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Please turn in your Bible to 2 Timothy chapter 4. And we're going to begin this morning a look at verses 6 through 8. We will be examining these wonderful three verses this morning and then again on next Lord's day morning, as well.
I confess to you at the very outset that this is a passage which perhaps should be preached by an angel and not a man. The best of men with the best of gifts and the best of tools could hardly do justice to these profound rich far-reaching verses. Mine will be but a feeble attempt to capture something of the essence of what comes through in this great text from the heart of the Apostle Paul. If I were to give title to verses 6 through 8 I would call them, "The triumphant epitaph of Paul." Here Paul, in a sense, writes his own commentary on his own life. He sums up his life; past, present and future. He does it with that economy of words that is known only to the genius of a Holy Spirit inspired writer. In a very few choice words he says vast amounts of great truth. As he looks at his life, as he writes the final chapter, as it were, on the whole story of the Apostle Paul it becomes for us not just a story of triumph but a model of triumph, not just the record of one man but the motivation for all men for what we see in Paul, the triumphant end of a life of service should be the longing of all of our hearts.
So, we approach the passage not just examining Paul, but examining ourselves. And though there are a few verses still left in chapter 4, bits and pieces and details related to Paul's current situation with reference to Timothy, these verses, verses 6 to 8, are really the final commentary on his own life. They capture up the essence of his own epitaph. If I have learned anything living this life I have learned that the final words of dying men and women tend to be stripped of hypocrisy. As people take a last glimpse of life before they enter death, their hearts are usually open and revealed. And if we could hear what is said in the last moments, we can often understand how they view the whole meaning of their life. I think of the words of Napoleon on his death bed, "I die before my time and my body will be given back to earth to become the food of worms. Such is the fate which so soon awaits the great Napoleon." I think of the dying words of Talleyrand which he penned on a piece of paper and placed them at his bedside before his life ebbed away he wrote: "Behold, 83 years passed away, what cares? What agitation? What anxieties? What ill will? What sad complications? And all without other results except great fatigue of mind and body and a profound sentiment of discouragement with regard to the future and disgust with regard to the past."
They are simply illustrations of a long, long list of people who faced death tragically. But then there is Paul who faced death triumphantly. Listen to his words beginning in verse 6, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me but also to all who have loved His appearing." What triumph, what hope, what joy, what exhilaration, what victory. Here are the words of God's greatest servant giving personal testimony to his life, given in behalf of Jesus Christ. He faces impending death. He knows his present imprisonment will lead inexorably to martyrdom. It's a hard time for Paul to leave and we need to understand that. You have to have, in a sense, the heart of the shepherd to capture the heart of Paul. When you have poured your life into people, when you have made the ultimate sacrifices again and again and again to bring the saving gospel to build and nurture the church, and you now are coming to the end of your life to face the reality that the church isn't what you hoped it would be, it can be heartbreaking. It's a hard time to leave. There's trouble in the church at Ephesus, one of Paul's favorite churches, one that took up at least a tenth of his ministry life span of 30 years. There's trouble in that church and not just in that church, that's representative of a lot of troubled churches. If we had nothing more than his own epistles to the churches, we would know they faced trouble. The pure gospel is already being contaminated by deceitful liars, purveying doctrines of demons. And the people are actually, according to verse 3, itching for more. Ungodliness is tolerated in the church along with false teaching. And it isn't just Ephesus, it's that way a lot of places.
And then there's Timothy and as much as Paul wants whole- heartedly and consummately to believe in the courage of Timothy, I'm sure he has his doubts. Timothy must be challenged and thus these two epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy, again and again and again challenge Timothy to courage, consistency, faithfulness and an uncompromising ministry. It's not an easy time to go. The church isn't what you had given your life to see it be. And your successor is weak in some areas of life and you question his ability to carry on. And it's that kind of reality of the situation that compels the words of Paul. It's a hard time. Timothy must be strong. The church must have a leader. He must be faithful. He must resist the onslaught of evil and error.
And so, after 30 years from that day on the Damascus Road as Erasmus once said, "Paul is laying down his arms so that Timothy may take them up." And it's a crucial time in the life of the church. And in one final effort to call Timothy to faithfulness, Paul shows him how he sums up his whole life. And I believe he has two things in mind. First of all, I believe he is saying, "Timothy, I hope and pray that you can come to the end of your life like this. I hope you can come to the end of your life triumphantly and victoriously. Even though it won't be the way you wished it could be, you can still come to the end with triumph."
It's amazing that there's an eloquent quietness here. There's a settled confidence. There's a triumphant note even though Paul is hurting over the state of the church and questioning the strength of Timothy. He faces death triumphantly. And he is saying to Timothy by implication, "O Timothy, I hope you can come to the end like this." But even more than that he's saying to Timothy, "Timothy, the very fact that I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand is compelling you to step into the gap, take the baton, exercise the leadership. And if you do that faithfully you will come triumphantly to the end even as I have." He looks at his life from three perspectives. In verse 6 he looks at the present, the close of his life and says he is ready. In verse 7 he looks at the past, the course of his life and says he was faithful. In verse 8 he looks at the future, the crown of his life and notes that he will be honored and rewarded. This is the way to go out. You say, "Isn't there a lot of pride here?" I don't believe there's any. I believe that Paul the Apostle knew that he was what he was by the grace of God. I believe that in Colossians 1:29 he says, "I labor...I labor," indicating that he gave the very best and maximum effort he could give but he also says, "Striving according to His power which works mightily within me." He knew where the source of power was. He's not taking credit. He is simply acknowledging that by the grace and power of God and by his own faithfulness to function within that grace and power he has come to a joyous victorious end. And he sets an example for Timothy and compels him to take his place.
Let's look this morning at this first element and then briefly at the second one. In verse 6 he discusses the present of his life, takes a look at the close of his life and says he is ready. "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come." I want to carefully look at that verse, I think it's instructive. The first two words are important. "For I," I here is emphatic. It's compared to verse 5, "But you," if you put them together, "But you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry," why?, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure has come." In other words, I'm leaving. Timothy, now is the time for you to get on with it, set your priorities, suffer whatever you have to suffer, do the work of an evangelist, fully do your ministry. And now is the time for I am leaving...that's the essence of it. If you have to do it, Timothy, you have to succeed me.
He falls, I think, into a wonderfully elite group. You remember Joshua 1:1 and 2, "It came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses My servant, saying, Moses, My servant, is dead, now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people to the land which I am giving to them to the sons of Israel." Moses, My servant, is dead, now therefore you arise. And Joshua was the first great successor in the leadership of God's people. And do you remember this wonderful statement in 2 Kings chapter 2 verse 15? "When the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho opposite him saw him they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha and they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him...the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." Another great successor. The mantle of Elijah placed on Elisha. And here we find Timothy, another of the great biblical successors. "But you...you must do all of this because I'm leaving. Take my place." Paul knows that his leaving is imminent, you will note the word "already," already, now it's often translated. I am now leaving, I am already leaving is an equally proper translation, it is thus to be translated in Romans 13:11, 2 Thessalonians 2:7, 1 John 2:8. Already is a proper translation, I'm already in the process of being poured out as a drink offering.
Now you say, "What does he mean by that? What does he mean that he's already in the process of being poured out as a drink offering?" Well in order to understand that, we need to go back to the roots of Paul's thinking which, of course, because of his Jewishness are found in the Old Testament, back to the book of Numbers chapter 15. And I want you to turn to it because I want to spend a few moments there so you'll understand the profound richness of what Paul is saying here. Numbers chapter 15. Now remember the setting. The children of Israel are wandering in the wilderness. They are under the judgment of God, a whole generation will die out because of the sin that they committed there of idolatry and unbelief, complaining against God. An old generation under judgment is dying out, a new generation is growing up. The old generation will die in the wilderness, the new generation will go into the promise land. But it's hard to have much hope for the promise land, it's hard to have much vision while you're roaming around endlessly for 40 years in the desert. And so God here in chapter 15 begins to put hope in their hearts by giving them some sacrificial laws which they will engage in when they come into the land. He is setting their hearts upon the possession of the land. He is causing them to begin to think about how it will be when they come into the land which God will give them.
Verse 1 says, "Now the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you enter the land where you are to live which I am giving you, then make an offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering or in your appointed times to make a soothing aroma to the Lord from the herd or from the flock." Now God says when you get into the land I want you to get into making offerings. And He gives some very general descriptions of offerings, burnt offerings, sacrifice of various kinds under a special vow as a freewill offering in an appointed offering season, making soothing aroma to the Lord. You will then be called upon to give offerings to God when you come into the land.
He then goes on to describe in some detail the elements of those offerings. But first of all His description is most helpful to understanding what Paul had to say. Let's pick it up in verse 4, "And the one who presents his offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one fourth of a hin of oil," it's approximately a gallon. Now let me give you the picture. In verse 4 you present an offering, that would be an animal, a lamb or whatever, and then you give also a meal offering of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quart of oil that makes kind of a porridge kind of thing, only with an oil base. And verse 5, "And then thirdly, you present wine for the libation, or the drink offering, one fourth of a hin with the burnt offering or the sacrifice for each lamb." So here was the typical sacrifice. You give a lamb as a burnt offering which means it's all consumed on the altar, none of that was taken by the priest, it symbolizes total commitment, total dedication, total sacrifice. And then you gave a meal offering and then you gave finally a drink offering which was poured out all over that first two-part offering.
Now further he describes this offering as the animal gets larger the meal offering gets larger and the drink offering gets larger. If a ram is used, you prepare a grain offering two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one third of a hin of oil and for the libation or drink offering you offer this time one third of a hin of wine as a soothing aroma to the Lord, more than a fourth. And when you prepare a bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow or for peace offerings to the Lord, then you shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-half a hin of oil and you shall offer as the libation one half a hin of wine as an offering by fire as a soothing aroma to the Lord. So you can see the amount gets larger as the animal gets larger.
Then verse 11 it says, "Thus it shall be done for each ox, for each ram, for each of the male lambs or the goats. According to the number that you prepare so you shall do for everyone according to their number, all who are natives shall do these things in this manner in presenting an offering by fire as a soothing aroma to the Lord. And if an alien sojourns with you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations and wishes to make an offering by fire as a soothing aroma to the Lord, just as you do, so he shall do. As for the assembly there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you a perpetual statute throughout your generations, as you are so shall the alien be before the Lord. There is to be then one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you."
Now there's a basic instruction that God gave them about this matter of giving offerings. You give an animal, you give a meal offering and finally you pour out a drink offering. The drink offering then was the capstone of sacrifice. It was the final factor in sacrifice, the final act of sacrifice and it too was given in total and none of it was to be consumed by the priest, it was all poured out on the altar. Every burnt offering was totally given to the sacrificial act as the meal and the wine were to follow. And that was to be for everyone, whether an Israelite or an alien, for all times by God's people.
Now with that in mind, let's go back to 2 Timothy. And I believe Paul has that in mind. He says simply, "I am already being poured out as a drink offering." What do you mean by that, Paul? I mean this, it's as if I have already given myself as a living sacrifice, it's as if I've already somewhere along the line made the meal offering sacrifice and now I'm in the last act of my sacrificial self-giving. You see it? This is it. I can't give anymore, this is the final pouring out of my life, the final act of my complete dedication to the Lord. I've already put my life on the altar as a living sacrifice, a kind of burnt offering. I've already poured out the meal offering, as it were, and now the completion of it all, I pour on this final sacrificial act.
He saw his whole ministry as an offering to God. In Romans 15 he says in verse 16 that he is a minister of Christ Jesus, ministering as a priest the gospel of God that my offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable. He saw him as a priest...he saw himself as a priest. Perhaps he saw himself as the burnt offering. His ministry as the meal. And now giving his life as the drink offering. This is the consummate act of his life. It is now to be the last sacrificial act, a blood-spilling death. And the drink offering is vivid because he will shed blood in this death. As a Roman citizen he knew he couldn't be crucified, the Roman citizenry could not die by crucifixion, and so he knew he would be beheaded...an unimaginable bloody way to die. And so the vividness of pouring out his life as a libation or a drink offering is seen in the death means as well as the act of sacrifice.
This is not new to Paul He anticipated that this would come. He uses this same expression back in Philippians 2:17 only he uses it in a unique way. In Philippians 2:17 he says, "If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice." In other words, he's saying there it's a conditional clause, and the idea here is if and it is possible, there is a possibility that in my ministry to you I might lose my life. He says if that's true, I rejoice. So when writing to the Philippians he was saying if and it is possible that I could be being poured out as a drink offering, if and it is possible I could be losing my life on your behalf, I rejoice. But he didn't know whether that was going to happen, now he knows. So what in Philippians 2:17 was a possibility is now a reality. He doesn't say if, he says I'm already being poured out. There's no if anymore, it's determined that he will die. The possibility has become a reality.
You say, "How so?" Well he says, please notice in verse 16, "At my first defense no one supported me but all deserted me, may it not be counted against them." Is that absolutely unimaginable to you that everybody around him who was indebted to him really for the knowledge of Christ, for it was he who preached the gospel to the Gentiles, would have deserted him in the hour of his trial before Nero? In his first defense for which he was now, of course, a prisoner, no one supported him, no one defended him, all were afraid, all deserted him, left him all alone before Nero and as a result he was now incarcerated waiting to come before Nero again for final sentencing and have his head chopped off. What an imaginable ingratitude. An incredible way that such a man should come to the end of his life who was the spiritual father, uncle, grandfather to almost every redeemed soul in the Gentile world could be deserted in the moment of his deepest need. But he was and never held it against them, "May it not be counted against them." And then he says almost pensively in verse 17, "But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me." And the end of verse 17, "I was delivered out of the lion's mouth," they put me in prison then instead of taking my life. And confidently says in verse 18, "The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to His heavenly Kingdom, to Him be the glory forever and ever amen." There's no bitterness in this man, no bitterness even though he was deserted by the people who were the beneficiaries of his sacrifice.
So as he looked at the present tense, he was already being poured out. He had no defense. He was incarcerated waiting for final sentence. No one had come to stand and defend him before Nero. His blood would soon be poured out as a symbolic kind of drink offering as the last act of personal sacrifice.
He says it explicitly then again in verse 6 in these words, "The time of my departure has come." Time here is kairos, it has to do with season rather than hours. This is the time of my death, not necessarily in the next few minutes or the next few hours or even the next few days. If you'll notice verse 13, in the final instructions he gives to Timothy he says, "When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus and the books, especially the parchments," so he must have thought he was going to live a little while, he wanted his coat and he wanted his books and he wanted his parchments. And then in verse 21 he says, "Make every effort to come before winter." Maybe it wasn't so much winter itself but maybe he realized that it would be winter that would bring his death and he wanted to see Timothy once more before he died. But he had the sense that he might be around for a little while, but nonetheless already his departure had come. Perfect tense verb, it's already arrived with continuing effect, the clouds of death have come and continue to hover. It's only a matter of being sentenced, I have no defense.
But I want you to notice the way he views life, this is so wonderful, and the way he views death. It's not that he's at all terrified by death, in fact what does he call death? The time of my...what?...what's the word?...departure. He doesn't call it death, he calls it departure. Death is imminent, death is standing by, he senses it much like Peter must have sensed it when he said in 2 Peter 1:14, "I know that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent," both of these great men of God sense their impending departure. Paul calls it a departure, I love that. I love that.
There's an African tribe that has an interesting custom that I have always thought was beautiful. When they do a funeral for a Christian, they never say "he's gone," they always say, "he's arrived...he's arrived." Paul looked at death as a departure. What does he mean by that? The word is so rich, analusis, it's a vivid word used for many things in the Greek language. Let me suggest at least four to you. It was the word used for unyoking an animal from the shafts of a cart or a plow from a yoke. As Paul looks at death he sees it as an unyoking. He sees it as a release from toil, as a rest from labor. A beautiful picture. He will be glad to lay his burden down. The toil has been burdensome, difficult, wearing, debilitating. And he looks to death as the release of the yoke, as taking the plow off his back, unhooking the shafts of the cart and laying down the burden and being free.
Secondly, it's a word used for loosening chains or bonds on a prisoner. And death for Paul was a liberation. Not only would he lose the physical chains which he bore so frequently in Roman prisons and even now, but he would lose the chains and bondage of his own flesh, his own fallenness, sin that dwelt in him. He would exchange the confines of a Roman prison for the glorious liberty of the courts of heaven. He would exchange the bondage of his own sinfulness for the glorious liberty of righteousness. And so, death for him was a departure, the yoke would come off, the chains would be severed.
Thirdly, it is the word used for loosening a tent to take it down. Paul was a tent maker. He made tents and he also used them. He was a nomad of sorts, traveling almost endlessly through the 30 year duration of his ministry. He knew what it was to strike camp again, to take his tent down. And what he is saying here is I'm taking my tent down only this time it will never go up again. I'm taking my tent down for the last time to embark on the greatest journey and I'll never need a place to sleep again, I'll never need a place to rest from weariness again, for this road will take me to the house of God. So he strikes the tent to head for the house of God.
And then fourthly analusis is also used for slipping the ropes to let the ship leave the harbor. A ship tied in the harbor to the strong poles that hold it there safely is set free when the ropes are released to sail from the harbor to the deep to another harbor. So Paul who many many times had sailed the Mediterranean at many times felt the ship set free from the dock to sail the deeps now says I'm read to launch out into the depth and find myself in the harbor called heaven. And death for him is a departure in every sense...just a departure. The yoke comes off and he's free, the chains are broken, he's free. The tent is taken down for the last time and he will live forever in the Father's house and the ship is released from the dock to take him to the shores of the harbor of heaven. What a view of death, victorious glorious perspective.
For the Christian death is laying down the burden in order to rest. Death is laying aside the shackles in order to be free. Death is striking camp to take up residence in a heavenly palace. Death is setting sail, casting off the ropes of this world to end up in the presence of God. Who then would fear such a death? Paul does not die like Napoleon. He does not die like Gandhi, like Talleyrand or like any other such one who does not know God in Christ. There's one other note to add here and that is this, that I think Paul looked at his own departure in the way that Jesus looked at His death, Jesus said, "No man takes My life from Me, I lay it down of Myself." And I believe Paul was affirming here that nobody was taking his life from him either. He was laying it down. Marvelous thought. You say, "How so? Weren't they going to execute him?" Yes, but he could have chosen to compromise, he could have chosen to deny the faith, he could have chosen not to boldly proclaim Christ, he could have chosen to conciliate his religious views with that of the current emperor worship. He could have chosen some evasive route which may waylaid this inevitability of his execution. But he would not do that. And so in a very real and true sense he is giving his life. He has that sense of joy. There is not frustration, there is not futility here. There is not fear. There is not the sense that it's not finished, it's not done, how can this happen. He is laying it down. He is honored to lay it down. He is doing that thing which Jesus first asked the disciples who followed him to do and that is take up the cross and follow Me. In other words, if it means death, be willing to die. No, the Romans don't take his life, Nero doesn't take his life. The executioner who severs his head from his body doesn't take his life. He gives his life.
That reminds me of one of Browning's young soldiers of whom he wrote when he was writing about Napoleon. He said this young soldier came flying from the battlefield to report to Napoleon the victory at Radisbond(?). The young soldier was so exhilarated to report the victory, so honored to be chosen as messenger for his emperor that almost unnoticing his wounds he rushed into the presence of Napoleon to announce the victory...at which point Browning says the emperor noticed his wounds were severe. And Browning writes the words of Napoleon, "You're wounded! Nay, the soldier's pride touched to the quick, he said, I'm killed, sire. And his chief beside, smiling the boy fell dead." I'm not just wounded, I'm killed. You see, wounds are only second-class marks. Death is first-class. Wounds for Paul were not enough. Yes he said in Galatians 6, "I bear in my body the marks of Jesus Christ." But wounds were not enough. They were second-class marks of loyalty, death is first-class. And so he says, "I'm already pouring out my life as a drink offering in the final act of self-sacrifice."
That's how he viewed the present. What a view. What a view. The close of his life and he's ready. Let me introduce you to point two, the past. Here he looks at the course of his life and he was faithful. Look at verse 7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course. I have kept the faith." That's a flashback, folks. That's a flashback over his ministry. And in the Greek the object is placed before the verb emphasizing this, the good fight I have fought, the course I have finished, the faith I have kept. Perfect tense verbs in each case describing completed action with present continuing results. As the Apostle looks back, catch this, will you, no regret, no sadness, no sense of unfulfillment, no feeling of incompleteness. He doesn't see the smallest thing left undone. I fought, I finished, I kept. What a way to go. What God called him to do he did. What God equipped him to do he did. What God enabled him to do he did. What God providentially allowed him to do and gave him opportunity to do he did. And he faces death with wholly satisfaction, triumphant in the memory of a life work completed. This is no unfinished symphony. And I personally can't think of any more glorious way to leave this world than to leave like that knowing you have done all you were called to do, to yield up your life with a total sense of accomplishment. What a way to go.
That's the prayer of my heart. It should be the prayer of your heart. It should be the prayer of Timothy's heart. How can I live my life to end it like this? How can I live my life so that it comes to the very end with total satisfaction that I did what He called me to do? How can I do that? As I studied verse 7 I came up with about half a dozen principles that will enable you to live your life so that it can end like this. And if you want to know what they are, you better come back next Sunday morning. It may be..it may be as practical a message on spiritual commitment as you've ever heard. Unforgettable truths come out of verses 7 and 8. Paul was a man who could look at the present of his life, face death with joy. Why? Because he could look at the past of his life and know he had done what God had called him to do. That's the way to live. That's the way to die. Let's bow together in prayer.
Father, we thank You for the example of this tremendous servant of Yours, the beloved Apostle Paul. We thank You for his spiritual commitment. We thank You for the model that he is to us. We love him. We love everything about him. We love to see the dedication of his life, born out of this deep profound love that he had for You. We even look forward to the day when we shall meet him face to face in Your presence. And, Lord, we...we thank You that he could come to the end of his life and say I'm pouring out my life as a drink offering in one final act of sacrifice for the Lord I love. He counted not his life dear unto himself, willingly gave it and gave it as an act of sacrifice to cap off all the sacrifices of his faithful service. Lord, help us each to be able to come to the end of our days in this world with the sense of having accomplished what You had given us to do, with a tranquility of heart that views death as departure, that sees it as nothing more than being loosed from the yoke of toil, freed from the chains of the world, striking down the tent for the last time to live forever in the palace of the eternal God, setting free the ropes to sail into heavenly harbor. Father, may we so view death because we have viewed life as Paul did and because we have fought the good fight, finished the course and kept the faith. And may we know the joy of reward which he knows even now in Your presence. These things we ask in Christ's name. Amen.
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About 70 percent of vets are overweight.
An intensive, one-on-one weight loss program developed by the Veterans Affairs Department failed to attract many comers, and the few who did take part didn't lose much weight, researchers report.
It's not clear why the program did not work, but it doesn't bode well for efforts to help the two-thirds of Americans who are overweight or obese lose weight. Most studies looking at how to help people take off the pounds suggest such just such a personalized, lifestyle-changing approach.
Alyson Littman of the Seattle Epidemiologic Research and Information Center and colleagues looked at the VA's MOVE! Weight Management Program for Veterans.
Out of all the VA patients, 76,599 were classified as candidates for the program, based on their records, height, and weight. "A total of 3,192 (4.2 percent) patients participated in MOVE!," Littman's team wrote in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention journal Preventing Chronic Disease.
About half of these only showed up for one session. Those who showed up more often lost more weight but the effects also didn't last much longer than a few months, on average. "Participants lost approximately 1 to 2 pounds during 6 to 12 months of follow-up," Littman's team wrote.
The program was intense and carefully planned, using dietitians, physical and recreational therapists, social workers, and mental-health professionals. Each participant had a tailored diet, exercise, and counseling regime. But most people did not stick with the program, perhaps demonstrating just how difficult it is to change lifestyle to lose weight.
Obesity in the military and afterwards is a serious problem. "An estimated 70 percent of veterans are overweight or obese, with a body mass index (BMI, in kg/m2) of 25.0 or more, consistent with the prevalence of overweight and obesity among demographically similar nonveterans," Littman's team wrote.
Being obese raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, and several types of cancer.
"Weight loss as small as 5 percent can reduce the risk of chronic conditions associated with obesity," Littman's team wrote—and some other programs have worked better. The MOVE! Program worked about as well as other "real world" studies, however, Littman pointed out.
"Evaluating the effectiveness of MOVE! is challenging because it is not clear that the program was implemented as intended. Sustained and intensive treatments are associated with better outcomes," her team added.
National Journal will examine the issue of overweight military personnel in more detail on Wednesday.
(Image via forestpath /Shutterstock.com)
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Listen as Richard explains his interest in collecting specimens.More about Childhood
Inspiration at the Museum has come in many forms for Richard, manifest in its history, collections and people. Richard captured the ephemeral nature of his subjects in Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum .
In his roles as both palaeontologist and author, Richard enjoys discussing the emotional connection between finding and collecting. He uses these stories of human experience as leverage into the collections, putting many of them into the public domain for the first time.
Through his father's expertise in fly-fishing, Richard became aware of a discriminatory taxonomical approach to species, and this childhood interest continued into his research interests at the Museum. Richard specialises in trilobites, a fossil group of extinct marine arthropods.
Listen as Richard explains his interest in collecting specimens.
Hear how fishing trips sparked Richard's interest in natual history.
Discover how Richard 'preserved' the history of the collections through his writing.


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In home décor parlance, furnishings that are supposed to look kind of ratty are called distressed, while when the same is done to something that has four wheels and flies, it's called a Rat. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Chevy S10 has been majorly ratted out, but will you think its price is too much cheese?
Many of you equated yesterday's zebra striped '68 Moke with a golf cart, and while the little Brit might be good for a few rounds of 18-holes, few of you would be willing to pay its nineteen grand price to do so, hence it fell in an overwhelming 94.87% Crack Pipe Loss. Poor little Moke.
Today we're going with something just as stylish as that diminutive Daktari droptop, but a little more hillbilly in its execution. This 1988 Chevy S10 pick-em-up truck strangely, but seemingly harmoniously, melds a butt-load of old truck and car parts into its creator's Rat vision.
It's a funny thing about Hipsters and Rat cars and trucks - both are intended to present a visage that appears indifferently composed, but in fact is the result of meticulous attention to detail in achieving that specific and yet seemingly arbitrary look. What's funny about that is that while the intent of their appearance is similar, Hipsters and Rat Rods go together about as well as do skinny jeans and Mormon underwear. Plus, unlike Hipsters, we liked Rat Rods before they were cool.
This S-10 - at first glance - seems minimally, and perhaps amateurishly, ratted out. But then you look at the details. That's not an S-10 stepside box in back, oh hell no. Would an S-10's box present a spacious enough canvas to freehand 'Frankin' Dodge' on its flanks? No, but a real-deal '48 B-series Dodge's bed does, and that's what this S-10 presently beds down with.
That '48 Dodge Pilot House also donated it's nose to the cause - you know, just because - and now this truck looks a lot more dodgy than Chevy from the font. Still, keeping the home team dreams alive, the windshield brow has been created out of a hood from a '57 shoebox, gunsights and all. If that's not enough, there's also a set of roof-mounted trumpet and the rat rod de jour black paint job with red accents, including some sort of scythe-wielding angel of death on each door that looks more Looney Tunes than last rites.
The interior design scheme is dominated by one of those awesome seizure-inducing patterned seat covers, here in a complementary blue. Other than that it's straight-up S-10 with the minor addition of a cupholder console. Mechanicals are also un-modded from this truck's factory days, and are comprised of the tried and true Chevy 2.8-litre V6 and three-speed automatic that is far less shiftless than would be the image this truck's new owner would aspire to project in its presence.
That new owner would need to shift $1,850 to the current one to attempt that feat, and it is now up to you to determine if this presupposing pickup is worth that much. What do you think, is that a price worth trapping this Rat? Or, is that just Mickey Mouse?
You decide!
Appleless Indians Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Jason Damm for the ratty hookup
Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle


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From Holly Sklar's 2006 "Imagine A Country" essay:
"Imagine a country where some of the worst CEOS make millions more in a year than the best CEOs of earlier generations made in their lifetimes. In 1980, CEOs of major companies made an average 45 times the pay of average full time workers. In 1991, when CEOs made 140 times as much as workers, a prominent pay expert said the CEO "is paid so much more than ordinary workers that he hasn't got the slightest clue as to how the rest of the country lives."...In 2005, CEOs made even more - 352 times the pay of average workers." [Emphasis mine]
Bailouts and other forms of corporate welfare, such as tax loopholes and tax shelters that result in both corporations and their CEOs paying a lower tax rate than their regular employees, need to come with an expectation of corporate responsibility. In other words, with the sames "strings attached" as individuals experience. Non profit companies with over fifty employees manage to survive and thrive with restrictions similar to those below.
If we are going to bail companies out or afford special reduced taxation, we need to limit the CEO pay to 10 times the pay of the company's lowest paid full time worker. At the present annual minimum wage earnings of $14,872, CEOs would be paid a minimum of $148,720 annually. It would serve as an incentive to compensate employees better: the individual CEO's salary will rise proportionately as the company's lowest pay rate is increased. That is more than adequate income for people who have driven our economy into the ground, and it would encourage corporations to support raising the minimum wage to a living wage for single parent families with 3 kids, instead of keeping it brutally low. Minimum wage goes up, CEO's wage goes up. Compensation through company shares is a great idea for all employees, so CEOs can enjoy the same number of shares issued to all employees. It will motivate all employees to higher productivity and loyalty to the company.
Companies getting bailouts and tax reductions need to be held to worker-friendly personnel policies as well. They must staff their workforce by hiring their own employees and provide full benefits packages with a minimum of one sick day per month, one week of paid vacation a year, medical insurance with full maternity care included (with contraceptive coverage required) and parity in psychiatric rimbursement and benefits (no restriction on number of treatments, any more than Parkinson's patients would have such limits). Temporary and contract employees can only be used for twelve weeks - the duration of the Family Medical Leave Act. If the company offers paid matenity AND paternity leave, they can extend this period by the number of days of paid leave to ensure they can hold an employee's job. Likewise with paid sick leave. After that bailout companies will need to hire these people as company employees with benefits, or fill the position with another person if and only if the temporary worker was measurably failing to meet job requirements.
In the interest of public health, bailout companies employing food and health workers must provide unlimited paid sick days to employees for airborne or bodily fluid communicable infectious diseases, with a doctor's note required. A reasonable provision for excessive infections would of course be included, it could be managed through the Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines.
WHOO HOO!!! Obama just capped bailout company executive salaries at $500,000 - so close to what I wanted that I'm overjoyed. Non-profits are some of the most dynamic, creative and best run companies in our economy, and executive salaries seldom crack 100K. Despite dire warnings that nobody good would POSSIBLY agree to work at five times that salary, there's a huge reserve of expert executives out there who would be happy to take over. And they are USED to fiscal frugality, which is exactly what we need.
Belated and Annotated Bailout Post
From Holly Sklar's 2006 "Imagine A Country" essay:
US Poor Children Should Apparently Go Naked
Check out THIS new law going into effect February 10 - a friend questioned if it could possibly be true because it's so mind-numbingly stupid, based on a complete misunderstanding of actually toxic levels of lead. I'm sure this is due to the outcry over Chinese toys with lead based paint, but STILL. Here's the LA Times report:
Regulators rethink rules on testing children's clothing and toys for
lead The Consumer Product Safety Commission gives a preliminary OK to exempt
some items from testing after complaints of hardship to thrift stores
and sellers of handmade toys.
By Alana Semuels
January 7, 2009
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has given preliminary approval to
changes in new lead-testing rules after complaints that the measures
could have forced thrift stores and sellers of handmade toys to dispose
of merchandise or even go out of business.
If formally adopted, the changes approved on a first vote Tuesday would
grant exemptions to last year's Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act,
which seeks to ensure that products for children do not contain
dangerous amounts of lead.
As currently written, the act would require all products aimed at
children 12 and under to be tested for lead and phthalates starting Feb.
10. Phthalates are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable.
Large manufacturers and retailers say the cost of testing will not be a
burden. But small businesses such as handmade-toy shops and thrift
stores say the requirement would force them to spend tens of thousands
of dollars to test products such as clothing, in which the threat of
lead is almost nonexistent. Many thrift stores said they would be forced
to stop selling children's clothing or close altogether.
The commission's two members (a third seat is vacant) voted tentatively
to exempt:
* Items with lead parts that a child cannot access;
* Clothing, toys and other goods made of natural materials such as
cotton and wood; and
* Electronics that are impossible to make without lead.
The commission also tentatively approved a rule that clarifies how it
determines exclusions from the law.
The vote opens up a 30-day public comment period that will begin when
notice of the rules are printed in the Federal Register. Interested
parties can find out how to submit comments by signing up to receive
e-mail from the CPSC at www.cpsc.gov .
No final rules will be approved until after Feb. 10, when the testing
rules go into effect.
That means retailers and manufacturers who sell untested children's
merchandise would technically be in violation of the new law starting
Feb. 10. Whether federal regulators will enforce the rules -- which
might entail inspections at thousands of secondhand stores and toy shops
across the country -- is another question.
"The CPSC is an agency with limited resources and tremendous
responsibility to protect the safety of families," said Scott Wolfson, a
CPSC spokesman. "Our focus will be on those areas we can have the
biggest impact and address the most dangerous products."
So I went to Snopes, and this outrageous and ridiculous legislation is for
real - and it is unfounded in reality - especially when you know how little
clothing and footwear the exceptions allo. And citizens are not allowed to
formally object until AFTER the law goes into effect. The only reason anyone
knows about this is because Consumer Protection is "considering" relaxing
the restrictions, which have no scientific merit in any case.
I signed up to comment when the agency grants the opportunity.
The "exception" under consideration would still ban (re)selling or
buying the huge majority of children's clothing items. This would effect
everything from thrift stores to grannies who knit baby sweaters and sell
them on eBay to garage sales.
It only allows pure wool, cotton, leather, felt, REAL velvet made with
wool or cotton instead of microfibers, suede, fur, silk, cashmere and
angora - plus lesser known "natural" fiber clothing to be exempted from lead
inspection. Any of which could have the miniscule, completely harmless
lead levels enforced here. These are exponentially lower than the
lowest estimate of any hazardous level of lead. Have you checked the
price of even The cheapest natural fiber (100% cotton) clothing recently?
All mixed fiber or non-"natural" fiber kid's clothes would be illegal
to buy or sell without costly lead inspection. This means all pajamas
for infants and children will be illegal to sell by any individual or
thrift store, since flame retardants are non "natural". All permanent
press, fleece,rayon, microfiber, nylon, acrylic, lycra and polyester
clothing would be illegal for thrift shops or family and small businesses
to sell. Most shoes and boots (including any with velcro closures), socks with
elastic so they will stay up, waterproof coats and snowpants, any gloves or mittens with
thinsulate, most hats and belts and all UNDERWEAR with elastic
waistbands instead of cotton drawstrings, metal zippers and snaps or
buttons made of ivory, wood, metal, stone, or bone. Even glass probably
isn't technically a natural material, since it is artificially created,
and plastic is right out. Indeed, any fitted wrist sleeves, wool and
cotton pants or sweats with elastic waist bands or polyester drawstrings
would be subject to inspection. Can you even begin to imagine the cost
of inspecting all of that clothing, or of legally clothing the under 12
crowd in your family with none of these fabrics available to you second
hand or for sale by a clothing maker you hire? And are diapers
considered clothing? Back to metal pins, metal snaps and non-plastic
buttons on those pure cotton diapers with wool as the only allowable
"waterproof" cover, and I can attest from wearing woolen sweaters in
rain storms that wool soaks all through relatively easily. I'm not concerned about
disposables or plastic/latex covers and toddler accident proof undies,
since I don't see them being handcrafted or resold. How about baby
swaddling blankets? are they clothes or bedding? And wouldn't you think
that metal fasteners are a damn sight more likely to contain trace lead
than cloth?
It's like some cultish cross between fanatic pushers of organic fibers
and Levitican Law observance being enforced by the federal government.
What's next, outlawing shrimp, crab, lobster and tuna? Or forbidding
women from living in their homes every menstrual period until they
undergo ancient Jewish purification rituals - and do we even know what
those rituals involved? Or outlawing visual arts and electronic media
because they are graven images?
This incredibly short sighted, expensive and stupid policy comes at a
time of economic collapse, with unemployment higher than any decade since
the Great Depression, when thrift shops will be more necessary than ever
for struggling families. Even WE routinely buy our kids' clothes at
Goodwill because they grow so fast and clothes are so expensive. And that was
before my job ended last month. We now qualify for subsidized housing because we are
officially low income (which would be nice to move to, if there were subsidized
apartments available in our county). I have no idea how we'll dress our
twins if this law goes into effect even WITH the exceptions. Despite
the fact that the agency could never actually enforce inspections due to
its small size, the legal obligation could still drive thrift shops out
of the children's clothes businesses, and possibly out of business
altogether as usually children's clothing and footwear represent at
least 50% of sales.
I urge everyone reading this who was ever a child to go to the
Commission's website and tell them to revise the restrictions in even
the present amended version under consideration. I'm going to strongly
suggest an exception for all second hand and small businesses or individuals
from ALL of the clothing restrictions. The level of lead here wouldn't harm
a Chihuahua,let alone a human child. What happened to science as the basis of such
regulation, instead of irrational panic?
My answers to an interesting Fairy Tale Princess Survey.
Pallid Regina (grin) at has a fascinating questionnaire related to her thesis. I strongly encourage everyone who reads this to help her out with your thoughts. Here are mine.
1. Describe a fairy tale princess: what does she look like, what are her primary personality traits?
A fairy tale princess is always stunningly beautiful, with skin as pale as milk, petite and slender build, and evident extreme youth (barely pubertal, usually). Her primary personality traits are focused on a tabula rasa ideal - she is a blank slate without experience or opinions of her own. She is completely "innocent and ignorant." (Jane Austen phrase that I love - if you haven't already read it, check out _Northanger Abbey_'s first chapter for a brilliant mockery of the gothic "princess" ideal, which continues throughout this funny and charming novel.)
The fairy tale princess is perpetually sweet and obedient, even to those who abuse her, she is completely passive. She does not think for herself, but must be guided by others even in completely plain circumstances (think Snow White needing to be told by the pitying servant that she is an assassination target, although she is too beautiful for him to kill her directly as ordered). She is usually a single child and typically wealthy with a few exceptions, so she has minimal exposure to other people (siblings, and especially *male* siblings who might familiarize her with men destroying her innocence) and "real life" (the need to work for a living and ability to gain knowledge). She is a blissfully ignorant sexual commodity.
However, sometimes fairy tale princesses DO develop character. Cinderella is honorable. Snow White is actively kind and helpful. Beauty becomes non-judgmental and accepting of difference.
2. Describe any connection you feel, positively or negatively, to a fairy tale princess or fairy tale princesses in general.
As a very little girl I remember being impressed with the bling surrounding a princess. As a skeptical 10 year old I liked the Little Mermaid because she decided walking on knives for the sake of someone who didn't love her was bullshit, and sensibly returned to the sea where people DID love her. (In fact, when the Disney version that changed the ending came out I was FURIOUS, because it destroyed the entire point of the story.) Mostly I was a tomboy though and didn't have much interest. As a teen I fell in love with Robin McKinley's retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and as an adult with her Deerskin.
3. Which fairy tale princess do you relate to the most?
Cinderella - I was from a working class family and abused by my grandmother. I'm a slob and hate housework. I thought her fairy Godmother was awesome and wished I could have one.
4. Please describe why/how you relate to this princess the most.
I couldn't imagine wealth. Cinderella was actively turning the other cheek and not stooping to her stepmother's level. So she wasn't passive. She was trapped in abusive circumstances she had no power to escape, like I was.
5. What book versions of fairy tale princess stories did you/do you own?
I own Robin McKinley's _Beauty_ and _Deerskin_.
6. What movie versions of fairy tale princess stories did you see in the theatre?
Snow White, when I was very little. I enjoy both Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast as an adult. I hated the Little Mermaid movie.
7. What movie versions of fairy tale princesses did you/do you own?
Beauty and the Beast.
8. In what ways do fairy tale princesses represent positive female role models?
Cinderella, the Little Mermaid and Beauty, even in the original stories, represented honor, kindness, determination, recognizing and learning from mistakes, loving herself, overcoming adversity, accepting others as they are and prizing character over looks to the extent that she could choose a partner that others unjustly rejected.
9. In what ways do fairy tale princesses represent negative female stereotypes?
Where do I even begin?! Beauty = good, not beautiful = evil, dark skinned = ugly AND evil, mature woman = evil. Ignorance and passivity. Greed. Reinforcement of women as a sexual commodity rather than an independent beings. Real or pretended stupidity so as not to outshine the Prince, who is seldom an intellectual giant himself. Women as tricksters. Young = good, old = evil.
10. Would you/do you read fairy tale princess stories to your child?
I read my 7 year old twin daughter and son Cinderella sometimes when they were younger. I plan to introduce them to Mckinley when they are young adults.
11. Would you/do you take your child to see fairy tale princess movies in the theatre?
There aren't any, but we have a dvd of Beauty and the Beast that Katie likes to watch with me once a year or so. She's been too young for the jokes in "Cinderelly" but might be growing into them. I'll consider Ever After when she's a young adult. Teddy isn't really interested in any kind of fiction and never really has been. Even as a preschooler when he would make believe play he would stop in the middle to clarify that he was not REALLY a dragon or puppy or whatever, he was really still himself.
He stopped believing in Santa Claus when he was 4, and showed doubts even at age 3. We feared this would ruin his twin's Christmas, but Katie blithely disregarded his opinion about Santa ("You're just wrong, Teddy.") and continued to believe with all her heart until this year, when she made a smooth transition from Santa as a real person to Santa as a metaphor of generosity and love, which she believes in with all her heart.
12. Would you/do you allow your child to own fairy tale princess movies for repeated viewing?
I let my kids watch the ones I approve of with discussions of the ideas in the movies and how they compare to real life. They don't happen to want to see them more than once every six months to a year. They're at the slapstick age.
13. Describe your first memory of Cinderella.
I think Cinderella was my first introduction to social injustice, I remember being enraged by the treatment she got and loved the idea of a fairy godmother who could make everything right.
14. Describe your current opinion of Cinderella.
Overall I believe that Cinderella is a good portrayal of an honorable and hard working woman who overcomes adversity, both internally and externally. Traditional portrayals of Cinderella as good and deserving due to her sexual attractiveness and the Ugly Steps as evil and undeserving due to their lack of it piss me off, naturally. I emphasize the behavior and not the physique as "ugly" to my kids.
15. Describe your first memory of Snow White.
Loved her red cheeks and brown hair and primary colors dress - I was probably 3 or 4, so that's pretty much it. Oh, she liked to sing like I did. And the dwarves were amusing.
16. Describe your current opinion of Snow White.
She's an idiot who can't recognize danger when it's right in her face. Her calling is to be a servant to dwarves and reform them in a creepy way. Wouldn't actively introduce it to my twins and if they saw it I'd want to talk about the assumptions and implications in the movie.
17. Describe your first memory of Sleeping Beauty.
It's vague I think I only read it once in first or second grade. There was nothing in it to appeal to me at that age.
18. Describe your current opinion of Sleeping Beauty.
This is a straight up sexual allegory involving "malevolent old woman curses baby" and a conquering/hunting/possessing man "saving" the ultimate passive child-bride. Repulsive. I don't think I know anyone who would show this to my kids, but it would piss me off and prompt a discussion that I could probably not resist turning it into a lecture. With the friend first. :)
19. In what ways do you think fairy tale princesses are still relevant in today's society?
They accurately reflect the patriarchy that still exists, with women as a sexual commodity and men as owners/buyers/determiners of which women go for the highest price. See also racism, ageism, looksism, classism... They're an excellent introduction to what is wrong with that kind of thinking.
20. What else would you like to say about fairy tale princesses?
They are typically nasty, petite and brutish representations of racism, sexism, classism, ageism, pedophilia and a host of other social ills.
On the other hand, several of the traditional princesses appeal to me precisely because they break the mold (albeit not completely), providing important and positive lessons, and/or modern retellings turn them to good account.
Little Mermaid - don't sacrifice or change yourself trying to make someone love you because it's a self betrayal and won't work anyway, choose the people who DO love you over romance.
Cinderella - mean people can imprison your body, treat you harshly, and force you to work for them, but they can never own your spirit and dignity if you don't let them, and good people exist who will love you as you are.
Beauty - form your own opinions of others based on character and not appearance or reputation, choose partners to your own liking and ignore prejudice against those partners.
21. Would it be OK if I asked you follow up questions on your responses?
Sub-questionnaire (optional)
1. Do you identify as male or female?
2. What is your age range (under 18; 19-25; 26-30; 31-39; 40-50; 51 & older)?
I'm 41.
3. What is your ethnicity?
White mutt - obviously our families immigrated here at some point, but nobody keeps track of who, where, or when. At a guess based on the degree of generational knowledge loss and the Irish, Dutch, English and German surnames involved I'd say some time after the Civil War but before the 1880's. My dad's dad was born in 1898 and his parents weren't first generation immigrants. My mom's grandpa was an American WWI fighter pilot and barn stormer after the war, which was kind of the James Dean of the Twenties. Great grandma Ruth's parents did NOT approve and they essentially had a shotgun marriage after she came home after ten o'clock one night. Their wedding photo is one of the most beautiful, happy pictures I've ever seen and they were lovebirds right up to my great grandpa Charlie's last breath.
4. What social class do you identify with (poor, middle class, upper class, etc.)?
Both working class and middle class.
5. What country do you live in?
The US.
Fat Women Killed by Doctors' Ignorance Rant
When training doctors are taught science involving research rather than memorization at all, it is usually epidemiology, which can NEVER establish anything more than a *chance* that there might be a statistically significant correlation between one thing and another. Correlation can never establish causation at all (Did you know that over 80% of child rapists drink water?! See what I mean? Correlation never implies causation.) This is the kind of study all over the news that makes people think that eggs are a wonder food one decade and a Silent Killer the next. BTW, when the correlation is lower that 200%, it means there is no relationship between the studied factors better than chance.
So, "Men who ate kiwi fruit more than twice a month were 198% more likely to have their penises shrivel up and fall off." means exactly the same thing as "Men who ate kiwi fruit more than twice a month were no more likely than other men to have their penises shrivel up and fall off." So feel free to ignore any such media "proof" that there is a magic food or diet. There isn't. We're omnivores who have lived on every possible type and range of foods. Actual malnutrition syndromes like beri beri or scurvy, and toxic exposures as with lead poisoning from food storage jars painted inside with lead based pigments are the exception, not the rule.
Epidemiology is a perfectly sound scientific method: it identifies out of the endless range of possibilities which correlations *might* actually have a causal relationship, and warrant a true scientific test with controlled diverse populations, double blinded so neither researchers nor participants know who gets what. And even when a cause and effect relationship is established in that test, the direction of cause and effect is not established. To do so we must do another true test with proper methods.
There are many things we truly do not know, and it's not malpractice to do your best to treat people with illnesses based on existing observations, even if they are technically guesses and hunches. Qualitative research is just as important as the above quantitative methods, because they can yield important "your mileage may vary" case evidence about individual differences and group differences that can't be quantitatively captured. Quant research can only reflect populations and are biased toward the average - evidence for outliers or any other individuals can't be adequately captured.
Studies linking BMI to cancer in populations can't yield any information at all about an individual's risk of getting cancer based on her BMI. Medical practice is not currently scientfically based for the most part, even when there's good evidence.
For example, in reproductive medicine there would be essentially no episiotomies or circumcisions performed in hospitals if medical practice were truly scientifically based. Episiotomies (cutting the vagina with a scalpel to make more room) CAUSE vaginal/labial/anal tears 90% of the time and worsen them when cut after a tear starts, while outcomes for the babies are just as good for the the mothers without episiotomies, meaning that episiotomies aren't "saving babies' lives". Circumcision has no scientifically significant health benefit at all, it's basically just a cultural genital mutilation ritual. (Which is admittedly up to the parents, many of whom don't regard it in this light.) Some obstetricians simply won't believe the science on either common practice because their approach to medicine uses faith based thinking rather than scientific thinking.
Faith based thinking is wonderful in the proper context, of course. But it has deadly results when used in medicine, where the faith based belief that fat people are less healthy because of their own moral turpitude, the "fact" that they are chronically non-compliant pathological liars because they report that they followed treatment but did not lose weight and that they are less deserving of care because they are perceived as (these are quotes from medical professionals) "repulsive" and "lazy" and "sloppy" and "lacking in self control." If fat people lived morally upright lives eating less food than the WHO and UN call starvation levels, they wouldn't be fat, and moreover they would enjoy all the health benefits that malnutrition brings. Like the scurvy, beri beri, and brain damage caused by malabsorption of necessary nutrients.
Fat Women Being Killed by Doctors Witholding Correct Chemo Doses
Chemo dosing key to ovarian cancer survival in obese women
Monday, January 05, 2009
News staff writer
Adjusting chemotherapy doses so they are consistent with body weight appears to eliminate higher death rates that have been found among obese women with ovarian cancer, according to a new UAB study.
The study compared survival rates between obese and non-obese women with ovarian cancer.
Earlier studies had found that obese women with ovarian cancer were likely to have shorter survival times than non-obese patients with a similar type and stage of ovarian cancer.
The new study, which is being published in journal Gynocology Oncology, found no statistical difference between obese and non-obese patients who underwent similar surgeries and were given chemotherapy based on their body weight.
"Often chemotherapy dosing is calculated using ideal body weight as a guide," said Dr. Kellie Matthews, an OB/GYN at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and lead author of the study. "We found using actual body weight works best, and it wipes away much of the difference in survival rates between obese and non-obese patients."
Researchers looked at records from 304 patients diagnosed with an aggressive form of epithelial ovarian cancer, and showed that when actual body weight was used in chemotherapy dosing the overall survival was 40 months for non-obese patients and 47 months for obese patients - statistically identical rates when considering the relatively small size of the study.
This life-and-death medical need to dose by the actual woman's actual weight has been known for YEARS with respect to breast cancer. A cancer, I might add, that exists mostly in fat tissue, making dosing based on "ideal weight = lean mass content" less tenable in the first place. Even if muscle absorption vs. fat absorption differ, an ignorant guess/assumption that fat does not absorb chemo meds at all is uncalled for. Doctors persist in dosing fat women inaccurately, despite controlled, double blinded research showing that mis-dosing of chemo is both killing fat people and leading to the assumption that being fat, and not widespread malpractice, is why high weight is linked to cancer deaths.
And practicing medicine without basing it on sound existing science IS malpractice. Yet most med schools teach next to nothing about research and interpretation of it. The "science" classes involve identification of structure and function, a rote memorization of information, which has little to do with the complete scientific method.


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Loyola at a Glance
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Experts gather in New Orleans to discuss special education reform
February 8, 2013
A conference focusing on the impact of special education reforms on laws and practices is the central topic of a special daylong event at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. "Special Education in a New Era of Reform" will be held Friday, March 1 in room 308 at the College of Law. It is free and open to the public. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the conference runs 9 a.m. to 3:35 p.m. Attorneys can earn five hours of Louisiana Continuing Legal Education credit for $125.
A panel of experts from across the United States will analyze reform efforts and discuss topics including the impact of school vouchers on special education students, the availability and quality of special education in charter schools, identifying students with special needs and achieving special education reform through class-action lawsuits.
"Over the last 20 years, general education has undergone a dramatic transformation. New-era education reforms include outcome-based accountability, school vouchers, charter schools and state takeovers of failing schools. During the same time period, special education has remained virtually static," said Robert A. Garda, Jr., J.D., the Fanny Edith Winn Distinguished Professor of Law at Loyola and one of the organizers of this event.
Additional panelists include:
- Marcia Arceneaux, Ph.D., J.D., former Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and No Child Left Behind compliance attorney, Recovery School District
- John Borkowski, J.D., Washington D.C.-based Hogan Lovells law firm
- Ruth Colker, J.D., distinguished university professor and Heck Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law, Ohio State University
- Eden Heilman, J.D. '06, senior staff attorney, Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center
- Wendy Hensel, J.D., associate dean for research and faculty development and professor of law, Georgia State University
- Mark Weber, J.D., St. Vincent de Paul Professor of Law, DePaul University
- Paul Grossman, J.D., chief regional civil rights attorney, U.S. Department of Education (retired)
For more information, contact Lindsey Chopin at 504-439-4029.
For the latest updates about Loyola University New Orleans, follow us on Twitter @LoyolaNOLANews or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/loyno.
Loyola at a Glance is written and distributed for the faculty, staff, students and friends of Loyola University New Orleans. It is published by the Office of Public Affairs, Greenville Hall, Box 909, 7214 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118. (504) 861-5888.
Information to be included in Loyola at a Glance must be received 2-3 weeks in advance of the publication date. Send us your news here.


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Angels and Demons Go Pop Culture
"I believe there are angels among us," sang the pop-country group Alabama to the accompaniment of a children's choir. And most Americans agree. According to a 2005 Fox News poll, 79 percent of Americans believe in angels. This belief …Read More
The Devil in the Details
The Christian is engaged in a three-front war. The Bible, replete with martial language, bears this out. The great evil trinity against which we fight is the world, the flesh, and the Devil. In our day we have made friends …Read More
Angels: Messengers and Ministers of God
Few biblical topics have provoked more wild speculation and fruitless debate than the topic of angels. Scripture doesn't begin to answer all our questions about the subject. But there's a lot more information about angels in the Bible than you …Read More
Truly Supernatural
Near the end of my seminary days, I remember one of my professors chastising us because we really "did not believe the Bible." I found this to be a remarkable statement because, after all, I was attending one of …Read More


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Most Interesting Coder - American Apparel
Stay httpd, my friends.
That's right. You know you do it. We all do it occasionally. Own up to it with this shirt, because sometimes honesty really is the best policy. Especially if it gets you beer.
You send Tweets without checking character count.
You think the sandbox environment is for toddlers.
Your resume has never been proofread.
You believe merge conflicts are for highways.
You are... the most interesting coder in the world.
(Now, the people whose stuff you broke cause you couldn't be bothered to test it might have a *different* adjective for you.)
"I don't always test my code but when I do, I do it in production" in white on American Apparel's fine jersey, 100% cotton tee in black.


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The "moving wall" represents the time period between the last issue available in JSTOR and the most recently published issue of a journal. Moving walls are generally represented in years. In rare instances, a publisher has elected to have a "zero" moving wall, so their current issues are available in JSTOR shortly after publication. Note: In calculating the moving wall, the current year is not counted. For example, if the current year is 2008 and a journal has a 5 year moving wall, articles from the year 2002 are available.
Download a group texting app so your entire crew can keep in touch before, during after an emergency. #NatlPrep #PrepareNow
Practice evacuating in the car with your animals, so they're more comfortable if you need to evacuate in an emergency. #NatlPrep #PrepareNow
Disasters don't plan ahead, but you can #PrepareNow. Get the @fema app with weather alerts for up to 5 locations: www.fema.gov/mobile-app #NatlPrep
Sign up for local emergency alerts in your area by searching online. #NatlPrep
Contact your water and power companies to get on a "priority reconnection service" list of power-dependent customers if you rely on electrical medical equipment. #PrepareNow
#PrepareNow. Find out if laws in your state permit pharmacists to dispense a 30-day refill of medications in an emergency.
Know basic home maintenance to protect your family and home. Learn how to mitigate your home against flood damage , or protect against the impacts of earthquakes .
Learn how to turn off utilities like natural gas in your home.
Put smoke alarms on every level of your home , test them monthly, and replace them when they are 10 years old.
Know the ways to keep your home safe from cooking, heating electrical fires.
On National Day of Action, Saturday, September, 15, hold a preparedness event . Some examples of events might be hosting a CPR class or Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training at your business, school, or house of worship; or volunteering with a local disaster response or recovery agency .
Keep your family safe. Install natural gas detectors throughout your house.#PrepareNow #NatlPrep
Commit to learning and sharing life-saving emergency skills with the
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What's deadly, colorless, and odorless? Carbon monoxide. Protect your family by installing a carbon monoxide detector #PrepareNow #NatlPrep
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Step 1: The user pushes the push-button, the interface valve is opened and the wastewater is evacuated. Air, which also helps to transport the waste, is also sucked into the system. At the same time, the clean water valve is opened and rinsing water is sprayed into the bowl.
Step 2: The vacuum valve is closed but the water valve remains open. A small amount of fresh water is sprayed into the bowl.
Step 3: The water valve is closed, a small volume of clean water is retained in the bowl and the toilet is ready for use again.
The collected blackwater can be discharged in different ways (JETSGROUP 2011):
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toilets systems are very favourable for source separation. In this case, greywater is collected in "greywater interface units" and is soaked away as soon as it is filled up.
(adapted from JETSGROUP 2005)
Jets vacuum toilet () and its components. Source: JETSGROUP (2005)
Vacuum on demand systems produce a vacuum only at the moment the toilet needs to be flushed. The system also uses air together with water for transport of sewage, as opposed to conventional flush toilets, which use water only. The toilet evacuates air from the drainpipes automatically upon activation of the activator button. A valve opens in the toilet, and the difference in air pressure that results causes the sewage to be flushed.Due to lower energy requirement, small systems can be solar powered.
At the end of the vacuum pipes, "biotanks" can be made available to compost the already shredded waste on-site. Flushed sewage is pumped through a particle filter into the composting tank. As soon as it is full, it can be emptied and put aside for further composting (see also
co-composting. The liquid, which is collected at the bottom of the tank, can be infiltrated or used as fertiliser (see also
leach field
soak pit
) (JETSGROUP 2005). Depending on the local
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and restrictions a secondary treatment may be required before discharge or reuse (see also non-planted filters ; vertical , horizontal or free surface-flow constructed wetlands.
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© 2018 BioMed Central Ltd unless otherwise stated. Part of Springer Nature .


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The delightful woman I live with often starts a conversation with me that way. Last week, she revealed that she was quiet surprised (later she even said disappointed) when I showed up at her door to meet her for the first time that I wasn't much darker with a cute French accent. My friends, her great-nephew and great-niece, had told her I lived in Haiti. So this is what she thought about me before I arrived. We laughed and laughed about it. Truth be told, I wish I was much darker with a cute French accent....
Actually, off topic from dark women with French accents, but here I go anyway.... I'm going to let YOU tell Me. What do you think of the following post? A friend posted it on her facebook, and it came from the Desiring God website. Give me your thoughts and opinions, please! Do you think you're not called because you haven't had a dramatic "calling" experience? Better think about that!
Don't Complicate the "Missionary Call"
July 27, 2011
by: David Sitton
Category: Commentary
I was never called to be a missionary, nor was I drafted. I volunteered. No special call was needed. I chose to go; I wanted to go; I was compelled to go. And where I go is always determined by an open Bible and a stretched-out map of the regions where Christ is still unknown and un-praised!
I chuckle when I hear missionaries and pastors talk about "surrendering to the call" of ministry. I always want to ask, "After you surrendered, were you water-boarded, or just hauled off in handcuffs and leg irons." Was it really necessary for you to be abducted by a heavenly vision before you would go into the work of the gospel?
The missionary call is not like a prison dog that tracks us down, sniffs us out, and hog-ties us for the nations. That is silly-talk and really bad theology. Nowhere in Scripture is a mysterious (supernatural) call a prerequisite before we can respond to the Great Commission. The opposite is actually true.
Don't Wait for a Call
No aspect of mission is more bogged down with extra-biblical baggage than the "missionary call." The clear command of Christ "to go" should be, by itself, sufficient to set you on your way "into all the world. . . proclaiming the gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15). You can't go wrong by trying to go. Trust the Lord to direct your moving feet. If you are convinced of your "call" to "stay", this will only serve as added confirmation that you are right. Don't fear the risk of ending up some place the Lord doesn't want you. Too many already took that "risk" when they assumed a stateside ministry or vocation with no confirmation other than their own desires.
Dramatic calls to ministry are the exception. If you have it in your heart to go, then go. Then, lean on the sovereignty of God to get you where he wants you in the harvest. Don't worry about "running ahead of God." You aren't that quick!
Try to Go
Paul tried to go into Asia, but the Lord wouldn't let him. He then tried to go to Bithynia, but was "kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia." Still, he kept trying to go. I count at least six cities in Acts 16 where Paul tried to take the gospel. It was only then that the Lord gave him a vision of the Macedonian. He woke up the next morning and immediately headed for the regions north, having "concluded that God had called them to preach the gospel in Macedonia.
The heavenly vision wasn't a "call" to mission, it was specific guidance for missionaries that were already going.
The point? Don't complicate the missionary call. Get radical with the going and God will get radical in the specific guiding.
David Sitton is the founder and president of To Every Tribe Ministries. David is a career church planting missionary who lived and worked in Papua New Guinea for 16 years, making first gospel contact with several headhunting, cannibalistic tribes.


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In conjunction with Renee Pittman Books, the Mind Control Technology Blog takes an in depth look into historic, research, covert ongoing testing, and development programs combined with today's use of highly advanced beamed psycho-physical, psychological electronic mind invasive technology. The technology uses extremely low electromagnetic frequency radio waves, microwaves, Scalar Waves, Ultrasound, Directed Energy Weapons, Active Denial System, infrared, Parametric Speaker, etc., designed EXPERTLY for covert, mass and social population control, and undetectable manipulation and influence. Little known to the public, these advancements are reported to have been used for DECADES and also reported to be focused on individuals, groups, communities and large populations. Today a global system has officially unfolded of beamed electronic weapon assaults through legalization and official Organized Stalking legitimizing ongoing nonconsensual human experimentation specifically for military and law enforcement agencies overseen by intelligence agencies for research activity Post 9/11. The reality, victim's report, is that this program has become a high-tech subjugation effort, which opened the door for massive, inhumane, VICIOUS violations of Constitution, Civil and basic Human Rights. Who is watching Big Brother after the Constitution has left the building? The fact is thousand's nationwide and million's globally, within a unified, determined, exposure effort. See also this blog's official website: http://bigbrotherwatchingus.com. ============================================================================================================ DISCLAIMER: All content provided in this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information. These terms and conditions of use are subject to change at any time and without notice. Due to the nature of the subject matter, these blogs must rely on open literature evidence and substantiating links for confirmation by others. It is a must. One person making these claims is simply not enough. Efforts continue to ensure corrected content and updates due to official tampering by unauthorized access. The ongoing effort of repeated tampering is a strategic effort to present this blog, and the information within, as unintelligible with shoddy information, poor grammar, punctuation, and misspelled words, presented as a deterrent to the public. With regards to the content, and the information in general, the author simply states "Believe it or not!"
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June 14, 2019
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Bigger Than Snowden Part II – The TRUTH MOVEMENT Continues…
June 8, 2019
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Bigger Than Snowden Original WHISTLEBLOWER Website Taken Down as the Truth Continues to Snowball to Millions Nationwide & Globally!
June 2, 2019
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The "Truth —> To Justice Initiative" Hope for Judicial or Congressional Intervention into Heinous High-Tech Targeting Operations
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When the TRUTH Becomes a Weapon, Cleverly used Against You – The Strategic "Delusional Disorder" Official COVER-UP
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Discrediting Words and Phrases Target's Should Avoid Using When Educating the Public. Abduction and Satanic Ritual Abuse Top the List. Here's Why…
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Biologic Solutions Sta-tight, 0.5 Ounce by Biologic Solutions
What if I am not satisfied with my purchase?
If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase from TVTimeDirect, please contact customer service at or call us at (800) 238-7119. Please see our return Policy Below. We can not accept returns on certain item such as products used on the mouth, or other parts of the body. This may include products such as the Fukuoku 9000 line of massagers, Permanent Kiss Lipstick, Forever White etc. If you have any concerns, please contact us before ordering.
Return Policy:
TVTimeDirect guarantees against manufacturer's defects for 30 days from date of delivery. Defective merchandise will be replaced with another like product upon return and receipt by TVTimeDirect of the defective item.
1. You must acquire a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number prior to returning any item. RMA's are available by request and are only good for a specific product and specific order. Please include the product you want returned, the order number, the order date, and the reason for return .
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I have just returned to London, where I have lived since I was 11. I have been away for four years, living as an ethnic minority in a monocultural part of the world, amassing a host of stories to tell to disbelieving friends. On the whole, I am glad to return. I shan't miss some locals' assumptions that, being a white woman, if I was outside after dark, as I occasionally was, usually to walk the few metres between my house and the church, I must be a prostitute eager to give them a blow job. I shan't miss the abuse my priest husband received: the daubing of "Dirty white dogs" in red paint on the church door, the barrage of stones thrown at him by children shouting "Satan". He was called a "f***ing white bastard" more than once, though, notably, never when in a cassock. I will also not miss the way our garden acted as the local rubbish dump, with items ranging from duvets and TV sets, to rats (dead or twitching) glued to cardboard strips, a popular local method of vermin control to stem the large numbers of them which scuttled between the rubbish piled in gardens and on pavements. Yes, I am very glad to have left Britain's second city.
Brum Deal: Everyday life in Britain's second city (Photograph by Julian Anderson)
For four years, we lived in inner-city Birmingham, in what has been a police no-go area for 20 years. We know that because some plain-clothed cops told us when they asked to use our vicarage as a stake-out to bust drugs rings that pervade the area. Having heard a parishioner's tales of what his neighbours did to him when he was wrongfully suspected of having grassed up a cock-fighting ring, we refused, explaining that we had to live here, they didn't. Even during this time we saw the area change. When we arrived, the population was predominantly Pakistani. Now Somalis are there in equal number. Most of the run-down Irish pubs were turned into mosques during our time.
As a woman, it was difficult for me to gain many first-hand impressions of the Muslims. I was generally ignored by both men and women, and on the rare occasion that I had to interact, when for example a car was parked illegally and blocking my gate, I was addressed as if inconsequential. My husband, however, faithfully reported conversations which you may find somewhat alarming. One of our favourite dinner-party pieces is this: opposite our vicarage there is a "library" which has some computers, some burkas and occasionally tracts that say offensive things about Jews and Christians. My husband did his photo-copying there, and got on rather well with everybody. One day he was chatting to a man with a passing resemblance to Lawrence of Arabia, who had just arrived from Antwerp — one of an increasing number of Muslims who are arriving here with EU passports. He asked him why he had come to Birmingham. He was surprised at the question: "Everybody know. Birmingham — best place in Europe to be pure Muslim." Well, there must be many places in Europe where Muslims are entirely free to practise their faith, but I suspect there are few places in which they can have so little contact with the civic and legal structure of a Western state if they choose. It seems to be particularly easy to "disappear" if that is their intention. A parishioner once described a lorry pulling up outside his house, the side opening to reveal stacked mattresses full of sleepy, and presumably illegal, immigrants, who staggered out into broad Brummie daylight. We heard tales of how houses are exchanged for cash payments in our area. An untaxed car was once clamped by a frightened-looking official at 8am, but within hours the owner of the vehicle had organised the clamps to be sawn off, and he sped away.