The question before us so far has been that of the relationship between Christians and Abraham, between our New Covenant faith, our New Covenant religion, our New Covenant theology, piety, and practice and his. Behind that question lie other fundamental questions. Was Abraham in the same covenant of grace as we or did he represent simply one covenant of grace among many? This raises questions about the nature of redemptive history and how to read Scripture. Are there multiple covenants of grace in Scripture or just one with multiple administrations? One way to try to answer these questions is to ask whether Abraham is just a father to us or whether he is our father. In this series I have tried answer that question in the first installment by looking at the nature of the progress of redemptive revelation. The covenant of grace, the gospel covenant, was revealed gradually through types and shadows. Was there more than mere revelation happening under the types and shadows? In the second part we considered what Paul says in Romans 4 (as we had looked briefly at 1 Corinthians 10:1–4 in part 1) about the object and nature of Abraham's faith. What we see is that Abraham was not merely the recipient of revelation about a future covenant of grace (i.e., the New Covenant) but that he was an actual participant in the covenant of grace, that the same covenant that was revealed under types and shadows in the Old was actually present in,, with, and under the types and shadows.
A correspondent wrote to ask about my use of that prepositional phrase, "in, with, and under." These prepositions, used this way, of course, remind us of the Lutheran doctrine of the Lord's Supper. They argue that Christ's body is literally in, with, and under the elements of bread and wine. My point in using those prepositions is not to teach a Lutheran view of the sacraments but simply to indicate that the covenant of grace was really, truly present in the types and shadows, with the types and shadows, and under the types and shadows. To say that Christ was bodily present, of course, would be to deny the biblical doctrine of the incarnation. Christ became incarnate in a particular time in history. It would also be to deny Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 10. Paul's point there is to teach the substantial continuity between the sacraments God instituted among Israel and those of the New Covenant. Christ was not incarnate under the types and shadows so the continuity cannot depend upon Christ's bodily presence in, with, and under the elements in the Old (Mosaic) Covenant or in the New Covenant.
Abraham is a central figure in Paul's defense of the gospel against the Judaizers, who were a group of Jewish Christians who professed faith in Jesus but who wanted to make obedience to the Jewish ceremonial laws a condition of salvation (justification and sanctification). In Philippians 3:1 Paul ironically calls the Judaizers "dogs" because they referred the Gentiles as dogs and he calls them "evildoers," because they thought of themselves as do-gooders, and "mutilators of the flesh" because they thought that they could present themselves to God on the basis of their circumcision.
Here he faces the very same argument. As to the Philippians, Paul reminds the Galatian Christians that anyone who seeks to present himself to God on the basis of law-keeping has obligated himself to keep all the law. To the Roman Christians he wrote, "For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified" (Rom 2:13; ESV). The covenant of works says "do this and live" (Luke 10:28). If a person performs the law, he shall live by that performance (Lev 18:5). This is the principle of the covenant of works. The Judaizers sought to put the Gentile Christians under the covenant of works for the standing before God but Paul was having none of it. Paul sets out to rescue, as it were, the covenant of grace from the Judaizers, who tried to turn the covenant of grace into a covenant of works.
This is why he quotes Deuteronomy 27:26 in Galatians 3:10, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Paul says, "all who rely on works of the law are under a curse." The law demands perfect obedience but none of us, after the fall, are capable of producing that obedience, of meeting that standard. This is why he says in v. 11 it is "evident that no one is justified before God by the law." Why is it evident? Because "the righteous shall live by faith" (Has 2:4). There was a time when humans could have obeyed and lived but that time passed when Adam sinned. After the fall, though the standard remains, the potential for mere humans actually to meet the standard has been lost. We need the God-Man to be our substitute and our Mediator.
In v. 12, the principal that Paul opposes to the demands of the law is faith: "But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." Paul says that law is one thing (Lev 18:5) and faith is another. Faith looks to the obedience of another. This is the difference between the covenants of works and grace.
Who is Paul's pre-eminent example of the covenant of grace? Abraham. At the beginning of the chapter, where he indicts the Galatians for being bewitched by the Judaizers, he reminds them that he did not preach salvation through works (not even in some ostensible "second stage" of justification or salvation) but by faith in Jesus Christ who was "publicly portrayed as crucified" (Gal 3:1; ESV). The Holy Spirit was not poured out because Christians have met the terms of a covenant of works but by out of the free favor of God purchased for us by Christ and given freely to us and received through faith (v. 2–5). Whom did Paul choose to illustrate Christian faith, by which the Holy Spirit is received? Abraham. This tells us a great deal about how Paul understands redemptive history.
Were Abraham in a covenant of grace and not in the covenant of grace or were Abraham a father but not our father, Paul's argument collapses. The underlying assumption is that Abraham, received the same Holy Spirit as we, that he was in the same covenant of grace as we. That is why is our father in the Christian faith. That is why Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 in reference to Abraham. He is the epitome of the Christian who received the Spirit by faith, who was justified by faith and not by the works of the law (v.6): "just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"?
From there Paul connects us New Covenant believers directly to Abraham. We who are of faith, in contrast to the Judaizers who are works, are "sons of Abraham" (v. 7) This is the very same argument that our Lord pursued against the Jews in John 8. They boasted that they were Abraham's children but Jesus said that they were not Abraham's children because they did not do as Abraham did: believe in Jesus the Messiah. Thus, Paul makes it even more pointed, more clear in v. 8: "The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'In you shall all the nations be blessed.'" The promise that God made to Abraham in Genesis 22:18 Paul calls gospel. Therefore we cannot reduce that promise to a merely earthly land promise as many have tried to do. That is directly contrary to Paul's teaching. It is contrary to God's Word. It turns the gospel into law. It turns the spiritual into the earthly. It turns Scripture on its head.
According to Paul, we are participating in the same covenant of grace. We have the same faith, the same Holy Spirit as Abraham. We have same free salvation, the same Savior (v. 9). Abraham was redeemed from the curse of the law by Jesus, who became a curse for us (v. 13). Paul says that in v., 14: "so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith." From these verses alone we know that Abraham was not a mere witness to a future covenant of grace (to arrive only in the New Covenant) but an actual participant in the administration of the covenant of grace in, with, and under the types and shadows.
Indeed, when Paul wants to illustrate the difference between the covenants of works and grace he appeals to the Abrahamic covenant as the paradigmatic example of the covenant of grace over against the Old, Mosaic covenant, which was an administration of the covenant of grace to be sure but which had a legal character to it (the rabbis counted 613 ceremonial and civil laws). Further. Paul says, the Abrahamic covenant pre-dated the Mosaic by 430 years (Gal 3:15&ndashl18).
Even in human covenants (e.g., your mortgage) no one can add to it once it has been ratified. The covenant of grace was ratified in Genesis 15, when Yahweh (God the Son in his preincarnate state) went between the pieces and swore an oath against himself, which penalty he suffered in his incarnate state on the cross, for us. Some, who want to revise Reformed covenant theology, have said that the covenant of grace was only ratified at the cross. That is not what Paul says. His argument here depends on the reality of a ratification before the incarnation. The Mosaic was only temporary and could not change the terms of the covenant of grace because the covenant God made with Abraham was ratified and immutable. In other words, contra the Judaizers, Moses is the not the central figure in the history of the OT. Abraham is and he represents the covenant of grace. The Judaizers tried to leverage the covenant of grace with Moses but Paul will not let them. Moses came later. Moses was an addendum. Moses was temporary. Moses' covenant, the national covenant. expired. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 3:7, 11 and the writer to the Hebrews says this explicitly. The Old, Mosaic covenant was inferior (Heb 7:7). When the priesthood changed, the law changed (Heb 7:11–14).
This also means that Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants are distinct. They are both administrations of the one covenant of grace but they are not identical. Moses is not Abraham. The same seed promised to and through Abraham, in whom he put his trust finally came (v.16). That seed was Christ. The inheritance of free salvation in Christ comes not by our law-keeping (contra the Judaizers) but by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
The Mosaic covenant was given to teach the Israelites the greatness of their sin and misery (3:19). It was never given as a parallel track to salvation. The true Mediator of the covenant of grace was never Moses. It was always the Son of God, who became incarnate for us and for our salvation. Abraham looked to him. Moses looked to him. They were Christians but the Judaizers obscured that reality with their errors.
This is why it is so important for Paul to say that in Christ, i.e., by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone there "is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." The Judaizers sought to re-establish the wall that Christ tore down in his body (Eph 2:11-22). Paul tears it down again. There is no wall between the old administration of the covenant of grace under Abraham and us. We are united in Christ. We have the same Holy Spirit, the same promises, the same faith. Abraham had them under types and shadows and we have them under the reality but it is the same covenant of grace. That is why Paul says, "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise" (v. 29).
There is only gracious salvation, which was promised to our father Abraham, with whom we share one faith and one initiation into the administration of the one covenant of grace.
Since our God is a promise keeping God, who does not change His mind, we can trust His promises. We can stake our hope of eternal life on His Word. That is why I find it so inconceivable that hermeneutical models, such as 1689 Federalism and Dispensationalism would interpret the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants as a republication of the covenant of works for an earthly people seeking earthly land promises, as though God promises one thing but does the opposite! This after God had promised a second Adam in the garden, who would restore the hope of eternal, heavenly life, and, further, then God covenanted with Abraham that He, Himself, would make it absolutely certain, because He, who cannot lie, would be that One who would fulfill the promise. That after all God did to certify His promise of eternal life, this idea that He would turn it all on its head and reintroduce the covenant works for an earthly people seeking only earthly rewards, reserving the hope of eternal, heavenly life He promised in the garden and confirmed in His covenant with Abraham for a spiritual people who only, after the death and resurrection of Christ, would enjoy the administration of the covenant of grace. And in spite of their hermeneutic, which is a complete denial of the Reformed model, which sees the covenant of grace, under different administrations, uniting all of redemptive history, yet denying it they want to call themselves Reformed?
1) I agree that there are formal similarities between the way 1689-type readings of the history of redemption and some Dispensational models.
2) They do tend to conflate the Mosaic (old) and Abrahamic covenants as if all types and shadows are inherently legal. As I keep saying, Abraham is not Moses.
3) We agree that land promises to Abraham were essentially gracious and typological of spiritual blessings (Abraham is not Moses).
4) There is a strong Reformed tradition of speaking of the Mosaic (old) covenant (as distinct from the Abrahamic) as a "republication of the covenant of works" not for salvation but as a re-statement of the law given to Adam, as a re-statement of the principle "do this and live" (e.g., Lev 18:5). It's a complex discussion so I can't unwind all the nuances here but here are some resources on doctrine of republication.
5) I do think that the Mosaic covenant was simultaneously an administration of the covenant of grace and a pedagogical republication of the covenant of works in order to teach the Israelites the greatness of their sin and misery and to drive them to look to Christ. No one was saved by works. There have been orthodox Reformed theologians who have argued that Israel's land tenure under Moses and David was dependent upon their obedience but most of our writers agreed that the civil and ceremonial laws did give the Mosaic covenant a legal character. Again, the Mosaic was an administration of the covenant of grace but, as Paul says in Gal 3, the Mosaic was added later and about it Paul says, "the law was not of faith." There he was indicating its legal character. This is why John Owen called the Mosaic a "subordinate" covenant, insofar as it was legal and temporary and addition to the Abrahamic.
Thanks for explaining the Reformed view of how the Mosaic covenant is a republication of the covenant of works, to show the people their sin and misery in their inability to do all that the moral law requires, so as to drive them back to the Savior promised in the covenant God made with Abraham. I have understood Owen to say that this is an abiding purpose of the moral law as subordinate to the Abrahamic covenant\New covenant. It serves the purpose of the covenant of grace in driving us to seek acceptance with God in perfect obedience found in the Savior. Of course the ceremonial and civic laws, as types and shadows, and as rules for government for God's people, as limited to Israel, passed away with the reality of the incarnation and the inclusion of people from all nations. That is why it is called the old covenant, it became obsolete and passed away. The point I was trying to make is that there is not an earthly people, only under an administration of the covenant of works, looking for earthly rewards under the old covenant. Even the old covenant was an administration of the covenant of grace. This is what 1689 type hermeneutics denies, insisting that only the New covenant, after the death and resurrection of Christ, is the covenant of grace, and that therefore the Abrahamic and the Mosaic covenant were administrations of the covenant of works for earthly rewards and tenure in the land for an earthly people. That divides the Scripture and God's people, so it is quite unlike the Reformed hermeneutic of the covenant of grace that unites all of Scripture and all of God's people in looking for eternal acceptance with God in the Savior.
These articles will be helpful as I re-examine Denault's arguments in his 'Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology'. I suppose I should be, (doing what I do!), but I have not yet been convinced by 1689 Federalism.


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Tag: Anna Cruz
Posted on 2017-07-20 2017-07-27 in Interviews, Uncategorized
Synesthetes' Breakfast w/ Anna Cruz & Adam Lavigne
As separate artists, Anna Cruz and Adam Lavigne are both savants of color, creating beautiful paintings, drawings, and zines on whatever they're inspired by that day–whether it be fruit, light, or in the case of a recent zine (released under their co-founded publishing company Lemon Press), a Kanye West interview. As a couple, they are GOALS, bouncing ideas off of each other, building the other one up, and crafting unique work as a summation of their own talents.
I caught up with the two as they were installing their latest duel exhibit, titled "Synesthetes' Breakfast," at the freshly opened Gallery Eola in Thornton Park Gallery, open Thursday & Friday 4-7 p.m. and Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Enjoy.
July 20 – August 11: Synesthetes' Breakfast @ Gallery Eola
matthew warhol: I wanted to start—before we get into like high level art talk—by asking you something I was curious about. We'll definitely dive into both of you as individual artists, but I wanted to know… how did the two of you meet?
Adam Lavigne: Uh, drawing class.
Anna Cruz: We met in school, 2011 or 2012. We had drawing class in 2012, and I had a crush on him. We were just acquaintances; we never really hung out or talked to each other much. I went to his roommate's house one night with Paul Finn and got reallllly high and threw up and had a really bad anxiety attack. Thankfully, he didn't see any of it.
Adam Lavigne: My roommate told me about that afterwards and I was really jealous that he got to hang out with her.
matthew warhol: Did you like each other's work to begin with?
Adam Lavigne: Definitely, it was pretty clear—in class—that we were fans of each other. We had critiques and the other always had something to say.
Anna Cruz: And I feel like both of our works—when you go to school you see a lot of people that do student work—where at that point we already had a language that was developing. I think seeing each other's work, and how different it was, really made us interested in each other.
Adam Lavigne: There was something more cartoony about what we were doing that everyone else shied away from, because of this formalist attitude towards academic drawing. I just remember always being really impressed with Anna's figures.
Anna Cruz: Same.
matthew warhol: How long into your relationship did you start working together?
Adam Lavigne: That was 2013, so it must have been three years later.
Anna Cruz: We didn't see each other for a couple of years, but I knew you were still in town. I had a show in 2015 at Canvas Gallery, and he came to see it. He had been lurking my Tumblr. I was like, "I hope he comes."
matthew warhol: Did you have one of those apps that let you know who visits your page, or was he liking stuff?
Adam Lavigne: Yeah, I was liking stuff.
matthew warhol: Oh, so you weren't even being subtle about it. [laughs]
Adam Lavigne: Yeah, I was reblogging.
Anna Cruz: And then, we had our first show together at A Place that year, but none of those works were made together. Being together a lot last year, it happened organically. I'm working; he's working in the same space.
matthew warhol: So you started creating stuff together, but individually?
Adam Lavigne: We did after that show. I would come to hang out with Anna and we would work on drawings together. It was really cool because we are both left-handed so I could sit right next to Anna while she was drawing and we wouldn't bump elbows or anything. That was really exciting. [Anna laughs] We were getting more and more interested in print, making zines and stuff, so naturally, we were like, "We should make something together."
Anna Cruz: The first actual time that we worked together, collaborating on one piece, was when we were making flyers for the A Place show.
matthew warhol: When you're working on something together, how is the process different from when you're by yourself?
Anna Cruz: I think it's a lot more messy—in a good way. When I'm drawing alone, I have a specific idea of how I want something to look. Once I get there, I stop and I'm happy with it. But with him being there, we draw a bunch of stuff and pass it to each other.
Adam Lavigne: We also work on mylar and vellum, so a lot of times I'll be able to ink something Anna's drawn or vice versa. We can change the line work or the drawing that way—we work in layers.
matthew warhol: When do you know it's done? Are you ever stripping things apart after?
Adam Lavigne: It just kinda piles up. We'll never scrap something entirely, but there will definitely be a discard pile and one for the keepers.
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matthew warhol: Individually, take me through your process of working on a painting. [To Anna] I noticed in your work that there's a lot of different elements.
Anna Cruz: I know I have a specific idea but it's more like an intuitive idea—in like, I know how I want the painting to feel. I go on Instagram a lot and ever since they added the tag option, I've collected a lot of images of things that made me stop and look. It's never copying a specific photo. It's more like collaging with different photos I've collected. It's very intuitive. I never know when I'll be finished, but I KNOW when I see it. With portraits, it's when the person feels real. It doesn't look real, but it feels like a real character that exists.
matthew warhol: What about you, Adam?
Adam Lavigne: I guess I don't tend to use reference material as much, but I have a lot of sketch books that I keep ideas in, so when I sit down to work on something I'm not pulling my hair out to do something new. Through drawing, you build a language that's your own. It's like a vocabulary you can draw in. I think about themes and symbols that I've generated over time and pull from those to make new work—maybe change those themes. But, the paintings have been more about the in-the-moment act of painting, responding to color, not really planning as much.
matthew warhol: When you're separate, do you tell each other your opinions on what the other is doing?
Anna Cruz: Yeah.
matthew warhol: Yeah? How does that work? Because I know that can be a touchy area. Do you wait for the person to ask, "How do you think about this?"
Anna Cruz: It's a tricky conversation at times. I feel like I'm very bossy—I usually know what I want things to look like, even if it's not my own work. But it's really whatever he wants it to look like. I tend to just shoot ideas. Lately, I've been doing that, but you always have a limit where like, "I need to think about this and process this without taking in what you're suggesting."
Adam Lavigne: It's always much appreciated because I have a lot of respect for Anna's opinion and for… the feedback that she gives me. I take it to heart and consider it, greatly. We'll sometimes get really excited about what the other person is doing and not be able to contain it. Like, "Oh my God, that looks great." Or, "DAMN." There's nothing else you can say. "You're killing it."
Anna Cruz: Those are really good moments. And the great thing about having those moments, is I didn't show my work to anyone while I was working on it, I would never know when to stop. Sometimes, it's nice to hear that it looks good the way it is.
matthew warhol: Maybe you were thinking about adding something and like, "Oh, this is great," and you're like, "I don't need to change anything."
Adam Lavigne: That's happened to me a lot, where I think I want to do something else and Anna will be like, "Don't touch it!" [laughs] That feels good, to know that someone can see it before anyone else and give you this really powerful feedback.
matthew warhol: How do you each other's work has progressed since you first saw it?
Adam Lavigne: We've really developed as artists through each other. The best shows I've ever had have been our duel shows. When we're at the studio, it's like this unavoidable influence on the other.
matthew warhol: Well, I think in any relationship, something you love about someone is seeing that person grow. Specifically, as artists, how have you seen that in each other?
Adam Lavigne: When we started working together, it became so much clearer what we wanted that vocabulary to be. And we could inform each other's vocabulary. I definitely make more paintings now then I did before. I always resented the permanence of a painting, so for a long time I just made drawings. Through my relationship with Anna, I've been more excited about making paintings. And we both just started doing murals together.
Anna Cruz: With me, it was the opposite. I was making so many paintings and treated them like these precious objects. When I met him, his style of work was all about quantity. Seeing his sense of freedom encouraged me to work that way as well.
matthew warhol: What do you think the difference is between painting versus making something like a zine?
Adam Lavigne: It's pretty huge. You're like using different parts of your brain. Painting can be so nonverbal.
Anna Cruz: Painting is very direct. If you don't react the first time you see a painting, it probably doesn't even matter. When you're reading a book, you might look over it today, but tomorrow it'll mean something different. A painting is more visceral.
matthew warhol: Where with a zine, it's more solid. There's words.
Adam Lavigne: There's definitely something tactile about holding books and reading zines. That's drawn me to zines.
matthew warhol: You're exploring it.
Adam Lavigne: I've found I'll really torment myself when making a zine. And making a painting is the exact same way. You'll sit in front of it and do nothing for like two hours, wondering if you should destroy it.
Anna Cruz: I think zine making is less scary for me, because I always have this closet of imagery and data I want to pull from. I never really feel alone. There's always options.
matthew warhol: I think there's a little more structure with zines. Everything has to flow and feed off each other. Painting is just one thing. Here it is! Can we go through some of the paintings around us and talk about them a little bit?
Anna Cruz: Let's look at the moons! They're Adams.
Adam Lavigne: Yeah, so when I started making paintings again, I got really excited about the stretching and building of canvases. I never really thought about the options I had. These just started out as exercises in difficult canvas building. This is a twelve sided canvas.
matthew warhol: So why the half earth?
Adam Lavigne: I think it's more like a rising earth. There may be a horizon line where you can only see part of the earth. Those photographs where you can see the earth from the moon, I've always been drawn to those as a symbol of our era. As an artist, you're always looking for symbols that define the time you live in. The earth from the moon never existed before we traveled to the moon.
Anna Cruz: It's really cool because I see a lot of that shape from painters that I follow on Instagram, but it's usually a rainbow or watermelon. But like, I've never seen half an earth. It's really cool.
matthew warhol: What about you Anna? What in here is from you?
Anna Cruz: These two. I usually am drawn to very warm, earth colors. These paintings are pretty much just about color. I hadn't painted this year. I was scared to start again, so I bought all this new paint and started playing with the colors. Line work has always been part of my style; I continued with that.
matthew warhol: What do the colors in these pieces mean to you?
Anna Cruz: I think of them as times of day. This one is called Sunset Potrait, just thinking about being at the beach and it's almost dark. This one is being in a jungle in the middle of the day, but not actually seeing the sun. And I put a pear because I love fruits. [laughs]
Adam Lavigne Anna Cruz art Gallery Eola interviews music blog ORL Orlando Orlando artists

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Adams and Hathaway go on to wrongly accuse the Los Angeles water board of not doing its homework before approving the regulation, ignoring the fact that the board staff has had numerous meetings with boat owners, Los Angeles County and others, and made modifications based on their feedback. The board has also considered site-specific data of the copper contamination problem. As it has for other regulations, it will consider the results of future scientific studies and incorporate their findings into future decisions.
Finally, Adams and Hathaway reference Assembly Bill 425 as their preferred vehicle. But the legislation and resulting report, though helpful in reducing copper in many waters, acknowledges that copper pollution in large marinas such as Marina del Rey will not be fully addressed by the report's recommendations.
The Los Angeles water board looks forward to working with the boating community and the county of Los Angeles, among others, to find sensible solutions to reducing copper to acceptable levels in Marina del Rey.


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Foreign nurse success story has message for Japan: Open up
Indonesian who passed test cites snail's pace of reform
by Jun Hongo
The success story of Dewi Rachmawati may hold the key to coping with Japan's declining population and quickly aging society. The struggles the Indonesian nurse has endured during her four years living in the country are what the government must rapidly remedy.
"It was a very challenging time," Rachmawati, who arrived in Japan in August 2008 to become a certified nurse, told The Japan Times last month. In an essay she wrote in Japanese that won a special prize from the Japan Immigration Policy Institute, she said the country "is not prepared to open up as an international country."
Tokyo, although having an economic partnership agreement with Indonesia and the Philippines to accept their nurse candidates, even appears "somewhat opposed to the idea," she wrote. "Japan was a popular destination for nurses in Indonesia at first. But a number of those have given up and returned home, and it became clear for many that working in the country is not easy."
Rachmawati, 27, arrived in Japan under the EPA with Indonesia that aims to secure medical and welfare staff as the society continues to age quickly.
The nurses must pass a national exam and become certified while training in the country. However, none of the 82 Indonesian applicants passed the test in 2009, while just two of 195 made it in 2010. In 2011, only 15 of the 285 Indonesians passed the exam.
The government was slow to realize that the tests, given in Japanese and laden with complex medical terminology, were simply too demanding for most applicants. It did ease the language burden by listing pronunciations next to difficult kanji, but that helped little. A mere 47 of the 415 combined Indonesian and Philippine nationals passed the exam in 2012 — an 11.3 percent rate of success.
Over 90 percent of Japanese, meanwhile, passed the test in 2012. Rachmawati was one of the 47 Indonesians and Filipinos who were certified. But despite working as a professional nurse at a Bali hospital for two years, it took her four years to take her first step as a nurse in Japan, she said. Her entire first year in the country was spent learning basic Japanese and the work routine, she said.
The second year was spent learning kanji and also getting accustomed to Japanese culture. Still, she failed the national exam two years in a row. In Japan, she said, she was an underachieving student.
Despite pondering a return home, Rachmawati said her luck changed when she met a Japanese doctor and a nurse "who were like (Florence) Nightingale" and inspired her to work harder. Her mentors helped her study for the national exam, which finally bore fruit last March.
Rachmawati is a rare breed who came to Japan and gritted her teeth until finally overcoming the challenges. Many others, including many friends, left empty-handed.
Japan, however, has a pressing need for more foreign nurses.
According to simulations released last January by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Japan could see its population fall below 80 million by 2060 in the worst-case scenario.
As many as 43 percent of those in 2060 would be over the age of 65, the institute warned.
"We are beyond the point of discussing whether having immigrants or foreigners in the country should be tolerable or not," former Tokyo Immigration Bureau chief Hidenori Sakanaka, who now heads the Japan Immigration Policy Institute, said during a Tokyo symposium in December.
Raising the birthrate, which is now below 1.4 children per woman, will be too slow as a cure for the graying nation, Sakanaka explained. He has even proposed allowing in 10 million immigrants in the next four decades.
The drastic population drop will devastate manufacturing, consumption, tax income, fiscal balance, pension, social security and other systems, Sakanaka warned. Securing foreign labor, especially nurses, will also be a race with other aging countries, including the U.K., where the shortage of nursing and medical personnel could reach as many as 250,000 by 2041, reports say.
For Rachmawati, Tokyo can do more to lure Indonesian nurses.
"Being flexible on work scheduling will help a lot," she said, pointing out that it is impossible for Indonesian nurses to return home once they come to Japan, as they are required to work the same tight shifts as their Japanese colleagues. "Creating an appropriate education system for nurses who pass the national test as a followup is also important."
As for Indonesian nationals thinking of the nursing program, she said strong determination is necessary. In addition to the demanding test, living in the country is not easy, even with the higher salaries, since prices here are higher than in Indonesia, Rachmawati added.
"One must have a strong heart and a tough spirit," she said, adding one must also seek to improve. "I am very eager to study and continue learning in Japan about what it means to be a good nurse."


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Mystery Donor Has Dropped Over $150,000 Into Minnesota Red Kettles
Dunken Published: December 9, 2021
The Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign started back in 1891 when Joseph McFee wanted to provide a free Christmas meal for people in need in the San Francisco area. McFee placed a pot in a busy part of town, and the rest is history. He raised enough that year to feed 1,000 people. Today, the Salvation Army uses the donations collected during the holiday season to fund all of its programs throughout the year.
Every dollar is appreciated, but it's the bigger and more unique donations that will be featured in the news of the next few weeks. One of these feel-good stories involved a mystery donor in Minnesota who has earned the nickname "Saint Grand" because of the donations he or she has been making.
Salvation-Army-Ringer
According to the Star Tribune, St. Grand has a history of making $1,000 donations at red kettles in and around the Twin Cities, and it's estimated the person has donated $152,500 over the last 11-years.
Loose change and dollar bills aren't the only things dropped in the buckets according to Major Bob Mueller from the Rochester Salvation Army.
Salvation Army photo
"It's actually a really fun part of the kettle season. You just never know what's going to show up in those kettles."
In 2019, he told us they've discovered gold Krugerrand coins, other gold coins, and even gold fillings.
The Salvation Army is in need of bellringers. If you'd like to volunteer you can visit registertoring.com or call 218-370-1093. Rochester's Salvation Army says the greatest need right now is Christmas gifts.
With 20 million Americans facing food insecurity and 7.1 million behind on rent, pandemic poverty is far from over. That's why The Angel Tree program of Rochester, MN, is working hard to ensure that hope marches on this holiday season for local families in need.
Gifts are collected at the sharing tree inside the Apache Mall. If you'd like to help you can find a wishlist here.
All 37 Minnesota Restaurants that Have Been Featured on the Food Network
Many Minnesota restaurants have been featured on the Food Network over the years. Some have closed now, but I checked out the Food Networks website, the Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives website, and TVFoodMaps.com to find all of the Minnesota restaurants that have been featured on their channel in the past and found these 37 (in no particular order) that are still open.
Source: Mystery Donor Has Dropped Over $150,000 Into Minnesota Red Kettles
Filed Under: Christmas, Good News
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Fritillaria es un género de pequeñas plantas bulbosas de la familia de las liliáceas. Este amplio género se encuentra de forma silvestre en terrenos rocosos de colinas próximas al litoral mediterráneo. Se llaman ajedrezadas en castellano, por la pigmentación de sus pétalos, y ese es también el significado de su nombre latino.

En jardinería se cultivan en el exterior, como flores solitarias o formando pequeños grupos en rocallas, bajo arbustos o como borduras en estanques.

Taxonomía
El género fue descrito por Carlos Linneo y publicado en Species Plantarum 1: 303. 1753.
Etimología
Fritillaria: nombre genérico que deriva del término latino para un cubilete (fritillus),   y, probablemente, se refiere al patrón a cuadros de las flores de muchas especies.

Sinonimia
Petilium Ludw., Inst. Reg. Veg., ed. 2: 135 (1757).
Imperialis Adans., Fam. Pl. 2: 48 (1763).
Amblirion Raf., Amer. Monthly Mag. & Crit. Rev. 1: 265 (1818).
Rhinopetalum Fisch. ex D.Don in R.Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. 6: t. 283 (1835).
Baimo Raf., Fl. Tellur. 4: 27 (1836).
Corona Fisch. ex Graham, Edinburgh New Philos. J. 21: 157 (1836).
Melorima Raf., Fl. Tellur. 4: 53 (1838).
Eucrinum (Nutt.) Lindl., Veg. Kingd.: 204 (1846).
Theresia K.Koch, Linnaea 22: 232 (1849).
Tozzettia Parl., Nuov. Gen. Sp. Monocot.: 11 (1854).
Liliorhiza Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 46 (1863).
Lyperia Salisb., Gen. Pl.: 56 (1866).
Monocodon Salisb., Gen. Pl.: 56 (1866).
Korolkowia Regel, Gartenflora 22: 161 (1873).
Sarana Fisch. ex Baker, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 14: 251 (1874).
Ochrocodon Rydb., Fl. Rocky Mts.: 164 (1917).

Referencias

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


So I found out yesterday that I have herpes. Worst day of my life. I've always gotten cold sores on my mouth so the doctor said I probably had this for awhile but now it's genitial herpes. The pain is horrible. He gave me valacyclovir but I need something to put on while I work. I have a one year old baby that I stay home with all day everyday and I cannot just lay on the couch, I was wondering if abreva would help? I used ice last night and it helped some but not much. Does anyone have suggestions? I'm going to call my normal doctor tomorrow and get an appt because I went to the emergency room yesterdat. I thought it was just a bad yeast infection but it wasn't. Anything will help!


Data from the European Banking Authority (EBA) published this Autumn, assessing the potential impact of Basel III reforms on EU banks, underlined the importance of the EU's forthcoming implementation of global regulatory standards on the capital banks must hold for certain activities. One of the most immediate issues, from the EU's perspective, is addressing capital requirements for market risk through the implementation of the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB). The impact of the FRTB is widely expected to be substantial, with the EBA's assessment finding that it would require a 52% increase in Tier 1 capital held against market risks for the group of 38 large EU banks that were assessed.
The magnitude of this projected increase in capital required helps explain why the FRTB has been so challenging to put in place, and why EU policymakers have now decided to proceed with a multi-step implementation approach that will be much more complex than the international standards intended.
For banks active in the EU, this has profound implications for their FRTB work, but could also present them with a significant opportunity to pursue FRTB implementation in a way that better supports their strategic and business objectives.
In December 2017, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) agreed to postpone the international target for implementing the FRTB to January 2022. The BCBS then re-opened the FRTB framework in March with a consultation on some of its elements in order to allow for a more proportionate impact on banks' trading activities.
In the EU, where the FRTB had first been proposed as part of the second Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR2) in 2016, the BCBS's delay and re-consultation happened while negotiations were ongoing in Brussels. Partly in response to these BCBS developments, EU negotiators chose to amend the market risk component of CRR2 to implement the FRTB initially as a reporting requirement only.
Although CRR2 has not been entirely finalised yet (some technical negotiations remain on other aspects of the legislation) the 4 December endorsement by EU Finance Ministers of progress made so far in talks with the European Parliament signals that the EU's adoption of a FRTB reporting requirement is now the most likely outcome.
This approach, if given final ratification by both the European Council and European Parliament next year, will leave the full implementation of the FRTB for new legislation that the European Commission will not, in our view, propose until mid-2020.
To operationalise the reporting requirement and to reflect any changes made following the BCBS consultation, the Commission will adopt a Delegated Act by end-2019 modifying the FRTB framework in CRR2. This effectively means that the Commission would use secondary legislation to complete the implementation of the FRTB in EU law as a fully functional capital requirement, but only to be used for reporting purposes until new legislation makes it binding.
Under the CRR2 text, banks would be expected to begin reporting revised FRTB market risk weights based fully on the new Standardised Approach (SA) one year after the adoption of the Delegated Act (potentially as early as January 2021, a full year ahead of the BCBS implementation target). Banks wishing to obtain IMA approval under the new reporting regime for certain trading desks could still seek to do so and could begin using these models three years after the adoption of the Delegated Act (i.e. in 2023). During this time, binding capital requirements for market risk would continue to be based on the existing CRR rules, so any reduction in risk weights resulting from newly approved CRR2 IMA models would not bring a capital benefit for the duration of the reporting requirement.
Banks that are eligible for the derogation for small trading books may be able to forgo the reporting requirement until a binding framework is put in place, but larger banks should now be planning for a two-phase FRTB implementation with many of the operational requirements for implementation potentially needed to be completed by 2021 rather than 2022.
What are the implications of putting the FRTB in CRR3?
To bring the FRTB fully into force as a binding capital requirement, the Commission will need to make a new legislative proposal to this effect. Our view is that this will happen by June 2020 as part of the 'CRR3' legislative proposal that the Commission was already expected to make in 2020 in order to implement the final parts of the Basel III framework, agreed in December 2017.
Timing of future negotiations: for legislation of the complexity of CRR3, the European Council and Parliament will normally take two full years to complete political negotiations before it can become law (this is a relatively conservative estimate based on time taken to negotiate CRR and CRR2).
As a result – between the time that CRR3 will take to negotiate (ending in mid-2022 at the earliest) and the time that the FRTB is then likely to need in order to be implemented – it looks virtually impossible for the EU to be able to implement the binding FRTB standard by the BCBS's January 2022 target. Rather, a delay of at least two years past this point now looks difficult to avoid.
Banks facing the growing likelihood of a two-phase introduction of the FRTB in the EU now need to consider what this means for their implementation planning. This will be a challenge, as banks operating in the EU may very well have to comply with an FRTB-based reporting requirement as early as 2021, but continue to face considerable uncertainty over the final shape and economics of the framework until well past the BCBS implementation deadline. Different implementation timetables, and approaches, between the EU and the rest of the world will be particularly challenging for internationally active banks.
One decision of particular importance will be whether banks seek regulatory approval to use IMA models under the new CRR2 regime during the FRTB reporting period. Banks that currently use IMA face the prospect of reporting significantly larger market risk weights during the first two years of the EU's implementation when reporting under the SA will be the only option available to them. Nevertheless, given the expense and effort associated with IMA approval, this might be difficult to justify without any immediate capital benefit. As mentioned above, where new IMA models are built and approved for use under the CRR2 reporting requirement, banks will have to monitor how changes made to the framework in CRR3 negotiations could affect the continued eligibility of or capital benefit from using those models. This uncertainty may, however, be partially limited by the work banks will do to implement the FRTB SA, which combined with the forthcoming introduction of a standardised output floor, will allow them to assess what the maximum capital benefit from internal models could be.
Banks, however, will still have to remain vigilant to the risk that CRR3 could introduce the FRTB binding requirements with a short implementation period (particularly if CRR3's changes to the FRTB are very limited in scope). Banks which do not seek IMA approvals during the reporting period may struggle to do so in time if they only begin their work after the CRR3 legislation is finalised, or may find themselves at the back of the queue for supervisors in their model approval work. A number of banking supervisors have indicated that the FRTB model approval process is likely to take several years. Keeping in mind the European Central Bank's expectation that banks move away from back-to-back booking as part of 'Day 2' Brexit restructuring, an influx of banks booking more trades in the Eurozone in the coming years could lead to a larger number of applications for IMA approvals, resulting in even greater pressure on scarce supervisory resources.
Although the EU's complex approach does inject some added uncertainty into FRTB implementation, banks should nevertheless seize the opportunity to make strategic use of the extra time they will likely have before binding requirements come into force. Aligning many of the risk and data infrastructure upgrades that the FRTB requires with a much clearer understanding of the stages in which the FRTB will be rolled out could allow banks to pursue implementation in a way that supports their broader strategic regulatory and business objectives. This may include the opportunity to leverage FRTB implementation to align Risk and Finance functions more closely, to monitor market risk better on a daily and intra-day basis, as well as to enhance operational efficiencies throughout the traded risk process.
David focuses on the impact of regulatory changes - both individual and in aggregate - on the strategies and business/operating models of financial services firms. David joined Deloitte after 12 years at the FSA, where in his last role, Director of Financial Stability, he worked on the division of the FSA into the PRA and the FCA.
Scott is a Senior Manager in the Centre for Regulatory Strategy advising on international banking regulation, with a particular focus on bank capital, strategy, cyber risk and public policy-making processes. Before joining Deloitte in 2015, he worked in Brussels as an EU regulatory strategist advising a number of global systemically important banks and other financial institutions. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics and previously spent a number of years working as a political advisor to Canada's Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs.


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Home News Alonso & Toyota inherit pole position for Fuji 6H
Alonso & Toyota inherit pole position for Fuji 6H
A post-qualifying decision has seen the #7 Toyota sent to the back of the grid, giving Fernando Alonso and the #8 Toyota team pole position.
The two-time F1 World Champion, along with former F1 drivers Sebastian Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima will start at the head of the field for the 6 Hours of Fuji on Sunday.
They had qualified second, but Jose Maria Lopez was caught speeding in the pit lane, meaning his times were deleted and the #7 car will have to start from the back of the grid.
UPDATE: No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 car of Alonso, Nakajima and Buemi will start from pole position for tomorrow's 6 Hours of Fuji.
No. 7 car lap time cancelled for exceeding the pit lane speed limit.
Details👉 https://t.co/pgkStWWKY9#6hFuji #WEC #WECjp pic.twitter.com/uqi8B95Ymy
— WEC🇯🇵🗻 (@FIAWEC) October 13, 2018
Lopez, along with Kamui Kobayashi, had given the #7 car pole position by just 0.091 seconds from Alonso and his crew during the qualifying session.
However, soon after the end of qualifying, the stewards confirmed that the #7 would be sent to the back of the grid.
The stewards also found that the #3 Rebellion car exceeded the permitted fuel per lap quantity limit, sending it to the back of the grid as well.
With the two time deletions, Jenson Button and his SMP Racing team move up to start the race in P4 on Sunday morning.
Anthony Davidson starts on pole position in the LMP2 class, having qualified three-tenths of a second clear of his contenders.
Meanwhile, on Friday at the FIA World Motor Sport Council Meeting in Paris, the 2019/2020 calendar for WEC was confirmed.
After the success of the inaugural super season for 2018/19, which started, and will end at Le Mans in both years, the WEC bosses have decided to go again.
For next year's calendar, though, there will be no Le Mans start. Instead, the season will get underway at Silverstone in September 2019, and run through to Le Mans in June 2020.
There are also changes in length of race, with two four-hour races, three six-hour races and two eight-hour races, along with the 24H of Le Mans.
WEC 2019/2020 calendar:
1 September 2019 – 4H of Silverstone
6 October 2019 – 6H of Fuji
10 November 2019 – 4H of Shanghai
14 December 2019 – 8H of Bahrain
1 February 2020 – 6H of Sao Paulo
March 2020 – 1000 Miles of Sebring*
2 May 2020 – 6H of Spa-francorchamps
13-14 June 2020 – 24H of Le Mans
(*Sebring is still to be confirmed)


Romania has entered, this Sept, the 10th consecutive year of economic growth, Minister of Economy and Finance Varujan Vosganian said on Wednesday (Sept 17).
He added that the pace of growth in Romania is six times higher than the average in the EU.
According to figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INS), Romania's GDP stood at 109.019 billion lei in current prices in Q2, up 9.3% in real terms from the same period last year. Romania ranks first among the 27 EU states, read preliminary estimates recently published by the European Statistics Office, Eurostat.In H1 2008, GDP reached 195.764 billion lei, after an advance of 8.8%.
Vosganian has recently said that Romania is expected to report this year 8.5 percent in economic growth. The growth target for this year stands at 6%. Vosganian is participating on Wednesday, at Victoria governmental Palace, in the presentation of a Report on meeting the commitments in the governing programme assumed in 2004.


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Council green lights golf course plans
By Bruce Atkinson
Posted May 25, 2012 11:52:48
Map: Bli Bli 4560
The president of the Horton Park Golf Club says the Sunshine Coast Regional Council has approved its plan for a new course at Bli Bli.
Geoff Davies says the club's development application has been given the green light for the 27-hole course, which will cost more than $40 million.
Council paid $42 million last year for Horton Park so it can redevelop the Maroochydore CBD.
Mr Davies says the club is checking conditions in the approval but there do not seem to be too many hurdles.
"We have to wait now to see whether the objectors will appeal," he said.
"That could cause some delay.
"Once we've got the all clear to go forward, we'll call for the tenders for the earthworks and the various bits that go on there including the construction of the clubhouse and the infrastructure and that'll happen within the next month.
"It's a wonderful outcome, not only for our members but I think it's a wonderful outcome for the Sunshine Coast ... we're going to have a magnificent new complex out there at Bli Bli.
"It will only benefit the Sunshine Coast as a whole."
Meanwhile, the Sunshine Coast Chambers of Commerce Alliance says it is pleased council has hired local firms to develop the Maroochydore CBD master plan.
Three local businesses will work with council on the plan and alliance chairman Stephen Dittmann says it is a vital project for the coast.
"It's good to see that council is hitting it fairly quickly and hard because ... we've waited a long time to get this project ... moving forward, so certainly great to see and it's good to see that there's local business involved with this progress," he said.
Topics: clubs-and-associations, lifestyle-and-leisure, urban-development-and-planning, bli-bli-4560, maroochydore-4558
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