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European Commission
Press release
Brussels, 20 November 2012
State aid: Commission clears support scheme for next generation broadband networks in Bavaria, Germany
The European Commission has approved under EU state aid rules a €2 billion support scheme aimed at promoting the development of next generation access (NGA) broadband networks in currently underserved areas of the German region of Bavaria. The Commission found the scheme to be in line with EU state aid rules, in particular because it ensures that support is granted only in areas where no commercial NGA network rollout is foreseen in the near future. This will avoid the crowding out of private investments.
Commission Vice-President Joaquín Almunia, in charge of competition policy, said: "The Bavarian broadband support scheme contributes to the objectives of the EU Digital Agenda while limiting distortions of competition by supporting only networks that are open to all operators on a non-discriminatory basis. This should enable healthy competition on the subsidised networks, allowing local businesses and users to benefit from significantly enhanced broadband services at competitive prices".
In June 2012, Germany notified plans for supporting an NGA broadband scheme providing for download speeds of at least 50 Mbps in commercial and accumulation areas of Bavaria.
The Commission found the scheme to be in line with its guidelines on state aid for broadband (see IP/09/1332 and MEMO/09/396). In particular, no support may be granted in areas where a commercial NGA network roll-out is foreseen in the near future. Moreover, the scheme has a high degree of transparency, as all key information on projects will be systematically posted on a central website. This should allow stakeholders to be continuously informed on any project under the scheme. Also, the German telecommunications regulator (the Bundesnetzagentur) will be consulted on key aspects of projects, such as wholesale access prices and conditions. This will further contribute to compliance with the competition rules. Finally, Germany will conduct a detailed monitoring of all cases supported under the scheme.
The Digital Agenda is part of the Europe 2020 Strategy, which underlines the importance of broadband deployment to promote social inclusion and competitiveness in the EU. It seeks to ensure that, by 2020, all Europeans have access to internet speeds above 30 Mbps, while at least 50% of European households should subscribe to internet connections above 100 Mbps (see IP/10/581 and MEMO/10/199).
The non-confidential version of the decision will be made available under the case number SA.35000 in the State Aid Register on the DG Competition website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the State Aid Weekly e-News.
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We're going to have a somewhat abbreviated service tonight and get right to sharing in the Lord's Table, but before we do that I do want to turn our thoughts toward the cross. You could open your Bible to the 6thChapter of Galatians. Galatians 6, and there's here the most interesting passage, one that could certainly demand a lot more attention than we're able to give tonight. It comes at the end of the 6thchapter. It's a passage about the cross of Christ. You'll notice in verse 12 at the end of the verse there's the mention of the cross of Christ that is the first mention in the passage. It is then mentioned again in verse 14, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is then a passage about the cross.
It is one of the obvious realities in the Christian faith that our insignia is the cross. You see behind me on the back wall a cross. In Christianity in every form that it takes there is some kind of cross as a symbol. Historically there are dozens of crosses and by the way those crosses are depicted you can tell what part of Christian history the people who used that insignia come from. Distinctive crosses, Greek crosses, Coptic crosses, Roman Catholic crosses, Protestant crosses and crosses of all different nuances. They are commonly worn as jewelry by Christians and even non-Christians. Nobody would argue that the single symbol, insignia of Christianity is the cross, but what is somewhat odd about that is the cross is the instrument of torture and death originally devised by the Persians and picked up by the Romans that some would say is the worse instrument of torture ever concocted by man. I think that most of us have been exposed in our lifetime to some of the ancient instruments of torture and perhaps even some modern methods of torture. Nothing has been devised that is as torturous as the cross. It was the worst form of pain and suffering and ultimately suffocation ever devised.
It was also an instrument of degradation because one was suspended there elevated before everyone naked. It was also a representation of the ultimate shame heaped upon some person because only those who were the worst of criminals were ever found on a cross. Around the time of the dying of Jesus there were, according to some historians, at least 30,000 crucifixions in that part of the world done by the Romans, and when they crucified somebody they did so in public places, usually along highways so that the highways in the land of Israel were literally surrounded by people who were dying or dead hanging on crosses. And yet this instrument of torture has become a symbol of all that is precious to Christianity, not because of the torture but because of what Jesus Christ accomplished in literally in overpowering the intention of the cross and effecting redemption by that cross. The then has become our symbol.
And so, obviously, in the literature of the New Testament the cross finds a prominent place devised by men to do the worst it was used by God to do the best and that is to affect our redemption. Paul speaks so often then of the cross. Here he does so in this passage at the end of Chapter 6 in Galatians in a quite interesting way. I'll read it to you and then we'll just make a few comments.
Starting in verse 11, He says, "See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand." Now this is a curious thing for him to say. Normally when Paul wrote a letter he dictated it and somebody else called an emanuensis, a secretary wrote it down. Paul was not a professional scribe. The New Testament was written in Greek. His native tongue would be Hebrew. Perhaps he was familiar most of all with Hebrew and with Aramaic, although obviously having been educated in Greek culture, he knew Greek. It wasn't his first language or even his second language, and as I said he wasn't a professional scribe and it was pretty much standard operation that someone like the Apostle Paul would dictate and a professional scribe would write down what he dictated.
Scribes wrote in a cursive style, that is, small letters connected. When we talk about cursive we know what we mean if you remember your first years in school. And they wrote in cursive because it was faster and it was smaller, and therefore, they could get more on the page. Those who were the non-professional, those who were perhaps were the non-educated wrote in block letters, which were typically called the unseals, you might remember that word as well.
And Paul is saying here, "I am writing this with my own hand." And as one who is not a professional scribe you can see what large letters, the unseals were large, they were generally an inch in height. And so Paul is not a professional scribe, he is more at home then writing large letters than he is in the art and craft of scribes who wrote small letters in a cursive fashion. He's not making any pretense toward scholarship or pretense toward professionalism, quite the contrary. I am happy is his thought here, I am intentionally writing in this fashion to make a point. And as Paul looked at those large letters, though somewhat untidy letters, if you're English you might use that word, somewhat non-professional look of those letters. He sees in that a parable in the very letters he was writing down.
So in verse 12 he follows it up by saying, "Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh." We'll stop there for a moment. Does he look at those letters he became aware that they became a kind of parable. He really wasn't concerned of how things looked on the outside. He was concerned with the content. It wasn't important to him how good his handwriting was. He was not endeavoring to make some kind of outward display and he sees that as a parable that contrasts the intent of the Judaizers with himself. And he then comments about those who gloried in the flesh.
In verse 12, "Those who desire to make a good show in the flesh." There are those people who are really concerned how things look on the outside. And those are the very people who are compelling you to be circumcised. It's all about the outside. It's all about the physical. It's all about the signs. It's all about the show. And these Judaizers who had joined the church but never left Judaism, they were trying to bridge both worlds, joining the church to whatever degree believing in Christ, but never letting go of their old patterns and habits, and ceremonies and rituals and externals. They then tried to impose all of them on the church. They demanded that believers in Christ be circumcised, that they keep all the laws of Moses, and all the rituals and ceremonies, traditions. It was all about the outside.
Why did they do that? Verse 12 tells you why. Because they didn't want to be persecuted for the cross of Christ. They did not want to be persecuted. You see the cross was a severe offense to the Jews. And the Jews reaction to a Messiah dying on a cross was very negative and so they began to persecute the church.
One of the early persecutors was a man named Saul. Remember that? He was a persecutor of the church before his conversion. He was going all over the place with official papers from the authorities of Judaism literally putting Christians in prison, if not killing them because they were so offended by a Messiah being crucified by, first of all rejected by them and then crucified by the Romans. These Judaizers, to some degree, acknowledged the Messiahship of Jesus, made some commitment to him, but were fearful of letting go of their Judaism because they were afraid they would be persecuted. They joined the church but held on to the system of works righteousness to keep from being persecuted, to remain in good standing with the Jewish community.
Then in verse 13 he takes it a bit further, "Those who are circumcised, these Judaizers, do not even keep the law themselves. They can't keep the law they say you need to keep, but they desire to have you circumcise that they may boast in your flesh." So first of all they held on to their Judaism in order to prevent themselves from being persecuted, to find some sort of middle ground that made it hard for the Jews to persecute them and to unsynagogue and ostracize them.
Secondly, they compelled believers to be circumcised and to follow the law, the ordinances, the ceremonies of the Mosaic law in order that they might boast about their converts. What a strange position they were in. On the one hand they're affirming Christ, joining the church, on the other hand they're affirming Judaism so that they won't be persecuted, but on the other hand, not only would they not be persecuted but that the Jews might view them as having actually brought people from Christianity into Judiaism. This was a strange middle ground that they had managed to create for themselves.
So they were self-righteous, hypocrites, because he says they couldn't keep the law anyway, their fear of persecution, their spiritual pride caused them to sort of stand in the middle. They were hypocrites, they were self-righteous, they were a sham of believers in Jesus Christ because they were not willing to leave the old to embrace the new.
Paul addresses that in verse 13. He says some people may do that. Some people may be caught up in the show, caught up in their appearance, caught up in their external religion, caught up in the machinery of ceremony and worship. Some people may be trying to look good so they don't get persecuted, to look like they're actually bringing people into Jewish ness, make a show so they'll be accepted, not persecuted, in fact so they'll be applauded. There's a strange mixture here for the sake of self-preservation, spiritual pride that Paul rejects. "May it never be."
Paul is saying I really don't care what it looks like. You can see the large untidy straggly letters, which I write in my own hand. I don't care about that and that's a parable about how I feel about the outside. I'm not interested in external circumcision. I'm not interested in external legal ceremony. I'm not interested in forms. What I'm interesting in is boasting in verse 14, in one thing, he said, "May it never be," magennoitau, the strongest negative in the Greek language. "May it never be that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
I will never boast in circumcision, I will never boast in my attention to the externals, I will never boast in how many proselytes I may have brought into conformity to Mosaic law, I will boast only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That was everything for Paul as it is for us, and that's why the cross has become the symbol of Christian faith.
You never see anybody, or at least it's a very rare occasion when you see somebody who is a Christian and has hanging around their neck the Ten Commandments or a dead lamb or an altar of sacrifice or anything that's part of the old system. Paul says, "Through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. What world is he talking about? He's talking about the religious world. The system, the cosmos, the old system has been crucified. What does it mean to be crucified? It's dead. It's a total disconnect. I don't care about the show anymore. I don't care about the outside. I don't care about the flesh. I don't care about circumcision. I don't care about ceremony and all of those legal matters about diet, etc. etc. that were a part of Judaism. The cross killed all that. It is dead to me and I am dead to it. We have absolutely no connection.
So verse 15, circumcision isn't anything and un-circumcision isn't anything. Doesn't matter. What matters is a new creation. And those who will walk by this principle of new creation, which is internal, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. The Israel of God are the true Jews, the Jews who dropped the old and embraced the new.
So Paul says I'm going to boast and I'm going to glory but only in one thing and it's not going to be my external forms. It's not going to be my religious activities. It's not going to be my ceremonies. It's going to be the cross and at the cross I died completely to the old system. It is dead to me and I am dead to it. That is to say there is no connection, there is no response, there is no stimulus.
The cross is everything. Absolutely everything. The cross has changed me radically. The cross has made me a new creation. The cross has brought to me peace and mercy and made me a member of the Israel of God, the true Jew. Now all Israel is Israel Paul said elsewhere, but I am a member of the true Israel of God. The cross has brought me salvation. That's indicated in the words peace and mercy and also in that identification with the Israel of God.
So Paul establishes here the centrality of the cross as over against any other external forms of religion. In fact, when you come to the cross and you embrace the cross you then become dead to all external religion, all ceremony. All rights and rituals are done away, even those that were once prescribed to the Jews of the Old Testament. And that is why the cross is at the heart of our Christian faith. At the cross we die to sin, we die to religious systems and we live to God and to Christ.
And so it's little wonder that Jesus inaugurated the feast of remembrance by which we could look to the cross and that is this table. The bread represents his body given for us, and the blood is represented by the cup, being shed for us, as he poured out his life a sacrifice for sin. And in his death he provided the salvation that made us a new creation, therefore, circumcision, non-circumcision become meaningless, as does all ceremony. And it's not a matter of show, it's not a matter of the outside, it's what the cross has done on the inside in creating a new creature changing the heart. That's what concerned Paul.
So he says I boast, I glory in the cross because through the cross I have died for all that and I have been born again to a new creation. I am changed on the inside. The outside isn't the issue. If you're going to boast, don't boast about the show, boast about the new creation wrought by the cross. And so as we come tonight to the Lord's Table, we with Paul rejoice in the cross.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


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What the hell not? At this point if they bring in all 3 egos, one of them will bust his ass to outshine the other 2 head cases and catch some balls.
This team needs a spark and needs it now.
We're not so desperate. Yet.
Bring Derrick Mason out of retirement
Agree, the proverbial sh!tt against the wall, all are broke or soon to be and need the $$$$ so perhaps someone will have their last stand as a player
This would be hilarious.
Heard Patrick Turner out there too
That would certainly sell tickets.
Because 31 other teams also didn't want them, some with worse WR talent than us?
/shrug, I'd take Chad Johnson for league minimum and 1 year with a "cut at no cost to Jets" clause if he spoke even a single word to a single emdia person or through twitter, et al.
Other than that, no thanks.
By the way, if Woody WAS what all the hater-Jets-Fans claim he is, he would absolutely sign all three. TO, Chad and Plax as the #1, #2 and #3 WR with Tebow as the #1 QB would get so much media attention, it's blow up ESPN HQ.
So if Woody is what fans say, whay HAVN'T we signed a few of these guys?
Gawd..Are we going to have these threads everyday...
It's October 3rd and they are all on the street...Why guys? 32 NFL teams don't want their overrated talent at this point and their baggage...
We need a QB and a RB way more. How about a thread on McNabb, Brian Hoyer, or Chad Pennington. Or Tiki, Portis, or Ricky Williams.
We should sign all three and become a complete freak show.


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People fanned out across Craven County in the chilly, morning hours Saturday carrying orange bags, looking for litter.
People fanned out across Craven County in the chilly, morning hours Saturday carrying orange bags, looking for litter.
All morning long, people on their own or representing clubs including the Civitans and Master Gardeners went to Lawson Creek Park to sign in and pick up their trash bags as part of Craven County Clean Sweep.
Sue Blair and her husband Bob got their bags and started out to hunt for litter on Airport Road.
�Sometimes it blows off of garbage trucks or people just throw it out,� she said.
The Blairs, who are Master Gardeners, said they have participated in Craven County Clean Sweep for several years because the unsightly litter along the highways and waterways looks terrible, they said.
�We want people to come here and enjoy our town,� Sue Blair said. �When they see litter on the side of the road it cuts down on business.�
Bob Blair said that last year, when he was picking up litter along the shoulders of Airport Road, he found about 100 miniature liquor bottles. His wife said they are always finding plastic bottles and bags from fast food outlets.
�We also did Airport Road in October and the next day it looked like it did the day before we cleaned it,� he said.
�It�s sad,� his wife added.
Tom Glasgow, the Craven County agriculture extension director who was in charge of the clean sweep effort, said there needs to be more education about the problem of littering. In the past, volunteers have found a wide variety of debris, including sofas, televisions and tires that can be taken to the county landfill instead of illegally dumping them in the national forest, he said.
�We don�t see any improvement with people who litter,� Glasgow said. �It�s a steady stream.�
In October, volunteers collected about 70 bags of litter, he said.
Craven County Clean Sweep is held three times a year and it has been ongoing for more than 15 years.
Eddie Fitzgerald can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @staffwriter3.


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Playa, the shuttered Beverly Boulevard restaurant where chef John Sedlar riffed on modern Latin cuisine, is being replaced by Petty Cash Taqueria. Restaurateur Bill Chait has teamed with chef Walter Manzke, who is collaborating with Guillermo Campos Moreno of Tacos Kokopelli in Baja, known for its stylized tacos. Petty Cash is expected to open in the next few weeks.
Though the front windows are still papered over, the interior has been outfitted with picnic tables and benches and high tables with bar stools, one wall entirely covered by a mural of L.A. artist Retna's hieroglyphic alphabet (which translates into a message from Nelson Mandela and local philanthropist Aileen Getty). Another artist will paint the restaurant's facade.
"It's street food meets street art," says Chait, who adds that Retna will paint a wall of the rooftop garden, still tended by Sedlar and whose vegetables are being incorporated by Manzke into a menu of what he calls "party food."
On the menu at Petty Cash are tacos such as "The Kraken," a Kokopelli signature with grilled octopus, charred chile de arbol and peanuts; Cook's Ranch pork carnitas; charcoal-roasted portobello mushroom with asparagus, Jack cheese and pipian; carne asade; and Baja fish tacos with beer-battered wild striped bass. (Off the menu is a taco of cotija cheese, crickets and the herb hoja santa.)
Ceviches include a pork ceviche (yes, raw pork) made with the loin of the Cook's Ranch pigs that are being used for the carnitas. "They are excellent pigs," Manzke says.
For the mix-and-match seafood cocktail aguachile en molcajete, options includes sea urchin, Santa Barbara spot prawns, octopus, Gulf prawns, Kumamoto oysters, littleneck clams and kanpachi.
And Manzke's pig ear nachos make their appearance: crispy-fried strips of pig ears, chips, crema poblana and 63-degree egg.
Julian Cox is responsible for the cocktails, such as the Banana Hammock with rum, banana infusion, lime, tamaraind and cassia, and Bill Esparza of StreetGourmetLA has helped curate the list of tequilas, mezcals and sotols, including a 14-gallon bottle of sotol made with La Valentina agave from Durango that sits atop the bar. He might even pull something special out, such as a hand-painted bottle of mezcal purchased at a flea market in Mexico City.
7360 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, www.pettycashtaqueria.com.


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Google Glass users see potential for business, travel and even grocery shopping
Google Glass might pass as a regular pair of glasses, if not for the small screen over the user's right eye.
But for Chad Smith, a developer at Sullivan Higdon & Sink, it's become almost second nature – even if it is a little awkward to wear in public.
Smith is one of about 8,000 people nationwide who were allowed to buy a pair of the glasses for about $1,500. The exclusivity factor can make it more appealing to consumers, Smith said of Google's limited release of the glasses.
Google Glass allows users to post on social media, take and share photos and video, send text and video messages – and for some developers, the bounds are endless. Google is allowing those who bought the product and develop applications for it as they discover new uses.
For instance, Smith recently created an app for Glass that heralds back to the days of faxing; he can take a picture and send it to a fax machine.
He's also created a few other apps that help him in his work, including checking Web traffic and even his personal banking.
When you first turn it on, a screen displays "ok glass." The user can speak commands for what to do and can scroll through menus by sliding a finger across the frame of the device or simply moving their head up and down.
Smith isn't sure is it will ever become completely mainstream, and may just be used by those who are more tech-savvy and open to it.
"I don't necessarily see your parents or grandparents using it," he said.
Preventing driver fatigue
Another Wichitan with Glass is Jibo He, a native of China. He has spent years studying driver fatigue and now is using Glass in an attempt to save lives.
He is an assistant psychology professor at Wichita State who used to work for State Farm Insurance as a driver safety researcher where he developed technology, including smart phone apps, to detect driver fatigue. He can also program in 10 computer languages.
When He first heard about Glass, he knew he had to get it. His Glass app, aptly named "Fatigue Sensing," was recently finished, and he hopes it will be released in the near future.
Insurance companies are especially interested in detecting and preventing driver fatigue, He said.
"They need to assess how risky the driver is ... even if they don't get any revenue out of Google Glass, by making people drive safer, they will pay less money," He said. "If a driver dies, they can pay up to $100,000. With thousands of deaths a year, that's millions in potential savings."
He is currently studying whether Glass is safe to use while driving. The United Kingdom is currently considering whether it should ban Glass while driving and He wants to be able to provide research to help governments make more informed decisions.
"Google designed this product in a hope to reduce distraction," he said. "But currently there is no data on whether Google Glass makes driving safer or worse. I'm currently researching how Google Glass influences people's driving performance. A lot of drivers, researchers, governments and lawyers are interested in whether it's safe."
He also hopes to make an app for Glass that serves as a training device for new drivers on whether they're driving at an appropriate speed or scanning their environment.
Whether Glass takes off with the general public will depend on how the company prices it and how much effort it devotes to the product, He said.
Google was recently awarded a patent for its"Pay-per-gaze" technology, which is a system that will charge advertisers whenever the user was detected looking at an advertisement on the screen.
"With this technology, I think Google is trying to develop another core technology for its business," He said. "I think it will bring a lot of opportunities in the industries of health, insurance, automobiles and aerospace."
Geolocation services
For Coty Smith – no relation to Chad Smith – Google Glass has the ability to connect people even more to their environment.
"What if I were able to go to a restaurant and see not only which of my friends are here or have been here and the latest reviews from Yelp and for it to appear passively on the Glass display and not have to do a lot of interaction on my phone?" he said.
So far, Smith said he hasn't developed any apps for his Glass, and he's planning on relocating to Ireland soon. But he plans to continue to look into geolocation development – or the ability for a device to recognize where you are and show custom information based on your location – after he moves.
Smith, who works for LogMeIn as a service engineer, said he's always been a proponent for wearable technology and integrating it into everyday life.
"It's not meant to distract (the user) from real life. It's meant to enhance it, so we'll continue to adopt those types of paradigms," he said.
When he's traveling or wearing the device in public, Smith said he's often stopped by people who recognize it.
"I've probably been stopped by more than 300 people since mid-June," he said.
Networked technology will also become more popular and is already being developed, Smith said.
"We're going to see people use smartwatches and headsets and having that interact with the rest of their Internet-connected devices – the TV, computer, microwave, refrigerator. You'll walk by your fridge, and it will tell you that you haven't grocery shopped in the last two weeks and here's the the list you made and display it on your Glass."


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We are the UK market leader in safe isolation testing, with our range of voltage indicators and proving units, such as the VI13800 & PD440.
We also manufacture high quality PAT testers, multimeters, clamp meters, electrical testers and environmental test equipment.
Martindale produces John Drummond test lamps and Metrohm® earth testers, milliohmmeters and safety insulation testers.


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August 16, 2013
Michelle Moyer
Stories this photo appears in:
Six Run for RCC Board
Six candidates seek three openings on Reston Community Center Governing Board.
Six candidates are currently running for three seats on the Reston Community Center's Governing Board. A preference poll is currently being conducted through the first week in October.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.


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After yesterday's release of playable console demos for DRIVER San Francisco, we sent an inquiry to Ubisoft to see if a Windows and/or Mac demo is planned, and learned the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are the only platforms getting an advance sample of this driving action game. Along the way we did receive a concrete release date for the game, which was previously revealed to be in September and later reported to be August 30 for North America. We're told the Windows version's release date in North America (which is listed as September 6 on every retail listing we can find) is being pushed back a few weeks to September 27th, and that while an OS X edition is still planned, its release date is now TBD.
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Mark Heizer recalls one Saturday in November when he set out to destroy 11 trees on his property at the behest of the city Public Works Department.
DURHAM, NC Mark Heizer recalls one Saturday in November when he set out to destroy 11 trees on his property at the behest of the city Public Works Department.
"As soon as I cranked that chain saw up, it got cloudy," he remembers.
Today, a collection of stumps with more rings than Heizer can count frames a gleaming sidewalk that goes nowhere in front of Bizzy Bee's Garden, the South Durham day-care that Heizer built. The Realtor with a preservationist streak says he's pained just thinking about the tree limbs rotting behind his Chapel Hill barn.
While developers around town are busy planting saplings to satisfy city zoning officials and neighbors wanting a green shield, Heizer is holding a 200-foot piece of sidewalk hostage, refusing to deed it over to the city until he can get someone to explain why the trees that blocked the power lines across the street had to come down.
Public Works Director Katie Kalb offered this answer: Trees are a major liability in the public right of way. Better them fall now than fall on someone later.
But Heizer, who lives on 10 acres with llamas and sheep, said he never would have renovated his Watkins Road day-care if someone had given him a heads-up that trees can't line a public sidewalk. According to his timeline, it wasn't until November the final week of construction that inspectors told him to clear the area for a sidewalk. Heizer said his approved site plan showed only four trees with the potential to be uprooted. He tried unsuccessfully to work with inspectors to curve the sidewalk around them, he said.
To strike a compromise, Kalb said, Heizer needed to consult with an urban forester to certify the health of the trees. But he was in a rush to open, she said.
The department makes an exception in older, tree-lined neighborhoods such as Trinity Park, Kalb said, where sidewalks zigzag around tree roots. Similarly, utility poles sometimes trump sidewalk construction.
Durham City-County Appearance Commission member George Stanziale said one of the commission's principal tasks is to encourage more trees along street curbs, which could become part of an overall land-use strategy for the county. Stanziale, an architect, worked on The Streets at Southpoint mall and recalled spending $10,000 to move 30 elms less than a foot out of the right of way.
Another appearance commission member, Mike Waldroup, who built Patterson Place shopping center off U.S. 15-501, said he thought the classic tree-lined street encouraged motorists to slow down.
City policy is "driven by this simple-minded notion that if it ain't grass on city property, it is a liability," Waldroup said.
One month after he hacked the trees down, Heizer said, he was told by a city inspector that he jumped the gun. Inspector Thad Talisman told Heizer in December that he had won a variance after the situation was reported to a City Council member, who, in turn, informed the city manager, Heizer said. Kalb said Friday there is no such thing as a tree variance. Talisman did not return phone calls.
Heizer, meanwhile, has hired a lawyer and planted an extra Christmas tree to assuage the guilt.
To see more of The News & Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsobserver.com. (c) 2005, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.


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The recently concluded Ward Faulkenberry Memorial Christmas Basket fund provided assistance for many local families who have fallen on tough times.
In its last report, HOPE in Lancaster had received $8,700 in donations, which goes toward food for Lancaster County families in need.
The nonprofit organization manages the drive, which has just wrapped up its 53rd year.
HOPE staff decided to extend the donation period this time until mid-January. In years past, it concluded at the end of December.
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Thursday, January 07, 2016
Marc Lawrence NFL Wildcard Upsets
HOUSTON over KC by 4
This year's playoffs mark the 19th consecutive year at least four new teams will be joining the festivities, with Houston and Kansas City representing two of the four new kids on the block. The Texans managed to hold six foes to season-low yards this year, including four of the last seven games. Bill Barnwell of ESPN notes that Houston turned the ball over 10 times in its first five games, but since going back to QB Brian Hoyer for good as the starter in Week 6, the Texans have just 10 giveaways in their concluding 11 games. And Hoyer is the key as he is 4-1 SU and 5-0 ATS in this NFL career in games versus opponents off back-to-back wins. The Chiefs enter riding a season-best 10-game win skein despite outyarding foes by only 11 YPG during the streak. Couple KC's 2-8 SU and 0-10 ATS mark in its last ten Wild Card round games, along with head coach Andy Reid's rotten 2-9 SU and 3-8 ATS effort in his playoff career versus an opponent off back-to-back wins – including 0-5 ATS
as a favorite – and suddenly the points become the play with this better offensive and defensive home dog.
It appears the Bengals will be relying on AJ to A.J. in this division rivalry rematch with the condition of starting QB Andy Dalton's injured thumb still up in the air (cast came off Monday – check status reports). That's not good news considering Cincinnati has yet to eclipse 295 total yards in any of McCarron's three starts. Rest assured there is no love lost between these two Ohio River rivals. Not only did Dalton suffered his thumb injury against Pittsburgh in their last meeting, a 33-20 win here by the Steelers, the game was so ugly that nearly $120K in fi nes were levied against the players. Good news for the Steel Curtain is its 7-3 SU and 8-2 ATS record in the last 10 non-Super Bowl postseason games, and also a 7-1 SU and 6-2 ATS in playoff games versus division opponents
since 1989. Put alongside the Bengals' recent postseason failures (0-6 SUATS last six playoff games), it practically looks like a closed case for the Pittsburghers. We're not buying it, though. At least not until the redheaded rifle's status is confirmed… and certainly not with playoff home dogs standing 9-3-1 ATS in games in which they own the better record.
Marc Lawrence can also be found at Playbook.com - One Click Handicapping


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Story highlights
- Fathers can feel powerless when their wife or partner is pregnant
- While she's doing the heavy lifting, an expectant dad's tasks are limited
- One area where soon-to-be fathers can help: Food runs
- Josh Levs says satisfying his wife's odd cravings is the least he can do
What's the strangest thing you've ever asked for at a restaurant?
It was probably nowhere near as strange as the kinds of things I've been requesting all the time lately. And so have countless other dads like me.
We're part of a legion called the HPWs: the Husbands of Pregnant Wives.
"Do you have anything with peppermint?" I asked the sweet young man at an ice cream shop, while holding my cell phone to my ear, taking instructions from my wife who was in bed at home. "And cherries? Peppermint and cherries? But no other flavors. Just peppermint and cherry -- definitely nothing else."
"Um, no, sir," he answered demurely.
Then there's the call to the specialty food store near our home.
"Hi -- real quick -- do you have anything with apples in it? Something sweet with apples? Something sweet that's warm with apples or that you can warm up? It has to be warm. And sweet. And apples."
"We have a blueberry tart."
"Do you have an apple one?"
"No sir."
Those are relatively tame examples. Once we called around town because my wife suddenly "needed" mozzarella sticks, which I'd never seen her eat in all our years together. But not just any mozzarella sticks. We asked the workers unlucky enough to answer the phone at several restaurants to describe the approximate dimensions, quantity, and level of "friedness" of said mozzarella sticks.
When we miraculously found a pub whose answers sounded appetizing to my wife, we booked over, and I ran -- literally -- to get them while she stayed in the car, double-parked, having a nice chat with a police officer who saw her protruding belly and spared us a ticket.
It's always a hurry when my wife thinks of something she'll actually eat these days, since even the thought of most food makes her sick, and her whims can change on a dime. If we wait too long, she becomes disgusted by the very thing she craved.
One night I went driving to pick up chili, which I've never seen her order, from a restaurant we hadn't been to for months. Another night she had to have fish tacos, from a specific location of a local chain. Not the one near us.
Sometimes I've had to drive to the supermarket to order a particular sub sandwich, even though we had the same ingredients at home. The thought of the sub I'd prepare for her made her sick; the one from the deli counter at the same store where we bought the ingredients, however, was manna.
Don't get me wrong -- this isn't whining. I enjoy it. Given what our wives go through to bring life into the world, the guys I know are happy to do anything we can to help. (And after what I saw when my son was born into my arms in an emergency, my gratitude for all women who go through that is beyond anything I've ever imagined.) I'd wait in a ridiculously long line for fish tacos every day for months.
Watching our wives go through the physical challenges of pregnancy and knowing we can't relieve it sucks. Want to frustrate a guy? Show him a problem he can't fix. Going on wild goose chases for uber-specific foods counteracts that sense of helplessness. Here's something we can do.
You learn to enjoy it, and see the humor. After working late one night, I came home to find that she had used Zifty to get six potato skins delivered -- for $20.
Meanwhile, when I try to eat totally normal foods, she can't even stand being in the house.
The worst is chicken, which is tough for me because I basically subsist on kosher skinless boneless chicken breasts. If I so much as turn the oven on, her eyes bug out at me. You can almost see smoke coming out of her ears. (Sci fi fans: think Dark Willow from Buffy.)
During my wife's second pregnancy -- she's currently carrying our third child -- she sometimes barricaded herself upstairs in our bedroom and shoved a towel into the crack at the bottom of the doorway, while I cooked downstairs with a fan going, the balcony door open, and two candles burning to try to make a meal for our oldest child and me while not stinking up the house.
So now, I generally give in and eat whatever my wife says she can tolerate being near at that moment. Or do takeout and eat outside in my car. Aha -- another reason guys gain weight during our wives' pregnancies.
For whatever medical reasons, certain foods at certain moments give her the strength she needs. And, just like many other HPWs, I want my wife to have all the strength she can for the incredible work she and her body are undertaking for this child and for our family.
So next time you see an exhausted guy standing in line for takeout while talking or texting on his phone and asking seemingly obscure questions about the food, smile. It just might mean that somewhere, a loving mom and future kid are counting on him to get it right -- and he's doing what a dad's gotta do to pull through.


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The city of Minneapolis may pull a $460,400-per-year fitness contract from Life Time Fitness, Chanhassen, MN, because the health club chain does not offer benefits to its employees' domestic partners. The city council will vote on Friday whether to renew the contract, which expires Wednesday.
The city's 2004 equal benefits ordinance requires that contractors with city contracts valued at more than $100,000 offer their employees with domestic partners benefits equal to those provided to employees who are married. Life Time does not offer benefits to domestic partners of employees, citing the expense, according to a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The city of Minneapolis also does not offer benefits to its employees' domestic partners, but the city's attempt to offer these benefits was struck down in court in 1995.
The contract between Life Time and the city of Minneapolis has been in effect since 2005. It offers Life Time memberships to the city's police officers and firefighters.
Last week, a city council panel forwarded a request for a temporary waiver onto the city's Ways and Means/Budget Committee without a recommendation. On Monday, the Ways and Means/Budget Committee voted 5-1 in favor of the waiver, sending its recommendation onto the full council for a vote. The committee also recommended that the city discuss club memberships for police officers and firefighters during the next round of talks with their respective unions. The memberships are part of the two groups' union contracts.
Despite the committee's recommendation, the city council will have the final say on Friday.


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You get the following error code when you try to sign in to Xbox Live on Xbox 360:
To resolve this problem, try the following solutions.
Solution 1: Delete your Xbox Live profile, clear the system cache and then redownload your profile
Here's how:
You should now be able to sign in using your Xbox Live profile on the console.
Important If you downloaded your profile to another console and you chose Remember Password, you have the option to remotely remove the password so that your profile can't be accessed by someone else on the other console. To learn how, see Manage your sign-in preferences on your Xbox 360 console.
Solution 2: Troubleshoot your network connection
For help with connection issues, see the Xbox 360 Connection Error Solution.
Solution 3: Contact your ISP
For more help, contact your Internet service provider (ISP).
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In autumn 1998, Divine, the first ever Fairtrade chocolate bar aimed at the mass market was launched onto the UK confectionery market. In an exciting new business model, the co-operative of cocoa farmers in Ghana own shares in the company making the chocolate bar. Two farmers' representatives came to London to celebrate at the most Divine launch party in town. Here's how it all happened . . . .
Getting it Together
In the early 1990's, the structural adjustment program involved the liberalization of the cocoa market in Ghana. A number of leading farmers, including a visionary farmer representative on the Ghana Cocoa Board, Nana Frimpong Abrebrese, came to realize that they had the opportunity to organize farmers, to take on the internal marketing function. This would mean that they could set up a company, to sell their own cocoa to the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), the state-owned company that would continue to be the single exporter of Ghana cocoa.
These farmers pooled resources to set up Kuapa Kokoo, a farmers' co-op, which would trade its own cocoa, and thus manage the selling process more efficiently than the government cocoa agents. Kuapa Kokoo - which means good cocoa growers - has a mission to empower farmers in their efforts to gain a dignified livelihood, to increase women's participation in all of Kuapa's activities, and to develop environmentally friendly cultivation of cocoa. The farmers who set up Kuapa Kokoo, were supported by Twin Trading, the fair trade company that puts the coffee into Cafédirect and SNV a Dutch NGO.
Kuapa Kokoo weighs, bags and transports the cocoa to market and carries out all the necessary legal paperwork for its members. Kuapa strives to ensure that all its activities are transparent, accountable and democratic.
It doesn't cheat the farmers by using inaccurate weighing scales, as other buying agents often do, and because it operates so efficiently, it can pass on the savings to its members. After seeing the benefits Kuapa gains for its members, more and more farmers want to join and the association now has upwards of 65,000 members organised in approximately 1400 village societies.
Pa Pa Paa - The Best of the Best
Cocoa from Ghana is of a high quality and trades at a premium on the world market. Kuapa Kokoo's motto is pa pa paa - which means the best of the best in the local Twi language. Kuapa's premium quality cocoa is now sold to chocolate companies around the world.
A Chocolate of One's Own
The cocoa farmers, who were already getting a Fairtrade price from some international customers, voted at their 1997 AGM to invest in a chocolate bar of their own. They decided that rather than aiming for the niche market where most Fairtrade products were placed, they would aim to produce a mainstream chocolate bar to compete with other major brands in UK.
A Brand New Day
Together with Twin, Kuapa helped set up The Day Chocolate Company in 1998, with the enthusiastic support of The Body Shop, Christian Aid and Comic Relief. The company was named in memory of Richard Day, a key member of the team at Twin that had helped Kuapa Kokoo develop its organization.
The UK Department for International Development pulled out all the stops to guarantee Day's business loan, and NatWest offered sympathetic banking facilities.
Simply Divine
Divine Fairtrade milk chocolate, made from Kuapa's best of the best fairly traded cocoa beans was launched in October 1998 and by Christmas 1998, had made it onto the supermarket shelves . . .
A first for Fairtrade
The farmers' ownership stake in The Day Chocolate Company a first in the fair trade world, means that Kuapa Kokoo has a meaningful input into decisions about how Divine is produced and sold. Two representatives from Kuapa Kokoo are Directors on the company's Board, and one out of four Board Meetings every year is held in Ghana. As shareholders, the farmers also receive a share of the profits from the sale of Divine. This innovative company structure was recognized when Divine was awarded Millennium Product status.
Beans mean Business
In a ferociously competitive global chocolate market, being the new bar on the block can be a daunting prospect. But as so many people adore delicious chocolate, the potential for Divine's success is huge. There are hundreds of chocolate brands available in the US, and the biggest companies spend up to 10% of their profit margins - tens of millions of dollars - in their fight to retain their brands' positions in the Chocolate Top Ten.
Divine has been developed to appeal to the public's palate, and it tests favorably against all the market leaders. The US has one of the highest per capita levels of consumption of chocolate in the world and therefore, even capturing a small proportion of this market translates into real benefits for cocoa farmers.
Even more Divine
In 2006, original Day Chocolate founder The Body Shop made the decision to donate its shares in the Company to Kuapa Kokoo - so now the farmers' cooperative has an even bigger stake in Divine. On January 1st 2007, Day Chocolate changed its name to Divine Chocolate Ltd to more closely align the company with our flagship brand, and the brand itself experienced a major redesign. Then on February 14th 2007 the launch of Divine Chocolate Inc in the USA was announced... Another big year in the life of Divine!


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About REPOSSESSED (Amazon | B&N | iBooks) :
Supernatural matchmaker Tessa Dandridge knows a little mist here and a little magic there will help reckless werewolves and precocious pixies find love. That is, until her magical Smythe Scroll is lost in her repo'ed car and she can't contact her V.I.P. clients. To connect with an important client cavorting in the fifth dimension, Tessa must depend on handsome Rob Shin, a warlock repo man, to enter Limbo and find her Smythe Scroll.
Rob has money problems of his own, thanks to the bank determined to foreclose on his elderly aunt and uncle's home. Repossessing magic wands and cursed pianos from disgruntled warlocks isn't the best pay, but the Navy SEAL works well as a repo man to pay off his family's debts. Rob's repossession jobs catch up with him when a powerful warlock seeks to end his life for his constant meddling, drawing Tessa in the middle.
I'm offering a few winners a couple of Coveted Swag Packs, a signed copy of REPOSSESSED, and $10 Amazon/B&N Gift Card. So you have a couple of chances to win a prize.
So, what are my plans for Valentine's Day? I'd love to have a romantic dinner with my husband and get a surprise gift. No candy, mind you, since I've been low carb for a while, but I wouldn't mind a gift card to add some fun books to my eReader. Just sayin...
What plans do you have for Valentine's Day?
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Talking problems out with a friend or family member can help put things in proper perspective.
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Preface – this discussion originated in another thread which can be viewed here:
I should point out, that I have not deeply studied any religious texts, or for that matter, any philosophical ones, and I have no specific position whatsoever. This has no bearing on anything, but some of the arguments for and against seem to be ad hominem, so I say that just to avoid those from the beginning. If you have no interest in this subject, don't bother posting at all.
There are several questions it seems to me, left unanswered by monism and dualism. To say dualism is dead seems to be a bit premature.
Where do abstract ideas exist?
What is our brain doing when we think abstractedly, and where in the brain does it do this?
How does monism resolve the "illusions" of free will and self?
If monism is correct, abstract ideas must exist in the physical world. Where do they exist? Some say that abstract ideas only exist when we think of them, but this poses more problems than it solves. If we take the idea that abstract thoughts only exist in conscious minds, if there are no conscious minds, or, if no conscious mind is thinking of an abstract idea at that moment in time, does the idea no longer exist? If none of us think about the number 1 or 2, and abstract ideas only exist in conscious minds, that would mean that 1 or 2, at that point, do not exist at all. Intuitively, this seems incorrect, and dare I say, a "conscious-centric" worldview, which seems to arrogantly suggest that the humble numbers 1 and 2 do not exist without us.
To look at it from another perspective, let us consider an abstract law which exists in the universe. For example, gravity. If none of us think about gravity, we must still accept gravity still exists and acts in the universe. That must mean that gravity has a place in the world without conscious minds. What about numbers?
To continue the monist problem, where does gravity exist in the physical world? Or E=mc2? If monism is correct, we ought to be able to look closer and closer and perceive gravity, or another law. We ought to be able to look close enough and say, "This is a gravity. This is an E=mc2." This does not seem likely, even if we had the most powerful perceptive faculties imaginable. However, everything else in the material world operates in a space. Two balls, one red and one blue exist in space. We can say, "This ball is red, that one is blue. They are not the same." The balls exist, they operate in the physical world, the same as gravity, and E=mc2, but the balls are divisible. We can break them down and find that fundamentally they are the same particle. But these particles exist in space, separate from each other. How would we break down a gravity? What would it's constituent parts be? Everything we say materially exists operates in space and is divisible down to fundamental building blocks. Gravity exists in space but where, and what can it be broken down to? We cannot avoid the issue by saying gravity exists everywhere because that would mean we are made up of fundamental particles of gravity, yet so far we consider ourselves to be built up of minute particles. If we are just fundamental blocks of gravity, what about other physical laws?
The Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers were able to intuitively suggest that solid objects are actually made up mostly of space. This is completely counter-intuitive and if I were alive at that time and they told me I would have thought them mad. To say a solid table is mostly space seems wrong, yet they were found to be correct.
If our brains are simply sense perceiving and translation devices, how did they arrive at this conclusion? Where did this idea come from, where in the brain was this done and how? If our brains are simply sense perceiving organs that must mean there is a site in the brain which has something akin to an electron-microscope (when thinking 'micro' abstractedly) or a high powered telescope (when thinking 'macro' abstractedly, for example in pre-scientific theories about the Big Bang/creation of the universe). Where is this site in the brain, and how does it see that far? Monism MUST say that there is a device like this in the brain, if so, where is it, and how does it do this? Furthermore, if this was simply a perceiving organ, why do we have the ability to create abstract ideas as well as perceive them?
From a monist's perspective, "free will" and "self" are illusory, because everything is determinable by the fundamental laws of the universe. A monist must therefore consider both an illusion, which would suggest all conscious minds are suffered from some kind of dementia. If our senses of selves and will are delusional, how can we trust our other senses? This seems dangerously close to slipping into solipsism, and if we can prove nothing else, as Descartes said, the one thing we do know is that we exist. If the only thing I can prove to exist is myself, yet this is an illusion, does not monism slip gently into solipsism at its most fundamental state?
The dualist stance would solve a lot of these questions, but pose more of its own.
A dualist world which consisted of thought/matter, and our consciousness as some sort of window between the two solves the problems of where these abstract thoughts exist which seem problematic from a monist standpoint, as they would exist in some sort of universal other place where the abstract ideas which shape our world formally exist in their entirety and can be seen in their pure forms. The problem for dualists to solve is how we are able to see this other world, where in our material brains does this window exist? As a kind of point of singularity? Where precisely could a dualist point to and say, "This is the material site of our window?" A dualist must resolve this point if they are able to say where the point of interaction between the two worlds exists.
A dualist can also site a "will" or "self" at this point of consciousness, and resolve the monist problems with free will and self, but dualism still has to resolve the problem of where this point exists materially, as everything else we can prove to exist has a "place" in the material world.
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Presumably 'reality'.
Now we are back to the beginning.
The material world either exists or it doesn't. I think it exists. If you don't this is solipsism, which was my point earlier which monism ends up reducing itself to.
My perceptions are, as you stated, representations of a real thing which exists.
Of what, is my perception of pi or a mathematical concept?
It's either:
A) A perception of something which doesn't exist anywhere but has an application in the real world. Nominalism.
B) Something exists somewhere else. Platonism.
If perceptions are of things which exist, nominalism fails. If perceptions are things which can be said to exist or be imaginary, ok. But somee "imaginary" things have material applications, in the way that an imaginary unicorn, doesn't. I can imagine a unicorn. But it does not apply materially. Therefore it doesn't exist. I can imagine the concept of pi, and, it applies materially.
Sand dunes are a 'reflection' of wind. They do not fully represent the moving air, but they represent a measurement of the moving air - much as 'pi' represents a measurement of a circle. Once again, you have 'reality' and you have a reflection of that reality which can act as a measurement. For the 6th or 7th time, that reflection does not create more 'stuff'.
Well that doesn't make any sense. By your argument you are saying that a sand dune is a reflection of wind, but that reflection doesn't create more stuff. What then, is the sand dune?
It's a sand dune.
Does it exist?
I assume that it does.
Does pi exist?
It exists as a pattern in neurons, a reflection, yes. But I've already said that and now you are just going in circles.
As a pattern in neurons, yes, and we can use it in the real world. Pi can be used as a function of measurement. As can a ruler. The ruler exists. The sand dune exists. Why does pi not exist, if we can use it to solve problems? Why do some figments of our imagination apply in reality, but not others. What distinction would you make between the two?
I can test whether some things I think are true or not by applying them in reality. Going back to this imaginary unicorn. I can imagine it. Does it affect the material world? No. Therefore we can say it is a false idea, or "imaginary."
I can conceive of pi as a concept. I can imagine it. Does it affect the material world? Yes. Therefore I can say it is a true idea, or "real".
This is getting pretty awkward semantically but all other things which are real (in the sense I defined "realness" above), e.g. my visual perception of a table in front of me, exist. Why not pi?
Pi is not 'used' in the real world. Pi is a pattern in neurons that reflects around through those neurons in different ways into other patterns that eventually cause motor responses - such as vocalization of 'pi' or writing the digits '3.14159265' or pressing keys on a calculator.
The sand dune is just one of many ways that sand can be arranged. The various neuro-patterns in our heads leave us matching up patterns of sand dunes with patterns of wind and thus a pairing of reflections that combine to cause the concept of 'recognition of a reflection'.
You really should go an read those two books I mentioned.


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Barnard News
Spar responds to The Atlantic's cover story on trade-offs facing professional women.
Letter to the Editor of The New York Times cites research from Barnard's Center for Toddler Development.
Economics professor quoted in Bloomberg/Businessweek article.
Political science professor comments on Rep. Charlie Rangel's campaign for reelection.
Watch her discuss women's education, leadership, and other aspects of Barnard.
Political science professor urges support of local grassroots efforts to establish peace.
The Barnard Community is saddened by the death of Anna Jacobson Schwartz '34, an acclaimed research economist.
Political science professor to lead institute devoted to the study of the former Soviet Union, East Central Europe and the Balkans.
Political science professor appears on CNN, quoted in The New York Times and The Washington Post.


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Joe Z,You are getting so caught away with the externals. Sure, the RC church has stripped away a lot of the externals of it's faith, but that doesn't mean the underlying message is any different.The message of Christ isn't about how many bells are on your incense censor, or how many prostrations you do, but it IS about loving God, and loving your neighbor.I suggest instead of getting caught up in all this SSPX hoopla you find some good solid volunteer work in the area to do. (Soup kitchen, habitat for humanity). See what being a Christian is about! Build some humility and characterRemember, on judgement day, Christ isn't going to ask if you said the novus ordo or the tridentine mass, he's going to say: When I was hungry, did you give me food? When I was thirsty, did you give me drink?Bobby
This post gave me autism.
Since when has a Hierarch done anything for you? . . .
Apparently you can get the Juice or Power from a certain Icon.
My purpose in posting this was to learn the Orthodox views of the SSPX, the TLM movement, and the Tridentine Mass. I have certainly learned a few things by this thread.
Now I've got some questions which, if you want to not drag this thread more off topic, I invite you to answer privately. How does a "universal indult" for priests to choose which rite they will celebrate work? If a parish has seven priests (there is a local Latin parish with this many resident priests), and it's the noon Mass on a Tuesday, and the regular Massgoers are used to the NO from the other six priests, and then they see the priest who prefers the Tridentine rite come out for Mass, then what? Or what if the priests in a certain vicariate who only use the Tridentine rite, and so that's all the people know, but their bishop is a hardcore Novus Ordo prelate? When he comes to the parish to visit and offer Mass, then what? What message does it send when, in a given diocese, the same liturgical rite is not being used by all? Should not one prevail? Would an indult giving bishops the power to mandate the use of one rite or the other in their dioceses be better or worse?
I am equally amazed at you pre-occupation with the SSPX.
St. Vincent de Paul Church in Kansas City, MO, is, indeed, an SSPX chapel. The city is the site of the schismatic group's U.S. District Headquarters.
The SSPX group was and still is disobedient to the Holy See. Now, it is DEFIANT! They are still in schism, the negotiations for their return to communion with the Roman Catholic Church having been stalled.
I think for many fed up Roman Catholics, they represent a heroic struggle against a tidal wave of ecclesiastical insanity.
If one takes medieval RC ecclesiology seriously, the SSPX position (for those who hold to it) is problematic
but I pity those who go to these chapels, since in the end I think their biggest fault is not their "infidelity" to Rome, but their failure to recognize that its bogus claims of infallibility and indefectibility should hold sway over them, no matter what (since the SSPX'ers still confess the validity of Vatican I).
I think the struggle of Latin "traditionalists" (whether they are SSPX, follow the Indult, sedevecantists, etc.) is justified in one sense, but has its legs cut from beneath it by their adherance to those very peculiarities which separate Catholicism from Orthodox Christianity.
I'm curious, do you view us Orthodox as being "schismatic"?
This is one thing about the "Lefebvre-schism" that I've never understood; according to Vatican II ecclessiology, the Orthodox Churches are "proper churches" (because they have apostolic succession and "valid" sacraments), and apparently can even confer grace as the RCC does (to the point that the '83 code of canon law allows for RC's, under fairly generous allowances, to approach Orthodox clergy for Holy Communion, Confession, and Anointing). Yet we emphatically reject any number of Latin doctrines, and certainly do not view ourselves as subjects of the Pope.Yet your own traditionalists, whose main crime seems to be not getting "hip" to silly nuns plucking guitars and half protestant temples with half protestant services (and many other far worse things)...basically the crime of not changing into a new creature, have been treated like lepers - even though these people do subscribe to Latin peculiarities (like the Immaculate Conception and papal infallibility/supremecy).
It almost strikes me as being a case of the Vatican not being interested in truth or ideas at all, but simple political dominance over whatever one can call "Christendom"; and since the "Lefebvrists" do not have a "get along" attitude (and even seem to have principles, even if very often wrong ones from an Orthodox p.o.v.), they are inconvenient.
Indeed, why not just as zealously go after the notorious liberals that are officially "on good terms" with Rome?
Yes, because technically they are schismatic. They believe in the Catholic Church yet are not the Catholic Church.
They believe in the Catholic Church yet are not the Catholic Church.
Well, to be fair, Orthodoxy also believes in an infallible Church. These people do too, and they believe Rome is the Church, ergo...
Seems simplistic to me but can't articulate why. To most people, a Pope with an infallible teaching office and modernity are diametrically opposed. (American culture was and is very anti-Catholic partly because of this.) Yet Vatican II and its aftermath happened. That is the official Catholic Church in practice and the SSPX are not. And there is always the witness of Alexis Khomiakov and Fr Seraphim (Rose), both of whom I've read - why the Renaissance, 'Reformation', 'Enlightenment' and today's secular humanism? And why from and in the West?
I don't presume to speak for Mr Zollars but Catholicism sees the Orthodox Churches as 'in schism' but not personally 'schismatic'. Because the SSPX were Catholic to begin with, they are seen as schismatics.
I don't think Catholicism says Catholics may ask the Orthodox for the sacraments at any time. Nothing really changed in 1983. They may when there is no church or priest of theirs available.
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Wednesday 9 November 2011: TRIPLE-UPs
TRIPLE UPs: PULL-UP, SIT-UP, PUSH-UP
Perform as many supersets of pull-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups as possible in twenty minutes.
A superset is done by performing one set of each exercise back to back to back with little or no rest in between. Choose a number of reps that is well below your max to prevent early burnout during the training session. The training effect today will come from the overall volume of exercise combined with short rest periods, not max effort sets. Rest between supersets as necessary.
Intermediate and Basic trainees should substitute assisted, partial, or jumping pull-ups, body rows, crunches, and knee push-ups as necessary.


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HAMPTON — The calls have been steady, and the inquires limitless at the Priority Honda dealership in Hampton.
"We've definitely experienced an increase in calls," said Dan Asble, Priority Honda Hampton service adviser. "Many of them are asking about the air bag recall and seeing if their vehicle is on the list."
Nearly 8 million vehicles have been recalled nationwide after National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials discovered significant defects caused some air bags to explode on impact, leading to significant injury or death.
Takata Corp., a Japanese-based manufacturer and supplier of automotive safety equipment, has set aside $696...


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Bramshaw Tea Dance
4 Nov 2018
Bramshaw, New Forest2.00-6.00pm
A delicious afternoon of Traditional Tango and Tea.
Dancing in the village hall on a sprung maple floor. Afternoon Tea served in our bespoke Tango studio turned "Tea Room".
Freshly made tasty sandwiches and a seasonal selection of delicious homemade cakes. Please JOIN the event on Facebook to help give us an idea of numbers for catering www.facebook.com/groups/tangouk/
Gluten free options are available but to ensure there is plenty please PM Debbie if you require this option.
Bramshaw Village Hall and Tango Studio
Row Hill
The New Forest
Just 2 miles from junction 1 of M27. Beware of animals on the road once you cross the cattle grids into the Forest
Event website: www.tango.uk.com
Event website: www.tango.uk.com
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The 1966 addition to the Jackson County Historic Courthouse was torn down Monday afternoon as work began on restoring the building.
The addition had been built for office space, but it never fit the character of the courthouse.
For the complete story, see the May 6 issue of The Jackson Herald.
'66 addition torn off old courthouse
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Amtrak: Five years to no food service lossesWritten by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
"We have made steady and consistent progress, but it is time we commit ourselves to end food and beverage losses once and for all," said President and CEO Joe Boardman. "Our plan will expand initiatives that have worked, add new elements, and evolve as updated information and opportunities lead us to better solutions."
Boardman said that, in inflation adjusted dollars, Amtrak's food and beverage loss is down $31 million, from $105 million in FY 2006 to a projected $74 million in FY 2013, "or about a 30% move in the right direction. Approximately 99% of the food and beverage loss is reported from the long-distance trains that Congress requires us to operate, specifically costs associated with the dining car service. Cafe car services across the system, on the other hand, essentially break even or make a positive contribution to the bottom line. "
"The centerpiece of our plan is an improved management structure that consolidates operations and accountability for food and beverage into a single department," Boardman said. "This new organization also establishes a long-distance services general manager and route directors responsible for profit and loss of specific trains who will identify opportunities for further cost savings and efficiencies."
Among the opportunities: Aligning dining car staffing with seasonal changes in customer demand; establishing metrics to assess service attendants' onboard sales performance; reducing spoilage; closely tracking onboard stock levels; regularly refreshing menus; and exploring new pricing and revenue management options to align with customer needs and enhance cost recovery.
"Further, Amtrak is using technology onboard trains aimed at improving customer service, automating financial and other reporting, and eliminating the error prone and time consuming method of manual data entry," Boardman said. "Just this week, for example, we began a pilot on the New York-Miami Silver Meteor long-distance train to test a new touch-screen tablet-based solution that dining car service attendants use to take passenger orders and print customer receipts."
In 2014, Amtrak will roll out its Point of Sale (POS) system across its national network. Currently in operation on Acela Express and California trains, POS technology "improves the customer experience by streamlining the check-out and receipt printing process in café and lounge cars, and allows onboard employees more time to focus on sales and customer service. It also provides real-time inventory status, better decision support, and more flexibility to introduce targeted pricing and discounts, including value and combo meals. "
Also in 2014, Amtrak plans to test "cashless" sales for food and beverage on certain routes. "The elimination of cash reduces transaction time and significantly reduces accounting expenses and the risk of fraud or abuse," Boardman noted. "In addition, many venues that have pursued similar initiatives have seen increased sales. This model is very popular in the airline industry and has been seen as a favorable change by travelers. "
Boardman, noting records for ridership, ticket revenues, and ontime performance as well as a significant reduction corporate debt and the amount of federal operating support, said he is "confident Amtrak will succeed in this effort just as we have in other areas and across a wide range of financial and operating performance metrics. If Amtrak were to eliminate food and beverage services as some observers recommend, the railroad would actually lose more money because of the loss in associated ridership and ticket revenue, and thereby increase its dependence on federal support.
Amtrak Inspector General Ted Alves agrees improvements have been achieved, and testified before Congress that "over the past several years, Amtrak has taken action to reduce food and beverage losses and improve program management controls and these efforts have yielded benefits. We believe opportunities remain for further improvement."
"This is great news for Congressman John Mica," said an industry observer. "With any luck, he won't have to hold press conferences at McDonald's to complain about Amtrak's food service losses."
For additional perspective, see Railway Age Contributing Editor Frank Wilner's June 24, 2013 blog, "What's with Congressman Mica, the foodie?"


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Ever wonder what it's like to maneuver a monster truck or pilot a supersonic spy plane? We can't get you a test ride, but we can put you in the driver's seat.
As it screams through the air at three times the speed of sound, this jet needs to keep the air flowing through the engines down around 500 mph. The solution: a retractable cone plus a series of doors and bypasses. Pilots monitor this system on a sub-panel of indicators (lower left) while making sure they hit specific speeds at precise altitudes during ascent and descent. This Cold War-era spy jet, retired in 1998, also collected intelligence on itself, with a sort of proto-black box that captured 200-plus data points every three seconds. "If a pilot screwed up, we could download the tapes and say, 'OK, buddy, here's what you did wrong,'" says Rich Graham, a flight instructor and retired SR-71 pilot.
The skipper of this massive cruise liner sits atop a cushy leather throne, naturally. Just don't expect the seat to get much use: "When we're going into port, we typically push the chairs out of the way and stand up. It makes us more agile," says Bill Wright, who was the first captain of Royal Caribbean's $1.4 billion Oasis of the Seas. Situated on the center line of the ship, the captain's station has two trackball-controlled 27-inch LCDs (foreground) that are used to display the electronic chart and the ship information system, which aggregates mission-critical data like radar, GPS, and sonar. Nineteen additional screens are positioned less than 10 feet away, so the captain can quickly access, say, the machinery automation system, which tracks everything from the 5.5-megawatt bow thrusters to the fore and aft ballast tanks. So how does the captain steer? "The port and starboard command chairs have built-in joysticks for controlling the ship," Wright says. But those are typically operated by other officers. "Captains should be mentoring and teaching."
If you're going to gun a modded 1960s-era rocket car to 200 mph, you need a full-face helmet, a five-point harness, and a 15-foot parachute. Less essential: a decent-size windshield. "You can't see shit in that fucker," says Jesse James, the TV host, DIY daredevil, and tabloid favorite who does the driving, "but we wanted to recycle an old polluter." James installed the hydrogen internal combustion engine and souped up the streamliner's cockpit with a button-controlled air shifter (on the steering wheel), a kill switch for the highly flammable H2 (the box on the left), and an LCD screen (above steering wheel) that shows everything from oil pressure to speed. What's key, he says, is shifting at the right RPM to maximize boost: "It feels like it's gonna yank your eyeballs out of your head."
Billed as America's most famous monster truck, Grave Digger's first incarnation was a beefed-up 1950s Ford pickup. Today's $230K version delights fans with g-force-inducing jumps and high-speed wheelies, thanks to its chromoly steel chassis (neon green), shock-resistant gauges, and polycarbonate floorboards. But the pièce de résistance is the electric-over-hydraulic rear steering (the black joystick on the right), which enables tight turns and crab walks. For years, monster truck crews toiled in secret to develop a system for making the rear wheels automatically swivel back to a centered position after a turn. Digger creator Dennis Anderson and his team started by hacking together parts from old transmissions. "Some of our solutions were hideous, barbaric, and frickin' half the time didn't work. The thing would go jeeeeep and turn on its own," Anderson says. But they finally arrived at this agile beast. "Now, baby, it turns like a Porsche on a racetrack."
You think texting while driving is distracting? Try flying a commercial jet at 650 mph while keeping track of the data displayed on five 9- by 16-inch LCDs. Boeing's recently unveiled Dreamliner supplies each pilot with more than twice the display space offered by its predecessor, the 777. It's a lot of informational real estate, and the Dreamliner's 100 systems produce and process several terabytes of data during a single transcontinental flight. That's why it took two dozen designers, pilots, and engineers—plus more than a decade of "format management" research—to figure out what data to present and how to present it. "We're able to do more computing and image processing now," says Mike Sinnett, a Boeing VP and chief project engineer for the Dreamliner. "But if you're not disciplined, you can provide too much information." Landing is guided by a particularly smart piece of data visualization: Pilots can now see their vertical descent path, a sideways snapshot of the plane and trajectory relative to the ground. Plus, 8- by 4-inch fold-down, heads-up displays (corner of each windshield) let pilots do instrument scans without shifting their focus from the horizon.
The domed acrylic pressure hull on this $2 million two-seater harks back to the "Nemo" spheres developed by the Navy in the '60s. And despite the old-school air gauges on the aft control panel, the Triton is far from retro. The joystick that controls the pair of 2-kW main thrusters also lets the skipper toggle through a boatload of digital gauges, charts, and sensors—from gyro and magnetic compasses to sonar readings and a Doppler velocity log. All that info is routed to an all-weather Panasonic Toughbook (mounted on the dash). If the laptop crashes at 1,000 feet—"and we assume it will crash," says Patrick Lahey, president of Triton Submarines—the operator switches to backup mechanical instrumentation. Retro? Yes. But it's better than swimming up to the surface.Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.


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What purports to be the original charter provided by the NFL to the Baltimore Colts in 1953 is now up for auction. The document was apparently thrown out (Robert Irsay?) and later recovered and "restored."
The owner is now looking for a lucky Baltimore fan to bid on this piece of history. Just don't let Art Modell know. He may just steal it.
Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. We've still got stuff for you so stick around, pour a drink.


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What's the secret to a fabulous 50th birthday gift? Choosing gifts from Shari's Berries, of course. A fiftieth birthday is a cause for celebrations. If you're looking for the perfect birthday gift for a special friend or family member celebrating his or her fiftieth, we're the only place to shop. From classic chocolate truffle selections, to extravagant tuxedo strawberries, to decorated cookie bouquets or brownie gift baskets. If you're looking for festive holiday gifts that are fun and whimsical, you can't go wrong with holiday brownie pops. For something tasty and healthful, gift baskets of fresh juicy fruit are a wonderful choice. We offer an outstanding variety of chocolate treats, unique gifts, and decadent delights that are simply ideal for saying happy 50th birthday.
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In fact, no matter who you're shopping for, you'll find a delightful 50th birthday gift to suit. For the cookie lover we have tasty birthday cookie bouquets and gift baskets filled with all varieties of chocolate candies. There's gourmet snacks and of course, our many legendary Mrs. Field's cookie gift baskets. For the deserving lover of all things cocoa, we carry an incredible array of distinctive truffles and rich chocolate covered caramel. The guy in your life is sure to appreciate our 50th birthday gifts for him. From decorated cookies for snack time, to savory snacks and popcorn balls for movie night, we're always adding new and flavorful items to our gift selection.
Looking for an alternative to the floral bouquet? A unique cookie bouquet is what you want! Colorful arrangement of melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies that are guaranteed to make that special someone smile. These hand-decorated come in a variety of floral designs and themes that are perfect celebrating an important milestone birthday. Buy a large arrangement as a fun surprise gift or use as a whimsical centerpiece for the birthday dessert buffet at a 50th birthday party.
Hunting for the ultimate last-minute 50th birthday gifts for sister. Look no further then this line-up of gourmet gift baskets, signature chocolate dipped berries, fun and fabulous snack selections and flower arrangements that can all be shipped at a moment's notice. And better yet, with a host of next-day items available too, you'll never be caught missing a birthday again.


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The 2014 RLX luxury sedan is the most sophisticated Acura production car in history, topping even the Acura NSX sports car that's still revered by auto enthusiasts.
Replacing the flagship Acura RL sedan this year, the RLX even has its own driving experience that comes from a new suspension and new all-wheel steering system that electronically adjusts toe-in and toe-out at the rear tires for improved tracking in curves and corners.
Designed by the man who helped craft the NSX suspension and who formerly worked on Honda's Formula 1 race team, the new, standard Precision All-Wheel Steer (P-AWS) system makes the RLX feel as if it's directly dialed in with the driver.
Also notable: Combined city/highway fuel economy for the RLX is more than 24 miles per gallon and bests Infiniti, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and BMW competitors.
The RLX's direct injection V-6 comes standard with Variable Cylinder Management that automatically deactivates some engine cylinders when they're not needed, thus saving gasoline.
Though it has the same overall length as the mid-size RL, the RLX has surprisingly generous rear-seat legroom - 38.8 inches - which surpasses that in the Infiniti M and Mercedes E-Class sedans.
In addition, the RLX offers new safety features, including a system that gently steers the car back into its lane if it detects wandering over the center line. This works only if there is lane marking that is detectable by the system.
Meantime, adaptive cruise control with Slow Speed Follow can bring the car to a full stop in certain circumstances if the RLX is headed for the rear-end of a stopped vehicle in front of it.
But the RLX, like its RL predecessor, is front-wheel drive, rather than the rear-wheel drive that some sporty luxury sedan purists prefer.
Starting manufacturer's suggested retail price is up only $250 from its predecessor Acura RL.
A base RLX has a starting retail price, including destination charge, of $49,345. All RLX models come with a 310-horsepower V-6 and a six-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters. The RLX also is the first top Acura sedan to include jeweled-look, light-emitting diode headlights.
Other standard equipment includes leather-trimmed seats and stitched leather instrument panel cover, moonroof, push-button start, keyless entry, three-zone climate control, Acura/ELS premium audio system with 10 speakers, Bluetooth connectivity, two sizable display screens in the dashboard and a rearview camera.
Buyers can move up through four trim levels to add navigation, lane keeping, a new Krell audio system with 14 speakers, sunshades and ventilated seats.
In comparison, the starting MSRP, including destination charge, for a rear-wheel drive 2013 Infiniti M37 is $49,605. The M37 has a 330-horsepower V-6 and seven-speed automatic, but the base audio system has six speakers and dual, not three-zone, climate control is standard. The M37 also comes with high-intensity discharge headlights, rather than LED lights.
While the federal government fuel economy ratings for the RLX are 20/31 mpg for city/highway travel, the mid-size M37 is rated at 18/26 mpg.
Another competitor, the Lexus LS 460, has a starting retail price of $72,885 and comes with a 386-horsepower V-8 and eight-speed automatic transmission. Classified as a mid-size sedan, the LS 460 is rated at 16/24 mpg in city/highway driving by the federal government.
The RLX still has some of the heavy Acura "helmet shield" design on its nose. But it's mild, and the flowing lines on the sides and strong rear end give the car a luxury appearance.
The interior of the top-of-the-line RLX with Advance package was top-notch in fit and finish, with small gaps between trim pieces and everything lined up perfectly.
This RLX included additional acoustic glass that helped keep the interior so quiet, front-seat passengers conversed in light tones.
P-AWS wasn't noticeable until the driver went around a curve at good speed and discovered how stably - maybe the word is magically - the 16-foot-long RLX tracked through.
The system provides more stable handling on slippery surfaces, too.
The most fascinating aspect during the test drive, perhaps, was how little the steering wheel had to be turned to keep the car on track in the curves and how balanced the sizable RLX felt.
Indeed, on mountain switchback roads, the RLX remained firmly planted and was so tenacious, its back-and-forth motions from one curve to the next created some carsickness for the driver.
The lasting impression: How the RLX molds itself to the driver's capabilities and habits, rather than forcing the driver to learn the car.
It's true the 3.5-liter V-6 is single overhead cam and only produces 310 horses and 272 foot-pounds of torque at 4,500 rpm. This is less than what many competitors deliver. But the RLX is some 160 pounds lighter than its predecessor RL, and the test RLX felt plenty powerful, even if power delivery wasn't race-car instantaneous.
Unleaded premium is the recommended fuel, so a fillup of the 18.5-gallon tank these days could cost more than $72.
Then again, with an average of 24.3 mpg during the test drive on mostly country roads and some highway travel, the RLX's range on a single tank was a good 450 miles.
The sweeping design of the dashboard away from passengers gave an airy feel to the interior.
But seat cushions could be a tad longer to better accommodate long-legged passengers, and the two display screens take some getting used to.
There are no 2013 RLs as the RLX is arriving now in showrooms as an early 2014 model.
Later this calendar year, Acura will introduce a gasoline-electric "sport" hybrid version of the RLX that promises to generate more than 370 horsepower.
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Starburst Cluster Shows Celestial Fireworks
Like a July 4 fireworks display, a young, glittering collection of stars looks like an aerial burst. The cluster is surrounded by clouds of interstellar gas and dust—the raw material for new star formation. The nebula, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina, contains a central cluster of huge, hot stars, called NGC 3603. Star clusters like NGC 3603 provide important clues to understanding the origin of massive star formation in the early, distant universe.
This Hubble Space Telescope image was captured in August 2009 and December 2009 with the Wide Field Camera 3 in both visible and infrared light, which trace the glow of sulfur, hydrogen, and iron.
Starburst Cluster Shows Celestial Fireworks
Zoom into NGC 3603
NASA, ESA, R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), F. Paresce (National Institute for Astrophysics, Bologna, Italy), E. Young (Universities Space Research Association/Ames Research Center), the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)