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Insight's Twilight—What Killed Adventism's Youth Magazine, and What We Should Do About It
Young people are a problem.
Toddlers in Beginners Sabbath School are fun and cute. The elementary age kids in Primary learn like a sponge. High school-age youth, though, are "difficult." They require the most investment. They are ungrateful. They question everything you do. They're apathetic. They push boundaries, and you see no return in your investment for decades. But their spiritual growth and involvement are an investment we must make.
In August 1852, the fledgling Adventist believers started their second magazine, for young people: The Youth's Instructor. (Adventism's first magazine, The Present Truth, launched three years earlier, is now known as Adventist Review.) By the late 1960s, Instructor had grown far out of touch with young people, so in 1970 a new magazine was launched: Insight. Insight aimed to meet youth where they were, addressing their issues with openness and honesty. It lasted 47 years. Its last issue was July 1, 2017.
The 1952 Youth's Instructor 100th anniversary issue.
Launch announcement for Insight.
Subscriptions had steadily declined for years. Pacific Press Publishing Association acquired Insight in a merger at the same time it became an NAD institution, in 2014, but deferred to the NAD as to the magazine's fate. The consensus of representative youth leaders was to discontinue the publication, and in January 2017, the NAD voted to end it. As of this writing, there are no concrete plans for anything to fill its void.
What killed Insight?
Fear. I recently read an Adventist blog that stated, "you have to feed the culture you want to grow in a church. You don't make healthy churches by jumping through hoops for unhealthy people. Instead, you encourage and support healthy people."
When it was launched, aimed at high school and college-age youth, Insight was perhaps the most thought-provoking publication in the church. Over roughly the past fifteen years, however, I repeatedly witnessed an attitude of "Let's be careful about including this or that because the 'gatekeepers' may not approve (and then they'll stop subscribing for their youth)." That attitude took for granted that teens would keep reading a cautious magazine. The result, I believe, was a stale publication that teens increasingly tuned out of, and since they weren't taking them out of the classroom, the gatekeepers—individual churches—stopped subscribing for their youth.
"It's fear morphed to cowardice," reflects recently retired Union college humanities professor Chris Blake, who edited Insight from 1985 to 1993. "People who claim to be followers of the One who took constant criticism from the ultra-religious will now, to avoid criticism from the same type of people, balk and veer and cease and desist. It's so bizarre. Cowardice owns the day."
Blake sees a parallel in the unreleased General Conference video production The Record Keeper. A retelling of Adventism's Great Controversy narrative targeted at young adults, Record garnered over 23,000 likes on its Facebook page based on just a trailer and short pilot episode, signifying a vast, untapped audience. Reflects Blake, "Record Keeper typified exactly the problems with the church trying to be creative. If all you care about is being right, then creativity will wither on the vine."
In 1970, the Adventist church axed The Youth's Instructor because, as Charles Scriven remembers, "the magazine was drab in appearance, highly conventional in outlook, and wasn't reaching the kind of young Adventist that was beginning to have an impact in the sixties." Scriven, who would go on to serve as president of Columbia Union College and Kettering College, served as part of Insight's first editorial team. Insight's first issue started with what passed for a bang on May 5, 1970—a cover image of a classical guitar, and the headline, "The Church and Huckleberry Finn." The cover story, by merikay, "was about a kid who didn't look quite right coming to church, getting a chilly welcome," Scriven recalls. "It was a statement of identification with younger, more intellectually adventurous Adventists."
First Issue of Insight, May 1970.
Insight's early years didn't shy away from the era's controversial issues, from long hair and beards to racism, war, and abortion. It dug deep into hard-hitting subjects like sexual harassment and date rape. A 1970s issue featured an interview with Pastor Josephine Benton. In September 1980 she was interviewed again, alongside two others, for the article "Three Women in the Pulpit."
Insight frequently tackled contemporary culture and current events. A 1980s piece explored the question "Would Mork like Adventists?" while other articles touched on such topics as Kurt Cobain and Princess Diana. A groundbreaking 1992 issue addressed homosexuality. The October 9, 1993 cover featured a grainy close-up of cult leader David Koresh and the headline, "Could this man seduce you?"
David Koresh on Insight's cover, October 1993.
Author Trudy J. Morgan-Cole remembers the Insight of her youth as one which showed her how to "engage thoughtfully with popular culture, to use faith as the lens through which I could view and learn from the broader culture. It's what I mainly associate with the Insight magazine of the late seventies and early eighties—thoughtful, critical engagement with the wider worlds, with political and social issues and questions of culture—that I didn't see anywhere else in the church when I was growing up. It had a huge influence on the kind of Adventist I grew up to be."
Under the editorship of Lori Peckham (1993-2001), Insight featured reviews of contemporary Christian music. Given the centrality of music to teens' lives, it was a feature with great appeal, while helping to extend and build readers' spiritual lives beyond Saturday morning. After Peckham's tenure, wishing to avoid controversy, Insight ended columns reviewing music and highlighting artists, and readers had one less reason to turn its pages. In its last decade and a half, Insight explored real world issues less and less, gravitating instead to a more moralistic focus.
Insight cover, September 1994.
Neglect. Alongside fear of criticism was the fear of the new and the unknown, even as the publishing world hurtled through change.
Chris Blake remembers an early attempt to get Insight ahead of the trends. "What I wanted was people on computers communicating with us, to make it interactive. So we had some interactive stuff and pages dedicated to what we heard from [our readers]. In 1992 Lori Peckham and I proposed to change Insight to an expanded format (32 pages) every other week and a more online presence (eight pages print) the other weeks. I was informed, after 18 months of hopping through committee hoops and on the eve of our new launch, that this arrangement 'wouldn't work.'"
Insight's demise came just three years after its former publisher, the Review and Herald Publishing Association, was merged with the Pacific Press Publishing Association. At the time of the RHPA's dissolution, Pacific Press's annual sales were about $2 million lower than those of the RHPA. Though the RHPA was in debt, its financial woes hardly needed to be fatal. It produced a standout lineup of books year after year. The problem was, the church didn't know what to do with it—and that doesn't bode well for the future of church publishing, period. Until Adventist media is empowered at all levels to innovate, it will stagnate.
"Many good people worked at the Review and Herald Publishing Association, but that wasn't enough, obviously," Blake reflects. "Despite some bright lights the RHPA was a dim labyrinth of hubris and mediocrity. Motivated mostly by fear, mired in the past and incompetent committees, lacking vision and accountability, the Review's most telling trait continued to be a dearth of fresh courage. Other than that it was fine. Seriously, we can do better, but it will take brains and heart and backbone."
Insight finally launched a webpage in 1998. Over nineteen years, its look, format, and content barely changed. (Its most recent video content is from 2012.) In contrast, Guide magazine, the Adventist church's magazine for 10 to 14-year-olds, has regularly invested in fresh content for its website. In June 2017, Guide had about 11,000 visits to its site. Insight had 2,200. Over the years Insight's editors made repeated attempts to increase their online presence, but were never given the support to do so.
For several years in the late 2000s, Insight's editor was simultaneously the vice president of the Review and Herald Publishing Association Editorial department. While that may have saved money at a time of tight budgets, it came at a great cost to Insight's quality and connection to its audience. Insight began to regularly reprint old articles rather than dream up fresh themes and content in tune with the times.
Insight cover, January 1993.
Quality. At its peak, Insight became a literary hub for Adventists. Insight featured the best short-story writing in Adventism, with exceptional and engrossing pieces by such authors as Joan Marie Cook, Arthur Milward, and Gary Swanson. It cultivated writing talent, particularly through its annual writing contest. Winners included future best-selling author Trudy J. Morgan Cole, and Randy Fishell, who served as an editor for Guide magazine for over 25 years. The Review and Herald printed two book collections of "Insight's Most Unforgettable Stories."
In the magazine's final years, such sharp, engrossing short stories became a thing of the past.
Ignorance. The church has long struggled with marketing (and the reality that its built-in market no longer takes a week's vacation every year to go to campmeeting and buy its wares). Insight faced its own challenges of a shifting market. For whatever reason, whether money, culture, or marketing, Insight never gained traction in areas where the church was growing. Of the approximately 1,000 Spanish-language Adventist churches in the United States (about one church out of five), only a single one subscribed to Insight. The reason churches gave for not subscribing? Because Insight was in English—despite the fact that nearly 100 percent of Hispanic teens in the U.S. can read English. First-generation immigrant Adventists in the U.S. had not grown up with Insight, and didn't know what their youth were missing.
Disconnect. When I first saw the December 12, 2015 issue of Insight, with a sepia-toned cover image of nineteenth century "Charles Haddon Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers" looking like Ulysses S. Grant just awakened from a nap, I about hung my head. Somehow, Insight had morphed right back into The Youth's Instructor. The circle was complete.
Insight cover, December 2015.
In an era of endless stimuli beamed straight into teens' hands and eyes through their smartphones, Insight needed to be both contemporary and timeless. For decades it had broadened minds and encouraged critical thinking. Somehow, in its final years, it simply withdrew into itself.
If you pick up a copy of Guide, you'll see a magazine that's both in tune with its audience and constantly reinventing itself. If that were still true of Insight, with a strong digital and audio-visual presence bolstered by a healthy budget, I believe it would still be going strong.
An Adventist hospital closes and the story gets lots of publicity. A magazine/ministry that's been in production for 165 years folds, and . . . <crickets>.
Meanwhile, the church has spent untold millions over the past several decades propping up its media ministries aimed at adults. After all, no one wants to be the guy who killed "It Is Written." Literature for youth, apparently, is much more disposable in Adventism. Audio-visual media for young people in Adventism scarcely exists.
In his 2008 memoir "Embrace the Impossible," retired Adventist Review editor William Johnsson recounts the quarter century he spent trying to reverse the slide in subscriptions for the church's flagship magazine. Having peaked at over 100,000 in the early 1960s, when the church had just reached a million members worldwide, it had endured a slow but steady decline, as the generation that once read it cover-to-cover died. In the mid-1980s, with worldwide membership at 5 million, Johnsson dreamed of getting subscriptions back to 100,000. He tirelessly tried one thing after another to breathe new life into the magazine, but his creative triumphs had only limited impact on subscription numbers. Johnsson ends his memoir with a surprise development: the General Conference request to publish a monthly magazine for worldwide distribution, Adventist World. Provided free to church members, World launched in 2005 with an initial press run of 1.1 million copies.
The Adventist church could have let its leading periodical die. Instead, it has continued to invest in it, believing it a vital resource for connecting and nurturing its community. For its last few years, Insight had one full-time employee. Today, Adventist Review has about a dozen, including a digital media director, who oversees regular fresh video content, available through its media streaming app AR TV. Adventist Review receives $5.5 million in funding from the General Conference each year. The church has decided that's an investment worth making, and I applaud it—but surely we can spare a few dollars for media for young people.
The church needs to put its money where its mouth is. We talk about the parable of the sower, but we aren't willing to wait for the seeds to grow. We find millions for evangelistic series that bring in a handful of new members quickly, but we aren't willing to invest in the young people we already have—even when today's technology makes it easy to reach millions of young people outside the church while we're at it.
Here's my modest proposal. My conference, Kentucky-Tennessee, has roughly one percent of North American Division membership, and spends $125,000 a year on evangelism. Assuming that's fairly representative, why don't we take a tithe of church evangelism funds—say, $1.25 million a year—hire a team, and give them a budget to create media—magazines, music, movies, and more—targeted at young people? It could easily become the church's most prominent outreach.
It's a matter of priorities. We find money for what we care about. In truth, we should invest far more. Right now, though, we spend essentially nothing on media for young people, and that must change.
Frankly, I don't understand how the church can have seen this coming from so far off and still not have done anything about it. Insight drifted for years without anyone saying, "Hey—what's happening? How can we better reach young people?" But now is the time to move forward. Hire a team. Give them a budget. Let them loose.
The Adventist church needs young people. Young people, I believe, need the church. Today's youth are plugged into media essentially non-stop, and the church has nothing for them. We must meet them where they are. The trouble is, if the church doesn't produce media that speaks to them, youth won't come looking for it.
Tompaul Wheeler is the author of the Adventist church's official 2018 teen devotional, God Space, and Guidemagazine's weekly comic strip, "Bible Sketches," soon to be compiled in book form. When he was 16, he wrote and photographed a special edition of Insightthat won 3rd place for journalism from the Evangelical Press Association. A filmmaker in Nashville, Tennessee, he has a Master of Fine Arts in Film from Lipscomb University. He directed the documentary Leap of Faith: The Ultimate Workout Story, which tells the story of the Maranatha short-term mission trip for teens Insightmagazine founded.
All images courtesy of Tompaul Wheeler.
gideonjrn September 28, 2017, 8:56pm #2
40+ years ago I sensed that the SDA denomination required 2 measures:
Decrease fanaticism
Increase accountability
To deal with number 1…Increase competency & relevancy of pastors & SS teachers
To deal with number 2. Increase communication between local church leaders & their members. (input & surveys on sermons & SS classes)
The SDA denomination keeps the youth on the back seats of the bus.
Have the youth in earliteens & up…get together & come up with a monthly/quarterly report to be presented at the monthly board meeting that shares their ideas, interests & gripes. Ask a youth rep to come to the board on a quarterly basis to see the boring proceedings and to interact with agenda items related to the youth.
Go ahead and critique or shoot down this input if you want…it is part of the SDA tradition.
JXLB (James J Londis) September 28, 2017, 9:02pm #3
Young Adventists started INSIGHT who were thoughtful, committed and passionate. We seldom let that population group "run" with anything of substance, unlike the larger culture. When will we ever learn?
blc (le vieux) September 28, 2017, 9:57pm #4
I was in college when the Youth's Instructor was replaced by Insight. Many of us (young people, that is) were very disappointed with the the decline in quality, and the superficiality which characterized the new magazine. This is what happens when leaders try to be too "hip." I only read it a few times. It was pablum.
I don't think we even use it at our local church. We use Young Disciple, a publication with much more "meat" in it than Insight.
My own my kids weren't too enamored with it either. They preferred the Guide, and Young Disciple.
Timo (reliquum) September 29, 2017, 12:21am #5
Who was it who said "suffer the little children to come unto me…"?
Bet he knows this-just put some mothers in charge of the church business, and they will naturally fund what is dearest to their hearts. CHILDREN!
Mothers are the most selfless and christlike members of our faith community.
They are also the most prevalent-somewhere around 60/40 female.
And yet-despite no clear ecclesiastical policy, no SOP proscription, nor a definitive prohibition in writ, we still deny co-ordination. And watch our young wither away faster than the staunch old guard demanding their neocon desire to "make the church grate again, just like it never was"
Put a spirit driven woman as head of the GC, and watch the changes…Just change this to "her"…
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efcee (efcee) September 29, 2017, 12:21am #6
If enough people want something, it will be done one way or another. Sometimes we need to "cleanse our palate" for what came before and let a little time pass before we decide on which direction to move forward. Not a bad thing to happen. When someone has a vision for what to do next, there will be a new magazine for our most promising generation.
frank_merendino (Frankmer7) September 29, 2017, 2:58am #7
Magazines, music and movies targeting youth. Wonderful idea! But, the first means nothing without a dynamic digital platform. The latter two are fraught with too much potential controversy to gain support from the graying leadership and membership of our largely fundamentalist organization.
Speaking musically…anything with a beat not being decried as from the devil? Or…could you imagine rap being used to communicate the gospel within the confines of SDAism or Adventist media, without tremendous backlash, or with any semblance of official backing? Late 60's and early 70's style 3rd rate Christian folk rock ain't gonna cut it with this generation… and even that seems to often be seen as too worldly by the conservative core.
Nevermind tackling controversial issues and subject matter in print or on film. To inform, to educate, and to help teens think through how a Christian world view intersects and can dialogue with such things is not the same as blanket indoctrination. We always seem to opt for the latter. It's less threatening. And then we wonder why we hemorrhage young people.
This article is spot on… it will take the courage of conviction that young people and students are worth reaching and involving in cutting edge ways, no matter what the resistance is. I know of one pastor in Washington who is doing that. His church is vibrant.
Btw… the first cover of Insight has a steel string acoustic guitar on the cover, not a classical guitar. Just a point of info…
Discutino (Pensiero) September 29, 2017, 4:43am #8
Well, they did kill It Is Written in the SPD! You have to wonder what debacle they will create!
ERM (Evert) September 29, 2017, 2:42pm #9
As the last student editor of The Collegiate Quarterly, I have an insider's understanding of how the Church deals with innovation and creativity: it kills it. What Wheeler doesn't mention (except through reading between the lines) is the lengths the Church goes to to protect what it sees as doctrinal purity. The Quarterly had a "reading committee" (note, not an "editorial committee) who's apparent job was to ensure nothing would threaten moral standards ("How can you admit SDA youth go to movies?"), contradict the "Truth," or offend. I remember one Reading Committee meeting when then Sabbath School head, Leo Van Dolson, objected to an article's use of Hitler as example of evil for fear of offending German readers. How can creativity survive this?
Eventually, these meetings took on the feeling of outright war, Doug Morgan, Bonnie Casey and I on one side trying vainly to hold onto some form of editorial integrity, and GC purity police on the other. Eventually the GC could no longer stomach the idea of having a Sabbath School publication outside of its control and so stole it from Union College via fiat. Union tried to fight this takeover and offered me a contract to continue as editor in defiance of the GC edict. But by this time I was weary of the fight and felt I needed to move on.
I know the early days of Insight were similar to those I experienced at CQ, if not even worse. Wheeler is correct when he says with regard to SDA youth, "the church has nothing for them." Frankly, it hasn't for decades and personally, I don't think it ever will again.
sam (Sam Geli) September 29, 2017, 4:43pm #10
There is so much creativity and genuine zeal in our youth that goes by unrecognized. Those of us who have been around for awhile sit in our pews listening already conditioned and acculturated to constant negativism from the pulpit. I recently heard an Adult Sabbath School teacher rant against "lesbians who want to be ordained", "sympathy for transgender perverts", and persons who are "killing their children by vaccinating them", all this was said with gusto as he hurried past a superficial look at the book of Galatians. I noticed a two young persons neatly dressed in a mostly 65+ age class paying close attention (who left before the sermon) seemed to be saddened by these remarks. I wanted to greet them and welcome them but was unable to reach then before they left. I asked one of the deacons who also saw them leave if he knew who they were and he commented that they were probably "lookie-loos" students from the nearby Adventist university "mostly impatient to stay for the free potluck".
but we're not interested in what the majority of churches are doing.
Children's and Youth ministry doesn't seem to be working as we've always done it, college ministry is declining in attendance and therefore, in churches willing to do it, the average age at most churches is getting higher, and the church is losing a generation. Every Sabbath that goes by with the status quo of apathy and indifference to our youth is a tragedy. While some churches are far behind and don't seem to care (they refuse to take the smallest step away from 'the usual'),others are fighting and beating the air as to what to do.
I don't write this to say that I have the answer, I definitely don't, I write this to say that it's alarming me that my church doesn't seem to have the' answer either. Does the church really care about this?
john (John M. Fowler) September 29, 2017, 4:52pm #11
I see one reason why Insight was allowed to die. Lack of insight on the part of those who plan.
Sisterpastor September 29, 2017, 5:20pm #12
Raíces adventistas de cuatro generaciones atrás. Me importa profundamente.
Permite ser verdaderamente honesto, su miedo a perder miembros pagando diezmo en el NAD. Nuestras iglesias latinas no están al nivel de la desesperación y la pérdida, sin embargo, si no somos cuidadosos, también lo seremos.
Catering para el empuje hacia atrás, o crítica es este realmente el problema? Les ruego que difieran, sugiero que los que pasan por alto votan con sus pies - por la puerta.
También son conscientes de las luchas internas en el campo, las políticas de control y los comportamientos duros. Ellos ven la falta de gracia aplicada a uno y retenido de otro, no son ciegos. Lamentablemente, este lápiz ha coloreado su imagen de Dios y su Iglesia.
Principiantes a través de Juniors tal vez, sus padres deben traer a sus hijos a la Escuela Sabática y la iglesia, estos padres son parte del pequeño porcentaje que todavía devuelven el diezmo y la ofrenda. E incluso entonces, cuando los recortes presupuestarios suceden, los departamentos se cortan o se mezclan en BG / KG PM / JR, dejando Earliteen, jóvenes y adultos jóvenes a platija.
Sé que algunos imaginan que van a comenzar a enseñar los niveles más bajos, o unirse a las clases de adultos, no es la respuesta promedio. Ese grupo de edad a menudo no diezman, por muchas razones, incluyendo no estar empleado y asistir a la escuela. Yo soy el primero en ponerse de acuerdo, que esta es la vieja mentira de los demonios para dividir y conquistar.
Con lágrimas, veo a mi iglesia, por defecto tomando la decisión de dividir la iglesia. Todavía creo que es reparable, todavía estoy seguro de que Dios adora y anhela la relación con aquellos que no lo han conocido. Todavía espero que el liderazgo llegue a la mesa en arrepentimiento y buena voluntad para hacer a Cristo primero y no temer. El amor perfecto echa fuera el miedo, en cualquier lugar con Jesús puedo ir con seguridad - ¿Verdadero o falso?
Veintiocho doctrinas no son el tema primordial para los retrocedentes o no asistentes. Debemos demostrar el amor con el cuidado de Cristo con nuestros corazones rendidos, nuestros dólares, y colocar a los jóvenes como líderes en la mesa de toma de decisiones, no como el símbolo. Entendemos, hicimos todo lo que pudimos, fue la juventud y los adultos jóvenes que Dios usó para convertirse en la iglesia adventista del séptimo día. Todos comenzamos como jóvenes pastores y educadores, nuestra iglesia será más saludable si unimos relevancia con la sabiduría, abrazado en corazones abiertos y piadosos para trabajar La Comisión juntos.
El día se aproxima rápidamente cuando todos los "empleados" y las iglesias no serán más, el amor perfecto echa fuera el miedo, la práctica en esta pequeña arena, las batallas por delante requerirá una gran cantidad de práctica y esta es una oportunidad para fortalecer nuestra fe ahora.
aliagins (Alison Agins) September 29, 2017, 6:40pm #13
I grew up reading Youth Instructor and loved it. It was passed out at the closing of SS. And if the sermon was boring which in my little church was often, one could read the YI and not be bored. I was saddened when they changed it… and it seemed to me to have been dumbed down to fit the new life styles that the 60's brought to the church. I was no longer a teen…but it had not been a lot of passing time helping me to forget all that teen angst. I still knew what it felt like. I wanted to be a grown up and put that behind me. What I saw was seperate church services with youth pastors barely out of their teens and young adults not transitioning out of teen targeted service into adult service. Those people now some in their 60's are missing.
JamesPeterson (James Peterson) September 29, 2017, 6:51pm #14
Readership of print media is down, period – everywhere. And it's not due to SDA GC stranglehold on creativity. Even Playboy Magazine, the periodical that aims squarely at the bottom-most and easiest titillation, is struggling to survive.
For sometime now, it has been recognized that:
people are caught up in the desire for the things of this world (which require money, therefore work);
people are more on the internet (moving away even from television);
people are creating their own content already in blogs, vlogs and social media posts.
This is a generation that does NOT sit around waiting for someone in authority to create content, neither is it a generation that flops down in front of a television and asks to be entertained. This is a generation that googles things of peculiar and immediate interest from a wide array of sources, that finds selfies interesting, that makes music and pictures and movies and has potentially instantaneous dialogue with its own icons.
Print magazines and large books are not the way to reach the young people of today. What they want and need is charismatic leadership: adults with whom they can identify, with whom they can feel comfortable, and who they can claim as their own (and not together with an older generation). Sadly, the youth leaders are incapable of inspiring anything other than worldliness (through lack of imagination) and tiresome boredom (grounded in platitudes and empty condescension).
RvanPutten September 30, 2017, 12:24am #15
Sad to say, but a lot of the Regional Conference churches that I attended in my youth and young adult days did not subscribe to either the Youth's Instructor or Insight. They did not see the necessity, since they had an MV / AY leader. My husband, who grew up in the Lake Region Conference, never saw either publication in his entire life! I rarely saw it in Northeastern Conference churches… Were it not for the fact that Insight was provided in the dormitories at Loma Linda University while I was in attendance there in the 1970s, I would never have seen it either.
Perhaps it's demise is not only because of lack of substance and quality, but also due to lack of subscribing churches, many of which never gave it a fighting chance!
athomsen (Anthony Thomsen) September 30, 2017, 12:52am #16
I like the idea of creating a team. The practicality of it seems dismal. Here are two reasons that come to mind: 1: Today- like it or not, culture shapes world view: In the past, and present I suppose, the church's model of evangelism was to present truth to a world then illustrate it in song and art which lead to a culture that acted a certain way. With the influence of relativism, culture or also known as the arts- shape what is true or not. Until the church decides to meet others where they are at nothing will change. You can still be "right" and produce amazing stuff. 2. Theological Diversity: There are too many constituents to answer to for content messaging; what is right, what is of the world, what is wrong, what should be said or not said. (As apparent by the diversity represented in the comment thread.) This is the same problem they had with the Record Keepers shelving. I am not sure the script would make it out of committee.
I hear there is a new media company, staffed by adventist christians which are able to tap into the creatives of our church as well as those outside to produce media that promotes the many facets of good, love and morality- It seems they will be able to share the arts which are relevent and able to change culture by meeting people where they are by the working of the Spirit of course #FlickG2G
TompaulWheeler (Tompaul Wheeler) September 30, 2017, 2:12am #17
You make some excellent points. I would take exception to one point, "Print magazines and large books are not the way to reach the young people of today." While audiobooks are bigger than ever (e-books have been struggling for awhile now), print book sales continue to be strong, and the age group that buys the most books is 18-29. Unfortunately, we print roughly nothing with the biggest demographic in mind.
I believe that both the digital and the tangible are important today–hence why, for instance, sales of vinyl records have exploded in the past few years. As the digital world makes everything intangible, print products can be a tangible reminder that a young person's church believes in and invests in them–and is worth believing in and investing in.
Human September 30, 2017, 3:00am #18
While most SDA churches revert to formalism, controlled by the older generation then just like a large ship it creates a vacuum behind it, and a lot of drag.
Nothing can be heard in a vacuum. Youth are often excluded from Service, from sermons, from leadership and the old generation continues to command the ship to steam off to a place that glorifies their achievements, while youth are unheard.
The name of the ship. SS Ego
God says die self, The Bible is full of youth being empowered to command "TSL" Thus Says the Lord against the ruling Egos of the established Jewish church. Yet they couldn't hear above the whine of the motors and their own commands.
So the ship was left to sail away to God's final judgement.
The youth? Into little boats around a small calm lake to hear the soft words of a new captain.
The name of the lake ? Caperrnaum.
The new leader? Lord Jesus.
The Bible says repeatedly that God will not be mocked. Ego is the crime and our Ellen White clearly lays that at the ship's lookout post to put a stop to it and watch out for it. But instead a new generation clearly lifted up by rising seas and lead on by swarms of new immigrants coming onto the SS Ego in the last 20 years onwards got proud and became the stiff necked Captains who ignore others and lift themselves up. And punish any dissenters and the little voices.
Human was one of those. Human no longer goes to God's SDA church. Nor does Human's children and wife. Assaulted physically by a so called man of the cloth, pushed out of SDA churches for seeking for the Voices to be heard. Later Human saw the Pathfinder club closed when it got too popular with the silent voices. Closed by the Captain some called "Pastor", a man programmed and ordained by SDA local Steamship Company
Human has a brain and legs. Human remembers Titanic and voice of Prophecy. Human has a little voice. Now these little voices have a new church. Away from SS Ego and all its harsh brutality. On a quiet lake with a gentle Teacher.
Human doesn't see the SS Ego anymore. Last time it was visit at the port it was mostly empty, split into two.
What was a vibrant church was now a silent rusting hulk.
Today as always the Youth are smarter than the older so called Captains on their SS Ego. They will walk away until they come to hear the Teachers voice. Then they will combine and go out into little boats and wander the valleys and byways to hear other little voices and lift up the other lost sheep onto their shoulders and bring them to the true Teacher.
Copyright 2017. Human.
eastman (Fred Eastman) September 30, 2017, 6:02am #19
It seems we don't learn from history very well either as a country or as a church.
The " picture of God " is what is important for our young people to see and relate to. If the picture is of a God who motivates by fear it will "breed rebellion and apathy"!! If it is a picture of God who motivates by love and relationships then our youth and the older generation will respond appropriately!!
A truly loving God will change our heart and relate, motivate by the only thing that works. Love!!!
Jesus always related to people where they were, not necessarily were He wanted them to be. By establishing that friend relationship He then was able to lead them "into the paths of righteousness ". Relationship always preceded guidance!
Horace (Scobie) September 30, 2017, 6:28am #20
As one of the earliest contributors to Insight ("Peace Alert in the Smiling City" of Curitiba, Brazil) I spent twenty-five years on local church committees and trying to start Sabbath School classes on time, struggling with the concern we have (or profess to have) for those are "fun and cute," who "learn like a sponge" and thereafter, demand "the most investment" from persons who have the insight to confront the "difficulties" teenagers present.
I agree that indeed, without insight Insight cannot survive. Whether in the New World or in the Old (here in London).
Survival is not a matter any more, merely that affects other folk, or a matter of complaining about "The church."
It hits home as I look at the difficult choices my daughters have to make about schooling my grandchildren. And well, I still pray for INSIGHT.


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Press Release: Wunder Introduces Community Solar Financing
BOULDER, COLORADO, November 8, 2018: Wunder Capital, a leading commercial solar financier, has just announced it is now financing community solar projects across the U.S.. Wunder's novel approach to servicing this rapidly growing market segment focuses on deeply understanding the value associated with community solar assets in a manner that is more progressive than the purely credit-focused approaches employed by traditional financiers.
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Wunder's 2018 Year-in-Review is Now Available!
When I look back to 2017's Year-in-Review, I'm struck by how far we've traveled together in one rotation around our all-important star. To begin our measurement of
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Home / China Connect / China gets real, engages India to counter US
China gets real, engages India to counter US
September 19, 2012 May 22, 2013 - by K. Subrahmanyam | K. Subrahmanyam
The Chinese, as Henry Kissinger pointed out in 1971, are eminently pragmatic people. They became communists when they felt that it would help to accelerate their development. They gave up communism and allied themselves with US capitalism when they concluded that it was a better strategy for their purpose. They treated India with contempt when it was economically, militarily and technologically weak.
Now they are hailing India as a partner as they see the world looking at India as a possible engine of world economic growth bracketing it with China.
They proliferated nuclear weapon technology when they thought it would serve to countervail India, became a preacher of non-proliferation norms to India and today, as they realize the world is getting ready to abolish the technology apartheid against India they are not going to oppose civil nuclear cooperation with India, either their own or that of other nations.
Now that India is accepted as a balancer of power and a strategic partner by the US, Russia, European Union and Japan, the Chinese have no reservations in accepting India as a partner either. China understands that any impression of its animosity towards India would only compel India to move closer to US and contribute to US sustaining its economic and technological pre-eminence in the world, which they resent.
The best strategy open to China to countervail US is not to step up pressure on India. China opposing India getting waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) when US, Russia, France, Germany and others are in favour of incorporating India into the global non-proliferation regime will persuade India to befriend US intensively. That explains China accepting India-China civil nuclear cooperation, which cannot materialise unless the safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is finalised, the waiver of NSG is obtained and the 123 Agreement with US is signed.
It would be supremely ironic if our Indian communists now stand in the way of India-China nuclear cooperation by opposing further moves to operationalise the 123 Agreement. China has clearly stated that China-India nuclear cooperation will be with due consideration to China's international obligations which encompass IAEA safeguards and NSG waiver.
China has also come to appreciate the need for military exercises and strategic dialogues as confidence-building measures among nations seeking strategic partnership. In a multi-polar balance of power world, any nation is likely to have such military exercises and dialogues with as many partners as it can. Therefore China has decided to step up its own military exercise and strategic dialogue with India. China has not so far used its veto against any major move of the US in the Security Council. China went along with the US in imposing sanctions on Iran.
China's all-weather allied state, Pakistan, is now considered a state of international concern. China, in spite of its close relationship with Pakistan, never had any serious objection to close US-Pakistan relations. Therefore it is unrealistic to assume that China views the world only through anti-US spectacles. China has no intention of confronting US. India, therefore, does not have to make a choice between the two powers for the next two or three decades to come.
China has correctly asserted that partners are not rivals. Given the poverty and underdevelopment in the developing world and the problems likely to be produced by ageing and decline in the fertility rates of populations in Europe, Japan, Russia and in China itself, there is scope for simultaneous fast growth of economies of both China and India and this has been recognised by both countries during the just-concluded visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to China. The declaration in the joint statement that India-China partnership is not directed against any third party is also an acknowledgement that partnership of either with other powers need not be directed at the evolving India-China relationship.
Whether it is the issue of greenhouse gas generation and global warming or the Doha round of trade talks, China and India have common interests in spite of their relationships with other major industrial powers on other issues. Therefore, there is large scope for their cooperation on these two global issues.
In trade, Singh has highlighted that China has to provide a level playing field. In a sense, India has to look at trade with China not merely in bilateral terms but as one between two major suppliers of consumer items and white goods for the entire world. While in their bilateral relations the two countries may not be rivals, they are bound to be competitors in their roles as manufacturing hubs and suppliers of consumer items for the world. The levelling of the field for trade for the two countries has to be looked at from a global point of view and not restricted to bilateral trade. In this respect, India has to go far and its progress is being held up by the doctrinaire fundamentalists in our country.
Objective and qualified observers have analysed and identified the competitive edges in different areas in the two rising economies. A much greater economic and trade interaction between the two countries for which the present visit of Manmohan Singh has laid the foundation would help Indian entrepreneurs to level the field between the two countries for their future global competition.
There has been no advance on the territorial issue though Manmohan Singh is holding out hopes for the future. India has neglected the development of infrastructure in the border areas mostly because of the fear of our diplomats, bureaucrats, military and politicians who have been treating the Chinese as though they are ten feet tall. What is needed is a crash programme of border infrastructure development. If infrastructures on both sides of the border are equally well developed, the undemocratic side will have a lot more to worry about than the democratic side. This elementary fact was overlooked by our government in the last six decades. This situation should be rectified rapidly and then we should be able to seize the initiative.
What India has to fear is fear of China. Once Indians get over that fear then India will be able to rise and get level with China. While the claims of the government and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) about the great success of the visit or of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and sections of academia of the total lack of results have both to be taken with a pinch of salt, what should not be missed out are the subtle changes in the stand of the Chinese leadership towards India over the last three years in view of international developments and progress in globalisation.
China is the only non-democratic nation among the major powers, but it has accepted the economics of the marketplace. Its communism is only a facade for a single party dictatorship and has no doctrinal content in it. Consequently, a non-democratic China poses a challenge to other democratic major global powers. In today's world there is no alternative to deal with China's challenge but for all major powers to engage it increasingly till such time that interaction will bring about democratic changes within China.
Manmohan Singh's visit must be viewed as the first step in engaging China towards that end.
An Indian American president in 2020?
An Indian American president of the USA in 2020? It may sound fantastic now, but Jay Goyal, a 27-year-old legislator from Ohio, is confident that an Indian American will be in the race for the US presidency in another 10 years or so.
'Within 10-12 years, you can expect an Indian American to be in the US presidential race. I won't be surprised when it happens,' Goyal, who is in India to catch up with his friends and extended family, said here.
'It's a matter of time. It's going to happen,' the dapper Goyal, who has been hailed as a new emerging face of the Democratic Party, said when asked whether Indian Americans are ambitious enough to covet the top job in the US.
'With the second generation of Indian Americans, there will be a significant increase in the number of young members of the community proactively participating in US politics,' he said while referring to the spectacular success of Bobby Jindal, who won the election on a Republican platform to become the governor of Louisiana last year.
This interest in politics stands out in dramatic contrast to the 1970s and 1980s when Indian Americans were not sure whether politics was the right choice for them.
'It's changing now. Indian Americans have always chosen safe professions in which they can succeed financially. Politics was looked at in a different light. Now of course all that is changing,' Goyal said.
Goyal, a second generation Indian American who became the youngest legislator when he was elected from 73rd District to the Ohio House of Representatives three years ago, is not shy about citing his success in a white-majority district as a taste of things to come.
'I am the youngest person in the Ohio assembly. In this district of 110,000 people, only 100-150 people are Indian Americans. Yet I won 63 percent of the vote,' said Goyal who, as local folklore has it, knocked on 13,000 doors to get elected.
'It speaks volumes about how much the Indian community has been integrated into the American mainstream. We have to leverage our financial muscle into political power,' he asserts confidently.
It's not that this race to the top is going to be smooth sailing all the way. There may be some landmines and prejudices on the way. 'Racism exists. Racism exists everywhere. My family too has faced discrimination and snide comments like you don't belong here. This attitude became slightly more pronounced after 9/11,' said Goyal.
'But an overwhelming majority of people looks past that. They look at your values and actions. And the Indian and American values are identical in terms of emphasis on family, education and hard work,' Goyal, whose family migrated to the US in the 1970s, said with a faint American accent.
Goyal believes that failure of the India-US civil nuclear deal would be a big disappointment to the Indian American community who have lobbied tirelessly to get the 123 legislation past the Congress last year, but it would not be a decisive setback to burgeoning India-US ties in the long term.
'If the deal passes, the strategic relationship will grow more vigorously. If it doesn't, the relationship will probably not be as close as it would have been. But neither would there be a rollback from the present state of ties,' he said.
Batting vigorously for his party, which is known to be hawkish on non-proliferation, Goyal said the deal has a future under the Democratic dispensation.
'If you look at last year's voting pattern in the US Congress, there is a significant Democratic support for the nuclear deal.'
Whom is he betting on in the 2008 poll sweepstakes? Goyal plays it cautiously, refusing to name any favourites, but one thing he is sure of – a Democratic victory would be a boost to India-US ties and the Indian American community.
'That's because the Democratic Party is more aligned with the values of Indian Americans,' he said.
Philanthropy The New Muse Of NRIs
Adopt a village in rural Punjab. Or, help clean up dirty rivers and build houses for the impoverished in the hinterlands of India. This is the new philanthropic mantra that has fired the imagination of NRIs, says Harinder Takhar, the first Indian origin minister in Canada's biggest province Ontario. 'Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are now really interested in doing something more meaningful and lasting for the country they left behind,' Takhar, Minister of Small Business and Entrepreneurship in Ontario, said in an interview during a recent visit to New Delhi.
'NRIs can contribute in a positive way to socio-economic transformation of India. We are now thinking in terms of giving concrete shape to some of these ideas like adopting a village or building schools,' Takhar, who had come here to attend the sixth conclave of overseas Indians, said.
'The Punjab government has come out with many ideas and suggestions like building schools, hospitals or gurdwaras in fifty-fifty partnership. We are open to these ideas,' he said.
Takhar, a 50-something businessman who migrated to Canada from Punjab in the early seventies, is, however, not in favour of centralised funds to channelise the NRIs' philanthropic impulse.
'Large centralised funds entail huge administrative costs. Moreover, we are not sure whether money is being used for intended beneficiaries,' said Takhar, who also served as a minister of transport in Ontario government.
'If it is done individually, they can relate to these projects better. They can see the change happening with their own eyes,' he said.
Takhar is impressed by winds of change sweeping the country he left behind in early seventies and transformation in its image as a rising power in the world.
'India is on the way to becoming an economic power and is seen increasingly as an economic giant with its economy growing at around 10 per cent every year. The world is now realising that India is the place to be in.
'For NRIs, it's a big moment. There is a resurgent pride in India and all things Indians.'
Economic ties between India and Canada, however, remain much below potential with bilateral trade just about $4 billion, Takhar said, stressing that both countries need to do more to cash in on new opportunities.
'We need to promote Canada as a top investment destination. It has a conducive business environment and is home to world class companies. Some of big Indian companies like Tatas, Aditya Birla Group and Ranbaxy are already here,' he said.
'What stands in the way is a lack of sufficient information about opportunities in both countries. We need to make Canadian companies more aware of huge opportunities in India,' he said.
Takher also made a strong pitch for an entry of Canadian carmakers in India's burgeoning automobile sector. Ontario is the leader in the automobile sector in North America, but a downturn in the US economy has hit this sector in Canada, with car manufacturers announcing cuts in jobs. The Indian market is becoming more attractive to Canadian companies, he said.
An invitation to attend the Pravasi Divas, as the jamboree of overseas Indians is called, is a chance to replenish roots and old values that sustain the spectacular success of overseas Indians in their adopted countries.
'NRis are extremely hard working and passionate about what they are doing. They want to pay back and make a lasting contribution to the country they left behind years ago,' he said.
'Functions like the Pravasi Divas help to promote an active dialogue between the diaspora and India. It gives the NRIs a sense of what is happening in India and what the government is trying to achieve.'
'Indians abroad can harness their skills and expertise to benefit India,' he added.
The art of philanthropy and the Indian diaspora
By Shubha Singh
Indians have a long tradition of charitable giving that flows from the concept of 'daan' as a religious obligation, and many Indians who have gone abroad to make their fortune also want to do something for their homeland. IIT alumni associations have set up foundations that have collected substantial funds, which have been used to upgrade facilities, add to the infrastructure and set up new schools in the alma mater.
Individual NRIs such as Britain-based Raj Loomba have done considerable charitable work in India. Punjab-born Loomba began business with a market stall in Cheshire in 1964 and over the years built a flourishing clothing and fashion business in Britain. In 1997, he registered the Loomba Trust as a charitable institution in Britain in memory of his mother with the aim to provide education and support for children of poor widows. The trust began its operations with the target of providing education for 100 children in each of 29 states of the country. It now supports the education of 3,610 children, including 500 orphaned children of tsunami victims in Tamil Nadu, and has extended its activities to Bangladesh, Kenya and Sri Lanka.
Loomba's drive and enthusiasm has made the Loomba Trust a well-recognised Indian charity in Britain. Its Diwali function was attended by a host of celebrities and raised 250,000 pounds ($493,000) for its charitable activities. With its emphasis on widows and their children, the Loomba Trust organised the premiere of Deepa Mehta's film "Water" in London and has raised funds through other high-profile events.
Other people of Indian origin settled abroad have also felt the need to give something back to the country. The Indian diaspora has responded with contributions in times of need such as wars and natural disasters, from the time Indians in East Africa sent donations to India during the 1962 Sino-Indian war to the overwhelming response after the earthquake in Latur and Gujarat.
Estimates on the inflow of diasporic philanthropy are difficult to come by because a large part of it is carried out through informal channels. Giving funds for charitable purposes while on a visit to India is the most common form of diaspora philanthropy. Most charitable donations by overseas Indians are given to organisations where there is a personal link through family or friends since there is little personal satisfaction for a donor that his contribution has made a beneficial impact when there is no feedback on how the donation was utilised.
Having prospered abroad, Indians want to give back to their native places. Most of these contributions have been routed through friends and relatives rather than in response to appeals for donations by NGOs or charitable organisations. But the experience of giving has not always been a satisfactory one. For instance, Chicago-based NRI Ramu Verma's cousin had helped set up a computer lab in his local village school in Haryana, but when Verma visited the village five years later he discovered that the lab was no longer in use. He found to his dismay that three computers were not working and two others were missing. Village politics and factional fighting had rendered the lab dysfunctional and there was no one Ramu Verma could turn to for setting things right as his own relatives were involved in the factions.
According to another NRI, most Indians give mainly at the time of natural calamities at home. "I would like to make regular contributions, but I'm not sure how I should go about it. Indian associations in America mobilised contributions for those rendered homeless by the devastating earthquake in Gujarat and victims of the tsunami. But there is some discomfort among the donors over whether their contributions reached the victims or not. Some of us have heard stories about aid not reaching the truly needy," the NRI said.
There is a strong distrust of government organisations among the overseas community due to perceived corruption, bureaucratic sloth and inefficiency. Indians living abroad are also wary of civil society associations and NGOs because of a lack of transparency in their functioning and accounting methods. The personal link with individual organisations usually helps to overcome the misgivings about the functioning of Indian organisations.
The Indian ethos of giving is a personal one linked to religion, but in the West, Indians have become familiar with the institutionalised manner in which charitable donations are made in those countries. Indians living abroad have been influenced by the Western pattern of social service and culture of giving. Many large American companies have a policy of making matching contributions to the donations made by their employees to certain listed charities. Companies with a significant number of Indian employees have some Indo-American not-for-profit organisations on their list of charities. But for more organised and systematic philanthropy, recipient organisations in India need to build up public credibility with greater transparency in their operations.
Philanthropic institutions in the West understand that well-defined distribution channels for philanthropic contributions have a significant effect on helping to increase the volume of donations. The awareness that a well organised and effective distribution network exists usually has the effect of converting a generalised willingness to give into the positive action of making a donation.
Overseas Indian associations have been active at times of natural disaster but now some of them are trying to make a more valuable impact. Indians living abroad have offered not just financial support but also help in accessing resources such as specialised knowledge skills and new technology. The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) is initiating a pilot programme in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar for rural healthcare using innovative practices in preventive care measures and community preparedness.
"To make a difference where it matters" TERI has started a programme that seeks to make technology based solutions for rural areas under the adopt a village concept. Its website details the kind of programmes it offers – from supply of drinking water to sanitation to water harvesting – and also lists the cost involved in each project. It allows prospective donors to choose projects in their preferred geographical locations in the country and to be active partners in the project if they so desire. While the programme is new, TERI has received queries from Indians abroad wanting to make some contributions.
The Indian government also intends to set up a Global Indian Foundation – or Pravasi Bharatiya Kosh – to promote philanthropy in the diasporic community. It is likely to be launched at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas function Jan 8-9. The foundation would provide a channel for overseas Indians to contribute to causes such as education, health and rural development in India. Contributors can make small or large donations for specific projects in the region of their choice. The foundation will follow a similar pattern where contributors can view the impact of their contribution on the internet or make a personal visit to the area of activity in India.
Decoding Modi's Victory and Secular Politics
By Manish Chand
Narendra Modi's repeat landslide victory in Gujarat against the spectacular odds stacked against him – anti-incumbency, the odious hangover of the 2002 riots, an unforgiving Muslim minority, BJP spoilers and a hostile media – has exposed the fragility and speciousness of secular politics practised in the country by those who are quick to seize on the secularism mantra as the sole rallying point.
One of the first reactions from the Left parties after it became clear that Modi has won the Gujarat sweepstakes defying all punters and pundits was that the victory should encourage secular forces to come together to face a resurgent "communal threat". In other words, Modi may have won Gujarat, but in the process he may have unintentionally created a bigger headache for the BJP by forcing the so-called secular parties into a closer embrace than before. Other reactions were on more predictable lines: Congress party spokesperson Veerappa Moily tried to put a brave face on his party's abject defeat, saying success doesn't make a man virtuous.
In other words, no matter how many elections Modi wins, it does not wash away his sins in being an alleged abettor or silent onlooker to the communal holocaust that engulfed Gujarat over five years ago, leaving a sharply polarised polity behind. Modi, basking in this historic win seen by pundits as a sort of watershed in Indian politics, can now retort with glee: "If I am maut ka suadgar (merchant of death, as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi tried to project him), then so are all those people who voted for me." And when he says that, regardless of what you and I think, a majority of Gujaratis are likely to applaud in unison.
True, no electoral victory can extenuate the enormity of what happened in Gujarat in 2002, allegedly with active connivance of or a silent nod from the powers-that-be in Gandhinagar. In all fairness, Gujarat, the land of Gandhi, Patel and Dhirubhai Patel which is now being remoulded as the laboratory of Hindutva, may have moved on, but Modi could have shown at least some sign of remorse or said sorry. But in his strong man image – tough, incorruptible and not easily swayed by compromise – he has done none of these.
Despite all this, the Congress has clearly not been able to tap into the pervasive mood of resentment and outrage among Muslims, whether in Gujarat or in the last elections in Uttar Pradesh, because it sounded apologetic about making riots a central issue in elections, thinking it may play into Modi's hands. Communist leader Sitaram Yechuri pointed this out when he said after Modi's victory that the Congress campaign against communalism was not "concerted enough". Other Left leaders said the Congress did not have the stomach to go the whole hog on the issue of communalism as was evident from the flip-flop on Sonia Gandhi's "maut ka sudagar" remark after Modi justified the encounter death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.
And for all its tall claims about speaking for "aam admi" (the common man) against chartered members of Shining India, the Congress was spectacularly tardy and inept in forging a coalition of Muslims and backward castes that could have derailed the Modi juggernaut.
The real point about Gujarat verdict 2007 is that it has discredited the politically inconvenient brand of secular politics, as practised by its current votaries who feed on Muslim anxieties of being swamped by an assertive, intolerant majority and regard Muslims as a vote bank to be milked at will. In 1992, the then Congress government led by P.V. Narasimha Rao is said to have played a game of duplicity in the days leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, putting one foot in the Hindutva camp and the other in assuaging the minorities. Rao is said to have been sleeping when the news of the demolition of the mosque broke.
Many political observers have pointed out that the so-called secular leaders have been cynically using secularism as a slogan without showing any real courage in standing up for what they seek to espouse. In their pronouncements on secularism, which essentially amount to branding their chief opponents as communal monsters in a kind of contrived demonology, one can barely see any conviction. Moreover, such a posture reeks of an opportunistic move to perpetuate the Hindu-Muslim divide for purely electoral reasons.
At this point, one may ask what are the lessons of the Gujarat elections for national elections that could be held within the next one and a half years. Although the dynamics of state and national politics differ sharply, there is one enduring message in Modi's victory: it's time for all mainstream political parties to move beyond sloganeering centred around secularism to real all too real issues of development and national identity.
It may sound simplistic, but it's time to demystify punditry and unscramble many an alphabet puzzle – BIMARU, KHAM etcetera – that clutter political discourse and return to the plain sense of things. The point is no matter how high-sounding manifestoes and pamphlets of political parties are and how admirable it is to place the institution above personalities, leadership matters. And leadership means decisiveness, calculation, sincerity and conviction and embodying in words and deeds the idea of India a leader stands for. The idea of India a leader espouses may be a contentious one, but he must believe in it wholly and completely and not regard it as a matter of compromise. Not that Modi embodies all of these ideals; far from it – but his victory proved that despite what cynics say millions of Gujaratis saw him as embodying "Gujarati asmita" and 'vibrant Gujarat.'
In other words, the next ruling dispensation should not be forged on the basis of the fear of Modi – read real or imagined of threats to secularism – but on seeing Modi as just one of the competing ideas in national discourse and making real the promise of India for its one-billion-plus citizens.
K. Subrahmanyam
China Connect2012.09.19China gets real, engages India to counter US
India links trade with China to full withdrawal, national security
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Today's buying process is often referred to as the buyers journey. This whitepaper outlines the series of steps companies need to implement in order to successfully follow, track and lead buyers through their journey to ultimately becoming your customer.
In today's business, buyers are in control of the sales process and have turned it into the buying process. The whole concept of social marketing is the key to building relationships, listening to the market, promoting content and influencing buyers even before they're identified as potential leads. If you're ready to go to school on social marketing, you're ready to read and study "The Definitive Guide to Social Marketing" – a workbook from Marketo, a marketing automation company.
In social marketing, it's important to understand where prospects are within their buying process so you can fulfill their informational needs in a timely manner and reach out to them at the right time. "The Definitive Guide to Lead Scoring" from Marketo provides a detailed look at the lead scoring process.
The heart and soul of social marketing is content. It's information that can be used to educate and inform the market, prospects and customers. As simple as it sounds, developing quality content is where a vast majority of companies fall short. Way short. This document may be of help. It offers insight on how to conceive, create and leverage content to promote your products, services and company.
LinkedIn is just one tool among many when it comes to social marketing. Some would argue it is one of the more important tools you can leverage. Here's a quick read on what it takes to put LinkedIn to work within your organization.
Like LinkedIn, Twitter can be a tool for getting in front of prospects before you even know they're a prospect. This document provides you with everything you need to know in order to incorporate Twitter into your aresenal of marketing tools.
Aberdeen Group reports that websites using video have a 40 percent higher conversion rate than sites without and video reduces the number of website visits needed to convert a visitor to a buyer. If you are on the fence about utilizing video as a part of your content development and marketing mix, this report from Aberdeen Group may be very helpful in your decision making.
"Try it, you'll like it!" Yes. But will they like it enough to actually buy it. Free trials can be a very powerful strategy for attracting new customers – but – most attempts end up with companies having lots of users buy not enough payers. To help maximize your rate of conversion, a read through "Closing the Deal: 7 Tips for Converting More Free Trials to Paying Customers" may be worth your while – AND – will take less than 10 minutes.
There are a lot of factors that go into determining appropriate pricing for software. This document, "Don't Just Roll the Dice: A usefully short guide to software pricing" covers just all of them. Good information, regardless of where you are in the development .


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HOME> About us
About Phoenix Publishing & Media Group
Updated:2018-06-20
Phoenix Publishing & Media Group has been China's largest all-round publishing company for the past eight years.
The picture shows a clear structure of Phoenix Publishing & Media, Inc.
Under the banner of PPM, there are 85 wholly-owned subsidiaries, substantial holdings in another 37 companies, and 856 sales outlets.
About Phoenix Publishing & Media Inc
Headquartered in Nanjing, Jiangsu, Phoenix Publishing and Media Inc. is a leading enterprise in the domestic publishing and book distribution industry.


We are here to help if you are looking for rock solid, affordable car insurance in Baytown, Texas. Our agency, All About Insurance, has been setting the standard for excellence in this area for years. The people that comprise our team are highly experienced, dedicated professionals that provide an uncommon level of service every step of the way.
Baytown is a city with a rich history that dates back to the early 1800s. One of its crown jewels is the Baytown Nature Center. It is a 450 acre recreation area and wildlife habitat that is surrounded by water on three sides.
Without question, it is a very special place, and we serve locals with pride. If you are in Coady, Brownwood, Elden, Cove, Beach City, or any other part of Baytown, Texas, an auto insurance and motorcycle insurance resource will always be a phone call away.
When you have family members that are relying on your income, life insurance is an absolute must. We know that the options can be confusing, and we go the extra mile to provide detailed explanations to our clients. Plus, we can obtain life insurance from multiple different insurance companies, so you have freedom of choice with regard to premiums and policy details.
Another type of personal insurance that we offer to people in Baytown, Texas is homeowners insurance. When you have the ideal home insurance in place, you can satisfy your mortgage company and go forward with peace of mind. You can add flood insurance as well, and this is important because homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage.
Renters insurance is another type of coverage that we can obtain for our clients. The home insurance that is carried by a landlord does not cover losses incurred by a tenant, so renters insurance is absolutely essential.
Business insurance is an area of specialization for our agency. We can connect clients with commercial auto insurance, business property insurance, liability insurance, and more.
For personal insurance, home insurance, renters insurance, business insurance, motorcycle insurance, and car insurance in Baytown, Texas, you can't go wrong with All About Insurance. If you would like to discuss your needs with one of our knowledgeable agents, we can be reached by phone at 281-784-2474. There is also a contact form on this website that you can use to send us a message.


Having worked with the dairy foods industry for more than 30 years, I've been fortunate to know and work with an intriguing and interesting array of leaders from companies across North America and ally with people in organizations around the world. Through the years, several of my friends in Washington, D.C., have grown into leaders in other associations, in Congress and in government agencies. It's not something I think about very often; in fact, I pretty much take these relationships for granted. But at our recent board meetings, I was reminded of just how important these relationships and friendships are and how they have become an integral part of my life.
When Dave Fuhrmann, CEO of Foremost Farms, announced that the October board meeting would be his last because he's beginning a well-earned retirement, we all reflected on the happy, sad, difficult and triumphant times we had shared together through industry challenges and through our encounters at industry meetings. Almost immediately it became obvious to all of us that Dave would no longer be at industry meetings, nor would his fun wife, Sandy, be there for the receptions, dinners and occasional Green Bay Packers games in the hotel sports bars. So much is tied to our work relationships that it goes unnoticed until we realize these relationships can end abruptly as people move on to other endeavors.
This isn't a maudlin reflection on what is past, but rather a valuable lesson for those who are in the process of building careers as well as ending them. It's not just about your endeavors and achievements; it's about the people, friendships and relationships that you form and that form you over time. You never know how those relationships might change your life or have an impact on your pursuits, but surely many of them will make a difference or a lasting impression.
An important example from my career in Washington, D.C., which has involved quite a bit of dabbling in politics, is my relationship with a current Congressman from my home state of Ohio who was first elected in 1990: John Boehner. When Congressman Boehner joined the House Agriculture Committee, I went to introduce myself and explained our members' interests in getting the federal government to adopt a more market-oriented dairy policy. He took an interest in our efforts, understood our goals and got involved.
Over the years, John Boehner rose through many leadership positions in the House, including chairman of the House Republican Conference in 1995, chairman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce in 2001, House Majority Leader for a year in 2006 and House Minority Leader beginning in 2007. Then on January 5, 2011, my friend, John Boehner, swore in the 112th Congress as the 53rd Speaker of the House and was re-elected for a second term as Speaker in January 2013.
While the Speaker leads the actions of the House, he also is just behind the Vice President of the United States in succession to the presidency. That means he's a pretty big deal with a lot on his plate. But, fortunately for the dairy industry, he wasn't too busy to remember our issues when the farm bill came up for votes in the House. He got involved and helped us win a floor amendment in the House of Representatives during the 113th Congress. Thanks, Mr. Speaker.
Not all relationships can yield that kind of result, but it's a valuable lesson to remember, so you'll be sure to nurture each and every relationship. They are all important, and you never know where you and your friends may end up.
In today's era of social media, I certainly value my Facebook friends and LinkedIn relationships, but I didn't find them online. On any given day, I may have breakfast with association CEOs and corporate executives, a meeting on Capitol Hill, a trip to visit members and a lunch or dinner to celebrate the achievements of others in my community. It takes time — face time — to develop these relationships, which have provided such rich opportunities for my personal and professional growth.
The dairy industry has many extraordinary people who give of themselves every day to make their organizations, the people who work with them, and their products and services better than ever before. Working together, we can do awesome things to encourage innovation and growth for the U.S. dairy industry, but equally important are the contributions we make to each other through our relationships. There aren't many things in life more important than that.


BONNY DOON — Hidden amid the redwood forest, the Shumei Santa Cruz Farm practices a healthy secret: natural agriculture, a concept that has already seduced a few residents and school food services in the county.
"We try to connect people to nature, and farming is a very good way to understand natural agriculture and connect to the land," said Masahide Koyama, the farm"s development coordinator.
Natural agriculture stems from a farming philosophy developed in the early 20th century by Japanese naturalist and philosopher Mokichi Okada. Okada believed natural things were closer to the divine and advocated for a way to cultivate with minimum human intervention, Koyama said.
"We shouldn"t try to control nature, we should let nature be our guide," said Rosann Kugler, farm development coordinator assistant.
Shumei was started along Bonny Doon Road in 2004 on 22 acres of land considered sacred by the Ohlone Indians. Nothing had been grown on the former vineyard for more than 15 years, which made it an ideal location to grow plants in a natural way, Koyama said.
Natural agriculture acknowledges plants as conscious living entities, growing at their best when planted on the right type of soil. Unlike organic agriculture, Shumei farmers don"t use any kind of natural fertilizer, forcing seeds to grow deeper roots to reach the nutrients they need, Koyama said.
"Modern men"s food supplies have been babied too much," said Paul Slobody, a Santa Cruz resident who helped launch the farm.
Crops are carefully planted, watched and watered but their cultivation does not involve any other input, Slobody added.
The method has surprising results for the palate.
Farm manager Masaharu Noda acknowledges that Shumei"s fruits and vegetables — including strawberries, lettuce, garlic, onions, snow and sugar peas, radishes and carrots at this time of the year — need more time to grow than treated ones. But the Shumei farmers believe following seasons and using seeds from older plants is the best way to follow.
Requiring patience and experience to adapt to the growing location, the philosophy spreads beyond Japan and the United States.
Shumei farmers sell their produces weekly at farmers markets in Felton, Mountain View and Saratoga, Koyama said. The farm also provides fresh fruit and vegetables to San Lorenzo Valley and Boulder Creek elementary schools, and runs a Community Supported Agriculture Support program involving 30 families.
Shumei is an international organization spreading and implementing the concept of natural agriculture around the world. It counts more than 300,000 members cultivating in farms located in Japan, Northern America, Europe, South-Eastern Asia and Africa.


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Q: Online personal extension collection of Chrome browser Is it possible to have an online site to see the list/collection of installed extensions of the Chrome browsers installed among my PCs?
ps.
I noticed that we have the Chrome backup feature which will restore my chrome extensions after we sign in via a Google account.
So I need to see the list online somewhere so that to disabled/remove the extensions that I don't wanna waste time reinstalling.

A: If you sign into Chrome with your Google account it can sync your installed extensions on all of the machines you use Chrome.
You can control this by going to Settings -> Advanced sync settings...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Missouri acknowledged Monday that it reported inflated numbers of food stamp recipients to the federal government, calling into question millions of dollars of bonuses paid to the state for running one of the nation's top-flight programs.
The Department of Social Services said a computer programming error has consistently exaggerated the figures submitted since September 2002.
You know, the most cynical amongst us would claim that computer errors that "accidentally" would give preferential treatment to the organization using or writing the software would get qualified as lower priority defects and would be allowed to run as long as possible.
However, the teams I've worked on probably wouldn't allow that sort of thing to occur. But maybe I'm not cynical enough.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 7:26 am by The Director	and is filed under Failed applications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.


Deep breath, and reflections on Browns-Jets.
Well Sunday's game felt like old days. In the first half, when the Browns were looking great, I turned to my buddy and said "what a weird feeling, huh?" As in nervousness, excitement, all at 1PM on a Sunday, for the first time in what seems like a long time. We were watching a team that was for real, a team made up of "professional football players" as Bill Simmons might say, and it feels good.
The feelings turned to elation, and then heartbreak, of course, as the Jets took over the ball with 24 seconds in overtime, and Santonio Holmes darted between three Browns defensive backs for a game winning touchdown with just 16 seconds to play. Ouch. Ball game, 26-20 Jets. Oh what I would have given for a duplication of 23-20 Browns from my childhood.
Most of the postgame chatter was about a few negative, game turning plays, but before that, I just need to point out that Bud Shaw hit the nail on the head--it's apparent that the Browns now have put their trust in Colt McCoy...there is no going back, and I don't think Browns fans will complain at this point. True,the lack of production by the wide receivers is very much alarming, and it makes me nervous about the "arm strength" questions McCoy had coming out of college. But the leadership and smarts are there, and he makes some very nice plays, especially when it counts.
-Chanci Stuckey fumbling in overtime. Now I find it impossible to believe that Browns fans can hate Chanci for what he did--fought for more yards, tried to get closer to what he knew the field position needed to be for a first down. It wasn't irresponsible 1-vs-5 fighting for more yards, it was a good strip and 20/20 hindsight is no good here.
-Joe Haden picking off Sanchez late in overtime inside the Browns 3. That led to pass-run-run-punt from the back of the end zone, which then led to the Jets winning TD. Should Haden have batted it down, and the Browns taken their chances on a punt. In retrospect, yes. But were the Jets in four-down territory? Who knows. I don't know, if Mangini had a "pause" button, what he would have told Haden to do there. Probably drop it. But if the Jets go for it, move down the field another 20 yards and kick a field goal, Haden would have been ripped for that.
-Play call from the 3 yard line in overtime. Yes, running would have run the clock out and taken the tie. I don't think anyone wants a tie. But why pass deep on first down--a pass to a receiver who was open, Ben Watson, but overthrown--and then run twice? That incomplete pass indicated the desire to win. The two runs indicated desire to tie. So pick your poison. Should have passed on second and third downs, and tried to do something.
-Nobody has mentioned the ensuing punt return. A dagger in the shoulder (not heart yet) when the Jets got the ball back.
-Finally, the Holmes touchdown. Bad play by the defensive backs. They know it, we know it. No need to kick 'em when they're down.
Regardless we can be proud of this team, they played hard. Hillis came out crushing, McCoy showed his poise, but some days it's not enough, and Sunday was one of those days.
Jordan's Response to "What Should I do"
Cleveland answers, "Here's what you should do."


Recently said good bye to these two families.
This is Judith, her little baby, Anna, was the one who died back in March. When I went to visit she told me she was worried that she was never going to see me again after the burial. We had a really nice time just sitting and talking. (Usually the women insist on rushing off to cook when I come to visit and we never get to actually talk.) She is still convinced that witchcraft killed her baby so keep praying for her faith in God.
And Ester and her mother. Theirs is the baby that died the first week of June. It was the hardest burial I'd ever been to. Ester is mentally ill but remembered me and was actually happy to see me this last time. (The previous two times I'd seen her, when she was in labor and when we were bringing her baby's body back she was combative and angry at me- understandably.) Her mother cried when I told her I was leaving Soroti and said I was the only person who had ever loved them. I know that with the stigma of mental illness they are often criticized by the community and discriminated against. Even the other midwife at the clinic wouldn't help them because of Ester's status They insisted on giving me a chicken and a bag of cassava because I couldn't stay to let them cook for me. I know how they are barely scraping by to feed themselves but they would not let me say No to their gifts. Please pray they would feel loved by God.


SmithValeriote was proud to participate in the 2017 Business Expo held at Bingemans in Kitchener. Please click HERE to view a snap from this event!
The winner of the $100.00 gift card to Fistro Supper Club Bistro in Cambridge goes to Mr. Frank Halsey. Congratulations!
2017 CIBC Run for the Cure!


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Visa Launches Crypto Advisory Services — Says 'Digital Currencies Are Taking Greater Hold in Popular Consciousness' – Finance Bitcoin News
bitcoin.com No comments
Payments giant Visa has launched global crypto advisory services. The company's executive says: "We've seen a material shift in our clients' mindset in the last year, from a desire to explore and experiment with crypto, to actually building a strategy and product roadmap."
Visa's Global Crypto Advisory Services
Payments giant Visa announced Wednesday the launch of its "global crypto advisory services," an offering within Visa Consulting & Analytics (VCA). "This comes at a moment when digital currencies are taking greater hold in the popular consciousness," Visa noted.
The company explained that its consultants and product experts have gained expertise from working with more than 60 crypto platforms. Visa noted that they can help "financial institutions evaluate the crypto opportunity, develop concrete strategies, and pilot new user experiences and innovations like crypto rewards programs and CBDC-integrated consumer wallets."
Claudio Di Nella, head of Visa Europe's consulting & analytics, opined:
We've seen a material shift in our clients' mindset in the last year, from a desire to explore and experiment with crypto, to actually building a strategy and product roadmap.
"We came to Visa to learn more about crypto and stablecoins and the use cases that are most relevant for our retail and commercial business lines," said Uma Wilson, executive vice president at UMB Bank.
On Wednesday, Visa also released a report titled "The Crypto Phenomenon: Consumer Attitudes & Usage." It includes a survey of more than 6,000 financial decision-makers across eight markets: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S.
According to the survey findings:
Awareness of crypto is almost universal at 94% globally among survey participants with discretion over their household finances.
In addition, "Nearly one in three crypto-aware adults already own or use cryptocurrency, and the majority of that group (62%) say their use has increased in the past year."
The survey also found that "Among current crypto owners, 81% express interest in crypto-linked cards, which allow you to convert and spend crypto at the retailers where you shop in the same way you can use a debit or credit card." Meanwhile, "84% are interested in crypto rewards, which allow you to earn crypto as a reward for your card spending."
Cuy Sheffield, Visa's head of crypto, recently said: "Crypto is becoming cultural. It's becoming cool." He explained that a "whole new class" of mainstream consumers are entering the crypto space because of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This week, Visa participated in a funding round for crypto transaction monitoring and forensics platform TRM.
What do you think about Visa launching crypto advisory services? Let us know in the comments section below.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
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Making a buzz of one's personality, company, business products, websites is effective if marketed or advertized in the web. In the web though, it has to have a place in the search engine. To optimize search engine optimization, driving a traffic to one's site is extremely necessary. SocialSpark.com is a great help to advertisers in promoting products or services. Socialspark have thousands of publishers or bloggers to promote the product, drive traffic and create a buzz. In no time at all, once products or services are advertised through Socialspark, a stream of customers will be buzzing up product owners sites for a buy. Another effective promotion is to get a blogger sponsor the company, brand or product in her or his blogsite. I ask myself now, what do i want to sponsor in my blog? Well, i want to sponsor branded shoes in my sites. Shoes are anybody's favorite. This way i can derive income from said sponsorship through visitors click or visitors order through my website.