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LONDON -- The Last Night of the Proms became a First Night for Women on Saturday when Marin Alsop walked onto the stage of the massive and festively adorned Royal Albert Hall and made a bit of history in this history-drenched country.
"A lot has been made of me being the first woman to conduct the Last Night," Alsop told the crowd of about 6,000 inside the hall and masses more watching on giant screens in Hyde Park and locations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
She was cut off by a storm of cheers and applause before continuing: "I'm incredibly honored and proud, but I have to say it's amazing that there can still be a first for women in 2013."
That's the message that Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Sao Paolo Symphony Orchestra, kept telling the British press in the days leading up to what is one of the most popular annual events on the culture calendar here.
But the press just kept on driving that point, so Alsop used the occasion to remind everyone that there should, and could, be a lot more women in her field.
In a remarkable case of bad timing, Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko, who leads the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, declared last week that orchestras play better for a man. Without mentioning his name, Alsop got in a sly dig at his attitude in her podium speech at the Proms, before urging young girls everywhere to follow their passions.
The whole issue -- the host of the BBC's Andrew Marr Show called the first-woman focus "a ridiculous row" when he did a morning-after session with Alsop on his Sunday television show -- probably took up too much oxygen.
(Among snarky post-concert comments posted on one British newspaper's Web site: "It was disgraceful for this woman to use her podium to stage an outburst of special pleading for women.")
Still, it is certainly worth reminding people that the classical music world is no more immune to sexism than any other. Alsop has done more than anyone to counter that lingering problem, and she has had particular success in Britain.
She led the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra before her Baltimore appointment, and she is not a stranger to the Proms, having led her Brazilian orchestra there last summer and, in a much-praised performance of the Brahms Requiem, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment last month.
The conductor acknowledged her fond, longtime connection to British musicians and audiences in her Proms remarks. She also got in a nice plug for "my wonderful Baltimore Symphony Orchestra," and used the occasion to advocate for education, urging that music and the arts be "front and center," not "pushed to the sidelines."
But the Last Night is not about speeches, although each conductor is expected to make one near the end (Alsop's concise, wry address seemed to go over well). It's about a rousing good time with a mix of classical and popular repertoire, and it attracts a vociferous crowd of 5,000-plus, attired in everything from T's to tuxes, and festooned with any number of variations on the Union Jack. These days, lots of other national flags and emblems dot the hall; people come in from many countries to get in on Last Night fun.
The Proms -- nickname for the summer Promenade Concerts founded by Sir Henry Wood in 1895, and held in Albert Hall since the 1940s -- is an extraordinary series that generates an extraordinary response.
This summer's lineup of 75 concerts was said to be the most successful ever, with 57 sell-outs.
There was a parade of the world's great solo artists and orchestras, including Wagner's "Ring" Cycle in concert with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin and top-notch casts. I heard that via Internet streaming.
And the Vienna Philharmonic, sounding as resplendent as ever, gave a performance of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 with the masterful Lorin Maazel conducting on the penultimate night of the Proms. I heard that one in person Friday and was quite transported, both by the artistry onstage and the rapt attention of the audience (I swear I don't remember a single cough during the nearly 90-minute symphony).
The unique thing about the Proms is that the center section of the circular hall is filled with standees, as many as 900 (several hundred more standees are perched in what seems to be a dizzyingly high ring near the ceiling).
The "Prommers" on the floor can be wildly playful during the Last Night. They bob in unison for marches; they wave flags at will (in a Monty Python-worthy touch, someone occasionally hoisted a gigantic inflated banana on Saturday). They also decorated the conductor's podium during the intermission with pink balloons and streamers; I couldn't make it out from where I was sitting, but I learned later that one balloon bore the message "It's a girl."
These folks never get in the way of the music-making (unlike some folks in the seats -- naturally, with my luck, I had to be stuck with persistent talkers next to me). They are there to drink in the music, and they quaffed eagerly at this Last Night concert by the excellent BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
The zigzag program packed in a whole lot of diversity. The 2013 musical anniversaries were properly observed -- Verdi and Wagner (200th birthday) with some greatest hits; Britten (100th) with a wonderfully bracing overture for chorus and orchestra "The Building of the House."
Appropriately, under the circumstances, the curtain-raiser was by a woman composer, Anna Clyne, whose "Masquerade" impressed with its slithery strings and bright percussion.
Alsop found room to honor her mentor, Leonard Bernstein. Her right hand still bandaged after a fall this summer that injured her wrist, the conductor led a sensitive and affecting account of the "Chichester Psalms" that featured tender solo work by countertenor Iestyn Davies and rich-toned singing from the chorus. Selections from "Candide" also hit the spot. (Alexander Bernstein, the composer's son, rushed backstage after the concert to heap praise on Alsop's account of the Psalms.)
Eccentric British violinist Nigel Kennedy delivered a sweet performance of Vaughan Williams' "The Lark Ascending" and a self-indulgent romp through his arrangement of Vittorio Monti's "Csardas."
Kennedy seems to have turned into a parody, mugging uncontrollably, stomping, shouting, fist-bumping anyone in sight. It's a little too manic and silly; a little worrisome, too. But he still has considerable fiddle chops, and the crowd ate it all up.
Alsop was a good sport (I wondered if she would have rather slugged the violinist than return one more fist-bump), and managed to keep the orchestra together through the whole unpredictable ride. In the guest-artist-thanking portion of her Proms speech, Alsop said: "And for whom I have no adjective, Nigel Kennedy."
The guest star who really owned the hall Saturday night was mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. The American singer let loose with a gorgeous, velvety sound from the get-go in a Massenet aria and delivered familiar pieces by Handel and Rossini with subtle, exquisite phrasing.
The Kansas-born DiDonato turned the cavernous venue into the most intimate of spaces with a disarmingly understated "Over the Rainbow" (a rainbow flag magically appeared among the sea of banners unfurled by Prommers afterward).
UPDATE: I learned later that the singer, taking particular note of the recent ant-gay legislation in Russia, had written on her blog a couple days before the concert that she would be dedicatating her performance of that song to "all of those brave, valorous gay and lesbian souls whose voices are currently being silenced – either by family, friends, or by their government."
In a from-the-ridiculous-to-the-sublime moment, she followed Kennedy's "Csardas" with a sweet "Danny Boy" and led a quite moving sing-along of "You'll Never Walk Alone."
During the traditional patriotic close of the Last Night, the mezzo was back with more stellar coloratura for the Malcolm Sargent arrangement of "Rule, Britannia" (DiDonato added a regal cape at that point to her sparkly gown).
Alsop had the orchestra tearing into the fast-paced portions of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" March No. 1 with great flourish, but gave the chorus plenty of breathing room for the famous big tune that became the anthem "Land of Hope and Glory" and is invariably sung at Last Night concerts with enormous fervor. (Americans know it as a wordless, stately graduation theme.)
No Last Night would be complete without "Jerusalem," the stirring hymn by Hubert Parry with words by William Blake. You've got to love a patriotic piece that works in the words "dark Satanic mills" and suggests that Jesus (on his way to America to plant some things for Joseph Smith?) stopped by "England's green and pleasant land."
Whatever one makes of the sentiments, the melody is so eloquently expressive that this piece -- something of an alternative national anthem, the British equivalent to "America the Beautiful" -- just grabs hold and stirs deeply, as it did Saurday night.
To close, as always, came the traditional national anthem, here in Britten's inspired arrangement that has the choir start quietly and solemnly before building vocal and orchestral steam. Once the thousands in the hall chimed in with "God Save the Queen," it was enough to make even a proud American a willing subject for the night.


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When you need information about oil and gas industry jobs, events, news and equipment turn to Rig Hands.com. An online leader in gas and oil resources, RigHands.com has the information you need when seeking employment in the oil industry, looking for new and used equipment for gas and oil field rigs and the latest news concerning industry trends and developments.
We have a wealth of information about a wide variety of oil and gas jobs including roughnecks, roustabouts, drillers, rig managers and derrickman positions. Not only do we tell you the requirements and expectations, we also let you know the average wages and where to look for openings including the booming sector of Alberta, Canada. No matter what the topic is in oil and gas, RigHands.com is your online source for facts and information.
Check our information section frequently as we constantly add new articles to help you advance your career in the oil and gas industry and network with the people you need to know.

subset: commoncrawl


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Physical Sciences
Research Highlights
April 2009
Getting Molecules To Hold Still and Blink
New approach lets scientists trap single molecules and measure electron transfers
Eric Ackerman
Results: Like little kids during family pictures, molecules like to move around. Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory devised a method to hold certain types of molecules still and measure if they blink; that is, gain or lose electrons.
Why It Matters: Mother Nature is very good at making catalysts: proteins that quickly add and remove electrons to create the desired products. Scientists would like to design molecules that mimic Mother Nature's catalysts, but do not yet know how. This research provides an important tool to learn if, when and why single molecules transfer electrons. By understanding electron transfers, scientists can gain the insights needed to design, atom by atom, catalysts that effectively turn water into hydrogen fuel or other reactions.
Methods: The scientists combined two existing methods to study immobilized individual molecules of the dye cresyl violet. The first technique is electrochemistry, which allows scientists to add and remove electrons to molecules at specific intervals. The second method is to use a single-molecule fluorescence microscope to record the light emission of the molecules. It uses a dye that gives off light under specific conditions. For example, when cresyl violet loses an electron, it gives off a red glow. When it gains an electron, it goes dark.
So, the researchers built an electrochemical cell that can measure electron movement on a type of conductive glass surface. Then, they placed a few drops of a clay solution on the glass. The liquid dried onto the glass, forming a transparent clay film. Then, they added cresyl violet. The dye attached to the clay film, holding the dye in place. This left the scientists with a piece of glass with a few dye molecules securely attached to it.
Next, they added to and removed electrons from the molecules at regular intervals by changing the electrochemical voltages. Simultaneously, they recorded the light flashes using a single-molecule fluorescence microscope at the Department of Energy's EMSL, a national scientific user facility at PNNL.
The method worked well, providing information about single-molecule effectiveness; that is, single molecules regularly gained and lost electrons while the molecules underwent cycles of blinking, dark and then bright.
What's Next: The researchers plan to use this method to interrogate other molecules and gain the knowledge necessary to design catalysts that mimic Mother Nature's most effective molecules.
Acknowledgments: DOE's Office of Basic Energy Sciences funded this research. The work, including use of microscopy instruments, was performed at DOE's EMSL, a scientific user facility. This research was done by Chenghong Lei, Dehong Hu, and Eric Ackerman at PNNL. Dr. Ackerman is now with Sandia National Laboratories.
Reference: Lei C, D Hu, and EJ Ackerman. 2009. "Clay nanoparticles-supported single-molecule fluorescence spectroelectrochemistry." Nano Letters 9(2):655-658.
Related Highlight: New Way to Study Electron Transfer Reactions Leads to Hot Paper, Journal Cover


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Last Friday I gave a talk on how we use HBase at Mendeley, which goes into more detail on the work I've been doing over the last year. It's a summary of how the datamining team started out using MySQL and how and why we moved to HBase for most of our data storage and processing. It also describes some of the work we do in the datamining team.
You can find more details of the talk and a video of the presentation here http://lanyrd.com/2010/huguk7/sxbt/
The afternoon generally went very well, I met many intresting people in London using Hadoop and HBase. There were also some people from California stopping over in London from a conference in Brussels. So it was great to meet people like Jonathon Gray who is one of the HBase committers working at Facebook and learning how they are using it in their new messaging service, Stack who is another HBase commiter from StumbleUpon, and Tom White who started the whole Hadoop world off. It's a great community and an intresting time to be part of it.
For more from this event you can see all the slides here http://lanyrd.com/2010/huguk7/ and learn more about the UK Hadoop users group I'll now be runnning http://huguk.org/


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OtterBox for HTC: Case Instructions
So, you've purchased an OtterBox for your HTC, and now you want to know EXACTLY how to properly use and care for your protective case. The list below contains some of our HTC cases; simply click the link to download the specific instruction sheet for your OtterBox! You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to properly download/view the instruction sheets.


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During an Open Day people will be able to tour the tower, watch bell-ringing demonstrations and try ringing one themselves.
Doors to the Cathedral tower will be open from 10am until 4pm and admission is £2 for adults and £1 for children (over eights only).
For details of other forthcoming events at Derby Cathedral, follow this link to the What's On page of their website.
Shown below is a superb new video taken by John Salloway on 22 June, showing three juveniles being fed. This is taken from John's own blog, for which many thanks. He does warn viewers that it can get a little gory - but as we keep saying on this site, that's nature.
Derby Peregrine Falcons - Videoscoping. from Jon Salloway on Vimeo


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This kit has sold out. Due to some critical parts no longer being available, there will be no more DSP-10 kits.
The DSP-10 is an amateur-radio, software-defined 2-meter transceiver that can be built at home. It operates on SSB, FM and CW modes. Features are tailored to operation with weak signals on VHF, UHF and Microwave frequencies. The transceiver is low power, about 20 milliwatts, but there is provision for adding an 8-Watt amplifier.
Bob Larkin, W7PUA, the creator of the DSP-10 is pleased that TAPR is kitting the DSP-10. TAPR's kitting of the DSP-10 is in keeping with its tradition as a member supported Amateur Radio Research and Development organization and supporting the development of Software Defined Radios (SDR). TAPR is pleased to offer the DSP-10 2-Meter Software Defined Transceiver in surface-mount kit form.
The DSP-10 was featured in a three-part article in QST September, October and November 1999.
The kit contains all components, PCB, and Hammond Enclosure. All that is required to complete the kit is a DSP module such as the
- KK7P DSPx Module and KDSP10 Interface Adapter available from TAPR
- Analog Devices ADSP-2181 Evaluation Board (ADDS-2181-EZLITE). A listing of Analog Devices Distributors is available online.
Ordering Information
Sorry, DSP-10 2-Meter Transceiver is no longer available
The official DSP-10 Project web page.
TAPR kits can be complex depending on the kitting experience of each builder. We don't think you will have trouble with the DSP-10 kit, but it does require some knowledge and experience to successfully go from a kit to a finished, usable unit, depending on the mode of operations.
Questions about the assembly and operation of the DSP-10 will be handled on the DSP-10 list.
You can subscribe to the list via the web at http://www.qth.net. Or you can subscribe to the DSP-10
list via email:
To: email@example.com
Subject: Nothing in the subject line
Only two words in the message: subscribe dsp-10
Project History
July 15, 2006
- All kits have been sold. Some parts are no longer
available, so there will be no more kits. There may be a few
un-built kits in closets somewhere. Advertise on some of the ham
web sites if you want to buy or sell.
June 6, 2005
- TAPR still has a small stock of these kits
January 29, 2002
We started shipping kits from waiting list.
September 10, 2001
We are nearing the completion of the DSP-10 kitting. All that remains now is the final kitting of the surface mount parts. It was discovered yet again that one of the parts was not the correct part shipped. Yet another annoying delay getting the correct part. But all of the larger parts are stuffed into envelopes, the enclosures are in, PCBs are in, just about everything you need to complete your DSP-10 is in.
We hope that we have thought of everything you need. Included in the kit is no-clean solder and a no-clean flux pen (following the great idea by Dan N8FGV). We've included hookup wire and Teflon coax (RG-316) for the PCB. All the screws, nuts, and even brass nuts for putting together the shielded box for the DSP. The PCB material has already been cut to size.
We plan to place the assembly manual on the DSP-10 and TAPR web pages. It is not finished, but I hope to find time to work on it now that most of the kitting is done. This way you can download the latest version. I plan to take a number of digital pictures during the construction process as I build a second DSP-10.
As we mentioned before, the one thing you will need to purchase separately is the Analog Devices EZ-KIT Lite. We see that Newark and Future are carrying them. Other items not included are the microphone, power supply, external connectors and cables. You may need to supply some internal hookup wire. But all hardware and connectors internal to the DSP-10 enclosure are included.
We anticipate shipping of the kits to start the beginning of October. I know we've set goals and missed them before. For that we are sorry. Everyone working on this project are volunteers and the DSP-10 kitting has been one of the most ambitious undertaken by TAPR. We think you will enjoy your kit this Fall and Winter. Perhaps then you will bring them and show them off during Dayton and the September 2002 Digital Communications Conference.
Kitting progresses, even if it is ever so slowly. With over 140 unique parts, some with multiple quantities, the DSP-10 makes for a large kitting project. There is a large amount of time required for preparation, such as DIPs in conductive foam, measuring magnet wire and solder, cutting SMT electrolytic caps on tape. But kitting is progressing.
We are discovering a few nuisance problems that slow down kitting progress. One such item we recently discovering is the SMT 22K ohm resistors are not what they seem. The distributor sent us the wrong thing in its place. So we have to rectify that situation so we can get back to kitting.
Already, 3 of the 5 envelopes of parts are at the TAPR office, including PCBs. The final 2 envelopes will be completed next week. We are awaiting the Hammond enclosures from Mouser. The SMT parts will be finished when we get new 22K ohm resistors.
The TAPR Office move has been completed, though later than we expected. Thanks to the break down of a rental truck! So now the process of organizing the office and our new office manager Laura Koster getting settled in her new role.
I have been receiving emails from several folks asking if kits are still available. Yes they are. Over 100 DSP-10 kits are being kitted in this first run. Over 80 orders have been taken so far. We will continue to keep the DSP-10 in stock as long as there is interest. So if you have not ordered your kit you can still do so now.
Estimated kit delivery is now toward the end of August. Sorry for the long kitting time and delay. We appreciate your patience. But I think you will be very pleased with the kit when you receive it. Especially since the summer is coming to a close (at least in the Northern Hemisphere :-) and kids are returning to school. The weather will start cooling down driving most indoors to build their new DSP-10's.
Just a short update. All the major parts for the DSP-10 have been received and are in the process of kitting. Several parts have already been placed in envelopes and mailed to the new TAPR office. PCBs are on order and scheduled to ship the end of July. Some minor parts are on order such as screws. We still anticipate delivery of the kits in the first half of August.
For everyone that has pre-ordered a DSP-10 kit from TAPR, the TAPR Office move will temporarily close the office until the move is complete. Kitting on the DSP-10 continues. Those involved in the kitting of the DSP-10 are coordinating sending their completed portion of the kit to the new office. There they will be packed and shipped from the new office. The goal is to mail the kits out to everyone the beginning of August.
Thanks for everyone's patience. Kitting is going smoothly and all the major parts are in.
As always, any questions please email me or the DSP-10 list.
TAPR is pleased to offer the DSP-10 2-Meter Software Defined Transceiver in
surface-mount kit form. The kit was design by Bob Larkin, W7PUA, and is explained
in a three-part article published in QST magazine September, October and November
of 1999. Bob continues to update and improve the software, which he has released
as free software under the GNU license. The official DSP-10 Project web page is at http://www.proaxis.com/~boblark/dsp10.htm
The DSP-10 is a low-power, all-mode 2-meter transceiver using Digital Signal Processing (DSP) at the last IF and audio stages. The DSP-10 is an excellent example of a Software Defined Radio (SDR). Most all characteristics of the radio are under software DSP control: modulation, demodulation and front panel.
An example of the DSP-10's processing capabilities, on 25 February 2001 Ernie, W7LHL, and Larry, W7SZ, were successful with a PUA43 mode QSO on 1296 MHz EME (Moon bounce). They were using a QRP power level of 5-Watts and backyard TVRO dishes of 10 and 12 feet.
The potential builder is encouraged to research the DSP-10 Project at the above web page and determine if they meet the level of skill required to complete the kit. There are several successfully constructed DSP-10's in the world and elmers are available on the discussion group at firstname.lastname@example.com. Subscription information is available at the DSP-10 Project Web Page or http://www.qth.net.
Kit building experience required is moderate to advance. The kit will provide the builder with all the necessary materials to complete the transceiver. The majority of the components on the PCB are surface mount. The Hammond Enclosure will require drilling. An internal shielded box for the DSP is made from double-sided PCB material. Not included in the kit are microphone or speaker.
The kit will contain all components, PCB, and Hammond Enclosure. All that is required to complete the kit is an Analog Devices EZ-Kit Lite DSP (Analog Devices P/N ADDS-2181-EZLITE). A listing of Analog Devices Distributors is available.
To accommodate those builders who have already purchased a PCB from Mashell Electric, a kit with only the components and Hammond Enclosure will be offered. Eventually, only one kit will be offered containing components, PCB, and Hammond Enclosure.
TAPR plans for the initial kitting of the DSP-10 to produce over 100 kits. Parts are being procured and kits are estimated to be available in the July time frame. Due to the high cost of the kit, orders will be taken and payment received now to offset the expense of parts purchasing. TAPR will continue to stock the DSP-10 as long as there is interest and parts remain available.
May 5 2001
- Components plus Hammond Enclosure (less PCB)
- Components plus PCB and Hammond Enclosure
A short status report on the kitting progress of the DSP-10 at TAPR.
We are polishing the final details of the DSP-10 kit. The kit will be offered in two versions:
The kit less PCB will accommodate those who have already purchased the PCB. This was based on the email requests received. After a period of time only the complete kit will be offered.
We are still investigating the purchase of the Analog Devices EZ-Kit Lite DSP for those hams unable to locate them in their country. Purchase and sale of the EZ-Kit Lite will be provided as a service and the cost will be passed onto the buyer. There are no volume discounts available. Thus the cost will not reflect a discount. For those hams in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, it is suggested that you purchase the ADDS-2181-EZLITE, new part number, or old p/n ADDS-21XX-EZLITE from an ADI distributor. See http://www.analog.com/product/distributors.html or you can buy direct from ADI. More information on the EZ-Kit Lite will be posted when it is finalized.
Prices will be announced in the next couple of weeks and orders will taken then. Availability of the kit will be around the July time frame. As mentioned, TAPR plans to keep the DSP-10 kit in stock as long as there is interest in the kit and parts are available. TAPR will continue to improve the kit as the community of DSP-10's grow.
TAPR will be at Dayton this year and we will be talking about Software Defined Radios during the TAPR Digital Packet Forum on Friday May 18th at 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM. I'll be demonstrating the DSP-10 at the forum and it will be on display at the TAPR Booth 542-543.
TAPR is planning on kitting the DSP-10 an All-Mode 2-Meter Software Defined Transceiver. The DSP-10 was featured in a three part article in QST September, October and November 1999. The official DSP-10 Project web page is at http://www.proaxis.com/~boblark/dsp10.htm. Bob Larkin, W7PUA, the creator of the DSP-10 is pleased that TAPR is taking on the kitting of the DSP-10. TAPR's kitting of the DSP-10 is in keeping with its tradition as a member supported Amateur Radio Research and Development organization and supporting the development of Software Defined Radios (SDR).
It is anticipated that it'll take approximately 2-3 months to gather all the parts and assemble the kits. As many are aware, some of the parts are hard to find and/or have a long lead time. If you know of a source for these harder to find parts, please let me know.
The kit will be as complete as possible. The goal is to provide a kit of parts that will enable the builder to complete the DSP-10. However, the kit builder should be prepared to complete the DSP-10 from locally procured parts such as wire and hardware. The plan will be to provide a kit similar to what Dan Schultz, N8FGV, did in his first two kittings, all the components and circuit board. Dan also did a nice touch by providing 63/37 solder, no-clean solder flux pen, and no-clean flux desoldering braid.
What may not be provided is the Hammond enclosure or EZ-Kit Lite DSP. If there is enough interest for an enclosure, it can be included. There is no bulk purchase price for the EZ-Kit Lite DSP and thus does not provide a monetary benefit to the kit builder. It is therefore suggested that you purchase the EZ-Kit Lite DSP from a distributor near you.
Kit building experience required is moderate to advanced. Support for the kit will be from the DSP-10 list or its successors. Several people have successfully built the DSP-10 and they are on the DSP-10 list. There is a wealth of information on the DSP-10 Project web page mentioned above.
TAPR is not equipped to do case-by-case custom orders. TAPR is a member supported volunteer R&D organization and custom orders would overwhelm the limited resources we already have. However, we are always looking for good helpers. Let me know if you would like to assist in this or any other TAPR projects.
Price for the kit has not been set. Once a price is set, orders can be made and payment will be requested to offset the cost of the parts ordering.


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tuffstuff fitness international
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American Made Tuff Stuff fitness equipment is perfect for any school, military base gym, cross-training facility, fire department or police department training center, hotel, or commercial gym environment. Comfort, reliability and durability are hallmarks of the Tuff Stuff commitment to quality. Choose from among the vast selection of Olympic bench presses, power cages, squat racks, cable crossover, functional trainers, multi-stack gyms, smith machines, and more - Tuff Stuff offers all the fitness equipment you need.


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In a programme broadcasted on BBC Radio 3 on Sunday 14 February 2010, the work and influence of the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan was highlighted, through the description of his magnificent buildings in Istanbul and its influence on Italian Renaissance architecture. We here present a link to this programme for online listening, with further resources.
The Editorial Board
BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent
Sinan the Magnificent: BBC Radio 3 Programme, Sunday 14 February 2010, presented by Jonathan Glancey.
* * *
In a programme presented by Jonathan Glancey, architecture correspondent for the Guardian, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Sunday 14 February 2010, the work and influence of the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan (ca. 1490-1588) was highlighted, through the description of his magnificent buildings in Istanbul and its influence on Italian Renaissance architecture.
The extent to which the great Ottoman Empire influenced the rest of Europe can still be seen from the buildings it has left behind, explains architecture and design expert Jonathan Glancey. Driving throughout Istanbul, he marvels at the innumerable construction works and wonders whether the built-up area will ever stop, if it will go all the way to the Balkans, Greece and Italy?
The link is easily made when one recalls the influence of Ottoman architecture, especially that exerted by Sinan in the 16th century on Renaissance Italy. Sinan was a contemporary of Michelangelo and Andrea Palladio, two of the most influential Italian architects, and the traces of his designs can be found in some of their works. However, his is at present little known in the West. Yet not only did Sinan shape some of the world's finest buildings, such as the Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul and the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, his work was also to influence that of the most ambitious architects of the Italian Renaissance, as theirs was to affect his.
Figure 1: The Suleymaniye Mosque Complex in Istanbul is one of the greatest Ottoman architectural achievements. Located on the second Hill of Istanbul, it is the second largest mosque in the city and one of the best-known sights of Istanbul. The Suleymaniye Mosque was built on the order of Sultan Suleiman I by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan between 1550 and 1557. (Source).
Besides the various connections in politics, culture and trade between the Ottoman Empire and Renaissance Europe, scholars had documented the mutual architectural influence that existed between these two powers of early modern times.
Michelangelo's dome in Rome, was surely influenced by those of Sinan's daring mosques in Istanbul. Equally, it seems possible that Sinan would have seen drawings by the Italians.
Palladio's champion and patron, Marcantonio Barbaro, was for six years the Venetian ambassador to Istanbul. It is quite possible that he made some sort of connection between Sinan and Palladio, the architect of the magnificent Church of St Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.
This connection had already been traced by recent scholarship and several publications have shown the multiple aspects of the "Islamic" presence and impact in the culture, art and architecture of Venice in particular, and Italy, in general, in the Middle Ages and early modern period. These works provide the context and the background to any possible impact that Sinan's architecture may have had on Renaissance Italy.
Figure 2: Interior dome view of the Suleymaniye Mosque. The main dome is 53 meters high and has a diameter of 26.5 meters. At the time it was built, the dome was the highest in the Ottoman Empire, when measured from sea level. (Source).
In her book Venice and the East: The Impact of the Islamic World on Venetian Architecture (1100-1500), Deborah Howard proposes a wide-ranging approach in which the author uncovers and examines the reflections of the Islamic world in Venice between 1100 and 1500, particularly as they appear in architecture and architectural decoration. Going beyond the usual art history publications that establish artistic influence by comparing visual motifs, Howard's concerns go deeper into the consideration of the many possible methods of transmitting ideas about distant places, such as incorporating images into architectural decoration or utilizing civic spaces in unfamiliar ways. Her thorough discussions of the complexity and indefiniteness of these processes turn her book into nothing less than a study of the phenomenon of cultural transmission.
There are many sites in Venice featured in Howard's book where Islamic influence can be seen. Examples are not limited to specific architectural forms, but include many types of references that are understood to "emulate" other cities and monuments rather than imitating them. A chapter on San Marco, for example, focuses on references to Egypt, and to Alexandria in particular, in the mosaic decorations as well as including a section on Islamic architectural forms found in the building. Another chapter looks at Venice as a mercantile centre and finds characteristics of the emporia of the Islamic world in both its plan and its buildings.
Figure 3: View from Piazza San Marco in Venice of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore. The basilica was designed by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). Its construction was begun in 1566 and was not entirely finished before his death in 1580. Its design was probably inspired by Sinan's architecture. (Source).
The section on Venetian palaces, in addition to a traditional tracking of specific architectural motifs such as ogee arches and mihrab windows, moves beyond the normal scope of art history to consider how such borrowings were perceived by a Venetian audience as signifiers of eastern experiences and social place. The unusual design and decoration of the Palazzo Ducale are shown to allude to the architecture of the Mamluks, as part of imagery meant to establish Venice as the heart of a vast global trading arena. A final chapter explores Venice as part of the pilgrimage route, which placed her in a constant comparative relationship to the Holy Land. The Venetian built environment is seen as emulating sacred locations, rather than directly copying them, until the city became a "flickering mirage" of Jerusalem.
In another vein, Stefano Carboni, author of Venice and the Islamic World (828-1797), narrates the passionate story of the links that existed between Venice and the Islamic lands in pre-modern times. From 828 CE, when Venetian merchants carried home from Alexandria the stolen relics of St. Mark, to the fall of the Venetian Republic to Napoleon in 1797, the visual arts in Venice were dramatically influenced by Islamic art. Because of its strategic location on the Mediterranean, Venice had long imported objects from the Near East through channels of trade, and it flourished during this particular period as a commercial, political, and diplomatic hub. This monumental book examines Venice's rise as the "bazaar of Europe" and how and why the city absorbed artistic and cultural ideas that originated in the Islamic world.
Venice and the Islamic World features a wide range of fascinating images and objects, including paintings and drawings by familiar Venetian artists such as Bellini, Carpaccio, and Tiepolo; beautiful Persian and Ottoman miniatures; and inlaid metalwork, ceramics, lacquer ware, gilded and enamelled glass, textiles, and carpets made in the Serene Republic and the Mamluk, Ottoman, and Safavid Empires. Together, these exquisite objects illuminate the ways Islamic art inspired Venetian artists, whilst also highlighting Venice's own relationships with its neighbouring region. Fascinating essays by distinguished scholars and conservators offer new historical and technical insights into this unique artistic relationship between East and West.
Resources and References
BBC Links
- Sinan the Magnificent: BBC Radio 3 Programme, Sunday 14 February 2010 20:00 GMT (aired on BBC Radio 4 on Saturdays, 11:30), presented by Jonathan Glancey, architecture correspondent for the Guardian.
- Architecture that links East and West (published 13.02.2010).
Articles on Sinan and Ottoman architecture published on www.MuslimHeritage.com
- Sinan: A Great Ottoman Architect and Urban Designer
- Sinan's Acoustical Technology
- Sultan Ahmet Cami or Blue Mosque
- Ottoman Palace Architecture: The Topkapi Palace
- Influence of Acoustic Data in Architectural Design
- The Ottoman Empire and Europe: Cultural Encounters
- Morphological and functional categories of the Mosque
- Cosmic Motifs & Elements in Seljuk and Ottoman Architecture
- Taj Mahal : The Architecture of Love
Related publications
- Auld, Sylvia, Renaissance Venice, Islam and Mahmud the Kurd: A Metalworking Enigma, Altajir World of Islam Trust, 2004, 344 pp.
- Brothers, C., "The Renaissance Reception of the Alhambra: The Letters of Andrea Navagero and the Palace of Charles V", Muqarnas (Brill) vol. 11, 1994, pp. 78-102.
- Carboni, Stefano, Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797, Yale University Press, 2007, 375 pages.
- De Osa, Veronica, Sinan the Turkish Michelangelo, New York: Vantage Press, 1982.
- FSTC, Remembering the Language of History and Science: When the World Spoke Arabic.
- FSTC, Bringing to Life the Islamic History of Europe: A Video Documentary.
- Howard, Deborah, Venice and the East. The Impact of the Islamic World on Venetian Architecture 1100-1500, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000, 272 pp.
- Fletcher, Banister; Cruickshank, Dan, Sir Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture, Architectural Press, 20th edition, 1996 (first published 1896). See Part III. Read online here.
- Necipoglu, Gülru, The Age of Sinan, London: Reaktion Press, 2005.
Easter Special Offer. 2019 Sales Adidas Yeezy Boost Pendant For TPQ213


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Pudendal Nerve Stimulation
|Select your country:
|The Netherlands
|> International
|In the diagnosis of micturition and pelvic floor disorders, common anorectal, pelvic floor and urodynamic investigations are more and more combined with studies to investigate neurological abnormalities. Neurological studies can greatly improve the quality of the diagnosis.
Pudendal Nerve Stimulation (PNS) or Pudendal Nerve Terminal Motor Latency (PNTML) has diagnostic and prognostic value in the care of patients with fecal incontinence and in other patients with pelvic floor dysfunction in whom it is important to identify and quantify the nature of neuromuscular injury. PNS is a common and simple study that measures the latency through a direct reflex between stimulator site and recording site. The St. Marks probe is used for latency measurement between stimulator site and recording site (anal sphincter). Pudendal nerve conduction measures the reflex via the brain. PNS can also be used for urinary incontinence studies when the sphincter is stretched after childbirth.


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Star Trek: Nemesis
From Imperial Wiki
Revision as of 04:13, 14 March 2009 by Daedalus-01 (Talk | contribs)
Star Trek: Nemesis is the tenth full length feature film in the Star Trek franchise and fourth set in the TNG era. It is easily the worst of the ten films, even sinking beneath Star Trek V: The Final Frontier for sheer awfulness and stupidity. It had about 45 minutes of cut footage that would've made this movie better by simply keeping it.
Mike Wong summarizes this turd far better than I ever could. Some consider this to have best ship battle scene in Star Trek.
Key figures
- Shinzon
- Scimitar
- Thalaron weapon
- Romulan Star Empire
- Remans
- Argo
- Valdore-class Romulan Warbird
- Enterprise-E


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Kentucky Center and 91.9 WFPK Present Punch Brothers Featuring Chris Thile Today
Bluegrass band Punch Brothers, featuring Chris Thile (mandolin), Gabe Witcher (fiddle/violin), Noam Pikelny (banjo), Chris Eldridge (guitar), and Paul Kowert (bass), are now being referred to as a "string-band version of Radiohead," with the release of their new album, Who's Feeling Young Now?
The Washington Post said of the new album: "The music conjures seminal bluegrass traditions one moment and thoroughly modern pop, rock and chamber folk overtures the next, leaving ample space for fleet-fingered flights and exhilarating thrust."
Chris Thile, a 2012 MacArthur Fellow and former member of Nickel Creek, is credited with radically changing the perception of the mandolin, elevating it beyond folk and bluegrass to the sophisticated realms of jazz improvisation and classical performance.
Come out and see Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile with special guest Minton Sparks at the Brown Theater today, February 5th.
Tickets are $26.50. Call The Kentucky Center Box Office at 584-7777, toll free at (800) 775-7777, or visit www.kentuckycenter.org. Kentucky Center Member tickets can be purchased by calling the Member Hotline; MembersFirst ($100-499 donors), call (502) 562-0144, and CenterCircle Members ($500+) call (502) 562-0195. Please call (502) 562-0111 (V), or email firstname.lastname@example.com for information about the range of accessibility services we offer to enhance your performance experience.


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By Emma Bishop
Heavy rain overnight forced organisers to change IRONMAN Taiwan 70.3 into a duathlon. The conditions made a swim impossible, with organisers putting their contingency plan in place with an initial 6km run to replace the swim.
Pro men's race
From the outset Sweden's Fredrik Croneborg, a familiar face on the Asian racing circuit, was pushed out of his comfort zone as he attempted to stay in front with Romania's Deak Zsombor.
The unseasonal heavy rain never let up, which made conditions ultra-slippery on the bike and resulted in slower times as athletes smartly erred on the side of caution. Kiwi Guy Crawford, usually near the front because of his swimming prowess, was the surprise early leader on the bike, dragging Croneborg clear. By the 46 km mark the chase pack was already five minutes back and continued to lose ground.
Crawford was more confident in the conditions and, as he did during the run, Croneborg elected to stick with the leader despite the Kiwi's efforts to drop the Swede. The pair had no idea how much lead they had opened up, but entered T2 with almost a nine-minute buffer over Zsombor.
Crawford was first on to the run, but it was only a matter of time before the fast-footed Croneborg caught up. He gradually cleared out and was untroubled to maintain his advantage to claim his first IRONMAN 70.3 Taiwan title in 4:01.14. Crawford came across in second, nine minutes back, but nine minutes ahead of third placed Hiro Nishiuchi (JPN) who grabbed the final place on the podium from Zsombor in the home straight.
"Zsombor really pushed the pace on the first run, I didn't want to go that hard, but figured the guys would be together on the bike and just wanted to stay in touch to be in with a chance," said Croneborg.
He said he would have preferred to ease back on the bike, but thankfully followed Crawford safely and, accordingly, had opened the key break of the race.
Pro women's race
The women's race proved an all-Australian affair. Michelle Wu, winner in 2010 and 2011, got off to a flying first run and then followed up with arguably her strongest bike leg ever to set up her third title in Kenting.
She shared the opening 6 km run lead with Western Australian, Kate Bevilaqua, who lost ground after a puncture on the bike.
The experienced Belinda Granger caught Wu on the bike with her outstanding 2:29.44 effort in the conditions, a split better than half of the professional men's field.
Wu was untroubled on the run, running easily to the win in 4:28.13.
"I think the duathlon format played a little to my favour today, but I have been hammering the hills in training and am stoked it all paid off today," says Wu. "To ride up front with Belinda (Granger) was something that doesn't normally happen to me."
Granger had to focus on what was happening behind her as Bevilaqua repaired her puncture to come into T2 with defending champion Keiko Tanaka (JPN), five minutes behind.
Bevilaqua pulled away from the Japanese athlete early on the run and began to hunt down Granger. Bevilaqua took 17 km to catch Granger, then pushed on for second place seven minutes behind the winner in what proved an Australian trifecta.
The age group performance of the day went to Julien Marcq (30-34) of France, who finished a remarkable third place overall in his first race in Asia.
Top 10 PRO men:
1. Fredrik Croneborg (SWE) 00:21:43 02:15:58 01:22:09 4:01:14
2. Guy Crawford (NZL) 00:21:45 02:15:53 01:31:24 04:10:10
3. Hiroyuki Nishiuchi (JPN) 00:21:44 02:32:18 01:23:52 04:19:12
4. Zsombor Deak (ROM) 00:21:41 02:24:58 01:31:48 04:19:40
5. Daiki Masuda (JPN) 00:21:45 02:26:42 01:31:57 04:21:35
6. Yu Shinozaki (JPN) 00:22:26 02:21:28 01:40:20 04:25:59
7. Justin Granger (AUS) 00:21:51 02:32:19 01:31:50 04:27:23
8. Yang Maoyung (TWN) 00:21:42 02:26:44 01:37:45 04:27:30
9. Cho Kaon (KOR) 00:24:01 02:29:46 01:43:37 04:39:15
10. Dan Brown (PHI) 00:24:35 02:36:40 01:49:16 04:51:50
PRO Women:
1. Michelle Wu (AUS) 00:23:30 02:30:30 01:32:44 04:28:13
2. Kate Bevilaqua (AUS) 00:23:38 02:35:36 01:35:04 04:35:55
3. Belinda Granger (AUS) 00:24:03 02:29:44 01:42:20 04:37:56
4. Keiko Tanaka (JPN) 00:24:35 02:34:40 01:44:12 04:44:55
5. Monica Torres (PHI) 00:24:11 02:36:49 01:53:34 04:55:55


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We turn now in the Scriptures to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 13. And we are patiently drawing to a conclusion in this wonderful study of 2 Corinthians. I'm having a hard time letting this book go because it has so much to say that is precious to my own heart and I trust to yours as well. We're taking in very small bites as we wind it down.
The text for this morning is 2 Corinthians 13 and I'll just read you verses 1 through 4 and then we'll focus on verses 3 and 4. Paul says to the Corinthians, "This is the third time I'm coming to you. Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses. I have previously said when present the second time and though now absent I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past, and to all the rest as well, that if I come again I will not spare anyone since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me and who is not weak towards you but mighty in you. For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we shall live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you."
Now you remember last week I referred to a new book that has been written for pastors and church leaders and it's a book that calls for the church to reinvent itself or die. I'm convinced it's a very harmful book for many reasons, most notably because it ignores what Scripture says about the church. It completely bypasses God's clearly revealed plan for the church and makes suggestions about what the church should be based upon surveying people.
Among many suggestions made in the book, one that is greatly disturbing is the book calls for a rebellion against the current style of the church where pastors exercise authority. Among the mandates the author calls for in the reinvention of the church is radical change in church life in the realm of authority, specifically control is to be taken out of the hands of pastors and given to the people. That is to say authority centralized in the pastors who preach the Word of God must be decentralized and spread out among the people so that there is less vertical authority and more horizontal interactive authority. Rather than power coming from above down to the people, it is to be spread among the people. The book suggests the church must have less authority from the top down.
Nothing could be more contrary to what the Bible teaches. The only true authority in the church is vertical. And by that I simply mean that the only authority in the church is the Word of the Lord of the church, isn't it? It all comes down from above. And the preacher and the teacher, the elder in the church is simply one through whom the Word of God is disseminated. Christ is the head of His church. The church is not its own authority, it's not its own leader. Leadership is not defused throughout the church. The Lord of the church rules in His church. The book also suggests that pastors because they're culturally irrelevant and preach sermons which tend to be ineffective one-sided communication need to be replaced by leaders. You decentralize, you defuse authority and spread it around the congregation giving it to leaders rather than teachers who can make the church more culturally relevant.
I see this as a tragic mutiny against the Scripture and against the Lord of the church. All faithful pastors understand, in fact all students of the New Testament understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church and everything comes down from the head. I mean, the analogy is pretty clear. All the orders that come down to your body come from your head, they come from your brain. Christ is the head of the church, everything comes down vertically from Him. There are no independent operators. There is no defused authority. There is no decentralized authority in the church. And all faithful pastors understand that they are servants of the Lord of the church who brings His sovereign, divine authority to the church through the Word and therefore we are to tell the people what the Word of God says.
Jesus when He preached, preached with great authority. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:29, the people were amazed because He spoke with such authority. There was nothing horizontal about it. He didn't quote peers. He didn't quote various rabbis. He didn't ask for various opinions. He didn't share consensus. He didn't share the results of surveys. It was all vertical, He just spoke. In fact, in Mark 11:28 they went to Him and said, "Where did you get this authority?" And He answered them in John 7, and in John 8, and in John 12 when He said, "This authority isn't Mine, I speak only what God tells Me to speak." That's what He said. Listen to His words. John chapter 7, Jesus said in verse 16, "My teaching is not Mine but His who sent Me." John 8 verse 28, "I speak these things as the Father taught Me." Verse 38, "I speak the things which I've seen with My Father." Verse 40, "I told You the truth which I heard from God." And then in John 12:49, "I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment what to say and what to speak. I speak just as the Father has told Me, " verse 50. It was all vertical.
If the church is to survey and have power and influence and impact, it must not decentralize its authority, it must centralize its authority singularly and holy and only into the Word of God. Jesus said to the Apostles, "You go out, you go to every person in the world and you teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." In Titus 2:15 the Apostle Paul said to Titus, "These things teach and exhort and reprove with all authority and let no one disregard you." The Lord of the church demands authority in the church and that authority is His authority passed down through those who proclaim His Word. Ours is not a personal authority, it's not something that belongs to us because of oratorical ability, or communication skill, it's not something that belongs to us because of personal charm, or the ability to manipulate you or intimidate you, or overpower you, it's not a personal authority. It doesn't belong to us because of education. It doesn't belong to us because of intellectual ability. It doesn't belong to us because of erudition. It doesn't belong to us because we're well read. It doesn't belong to us because we're in the position we're in. There is no such thing as personal authority in the church.
Nor is there ecclesiastical authority. It's not ours by virtue of ordination. It's not that we're authoritative because we passed an ordination test and somebody put a stamp on us and gave us a plaque to put on the wall. There's no such thing as experiential authority. Our authority is not based upon the fact that we have experienced something of God, something from God and in some mystical way therefore have transcended the hoi polloi, that's the common folk, and we are the ones in the know because we have had the experiences. The only authority that we ever have, the only authority that we can ever exercise in the church is biblical authority. And I never say anything authoritative unless it's the Word of God. If I say anything other than the Word of God, it has no authority. What the church needs today is not less authority, it's not de-centralized authority, it's not spreading some imaginary authority across the congregation so everybody feels like they can throw their two cents into the dialogue. What the church needs today more than its ever needed it in my life time is a more centralized authority, a more singular authority, a more focused authority in that the Word of God which is the only authority that speaks to the church is carefully, clearly, and powerfully proclaimed by the leadership. That's what the church needs.
And that authority, I again say, doesn't operate on our personality. Paul says to the Corinthians, "I didn't come to you with human wisdom. I didn't come to you with cleverness of speech." It doesn't come from intimidation. It doesn't come from creating fear. It doesn't come from personal charm. It doesn't come from coercion. It doesn't come from cleverness and ingenuity or any other device. The only authority over the church is the Word of the Lord of the church. And preaching that doesn't carry the full weight of biblical authority is a sad, poor counterfeit of the real thing. Paul said preach the Word, 2 Timothy 4:2. Peter said in 1 Peter 4:11, "If anyone speaks...if someone speaks, let him speak the oracles of God." In the church when you open your mouth, let God be heard. And why? Peter wrote, "So that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." For the glory of God, let God be heard in His church. All preaching is designed and required by God to give His voice a hearing. It carries the character of a command, to establish God's dominion in the soul. I mean, I suppose we could say that's what preaching is to do. It's to establish the dominion of God in the souls of men. First Timothy 4:11, Paul said to Timothy, "These things command...these things command."
And it's not a burdensome thing. John Piper in his book The Supremacy of God in Preaching says, "God's aim is not to constrain man's submission by an act of raw authority, His aim is to ravish our affections with irresistible displays of glory producing glad submission." I like that. As the Word of God is unfolded and you see the irresistible displays of glory, your affections toward God are ravished and your submission becomes a glad submission. A faithful preacher is concerned to bring the strong and blessed authority of God's Word to the church. The church does not need decentralized dialogue. It doesn't need less authority. Lord, help us if that happens, there's hardly any there now as it is. It needs more authority. It needs the clearly preached and taught Word of God.
Now if you're going to survey people to find out what they want, I understand what you're going to get. I agree the surveys will reveal this is not what people want. People don't want authority. They don't want the binding Word of God upon them, especially if you survey unbelievers outside the church or unbelievers inside the church, or if you survey ignorant Christians. The other day there were some men who were singing in a place that I was speaking and they said, "Well we'd like to introduce ourselves." And one introduced himself from the Assembly of God, another from the Church of Christ, and another from another Pentecostal group, and another from The Free Methodist, all of which are basically theologically Arminian groups and very different in many ways in their doctrine. And the last gentleman said, "And isn't it wonderful, it doesn't matter...none of that really matters, all that matters is we all love Jesus." And the audience broke into applause and I was pained in my heart. It does matter what you believe. Theology does matter. It does matter that you're precise with Scripture. It does matter that you're accurate. But, you see, that's the non-authority mentality. The mentality of the world in which we live where everybody's opinion is as valid as everybody else's opinion. Strong, authoritative pulpits which bring the Word with conviction and challenge are not popular with sinful people and they're not popular with ignorant people. Why? Because it's the spirit of the age. This is an anti-authority age that we live in.
It hasn't always been this way in the world, and it isn't always this way in every place. Russian believers who were growing up under the regime of communism in Russia understood authority very well. They understood it very well. And I suppose in some ways the church benefitted by that because people were raised to comprehend the significance of authority. We're living in a society today where all authority is being undermined at every level. It's being undermined from every conceivable perspective...philosophically, religiously, politically.
Let me tell you why people resist authority. This is just a little bit of a sidelight here. We're not surprised if you go out and survey somebody you're going to come up with the idea they don't want an authoritative speaker, they don't want an authoritative doctrinal statement. They don't want somebody telling them what to do. They don't want to have God's law put upon them in a binding fashion. They don't want...they don't want to submit to the supremacy of God and to the truth of His Word. We understand that and I'll give you several reasons.
Number one, it's the nature of sin to be rebellious. The Bible says sin is rebellion. Nothing is truer of sin then to say it is a form of rebellion and it is a rebellion against whom? God. All sin is a rebellion against God. That's a definition of sin. You want to know what sin is? It's a rebellion against God. It's an unwillingness to do God's will. Any violation of God's will is sin. Any violation of God's will is a form of rebellion. Satan inaugurates the whole deal, bolts out of heaven in rebellion against God. Eve inaugurates it on a human level, rebels against the commands of God, believes the lie and Adam joins her and catapults the human race into fallenness. Romans chapter 1 says it's the cycle of history, "When they knew God they glorified Him not as God, and neither were thankful, turned against Him," and so forth.
A lack of respect for God, a lack of respect for God's character, a lack of respect for God's law, a lack of God's will, God's Word is the nature of sin. So we aren't surprised that if you go survey a lot of sinners they'd like to say, "Well we just want less authority." That's the nature of sin. Sin is rebellion.
Secondly, it is also true basically in our philosophy...we're not only dealing with an endemic sin issue here, we're dealing with a philosophical issue...secondly, that we have a lack of moral absolutes in our culture. Because our culture has rejected the Bible, there is no law, there is no standard, just opinions. And all we know about anything is what the survey says, right? Forty-nine percent of the people said this...and sixty-two percent of the people said this...and we hear this every single day and that's how we define our morality. It's sort of the weight of the people. That's what happens when you have a decentralized authority, it's all put in the hands of the people and then you just take a vote. And by the way, it's just going to get more chaotic at that point because philosophically we've been entered into the time period called post-modernism-post-modernism.
In the Dark Ages, just to give you a little quick ride through history, in the Dark Ages the church said what was true and the church wasn't always obviously reflecting the Word of God, but the great monolithic Roman system in western civilization stated what was true. The church said this is true and you will do it. And then came the enlightenment. Then came the Renaissance and Reformation and men discovered the human mind and that engaged us from the Dark Ages into the modern era. And Modernism, by definition, is a search for the truth. Modernism says we'll find the truth, we'll use our intellectual abilities and our capacities and we'll discover the truth. We will find the truth. The scientific method comes in, science flourishes and all that went along with it during Modernism because Modernism says there is truth and we will find it. Post Modernism doesn't say that. Post Modernism doesn't say we'll find truth, Post Modernism says we'll make it, we'll create it. Post Modernism says there is no singular truth, there is no generic truth, there is no objective truth, there is no ontological truth, we make truth.
Another way to look at it is, I'll give you a few technical terms here, we live in a time of phenomenology. Have you seen that word in any of your reading? Phenomenology? Phenomenology is simply a word to define the way things appear...the way things appear. And the way things appear is not always the way they are, true? But today the current trend is toward phenomenology, that is to say you define truth in any way that it appears to you. Phenomenology is said over against ontology. Ontology comes from the Greek verb "to be," ontos, and it means the way things are. In Modernism we were trying to find the way things are, in Post Modernism we're simply determining the way things appear to us. This is a huge philosophical shift.
Now in all honesty, I reject phenomenology because I don't trust my senses or yours. And I'll tell you something else, I reject ontology because ontology has its limits. Even when I have seen what I see and I see things the way they are, there may be more there than I can see so I have to go behind phenomenology, behind ontology to theology. And the reality that I'm going to link up with is the reality that is clearly indicated by the God who created everything. The only real assessment of things the way they really are is biblical, isn't it? Only God knows. We've abandoned theology, theoretically we abandoned that when we abandoned our Christian heritage, we have abandoned now ontology, the scientific methodology and now we're catapulted into phenomenology where we make our own truth by virtue of what it appears to be by us. Every man does what is right in his own eyes.
Now in our society with that kind of thinking and that kind of mentality being piped into the young people of our culture, that's what the people in our universities are teaching, that's what they're learning. So that's what the school teachers are being taught. That's what the lawyers are being taught who become the judges and who become the senators and the congressmen and the leaders, and you know how the story goes. It's the idea that there is no absolute truth, there is no real truth, even ontology is unacceptable to them, to say nothing of theology. And so we live in a society where they don't want anybody to tell them what is right what is wrong, what is true. If you go to a homosexual and confront him with the sin of that, he'll call you a homophobic and all of a sudden you become the deviate. And, you know, he's very sincere because all he understands is an environment that has no morality but that which he has perceived to be true for him.
There's a third reason why there's such a lack of authority in our culture, such a lack of interest in it, and if you're going to survey the people, why you're going to get them to answer you that they don't want authority in their churches like they don't want it anywhere else. And I really believe it's because of parents to discipline children. We now have a generation of children who have grown up without discipline. The breakdown of the home, sexual immorality, homosexuality, divorce, single moms, working wives, working mothers all of that has produced a terrible, terrible effect, children untaught, children who have never learned to respect authority, to respect their parents even. I keep hearing about children killing their parents, don't we? You know, in the Old Testament if a child disobeyed his parents he'd be executed according to the law of God? That would have a chilling effect on disobedience. Why did God make such a stern law that if a child was rebellious toward his parents he would die? Because God understands what a destruction of society occurs with a generation of young people who grow up without respect for authority. We're living that out now and it's only going to get worse.
And then you could add a fourth feature here that has kind of contributed to that and that is the media destruction of authority. The assault on the police, the assault on people in leadership, the exaltation of personal private vengeance, the portrayal of criminals as victims, the system is bad, anybody who succeeds in the system is evil and bad and money grubbing and etc., etc., you shouldn't trust anybody, you shouldn't trust your leaders, everybody's out to get you.
And then you could add a fifth, humanism, the overestimation of human rights. Humanism didn't do us any favors. All this stuff about personal rights and personal rights is way overstated. Our society is engulfed in a sea of personal freedoms and personal rights that is totally destructive.
Now I don't want to go into those any further, you can think them through yourself. But those are the kinds of things that contribute to the thinking of a culture. And that culture, unfortunately, finds its way into the church and unless the Word of God is clearly and thoroughly taught to people, they will have those residual ideas in their minds. So when you go into the church and ask them what they want, you're liable to get the kind of foolish answers that would lead you to conclude that the church needs less authority instead of more.
In 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13, Paul writes, "For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you heard, or received, from us the Word of God's message." Boy, that's...that's so important. He never preached anything but God's message. "When you received from us the Word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men but for what it really is, the Word of God which also energizes its work in you who believe."
You see, the Thessalonians they understood that when Paul preached it was God's Word. And they didn't take it as just another opinion from some man, but as the Word of God which powerfully worked in those who believed. So we can establish, I think, rather readily certainly from Scripture repeatedly in the Old and New Testament the fact that the church is under the authority of the Lord and that authority is communicated through His Word and His Word is communicated through His preachers and teachers. The only authority in the church is the Lord of the church, the living God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ and all that comes from Him is binding.
Now all of that is just a walking start to get to the text. Let's go back to it. What was going on in Corinth? I'll tell you, among many things Paul was being attacked, as we know. And one of the areas they attacked him, and they attacked him in every area, they attacked his morality, they attacked his credentials, they attacked his integrity, they attacked his honesty, they attacked his message, they said terrible things about his lifestyle, all kinds of things.
But one of the things that was at the heart of their assault, false teachers came to Corinth, they wanted to undermine Paul because everybody believed Paul, he was the great teacher and they couldn't teach lies unless they could get rid of Paul. So they had to discredit Paul. They had to destroy his credibility in the eyes of the people. And one of the things they began to attack was his authority. They would say things like, "Well, he's just telling you what he thinks. He doesn't have any authority." In chapter 3 he refers to the fact that they expected him to have some kind of papers, some paperwork from Jerusalem that authenticated him. "Where is his letter of commendation?" They questioned his authority. They said, "He doesn't speak for Jesus Christ. How do you know he speaks for Christ? Where does he come off wielding all this power over you and telling you all these things and you believe them, and exercising all this authority and you just acknowledge it? Where does he get this authority?" And so at this very point they systematically attempted to undermine Paul's authority.
In chapter 2 of this letter, verse 17 he says, "We're not like those false teachers peddling the Word of God, but as from sincerity as from God we speak in Christ in the sight of God." And the very fact that that sentence is such a compound indicates how strongly he wants them to know that he has authority. "We speak from God in Christ in the sight of God." That's an answer to those who were questioning his authority. Chapter 4 in verse 2 he says, here again answering their accusations. "We have renounced the things hidden because of shame. We are not walking in craftiness, we are not adulterating the Word of God but by manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Before God, he says, we're speaking truth, not lies and craftiness, not adulterating the Word. And again he's defending himself against these accusations.
Down in verse 5, "We do not preach ourselves." You see, that's exactly what they said, he's just giving you his own opinion telling you what he wants. He wants to have power over you. "We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus' sake."
Over in chapter 6 it's the same thing. They're questioning his authority and in verse 7 he says, "We speak in purity..." or verse 6, "In purity, in knowledge." In verse 7, "In the Word of truth, in the power of God."
Chapter 10 verse 8, he even uses the word authority. "Even if I should boast somewhat further about our authority which the Lord gave for building you up." Chapter 13 verse 10, same thing, he says, "In accordance...at the end of the verse...with the authority which the Lord gave for building up and not tearing down."
So you can see repeatedly he answers this attack that questioned his authority. Well that's exactly what he's doing in our text. Look back at verse 3 and 4. The false teachers had convinced the Corinthians, some of them, that Paul lacked authority and should have to prove that he could really say he spoke for Christ. So verse 3 says, "Since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me," that's the issue. They were saying, "We want some proof that it's really Christ speaking in you, how do we know it's not just your opinion? You're just telling us what you want to tell us. You're just saying what is your own view and your own idea. How do we know? Give us some proof of the Christ who speaks in you."
That was the issue here. Now remember, Paul had already indicated that his concern for his people was repentance, chapter 12 verses 20 and 21. That was our first point in this little outline. And secondly, he was concerned for the discipline of his people, verses 1 and 2. And now in verses 3 and 4 he's concerned for the authority of his people. Any faithful pastor is concerned with these issues. He's concerned about sin and repentance. He's concerned about discipline which is the purging and purifying of the church. And he's concerned about making sure the people come under the authority of the truth. Those are the faithful pastor's concerns. And we come to this third one, this matter of authority, and Paul wants to address it.
So he says in verse 3, "You're seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, huh? You haven't had enough proof already?" Go back to verse 12 of chapter 12. "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles." They had a lot of proof...miracles that Paul had done there. That was proof enough. And there was even more proof. How about this? "You're saved. You've been justified. You've been regenerated. You've been converted. You've been transformed. You've been changed. You've been born again. You've been redeemed. Isn't that indicative of the fact that the truth came through me, the saving truth? Not only that, you're in the process of being sanctified, you're in the process of growing and maturing and being nurtured and becoming more like Christ. Isn't that evidence?" They had evidence from signs. They had evidence from salvation. They had evidence from sanctification. But they were so fickle they allowed themselves to get sucked into this false teacher's effort and to question things that they really had no reason to question.
So, he says, "Okay, you want more proof of the Christ who speaks in me?" Go back to verse 2, "If I come again I'll not spare anyone." That's what he's talking about. "I'll not spare you and that will give you more proof." What does he mean? He means when I come I'm going to take out the sword, if need be, of discipline and I'm going to act in behalf of Christ in dealing with your sin.
Now you remember in Matthew 18 the Lord outlined the process of church discipline, remember that? You know, you go to your brother and then you tell the church and ultimately if they don't repent...there's four steps. You go to your brother, you take two or three witnesses, you tell the church and then you put them out of the church. And you remember when it says right after that it says, "Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I...what?...in the midst?" When you're in the midst of this discipline and you're working to purge sin in the church, Christ says there am I in the midst of them. So Paul says, "Look, you want proof of Christ who's in me? You're telling me signs aren't enough proof? You're telling me salvation is not enough proof? You're telling me sanctification is not enough proof, that Christ is speaking through me? I'll give you more proof. When I get there I'm going to wield the sword of discipline and I'm not going to spare anybody and you're going to feel the authority of Christ then." That's what he's saying. "I will not spare anyone since you're seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me." You wantdokime, you want a test? You want the proof? You're going to get it.
Just a footnote. I love that phrase "proof of the Christ who speaks in me." Boy, what a great statement. Every preacher who...who is faithful to the Lord and understands his role would love to be a living illustration of that. That...that's our passion. That's our calling for Christ to speak through us. What a great statement. "The Christ who speaks in me." And how does Christ speak in us? Not in an audible voice, He speaks in us when we proclaim His Word. Christ isn't indicated to have given special words to Paul on every occasion. Once the Word of God was revealed, Paul preached it and repreached it and repreached it. He gave it to us. When you speak the Word of Christ, Christ speaks in you.
So you...that was the question. And that should be the question. That should always be the question. Is it really Christ speaking in him? How do I know that about a preacher? How do I know that about a teacher? How do I know if Christ is speaking in him?
You say, "Well, maybe Christ spooked him and he had a vision." No, I don't know that, I don't know he had a vision. It's not reproducible, it's not verifiable. Remember that? Back at the beginning of chapter 12 Paul says, "I went to heaven but it doesn't matter. It's not reproducible and it's not verifiable. I can't build my credibility on that." Don't tell me Jesus told you this, and Jesus told you that, I can't...I can't verify that and neither can you. There's only one way I know if Christ is speaking through a person. And how's that? If he speaks what is known to be the Word of Christ, right? And the Word of Christ is the Word of God.
How can we say we need less of that in the church? That's mind-boggling to me. Paul says you want more of the Christ who speaks in me? You're going to get it. You've had it in signs and you've seen it in your own salvation and sanctification and you're going to see more when I come and don't spare anybody and apply Matthew 18 to all of you. And then you'll see the Christ who speaks in me, verse 3, "And who is not weak toward you but mighty in you." And he's saying you already have seen that. He's...He is not weak toward you, you know that because you're saved and you're being sanctified. He is mighty in you and you know that. You're experiencing it. Your lives have been changed and transformed. You know that and you've seen the signs and wonders. You want more proof of how mighty Christ is? You want more proof of how powerful He is? Then I'll give it to you when I come against that unrepentant person with the very same authority of the Word of Christ.
Beloved, always there is power when believers act in line with the truth of God's Word. Christ is the Lord of the church and He expresses authority in His church through His Word proclaimed by gifted and called and faithful preachers and teachers.
One of the things the false teachers also said was that Paul just didn't have it. His speech was unimpressive...or his speech was contemptible, his presence was unimpressive. He...he just lacked charm, he lacked oratorical ability. He was just a...he was a nobody and a nothing, wasn't very interesting. All he ever talked about was the cross. He wasn't clever in his speech and they were...they were, you know, worshipers of speech makers. And Paul was just not up to the standard. He was just...he just didn't fit the picture. He wasn't overpowering. He wasn't domineering. He wasn't preeminent. He wasn't successful. In fact, he was pretty much beaten up, battered and haggard. Didn't have particularly great communication skills and he was just in trouble all the time. And he was just...he's just a weak person, just didn't have the power of personality and charm persona to captivate people. Didn't have the style that it takes. Didn't understand the cultural hot buttons. Didn't know how to be relevant, just kept droning on about the cross, just a weak person.
You know what? Paul was weak. There's no question about that. He was weak. Chapter 1 starts talking about his afflictions, sorrows; chapter 2 he's crying; chapter 4 he gives a whole list of his suffering; chapter 6, another list of his suffering; chapter 7 talks about his depression; chapter 8 about more sorrow; chapter 10 about more suffering; chapter 11 a long list of suffering; chapter 12, more suffering, verses 7 to 10. Particularly verse 10; insults, distresses, persecutions, difficulties, all of that were forms of weakness. Verse 10 he says he was content with weakness. He was not only weak but he was content to be weak. First Corinthians 2:3, "I was with you in weakness. I planned it that way. I came to be weak. I am weak. I confess it." He calls himself a clay pot, remember that in chapter 4? He was weak. And that was part of their criticism. He just...he's just not impressive. He's just...he's just weak and he's always battered and beaten up and haggard and he keeps getting thrown in jail everywhere and he's got a lousy reputation. He's just a nothing. He's just weak.
Well he gives a tremendous analogy, brilliant analogy. Listen to this, verse 4, the middle of the verse, start with the word for, "For we also are weak in Him." We admit it, I admit it, I'm weak. I'm weak, I'm in Christ, I'm in Him, that is I'm in Christ, saved, redeemed, belong to Him but I'm weak. I admit it.
"Yet we shall live with Him." What does that mean? What does it mean we shall live with Him? Well what it means is that he's found spiritual life and it's eternal. He has found eternal life and it's eternal spiritual life and he found it because of the power of God. God in power came into his weakness and made him alive with spiritual life forever. And then it says in verse 4, "God directed that same power through him toward you."
Wow...what's he saying? He's saying, "Well, my weakness didn't stop the power of God, it facilitated it because there's no other explanation for my life than that it was the power of God because there's no human explanation. I'm too week, too frail, too inept, too unimpressive to have pulled it off myself. Whatever has happened has been the power of God surging through my weakness."
Back to verse 9 of chapter 12, God said, "My grace is sufficient for you for power is perfected in weakness." God says power is perfected in weakness. Wow! "Most gladly therefore I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me." That...that's the principle, God said I'll perfect My power through your weakness. Paul said, "I'm happy to be weak because in my weakness God's power came." It was in Paul's weakness and brokenness that he was redeemed. It was when he was going to Damascus a proud, confident, arrogant Jew persecuting Christians and he was crushed in the dirt and shattered and broken and dismantled and made blind and halting and stumbling he fell before God and in the midst of that weakness he was crushed into nothing and through that weakness God saved him and began to sanctify him and he became the great, great preacher...the greatest preacher ever next to the Lord Jesus Himself. His power was perfected in Paul's weakness from the beginning. And so when he went to Corinth he knew that he had to keep his posture weak so that the power of God could surge through him.
What does it mean to be weak? It just means to keep yourself out of the picture and just become a channel through which the power flows. You can't mingle yourself with it without somehow polluting the stream of pure power. So all the faithful preacher wants to do is put himself out of the way and let the power of God surge through the truth of God. And again I say, the church doesn't need less of this, it needs so much more of it. So he says, "We're weak in Him." It's true. "Yet we have received spiritual life which is eternal because of the power of God that has come to us and through us as directed toward you." You've experienced it. You saw the miracles. You were saved. You're sanctified. And you're about to see some of it, too, if I find some sin there you'll see more of the power of God coming through.
And then he gives this really wonderful, wonderful analogy. The beginning of verse 4, "For indeed He was crucified because of weakness yet He lives because of the power of God." Well I mean, that is the end of the discussion right there. Who's He? Jesus. You're saying I'm too weak to be powerful, let me give you an analogy, I am weak that's why I'm powerful and so was Jesus. This is great. Indeed He was crucified because of weakness, or literally it could be in the Greek, He was crucified in weakness. The bottom line is that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is an unmistakable evidence of His weakness. I mean, He came into the world in the form of a servant, Philippians 2 says, He humbled Himself, came in the fashion of a man, became a servant. He lived a very humble life. But when He got to the cross you really began to see His weakness. Through His life you could see human weakness. He was weary. He was sad. He sorrowed. He was disappointed. He wept. But then He was betrayed and then He was taken before a court of Jews in a mock trial and blasphemed and then He was blasphemed by the Idumaeans and then He was blasphemed by the Romans in a mock of a trial before Pilate. And then He was treated with disdain and abuse and spit on and punched and poked and laughed at. And then He was crucified and then He died. And that is weakness. The supreme evidence of His weakness is His death. And Paul says, "Indeed, that's true," indeed meaning truly, that's true, "He was crucified because of weakness, yet He is alive because of the power of God."
What's that refer to? Resurrection, right? The resurrection. God raised Him from the dead. Romans 1:4 tells us God raised Him from the dead. The Lord Jesus was weak, He was so weak that His enemies defeated and executed Him in the most debasing humiliating and shameful manner possible. His human nature was so weak that it was fully susceptible to death. Yet He lives. Once weak in death He was made alive in power and He came out of that grave on the third day. His resurrection being the most monumental evidence and revelation of His power. So Jesus is the pattern. He was weak, weak all the way to death and yet He is alive because of the power of God which raised Him from the dead.
So Paul, he's weak, he's in fear and trembling, he suffers a lot, he lives with sorrow, pain and disappointment. He's been beaten and battered and rejected. Humanly he's not welcome. He's not ranked among the great preachers, their speakers and orators of his day. He says we're weak in Him yet we shall live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you. Like Christ it was Paul's weakness that God used to make him strong. The power of God came into his life, transformed him and surged through his life to transform the Corinthians. Paul says, "You question my authority? Wait till I get there. If you don't already have enough evidence of it, I'll give you some when I arrive."
Did he mean that he would come in and use some personal authority? No, he meant that he would come in and take the Word of God and apply it to the sin of that church with a firm hand. He would come like the Lord in the book of Revelation and fight against them with the sword of his mouth to purge his church. The next time he came it wouldn't be like the first time. Philip Hughes has a wonderful paragraph on that. He says, "The Apostle discerns an analogy between the smaller localized setting of his relations with the Corinthian church an the cosmic drama in which his Master, Christ, is the chief actor. The weakness of the cross at Christ's first advent is to be followed by the manifested power of His majestic authority as King of Kings and Lord of Lords at His second advent when He will appear as the judge of the whole world." The first time Christ came He came in weakness, next time He comes He comes in power and judgment.
Hughes says, "When Christ comes again He will not spare. The two things go together in Him, the infinite patience of the cross, the inexorable righteousness of the throne. So too Paul who is one with his Master in the weakness of compassion and patience and long-suffering desiring the repentance of all is one with Him also in the power of authority and judgment. If his first visit appeared to be marked by weakness, the defiant ones in Corinth will find that his impending visit is marked by power," end quote. Great statement. It's like the second coming of Paul is going to be like the Second Coming of Jesus. If I have to, I'm not coming in weakness, I'm coming in power to deal with sin.
The church needs this authority. Our only authority is the Scripture and we're commanded to bring it clearly, compellingly with conviction and to call you to obey it that you may be blessed and Christ may be honored. The need of the church today is to repent, to discipline and to submit to the authority of God's Word. That's the issue. The faithful pastor is concerned that his people understand the authority with which he speaks is not his own, cannot be his own but is the authority of God. And ravished by the truth of God they should submit in glad submission knowing the blessings that attend that submission. More to say, but no more time. Next time there's another thing that concerns a faithful pastor, not just the repentance of his people, the discipline of his people and the submission of his people to divine authority, but the authenticity of his people and that's for next Lord's day. Join me in prayer.
This is such rich truth, Lord, and we thank You for it. We thank You for the depth with which Your Word speaks and yet its clear, easily understood so that we are convicted as to its personal application. Bring us, Lord, willingly, joyfully, gladly under submission to Your Word, help us to long for more of the authority of the Word to bring it to bear upon our hearts. Raise up more weak men who in their weakness can offer nothing but can be channels through which Your power may flow for Your strength indeed is perfected in our weakness. Bring your authority to bear on Your church through weak but faithful men and women and apply it in all our lives. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.


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