez, So., Wiregrass Ranch: All-SAC first-teamer upset the top seed to earn a district title at No. 2 singles.
Mady Johnson, Jr., Pasco: Cruised to the Class 2A, District 6 title at No. 1 singles to help the Pirates earn their third consecutive team title.
Grace Curren, Fr., Hernando: Finished runnerup to Johnson at districts and teamed with Shelby Marrero to advance to the state semifinals in doubles.
Tiffany Garner, So., Wiregrass Ranch: Teamed with Makarome to win the Class 4A, District 5 title in No. 1 doubles.
Second team
Shelby Marrero, Sr., Hernando
Sydney Owens, Jr., Zephyrhills
Scarlett Semack, So., Springstead
Sarah McCord, Sr., Pasco
Sam Page, Sr., Mitchell
Honorable mention
Anclote: Amanda Zammit; Central: Danielle Daly; Fivay: Ashleigh Day; Gulf: Casey Siena; Hudson: Dominique Cirnigliaro; Land O'Lakes: Cori Arndt, Deneen Wang; Mitchell: Jessica Gilmor; Nature Coast: Christine Sniffen, Madeline Pickersgill; Pasco: Amanda Dee, Shelbie Timlake; Ridgewood: Shamina Stagner; River Ridge: Keegan McQuillan; Springstead: Bryn Buckner, Robyn Cotney; Sunlake: Jackie Simpson; Wesley Chapel: Allison Kosloski; Zephyrhills: Samantha Solmonson, Hannah Ungerer
Coach of the year
Rick Scholl, Springstead: The first-year coach took an Eagles team that didn't crack the top half of the district last spring and led it to the Class 3A, District 6 championship. Springstead's depth helped Scholl's squad finish perfect in district play in the regular season, too.


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"Elf On The Shelf" Helps Scott's Daughter Get Rid Of Her Binky
What an amazing thing "Minnie" the elf did yesterday!! My daughter Abby turned 5 years old yesterday. Previous to that day, she still used her binky for bedtime only.
But we told her that the elf may want her to give it up completely on her 5th birthday. So sure enough, Abby gave the elf her 'binky' the morning of her birthday, and at her birthday dinner later that night, he showed up at the restaurant with an early gift from Santa for accomplishing such a great feat. Boy that elf thinks of EVERYTHING….Congrats to Abby!!!


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Farina eyes upset after tough draw
Page Tools
Australia will open the Confederations Cup against host nation Germany in front of what is expected to be a capacity crowd at the official opening of Frankfurt's Waldstadion on June 15 next year, with coach Frank Farina saying his side is well placed to take advantage of any nerves the home nation might have and cause an upset.
Farina, who attended the draw in Frankfurt , was "expecting to have our best squad there, without doubt" and was hopeful of upsetting the Germans and causing a boilover three days later against the world's No.3 team, Argentina, which is in Australia's group.
Farina hoped Australia could take two or possibly three points from these first two matches.
If it does, it would be perfectly placed to launch a bid for the semi-finals in its last group game, against African champion Tunisia, in Leipzig on June 21.
Should Australia get through, it probably would come up against either world champion Brazil or European champion Greece, the two favourites in the other group, which also includes Asian champion Japan and the top team from north and central America, Mexico.
Australia has played in two of the previous six Confederations Cups, reaching the final in 1997 (where it crashed 6-0 to a rampant Brazil) and the semi-final in 2001, when it went down 1-0 to host Japan in Yokohama, having previously beaten then world champion France 1-0 in the group phase.
Eventually, Australia finished third there, beating an under-strength Brazil 1-0 in the third place play-off, courtesy of a late Shaun Murphy header, the only win Australia has ever posted against the South American soccer superpower.
Making the semi-final this time would be, arguably, an even bigger achievement given the calibre of the opposition the Socceroos face in their opening two games, as Farina acknowledged.
"Either group would have been tough but if anything, to get Germany, the hosts, in the opening game is a great thing. I am looking forward to it and so will the players. I think the Germans will be under a bit of pressure, but when you have got a big crowd behind you, it can help you. I am expecting them to be good," Farina said.
Argentina is an even more daunting prospect, but Farina was seeking the positives such a test offered. "If we are serious about where we want to go, we have to look at being able to compete with these teams and get through to the second round. Everyone is pointing at Argentina and Germany, but we have seen in the past that it's not always the supposed favourites who got through. Tunisia are also a good team. They are the African champions and beat Nigeria in the finals, so they have to be respected.
"These games are very important for us, and it will give us a good indication in terms of what we can expect when we are playing South American opposition in the World Cup qualifiers. There are only benefits from these matches. If we can get to two or three points from the first two games and then go on to the third game, anything is possible."
For Germany, the Confederations Cup is of critical importance, and not just because it is the host nation.
Not having to qualify means that new coach Juergen Klinsmann's squad is starved of tough, competitive matches ahead of the World Cup, so competitions like this represent the only chance to take on high quality opposition in a tournament framework.
While the Germans might have regarded Australia as easy meat back in 1974, when they beat the Socceroos 3-0 in a group game on the only previous occasion Australia made it to the World Cup finals, they won't be doing so this time.
"Australia are very strong, with a team mainly made up of players who earn their wages in Europe. We'll do a thorough job of checking out all our opponents, either by going to games or on video," Klinsmann said after the draw.
Under Klinsmann, who recently replaced Rudi Voeller, Germany is rebuilding.
Names that will be familiar to Australians include English Premier League players Robert Huth (Chelsea) Thomas Hitzlsperger (Aston Villa), Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), and men who helped get Germany to the 2002 World Cup final, such as Bayern Munich midfielder Michael Ballack and tall striker Miroslav Klose (Kaiserslautern).
Germany, June 15-29, 2005
Group A: Argentina, Germany, Australia, Tunisia
Group B: Brazil, Greece, Mexico, Japan
June 15: Germany v Australia, Frankfurt
June 18: Argentina v Australia, Nuremberg
June 21: Tunisia v Australia, Leipzig
June 25: Semi-final, Nuremberg
June 26: Semi-final, Hanover
June 29: Final, Frankfurt


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Skimin, who has a close relationship with the Ten Network and Ramsay Healthcare, will start at Telstra in June, sources told The Australian Financial Review's Capital. He will report to Jim Kennedy.
Telstra is pursuing new avenues for growth, including acquisitions, and expects to build an excess free cash pile of up to $3 billion by mid-2015.
Skimin joined Citigroup six years ago, after stints at the Boston Consulting Group, Crescendo Partners and AT Kearney, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Citigroup helped the embattled Ten Network raise capital last year. The firm finished 2012 ranked third for M&A advisory work in Australia, but sits at No. 6 so far this year as deal activity remains in the doldrums, Dealogic data shows.
The Australian Financial Review


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Illinois lawmaker with gun in luggage out on bail
CHICAGO — A veteran Illinois state senator charged with trying to board a flight with a gun and ammunition in a carry-on bag was released on bail Thursday.
A Cook County judge set bond at $25,000 for state Sen. Donne Trotter, who recently announced he was running for Jesse Jackson's old seat in Congress. Trotter's defense attorney argued for reasonable bail, citing Trotter's decades of public service and 26-year marriage.
"He's lived a life dedicated to serving the people of Illinois," defense attorney Joshua Herman said.
Trotter was released from custody a short time later. The Chicago Democrat refused to answer reporters' questions before walking away from the courthouse.
Trotter was going through security at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Wednesday when Transportation Security Administration officers found during routine X-ray screening an unloaded handgun in an outside zippered pocket of his garment bag. Also found was a magazine clip with six bullets.
The 62-year-old father of four was charged with a Class 4 felony, which carries a sentence of one to three years in prison if he is convicted.
After being stopped at O'Hare, Trotter told officers he uses the .25-caliber Beretta handgun for his job with a security company.
"He did not realize it was still in his bag," assistant state's attorney Lorraine Scaduto said.


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Mechanical design
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Work with the solid works models to produce 2D mechanical drawings and do design for manufacturing
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Tiger in a new place, covering same ground
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – Though this is Tiger Woods' first visit to West Virginia (he says he's excited about that), he got a question at his news conference Tuesday that he said has followed him wherever he's played in recent months.
In advance of Thursday's start of the Greenbrier Classic, Woods was asked whether he takes motivation from doubters who once were questioning whether he would ever win again.
"Well, it's just like answering your question. I have to do it in every single press conference," Woods said.
"I have to answer it after, post rounds, whether it's in front of you guys or live. You do that for a couple of years, sometimes you guys can be a little annoying," he said with a smile.
Woods has answered that question on the course.
When he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, it was his first PGA Tour victory since September of 2009 after battling through injuries and personal scandal. He's since won the Memorial Tournament and last weekend his own AT&T National.
Though he has come up short in two majors in 2012, Woods leads the PGA Tour with three wins. His total of 74 career PGA Tour wins trails only the record of 82 set by the late Sam Snead, once the club pro at the Greenbrier Resort.
Woods on his three wins since March: "To me that's special to have the success I've had in a relatively short span of time. I've been pretty consistent over the years. I've averaged, I think it's over four wins a year in my career. I've had a few spells in there where I didn't win, and I still think that's pretty good."
Woods has won PGA Tour events in 16 different states, including 13 in both California and Florida. But this visit to West Virginia is his first.
"It's exciting to go to other places in the world that I've never been. I've traveled all around the world but I've never been to West Virginia," he said. "There's not many times that you can say that it's new in the United States, but this is new for me."
This is the third year for the Greenbrier Classic. Woods said he wanted to play in it last year but couldn't because of injury.
"This tournament, since its inception, has been absolutely incredible. I knew about the history of (Greenbrier) from Sam (Snead) and how much he loved coming here," Woods said. "I think what sold it to me is just watching it on TV and seeing how much the players really enjoyed it.'
The closeness to the AT&T National in Maryland also helped. And Woods noted, "You get a week off after this to get ready for the British. Some guys may go over there and play the week before the British. At least we have that option. I think that's one of the reasons why the field is so strong here."
Beyond Snead, Woods said his lone West Virginia connection was a roommate his freshman year at Stanford.
"He was from West Virginia. I'm not going to give his name because I'm sure you'll research him. We'll let him be. But I tell you what, the dude was smart," Woods said.
Posted | Updated


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ED Magedson – Founder
Ripoff Report
CANADA COMPUTERS170 Ferrier Street Torooto Canada M5T1R9 Markham, Ontario Canada
CANADA COMPUTERS "similar case to Report: #1001622" "expired mail in Rebate offer being advertised" http://ocztechnology.4myrebate.com/ Markham Ontario Canada
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Their advertised mail in rebate offer for a twenty dollar rebate from OCZ technology on their Vector 128 gig SSD, was actually dated to run May 13, 2013 til May 16, 2013. I read the offer on Canada Computer's website and made my purchase as a result of this offer.
When I tried to register for the rebate, I am informed there is no such offer available. (Promotion Code OCZ 1218 CA)
There was a promotion previously credited to Canada Computers, indicated on the ocztechnology.4myrebate.com site, ( promotion code OCZ -12118) , but that was only valid for the period May 13 thru may 16 and is thus expired.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 05/22/2013 01:34 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/canada-computers/markham-ontario-l3r-2z5/canada-computers-similar-case-to-report-1001622-expired-mail-in-rebate-offer-being-a-1053033. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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As the day approaches for all our clocks to go ahead an hour, the independent road safety charity Brake is calling on the government to move clocks ahead an hour all year round. If the Lighter Later campaign was to be successful there would be less daylight hours in the morning when most people are asleep, but in the evenings, when a lot of people are on the roads, it would stay light for longer. This would increase the safety of pedestrians and cyclists while simultaneously reducing the number of road accidents, which could bring down car insurance premiums. Over 26,300 people have written in support of the campaign to their MPs in the last year. Despite this, a Daylight Saving Bill that would have allowed Whitehall to review the changing of the clocks ran out of time in January. "The change would also promote healthier lifestyles and stronger communities as it would encourage more people to get out and about on foot and bicycle," said Julie Townsend, Brake's deputy chief executive. Clocks go forward at 01:00 GMT on Sunday to begin British Summer Time. It comes to an end when clocks go back an hour on October 28th.
This article is intended as generic information only and is not intended to apply to anybody's specific circumstances, demands or needs. The views expressed are not intended to provide any financial service or to give any recommendation or advice. Products and services are only mentioned for illustrative rather than promotional purposes.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on
our website. If you continue to use Quotezone.co.uk, we'll assume
that you are happy to recieve all cookies on this website. To find
out more, check our Cookie
Quotezone.co.uk is a trading style of Seopa Ltd who are a limited company registered in Northern Ireland, Registered number: NI46322. Registered office: Seopa Ltd, Blackstaff Studios, Floor 2, 8-10 Amelia Street, Belfast, Co. Antrim, Belfast, BT2 7GS. Seopa Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Our registered number is 313860. Our permitted business is insurance mediation as well as having permission for credit brokerage. Our register number is 313860.
Copyright @ 2003-2017 Seopa Ltd


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There's nothing funny to say today, so I hope you'll indulge me because I noticed something only one outlet has focused on in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Will Rogers once said, "We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by." So while runners all over the world join in solidarity for runs or other efforts to memorialize the victims of yesterday's tragic events, let's remember that most of those killed or wounded were spectators, cheering on their loved ones as they engaged in their favorite avocation.
Erin Gloria Ryan wrote a piece for Jezebel headlined, "The People Who Watch Marathons." She makes an important observation:
Without those people, a marathon would just be an exercise in self-abuse from a large group of crazies. But there is meaning in marathoning: the people who watch.
Running can be a lonely sport — hours on the road solo at times so early people can still be seen stumbling out of bars and hailing cabs home, declined invitations to evening activities, neglected significant others, and truly disgusting feet. In fact, unless a runner trains with a group that doesn't annoy the living daylights out of them, the months leading up to a long race can be profoundly antisocial. But on race day, all of that disappears when, as the marathon runner embarks along a path lined with people — all kinds of people, they're bathed in the encouragement of thousands of people who cheer for them without knowing their names.
So before we get all caught up in the perseverance and determination of runners, let's remember the people who make it possible are those with the sports drinks, and the mylar blankets, and the medals, and the funny signs, who clap as we go by. It's doubly horrible to think they should have to suffer for all that good will.


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Some good news today that MLS officials have agreed to relax their own rules on friendly substitutions.
Alan Pardew – taking training yesterday in the heat
They were going to limit the substitutions to just five but it looks like Kansas manager Peter Vermes has been successful in persuading them to relax the rules for tonight's friendly game.
And since there have been at least 13 heat related deaths in the mid-west this last week, the players tonight will be allowed to take regular fluid breaks, and they'll need to.
The very last thing the authorities want, when the temperatures hit 100 degrees F is to do any type of stressful exercises, which is what our boys have been doing over the last couple of days.
Pardew told The Evening Chronicle today about what he sees as the team that will play Arsenal:
"I think there's certainly three or four places that are undecided. The bulk of the team, in my mind, is there, but they've still got to stay fit and show form for that to come to fruition."
Newcastle have brought in four good players this summer, but they have also lost Kevin Nolan, a huge influence during his time at Newcastle, and Sol Campbell and Shefki Kuqi have also moved on.
But there is still some anxiety that Newcastle need to bring more players in, and many fans wonder how the team will perform without the driving influence of Nolan still in the ranks.
As far as losing influential captain Kevin Nolan, Pardew said today:
"I don't think that's a problem. You take a leader like Kevin out, and somebody else emerges.
"That's how it is – other people take on different personalities. I think that's something which will be resolved as we go."
And it seems unfortunately that Slovenian U21 star Haris Vuckic has picked up a knock in training and will not play in tonight's game.
But Pardew said that Haris was the only one doubtful for tonight's game:
"Haris looks like he's got a little knock, and he's the only one that probably won't be involved."
"Everyone else will get a piece of the action. Sylvain Marveaux's taking a little bit longer than we envisaged, but he's likely to be involved."
We really hope Haris is not going to become too injury prone – fingers crossed.
And we hope Sylvain can regain his full fitness soon, because of course he didn't play at Rennes since last October after picking up his groin injury, which has been a problem for him for a couple of years now.
Now as far as the side Alan will pick against Arsenal, here's out best shot at that:
Simpson Coloccini (c) Williamson Enrique
Barton Tiote Cabaye Gutierrez
Ben Arfa
Demba Ba.
That's at the moment what we think the team will be on August 13th, and it assumes Enrique is still at the club – although the news is that Liverpool are readying a bid for him, but we've heard that for the last couple of months too!
What's your team for Arsenal?
Comments welcome.


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Child Custody and Support Attorney in Greenville
When family law issues affect your child, working with an experienced attorney can be critical to getting the best possible results. At the Armstrong Law Firm, we have over 40 years of experience. We are dedicated to helping people get the best possible results in child custody and child support issues.
In Divorces
Divorces often involve conflict over child custody and child support issues. At the Armstrong Law Firm, we shield our clients from this conflict while protecting their interests — making sure that they are able to make decisions based on full knowledge of the law, careful guidance and strong advocacy in court.
In Other Situations
Child custody and child support issues can also affect you or your child at any time. When a problem arises, no matter what or when, you can turn to us for help:
- Determination of paternity/establishment of child support
- Enforcement of child support and child custody orders
- Modification of child support and child custody orders
A Notable Case
Our founding attorney, David Armstrong, was the winning lawyer on a notable child custody case, Kramer v. Kramer, 323 S.C. 212, 473 S.E.2d 846 (S.C. App. 1996). The case involved an aunt and paternal uncle who sought custody of a child after the child's father passed away. The court of appeals found that the trial court was wrong in awarding custody to the child's mother. It gave the aunt and uncle custody of the child and held the trial judge abused discretion amounting to an error of law.
Talk to Us About Your Child Custody and Child Support Concerns
When you have questions about how you and your child may be affected by child custody and support issues, contact the Armstrong Law Firm for answers. We are available by calling 864-241-0633 or by completing our online intake form.


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The Brian Lehrer Show
Putting It to the Test
6 segments
Public school students take their math exams today. Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the New York Board of Regents, weighs in on efforts to boost high school graduation rates and role of standardized testing. Plus: perceptions of the U.S.-China relationship; an investigation of President George W. Bush's National Guard service; cultural critic Mark Dery on American pop culture; and why insurance companies are changing the way they reimburse patients.


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Anyone who has read any of her poems or has taken an interest in her life's story will surely agree that Pauline Johnson was one of the most remarkable and fascinating women of her time.
Born in 1861 and raised at Chiefswood on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford Ontario, she was the daughter of an English mother and her father a Mohawk chief.
This curious mixture of cultural background made Pauline appreciate the high elegance of Victorian English society but also gave her a deep love of nature and a need to immerse herself in the great outdoors.
She grew up reading many of the great poets and this undoubtedly played a large part in how she would express herself as she ventured into adulthood.
Another of her passions, which her father had opened her eyes to when she was still a child, was to paddle her canoe. She became an extremely skilled canoeist by the time she reached her teenage years and would spend many a contented hour peacefully paddling the Grand River near her home. This love of being in a canoe would stay with her all her life and she continued to venture onto the water after she moved to Vancouver in her later years.
She was to become an inspiring theatre performer with her stories and poems, bestowing her audience with a truly unique narrative, which was beautifully presented. She would perform one half of the show in her native outfit and the second half in an elegant evening gown, further engaging the mind of the theatre-goer with this curiosity of two identities.
Pauline retired from the stage in 1909 and then settled here in Vancouver. She loved to paddle the waters here with one of her favourite places being Coal Harbour, which at the time extended all the way into Stanley Park. She never much cared for the name "Coal Harbour", preferring instead to call it Lost Lagoon due to the body of water being lost to the tide before it was land-locked when the main causeway to the park was built.
Pauline passed away in 1913, just before her fifty-second birthday but her body of work still resonates today. Her poems are stunningly beautiful and give a strong sense of immense depth and thought-provoking imagery. It's hard not to be moved by her writing, particularly as she had a talent for placing the reader in the moment as though she is sharing the experience with you personally. Part of her poem about Lost Lagoon shows how much she delighted in paddling the area: -
O lure of the Lost Lagoon!
I dream to-night that my paddle blurs
The purple shade where the seaweed stirs,
I hear the call of the singing firs
In the hush of the golden moon.
And this piece that was written about her time by the Grand River but can relate to a piece of nature anywhere: -
Something so restful lies on lake and shore,
The world seems anchored, and life's petty war
Of haste and labour gone forevermore.
Pauline loved Stanley Park and it was her wish to be laid to rest here. She expressly forbid a monument of any kind to be erected but such was the love that people felt for her that a lasting monument was built anyway. It is worth visiting and it is to be found in a small tree grove beside the Teahouse restaurant at Ferguson Point.
If you do visit her grave take some time and remember what an extraordinary woman she was and perhaps stay a while and soak in some of the peace that the park gave her more than a century ago.
Emily Pauline Johnson (10 March 1861 - 7 March 1913)


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Mars Pro II series is based on Mars Pro Series, because there are a lot growers do not need the remote control , the dimmable functions, the changeable spectrums, so we make this "plug and play " Mars Pro II series. It is very easy to play with this light , and we do believe most large scale growers will like it for its simple functions but great grow result. It is not only have the new tech LEDs, but also have the traditional LED grow light simple functions. CREE chips are available on this series More details
After we do a lot research on different platform, such as 420magazine, Grass city, THC talk and Facebook, etc. we know that some part time growers would like some smart functions on the light, then they can go to work and sleep well and take much less time on grow. So we make our smart Mars Pro series. Why we say it is a smart light, because it can has timer functions, change spectrums as you want, remote control and dimmable power. CREE XPE series chips are available on this series, More details
Mars II series is the current most famous LED grow light on the market for its great price and grow result. Most growers said: for the price, quality, grow result, service , shipment, quantity points, Mars II series LED grow lights are the best choice. They are stocked all over the world, You can get the light within 7days no matter where you are living. Fast delivery is one of the main point of this light. You can find a lot grow journal with our Mars II lights on internet. Yes, this is a traditional LED grow light come out since 2011, but just for it has been come out some years, it works very steady and we have solved a lot problems they have. This series lights are using the great Epistar Chips now, More details
Data shows our reflector lights are selling great too. When most of LED grow light factories are making COB lights, we listen to our growers, they were paying more attention to the output, so we make the reflector light to reduce the decrease of lumens output. Result tells us that this light is better than the COB, because COB can not mix spectrums well and some time the light can not come out after double lenses. From growers review, feedback, Our reflector lights are very good for mother plants, veg stage plants, and greenhouse grow vegetables. If you grow medical plants, this light can get higher THC than other lights. More details
This grow bar series is mainly for the growers who grow some vegetables like lettuce and they can grow on shelves. Energy saving, area saving and convenient grow. Of course, if you are growing big plants, the big light can not cover the side and bottom area well, you can also use the grow bar light as side lighting. This light we only accept whole orders for it is too small and damage easily if we ship only one or two. Customize accepted.More details
Most of growers only know Mars hydro is a brand of LED grow light, they forgot our grow tent. Actually, our factory are making grow tent too. Please do not think we are only professional on LED grow light for many years of experiences, actually our grow tent experiences are much longer because one of the tent share holder are making clothes , so they can do the tent better than others. They pay more attention to the material, quality and smell are the two main point they check. Most grow tents has bad smell for the bad quality of fabric, but ours do not have smells. This is very good for your healthy. 210D, 600D are available and customized tent accepted.More details
Discretion is as important to us as it is to our customers. We always ensure that our products are shipped in plain packaging and are simply marked as "LED Lights" in order to prevent suspicions being aroused. Because we have repair centers located in the USA, UK, Germany, Australia, there is no difficulty in arranging for repairs to be carried out under the terms of the warranty.
From coverage:
From Power:
Because we are a Chinese seller and we are located in China, so we have time differences. We are located the time zone EST8. We have 12~16 hours difference to most United State buyers and 8hours time difference to most Europe buyers. So maybe we will miss your phone call for the time difference even we are working overtime, so if we do not answer your phone, please email us, we will get back to you within 24 business hours, Email back or call back, both are ok for us. if we do not get back to you , please contact us again, sometimes your email go to junk box, but we do not find it , or sometimes your phone number can not shows correctly at our side. We are very happy to provide great service to you and get back to you as soon as you need us , so if you failed to get information from us, please note that is not what we want. Please try again.
Additionally, if you have contacted our workers before but you lost their contact information, please check Contact Us, you will get their email address right away.
Global location does not guarantee quality in the manufacturing business. Many Chinese businesses have great success with products developed in China for millions and millions of people. Only the manufacturing process determines what is a great product, and that takes dedication, hard work, and reliability. Never forget the legendary Chinese iPhone, perfect for people who needed the best at a lower cost- which is good for you!
We admit, there are a lot of products from the United States that make LED grow lights on the market, but we can assure you that most LED grow lights are actually made in China, but how do we know that a light was made in China?
Google your LED grow light and check the pictures only when you find a product. If other companies sell the product, then the lights are surely sold in China. If they're produced in the United States, the USA marks their brand uniquely, and generally charge more for these types of products because they're marked uniquely and sold to a specific market. Similar lights are generally always made in China.
When you're spending money on grow lights, research every glow light product here: www.alibaba.com where we have ALL LED grow light manufacturers listed doing advertisements there. Feel free to search "LED grow light" and if you find the same one, than it was probably made in China. Do not believe the hype from USA marketers, they're just trying to make money on higher profits, while most products are actually imported from China to the USA, and hosing stickers are changed, stickers are changed and the spectrum of light is adjusted- but when it comes down to it, we don't feel like these subtle differences are worth the huge (three to five times) hike in price.


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|Earth Moon Lace Work
(Moons Orbit is accented)
|Full Orbit of Jupiter and Saturn
|Full Orbit of Outer Planets
|Mercury Above Solar Plane (accented)
|Mercury Below Solar Plane (accented)
|Mercury Retrograde
Note that Retrograde means that from the Earths point of view the planet seems to be falling
back each night that we watch it.
Imagine that you can see Mercury rotating (anti-clockwise) the Sun faster than the Earth (planet with rays coming out).
In this manner you can imagine Mercury in retrograde as opposed to a planet such as mars slowing moving anti-clockwise around the Sun, holding its position relitive to the rays (longitude lines of the celestial sphere) of the Earth as the Earth rotates the Sun, however, mars slowly moving through the one sector to the next.
|Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars Slightly Angled and Mercury Accented
|Moon Round Twice (accented)
|Outer Planets Slightly Angled with Pluto Dipping Below the Orbit of Neptune (me thinks)
|Most Outer Planet (proper scale)
Yes Pluto does come inside the Orbit of Neptune
|Pluto Orbit Below Plane Of Solar System (angled)
|Slightly Angled Jupiter and Saturn
|Spring Equinox
Note that the Sun is on the First Point of Aries
Note that the Earth Rays are Celestial Sphere Longitude lines
See our Spider-Web Illustration on our "Basics of the Solar System Page Here for more information about these Rays
|View From Earth
As the Earth Rotates the Sun, the Earth Rays (Celestial Sphere Longitude lines) follow the Earth and the Planets slowly move
anti-clockwise through the Earth Ray Sectors (clockwise if moving Retrograde)
|Another View From Earth
Note that the planets slowly crawl through the picture
but that the Earth's Orbit around the Sun makes the Planets seem to to go three steps forward, then 1 step back.
|Winter Solstace
If you drew lines connecting each end of the Ray, you could imagine walking around the Earth westward (looking from the bottom of the Earth up) and this
is the same path the Sun seems to travels (Hour Angle since the Earth is rotating 15 degrees per hour) and the way we measure degrees around
the Celestial Sphere. In this picture, the Sun is at
270 degrees or Hour Angle 6:00 AM where noon would be the First Point of Aries.
Astronomers would say the the Sun is 90 Degrees RA (right ascension - eastward) from the First Point of Aries


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It just HAD to happen! Your favorite CB's peanut butter together with your favorite Theo chocolate!
We roast our small batches carefully, paying special attention to the process and ultimately delivering the freshest and best tasting nuts, seeds and nut butters.
CB's Clark and Tami Bowen believe food should be both delicious and nutritious; that belief drives the business.
CB's Nuts works directly with growing partners to get the best, freshest and most sustainably grown nuts and seeds possible.