text:
Campbell is the epitome of a B-movie star. I'm not
making fun of him he actually admits it in his book,
If Chins Could Talk: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor.
I would recommend getting this book over the game
if you're a Bruce Campbell fan. Mr. Campbell is a
great storyteller with no pretensions. He's as refreshing
as the bumbling character that he plays in the Evil
Dead series which you'll learn all about. Ash has
risen from the ashes of obscurity to once again kick
some undead butt back to Hell. So strap on that chainsaw
and let's go make a few ghosts.
has an all-new storyline but don't worry, things still
begin at the cabin which is under attack by a crew
of deadites that Ash is able to slaughter. The problem
is that the cops don't believe him and think that
the slain bodies are the work of a psychotic. Ash
is taken to mental hospital where he discovers that
an evil doctor is performing experiments in the basements
using the Necronomicron. In the process a variety
of ungodly creatures, deadites and monsters are being
created with subsequent mutations. As horrendous as
this premise may sound, Ash is still able to maintain
his sense of humor.
is a new addition to the series. He's a mutated deadite
that is only a few feet tall but has a mouth on him
that you'd like to permanently close with your boot.
The interesting thing is that he's your partner and
while he's capable of getting killed, he regenerates
instantly making him useful for a variety of situations.
You can kick him into dangerous situations to test
the waters. Throw him at an enemy and at times he
will rip the head off of them while other times he'll
get his assed handed to him. You can use him to solve
puzzles and even possess him to access areas that
are too small for Ash. He's a good addition to the
series and gives Ash someone to verbally spar with.
There is lots of dialog and it's very well acted.
You're bound to laugh out loud at many irreverent
saved the low-budget Evil Dead movies but it doesn't
help the low budget presentation of the game. The
graphics are blocky and low res, there is clipping
right through walls, the enemy performs the same attacks
over and over and never gets more challenging and
Ash himself is hard to control when jumping from platform
to platform. None of these issues are enough to ruin
the game individually but when you add them up it's
like sitting in the middle of a bee farm with honey
on your head.
not impossible to overlook some of these problems
and get on with the game. Ash is able to attach a
number of different weapons to the stump of his right
arm including a flamethrower, harpoon and the classic,
chainsaw. With a shotgun in his left hand you have
the ultimate Evil Dead combo which is useful for most
of the game, but it's nice to harpoon the deadites
and other monsters and reel them in for a nice blast
to the head with the shotgun.
moves add a nice gory and violent touch. When an enemy
is on his last leg he will turn a shade of green whereupon
you get in close and administer the coup de grace
- often involving some method of head removal. Ash
also has a rage meter that builds up as he gathers
floating orbs from dead enemies. Once engaged, Ash
transforms into a super-powerful demon that has more
powerful attacks and faster moves.
dialog and voiceovers are the best features of the
game. The developers acknowledge this by offering,
as an unlockable, a behind-the-scenes documentary
of Mr. Campbell performing his voiceovers for the
game. At the very least you should rent this game
for the laughs if nothing else. If you can think of
a better way to celebrate the arrival of Halloween
than you're probably dead already.
THQ Inc. today announced Evil Dead Regeneration for
the Xbox video game system from Microsoft and the
PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and Windows.
The game explores a "what if..." continuation
from Evil Dead 2, one of the most unhinged films from
famed director Sam Raimi. Voiced by Bruce Campbell,
players will control Ash, the reluctant hero of the
series, as they're thrown into a masquerade of evil
events, equipped with the latest in prosthetic fashion.
Developed by THQ studio Cranky Pants Games, Evil Dead
Regeneration is scheduled to release this summer.
come to understand that there is only one person in
this world fit for this kind of work," said Ash,
part-time S-Mart manager, full-time fox. "And
that's me. Not because of my knack to get things right,
most of the time, but because I can slice and dice
evil better than a knife sold on any late-night infomercial.
Maybe it's partially to the fact that I've replaced
one of my hands with a chainsaw, but I digress."
Dead Regeneration follows Ash, the lone survivor of
a camp discovering the Necronomicon -- the wholly
evil book of the dead. Thought to have murdered his
companions, Ash is arrested, convicted of the crime,
and sentenced to Sunny Meadows, an institute for the
criminally insane, but not for long. Ash's peaceful
stay is about to end -- thanks to the perverted experiments
of his very own psychiatrist, Dr. Reinhard. Hell-bent
on using science to harness the Necronomicon's powers,
the mad doctor unleashes the book's all-powerful Evil
on the world -- releasing a new slew of Deadites,
monsters and spirits, twisting reality into a hellish
strudel and leaving mankind with that not-so-fresh
apocalyptic feeling.
our goal to create the spiritual successor of Evil
Dead 2, one of the seminal action films ever, in pop-culture,"
said David Bollesen, general manager, Cranky Pants
Games. "Having Bruce Campbell on board, providing
creative direction and embracing new ideas we've injected
into their universe is critical, and their enthusiasm
continues to drive us to deliver the ultimate Evil
Dead experience."


text:
A hot bath was the furthest thing from my mind today but now I am longing for one since I saw these Donna Karan Cashmere Mist Pearl Essence Bath Beads on Nordstrom's website. I'm thinking I should just get these now and be prepared for when cooler weather comes in. 😉
I have been dying for these to come out for months now. I had the chance to smell the fragrance in a meeting and feel the bath beads on my skin earlier in the year. I am one of those gals that is hardcore about her Cashmere Mist obsession and love every incarnation of the scent out there. The newest is Cashmere Mist Pearl Essence and it takes my beloved Cashmere Mist and just makes it a little more sultry and sexy. It was love at first sniff.
These bath beads make your bathwater silky and soften the skin while delicately scented it with Cashmere Mist Pearl Essence. Let it be the first step in your scent layering process, it is $45 for a 7 oz. jar and it will be your favorite new bath time indulgence.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Murder Mystery
|• Introduction
|• Lawyer Turned Detective
|• Elevating Pulp Fiction
|• Introduction
|• Lawyer Turned Detective
|• Elevating Pulp Fiction
Lawyer Turned Detective
Erle Stanley Gardner
Although Erle Stanley Gardner did not publish his first novel until 1933, in the 1920s his crime stories appeared in Black Mask, the crime fiction magazine in which Dashiell Hammett had first introduced Sam Spade in 1922. Gardner, a prolific writer influenced by Hammett, wrote 82 novels in the Perry Mason series throughout his career.
Key to Gardner's remarkable output was his use of the plot wheels invented and patented by another of his successors, a British crime novelist named Edgar Wallace. By using different combinations of possible twists and turns for both major and minor characters, Gardner was able to construct narratives that held his readers rapt for several decades.
Gardner's characterization of Perry Mason as a lawyer using detective work to win cases grew out of his own experience as a lawyer in 1920s California. In his practice he often defended Chinese clients who were sometimes convicted of crimes with questionable evidence and without adequate representation. Later in his life Gardner and some of his law enforcement associates set up an organization called "The Court of Last Resort," a group dedicated to reversing such miscarriages of justice.


text:
An investigation is underway in Spain as to the cause of hundreds of recent earthquakes in the Cataluña region in Spain.
The energy minister says " It appears that there is a relationship between gas injection and earthquakes". Via Mish-modified translation ...
Jose Manuel Soria, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism said that it appears that there is a direct relationship between the injection of gas into the underground Castor warehouse and earthquakes.
The minister's remarks come after another night of earthquakes on underground warehouse environment. According to the National Geographic Institute, last night during 23 earthquakes have occurred. Two of them, at one in the morning and half an hour later, recorded a magnitude of 4.1 on the Richter scale. The other earthquakes were registered a magnitude of between 1.7 and 2.9 on the Richter scale, according to the sources.
The most intense ground motion since records began these earthquakes related to the Castor project came in early Tuesday with a magnitude of 4.2.
The Castor project, with an investment of 1,200 million euros, aims to harness an old oil well 1,750 meters below sea level to supply up to a third of the gas demand of the system for 50 days, but apparently, gas injection since September 13 has caused hundreds of earthquakes, most low intensity. Several experts geologists have claimed that many earthquakes are due to "induced seismicity" by the Castor project, caused by the injection of gas into the rock. However, there is no consensus about its risks and evolution.
Citizens Complain of Cracks and Tremors Whipping Their Homes
Via "as is" Google-translation, please consider " I spent half the night"
The residents of the villages near the Castor underground gas storage, near which has registered a surge of earthquakes, tremors live with that uncertainty every night whipping their homes. "was sleeping and moved the closet door that I have just back, I got scared and woke up suddenly, it was very strange, I had never felt anything like it, "says Ricard Fuster, neighbor Alcanar (Tarragona) on the earthquake registered 4.1 degrees last night in the Gulf of Valencia.
In the same terms is expressed Pietat Subirats, 47, sleeplessness trailing by earthquakes: "I've spent half the night. I woke with a start, in my house have noticed the two strongest earthquakes and trembled on my street all, "says this 47-year resident of Alcanar. "First I felt the movement of the bed, then started to shake and furniture throughout the house, the dogs would not stop barking area," he recalls. Pietat is outraged: "In my street were all awake by contacting us through social networks. We are angry because these episodes are becoming worrisome, asking politicians and responsibilities to the company.
The inhabitants of the towns of the Ebro and Castellon collect sleeplessness and tremors stories. Earthquakes, in fact, dominate all neighborhood gatherings: "We are afraid, I have noticed the strongest earthquake that has been, then moved the structure of the house," says Emilio Valls, a real estate agent for 36 years who lives in a three-story building in Sant Martí Mayor Street, in the heart of Alcanar, a few meters from the Plaza Mayor.
Blame Game is On
Here is a rather curious "as is" Google-Translated headline: " The government did not heed the request of the Government to make a seismic report"
Close scrutiny reveals that current government officials blame the previous administration (always a safe thing for politicians to do).
The previous government was warned about the need to analyze the seismic consequences of project implementation Castor, gas marine store located at the Ebro Delta told him the Government before the license granted to initiate activities to Scales UGS, but the Ministry of Industry disregarded regional requests, as explained this morning the Minister for Territory, Santi Vila, who has confirmed this morning there was another earthquake of 4.2 on the Richter scale.
Meanwhile, the president of the council of Castellón, Javier Molinero, has announced that the provincial corporation take legal action "against former ministers responsible for the processing and adjudication of granting Castor underground storage project in the event that there is evidence of negligence in the process carried out by the Government of Spain between 2008 and 2010. " Miller has aimed at Narbonne Cristina, Elena Espinosa, Miguel Sebastian and Joan Clos for their different responsibilities in the project.
The Catalan Minister Santi Vila has held that "the issue is not to laugh, it's serious" after continuous earthquakes that have occurred in the last week, warning that from a intesidad of 4.5 may have direct effects in buildings, with the appearance of cracks. Hence, the Government has contacted the project manager, Escal UGS, to have the certainty that the activity has been stopped. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/spain-suffers-from-hundreds-of.html#08K0CqjhgQyj3DjG.99


text:
Find Your Perfect Home.
Three Oaks Real Estate
Three Oaks is located in Michigan. Three Oaks, Michigan has a population of 1,579. Three Oaks is more family-centric than the surrounding county with 28.57% of the households containing married families with children. The county average for households married with children is 27.12%.
The median household income in Three Oaks, Michigan is $39,115. The median household income for the surrounding county is $44,701 compared to the national median of $53,482. The median age of people living in Three Oaks is 36.5 years.
Three Oaks Weather
The average high temperature in July is 83.3 degrees, with an average low temperature in January of 18.7 degrees. The average rainfall is approximately 39.4 inches per year, with inches of snow per year.
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text:
Confessions Of A Jewish Shiksa...Dancing On Hitler's Grave!
It was 1969 inOttawa, Canada. Both my parents were Jewish, but they
raised us Catholic. Yeah, but they weren't very convincing -
BERNIE: Liesel, hurry up! Vus machst du? Ver gonna be late for choich!
LIESEL: Ach Bernie, don't rush me! You're giving me shpilkes!
FRANNIE: They looked and sounded about as Catholic as kreplach! At
Christmas, my father Bernie, who was from Vienna, tried his best to
impersonate Santa Claus right – he ended up sounding more like Sigmund
Freud! Instead of saying "Ho,Ho,Ho Merry Christmas" he'd say "Oy,Oy,Oy
do you have problems!" And my proudly Jewish mother, who was born in
Germany, never wanted to do the Catholic shtick – and so sometimes she'd
get a little passive aggressive about her wishes. Here's a typical family
meal. My father's about to take his very first sip of holiday eggnog;
PAPA: Feh! Liesel vad did you put in the eggnog? It tastes farkukta!
LIESEL: Uch, Bernie it's delicious. Jah. I spiked it with Manischevitz!
FRANNIE: Now next to where my father sits, is my sister Mary.
Mary sneaks food from the table when she doesn't think we're looking, and
hides it in her room. The food she leaves on her plate she makes into artistic
sculpture, just like the pile she's making right now – and she always has a
cold or allergies and she's permanently congested. But Momma gets fed up
with her.
MOMMA: Mary, vat are you doing to my lovely potato latkes?
PAPA: Liesel, potato pancakes! Mary stop playing with your food! Mary!
FRANNIE: But Mary is just staring at the crucifix hanging on the wall.
MARY: Sorry, Papa, but I have a great idea for a
sculpture! Okay, since Jesus would definitely have been
in the desert sun for so long he woulda been sunburned,
to make the sculpture realistic, I'm gonna carve it outta
orange cheddar cheese and sell the statues and raise
money for the church and call them 'Cheeses For Jesus'!
PAPA: Mary no more making sculpture out of food! You have
no idea what it's like to really go hungry, no idea…und speaking of hungry,
Liesel, I am sure you will out-do them at the upcoming Christmas church
bake sale jah, but, - sweetheart may I suggest, make something y'know
Christmas-y to appeal to everyone there. What about those gingerbread
men the gentiles are so crazy about?
MOMMA: Ach vus, Bernie! I vorn you, if you force me to make those,
those goyisha Christmas cookies, my gingerbread men would have to be
PAPA: Liesel, who do you think you are talking like that? Phyllis Diller?
MOMMA: Bernie, the point is, we so need to give the children some of our
traditions. Besides this pretending all the time is too much pressure for me,
Bernie. Yesterday I had coffee with Sister Mary Therese at the convent. But
vell, it vuzn't just coffee! She vanted to know where I vuz from und zen
what my religion was called when I lived in Germany und so on und I
dunno, she gave me shpilkes…I got nervous…
PAPA: Liesel, did you tell her we were Jewish!
MOMMA: Nein, Bernie, nein. Of course not! I told her we were goyem.
PAPA: Liesel!
MOMMA: Vell Bernie, what do you want from me, it's too much pressure!
FRANNIE: Then Mary had a nervous sneezing attack;
MARY: Ahhhh-CHOO!!!
PAPA: Vad did you call me Mary? A - JEW?
MARY: What Papa? No, I just sneezed. I mean, what do you
mean, Papa?
PAPA: Liesel, we have to protect the children.
MOMMA: Bernie, we aren't protecting the children by
crippling ourselves! We were not chosen to turn our backs
on our own people – we were chosen to be good examples!
Y'know nobody is standing over you forcing you to be Catholic like they did
to the Spanish people, you know, during the Inquisition! The 1400's are
over Bernie! It's 1969 people don't care if you're a Jew, or a Catholic or a, a
PAPA: The Catholics! Jah, Liesel. They did indeed elect a Catholic
president. Kennedy. Such a good man. Jah. And then – somebody shot
him…such a good man…und look at Israel, the Homeland, where practically
every day bombs rip arms and legs off the so-called chosen ones! …
MOMMA: My God, if only we'd had Israel to go to. My mother and my
father and your parents, and everybody…might still be alive! No, Bernie, we
can't keep playing this game of make-believe. God is not pleased with us,
and besides, this little charade won't keep us safe. We were not spared the
gas chambers to adopt Hitler's religion!. For gods sake, we are alive! We
should be dancing…we should be dancing on Hitler's grave! I so wish you
had pushed harder to set up a practice in CrownHeights so we could be
closer to my brother. His community has sechel…and besides I like
Americans, they say what they mean! Canadians are…I don't know…just
over-the-top polite. Why do they apologize all the time, Bernie? Yesterday, I
went grocery shopping at the A&P und bumped a woman with my shopping
cart und she apologized to me. I said no, I bumped you first, I apologize.
She said you're right, I'm sorry. I'm telling you Bernie, those Canadians
have too much maple syrup in their tuchases!
BERNIE: Liesel, Canadians may be a little overly polite now and then, but
at least when you say thank you they say your welcome, whereas when you
say thank you to most Americans they don't say your welcome, they say
"No problem!" Vell if it's no problem, then just say "your welcome!"
LIESEL: Jah, well Bernie, manners aren't everything… don't forget, some
of those terribly well-mannered Viennese didn't do us any favors when they
were politely rounding us up!
PAPA: My love, my dear friend Anna wrote me this week. Anna Freud said
it herself. She said, we mustn't allow ourselves to get lost in our dark
dreams. Now please, sweetheart, let's get some sleep.
MOMMA: Ach, Bernie, I'll get enough sleep when I'm dead! Bernie, New
York is a melting pot and could be such a fun place to live…remember, we
used to stay so late at The Carnegie Deli, we'd be the last to leave and then
we'd go out dancing?!
PAPA: Oy vay! Liesel, Liesel, Liesel I have to perform cataract surgery in
the morning, und sweetheart, I don't want to slip up and give my patient a
third eye! Oych Liesel, you bit my lip!
MOMMA: C'mon Bernie, don't ruin the mood. C'mon Bernie, lighten up!
BERNIE: Liesel, it's three o'clock in the morning! Liesel, don't pout! Okay,
look, I do a funny dance too. Oy vay…Liesel! Mm-mm-mm!


text:
I had intended to get us into the Gospel of Luke, but the Lord had other plans, and that's all right. When I went down to the conference in Florida this week, I was asked to speak on the subject of the holiness of God. A great subject, a vast subject. In fact, that subject about God, which I think is the most all encompassing of subjects. And, certainly, the treatment of it needs much more than one message. But that was my assignment, and so it is my privilege this morning to share with you...on the subject of the holiness of God.
This is the defining characteristic of God. This is, in fact, the summation of God's uniqueness. It was theologian A. A. Hodge who said, "The holiness of God is not to be conceived of as one attribute among others. It is rather a general term representing the conception of God's consummate perfection and total glory." When you say that God is holy, you are really defining God in all His fullness. Holiness is God's infinite perfection at every point. It is not just his moral perfection. It is His perfect intelligence, His perfect power, and His perfect everything else that makes Him God. It was Thomas Watson who said, "Holiness is the most sparkling jewel of God's crown. It is the name by which he is known." To say that which is most distinct about God is to say He is holy. In society today, people like to think that God is love. And that is true. But a more comprehensive, all-encompassing description of God is to say that He is holy.
R. L. Dabney said, "Holiness is to be regarded, not as a distinct attribute, but as the sum of all God's moral perfection." And Isaiah 57 in verse 15 says, "For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever...listen...Whose name is Holy." When...when God gets around to naming Himself, that is giving Himself a name which most clearly identifies who He is, the name He chooses is Holy. In other words, to say that God is holy is verbal shorthand for summing up who He is. Holiness encompasses all that is true about God. The Hebrew is kaddash. The Greek, Hagias, hosias. In any case, the meaning is separate or distinct.
To say that God is holy is to say that He is separate from us. That He is distinct from us. That He is other than we are. That He is a Being of a completely different nature than we are. He is incomparable. He is not to be compared with anything created...or anyone created. He is the infinite, perfect God...and He alone is the infinite perfect God, and no one else is. That's why He said, "My glory will I not give to another." Everyone else in the universe is created and of a different nature than God. That's why Exodus 15:11 says, "Who is like You, majestic in holiness?" The answer is, of course, no one. That's why you should worship no other gods. No one is like the true and living God.
First Samuel 2:2 says, "There is no one holy like the Lord. Indeed, there is no one besides You." Psalm 111 says, "Holy is His name." Another way to say that would be separate is His name, distinct is His name. He is utterly other than we are. One way to illustrate that is with the use of the verb to be. God is pure, eternal, unchanging being. That is to say, He has life in Himself. Life is intrinsic to God. He is eternal being, unchanging being. In contrast to that, we are becoming. We once were not, now we are, and we are in process of becoming something different than we are. In fact, I'm different now than I was when the service started, and I'm going in the wrong direction, and we all are. We are becoming. God is being. We change. He does not. We are affected by our fallenness and sin. He is not. His eyes are too pure to approve evil, and He cannot look on wickedness, Habakkuk 1:13 says. Job 34:10 says, "Far be it from God to do wickedness or to do wrong." Leviticus 11 and many other places in Leviticus says, "I, the Lord your God am Holy." First Peter 1:15, "I am Holy." And Revelation 15:4 says, "You alone are Holy." To say that God is holy is to say more than that He is morally perfect. It is to say that He is utterly distinct from us. Now that speaks of His moral perfection, because everything in the created order is stained by sin and, therefore, imperfect...To say that God is holy is to say that He is a being of an utterly different nature than ours. Not just morally perfect, but the perfection of all His attributes. There are many more statements regarding God's holiness in Scripture, and there are many, many revelations of God's holiness. In fact, every time God reveals Himself, it is a declaration of His holiness...every time. Everything that ever comes from God reflects His perfection. He is the...the Father of Light, in Whom there is no variableness, no shadow of turning, nothing ever changes. And from Him comes down every good and perfect gift. Everything that comes out of God is perfect. Everything that is a revelation of God, a disclosure of God, a manifestation of God, a reflection of God is perfect. Now, God then is completely different than we are, because everything that is a reflection of us is imperfect. He is utterly other than we are. He is a being of an entirely different nature. Both from men and angels. When you study the Bible, you are seeing in every disclosure of God, in every revelation of God, His absolute, utter, consummate perfection. You could see it, for example, in Creation before the Fall. Genesis 1:31 says, "God saw all that He had made at the sixth day, and, behold, it was very...what?...good." Every day during the Creation on the previous days, God said it was good, and He applied it to the specific details of that day's Creation. But when he came to all it, and it was all done, and He saw the whole complex of His Creation of the universe, it was not just good, it was very good. Even man, Ecclesiastes 7:29, it says, "God made man upright." Because God couldn't make anything that wasn't upright. God couldn't make anything that wasn't perfect. God couldn't make anything that wasn't without sin. It is impossible for God to do anything that isn't perfect morally. We even were made in His image, free from evil, free from sin. So we could study God's holiness by looking at the Creation before the corruption of that Creation in the Fall. Or we could look at God's law. That's another way to see God's holiness. Another way to see God's perfection. Not in the physical universe, which He created in perfection, but in the...moral law which He gave. When you look at God's holy law, God's moral law, you see the reflection of His perfect purity. In Psalm 19, it says, "The law of the Lord is perfect." James 1:25 talks about the perfect law. And Romans 7:12, the Apostle Paul said, "The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good." Of course, because it came from God. It is the law of the Lord. It is the commandment of the Lord, the statutes of the Lord, the precepts of the Lord, the fear of the Lord...the Word of the Lord has to be perfect, because the Lord from Whom it comes is perfect. We can, then, study the holiness of God from Creation. We can study the holiness of God from the vantage point of His perfect law. We could also study the holiness of God from the vantage point of His judgment on sin. Therein, you will see the perfection of God. He always has the exactly correct and perfectly moral and righteous response to evil. All His verdicts, all His decisions, all His adjudications, everything that comes out of God in terms of a judgment is a reflection of His perfection. Genesis 18:25 puts it this way: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Every decision, every verdict...is right. Second Timothy 4:8 says, "The Lord, the righteous Judge." We could then go to Scripture and find every place where God made a judgment on sin. And, in each case, we would be seeing the revelation of His absolute and utter holiness. He is so holy, and His reaction against sin is so right and so consummate, that there is no sin ever committed by any person who has ever lived or will ever live in this world that will not be punished by God. It'll either be punished in Christ at the cross, for those who believed; or it'll be punished in hell for those who reject the cross and spend forever there. Every sin will be punished. The holiness of God, the righteous judgment of God demands it.
So you could look at God's perfect holiness through the original Creation and its perfection and the moral glory of Adam and Eve created in God's image. You could look at the holiness of God through the perfection of His revealed law, which is a reflection of that divine moral standard. You could look at the holiness of God through the judgment that He renders on sin, which is a pure reaction to that which violates His holy law. Fourthly, you could look at the holiness of God from the vantage point of heavenly glory. And we get a little bit of glimpse into that. Turn in your Bible to Revelation chapter 4 for a moment. If we wanna see how holy God is, how utterly distinct from us He is, here is a vision that John receives in Revelation 4 verse 2. He was in the Spirit. This is to say the Holy Spirit is now providing for him a heavenly vision, and he sees the throne of God standing in Heaven, One sitting on the throne. And he begins to describe this majesty, this glory. "He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance." He...he sees God and...and there is shining, blazing glory coming out of God. And there's "a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. And around the throne are 24 thrones, on those thrones, 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments, golden crowns on their head," who represent the redeemed. "Then out of the throne, flashes of lightning, sounds, and peals of thunder. Seven lamps of fire burning before the throne represent the sevenfold holy Spirits," seven elements of the Spirit of ministry listed in Isaiah 11. "And in front of the throne is a sea of glasslike crystal." There's a crystal sea in the front in order to reflect, like multiple prisms, all this blazing glorious light and all its colors, and splatter it all over the endless universe.
"In the center and around the throne, the four living creatures"...who are described here represent some very special angels. And down in verse 8, it says, "Day and night...at the end of the verse...all these beings in Heaven do not cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty." And they are affirming in this trihagion, this repetition of the word holy, the consummate character of God. He's never said to be loved, loved, loved, goodness, goodness, goodness, mercy, mercy, mercy, grace, grace, grace. When speaking of the consummate nature of God, He is holy, holy, holy. There in Heaven is a glimpse of the holiness of God. Admittedly, it is somewhat hard for us to grasp. It is somewhat transcendent. It is beyond our comprehension, as it was even beyond John's. But there are other such vision of God in His glory in Heaven. This one very similar to the one in Ezekiel chapter 1. So we could learn of God's holiness at the point of His Creation, at the point of His law, at the point of His judgment on sin, or even ascend into the glory of His holy Heaven and see there the wonder of His distinctiveness, His unlike us character. And there are many other aspects of Scripture which demonstrate to us the holiness of God...but I wanna take you to one other one. None of those is as powerful, in my mind, or as extensive in Scripture as this next one.
I have chosen a feature of God's revelation. The most magnificent manifestation of the holiness of God that we have. And one of the reasons that it is so profoundly clear and so able to be understood is because it happens in our world. It happened visibly, and it happened extensively over a lengthy period of time. And it is nothing other than the incarnation...the incarnation. The revelation of God's holiness is most clear and most powerful in the incarnation. God the Son came into the world of sin and sinners. And in Him was manifest the holiness of God in the most graphic, the most dramatic way, the most visible way, the most understandable way. Not a vision, but the unveiled Christ. Not glory hidden, but glory disclosed. In John chapter 1, John says in verse 18, "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." Jesus is the best explanation of God. He's the best explanation of God. Hebrews chapter 1 and verses 1 to 3, "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son...and listen to this...And He...the Son, verse 3...is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature." Jesus is the precise representation of the nature of God. And, if that which defines God most totally is His holiness, then that will be mostly visible in Jesus Christ. So we look at Christ and we see God in His holiness. And where, at what point? At all points. When you see Jesus, you experience the holiness of God in its clearest manner, in its most discernable manifestation. You could go to His birth. You could study His birth. As you know, I am immersed in the Gospel of Luke and loving it. And so much of what goes on in the book of Luke speaks to this issue. Let me show you some illustrations. Go back to Luke 1. When the angel from God, Gabriel, was sent to Nazareth to speak to Mary, he announced to her that she would bear the Son of God. And in verse 35, "The angel says to Mary...Luke 1...The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Offspring shall be called the Son of God." You're gonna have a baby like none other. Very different than what David said in Psalm 51:5 in referring to his own birth. He said...and even to his own conception, "In sin did my mother conceive me." "You're going to be touched, as it were, by the Holy Spirit, and out from you is coming a holy Offspring, a separate Offspring, a being of a completely distinct nature. One who is different, another kind of being altogether. You're going to have a...a Son who will be the Eternal God in flesh." This is a being of a completely different nature. You could also see the holy uniqueness of Jesus, not only in His birth, but if you went to Luke chapter 3 and looked at His baptism. And you remember, after the 30 years of basically silence, finally there is a divine comment made on Jesus after He is 30 years of age, and He goes down to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. And in Luke 3, "Heaven is opened...in verse 21...and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of Heaven, 'Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased." Now God has a high standard. Would you agree? God says, "Be Ye...what?...holy, for I am holy. Be Ye holy as Your Father in Heaven is holy." God's standard is never lowered. His standard is absolute holy perfection. After 30 years of life, the Father says of the Son He is absolute holy perfection. This is another kind of being. This is a completely different kind of being than we are. This is Someone who is essential being. This is Someone who has life in Himself. We are simply those who possess life because it was given to us extrinsically, and we have also the problem of sin, and we are becoming, and what we are becoming is worse and worse and worse and worse, unless rescued by redemptive grace and somehow transformed. We'll continue to get worse and worse forever in hell. We are becoming. God is pure being, and so is Christ. And so, after 30 years, the commentary of the Father on His life is perfection. Perfection. We can't get baptized, Acts 238 says, unless we confess our sins, right? Unless we repent. Not so for Him. So we could look at divine commentary on His birth and know that He is holy. We could look at divine commentary on His life and know that he is holy. We could also look at divine commentary on His death. What does 1 Peter 1 tell us? "You are not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." Hum. You were redeemed by a sinless Savior.
Second Corinthians 5:21 says, "He made Him who knew no sin, sin for us." First Peter 3:18 says, "It was the just One dying for the unjust." And in the marvelous statement in the 9th chapter of Hebrews in verse 14, it says, "He was offered or offered Himself without blemish to God." So at His birth, He is declared to be holy. At His baptism, with a commentary on the 30 years of His life, He is declared to be holy. Three years later, as He comes to the cross, He is again declared to be holy. There is no other commentary on His life, other than the fact that he is absolutely holy. He is absolutely sinless. He is morally perfect, and that is, of course, true because of His nature. He is a completely different being than we are. He was what medieval theologians called "non posse pecare," not able to sin. Not posse non pecare, that's able not to sin. It wasn't that He was just able not to sin. He was not able to sin. Couldn't sin. He's a being of a different nature. Utterly different nature. All this exposure to the worst...the worst...tried to kill Him when He's a Child. He lives in...the wretchedness of...of this world and Nazareth for 30 years. Then He begins His ministry, and He's constantly exposed to the worst of man. And, finally, exposed to the death of those who hated Him. In the end...He was in all points tempted like as we are yet what? Without sin. Couldn't sin. Couldn't sin. It was Augustine who once commented that he liked the sign of the fish as an emblem of Christianity and as a description of Christ. The word for fish in Greek is ichthos. And if you take those words and stand 'em on end like in an acrostic, each of those letters becoming the first letter of another word, it's Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior. And so that little acrostic took the word ichthos and they made a sign of the fish, and that's how they identified each other. Augustine said this about the sign of the fish, "It is a suitable sign for Christ, because He was able to live without sin in the abyss of this mortality, as in the depths of waters." He saw Christ as like a fish immersed into a foreign environment. That environment being this fallen world. Turn in your Bible for a minute to John chapter 8...John chapter 8, and there are a couple of statements made here that lead us to a further understanding of the moral perfection and absolute distinctiveness of Christ. There is no one like Him. There is no possibility of anyone being truly like Him. Though we will be somewhat like Him in eternity future. We will never possess the divine nature. That belongs to God and God alone. But in the 8th chapter of John in verse 23, Jesus says something that's so clear. He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world." He's talking about being here. He's talking about nature here. I am a different kind of being. Down in verse 46, He asks this question, "Which one of you convicts Me of sin?" Name one. Boy, did they want to. They'd been looking, indefatigably looking, "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? You can't find one, because there never can be one." In the 14th chapter of John and the 30th verse, He says, "I will not speak much more with you...for the ruler of the world is coming...Satan's coming. Listen to this...But...where it says and, it's better to say but...but he has nothing in Me." There's nothing in Me that he can indict Me for. What is Satan? He's the accuser of the brethren. He's the one who wants to go before the throne of God and accuse, like he did with Job. "He has nothing on me. There is nothing in Me that he can point to. Let him come. Let him come with all the full fury of the forces of hell. Let him make his maximum effort on Me. He has no ability to cause Me to distrust My Father. No ability for Me to waiver, to think an evil thought, to do an evil deed, to disobey in any regard. I do not have the capacity to do that. He has nothing in Me. I am of a different nature."
What was the difference? Turn to Mark 7, and here is another passage, Mark 7:18. Well, we'll go back to verse 15 so we can catch the beginning principle. Jesus is saying you need to listen to Me and understand this principle. In verse 15, here's the principle. "There's nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man." See, the problem with people is inside. Right? We understand that, don't we? There's something inside of us that has arms. And it just reaches out and grabs sin and pulls it in. Verse 18, now He's gonna explain that. "Are you so lacking in understanding also? You don't get it? Don't you understand that whatever goes into the man from outside can't defile him. It just...just goes through like food and is eliminated? It never gets into his heart." I mean, you know, they were into all these different dietary laws and all this, and holiness was related to what you eat. He says, "You don't get it. It's not about that. It's not about keeping a kosher diet. The problem is not what you eat. The problem is what you are." It is, in verse 20, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. It's from within, out of the heart of men...universally, by the way...that proceed evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murders, adulteries, deed of coveting, wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, price, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." The problem is there's something inside of us that reaches out and just draws in all the evil that's around us. Those are called lusts. Those are called appetites. That's the difference between us and God. He doesn't have those. He doesn't have those. That's why Satan has nothing in him to make Him sin. There's no attraction Satan could come up with. There's no accusation that Satan can bring against Him. No one can accuse Him of any sin. There's isn't any capacity there for that. He is a being of an utterly different nature...And the greatest proof of this, beloved, I really believe is not how holiness holds up in Heaven. It's not how holiness holds up in a perfect Creation. It's not how holiness holds up when it's writing a perfect law or from Heaven rendering a perfect judgment or in Heaven reflecting its glory. The greatest test of holiness is how it does in a wretched, filthy, vile, corrupt, and sinful world. Right? I mean, let's face it, that's...that's...that's true in our case. You know, the test of your holiness is not here today...It's when you leave here and go somewhere else where people are openly sinning. And the deeper and more frequently you sink into those environments, the more you will see your corruption revealed. And that's why Scripture warns us to stay out of those places. I mean it's...it's everywhere, but a few suggestions might be Psalm 1, "Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers." Don't walk with people who are sinful. Don't stand around with people who are sinful. And don't sit down with them. Why? Because they're gonna influence you. You can go to the book of Proverbs and over and over and over, "Stay away from immoral people. Stay away from angry people. Stay away from greedy people. Stay away from lazy people." Why? Because they influence you...in sinful way. "And if you have a man...1 Corinthians chapter 5 says...in your congregation who is sinful, you better get that man out of your congregation, because a little bit of leaven...does what?...leavens the whole lump." You better get that guy out of the church or he'll permeate your church. Church discipline protects the church. You gotta put those sinful people out, because they'll drag the whole church down into sin. Why? Because we have faculties inside of us that, when we find those kinds of sins, those evil things around us, there's something in us that wants to reach out and pull them in. Well, the simple principle is 1 Corinthians 15:33. You can't forget this. "Bad company corrupts good...what?...morals." So what do we do? We spend our whole life worried about the kind of company we keep. Is that not true? We say to our kid, "I don't want you playing with that kid. It's a bad kid." Don't we say that? "Stay away from that part of town. I don't want you going down...you have your own car now. Don't you dare be down there. Don't go to this movie. Don't watch this. Don't read this. Don't do." Why? Because we understand that we have inside of us a problem of corruption that reaches out when it finds that kinda stuff and just pulls it in. We live our whole life in a very difficult dilemma. I mean we're responsible to go and rescue people out of the world, and we can't get too close, or we're gonna have problems ourselves. Jude 23, very clear is a warning. Listen to what it says. "Have mercy on some with fear. Hating even the garment polluted by the flesh." Wow. You know, when you go to rescue somebody, when you go to evangelize somebody, when you go to pull somebody out of sin, do it with fear, because you could get your own clothes dirty getting that close to their iniquity. It's really true. And so we have all these warnings. And then we look at Jesus, and what did He do? He didn't come into the world and become a monk and go in a cave and contemplate His navel so He could survive. He didn't avoid crowds. He didn't avoid people. He didn't hang around with all the religious people, the godly of the age, in order that He might protect Himself, lest some horrible, horrible corruption come upon Him from the outside. He didn't isolate Himself from sinners to protect His purity. He did the very opposite. Absolutely the opposite. He spent His time with the worst people, and He didn't hand 'em tracts or give 'em a quick Gospel message. He went to their parties.
Turn in your Bible to Luke 5, and let's go back to a couple of illustrations of this in Luke. This is striking. Luke 5:27 is the calling of Levi or Matthew. He's known by both names. And Jesus is going out and notices a tax gatherer. They were all over the place. Now, they...they sat at crossroads, and they levied taxes on everybody. And they levied exorbitant taxes, basically, there was corruption, to put it mildly, and it was an extortion process. If you were a tax collector like Levi, he was what was called a little Mocus. He was a smalltime guy sitting at a crossroads. He was the hated, loathed, despised guy that the people saw every day who extorted money out of them. They were surrounded, of course, by thugs and thieves and strong-arm guys who, if you didn't pay, would come and beat you up, break your legs or whatever. It was the mafia operation. And they all worked their little crossroads under some big Gabai, they were called. Some big guy who had a Roman tax franchise. So they'd sold their soul to Rome, who was a idolatrous invader and a occupier of the land of Israel. They would all be kicked out of the synagogue for that. They were considered the lowest of the low on the totem pole. They were hated and despised and loathed, and not only because of what they did with regard to Rome, but because they were thieves and extortioners, and because they were surrounded by thugs and all the wretched of society to get what they wanted out of people.
This would be the last guy on the planet you think Jesus would want to take as an apostle. And what benefit would there be in hanging around this guy? But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me. He left everything behind, rose, and began to follow Him." And then this. And Levi gave a big party, a big party celebrating he was now a follower of Jesus. And, of course, if he's gonna have a party, he's gonna call his...his friends. So it says there was a great crowd of tax collectors and others. Who are they? Kind of people that hang around the scum, the riffraff, the lowlifes. At the end of verse 30, they're called sinners, immoral people. Now that's the kind of party you probably wouldn't wanna go to. Probably the kind of party you wouldn't wanna go to. And it's not a short party. It says they were reclining at the table. It's really a banquet. It's hours and hours, and you recline. You sit there, you know, and you eat a little bit and drop the grapes and drink a little bit and you eat and it's an evening. Can you imagine what the conversation was like for the holy Son of God? Can you imagine what they're talking about? What would they be talking about? Talking about life as a prostitute. Life as a thug, a thief, an extortioner. And He's reclining with them. "And the Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, 'Why do you eat and drink with the tax gatherers and the sinners?'" I mean they knew they couldn't do that and survive. They knew what kind of mechanism they had inside if they got into that kind of environment. "And Jesus answered them and said...essentially...'It's not about what they do to Me. It's about what I can do for them. It's not those who are well who need a physician, those who are sick. I haven't come to call the righteous like you, the self-righteous...he says that sarcastically...but sinners to repentance. They're just the kind of people I'm trying to reach. I'm not concerned about what they might do to Me. I'm there because of what I know I can do for them." He was absolutely impenetrable, because He's a being of a different kind. By the way, that wasn't the only time he did it. He did it all the time. He hung around with these people most of the time. Matthew 11:19, this was the commentary on Jesus. "Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard." Why would they say that? Did they ever see Him gluttonous? Did they ever see Him drunk? Of course not. They said that because He was always hanging around those kinds of people. He was, that same verse says, "A friend of tax collectors and sinners." Now what did tax collectors and sinners do when they got together? They got drunk, and they were gluttonous. He goes to their gluttonous, drunken parties. They knew they couldn't go there and survive in any kind of a superficial spirituality. They tried to keep their distance from those kind of people, and I think that's wise. I don't know if I was invited to a party of prostitutes, thugs, criminals, and other assorted sinners, whether I'd wanna go spend the whole evening listening to them talk. I don't care what I had to say.
Turn to Luke 7, and here's another amazing story in verse 36. He's now meeting with different kinds of sinners. These are the hypocrites. Goes into a Pharisee's house and again reclines for a whole prolonged meal and conversation. And verse 37 says, "And, behold, there was a woman in the city who was immoral." This is a woman in the city. The...the language here indicates well-known. This is a prostitute...an immoral woman in the city...and, by the way, very successful, because she carried around alabaster bottles of perfume. This was a part of the tools of her trade, like back in Proverbs where it talks about perfuming the dead, part of the seduction the prostitute does. This is a prostitute. "But she had learned that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house." Now people could come and kinda look in the porticoes and look through the openings to see and hear the conversation. But it wouldn't have been appropriate at all for a prostitute to go into a Pharisee's house. It would have defiled it. But she did. Verse 38, she stands behind Jesus, at His feet. He's reclining here. The table's here. He's here. His feet are over here. Head's at this end, and all of a sudden, this prostitute comes right up to His feet. "She begins to wet His feet with her tears." Luther called that heart water, Martin Luther. She doesn't have any water, so she starts weeping on His feet. "Then she starts wiping His feet with the hair of her head. And then she starts kissing His feet. And then she breaks the neck of the alabaster bottle and starts pouring it on His feet." I mean the Pharisee is absolutely incredulous. She says if this man was a prophet he would...he'd know who she was. Everybody knows who she was. He's a prophet, and he doesn't know who she is? And he says, "She's touching Him. She's too touchy."
Oooh, well, the Pharisee knows he...he knows what kind of reaction he'd have prostitute started doing that to him. She's a sinner. And what was Jesus' reaction? He was utterly unaffected by her sin and, in fact, down in verse 48, He said to her, "Your sins have been forgiven." It wasn't about what she could do to Him. It was only about what He could do for her. And verse 50, He said, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
See, there was nothing in Him to sin. There's no capacity there. And how better to see that, not in Heaven, but on earth. How better to see that with Jesus among the...the worst, the scum, the lowlifes, the wretched, the sinners, the base. He was calm, absolutely untroubled, and, rather than be led to sin by sinners, He led sinners into holiness. And the verdict on His life comes in Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7 gives the verdict, when all is said and done, verse 26, "Jesus, our high priest...Hebrews 7:26...is holy...innocent...undefiled." All that contact with sinners, all that contact with Satan in His temptation, all that contact with demons which He confronted all the time, and He is holy, innocent, undefiled. Why? Because He is separate from sinners and exalted above the heavens. He is a being of a different nature. Now, I wanna give you one more glimpse of how different He is. Turn to Isaiah 6. Isaiah 6. Isaiah has a vision here in chapter 6 and verse 1, and I wanna...I want you to see the vision. "I saw the Lord, in the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty, exalted, with the train of His robe, the kind glory coming off of Him filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two covering his face in reverence, with two covering his feet in humility, with two hovering, ready to go and serve. And they cry antiphonally back and forth, 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts." Hum, this is an incredible vision. God appearing in shape like a man, sitting with a robe, blazing glory, and declared holy, holy, holy. And then Isaiah responds, you remember, and in the vision of God, he sees himself as sinful, and he says he...in verse 5...that he has unclean lips and his people have unclean lips. And then in verse 6, seraphim flies and with a burning coal from off the altar. Touches his mouth and it symbolizes the fact that his iniquity is taken away and his sin is forgiven. He appears here penitent, broken over his sin, and in response to his penitence and his faith, he's cleansed. And then the Lord says, "Okay, I'm gonna send you, and you should go, and you should warn the people of judgment, and tell them to turn and repent." But He says this, verse 9, "Go tell this people: 'Keep on listening; do not perceive. Keep on looking; do not understand. Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, their eyes dim, lest they see with their eyes here, with their ears understand, with their hearts and return and be healed." From the throne comes the voice that says, "Okay, you're cleansed. You wanna go. I send you. Go preach. Go tell this people. But know this: they will listen but not perceive. They will look but not understand. Their hearts will be insensitive. Their ears will be dull. Their eyes will be dim. They won't see. They won't hear. They won't understand. They won't return. They won't be healed."
Of course, Isaiah says, "How long should I do that?...and He says..."Do it till there's nobody left to do it to." Why would I do that? Well, verse 13 tells you why. Because there's a tenth. There's a stump. There's a holy seed. That's the remnant. That's the doctrine of the aremneth, the elect. "There are some who are Mine, that I've chosen. They will believe. They will believe." There you have that amazing scene, the Lord on the throne, Isaiah cleansed, commissioned, and warned that they're gonna hear and not believe. See and not understand. Now, turn to John 12, and I'll show you an amazing text, and we'll close with this. John 12 verse 36. "While you have the Light, believe in the Light, in order that you may become sons of Light." Jesus is saying, "While I'm here, believe." And then verse 36 says, "These things Jesus spoke, and He departed and hid Himself from them." They had their opportunity. They didn't accept it, and He hid Himself. Verse 37, "Though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. In order that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, 'Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" From the Messianic 53rd chapter, "For this cause, because they would not believe, then they could not believe, for Isaiah said...and here he goes right back to Isaiah 6...He has blinded their eyes, hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, perceive with their heart, and be converted, and I heal them."
Then look at verse 41. "These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him." Who's that? Jesus Christ. Who was sitting on the throne in Isaiah 6? Jesus was. And Jonathan Edwards was right when he said, "God only appears in human shape in the Son." You see, then, the glory of Christ revealed in this world in the Gospels. And there's an Old Testament glimpse behind the flesh of Jesus, of the blazing, shining, majestic, exalted, holy character of the One on the throne who is none other than the Jesus they rejected. When Isaiah saw the One on the throne, he saw a Cristophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son. It is that same glorious, holy, holy, holy One who took on human flesh and lived in holy perfection here. And that holy One became the substitute who took our sins and died in our place.
Father, we thank You for the revelation of Your great holiness in Your glorious Son. It is just marvelous to think that, though He was holy, He took Your wrath for us, that we who are not holy might receive eternal life. There is only one person who has ever lived who did not deserve Your wrath, and He took it for us. What an amazing gift of grace. We know You are holy, and we are not. We thank You that You have provided for our sin to be removed by punishing Your holy Son in our place. We can only stumble to express our gratitude. For this gift, Amen.
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011
hewwo??? anybody out there???
16 comments:
- Honey the Great Dane said...
hello! We are still here! And we haven't forgotten you! I'm so sorry to hear that your human has been feeling sickie – I am sending lots of healing Slobbers, and hope that she feels better soon!
We will be keeping you in our thoughts –
Honey the Great Dane (and her human, Hsin-Yi)
- October 26, 2011 at 8:10 PM
- Two French Bulldogs said...
that sounds like a cool game
Benny & Lily
- October 26, 2011 at 10:53 PM
- Kari in Vegas said...
We missed you!!!!!!!!!!
Stop on by for a visit
- October 26, 2011 at 11:38 PM
- scotsmad said...
We hope your Mum feels better. Maybe you'd better go give her some slobbery kisses to make her feel better.
Chasing leaves is great fun!
XXXOOO Daisy, Kendra & Bella
- October 27, 2011 at 3:29 AM
- Gus said...
We haven't forgotten you either! We are sorry to hear about the sickies at your house, and hope your Mom stays well and blogs lots.
gussie n teka
- October 27, 2011 at 7:54 AM
- Cinnamon said...
Get well soon.
Big wet kisses and lots of tail wags.
♥ Cinnamon
- October 27, 2011 at 10:57 AM
- Pauley, the Mr. or the Mrs. said...
Bobo, we are so very glad to hear from you! We are sorry that your mama has been sick. I bet if you & Meja give her tons & tons of doggie kisses, she will feel all better :) Oh & chase some leaves for me; ours are all wet!
your pal
Pauley James
- October 27, 2011 at 12:24 PM
- Miley said...
Sounds like a fun game! Sorry to hear your human hasn't been feeling well, make sure you give them lots of snuggles!
Your newest followers,
Miley and Maggie
- October 27, 2011 at 6:29 PM
- PetMOZ said...
Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are getting better :)
- October 27, 2011 at 11:38 PM
- Mango said...
Thanks for the post. Methinks some doggie complains too much. Feel better.
- October 29, 2011 at 6:20 AM
- Daisy Dog said...
Good to hear from you. Stay well, you are always in ourprayers.
- October 31, 2011 at 1:47 PM
- Raising Addie said...
Howdy Friends!!
Glad your mom is home. We hope she is having a good day :)
Please give her lots of snuggles and kisses from us!
Lots of Luv & Kisses
Addie, Lucie and Hailey
- November 2, 2011 at 8:49 PM
- Minnie and Mack said...
Howdy Meja! My name is Mack and I'm a pug. I have your name for Jazzi's gift exchange. Can't wait for the fun to begin. I don't have any doggie friends as big as you so please let me know what you like and what colors you like, too! Here's hu-mom's email address so you can send an email with your mailing address for the package: kathy (dot) cooper @ gmail (dot) com!
Come visit our blog sometime and can't wait to hear from you.
Drools and licks,
Mack the pug (and Minnie)
- November 6, 2011 at 6:26 AM
- Jazzi said...
I need you to e-mail me about the christms exchange
- November 7, 2011 at 4:08 PM
- Sam said...
Welcome back!
- November 9, 2011 at 1:43 PM
- Bobby said...
Hi, We see you peeping at us, you do not look starving to us, we bet there is still a lard butt in the house.
We do hope you mum is feeling much better and all is going well.
Licks Bobby
- November 13, 2011 at 10:25 AM


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Lady Yangban has here own blog. It is not the most active blog out there (like I can talk on that subject) but does offer a Korean perspective on life in North Carolina.
It is in Korea, but is picture-heavy so even those would can't read Korean will find something to like.


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The failure to win tougher background checks for gun purchases or other new firearms regulations are the "biggest frustration" of his term in office, President Obama said, as he decried school shootings that are "becoming the norm" in ways that "as a parent, are terrifying to me."
Answering questions on the social media site Tumblr, Obama said that gun violence in America is "off the charts" and that "we should be ashamed" of its prevalence.
He also brushed aside the argument made by some opponents of new gun regulations that mental illness, not guns, lies at the root of recent shootings.
"The United States does not have a monopoly on crazy people," Obama said. Yet "we're the only developed country" that suffers repeated mass shootings. "There's no place else like this."
Obama made his remarks after a period of just over two weeks in which the country has witnessed several high-profile mass shootings.
On May 23, a gunman killed himself and six others in Isla Vista, Calif., near UC Santa Barbara, four by shooting. On Sunday, two police officers, a third person and the two shooters were killed in Las Vegas. Shootings in recent days have taken the lives of students in Seattle and near Portland, Ore., and more than 30 shootings on school campuses have taken place this year, according to groups that track news reports.
Other leading Democrats have similarly raised the gun control issue in recent days.
"It's very few days go by that we don't have these killings," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Tuesday.
"The man in Las Vegas, clearly from what I've been able to read, was a felon. He couldn't have bought a gun if we had background checks," Reid said.
But Obama, whose effort to tighten gun regulations failed last year after the shootings in December 2012 in Newtown, Conn., held out little hope of change on the issue.
"If public opinion does not demand change in Congress, it will not change," he said, criticizing candidates and lawmakers who are "terrified of the NRA."
Although he has ordered some tightening of regulations using his executive authority, "we don't have enough tools right now to make as big a dent as we need to," he said.
"My biggest frustration so far is that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps" to curb gun violence, he said.


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Diddy Debuts Family Photo for the Holidays
While Christmas is a time for gift giving, don't forget that it's about the importance of being with family during the holidays as well. Diddy knows this. The Revolt TV honcho proudly showed off his beautiful family of six on Instagram today (Dec. 19) in a holiday-themed photo.
As you can see in the image, the Combs men all look debonair in black tuxedos, while the young Combs women are dressed in lovely black gowns.
From left to right, siblings Chance, Christian, Diddy, Justin, the adorable twin daughters D'Lila and Jessie, and finally, Combs' stepson Quincy are pictured.
There's no question that the hip-hop mogul is proud of his children and we couldn't be more happy for him.
The caption on the photo says it all -- Happy Holidays! Love, The Combs Family.


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WhatsApp Blog
One of the most frequent requests we've heard from small business owners is they want to use the WhatsApp Business app on the device of their choice.
Now they can.
Today we're introducing the WhatsApp Business app for iOS. Like the Android version — which over the last year has been adopted by millions of businesses around the world — the WhatsApp Business app for iOS will be free to download from the Apple App Store and will include features to help small businesses and customers communicate. These include:
- Business Profile: Share useful information about your business such as a business description, email or store addresses, and website.
- Messaging Tools: Respond to customers easily with efficient messaging tools — quick replies to provide fast answers to frequently asked questions, greeting messages to introduce customers to your business and away messages to let them know when to expect a reply.
- WhatsApp Web: Chat from your desktop to manage conversations and send files to customers.
The WhatsApp Business app is available today and free to download from the App Store in Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, India, Mexico, the U.K. and the U.S. The app will be rolling out around the world in the coming weeks.
Whether it's an online sweet shop in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil that closes 60 percent of its sales via WhatsApp Business or a cinnamon roll company in Tijuana, Mexico that credits WhatsApp Business for allowing it to open a second location, small business owners all over the world are using the app to grow. We're excited to bring the WhatsApp Business app to even more small businesses and hear new stories about how it's helping them succeed.
WhatsApp groups continue to connect family, friends, coworkers, classmates and more. As people turn to groups for important conversations, users have asked for more control over their experience. Today, we're introducing a new privacy setting and invite system to help you decide who can add you to groups.
To enable it, go to Settings in your app, then tap Account > Privacy > Groups and select one of three options: "Nobody", "My Contacts", or "Everyone". "Nobody" means you'll have to approve joining every group to which you're invited, and "My Contacts" means only users you have in your address book can add you to groups.
In those cases, the person adding you to a group will be prompted to send a private invite through an individual chat, giving you the choice of joining the group. You'll have three days to accept the invite before it expires.
With these new features, users will have more control over the group messages they receive. These new privacy settings will begin rolling out to some users starting today and will be available worldwide in the coming weeks to those using the latest version of WhatsApp.
It's been 10 years since we started WhatsApp! Over the past decade, we've heard from people across the globe who are using WhatsApp to stay in touch with their loved ones, connect with their communities, and build businesses. These stories continue to inspire us, and to celebrate this milestone, we're looking back at some of our biggest moments over the years.
We're excited to continue building features that make WhatsApp even more simple and reliable for everyone. Thank you to all of our users around the world for coming with us on this journey!
At WhatsApp, we care deeply about private messaging, and today we're excited to introduce Touch ID and Face ID on iPhone to help prevent someone from taking your phone and reading your messages.
To enable the iPhone feature in WhatsApp, tap Settings > Account > Privacy > Screen Lock and turn on Touch ID or Face ID. You have the option to select the amount of time before Touch ID or Face ID is prompted after WhatsApp is closed.
This feature is available on iPhone 5s or later and on iOS 9 and above starting today.
In January of last year we launched the WhatsApp Business app, and now there are more than five million businesses using it to support customers, grow their businesses and serve their communities all over the world. We're excited that we've helped millions of businesses grow. For example, in India, Bengaluru-based eyewear brand Glassic has told us that 30 percent of its new sales are generated through WhatsApp Business.
To help celebrate the first year of WhatsApp Business, we're announcing that some of our most popular features can now be used on WhatsApp web and desktop. These features include:
- Quick Replies: These are frequent messages to answer common questions. Simply press the "/" on your keyboard to select a quick reply and send.
- Labels: Organize your contacts or chats with labels, so you can easily find them again.
- Chat List Filtering: Easily manage your chats with filters to sort by unread messages, groups or broadcast lists.
Using these features on a computer helps businesses save time and get back to their customers quickly. We're excited to keep growing WhatsApp Business and introducing new features that make it easy for customers to find and engage with businesses that are important to them.
From emoji and camera features to Status and animated GIFs, we're always looking to add new features that make communicating with friends and family on WhatsApp easy and fun. Today, we're excited to introduce a new way for people to express themselves with stickers.
Whether with a smiling teacup or a crying broken heart, stickers help you share your feelings in a way that you can't always express with words. To start, we're launching sticker packs created by our designers at WhatsApp and a selection of stickers from other artists.
We've also added support for third-party sticker packs to allow designers and developers around the world to create stickers for WhatsApp. To do this, we've included a set of APIs and interfaces that allow you to build sticker apps that add stickers to WhatsApp on Android or iOS. You can publish your sticker app like any other app to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, and users who download and install your app will be able to start sending those stickers right from within WhatsApp. You can learn more about creating your own sticker apps for WhatsApp here.
To use stickers in a chat, simply tap the new sticker button and select the sticker you want to share. You can add new sticker packs by tapping the plus icon.
Stickers will be available for Android and iPhone over the coming weeks. We hope you enjoy them!
For the first time, WhatsApp will be available for JioPhone across India. WhatsApp built a new version of its private messaging app for JioPhone, running the KaiOS operating system, to give people a simple, reliable, and secure way to communicate with friends and family.
The new app offers the best of WhatsApp including fast and reliable messaging and the ability to send photos and videos — all end-to-end encrypted. It's also easy to record and send voice messages with just couple taps on the keypad. To get started, JioPhone users only need to verify their phone number and then they can begin chatting with other WhatsApp users one-on-one or in groups.
WhatsApp is available in the JioPhone AppStore starting today. You can download WhatsApp on both the JioPhone and the JioPhone 2 by visiting the AppStore and clicking Download.
As we announced last year, WhatsApp is building new tools to help people and businesses communicate with each other. Since we launched the WhatsApp Business app people have told us that it's quicker and easier to chat with a business than making a call or sending an e-mail. Today we are expanding our support for businesses that need more powerful tools to communicate with their customers.
Here's how people can connect with a business:
- Request helpful information: When you need a shipping confirmation or boarding pass, you can give your mobile number to a business on their website, on their app, or in their store to send you information on WhatsApp.
- Start a conversation: You may see a click-to-chat button on a website or Facebook ad to quickly message a business.
- Get support: Some businesses may provide real-time support on WhatsApp to answer questions about their products or help you resolve an issue.
With this approach, you will continue to have full control over the messages you receive. Businesses will pay to send certain messages so they are selective and your chats don't get cluttered. In addition, messages will remain end-to-end encrypted and you can block any business with the tap of a button.
We will bring more businesses onto WhatsApp over a period of time. To do so, we will work directly with a few hundred businesses and a select number of companies that specialize in managing customer communications.
If you are interested in how a business can start using these new tools, you can learn more here. As always, we will be listening carefully to feedback as we go forward.
Over the last couple years, people have enjoyed making voice and video calls on WhatsApp. In fact, our users spend over 2 billion minutes on calls per day. We're excited to announce that group calls for voice and video are coming to WhatsApp starting today.
You can make a group call with up to four people total - anytime and anywhere. Just start a one-on-one voice or video call and tap the new "add participant" button in the top right corner to add more contacts to the call.
Group calls are always end-to-end encrypted, and we've designed calling to work reliably around the world in different network conditions. The feature is currently rolling out on the iPhone and Android versions of our app.
We built WhatsApp as a private messaging app - a simple, secure, and reliable way to communicate with friends and family. And as we've added new features, we've been careful to try and keep that feeling of intimacy, which people say they love.
A few years back we added a feature to WhatsApp that lets you forward a message to multiple chats at once.
Today, we're launching a test to limit forwarding that will apply to everyone using WhatsApp. In India - where people forward more messages, photos, and videos than any other country in the world - we'll also test a lower limit of 5 chats at once and we'll remove the quick forward button next to media messages.
We believe that these changes - which we'll continue to evaluate - will help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app.
We are deeply committed to your safety and privacy which is why WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, and we'll continue to improve our app with features like this one. For more information, please visit our WhatsApp Safety Tips page.
UPDATE: WhatsApp carefully evaluated this test and listened to user feedback over a six-month period. The forward limit significantly reduced forwarded messages around the world. Starting today, all users on the latest versions of WhatsApp can now forward to only five chats at once, which will help keep WhatsApp focused on private messaging with close contacts. We'll continue to listen to user feedback about their experience, and over time, look for new ways of addressing viral content.
Last Updated: January 21, 2019


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Ostend and the coast
The Baedeker of 1900 distinguished OSTEND as "one of the most fashionable and cosmopolitan watering places in Europe". The gloss may be gone today, and the aristocratic visitors have certainly moved on to more exotic climes, but Ostend remains a likeable, liveable seaport with a clutch of first-rate seafood restaurants, a string of earthy bars, an enjoyable art museum and – easily the most popular of the lot – a long slice of sandy beach.
Ostend also marks the midway point of the Belgian coast, which stretches for some 70km from Knokke-Heist in the east to De Panne in the west. A superb sandy beach extends along almost all of the coast, but the dunes that once backed onto it have largely disappeared beneath an ugly covering of apartment blocks and bungalow settlements, a veritable carpet of concrete that obscures the landscape and depresses the soul. There are, however, one or two breaks in the aesthetic gloom, principally De Haan, a charming little seaside resort with easy access to a slender slice of pristine coastline; the substantial remains of Atlantikwall built by the Germans to repel the Allies in World War II; and the outstanding Paul Delvaux Museum in St-Idesbald.
There's precious little left of medieval Ostend, and today's town centre, which fans out from beside the train station, is a largely modern affair, whose narrow, straight streets are lined by clunky postwar apartment blocks and a scattering of older – and much more appealing – stone mansions. In front of the train station, the first specific sight is the Amandine, a local deep-sea fishing boat of unremarkable modern design that was decommissioned in 1995 – and then parked here, its interior turned into a museum with displays on fishing, nautical dioramas and so forth. Straight ahead from the boat rises the whopping St-Petrus en Pauluskerk, a church that looks old but in fact dates from the early twentieth century. Behind it, the last remnant of its predecessor is a massive sixteenth-century brick tower with a canopied, distinctly morbid shrine of the Crucifixion at its base. Nearby, pedestrianized Kapellestraat, the principal shopping street, leads north into the main square, Wapenplein, a pleasant open space that zeroes in on an old-fashioned bandstand. The south side of the square is dominated by the former Feest-en Kultuurpaleis (Festival and Culture Hall), an imposing 1950s building that has recently been turned into a shopping centre.
Exploring the seashore by public transport could not be easier: a fast, frequent and efficient tram service – the Kusttram – runs from one end of the coast to the other. If you're UK-bound, note that Transeuropa operates ferries from Ostend to Ramsgate, while Zeebrugge is linked to Hull by P&O Ferries and with Rosyth by Norfolkline ferries.
Brief history
The old fishing village of Ostend was given a town charter in the thirteenth century, in recognition of its growing importance as a port for trade across the Channel. Flanked by an empty expanse of sand dune, it remained the only important coastal settlement hereabouts until the construction of Zeebrugge six centuries later – the dunes were always an inadequate protection against the sea and precious few people chose to live along the coast until a chain of massive sea walls was completed in the nineteenth century. Like so many other towns in the Spanish Netherlands, Ostend was attacked and besieged time and again, winning the admiration of Protestant Europe in resisting the Spaniards during a desperate siege that lasted from 1601 to 1604. Later, convinced of the wholesome qualities of sea air and determined to impress other European rulers with their sophistication, Belgium's first kings, Léopold I and II, turned Ostend into a chichi resort, demolishing the town walls and dotting the outskirts with prestigious buildings and parks. Several of these have survived, but others were destroyed during World War II, when the town's docks made it a prime bombing target. Subsequently, Ostend resumed its role as a major cross-channel port until the completion of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 undermined its position. Since then, Ostend has had to reinvent itself, emphasizing its charms as a seaside resort and centre of culture. There's a long way to go, perhaps – and parts of the centre remain resolutely miserable – but there's no denying that Ostend is on the up.
It is perhaps hard to imagine today, but for generations of Brits Ostend had a particular resonance as their first continental port of call. It also played a key role in World War II when, with the German armies closing in, thousands made a desperate dash to catch a boat to the UK; one of the escapees was the young Ralph Miliband, the father of the Labour politicians Ed and David. Another temporary resident was Marvin Gaye, who hunkered down here in 1981 until family and musical ties pulled him back to the US the year after – and just two years before he was killed by his father in bizarre circumstances in Los Angeles.
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Knuckle Down
It's less than a month until I move house and working super hard and saving every penny has been the main thing to worry about. It's worth worrying about too since a couple of unexpected setbacks have meant I've needed to drop some other plans and work even more than I expected. The recession bites! Must bite back...
The prize though will be worth it. A good place to live for Claire and I, and my own personal domestic dream of having space for a training board in my house for the first time. Good motivation to work hard.
The great thing about working is that there is also plenty of time for uninterrupted spells of training after work. The ratio of elbow rehab:training time is lurching gradually in favour of training, and as is normal for coming out of an injury I feel pretty good and strong.
Between showers (week long ones) I caught the Glen's boulders dry and returned to the roof sloper project on the Heather Hat. I finally managed to stick the second sloper after a million tries last winter. A good feeling to have made irrefutable strength gains. This for me is one of the feelings from training – new possibilities, where before it was the same old impossibilities.
So it's another month of hard work, hard training and putting in the hours for payback later. Such is the way with creating good stuff – the long slog in the middle between starting out and the end is the hard, but crucial bit.
Some stuff happening right now:
I've been writing a series of introductory articles for the Mountaineering Council of Scotland's site and magazine on improving at climbing. They are focused very much on concepts that apply to everyone from beginners at climbing to those who have been climbing for years. The articles are here with more to come in the next few months.
On Tuesday (March 3rd)I am in Leeds giving a lecture on risk, climbing and Echo Wall. I'm giving this lecture again on March 8th in Aberdeen as well as a talk on improving at climbing. Details and tickets for these here.
Claire has just finished editing the showreel for this year's Fort William Mountain Festival which is a couple of weeks away. It's got the best bits of many of the films showing this year. I'm lecturing there on Thursday March 12th. Check the showreel:


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The 2013 NFL draft is less than a week away so here is my take on the first round and some of the top selections in Round 2.
The 2013 NFL draft is less than a week away so here is my take on the first round and some of the top selections in Round 2.
1. Kansas City Chiefs, Luke Joeckel, Offensive Tackle, Texas A&M
2. Jacksonville Jaguars, Shariff Floyd, Defensive Tackle, Florida
3. Oakland Raiders, Geno Smith, Quarterback, West Virginia
4. Philadelphia Eagles, Eric Fisher, Offensive Tackle, Central Michigan
5. Detroit Lions, Ezekiel Ansah, Defensive End, BYU
6. Cleveland Browns, Dee Milliner, Cornerback, Alabama
7. Arizona Cardinals, Dion Jordan, Outside Linebacker, Oregon
8. Buffalo Bills, Barkevious Mingo, Outside Linebacker, LSU
9. New York Jets, Star Lotulelei, Defensive Tackle, Utah
10. Tennessee Titans, Chance Warmack, Offensive Guard, Alabama
11. San Diego Chargers, Lane Johnson, Offensive Tackle, Oklahoma
12. Miami Dolphins, Xavier Rhodes, Cornerback, Florida State
13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Desmond Trufant, Cornerback, Washington
14. Carolina Panthers, Sheldon Richardson, Defensive Tackle, Missouri
15. New Orleans Saints, Jarvis Jones, Outside Linebacker, Georgia
16. St. Louis Rams, Tavon Austin, Wide Receiver, West Virginia
17. Pittsburgh Steelers, Bjoern Werner, Outside Linebacker/Defensive End, Florida State
18. Dallas Cowboys, Jonathan Cooper, Offensive Guard, North Carolina
19. New York Giants, D.J. Fluker, Offensive Tackle, Alabama
20. Chicago Bears, Sylvester Williams, Defensive Tackle, North Carolina
21. Cincinnati Bengals, Alec Ogletree, Inside Linebacker, Georgia
22. St. Louis Rams (from Redskins), Kenny Vaccaro, Free Safety, Texas
23. Minnesota Vikings, Manti Te'o, Inside Linebacker, Notre Dame
24. Indianapolis Colts, Datone Jones-Defensive Tackle, UCLA
25. Minnesota Vikings (from Seahawks), Cordarrelle Patterson, Wide Receiver, Tennessee
26. Green Bay Packers, Matt Elam, Strong Safety, Florida
27. Houston Texans, Matt Barkley, Quarterback, USC
28. Denver Broncos, D.J. Hayden, Cornerback, Houston
29. New England Patriots, Keenan Allen, Wide Receiver, California
30. Atlanta Falcons, Tyler Eifert, Tight End, Notre Dame
31. San Francisco 49ers, Eric Reid, Free Safety, LSU
32. Baltimore Ravens, Johnthan Banks, Cornerback, Mississippi State
Early Second-Round Projections
33. Jacksonville Jaguars, Robert Woods, Wide Receiver, USC
34. San Francisco 49ers (from Chiefs), Zach Ertz, Tight End, Stanford
35. Philadelphia Eagles, Margus Hunt, Defensive End, SMU
36. Detroit Lions, Jamar Taylor, Cornerback, Boise State
37. Cincinnati Bengals (from Raiders), DeAndre Hopkins, Wide Receiver, Clemson
38. Arizona Cardinals, Eddie Lacy, Running Back, Alabama
39. New York Jets, E.J. Manuel, Quarterback, Florida State
40. Tennessee Titans, Justin Hunter, Wide Receiver, Tennessee
41. Buffalo Bills, Ryan Nassib, Quarterback, Syracuse
42. Miami Dolphins, Arthur Brown, Outside Linebacker, Kansas State
NFL analyst Mike Detillier is based in Raceland.


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Voters support pot legalization, split on same-sex marriage
A month after voters in Colorado and Washington voted to legalize the use of recreational marijuana, a new poll from Quinnipiac University shows a majority of Americans support the legalization of pot, signaling potential support for similar ballot measures nationwide.
According to the poll, conducted between November 28 - December 3 among 1,949 registered voters, 51 percent of voters support the legalization of pot for recreational purposes, while 44 percent oppose it. Men were more likely to favor legalization than women, who oppose it 52 percent to 44 percent. Voters 18 to 29 years old support legalization overwhelmingly, 69-29 percent.
"With the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes legal in about 20 states, and Washington and Colorado voting this November to legalize the drug for recreational use, American voters seem to have a more favorable opinion about this once-dreaded drug," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "There are large differences on this question among the American people."
Voters were more divided on the question of same-sex marriage, which also had success at the polls on Election Day. According to the poll, voters favor same-sex marriage by just two points -- 48 percent to 46 percent -- which is within the poll's margin of error. But the survey shows evidence of rapid change on how people feel about the issue. In 2008, a Quinnipiac poll showed that men opposed same-sex marriage 61 to 31 percent; currently, they oppose it 50 to 43 percent. Women, who opposed same-sex marriage 51 to 40 percent in 2008, now back same-sex marriage 52 to 42 percent.
"It seems pretty clear that attitudes toward same-sex marriage in American society are changing rapidly. While the country remains split on the issue, supporters have come pretty far in the last four years," said Brown. "Since voters 18 to 29 years old support same-sex marriage 63 - 35 percent, once again we see it's just a matter of time."
CBS News polls from last week yielded similar results on legalizing both pot and same-sex marriage: Those surveys showed a slim majority - 51 percent - in support of same-sex marriage, while as many voters said marijuana use should be legal as think it should not.