text:
89 F. 3d 755 - Godfrey v. Bellsouth Telecommunica- Tions Inc
Federal Reporter, Third Series
89 F.3d
89 F3d 755 Godfrey v. Bellsouth Telecommunica- Tions Inc
89 F.3d 755
Pens. Plan Guide (CCH) P 23,924
Barbara Carol GODFREY, Plaintiff-Appellee, Cross-Appellant,
BELLSOUTH TELECOMMUNICA-
TIONS, INC.; South Central Bell,
Defendants-Appellants, Cross-Appellees.
Eleventh Circuit.
July 26, 1996.
Steven T. Breaux, Atlanta, GA, Lisa C. Cross, Birmingham, AL, for Appellants.
Kenneth L. Cleveland, Cleveland & Cleveland, Birmingham, AL, for Appellees.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
Before CARNES, Circuit Judge, and FAY and GIBSON*, Senior Circuit Judges.
FAY, Senior Circuit Judge:
An employee of BellSouth Telecommunications ("BST") brought suit against the company to enforce the provisions of her sickness and disability benefit plans. The District Court found that the plaintiff was disabled under the terms of the plan contracts, and that the plan administrators had arbitrarily and capriciously rejected her claims. We affirm.I. BACKGROUND
Carol Godfrey began working for BellSouth in 1963. By 1990 she had earned several promotions. However, in June of 1990 she became ill. Her family doctor referred her to several specialists, who diagnosed her with: fibromyalgia; a thirty degree angle of pressure on the spine; lumbar disc syndrome; rotator cuff disease; severe sciatic pain and sacral pain; chronic dorsal lumbar strain; and joint swelling pain. The District Court found that the evidence conclusively proved that her pain was severe and disabling.
Ms. Godfrey was treated with several very potent drugs which she had to take on a daily basis, including: Lorcet Plus, a narcotic pain medication whose main side effect is drowsiness; Flexeril, a muscle relaxer whose main side effect is drowsiness; and Donnatal, an anti-colonurgic medicine whose main side effect is blurred vision. In addition, she had to undergo regular physical therapy.
In June of 1990, when she first started to experience the debilitating pain, Ms. Godfrey submitted a claim for benefits under BST's Sickness and Accident Disability (SAD) Plan. The District Court found that she provided BST with more than ample evidence of her disability, including physician's certificates from at least four doctors. BellSouth's manager denied Sickness Benefits and the review committees denied Ms. Godfrey's appeals.
In January of 1991, BST informed Ms. Godfrey that she would have to return to work or be discharged. At that point, according to the District Court:
[w]ith a dependent son, the plaintiff had no real choice other than to dope herself up with the medications that had been prescribed for her and get in the car, contrary to medical advice, drive herself to work, and then work while under the influence of a combination of very potent drugs.
Despite the debilitating pain, Ms. Godfrey was physically able to show up for work on a fairly regular basis. However, the District Court found that on some days she simply could not get to work. Because of her sickness, her attendance record was the worst of any employee in the unit, and she was disciplined for her absences. Because she returned to work, however, she did not become eligible for benefits under the Long-Term Disability Plan (LTD), which requires the exhaustion of fifty-two weeks of disability benefits under the sickness plan.
Ms. Godfrey filed complaints of discrimination and harassment with BST in November of 1991 and January of 1992. In addition, she filed grievances with the union. On January 20, 1993, all of her complaints were denied, except BST reduced one of her suspensions by two days. She filed suit on May 5, 1994 in state court.
The case was removed to federal court. Godfrey amended her complaint to add a claim under ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461. The District Court ruled that Godfrey was not entitled to extra-contractual or punitive damages under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B), § 1132(a)(3), or § 1140. After a bench trial, the court found that Godfrey was disabled under the terms of the sickness and disability benefit plans from June of 1990 to October 1, 1993. The court issued an injunction ordering BST to comply with ERISA and pay Godfrey $58,300.50 in benefits. BST appealed the judgment. Godfrey cross-appealed the District Court's determination that she was not entitled to extra-contractual or punitive damages.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review conclusions of law de novo but do not disturb findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous. See U.S. v. Thomas, 62 F.3d 1332, 1336 (11th Cir.1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1166, 116 S.Ct. 1058, 134 L.Ed.2d 202 (1996). Equitable remedies will not be disturbed unless the District Court abused its discretion or made an error of law, or unless the findings of fact are not supported by the evidence. See Planned Parenthood Ass'n of Atlanta Area, Inc. v. Miller, 934 F.2d 1462, 1471 (11th Cir.1991).
Where the administrator of an ERISA benefits plan has discretionary authority to determine eligibility for benefits, a court reviews that determination under the arbitrary and capricious standard. Brown v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, 898 F.2d 1556, 1559 (11th Cir.1990). However, such a determination is not entitled to as much deference where the administrator has a conflict of interest. Id. at 1566.
[A] wrong but apparently reasonable interpretation is arbitrary and capricious if it advances the conflicting interest of the fiduciary at the expense of the affected beneficiary or beneficiaries unless the fiduciary justifies the interpretation on the ground of its benefit to the class of all participants and beneficiaries.
Id. At 1566-67.
[T]he fiduciary's interpretation first must be "wrong" from the perspective of a de novo review ...
Id. at 1566, n. 12.
III. ANALYSIS
A. The District Court did not err when it found that Godfrey
was denied benefits under the Sickness and Accident
Disability Plan in violation of ERISA Sections 502(a)(1)(B)
and (a)(3), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B)
and § 1132(a)(3).
Using the test outlined above, we review the decision in this case under the arbitrary and capricious standard. Brown, 898 F.2d at 1559. However, such a determination is not entitled to as much deference if the administrator had a conflict of interest. Brown, 898 F.2d at 1566. In such a case, we first conduct a de novo review to decide if the determination was wrong. Id.
BST argues that there was no conflict of interest, even though BST self-administered the plan and paid benefits from its operating expenses. According to BST, it would have had to pay Godfrey regardless of the determination by the plan administrator; either it would have paid Godfrey benefits or it would have paid her wages. In addition, according to BST, it did not save the cost of a replacement worker because it did not hire a replacement worker when Godfrey was out, and it might not have hired one if she had been granted benefits. However, if BST granted benefits to Godfrey, it would have either had to hire a replacement worker or lose the services of an employee in that position. The BST plan administrators had a conflict of interest.
Because of this conflict of interest, BST's determination could be arbitrary and capricious even if it was only "a wrong but apparently reasonable interpretation." Brown, 898 F.2d at 1566. The District Court found that the determination was indeed wrong, and that Godfrey was disabled under the terms of the ERISA benefit plans.
Ms. Godfrey sought benefits under two benefit plans. In order to receive benefits under the first plan, the Sickness and Accident Disability Plan, a participant must fulfill five requirements. The only one that BST claimed that Godfrey did not meet was the requirement that the plan participant furnish satisfactory evidence of her disability. The plan did not specifically define disability, but paid benefits when a participant was "temporarily disabled from work by reason of sickness."
BST argues that this language required Godfrey to show that she had a loss of function which would prevent her from doing her job duties. Thus BST's Medical Director considered that Ms. Godfrey was able to move her extremities without constraint despite the fusion in her spine. The plan administrators testified that they accepted the diagnoses of Godfrey's condition from her doctors, but, as one of BST's medical consultants stated, "pain alone does not substantiate disability."
The plan is designed to pay benefits when a participant is "disabled from work by reason of sickness." Nothing in the plan requires BST's narrow interpretation of the language. "Disabled from work" can mean more than physical paralysis or limited limb movement.
Dr. McLain, one of Godfrey's treating physicians, testified that fibromyalgia can be severely disabling and can only be diagnosed by an examination of the patient. The court found that BST's physicians arbitrarily rejected the clear medical evidence she submitted without even examining her themselves or seeking the treatment notes of her doctors. Moreover, they ignored the effects of the medication that Godfrey had to take on a daily basis due to her condition.
It seems to the court that the only rational explanation for the failure of the defendant's physicians to follow up on evidence which they did have and to ignore the effects of the medications that the plaintiff was taking is that they knew that in fact the plaintiff was disabled and following up leads and considering the effect of the medications would only confirm what any reasonable doctor would have already known.
Thus the court found that BST's wrong determination "advance[d] the conflicting interest of the fiduciary at the expense of the affected beneficiary." Brown, 898 F.2d at 1567. Because BST could not justify its determination "on the ground of its benefit to the class of all participants," id., the denial of benefits was arbitrary and capricious and violated ERISA Sections 502(a)(1)(B) and (a)(3), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B) and (a)(3). The District Court determined that from June 15, 1990 until January 21, 1991, Ms. Godfrey was disabled and out of work and that she was entitled to benefits under the SAD plan for that time period. The record fully supports this finding.
B. The District Court did not err when it found that BST
violated Section 510 of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1140.
After BST arbitrarily and capriciously denied Godfrey benefits under the sickness plan, BST required the disabled plaintiff to return to work or lose her job. The District Court found that:
Thus the court found that although Godfrey was disabled under the terms of the sickness plan, she was physically able to show up at her place of employment. However, her attendance record was the worst of any employee in her unit due to her disability, and she was disciplined for her absences. Because she returned to work in January of 1991 and because thereafter she was suspended and threatened with discharge whenever she stayed home, she lost her eligibility for benefits under the SAD plan and she did not become eligible for benefits under the Long-Term Disability (LTD) Plan.
Section 510 of ERISA makes it:
unlawful for any person to discharge, fine, suspend, expel, discipline, or discriminate against a participant or beneficiary for exercising any right to which he is entitled under the provisions of an employee benefit plan, ... or for the purpose of interfering with the attainment of any right to which such participant may become entitled under the plan.
Of course an employer may demand that an employee return to work after determining that the employee is not disabled, and then discipline that employee for unexcused absences. The employer does not violate ERISA Section 510 just because a court later determines that the employer's good faith disability determination was wrong. However, ERISA Section 510 does prohibit an employer from threatening to fire a disabled1 employee in order for the employer to avoid paying further benefits.
In this case, the District Court specifically found: that BST threatened to discharge Godfrey if she stayed home and disciplined her when she did stay home, even though she had the right to stay home under the benefit plans; that BST did so, at least in part, in order to prevent Godfrey from becoming eligible for further benefits; and that from January 21, 1991 until October 1, 1993, Godfrey was disabled and BST unlawfully acted to prevent her from obtaining benefits under the SAD plan and from becoming eligible for benefits under the LTD plan. The record fully supports these findings.
BST argues that Godfrey's claim under Section 510 was barred by the two year statute of limitations.2 BST threatened to discharge Godfrey in January of 1991 and she was suspended for excessive absenteeism in 1991, but she did not bring suit until May 5, 1994. Godfrey counters, however, that she had to exhaust any administrative remedies before she could bring suit, see Springer v. Wal-Mart Associates' Group Health Plan, 908 F.2d 897, 899 (11th Cir.1990), and so the statute of limitations did not begin to run until she did so on January 20, 1993.
Godfrey did file complaints of discrimination and harassment with BST in November of 1991 and January of 1992. In addition, she filed grievances with the union. On January 20, 1993, all of her complaints were denied, except BST reduced one of her suspensions by two days.
These administrative procedures were not specifically provided for in the benefit plans, and BST argues on appeal that Godfrey was not required to file an administrative appeal in this case. However, BST argued in its motion for summary judgment before the District Court that Godfrey had failed to exhaust her administrative remedies in regard to the Section 510 claim because her administrative complaint dealt only with the denial of benefits and not with any retaliation. BST argued in the District Court that Godfrey was required to seek administrative remedies before she could file this suit. Accepting such a position, the final action here was on January 20, 1993, and the suit was filed well within the statute of limitations. BST cannot raise for the first time on appeal the argument that Godfrey did not have to complain administratively in this case, see FDIC v. Verex Assurance, Inc., 3 F.3d 391, 395 (11th Cir.1993), and so we must conclude that BST's final action was on January 20, 1993. The suit was filed within the statute of limitations.3
C. The District Court did not err in refusing to set off
Godfrey's benefits award by the wages she received.
Although the District Court found that Godfrey was disabled, she did return to work on January 21, 1991 and received wages from that point on. Those wages would normally prevent her from receiving benefits under the SAD plan or the LTD plan, but because BST violated Section 510 of ERISA the District Court could order BST to pay benefits for that period. However, BST contends that those benefits should be offset by the wages that Godfrey was paid by BST. Those wages exceed the amount of benefits that Godfrey would have received, and so BST argues that even if it did violate ERISA Sections 502 and 510, Godfrey is entitled to no relief.
Normally, of course, a disabled employee will not collect wages. In this case, however, the District Court found that Ms. Godfrey was disabled under the terms of the benefit plans, even though she was able to physically show up for work and earn wages. Under ERISA Section 502(a)(3), 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3), the court has the power to grant equitable relief to redress violations of ERISA or violations of the benefit plan. In this case, BST arbitrarily and capriciously determined that Godfrey was not disabled, and threatened to fire her if she did not come back to work. The District Court found that Godfrey had no real choice but to return to work.
Because of BST's arbitrary and capricious determination, Godfrey had to show up for work while disabled under the terms of her benefit plan. BST's decision was not only wrong, but arbitrary and capricious. We cannot say that the District Court abused its discretion when, under the equitable power of ERISA Section 502(a)(3), it refused to offset the benefits award by the amount Godfrey received in wages. BST was wrong, and the court did not have to give it credit for being wrong. If the benefits award was offset by her wages, then BST (and other companies that self-administer their ERISA plans) would have an incentive to do the same thing in the future: if the employer could threaten or cajole a disabled4 employee into returning to work, it could obtain the rewards of having an employee in that position without hiring a replacement and without paying anything in benefits.5
D. The District Court did not err in holding that
compensatory and punitive damages are not
available under ERISA Sections 502 or
510, 29 U.S.C. § 1132
or § 1140.
In Bishop v. Osborn Transportation, Inc., 838 F.2d 1173 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 832, 109 S.Ct. 90, 102 L.Ed.2d 66 (1988), this Court held that ERISA Sections 502(a)(1)(B), 502(a)(3), and 510, 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B), § 1132(a)(3), or § 1140, do not provide for extra-contractual or punitive damages. As this Court later noted in McRae v. Seafarers' Welfare Plan, 920 F.2d 819, 821 (11th Cir.1991), the holding in Bishop was not affected by Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon, 498 U.S. 133, 111 S.Ct. 478, 112 L.Ed.2d 474 (1990). The District Court did not err in holding that extra-contractual damages are not available in this case; a plan beneficiary can sue to enforce her rights under the plan and under ERISA, and for equitable relief, but not for punitive or compensatory damages.
IV. CONCLUSION
We conclude that the District Court applied the correct rules of law and the appropriate standards when it found that BST violated ERISA Sections 502 and 510, when it refused to offset the benefits award, and when it denied Godfrey extra-contractual damages. The judgment is AFFIRMED.
Honorable John R. Gibson, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit, sitting by designation
Using the definition of disability in the relevant benefit plan
The applicable statute of limitations for this case is two years. See Musick v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 81 F.3d 136, 137 (11th Cir.1996)
We express no opinion on whether a participant in an ERISA plan must exhaust administrative remedies available to her through her employer but not specified in the ERISA plan itself
We do not suggest that an employer or the administrator of an ERISA plan should not make an informed decision concerning the ability of an employee to work. However, if such a decision is thereafter found to be arbitrary and capricious (wrong) there may well be financial consequences


text:
Ribblestrop
Return to Ribblestrop
Ribblestrop Forever
The boy with 2 heads
Andy's first adult novel, TRAIN MAN, is published by Chatto & Windus on July 4th 2019.
It's a novel about desolation, and how desolation can sometimes turn into something else. Michael is the main character, and he's pretty much broken. We meet him as he awaits the 9.46 to Gloucester, where he'll get his connection for Crewe. The platforms are long at Crewe, and he can walk easily to the end of one of them, and step into the path of a non-stop express to London.
He's planned it all.
He has a net of tangerines, and a juice carton, too. That's filled with neat whisky. He has his last credit card taped to the inside of his shoe - that should make identification swift and easy, for he has horror of being left in a mortuary drawer, unclaimed.
It all sounds horrendously bleak, but what Michael hasn't factored in is a twelve-minute delay. He misses his connection, and starts to make new ones. Can he silence the voices in his head, though? - ex-girlfriends, work colleagues, and the memories from his schooldays, decades old. They all torment him.
What he really needs is someone to listen, and ask the question that nobody's asked before. Journeys do intersect. People can find people when and where they least expect it.
'I use the train a lot,' says Andy. 'I'm fascinated by the non-conversations you can get into, and overhear, and I invented a man who'd become an expert in hiding behind a fog of blather and small-talk. Years ago, I worked with a Michael, and when he killed himself it was the same old story: we all agreed we'd never realised, never suspected...never probed. I can't do novels of despair: TRAIN MAN is a book about healing, and I just hope it's an intelligent one.'
If you are interested in inviting Andy to your school, you should contact him through the Authors Aloud website www.authorsalouduk.co.uk
© 2020 Andy Mulligan | All rights reserved | Website Design - iwebsitez.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
top trends with internet
I'm Davis and I live in Fell. I'm interested in Political Science, Baton twirling and Hindi art. I like travelling and reading fantasy.
Samsung Could Place IPhone X To Shame With Fully Bezel
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text:
Dr. Éva Péteri
I graduated at ELTE in 1993 (MA degrees: Hungarian and English Language and Literature and teacher's degree). I continued my studies as a PhD student of the Modern English Literature program, and defended my PhD dissertation (Victorian Approaches to Religion as Reflected in the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites) in 2000. Between 2000 and 2002 I worked as a research fellow (OTKA scholarship) at the Department of English Studies, then as an assistant lecturer, and from 2006 as a senior lecturer.
The Pre-Raphaelites. I am interested in the sister arts in general, and explore the connections between the different fields of art (literature, painting, music), contemporary mentality and cultural memory. I also study the Pre-Raphaelites' Hungarian connections: the references to Hungarian culture in Pre-Raphaelite art as well as the Pre-Raphaelites' influence in Hungary.
Victorian Approaches to Religion as Reflected in the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2003.
"Pre-Raphaelitism in Hungary". Worldwide Pre-Raphaelitism. Edited by Thomas J. Tobin. Philadelphia: SUNY Press, 2004. 215-244.
"William Morris's 'A King's Lesson': A Hungarian Perspective". The Journal of William Morris Studies. XVIII:3:2009. 48-55.
"Revisiting James Collinson's Representation of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary". The Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies. 27:2018. 56-63.
"Female Roles, Female Destinies: Aspects of Femininity in Pre-Raphaelite Art". Desired Beauty: Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces from the Tate Collection. Budapest: Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 2021. 30-45.
A művész és a társadalom alternatívái: Művésztelepek a XIX. és a XX. század fordulóján [The Artist and Society: Art-Colonies at the Turn of the 20th Century]. "Utópia és valóság: A preraffaeliták és a gödöllőiek" [Dream and Reality: The Pre-Raphaelites and the Gödöllő Artists]. Gödöllői Városi Múzeum, 2001.
Forradalom és retorika [Revolution and Rhetoric] "Keats és a preraffaeliták" [Keats and the Pre-Raphaelites]. ELTE, 2006.
Macbeth konferencia [Macbeth conference]."Dante Gabriel Rossetti's The Death of Lady Macbeth". ELTE, 2016.
Arts and the City. "More than a Cityscape: Ford Madox Brown's Work". Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem, 2019.
Encounters of the Popular Kind: Traditions and Mythologies in Dialogue. "The Popular Art of John Everett Millais". ELTE, 2021.
Introduction to Literature
Literary History: from the Restoration to 1890, Modernism
Victorian Culture and Literatute
Victorian culture and literature
The sister arts


text:
Q: Ideas for extending Muon-Life-Time experiment? Background: I'm teaching a lab experiment for measuring the Muon lifetime. The experiment is a big tube of scintillator attached to a PMT. The muon entering the scintillator generates a reading in the discriminator, if the muon decays inside the scintillator the decay  electron (Michel electron) is generating another reading, thus enabling the students to measure the time between stopping and decay. After few days of sampling they have a nice lifetime distribution and they calculate G fermi ($G_F$) and the muon's mean lifetime.
Since this experiment is very light I'm searching for new ways of extending it, I would love to hear some ideas on what else the students can measure?

A: There are a couple of reasonably easy options

*

*Rate variation with height Give the measured muon lifetime and assuming they travel at approximately the speed of light, you can estimate the expected flux at higher and lower altitudes in your same geographic area. So try it an see. To make the right prediction you have to factor in time dilation (or length contraction from the muon's POV).

*Rate variation with overburden Very low background experiments (neutrinos, neutrinoless double beta decay, direct dark matter) typically go underground (or under ice or water) to reduce the backgroupd rate due to cosmic muons. If you have access to a cave or mine with the appropriate infrastructure and permission you can measure the extinction factor as a function of depth.
Both of these suggestions are complicated a bit by the simple apparatus you are using: They rely on stopping muons which means there is a multiplicative factor related to the muon spectrum that has to be considered. It'll be a small adjustment of modest height or overburden changes, but significant as you increase the range in independent variable. If your data acquisition system record singles (or a prescaled fraction of the singles) you may be able to estimate the stopping fraction from the data and correct for it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Debemos decir antes de comenzar que las listas enlazadas no son una buena idea
en la mayoria de los casos, pero por supuesto hay exepciones que pueden ser las
siguientes:

 - Cuando queremos cortar o agrandar una lista grande muchas veces
 - Cuando estamos haciendo un algoritmo estupendo con la finalidad de que sea a
   prueba de *lock*s

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The first ICTE Conference held outside of North America convened in 1988 in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city, on the campus of the University of Edinburgh, in a successful and memorable event that was the springboard for expansion of the scope of the annual ICTE conference to an international perspective. In 1999, the sixteenth ICTE Conference returns to Edinburgh and to the University in what is certain to be another landmark event.
Technology is advancing with breathtaking speed. In Europe as in North America, innovations in applications of technology to learning are being developed at an accelerating pace. New and exciting insights into successfully applying the new technology in the classroom are resulting from from this wide range of innovative projects.
The annual ICTE Conference focuses strongly on these latest developments, and related applications of technology to teaching and learning. The Conference is attended by participants from the worldwide education community, representing leading educators, education researchers, administrators, and education-related technology companies engaged in education.
Plan Now To Attend ICTE Edinburgh 1999!
Take advantage of this unique worldwide education forum. At ICTE Edinburgh 1999, as in recent ICTE Conferences, you can anticipate participating in a unique mix of technology-using educators from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East -- exchanging ideas and views and experiences in this rapidly changing field.
Attend ICTE Edinburgh 1999 and get up-to-date on educational technology and its uses worldwide. Catch up on the latest developments and thinking about computers and related technologies in education -- and leave with new ideas and new inspiration for your education endeavors.
The setting for ICTE Edinburgh is in beautiful, historic Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The Conference will be held on the campus of Edinburgh University, famous for its programs in economics, medicine, and technology.
Come a day or two early, or plan to stay a few days after the Conference, and see Edinburgh. Visit historic Edinburgh Castle, and Holyrood Palace -- famous as a royal residence for kings and queens for centuries, including Mary, Queen of Scots, and still the official residence for Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth when in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh is a city of arts and sciences, home to theatres and art collections, museums and institutions of international significance. Bring your family -- they'll find plenty to see and do while in Edinburgh.
Stroll down the ancient Royal Mile, which links Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace, a street lined with historic buildings, shops, and restaurants. Tour museums and art galleries. Visit Edinburgh Castle and see the Scottish crown jewels -- the famous Crown and Sceptre of Scotland -- as well as the Stone of Scone, or Stone of Destiny, until recently kept in London's Westminster Abbey. Tour the surrounding countryside before or after the Conference, and take a train or coach tour through the Scottish Highlands.
Plan now to attend ICTE Edinburgh 1999, get up-to-date on the latest in educational technology, and take advantage of this opportunity to visit this beautiful and historic city.
It will be an experience you won't soon forget!


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Thursday, November 10th, the conference will be held in Bauer Hall, Room 330. Friday, November 11th, will be in Bauer Hall, Room 210.
A small block of guest rooms has been reserved at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center at a rate of $114/night. The Knight Center is conveniently located next door to Bauer Hall. Please call early to reserve your room. The deadline for this rate at the Knight Center is October 19th.


text:
Q: Column headings keep appearing throughout Oracle output After ever 10 lines, my column headers reappear in my Oracle output.  Is there something about my code or some kind of environment variable I can set to stop this?  I only need the column headers to appear once at the top of my results.
BREAK ON Customer
COLUMN Customer -
       FORMAT A15 -
       HEADING 'Customer Name'
COLUMN "Charter Date" -
       HEADING 'Charter|Date'
COLUMN Pilot -
       FORMAT A20 -
       HEADING 'Pilot'
SELECT DECODE (cu.cus_initial,null, cu.cus_fname||' '||cu.cus_lname,
       cu.cus_fname||' '||cu.cus_initial||'. '||cu.cus_lname)
       AS Customer,
       ch.char_date "Charter Date",
       TRIM( e.emp_fname) ||' '|| TRIM(e.emp_lname) AS "Pilot"
FROM hartmar.customer cu,
     hartmar.charter ch,
     hartmar.crew cr,
     hartmar.pilot p,
     hartmar.employee e
WHERE cu.cus_code = ch.cus_code
      AND ch.char_trip = cr.char_trip
      AND cr.emp_num = p.emp_num
      AND p.emp_num = e.emp_num
      AND cr.crew_type = 'Pilot'
ORDER BY cu.cus_lname, cu.cus_fname, cu.cus_initial, ch.char_date
;

CLEAR BREAKS
CLEAR COLUMNS

A: Assuming you're running this in SQL*Plus, you need to set your pagesize.
SET PAGESIZE 50000

will cause the columns headings to appear only once for every 50,000 rows returned.  I believe 50,000 is the maximum PAGESIZE setting.
If you want to eliminate headers entirely, you can set the PAGESIZE to 0 but that will suppress even the first set of headers
SQL> set pagesize 0;
SQL> select ename, empno from emp;
PAV              7623
smith            7369
ALLEN            7499
WARD             7521
JONES            7566
MARTIN           7654
BLAKE            7698
CLARK            7782
SCOTT            7788
KING             7839
TURNER           7844
ADAMS            7876
SM0              7900
FORD             7902
MILLER           7934
BAR              1234

16 rows selected.

A: Use a 'hidden' feature that will suppress all EXCEPT the first row of headings!
set pagesize 0 embedded on

Thanks to "Bruno Ruess" via https://community.oracle.com/thread/2389479?start=0&tstart=0 for the above.
If you then also add
SET UNDERLINE off

Then you can supress the "underlining" of the header row, and get to something that looks a lot more like a CSV.

A: You can also:
SET PAGESIZE 0

To stop all column headers after the start of your report.


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Interview with Up and Coming Artist Lorraine Xie
INTERVIEW With COOL BOY BOBBY
Jolene Khor Talks about current projects, future plans, and much more
Nirmel Mouchiquel Interview with Muzique Magazine
How did you come by your stage name?
My given Chinese name is Hongguo Xie actually. I picked Lorraine as my English name because firstly it's easier for my Western friends and also I think this name is beautiful and romantic.
Muzique Magazine Hooded Sweatshirt
When did you discover your love for your craft and what made you realize you wanted to pursue a career in it?
My mother is an independent singer as well, so I would say my passion for music was sowed deep in my heart at an early age when she started singing me lullabies haha..
But back in my Chinese middle school, the academic focus was so intense that I could barely receive training. Therefore, I came to the United States and went to high school there.
It was a performance gig at my high school that relit my passion for music. I also started writing lyrics to beats published by artists such as Jurrivh, Feelo, and Mantra. They are incredibly talented and inspired me a lot.
To what or whom do you accredit your sense of style?
Like many musicians, I was inspired by daily issues. But the main source of my inspiration is my aspiration/dreams. I love to write about my dream probably because I always tell myself to be positive and be industrious. I have experienced some rough times and do not want to fall into the abyss again.
On your current project, how did you come up with the concept?
I recently released a single called "Gravity". I wrote this song when I was diagnosed with clinical depression three years ago. I fought against death twice but I survived because I wanted to thrive.
The lyrics of the song are my own monologue. I kept telling myself not to give up because some haters were watching. And every single time I lost control, the "gravity would pull me back from the edge of the cliff".
I want to share this song with all the wounded souls and tell them that everything is going to be okay in the end, and if it's not okay, then it's not the end.
Are you the best at what you do in your opinion?
I am definitely not the best at what I do, I wish I will be in the future since I always strive to become better at what I pursuit. But the fact is, everyone is good at different things, and there is absolutely no perfection.
It becomes better when people work together and put in more effort. I am currently an independent artist, but I wish to form a team in the future (if someone ever thinks I am not bad haha)
What are your plans for the near future?
I wish I would stay true to my original self. Don't get lost in the commercial world. That is to say, I will write more quality music 🙂
Is there anyone you'd like to thank, any shout outs?
Thank you to Jurrivh, Feelø for the beautiful music.
Thank you to all my supporters, without you, I will have no one to share my feelings with.
Thank you to all the people who have hurt me, I become stronger because of you.
How can fans find you?
You can find me on Spotify and Apple Music/Itunes.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1fYWNr7ZUiSAxJA3zt5BT3?si=ZQDpqQZfSZigaCvQy7ISXg
Itunes: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/lorraine-xie/1482869072
You can also get to know me more on Instagram: lorrainexie_official
What suggestions do you have for other artists like yourself?
Be real to your audience, be open to suggestions, and keep up the good work.
If you are looking to get showcased on Muzique Magazine you can submit directly HERE.
For more news and articles, Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Show your support and pick up some new Muzique Magazine Merch at our SHOP.
O.C. Pop Funk Band 'Undecided Future' Launched New E.P. "Jugo" Co-Produced With Grammy Award-Winning 'Dem Jointz'
Interview with Artist Mr. Blue Roads
Related Topics:china, Fashion, google news, indie artist, Indie Magazine, interview, Lorraine Xie, Miami Music, Music Reviews, news, Official Video, passion for music, University of Miami
Founder & Editor-In-Chief of Muzique Magazine Alfred Munoz, is an American Army Veteran, and Entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the Music Industry, Leadership, Management, and Branding.
French Born Singer/Songwriter Estelle California Captivates with the Release of Her New Single "Star."
"Let Me Come Home" by OneUp Duo


That flat suited us, careworn, better days behind and hopefully ahead. The back of the door was a history of locks, so many variations and changes. You could chart the building's decline by the strength of the locks and so many keys we'd to keep it barred for fear some past resident would drop by unexpected, unannounced and definitely uninvited. It was patchwork of panels that had been broken through and replaced, not always with wood, polyfilla held the door and flat together. Everything broken not quite repaired, everything broken not quite fixable.
You'd find it funny to think of the hours I must have spent looking at your photos, you never liked them, or any photos of yourself. You could always see some flaw invisible to others, you didn't even argue when I said you looked great, you just dismissed it as an easy lie I told you to keep you happy. I suppose I lied about a lot of things, but that was easy honesty.
You, looking out the window, facing slightly away from me. There's nothing special about the photo except you. You got distracted and have a look on your face that you often had but I never caught on camera again. I can even remember what caught your attention outside. It was a woman pushing a pram that cost more than our car, and we couldn't afford petrol for the car at time. It was just an expensive talking point, "oh the car, no, we haven't had it fixed, no, we probably should get rid of it." A car that couldn't go, and us with nowhere to go anyhow. And us, together, nowhere I'd rather be. That look of interest on your face, trying to see what was happening anywhere else, about to offer a theory on the way things are.
I know that photo better than I know the directions home. I know it better than the words to the national anthem, the rivers of Ireland, the names of our Patriot dead. I know it better than the ten highest peaks in Ireland. I know it better even, than what age I am now, I keep having to count back.
I was trying to build a portfolio that year, trying to pretend my camera could reveal something about the world. Turns out the world didn't need me to speak for it. Now I shoot weddings and football matches and I don't try to pretend it's anything other than a job. A job I like, a job that pays. Paris has been photographed too many times already, you'd say, and as for all those noble poverty photos, why bother? stay here any time you want if to see poverty in action. You'd smile as you sighed, letting me know you know this would all be fine. The portfolio was rubbish anyhow, all angles of buildings and old men smoking outside bookies and women walking to Mass, as though anything could be said by any of that. All black and white or overcoloured, as though nothing should ever been seen as it actually is. The only photos worth keeping were the ones of you, when I was trying to work out my camera. You, smiling, you with flowers, you laughing, you in light. I can afford a light meter now, not that it matters, I can fix up things after the photo is taken, most stuff anyhow.
Everyone said it, afterwards, you had some strange skill for hearing other people's problems but never their praise. You could do anything for anyone else, and nothing for yourself. They told you how much they loved you but somewhere you learned words like that are never true. No matter what they'd say, anyone, you'd always answer "ah sure stop with the flattery." I used to wonder who taught you to think like that. I was sure I'd find the way to convince you otherwise, like everything else, if I had the time. So much to learn, about everything. I thought someday I'd show you a picture so good you'd fall in love with yourself, if even just a little. We all need to love ourselves, if even just a little.
I remember that a last lost day out in Kilmallock, with all the ruins and love stories hidden between the stones. Photos of you in the abbey, a wraith amongst the ghosts. I remember telling you all the ghost stories, about the White Knight, Sir Maurice Fitzgerald, who can still be heard weeping for all the wrongs he did, cursed to cry be he alive or dead by a woman he'd mortally wounded. His tomb is just a pile of rocks now but on St. Brigid's day in February, with winter rain falling in heavy curtains, you said you thought you heard him, shushing me mock seriously. You were laughing and shivering at the same time and I didn't think it was just the weather. In black and white, with the great shattered abbey behind you, and a sky wide open with cracked grey clouds you looked like you could have stepped out of the myth, another woman wronged. Your black hair flowing down to your white dress. I can look at the photo and nearly hear the crying myself.
A local man came over and told us the Knight's grave is never dry, his tears soak it through. We didn't mind the rain and he chatted for an age about the town, burnt down three times he said, but built back a fourth, some things can never die. Eternity is all around us, had we but the eyes to see it. "God Bless Brigid for bringing the light. Tis no day for a wedding though," and we smiled, we had all the time in the world.
He told us about the black dog holy well, watched over by Saint Brigid, "are ye not here for the prayers," he said. A black dog is meant to crawl out of it at night and "the water in it would cure your sight" he said to us, but I told him my eyes were fine. He looked at you again and didn't reply but now I wonder what else he saw. I remember you laughed and said he must be one of the Sidhe as he left, "sure the fields of county Limerick are alive with the fair folk" you said, "he's probably one of them come to warn us off, we're between two worlds here, can't you tell!" We never made it to the well, all my prayers seemed answered then anyhow. You fell asleep awkwardly against my shoulder on the bus back to town, but I loved it, my camera on my lap and you beside me. I watched raindrops race down the windows and always picked a favourite. This one world was enough for me that day. The first of February, the start of the light half of the year, St. Brigid watch us all.
I can afford better cameras now, and that makes more of a difference than any talent or skill I might have had. I can take 1,000 photos and just pick the 50 or 60 that are fine. I can see everything in real time. No messing around with dark rooms and the photos of you revealing themselves under the red light bulb we carefully changed when we were finished. You frowning when you saw your smile, and me laughing all the time, til you had to smile too. You getting thinner, and me not noticing. I've been looking at those photos. All the different exposures, trying to get a feel for light, and what settings to use. Oh so arty, and you wearing a winter jacket in summer, a half smoked cigarette always somewhere in the scene. Your mum knew, and I didn't, when she saw you. She knew you weren't just tired. She tried to persuade us to move back down with her. She offered to pay a few months rent anywhere else but it was much worse than that by then, wasn't it? I sent all your things back to her, everything except the photos. Evidence of everything I wasn't seeing.
I saw you in shades of light, but you never believed it when I said I could see a light in you. Light, everywhere you went, light. Someday they'll invent a light meter so sensitive even you would have had to believe its readings. None of the equipment on the market comes close, could ever come close. God, the light that you were has blinded me a bit yet. Some St. Brigid's day I'll make it to that well, wash my eyes and hope I see whatever there is to see between this world and the next. St. Brigid who brings the light.


Today I encountered the term "post-time", which, according to curator Bob Nickas "signifies more than what comes after; it can be thought of as a filter through which one looks back and simultaneously ahead."
If an important historical or cultural event happens, it not only influences events afterwards, it also causes past events to be reinterpreted and can even change the rules of the game. This would mean that what we create now might be interpreted slightly differently than how it is today, just as things from the past take on new meanings today.


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DEATH IN THE FOREST: KATYAN FOREST MASSACRE, J.K. Zawodny 1st/1st 1962 - SIGNED
DEATH IN THE FOREST: THE STORY OF THE KATYN FOREST MASSACRE, by J.K. Zawodny ~ First Edition / First Printing, 1962 HC/DJ ~ SIGNED
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame 1962
A rare, SIGNED, first edition, first printing from 1962 of "Death in the Forest: The Story of the Katyn Forest Massacre" by J.K. Zawodny, in overall excellent condition. 235 pages, and illustrated with black and white photographs. A gripping story of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, who ordered the executions of over 22,000 Polish officers and citizens during the early days of World War II. The book is in mint condition with the author's dedication on the first blank page. The uncut dust jacket is in very good condition, and still shows its original price, and has some chipping on the top fore-edge near the spine.
"Death in the Forest" should be read by any individual who does not choose to, or cannot, accept the atrocities of war and the inhumanity of man to man." -DJ
Please see below for more information on the Katyn Forest Massacre.
Katyn Forest Massacre
The Katyn massacre (Polish: zbrodnia katy?ska, mord katy?ski, "Katy? crime"; Russian: ????????? ???????? Katynskij rasstrel, "Katyn shooting") was a series of mass executions of Polish nationals carried out by the NKVD ("People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs", a Soviet secret police organization) in April and May 1940. Though the killings took place at several different locations, the massacre is named after the Katyn Forest, where some of the mass graves were first discovered.
The massacre was prompted by NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all captive members of the Polish officer corps, dated 5 March 1940, approved by the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, including its leader, Joseph Stalin. The number of victims is estimated at about 22,000. The victims were executed in the Katyn Forest in Russia, the Kalinin and Kharkiv prisons, and elsewhere. Of the total killed, about 8,000 were officers imprisoned during the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland, another 6,000 were police officers, and the rest were arrested Polish intelligentsia that the Soviets deemed to be "intelligence agents, gendarmes, landowners, saboteurs, factory owners, lawyers, officials, and priests".
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Valparaiso Midfielder Lucca Lacerda - College Soccer News National Player of the Week - Week Ending October 14, 2018
Lucca Lacerda Senior Midfielder Valparaiso
No player in the country had more of an impact on the success his team enjoyed this week than Lacerda. His three goal week enabled Valpo to win back-to-back games for the first time this year.
Lacerda netted the game-winning goal in Valpo's 2-1 win over Eastern Illinois when he scored out of a free kick from ten yards outside the box in the eighty-fifth minute of play. He also provided the assist on teammate Akeem Bradford's goal.
Lacerda followed that contest up with goals from fifteen and thirty-five yards out to lead Valpo to a 2-0 win over Bradley on the road in a Missouri Valley Conference match.
Valparaiso will seek to keep their win streak alive when they host Central Arkansas on Saturday.
Saint Mary's College Forward Jake Rudel - College Soccer News National Player of the Week - Week Ending October 7, 2018S
Jake Rudel Junior Forward Saint Mary's
The striker from Fort Collins, Colorado came up big once again for Saint Mary's scoring goals early in each half to help propel the Gaels to a 4-0 win over Pacific.
Rudel blasted a shot from outside the box into the far left corner of the frame in the thirteenth minute of play and decisively drove a header into the back of the net in the first few seconds of the second stanza.
Rudel has scored ten goals and contributed two assists to date and is among the reasons the Gaels are a perfect 12-0-0.
Rudel and his teammates will seek to keep the momentum going when they welcome San Francisco to Moraga next Saturday.
Wake Forest Midfielder Bruno Lapa - College Soccer News National Player of the Week - Week Ending September 30, 2018
Bruno Lapa Junior Midfielder Wake Forest
Lapa continues to be a difference maker on the offensive side of the ball for the Demon Deacons.
This week he scored twice and assisted on teammate Aristotle Zarris' goal in a 5-1 non-conference win over Davidson. He also scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with an assist from Logan Gdula in Wake Forest's 4-2 win over Duke in a key Atlantic Coast Conference contest.
Lapa has scored nine times and contributed six goals to date and is among the reasons why Wake Forest is 10-0-0.
The Demon Deacons host UNCG in a non-conference contest on Tuesday and travel to face Syracuse on Friday in what could be a very challenging ACC match.
Georgetown Forward Achara - College Soccer News National Player of the Week - Week Ending September 23, 2018
Achara Junior Forward Georgetown
Achara played a key role in two significant Georgetown wins. He scored the game-winning goal in the Hoyas 1-0 on the road win over highly regarded Duke, He also netted the game-winning goal in overtime in Georgetown's 2-1 win over DePaul in a Big East Conference contest.
Acura has scored four goals to date including three game-winners.
Georgetown is now 5-2-1 overall with a 1-1-0 mark in conference play.
The Hoyas have a chance to enhance their standing when they host nationally ranked Louisville in a non-conference contest on Tuesday.
Denver Forward Andrew Shinyashiki - College Soccer News National Player of the Week - September 16, 2018
Kentucky Forward JJ Williams - College Soccer News National Player of the Week - September 9, 2018
Indiana Back Andrew Gutman - College Soccer News National Player of the Week - September 2, 2018
Denver Forward Andrew Shinyashiki - College Soccer News National Player of the Week - August 27, 2018
College Soccer News - National Player of the Week - Akron Senior Forward Sam Gainford - Week Ending November 26, 2017
College Soccer News - National Player of the Week - Butler Sophomore Forward Brandon Guhl - Week Ending November 19, 2017


ST. MARTINVILLE, LA – The 2016 Grammy's were in full swing once again last night, as an array of stars were on show to pick up their semi-meaningless paperweights – known to the author and reader as 'awards'.
But whilst the glitz, glamour and after-party cocaine antics took place in Los Angeles, there was one musician who was renewing his grudge towards the award ceremony some 2,000 miles away.
Self-proclaimed "zydeco hero and legend" (within the St. Martinville city limits) Little Petit Chico is used to being snubbed for recognition from the event – every year since he started as a musician, to be precise – and each year he publicly makes his feelings felt through Twitter. Last night was no exception.
Chico also explained that, with so many categories on offer at The Grammys, he expected to be at least nominated for one.
However Chico remains confident that next year is his year.


Celebrate a 1st wedding anniversary with our Fax Potato Paper anniversary card. Printed and designed in the UK; this card is blank inside so you can share a personalised message with the happy couple.
Caption reads: "1st Year Together! Such good news."


Civil litigation is a dispute between parties that is not a criminal case. It could be a corporation versus a corporation, domestic cases, contract disputes, insurance claims, personal injury claims. All of those are civil litigation.


Preliminary election results from Northern Ireland show voters preferring a power-sharing government. Long divided by violence between nationalists and Unionists, Catholics and Protestants, a survey of first choices shows that voters want a compromise government willing to work on bread-and-butter issues.
Voter turnout was, on average, about 60 percent. It approached 70 percent in some precincts.
Northern Ireland has used choice voting to elect its Assembly - sometimes under suspension - since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Choice voting been used to to elect local officials since 1973, where it has been credited with reducing tensions between Protestants and Catholics by ensuring a fuller representation of the spectrum of opinion within each constiuency. Before that, it was used for Northern Ireland House of Commons elections from 1898 to 1953."


In life we are constantly faced with challenges. Anxiety and depression are on the rise and people are finding it more difficult to communicate their emotions in a healthy manner. Through emotional intelligence, we can develop the skillsets to build a strong foundation for every aspect of our lives: personally, health & wellness, relationship management, professionally and financially.
Emotional Intelligence is defined as the ability to be aware of one's own emotions and the emotions of others and manage relationships empathetically. Since Daniel Goleman brought it to the mainstream back in 1995, emotional intelligence has been gaining more popularity and importance in businesses, sports, corporations, schools and personal development. Once looked at as only as soft skill set, it is now a requirement for success.
When Doug Pederson, coach of the Philadelphia Eagles was hired, owner Jeff Lurie stated that he wanted an emotionally intelligent coach. In his second season of coaching, Pederson brought the Eagles to their first Superbowl win! The World Economic Forum stated by 2020, emotional intelligence will be one of the top 10 job skills managers will be looking for in their employees. The Harvard Business Review printed a cover story stating, "Emotional Intelligence – The Ingredient to Success." Most recently, my son who graduated from Cornell University with a Master's Degree in Systems Engineering was required to take a class on emotional intelligence to fulfill his degree requirements.
While I have personally been fascinated with studying human behavior for the last two decades, it was only through my study and practice of emotional intelligence that I really spearheaded my personal success in life. It gave me the tools necessary to learn how to think critically, deal with complex problems, learn how to eliminate stress effectively, and learn to understand other people's perspectives without taking anything personally.
Emotional Intelligence is the combination of psychology, physiology, metaphysics, neuroscience, and spirituality. It is the number one practice that will change this world and impact the thought patterns of our lives. Most importantly it teaches us how to live in an abundant mindset as opposed to a scarcity mindset.
Compassion and empathy are two main components of emotional intelligence. Many people assume that this is just common sense, when in reality, people only know what they were taught growing up. If you grew up in a household where yelling and screaming were ways of getting what you want, chances are, you will grow up thinking this is how to behave. If your parents put you down when you failed at sports or academics as opposed to helping you achieve better results in the future, most likely you will not see failures as a way to grow in life.
Once you begin to practice the skills of emotional intelligence, you will soon see the positive changes take place in your life. It is important to practice each day, until it becomes your new way of life. You will find yourself less stressed, more innovative, happier, and finding the positives in life.
1. Wake up with GRATITUDE – each day, start your morning by saying three things that you are grateful for. It can be just waking up and being blessed with another day in life, the sun shining, having a bed to sleep in… there are no rules on gratitude, just be thankful!
2. Remove TOXIC media from your life – this includes television shows such as "reality TV" that shows constant fighting, screaming and negative behaviors, negative news feeds on social media (we all have that friend who wants to vent and start trouble online), and even the news. Unfortunately, most of what you see on television is either violent, doom and gloom or people treating others with bullying behaviors. Replace this free time by reading a good book…I have plenty to recommend!
3. Stay away from DRAMA – gossiping about co-workers, friends, family, etc. only leads to negativity in your life. When people see that you do not get involved with their gossip, they will eventually stop discussing it with you.
4. Do the PERSPECTIVE test – guess what, not everybody is going to have the same opinion or view points as you! Too often people get into heated arguments busy trying to convince each other that they are right. Rule to live by: there are no truths only perspectives! Each one of us grew up with our own life experiences. It is impossible for everybody to see something the same way. Instead of getting upset when someone disagrees with you, take the time to understand their perspective and recognize why they feel the way they do. You don't have to agree, but you may learn something new!
5. LOVE YOURSELF – there is a difference between being conceited and truly loving who you are. Too often people are so busy taking care of others that they don't give themselves the self-love they need. When you love yourself, you take care of your own personal needs first. This means taking time for yourself, exercising, eating well, doing something that makes you happy, etc. Remember, "you can't pour from an empty cup, you need to fill yourself up first." Too often, when you put yourself last, you become tired, resentful, stressed, and sick. You need that massage this week, go for it!
Living a life of happiness is possible for each one of us! True success is waking up fulfilled, harmonious and giving to others. Start by trying the tips I listed above. We are all capable of living an abundant life. You just have to want it and be willing to make the change!


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Long live the new flesh: David Cronenberg is developing a TV show
Legend behind Videodrome, The Fly, and The Dead Zone is breaking through
Videodrome, Universal Pictures
Michael Roffman
September 2, 2018 | 9:48pm ET
By now, every auteur has made his or her way to television, so it's only natural that David Cronenberg get into the mix. According to Variety, that's exactly what he plans to do, as the veteran filmmaker announced he's currently developing a new series.
(Let that sink in for a minute: Yes, the visionary behind Videodrome, a movie that subverted the television medium to portray some of the most unnatural and terrifying horrors in sci-fi history, is making his way to the small screen. Good god.)
The news surfaced during a panel at this weekend's Venice Film Festival, where he's being honored with a lifetime achievement award. He stated it was a long-form personal project and declined to comment any further, saying he "can't talk about it yet."
"Today TV screens are getting bigger and bigger and therefore the difference between theatre and domestic viewing has become really flimsy," Cronenberg argued. "The rule used to be that closeup shots were only done for TV, and not for movies. But today that's no longer the case."
Of course, this isn't Cronenberg's first foray into television. In the past, he's directed episodes for a range of series, from Scales of Justice to Friday the 13th: The Series. In 2015, he was asked to helm the second season of True Detective, to which he declined.
So, at the very least, we know this series will be better than that.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge Developing Tomb Raider Series for Amazon
Introducing the Heavy Consequence Weekly Newsletter
Rick Ross Refuses to Ride in Teslas Because They Might Drive Him to the Police
Harry Styles Rips Pants Onstage at Los Angeles Show: Watch
Jane's Addiction Recruit Josh Klinghoffer to Fill in for Ailing Dave Navarro on Upcoming Shows


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Neurocognitive Research Program for the Advancement of the Humanities
Center for Comparative and Integrative Programs
Close International Conference Overview
Booking Room for the Conference
The mission of the Neurocognitive Research Program for the Advancement of the Humanities (NRPAH) is to employ the most advanced scientific research methods and findings in order to maximize the development of personally and socially crucial neurocognitive capabilities through engagement with the humanities.
This mission, unique among the more than 100 humanities centers and institutes across the nation, addresses the longstanding but increasingly urgent need for systematic empirical investigation of the neurocognitive developments fostered by the humanities. The purpose of this research is to enable the establishment of more effective, evidence-based practices in humanities education and outreach and to produce empirical evidence that will demonstrate the value of the humanities to the public and thereby enhance their support for the humanities.
NRPAH is an outgrowth of the work of the interdisciplinary Social Cognition Research Group (SCRG), established four years ago by a grant from the College of Arts & Sciences to initiate a program of empirical investigation into the enhancements of neurocognitive functioning fostered by the humanities.
College of Arts & Sciences, Kent State University, Bowman Hall


WATCH NBC NEWS COVERAGE HERE.
PURCHASE, N.Y., Jan. 7, 2019 – LIFEWTR®, the premium bottled water that exists to advance and showcase sources of art and creativity, today unveiled a school beautification project in partnership with the Florida City Elementary School as part of the brand's ongoing commitment to furthering arts in education. Students returning from winter break were surprised with a fresh start to the New Year – featuring vibrant artwork from emerging artists throughout the school to help create an inspirational environment for their learning. As part of LIFEWTR's ongoing collaboration with Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company, to support arts education by creating educational materials for students and teachers, a grant will be awarded to Florida City Elementary School. This grant will assist the school in implementing robust arts education programming throughout the coming year.
Across the country, nearly 80 percent of schools face funding cuts, with art often the first subject to go, LIFEWTR has long marked a commitment to championing arts in education. As part of its fourth design series, unveiled in January 2018, LIFEWTR honed in on this issue by showcasing the works of three young artists who demonstrated the far-reaching impact and positive influence that arts education programs had on their lives. The brand also issued a rallying cry to #BringArtBacktoSchools, in the hopes of impacting 1 million students through arts education – centered on the belief that inspiration is as essential to life as water. The Florida City Elementary School transformation project will continue this movement into 2019, as well as represent the brand's steadfast mission to advance creativity in impactful ways.
LIFEWTR partnered with four emerging artists – three of whom are local to Miami – to transform Florida City Elementary and fill it with inspirational artwork. In just four days, each artist made their mark on the exterior walls of the school, culminating with four murals which inspire creativity through their own artistic styles.
LIFEWTR and Scholastic have created a series of unique classroom posters and educational materials for 7th through 12th grades to help teachers guide conversations and build lesson plans around the connection between art, inspiration, and STEAM learning. Educators can download these resources and learn more by visiting http://www.scholastic.com/InspireArt.
For more information, please visit www.LIFEWTR.com.


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The God Dilution
Darwinism Intelligent Design
Posted on July 7, 2007 Author GilDodgenComments(30)
I blogged once before about one of my favorite ID essayists, Roddy Bullock of idnetohio, who frequently posts at ARN.
Here is another essay that I found most insightful. Roddy is a clear thinker and a superb writer.
Let's be honest: One of the main reasons that passions tend to run high in the ID versus Darwinism/materialism debate is that the implications are profound concerning ultimate issues and questions, especially, Is there any ultimate plan, design, meaning, or purpose in the universe and, most importantly, our lives?
I've always been upfront about my personal background and experience. Until 1994, at age 43, I was a Dawkins-style, hardened and committed atheist, but I am now one of those dangerous and nefarious evangelical Christians. My conversion involved a variety of interacting factors, but one of them was that I finally recognized that the materialistic apologetics with which I'd been indoctrinated didn't comport with the evidence of modern science, or even simple logic. And I found that the bad logic and evidence had hideous and inevitable implications — in a word: nihilism.
In his essay, Roddy discusses Richard Dawkins and Ken Miller. Dawkins defends a god delusion, while Miller defends a god dilution. Which is worse, or at least less logically consistent?
On Dawkins:
It's not surprising that a fanatically fervent atheist like Richard Dawkins boldly proclaims God a delusion. He really believes it, and his frankness is refreshing, even if he is somewhat crass in his delivery. Referring to creationists as "redneck creationists" and scientists who deny the truth of evolution as scientific "backwoodsmen" who "pretend" to scientific credentials exhibits a certain pitiful flair that only the most secure in a minority position can pull off. But Dawkins' ruthless consistency in taking his worldview beliefs to their logical conclusion is admirable. He deserves recognition for a lifetime of relentlessly pressing his science into the service of his theology, and for his effort Dawkins has forged a place for himself as a first-rate flaming atheist in this world, if not in the next.
On Miller:
But why would someone who identifies himself as a theist willingly pitch his tent with the likes of Dawkins? What is it about impersonal, purposeless Darwinism that compels self-proclaimed believers in a personal, purposeful God to dedicate their lives to its defense? And why would a theist choose to side with the "no-design" hypothesis of Darwinism in a world that by all accounts displays undeniable design? Nature's material evidence makes intelligent agency the logical inference, so why does anyone, much less a theist, choose to believe unintelligent Darwinism over intelligent design? Are the two ideas, creation without intelligent agency and creation by intelligent agency, really compatible? No; it's like saying you believe intelligent beings carved the statues on Easter Island, while simultaneously adamantly defending a theory that holds they were certainly formed by natural forces alone. Dawkins rightly rejects such thinking; who wouldn't?
Materialist myths: Religious people opposed anesthesia in childbirth!
Fred Reed on Evolutionary Psychology
30 Replies to "The God Dilution"
I actually have to wonder if Miller would defend a philosophical version of ID. Namely that – while he doesn't believe design is verifiable in the biological scences – life, the universe, and everything WAS in fact designed. Along the lines of saying that he thinks those statues on Easter Island were designed, but does not believe there can be any scientific test to falsifiably determine such one way or the other.
In fact, has anyone in an interview ever asked this of Miller?
Borne says:
"why would a theist choose to side with the "no-design" hypothesis of Darwinism in a world that by all accounts displays undeniable design?"
Simple. Miller is a phony. He is no more "Christian" than the devil.
I recant. I have no right to judge the man's spiritual state. Maybe he's just hard of seeing.
IrishFather412 says:
Speaking of offsprings from scientific theorie . . . Have you all investigated the ICON-RIDS webiste and Pleasurianism?
I find only one way to make sense of Ken Miller. I believe that being respected by his peers is highly important to him. This need for the respect of others, in psychological terms, translates directly into an issue of low self-esteem. In more human terms, it displays as someone without a backbone — a "yes man".
From what I have read of Miller's view, I think he and Denton (as presented in Nature's Destiny) are not far apart. Miller seems to see the work of God in establishing the laws that invite the development that has occurred. However, if God established the laws in the intricate way that they must have been designed to account for what we understand of the strong anthropic principle, then then only thing that he and Denton have done is move the point of design to no later than the moment of the big bang. However, it still remains to be design — as Denton clearly recognizes. The day that Miller decides that truth is more important than status, he will stand up at least for the likes of Guillermo Gonzalez, and announce that, even if only back at the big bang, we are the product of design on the level of God-like amazement.
Sorry Dr. Miller for whaling on you this hard, but it is the natural consequence of trying to please that you displease. I continue to invite you to stand up for what you believe, to announce what you believe. You surely recognize that your options are an impotent god who only observes, or an omnipotent God who directly orchistrated it all — a God so great that he was able to orchistrate it in a single movement 16 billion years ago.
The "by law" hypothesis is a design hypothesis.
jpark320 says:
Great article and I agree.
I'm beginning to understand more and more why Christ said be 'hot or cold' and not luke warm.
Luke warm ppl are inconsistent and they just make your side look bad.
Dawkins is consistent (sorta), but Miller is trying to please everyone like bfast said.
LeeBowman says:
" … why would a theist choose to side with the "no-design" hypothesis of Darwinism in a world that by all accounts displays undeniable design?
I've pondered that myself, ever since becoming familiar with Miller. He sits in a precipitous place, on the one hand having to defend Darwinism, and one the other going to Mass and having to pray to a non-existent God throughout the service. I don't like to get personal, but a logical question posed privately by a friend and confidant might be, "Do you pray, Ken?" and then, "Do you feel that your prayers are heard?"
Francis Collins is in a similar position, although he seems more open to a belief in an interactive God in his life. But nonetheless, the concept of front loaded coding within the genome that expresses innovative mutations millions of years later is a difficult theory to embrace. I feel that it's been proposed by theistic scientists to avoid having to deal with an existent God, and yet, to not embrace an atheistic belief. Were it not for the hard shelled materialist mindset of the scientific community, and their utter prohibition of allowing a designer into the origins question in any way, even though evident, you would see this far less often.
"But why would someone who identifies himself as a theist willingly pitch his tent with the likes of Dawkins? What is it about impersonal, purposeless Darwinism that compels self-proclaimed believers in a personal, purposeful God to dedicate their lives to its defense?"
Good question. Although technically in the same camp, if sitting together in a debate with ID advocates, I can think of questions that they would each answer differently, and could easily get into a disagreement between themselves over. With Miller, it's not 'The God Delusion', but rather, 'The God Decision', that is, how in the world do I define (and relate to) God?
I would qualify my remarks, however, by saying that I don't claim to have real answers to the basic theistic questions, nor do any of us. Nor do I feel that I (or Ken Ham) are morally any better than Richard Dawkins, or any other skeptic. He truly believes what he believes, and would pose that comparison in reverse order!
My mission, if I truly have one, is to stimulate the cognitive processes of those with atheistic mindsets, and do it by the means most dear to them; rationalism, (but hopefully not argumentation ad nauseum). I feel that once one can get beyond the kind of intellectualism based largely on refuting scripture, or of relying on fallacies like 'Occam's Razor, and other rationalizations that help them justify their 'logic', that they may someday see the road ahead more clearly. I guess that's why I've spent so much time on news groups like alt.atheism, talk.origins and other similar venues.
But in proffering the concept of Intelligent Design, I sometimes wonder how my words may resonate 'beyond the veil' (not pale). Does the term 'design' denigrate? Is it acceptable to believe that perhaps the cosmic creator has made things over time? I see this planet as a kind of 'biologic workshop', and as a stomping ground for many, all the way from ants to antelopes. I also see clearly synergy, order, aesthetic qualities, and yes, design. How can one not?
I think Miller is an RC. I am one also. I believe he is defending the opinion of his church. He may have had a hand in formulating its position. So many people/Catholics have been brainwashed about the Galileo incident that they are terrified of criticizing any science – no matter how bad it is. Especially science that is so widely accepted among scientists. With more scientific converts and published papers I think the RC church will more vocally accept ID. Some RC scientists have already said that ID is consistent with RC belief.
I believe also that he is attempting to convert the scientific community to RC. Unfortunately, I think he conflates ID and protestantism, and tries to distance himself from what he thinks is a competing church. This is a mistake. We should be allies against a common foe.
Does Ken Miller really believe in a non-interactive God? I recall reading that he believes God may work more at the quantum level – basically, in the most subtle ways possible, though a subtle move may have a dramatic effect in our lives.
Just to play Miller's Advocate here: I think what may animate both him and Collins isn't so much a hidden lack of belief (possible, but somehow I doubt it) as a desire to remove what they see as an unnecessary point of attack by devoted materialists: Arguing that theism is a threat because it leads to denying scientific data (the role the YECs play, to them) or relating to science primarily in terms of criticism, rather than in contributing (the role ID plays to them – pointing out the problem of a IC structure evolving, while not proposing specifics on how said IC structure to come into being.)
Instead, they take the tact that YEC is false, and that even if ID were true, proving design is not possible and, further, not necessary for their faith. And if that much is true, then YEC and ID both become liabilities, because it allows jokes to be made at their unwilling expense. Worse, if people are brought up believing "If YEC isn't true or IC structures could have evolved, then there is no God" then the moment they become convinced that YEC is false or IC structures evolved, they'll become bitter atheists. You'll notice that many atheists insist on the YEC point – it's a proselytizing tact for them.
That said: I would much prefer to see Miller come out stronger against the atheological manipulations of Dawkins and the rest. If he truly believes ID is a threat, then I understand his motives. But if he truly believes that evolution does not require atheism, then he should turn his criticism against the other side of that particular fight as well. That would be courageous, though; Burning the ID bridge, and burning the naturalist bridge too?
That would be one lonely biologist.
magnan says:
"But why would someone who identifies himself as a theist willingly pitch his tent with the likes of Dawkins? What is it about impersonal, purposeless Darwinism that compels self-proclaimed believers in a personal, purposeful God to dedicate their lives to its defense?"
A combination of forces in the personality must be involved, often at conflict with each other.
One would be a perhaps deliberately unrecognized desire to have some spiritual comfort in life, combined probably with an early upbringing in Christianity whether rebelled against or not.
This would battle against scientific training which strongly inculcated materialism and atheism. The person becomes intellectually convinced of the truth of scientific understandings of the world. He swallows Darwinism hook line and sinker as part of that system of "truth".
There is also a deep need for recognition and approval. In the chosen field of science unquestioning acceptance of Darwinism is a requirement to succeed as a professional and achieve this greatly desired recognition and approval.
So how to achieve scientific recognition, retain methodological naturalist materialism, and also keep a little spiritual comfort, all at the same time? So-called "theistic evolutionism" is one way, carefully ignoring or suppressing the basic cognitive dissonances involved.
Lee Bowman:
"But nonetheless, the concept of front loaded coding within the genome that expresses innovative mutations millions of years later is a difficult theory to embrace. I feel that it's been proposed by theistic scientists to avoid having to deal with an existent God, and yet, to not embrace an atheistic belief."
This seems right to me. This seems to be the underlying dynamic with at least some adherents of front loading in ID. However, this may be presumptuous. They would need to speak for themselves.
Never underestimate the role of money in this debate. Ken Miller makes a lot of money off being a Darwinist, probably over $200k a year for his textbooks. Also never underestimate the sanctions, money and ostracism, one would have to endure if one questioned Darwinism even if the person wasn't selling textbooks. Have you read the announcement on the Lehigh biology site?
Ken Miller can be quietly critical of Dawkins and his crew but he dare not tone down his criticism of ID or else his sincerity will be suspect and somehow his textbooks might get replaced in various school districts. Don't think it couldn't or wouldn't happen. All of a sudden various school boards decides a different text book author is more appropriate and then the publisher makes the assessment that a newer fresher approach is warranted.
Burning the ID bridge
I think our side is quite tolerant of dissent.
Where we get our back up is with those who distort (lie?) about our positions, say, by equating ID with creationism or testyfing in court that because the Type III secretory system shares parts with the flagellum IC has been disproved.
Quick quiz: What good is an immobile secretory?
Quick quiz 2: What good is an immobile secretory system designed to interact with life more advance than bacteria before such life came into existence?
magnan,
"So how to achieve scientific recognition, retain methodological naturalist materialism, and also keep a little spiritual comfort, all at the same time? So-called "theistic evolutionism" is one way, carefully ignoring or suppressing the basic cognitive dissonances involved."
While I have some strong problems with naturalism/materialism (And what tends to fall under either header), I disagree that TE functions the way you say. Since I would probably be categorized as a TE, let me give you my personal take on the matter. I'll try to be narrow, since this is a topic that's easy to go on and on about.
When I think about how God would be involved in the creation of man, to me the question isn't 'what method would an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God use?' The question is, 'What method would He rule out?' Whether the biological precursors to man were borne purely of so-called 'natural' processes (one which God would have understood and "designed" in the most fundamental ways) or God rather directly intervened to 'fix' the design (create an IC structure) does not concern me too much. I see no reason to expect God to rule out either method.
The same goes for miracles. If it turned out that, say, Christ's resurrection wasn't any violation of natural law, but rather part of a law that came with this universe that we do not yet (or may never) understand, why should I be concerned? It'd be akin to being resurrected by God via my brain's atoms and quanta all being gathered and re-arranged to what they were at the moment of my death. What am I going to do – arise, frown, and say that if God were REALLY God, then I would have had an immaterial consciousness that wasn't dependent on matter? [Note: I am not saying there is no immaterial soul. I think consciousness has more surprises in store for us than we think. I'm just giving an extreme example.]
That said, I sympathize strongly with ID. I dislike how arguments against ID so often involve screaming about how they're really part of a creationist conspiracy (Trying to pass Behe off as only recently accepting common descent is the latest canard.) I think evolutionary psychology is hilarious nonsense – Freud did better than that. And I think that, while design may be impossible to prove, there's just as much (or more) validity in arguing that nature is rife with design as there is for the Weinberg/Dawkins 'There is no design, it's all pointless – science has shown us this!' view.
Further, I believe that ID has a particular ace: It encourages engaging science at the most fundamental levels and seeing the work of God therein. The best-kept secret among atheist materialists and naturalists is that you can look to science – biology, physics, chemistry, even evolution itself – and see ample design, purpose, and the divine, with as much falsifiable worthiness as Dawkins 'pitiless indifference'. My criticism of most TEs is not with their beliefs, but their behavior – it's often too timid. Needlessly so, as if we have to ask Oxford's permission to see purpose in natural history, or to regard the miraculous nature of the human brain as something to attribute to God.
So, there. I'm just one mostly-TE, mind you, but hopefully this provides people here with some better insight about how non-ID theists think.
Jason Rennie says:
"But Dawkins' ruthless consistency in taking his worldview beliefs to their logical conclusion is admirable"
I don't think this is true at all. Dawkins doesn't even come close to doing that. He balks at the properly nihilisitic implications of his atheism and embraces all manner of moral positions. If he was actually consistent he wouldn't do this and would stop relentlessly indulging in the is/ought fallacy.
Good point. Atheist-derivative morality is an oxymoron.
Atheist-derivative morality is an oxymoron.
Yes. And don't they act stung when that, or some similar remark, is made. The latest insult hurled at me was, "pig-ignorant".
But atheist-derivative morality manifestly isn't oxymoronic.
Are all atheists leading amoral and immoral lives? No. Do atheists understand the notion of 'right and wrong'? Of course they do. Religious people may disagree with an atheist's moral choices (just as they may disagree with those of other religious people), but to suggest that atheists never make moral choices is absurd. Certainly atheists can behave very badly, but so can religious people.
It can be argued that a religious person doesn't act out of morality, anyway. What God demands isn't a morality, but obedience. This is the specific and intentional lesson of the story of Abraham and Isaac.
pk4_paul says:
Janice and Duncan, it is not that atheists cannot understand or act in accordance with moral laws. But atheism itself does not produce moral codes. Moral laws are a characteristic of religion.
Duncan: The problem is that atheist-derivative morality is absurd, in principle. On a pragmatic level it may make some sense, but there is no reason in principle for the atheist to be a "moral" person.
After all, we are just matter in motion.
antg says:
Getting back to the topic:
For what its worth I suspect that a lot of theistic evolutionist's objections to ID are based on fear, principally three things:
1. Fear of empowering biblical creationists.
2. Fear of creating a god-of-the -gaps and/or a 'goddidit' science stopping theory
3. Fear of ID leading to a close link between 'evil' designs with God
Some may be fair critisisms but from my POV some are just not objective when it comes to evaluating the purely scientific claims. At the very least it should not be beyond the pale to ask the questions that ID asks.
Oh, and don't be so hard on Ken Miller. I understand he has taken a lot of sh1t from some scientist for his Christian faith.
Yes, there is – and it's a higher principle than a religious one. Do you behave properly because those are your orders and you've been threatened with frightful sanctions in an afterlife if you don't, or because you have come to your own considered judgement based on inherited decision making processes using reason, imagination and memory?
It's the difference between living in an old-style Soviet Union, where all the important decisions are made for you and enforced, and living in the free world, where the responsibility is yours. Which is the more desirable and, indeed, the higher calling?
What do we hate more, a hideous immoral act, or God's displeasure at a hideous immoral act? The former, surely? What would you do if God told you to torture your own child to death (as in Abraham and Isaac)? Morality exists because it matters to US.
We are matters in motion, but we're not helpless. Things make a difference to us, and we have choices.
Are all atheists leading amoral and immoral lives? No.
Who is to say? I mean just because they are living lives according to certain Scriptural tenets . . .
Funny how simply knowing that Ken Miller doesn't believe in ID tells us that his religious beliefs are suspect (at best).
"Funny how simply knowing that Ken Miller doesn't believe in ID tells us that his religious beliefs are suspect (at best)."
Or we could look at it the other way, that perhaps his disallowance of ID is suspect …
Let me go a step further. It has been stated that 98 (even 99) percent of scientists are committed evolutionists. I firmly believe that a much lower percentage of scientists are firm believers in evolution as sole originator and propagator or life, and by extension could easily hold to theistic or ID constructs as viable.
However, since neo-Darwinian belief is a requirement of their scientific associations, the true percentage may never be known.
Phinehas says:
Morality exists because it matters to US.
I think this assumes the very thing in question. Why should morality matter to us? Nothing in nature, red in tooth and claw would lead to this conclusion.
Do you behave properly because those are your orders and you've been threatened with frightful sanctions in an afterlife if you don't, or because you have come to your own considered judgement based on inherited decision making processes using reason, imagination and memory?
I would argue that we all have an inherent sense of morality because we are created in the image of God. I would also argue that it is not God's laws that define morality, but His very nature. Morality is not doing as God says, but being as He is. Absent this standard, I see no basis for making reasoned judgments leading to moral choices. Why should choices matter to US? Why shouldn't they just matter to ME? And if morality is simply me making choices that make me happy with no consideration for others, why is it that everyone seems to have a built-in sense of fairness that says otherwise?
Very interesting comment. Does this work the other way round i.e. if we are made in God's image (hence our morality), are our less attractive characteristics also a reflection of His e.g. malice, guilt, deceit, violence? I guess it's all to do with the limits of free will?
As I said before, I think morality stems from reason, memory and imagination. If you stick your hand in the fire you feel pain. If you later see someone forcing another person's hand into the fire you know (i) it will hurt them (memory), and (ii) they are not doing it voluntarily (reason), and you feel empathy (imagination). The inevitable conclusion is that the event should be prevented – it's simply logic.
The "me" versus "us" question is all about self-interest. We enjoy helping people, and we all benefit from the general application of good behaviour. It is interesting how our moral involvement and sense of obligation dilutes with physical and emotional distance (this is the 'imagination' aspect at work). A parent's love for their child, which can involve complete self-sacrifice, is given entirely willingly. We want to be good because it suits us.
dl says:
Duncan, I agree with most of what you're saying, but I wanted to point out one minor thing. God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, not torture him to death. I don't want to trivialize killing him, but its not as bad as torturing him to death.
I've always thought that morality transcends religion (or lack of religion). I'm religious, and I think that God/religion codifies (maybe the wrong word, but I can't think of a better one at the moment) morality, but neither creates it or defines it. Morality would be (in my opinion) defined by what is good overall for society/humanity/the universe.
I'm good friends with an athiest who pretty much lives by the same moral principles that I (try to) live by. Neither of us does it out of fear of punishment. We both genuinely believe that doing "the right thing" is important, whether it helps us or hurts us personally.
In a universe created by a malevolent being, would "good and bad" be the same as "good and bad" in a universe created by a benevolent being? Personally I think they would.
I think morality is defined by the common good. It may hurt at some levels, or in the short-term, but in the "big picture", morality has a net positive effect.
Hi dl
I'm no Bible expert, but I thought that Issac was forced to build his own funeral pyre, and that he knew that once it was finished his father was going to tie him to it and set light it alight, so that he would be burned alive ….. although at the moment of ignition Abraham was also going to stab him, so it is possible that this might have killed him first. All in all, a not inconsiderable period of mental and physical anguish, I would have thought.
My understanding is that, with animal sacrifices (and presumably this situation too), the animal was killed first and then burned. There are several scriptures that either prohibit animal cruelty or support kindness to animals, so it seems likely that the animals were not made to suffer.
Abraham was 90 or 100 years old when Isaac was born. Isaac was (at least according to some traditions) pretty much an adult when this happened, so he could have stopped it if he wanted to.
Of course its still a very troubling event.
But to get back on topic, I agree that morality transcends religion/athiesm.
Many misunderstand the Abraham-Isaac incident when it's not viewed in the context of Messiah. (And yes, indeed, with burnt offerings the animal was slain before any of it was burned.)
Abraham and Isaac were performing a prophetic play, of sorts, acting out the sacrifice of God's son that would occur 2,000 years later on the cross of Calvary.
Notice some fascinating parallels. 1) Abraham knew 3 days in advance that he was to offer Isaac, so his son was "dead" to him for 3 days, as Jesus was 3 days in the tomb. 2) Isaac carried the wood for his own offering up the hill to the offering spot, just as Jesus carried His own cross to His own offering. 3) After 3 days the son was "given back" to the father. 4) The offering spot for Isaac was Mount Moriah; the top of Mt. Moriah is Calvary (Golgotha).
Jewish tradition has Isaac's offering at the threshing floor of Araunah, the place purchased by King David to build the Temple (Mt. Moriah) but at the top of the mountain, just above the Temple site (some maps have it marked as 777 meters) is the crucifixion site. Isaac's offering was on the very spot of Christ's.
The remarkable and prophetic parallels between Isaac's offering and Christ's show that there was more going on than Abraham's faith being tested (remember Abraham was stopped at the last moment).
They were acting out prophecy of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, and they were doing it 2,000 years before the event. This was God's way of showing Abraham what He was going to do in order to make atonement.
The account is in Genesis 22, and at the end of it all, it says:
Gen 22:14 KJV And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. (my emphasis)
The "it" that "shall be seen" is referring to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.