text:
The Sexiest of Sexys: TISSUE Magazine
TISSUE first caught my eye almost a year ago at McNally Jackson, tucked on a hidden half-shelf between the glossy fashion section and the cafe. The cover was nondescript, but the edginess of the darkly patterned background combined with an atypical layout promised a few punches. It was love at first sight.
That was the first issue, and now TISSUE is officially launching their third issue in Berlin on February 26th at their big sister's office, 032c. Unfortunately the commute is a little too long for me, but I encourage any of my German friends to make the trip – it will be well worth it.
TISSUE is all about sex, and it flaunts its sexiness in a shockingly honest, voyeuristic way. It is both anti-stylized and highly refined. The content begs the questions: Is it porn or art? Is it erotic? Is erotic a fitting term to place something between sex and art?
What does not exist in TISSUE is the high-gloss, high-photoshop, highly-implanted corpulence of porn. There are no snarling 40 year olds with boob jobs, oompa-loompa-orange skin, patterned knee-high socks and pigtails. Gone, even, are the couples, triples, gang bangers and gay brothers. In their stead are artful (through composition, texture and lighting) nudes gracing the likes of spare art galleries, window ledges, horses and suburban bedrooms. TISSUE tasks itself with creating a new eroticism that proves it is possible to communicate sexuality by completely devoting itself to exhibition and whimsy.
Breaking into the publication world is not easy. There is a growing genre of magazines that toe the lines between fashion, art and porn. The result of this often finds its home in highly stylized editorials, done in the name of Art but often lacking it, filled with soft-core porn. This approach dresses up porn a bit, kind of like putting lipstick on a bulldog, but in the end its still porn. At the same time, typical editorials are stuck in a nether world where people lay around in ridiculous poses and situations. It reaks of the same staged fakeness as porn.
Luckily enough, TISSUE is at the other end of the spectrum by avoiding the pitfalls and cliches of both porn (hard and soft) and fashion (HIGH and low) and sets out to take "sexy to the most unsexy of places" through a host of subjects including "women, men, horses, architecture, fire-breathing and porn paraphernalia." The result is a new understanding of eroticism that unites very talented contributors within a graphically unique format.
The layout is minimal, but it's not lazy. Infact it must take a massive amount of work to craft a magazine like this. I have a theory that TISSUE could be about anything, the graphic quality and layout are so unique that it would still be a fantastic magazine even if it traded cake decorating pics for the nudie shots.
There are only a few magazines that I swear by (032c, Purple Fashion, Pin-Up) — magazines that hold their weight every issue, magazines that are recognizable on every spread, and TISSUE is the newest to the list. Lazy magazines rely on the success (and consequently the failures) of their contributors like crutches, doing little more than placing content on the page. TISSUE breaks the mold by crafting a singular, immersive landscape for themselves, their collaborators and most importantly, their readers. The result is a very special magazine.
We managed to catch-up with the mastermind behind TISSUE, Uwe Jens Bermeitinger and set out to uncover a bit about the magazine and its mission.
Matthew Hoffman & Francesca Giuliani Firstly, can you tell us, why the name TISSUE?
Uwe Jens Bermeitinger Well, the title refers to the tissue you use to clean up your mess. And of course, the biological term "tissue" fits very well with what it's all about. At least on the surface…
MH/FG Before embarking on TISSUE, you created and directed Nude Paper, which unfortunately only lived to see three issues. Can you talk a bit about your adventures with Nude Paper, and what the similarities and differences are with TISSUE?
UJB Nude Paper was big fun. I was sharpening my tools. We had a few difficulties with the publisher of Nude Paper so the whole team split up. Now we've started something deeper: TISSUE Magazine. Melanie Jeske and I publish it on our own, along with an ambitious team, the best contributors, and a lot of support from colleagues, friends and readers. TISSUE is a collective. It only works because nobody, except the printing house, is asking for money. I fund it with my own savings and the money I earn as a freelance art director. Nude Paper explored the ways of expressing nudity – a much simpler and short-dated concept. TISSUE Magazine goes deeper into human sexuality. We like to call it a "bedroom produced art and sex manual."
MH/FG You mention that TISSUE takes "sex to the unsexiest of places." Can you elaborate on that? What place is the unsexiest?
UJB This is a pretty cool quote from our friends over at 032c from an article on Nude Paper in their 20th issue. We loved it so much, we just stole it for TISSUE. It's like having the Midas touch in sexy matters.
To answer your second question, the waiting room of a urologist is the unsexiest place. The unsexiest of things are definitely foot orthotics – which I should wear. But I don't.
MH/FG As far as TISSUE is concerned, is there an added value in approaching the topic of sex from a German perspective?
UJB Germans are hardcore. Like Kurt Tucholsky said: "Deutsch sein heißt eine Sache um ihrer selbst willen tun." It means: doing something for its own sake. This is exactly what we are doing. We have no business plan and don't do marketing – we just do what we want and give it all to the project.
TISSUE is proud of its German origin and we also know that it's an international product with contributors and influences from around the world. Germany had some very dark times in history, but there has also always been a strong will for freedom. There were nudist movements in the first decades of 20th century, as well as in the 60's and 70's; people were striving for sexual freedom. On the other side of the wall, too. There have always been feminist and gay movements in Germany, and these influenced me a lot in my youth.
At the end, I think TISSUE is about freedom!
MH/FG What would you say is vulgar?
UJB Constantly complaining about one's life while not recognizing that life itself is the highest gift of all. The privilege of living in the western world where everything is available at anytime in big amounts. Not seeing the opportunities of the freedom you live in. That's vulgar.
MH/FG How do you go about selecting contributors for each issue?
UJB The best results show when the artist has total freedom and the guts to use it. I chose artists because of their special view on things; on sex, on life. I want them to dig deeper into the universe of human sexuality and the human factor. At least it just has to look cool.
MH/FG You made a leap from Issue #1 to a much more substantial Issue #2, from "underground fanzine to wannabe-highbrow magazine." Is this natural growth or is there something more to it?
UJB This is natural growth, or better: we're accomplishing our objective issue by issue and we will never stop improving or re-inventing ourself. With issue 2 we obviously gained more color without getting glossy. We fight against stupidity, convenience and the visual fascism the mass media forces on us. We are searching for the truth.
MH/FG What publications inspire you, and who do you look up to? Do you collect magazines yourself? What makes you choose one magazine over another?
UJB I love and collect magazines. It's my fuel and a big spring of inspiration. I look up to our big sister 032c from Berlin. 032c is the best magazine in the world. Richardson Magazine is a benchmark for us too.
MH/FG Last question, what is next for TISSUE?
UJB We are releasing issue N°3 right now. We are looking for a small distributor in the U.S. and more outlets. We are thinking about opening a gallery in our hometown of Hamburg, Germany, at least for a few months to bring all of our friends and artists from around the world together in one place. Japan is our biggest market, maybe we should release issue N°3 there. Let's see what happens!


text:
As we prepare for the Lord's table tonight, I want us to consider the same theme that we've been considering as we move through the book of Revelation and find ourselves now in chapter 21. And to introduce that theme, or reintroduce it to us, I want you to turn to Revelation 21. You remember that last Sunday night we were considering the first three verses of this immensely important revelation. And we came to verse 3. And verse 3 describes the greatest reality about heaven, the greatest reality about the new heaven and the new earth. Verse 3 of Revelation 21 says, "I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, `Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and He shall dwell among them and they shall be His people and God Himself shall be among them.'"
The great reality of the eternal state, the great reality of the new heaven and the new earth, the great realty of dwelling in glory in heaven forever is the presence of God. And we considered the words of the psalmist who said, "Whom have I on earth beside Thee? And whom have I in heaven but Thee?" Who expressed that his great longing and his great passion and his great desire was for no other than the Lord Himself.
That's what makes heaven. That's why the Apostle Paul said, "For to me to live is Christ but to die is gain." Gain, why? Well, if"for me to live is Christ," "to die" is gain because I am in the presence of Christ in all His fullness...heaven.
Heaven is that place where we will live with God. Is it any wonder that John said, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus, to be with You."
When we think about heaven and its attractiveness, well we might consider pearly gates and streets of gold. We might considered...consider the jewels that sparkle with the shining of the glory of God. We might consider the reunion that will occur with beloved redeemed friends, those who are the children of the Redeemer. We might consider that we will be made perfect and out of that perfection will come perfect praise and worship.
But the best and the most glorious reality of heaven is God Himself. And verse 3 simply says, "The tabernacle of God is among men. He shall dwell among them. They shall be His people and God Himself shall be among them."
Now tonight, just briefly, as we prepare for the Lord's table, I want to share with you the very, very important reality of what it's going to be like to live in the presence of God. Let me just give you several features, maybe a handful.
First of all, we will be with Him. And that's what verse 3 is saying initially. We will be with Him. That's fellowship. And this is the supreme joy of heaven, fellowship with God who pitches His tent, who takes up His residence with us. And if you remember in 1 John chapter 1 verse 3 it says that what we have seen and heard, that's John talking about Christ, we proclaim to you, that's the gospel, in order that you also may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. In heaven the fellowship will be full and unhindered and more wonderful than anything we can ever experience in the fellowship that we enjoy spiritually in this life.
Listen to the words of John 17 verse 24, "Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am." In other words, when I come back to You and the glories of Your throne in heaven, I want My own to be there. That's what heaven is, it's really not a place, it's a presence. It's being with Christ where He is.
In John chapter 14 we all know very well the words of Jesus, "In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there You may be also." Always to be with Him, to be with Him. That's what is paradise regained.
Remember the Rapture passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 to 17 where the Apostle Paul says, after talking about how saints are going to be brought out of the graves and picked up off the earth and meet the Lord in the air and ascend into glory all in the twinkling of an eye as he says to the Corinthians, he caps it off by saying,"T"Thus we shall ever, or always, be with the Lord." So the highest joy of heaven is not the beauty of the place, although that is wondrous. The highest joy of heaven is not the experience of corporate praise. The highest joy of heaven is not reunion with loved ones who have gone before. The highest joy of heaven is to be with the Lord. That is the crowning joy.
If you go down in chapter 21 of Revelation to verse 22 and 23 it says, "I saw no temple in it," that is in the new Jerusalem which is the capital city of the new heavens and the new earth, he says,"I saw no temple in it for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple." And that is to say God dwells everywhere. It doesn't have to have a temple which is a place where God dwells because all of it is a temple. The city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it for the glory of God has illumined it and its lamp is the Lamb. All of heaven, all of the new heavens and the new earth and particularly the new Jerusalem is the temple because the presence of God and the presence of Christ is unconfined and fills it all. In heaven there will be no distance, God will not be far off, there will be no sense of removal. Heaven is the place of enjoyment for the full presence of God.
And Richard Baxter, that Puritan writer, said, "As God gives us glorified senses and enlarged capacities in heaven, so will He advance the happiness of those senses to fill up with Himself all those capacities." Eternal, immediate, constant fellowship with God that is intimate, unbroken, satisfying in every respect.
Again Richard Baxter opens to us a wonderful perspective, listen to what he writes. The English is a little archaic but the truth is very, very up-to-date. He writes, "The things of God we handle are divine but our manner of handling them is human. There is little we touch but we leave the print of our fingers behind. The Christian knows by experience that his most immediate joys are his sweetest joys. What have least of man and are most directly from the Spirit. Christians who are in secret prayer and contemplation are those of greatest life and joy because they have all more immediately from God Himself the fullness of joy is in God immediately being present." What he's saying there is that in times of quiet contemplation, meditation and prayer we draw as near as we can to God and there we find our profoundest joy so the proximity to Him is the source of that.
He goes on, "We shall then have light without a candle and perpetual day without the sun. We shall have enlightened understandings without Scripture and be governed without a written law. We shall have joy which we drew not from promises nor fetched home by faith and hope. We shall have communion without ordinances. To have necessities but no supply is the state of those in hell. To have necessities supplied by means of creatures is the state of those on earth. To have necessities supplied immediately from God is the state of the saints in glory," end quote. No intercessors, no mediators, just the presence of God. Intimate communion with God, intimate communion with Christ. We heard from some of the testimonies tonight that "I didn't know God...I didn't know Christ, but once I came to the Lord Jesus Christ repentant and embraced Him as Savior, now I know God...now I know Christ." And that is only the initial kind of knowing that finds its fullest realization in the glory which is to come.
In fact, to be honest with you, it's sort of comfortable to know God only from a distance. Were we to come too close to Him even though we are His children in our fallen condition, it would be too frightening for us to bear. When Isaiah who was a true believer, the truest of the true in his land, was assaulted, as it were, by the presence of God in the temple as he went to worship and to seek God's face in chapter 6, and when the angels came out and cried antiphonally, "Holy, holy, holy," he was so overwrought with fear that he pronounced a curse and damnation upon himself and said,"W"Woe is me for I am disintegrating."
When Job was brought face to face with God, closer than he had ever been in his whole life, he said, "I repent in dust and ashes." When Peter realized that he was in the presence of the Creator God who controlled everything in the world because He had just controlled the fish in the Sea of Galilee, Peter realizing that cried out from the depths of his heart, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man." And when a sinner, even a redeemed one, gets into proximity with God, it is a frightening, terrorizing experience."
Unholiness is always uncomfortable in the presence of perfect holiness. And so it's...it's okay that...that the intimacy of heaven is reserved for heaven because it would be too frightening for those of us who are even redeemed because of our sinful flesh to get very close to Him. But some day we will. And some day we'll walk up boldly into His presence in the shining of His glory, some day we will take our room in the Father's house and we won't bat an eye and we won't be ashamed and we won't blush and we won't hide our face and we won't turn our eyes and we won't fall on our faces prostrate, we'll be able to look on whatever of the glory of God we can see and feel comfortable joy because we will be holy, with the very holiness of Christ.
So, the glory of heaven is fellowship. We will be with Him. Secondly, the glory of heaven is we will see Him. The tabernacle of God is among men, He'll dwell among them, they'll be His people and God Himself shall be among them. Three times that phrase "among them...among them...among them," we will see the Lord. That's right.
You say, "I thought the Old Testament said no man can see the Lord and live?" It does, Exodus 33. John 1:18, 1 John 4:12 says,"No man has seen God at any time." First Peter 1:8, "We love the One whom we have not seen." And, of course, you remember that the Apostle Paul describing the character of God even says that God is invisible. He is the One who alone possesses immortality, dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, 1 Timothy 6:16.
If God is invisible, if no one can look on Him, if He is too holy, too pure, too spotless and we are too iniquitous, how is it that we can see Him? Well, remember the words of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 where Jesus said that there are those who will see God. That's the promise from the very mouth of Jesus Himself. And those who see God, He said, have to meet a condition, they have to be pure. The day will come when we will be pure and we will see God. For the time being, all we can see is a veiled glimpse like Moses who saw the glory of God veiled there in Exodus 33, like those who saw Jesus Christ, who saw God veiled in human flesh, like the Apostles on the mount who saw the transfigured Christ and were able to behold something of the glory. They could only see a part but whenever they saw it, now mark this, whenever they saw God they saw light, fire, a bright cloud of light.
In Psalm 104 verse 2 the Bible says God covers Himself with light, as with a garment. God who is spirit cloaks Himself with light. Put it this way, He wears light to be visible because He is the invisible God. He can only be seen when He covers His invisible essence with light. In Exodus 24:17 we read, "The appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top." Psalm 36:9, "In Thy light we see light." Whenever anyone has seen God, whether it was on the mount in the Old Testament, Mount Sinai, or whether it was on the mount in the New Testament, the Mount of Transfiguration, they saw light, brilliant, shining, blazing, fiery light. And that is why we think of God as shining glory because that is in fact how He revealed Himself.
But when we are immortal and when we are non-combustible and when we are non-consumable and when we have been made pure there will be nothing in us that can be ignited by the light of God. And so we will be given an eternal and expanded vision of God manifest in light. And that's what we read about in verses 22 and 23, the glory of God illuminates the new heaven and the new earth and blazes its light through the new Jerusalem which is a series of transparent gold streets and a bejeweled city with pearls for gates so that the shining light comes blazing and refracting off of all the jewels and through the gold and off the pearls. When Matthew 5:8 says they shall see God, it uses the term opsonti(????), they shall be seeing God for themselves, a future continuous reality.
Frankly, in the oriental courts of ancient times, kings were rarely seen. They were secluded and it was a rare privilege to be admitted into the presence of a monarch and to face him. Only very privileged people were able to see the king. To have the privilege to see God for oneself would be an unimaginable privilege. It's hard for us to understand that. We see everybody on television, in the newspapers, in pictures. There was no television, no newspapers and no pictures. If you didn't see somebody face-to-face, you didn't see him. To have the privilege to see God for oneself, the greatest imaginable joy. Psalm 42:1 and 2, "As the deer pants after the water brooks," says the psalmist, "so pants my soul after Thee, O God." And he says, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God," and then he adds, "when shall I come and appear before God?"
If you're having trouble desiring heaven it's because you're having trouble desiring to see God. There's nothing here to compare with it. Even the disciples had enough sense to say to Jesus, "Show us the Father, that's what we really want to see, we want to see God." And in this life we don't see Him...not with the eye, we see Him with the mind and the heart, we see Him in history and circumstances, creation, providence, through revelation we see Him in grace and mercy and love. But the day is coming when we'll see Him. Hebrews 12:14 says we'll see the Lord. Revelation 22, look at verse 3, "And there shall no longer be any curse, the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and His bondservants shall serve Him...verse 4...and they shall see His face." What was forbidden in Exodus 33 is no longer forbidden because as I said earlier, we are non-combustible.
You say, "Does that mean that we will see the immense and eternal and endless infinity of God?" I don't know. But I'll tell you this, we'll see all we can see. And whatever limitations may exist on us as glorified people, we'll be able to see to the limit of our existence of our glorified form.
You say, "Do you think that we'll be able to embrace in our glorified form the full infinity of God?" No, because if we could we would be equal to God and even in our glorified state we won't be, so we perhaps will not see all of His immense infinity but all that our perfect eyes can perceive in perfect holiness we will see. And what we will see will be His being revealed in blazing light.
Now I know you want a preview and you wish I had some slides but I don't have any. So let me give you a...the best shot I can give you and tell you what Ezekiel said. Verse 26 of Ezekiel chapter 1, now he says, "Above the expanse that was over their heads, the heads of angels that he saw, there was something resembling a throne like lapis lazuli..." I love that, it sounds like an Italian meal. Some kind of color, most people think it's some kind of bluish color. "There was lapis lazuli in appearance and on that which resembled a throne, high up was the figure with the appearance of a man and I noticed from the appearance of his loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw something like fire and there was a radiance around him." What's he seeing here? He's seeing something that has some shape and it's sort of shaped like a man only it's just a whole lot of blazing glowing shining fire which radiates.
And verse 28, "As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding rainbow." So coming off the glory of the appearance of God as he sees Him on the throne is fire and from the fire comes light and light defuses into a rainbow of colors. "Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." That's the only description we've got. "And when I saw it, I fell on my face."
That's all we know. In chapter 22 of Revelation and verse 5 it says there won't be any night so you won't need any light from a lamp or a sun because the Lord God will illumine everything. Just blazing light.
John Calvin wrote, "Our glory will not be so perfect as to be able to comprehend the Lord in His absolute godhead. Even at the last there will remain an impassable distance between Himself and us," end quote. And yet this is more than we could ever imagine. We will see God face to face. We will literally be engulfed in the glorious light of His presence.
And there's something else. I believe that Christ will be the focal point of the radiating glory of God. This is a guess. What Ezekiel saw in the form of the appearance of a man was very possibly Christ. God is pure spirit but Christ took on the form of a man. But in the glory of that final form He may have appeared to Ezekiel in a preview of what we will see. Shining, fiery, brilliant, blazing light defusing into colors, that will be the glory of God shining through Jesus Christ.
If you think that's amazing, remind yourself that 1 John 3 says that when we see Him we shall be like Him. Wow! What that means is we'll not only see the glory of God face to face, we'll participate in it. Even now in the process of sanctification, according to 2 Corinthians 3:18, we're moving from one level of glory to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next, to the next and finally we'll enter into the glory of the Lord. And seeing God with our glorified eyes we will be overwhelmed and eternally awed by the effulgence of His manifest light, particularly as it centers and blazes through Jesus Christ and we'll be like Him.
No wonder the psalmist said in Psalm 17:15, "As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness." You couldn't behold it any other way. "I will be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake, I'll see You and I'll be like You."
What satisfies you? I mean, really? A house, a job, a promotion, enough money at the end of the month to pay the bills, entertainment? How about to know God, to see God, to see Him face to face to gaze on His glory to be made like His Son? I mean, who would need to think very long about whether it's better to go or stay? No wonder...no wonder Peter wanted to stay on the Mount of Transfiguration. We give Peter a bad time. Poor guy. I mean, we label him, "The Apostle with the foot-shaped mouth." We continually hear Peter asking stupid questions and always seemingly to be on the wrong side of God's intentions. But can you...can you understand when he saw the blazing glory of God shining through the person of Jesus Christ something like the vision Ezekiel had that he wanted to say, "Hey, guys, this is it! Let's build booths and live here?" Is it any wonder that the Apostle Paul who visited heaven and came back said, "Far better to depart and be with Christ?"
Blind Fanny Crosby wrote a song about that. I love it. I don't hear it sung very much. She titled it, "My Savior, first of all." This is how it goes:
When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling
tide, when the bright and glorious morning I shall
see, I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other
side and His smile will be the first to welcome me.
Through the gates to the city in a robe of spotless
white, He will lead me where no tears shall ever
fall, in the glad song of ages I shall mingle with
delight, but I long to meet my Savior first of all.
That's heaven.
So, we'll be with the Lord and we'll see Him. Thirdly, we will adore Him. We will adore Him. Why? Because heaven is a place of worship, it's just worship and worship and worship and worship. That's what we'll do forever and ever and ever. Every time you go into heaven in Revelation, and we've been there a lot, haven't we? We bounced up to heaven in chapter 4 and stayed through chapter 5. We were bumped up to heaven again in chapter 7 and we returned in chapter 11, went back for a visit in chapter 15 and returned in chapter 19. And now we're back in heaven in chapter 21 and we're going to stay in chapter 22 right there in heaven. And every time we go there what we find is worship...worship. That's what happens in heaven. It's just praise and worship and honor and adoration to God.
So it's very clear on our heavenly occupation. God, you remember, according to John chapter 4, seeks true worshipers who will worship Him. And that is what we will do forever and ever in heaven. Listen to Luke 19:17 to 19, this is Jesus telling the parable that's familiar to us about a nobleman who went on a journey and gave stewardship to his slaves. But in verse 17 of Luke chapter 19 he said to him, "Well done, good slave, because you've been faithful in a very little thing, be in authority over ten cities. And a second came saying, Your mina, Master, has made five minas...that was the one who made ten. He said to him, You're over five cities." What is this? Well, it appears that heaven is going to be a place where...where authority is going to be given to people.
Now you say, "Well, what...what kind of authority?" Well the only thing I can think of is we get to organize the worship in a certain section. We're sort of in charge. You've been faithful in a little way, now I'm going to give you greater authority, greater leadership. We'll all rise to the level of choir directors, worship leaders. What is heaven? It's where God is going to be, we'll be with Him, we'll see Him, we'll adore Him.
And then I want to add, we will serve Him. We will serve Him. Verse 3 of chapter 22, there no longer will be any curse, the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in this city of new Jerusalem and His bondservants shall serve Him. Doulos latreuo, the verb latreuo translated "serve" means priestly service. It's used back in Revelation chapter 7 also. Our occupation will be to serve...to serve. Verse 15 of Revelation 7 talks about those who have washed their robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb, they are before the throne of God, they serve Him day and night in His temple. And, of course, His temple fills all of eternity. And so, we're going to worship Him and we're going to serve Him.
You say, "Whoa, you mean there's going to be...you mean we've got to work?" That's right. We will be so creative, we will be more creative than you can ever imagine. We will function to our fully glorified creative capacities. We will have a sense of accomplishment. We will be active. We will be working non-stop, we'll never need to sleep, we'll never need to eat or drink, we will be in a glorified condition. There will never be a night, there will never be a day, it will all be eternal light.
You say, "Well, what will be the nature of our service?" I believe the nature and the extent of our service will reflect our faithfulness in this life. In other words, I believe our eternal capacity for service is the reward for our faithfulness here. What you do to serve the Lord here will determine what you're privileged to do to serve Him there.
Now each of us will be rewarded, 1 Corinthians 4:5, each will receive praise from God, but the rewards will differ. As the Lord sorts out the wood, hay and stubble from the gold, silver and precious stones, He will determine the reward and the reward will be the capacity we have to serve Him.
I don't know about you but I want to serve Him to the greatest extent possible. Just to give you an illustration of what I mean, and I don't want to take the time tonight, I don't have it to give you a number of them, but just take one, for example. Daniel 12:3,"Those who have wisdom, those who operate wisely will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven." In other words, when you live in this world with spiritual wisdom and when you get in to the next world, you're going to shine like the brightness of the expanse of heaven. "And those who lead the many to righteousness are going to shine like stars forever and ever." In other words, eternal shining is connected to faithfulness here.
I really believe that when you go to heaven the Lord is not going to hand you a pile of crowns and you're going to have to go home and find some heavenly carpenter to build you a case to display them. Rather I believe your crown and your reward will be service capacity.
And then one other thing. There's much more that could be said. This is the most astounding thing. When we get into glory and when we see the Lord, we'll have fellowship with Him, we'll see Him, we'll worship Him, we'll serve Him. There's one other thing. I want you to turn to Luke 12 because in Luke 12 verse 35 to 40 is so important. Jesus is giving us some very important words starting in verse 35. "Be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps alight. And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes. Truly I say to you...here it is, folks, this is the most astounding thing you will ever read about heaven...Truly I say to you, he will gird himself to serve and have them recline at the table and will come up and wait on them." Is that astounding? It's not astounding that we'll serve Him, what is astounding is...what?...He'll serve us. He'll say,"Sit down at the table while I serve you."
Whether He comes in the second watch or even in the third and finds them, so blessed are those slaves. Be sure of this, that the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he wouldn't have allowed his house to be broken into. You too be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you don't expect.
Jesus takes the imagery of a great lord, a great master returning to his palace and when he finds his slaves serving faithfully in his absence, he serves them. The lord coming back from the journey doesn't seek rest. He doesn't say, "Please make my bed, I'm weary, it's been a long journey, I want to retire for the night." He twists the whole role and makes a feast and he serves his slaves. And this is a picture of what the heavenly Lord will do when we get to heaven. So it's not just us knowing Him and fellowshiping with Him and being with Him and seeing Him and worshiping Him and serving Him, it's Him serving us.
And thus do we better understand, I trust, the richness of these words, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, `Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men and He shall dwell among them and they shall be His people and God Himself shall be among them." Let's pray.
Father, we thank You for the wonderful promise of heaven. We're so unworthy of it. And, Lord, as we come tonight to Your table, we want to cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the flesh, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. We want to purify our hearts. We want to confess our sins as we think about the cross. We want You to remember us and cleanse us again, wash the dirt off our feet so that when Jesus comes we'll be worthy servants to sit down at His table and have Him serve us forever.
Thank You for the hope of heaven. And thank you for the cross of Christ which is the reason for this hope. In our Savior's name, amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Case study, customer reference
Solution Focus
Summary of Benefits
The Meme Media Laboratory, located in the Hokkaido University Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, was founded in 1996 for the purpose of original research and developing creative talent. As part of his research on Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), Assistant Professor Hajime Imura of the Laboratory has been working on field trials that strive to optimize social systems, which fuse cyberspace and the real world. These field trials aim to optimize and improve the efficiency of snow removal in Sapporo, Japan. The Laboratory has introduced Fusion ioMemory™ drives in order to analyze, in real time, the massive amounts of environmental and road information that is collected via mobile sensing.
Research on cyber physical IT integration infrastructure for the optimization of social systems and services
Since 2012, the Meme Media Laboratory of Hokkaido University has been involved in research on cyber physical IT integration infrastructure for the optimization of social systems and services. This is an experiment to realize a more efficient and advanced society by connecting information on sensor networks—which penetrate real world (physical) systems—with the power of cyberspace computing capabilities. As part of this research, Assistant Professor Hajime Imura of the Laboratory has been working on applications for optimizing and improving efficiency of waste snow removal in smart federation integrated environments and snowfall regions.
"Our research theme is the application of the IT integration infrastructure, which we built through our research, to the optimization of waste snow removal in Sapporo. Sapporo has the most snowfall of any metropolis with a population of over one million people in the world. Because of this, the budget for snow removal per year can reach 15 billion yen ($126 million), and the total distance that snow removers must travel in a single night is over 5000km. Even with such a high budget, the city of Sapporo has received over 40,000 complaints and requests in regards to snow removal. In order to resolve these issues and decrease the yearly snow removal budget, we are working on a CPS structure aimed at smart waste snow removal social services," Mr. Imura told us regarding his research.
Mr. Hajime Imura, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology Meme Media Laboratory, Hokkaido University
In field trials of smart snow removal, road and traffic data, weather data, and city government data, are collected in real time. For example, road and traffic data allow the Laboratory to obtain the GPS location and speed of the 1000 taxis and cars actually driving through the city every few minutes. Weather data allow the Laboratory to obtain the Hokkaido mesh snowfall, as well as X band MP radar, in real time. In addition, the team also collects Sapporo City Transportation Bureau subway passenger numbers, and records of snow removal performed over the last nine years in the database to use for analysis.
"In our field trials, we have obtained cooperation not only from the government and police department, but also from private taxi companies and automobile manufacturers, to construct a framework that can collect a massive amount of social data," Mr. Imura explained about the challenges of building the system for smart waste snow disposal. "Every five minutes we receive GPS location information and speed from cooperating taxis and other vehicles, which we call probe cars. Just by analyzing these data in real time, we can understand the traffic jam conditions on the roads that result from snowfall. However, in order to do so, we needed a system infrastructure that could record and analyze the data that are collected at high speed, in real time."
Mr. Hajime Imura, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology Meme Media Laboratory, Hokkaido University
Superior throughput of Fusion ioMemory solutions bring out the full functionality of MongoDB
In order to realize a smart waste snow removal system, it was necessary to store a massive amount of data and analyze them in real time, and then link this analysis to instructions for actual waste snow removal work. In order to do this, the team met many challenges on the system side. Mr. Imura described those challenges, commenting, "The database we chose in order to store the data acquired through social sensing was the NoSQL-type MongoDB database, which excels at the processing of unstructured data. However, when we first began the research, we needed to make a huge hardware investment in order to process in real time the large capacity data that we needed with the MongoDB."
Databases that handle unstructured data have to perform disk access more frequently than relational-type databases, for data storage, reading, and retrieval. In other words, while the MongoDB is flexible, accessing the storage placed a strain on it.
"While we knew that we needed CPU power for searching and analysis, even more important was reducing the I/O strain occurring from data storage and retrieval. When we first began our research, we looked into raising the I/O processing speed through hard disk configurations and the parallelization of arithmetic processing via a distributed environment," Mr. Imura said about the deliberation process. "However, we learned that we would not be able to obtain adequate speed with a normal hard disk. Also, if we made the CPU into a distributed environment, we would need to make modifications to speed up the parallel processing, which would make operation complicated. In that case, we thought maybe we could solve the problem just with a high-speed CPU, and retaining an I/O throughput that can follow the CPU. At that point, we learned about the existence of Fusion ioMemory™ drives."
Around 2012, Mr. Imura looked into procuring the HP ProLiant DL 980 G7 server and noted that integrated Fusion ioMemory drives were an option for realizing high-speed I/O. "By using Fusion ioMemory drives, all of our problems were solved at once. Without having to consider other products such as complex raid configuration and parallel processing, it became possible to read and write the data as the laboratory needed to, using a high-speed I/O throughput," said Mr. Imura, regarding the reason for introducing the product.
Enhanced Fusion ioMemory solutions to meet the increased data from social sensing
Mr. Imura's laboratory, which has been smoothly proceeding with their research on applications for optimizing and improving efficiency of waste snow removal in smart federation integrated environments and snowfall regions—thanks to the HP ProLiant DL980 G7 server and Fusion ioMemory solutions—plans on an additional enhancing of their social sensing next year.
"The preparation stage of our field trials has been proceeding smoothly, and we are planning an additional development. For this, we decided to increase the types of probe cars, in order to understand road conditions in more detail. An example of this is a framework called crowd sourcing, where we ask citizens to place a drive recorder application in their family car, and they send us the imaging from this. By collecting such images, we can gather travel information such as GPS, and our understanding of roads will also drastically improve. However, we now require more storage capacity than before to accumulate and process the image data. It was right then when the second generation Fusion ioMemory drives appeared," said Mr. Imura. The current version of Fusion ioMemory drives has been expanded to twice the storage capacity of the original PCIe drive, and its functionality has also been improved.
"In addition to image data, since we are now able to calculate 3D road shapes from laser range finder measurement data, the amount of information for recording and analyzing has become massive. That's why we decided to introduce the 1.2TB and 785GB Fusion ioMemory drives," adds Mr. Imura, in regards to the adoption of the new version.
Going forward, the team will make models of speed changes, based on weather conditions, and will expand their work to forecasting traffic conditions and disaster control.
"I do not believe we would have been able to realize this field trial at the cost performance that we hoped for, without MongoDB and Fusion ioMemory solutions. With the social CPS that we are aiming for, our research success depends on whether we can collect massive and intricate city data, and make accurate analyses and predictions. If we continue to expand this research, we believe we will be able to apply it not only to predicting traffic conditions, but also for city disaster control. In order to do this, we will depend on Fusion ioMemory drives to continue to improve its throughput, so that we
Que vous soyez une société Fortune 500 ou une start-up de cinq personnes, SanDisk propose des solutions qui vous aideront à tirer le maximum de votre infrastructure.
Que vous souhaitiez poser quelques questions initiales ou que vous soyez prêt(e) à discuter d'une solution SanDisk adaptée aux besoins de votre société, l'équipe des ventes de SanDisk est présente pour vous aider.
Nous sommes heureux de répondre à vos questions, veuillez donc remplir le formulaire ci-dessous afin de commencer.
Merci. Nous avons reçu votre demande.


text:
Intentional simplicity
My god we are witnessing another presentation from the NYT information hot house
Is there anything these guys can't do?
The amazing Amanda Cox is revealing her secrets;
More editing
More design
And more editing. Graphics mainly consist of uninteresting data. Throw it away. In the trash.
Very simple graphics have more impact.
She calls it 'intentional simplicity'
It is working well.
Great stuff... As ever


text:
The Massachusetts Nurses Association has begun what could become a big and expensive campaign to convince voters that hospitals are unsafely understaffed and need to hire more nurses.
The union, which includes nearly 3,000 nurses in Worcester, is promoting a question that would appear on the 2014 ballot and ask voters to mandate nurse staffing levels at hospitals. The ballot initiative comes after the full Legislature failed to pass a staffing law, despite more than a decade of prodding from the nurses union. Hospitals oppose the measure.
"We feel this is the only way that it's going to get through," said Lynne P. Starbard, a maternity nurse at UMass Memorial Medical Center's Memorial Campus. "We've tried the Legislature many times, but it would go through the House and stand still at the Senate."
Worcester nurses will begin collecting signatures for the ballot measure Wednesday in Boston, Springfield and at the Worcester Senior Center.
Patient loads and staffing levels have been longstanding concerns for hospital nurses in Massachusetts and for a national union, National Nurses United. Staffing was at the center of a contract dispute between UMass Memorial Health Care Inc. and its nurses earlier this year. Nurses voted to go on strike to protest what they called unsafe staffing, but ultimately avoided the strike with a last-minute deal in which hospital administrators agreed to hire more nurses.
Still, the union, which represents 20 percent of the state's nurses, argues a statewide law is needed.
"We had to take a strike vote for our safe staffing," Ms. Starbard said. "The next contract, they can come around and take it away from us again."
Hospitals are under increasing pressure to control costs, which often includes cutting staff. At UMass Memorial's three campuses in Worcester, registered nurses represent nearly one-third of the 6,857 workers.
"Nurses and other health care professionals see an eternal battle going on between themselves and the bean counters," said Gary N. Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University.
The union proposal would cap the number of patients assigned to a nurse at four. Ratios would be even stricter — one nurse to two patients — in certain areas such as intensive care units. Nurses now see up to seven patients at a time, according to the union.
The only state to pass a nurse staffing law is California, and while unions point to it as a success, a study found that increased staffing had no direct effect on the quality of care. The study also said hospitals had trouble absorbing the costs of the ratios, and many had to reduce services as a result.
The Massachusetts ballot initiative would require hospitals across the state to hire thousands of additional nurses, according to the union. The cost to hospitals would be significant and would force cuts of other hospital staff, according to the Massachusetts Hospital Association.
"When you change the system so the center is no longer the patient, but certain members of the care-giving team, there are implications to other members of the care-giving team," said Tim Gens, executive vice president of the association, noting that doctors, pharmacists, physical therapists, technicians and others also spend time with patients.
UMass Memorial Medical Center is working to add nurses to comply with the contracts it signed with its unions this year. But President Patrick Muldoon called statewide staffing ratios too rigid and said UMass Memorial routinely adjusts staffing to meet patient demand.
"It should be the local hospitals, the leadership of the hospitals, the people closest to the bedside, making those decisions," he said.
While hospital executives, including Mr. Muldoon, say they're committed to providing safe care, the nurses union argues hospitals are putting patients at risk with current staffing levels. Length of stay, readmissions and falls could be prevented — and the associated costs saved — if hospitals hire more nurses, they say.
"People see it when they're admitted, they see it when their families are admitted here," said Colleen E. Wolfe, an interventional radiology nurse at Memorial Campus. "They wait too long, they're sharing their nurse with too many other patients. Unfortunately, they do suffer preventable mistakes."
The union is working to collect 70,000 signatures to put its proposal on the November 2014 statewide ballot. Its allies in the Legislature also have filed bills in the House and Senate. Union spokesman David Schildmeier said he hopes the ballot question spurs lawmakers to act on the issue, and if they don't, the union will try to convince voters to approve it.
"We are willing to spend what it takes to get it passed," he said.
State Rep. Mary S. Keefe, D-Worcester, is supporting the union proposal and said voters are also likely to side with the nurses. "There's a good shot it will pass," she said. "I think it's something that people can really relate to."
Mr. Chaison, the labor relations expert at Clark, also expects the ballot question to pick up support. "I think they have an excellent chance," he said. "People like nurses."
Contact Priyanka Dayal McCluskey at email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @Priyanka_Dayal.


text:
You are here
6 Dessert Recipes from The Sneaky Chef
Whip up these easy sweet treats from The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue -- only you'll know how healthy these recipes are!
- prev
- Next
- 1 of 8
- Getting to have dessert is just one of the perks of being alive, whether you're 3 or 33 or 103. And though there's certainly nothing wrong with letting the kids (or yourself) have an all-out sugarfest once in a while, the rest of the time you want to feel good about the stuff your family's eating. Which is exactly why we fell in love with these treat recipes from Missy Chase Lapine's latest book, The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue. One of her ingenious solutions for injecting good-for-them nutrients into many of her decadent desserts? Baby food! It doesn't get much simpler or more wholesome than that. Enjoy! We sure did.
Shhh! The Sneaky Chef ingredient: Sweet potato and carrot baby food.
Visit Missy Chase Lapine's website The Sneaky Chef.
Buy The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue
6 More Easy Recipes from The Sneaky Chef


text:
I wonder how much and often you like to debate atheism/theism. Do you seek it out or avoid it? Are you "naughty or nice" (Santa Claus reference) about it? Do you operate from "Well, isn't it obvious?" How is/isn't it working for you? Have you ever actually gotten religious people to take off their blinders?
I am, by academic training, a Rhetorician. I'd like to hear the argumentation techniques that work best for you -- either to convince the other side or get crowds carrying pitchforks and torches to let you live. :)
Views: 494
I try to avoid it in person. On blogs, where my identity is not publicized, I go for the jugular.
All too often, you're just giving them a chance to prove their faith, that their faith is strong enough to withstand evidence. And let's face it: the stronger the onslaught they withstand, the stronger their faith. I feel almost everyone who finds atheism makes the journey on their own. Being pushed just engenders resistance.
I only go on the attack when they walk into the lion's den. Here, because they are asking for it.
I tend to avoid it if the person is too religious. If I sense the person is open minded I will give it a try. I noticed if the goal is persuasion then is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to be very respectful even to the most idiotic statements, and shut them down in a soft but rational manner. Theist will lock into a shell if you throw too much at them, and will stop listening. Most theist have in their head a negative image about atheist, so if you manage to at least change that image then that is progress. I have never deconverted anyone, but I have had people tell me that they look at things a little different afterwards ( which I consider it to be progress ). This has come from a mix of telling them how amazing the universe and science is. How religious stories are not in proportion to this much beauty and complexity. Try to ask question to stimulate critical thinking and to trigger the questioning of authority. Once they are not afraid to ask questions, and they start to care whether their beliefs are true, that is when they are unplugged from the matrix.
I don't seek out debate with people who don't initiate it. What they believe is no business of mine. But I relish any opportunity to argue energetically with anyone who tries to convert me. Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons used to come frequently to my door on a Saturday morning; but I guess the word has spread that my house is not fertile ground for proselytizing. I occasionally find someone to argue with on this website, but most people here are already on my side of the debate. I try occasionally to get some dialogue going on Christian websites, but they are hard for an atheist to break into; most of these sites have "atheist filters" of one kind or another.
In my life, I have deconverted, unintentionally, three people: my mother, my wife, and a fellow teacher. In all three cases, they gradually changed because my love of science led me to talk about it a lot. Since I'm pretty good at explaining scientific concepts, all three ladies became increasingly aware that their religious beliefs made little sense, from a logical or scientific perspective.
That being said, all three of them converted only partially and/or temporarily. My mother went from Presbyterian to Unitarian; my wife went from Baptist to Buddhist; and my colleague changes back and forth regularly, depending upon what her latest husband/boyfriend believes.
I spend what is probably considered an un-heathy amount of time reading the bible and anything Bart Ehram has written. Knowing the bible better than Christians, if a debate or discussion on religion ever arises, is aways fun. It's not only top notch entertainmant for me, but educational for the believer as well.
Watching a believer being baffled how an Athiest knows that much about scripture never gets old.
I don't typically debate atheism or theism anymore. Theism is clearly absurd but trying to convince a theist of that is like trying to nail jelly to the wall. You won't get anywhere but frustrated and you'll leave a big mess behind. Atheism in my opinion isn't up for debate. Being atheist is the only sensible thing to be given our current knowledge as a species. Atheism would be a moot point if humans hadn't created gods in the first place. If I'm going to debate I'll stick to debating specific issues. If I'm going to talk atheism I'll stick to providing information, debunking stereotypes, telling personal anecdotes ad being supportive of those who have doubts. If I'm going to talk theism it's got to be in a context like history, philosophy, psychology, or a joke or I'm likely to not want anything to do with it.
In the past I have debated several topics but not atheism. The only reason for that is I am within a couple of years of coming to my senses. My approach has always been to be somewhat diplomatic. I believe atheism or agnosticism or any topic you believe in should stand on its own merit. The need to go on the offensive and attack the other persons beliefs; makes your argument weaker. Of course, if a person is just spouting rhetoric with no sort of proof then it can be necessary to attack the other but generally speaking I don't see a need to do that. I usually try to remain calm and describe my stance and the reasons for. I don't really want to change anyone's beliefs, I just would like them look at the bible or whatever religious text supports their faith. I assume that the zealots are just impossible to reason with so I tend to avoid even socializing with those types.
I usually just give my best attempt at rationalizing the discussion and not leaning on the divine plan litany. Someone like that you just can't reach with reason or logic. These people drain my energy and exhaust my patience.
Debating can become extremely difficult for me locally. I live in a rural area of the deep south. The entire southern half of my state has a huge Catholic influence. I haven't had any major conflicts with anyone around here just that look. You know the look I'm talking about I'm sure. That Oh man you are going to burn in hell for eternity look.
I enjoy a good, well thought out debate, however that is rare on the part of the theist. I try to always be considerate and openminded, but it definatly isnt easy. I like the technique of getting them to agree that the bible is law, and then bust out verses like Leviticus 19:27 or Genesis 1:16. Another good technique is bringing up the idea of all the other possible gods that they deny the existence of. If after about fifteen minutes they refuse to admit even the slightest doubt about their religion, I try to change the subject to avoid losing my temper.
Thank you all for your good advice. I think I'll go for a gentle Socratic dialog, agreeing with them first on common ground issues. For Christians, I'd like to start with introducing them to the notion of inculcation ("If you were born in India, you'd be a Hindu. Born to Muslims you'd be a Muslim."). Get them to see they don't know the "word of God" but believe words taught to them out of a book. What may be the most effective technique, however, is to have a *bigger* concealed pitchfork.


text:
That would be a hell of a draft, though.
No announcement yet.
San Francisco 49ers Discussion
This is a sticky topic.
new posts
That would be a hell of a draft, though.
Originally posted by YAYareaRB View Post1. OT Michael Oher, Miss
2. FS Louis Delmas, Western Michigan
3. OLB/DE Connor Barwin, Cincy
4. HB Rashad Jennings, Liberty
5. QB Stephen McGee, Texas A&M
6. DT Terrence Taylor, Michigan
7. FB Quinn Johnson, LSUOriginally posted by YAYareaRB View PostHow real do you think it is? I've been accused of coming up with some UNREAL drafts like impossible unreal.
2. Louis Delmas - Everyone with eyes knows that the 49ers are in desperate need of a playmaking FS. Delmas fits that mold and his value at pick #43 appears high. Unfortunately, he seems to be much stronger in the box and in run support than he has shown with ball skills. If Scotty Mac isn't certain that he has great coverage skills or if he feels that DaShon Goldson is the man, this pick seems unlikely.
3. Connor Barwin - Athletic freak that made some serious cash today in the Combine. He has all the physical tools you look for in a 3-4 WILL. Unfortunately after his performance today he may not be available at pick # 75. The fact that he is about as raw of a prospect as you could have on the first day, I feel he is too much of a gamble in round 2.
4. Rasheed Jennings - The 49ers will definitely acquire a bigger back in the draft. Jennings definitely fits that mold. In round 4 he would be a steal. I don't think he makes it out of round 3, however, especially with the speed he showcased at the Combine.
5. Stephen McGee - He is a highly athletic QB who wasn't used in a protypical way at A&M. He has flashed high potential as a pro-style QB this offseason, however. The 49ers seem content with their competition between Hill and Smith and I believe their intent is to draft a QB late and groom him for several years. In round 5, I definitely cannot complain about the value of McGee.
6. Terrance Taylor - is a tremendously powerful man. He could be an absolute steal in round 6 as a 0-Technique NT. Unfortunately, he won't likely fall that far, and even if he did, he is a risky pick. He has disappeared at times for the Wolverines and the pedigree at that position has been very disappointing. The names Alan Branch and Gabe Watson ring loudly in my ears who were also high potential NT prospects from the U of M. Very boom or bust but if he's still there in round 6 he has tremendous value.
7. Quinn Johnson - Absolutely ideal FB for the style of play Coach Singletary claims he wants. New OC Jimmy Raye has stated that he wants a "square-backed guy" who will "bloody some noses". Johnson is definitely that guy. Johnson is a converted ILB who's passion for football comes from his love of "hitting people." He has been a tremendous ST player for the Tigers as well which Scotty Mac will love. His biggest drawback has been that he isn't utilized in the passing game and his receiving ability is in question. I don't feel the 49ers are looking for a FB that is an amazing threat to catch the ball out of the backfield. I'm sure they want one that is more than capable however and I can't imagine a better mentor to have for Johnson in that department than 49ers new RBs coach Tom Rathman. The value for an old-school lead-blocking only FB is very low so he probably will go late. I'm not sure he will last till the 7th however. With 2 additional Compensatory picks, I feel the 49ers need to do whatever it takes to draft Johnson in the last 2+ rounds.
guess I will just have to pray that the 49ers are able to grab at least one of...
Brian Orakpo
Everette Brown
Larry English
Lawrence SidburyLast edited by Mustanger; 02-23-2009, 09:49 PM. Reason: the other post looked ridonkuluous afterwords
My current 49ers 1st round draft board:
1) Aaron Curry
2) Jason Smith
3) Matthew Stafford
4) Eugene Monroe
5) Michael Crabtree
6) Everette Brown
7) Michael Oher
8) B.J. Raji
9) Mark Sanchez
10) Rey Maualuga
Some notes:
1) Obviously it only goes 10 deep... this is because I'm really assuming the team won't be trading down this year, because I think there's a pretty big separation this year between the top 10-12 prospects and everybody else. Thus, I think the team will stay where it can get the best value, pretty much right where it is. If this list WERE to go a little longer, names you could expect to see next would be Andre Smith, Jeremy Maclin, Aaron Maybin, and Brian Orakpo in some order.
2) Probably the most noteworthy omission from this top list is Andre Smith. Basically, I'm starting to get the sense that there are some serious personality red flags that have been raised with Smith, and coupled with his weight issues I think there could be a significant bust factor here. With there being so many incredibly talented tackle prospects in this draft, I just don't think you could justify a Smith pick before any of the other top four names or in the top 10 picks overall. One upside for selecting Smith, however, would be that I think he profiles great as a road-grader RT, and pairing him with Chilo on the right side would be quite impressive. Still, that bust factor has him out of my top-10.
3) Orakpo's injury history has me a little scared. Meanwhile Everette Brown's height doesn't concern me so much... I figure we've got plenty of height on the other side in Manny, so what if Everette's a tad shorter than you'd like, dude can flat out get to the QB which is exactly what the Niners need.
4) I agree with Scott in thinking that Curry is versatile enough to handle the OLB duties in a 3-4. His versatility, aggressiveness and overall well-roundedness have him No. 1 on my board.
5) Stafford and Sanchez: I agree that taking a QB probably wouldn't be the best thing for the Niners to do. That said, I happen to really like both these prospects (of course, last year, I was underwhilemed by the Flacco, Matt Ryan duo, and I turned out to be dead wrong there, so take my QB opinion with a definite grain of salt), so depending on who else is there, I think they could be the right pick at 10.
6) Maualuga at 10: what can I say? Intangibles and toughness have to count for something. Is Maualuga at a huge position of need for the Niners? No. But you have to admit, a pairing with him and Willis on the inside would be very scary for opposing teams. I think it's a longshot that he's the optimum guy for the Niners to select at 10, but if the chips fell just right, I do think it would make sense.
Anyway, just my very preliminary impressions, so take them for what they're worth.
ETA: Well, like I said, it was a very preliminary look at things. Going back over the list after I posted, I decided to flip flop Oher and Raji, just based on need. I think they're similar prospects in terms of how they grade out, but I see OT as a bigger need for the Niners than NT.Last edited by stl9erfan; 02-24-2009, 12:20 AM.
I have yet to see anything out of Sintim that says he is an effective pass rusher. He also appeared to struggle mightily today in coverage drills.
Originally posted by abaddon41_80 View Post11 sacks in 10 games playing rush linebacker in a 3-4 defense?
He could very well be a gamer. But what I've seen from him this offseason leaves alot to be desired. I liked him alot during the season and have been disappointed with what I've seen from him recently. Especially in comparison to some of the other 3-4 OLB prospects.
If the Niners grab him, I'll be very hopeful that I was wrong.
Originally posted by phlysac View PostHe could very well be a gamer. But what I've seen from him this offseason leaves alot to be desired. I liked him alot during the season and have been disappointed with what I've seen from him recently. Especially in comparison to some of the other 3-4 OLB prospects.
If the Niners grab him, I'll be very hopeful that I was wrong.The Brian Sabean sig is no more. I disagreed with you on so many levels. And then you went out and built a dynasty. I am lame.
I like Griffith, but again, is he much of a blocker that Sing is looking for. Griffith is a good blocker, but his talents are more running the ball and receiving out of the backfield.
#thestruggleisreal with Tomsula in as HC after the "Harbacle"
Operation Pile Up Draft Picks for Re-Build: In progress, with much work to be done
"He who thinks he knows it all has the most to learn"
Originally posted by Madirishman View PostI like Griffith, but again, is he much of a blocker that Sing is looking for. Griffith is a good blocker, but his talents are more running the ball and receiving out of the backfield.Originally posted by 49erNation85I dunno even half of those guys why did we sign them jeez.
Originally posted by Borat View PostWell, obviously, he's no Aaron Curry, but we were discussing him as the pick in the second round. You should compare him to the other 2nd round OLBs. I think he's the best pass-rushing OLB at that spot. I don't have any idea how you can say he's not impressive as a rush linebacker, especially with the 3-4 OLB experience he already has. I don't care what he looked like at the Senior Bowl and the combine. I don't want him dropping in coverage all the time. We got a wasted Manny Lawson to do that. I want Sintim getting after the QB. And his career so far says he does that very well.
We need Raji at 10. I'm sick of watching our nose tackles get pushed around while not protecting our LB's.
Just look at the Steelers. Casey Hampton causes so much havoc in the middle which makes their linebackers so dangerous.
Release Jonas Jennings, restructure Alex Smith's contract and we can easily sign a free agent at Right tackle.
Originally posted by Larry View PostWe need Raji at 10. I'm sick of watching our nose tackles get pushed around while not protecting our LB's.
Just look at the Steelers. Casey Hampton causes so much havoc in the middle which makes their linebackers so dangerous.
Release Jonas Jennings, restructure Alex Smith's contract and we can easily sign a free agent at Right tackle.
1. DT - Raji
We need a beast at the NT position. J. Smith, Raji and Sop/Balmer could be a great DL IMO.
2. OLB - Sintim
Like what I've seen on film for this guy and think Singletary is looking for more pass rushers... yes, I've read that there is some debate on this pick above, but I think it's a great fit.
3. WR - Iglesias
A big body receiver that can make plays. Saw Bradford and Iglesias work very well together and think he can make an immediate impact with our other young WR's.
4. RB - Andre Brown
The thunder to Gore's lightning. Had a great Senior Bowl so I don't know if he falls this far, but a guy can hope.
5. OT - Best OT available... maybe Tupou from Oregon at this point in the draft
6. FB - Quinn Johnson
Previous post talk to the value of this "old school" fullback. Imagine this guy being coached by Tom Rathman... I want to bang helmets just thinking about it!
7. QB - Chase Patton
This drafts version of Matt Cassel. Backed up Chase Daniel's at Missouri so he hasn't been given an opportunity. He was posted as someone else's 7th round and liked the gamble in round 7!


text: Bangor InsuranceAt Bangor Savings Bank, your needs come first.That's simply the way we do business. You can expect that same kind of service when you buy insurance for your family, or your business from Bangor Insurance, a division of Bangor Savings Bank.Operating PhilosophyBangor Insurance provides a wide range of high-quality insurance products, at competitive prices, backed by superior customer service. When selecting an insurance carrier, we consider the financial strength and reputation of the carrier, limiting representation to those companies meeting our very high standards. A Personal ApproachEveryone has different insurance needs, and no single product fits all. We listen carefully to your needs and priorities. After we know your situation, only then do we make a recommendation. Our main concern is looking out for your best interests. Click here to learn more about our business insurance product offerings or email us at email@example.com. Bangor Insurance is a Maine-based insurance agency that is a division of Bangor Savings Bank. Bangor Insurance was formed in 1997 and has been serving the needs of Maine people and businesses ever since. Insurance products are not deposits or other obligations of, or guaranteed by the bank, or an affiliate of the bank. Insurance products are not insured by the FDIC, or any other agency of the United States, the bank, or any affiliate of the bank. Insurance products may involve investment risk, including the possible loss of value.


text:
Graduate Catalog
2012 – 2013
Office of Graduate Studies and Extended Education
McKelvie Hall, 102 W. Rosedale Avenue
West Chester University
West Chester, PA 19383
Phone: 610-436-2943
Fax: 610-436-2763
Revised August 2012
Graduate Center
1160 McDermott Drive
West Chester University
West Chester, PA 19383
Phone: 610-436-2608
Fax: 610-436-2439
E-mail: email@example.com
Dr. Christ, M.B.A. Director
Dr. Snow, Chairperson (610-436-2261)
Gerard Callanan, Ph.D., Drexel University
Roberta Snow, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Evan Leach, Ph.D., Yale University
Charles H. McGee, Ph.D., Northwestern University
Paul Rotenberry, Ph.D., University of Akron
Rani G. Selvanathan, Ph.D., University of Delhi, University of Paris
Monica Zimmerman Treichel, Ph.D., Temple University
Xiaowei Zhu, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Lisa Calvano, Ph.D., Temple University
David Perri, M.A., Pennsylvania State University
Matthew Shea, M.B.A., University of Pittsburgh
501 Managerial Principles and Communication (3) This course provides an overview of the major principles of management and a framework for the analysis of managerial problems with special emphasis on managerial communication in organizations. This course will utilize a multidisciplinary approach to the field using relevant material from psychology, sociology, economics, and political science to address the practice of communication and negotiation in organization settings. This course will examine cognitive, social, behavioral, and political factors affecting managers' ability to manage and communicate while providing a framework that strengthens students' management skills more effectively in organizational settings.
604 Operations and Supply-Chain Management (3) This course utilizes interaction learning methodologies to promote awareness of the operations and supply-chain management techniques available for improving the organizational structures that create and deliver value to customers. Through the case approach, students will learn how an operation strategy that is cross-functional and global creates competitive advantages for both manufacturing and service companies. Topics covered include project management, product design, process analysis, electronic commerce, and enterprise resource planning systems. In particular, because of its emerging role in today's corporation, supply-chain management will be emphasized. PREREQ: MKT 603 or permission of the program director.
611 Managing and Leading Organizations (3) An examination of management theory and its relationship to human resource functions, this course traces the development of management and organization principles and theories, with an emphasis on applying them to human resource issues. This course examines the relationship between the individual and the organization, and topics such as leadership and motivation, attitudes, selection, performance appraisal, and individual and group decision making will be explored.
613 Business and Society (3) The context and environment in which business organizations operate with specific attention to the social, ethical, political, and legal dimensions of an organization's external environment. Value assumptions, means-ends relationships, and policy ramifications of the constraints and opportunities inherent in the environment will be examined in depth. A managerial perspective will be developed to build a framework for macro-level trade-offs among and between competing economic, social, ethical, political, and legal forces and goals.
614 Environments of Business (3) This course provides an overview of how major trends in the world economy, social issues, and political, legal, and ethical systems affect business. The student will enhance his/her ability to understand the implications of major social, economic, political, legal, and ethical trends in the U.S. and the world; critically examine his/her own position on these issues; critically analyze popular writings on these issues; and appreciate the perspective of others whose circumstances differ from those of the student. PREREQ: MGT 501.
621 Organizational Development (3) Interpersonal relations, intra- and intergroup relations, and the leadership role and function in the management of organizational development, change, conflict, and productivity. Primary focus will be on organizational development as an intervention strategy aimed at changing and improving organizational climate and performance. Organizations will be viewed as sociotechnical systems interacting with both internal and environmental forces. PREREQ: MGT 611.
631 Human Resources Management (3) The managerial implications of the human resources management and personnel administration functions. Topics include forecasting and planning of staffing requirements, recruitment, selection, allocation, evaluation, and development of the human resources of an organization. Lectures, class discussions, and case materials will be used.
652 Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation (3) This course introduces students to the concept of entrepreneurship and the process of new venture creation. Topics addressed in the course include idea generation, feasibility assessment, industry analysis, market research, funding, financial planning, and marketing, as well as writing and presenting a business plan. Theories and techniques learned in this course and previous business courses will be used to develop a comprehensive entrepreneurship project. PREREQ: FIN 500.
661 Globalization and Management (3) Examination of the problems of management, marketing, and finance when developing and engaging in international business. Attention to the formulation of alternative strategies for developing international business enterprises, the impact and consequences of implementing various alternative strategies for traditional business functions, problems of the multinational firm, and the special challenges of doing business with or in underdeveloped countries. PREREQ: MKT 603.
687 Special Topics in Management (3) A seminar or independent study course providing exposure to current literature and discourse on selected issues in management. PREREQ: Written permission of program director. This course may be taken again for credit.
699 Strategic Management (3) An in-depth examination of the processes by which business strategies are conceived, formulated, executed, and changed. Specific topics include strategic planning, endogenous and exogenous influences affecting strategic feasibility, analyses, and choices. Comprehensive strategy-oriented cases from a variety of business contexts are used. PREREQ: Completion of all other M.B.A. core courses.
601 Business Information Systems (3) A blending of theory, case studies, and personal computer applications to the solution of business information problems. Students will gain insight into functional and strategic implications of information resources, technology, and systems.


text:
Associate Professor of Art
Visual Arts
Edwards Center for Art & Dance - 223
An introduction to drawing, with an emphasis on the development of perceptual, organizational, and critical abilities. Studio projects entail objective observation and analysis of still-life, landscape, and figurative subjects; exploration of the abstract formal organization of graphic expression; and the development of a critical vocabulary of visual principles. Lectures and group critiques augment studio projects in various drawing media.
A continuation of principles introduced in Visual Arts 1301, with an emphasis on landscape painting. Studio projects investigate various relationships to nature through painting at a variety of sites and through the changing seasons of the coastal landscape. Painting activity is augmented with readings and presentations to offer a historical perspective on different languages, approaches, and philosophies in relation to the pictorial interpretation of landscape experience.
James Mullen teaches at Bowdoin College and lives in Portland, ME. His current work is interested in depictions of the natural environment and the way that it interfaces with the human presence. Though he is principally a painter, his research interests also include explorations in both drawing and photography.
He has received numerous awards and scholarships including an Individual Artist Grant from the state of Georgia as well as Research Grants from both the University of Evansville and Bowdoin College. He has also received Fellowship Residencies from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Ragdale Foundation, the Spring Island Trust Artist in Residence program, and the Petrified Forest National Park Artist in Residence He has had twenty five solo exhibitions of his work at venues including the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, GA, Artemisia Gallery in Chicago, IL, The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, ME, the Ruschman Art Gallery in Indianapolis, IN, Providence College in Rhode Island, and three solo exhibitions at Sherry French Gallery in New York City.
He was recently awarded a Gallery Fellowship from the Phoenix Gallery in New York City.
His work can be found in numerous public and private collections.
James Mullen received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of New Hampshire in 1985, attended the LaNapoule Summer Art Program in 1986, and completed his Master of Fine Arts in Painting at Indiana University in 1991. He has taught at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, the University of Evansville in Indiana, and since 1999 has taught at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME.
Composites: Painting Through Photography, McIninch Art Gallery, Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH
Fellowship Award Exhibition – James Mullen, Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY
Thresholds: Works by James Mullen, New England College Gallery, Henniker, NH
Compass: Paintings and Photographs, Hunt-Cavanagh Art Gallery, Providence College, Providence, RI
The Extended View, Hostetter Arts Center, Pingry School, Martinsville, NJ
Cultivations, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL
Lookout and Beyond – Paintings of Maine, Sherry French Gallery, New York , NY
Time and Tides – Paintings of Maine – Sherry French Gallery, New York, NY
James Mullen-Water's Edge, Sherry French Gallery, New York, NY
James Mullen - Reflections, Ruschman Gallery, Indianapolis, IN
James Mullen – Transparency, Hay Gallery, Portland, ME
James Mullen – Quadrants, UMF Art Gallery, University of Maine at Farmington
James Mullen, Ruschman Gallery, Indianapolis, IN
James Mullen-Paintings, Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL
Karen Rand Anderson, Karen Klinedinst, James Mullen, Krause Gallery, Providence, RI
2013 Annual Juried Exhibit, Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center, Frederick, MD
H2O, East End Arts Gallery, Riverhead, NY (Juried)
The 26th Annual McNeese National Works on Paper Exhibition, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA, (Juried)
Water, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO (Juried)
Luminous Language, Foundry Art Centre, Saint Charles, MO, (Juried)
Group Show, Watson Gallery, Stonington, ME
Photography Now, South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA, (Juried)
Paint for Preservation, Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, Cape Elizabeth, ME , (Juried)
The Fifth National Juried Exhibition, Prince Street Gallery, NY, NY
Re/Invention, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL
Skyward - The World Above Us, 1650 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (juried)
Small Worlds, Alpers Fine Art, Andover, MA
The Resilient Landscape - Traditional to Modern, New England College Art Gallery, Henniker, NH
Eric Hopkins, James Mullen, Colin Page, Thomas Moser, Freeport, ME
Landscapes Art Exhibition, Light, Space, Time Gallery, Online Exhibition, Juried
Colleagues and Friends, Watson Gallery, Stonington, ME
Art in the Embassies Exhibition – Lesotho, U.S. State Department, Maseru, Lesotho
ViewPoints: Studio Montclair's 2011 National Juried Exhibition, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ
Group Invitational, Alpers Fine Art, Andover, MA
Visual Territory, Porter Hall Gallery, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS (juried)
Summer Group Invitational, GWatson Gallery, Stonington, ME
ReView:Recent Work by UNH Alumni, Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (juried)
Drawing Discourse; Contemporary Drawing Exhibition, S. Tucker Cooke Gallery, University of North Carolina Ashville, Ashville, NC (juried)
Place: Clemson National Drawing and Print Exhibition, Clemson University, Clemson, SC
photo 11: A National Juried Exhibition, Gallery 180 of the Illinois Institute of Art- Chicago, Chicago, IL (catalog)
Group Award Winner, Luminous Language Exhibition, Foundry Art Center, Saint Charles, MO
2013-2014 Fellowship Award Winner, Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY (juried)
Juror's Purchase Award, 26th Annual McNeese National Works on Paper Exhibition, Lake Charles, LA
Juror's Honorable Mention, H2O National Exhibition, East End Arts, Riverhead, NY
Fletcher Family Research Award, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
Petrified Forest National Park Artist in Residence, Petrified Forest, AZ
Rusack Coastal Studies Project Initiative Fund, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME (also 2003, 2002, 2001)
Ragdale Foundation Fellowship, Lake Forest, IL (also 2005, 2001)
Spring Island Artist in Residence (also 1998,1997)
Faculty Research Grant, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME (also 2004)
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, Sweet Brier, VA
2013 -
Director, Visual Arts Division, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2007 - 2010
Chair, Art Department, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2006 - present
Associate Professor, Visual Art Department, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2003 - 2004
Director, Visual Arts Division, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
1999 - 2005
Assistant Professor, Visual Art Department, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
1997 - 1999
Assistant Professor, Art Department, University of Evansville, Evansville, IN
1991 - 1997
Professor (unranked), Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA Painting Department and Foundations Department
1990 - 1991
Associate Instructor, Fundamental Studios Program, Indiana University
1986 - 1989
Sculpture Technician, Sculpture Department, University of New Hampshire


text:
Home | Pom | Cheer | Mascot | RUF/NEKS & Lil Sis | Staff | Contact | Appearances | Camps
Pom Squad
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of the OU Pom Squad is to support the athletic teams at the University of Oklahoma by generating crowd enthusiasm and actively engaging with our fans.Our members believe deeply in their role as ambassadors of the University and represent OU at a variety of alumni, civic, and charitable events and are committed to displaying a positive and collegiate image at all times that reflects the values and traditions of the University of Oklahoma.� You can see the OU Pom Squad at Sooner Football, Men's and Women's Basketball, and Baseball games.
Clinics, Auditions & Tryouts
2018-19 OU Pom Squad Auditions & Clinics
Registration required.�Cost is $40 per person for clinics and $20 per person for auditions.
Register Here
Required Waiver
Tryout Information
Clinic Dates
- 11/26/17
- 2/4/18
- 2/25/18
Audition Dates
- 11/27/17
- 12/8/17
- 2/5/18
- 2/26/18
- 3/23/18


text:
jlrNo266 on Family Tree Circles
view: full | list
Journals and Posts
Looking for Mozelle Harris of Windsor,NJ/photo archives
my full name is James Lee Rowe,Jr.,born July 18th,1966 in Neptune,NJ
my father's full name was James Lee Rowe,born March 13th,1946 in
my mother's full birthname was Gloria La'verne Jackson,born on September 17th,1947.
(both parents are now deceased)
James,Sr. on April 4th,1988,Gloria on July 23rd,2001.
I have to my knowledge 9 sisters(three I haven't met)
and 4 brothers(2 I've yet to meet)
this journal is being written for the sole purpose to find my true
ancestry bloodlines.
most of my siblings would like to know as much as myself about our
true genealogy.
too many secrets have hidden us from our true heritage,in that,we
don't know if we have a paternal grandparent that may or may not be alive.
we never got to know our true grandparents on our father's side....
mostly due to his reluctance to deal with his own personal anger at
his parents.(my father was the product of an affair in which my alledged biological grandfather had with my alledged biological grand-
mother-Ben Rowe(whom was married to Emma Rowe)and Mozelle Harris(whom
also was in a relationship with a man named Donald Lewis).
I peace of mind with the whole situation. my daughter asked me recently about why I never had a Family Reunion-type of gathering
with my father's side of the family;couldn't give her a good answer
to go along with,because I've asked that same question a long time
so for me,it's put up or shut up.I got this ball rolling and I'm not
about to give up now.
and yet I'm humble enough to know when I'm licked.
so if there's anybody who has read my journal page living or have lived in Central NJ(more specifically,Englishtown)please help me and
my family get our Family Tree rooted.
God bless.
James Lee Rowe,Jr.
- Displaying 1-1 of 1 Journals
- 1
- of1


text: Insignificant to me. It is fodder for conspiracy theorists, nothing more. The article proves pretty well that he wears that ring. So what. I can't believe that anyone actually thinks Obama is a practicing Christian. He attended a Church where the pastor basically spews black liberation theology. What does that have to do with Jesus or Christianity? Nothing. Same time I don't think he is Muslim. He is a progressive liberal. Those people don't believe in g-d or religion for the most part. They worship at the alter of liberalism.


text:
Last year we got Massive Attack, Daft Punk, Kanye and Madonna added after the initial lineup. So let the guessing begin!
I haven't lost hope for Neutral Milk Hotel, Bowie, Prince, Velvet Underground, and Daft Punk because I didn't catch their full set last time. I'd be ok with the Police.
Oh and The Knife, Herbert, Goldfrapp or Matmos for the Sahara, though given they're not major acts it's a longshot by now
JAMC are a great addition, so is Manu Chao since you don't see him too often here in the States.
What are you hoping for? There's bound to be some kind of pop star added soon. I just hope it's not Gwen


text:
Snowmageddon: 17.8 inches at Reagan, 25 inches at Baltimore-Washington, and
32.4 inches at Dulles Airport. By contrast, Chicago's biggest snowstorm
on January 26-27, 1967, produced 23.0 inches of snow while Washington, D.C.,
has had 4 storms during the same time period producing over 23 inches of snow.
Image ID: wea01990, NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) Collection
Location: Maryland
Photo Date: 2010 February 6
Photographer: Kevin Shaw NOAA/NOS/OCS
• High Resolution Photo Available
of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric
Adminstration (NOAA),
NOAA Central Library
NOAA Privacy Policy
| NOAA Disclaimer
Last Updated:
November 10, 2017


text:
China's Xi courts public opinion in Mongolia
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia (AP) — With assurances of mutual development and good neighborliness, Chinese President Xi Jinping courted public opinion Friday in Mongolia, a country that has often been wary of domination by its massive southern neighbor.
In an address at the Great Hural, Mongolia's parliament, Xi said China stood ready to share wealth and work with its neighbors for peace and stability.
"We will uphold the guidelines of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness in neighborhood diplomacy," Xi said.
Xi told reporters on Thursday that China would always respect Mongolia's independence, territorial integrity and right to make its own decisions. Those comments reflected concerns among some Mongolians of being subsumed by China, whose size and population of 1.3 billion dwarf this landlocked nation of just 3 million sandwiched between China and Russia.
Xi is the first Chinese head of state to visit Mongolia in 11 years, emphasizing the growing ties between the two nations, which during the Cold War sat on opposite sides of the Communist camp. Mongolians are now looking to China to help lift their ailing economy amid a sharp decline in foreign investment and delays in exploiting the country's enormous deposits of coal, copper and other mineral resources.
China and Mongolia pledged Thursday to almost double their annual two-way trade to $10 billion by 2020, while Beijing agreed to give Mongolia access to ports in its north and northeast from which to export its resources.
China accounts for more than half of the country's external trade and receives almost 90 percent of its exports, mainly copper, coal and animal products, while supplying 37 percent of its imports. Bilateral trade has soared over the past decade, reaching $6 billion last year.
Despite those economic ties, Mongolia has been resolute in treading its own political path. In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet empire and loss of subsidies from Moscow, Mongolia transitioned into a democracy and a market economy and adopted a "third neighbor" policy to court nations like the United States and Japan and reduce its reliance on its two giant neighbors.
Xi's statements of respect for Mongolian independence seemed to reassure Tsogbadrakh Damdinsuren, a businessman in the capital, Ulan Bator, a city built during Soviet times that is surrounded by encampments of traditional felt yurts inhabited by migrants from the vast hinterland.
"The Chinese leader really assured us that China will respect our independence. As long as Mr. Xi and the Chinese Communist Party are in power, we can sleep well," he said.
However, student Myagmarsuren Jadamba said he worried that China's already huge economic influence in Mongolia could limit his country's future options.
"Economic independence is very important for us," he said. "I don't know what the future holds. I just don't want our country to turn into a supplier of raw materials for China."


text:
May 13. 2013 4:58PM
Alarm leads Manchester police to school; five teens face burglary charges
MANCHESTER - Police responding to an alarm at Parkside Middle School shortly after midnight Sunday arrested five Manchester teens and charged them with burglary.
According to police, the teens - two boys, 16, two girls, 16 and a 14-year-old girl were detained without incident by officers Casey Finn and Ben Foster after they alegedly were seen climbing out of a window of the school.
Police said they were found in possession of candy, balls and an iPhone charger believed to have been taken from a teacher's desk.
There was no damage to the school, police said.


text:
Body Mechanics
Get better woodworking results with these 12 tips.
By Jeff Miller
Pages 44-47
I've been teaching now for more than 15 years. And in that time I've thought a lot about why students are or are not able to do certain things. Problems arise only rarely as a result of a student not having good information about how something should be done. Most know the steps involved. Many are familiar with multiple methods of cutting dovetails or mortise-and-tenon joints. The problems are almost always more fundamental in nature.
If you're having trouble with your dovetails, or even your band sawing, here are a dozen fundamental things to think about that may help.
Stand up Straight? Actually, No
Woodworking is one example where standing up straight is actually a bad idea. Why? Standing up straight puts you in a position that is less balanced, less stable and less versatile than what you need for effective woodworking.
That doesn't mean you should slouch. It's just that good posture for woodworking is more like that for many sports. Woodworking is not really an athletic endeavor – although it can certainly have its moments. But when you're trying to do almost anything physical, learning how to use your body better will definitely pay off. Not surprisingly, many of the basic principles from a variety of sports apply just as much to woodworking.
What's the better stance? Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, one foot pointing forward and the other pointing off somewhere between 45° and 90°. Your knees should be slightly bent, with your hips pushed gently forward. Many woodworkers will also lean against either the workbench or a machine for additional stability.
What's better about this stance? It provides you a balanced, stable platform for all of your work. And when you've got that stability and balance, almost any woodworking task will be easier to control, whether it be planing, sawing, chiseling or even using one of your stationary machines. You'll be able to extend your reach farther without losing your balance, and be able to use your strength and weight to greater advantage.
This certainly isn't the only body position for woodworking, but it's a really effective one.
Body Alignment
Lining up your body properly will also help you to do the work more accurately and efficiently. The key to this is proper alignment.
For example, mis-alignment of your arms means you have to rely on multiple coordinated movements to control what you're doing. It's both less accurate and less powerful to add in this unnecessary or wasted movement. It's not impossible to work this way, but it's easier to just eliminate the extraneous movement.
Blog: Read Jeff Miller's blog.
Review: Read Andy Brownell's review of "The Foundations of Better Woodworking."
Web: Download a free chapter of "The Foundations of Better Woodworking."
In Our Store: "The Foundations of Better Woodworking."
From the December 2012 issue #201
Buy this issue now


text:
MADRID (AP) — King Juan Carlos has been discharged from a hospital in Madrid nine days after entering to undergo reconstructive surgery on his left hip joint.
The 74-year-old Spanish monarch joked with journalists as he left a hospital Sunday in the front passenger seat of a chauffeur-driven car, promising to "take things very easy" during his recuperation.
A hospital statement says the king had "very satisfactorily completed the first phase of his rehabilitation."
In April, the head of state was flown back from a controversial elephant hunting safari in Botswana, after fracturing his right hip joint.
The king has had several health issues in the past two years, including knee surgery and the removal of a benign lung tumor.