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The Book of Isaiah
J. Blake Couey
The book of Isaiah is a compilation of prophetic poetry and narratives, named for an 8th-century
Isaiah is a sophisticated work of biblical Hebrew poetry, characterized by intricate combinations of imagery and wordplay. It features a high view of divine sovereignty, emphasizing Yhwh's control over world nations and superiority over all human and divine powers; these ideas contributed to the emergence of monotheism in ancient Judah. The book also articulates diverse responses to imperial domination, even as it chronicles the ebb and flow of Judah's own imperial aspirations. Striking portrayals of women and gender appear throughout Isaiah, including the extensive personification of Jerusalem as a woman and the comparison of Yhwh to a mother. Isaiah is also notable for its discourse about disability, which serves a variety of rhetorical functions in the book.
The impact of Isaiah was felt immediately, as evidenced by the number of copies of the book among the Dead Sea scrolls and citations of it in the New Testament. It greatly impacted the development of important religious ideas, including apocalypticism and belief in resurrection. In Christianity, Isaiah played an important role in reflection upon the nature of Jesus and the inclusion of Gentiles, even as it informed Christian anti-Judaism. The book has had a more complicated reception in Judaism, where it significantly influenced the growth of Zionism. Scholarly study of Isaiah continues to clarify the shape of its final form and history of composition. Current research on the book is increasingly interdisciplinary, engaging metaphor theory, disability studies, and postcolonial thought. The history of the book's interpretation and reception is another area of growing interest.
Desire, Love, and Romance in the Hebrew Bible
J. Cheryl Exum
In the Hebrew Bible human sexual desire is, for the most part, constructed as male and as dangerous. In the patriarchal economy of ancient Israel, in which women were subordinated to men and younger men to older men, desire poses a potential threat to the preservation of male status, privilege, and hierarchy, upon which the patriarchal system is based. It is viewed warily as an overwhelming urge that, unchecked, can cause a man to lose control and act in ways that might jeopardize his position in the patriarchal hierarchy and, if some texts are to be taken seriously (Proverbs, the story of Samson), even his life. Thus legal texts seek to regulate and control sexual behavior and thereby channel sexual desire in permissible directions; Proverbs responds to the threat that uncontrolled desire poses by offering the young man a patriarchally sanctioned object of desire, personified Wisdom, and narrative texts, such as the stories of Samson and Delilah and David and Bathsheba, provide object lessons in the dangerous consequences of desire. There are few places in the Hebrew Bible where one person is said to love ('ahab) another in an amorous or carnal sense, and in all these cases only one of the pair is said to love. This does not mean that love was not thought of as reciprocated in biblical times, but only that reciprocal love was not a concern of biblical writers, with the exception of the poet of the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs is the only text in the Hebrew Bible in which sex, desire, love, and romance can all be found. This short book, the Bible's only love poem, gives its readers an unprecedented insight into what it is like to be in love from both points of view, a woman's and a man's.
God in the Old Testament
Brent A. Strawn
This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Please check back later for the full article.
The God of the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) is arguably one of the most fascinating deities in all religious literature: complex and multifaceted; prone to great acts of mercy and kindness, although not above brutal acts of punishment and wrath; consumed with care for the world and its inhabitants; capable of changing direction or mind; inexplicably in love with God's people and deeply concerned with their ways in the world.
This robust picture of the character of God in the Old Testament emerges in the aggregate: from viewing the library of books that is the Old Testament as a whole and trying to reckon with their literary complexity at a higher order of reflection. Inordinate attention to specific parts of the Old Testament—this verse, say, or that one, especially when divorced and isolated from all others—can produce a completely different (mis)perception such as that found in some ungenerous estimations that see the God of the Old Testament as petty or unjust, vindictive or bloodthirsty, misogynistic or genocidal. Such estimations are as old as the second-century arch-heretic Marcion but are also found in works of more recent vintage.
Some—although certainly not all—of these negative descriptors can be applied to the God of the Old Testament in certain passages, but a portrait consisting solely of them will end up being little more than a caricature that will not hold up to close scrutiny because it systematically ignores every piece of contrary data found in the Bible. To be sure, accounting for what might be called "polarities" in God's presentation (God's love versus God's wrath) is a challenging intellectual task, literarily as much as theologically. Not all readers are up to the job (witness Marcion). But this task must be engaged if one wishes to write a complete character description (not to mention analysis) of God from the biblical texts. Indeed, the complexity of any more fulsome portrait of God in the Old Testament—marked, for example, by tensions, a vast array of metaphors, and alternative presentations—should be one of the primary results of such an endeavor. The God of the Old Testament is, after all, first and foremost, according to the description above, complex and multifaceted.
The complexity of God's portrayal in the Old Testament is the direct result of the diversity of the Bible itself—a term that derives from a Greek plural, ta biblia, "the books." Not only are the books of the Bible several and different at a synchronic level, but also they come from different periods and are themselves (that is, within each particular book) the result of long diachronic processes. This two-layered diversity that marks the Bible adds yet further difficulty to the task of describing God therein, even as it suggests that more than one approach can and must be (and has been) utilized in the attempt.
In the final analysis, it seems safe to say that the complexity of God's portrayal in the Old Testament has functioned not only to make this deity endlessly fascinating in the history of civilization but also to underscore—at some literary level, if nothing else—that the God of whom the texts speak is truly a divine character: not able to be captured, controlled, or managed by the human characters in the stories and not even by the sacred literature itself. Only a robust approach to the biblical literature that pays attention to both synchronic and diachronic aspects can hope to do justice to such a fascinating deity.
History of Ancient Israel
H. G. M. Williamson
The history of ancient Israel is best known to most people from the narratives in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. There, however, the name "Israel" covers a wide diversity of social and political entities over the course of many centuries. The first attestation of the name outside the Bible (on the Egyptian stela of Merneptah, c. 1208
How to combine these differing forms of evidence has been the topic of lively and sometimes rancorous debate, which varies in its detail from one period to another, often depending on the extent to which external sources are immediately available. Solutions are not always available, but exploration into the nature of these problems and misunderstandings in the application of appropriate methods reveal where the problems lie and, in some cases, what are plausible solutions.
Until the 19th century, the history of ancient Israel was, for most people, coterminous with the familiar narrative of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. No relevant external sources were known, and there was no reason to doubt its essential historical reliability, allowance made, of course, for those who could not accept the miraculous as historically factual.
Archaeological and epigraphical discoveries over the last two centuries or so, together with the introduction more recently of new and different historical methods, have led to aspects of this topic being fiercely contested in current scholarship. Taking a general familiarity with the outline "story" for granted, the following analysis will present some of the major topics on which new data have become available and on which opinion remains divided.
Israelite Religion
Richard S. Hess
Emerging from the academic study of the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures during the Enlightenment and Reformation, Israelite religion became a topic of study in terms of the presentation in the Bible of Israel's worship of its God. Gradually this separated into a synthesis of biblical teachings on worship and its prescribed practices, on the one hand, and a study of the history of biblical Israel in terms of beliefs and practices toward one or more deities, on the other. The former branch evolved into biblical theology, while the latter developed into the topic of Israelite religion. Beginning in the nineteenth century, archaeological excavations and the interpretation of ancient Near Eastern texts preceding and contemporaneous with the period of the Bible broadened the picture. Comparing and contrasting archaeological and textual sources with the application of anthropological models derived from comparative religious studies led to modern syntheses of the subject. Initially these were heavily based upon the biblical text, often with the application of theories of literary and historical criticism. Since the 1980s, however, a focus on texts from the same time and region, as well as interpretation of artifacts with religious significance, has challenged older models of Israelite religion. Influences and the interactions of believers and their deities appear increasingly complex. No longer is there an understanding of a mere one or two religions in Israel (e.g., worshippers of Yahweh and worshippers of Baal). It now seems clear that various religious practices and texts attest to the presence of multiple religions followed by people in the region of ancient Israel, sometimes reflecting differences in gender, culture, ethnicity, and other factors. While a form of worship as described in biblical accounts may have been followed, there were other forms which, in various ways, syncretized Yahweh with other goddesses and gods. This has led scholars to question the factors that led to, and the time of emergence of, belief in a single deity in Israel, as well as to question the nature of that deity. Answers and models remain in a state of flux; evidence remains to be reviewed and interpretations demand critical interpretation.
Martin Luther and Christian Hebraism
Stephen G. Burnett
Christian Hebraism was a facet of Renaissance humanism. Biblical scholars, theologians, lawyers, physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and teachers in Latin schools sought to learn Hebrew in order to read the Old Testament in its original language, and to borrow and adapt ideas and literary forms from post-biblical Hebrew texts to meet Christian cultural and religious needs. While some medieval Christian scholars such as Nicholas of Lyra and Raymond Martin made extensive use of Hebrew in their works, not until the early 16th century were a significant number of Christians able to learn Hebrew and use it to study the Hebrew Bible and post-biblical Jewish texts. The desire of biblical humanists to read the Old Testament in Hebrew, the curiosity of Christian Kabbalists searching for ancient wisdom, and a slowly growing number of Jewish tutors and Christians who were able to provide Hebrew instruction all contributed to the growth of this movement. Jewish printers pioneered the techniques of mass-producing Hebrew books to feed this new market. Christian printers would use these same techniques to print grammars, dictionaries, and other books needed for instructing Christians. The growing conviction of Martin Luther and his followers that the Bible was the sole source of religious authority (sola scriptura) provided the most compelling reason for large numbers of Christians to learn Hebrew. The most active and innovative Protestant Hebraists during Luther's lifetime were members of the "Upper Rhineland School of Biblical Exegesis," including Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Capito, Conrad Pellican, and above all Sebastian Münster.
Martin Luther and his Wittenberg colleagues were early adopters of the new Hebrew learning. He first learned Hebrew using Johannes Reuchlin's Hebrew grammar, and put his knowledge to practical use when lecturing on the Old Testament and translating the Bible into German. His colleagues, above all Philip Melanchthon and Matthaeus Aurogallus, helped Luther translate and revise his translation from 1521 until his death in 1546. Luther characterized his approach to interpreting the Hebrew Bible as "Grammatica Theologica," employing Hebrew philology to interpret the text, but also wherever possible making it "rhyme" with the New Testament. Toward the end of his life, Luther became increasingly concerned that Münster and other Hebraists were too quick to accept Jewish interpretations of many Old Testament passages, particularly verses that traditionally had been understood to be messianic prophecies. In On the Last Words of David (1543) Luther offered a model of how he interpreted the Old Testament, while sharply criticizing Christian Hebraists who followed Jewish interpretation too closely.
Moral Agency in the Hebrew Bible
Anne W. Stewart
Do humans have a will capable of choosing the good, doing the good, and evaluating the good? These are the central questions of moral agency, the notion that humans can be morally responsible for their actions, that is, that they are capable of deliberately exercising agency for good or ill. The Hebrew Bible offers multiple perspectives on these questions, and at least three different models of moral agency can be discerned. Some traditions indicate that humans are fundamentally flawed moral creatures who are incapable of choosing the good apart from divine intervention. For example, the psalmist confesses: "I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me" (Ps. 51:5) and prays for a divine change in the human condition: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me" (51:10). Other traditions, however, frequently take the more optimistic view that humans are capable of choosing and acting in accord with the good, though they may not always exercise their inherent capacity to do so. The Deuteronomic law, for example, is based on the notion that humans have the ability to distinguish obedience from disobedience and to act accordingly. Thus humans will reap the consequences of their actions, for God "maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and [God] repays in their own person those who reject him … Therefore observe diligently the commandment" (Deut. 7:9–11). In other words, humans are held responsible for their moral choice. A third view, found especially in the book of Proverbs, takes a middle view that moral agency involves a combination of internal and external factors: while most, though not all, humans are inherently capable of choosing the good, their capacity for moral agency requires cultivation by external forces. That is, humans are capable of moral choice, yet their ability to choose according to the good depends upon both an innate receptivity and training by others. The Hebrew Bible thus reflects a diverse set of viewpoints about the status of human moral agency, the extent of human accountability, and the factors that influence human action.
The Pentateuch
Thomas B. Dozeman
The Pentateuch ("five books") is the title for the first five books of the Bible in the Greek translation, known as the Septuagint (LXX). The more original title is the Hebrew, Torah, meaning "law." The revelation and composition of the Torah is attributed to Moses, which is reflected in the additional designation of the books as the "Torah of Moses." The authorship of the Pentateuch is central to its interpretation in Jewish and Christian tradition. The Mosaic authorship characterized the interpretation of the Pentateuch in the precritical period of research. The study of the Pentateuch in the modern era has been dominated by the quest to identify its anonymous authors and the changing social contexts in which the literature was written.
Prophets in the Hebrew Bible
Jack R. Lundbom
"Prophets" in the ancient world were individuals said to possess an intimate association with God or the gods, and conducted the business of transmitting messages between the divine and earthly realms. They spoke on behalf of God or the gods, and on occasion solicited requests from the deity or brought to the deity requests of others.
The discovery of texts from the ancient Near East in the 19th and early 20th centuries has given us a fuller picture of prophets and prophetic activity in the ancient world, adding considerably to reports of prophets serving other gods in the Bible and corroborating details about prophets in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Two collections are important: (1) letters from the 18th-century Mari written during the reigns of Yasmaḫ-Addu (c. 1792–1775) and Zimri-Lim (c. 1774–1760); and (2) the 7th-century annals of Assyrian kings Esarhaddon (680–669) and Assurbanipal (668–627).
Prophecies at Mari are favorable for the most part, and censures of the king, when they occur, are not harsh. Many simply remind the king of some neglect or give him some warning. One tells the king to practice righteousness and justice for anyone who has been wronged. None censures the people of Mari as biblical prophecies do the people of Israel. Assyrian oracles are largely oracles of peace and wellbeing, typically giving assurance to the king about matters of succession and success in defeating enemies. If prophets admonish the king, it is a mild rebuke about the king ignoring a prior oracle or not having provided food at the temple.
According to the Bible, Israel's prophetic movement began with Samuel, and it arose at the time when people asked for a king. Prophets appear all throughout the monarchy and into the postexilic period, when Jewish tradition believed prophecy had ceased. Yet, prophets reappear in the New Testament and early church: Anna the prophetess, John the Baptist, Jesus, and others. Paul allows prophets to speak in the churches, ranking them second only to apostles.
Hebrew prophets give messages much like those of other ancient Near Eastern prophets, but what makes them different is that they announce considerably more judgment—sometimes very harsh judgment—on Israel's monarchs, leading citizens, and the nation itself. Israel's religion had its distinctives. Yahweh was bound to the nation by a covenant containing law that had to be obeyed. Prophets in Israel were therefore much preoccupied with indicting and judging kings, priests, other prophets, and an entire people for covenant disobedience. Also, in Israel the lawgiver was Yahweh, not the king. In Mari, as elsewhere in the ancient Near East, the king was lawgiver. Deuteronomy contains tests for true and false prophets, to which prophets themselves add other disingenuine marks regarding their contemporaneous prophetic colleagues.
Hebrew prophets from the time of Amos onward speak in poetry and are skilled in rhetoric, using an array of tropes and knowing how to argue. Their discourse also contains an abundance of humor and drama. Speaking is supplemented with symbolic action, and in some cases the prophets themselves became the symbol.
Ugaritic and Biblical Literature
Mark S. Smith
The Ugaritic texts provide a rich resource for understanding the Late Bronze Age kingdom of Ugarit, located on the coast of Syria. The site has yielded about two thousand tablets in Ugaritic, the West Semitic language of this city-state, and about twenty-five hundred tablets in Akkadian, the lingua franca of the period, as well as many texts written in seven other languages. These reveal a cosmopolitan, commercial center operating in the shadow of two great powers of the eastern Mediterranean basin, the Egyptians and the Hittites.
The Ugaritic texts offer innumerable literary and religious parallels to biblical literature. The parallels are so rich and in some cases so specific that it is evident that the Ugaritic texts do not merely provide parallels, but belong to a shared or overlapping cultural matrix with the Hebrew Bible. Ugaritic literature may not predate the earliest biblical sources by much more than a few decades, but the bulk of biblical literature dates to centuries later. Moreover, unlike the coastal, cosmopolitan center of Ugarit, ancient Israel's heartland lay in the rural inland hill-country considerably to the south in what is today Israel and occupied Palestinian territory. Despite these important differences, Ugaritic and biblical literature are not to be understood as representing entirely different cultures, but overlapping ones.
Violence in the Old Testament
Jerome F. D. Creach
"Violence in the Old Testament" may refer generally to the Old Testament's descriptions of God or human beings killing, destroying, and doing physical harm. As part of the activity of God, violence may include the results of divine judgment, such as God's destruction of "all flesh" in the flood story (Gen. 6:13) or God raining fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24–25). The expression may also include God's prescription for and approval of wars such as the conquest of Canaan (Josh. 1–12). Some passages seem to suggest that God is harsh and vindictive and especially belligerent toward non-Israelites (see Exod. 12:29–32; Nahum and Obadiah), though the Old Testament also reports God lashing out against rebellious Israelites as well (Exod. 32:25–29, 35; Josh. 7).
Christians have wrestled with divine violence in the Old Testament at least since the 2nd century
Assessment of the significance of records of or calls for violent acts in the Old Testament are difficult, however, because of the complex literary and canonical context in which such passages appear and because of the incongruity between ancient Israelite culture and the culture(s) of readers today. Studies that compare the Old Testament presentation of violence with that of contemporary ancient Near Eastern nations offer potentially more controlled results. Comparative studies alone, however, cannot account for the multiple layers of tradition that often make up Old Testament references to violence. That is, while Assyrian and Babylonian records of warfare presumably describe what Mesopotamian kings actually did in battle, the Old Testament often reports wars and military conflicts, and the aspirations of the leaders of Judah, from the perspective of a defeated people. Thus, even Judah's desire to defend itself militarily morphed into an expression of hope in God.
Given the complexity of the development of the Old Testament canon, a fruitful and ultimately more accurate way of treating the subject is to determine how ancient Israelites thought about violence and how the subject then affected the overall shape of the Old Testament. A logical starting point in this endeavor is the Hebrew word ḥāmas. This term connotes rebellion against God that results in bloodshed and disorder and a general undoing of God's intentions for creation. Thus, violence appears to intrude on God's world, and God acts destructively only to counteract human violence. For example, in Gen. 6:11–13 human violence ruined the earth and thus prompted God to bring the flood as a corrective measure. This way of understanding violence in the Old Testament seems to identify the Old Testament's own concern of violence and presses a distinction between divine destruction and judgment and human violence.
Despite this potentially helpful approach to violence in the Old Testament, many problems persist. One problem is the violent acts that religious zeal prompts. Old Testament characters like Phinehas (Num. 25), Elijah (1 Kgs. 18:39–40; 2 Kgs. 1), and Elisha (2 Kgs. 2:23–25; 9) killed, ordered killing, or participated in killing in order to purify the religious faith and practices of the Israelites. Nevertheless, most texts that contain problems like this also contain complementary or self-corrective passages that give another perspective. The complexity of the material with regard to violence makes it possible to argue that the Old Testament opposes violence and that the ultimate goal, and divine intention, is peace.
Women in Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible
Susan Ackerman
The Hebrew Bible is a book that was primarily written by men, for men, and about men, and thus the biblical text is not particularly forthcoming when it comes to the lives and experiences of women. Other evidence from ancient Israel—the society in which the Hebrew Bible was generated—is also often of little use. Nevertheless, scholars have been able to combine a careful reading of the biblical text with anthropological and archaeological data, and with comparative evidence from the larger biblical world, to reconstruct certain features of ancient Israelite women's culture. These features include fairly comprehensive pictures of women's lives as wives and childbearers within Israel's patrilineal and patrilocal kinship system and of women's work within the economy of a typical Israelite household. Because the Bible is deeply concerned with religious matters, many aspects of women's religious culture can also be delineated, even though the Bible's overwhelmingly male focus means that specific details concerning women's religious practice must be painstakingly teased out of the biblical text. The Bible's tendency to focus on the elite classes of ancient Israelite society likewise means that it is possible to sketch a reasonable portrait of the experiences of elite women, especially the women of the royal court, although, again, this information must often be teased out of accounts whose primary interest is elite men.


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Hey guys,
my name is Hannah Reisl, I´m 14 years old and come from Austria. I live in a small town called St. Georgen. It is not very big and has just a small population, so there are not so many good places for skateboarding and something like that. Our town has only one playground with a small place for skateboarder, but there are no ramps for jumps and tricks, because of that not many people come to this place. I think when there would be a better skater park in our town, that more people like to start skateboarding. I can´t Skateboarding, but in my old school were many kids which like to do this. Skateboarding is also a very good possibility for meet people and make new friends and that should be supposed.
Is there a good skater park in your town? What is your opinion to this topic?
I´m looking forward to read your answers,

subset: commoncrawl


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Dickey outduels Pineda, homers provide insurance
TORONTO -- The high velocity and consistent command were back for R.A. Dickey on Saturday afternoon as he bounced back in a big way during a start against the Yankees.
Toronto's ace was coming off an outing vs. the Rays in which he tied a career high with six walks and struggled to get his knuckleball above the mid-70s on the radar gun. Neither of those issues returned against New York as Dickey had one of his better outings in a Blue Jays uniform.
Dickey struck out six and tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings to outduel Michael Pineda, and Melky Cabrera and Jose Bautista added late home runs in the Blue Jays' 4-0 victory over the Yankees at Rogers Centre.
"I'm not sure of all the data, but I certainly feel much more in control when I'm able to get to those higher velocities," Dickey said. "I feel like I know where to start it. That's kind of the thing that has always separated me from being a traditional knuckleballer -- that I have the velocities that are a little bit higher, and they allow me to throw more strikes with it."
Dickey was consistently hitting the upper 70s on his knuckleball and even had some pitches register in the low 80s. That had some people assuming he was using his fastball more than usual, but after the game he said that wasn't the case, as he only used that pitch 10 to 12 times throughout the game.
The upper-70s/low-80s area is where Dickey typically likes to find himself. He was hitting it during Spring Training, but for whatever reason, during his first start of the season, he struggled to generate that type of speed. That seemed to cause his knuckleball to float all over the place as he struggled to throw it within the strike zone.
During this start, though, he walked just one and allowed only five hits. He threw 69 of his 108 pitches for strikes and limited the Yankees to hitting just 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
"You have to live and die with the pitch. That's part of what it makes it very hard to do at the big league level, and it makes it very special," he said. "You have to try to have the resolve to hold both. Tonight was much different, much better obviously, but my velocities were a lot better this time through than they were [against the Rays]. I didn't feel great … and I had a rough game, I had a clunker, and it's nice to get over that against a really good ballclub in the [American League] East."
Dickey's only major scare came in the third inning. Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli led off with a double to right, but Dickey proceeded to strike out a pair of batters before Jacoby Ellsbury came through with a single up the middle.
Colby Rasmus fielded the ball, made a strong throw to the plate, and catcher Josh Thole applied the tag as Cervelli came sliding in. Home-plate umpire Dana DeMuth called Cervelli out, then after an inquiry from Yankees manager Joe Girardi, decided to review whether Thole had blocked the plate. DeMuth took a look at the replay and confirmed the call on the field, which ended the inning.
"I don't even understand the rule, to be honest with you," Thole said. "I don't even know. I don't know what I would have argued. I mean, the ball kind of took me up the line, and I just went for the ball. I wasn't even aware that I gave him a lane to slide, I was just going to catch the ball."
Dickey was impressive, but Pineda was arguably just as good. Pineda was making his first big league start since Sept. 21, 2011, but he didn't display any signs of rust, dominating the Toronto lineup for most of the afternoon.
Toronto's only significant rally vs. the right-hander came in the second inning. Adam Lind led off with an opposite-field double and, after a botched bunt by Brett Lawrie, Thole came through with a little blooper to left field for an RBI single.
"I'm very happy about everything, because everything is doing good, and that's what I'm looking for," said Pineda, who allowed just the one run and struck out five in six innings. "I've been working hard for the last two years to be here, and I'm happy with it."
The Blue Jays broke the game wide open in the eighth inning on a pair of home runs by Cabrera and Bautista. Cabrera's solo shot to right was his second in as many games; Bautista's two-run homer was his third of the season. Both came off right-hander David Phelps, who was charged with three runs over his two innings.
Toronto now has an opportunity to secure its first series victory of the season with a win on Sunday afternoon. It's obviously very early, but following last season's disappointing April, the next four games of this homestand are still rather crucial. The same could be said for Dickey, who didn't want a repeat performance of last season's slow start.
"Absolutely, and it's a much better start than I had to the season," Dickey said. "Last year at this time, I was 0-2, had given up three or four home runs and was really searching for my feel. It's nice to have a good outing under my belt within the first couple of outings.
"It always takes a few [games] for everybody here. It takes a few times to get your rhythm going and to get into the heartbeat of the season. So for me, I felt in sync tonight and really rhythmic."


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Do the right thing, get fired
The news is all about Tony Snow today. Under the mantra, speak no ill of the dead, I'm just going to say of all the official spokesliars for this administration, he was the least odious and may he rest in peace. My condolences to his family and friends.
His untimely death will dominate the cycle, while stories like these will pass almost unnoticed.
When Gina Gray took over as the public affairs director at Arlington National Cemetery about three months ago, she discovered that cemetery officials were attempting to impose new limits on media coverage of funerals of the Iraq war dead -- even after the fallen warriors' families granted permission for the coverage. She said that the new restrictions were wrong and that Army regulations didn't call for such limitations.
Six weeks after The Washington Post reported her efforts to restore media coverage of funerals, Gray was demoted. Twelve days ago, the Army fired her.
Tony Snow was probably a decent guy in his personal life but he very much helped make wrongheaded policies like these possible. He cashed in on the evil side of politics. Yet, they'll be singing his praises for the next few days while we'll probably never hear about Gina Gray again, even though she actually tried to make a difference for the better.
That's just not right.
(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)
Labels: Bush Administration, media, politics, U.S. military


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Welcome to the Web-Site of Xophura(সঁফুৰা) , the electronic archive on Assam, and Assamese culture and literature. Assam, a state in the North-Eastern part of India has a rich socio-literary heritage being the melting pot of the cultures of the people of Mongoloid origin which dominates the rest of the North-Eastern states in India and the cultures of the people of Aryan origin which dominates the Northern India. Here, the effort is on to build up an archive to reflect and preserve this vast socio-literary heritage.
R.I.P Bhupen da..
Dr Bhupen Hazarika , the master balladeer from Assam, passes away at the age of 85.
We have moved out of 'www.geocities.com/p_saikia' recently as Geocities.com is closing. This site is not yet fully functional yet. However we have restored the original site here(www.xophura.net/static) while we are working towards finalizing up our new look. If you don't find what you are looking here in this site, you may check out the copy of our old site.


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Two factions of an Anglican church's congregation have been locked in a month-long struggle: Each occupies a different floor of the main parish building in Los Angeles, refusing to move, threatening to lock out the other side. The dispute: whether or not to join the Roman Catholic Church.
St. Mary of the Angels is a small, 60-member Anglican community based the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, a neighborhood with deep Hollywood history, peppered with grand Spanish-style homes up against Griffith Park and the famed Greek Theatre.
But the drama going on at St. Mary's is of a particularly vicious kind. Court battles have dragged on for months -- and there is no sign the face-to-face occupation will end anytime soon.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the clash began soon after the Rev. Chistopher Kelley arrived as parish priest in 2007. Once Pope Benedict opened the door for Anglicans to join the Catholic church, Kelley -- along with his wife and children -- strongly advocated the move.
"We can see the dispiritedness of the Anglican movement," he told the Times. "Pope Benedict's offer was a sanctuary for us."
A large faction of the small congregation quickly agreed -- but others held out against the move, and in December, a majority of the parish board asked Kelley to leave. He didn't. In April, Anglican officials also tried to push him out. He wouldn't budge.
The court battle began. Restraining orders have been issued against Kelley, along with accusations of temper tantrums and theft of parish resources. He's been locked out of the parish, he's broken back in -- and now followers of both factions are squatting at the church, clinging to the property as another round of lawsuits is filed.
Presiding over the first floor area occupied by Kelley and his supporters: a portrait of Pope Benedict.


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According to a national consumer poll conducted online by Penn Schoen Berland in June 2012 on behalf of Bridgepoint Education's Ashford University, 88% of adults and more than 90% of moms believe "technology changes everything." When it comes to views of online education, more than 60% of adults between the ages of 35 and 48 say online degree programs provide a more realistic learning environment that mimics today's work culture than traditional campus programs.
When it comes to moms, more than 80% surveyed believe online higher-education degree programs are more tailored to their interests and needs than traditional campus programs. Also, when considering furthering their education, more than 40% of working moms said that they are only interested in pursuing a degree online.
"Twenty years ago, I was a working mother of four looking to begin a doctorate program. I enrolled at a traditional university only to find that the traditional college experience did not work with my lifestyle," said Dr. Elizabeth Tice, president of Ashford University. "As the President of Ashford University and in part because of my personal experiences, I've worked to make Ashford University a place that's dedicated to serving the unique needs of adult learners."
According to the Ashford University survey, 75% of both stay-at-home and working moms think an online higher-education degree program is more innovative and cutting edge than a campus higher-education degree program and more than 65% of moms think an online higher-education degree program uses the most-advanced technology to facilitate learning.
The consumer poll also revealed the following:
- Respondents report that online degree programs are 58% more "innovative and cutting edge" than traditional campus degrees and 36% more likely to "use advanced technology to facilitate learning".
- 37% of high school graduates have promised to go back to school "more times than they can count"
- 81% of respondents believe that online colleges/universities are "on the rise", compared to just 12% of traditional campus colleges/universities.
The survey targeted 1,000 respondents between the ages of 26 and 48 who were considering enrolling in a higher-education program in the next two years to gain insights regarding their motivations and barriers relating to higher education. Detailed consumer poll data and select infographics are available upon request.
For more information, please visit www.ashford.edu/belong.
About Bridgepoint Education
Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (NYSE:BPI) improves the way individuals learn. By harnessing creativity, knowledge and proprietary technologies, such as Constellation, Thuze and Waypoint Outcomes, Bridgepoint Education has re-engineered the modern student experience with innovative solutions that advance learning. Its accredited institutions – Ashford University and University of the Rockies – embody the contemporary college experience. Ashford University offers associate's, bachelor's and master's degree programs while University of the Rockies offers master's and doctoral degree programs. Both provide progressive online platforms, as well as traditional campuses located in Clinton, Iowa (Ashford University), and Colorado Springs, Colorado (University of the Rockies). For more information about Bridgepoint Education, visit www.bridgepointeducation.com or call Shari Rodriguez, associate vice president of Public Relations, at 858.668.2580.
About Ashford University
Ashford University is defining the modern college experience by combining the heritage of a traditional campus with the flexibility and effectiveness of online learning. The University provides a vibrant learning community where high-quality programs and leading-edge technology create a dynamic, immersive and stimulating learning experience. Ashford University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association (www.ncahlc.org). The University offers practical and progressive associate's, bachelor's and master's degree programs online, as well as bachelor's degree programs at its Clinton, Iowa, campus. Ashford University – where heritage meets innovation. For more information, please visit www.ashford.edu or call Shari Rodriguez, associate vice president of Public Relations, at 858.513.9240 x2513.


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CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – Before a deployment, Marines train with their units, establish relationships and build camaraderie.
But one Marine prepared for her deployment with one unit, but was transferred to a different unit once she arrived here.
Marine Corps Cpl. Sasha Savage, a supply noncommissioned officer with Regimental Combat Team 7, deployed with Marine Air Ground Task Force Support Company, Reset and Reconstitution Operational Group, but moved to the regiment after a shortfall was identified.
Savage, a 23-year-old native of Beaverton, Mich., works with the regiment's infantry battalions to ensure they are properly submitting supply requests and making responsible fiscal decisions. For an NCO, this is an important responsibility.
"Poor stewards of government spending and misappropriations of government funds are some things that supply absolutely has to be in tune with," said Marine Corps 1st Lt. Donald Turner, the regimental combat team's supply officer. "Being irresponsible with that is very unfavorable for a command."
Savage's role goes beyond being an NCO. She also has been trained to fill in as the supply officer if Turner has to leave the office to tour the regiment's battle space.
"That's the way we trained her, so that she could be here to answer questions if I'm not around," said Turner, a 26-year-old Columbus, Ohio native and graduate of Ohio State University. "We wanted to create multiple capabilities within her as a Marine."
For about two weeks, the team was unable to use scanners, so Savage improvised. She changed her daily run route to pass each of the battalion's supply sections, and along the way, she picked up and dropped off paperwork. The route is just short of 5 miles, and she carried a backpack, but she just shrugged it off.
"I just dropped by and picked it up," she said. "It's really not that far."
Such an attitude is not that uncommon with Savage, whose father served in the Army and Navy. She doesn't brag about having learned a new job specialty by working as a night-watch clerk or that she has improved her Marine Corps martial arts skills to the brown belt level. And she recently finished writing a book report on "The Last Stand of Fox Company," a book on the Marine Corps commandant's reading list.
"When she came in, she was rather quiet about things," Turner said. "Her path of leadership now is leading her peers -- leading by example. She's actually trying to be the best NCO in the shop, and Marines are following her because of it."
Savage has made a big impact on the supply section and will continue to be an important asset, Turner added.


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SANFORD — Both a local pastor and sociology professor believe the election of an Argentinean pope will encourage people, showing the Catholic Church's relevance in the 21st century.
When 76-year-old Jorge Bergoglio was elected in Vatican City on Wednesday, March 13, he became the first pontiff from the Americas and the first pope from outside Europe in more than a millennium.
"I think that it shows that the Holy Spirit is truly at work and that with the introduction of a different culture, I think the truth remains the same, the teachings kind of flow and address to the time, but the way of looking at things and the intensity of some issues will give people hope and sort of a different connection to our Holy Father," said Father Philip Tracy, of St. Therese of Lisieux Parish, which is comprised of Holy Family and Notre Dame churches in Sanford and Springvale.
Michele Dillon, a sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire, said the Catholic population is growing in the southern hemisphere and having a non-Italian, non-European pope will help many people identify with him.
"It gives them a better sense that they are the church," she said. "It's not just Rome and Europe."
Dillon said it is more personal that the pope is from Argentina.
"I think it is also very good news for the American Catholic Church because we have so many Hispanics in America," Dillon said. "This is a good thing."
Father Tracy said the pope's election is timely, as the country looks at immigration issues.
He noted "the whole growth of the Hispanic church in our country, a very vibrant church, a very colorful expression of faith. I just think that it is an exciting thing for the church."
Dillon said the pope, who has been named Pope Francis, has many other issues to face in the coming years between the church's sexual abuse crisis, the shortage of priests in the United States, sexuality and women's roles in the church and global economic inequality.
"Life on the ground is much more complicated than Catholic theology allows," she added.
Father Tracy said Pope Francis will also need to find ways to teach the younger generation. The pope will need "to address the truth and teach it in a way that is accessible to them and to continue that dialogue, finding the common ground between our brothers and sisters throughout the world that transcend borders," he said.
Pope Benedict XVI became the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years. After eight years, he announced he was unable to continue with the job.
Over two days last week, conclaves chose Pope Francis, the 266th pope, in just five rounds.
AP reports that in centuries past, it has taken weeks, months and even years to choose a new pope, with a leading candidate even dying during a 13th Century conclave that lasted many, many days.
"I kind of thought it was going to be the second day, myself," Father Tracy said on the timing of the election, adding that they did not have to bury the last pope this time, giving them more time to come together and have conversations. "I think having the pope in place by Easter was going to be important — the earlier that was done, the better. I think it was just a clear sense of what the church needed."
Dillon said she did not feel one cardinal had more of a chance than any other in this conclave, but saw it as "an open field."
Father Tracy added, "At the end, there was clear indication of what was necessary — getting behind the pope, doing what is best for the church and not spending time debating fine points."
Bishop Richard J. Malone, Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Portland, said the election was "a moment of tremendous grace" and that Pope Francis was selected through the intercession of the Holy Spirit.
"As the first Holy Father from the Americas, I was impressed with Pope Francis' humility and spontaneity as he began his first blessing to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, by asking everyone to pause in silent prayer, to pray for him and bless him," he said in a public statement. "That was a powerful moment."
Father Tracy agreed with Bishop Malone.
"I really do see this as an action of the Holy Spirit calling us to come together, to acknowledge our sins, to acknowledge our difficulties but to embrace hope," Father Tracy said.


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Relocation to London – Childcare Options
After moving to London many families wonder what they will do with their children. If the kids are school age things are pretty easy, but for those families with children under school age it gets a bit hairy. Much like in the States those new to London due to international relocation have several options when looking for childcare during the day.


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Flash: Berkeley Schools, Colleges Gear Up for March 4 Day of Action
Schools, classrooms, corridors and cafeterias in Berkeley are buzzing with excitement over the March 4 Day of Action in California. An idea born out of the Oct. 24 education conference at the UC Berkeley campus, Thursday's rally has evolved into a statewide movement to protest budget cuts, fee hikes and furloughs in public education. -more-


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< Back to Theatre
Il Barbiere Di Siviglia
Count Almaviva arrives in Seville to search for the mysterious woman he met in Madrid. When he learns that she is Rosina, due to be married to her tyrannical guardian Bartolo, he enlists the help of the cunning barber Figaro to win her hand.
Almaviva and Rosina fall in love, and Rosina turns her mind to duping Bartolo. The combined conniving of all three is too much for Bartolo, who has to admit defeat when he discovers Almaviva and Rosina have married right under his nose.
Sung in Italian with English surtitles.
Show Information
Saturday, 17th September 2016
Tuesday, 11th October 2016
3 hours 30 minutes with one interval
Venue Information
Royal Opera House
Bow Street
Map | Seating Plan
(3 mins) The Royal Opera House is off Covent Garden piazza, which is visible from the tube station exit. There is a revolving door entrance at the piazza.


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2000 National Champions
OU Softball History & TraditionĀ
Oklahoma earned its first-ever softball national championship by beating UCLA, 3-1, in front of a Women's College World Series record crowd of 8,049 at Don E. Porter Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City on May 29, 2000.
The title was the first by a women's athletic program at Oklahoma. The Sooners finished the season with the best record in the country at 66-8.
Oklahoma, the third seed in the WCWS, got on the scoreboard in the third inning with a two-run home run from All-American first baseman Lisa Carey. It was the second homer in as many days for the junior as her solo shot versus Arizona in the semifinals lifted the Sooners to the title game.
Center fielder Erin Evans, who knocked a single to left field for her second hit of the game, scored ahead of Carey. The shot was Carey's 20th of the year and tied the OU single-season record which was set in 1999 by Lynette Velazquez.
The inning continued when right fielder Andrea Davis singled to right field. Pinch runner Jaime White advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior All-American Ashli Barrett. Designated player Mandy Fulton followed Barrett's bunt with one of her own, placing runners on second and third with two outs. Freshman shortstop Kelli Braitsch then nailed a single to left field, driving in White for the 3-0 lead.
The Bruins tightened the game with a run of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning. Freshman Natasha Watley reached on an infield single and then moved to third on a Julie Adams single to right-center field. Watley scored on a sacrifice fly by UCLA catcher Julie Marshall, but OU pitcher Jennifer Stewart promptly recorded her only strikeout of the game on the next batter to end the inning.
Stewart earned the World Series Most Outstanding Player award, earning victories in all four of OU's WCWS wins. Carey and Braitsch joined Stewart on the all-tournament team.
OU became just the second non-west coast team to win a softball national championship.


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Compare cheap flights from Cairns to Hangzhou
When is the cheapest time to fly to Hangzhou?
What to do in Hangzhou
Hangzhou is the capital city of China's Zhejiang province, and it's also one of China's most popular tourist destinations. Blessed with natural beauty and filled with historic and cultural sights, Hangzhou is one of the most beautiful cities you will ever travel to.
Visit the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site at West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou. Spend time with someone you love at West Lake's causeways and the romantic Broken Bridge, especially during winter. Stop by the lovely Lesser Yingzhou Isle. Take plenty of photos at Solidary Hill and Zhongshan Park. See the landscape at its best by experiencing The 10 Scenes of West Lake.
Go on a temple run in Hangzhou next. See the towering Baochu Pagoda. Add a pop of colour to your photos at the Baopu Taoist Temple. Go on a hike and have a quiet escape at the Jade Emperor Hill. Hear the lovely ringing of Jingci Temple's bell. And visit the Leifeng Pagoda, Lingyin Temple, and the Six Harmonies Pagoda too.
Take in the city's beauty at the Dragon Well Tea Fields from March to May. Find your next profile picture at Guo's Villa and Hangzhou Botanical Gardens. You'll find birds and other wildlife at Xixi National Wetlands Park and Hangzhou Zoo. Don't forget to visit the historic and stunning Dreaming of the Tiger Spring.
Catch the vibrant show of Impression West Lake. Are you travelling with kids? Then Hangzhou Paradise Park is your perfect stop! But if you want a more relaxing time in the city, enjoy a cuppa at Hangzhou's Manjuelong Village, Longjing Village, or Meijiawu Village.
Take a piece of Hangzhou back in Australia and go shopping at the Wushan Night Market, Wushan Square, Yan'an Road, Wulin Square, and Hefang Street.
When to visit Hangzhou
The city is a year-round destination city, so the best time to visit Hangzhou depends on what you want to experience during your trip. You can save even more money when you book your flights for October because it's the cheapest time to fly to Hangzhou.
Australians need a visa to fly to China and travel to Hangzhou. Check out Smartraveller for more info and the Embassy of The People's Republic of China in Australia to know how to apply for your visa. English isn't widely spoken in Hangzhou, so you should pack a good Mandarin phrasebook on your trip.
Travelling to and around Hangzhou
Once you touchdown at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, ride the taxi or shuttle bus to get to the city. Travel around Hangzhou by taxi, bus, subway, and waterbus.
So what are you waiting for? Visit this gorgeous Chinese city and book your Hangzhou flights with Skiddoo today!
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Brisbane is the capital of the state of Queensland. It has a population of about 2 million people, making it the third-largest city in Australia. It's a positive attitude and creative confidence that makes Brisbane a genuine new-world city.
Brisbane has a year-round living climate. When the wet season hits the northern Australian tropics, Brisbane enjoys hot and clear summer days. When winter hits the southern capitals of Sydney and Melbourne sending temperatures into the low teens the Brisbane climate stays mostly dry and sunny, with daytime temperatures usually remaining above 20°C.


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SBDC Back in Business at SUNY Canton
The SUNY Canton Small Business Development Center has resumed operations in their permanent offices in Wicks Hall at SUNY Canton.
The SBDC briefly relocated their operations at the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) until buildings were reopened following the Feb. 10 fire in Cook Hall.
"We express the most sincere thanks to the IDA for accommodating our staff during our displacement," said SBDC Director Dale Rice. "It is because of their generosity and support that the SBDC was able to continue serving small businesses in the county without interruption."
The SUNY Canton SBDC provides free, individual advisement and counseling services for new and existing small businesses in areas such as business planning, financial analysis, marketing, human resources, government contracting, and much more. To learn more about the SBDC's services, visit http://www.canton.edu/sbdc/ or call (315) 386-7312.
Tags: Dale Rice, SBDC, St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Authority


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Trey Songz On s3x Cameras and Hiphop
Trey songs talks on how he lost his virginity and how he could get it in during sex
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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BIOL-010 Issues in Biology
Emphasizes analysis of biological problems relevant to the human experience and presents basic biological concepts in a variety of contexts. Subject matter might include medicine, environmental issues, ecology, molecular biology, physiology and others. 4 SH. 3 lecture hours. 3 laboratory hours. CC: Scientific Explanations. If the topic being offered is Human Heredity or Brain and Behavior, the course is also Team Intensive. If the topic being offered is Spice of Life, the course is also Interdisciplinary and Team Intensive and will have a pre-requisite of Junior Standing.


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Breaking! Mitt Romney changed his mind about something! Remember earlier this year, when a liberal commentator made that remark about Ann Romney being a stay at millionaire's wife who hadn't worked a day in her life? And remember how everyone leapt to defend Mrs. Romney because, to be fair, having five kids is kind of hard no matter how much money you have? And remember how Mitt was all, leave my wife out of this! Families are sacred things! Well, it turns out that back in 2008, Mittens was just fine with attacking the wife of then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama for not loving America enough.
Buzzfeed's resident embarrassing political video finder Andrew Kaczynski dug this one up from the 2008 campaign season, back when Sarah Palin's family was the family that was off limits. Romney was addressing a comment Mrs. Obama had made early in the campaign about not being very proud of America sometimes. Not thinking America is awesome is pretty much a mortal sin, in GOP town.
When I first made the following joke, I thought it was hyperbole, but as the campaign chugs along, I'm beginning to think that the most consistent thing about Mitt Romney is his hair.


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Dear Parents and Students,
What an exciting school year 2011-2012 was for the Appling County High School Pirates. Our baseball team won the state championship, our football team made it to the final four, the track team had a state winner in the hurdles, and our literary team won region for the first time. I am looking forward to the great things that our students will accomplish in the 21012 – 2013 school year.
High school principal welcomes students back
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I want to share the contents of my external HDD with my Android phone.
For the last two hours, I've been trying to correctly set up Samba - it was absolutely horrible.
There must be another, simpler way to set up file sharing over a (W)LAN, because learning 200 new shell commands in a hostile and unknown environment definitely isn't something I want to waste my time on.
Is something as FTP my solution?


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Cash Poor
by Robert H. Miller | Posted January 24, 2012
In spite of Liberty contributing editor Mark Skousen's observation that "income isn't distributed, it's earned," much handwringing has followed recent reports that income distribution in the US is becoming increasingly unequal.
To a libertarian, how much one earns or owns — so long as it's acquired honestly and honorably — is nobody's business. But at the other extreme are the still-influential Rawlsian redistributionists. They believe that since each person's station in life is due to little more than a roll of the existential dice, income distribution ought to cluster tightly. If it doesn't, it's an indication of an unjust society, and something must be done about it. That's the ideology.
Nevertheless, there's a pea under that ideological mattress: the fear of revolution if the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class disappears. Though probably a reductio ad absurdum, it is nonetheless a theoretical possibility under a laissez-faire economic system.Friederich Hayek understood this, which is why — to the consternation of many libertarians — he advocated a minimal welfare state as a worst-case scenario safety net.
Whatever the chances might be that a just economic system — laissez-faire capitalism — could lead to the penury of a majority, income distribution is a concern to the inner Hobbesian in all of us. So when income inequality rears its ugly head, it bears critical investigation.
In 1912 Italian statistician and sociologist Corrado Gini devised the eponymous Gini Coefficient, a statistical formula based on the Lorenz curve, to measure variability and mutability among data in any discipline. The index is now widely accepted as a measure of income inequality in economics. Values range from 0, total equality, to 1, maximal inequality.
As of 2009, Sweden scored .23, the lowest Gini Coefficient, indicating the highest income equality; while Namibia rated a .74, indicating a large income inequality. Most first-world nations have Gini coefficients in the high point-twenties to the mid-thirties, with a .31 for the EU average. Back in 1980, the US rated a .40 Gini; today we rate around .47, a figure comparable to Russia or Turkey and a trend that is alarming to many.
The fear of revolution, though probably a reductio ad absurdum, is nonetheless a theoretical possibility under a laissez-faire economic system.
Paul Krugman, who could be considered the Linus Pauling of economics — for his previous Nobel-recognized genius, followed by descent into crankhood for his advocacy of snake-oil remedies: vitamin C in the latter case, dirigisme in the former — refers to the period after 1979 as the "Great Divergence," because of the rapid increase in inequality that had occurred. According to a 2011 Congressional Budget Office report, "Real income (adjusted for inflation) in the US grew by 62% for all households between 1979 and 2007. However, after-tax income of households in the top 1% of earners grew by 275%, while income growth for the bottom fifth of earners was 18%."
If, instead of income distribution, we look at wealth, the disparity is even greater. While the bottom 60% of the US population lost about 6% of its wealth, the net worth of the top 5% increased by 40% between 1983 and 2009.
Why the increasing inequality in a political and economic system deemed among the freest by classical economists?
* * *
Before addressing that question we must deal with a concept clamoring for immediate attention: fuzzy numbers.
Nearly all the figures quoted in this article come from Wikipedia compilations replete with references, from various other internet sites, The Economist,Scientific American, Money,Chris Martenson's The Crash Course, and PuruSaxena's Money Matters. Although these sources are ostensibly reliable, please take them with a pinch of salt. Some figures purporting to measure exactly the same thing vary wildly.
For instance, that 275% of after-tax household income growth for the top 1% earners, derived from 2011 Congressional Budget Office figures of 1979 to 2007, becomes a 176% increase — from 1979 to 2005, nearly the same time range — in a 2006 New York Times article.
Exactly what is being measured, how it is defined, over what period of time it is measured (a variable often manipulated for calculating equity returns down to the day), and what statistical tools are employed can have considerable impact on the figures. Just the difference between '"household" and "individual" income measurements can affect income inequality figures substantially.
Dodgy numbers can also lead to convertibility problems and out-of-this-world results — literally out of this world. Composite numbers (such as indices, among others), which are built up from subsidiary numbers, can become statistical black holes, swallowing endless data but illuminating little. As The Economist reports, "In theory, countries' current-account balances should all sum to zero because one country's export is another's import. However, if you add up all countries' current-account transactions, the world exported $331 billion more than it imported in 2010, according to the IMF. Are aliens buying Louis Vuitton handbags?"
And of course, ideology plays a big part. As the old saw goes, "He who frames the question determines the shape of the answer."
On top of this are myriad unexamined assumptions. Statistician Joseph Locascio has identified what he calls "publication bias," which means that academic journals "often give greater weight toward publishing articles that report statistically significant findings over those that don't." With this kind of review process, if out of 20 studies one shows a slight significance (perhaps because of chance), while the other 19 show none, that one will be published and the others ignored.
Not all people are driven to make the most money they can, all the time. Many earn and live below their possibilities, and spend the rest of their time pursuing their passions.
Hoover Institute economist Thomas Sowell suggests that many discussions of income equality are based on fallacious reasoning. For example, "an absolute majority of the people who were in the bottom 20% [of income] in 1975 have also been in the top 20% at some time since then. Most Americans don't stay put in any income bracket. At different times, they are both 'rich' and 'poor' — as these terms are recklessly thrown around in the media."
Finally, somewhere between the last two observations, lies individual choice. Not all people are driven to make the most money they can, all the time. Many earn and live below their possibilities, earning what they consider a sufficient amount, and spending the rest of their time pursuing their passions: music, rock climbing, walking around the world preaching the gospel . . . whatever.
So, to that pinch of salt, add a squeeze of lime and, what the hell, a shot of tequila.
* * *
But back to the ostensible causes of inequality, which remain unknown to many, even to theNew York Times, as proclaimed in an article onJune 5, 2005. Let's consider these causes.
1. The rich work more than the poor. As of 2005, 42% of all US households had two or more income earners. However, in the top quintile of households, nearly twice as many (76%), had dual-earners. Among the lower class, the most common source of income is not occupation but government welfare (according to the leftish Winner-Take-All Politics by Hacker and Pierson, 2010).
2. The rich are more educated than the poor. In the top quintile, 62% of householders are college graduates; while many at the bottom half of earners hold at most a high school diploma. Educational and occupational achievement and the possession of scarce skills correlate with higher income.
3. People of modest means keep giving their money to the rich. George Mason University economist Walter E. Williams recently recognized that "the millions of people who watch LeBron James play are the direct cause of LeBron's earning $43 million and are thereby responsible for — in Paul Krugman's terms — 'undermining the foundations of our democracy.'" The same can be said of the millions of Walmart and Microsoft shoppers who keep enriching the Walton and Gates families.
4. Government policies. Among the usual partisan suspects — such as decreased expenditure on social services and labor's diminishing political clout, suffering from declining union membership — are Republican tax policies, specifically the "low" progressivity of US tax rates. Reversing these factors through government diktat is a crude cure that doesn't address the underlying ecology (Thomas Sowell's term) of the marketplace. The enforcement of legislation such as higher redistributive taxes and the imposition of closed shops would require force, a road down which classical liberals would prefer not to travel. Might there be another cause of the increasing income inequality that hasn't yet been identified? One whose correction does not require coercion?
I believe there is, and that culprit is inflation — in spite of the fact that nearly all of the above statistics are adjusted for inflation. And, as Milton Friedman recognized, since "inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon," it is a direct result of government policy. Inflation is a word often misunderstood. It is the decreased purchasing power of currency, caused by the expansion of the money supply, and not to be confused with price increases caused by scarcity.
Krugman's "Great Divergence" begins soon after America's divorce from the gold standard and the subsequent collapse of the Bretton Woods currency exchange system in the early 1970s. After that, the Federal Reserve instituted a Keynesian monetary expansionist policy. In 1972, the price of a new house averaged $27,600; in 2010 (despite 2008's deflation of the housing bubble), the average price was $272,900. A 1972 Coke cost a dime; today it's a buck. By 1973, gold hit a high of $126 per ounce; in 2009 it topped $1,212. In 1972 the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 1,000; by 2010 it had reached 11,000 — a ten-fold increase in only four decades. A $10 Hamilton from 1972 is today's $100 Franklin. How does this stark change affect the disparity between rich and poor?
* * *
But first, more fuzzy numbers.
Without an objective anchor such as gold, the value of money is subject to fluctuation according to the active "monetarist" policy set by the central bank. That policy is based on many variables — prominently including the consumer price index (CPI), with a nod to gross domestic product (GDP), processed through complex formulae and topped with a generous dollop of intuition. The objective is a stable currency — a very difficult goal with such a capricious policy, and one whose results always lag policy implementation.
For a variety of reasons, the central bank considers deflation a greater evil than inflation. So, wishing to avoid deflation at any cost, the Federal Reserve sets an inflation goal of 1–2%. It often misses this goal. The October 2011 rate was 3.53%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as measured by the CPI.
How reliable is this number? Not very — as it is neither accurate nor even precise. Like an aging diva afflicted with weight gain, wrinkles, fatigue, loss of figure and overexposure, the CPI has been massaged, injected with Botox, subjected to fad crash diets, over-cosmetized, face-lifted, repackaged, and rebranded. Richard Nixon, for example, bequeathed us the so-called "core inflation" measure, which strips out food and fuel — a bit like weighing yourself without your belly. In 1996 Bill Clinton implemented three oddities in the measure of inflation: substitution, weighting, and hedonics.
Krugman's "Great Divergence" begins soon after America's divorce from the gold standard and the Federal Reserve's institution of a Keynesian monetary expansionist policy.
With substitution, it is now assumed (for example) that if the price of salmon goes up too much, people will switch to something cheaper, such as hot dogs. So as the price of an individual item within a representative basket of thirty goods rises, that item is removed and substituted with something cheaper, chosen by a trained bureaucrat. According to the BLS, food costs rose 4.1% from 2007 to 2008. But according to the Farm Bureau, which tracks exactly the same shopping basket of 30 goods from one year to the next without substitution, food prices rose 11.3% for the same year.
Weighting is an even sharper tool for cutting the measure of inflation. Anything that rises too quickly in price is undercounted in the CPI, under the assumption that people will use less of those things. For example, although healthcare is about 17% of the economy, it is weighted as only 6% of the CPI basket.
But the most creative way to fiddle with inflation is hedonics. This adjustment is supposed to reflect quality improvements. Here's how it works, based on a presentation by a commodity specialist at the BLS and explained by Chris Martensen:
In 2004, the commodity specialist at the BLS noted that a 27-inch television selling for $329.99 was selling for the same price in 2007, but was later equipped with a better screen. After taking this subjective improvement into account, he adjusted the price of the TV downwards by $135, concluding that the screen improvement was the same as if the price of the TV had fallen by 29%. The price reflected in the CPI was not the actual retail store cost of $329.99, which is what it would cost you to buy, but $195. Bingo! At the BLS, TVs cost less and inflation is heading down. But at the store, they're still selling for $329.99.
Hedonics rests on the improbable assumption that new features are always beneficial and are synonymous with falling prices (never mind that most old rotary phones still work, while modern cell phones seldom seem to last three years). Hedonics is now used to adjust as much as 46% of the total CPI.
What would the inflation rate have been for, say 2008, before all the fuzzy statistical manipulation gussied it up? John Williams of shadowstats.com, using early 1980's formulas, computed the figure at 13%: the BLS reported a 5% inflation rate for the same year — a stunning 8% difference.
But that's not all. During Alan Greenspan's tenure at the Federal Reserve — particularly while the real estate bubble was growing gangbusters — some economists bemoaned that, without asset prices such as real estate and equities being included in the CPI, true inflation rates would be misleading, thereby skewing monetary policy.
While inflation has been massaged down, GDP has been steroided up, by similar sleight-of-hand manipulations — further inflating the money supply.
So, at this point, brace yourself with another shot — this time of hedonic Cuervo Añejo.
* * *
Inflation affects the poor and the rich in completely different ways, though both lose wealth. No one benefits — except for government and banks, which, having access to newly created money before it hits the streets and raises prices, can buy goods and services at the old, cheaper rate. By the time the surplus money has permeated the economy and reached the masses, prices have usually risen significantly.
Broadly speaking, the poor — for the purposes of this essay, people in the lower 40% of income distribution — have fewer assets, lack financial sophistication, and tend to hold, at most, a high school diploma. They deal in cash and its derivatives and equivalents — CD's, bonds, and interest-bearing accounts. In an inflationary regime, these lose value. In an underreported inflationary regime, the effect is not only obviously greater but, because wages only grudgingly and loosely track the "official" inflation rate of the CPI (if at all), "much of the developed world's workforce has been squeezed on two sides, by stagnant wages and rising costs," as The Economist opined in its November 19, 2011 issue.
There is one factor leading to wealth disparity that Rawlsians and Marxists most seem to ignore, but classical economists believe is fundamental — productive innovation.
As if this situation were not bad enough, many of the poor were lured into buying homes by dodgy loans and government social engineering policies (such as the Community Redevelopment Act, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac practices, and lower than historic interest rates) in the middle of a bubble. When the bubble burst, these folks lost whatever equity they had managed to cobble together, as well as ending up with ruined credit. And they couldn't even rely on their savings (what little they might have saved between stagnant wages and rising costs), as these too had dwindled along with the higher interest rates that made savings more attractive.
So, without a doubt, the poor are getting poorer. What about the rich?
While cash loses its value, real goods such as commodities, equities, and real estate track the changing value of money and, long term — with the dips and highs of the business cycle evened out — generally keep pace. The rich, with more education, more financial sophistication, and more discretionary income, invest. The poor, on the other hand, save (if they can afford to). All other things being equal, inflation makes investments tread water, but savings lose. Without inflation, income inequality might not have become so pronounced over the last 40 years.
Though the above analysis might go a long way toward explaining the increasing income inequality in the United States, it still isn't the full picture.
There will always be income inequality, if for no other reason than the fact that people's work habits, education, and ambition vary tremendously. But the one factor leading to wealth disparity that Rawlsians and Marxists most seem to ignore, but classical economists believe is fundamental — productive innovation — also plays a big part.
A study done by University of Texas economists James K. Galbraith and Travis Hale found that
During the technology boom of the late 1990s, most of the gains enjoyed by the top 1% came from a small number of counties, rather than a national trend. Almost all of the richest 1%'s gains occurred in the economic hotbeds of Silicon Valley, and also New York City. If the top four counties in those regions are removed, there is almost no trend towards income inequality during the years studied (1994–2000). On this basis, the researchers ascribe the growth in income inequality in the late 1990s to the growth of information technology.
Earned income.
Robert H. Miller is a builder, outdoor adventure guide, and author of Kayaking the Inside Passage: A Paddler's Guide from Olympia, Washington to Muir Glacier, Alaska, as well as the newly published memoir Closing the Circle: A Memoir of Cuba, Exile, the Bay of Pigs and a Trans-Island Bike Journey, now available from Cognitio Books.
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Matty Ice
Very excellent, and accurate, article. I would only add a caveat to your point on the rotary/ cell phone subject. My parents still have, somewhere in the house, a rotary phone; and I have no doubt that if we were to hook it up, it would work. And my cellphones do indeed last around 3 years. In all fairness though, a cell is subject to a lot more wear n' tear than a landline is; being dropped, exposed to all kind of weather conditions, jostling about in my pocket, & just generally being used far more frequently. Still, I'd say that doesn't dimminish your overall point: that things like technology are often not correctly calculated into these type of formulas. Particularly when those doing the calculating have a stake in the outcome.
Wed, 2012-02-01 11:40
Courtney Allen
This article in an honest world would be on the op-ed pages of the Wall Sreet Jouranl and the New York Times. To the article I would like to add: gold in 2011 rose from $1350 to $1650 or up 22% while we are told that GNP rose 1.7% in that year. In my world the US GNP was in fact 1.7% minus 22.0% which tells me the GNP is a minus 20.3% for the year. I have never seen this number in any publication and don't expect I ever will.
Courtney Allen
Mon, 2012-01-30 09:15
I find the statistics very interesting. Being what is considered in the US poor, so many statistics seem so far from truth.
There are lies, damn lies and then statistics, I guess. Food and fuel comprise at least 50% of poor people's expenditures. When you don't calculate that as part of the CPI, you make it useless to poor people.
Then there's the Rush Limbaugh's of the world who complain that only 50% of americans pay taxes. He doesn't mention that's only income taxes, most of those that don't pay income taxes are wealthy retirees and others that are paying just capital gains taxes. No mention of payroll taxes for ss and medicare. Last year when I looked at my 1040, if you make over $3500 in one year, you're paying income tax. Of course, if you have some kids and use government services, you get a break on your taxes. If you are poor and have no kids, and under 65, well...tough luck.
Thu, 2012-01-26 18:25
Good article.
But has, neccessarily, left out many more reasons for the increasing disparity of wealth. I can think of the war on drugs as just one. But, that would take quite a large book, not an article.
The fact that it is such a complex issue makes it easy for idealouges, both left and right, to distort one element then propose more involvement from the state.
Thu, 2012-01-26 18:00
Mr. Miller,
Your astute observation that what one earns is nobody else's business is very well complimented by economist Fred Foldvary's take on the issue: Releasing Income Taxes.
Thu, 2012-01-26 16:34
Erwin Haas
An excellent article.
Would add the observation that folks with high incomes can usually set prices for their work, and that those with great wealth demand interest and dividends that will make their investments rational
The poor have to take what jobs at wages that are offered.
Wed, 2012-01-25 13:22
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text:
This is why it was such interesting news when Apple announced the appointment of Benjamin Vigier (a NFC experts and one of the best guys in the industry) (Read here). Benjamin has been working on NFC technology since 2004 and was responsible for the Starbucks NFC project when he was with mFoundry, so he is pretty experienced in this space. It is unlikely that he was hired for anything else. Does this mean that we will now see life change?
Well for a start, let us agree that anything that Apple does, one should take seriously and Apple have a number of good tools in place to make this happen. However, they are still confronted by the two key stumbling blocks in making this real and I would be interested in their strategy in how to overcome this:
- How to cater for the secure element, especially from a personalisation perspective.
- What to do about the basic lack of acquiring infrastructure in most (all?) countries.


text:
Clement Henricksz (d. 1569)
Clement Henricksz, an Anabaptist martyr, was burned at the stake at Amsterdam, of which city he was a citizen, on 17 December 1569. By trade he was a sail-maker. Clement, like Cornelis Jansz, Jan Quirijnsz, and Willem Jansz, was a victim of the Spanish-inspired reaction in Amsterdam, particularly after the coming of Alba in 1568. Clement, as well as the other three brethren, were condemned to death by burning because they had attended Mennonite meetings and were thought to hold "stubborn heresy" although he had not yet been baptized. Cornelis, Jan, and Willem were executed on 12 March 1569, but the execution of Clement was repeatedly postponed. Possibly it was expected that he would after all return to the Roman Catholic fold. At any rate, information was given on 24 March that he appeared to be not unwilling to be heard again, and on 21 April that he doubted. Still, Clement remained loyal until death. On 17 December after the execution had again been stayed several times, he had to go to the stake. With the bell ringing in order to prevent the crowd from understanding the words which he was expected to speak to them, he "gave up joyfully." He was strangled at a stake, and then burned.
The Offer des Heeren contains a letter from Clement, written in prison. Later on four other letters from him were discovered, also written from prison. They were included with the first letter in the Groot Offerboek of 1615 and all five copied by van Braght in his Martyrs' Mirror. In one of these letters, he wrote about the severe torture he had to endure.
There is a song about Clement Henricksz which begins, "So wie op den Steen Christum bout, Diens timmering mach blijven" (He who builds on Christ the Rock, his building will remain). This song is included in the Offer des Heeren.
Dit Boec wort genoemt: Het Offer des Heeren, om het inhout van sommighe opgheofferde kinderen Godts . . . N.p., 1570: 478-483. Available in full electronic text at: http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_off001offe01_01/
Braght, Thieleman J. van. Het Bloedigh Tooneel of Martelaers Spiegel der Doopsgesinde of Weereloose Christenen, Die om 't getuygenis van Jesus haren Salighmaker geleden hebben ende gedood zijn van Christi tijd of tot desen tijd toe. Den Tweeden Druk. Amsterdam: Hieronymus Sweerts, 1685: Part II, 439.
Braght, Thieleman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour… to the Year A.D. 1660. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 833. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm.
Grosheide, Greta. Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis der Anabaptisten in Amsterdam. Hilversum: J. Schipper, Jr., 1938: 60, 305, 181-183, 310.
Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Mennonitisches Lexikon, 4 vols. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. II, 282.
Wolkan, Rudolf. Geschicht-Buch der Hutterischen Brüder. Macleod, AB, and Vienna, 1923: 69.
|Nanne van der Zijpp
|Date Published
Cite This Article
MLA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Clement Henricksz (d. 1569)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Web. 31 May 2020. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Clement_Henricksz_(d._1569)&oldid=162670.
APA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1953). Clement Henricksz (d. 1569). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 31 May 2020, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Clement_Henricksz_(d._1569)&oldid=162670.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 622. All rights reserved.
©1996-2020 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.


text:
Created and animated by Hine Mizushima, a new Nanobotic TMBG video is out!
This video includes multiple tracks from the album, including Hive Mind, Decision Makers (with Jed Parish), Nouns, There (with Robin Goldwasser), Insect Hospital and Tick--all.
They Might Be Giants Nanobots is out now on CD, iTunes, Spotify and all good digital stores.


text:
executive summary by Darmansjah
Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud has been a centre of fine dining in Dublin for the last thirty years and is Ireland's only two star Michelin. Situated beside the 5 star Merrion Hotel in Dublin city centre, the cuisine is contemporary Irish with classical roots. Having featured in everything from the Irish Times to the New York Times, it is renowned as one of the best restaurants in Ireland and is also internationally acclaimed. The RPG philosophy is simple: it is about delivering impeccable dining experiences. We look forward to welcoming you.


text:
vartana had een nieuw logo ontwerp nodig en lanceerde daarom een wedstrijd op 99designs.
Een winnaar werd gekozen uit39 ontwerpen ingezonden door17 freelance designers.
Corporate Identity for Web Solutions Firm - Logo, Business Card, Letterheard, Envelope
Information Technology Consulting, Inc. or ITC, Inc.
None, but I'll take suggestions
Desired Color Scheme:
No preference, let's see what you come up with
Desired Style:
Please see above
Accepted File Formats:
Photoshop, Illustrator - vector format
Full requirements:
After several successful contests in the past few weeks, I've decided to launch a contest that hits a little closer to home - redesigning my business logo. Although I have a current logo and color scheme, I think it's about time to see what I can do to update it. Although I have no preferences as to colors and don't have a problem keeping my current color scheme, I'd love to see what you all can come up with.
Here is an overview of what I require:
* I handle basically every portion of the web process for my clients. I do the Computer Repair, Laptop Repair, Networking, Data Recovery, PBX Systems, etc. Basically, I'm looking to express the fact that I deliver a full IT solution for my clients.
* My audience is a business oriented audience. That said, it should be professional but not necessarily very techie (as many of my clients are not).
* The business card should only have my logo, my web address, my name and a place for my phone number and email.
* I also like the idea of utilizing the back of the card to creatively list the services that I provide.
* Although I don't want to go overboard, I would like something creative for the design of the business card. Please avoid the tried and true simple formats.
* Letterhead and Envelope should match the style of the business card (obviously)
I know that I haven't given you much to work with, but I'm hoping that I can rely on the Sitepoint collective genius for some good results.
If there is anything else that I can provide to help the process, please post.
Bekijk hoe een ontwerpwedstrijd werkt of leer meer over logo ontwerpdiensten.


text:
When commercial property loans go into default, how much can lenders reasonably expect to recoup from asset dispositions or the sale of mortgage notes? A new study from Real Capital Analytics (RCA) reveals that recovery rates on defaulted commercial mortgages vary by property type, location and loan-to-value ratios.
The New York-based researcher analyzed 145 defaulted commercial mortgages that have been liquidated this year. Of the $3.2 billion outstanding balance on those mortgages, lenders recovered $1.9 billion, equating to a recovery rate of nearly 60% before costs and fees.
A loan is considered liquidated, or resolved, when the property or note is sold to a third party. The recovery rate is calculated by dividing the gross proceeds from the disposition by the distressed amount (the outstanding balance of the first mortgage at the time of default). The average size of the first mortgage loans in RCA's sample was $13 million. All data was based on properties and portfolios $5 million and above.
Among RCA's key findings:
• Development-oriented loans such as land and construction, condo conversion and redevelopment loans have a far lower average recovery rate (48%) than acquisition or refinancing loans (66%).
• Loans on developments not yet complete have the lowest average recovery rate of any loan type, just 32% of the outstanding balance.
• Among major income-producing property types, office buildings have the lowest average recovery rate (53%), but suburban properties have achieved a higher rate than CBD properties.
• Mortgages on retail properties have experienced the highest average recovery rate (72%) so far in 2009, but the sector has seen relatively few resolutions compared with the huge number of properties in default.
• Assets located in Phoenix, Tampa and Detroit have the lowest average recovery rate, while those in New York and Los Angeles metro areas have the highest recovery rate.
• The higher the loan-to-value at the time the loan was originated, the lower the recovery rate. Mortgages that were originally 50% loan-to-value experienced a 75% recovery rate, while those that were 100% or more at origination averaged a recovery rate of 57%.
• Of all loans originated for the acquisition or refinancing of properties, CMBS loans liquidated this year have the lowest average recovery rate (60%) among all lenders.
• Regional and local banks have experienced the lowest overall recovery rate, but that is largely due to a heavier concentration of development and redevelopment-oriented loans.
What's the takeaway for commercial real estate borrowers and lenders from this study? "They need to think more carefully about the structure of their funding commitments and the impact of that structure on their investments in this notoriously cyclical industry," emphasizes Ben Thypin, senior market analyst with Real Capital Analytics.
"For instance, no one taking out a loan that was to become part of a CMBS ever considered how the myriad parties involved in a CMBS issue would impact their ability to modify, extend or buy the loan in the event the situation merited such an action," explains Thypin. "On the other side, no one structuring CMBS ever considered that same issue, along with the inability of a special servicer to supply seller financing in the event an asset had to be taken back."
Lenders who kept advancing funds for development-related loans as the market was tanking are now kicking themselves, emphasizes Thypin. "This boom was an era in which transactions were being conducted simply because they could be financed, and not because the transaction made sense for either the borrower or the lender."
Defying conventional wisdom?
Most industry exerts have long held the belief that mortgages originated at the peak of the market in 2006 and 2007 would suffer the most in this down cycle due to loose underwriting standards. While that may hold true when it comes to the probability of default, the recovery rates on that vintage of loans are fairing comparatively well. Loans originated in 2003 and later all have a recovery rate averaging between 65% and 70%, while older loans have a slightly lower recovery rate.
The fact that loans from earlier in the cycle are being resolved at lower recovery rates may be more of a reflection of property-specific issues than of excess leverage, according to RCA. In 2002, as interest rates began to fall, credit flooded the market and the loan terms improved dramatically. Most loans originated prior to that point were refinanced, unless that were experiencing chronic issues of some sort.
"The variance in recovery rate by vintage is definitely what jumps out most," says Thypin, the lead analyst who co-authored the RCA report. "To me it underlines how real estate assets will never be commoditized and how property and market level issues will always be the driving factors in valuation, making every troubled situation unique. There had to be a property level issue with a loan in 2003-2007 for it not to be refinanced, given the way debt capital was flowing."
Today's troubled mortgage loans that were originated early in the decade were likely on precarious footing before the recession hit in 2007, concludes Thypin, and are now being hurt by an uncooperative credit environment at a crucial time, making that maturing debt difficult to refinance.


text:
- Yield
- Makes 8 servings
- For matzoh balls
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup matzoh meal
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 quarts chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
- For poached vegetables
- 1 large leek (white and pale green parts only)
- 1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps thinly sliced
- To serve
- Lemongrass Consommé , warm
- 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
- Make matzoh balls
- In large bowl, whisk together oil and eggs. Stir in matzoh meal and salt until well blended. Stir in 1/4 cup stock. Cover batter and refrigerate until cold and firm, at least 20 minutes and up to 1 day.
- Line large baking sheet with plastic wrap or parchment paper. Using wet hands, very gently shape batter into about 16 balls, each about 2 inches in diameter. Arrange on prepared sheet.
- In large stock pot over high heat, bring remaining stock to boil. Gently drop balls into stock, return to boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until balls are tender and cooked through, about 40 minutes. (Matzoh balls can be cooked up to 1 day ahead. Refrigerate stock and balls separately and rewarm balls before serving by simmering in stock 5 minutes.)
- While matzoh balls are cooking, poach vegetables:
- Cut leeks crosswise into 2-inch lengths, then thinly slice lengthwise. Wash leek strips in bowl of cold water, agitating, then lift out and pat dry.
- In medium saucepan over high heat, bring 4 cups salted water to boil. Reduce heat to low, add leeks, and gently simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer leeks to small bowl. Add mushrooms to water and gently simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer mushrooms to second small bowl. Cover vegetables and keep warm. (Vegetables can be poached up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated, covered. Rewarm by simmering in water 30 seconds before proceeding.)
- Finish and serve:
- Using slotted spoon, divide balls among 8 soup bowls. (Discard stock in which balls were cooked.) Top with leeks and mushrooms. Ladle warm consommé over and sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately.