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As Joe Wasilewski pulls on his wading boots, sprays some Deep Woods Off on his bare arms and neck, and begins to haul his supplies -- spotlights, cloth sacks, a notebook, and scales and a ruler for taking measurements -- down to the dock, he tries to explain the appeal of venturing out in a mysterious, watery preserve that is acrawl with scores of animals known as nature's prototypical killing machines.
"I'm careful," says Wasilewski. "I know my limits with these animals. I've been bitten. If it's too big for me to grab, then I leave it alone."
This is reassuring news to a reporter and photographer who are tagging along with Wasilewski tonight on a foray into prime nesting grounds of the American crocodile, the rarest reptile in North America. A couple of days earlier Wasilewski had introduced his guests to tankfuls of ten-inch-long hatchlings kept in an air-conditioned laboratory; although toothy and spirited, these newborns came across as likably innocent. But out there beyond the dock are adult crocs, some of them thirteen feet long and weighing up to 800 pounds, with unknowable dispositions.
When the reporter asks Wasilewski if he carries a weapon -- a shotgun, a bazooka, something -- the answer is no. "So," the reporter says, "you're not going to try to bring into the boat anything bigger than a baby, right?"
"Well, I want to grab them all, because that's the way we gather information," says Wasilewski, who speaks in a raspy voice and is dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and black Converse high-tops. "It's like being a detective, trying to understand why these prehistoric creatures are still alive."
A sliver of a waxing moon hangs like a coy little wink in the western sky as Wasilewski climbs into the high seat of the airboat and cranks up the V-8 Cadillac engine. "Whoooo-eee!" he yelps, flushed with excitement at the prospect of the chase. "I never get tired of this."
Even with the moon, the stars, and the eerie sodium-lamp glow radiating from Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point nuclear power plant, it is dark out here in far southeast Dade County. It's after nine, but the temperature is still hovering in the low 80s, and the heavy, humid air is thick with flying insects. Clearly this is hostile territory, a subtropical, primordial Hades, the same steamy hell that persuaded the earliest colonial visitors to South Florida to get back on their boats, head out to sea, and write off this netherland as inhospitable and uninhabitable. The heat, the whirring blackness, the oppressive sultriness -- all are enough to make sensible folk run for sanctuary.
But field biologists such as Wasilewski are not bothered by insects, heat, darkness, and discomfort. Since 1989 he has worked for FP&L as a consulting biologist charged with monitoring the population of endangered American crocodiles living within the 22,000-acre power plant site. Wasilewski has spent countless hours here in the shadow of the twin towers of Turkey Point's containment buildings, both inside a modest on-site laboratory and outside in the muck and mire of the wetlands. He likes it here. "I'm doing something useful, trying to save these animals," he says.
Thirty years ago Crocodylus acutus was thought to be flirting with extinction. While alligators were thriving in Everglades National Park and in freshwater marshlands all over the state, the population of crocs shrank back to a lonely few in the brackish saltwater flats in the remotest sections of southern Dade and northern Monroe counties. Estimates of the total U.S. population fell to fewer than 200 animals.
But in the late 1960s, when FP&L began to build its power plant on Turkey Point, a hook of land due east of Homestead, no one knew for sure whether crocodiles lived in the neighborhood. Environmentalists objected to the power plant on other grounds: that it would destroy mangroves, cause pollution, or kill off sea grasses and other native vegetation with discharges of superheated water.
It wasn't until 1976, almost four years after the first nuclear reactor was fired up, that crocodiles were discovered nesting on Turkey Point. Not only did 168 miles of radiator-style cooling canals shelter the animals from human intruders and from the winds and chop of Biscayne Bay, but the earthen berms created by the dredging of the canals turned out to be ideal sites for the cavities that crocs dig to protect their developing young. A female crocodile lays from twenty to forty eggs in a single night, covers them with dirt, and then remains nearby to defend the nest for the 90-day incubation period.
Ross Wilcox, then FP&L's ecologist, was charged with spinning the crocodiles into public relations gold. He designed a management plan and got an annual budget of $50,000 to hire consultants and conduct research. Then the power company spread the news: Turkey Point was crocodile paradise.
Over the last twenty years, in an age of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Homer Simpson, FP&L has gotten a lot of goodwill mileage by riding the crocodile and other threatened species (such as manatees and loggerhead turtles) that live on the company's Florida properties. FP&L has won several awards for its conservation practices, but in recent years the company has cut back on its crocodile budget. Wilcox was downsized out of a job eighteen months ago. "The company has gone from being proactive to reactive, I think," says Wilcox, a Ph.D. biologist now at Florida Atlantic University's Center for Environmental Studies.
The company's natural resources manager, Winifred Perkins, says that FP&L remains committed to the crocodile. "We needed high-powered Ph.D.-types to establish the programs," she says, "but once they are up, what you need to run them is field personnel, people willing to go out there when it rains, when it's 100 degrees, when the crocs are hatching."
Late June through mid-August is hatchling season, when mother crocs -- stirred by instinct and feeling the subterranean vibrations emitted as their young start to grow restless in their eggshells -- begin to uncover their nests and help their babies escape toward the light. Tonight Wasilewski is making another of his frequent runs to nesting areas. There, often just minutes or hours after baby crocs burst out of their eggs, Wasilewski will scoop up the ten-inch-long creatures and cart them back to the lab, where he'll measure and weigh them, as well as give each a permanent identification number by injecting into their tails a computer chip that can be read by a scanner. He'll also trim off a couple of scutes -- the raised, leathery scales on the crocodile's tail -- according to a pattern that identifies the individual animal and indicates where it was caught.
The little ones are harmless, and even someone with a chronic case of herpetophobia can keep fears in check around them. But out in the inky night lurk the mothers and fathers of the hatchlings, and here is where a reporter given to hyperbole visualizes only death. Big-jawed crocodiles have forever been the stuff of human nightmares. Serpentine, stealthy, and cunning, crocs can attack on land or in the water, and with stunning speed. They hold their hapless prey underwater until death comes by drowning, and then they rend their catch into chewable chunks. Historically, crocs have been symbols of evil, depicted in medieval bestiaries as "hellmouths." Out there in FP&L's cooling canals are some behemoths, with saber-size teeth and jaws strong enough to pulverize a bowling ball.
Of course, even at the dock it is evident that man-munching crocodiles are not the only threat lurking in the void beyond. That persistent drone is a warning to all but the terminally foolish that if the crocodiles don't eat us, the mosquitoes will. With heavy rains in May and June, this has been a banner year for mosquitoes. The sound alone makes it apparent that these marauders have banded into organized squadrons and are prepared to operate with panzer-unit efficiency. On approach to the human ear, the mosquitoes almost drown out the roar of the airboat's engine, and in concert these piranhas seem capable of draining the blood from a 180-pound man in minutes. The passengers have sprayed up with repellents, but alas, there is no chemical defense that can effectively stop them.
Away from the dock, and away from the lights of FP&L's massive plant, the sky is clear and immense, a pointillist's dreamscape of a million glittering stars, an infinite canvas undetectable by those in street-lit cities. Now, with the wind in our faces, the bugs splattering against our goggles, and the warm spray of canal water misting our clothes, we are skimming over the surface, flying through a leaping salute of mullet and pinfish.
Such wild and unusual beauty makes anxiety about the unknown seem misplaced. Besides, luckily for us, riding point on this mission is Stu Lloyd, a small, wiry 36-year-old FP&L mechanic who can reputedly fix a busted-down airboat in the dark using nothing but blue-green algae and fishbones. The reporter and photographer along for the ride are relieved to hear this, because as we push off from the dock it is perfectly evident that the only end worse than death by crocodile would be death by mosquito, which would happen if either the boat or the slight, bug-scattering breeze were to die somewhere offshore.
"Don't let them bother you," advises Wasilewski of the mosquitoes. "You won't enjoy the trip if you worry about them." And things could be worse, he points out, recalling many hours he has spent hunched over in a blind, waiting to photograph crocodiles, as insects whine so loudly in his ears that he gets dizzy. "They set up a vibration," he explains, "and it's like the inner ear talks back."
Like their alligator cousins', crocodiles' lineage goes clear back to the dinosaur. The ancestors of crocs have likely been at home in South Florida, as well as in the Greater Antilles, Mexico, and parts of Central and South America, for most of the past 200 million years. Good documentation of their existence here doesn't much predate the 1860s, however. Unlike alligators, which are ubiquitous and unthreatened in freshwater habitats throughout Florida and other southern states, crocodiles never ranged far inland because the territory they favor has always been more limited -- basically, a narrow collar around the southern tip of the Florida peninsula. Preferring brackish water, crocodiles competed with people for the same coastal range where freshwater and saltwater mix. Not surprisingly, people prevailed.
As Wasilewski pilots the airboat up and down the grid of canals he has come to know so well in the past eight years, Lloyd casts a powerful searchlight along the berms. When the light hits a croc's eye, it gives back a reddish-orange glow; when Lloyd sees that eyeshine he wiggles the light as a signal to Wasilewski, who guns the boat for the shore.
With the twin towers of the nuclear reactors looming in the background, it is impossible not to wonder if this ocular glow isn't caused by strontium 90 fallout, or from years of seeping radiation and crocodile inbreeding. As we roar in toward the first nest, the reporter makes a silent vow to demand immediate shore leave if the any of animals examined has more than four legs or one head.
Just a few feet from a berm, Wasilewski and Lloyd spot a dozen or more hatchlings scrambling about under the low branches of a Brazilian pepper tree, but before starting to reach for the young crocs, they also see a seven-foot-long adult lurking on the bottom. "Let's get Mama out of here,"says Wasilewski. He pokes his hand in the water and casually touches the adult's tail, which sends the crocodile into a silent glide out of sight. Now Lloyd and Wasilewski stretch over the gunwales to grab handfuls of baby crocs, which they drop into a cloth sack. A freshly hatched crocodile is a thin, gangly squirmer with a rubbery feel, and it comes with the instinct to bite. The teeth are sharp as needles, able to break the tender skin of a computer jockey, but the jaws have no power.
"I admire the spunky ones," says Wasilewski, holding up a feisty hatchling, which produces a squeaky chirrup as the scientist stretches it out to examine the open umbilicus on its underside. "He could be the first one down the tarpon's belly, but you like to think that the ones with the spirit may make it."
With a mop-top cut to his reddish hair and a freckled complexion, Wasilewski is a boyish-looking man of 45 whose enthusiasm for his work betrays his good fortune in being able to make a living doing something he loves. He got hooked on reptiles, he says, after buying a chameleon from a circus huckster in his native Chicago when he was seven or eight. From there he went on to collect snakes, turtles, insects, and anything else that slithered or crawled.
Among the last of the draftees in 1972, he was trained by the U.S. Army to handle sentry dogs, but instead of being sent to Vietnam he was posted to a missile base in Carol City. While still in the service he began to work at the Miami Serpentarium -- now closed -- for legendary snake man Bill Haast. Wasilewski took a degree in biology from Florida International University in 1981, and, after Haast gave him a surplus crocodile, he gathered up his own collection of snakes, lizards, and spiders and opened a roadside zoo-cum-nature center on the Tamiami Trail.
From those beginnings Wasilewski went on to fashion a freelance career as scientist, businessman, animal handler, and entertainer. It pays enough to provide a living wage for him and his fifteen-year-old son Nick. As a result of his field work for FP&L, he has shared author credits on several studies published in scientific journals. But Wasilewski also runs a retail reptile shop, Natural Selections, out of a warehouse near Tamiami Airport; provides all types of lizards, alligators, and snakes from his personal menagerie for commercial shoots and films (such as Lords of the Everglades, a National Geographic Society special that aired in May); does show-and-tell sessions for schools; and will even wrestle a seven-foot-long croc or gator for a convention of car dealers or health-care professionals if the price is right -- about $1000.
In fact, on this very evening, Wasilewski goes to the mat with a crocodile. Near midnight Lloyd waves the light over a Brazilian pepper tree on a berm in Canal 10, Section 4, and Wasilewski guns the airboat toward the bank. A few feet away, with the engine killed and the aluminum craft coasting quietly toward the shore, Wasilewski suddenly lunges off the bow into the bushes and completely disappears. The three people still on board dodge branches, and Lloyd tries to throw some light on the area. A wild thrashing breaks out in the water. The reporter's thoughts flash back to Jaws and those one-ton saltwater crocs of the Nile. Should a radio call for help go out? Should someone else jump in after Wasilewski and feel around in there?
The cameraman is busy. The reporter has to take notes.
Just when someone may have muttered, "He's a goner," Wasilewski reappears from under the tree, with a Davy Crockett grin on his face and a four-foot-long crocodile writhing in his hands. "Got him!" he announces proudly. By the time he climbs back into the boat with his catch, Wasilewski notes the clipped scutes on the animal's tail that tell him this croc has been caught before. Records back in the lab will tell Wasilewski when and where. The field biologist measures and weighs the animal, admires it for a minute more, and then gently releases it over the side. "We can get a lot of information from this guy," he says as the croc disappears.
Indeed, information is power, especially for scientists working to improve the crocodiles' chances of survival. With their faint smiles, bug eyes, and cool leather exteriors, crocodiles small enough to be held in the hand are almost lovable. At that size, they hardly seem the horrible monsters that so fascinate and repel. Yet only about ten percent of hatchlings survive their first year, and even fewer will survive the four years needed to grow to four feet, Wasilewski says. Raccoons are notorious for eating eggs; hatchlings get swallowed by large wading birds and fish; and fire ants can strip a baby croc into a baby skeleton in minutes. Not to mention cars, which hit them when they dare to cross highways.
And then there are the acts of brutish human beings. In May a 23-year-old Key Largo man caught a nine-foot-long crocodile with a four-inch treble hook baited with a chicken. He was charged with two misdemeanors, including interfering with an endangered species, and he faces a fine of up to $500 and a sentence of up to 60 days in jail. And in July four men and two teenagers in Plant City, near Tampa, were charged with climbing over a fence at a reptile park and clubbing a pair of crocodiles to death with wooden planks.
So what is it about crocodiles that stirs such primitive emotions in people?
Around the world, crocodiles have always been hated and feared, symbolizing in some cultures an evil savagery. Wasilewski insists that members of the species he knows so well are shy, wary of people, and not aggressive. In fact, there is only one documented case in Florida in which an American crocodile has attacked and killed a human, and that occurred in 1925 when a fourteen-footer reared up and seized a Biscayne Bay surveyor who had already fired two gunshots into the beast. The croc survived and was shipped off to Silver Springs, near Ocala, where it was trained to perform, under the name of Zulu, for tourists.
But what about the man-eaters of Africa and Asia? What about the saltwater crocs that are said to have ravaged a thousand Japanese soldiers retreating through a Burmese swamp during World War II? What about the American Peace Corps volunteer from Cornell who was eaten by a crocodile in Ethiopia in 1966? And how about the 40 passengers on a sinking Indonesian ferryboat that crocs devoured in 1976? Don't all crocs share the same family values?
In modern-day South Florida, the crocodiles' very limited home turf ranges from north Key Largo, through Everglades National Park, including Florida Bay, to Turkey Point. There is anecdotal evidence that the range is expanding, however. Crocodiles have been found nesting on Marco Island, for example, and they've been spotted as far north as Fort Lauderdale.
Veteran crocodile researcher Paul Moler, a wildlife biologist with the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, says he is "cautiously optimistic" about the animal's recovery, and he lauds the state's restoration efforts, especially a project along Card Sound Road designed to safeguard Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Still, Moler worries about roadkills, pollution, egg poaching by humans and raccoons, and exotic plants such as Australian pine that disrupt nesting sites. Most of all, though, it's people he worries about. "People think they're so Godalmighty powerful and important, but in the real world, they're not," says Moler, who has been researching crocodiles for twenty years. "People are like every other animal and plant, except they are bigger consumers.
"Studying a crocodile is giving us a gauge of the overall health of the whole world," argues Moler, who has tagged 49 hatchlings this year in north Key Largo. "If the animal's population is decreasing, heading toward extinction, we need to know: Are we poisoning ourselves? Ultimately, it could be our survival at stake."
Also tracking the crocodile's recovery is Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida professor of wildlife ecology who works out of the Everglades Research and Education Center in Belle Glade. With funding from several agencies, including the U.S. Park Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the South Florida Water Management District, Mazzotti is charged with monitoring nesting, birth, and survival rates of crocodiles from Everglades National Park to the Coral Gables Waterway.
For parts of the summer Mazzotti leaves his home in Fort Lauderdale for a small camper parked in a field behind the Key Largo Ranger Station. From here he monitors the nesting areas along the northeast edges of Florida Bay, the shallow, island-dotted estuary that composes the southern end of Everglades National Park.
On this Saturday Mazzotti and 24-year-old graduate student Mike Cherkiss intend to check the locations of nest sites they have previously identified to see if the eggs have hatched. As Cherkiss gasses up a fifteen-foot skiff, which has the words Croc Doc painted on the center console, Mazzotti expresses confidence that the federally financed Everglades area replumbing plan, designed to restore the natural freshwater flow to the south, bodes well for the long-term recovery of Florida's crocodile population. "The greater threat comes on the southwest coast, near the Marco Island airport, where several animals have been found, and in Rookery Bay," says Mazzotti. "People are not used to seeing crocodiles there. So while we have been busy trying to fix things on the southeast coast, they haven't quite caught up with that spirit on the other side."
The day is typical for July. By early afternoon a few puffy clouds float into view, and the temperature heads toward 90 degrees. Mazzotti is 48 years old, balding, brown from the sun, with a Buddha belly and an encyclopedic knowledge of crocodiles built up over twenty years in the field. He has published many scientific papers on crocs, he knows the lore, and he loves to talk. "In the early part of this century," he says in an accent that gives away his Long Island roots, "killing crocs for sport was big business. People would pay to be guided into Card Sound and around northern Monroe County on hunting expeditions."
People would also pay to see crocodiles and alligators fight. Mazzotti says he has read accounts of interspecies battles in Key West in which "the alligators would usually win once their heavier jaws got a grip on the slender snout of the croc." In the field, Mazzotti has never seen such a battle, but he has seen the two species together, basking in the sun and ignoring each other in the Fox Lakes, three little pockets of open water within Cape Sable, at the far southwest corner of the Florida peninsula.
"Later, during the 1930s and 1940s," Mazzotti continues, "collectors came down to capture crocodiles for exhibits, and eventually the total population might have dropped below 200 animals. But today we have more crocs in more places in Florida than we did 22 years ago when they were declared an endangered species."
Our first stop is the beach on Madeira Bay, a stretch of shoreline almost at the center of the peninsula, about twenty miles from the ranger station. This is prime crocodile habitat, where Taylor Slough spills freshwater into the bay, producing a briny blend that crocs love. Over the years, Mazzotti has learned that crocodiles favor this natural nesting area, with its sandy soil and abundance of cover from mangroves, sea grape, poisonwood, and bay cedar, among other plants. The chances of spotting little ones -- they usually hatch out at night -- are slim, says Mazzotti, but he wants to check on the nests. This seems a low-risk expedition, as least compared with the nighttime airboat adventure with Wasilewski. In daylight, even a novice should be able to avoid stepping on the tail of a full-grown crocodile.
When Mazzotti kills the 70-horsepower Johnson outboard a few feet offshore, Cherkiss jams a long pole into the sandy bottom and ties up the skiff. From the sudden stillness comes the first hint that this outing might prove not to be the cakewalk that the reporter and photographer -- a different photographer this time -- expected. The reporter and photographer are slathering insect repellent over their bare arms and legs, like weekend sunbathers would, but the veteran scientist and his experienced assistant are not bothering with that. Instead, Mazzotti is donning what appears to be a full suit of heavy-fabric body armor -- thick shirt, long pants, floppy, wide-brimmed hat, neckerchief -- and Cherkiss steps into a suit made of lightweight nylon mesh that makes him look like a beekeeper. Only air can penetrate this defense. "I've learned my lesson," says Cherkiss.
As Mazzotti and Cherkiss slosh to the beach, it still seems too sunny, bright, and breezy for any trouble, certainly not from mosquitoes. The water is warm, the sun is hot, and the only dark clouds on the horizon are miles away.
In minutes Mazzotti has located a nest. Lying right on top is an eight-foot-long crocodile looking as implacable as an ancient rock. Mazzotti notes raccoon tracks in the area, and later will point out several nests that these animals seem to have ravaged, eggshells ripped open in a telltale way. This croc may be guarding the nest.
The scientists and the photographer are within inches of the stoic creature when the reporter suddenly lets out a yelp, and then another, and the others wheel around to see the cause of his alarm. "Deer flies!" cries the reporter, slapping at his bare leg, too late to prevent the bite.
This wailing does nothing to disturb the gray-green croc, but the scientists' concentration has been broken. Without a word of sympathy for the victim in the scene -- the one under siege by stinging flies -- they trudge off down the beach to hunt for more nests. The mosquitoes are foglike here, too, and thirsty, but it is the deer flies that inflict the greater pain, making for exposed flesh like arrows to earth.
There are many nests, Mazzotti points out, noting the evidence of eggshell fragments and tail-drags in the sand, where the crocodiles have crawled up from the surf. About a half-mile down the beach the shoreline disappears in mangroves and the group heads back to the anchored boat.
In the northwestern sky behind the boat, it is impossible not to notice a huge, roiling blackness, an ominous thunderstorm in the distance. But there is also plenty of blue sky and sunshine promising safety in other directions. For the moment, at least, deer flies seem the most serious threat.
Back in the boat, Mazzotti buzzes east down the beach a few yards to another sandy area where more nests have been mapped. Seemingly oblivious to the approach of what by now seems to be shaping up as an end-of-the-world weather system, he and Cherkiss plunge into the bush. Meanwhile, the reporter and photographer hang out in knee-deep water, where they are free from most insect pests and able to devote their complete attention to the coming apocalypse.
"This looks serious," says one man.
"Mega-serious," says the other.
Lightning bolts -- jagged, silver-white against the darkness beyond, and miles long -- are now raining down in the near distance at both ends of a moving wall of weather. The lightning seems to come from thousands of miles up, as if straight from the hand of Zeus himself, and each vertical strike explodes with a crack of thunder. Fish and other creatures of the sea must be dying and floating to the surface just yards away, imagines the reporter, who has begun to notice that there are no other boats visible anywhere on Florida Bay. A flock of bleach-white egrets lifts off from the trees, posing a dramatic tableau against the ebony sky. Even the birds are running for cover.
Still the researchers are ashore. As a light rain begins to fall, it comes to the reporter's attention that the Croc Doc does not even have a Bimini top to hide under. Nor do the tourists on this trip carry raingear of any kind. We are not even sure if there is a radio or a cellular telephone in the professor's equipment box.
Finally, Mazzotti and Cherkiss appear, walking along the beach at a leisurely pace. If they are concerned at all about being pounded back to primordial dust by a colossal storm, they are not letting on. Once in the boat, however, Mazzotti looks around and spots a patch of blue sky to the southwest. He starts the motor, wheels the Croc Doc around, opens up the Johnson, and for several exhilarating minutes the reporter takes heart that disaster can be skirted. Lightning and the blue-black shroud seem to be closing in around us, but we are flying over the water at 35 miles per hour toward rays of sunshine, and hope is ascendant.
Then whuuumph!
The boat shudders to a stop, the motor dies, and we look back to see a three-yard trail of sandy turbulence where the propeller blades have dug into the bottom of the bay. We are dead in the water, stuck in a shallow bed of turtle grass, many thousands of yards from the closest shore. And now we are sitting ducks in what looks to be the very center of the 500 square miles of Florida Bay.
"Out of the boat!" yells Mazzotti, who directs us to push the skiff toward deeper water while Cherkiss fishes for a piece of monofilament line he can use to clean out the engine's jammed cooling canal. Standing in water up to midcalf, we hear the rain make an ominous hissing sound on the surface, as if the sea were full of serpents. Booming thundercracks and lightning bolts strike with increasing frequency. The wind has picked up; it is tossing the normally placid bay waters into a menacing chop. The reporter's anxiety level now surpasses the mark set the week before in the crocodile-infested, radiation-hot canals of the power plant.
Lightning, as anyone knows, is fickle. Even though Florida is a lightning-rich state, and an average of ten people per year in the U.S. are electrocuted by nature, the normal odds of anyone in the state being struck are only one in 600,000. A resident of the Sunshine State has a greater chance of being blown away by a hurricane, getting wiped out in a drive-by, or winning a Fantasy Five.
But of course those odds pertain to normal conditions. And the four people clinging to the Croc Doc are not in normal circumstances. They are offering up their heads as the highest points in all of Florida Bay in the midst of a raging electrical storm that has now overtaken the entire visible world. All is black, with soft shadings of gray, illuminated by frequent, random bursts of lightning that crack open the darkness and send shivers down the spine.
So this is the destiny toward which this assignment was leading, the reporter now muses. Forget killer crocodiles; they were only a diversion, as were the mosquitoes, the deer flies, the threat of becoming forever lost or radiation-sick in an inescapable maze at a nuclear power plant. This is the way we die, by electrocution, at the end of a zillion-kilowatt energy transference. Naturally the crocodiles will survive to clean up afterward.
With the mud cleared from the engine, Mazzotti raises the propeller to knock off the uprooted grass. Treading the spongy, foot-sucking bottom, we push the boat into deeper water, and Mazzotti calls us back over the gunwales. The engine reignites. We speed on, but there is nowhere to run. There are no rays of sunshine or patches of open sky. Realizing this, Mazzotti heads for Club Key, a small island he wants to check for nests anyway, and we plant the pole and tie up on the lee side, about 30 yards offshore. The twelve-foot pole looks a lot like a lightning rod, so when Mazzotti and Cherkiss head for the island, the reporter and photographer follow. But the scientists, covered now in raingear, crash through the mangroves and disappear, leaving the reporter and photographer to linger along the shoreline. Despite the rain, the deer flies and mosquitoes are still on the make, attacking bare legs, arms, and face with predacious glee. The choices now are clear: to die by lightning in the open boat, or to die by lightning on the island, but only after being first tortured by blood-sucking bugs.
"I like to stay with the boat," says Mazzotti as he emerges from the thicket and splashes back out to the Croc Doc. "Unless it gets real bad."
By the time the reporter gets there, Mazzotti has pulled his floppy hat down over his face and assumed a supine position across the stern of the boat. His eyes are not visible, but as the rain falls down, the lightning flashes, and doom grows ever nearer, the professor seems to be sleeping. He is completely motionless, facing God, accepting fate. Cherkiss and the photographer are also sitting in the boat quietly, eyes closed; they may also be asleep, or in prayer. The reporter climbs into the boat, huddles on the deck, and hugs his knees.
For at least 30 minutes we sit in the boat, in the rain, listening to the voices of Armageddon. When the rain, lightning, and thunder begin to move off to the southeast, a dim gray horizon line appears to the north. Mazzotti sits up and starts the engine, and Cherkiss yanks the pole from the sand and slides it into the boat. In another 30 minutes we pull into the dock at Key Largo.
"Did you guys get caught in that?" a young woman asks as we unload.
"Got a little of it," says Mazzotti.
Indeed, we got only a little of it. Winds gusting higher than 50 miles per hour passed through the Keys, overturning sailboats in Key Largo, uprooting trees in Big Pine Key. A special marine warning from the National Weather Service cautioned about "rough seas and deadly lightning." If safe harbor cannot be found, the statement advised, "stay below deck or keep a low profile and keep away from ungrounded metal objects. All should wear flotation devices."
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"Endangered American crocodile?" the reporter cries to Mazzotti. "We could have been killed!"
"That was a case where the storms came together, and we just couldn't run," he replies. "I didn't see how to get away from it.
"Things like the weather are the greatest threat out here," he admits, "and it certainly gets my heartbeat going faster than anything else. It's thrilling when you're out there on a fifteen-foot skiff -- you are out there, experiencing what nature is putting out, and you're filled with sensation."
"We're safe now," the professor continues. "But the crocodile is still endangered.


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Watch Joe Jonas Chug A Beer! Is He Trying To Prove Like Miley Cyrus, He 'Can't Be Tamed?'
A video of Joe Jonas chugging an entire glass of beer on a European talk show surfaced this week, causing various reactions among fans of the Disney star!
Since the Jonas Brothers first appeared on the scene, sporting their purity rings, opening for Hannah Montana and eventually jump-starting their own Disney career, they have been known for their squeaky-clean image, which explains fans' unease over Joe Jonas's beer-chugging stint!
Joe has gone through some bad publicity since the days of the purity ring and the straightened hair. Although he has finally given the flat iron a break, he hasn't been too easy on the women in his life, going through a series of girlfriends that include Taylor Swift, Camilla Belle, Demi Lovato and Ashley Greene, to name a few.
Stories of him breaking hearts (the famous Taylor Swift phone call break-up) have left Joe in a different position than his bandmates and brother, Nick and Joe. Nick formed his own band, Nick Jonas and the Administration, while older brother Kevin Jonas got married to his longtime girlfriend.
Though Joe is legally able to drink (especially in Europe where the video was filmed), there were days when the pop star would never have allowed such a thing to happen, at the risk of upsetting his fans.
What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Innocent fun, or has Joe got a case of Miley syndrome? Sound off below!
Blair Moylan
More On Joe Jonas!

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WHO Poll
Q: 2018/19 Wolves (H)
a. At last we have a win now let's make it two, Win
b. A win against 10 men and two leagues below us is fine, but this will be much harder I'll take a point, Draw
c. Who are we kidding, a win against Wimbledon and all is rosy, forget it we're getting our arses kicked in this one, Lose
d. It's at times like these when you really do miss Love Island
e. I was all over this game until I found out it's not on the box, the broadcasting companies really don't care about us hard core fans do they, I might pop off to Thorpe Park for the day instead, obviously in my WHU shirt
Football Forum
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Eerie Descent
12:31 Tue Sep 12
Has there been many worse individual performances in a comfortable win?
He was so fucking poor it's breathtaking, if Noble had played that badly, there would be 5 threads started about it. His passing was abysmal, his movement pathetic, his tracking back laughable, and I'm yet to find a word for the 2 shots he had yet.
Did one decent thing all night, blocking a ball and passing it to a teammate (for a change) and the fact that it ended up leading to a goal keeps the MYTH rolling on.
Replies - Newest Posts First (
Show In Chronological Order
9:48 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
I personally wouldn't blame Rice as he was pretty tight on Llorente when it got flicked to Son, Rice then turned to chase Son who was unmarked.
8:49 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
Tbf I was sitting on the moon last night but it definitely looked like Rice was at fault as he got sucked in which actually made his performance more extraordinary....as a lot of kids would of crumbled
8:21 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
He's a good box to box midfielder.
8:13 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
Difficult to blame any individual for the first as it was the flick by Llorente that fazed the whole team
7:40 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
Played very well last night just as he played very well in the middle of the park against Burnley
Eerie Descent
7:17 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
The first goal was not his fault, you do know that son?
Northern Sold
7:00 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
Eerie Descent 12:39 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
You did watch the game, didn't you?
You do know what position he played?
Errr he was playing `out of position' for that 1st goal
under the thumb
4:05 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
Kouyate is not a natural centre half. Never will be.
If you are going to play the three then Ogbonna plays left of the three with Collins/Rice in the centre and Reid right of the three. Fonte misses out for me but in fairness his performances had improved before Brighton game.
It's a myth of Eerie's that Kouyate is a centre half. One game and he thinks he's a genius. Did you go Eerie last night and did you notice the first goal when Noble let Sissoko run off him to score and Kouyate the 'centre half' was out of position?
Mex Martillo
7:40 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
He is good in a back 3, he showed that last season as well
3:44 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
Can be a very good centre back, if he doesn't go pressing them all the way to their box leaving us exposed.
2:52 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
I like him in a back 3.
Trevor B
2:51 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
He was at fault for both their goals. He's a very athletic, average footballer who can play in a couple of positions.
Eerie Descent
1:08 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
Stop waffling, he's shit in midfield, but a good centre back, anyone with a set of eyes can see it.
Pickled, up your game you sad pissed up Praying Mantis.
1:03 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
You obviously haven't noticed that he can actually play in both positions. As you say he did well tonight but I wouldn't go any further than that. He has played ok in midfield in other games but you usually resort to quoting stats to try to prove he hasn't.
As I have said before stats on their own mean nothing. I have no idea but for all I know tonight's stats may show that he hardly touched the ball and didn't make a great deal of passes but we all know he had a decent game.
12:56 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
I believe you're a bit Hammererd & Pickled H&P.
Hammer and Pickle
12:49 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
I believe you're a bit of a dickhead, Arserent.
Eerie Descent
12:39 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
You did watch the game, didn't you?
You do know what position he played?
The position I've been calling for him to play in all this time?
We can all sleep easy now. Don't bow to me, just appreciated the knowledge I bring.
12:18 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
They all started slow Eerie and didn't start trying until 50 mins.
As I said from the start most people would play him but good to have you on board with the rest of us now.
Eerie Descent
12:10 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
Started off slow after moving positions, but grew into the game in his natural position and was very good by the end.
Obviously none of you are gutted, because you all want West Ham to do well. Just listen to me in future and you won't go far wrong.
12:02 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
A lesson learned for you Eerie.
12:02 Thu Oct 26
Re: Kouyate
Responsible for their first and partly to blame for their second
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Our churches teach that one holy Church is to remain forever. The Church is the congregation of saints in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered. For the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree about the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. It is not necessary that human traditions, that is, rites and ceremonies instituted by men, should be the same everywhere. As St. Paul says, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all" (Ephesians 4:5-6)
[The Augsburg Confession, Article VII, Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (CPH: 2006, p. 34)].
With these words the Lutheran confessors provide what can rightly be referred to as the evangelical Magna Carta of the Lutheran Church. Article VII of the Augsburg Confession cuts through the clutter of man-made ceremonies and rites that had accumulated by the sixteenth century and focuses on the very heart of the matte, defining the Church with eloquent, powerful precision and grace. Outward unity in the Church is shaped, defined, and normed by Biblical truth (teaching), not the other way around. But note carefully: it is not just any old "Gospel" and "sacraments" here referred to, but the Gospel purely taught and the Sacraments correctly administered. The German version of the Augsburg Confessions makes this point very clear.
The beauty of this definition of Church lies in its focus on the Lord's gracious ongoing work among us through His Word and Sacraments, just defined previously in Article V.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Roundtable 8: The Church
Our churches teach that one holy Church is to remain forever. The Church is the congregation of saints in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered. For the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree about the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. It is not necessary that human traditions, that is, rites and ceremonies instituted by men, should be the same everywhere. As St. Paul says, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all" (Ephesians 4:5-6)
Posted by Unknown at 11:52 AM
39 comments:
- William Weedon said...
Where do you find in this a discussion of the Lutheran Church? I thought it was about the one holy Church.
Discuss THAT. ;)
- March 2, 2007 at 4:04 PM
- Rev. Ryan Fouts said...
Ahh... lots to talk about on this article.
1. The "satis est" clause. There is a lot that can and has been said by some, to justify premature declarations of fellowship. Though, it strikes me that the immediate context here is the Evangelical Confession as it is being made in hopes of preserving the unity of the Church with Rome. It is not so much that this clause is being used to establish unity, but trying to preserve it. If the doctrine of the Gospel is maintained, and the Sacraments administered accordingly, the unity of the church should be able to be maintained. Of course, as is seen later, Rome's abuses were largely over the doctrine of the Gospel and, connected to that, a misunderstanding of the Sacrament (in the way that Rome understood/understands the Sacrifice of the Mass). This is why, later in the Smalcald Articles, Luther can so boldly say that Rome "is not the church." It is as though He is saying: we're catholic, y'all ain't.
2. The clause which says "is not necessary that human traditions, that is, rites and ceremonies instituted by men, should be the same everywhere." This clause has certainly evoked a bit of controversy in our own day, particular on the part of those intending to justify certain innovative forms of worship. While I don't want this roundtable to turn into a debate over the merits or lack-thereof of so-called "contemporary worship," it ought to be clear that this article cannot be used in the effort to justify many contemporary innovations. First, this article is simply saying that not all rites and ceremonies need to be identical in order to preserve the unity of the Church. That is a far cry from saying "anything goes." They don't all need to be identical -- in this context, some of the non-identical things that the Lutherans had brought into the Service were things such as the vernacular in some locales, and communing in both kinds. The Lutheran rites and ceremonies, however, were still firmly rooted in the Church's liturgical history. Simply because, in these respects, it is not necessary that all rites and ceremonies in the churches be identical -- it does not follow that they should be completely dissimilar. Neither does this amount to a blanket approval of anything! Those who argue that this article exhonerates contemporary worship innovations from criticism fail to grasp this article. It is, rather, because the Reformers believed that there were particular things that could occur in services that were plainly *wrong*, as is evidenced by the Lutheran liturgical reforms, that this clause needed to be articulated. There is plenty more I could add here, but I'll leave that to some of the more-litugically knowledgable contributers.
- March 2, 2007 at 4:25 PM
- Christopher said...
On the "satis est" - I remember well the sainted Prof. Marquart saying, "We ask for no more (than unity in the Gospel and Sacraments) ... BUT ALSO NO LESS."
Rev. Fouts: Do you understand Luther as saying there that the Romanists are not part of the Church? Or that they are not *exclusively* the Church? This seems a rather important distinction to me.
+Christopher Esget
- March 2, 2007 at 8:00 PM
- Mike said...
Rev McCain, thank you for reminding me of Ephesians 4:5-6 in your original explanation of this article. That whole chapter is solid gold that is so often over-looked by students of the Word.
How reassuring it is to have this article! Our very lives and hopes as Christians are put on such firm and solid ground in so few sentences. As we finish reading, we should each breathe an overwhelmed sigh of relief that God could be so merciful as to provide us with this assurance.
First, the opening line as it is supported by Scripture and the rest of the confessions, puts all my old erroneous end-times fears to rest in one sweep of the blessed Gospel.
"Also they teach that one holy Church is to continue forever." I vividly remember as a child running through my house on several occasions desperately looking for my parents hoping that they hadn't been taken up to Heaven without me. The thought of missing the only escape of the Rapture to be abandoned and persecuted in this sinful world without the help of Christ or His Church filled me with dread and haunted my nightmares. For me, the church could be taken away in the blink of eye. Thank God that I am finally free from that.
Second, the expectations of doctrine and practice are established. Contrary to all other confessions and doctrines, faith and the church are placed on the solid rock of God's clear and explicit promises - not in the imaginations of flawed, wicked men who deal in tradition, reason, and practicality. Our unity is determined by clinging to God's truth and not fickle opinion.
In terms of practice, this is not a license to do whatever you want whether it is the hundred flavors of zealous liturgical preference or the ephemeral whims of the "not-all-that-new" contemporary movement. On the contrary! It stands as a warning to all sides and, indeed, to all who wish to be called Christ's church: "Cling to the essential! Be vigilant!"
We should not go down the road chasing petty issues and obscure adiaphora and we will not take up the office of Lutheran Pope and try to force our man-made inventions and well-informed views upon others by force or vain debate.
The salvation of the Cross is the one focus and the only focus. The means of grace are to be protected at all costs without compromise… even from those who think they are improving on it or protecting it.
Christ alone.
"I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?" Jn 5:43-44
Does the call for unity mean that we should never debate and defend our beliefs about how this important vigil is to be undertaken? May it never be!
...But any extra-biblical requirements, any personal procedure, any idle or malicious words, any constitutional guideline, any favorite tradition, any worship war, or any political litmus test that detracts from loving unity in "the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments", stands in stark opposition to our confession of faith.
- March 2, 2007 at 9:26 PM
- Paul T. McCain said...
Just reading some Sasse today; from the Lonely Way, Vol. I, in which he addresses Pastor Weedon's "that" quite well.
Yet, what I found this fascinating pertaining to Pastor McCain's intro:
"This character of the congregation [that is, being "Church"] called by the Word and Sacrament is not lost because it is weak in faith, because some in it are beginners, or even "false Christians and hypocrites", so long as it yet possesses the pure Word and the pure Sacraments....And this Church is present wherever in Christendom, in all congregations and all denominations, where the Gospel is not so obscured and the Sacraments are not so disfigured that Christ the Lord is no longer present in them." (*same paragraph* p.83-84)
Fascinating definition of "pure" from a theologian I've come to highly respect. Thoughts for you, my wise seniors?
And, to add to Ryan -
a wise man once told me "it is not necessary that rites and ceremonies be the same everywhere" does not equal "it *is* necessary that rites and ceremonies be *absolutely distinct* everywhere"
-- Comment submitted by Rev. Jonathan Fisk
- March 3, 2007 at 3:34 AM
- William Weedon said...
I was ready to smack McCain for referring to me as his senior (which is true, but BARELY). I'm glad it was you. :)
Thank you so much for that Sasse quote. He gets to the heart of it, I think. Vis a vis Rome, the Augsburg Confessors insist that the Church is constituted via the actual Gospel proclaimed and the Sacraments administered - and done so in accordance with their insitutiton.
The "purely" here is not every jot and tittle down pat, but in such a way that the Gospel is heard as the Good News of the sinner's absolution through the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. The "rightly" here is not following some human prescriptions, but delivered in such a way that the Sacraments are used to give the Gospel gifts that they were instituted to give.
Rome and the East attempt to secure the Church and that's how they know which Word and Sacraments are efficacious and sure.
The Augsburg Confessors (I love that Ed Schroeder term) proposed a totally different schemata: secure the Word and Sacraments, and God will take care of securing the Church through them.
Where the good news of the sinner's forgiveness in Christ sounds forth, the Holy Spirit is at work, creating and sustaining faith, having Himself a Church. Where the waters of baptism wash away sin, the Holy Spirit is at work creating and sustaining faith, having Himself a Church. Where the words of absolution dump a sinner back into the waters of Baptism, the Holy Spirit is at work creating and sustaining faith, having Himself a Church. Where the Eucharist is offered to the Father as unbloody representation of Calvary (cool down, McCain, just to get your goat), er rather, where the Lord's Words are spoken by His called servant over the bread and wine and Christ is giving to us His body and blood, there the Holy Spirit is at work creating and sustaining faith, having Himself a Church.
The Church, in other words, that community of believers that Christ has in this world, who live at the receiving end of the means of grace.
So when anyone offers to give you the disease of "Churchitis" - "are we Church?" - dispense with the humanly instituted stuff and turn back to the Word and Sacraments and you have a sure answer.
- March 3, 2007 at 7:52 AM
- William Weedon said...
Oh, and so it follows that the *unity* of the Church is precisely as visible in this world as the Body and Blood of our Lord are under the bread and wine; or as the blood of Christ is in the waters of Baptism; or as the hand of Christ is in absolving the penitent. It is a unity that is a great article of faith, an article to be believed, and what is believed is precisely what is not seen, but what God declares to be so nonetheless.
There really is only ONE Church. It's the assembly of all believers. You won't see it until the big reality of what happens on Sunday is unveiled at the Parousia: the saints and angels gathered around the Lamb, singing to Him praise unending.
- March 3, 2007 at 7:56 AM
- Dcs. Emily Carder said...
...And, to add to Ryan -
a wise man once told me "it is not necessary that rites and ceremonies be the same everywhere" does not equal "it *is* necessary that rites and ceremonies be *absolutely distinct* everywhere"....
Yes... yet here is a curious distinction to note: Those who abhor the propriety of Christians drinking alcohol at all are the same ones who also deny the sacramental use of water to their infants and quibble over the "is-edness" of is. The style of that substance has now infiltrated the heart of the Lutheran pew-side confession after years of regarding adiaphora as a blanket that covers all contingencies and felt needs instead of it rightly being the Gospel and all its articles as that which makes us one in Christ. The distinction to be kept clear—and often is not—is which traditions are human and which are not. In times when scripture's authority is challenged, the source of faith is the heart. It is then the Lutheran religion becomes one of fideism, and its Confessions are likewise regarded as and become "tissues of insignificance" (to apply a quote of Kurt Marquart.)
I can't think of any time period when the Lutheran Church has not faced this dilemma, from within or without.
Dcs. Emily Carder
- March 3, 2007 at 7:57 AM
- William Weedon said...
By the way: Amen to 1 and Amen to 2.
- March 3, 2007 at 8:10 AM
- wm cwirla said...
Hi guys. I just got back from "out of town."
My favorite article, at least 1 of 28 in the AC.
I just scanned over things, but wanted to chime in with my usual. Pardon any vain repetitions.
Yes to "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church" here, No to "Lutheran Church." Good eye, Weedon!
Just as AC V establishes the holy ministry in dynamic terms - preaching/administering, so AC VII confesses the church. It is a congregation of saints (congregatio sanctorum) in which divine activities are going on through the instrumentality of the holy Office - that is preaching the Gospel, administering the sacraments.
This is no static, institutional view of the ministry or the church.
Apology VII/VIII elaborates: "The church is not only an association (societas, Gesellschaft) of external ties and rites like other polities, but it is principally an association of faith and the Holy Spirit in the heart, which has external marks (externas notas) to make it recognizable, namely the pure evangelical doctrine and the adminstration of the sacraments in accord with the Gospel of Christ." (Ap VII,5, Cwirla's buffing up of Tappert, 169)
This church is visibly manifest as an assembly or congregation where these divine activites are going on. Another way of saying it would be that every local congregation where the Gospel and sacraments are going on is a visible manifestation of the church in her fulness. (Yeah, Sasse!)
(In truth, I was just looking for a good excuse to use the word "fulness.")
- March 3, 2007 at 9:02 PM
- Paul T. McCain said...
Of what significance are the modifying adjectives "purely" and "correctly" when this article speaks about the Gospel and Sacraments?
- March 4, 2007 at 4:08 AM
- wm cwirla said...
I think there are two aspects to the notion of "pure and correct" consonant with Sasse's quote.
In the hands of fallible and sinful men, the Gospel and Sacraments, like Garrison Keillor's Powdermilk Biscuits will be "pure mostly." There will always be some adulteration of error.
On the one hand, the Gospel must be proclaimed so that the justification of the sinner by grace through faith for Christ's sake is clearly heard. That is the "pure Gospel" Likewise, the sacraments must be administered "according to the institution of Christ," and not so disfigured so as to be unrecognizable. You can't have an unrecognizable "mark of recognition."
Yet, as Sasse noted, these marks can be, and are, present among error. The error will obscure these marks more or less, much like static or a competing signal will obscure a radio broadcast. The church is not more or less present but more or less manifested, due to the presence of error.
Of course, this also raises the issue of whether there actually is a "true visible church" or whether the true church is more or less visible in various communions.
- March 4, 2007 at 6:05 AM
- Paul T. McCain said...
I believe there is a true visible Church on earth and it is that Church that confesses what is contained in the Book of Concord. The confessors never claim to be describing merely a "Platonic republic" and in fact eschew that notion as they are confessing the Word of God.
The claim, that there is in fact a true visible Church on earth, and that it is the Church that confesses the doctrinal content of the Book of Concord strikes many today as outrageously offensive, mind-bogglingly narrow-minded, and hopelessly ignorant and misinformed. But, I've not found any other confession of faith that so purely, clearly and consistently confesses Christ and Him crucified for the comfort and salvation of sinners, no other confession that so correctly teaches what God's Word teaches.
And that's why I love Lutheranism so much, because it gets the Gospel and Sacraments so right. This is not to suggest that there are not very real and serious problems within the Lutheran Church, but I'm unaware of any church that has as members human beings that does not have significant challenges and problems.
Nor is this to suggest, for a microsecond, that the Gospel is unheard in other confessions and communions, or that Christians alone are to be found in Lutheran congregations. To the extent to which the Gospel, purely taught, is heard in other communions, to that extent there is Church.
Here I stand.
- March 4, 2007 at 9:46 AM
- William Weedon said...
We learn something quite instructive if we ponder the diff between St. Augustine and the Confessors on this. For St. Augustine the distinction was between visible and INVISIBLE word. For the Confessors, the distinction was between visible and AUDIBLE word. That invites us to think about the Church as where the Word is visible (that is, where Baptism and Eucharist are going on) and audible (where Absolution, preaching the Gospel, and the mutuum fratrem is happening). To speak only of a "visible" Church is to cut out the most important thing of all: the audible Word of which those visible Sacraments are constituted. Verbum accedat etc.
So, instead of speaking of a "true visible Church" would not we have done much better to speak of a true Church that manifests itself in visible Sacraments and audible proclamation - both of which deliver the goods of the sinner's free justification.
- March 4, 2007 at 2:30 PM
- wm cwirla said...
Fortunately, the phrase "true visible church" does not appear in the Confessions. The visible and audible Word keep the church from being a platonic ideal. (see Apology VII/VIII.20, also Smalcald Articles XII - "sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd.")
- March 4, 2007 at 3:07 PM
- William Weedon said...
And so we both should say in unison:
"Thank you, Dr. Korby!"
- March 4, 2007 at 3:22 PM
- Rev. Ryan Fouts said...
Additionally, while Luther does at times use the "visible"/"invisible" distinction, it is clear that he does not use it in the way of the Reformed (i.e. how do you know who is elect?). While he sometimes uses those words, he more often prefers to use the distinction between "the church hidden" and "the church revealed." It is a sort of ecclesiastical theologia crucis. There are not "two different" sorts of churches, as you get with the Reformed use of visible/invisible, but one church that is both hidden and revealed. She is not always perceived clearly (as in Cwirla's helpful comment about being more or less manifest), thus she is revealed as she is hidden in her sufferings. Nonetheless, as she endures, she is likewise revealed therein through the Word (both the oral/aural word, and the visible Word in Sacrament).
- March 4, 2007 at 4:35 PM
- wm cwirla said...
Brother William -
Amen. Our beloved father in the faith Kenneth rests from his labors in Jesus, and his works do follow him.
Thanks be to Jesus!
- March 4, 2007 at 4:46 PM
- William Weedon said...
Amen. And I think that is part of what Melanchthon is driving at in Ap VII/VIII:18 where is speaks of Christ's true Kingdom, Spirit enlivened, "whether it is revealed or covered by the cross." There are times when the Kingdom IS revealed here and now; there are times when the Kingdom is utterly hidden beneath the cross.
- March 4, 2007 at 5:38 PM
- Paul T. McCain said...
Before we get too carried away eschewing visible/invisible...we would do well to pause and consider that in fact, while the terms may not appear in the Confessions, the concepts are surely there. The Church is not *merely* an association of outward rites and other such ties, but it is that as well. The Church does take form and shape in this world, call that "strictly speaking" and "widely speaking" or what what you will (visible/invisible?) the concept still pertains. The Gospel "purely" taught and the Sacraments "correctly" administered are references to an actual concrete reality that we can identify and say, "See,there is Church and there it is going on. I see it. I hear it." Take your pick. Yes, Reformed may misuse the concept, but the terms "visible/invisible" can be properly used, as Luther did. "Hidden" and "revealed" are fairly close concepts too, no?
There is in fact a true visible Church on earth. And it is that Church that confesses, teaches, and preaches the Gospel purely: not Orthodox, Rome, Reformed, Anabaptist, Pentecostal, or the various "spin offs" of any of those movements.
- March 4, 2007 at 5:58 PM
- William Weedon said...
I would only note that the categories as such are not operative in AC VII. This article is first and foremost about the Una Sancta, and it does tell us how we can locate the Una Sancta in this world, and even more, how the Una Sancta herself continues to EXIST in this world - for she lives from this purely preached Gospel and rightly administered Sacrament.
Now, I am not arguing that visible/invisible language is sinful or wrong. But it is not the language of Augsburg Confessors when speaking first things about the Church, and if it comes in before its due place, I think it CAN skew how the Confessors could look Rome in the face and say: Don't kick us out.
- March 4, 2007 at 6:07 PM
- William Weedon said...
Said another way: Rome first becomes sect in Lutheran eyes when she has no room in her communion for the Gospel as preached among us and the Sacraments as administered among us. Until that moment arrived, hope remained in the Confessors hearts for Rome herself.
- March 4, 2007 at 6:09 PM
- Rev. Ryan Fouts said...
There is definitely a way that these terms can be used profitably -- but even though Walther uses the "visible/invisible" terminology, it seems that it ought to be understood as Luther used these terms in the sense of hidden and revealed. We do have the visible/invisible language in our heritage -- it's just hard to use it today without people thinking that you're getting at it from the perspective of defining the church by way of "whose the elect," and "what's with all these reprobate in the church?"
As Dr. Korby also points out (though I'm a bit too young to have ever had him in class, I have enjoyed listening to some of his tapes), when we confess the Church in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic, we've artificially imposed the idea that this is the "invisible" church we're talking about here. It is worth noting that no such notion would have been at all on the table at Constantinople in 381 when this clause got into the Creed. Or, to go at it from another angle, as Dr. Nagel is famous for asking, "Would someone please show me where I might find this invisible church?"
- March 4, 2007 at 6:19 PM
- William Weedon said...
The way I heard him say it was:
"Would someone tell me where this invisible church worships?"
- March 4, 2007 at 6:25 PM
- Rev. Ryan Fouts said...
That hope remained in the confessors hearts in varying degrees.
It is quite evident, for example, due to his "provisio" subscription to the Smalcald Articles that Melanchthon held out such hope much longer than Luther.
There is some disagreement about this, well after Luther's death as well.
Consider, for example, Flacius' Lenient Propositions (Linde Vorschläge) of 1556. These were articles that Flacius had sent to the Wittenbergers in hopes of resolving their dispute over the interims.
One of Flacius' propositions says in no more nor any fewer words, "We confess that no agreement in religion can be made with the Papists." (proposition #6).
While the efforts of the mediators between Flacius and Melanchthon failed in 1557, it is interesting to see how, due somewhat to Melanchthon's insistance, Flacius' 6th proposition was revised in the mediators' "8 Articles" to read, "No agreement is to be made with the Papists, unless an agreement has first been reached in regard to pure doctrine."
While it is only of tangential relevance, I find this little variance to be a rather fascinating depiction of the competing views of Lutherans at the time concerning their relationship with Rome. Some, like Flacius (his uncle being killed by Romanists for confessing the evangelical faith didn't help), really didn't seem to think there was any reason to even hope for reunion with Rome. Others, however, sought that agreement should still be sought by way of hammering out pure doctrine.
- March 4, 2007 at 6:32 PM
- Rev. Ryan Fouts said...
Ah -- well, so long as "Nagelisms" are not elevated to the status of churchly confessions, I suppose the author is allowed to change them slightly as the occasion warrants.
- March 4, 2007 at 6:34 PM
- William Weedon said...
Fascinating about Flacious. About the Nagelisms, well, I suspect he's said them in more than one way. As I suspect our Lord spoke his words in slightly different ways at times, reflecting in part the differences among the Gospels.
- March 4, 2007 at 6:51 PM
- wm cwirla said...
I make it my practice not to argue on blogs.
- March 4, 2007 at 7:19 PM
- William Weedon said...
Your Grace! What a glorious picture!!! You do not need to argue. You have only to PRONOUNCE. :)
- March 4, 2007 at 7:21 PM
- Rev. Ryan Fouts said...
I never thought my chapel-brocade red stole could be surpassed with regard to liturgical "bling bling." Alas, I've been out blinged.
- March 4, 2007 at 7:39 PM
- Paul T. McCain said...
I think I see the concern motivating some of the remarks. Ironically, I'm saying that AC VII is precisely *not* some speculation about some "invisible" Church whose existence exists only in the realm of theory. But, the use of the terms "purely taught" and "correctly administered" in fact refer to an actual concrete reality in the world. Call that the Church "revealed" or "strictly speaking" or even "visible" ... as long as we define all these things properly, I see no problem with any of these ways of speaking of and describing these realities.
I think that AC VII has been too quickly relegated to describing some "invisible" reality. I'm trying now to remember how it was put to me once by a person, in contrast to FX X which speaks about "agreement in the Gospel and all its articles."
As a side-note, I've never been at all convinced or persuaded that Walther's use of invisible/visible was leaning along the lines of "Reformed." I've heard people toss that accusation off, but when I've not seen convincing evidence that in fact on this point, somehow, Walther was falling prey to Calvinist tendencies here.
As for Pastor Cwirla's policy of "not arguing." I didn't think we were arguing, but if we are, I never argue with a guy dressed like him. (grin)
- March 5, 2007 at 3:15 AM
- Paul T. McCain said...
As I think more about "visibility/invisibility" language in regard to the Church and AC VII it strikes me that the problem with "visibility/invisibility" is that it is improperly applied to Church if it is used to try to define what the Church is. Rather, it would seem to me that the terms have more to do with talking about who is, or is not, part of the Church. But Church, as Church, is better referred to as "hidden/revealed" or "strictly speaking/widely speaking" [which is the distinction used in our Confessions. That's why Dr. Nagel's question is such a good one. And then, if "visible/invisible" are used in such a way as to serve these distinctions, then it is ok, but I have seen the distinction used to suggest things about the Church which are not in sync with our Confessions. I think the terms are used contrary to Walther's intention, when it is suggested that "Well, since the Church is, strictly speaking, invisible, then anything visible is just adiaphora." I've actually had it put to me just this plainly. But then this is where my initial question comes in that I asked in this thread. What is the implication of the phrases, "purely taught" and "correctly administered" in this article? Is *that* invisible? Etc.
- March 5, 2007 at 5:55 AM
- wm cwirla said...
Paul - Inside joke, Irishman, though I actually do believe blog debates to be an exercise in futility.
To carry on with this civilized discussion:
One problem I see with the concept of a "true visible church" is that once you bite into the notion you are almost bound to set out on a quest to find it. Churches always look better on paper than they do in practice. If absolute purity of doctrine and practice become the criteria, the search will become a quest for the holy grail, or in this case holy church.
I think this also speaks to the satis est of AC VII. The pure Gospel and administration of the sacraments in accord with Christ's institution are sufficent to visibly mark the presence of the church at any time and place, and are then also sufficient to denote the church's unity in Christ, as AC VII indicates.
- March 5, 2007 at 7:12 AM
- Mike said...
It seems like hair-splitting to me. Most people I know use "revealed"/"hidden" and "visible"/"invisible" interchangeably. They do not understand the difference in the terms (myself included).
After all, if something is visible it has been revealed and if something is invisible it is hidden from us. The only negative I have heard presented against the use of "invisible" has been that it sounds too much like hocus pocus and that "hidden" better reflects the type of language used in the church.
I've also heard various Protestant bodies use the terms "hidden" and "revealed" when talking about the elect so I am not so sure that "hidden/revealed" protects you from the Reformed usage any more than "invisible/visible".
- March 5, 2007 at 8:52 AM
- Rev. Ryan Fouts said...
Again -- I think the difference (or at least the preference for hidden/revealed over the visible/invisible language) is in applying these terms to Christ. For Luther, the Church is the body of Christ. That is the Church, the bride, one-in-flesh with Her bridegroom, as she partakes in His Spirit.
Thus, where is God at the cross? Is he visible or invisible? Well, you truly see God even though all you see is suffering, cross, death, etc. So, it would seem odd to say that God was "invisible" on the cross. Though God is "hidden" or "veiled" there. In his hiddeness He is likewise revealed. That is to say, if God is "veiled," and you perceive the veil, you are seeing God, as He is hidden beneath the veil (which is human flesh, suffering, the cross, etc.). It sounds like hair-splitting, perhaps. Though the reality is, at least in my experience, most who come across the "visible"/"invisible" distinction in Lutheran theology presuppose a reformed understanding of these terms. Can we use these terms rightly? Sure. But why should we when we have more precise language by way of Luther's hidden/revealed distinction?
- March 5, 2007 at 3:56 PM
- Paul T. McCain said...
Pastor Cwirla, do you think it really is impossible to say where the Gospel is purely preached and correctly administered? I can see a problem with overdoing this "quest" for the "true visible Church." Ironically, I've noticed in those who have headed East their quest takes them to the point that they must locate the visible Church using criteria other than the Gospel purely preached and sacraments rightly administered, but there seems to be something going on here with AC VII beyond a polite nod to Gospel and Sacraments [I know you are not suggesting that]. Some seem to want in the "satis est" some sort of license for "whatever goes as long as we have 'Gospel' and 'Sacraments' going on, but we dare not attempt to define those things." And, again, the notion of Gospel "purely" taught and sacraments "correctly" administered are ignored.
Here's an interesting question, which Pastor Fouts raised. Did the Lutherans when making this assertion really intend to include the Church of Rome in their definition of "Church." Would they have said that the Gospel was being purely taught and sacraments correctly administered in Rome?
The article is tantalizing brief and we can be very thankful that we do have more on the subject elsewhere in the Confessions, particularly in FC X where we read about fellowship being constitued by agreement in the Gospel and all its articles. But I suppose we will wait until we get to the FC for that conversations.
- March 5, 2007 at 4:29 PM
- wm cwirla said...
I think it's quite possible to see/hear where and when the Gospel is preached purely and the sacraments administered rightly. If that were not possible, these would not be "recognition marks." What I'm saying is that some measure of error will always be present, given that these marks are in the hands of fallible men. Hence the notion that there is a "true visible church" that possesses these marks without any aduleration seems to me to be a platonic ideal. Even as late as 1539, Luther could discern the marks of the church in the Roman Church in spite of the papacy.
I don't believe that CFW Walther's visible/invisible construct was "Reformed," though he is quite in line with Augustine's ecclesiology. Augustine, you recall, had the true church of the true believers (elect) hidden within the greater visible church of those who associate with the Gospel and sacraments (the called).
It's important to note, as Paul did, that AC VII does not have to do with "fellowship" among the churches but with the true unity of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church and its visible/audible manifestation in the world. The satis est is not intended as a least common denominator for "fellowship."
- March 6, 2007 at 6:39 AM
- Mike Baker said...
[This is the same "Mike" that posted earlier in the thread. After reading Rev Cwirla's recent paper on Cyberbrethren, I have adjusted my "avatar".]
Rev Fouts,
Good point on "Hidden/Revealed". I like that explination and it has formed my opinion on the matter. Thank you.
And now, a few stupid questions for the table:
1. Where could the Church be found prior to Luther's reformation?
2. How would these terms (hidden/revealed) be properly applied to the church during that time?
3. "The Church is the congregation of saints in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered." Does this mean that a pastor who preaches false doctrine or administers the Sacraments incorrectly cuts his congregation off from the Church?
- March 6, 2007 at 8:42 AM
- wm cwirla said...
My answers to the questions:
1. Same way - listen for the Gospel, look for the sacraments. If you were walking down the streets of Ephesus in the 1st century and wanted to know where the Christian church was, they would direct you to a meeting where those were going on.
2. Same way - the church, as the mystical union in Christ of all believers everywhere at all times and places is a hidden reality (mystery) that is manifested visibly in the gathering of believers around the Gospel and sacraments.
3. Not necessarily - the pastor who preaches or practices falsely obscures the marks of the church to a greater or lesser extent. The issue is whether that congregation accurately and clearly manifests the church or not. Faith clings to the Word, and the clearer the Word, the better.
- March 6, 2007 at 9:05 AM
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(Similar model shown for illustrative purposes)
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Product Highlights
The Strand Lighting Aureol BeamSpot Luminaire with LSI Track Adapter (White) is a specialist lighting tool designed for display and commercial lighting applications. When used with the well-known and easily available MR16 range of 12V lamps (sold separately), the unit provides good glare control and accurate pan and tilt adjustments.
|LSI track adapter
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|4.4 x 6.8 x 7.6" (111.3 x 171.5 x 193.8 mm)
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|4.4 lb (1.99 kg)


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Older News » MP3 players and hearing lossLast updated 10:54 AM on 15 September 2011
When someone like Angry Anderson, former front man of rock band Rose Tattoo warns about young people inflicting hearing loss on themselves, you have to listen.
The Connect Hearing ambassador and father said he was particularly concerned about young people and their use of MP3 players (such as an iPod), especially when they have them turned up too loud.
"Look, I like loud music but that hasn't done me a lot of good over the years," he said. "Kids's hearing can't be repaired and mums and dads need to be aware of that.
Loudness levels at a glance
Conversation - 60 dB.
Traffic noise - 80 dB.
Planes taking off - 120 to 140 dB.
Firecrackers- 120 to 140 dB.
Some MP3 players maximum volume - over 130dB
Just 28 seconds of listening at too high a volume can cause permanent hearing damage—and younger children are most vulnerable. An American study last year found that 16 percent of six- to 19-year-olds had early signs of hearing loss.
In Australia, Connect Hearing confirmed its audiologists are treating a much larger number of younger clients presenting with tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and hearing loss related to noise exposure.
The experts say it doesn't have to be ear-splitting to cause damage. Information on the Connect Hearing website states that consistent use of MP3 players on a regular basis at levels above 75dB can cause hearing loss.
Safe listening tips for parents
- If you can hear the music on your child's MP3 player, they have the volume up too high.
- Buy over-ear headphones, which are less damaging than in-ear headphones or earbuds
- Limit the amount of time your child listens to their MP3 and advise them to give their ears a rest every hour
To find out more or to post a comment go to Sounding off on MP3s, Issue 2 of NSW Public School's School Parents ezine


text:
Tag cloud | Project Tree | Project List
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Topic > Scientific/Engineering > Medical Science Apps.
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1 project in result set.
|1. CamiTK - CamiTK is a multi-platform solution, based on vtk and Qt, for the visualization and interaction with multiple sources of data and algorithms. It is extremely modular: you can use the included extensions (medical images, vtk,...) or develop your own!
|Activity Percentile: 73.33
Activity Ranking: 5.00
Registered: 2011-01-21 10:29


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SAN DIEGO (AP) — During her time in Iraq, Alma Felix would see her fellow female soldiers leave the Army installations where she worked at a desk job and head into combat with their male counterparts. But many returned home feeling that few knew of their contributions.
"We disappear into the background," the 27-year-old former Army specialist said. "You always hear we're losing our sons out there. And although women have fallen out there, you really don't see very much of it."
Now, with the Pentagon ending its ban on women in combat, Felix and other female troops hope the military's plan to open hundreds of thousands of combat jobs to them will lead society to recognize that they, too, can be courageous warriors.
"We are the support. Those are the positions we fill and that's a big deal — we often run the show — but people don't see that," she said. "Maybe it will put more females forward and give people a sense there are women out there fighting for our country.
"It's not just you're typical poster boy, GI Joes doing it," she said.
Thursday's announcement promises to change the image of battlefields around the world, as debate rages on whether women can fight like men. What's clear is that the move will pave the way for women to earn higher pay and earn better promotions.
The shift is the military's biggest since the policy banning openly gay service members was lifted two years ago. And as was the case with "don't ask, don't tell," troops were expected to fall in line with the new rules.
The change overturns a 1994 rule prohibiting women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units, and is expected to open up more than 230,000 combat positions that have been off limits to women.
"We owe it to them to allow them to pursue every avenue of military service for which they are fully prepared and qualified," said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. He said women have shown they are willing to fight and die alongside their male counterparts.
Across the country, members of the military of both sexes said they accepted the policy so long as women will have to meet the same standards as their male colleagues. Both men and women were skeptical about putting females in infantry units, however.
"This gives us more people to work with," said Army Sgt. Jeremy Grayson, assigned to field infantry at Fort Bliss, Texas. "But they would have to be able to do the physical stuff that men do ... They have to be able to pull their own weight."
Panetta said the qualifications will not be lowered and acknowledged that not all women will meet them. He said allowing women to serve in combat roles will strengthen the ability of the U.S. to win wars.
It will be up to the military service chiefs to recommend whether women should be excluded from any of those more demanding and deadly positions, such as Navy SEALs or the Army's Delta Force.
Veterans and some in the military argue the public may not be ready to handle seeing more female troops come home in body bags or with lost limbs. "It's harder to see a mother or a daughter dead. We (men) are seen as protectors," said Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lemaitre.
Army Spc. Jean Sardonas, who works as a lab technician at a hospital, said she understood Lemaitre's opinion.
Sardonas said she had thought about joining an Army team that conducts social work in the field and faces combat situations. But she's since become a mother, changing her perspective, and said women tend to be more emotional.
"If you see the enemy, well, that's the enemy, but now if you see a kid with a gun you're going to think twice," she said.
Paul Murphy, an 88-year-old Navy veteran in the Denver area who survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in the Philippine Sea in 1945, doesn't think women should be in combat because of the reaction back home.
"I don't think the loved ones at home (believe that) females should be allowed to be killed by the enemy," said Murphy, who was among only about 300 out of a crew of nearly 1,200 who survived after his ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
Felix bristles at that kind of thinking but has heard that from young male soldiers who have told her they don't want to see a woman get hurt on the battlefield. "It's hard to see any comrade fall, whether it's a woman or a man," she said.
Women comprise about 14 percent of 1.4 million active military personnel. More than 280,000 women have been sent to Iraq, Afghanistan or to jobs in neighboring nations in support of the wars. And of the more than 6,600 U.S. service members who have been killed, 152 have been women.
The New York veteran who started the nation's first Veteran of Foreign Wars post for women said she had no problem with them being considered for the elite units, as long as they meet the stringent requirements and that the standards are not lowered for them.
Making allowances for a female soldier would be "a detriment to the team," said Marlene Roll, who served with an Army Reserve medical unit during the first Gulf War. But, she added, "If she can make it through the course and she can graduate, hell yeah."
Female veterans hope those who follow in their footsteps appreciate the opportunities.
Linda L. Bray said her male superiors were incredulous upon hearing that she had led dozens of male military police officers through a three-hour firefight during the 1989 invasion of Panama.
Instead of being lauded for her heroism, she said, higher-ranking officers accused her of embellishing accounts of what happened. Congress debated fiercely over whether she and other women had any business being on the battlefield.
"I think it's absolutely wonderful that our nation's military is taking steps to help women break the glass ceiling," said Bray, of Clemmons, N.C.
"I hope the women who attempt to take on these challenges in the military don't do it because now it's OK for them to do it," she said. "I hope they do it because they really want to make a go of being a man's partner in going to war."
Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press writers Chris Carola in Albany, N.Y.; Juan Carlos Llorca in El Paso, Texas; Michael Biesecker in Raleigh, N.C.; Dan Elliott in Denver, and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington; contributed to this report.


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Some market: Obamacare's phony successEDITORIAL
May 03. 2014 1:25AM
According to the federal government, 40,262 Granite Staters have signed up for a health insurance plan through the Obamacare exchange. "These numbers clearly demonstrate the value provided by the marketplace," said Lisa Kaplan Howe, policy director at New Hampshire Voices for Health, which promotes Obamacare. And there is that word again: marketplace.
There surely is great value in a marketplace. But for health insurance, New Hampshire does not have one. It has not had one for years, and Obamacare made that worse, not better.
Back in 1994, the state adopted a law that established "community rating," which forces insurers to base their rates on where people live, not on their actual risk of getting ill or injured.
The bill was the work of then-state Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. New Hampshire had more than 25 health insurers at the time.
More than 20 stopped doing business in the state after community rating became law.
Then came Obamacare, which created the online "marketplace," whose regulations were so burdensome that only a single insurer opted to participate. We went from having more than 25 choices to having one - all because politicians thought they could outsmart the market.
More than 40,000 Granite Staters signed up for insurance under Obamacare - which forces people to either buy insurance or pay a fine - six months after that same law caused the cancellation of 22,000 insurance plans in New Hampshire. Some market.


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When the country needed him the most, Charles Hamelin played superhero and saved the day for Canada.
In true Superman fashion, he even ended up with the girl. Immediately after the winning his first of two gold medals — in the 500 metres and the team relay — the Canadian short track speed skater made a beeline for the end boards at Pacific Coliseum.
There, waiting for him as previously planned, was teammate Marianne St-Gelais.
With the crowd roaring, the two embraced and kissed.
Hamelin, 25, had been the face of the Canadian short track team. But after failing to land on the podium in the 1,500-metre and 1,000-metre events, some wondered if the pressure of performing at home was too much for the Ste-Julie, Que., native.
And then, on the final night of competition, he and the rest of the team atoned for their earlier hiccups.
"My goal was to bring back one medal in the individual and one in the relay," he said. "Whatever the colour it could have been."
Aside from Hamelin's two gold medals, Francois-Louis Tremblay of Montreal won a bronze medal in the 500 metres. And the men's relay team (Hamelin, brother Francois Hamelin, Tremblay, Olivier Jean and Guillaume Bastille) picked up another gold.
According to team leader Yves Hamelin, Charles and Francois' father, it was "a birthday for us."
The Canadian team had picked up four medals (three silver and one bronze) at the 2006 Olympics. Friday night, it increased that ante to five (two gold, two silver and a bronze). Earlier in the Games, St-Gelais won silver in the women's 500-metre race and picked up a second silver as part of the women's relay team.
That Canada would save its best for last was not all that surprising.
The 500-metre individual sprint and the 5,000-metre team relay were Canada's strongest races. This was where they would win their gold medals. This was where they would show the world and redeem themselves by finishing on top.
A four-and-a-half-lap race, the 500-metre race lasts about as long as the average hockey shift.
Charles Hamelin entered the Olympics as the top-ranked skater. Tremblay was second. And the unpredictable Jean of Lachenaie, Que., was 10th. As such, expectations were high.
"Conservatively, two Canadians in the final," Hamelin had predicted, "and one on the podium."
With two Canadians in the four-man final, the odds looked promising. But, as we had already seen during these Olympics, anything can happen in short-track.
Hamelin, who started on the inside, took the lead right away and held it for most of the race. Chasing him were Korea's Sung Si-Bak and Tremblay, respectively, while Ohno characteristically stayed in the back and waited for his time to attack. When he did — on the final turn on the final lap — all hell broke loose.
The Seattle native, who had a generous amount of fans at the Pacific Coliseum, tried to go around on the outside of Tremblay. But as he put a hand on the Canadian skater's shoulder, Tremblay fell and took out Sung, who was briefly in the lead.
Though Hamelin got twisted around, he managed to stay on his feet and cross the finish line in first.
For a brief moment, Ohno thought he had another medal to go with the silver he won in the 1,500 metres and the bronze he won in the 1,000 metres. But a referee disqualified the 27-year-old and bumped up Sung to second and Tremblay to third.
"Today the bronze was really good. I'm really happy about it," said Tremblay, who won a silver medal in the 500 metres in the 2006 Olympics. "I knew he pushed because I never really fall. The last time I fell was two years ago."
Though Ohno insinuated that there was a hometown bias ["you know, it's the head Canadian referee out there and there were two Canadians in the race" he said], the Canadians disagreed.
"It's the type of comment that we hear once in a while," said Yves Hamelin. "But I can tell you it's never the case. [Referee Michelle Verreault] is usually more severe against the Canadians."


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You will learn
You will learn how to create a data element. You will then use this data element to provide boolean logic to one of the columns in the table, which in turn contains the data you have retrieved from the database. (in the previous tutorial, Create an ABAP class.)


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Couple saved from near train crash, calls rescuers heroes
Couple saved from near train crash, calls rescuers heroes
AMES, Iowa —
The Slater couple inside a car pushed off the tracks seconds before a train crossed an intersection spoke Thursday to KCCI NewsChannel 8.
"I really thought we weren't going to make it," said Jean Papich, who was stuck in the Clark Avenue Crossing with her husband, Marion Papich.
With seconds before impact, two good Samaritans jumped in and pushed the couple to safety.
"I'd call them heroes because they didn't have to risk their life to get right down in front of the car between the car and the train and push us," Marion said.
Marion and Jean have been married for 55 years.
Union Pacific Railroad officials said those who find themselves stuck on the tracks should get out and call 911.


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Visualization of Healthcare Data, DocGraph, and Open Source — #HITsm Chat Highlights
Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.
Topic One: How can we leverage referral and collaboration information in #HealthIT software? What is DocGraph good for?
T1. The interesting thing for me about Docgraph is that it doesn't just show connection between docs, but flow/directionality of pts. #hitsm — Leonard Kish (@leonardkish) February 8, 2013
T1: I'd like to see how many referrals go outside local regions.Is it mostly local or are we becoming more of a national system?#HITsm — EMR, EHR and HIT(@ehrandhit) February 8, 2013 T1: back to the topic: what if #healthIT graph could be an eye opener to docs on their activities? They may be unaware of activity #HITsm — Chad Johnson (@OchoTex) February 8, 2013
T1: I read the article and it would love to see the referral traffic map, see how it benefits certain areas of a city. City vs. rural #HITsm — Chad Johnson (@OchoTex) February 8, 2013
T1: Tied to clinical patient experience data. Does Doc A continue to refer to Doc B if survey was negative? #HITsm — Loran Cook (@loranstefani) February 8, 2013
Topic Two: Generally, what are the best examples of data visualization of healthcare data that you have seen or heard of?
T2: Do the best examples have to be in healthcare? If so I imagine public health sector has got the market on that #HITsm — Chad Johnson (@OchoTex) February 8, 2013
T2: Lab results and patient friendly reporting for "patient access" are the best examples Ive seen recently…. #HITsm — Linda Lia (@EMRAnswers) February 8, 2013
T2: Trending is critical in acute care ~ Nihon Kohden & others monitor, VS plus SpO2 w/trending into EMR to see when pt is declining #HITsm — Melissa Cole, FACHE (@ColeFACHE) February 8, 2013
Topic Three: What other open doctor data should we merge with DocGraph? #HealthIT
T3: When the Sunshine Act is fully implemented in Sept 2014, pharma payments would be interesting to see tied with referral data. #HITsm
— Loran Cook (@loranstefani) February 8, 2013
T3Are referrals influenced by payor class, and do IDN look different pattern-wise than volume driven silos? #HITsm
— ACO Alliance (@acoalliance) February 8, 2013
T3: Medical necessity / cost / waste is huge as is patient safety value #HITsm
— Linda Lia (@EMRAnswers) February 8, 2013
Topic Four: What open data or open source software do you use regularly as a #HIT professional? #HealthIT
T4: Quality/cost report data are the most frequent; would include census and NPI datasets but I avoid them like the plague #messydata #HITsm
— Loran Cook (@loranstefani) February 8, 2013
T4: there has been a lot of talk about open source #EHRs, like OpenMRS, this week.#HITsm
— Chad Johnson (@OchoTex) February 8, 2013
Topic Five: What open data or open source software do you wish existed? #HealthIT
T5: I wish there was an open source maker movement on drugs. Imagine cost savings if u could "make" personalized drug by DL one #HITsm
— Colin Hung (@Colin_Hung) February 8, 2013
T5: For quality, I would like to see statewide physician credentials, state medical board reporting to be open/free. #HITsm
— Chad Johnson (@OchoTex) February 8, 2013


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Applications for the MCIO Head Start program are being accepted now.
The MCIO Head Start program will accept applications for the 2013 – 2014 school year, between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Friday at the following locations – the Bastrop Center, which is located at 1602 West Madison Ave. and the Mer Rouge Center, 8758 Nip Eckles Rd.
If you child meets the following criteria, they may be eligible for the Head Start program:
* Any child who is three to five years of age;
* Child is currently enrolled in the Head Start program and does not meet mandatory kindergarten age by Sept. 30, 2011;
* Any child three to five years of age who may require special services;
* Families may be able to enroll more than one child if income is eligible;
* Families meet federal income guidelines.
* Students must be three years of age by the first day of school. Students who will be three years old after the first day of school will be placed on a Prioritized Waiting List.
Parents who wish to enroll their child must furnish the following documents:
Child's birth certificate
Child's up-to-date immunization record
Child's medical, LaCHIP or private insurance card
Child's Social Security card
Parents/guardians must bring their 2010 income verification in some type of form, such as 1040A, W-2, FITAP, SSI benefits or proof of child support payments.
MCIO Head Start provides services and benefits to all eligible recipients, without regard to race, creed, color, disability or national origin.
All special needs children and children with severe disabilities are welcome.
For more information, contact Fleora Daman at 283.4938 or Paula Gray at 647.5017.