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Posts tagged 'music'
"Once in a Lifetime" and the case of the mysterious shifting downbeat
For over thirty years I've been disturbed by the location of the downbeat in the Talking Heads song "Once in a Lifetime". I listened to it dozens of times without paying a ton of attention to the meter, and naturally heard the verses like this:
(vocal rhythms extremely approximate) and the choruses like this:
Once I paid attention, though, I realized that there were two things kind of funny about this way of hearing it. One was that the bass line was exactly the same throughout the whole song, but was shifted by half a bar when you compared the verse and the chorus. The other was that there was a half-bar hitch both going into and coming out of the chorus.
Of course you can resolve both of these issues simultaneously by just shifting your perception of the chorus by half a measure; then the bass lines up and you don't have to throw in any 2/4 measures:
But this really isn't the way I want to hear the chorus! I can hear it this way if I have to, but it feels artificial, like in reality the band has shifted the beat and I'm just hearing it this way for intellectual reasons.
So how did the band hear it? Did they really hear the chorus the second way and were playing in 4/4 the whole way through, or did they hear the downbeat shift and thought that it was cool that the bass line went in and out of phase throughout the song? For decades I've wondered what the "correct" way to hear it is.
Until now, that is, when I read Sasha Frere-Jones's profile of the song's producer Brian Eno in the New Yorker. From the end of the article:
Eno's production of this transparent, polyrhythmic light box, it turns out, is based on a mistake—his own. "That song was a very good case of people not agreeing about the one," he told me, referring to the first beat of each measure. "I always heard it in a different place from everyone else, so I just kept sort of building things onto my one."
Aha! So my reconstruction of the song's evolution is:
The song as originally conceived by the band is in 4/4 throughout with a consistent bass groove, as in the second version of the chorus above. At this point it's probably very natural to hear it that way.
However, Eno hears it in the other way, with the chorus displaced by two beats, and starts pushing the arrangement in a direction that emphasizes that hearing.
We end up with a rabbit-duck situation that has been specifically engineered to be confusing, and which was based explicitly on the producer's confusion.
In conclusion, Eno is a genius, but we already knew that.
Bond songs
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014
I recently went on a James Bond binge and watched all the canonical movies, ranking the theme songs as I went. Ethan Iverson graciously offered to host the resulting piece on his super usually-jazz-but-always-interesting blog Do The Math.
It begins:
One of the more entertaining categories of popular music of the last 50 years is the James Bond movie theme.
Having recently watched all of the canonical EON/Broccoli Bond movies, I can assert that sometimes the four minutes of opening credits is the high point of the entire film. As with any art form, my first instinct when encountering these specimens was to rank them.
Despite the wide variety of style to be found in these songs, there's a lot of commonality too. Usually there's a sense of danger, demonstrated by minor keys, chromaticism, or menacing orchestration. There's often a pinch of swagger as well, though, communicating how Bond can confidently overcome any crisis no matter how dire. Of course the music also often projects sexuality; at its best this coexists with the dangerous vibe, though there is a sub-tradition of straight-up ballads. Often the main Bond theme is quoted, a tradition I found charming at first though it quickly wore on me.
My ranking is of course informed by my own prejudices about what makes a good song and what makes a good Bond song in particular. As I listened to them over and over when making this list, I developed a bit of Stockholm syndrome; even the songs I disliked the most started to take up residence in my head. But the bottom one stubbornly refused to get any better:
Continued at Do The Math.
Henry Threadgill, "To Undertake My Corners Open", part 3
I've had a little more time now to study the structure of this piece.
First, I'll lay out the form as I see it:
0:00–0:13 (mm. 1–5): Intro figure
0:13–0:28 (mm. 6–9): Guitar & bass cycle 1
0:28–0:43 (mm. 10–15): Head
0:43–0:48 (mm. 16–17): Bridging material (based on m. 2)
0:48–3:31 (mm. 18–41, 42–65, 66–89): Trombone solo (based on mm. 3–4, 10–15)
3:31–5:13 (mm. 90–94, 95–99, 100–104, 105–109, 110–114, 115–119, 120–124, 125–129): Guitar solo (based on mm. 183–185)
5:13–7:04 (mm. 130–150, 151–171): Flute solo (based on mm. 193–213)
7:04–7:21 (mm. 172–176): Guitar & bass cycle 1
7:21–7:35 (mm. 177–182): Head
7:59–8:03 (m. 192): Coda intro measure
8:03–8:27 (mm. 193–213): Coda
8:27–8:35 (mm. 214–217): Ending tag
And here are what I could make of the harmonies of the solo sections. These were deduced by looking at both the actual comping performed during the solos and the source material that the solo structure comes from. There are some discrepancies, which is to be expected, although a few them turned out to be transcription errors, which is a good sign (for the model).
Interestingly, I didn't notice any regular correspondence between parts for the flute and trombone.
Some future steps:
Look for any rules governing the harmonic skeleton. For example, there often seem to be common intervals between one "chord" and the next.
Look for rules governing the flute and trombone solos; they seem to be much freer than the guitar solo.
See if I can find any way that the flute and trombone parts in the through-composed material (such as the head and coda) are reused or referred to. Currently only the guitar and bass parts seem to be structurally interesting.
Try to discover the function, if any, of the sections that I haven't linked to any other sections yet, for example the coda intro measure (m. 192) and ending tag (mm. 214–217).
Tags: music, transcription
Over a year ago I started transcribing Henry Threadgill's "To Undertake My Corners Open". I got to the 90% point a long time ago, but as with many projects, it's the last 10% that takes the most calendar time. One thing that slowed me down is that Threadgill's flute is super sharp, especially in the high registers, approaching 50 cents by the end of the piece, playing havoc with my ability to match pitches as well as my motivation. I finally got out of that rut when I realized that he was consistently sharp and not just all over the place from one phrase to the next. Once again I could never have finished this project without the great software Transcribe!.
Here's the PDF of the score; I won't reproduce it here because it runs to 14 pages. Some analysis is coming up, but this has been so long in coming that I didn't want to slow it down further by waiting until I had a complete essay written up about it. A few general points:
Each of the solo section has a different harmonic cycle. The trombone has 3 cycles of 95 beats, the guitar has 8 cycles of 22 beats, and the flute has 2 cycles of 96 beats. As far as I can tell they're all completely independent.
The structure of each cycle definitely includes chords, or at least pitch collections, not just bass notes. They vary a bit each time around but in general the "changes" for each cycle are pretty consistent.
Just as the trombone cycle (mm. 18—41) is the head (mm. 1—15) slowed down,, the guitar cycle (mm. 90—95) is the little bit between the recap and coda (mm. 183—191) slowed down, and the flute cycle (mm. 130—150) is the coda (mm. 193—217) slowed down. I was particularly happy to discover this last one, since I was having trouble making sense of the coda before; I couldn't even figure out how to bar it. If it seems a little over-barred now, it's because I matched it to the meters of the flute cycle, and the rhythms don't make any less sense than they would with any other barring.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the cycles get further out harmonically as the piece progresses. The trombone solo feels very tonal in a lot of places, the guitar solo is a bit less consonant, and the flute solo feels really abstract (although perhaps the fact that he is 40 cents sharp doesn't help).
Still to do:
Write out the "harmonies" of each cycle.
See how those harmonies compare to their "source material".
Look for more rules about how the melodies and harmonies are constructed.
Compare to other recorded performances of the same piece to see how much is kept consistent. For example, I assume that the entire coda is through-composed, but perhaps there's some room for variation there.
All thoughts on the analysis and/or suggestions on the transcription itself are welcome.
Henry Threadgill's Zooid group has made some really interesting recent music in an original musical language, but I've seen very little discussion of what the language is, and Threadgill himself doesn't seem to be very forthcoming. The best description I've found comes from guitarist Liberty Ellman in a phone conversation with Nate Chinen, but there's still not enough detail for me to reverse-engineer it. A diagram would probably clear it all up, but it's hard to provide a diagram over the phone!
So I started transcribing a piece to see if I could start to make some sense of it. I chose "To Undertake My Corners Open" (YouTube link) from This Brings Us To, volume 1. It's pretty gnarly stuff, so I'm pausing a couple of minutes in to report my findings so far. If I waited until I finished the whole thing, it would be a really long time before I wrote anything, plus I would have a novel's worth of things to say about it; this way I can write as I go, and maybe even get some feedback.
I've transcribed the "head" as well as the first "chorus" of the trombone solo (his solo lasts just under three cycles of a repeating bass progression). The score so far is below but it's probably handier to look at the PDF.
Caveats: I have a pretty good ear, but this stuff is hard! It's not particularly tonal and there are two "analog-pitch" instruments (trombone and bass). Meanwhile the guitar has nice discrete pitches but is hard to hear behind the other instruments.
The beat can be hard to identify; Threadgill tends to deliberately avoid obvious downbeats, aiming for a more homogenous pulse. I tried to switch meter only when I really had to.
I should mention that I use the fabulous Transcribe! program, and there's no way I could have gotten remotely close to this amount of detail without it.
Does the opening phrase of the trombone remind any one else of the beginning of Berg's Lyric Suite? Probably a coincidence, but I get the impression that Threadgill knows twelve-tone history.
I'll come back to the head, which seems pretty through-composed, in a minute, but moving ahead to the trombone solo (the bass cycle starts at m. 18): one thing that surprised me when transcribing is that it's a lot more normal than it sounds at first. The trombone is following the bass progression very faithfully, and even navigates it in a quite tonal manner, measures 21-27 being the clearest example. It's mostly the guitar that colors the harmonies in an interesting and dissonant way. The thing I'm most interested to find out next is whether the guitar part's structure is more vertical (choosing notes each measure from a harmony relative to the bass) or horizontal (charting an independent path that creates interesting harmonies by chance). Ellman's comments give the impression that it might be the latter. Once I finish the next two choruses of this solo, I'll have a better impression of what is consistent each time around, which will help illuminate the structure behind it.
Here's the bass structure of the trombone solo. Like I said, it repeats three times, starting at m. 18. (I get the sense that it changes for the following guitar solo, but I haven't listened closely yet.)
I said I would get back to the head later, and here's why: the structure of the head is basically exactly the same but twice as fast! Even the lead-in, not pictured above, corresponds: m. 2 is mm. 16-17 at double speed.
The intro goes through one of the two G♭-D♭-C-B♭-F cycles, skips the second one, takes a weird repeated 7/4 break that could be related to the 5/4 D♭-C measure, then meets up again with the E and corresponds perfectly the rest of the way. That's the most interesting tidbit I've found so far, and something I never would have noticed without writing it all out.
Note by the way that the repeated guitar figure in that 7/4 section is almost palindromic.
That's about all I have for now. Open questions:
What's the structure behind the guitar lines underneath the trombone solo? Whatever it is, it seems to be changing at about the same rate as the bass progression.
Are there any particular harmonic or melodic rules behind the through-composed head? Nothing has leaped out at me so far, but I haven't looked very hard.
More later, I hope.
Wayne Shorter: "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum"
Another step in my continuing quest to learn more about jazz by transcribing recordings. I like Wayne Shorter's 1960s albums a lot, and "Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum" (YouTube video) is my favorite tune from the most famous of them, Speak No Evil. The spur to do a Shorter tune came when Ethan Iverson transcribed his solo from Lee Morgan's "Party Time" and I found that our conceptions of Shorter's rhythm were pretty different, largely because he is so lazy (behind the beat). There's a fine line between playing ahead or behind the beat and syncopating; in one case you're turning a knob in an analog way and in the other the knob has turned so far that it's reached the next "notch" and you've actually created a different rhythm. Shorter straddles that line really interestingly, playing in such a fluid way that even when he's super late you can feel the "real" rhythm that he's relating to, like the note is a balloon on a long string tied to the beat.
I did all the parts except for Herbie Hancock's piano comping during other solos and Elvin Jones' drumming, so the whole thing came out to 10 pages and I won't dump it all here, but the PDF file is here. Some thoughts I had about the song while working with it:
Those piano chords at the beginning are really tasty. I haven't the faintest idea how to analyze them from a jazz harmony theory viewpoint; from a classical perspective I'd say they serve the same sort of function as a I64, sitting on a dominant drone, setting up a real arrival on I (which, eight bars into the head, turns out to be B♭). I'm not certain about every note in every chord but it sounds pretty right to me when I play it on the piano.
The tune itself is really interesting. It starts out in a clear G minor; then the B♭ that the melody lands on basically turns into an A♯, creating a major-seventh dissonance in the bass, and resolves to the B♮ of G major, but the line still ends like a question, largely because it curves up to the fifth (D) rather than down to the root (G). The second four measures imitate the first four but end up in the parallel major, B♭, with the melody again landing on the fifth instead of the root as the underlying B♭7 harmony immediately moves us away towards E♭. The middle eight measures have a pretty simple implicit harmony from the bass (and the solos later refer to that harmony rather than what's going on in the melody here), but the melody instruments do a cool parallel-fourths-and-tritones thing that adds some nice dissonance. A standard ii-V-I progression brings us back to a recap of the first eight measures, in which the melody finally lands triumphantly on B♭, but the bass refuses to follow suit, obstinately sitting on C♭/B♮, forming the exact same major-seventh dissonance that was the first hint of harmonic oddness back in the third measure.
Freddie Hubbard's trumpet solo feels the most classical of the three in its rhythm and harmony. He plays most straightforwardly in the bluesy middle third, a pattern the other soloists will follow.
Wayne Shorter's tenor sax solo is really rhapsodic by comparison. He takes two choruses and I'm glad he does. It's not super virtuosic but he stretches and pulls the beat in really interesting ways. The simplest rhythms are the ones he massages the most, like the simple eighth-note riffs starting on measure 69; they're so laggy it's tempting to try to notate them differently, but they're clearly really lazy eighth notes, not some crazy syncopation. I particularly like the syncopated three-note blasts starting at measure 93, especially the way that they gradually subside back into the A section rather than exploding as you might expect them to. After I finished it I discovered Kevin Sun's transcription of the solo, and the comparison is really interesting. We agree 99% on the pitches (unfortunately for you, my transcription is at concert pitch and his is in B♭), but we often have big disagreements on the rhythm.
Herbie Hancock's solo is the least lyrical, in the sense of sounding like a vocal line; it comes more in little bursts of riffs. The left-hand voicings are probably the component I'm least sure of in the whole transcription; I wouldn't be surprised if I accidentally put in something unidiomatic there. The style is really interesting to me, since my instinct when I try to improvise is still play something that sounds like a sax plus harmony, rather than this more interesting collections of riffs and stabs. The rising pattern of four triplets as he finishes is really tasty.
I transcribed Ron Carter's bass all the way through because I noticed that transcribing the bass is something that Ethan does, and I learned a lot from it that I'm sure will be useful for my left hand. It's tough to hear the bass and sometimes he's between pitches, so you may not agree with me about every note. In general I was impressed by how he was able to sustain interest but not distract from the soloing going on on top of him.
I'll try to pick something more simple next time! Maybe something from the 50s. In the meantime, comments and proposed corrections are encouraged.
Perri Knize: Grand Obsession
I recently spent a fair amount of time and energy researching a piano purchase, and as I had always concentrated more on the notes than on the instrument making them, it was very educational both to listen closely to a bunch of pianos and to read about differences in construction, tone, action, etc. After all that, Grand Obsession looked interesting; it's a work of non-fiction about piano manufacture and maintenance (such as all the work that is done on the feel of the physical mechanism, the tuning, and the tone of the sound), wrapped in a personal story about the author's quest to find the perfect piano and then get the perfect tone on it.
The information on the piano industry was pretty much all very interesting. Knize got to have in-depth conversations with lots of different sorts of people—manufactures, dealers, tuners, voicers, other players—and I learned a lot from them. There is one chapter on "physics" with exciting updates on topics like "vibrational healing" and the fact that apparently string theory implies that each of us has a fundamental frequency that our "cellular structures respond to", but I am going to be charitable and just pretend that it doesn't exist.
The framing story was more problematic for me. The author spends over a year traveling over the whole country in a quest for the sole piano (within her budget) that she can possibly stand the sound of, and then spends a few more years obsessively trying to get it to sound tolerable to her ears after it arrives with a tone that she doesn't like. The following passage, after an episode replacing the hammers, is representative:
Something is dreadfully wrong with the piano. It sounds horrible. Strident. Harsh. Too much sound pouring from the belly, sound that clashes against itself until it turns into a storm of dissonance that whips itself into a furious tornado of ringing tones that actually hurt my ears. (p. 217)
The reader is constantly reminded of how exquisitely sensitive Knize's ears are, to the point that I wonder how she can enjoy listening to 90% of piano recordings out there. I don't doubt that she does have sensitive hearing, but it feels to me like a drawback, like being a supertaster is for many people, rather than a feature. The capper for me is that she (at least during the time that the book covers) is not a very accomplished pianist; the repertoire that she describes learning is pretty basic. It's actually a little sad to me how much time she spends trying to optimize her piano that could be spent playing it instead. The book reads a bit to me like the story of a someone who decided to write a novel and then immediately spent two years searching for the perfect font.
In the end, I learned to pay attention to the parts that interested me and skim over the parts that bugged me, so I don't regret reading it, and if she had been less obsessed with finding the perfect sound, she probably wouldn't have been inspired to write it in the first place. By the end, though, I was ready to move on to an authorial voice I could empathize with a bit more.
Richard Taruskin: The Oxford History of Western Music, volumes 2-5
I wrote about volume 1 of Richard Taruskin's history of Western music a couple of years ago. Although I finished volume 2 shortly thereafter, I never got around to writing about it, and then I stalled on the whole thing early into volume 3 until this year, when I got motivated again and ended up tearing through the rest of it in the space of a month.
See my old post for opinions on his style in general, which I haven't really changed my mind about. One big difference is that once he got to the year 1700 or so, I was suddenly about 80% familiar with the music being described rather than 10%. You may question the wisdom of reading 2000 pages of material on a subject that I already knew pretty well, but it was actually quite nice; it's fun to nod sagely in approval as the author declaims to readers things that you already know, and having the context of that 80% made me appreciate the remaining 20% more than I otherwise would. I also knew the repertoire a lot better than the history, so it was nice to get a sense of the connective tissue that lies between all of those individual works.
Taruskin tells a good story, and he is pretty good at not falling prey to the temptation in a history book to divide everything very neatly into discrete boxes. In fact he takes great pains to blur the traditionally stark lines between Baroque and Classical music (in the mid 18th century) and tonal and atonal music (in the early 20th century), showing that there was much more of a continuum at the time than often appears in retrospect.
One particularly interesting take was his assertion that modern music really began in the mid-1800s, not in the early 1900s where most people put the dividing line (when traditional tonality was dissolving). His point is that it was the mid-1800s when music criticism became established, one consequence of which being that composers and listeners started to think of historical progress in music, with composers having some sort of scientist-like responsibility, against which they can be evaluated, to push the boundaries of music forward. It's that change in perception that to Taruskin really marks the beginning of the modern attitude towards composition.
As I said, there was a fair amount of material I wasn't really familiar with, so it was nice to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of musical history, such as the development of Italian opera and early Russian and East European music. I feel like I much have a better bird's-eye view of the developments of classical music over the last few centuries now.
Taruskin continually warns against the temptation to treat music history in a teleological way, in which music composition "makes progress" over time as composers invent and discover more advanced and "better" techniques. But I felt like he falls victim to the same trap a bit when he enters the 20th century. There is very little attention paid to some very fine 20th century composers, presumably because they don't fit his forward-pointing narrative. Sibelius gets a couple of pages. Nielsen gets one sentence. To take a few examples of superb recent composers who have created lots of important work, Nancarrow, Lutosławski, and Nørgård are not mentioned at all. On the other hand, Roy Harris gets 13 pages (maybe he was considered a lot more important at the time than he is in retrospect, but still, it's weird) and David Del Tredici gets 7. (There's a general American slant to Taruskin's 20th-century history that he acknowledges but claims to be based in fact.) Especially given that the last volume is shorter than the others by 200 pages, you'd think that he could have found room for a couple of chapters surveying some of these important composers that didn't fit so neatly into his narrative.
Despite my issues with what he chooses to concentrate on in the 20th century, I did find the material that he did write about very interesting and thought-provoking. I think that his take on who-cares-if-you-listen complexity vs more traditionally audience-oriented music is pretty fair, although I understand why those of the complexity school (especially if you have been raised with the music-history-as-progress meme) might not think so.
I should also mention that the whole thing, all 3800+ pages of it, is also a great read. It's not dry at all, and Taruskin occupies just the right position on the facts-vs-opinions spectrum to keep things interesting but still grounded. Not only did I learn a lot, I also enjoyed it very much and was sad when I ran out of history to read about.
Ted Gioia: The History of Jazz
So I have gotten really interested in jazz over the last year. (Apparently this is de rigueur for men as they enter middle age.) I've always had a vague understanding of the musical syntax, and can fake playing cocktail-piano renditions of standards okay, but I've never really had a good knowledge of the field as a whole.
My three-pronged approach to remedying this has been 1) reading about jazz theory (largely through Bert Ligon's Jazz Theory Resources and Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book, about which maybe more later), 2) reading about jazz history, and 3) listening to a ton of music. Reading this book, unsurprisingly, was part of prong 2.
Any book about music starts out at a disadvantage in that the actual subject it is discussing is apprehended by the ear and not the eye. With classical music, at least the score is the definition of the piece, but with popular music even a transcription is just a lens that inherently distorts the subject. The History of Jazz doesn't even try to display musical excerpts; it's purely text, and although the text is fairly descriptive, simply reading about the music is completely insufficient if you want to understand anything about its history.
Luckily YouTube is around to fill in the gap. I don't know how much less I would have gotten out of this book if all I could do was read it, but being able to immediately reach out and listen to 80% of the referred-to repertoire was completely invaluable.
Anyway, the actual book itself. Given that it could only really describe the music at one level of indirection, it was actually really instructive. Jazz, especially once you get to the 1950s, consists of a giant interconnected family tree of artists and styles, and it was really impressive to me that Gioia was able to construct a fairly reasonable linear narrative navigating the entire maze, jumping on to an artist's path for a few years, taking a couple of detours to describe his peers, and coming back to him later when his subsequent style was more relevant to the current story.
The music that I am most interested in (bebop and its descendants) doesn't even enter the picture until halfway through the book, but that's probably unavoidable, and the material on early jazz is really interesting. It hadn't really occurred to me, for example, how impossible it is to disentangle jazz's roots from the effects of slavery, which turns the love of jazz into an inherently ambivalent kind of prospect. (Another downer is that everyone seems to die young; if they make it past 40 it's kind of surprising. I swear that being a jazz musician is more dangerous than coal mining.)
If you're looking for a 400-page overview of the entire giant field of jazz (up through the mid-1990s), I bet it's hard to do much better than this. It certainly gave me a broad bird's-eye view of the genre that enabled me to focus on the artists and periods I thought I would be interested in, and when I came back to it after learning more about a given subject, its summary still seemed pretty good to me. Supplement it with YouTube and you've got a perfect multimedia introduction to the genre.


text:
Margaret Godfrey Art
Figurative & Metaphoric
River Inspired
Patterns and Collage
In Private Collections
Margaret Godfrey is a symbolic painter who has been described as a conceptual artist. Her paintings have an abundance of symbols, which help tell the underlying story of a series. By working in a series, she is able to explore and express different aspects of the pictorial metaphor. Her patterns and decorative designs flow through her body of work, connecting the layers and messages of a series. In viewing her paintings, look beyond the literal; search for the allegory.
Her pictures incorporate both representational and abstract styles and often include both. She uses watercolor, acrylic, ink, and collage in her creative works on paper. Living in the beautiful McKenzie Valley in Oregon and traveling throughout the U.S and abroad, she finds an abundance of inspiration for creating art. Margaret shares her enthusiasm for art through teaching workshops and active membership in art associations.
Margaret is an award-winning member of the Watercolor Society of Oregon, the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies, the Northwest Watercolor Society and she is a signature member of Northwest Watercolor Society and Hawaii Watercolor Society. She is a member of Watercolor West, National Watercolor Society, and American Watercolor Society. Her works have been in juried shows around the United States. Her paintings hang in private and public collections in the U.S., Honduras, Canada and Japan.
Margaret is a self-educated artist with a background in education and counseling. She has studied with many nationally known artists.
Best of Show, 2nd Place, Watercolor Society of Oregon
Mary "Betts" Baepler Award, Certificate of Recognition, Western Federation of Watercolor Societies
Past Presidents' Award, Daniel Smith Artist Materials Award, Northwest Watercolor Society
The Golden Callus Award. Best in Show & The Alexander & Baldwin Foundation Award. Second Place award, Hawaii Watercolor Society
First Place, Springfield, Oregon Mayor's Art Show
Please Email Margaret about viewing her work.
To contact me about purchasing a painting, scheduling a workshop, or arranging a visit to my studio, please call me at 541-912-3400.
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Copyright © 2021 MArgaret Godfrey. all rights reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


If you are clever, you use your intelligence to get what you want even if you have to cheat a bit.
If people are boxing and coxing, they are sharing responsibilities so that one of them is working while the other isn't. It can also be used when couples are sharing a house. But their relationship has broken down and when one is at home, the other stays out.
If something is not brain surgery, it is not very complicated or difficult to understand or master.
If it is brass monkey weather or cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, it is extremely cold.
Someone who has the brass neck to do something has no sense of shame about what they do.
If any person gets down to brass tacks, he or she gets down to the real business.
This is used to describe the person that earns the most money.
Maheshwari is the breadwinner in the family.
This idiom is a way of wishing someone good luck.
If you break even, you do not make any money, but you do not lose any either.
I wish our breaks even in the next quarter.
If you break ground or break new ground, you make progress taking things into a new area or going further than anyone has gone before.


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Discussion in 'General Electronics Chat' started by jimbostlawrence, Sep 1, 2012.
I thought that if I pulsed 3.5V onto the EN pin to switch on the regulator, and also had a potential divider of 100k (lower) and 620k (upper) with 3.5V at the top, with center-tap also going to the EN pin that with the regulator pulsed on, the potential divider would hold the regulator on as it was above the 'off' voltage of 0.4V (at anything above 2.9 V, the potential divider will have a center value of above 0.4 V). What is this 'no man's land' between 0.4 V and 1.0 V ?
Any help would be gratefully received. Was up until 530 am trying to solve this!
What is this 'no man's land' between 0.4 V and 1.0 V ?
You kind of answered your own question. The specifications actually mean, "no mans land" or, "undefined". The enable is guaranteed to go one way if the input is below .4 volts and it is guaranteed to go the other way if the input is above 1 volt. What's in the middle is not dependable, not guaranteed, and not a good place to design a circuit. Betting you can use the undefined input range for a voltage regulator is just wrong.
Yup, fair enough. I was just told in the past that I should be able to sort this enable issue with a potential divider and that was what I came up with.
You could use a CMOS opamp as a very low power comparator to slap the enable pin high or low but, there are chips dedicated to this job. I think they are called battery monitors.
This looks like the wrong one but, you get the idea.
Yeah, figured it'd have to involve a comparator in the end. I know it's not complicated but was just hoping for simple-simple Have played with battery monitors before, will try to apply that/op-amps to this situation... cheers.
where Vdropout = I_load*(R_DSON_PFET + R_INDUCTOR )"
Say your load and R_Inductor i fairly low, you'll get Vout =~ Vin, So if the battery goes below 3.3V the output does too.
So this chip won't produce 3.3v out for any input down to 2.7V?
Page 17, minimum supply voltage, higher than the output voltage, per current needed.
Oops. Too big to upload.
I'm using a 3.6V non-rechargeable battery to power the regulator, and the current drain by the main circuit after the regulator is only going to be 10 mA or less.
You could do that, but also take into account the V_dropout noted above and the the voltage drop in the battery (internal resistance). For all of this you need to specify the load. Is it only the one led you will drive ?
Or you could go for a buck-boost converter. They allow you to have the fixed output voltage inside the voltage input range.
If your Li-ion battery doesn't have any protection circuit module on it, it is important that you select a low quiescent current circuit for your low-battery lock out function. Stick to cmos and pay attention to quiescent currents). There might be more ideal all-in-one converters that have this protection circuitry allready, I don't know.
It's not actually an LED, I was just giving a low load example. The main circuit consists of a PIC, the odd pulsed LED (rare) and a microSD card which is written to sporadically.
So a buck-boost converter would help to maintain a fixed 3.3V for anything from ~3.6V down to say 2.5V or so?
Have been looking at http://www.ams.com/eng/Products/Power-Management/DC-DC-Buck-Boost-Converters/AS1331 which I can configure for 3.3V output. Can I assume that from page 1, this will operate at 3.3V output with 1.8V<Vin<5.5V ?
Beginning to lose the will here but desperately trying to find a solution to all this. Want to get the most out of a battery as possible, but mainly, shut the regulator off when the battery cannot achieve a 3.3V output thus stopping the PIC from corrupting anything on the SD card etc.
[Matlab] How to enable/disable a push button.


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Ailred of Rievaulx
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Saint Ailred of Rievaulx
Born 1110 in Hexham, Northumberland
Died January 12, 1167 in Rievaulx, North Riding of Yorkshire
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion
Canonized 1476
by the Cistercians (promulgated)
Major shrine Rievaulx Abbey, North Riding of Yorkshire (destroyed)
Feast January 12
Attributes Abbot holding a book
Patronage bladder stone sufferers
Ailred or Ælred or Ailred of Rievaulx, Abbot of Rievaulx (b. Hexham 1110 – d. Rievaulx January 12, 1167), is a Christian saint and historian best know for his exhortations toward chastity and purity. The medieval church was itself compromised by the conduct of some of its clergy, including bishops, whose sexual morality broke the rule of celibacy and caused embarrasment when the Church admonished laity to practice chastity. A church that was itself wealthy, too, often neglected spiritual concerns and acted as a wordly power. Bishops and abbots were effectively feudal lords, and some were more interested in power than in religion. Among these, Ailred of Rievaulx shines like a lone star in the night-sky. His approach to matters of sexuality was compassionate in as much as he knew that people are not perfect but he distinguished willful, repeated transgression and immorality from genuine lapses caused by sin. His genuine interest in spiritual wholeness, and his advice to the king to act justly, were exactly what ought to concern a Church leader. Sadly, that king, Henry II of England could not avoid clashing with his Archbishop and former Chancellor, Thomas Becket over who had jurisdiction when a priest was involved in legal proceedings, which led to the Archbishop's murder. Although his office was relatively insignificant, Ailred's counsel was valued by three kings, and by many barons and fellow clergy.
2 Cistercians
2.1 Spread of the Cistercian order
3 Religious life
Ailred was an Anglo-Saxon, born in Hexham, Northumbria, in 1110. His father, a married priest, sent him to be educated at Durham and then sent him to spend several years at the court of King David I of Scotland in 1130 where Ailred became the king's seneschal also known as the Master of the Household before leaving the court to enter a Cistercian monastery at Rievaulx Abbey, in Yorkshire, around the year 1134. Tradition says that he was offered a bishopric, but chose the monastic life instead.
Cistercians
Coat of Arms of the Cistercian order.
The Order of Cistercians is sometimes called the White Monks (from the color of the habit, over which a black scapular or apron is sometimes worn) is a Roman Catholic religious order of cloistered monks. The first Cistercian abbey was founded by Robert of Molesme in 1098, at Cîteaux Abbey. Two others, Saint Alberic of Citeaux and Saint Stephen Harding, are considered co-founders of the order, and Bernard of Clairvaux is associated with the fast spread of the order during the twelfth century.
The cornerstone of Cistercian life was a return to a literal observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict, rejecting the developments the Benedictines had undergone, and tried to reproduce the life exactly as it had been in Saint Benedict's time. however on various points the Cistercians went beyond it in austerity. The most striking feature in the reform was the return to manual labor, and especially to field-work, which became a special characteristic of Cistercian life. The Cistercians became the main force of technological diffusion in medieval Europe.
Spread of the Cistercian order
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, in a medieval illuminated manuscript.
By 1111 the ranks of the order had had grown sufficiently at Cîteaux and Stephen Harding sent a group of 12 monks to start a new community dedicated to the same ideals of the strict observance of Saint Benedict. It was built in Chalon sur Saône in La Ferté on May 13, 1113.[1] Bernard of Clairvaux arrived at Cîteaux during 1113 with 30 other monks to join the monastery. The next year another daughter house was founded, Pontigny Abbey. The next year, in 1115, Bernard founded Clairvaux, followed by Morimond in the same year. Then Preuilly, La Cour-Dieu, Bouras, Cadouin and Fontenay. At Stephen Harding's death (1134) there were more than 30 Cistercian daughter houses. When Bernard passed away (1154) there were more than 280. By the twelfth century there were more than 500 daughter houses. Meanwhile, the Cistercian influence in the Roman Catholic Church more than kept pace with this material expansion, so that Saint Bernard saw one of his monks ascend the papal chair as Pope Eugene III.
Ailred entered the abbey at Rievaulx, where Bernard had appointed his secretary, William, abbot over the monks from Clairvaux who formed the new community. In spite of delicate health, Ailred followed the austere regime devotedly and became so esteemed in his community that he was chosen as envoy to Rome in 1142 over the disputed election of William of York and a few months later as master of novices.
Ailred became the abbot in 1143 of a new house of his order at Revesby in Lincolnshire, and later, abbot of Rievaulx itself in 1147. He would spend the remainder of his life in the monastery. Under his administration the size of the abbey grew to some six hundred monks including 150 choir monks and 500 lay brothers and lay servants, the largest in England. It had made five daughter houses in England and Scotland. Ailred made annual visits to these Cistercian houses in England and Scotland, with other visits to places as far as Citeaux and Clairvaux. Ailred was also superior of all the Cistercians in England, as well as abbot of Revesby. These frequent travels and visits may have compromised his health, for he is recorded as suffering from a very painful, bladder stone disease in his later years.
Ailred was known best for sensitive discretion and gentle holiness. He gave strong emphasis to charity and cited his inspiration as coming from the writings of John the Revelator and Augustine of Hippo. He notably humanized the intransigence of Cistercian monasticism and so attracted men of similar character to his own. He made many friends and his writings propelled him to national importance. He was chosen to preach at Westminster for the Translation of Edward the Confessor in 1163. This led him to write The Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor. His writings included a historical work Life on Saint Ninian and another on the saints of Hexham. His more characteristic writings included a treatise on Friendship, the Speculum Caritatis, and Sermons on Isaiah, often considered his finest work. He was unable to complete a treatise on the human soul before he expired and it was left unfinished.
In spite of suffering agony of bladder stones, which obliged him to live in a hut near the infirmary towards the end of his life, he was sometimes well enough to travel. On his way to his Scottish monasteries, he used to visit his friend Godric of Finchale. until the last year of his life. Later his relics were moved to the church. In spite of the vivid and convincing portrait of him by Walter Daniel, his friend and disciple, Ailred was never canonized. A local cult, which was approved by the Cistercians, promulgated his feast in 1476.
Ailred died on January 12, 1167, at Rievaulx and was buried in the Chapter House. He is listed for January 12 in the Roman Martyrology and the calendars of various other churches. Cistercians honor him on February 3 and March 3.
He wrote several influential books on spirituality, among them The Mirror of Charity perhaps at the request of Bernard of Clairvaux and Spiritual Friendship. He also wrote seven works of history, addressing two of them to Henry II of England, advising him how to be a good king and declaring him to be the true descendant of Anglo-Saxon kings. This advice was mainly to uphold the law of the Church, but the Anglo-Saxon tradition also saw governance as a Church-state partnership to promote the common good, not just the good of the few, or primarily of the king. Hence, the term "commonwealth" is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Ailred also remained a close-friend of King David of Scotland and was popular with Stephen of England, Henry's cousin and predecessor. The fact that his advice was valued by more than one king suggests that his reputation served him well, and although only an Abbot not a prelate of a major see, he was able to exercise a wide moral influence as a player on the national stage. Until the twentieth century Ailred was generally known as a historian rather than a spiritual writer. For many centuries his most famous work was his Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor.
His public works encouraged virginity among the unmarried and chastity (not abstinence) in marriage and widowhood, and warn against any sexual activity outside of marriage. In all his works he treats same-sex and opposite-sex attraction as equally possible and equally dangerous to one's oath to celibacy. At the same time, he expressed compassion about human failings, criticized the absence of pastoral care for the Nun of Watton and her case of pregnancy while within a Gilbertine convent. It is believed by some that he expressed complacency toward monks walking hand in hand inside the monastery.
Most of Ailred's works have appeared in translation from Cistercian Publications. They include:
Mirror of Charity
Spiritual Friendship
Rule of Life for a Recluse
Jesus as a Boy of Twelve
Pastoral Prayer
On the Soul
Genealogy of the Kings of the English
Battle of the Standard
Lament for the Death of King David of Scotland
The Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor
Cistercian Publications have also brought 20 of Ailred's known sermons to the public eye. Other historical works (Life of Saint Ninian, On the Saints of Hexham, and A Certain Wonderful Miracle) appeared in 2006.
His feast day is celebrated on January 12. This was promulgated by the Cistercians in 1476. In 1985, this feast was accepted for observance as a Black Letter Day by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, U.S.A. The collect is:
Pour into our hearts, 0 God, the Holy Spirit's gift of love, that we, clasping each the other's hand, may share the joy of friendship, human and divine, and with your servant Aelred draw many into your community of love; through Jesus Christ the Righteous, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
For his efforts in writing and administration he has been called the "St. Bernard of the north." He has also been described by David Knowles, a historian of monasticism in England, as "a singularly attractive figure… No other English monk of the twelfth century so lingers in the memory.[2]
Justifiably or not, Ailred has been adopted as the patron saint of Integrity, an organization in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America composed of gays and lesbians and their friends; and of the Order of St. Ailred, in the Philippines which accepts people of all sexual orientations.[3] He is also patron saint of The National Anglican Catholic Church, a gay-friendly church serving New England and the northeast United States. What is consistent with Ailred's life is his conviction that no one should be denied pastoral care.
There is a high school named after St. Ailred in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire in the United Kingdom.
↑ Stephen Tobin. The Cistercians: Monks and Monasteries in Europe. (The Herbert Press, LTD. 1995. ISBN 187156980X), 46
↑ Donald Attwater and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin dictionary of saints. Penguin reference books. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983. ISBN 9780140511239)
↑ The Order of St. Ailred, Manila, Philippimes The Order of St. Ailred Retrieved October 21, 2007. The site claims that Ailred was aware of his own homosexual inclinations.
Dutton, Marsha, et al. Truth As Gift Studies in Medieval Cistercian History in Honor of John R. Sommerfeldt. Cistercian studies series, 204. Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 2004. ISBN 9780879073046
Powicke, F. M. (Maurice). Ways of Medieval Life and Thought: Essays and Addresses. Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1971. [[ASIN|B000O0CJVO}}
Sommerfeldt, John R. Aelred of Rievaulx on Love and Order in the World and the Church. The Newman Press significant scholarly studies. New York: Newman Press, 2006. ISBN 9780809143238
Squire, Aelred. Historical Factors in the Formation of Aelred of Rievaulx. Collectanea Ord. Cist. Ref. [Offprint]. Westmalle: Collectanea Ord. Cist. Ref, 1960. OCLC 56196014
Squire, Aelred. Aelred of Rievaulx A Study. Cistercian studies series, no. 50. Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 1981. ISBN 9780281038510
All links retrieved February 19, 2016.
St. Ælred, Catholic Encyclopedia.
Ailred of Rievaulx, Abbot, by James Kiefer. Biographical sketches of memorable Christians of the past.
Ailred_of_Rievaulx history
Cistercians history
History of "Ailred of Rievaulx"
Retrieved from //www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Ailred_of_Rievaulx&oldid=1018086
Writers and poets


Catch Andy Slater every weekday afternoon on 940 WINZ.
South Florida sports is alive and local when Andy and his team get vocal to bring you the latest, first!
Andy's background gives him access to players, coaches, and managers and his connections spark his high energy presentation for daytime sports talk listeners of all ages. He uses multiple platforms and social media to perform in the local and national spotlight.
As a young man, Andy Slater spent 4 years working in the Florida Marlins visitors' clubhouse. This gave Andy the chance to understand the interplay of Major League Baseball, meet players, and build relationships. Andy also worked within the National Football League. At an early age, Slater went where the rest of media could not go, deep inside!
Slater started his broadcasting career at Miami Killian Senior High, where he was Sports Director for his junior and senior year, and at Franklin Pierce College, New Hampshire. Slater was awarded "Sports Show of the Year" while attending Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL.
In 2008, he launched The Andy Slater Show, right here in his hometown and now on 940 WINZ.


The Authentic Pilates Education Australia Teacher Training Program focuses on the traditional classical method of Pilates. APEA is a comprehensive course from beginner through to advanced level delivered face to face and leads to a government accredited outcome.
All students certified in the Authentic Pilates Education teacher training program will be eligible to Bridge across to the new Government accredited Diploma of Polestar Pilates Studio and Rehabilitation Method (10521NAT).
APEA Pilates Teacher Training Course - ENROLLING NOW!
Use and maintenance of the Pilates industry equipment and apparatus.
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Hands on teaching techniques for safety and efficiency.
Intermediate system follows the teaching progression to this level, and outlines the appropriate evolution of the client. Apparatus includes the Reformer, Wunda Chair, Cadillac, Electric Chair, Ladder Barrel, Small Barrels and Pedi Pole and mat work. Plus modifications for physical limitations. Hands on teaching techniques for safety and efficiency.
Advanced System Seminar focuses on the Advanced repertoire and breaks down the exercises to adapt for the needs of the client through identifying weaknesses or injuries, and applying the Method with modifications for physical limitations.
Fees: $1000 deposit required at time of enrolment.
The apprenticeship consists of 600 hours (200 hours per level), logged with a Certified Instructor at a recognized Certification Center or other training center recognized by the APEA.
The last 50 hours must be logged at the Certification Center of origin, ie.: Authentic Pilates Studio NSW (unless other arrangements have been agreed to by the APEA). The apprentice must also attend periodic apprentice meetings at the certification centers of origin.
Apprentice logs will be issued by the APEA, and must be signed by the supervising instructor regularly (every 50 hours). Every 100 hours the logs must be turned in to the APEA. The 200 hours per level will be divided up into observation, training and teaching.
Apprenticeship to be completed within one year of entry into the Program. Program extensions for extenuating circumstances are granted at the sole and absolute discretion of the APEA, Apprentice must submit to the APEA a written request setting forth in detail the extenuating circumstances at least one month prior to the end of the apprenticeship year.
Apprentices will not teach clients outside of the Certification Center of Origin until they have graduated from the Program.
During the apprentice program (but not before 200 hrs of apprenticeship) the Apprentice shall be required to teach under supervision at the Certifying Center, of origin and the apprentice will receive compensation at the minimum hourly rate.
Exceptions and modification to apprenticeship requirements may be granted in the APEA sole and absolute discretion.
You will learn the "Art of Teaching" Pilates along with a wonderful repertoire connected by precise transitions to create a rhythmic, fluid and focused workout which will build greater strength, flexibility and endurance. You will learn about the body, how to be an effective hands on instructor and how to create modifications for clients with pathologies.
The Classical Pilates repertoire from Basic to Advanced level on the mat.
Basic to advanced repertoire on the Reformer, Cadillac, Wunda Chair, Electric Chair, Ladder Barrel, Spine Corrector, Small Barrels, Pedi-pull, and all Small Apparatus.
You will be required to undertake and pass an Anatomy and Physiology 1 course prior to certification of the course.
Tuition payments for the APEA teacher training program may be payable in full upon registration into the Program at a 5% discount.
Authentic Pilates Education International Our Goal at the Authentic Pilates Education International (APEI) is to train excellent instructors.


text:
Better Utah Institute
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Press Release: Uncounted Ballots and Rescission Shenanigans Show Poor Process
Katie Matheson
Accountability/Transparency, Elections and Voting Rights, Issues, Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 16, 2018
UNCOUNTED BALLOTS AND RESCISSION SHENANIGANS SHOW POOR PROCESS
Salt Lake City, UT – Following the revelation that over 150 ballot initiative signature packets were missing or otherwise went uncounted a day after clerks were required to have verified signatures and signature rescissions, Josh Kanter, founder and board chair of good-government group, Alliance for a Better Utah, released the following statement:
"The fact that signature packets are missing, or that critical counties failed to count a large number of packets before the due date, is an egregious abdication of duty under the law, and we commend Lieutenant Governor Cox for his transparency and quick action to hold those responsible accountable and to defend the integrity of the ballot initiative process.
"It is possible that these problems, whether intentional or inadvertent, wouldn't matter but for the rescission process created by the legislature that we have now witnessed in action over the past four weeks. What is imminently clear is that the process must be fixed so that any rescission effort is concurrent with the signature gathering effort to provide all interested parties a level playing field from which to make their case to the public.
"Hundreds of thousands of Utah voters have let their voices be heard by signing various ballot initiative petitions over the past several months. Those initiatives, if certified by the Lt. Governor, should now be forwarded to the voters as the law intended. Proponents and opponents alike now have until November to make their case to the voters, without using unsubstantiated claims, weaknesses in the law, or underhanded tactics, to keep these initiatives from the ballot."
Alliance for a Better Utah is a good government advocacy and watchdog organization based in Salt Lake City. The organization works to improve the lives of all Utahns by ensuring balance, transparency, and accountability in Utah politics, policy, and government. More information at www.betterutah.org.
info@betterutah.org
For press inquires, contact press@betterutah.org
Alliance for a Better Utah 2021 © All Rights Reserved.


Stress is a normal emotion that we face every now and then. While it is okay to be stressed, it is not okay to let stress interfere with your Life.
While releasing stress is important, accepting and expressing have a role to play too. Accept the issues that trouble you and your wrong steps. Accept the things that you can't change. It is usually the tough part. Express your emotions to a friend or talk to yourself about it. Bottling up your feelings will never do you good. And lastly, when you know what is bothering you and why it is so, you can calm yourself with different ways like meditation, yoga, listening to music or anything else that you like doing.
Go out and socialize. Change your environment. Talk to people. Play outdoor games or spend time with people you love. Keeping yourself away from the regular environment and socializing is the quickest and the most effective way to ease stress. Talking to people who understand you and empathize you can help you calm your mind and make you feel safe and understood.
Monday blues? No more. Set aside time for yourself where you would do nothing but enjoy your own company. If you take out time regularly for fun and relaxation, there would be no traces of stress left. Don't get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life and start enjoying it your way. Take a break from all the work and responsibilities and make time for leisure activities. Play a piano, ride a bicycle, paint a picture, listen to music or do anything that you enjoy.
Use your sense of humor and make everything light-hearted and fun. Look at situations in a different ways and lighten the weight of everything that you tend to carry. Laughing not only lowers your stress, but it also reduces cortisol and boosts your brain. Talk to someone who makes you smile, listen to your favorite play list or watch any comedy TV series. Keep your mood light and happy!
Eat right and sleep enough. Exercise daily. Be mindful of your diet, your health as well as of your mind. Keep your mind away from all the negatives of the world and fill it with all the positives. Keep an optimistic perspective and keep yourself healthy.


What comes to your mind when you hear the word "Calvinism"? A grumpy, cold-hearted person who only wants a select few people to get into heaven? An annoying guy who won't stop rambling on about Romans 9? That awful, sterile, passionless church you used to go to?
Calvinism (also known as "Reformed Theology") doesn't have a fantastic reputation, at least in some circles. Some people feel like it focuses more on theology than on loving people.
Others have had really bad experiences with Calvinists. They've had even the most basic theological discussions get turned into boxing matches by aggressive Calvinists (aka "cage stage") who are more interested in winning a debate than building a friendship.
And some people think it runs counter to the beautiful free offer of grace found in the Bible.
That's what I'm going to try to do in this post. I want to explain why I'm a Calvinist, why it brings me great joy, and why I think it's profoundly biblical. If in the end, you disagree with me, that's okay. We can still be BFS (best friends sometimes).
I can't answer all your objections in this post. I'm not intending to turn this into a furious, spittle-flying debate. Think of this as a pleasant conversation over a craft beer (or coffee if you're a Baptist).
What Is Calvinism (Reformed Theology)?
Calvinism is a series of doctrines that describes the state of humanity apart from God, how God saves people, and how God will ultimately bring those people to Glory.
To say that humans are totally depraved does NOT mean that we're all as evil as we can possibly be. It means that depravity (sin) has affected the totality of our being, both body and soul. Both sin and sickness are the result of total depravity. And yes, I realize that the word "depravity" sounds like the way a serial killer is described. But the point is simply that sin/depravity affects and distorts every part of our being.
Unconditional election simply means that God chooses people to be saved apart from any merit on their part. He chooses men and women to be saved according to his own sovereign plan, not because they will choose him or because they possess something that makes them worthy.
Limited atonement means that Jesus fully paid for the sins of his people, as opposed to paying for the sins of everyone in the entire world, regardless of whether they ever believe in him. This tends to be the most controversial point of TULIP theology. Part of it has to do with the phrase itself, which makes it sound like the sacrifice of Christ was insufficient in some way.
I think a better phrase is "Particular Atonement", which makes it clear that the glorious sacrifice of Christ is not insufficient, and is fully able to save ALL his people.
When God chooses someone to be saved, he irresistibly draws them to himself. In other words, his grace is irresistible. This doesn't mean that he overrides our will or turns us into unthinking robots. It means that, because of his sovereignty, he is able to cause us to choose him according to our own free will. He chooses us first and then irresistibly draws us so that we choose him.
Those whom God has called, he will also preserve to the end. In other words, if God has elected us, drawn us to himself, and then caused us to be born again, he will also keep us following him until the very end. He will use his sovereign, mighty, shepherding power to sustain our faith, even amidst trials and struggles and challenges. We won't lose our salvation.
I am not a Calvinist because of John Calvin. In fact, if John Calvin never existed I would still be a Calvinist (except it wouldn't be called "Calvinism"). I don't have man-crush on Calvin, nor do I think he's the greatest person since Jesus. I won't name any of my kids "Calvin".
Calvin simply took some biblical ideas and organized them. Actually, I prefer the term "Doctrines of Grace" rather than Calvinism. It better describes the doctrines, which are all about God's staggering grace. Plus it takes the focus off John Calvin who, just like everyone else, had some great strengths and wicked weaknesses.
If I embraced Reformed Theology because of the peerless character of John Calvin…let's just say I would have some problems.
I believe in the doctrines of grace because they run throughout the entire Bible, like a golden thread from Genesis to Revelation.
This theme continues into the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, we see that God unconditionally chose Israel to be his people.
This theme, of God choosing a people for himself, comes up again and again, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. God clearly chose Israel to be his people, and that choice was not based on anything they had done. It was an unconditional choice.
This language is used repeatedly throughout the Bible. God chose a people for himself, not because of anything in them but because of his good, profound, wise purposes. Apart from God's choice, we would never choose him, He always acts upon us first.
Because God chooses us, he will also preserve us to the end.
These verses are just the tip of the iceberg. The doctrines of grace / Calvinism / Reformed theology are EVERYWHERE in scripture. From start to finish, it's abundantly clear that God does everything when it comes to our salvation. He elects us, calls us, pays for our sins, draws us to himself, and preserves us to the end.
One thing that is abundantly clear in the Bible is that God is intent on getting all glory for himself. He absolutely will not allow anyone else to take credit for what he alone has accomplished.
I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.
God does all the choosing, he does all the saving, and he gets all the glory. I did not choose God, therefore I get zero credit for saving myself. He did it all and he gets all the praise, glory, and honor.
Reformed theologians, however, self-consciously see the doctrine of God as informing the whole scope of Christian theology. That's one of the reasons why Calvinists tend to focus so much on the Old Testament. We're concerned about the character of God as defining everything—our understanding of Christ, our understanding of ourselves, our understanding of salvation.
When I look at myself and look at the world, I see people who are totally depraved. Totally depraved does not mean completely depraved.
Someone who is completely depraved does all evil all the time. Total depravity means that every facet of our being – our thinking, our actions, our bodies, our motives – have been distorted by sin.
I'm certainly not righteous. It takes me about two seconds to figure that out. And the more experience I have with people, the more I realize that no one is righteous. Every person and every thing is totally distorted by the presence of sin in the world.
I'm not a Calvinist because of my experience, but my experience certainly confirms what I see scattered broadly through the Bible. This world we live in is a damnable, wicked place.
Given what I know about the darkness in my own heart, I could not and would not have ever chosen God of my own initiative. It just wouldn't have happened. I'm too stubborn. Too self-righteous. Too self-reliant. I've got a heart of stone.
Yes, in one sense I did "choose" God, in the sense that I place my faith in Christ to save me, but I only did that after he worked upon me. God chose me, which allowed me to choose him.
I must confess I never would have been saved if I could have helped it. As long as I could, I rebelled and revolted and struggled against God. When he would have me pray, I would not pray. When he would have me listen to the sound of the ministry, I would not. And when I heard, and the tear rolled down my cheek, I wiped it away and defied him to melt my heart. Then he gave me the effectual blow of grace, and there was no resisting that irresistible effort. It conquered my depraved will and made me bow myself before the sceptre of his grace.
You know, it's odd but I also see this at work in my children. They're cute, crazy, and desperately in need of Jesus. There are many times when my kids actively don't want to even ask God for help. They would rather me give them consequences than pray to Jesus (yeah, it gets that crazy sometimes).
I've always said that I'm a Calvinist because it's in the Bible and because I have kids [insert rimshot].
You know what scares the heck out of me? The thought of falling away from Jesus. Of going apostate. To use the old summer camp language, of backsliding.
Why is this so scary? Because I know myself! I know how easily I can get sucked into sin. I've seen solid Christians completely wreck themselves upon the rocky shores of wickedness. It's a terrible, frightening thing to behold.
You know that line from "Come Thou Fount" about being "prone to wander"? That's me!
I am totally depraved apart from God, unable to save myself.
In spite of that, God called me to himself and saved me.
In light of his unconditional calling and irresistible grace, I know that God will also cause me to persevere to the end.
This God-given perseverance is my only hope. My only hope for salvation is that God himself keeps me to the end. Thankfully, he's promised to do just that!
God predestined, called, and justified me. He'll finish the process by glorifying me. That gives me incredible comfort.
I used to think being a Calvinist was super important. Like, if you're not a Calvinist you're somehow a lesser Christian. Thankfully, I'm past that annoying/arrogant/please go away stage.
I'm grateful for the Doctrines of Grace. I believe they're very biblical. They encourage me deeply and give me hope for my future. But if you're not a Calvinist, it's cool. We can still be good friends.


text:
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namespace common\models;

/**
 * This is the ActiveQuery class for [[donvi]].
 *
 * @see donvi
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class DonviQuery extends \yii\db\ActiveQuery
{
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    {
        $this->andWhere('[[status]]=1');
        return $this;
    }*/

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     * @return donvi[]|array
     */
    public function all($db = null)
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        return parent::all($db);
    }

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     * @return donvi|array|null
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    public function one($db = null)
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        return parent::one($db);
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}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Is there a movie in development that has been more reviled than Candyland? OK, there probably is. But still, the idea of turning a basically plotless board game laden with sweets into a movie has generated jokes aplenty. The writers are Glenn Berger and Jonathan Aibel, who also scripted two Alvin and the Chimpmunks films (the third is in post now) and two Kung-Fu Panda movies. But those two Kung-Fu Panda movies have earned good reviews, with the second one impressing people who expected just another product from the Dreamworks sequel machine.


More than 200,000 people watch April the pregnant giraffe's live stream on YouTube at any given time, but some started to get frustrated since Animal Adventure Park, the zoo where she is housed, claimed she was ready to start giving birth to her baby weeks ago. For the first time, someone is calling the upstate New York zoo's bluff.
Orla, a rare Rothschild giraffe, gave birth at Chester zoo in the United Kingdom Monday. Her zookeeper, whose name wasn't revealed, told host Holly Willoughby on This Morning that Animal Adventure Park must have gotten April's due date wrong.
"If Olra took four months to give birth, why is April taking so long?" Willoughby asked Thursday, according to Express.co.uk.
Animal Adventure Park started the live stream for April Feb. 10. Since then, they claimed her baby could be born at any moment.
Part of the allure of April giving birth is that giraffes stand when they are in active labor. Animal Adventure Park talked about that a little in their Wednesday evening update.
Their Thursday morning update was brief, focusing on April's shape. "Her body/belly is much less beach balled, as the bulges have streamlined. Perhaps suggesting a new position of calf...we hope for launch sequence!" the Facebook post said.
Click here to watch April's live stream, where she could give birth to her baby at any moment.