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Counter Culture BOOK CLUB
Generous Justice BOOK CLUB
How the Nations Rage BOOK CLUB
Jesus Outside the Lines BOOK CLUB
Prayer BOOK CLUB
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount BOOK CLUB
The Gospel According to Jesus: What is Authentic Faith? BOOK CLUB
The Prayer That Turns the World Upside Down: The Lord's Prayer BOOK CLUB
The Tech-Wise Family BOOK CLUB
Theology and Misc. Book Reviews
Jerry Bridges Book Reviews
John Piper Book Reviews
Martyn Lloyd-Jones Book Reviews and Interview
Michael Card Book Reviews
R. C. Sproul Book Reviews
Sinclair Ferguson Book Reviews
50 Helpful Quotes from The Whole Christ by Sinclair Ferguson
Tim Keller Book Reviews
Biography Book Reviews
My Interview with P.K. (Pam) Hodel About Her New Book ~ Simply My Window
Sports Book Reviews
MUSIC AND CONCERT REVIEWS
WORK AND LEADERSHIP
FAITH & WORK BOOK CLUBS
Designing Your Life BOOK CLUB
Don't Waste Your Life BOOK CLUB
God at Work BOOK CLUB
How then Should We Work? BOOK CLUB
Kingdom Calling BOOK CLUB
NIV Faith and Work Bible BOOK CLUB
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership BOOK CLUB
The Advantage BOOK CLUB
The Call BOOK CLUB
The Conviction to Lead BOOK CLUB
The Economics of Neighborly Love BOOK CLUB
The Gospel at Work BOOK CLUB
Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good by Steven Garber BOOK CLUB
What's Best Next BOOK CLUB
Work and Our Labor in the Lord (Short Studies in Biblical Theology) by James M. Hamilton Jr. BOOK CLUB
Work and Worship BOOK CLUB
Work Matters BOOK CLUB
Faith and Work Library
About My Father's Business: Taking Your Faith to Work by Regi Campbell
An Uncommon Guide to Retirement: Finding God's Purpose for the Next Season of Life by Jeff Haanen
BOOKS BY KEN BLANCHARD
BOOKS BY MATT PERMAN
25 Great Quotes from What's Best Next by Matt Perman
Business for the Glory of God; The Bible's Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business by Wayne Grudem
Called to Lead: 26 Leadership Lessons from the Life of the Apostle Paul by John MacArthur
Calling to Christ: Where's My Place by Robert Davis Smart
Christians on the Job: Winning at Work Without Compromising Your Faith by David Goetsch
Covert Cows and Chick-fil-A: How Faith, Cows, and Chicken Built an Iconic Brand by Steve Robinson
Crazy Busy: A Mercifully Short Book About a (Really) Big Problem by Kevin DeYoung
Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch
Designed to Lead: The Church and Leadership Development by Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck
Didn't See It Coming: Overcoming the Seven Greatest Challenges That No One Expects and Everyone Experiences by Carey Nieuwhof
Discipleship with Monday in Mind: How Churches Across the Country Are Helping Their People Connect Faith and Work by Skye Jethani and Luke Bobo
Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity by Tim Challies
20 Quotes from Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity by Tim Challies
Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People by S. Truett Cathy
Essays for the Common Good: Nine Pastors and Churches Share How They Are Putting Ideas into Practice. Edited by Luke Bobo.
From Weakness to Strength: 8 Vulnerabilities That Can Bring Out the Best in Your Leadership by Scott Sauls
Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human by John Mark Comer
Glory in the Ordinary: Why Your Work in the Home Matters to God by Courtney Reissig
God at Work: Live Each Day with Purpose by Ken Costa
God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life by Gene Edward Veith
Gospel-Centered Work: Becoming the Worker God Wants You to Be by Tim Chester
H3 Leadership: Be Humble. Stay Hungry. Always Hustle by Brad Lomenick
Hand Me Another Brick: How Effective Leaders Motivate Themselves and Others by Charles Swindoll
Heaven is a Place on Earth: Why Everything You Do Matters to God by Michael E. Wittner
How Then Should We Work? by Hugh Whelchel
How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority by Clay Scroggins
Immanuel Labor—God's Presence in Our Profession: A Biblical, Theological, and Practical Approach to the Doctrine of Work by Russell E. Gehrlein
In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri J. M. Nouwen
It's My Pleasure by Dee Ann Turner
Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job by Dennis W. Bakke
Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will by Kevin DeYoung
Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good by Amy Sherman
Know Your Why: Finding and Fulfilling Your Calling in Life by Ken Costa
LEAD . . . for God's Sake! A Parable for Finding the Heart of Leadership by Todd G. Gongwer
Lead Like Jesus Revisited by Ken Blanchard, Phil Hodges and Phyllis Hendry
Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church by Paul David Tripp
Living Salty and Light-filled Lives in the Workplace by Luke Bobo
Luther on Leadership by Stephen J. Nichols
Master of One: Find and Focus on the Work You Were Created to Do by Jordan Raynor
Mission at Work: Finding God's Grace Through Your Professional Work by Bryan Chapell
Monday Morning Atheist: Why We Switch God Off at Work and How You Fix It by Doug Spada and Dave Scott
One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me to Love the World Instead of Save It by Jena Lee Nardella
21 Quotes on Calling, Vocation and Leadership from One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me to Love the World Instead of Save It by Jena Lee Nardella
Reset: Living a Grace-Paced Life in a Burnout Culture by David Murray
Rising to the Call by Os Guinness
Self-Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Gain the Mindset and Skillset for Getting What You Need to Succeed, Revised Edition by Ken Blanchard, Susan Fowler and Laurence Hawkins.
Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer by J. Oswald Sanders
Taking God to Work: The Keys to Ultimate Success by Steve Reynolds and David L. Winters
Talent Magnet: How to Attract and Keep the Best People by Mark Miller
The Accidental Executive: Lessons on Business, Faith, and Calling from the Life of Joseph by Albert M. Erisman
The Art of Work: A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do by Jeff Goins
The Call: Finding and Fulfilling God's Purpose For Your Life by Os Guinness. (expanded and revised 20th anniversary edition)
The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life by Os Guinness
The Captain Class: The Hidden Force behind the World's Greatest Teams, by Sam Walker
The Catalyst Leader: 8 Essentials for Becoming a Change Maker by Brad Lomenick
25 Quotes on Leadership from The Catalyst Leader by Brad Lomenick
The Gospel & Work (Gospel for Life) Edited by Russell Moore and Andrew T. Walker
The Gospel at Work: How the Gospel Gives New Purpose and Meaning to Our Jobs (Updated and Expanded Edition) by Sebastian Traeger and Greg D. Gilbert
The Gospel at Work: How Working for King Jesus Gives Purpose and Meaning to Our Jobs by Sebastian Traeger and Greg Gilbert
The Gospel Goes to Work: God's Big Canvas of Calling and Renewal by Stephen R. Graves
The Leadership Style of Jesus: How to Make a Lasting Impact by Michael Youssef
The Marks of a Spiritual Leader by John Piper
The Mythical Leader: The Seven Myths of Leadership by Ron Edmondson
The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
The Uniform of Leadership: Lessons on True Success from My ESPN Life by Jason Romano
The Way of the Shepherd by Kevin Leman and Bill Pentak
Time for Every Thing by Matt Fuller
Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good by Steven Garber
Whatever You Do: Six Foundations for an Integrated Life, edited by Luke Bobo
Why Does Your Business Exist? A Christian Business Guide to Creating your Mission, Vision, and Values Statements by Chris Patton
Win the Heart: How to Create a Culture of Full Engagement by Mark Miller
Work Matters: Lessons from Scripture by R. Paul Stevens
Work: It's Purpose, Dignity, and Transformation by Daniel M. Doriani
Workplace Grace: Becoming a Spiritual Influence at Work by Bill Peel and Walt Larimore
Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals by Michael Hyatt
Calling, Vocation & Work
Work and Leadership Library
Bet on Talent: How to Create a Remarkable Culture That Wins the Hearts of Customers by Dee Ann Turner
Books by Andy Andrews
Books by Andy Stanley
25 Quotes from Making Vision Stick by Andy Stanley
Books by Dave Kraft
Books by Dave Ramsey
Books by Jim Collins
Books by John Maxwell
Books by Kerry Patterson et al
Books by Malcolm Gladwell
Books by Patrick Lencioni
Books by Tony Dungy
Chess Not Checkers: Elevate Your Leadership Game by Mark Miller
Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success by John Wooden
Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others by Cheryl Bachelder
Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family by Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia
Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team by Simon Sinek, David Mead and Peter Docker
It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership by Colin Powell
Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love by Richard Sheridan
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't by Simon Sinek
Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
StandOut 2.0 by Marcus Buckingham
StandOut by Marcus Buckingham
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
The Conviction to Lead by Albert Mohler
The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow by Mark Miller
The Road to Character by David Brooks
The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do by Ken Blanchard & Mark Miller
20 Quotes on Servant Leadership from The Secret by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller
The Serving Leader: Five Powerful Actions to Transform Your Team, Business and Community by Kenneth R. Jennings and John Stahl-Wert
My Interview with the authors of THE SERVING LEADER and an Excerpt from the Book
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Trust Works! Four Keys to Building Lasting Relationships by Ken Blanchard
Leadership Philosophies
FAVORITE QUOTES OF THE WEEK
15 Quotes on Faith from "The Gospel According to Daniel: A Christ-Centered Approach" by Bryan Chapell
20 Helpful Quotes on the Transgender Revolution from "We Cannot Be Silent" by Albert Mohler
25 Quotes from Anxious for Nothing by John MacArthur
50 Important Quotes from the book "We Cannot Be Silent" by Albert Mohler
COVENANT SEMINARY PAPERS
Reflections on Covenant Seminary Classes with Scotty Smith
Reflections on my time at Covenant Theological Seminary
I Peter Paper
Warfield Paper
BIBLICAL IMAGINATION ~ MICHAEL CARD
Why I love Michael Card
Matthew: The Gospel of Identity
Mark: The Gospel of Passion
Luke: The Gospel of Amazement
John: The Gospel of Wisdom
Coram Deo ~
Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview
Tag Archives: The Tech-Wise Family
by Bill Pence	Leave a comment
Ruth (Food for the Journey Keswick Devotionals) by Alistair Begg with Elizabeth McQuoid. IVP UK. 72 pages. 2017
The Food for the Journey series is a new series of 30-day undated devotionals, which takes messages by well-loved Bible teachers from the Keswick Convention and reformats them into accessible daily devotionals and in a size that will fit into your jacket pocket or handbook. This particular edition features devotionals from respected pastor Alistair Begg on the Old Testament book of Ruth. Each day of the devotional from Begg ends with a newly written section (perhaps by the co-author Elizabeth McQuoid), designed to help the reader apply the passage from Ruth to their own life and situation.
We are told that it was into a whirl of social, religious and moral chaos that the book of Ruth was written, reminding the children of God that there was hope; that a remnant of true faith remained; that God was continuing to work in the lives of ordinary people as they went about their daily chores. Begg tells us that this is the only book in the Bible entirely devoted to the domestic story of a woman. He states that the book shows the amazing compassion and empathy of God for the back streets and side alleys and the people who feel themselves to be last, lost and left out. He encourages us by stating that God is still preoccupied with people like Naomi, telling us that God sets his love and affection on unlikely people, in unlikely contexts, doing routine things. He states that quite surprisingly, God chooses to work his eternal purposes out in the ordinariness of the lives of ordinary people.
I'm encouraged to see this new series of books. Consider adding this book on Ruth to your devotional reading. Continue reading →
Categories: Book Reviews and News | Tags: Alistair Begg, Andy Crouch, book reviews, Christ and culture, Christian book news, Christianity and Culture, Coram Deo, Elizabeth McQuoid, Food for the Journey Keswick Devotionals, Ruth, The Tech-Wise Family | Permalink.
Some Pastors and Teachers: Reflecting a Biblical Vision of What Every Minister is Called to Be by Sinclair Ferguson. Banner of Truth. 824 pages. 2017
Sinclair Ferguson is one of today's most respected Reformed theologians. In fact the late R.C. Sproul called him his favorite theologian. Anytime Dr. Ferguson publishes a new book it is going to get my attention. This eight-hundred plus page volume is no ordinary book, and will be a welcome addition to any pastor's library.
The book, which covers many of the themes and tasks of Christian ministry, is broken into five major sections, which include 39 chapters. The major sections are:
Pastors and Teachers: Three Johns
John Calvin: Pastor-Teacher
Puritans: Pastors and Teachers
The Pastor and Teaching
The Pastor and Preaching
The title of the book comes from Paul's words in Ephesians 4:11. The author tells us that many of these chapters were first published in relatively obscure places in the context of busy pastoral ministry. Now, he sees how the essays seem to self-select and rearrange themselves into a coherent whole. He hopes that these pages will encourage other pastors to stretch themselves beyond their normal pulpit or lectern preparation and accept invitations to study, speak and write on subjects outside of their norm.
He encourages pastors and teachers to utilize their gifts for fellow pastors. He sees this book as representing some of the gifts that the Lord has given him for others who have an interest in and a concern for the ministry of the gospel.
Although this is a massive volume, each chapter is an entity on its own. The author states that readers can enter and leave at any point they choose as no chapter is completely dependent on the previous chapter or any other chapter in the book. Though a seminary graduate, I'm a ruling elder not a preaching pastor. The arrangement of this book will allow me to focus on those sections that focus on teaching, rather than preaching, for example.
I look forward to benefiting from the wisdom contained in these pages for many years. This would be an excellent addition to any minister's library. Continue reading →
Categories: Book Reviews and News | Tags: Andy Crouch, book reviews, Christ and culture, Christian book news, Christianity and Culture, Coram Deo, John Piper, Reading the Bible Supernaturally, Sinclair Ferguson, Some Pastors and Teachers, The Tech-Wise Family | Permalink.
Rescuing Christmas: The Search for Joy that Lasts by Carl Laferton. The Good Book Company. 66 pages. 2017
The author tells us that while Christmas is a day of great enjoyment for many, sometimes he just finds himself wanting to get through Christmas day intact. Face it, the Christmas season can be both joyful and stressful. Christmas can also be a very sad time, reminding you of who you've lost or who you've never had, or of what you'd hoped to achieve or change this year but never did. Perhaps this year for a very good reason you're simply trying to "get through Christmas". In this short book, the author asks us to imagine whether Christmas could be rescued from the stress or sadness of just getting through Christmas. He asks us to imagine a joy that lasts and endures past Christmas. He tells us that indeed, Christmas does offer that kind of joy. He tells us that the people who experienced the first Christmas and understood its meaning found a joy that did not fade, and we can as well.
The author writes that if we get the meaning of the first Christmas this Christmas season, then we will get the feeling of joy, and find that it is a feeling that lasts. That's the aim of this book, in which he focuses primarily on what happened after Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
He tells us about the Magi who came from the east to Judea. He states that the gifts they gave to the Christ child tell us why the meaning of Christmas can be summed up in the word "rescue". He tells us that the gift of gold tells us what we are rescued from. The gift of frankincense tells us what we are rescued for. And the gift of myrrh tells us what we are rescued by. The author writes that these gifts tell you everything you need to get the message of Christmas, and to feel overjoyed by the message of Christmas, just as the Magi did.
The author states that we are rescued from our rejection of God, we are rescued for relationship with God, and we are rescued by the death of God's son Jesus. He tells us that when we understand that the meaning of Christmas is rescue – a rescue from our rejection of God, a rescue for relationship with God, a rescue by the death of God – then we begin to see that true joy is found not in getting to Christmas, or in getting through Christmas, but in getting Christmas—in grasping its meaning and experiencing its feeling.
This small book is priced such that you can buy multiple copies to give to friends and family, and I would encourage you to do just that this Christmas season. Continue reading →
Categories: Book Reviews and News | Tags: Andy Crouch, book reviews, Carl Laferton, Christ and culture, Christian book news, Christianity and Culture, Come Let Us Adore Him, Coram Deo, Paul Tripp, Rescuing Christmas, The CSB Spurgeon Study Bible, The Tech-Wise Family | Permalink.
by Bill Pence	3 Comments
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. Spiegel & Grau. 354 pages. 2014.
Lecrae is one of my favorite music artists. His new album All Things Work Together is brilliant, and one of the top releases of the year. Recently, he announced that he is "divorcing 'white evangelicalism'". Read John Piper's response here. I was saddened when I read this, and reached out to Lecrae. He suggested a number of books I could read to help with understanding where he was coming from. From those books, my wife Tammy and I chose to start with Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson.
Bryan Stevenson is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. This well-written and powerful book weaves in some stunning statistics about the problem of mass incarceration in the U.S., while telling the heart-breaking story of Walter McMillian (and many others) from thirty years of his work. It's the best book I've read this year.
Bryan's story began in 1983 as a 23-year old student at Harvard Law School working with the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee (SPDC). SPDC's mission was to assist condemned people on death row in Georgia. When he finished his internship he was committed to helping the death row prisoners he had met. He returned to law school with an intense desire to understand the laws and doctrines that sanctioned the death penalty and extreme punishments.
His time on death row revealed that there was something missing in the way we treat people in our judicial system. This is about how easily we condemn people in this country and the injustice we create when we allow fear, anger, and distance to shape the way we treat the most vulnerable among us.
He writes that there are more than two million incarcerated people in the United States, with an additional six million people on probation or parole and an estimated sixty-eight million Americans with criminal records. Other statistics about the U.S. prison system that I highlighted from the book were:
• We have the highest rate of incarceration in the world.
• One in every three black male babies born in this century is expected to be incarcerated.
• By the mid-1980s, nearly 20 percent of the people in jails and prisons had served in the military.
• Convincing empirical evidence that the race of the victim is the greatest predictor of who gets the death penalty.
• By 2010, Florida had sentenced more than a hundred children to life imprisonment without parole for non-homicide offenses, several of whom were thirteen years old at the time of the crime. All of the youngest condemned children—thirteen or fourteen years of age—were black or Latino.
• Over 50 percent of prison and jail inmates have a diagnosed mental illness, a rate nearly five times greater than that of the general adult population. Nearly one in five prison and jail inmates has a serious mental illness. Continue reading →
Categories: Book Reviews and News | Tags: Andy Crouch, book reviews, Bryan Stevenson, Christ and culture, Christian book news, Christianity and Culture, Coram Deo, Just Mercy, Justice and Redemption, The Tech-Wise Family | Permalink.
Trouble In Mind: Bob Dylan's Gospel Years – What Really Happened by Clinton Heylin. Lesser Gods. 320 pages. 2017
The author writes that this book is very much about Dylan's own response to both his newfound religious beliefs and the reaction it engendered by a cynical media. It serves as an excellent companion to Dylan's recently released eight-disc edition of Trouble No More: The Gospel Years (The Bootleg Series Vol. 13). I enjoyed listening to the 102 songs on the box set as I read this book.
I had only been a Dylan fan for only a few years, and not yet a Christian, when Slow Training Coming was released in 1979. Dylan would follow that album with the poorly recorded Saved in 1979 and Shot of Love in 1981, in what has become known as his controversial "Gospel Period". I saw two of the Midwest shows on his 1981 tour.
The author provides a detailed look at this fascinating period, detailing these three recordings, and the various other songs that Dylan wrote and recorded, many of which have just now been released. He also provides a very interesting look at Dylan in concert, from the early shows in which he only performed his new Christian songs and none of his older songs.
So, what really happened? The author states that Dylan, through the ministry of the Vineyard, accepted Christ as his Savior and was baptized. He then attended an intense three-and-a-half-month course studying about the life of Jesus and principles of the faith. Hal Lindsey's best-selling book Satan is Alive and Well on Planet Earth seems to have been a significant influential part of Dylan's discipleship. This was a particularly prolific time of songwriting for Dylan.
The author tells us that the reaction from the fans and critics on the first night in San Francisco when he played only his Christian songs, would set the tone for six months of shows and define the likely critical reception when Slow Train Coming's follow-up album, Saved, was released the following June. For that album, for the first time in his career, Dylan planned to go straight from the road to the studio. Although the album had some very good songs on it, the official release was poorly recorded, with little of the passion the songs had in concert. It was also a critical and commercial failure, and included cover art that Dylan's label wasn't happy with. The cover art was later replaced. Continue reading →
Categories: Book Reviews and News | Tags: A Time for Confidence, Andy Crouch, Bob Dylan, book reviews, Christ and culture, Christian book news, Christianity and Culture, Clinton Heylin, Coram Deo, Stephen J. Nichols, The Tech-Wise Family, Trouble In Mind: Bob Dylan's Gospel Years - What Really Happened | Permalink.
Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World by Eric Metaxas. Viking. 296 pages. 2017
The author is one of our best current biographers having written major works on Wilberforce and Bonhoeffer, as well as shorter biographical works. In this book he aims to separate the facts from the myths about the great Reformer's story, as he looks at Luther "warts and all". Assuming that most are familiar with the main points of Luther's life, I'll focus on unique aspects of Luther's story that this book offers.
The first myth he addresses is that Luther's family were humble peasants. In reality, he writes, Luther's father was a miner. Another myth that the author dispels is that Luther's father was harsh, strict and severe.
The author writes that others (Wycliffe and Huss, for example), sought to reform the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church before Luther, though few remember much about those early Reformers, compared to what we know about Luther.
The author as is his custom, fully embraces his subject giving us a detailed life of Luther. However, much of what he dispels as myth, I've learned from Luther scholars such as R.C. Sproul, Stephen Nichols, Michael Reeves and Roland Bainton.
As a monk, Luther dealt with the issue of how are we to be forgiven of our sins. A 1,600-mile round-trip to Rome was key for Luther. There he wondered "Who knows if it is true?" There he saw the immorality of the priests, with them doing masses in as little as 9 minutes.
Metaxas gives us a different take on Luther's famous breakthrough about justification by faith in Romans 1:17. Basing his speculation on Luther's own words, the author speculates he may have had this breakthrough while sitting on the toilet.
The author also speculates that perhaps Luther actually didn't nail his famous "95 Theses" to the Wittenberg Church door after all, but that this was posted by a custodian.
At the Diet of Worms Luther was asked to recant his writings. After asking for time to consider the request he delivered his response the following day in both German and Latin. His response included his famous "Here I stand" and appealed to his conscience. The author tells us that conscience in Luther's time did not mean what it means today (appeal to our own truth). Instead, it meant appealing to God's truth.
Another myth that the author dispels is Luther's famous throwing of an inkwell at the Devil. The author indicates that event never happened.
Luther, a former priest and monk, would marry Katie, a former nun. The story of the escaped nuns being smuggled in fish barrels is a myth, according to the author. Luther grew to deeply love Katie, and would sadly lose two daughters to death. The author states that he valued women more than most men at that time.
The author highlights conscience, dissent and freedom as he discusses Luther's legacy. The book includes some adult language; most, if not all, from Luther's writings. The audiobook version is well-read by the author, who brings his characteristic wit to the task. Continue reading →
Categories: Book Reviews and News | Tags: Andy Crouch, book reviews, Bryan Stevenson, Christ and culture, Christian book news, Christianity and Culture, Coram Deo, Eric Metaxas, Just Mercy, Martin Luther, The Tech-Wise Family | Permalink.
The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation by Michael Reeves. B&H Publishing Group. 211 pages. 2013
The author, who has written extensively on the Protestant Reformation, states that the Reformation was a revolution, and revolutions not only fight for something, they also fight against something, in the case of the Reformation, this was the old world of medieval Roman Catholicism. He states that most Christians at the time were looking for the improvement, but not the overthrow, of their religion. They were not looking for radical change, only a clearing-up of acknowledged abuses. He tells us that the Reformation was not principally a negative movement about moving away from Rome, but a positive movement about moving towards the gospel.
In this fast-moving history, the author, using his knowledge and wit to introduce us to John Wycliffe (who organized a translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible into English), indulgences, Luther nailing his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church on All Saints' Eve, Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli, the Anabaptists, Mennonites, John Calvin and his ministry in Geneva, and William Tyndale, whose life's work was translating the Bible from its original Greek and Hebrew into English.
He writes about John Knox, the history of the English Reformation, including the Puritans, who thought that the Reformation was a good thing that was not yet complete. We are introduced to the preacher Richard Sibbes, the Westminster Assembly and John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim's Progress. And much, much more.
The author asks if the Reformation is over. He writes that Roman Catholicism continues its belief in purgatory and indulgences, sure signs that the traditional Catholic doctrine of justification is at work. He states that without doubt, there has been something of a change in Rome, but concerning those theological issues that caused the Reformation, no doctrine has been rescinded. As a result, while attempts to foster greater Christian unity must be applauded, it must also be recognized that, as things stand, the Reformation is anything but over. Continue reading →
Categories: Book Reviews and News | Tags: Andy Crouch, book reviews, Christ and culture, Christian book news, Christianity and Culture, Coram Deo, Michael Reeves, The Tech-Wise Family, The Unquenchable Flame | Permalink.
God and the Transgender Debate: What does the Bible actually say about gender identity? by Andrew T. Walker. The Good Book Company. 145 pages. 2017
In the Foreword, Albert Mohler writes that the transgender revolution represents one of the most difficult pastoral challenges that churches in this generation will face. He states that the sexual revolution poses challenges that are not simply going to disappear. The church must be ready to meet these challenges with biblical fidelity and Christ-like compassion.
The author states that all of us need an answer to questions such as: Can a man become a woman? Can a woman become a man? How and when should children be confronted with the debates about gender? What are we to do with children who are a member of one biological sex but feel as though they were born in the wrong body? What do we say to someone experiencing these feelings and desires? How do we love and help those who are deeply hurting? This short, but helpful, book is intended to help with those questions.
Making sure we understand the terms involved is important. The author defines gender identity as a person's self-perception of whether they are male or female, masculine or feminine. He states that when someone experiences distress, inner anguish, or discomfort from sensing a conflict between their gender identity and their biological sex, that person is experiencing gender dysphoria—a mismatch between the gender that matches their biological sex and the gender that they feel themselves to be. He writes that it is crucial to understand that this is a genuine and unchosen experience. It is never something that someone should just "get over".
Is gender dysphoria sinful? He writes that to feel that your body is one sex and your self is a different gender is not sinful. However, deciding to let that feeling rule—to feed that feeling so that it becomes the way you see yourself and the way you identify yourself and the way you act—is sinful, because it is deciding that your feelings will have authority over you, and will define what is right and what is wrong. He states that experiencing gender dysphoria does not mean you are not a Christian. Someone can embrace a transgender identity, or find their identity in Christ, but not both.
He writes that people who identify as transgender report disproportionately higher rates of mental-health problems than the rest of the general population, including depression, suicide, and thoughts of suicide. Continue reading →
Categories: Book Reviews and News | Tags: Andrew Walker, Andy Crouch, book reviews, Christ and culture, Christian book news, Christianity and Culture, Coram Deo, God and the Transgender Debate, The Tech-Wise Family | Permalink.
by Bill Pence	1 Comment
The Miracle of Dunkirk: The True Story of Operation Dynamo by Walter Lord. Open Road Media (Reprint edition). 370 pages. 2017
I read this book after watching Christopher Nolan's excellent film Dunkirk. This is a very detailed and well-researched (written source materials, more than 500 interviews) book. I appreciated the book, but some may get lost in all of the details.
The book tells the amazing story of approximately 400,000 Allied troops that were trapped against the coast near the French port of Dunkirk. Hitler's advancing tanks were only ten miles away. On May 26, "Operation Dynamo" began. By June 4, more than 338,000 men had been evacuated safely to England in one of the great rescues of all time. It was a crucial turning point in World War II.
The book tells the reader the backstory of Dunkirk, and fills in the gaps that the movie viewers may have had. How did the troops get to the beach and into an evacuation situation in the first place? I read about the surrender of the Belgian Army, and the at times contentious relationship between the British and French.
There were many challenges in evacuating the troops across the English Channel to Dover. There was the difficulty of loading at water's edge. Once loaded, the departing boats faced bombings from the air by the Germans, running into underwater mines or encountering German torpedo boats.
It was Captain Tennant who came up with the idea of using the eastern mole or breakwater of Dunkirk harbor as an improvised pier. A steady stream of destroyers, minesweepers, ferries, and other steamers would ease alongside the mole, load troops, and then head for England. Dinghies, rowboats, and launches would load at water's edge and ferry the troops to small ships waiting offshore. These would then ferry the men to the growing fleet of destroyers, minesweepers, and packets lying still farther out. When filled, these would head for Dover. It was a practical, workable scheme, but it was also very slow.
The author writes about a mass of dots coming over the horizon that filled the sea on May 30. The dots were all heading toward Dunkirk. The "dots" were every kind of boat manned by regular British citizens, many without any navigational equipment or experienced captains. They were joining in the rescue effort for Operation Dynamo.
The author states that there were several miracles of Dunkirk.
The weather. The English Channel is usually rough, and rarely behaves for very long. Yet a calm sea was essential to the evacuation, and during the nine days of Dunkirk the Channel was a millpond. He writes that "old-timers" still say they have never seen it so smooth.
Hitler's order of May 24, halting his tanks just as they were closing in for the kill.
Another miracle was provided by the German bombers. The German planes rarely strafed the crowded beaches. They never used fragmentation bombs. They never attacked tempting targets like Dover or Ramsgate.
He writes that whatever the reasons, these lapses allowed additional thousands of men to come home.
Britain lost 2,472 guns and 63,879 vehicles were abandoned, but 224,686 men returned home safely. The rescue electrified the people of Britain, welded them together, gave them a sense of purpose that the war had previously lacked. The author writes about the sense of national participation that Dunkirk aroused.
When the evacuation began, Churchill thought 30,000 might be saved. In the end, over 338,000 were landed in England, with another 4,000 lifted to Cherbourg and other French ports still in Allied hands. Continue reading →
Categories: Book Reviews and News | Tags: Andy Crouch, book reviews, Christ and culture, Christian book news, Christianity and Culture, Coram Deo, Operation Dynamo, The Miracle of Dunkirk, The Tech-Wise Family, Walter Lord | Permalink.
The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile. IVP Books. 241 pages. 2016
I'm a big proponent of personality assessments, and have utilized several in the workplace, such as Myers-Briggs, Strengthsfinder and StandOut. I always find out more about myself and others through these tools. While many in my church have been proponents of the Enneagram for years, I really didn't know anything about it. I found this book to be an excellent introduction to the Enneagram.
The authors of this book provide a brief history of the Enneagram, which some believe dates back to the 4th century. Among other callings, Ian Morgan Cron is an Enneagram teacher. Some of the material in the book comes from the lectures of co-author Suzanne Stabile, a master teacher of the Enneagram.
The Enneagram includes nine personality types or numbers that are grouped into three triads (anger, feeling, fear). Each type has a dynamic relationship with four other types, touching the two on either side (wing numbers), as well as two on other side of arrows.
Each type has one of the seven deadly sins attached to it. No types are better than any other. All have strengths and weaknesses. Your curse is the flipside of your blessing. For each type, your gift is also your curse. Your number is not what you do, but why you do it. The Enneagram takes into account the fluid nature of our personality. It is intended to help us on the journey back to our true selves.
The book covers each of the types, not in numerical order, but within its triad. As each type is covered, healthy and unhealthy examples of that type are given. Challenges for that type are given, as well as the go-to emotion for the type, and what the type looked like as a child. They also look at the type in relationships and at work, and address how each type handles stress and security. We are told how the "wing numbers" impact each type, and that each type has a signature communication style. For each type, examples from history are listed. The Enneagram takes into account the fluid nature of our personality. It is intended to help us on the journey back to our true selves.
As I heard about each type, I tried to figure out which one I was, as well as friends, family and colleagues at work. I tested as a "3 – The Performer". The authors state that America is a country of "3's". They tell us to look for the type that describes who you currently are, not what you want to be.
I enjoyed sharing information about the book and the Enneagram test with team members at work and my family. We plan to do a debrief as a family on our upcoming vacation.
The book includes helpful stories that illustrate the points. A helpful "Spiritual Transformation" section is included at the end of each chapter.
For more information about the book, check out its official site, and their podcast, which is available on iTunes.
From Weakness to Strength: 8 Vulnerabilities That Can Bring Out the Best in Your Leadership. I'm looking forward to this new book from Scott Sauls, to be published October 1.
The Vanishing American Adult – Book Review.Eric Davis reviews Ben Sasse's new book The Vanishing America Adult. He writes "I heartily recommend the book to parents and non-parents; to democrats and republicans, and anyone who wants to think intelligently and tangibly about raising a generation better than ours."
The Mythical Leader: 7 Myths of Leadership. Skip Prichard interviews Ron Edmondson (one of my favorite leadership bloggers) about his excellent new book The Mythical Leader.
One More Time on Game of Thrones. Kevin DeYoung writes "I cannot imagine how anyone growing closer to the God of the Bible will want to see more sex and nudity, or that anyone has found shows like Game of Thronesto be a serious blessing in seeing and savoring Christ. We become what we behold. So let's be careful little eyes what we see."
Do You Read the Bible Like a Nonbeliever? John Piper writes "The most basic prayer we can pray about reading the Bible is that God would give us the desire to read this book. Not just the will— that would be next best — but the desire.
Categories: Book Reviews and News | Tags: Andy Crouch, book reviews, Christ and culture, Christian book news, Christianity and Culture, Coram Deo, Enneagram, Ian Morgan Cron, Suzanne Stabile, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery, The Tech-Wise Family | Permalink.
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ROBINSON, Melvin A. - Beloved father and grandfather passed away in San Francisco March 1, 2003 surrounded by his family. Survived by his daughter and son-in law, Susan and Bob Court (SF); his grandchildren, Michelle Jacobs (San Diego) and Mark Jacobs (San Jose); his sisters-in-law, Rebecca Feinberg (Minneapolis) and Carole Robinson (Rockville, MD); and loving nieces and nephews. Predeceased by his beloved wife, Dorothy, and his son, Steve. Burial will be at King David Memorial Garden in Falls Church VA. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Zen Hospice, 273 Page Street, SF CA 94102.


text:
Q: Mongodb dirty cache is greater than cache used We are facing the issue with mongodb that is cpu is always 100% and the memory usage gradually reaches 100% too.
On analyzing the stats of a collection we found out that the caching is having huge dirty cache.
 "cache" : {
            "bytes currently in the cache" : 2138193726.0,
            "bytes dirty in the cache cumulative" : 26878586216.0,
            "bytes read into cache" : 2684641105.0,
            "bytes written from cache" : 9250929218.0,
            "checkpoint blocked page eviction" : 0,
            "data source pages selected for eviction unable to be evicted" : 1,
            "eviction walk passes of a file" : 1373,
            "eviction walk target pages histogram - 0-9" : 24,
            "eviction walk target pages histogram - 10-31" : 117,
            "eviction walk target pages histogram - 128 and higher" : 0,
            "eviction walk target pages histogram - 32-63" : 1084,
            "eviction walk target pages histogram - 64-128" : 148,
            "eviction walks abandoned" : 636,
            "eviction walks gave up because they restarted their walk twice" : 0,
            "eviction walks gave up because they saw too many pages and found no candidates" : 3,
            "eviction walks gave up because they saw too many pages and found too few candidates" : 2,
            "eviction walks reached end of tree" : 236,
            "eviction walks started from root of tree" : 641,
            "eviction walks started from saved location in tree" : 732,
            "hazard pointer blocked page eviction" : 1,
            "in-memory page passed criteria to be split" : 0,
            "in-memory page splits" : 0,
            "internal pages evicted" : 1,
            "internal pages split during eviction" : 0,
            "leaf pages split during eviction" : 7,
            "modified pages evicted" : 9826,
            "overflow pages read into cache" : 0,
            "page split during eviction deepened the tree" : 0,
            "page written requiring cache overflow records" : 0,
            "pages read into cache" : 121604,
            "pages read into cache after truncate" : 0,
            "pages read into cache after truncate in prepare state" : 0,
            "pages read into cache requiring cache overflow entries" : 0,
            "pages requested from the cache" : 380045669,
            "pages seen by eviction walk" : 101851,
            "pages written from cache" : 559839,
            "pages written requiring in-memory restoration" : 0,
            "tracked dirty bytes in the cache" : 47012214,
            "unmodified pages evicted" : 36225
        },

Is this which is causing memory problems in  mongodb and what are the possible ways by which we can imporve memoory management of the db

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
THE 43RD SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2000
As usual, I knocked myself silly this year watching movies for the festival. There were 190 films in all, some 105 features and assorted shorts. I thought I'd keep a little diary or sorts here so that I can keep track of everything I've seen. Maybe these will come in handy for some others of you out there someday. - JA
This is Martin Scorsese's 1993 adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel, shown in conjunction with Winona Ryder's Owens Award for excellence in acting. It features a couple of brilliant stretches and amazing camerawork, but it ultimately suffers from the same thing that most of these kinds of movies suffer from--dull reverence to the written page. Rating: 2 Fellinis
American Gypsy: A Stranger in Everyone's Land
I can't remember ever seeing a film that was so honest about gypsies. Even recent films like "The Red Violin" go in for the historic treatment of gypsies as outcasts and thieves. So it's refreshing that filmmaker Jasmine Dellal was able to not only give us a proper idea of gypsy life in America, but she tells one of its most prominent stories. In the mid-eighties, Gypsy Jimmy Marks had his house broken into and illegally searched by cops. He took them to court and battled with them over almost a decade. Dellal has some trouble earning the trust of the Gypsies, and the film runs a little thin at times because of it, but it's afascinating and sometimes moving doc. Rating: 3 Fellinis
And Life Goes On...
The middle film (1991) of Abbas Kiarostami's "Earthquake Trilogy" is yet another masterpiece and perhaps the first film on which he really began playing around with space and reality. It starts like a documentary with an actor who is not Kiarostami playing a filmmaker who is supposed to be Kiarostami. Driving around the village of Koker that was recently destroyed by an earthquake, he looks for the young actors who played in "Where Is the Friend's Home?". Instead, the filmmaker becomes involved in the locals and their attempts to rebuild their lives. Many scenes feel improvised, but the poetry in them seem too deliberate for that. The final shot involving the filmmaker's car and a twisty uphill road will last for hours after the film is over. Rating: 4 Fellinis
This wonderful film by Nanni Moretti is a semi-documentary, semi-fictional movie. Moretti, who directs and appears on camera, plays himself as a madcap, neurotic, lunatic filmmaker who is torn between making three films: a musical about a pastry chef, a documentary about the Italian elections, and home movies of his newborn son. Moretti is a lovable cross between Woody Allen and Roberto Benigni, who, when working on one film, is thinking about the other two. Even so, he's amazingly charming and it's a joy to celebrate and share his occasional small victories. Rating: 3 1/2 Fellinis
I admit that I didn't finish watching this French documentary about a struggling restaurant. After such powerful docs like "Sound and Fury", "First Person Plural", and "Long Night's Journey Into Day", it just didn't seem that relevant. Plus, my wife and I are huge fans of Saturday morning cooking shows. The cooking scenes in "At All Costs", which included cutting and crunching a lobster in half, just didn't measure up. The only thing we really see is the manager trying to raise money, which, it seems to me, is also the most boring part of making a film. Rating: none
Gabriel Axel's 1987 feature was selected as part of the Indelible Images series by filmmaker Fielder Cook. It's a delightful adaptation of the story by Isak Dinesen in which a great Paris chef winds up as a maid for a pair of elderly sisters in a remote Jutland village. It takes a while, but she manages to cook some amazing dishes for these religious folks who don't believe in extravagance. The food photography is the selling point of the movie, though the storytelling works well too. Rating: 3 1/2 Fellinis
Claire Denis' beautiful new movie is an update of Herman Melville's "Billy Budd" set among the French Legionnaires stationed in South Africa. But she only uses that story as a springboard to observe the soldiers' daily rituals of working, exercising, training, cleaning, cooking, and dancing, making these seemingly mundane movements of the human body dreamily poetic. The tension between the persecutor (Denis Lavant) and the persecuted (Gregoire Colin in the "Billy Budd" role) is built slowly and naturally so that it becomes more than just a plot device. Their climactic clash and the aftermath make unforgettable filmed moments. This is a truly great film. Rating: 4 Fellinis
Close-Up (SEE FULL REVIEW)
The Color of Lies
A lesser work by master French New Wave director Claude Chabrol, "The Color of Lies" doesn't even have an American distributor. But even so, I'm always happy to view the work of someone as good as this. Following in the footsteps of Alfred Hitchcock again, he gives us a small-town murder mystery where an artist is accused of killing a little girl on the way home from art lessons. In the meantime, his wife (the wonderful Sandrine Bonnaire) is having a tentative affair with a sleazy journalist. It's not much of a surprise when the murderer is finally revealed, nor is it very interesting. Chabrol doesn't care about such mechanics. He's interested in the act of, or the art of, lying. (The real title translates to "The Heart of Lies".) Vive Chabrol! Long live Chabrol. 3 Fellinis
The Cosmic Eye
Animator Faith Hubley has proven that all animation doesn't have to be smooth and plot-driven like Disney. Hubley's artwork is charmingly childlike with semi-restricted movements (not unlike Bill Melendez' "Charlie Brown" cartoons), but it's obvious that her work comes straight from her soul making it resonate on the screen. "The Cosmic Eye" is her 1985 feature film about the state of planet Earth. Dizzy Gilespie can be heard as Father Time and Maureen Stapleton as Mother Earth. The film can be a bit preachy, but it's completely earnest and heartfelt. An amazing autobiographical short film, "My Universe Inside Out", accompanies. As Mother Earth would say, "All these wonders are yours!" Rating: 3 Fellinis
First Person Plural
Deann Borshay Liem's "First Person Plural", a feature documentary about her own life, is a truly twisted tale about deliberately switched adoption papers and confused identities. Liem grew up in San Francisco as an adopted Korean girl, but later found out that her adoption papers had been switched and that her birth mother was still alive and in Korea. The movie juxtaposes her feelings towards her birth mother, with whom she doesn't speak the same language, and her American parents, who are charmingly clueless. This is an incredibly moving film that definitely loosens the tear ducts. Rating: 3 1/2 Fellinis
Furbelows (Falbalas)
This 1945 French film from Jacques Becker (best known for 1952's "Casque D'Or") can't really be considered a classic, because it has never before been subtitled and shown in the U.S. But it's a fantastic discovery and a near-great film. It tells the story of a vain fashion designer (Raymond Rouleau) falling in love with his friend's fiancee. Becker, who worked as an assistant to Jean Renoir, deftly blends comedy and drama without letting the seams show and without forcibly yanking at our heartstrings. This film is actually kooky enough, with its images of the fashion industry and mountains of big hair, to become a camp classic. Rating: 4 Fellinis
God's Wedding
Portugal's Joao Cesar Monteiro writes, directs, and stars in this follow up to his bizarre and depraved "God's Comedy" (1995). It's strangely fascinating to see Monteiro's monstrous ego at work, fancying himself a cross between Welles, Chaplin, and a deity. But darned if he doesn't have nearly the talent to back it up. His exquisite shots are deliciously drawn-out and beautifully framed. The new film has Joao mysteriously coming into a fortune, winning the hand of a beautiful princess in a dice game, then losing everything. It's more toned down than "God's Comedy" was, but it's still an unusual and fascinating movie. Rating: 3 Fellinis
Hamlet (Closing Night Film)
I was thrilled to see that director Michael Almereyda managed to get some Pixelvision footage into his new film "Hamlet", a tribute to the format that got him his start. Ethan Hawke plays the long-suffering Dane, now a New York college student whose new stepfather (Kyle Maclachlan) is the CEO of Denmark corporation. Shakespeare's dialogue translates well to New York and provides for some inventive moments such dialogue left on answering machines. Instead of staging his father's murder as a play, this Hamlet makes a film. The play is quite chopped up, and the acting ranges from outstanding (Liev Schreiber) to hit-and-miss. Your enjoyment depends on how often you can sit through Shakespeare's greatest play. Rating: 3 Fellinis
Jesus' Son
This is a semi-effective junkie movie that has two major problems; a dreary final 20 minutes that seems tacked on, and the forgettable Billy Crudup in the lead role. Otherwise, this film directed by Alison Maclean and based on short stories by Dennis Johnson has some nice moments, mostly those involving the sharp supporting cast: Samantha Morton, Jack Black, Holly Hunter, Denis Leary, and Dennis Hopper. Watching it though, I couldn't decide why someone felt that the world needed yet another movie about how drugs are bad for you. If Crudup had any kind of personality, he may have helped the movie along, but the whole thing just feels limp and unnecessary. (Maclean made the excellent 1989 short "Kitchen Sink" that also played at the SF Festival.) Rating: 2 1/2 Fellinis
Kagemusha
Akira Kurosawa's brilliant and colorful 1980 epic was selected as part of the Indelible Images series by filmmaker Larry Clark (my former screenwriting teacher at SFSU). It tells the story of a "shadow warrior"--a thief who looks just like a warlord and is secretly used to replace him when his health fails. Kurosawa was one of the only filmmakers who could pull off an epic 180 minute spectacle like this with dignity and a minimum of camp. Rating: 4 Fellinis
Kikujiro
Filmmaker Takeshi Kitano lays aside his violent gangster movies (1993's "Sonatine" and 1998's "Fireworks") in favor of this lightweight Hollywood-like story of an irresponsible man who takes a young child cross country to see his mother. Thankfully, Takeshi's distant and sardonic humor are intact, and there's a lot more of it here than in the crime films. The humor is a bit politically incorrect, but charmingly so. Of course, the last couple of reels are Takeshi's trademark "killing time" sequences, where characters sit around and do nothing, slowly revealing their true natures in the process. It runs a bit long for a comedy, and some sequences get a bit sappy, but "Kikujiro" is a fine entertainment. Rating: 3 1/2 Fellinis
The Legends of Rita
This is the latest work by director Volker Schlondorff ("The Tin Drum", "Death of a Salesman", "Palmetto"), who goes back to Germany for the true tale of Rita Vogt. Vogt was a terrorist who went into hiding and re-invented her life twice (hence the plural of the title). Her story is a compelling one, yet the film (co-written by Wolfgang Kohlhaase) jumps in to the action with a TV news directness--at the expense of place, time, and character. I was constantly lost as to who was important, who wasn't, where I was, and what year it was (it finally turns out to be the 1980's). The actress who plays Rita, Bibiana Beglau, is charismatic enough to make individual scenes explode with life, but the film as a whole seems disjointed and confused. Rating: 2 1/2 Fellinis
Directed by the German master Werner Herzog, "Lessons of Darkness" is one of the great documentaries of the 1990's. Herzog photographed the wastelands of Kuwait during the last days of the Gulf War, before the last oil fires had been put out. It's a meditative, powerful, unique, and strangely beautiful movie. Herzog is a fearless, meticulous director who approaches his subject in a timeless manner, turning this newsworthy disaster into a great theme, a story for all time. It's an Indelible Images selection from local documentarian Ellen Bruno and it plays along with her own short "Satya: A Prayer for the Enemy". Rating: 4 Fellinis
The great 91 year-old Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira returns to the festival with "The Letter", an adaptation of a 300 year-old novel set in modern-day France. Chiara Mastroianni (Marcello's daughter) stars as a lovely French woman who marries a doctor and then falls in love with a Portuguese pop star (played by Portuguese pop star Pedro Abrunhosa) but never cheats. As usual, Oliveira exerts a masterly control over his pacing and compositions, juxtaposing wild emotions with still surfaces, and still keeps the movie breezy by explaining away huge chunks of the novel during intertitles. It's a brilliant work. Rating: 4 Fellinis
Every so often a filmmaker tries to challenge our value system by making a film that bridges mainstream film and porno film. The main problem with this is that serious storytelling combined with porn usually makes for a decidedly dreary and unerotic experience. That's what "Lies" is, the story of a man and a girl who embark on an affair that escalates to beating and whipping and other things too horrible to mention. We get no idea of what their lives are like ordinarily. Although the director Jang Sun Woo does some innovative things here and there, this is a very uncomfortable experience, much worse than some of the best porn availble. Rating: 1 Fellini
Live Nude Girls, UNITE!
From the makers of last year's award winner "Paulina", Julia Query and Vicky Funari give us this slight but very revealing (pardon) look at a group of San Francisco strippers who form a union--the first of its kind. It's shot on video and looks pretty low-rent, but the subject matter is just lurid enough (there's plenty of nudity) and fascinating enough to keep us watching. Ms. Query is the narrator and main focus of the movie, and she gets trapped into finally telling her social worker mother that she's both a lesbian and a stripper. As the movie ends, Query and her comrades are busily working to unionize other strip clubs around the nation. Who says sex and politics don't mix? 3 Fellinis
Long Night's Journey Into Day
This documentary, by Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffmann, covers several cases tried before South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Committee that considers amnesty for apartheid criminals on a case-by-case basis. There are moments in the film that are emotionally shattering; weeping mothers confronting the killer of their children, news reports deliberately lying, etc. But the scope of the film is too huge to really connect. It's more like a thorough news report than good storytelling. There are too many people, whose stories are covered in the film, that we only get to see for a few minutes--not enough time for us to develop a relationship with them. Still, the film covers an important subject, and it gives us enough of an inside picture to be effective. The music in the film is wonderful. Helen Mirren provides narration. Rating: 3 Fellinis
Mask of Desire
This is said to be the very first feature film produced completely in Nepal. It's directed by Tserling Rhitar Sherpa, and it's a near-success. It deals with a small family; a husband and wife and two girls. The wife is pregnant, and asks a goddess to make the child a boy. But dabbling with the gods can be dangerous and the wife soon becomes sick. She and her husband both become involved with a mysterious and powerful healer who drives out demons. I can't say what it is about this film. It's certainly original enough, but I just never got that involved. Perhaps it's because it takes the characters so long to make decisions. We're always a jump or two ahead of them. Still, it has a lot of style for a debut effort. Rating: 2 1/2 Fellinis
No One Writes to the Colonel
How can I recommend a movie that's so lovingly directed and so emotionally true, but is not really rewarding at all? 90% of any Americans who go see this movie will be disappointed. An old Colonel (Fernando Lujan) and his asthmatic wife (Marisa Paredes) live in a small Mexico town where they await the Colonel's war pension money. Their son has recently died in mysterious circumstances, leaving them in extreme poverty, with nothing except a prize fighting rooster. Salma Hayek co-stars as a prostitute who was the son's lover. The story is like a slice from their lives, but one that has no real beginning or end. The story keeps going after the movie ends and we're left with no emotional closure. I'm all for downer endings, but they should actually END something. Yet, the direction by Arturo Ripstein, is just about flawless (there is a long tracking shot for a central scene in a saloon that could have come from Orson Welles) and the performances are fantastic. Rating: 2 1/2 Fellinis
This is a violent and exciting detective story from South Korea directed by Lee Myung-Se. Park Joong-Hoon stars as Detective Woo, a swaggering, loping, brutish fellow who is on the trail of a killer. He and his partners beat and bruise their way through a pile of suspects, one by one, each time getting closer to the target. Director Lee throws in every cinematic gimmick he can think of, and the result is a kind of stylistic clash between "Reservoir Dogs" (1992), "Run Lola Run" (1999), the Sergio Leone westerns, and "The French Connection" (1971). It's more style than substance, but Park's incredible performance carries the film across. Rating: 3 Cormans
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
Director Chris Marker pays homage to personal friend and Great Director Andrei Tarkovsky. Marker was allowed on the set of Tarkovsky's last film, "The Sacrifice" (1986) which Tarkovsky finished shooting just as he learned he was suffering from cancer. Marker films in his usual personal essay style, but with great reverence to the work of the Russian filmmaker. It's great to see all the clips from Tarkovsky's work. I was familiar with the titles, but had not seen many of the films. The bulk of the 55 minute-film is made up of clips, as Marker only had a few minutes of footage of Tarkovsky himself. Sometimes the film verges on pretentiousness, and there's a particularly pointed jab at the ignorance of Western filmmakers. But I really enjoyed this portrait of a great artist as told in a personal way and not a generic PBS format. Rating: 3 1/2 Fellinis
This is a pretty typical coming-of-age story from director Lea Pool. Karine Vanasse stars as the younger version of Pool whose father is Jewish, mother is Catholic, and kisses her brother. Her father beats her, she's sexually harassed, and she experiments with kissing girls. Scenes are set up to look ordinary, but just as we get into the rhythm of it, something horrible happens that helps to shape her life. At the end, she gets a movie camera. There's nothing really wrong with the movie, except that it's just so ordinary. A person's life should jump off the screen, but this life just didn't surprise me. It's like being at a party and getting stuck talking to someone and you're convinced that there must be something more interesting going on in the kitchen. Rating: 2 Fellinis
Zhang Yuan's simple and moving melodrama concerns two Chinese step-sisters, the older one studious and sneaky, the younger one rebellious and passionate. An unfortunate incident sends the younger sister to jail for seventeen years, after which she is released for a brief New Year's holiday. The bulk of the film shows her trying to find her home and dealing with the uncertainty and confusion of facing her parents again. Director Zhang films in an unobtrusive style, almost like a documentary, letting the drama carry itself without forcing it upon us. Nothing ever seems set-up or faked. Hollywood filmmakers could learn a thing or two from this film. Rating: 3 1/2 Fellinis
"Shower" is a celebration of water. It begins with a futuristic sequence of a man stepping into a pay booth to take a shower, the same as if he were making a phone call. It turns out to be the pipe dream of a customer at a public bath in China. An estranged son returns home to his father and his retarded brother who run the bathhouse. The longer he stays, the more he realizes what he's missed in his life--his family, the comfort and companionship of regular customers, and the knowledge of a job well done. Flashbacks tell stories of times of drought when folks had to journey miles to take a bath. One man who sings in the shower is unable to sing on stage until the retarded brother sprays him with a hose. And so it goes. "Shower", directed by Zhang Yang, is a lightweight but refreshing film. Rating: 3 Fellinis
Sicily (Sicilia!)
I caught this new film by veterans Jean-Marie Straub & Daniele Huillet late at night at the film festival, and though I was sleepy and it was dense and austere, I think "Sicilia!" is something special. It's a brief 66 minutes, but packed with talk and meaning. A man travels to Sicily to see his mother and gets into four conversations with: an orange vendor, people on his train, his mother, with a knife sharpener. Sometimes it seems as if the acting is not so good, but that may simply be the style of talking or the filmmakers' directions. It was difficult to tell. But most of the time, the conversations are riveting, especially when the man's mother confesses to an infidelity years ago. The knife sharpener makes a good life-affirming ending to the film. I asked myself when the last time was that I had such revealing conversations on a train, with a stranger in the street, or even with my mother. "Sicilia!" is beautifully photographed in black and white by William Lubtchansky. It will probably never be released on video or ever show again, but I will remember it for a long time. Rating: 3 1/2 Fellinis
Sound and Fury
Director Josh Aronson's infuriating and powerful documentary charts two brothers, one deaf and one hearing, and their families. Both brothers have deaf children and they're both considering a cholear implant to help them hear. Surprisingly to me, the deaf community sees the implant as a betrayal. At first, it sounds almost like racism. The deaf brother has nothing but hatred for the hearing people, even though half his family is hearing. But it gets even more complex as Aronson deftly and cleverly presents both sides of the story. This film is sure to provoke arguments, and may even inspire audience members to learn sign language. Rating: 3 1/2 Fellinis
Time Regained
The French director Raoul Ruiz seems to have a passion for confusing stories. If I remember correctly, his last two films, "Genealogies of a Crime" (1997) and "Shattered Image" (1998) were very difficult to follow. So it makes sense that Ruiz would try and adapt the LAST book of Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time", a series in which I've read not a word. The film lasts nearly three hours and I was never less than baffled. Yet Ruiz is an incredibly inventive director, and I never tired of looking at his creative staging and camerawork, especially the scenes in which he moves props and even characters opposite to the movement of the camera, to create a false depth of field. The cast, likewise, is amazing; Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Beart, Vincent Perez, and John Malkovich. Rating: 2 1/2 Fellinis
Tom Verlaine: Music for Films
A revelation. This was one of those experiences that makes going to the movies special again. Tom Verlaine, the guitarist for the legendary 1970's band Television, performed live music at the Castro theater for seven classic silent short films, including Carl Theodor Dreyer's "They Caught the Ferry" (1948). I had been blown away by Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928) only a couple of months before, and I was so again by this short film, which was a government-funded safety film that Dreyer took on when he couldn't get work. In it, a couple get off a ferry boat and ride their motorcycle through the countryside, passing everyone like wildfire until they get to a strange, black car with a skeletal design on the back--Death himself. They keep trying to pass Death, and of course slam into a tree. Verlaine's music was a pulsing rock 'n' roll speed score that I'm not sure Dreyer would have cared for, but for me, it was pure bliss. Some of the other films were nearly as good: a shadowy, expressionistic "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1928); the classic short by Robert Florey and Slavko Vorkapich, "The Life and Death of 9413--A Hollywood Extra" (1927) done with miniatures; two films by photographer Man Ray, the ineffective "Star of the Sea" (1928) and the much better "Emak Bakia" (1926) which explores texture, shape, and movement; "Ballet Mecanique" by Cubist painter Fernand Leger, which features man-made objects in movement and ends with a woman smelling a flower; and the drippy "Autumn Haze" (1928) which shows a woman walking in the woods and weeping as leaves fall from trees. For "They Caught the Ferry" alone, this evening deserves Classic status. Rating: 8 1/2 Fellinis
Abbas Kiarostami's first feature film was made in 1974 in black-and-white and already shows a masterly vision. It's a very purified story of a young boy and his attempt to raise enough money to travel to Tehran to see a soccer match. The movie deserves comparison to Francois Trufaut's "The 400 Blows" (1959) in its realistic portrayal (and astonishing performances) of children. Kiarostami developed a more playful sense of cinema later on, but this raw, simple feature must have inspired generations of other Iranian filmmakers and films, including Kiarostami's own "Where Is the Friend's Home" (1987), Jafar Panahi's "The White Balloon" (1995) (from a screenplay by Kiarostami), and Majid Majidi's "Children of Paradise" (1998). Rating: 4 Fellinis
It's hard to say what writer/director Alan Rudolph was thinking with his new film "Trixie". Rudolph is always one for trying new experiments, even if they fail ("Made in Heaven", "Equinox") as often as they succeed ("Choose Me", "Mortal Thoughts"). Here Emily Watson stars as the title character, a lady cop who seems to mangle every coinable phrase there is ("fish or get off the pot", "there are brighter clouds ahead", or "I'm ravishing! Where's the food?"). She gets a job as a security guard in a sleazy casino and ends up involved in a murder mystery. Nathan Lane does great things as a fifth-rate stand-up comic, but Nick Nolte and Lesley Ann Warren are over the top and Dermot Mulroney is forgettable. The jokes get old very fast and the plot is pretty shaky to begin with. This is a dud. Rating: 1 Fellini
Up at the Villa
Philip and Belinda Haas' adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novella is a bit run-of-the-mill with an exciting middle sequence. Kristin Scott Thomas stars as a penniless Englishwoman in Florence, looking for a husband. Sean Penn plays the dashing American who shows her around. And Anne Bancroft plays the cheerfully vulgar elder matriarch. Just when you think it's going to be another deadly rolling-hills costume movie, Thomas and Penn suddenly find themselves in trouble when a violin-playing refugee (the great Jeremy Davies) and a gun are introduced. "Up at the Villa" is colorful and fun for a stretch, but it's pretty old hat and nothing special. Rating: 2 1/2 Fellinis
The Virgin Suicides (Opening Night Film) (SEE FULL REVIEW)
Where Is the Friend's Home?
I highly recommend all of the Abbas Kiarostami films, but to start with I'd suggest "Where Is the Friend's Home?" (1987), the simplest and most moving of his films. In it, a young boy needs simply to return his cousin's composition book to him but doesn't know exactly where the cousin lives. In this film, as with his others, the journey itself, the time it takes, and the place we're in become more important than the actual destination. Seeing a Kiarostami film is as refreshing and exciting as discovering an Orson Welles or a Jean Renoir film for the first time. He's that good. Rating: 4 Fellinis
The Wind Will Carry Us
This newest film from Abbas Kiarostami is yet another masterpiece. Watch for my full review. Rating: 4 Fellinis
Read Jeff's festival coverage on Bayinsider.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Last week, we read the story Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault. They kids loved repeating the lines with me over and over. So...we decided to make our own Alphabet Tree and decorate uppercase and lowercase letters to put on the tree. After several readings of the story, we watched the movie version of the book.


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Best Swiss Army Knives
© AskMen
Looking for a Swiss Army Knife? These Are Some of the Best
The Swiss Army knife is the king of everyday carry essentials. Having one in your car or backpack will avert all sorts of frustrations and minor emergencies, from opening a bottle of wine to cutting ropes while camping. While there is a large variety of models on the market, so you can be sure to find one that fits your needs, that variety can make the selection process confusing.
To narrow down your options, we scoured the web to find the top Swiss Army knives for all activities and interests. You may notice a number of the models are from the Victorinox brand. As the inventors of the Swiss Army knife, this brand has become practically synonymous with the tool, and for a good reason. Victorinox makes a high-quality product and it is famously faithful to lifetime warranties.
RELATED: Best Multi-tools
Without further ado, here are the best Swiss Army knives to see you through any adventure.
Best Swiss Army Knife for Balanced Features
Victorinox Tinker
The Tinker is a halfway point between stripped-down classic models and the feature-heavy SwissChamp. The 12 included tools do not disappoint but it's still sleek and lightweight. Basically, you won't feel silly if you carry it around every day, but you'll still be able to slice or screw something when the occasion arises.
Best Swiss Army Knife for Diversity
The SwissChamp is the most practical of Victorinox's deluxe options. It has just about every tool you could need at home or on-the-go, and yet, miraculously, it is still pocket-sized. With this Swiss Army knife in hand, you can saw metal, punch a new hole in your belt, and even read the fine print with the included magnifying glass.
Best Swiss Army Knife for Value
Victorinox Swiss Army Classic
As the name implies, this model is simple yet efficient. While it lacks the extensive functionality of more upscale knives, the lack of a sewing awl or a fish scaler probably won't affect you in your day-to-day life. What's fun about this budget-friendly option is that it comes in a wide array of prints and colors — National Parks and Camo are just a couple examples.
Best Swiss Army Knife for Minimalists
Leatherman Crater C33TX
This isn't so much a Swiss Army knife as a folding knife with a couple of screwdrivers and blades. But if you're looking for a good strong knife for outdoor tasks and handiwork around the house, this is the tool for you.
$44.95 at Leatherman.com
Best Swiss Army Knife for Office Workers
Victorinox Executive
Swiss Army knives aren't just for the outdoors, as evidenced by this model, which is specifically designed for office life. Instead of screwdrivers or reamers, the Victorinox Executive includes a nail cleaner, tweezers, and an orange peeler. So if you need to remove unsightly hairs and open a letter occasionally, keep this baby at your desk.
Best Swiss Army Knife for the Man Who Hates Wallets
Victorinox Swiss Army Money Clip
If you don't like wallets, and you'd rather keep your money in the handle of a pocket tool, look no further. This minimal gadget combines four essential everyday tools (including a blade, scissors, and nail file) with a very sturdy, attractive money clip, to provide you with the best of both worlds.
$51 at Amazon.com
RELATED: The Best Everyday Carry (EDC) Kits You Can Buy
Best Swiss Army Knife for the Sleuth
Victorinox Signature Lite
The Signature Lite is a slight tweak on the standard Swiss Army knife. Instead of having a toothpick and tweezers built into the handle, it has an LED flashlight and a ballpoint pen. For many, these will be more useful than the default features. Being able to remove unsightly hairs is nice, but the ability to sign a check or fill out a form is perhaps more important.
Best Swiss Army Knife for the Outdoorsman
The Huntsman is another mid-range model, but instead of being geared towards the city-dweller, like the Tinker, this knife is best for outdoor adventure enthusiasts. Complete with 15 tools, including a wood saw and scissors, it is the ideal Swiss Army knife to keep on-hand while hiking, climbing, fishing, camping, or all of the above.
Best Swiss Army Knife for the EDC-Enthusiast
Boker Plus Tech-Tool City 2
The Boker is the only real competition for the Victorinox models. It's a little bigger, thicker, and heavier, and it doesn't have that iconic design. But it has a lovely grippy handle, and its knife is impressively sharp. As well, it comes with a glass breaker tip, which might come in handy in certain sticky situations. If you've tried Victorinox knives and still aren't satisfied, go for a Boker.
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One of my most favorite meditations is to try to ponder the truth that all of us are one. We act so differently. We look so different. We come from different directions. And if you broaden the view beyond this Church into our nation and world, we as human beings have so many hues of color, so many practices of religion, so many nations and origins, so many ways to choose to live life. One of my favorite meditations is to try to pray that I would see with the eyes of God. These, all sons and daughters of God, and they are my brothers and sisters.
And as I do that contemplation of the oneness of humanity, one of the things I try to notice is what we all have in common. Whether we want to admit it or not, all of us have a fear of insignificance. We are afraid we don't belong anyplace. We are afraid nobody will notice us. In fact, sometimes we are so broken, sad, fearful, that we are afraid we don't even have what it takes to be a human being anymore. And it's to that particular fear – being left out of not being in the right group – that the scriptures speak to us today.
Hear the rest of Fr. Wester's podcast at http://allsaints-stpeters.org/Resources/Homilies.aspx (transcription leaves off at 2:20).


Its time to switch off and recharge your batteries and take in the scenic beauty of the idyllic countryside and connect with the Mayo landscape and see nature at its best with peace &tranquility, check out the fauna&flora, clear water, inhale the clean air, have a picinic, enjoy it - all at your own pace.
Walk or cycle the Greenway, its suitable for people of all ages and families also for teachers a classroom environment or take the old Pilgrim Path,Loop walks, Sli na slainte walkers routes.
Relax and Enjoy the West of Ireland -Mayo !


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Everything posted by Livvy
Do you believe in a clean desktop?
Livvy replied to ridwan sameer's topic in Windows Development
I believe in a clean desktop, yes. It's just such a pity that a clean desktop doesn't believe in me. It feels weird to get rid of certain things, even if I never use them as shortcuts. One of these days I'll install rainmeter and such, but I think I'll need a proper upgrade before I do that.
The Future Of Social Media?
Livvy replied to Rainman's topic in Advertising, Marketing, Monetization & Social Media
Honestly it's a bit of a wonder that Google+ hasn't blown up the way every other Google product has. Well admittedly, not all of the Google products have blown up I suppose, but the majority of their products dominate their respective markets. Google+ however just...sits there, doing nothing.
Is It Possible To Learn Basic Programming On The Net?
Livvy replied to Rainman's topic in Programming
You don't have to start anywhere really. In theory you can just jump into any programming language, become adept in it and then move onto another when you feel up to it. Different languages are better for beginners however, since they are designed to give you a jumping off point as such. However, there's no one language which will properly prepare you for every language out there. Even if you're adept at say, C# you might find it hard to deal with Pascal, or...damnit, I forget the name of it. It's a language beginning with A, came out of Sweden if I remember. That's going to bug me now.
What ads annoy you?
Livvy replied to Ram8349's topic in Advertising, Marketing, Monetization & Social Media
No problem at all! I'm not sure if it is the official adblock, as in if it is the same company that exists on PC's and I would assume Mac's, but there is an adblock app I know that. Never had that much problems with it myself, but your mileage may vary. Hope it helps though!
Do you build your own PC?
Livvy replied to Vidya_Gaems's topic in Hardware Discussion
Perhaps it's just me, but I'm rather confused. You say that you prefer building your own PC, but you've never thought of building a full tower PC. What do you do then?
Interesting point of view Nathan considering you're literally on the inside as it were.Got a question to ask you as a follow up to this. If you're seeing a decline in Facebook activity from your clients and reps, are they going elsewhere, or just giving up on these systems altogether?
That...just wouldn't really be possible. Especially you're looking for something other than the current tower system. I mean, there's a reason towers are so big;they need to be so large because the components are large. You're not going to get an all in one system like you're asking for, while still having a very good computer. It sounds like you may just want a laptop.
From what I understand, Adblock is the best solution for your tablet if you're running iOS 7. I'm not sure if your iPAd is currently running on that however, so you would need to think about this first
Livvy replied to F-Lexx's topic in Programming
Yep, that's why I was getting confused! I was thinking of hard AI, and trying to describe that we can't really just whip that up in the average computer lab, since at the moment-again as far as I know-we can only really create a weak AI which does as Nathan described;take results from elsewhere or from a preset number of definitions as it were. It can't really 'think' for itself, only has the appearance of thinking. I know some of the professors at my uni are working on solving this, and more importantly, trying to solve the biggest problem of all;how on earth do we begin thinking in the c
Presumably you had to have some knowledge of C# or similar languages before you tried though. That doesn't really work for a novice like Rainman who doesn't have any knowledge of how various languages work, so wouldn't know how to even begin to type up a starter program.
I think this is an important thing which many people don't realise when they start out to learn something online. Whether it's programming, a foreign language, or just some new skill, if you're doing it online with tutorials and such, you're going to have to put in a lot of work. You'll not only have to do all the work-which obviously happens regardless-but if you're doing it alone, you also have to attempt to be objective and evaluate how you're doing, and how far you've come. You need to be both exam taker, and exam marker as it were. And you have to be as objective and brutal as a real
How often and how much do you post on your own forum?
Livvy replied to Ram8349's topic in Server Administration
I think in the beginning, when the site is new and maybe doesn't need as much upkeep, a lot of owners are going to find themselves posting a lot. You've got to be seen to be seen after all, if you understand me. However once their site starts becoming more popular and needs more upkeep, a lot of your time is going to be spent behind the scenes, keeping the site running, or even working on business deals for the site in terms of ads and such, depending on what your site actually caters towards.
Has anyone used Malwarebytes?
Livvy replied to Profit5500's topic in Windows Development
Avast is free, but like AVG and most other AV's, there's a paid program which has better features, which you can choose to take part in. A resident shield is included in most AV's these days also, but yes Avast does include one.
It's very possible, but you might have been coming across the wrong sites, you know? Maybe they were aimed more at intermediate programmers rather than absolute beginners, which is what I assume you are. You might want to look into Code Academy and Khan Academy as they both offer beginners tutorials which you can go through at your own pace. Or if you prefer a more rigorous course, you could always look into the online courses offered by universities such as MIT and Harvard.
I know of that, but I mean the program-as far as I know-can't adapt to what you have liked in the past. Well, it can of course since...you could just code it to 'like' a restaurant if the user says,'Ohh that sounds nice, let's go there' I suppose. Honestly, I know what I mean to say, I just can't think of how to say it in words. Which is odd.
What was the First Programming Language You Learned?
Livvy replied to Hardison's topic in Programming
Punch cards! No I'm kidding. It was Python. I only learnt a little bit of it though. I'm talking very basic levels of understanding here. That was almost a full year ago now, and while I think I've retained a little knowledge of it, and how it works, but honestly I'm pretty sure the most of it is gone. I'll be starting again in September though when I go back to school. Although I will probably start catching up on it myself in August when I have a bit more time.
One of the modules on my course this year/next year-I'm repeating due to medical issues-is on AI, and I must admit, it's a rather new area for me. It's certainly an interesting area of research, but I don't know if we'll truly have AI for some time. It's strange. At our current level of technology-and someone can correct me on this obviously-we can only create an AI which learns within certain parameters. So for example, we can create a voice recognition system which can adapt to the different accents of a person, or 'learn' what you mean by certain words which are outside of its preset defini
Paid Moderator vs Voluteer Moderator
Livvy replied to Victor Leigh's topic in Forums
I don't think I've ever been on a site which has paid moderators to be honest. They've always been volunteers as far as I know. I've known Admins to be paid, but usually that's because, you know, they're actually taking part in the building/running of the site so get a bit of the proceeds from ads and visits etc. Or in places which are the official sites for products or books. Then the Admins tend to be somehow linked to the publishing house itself. Something I have noticed however is that volunteer moderators just...disappear one day. They move on, and stop coming to the forum. Which isn'
I'm sure everyone is going to know which ad I'm talking about when I say this. The ad which annoys me the most is emoticon one which shouts HELLLLLOOOOO! and then waits a few seconds before shouting it all over again. You know what's really bad though? The ads which pop under your actual browser window, so you don't notice it's there until it starts shouting something, or until you close your browser and you find out that you've been running an ad for the best penis enlargement services this side of China.


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On January 18th, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Recognized Coordinating Entity, the Sequoia Project ("RCE"), pushed TEFCA forward in a major way with the release of the initial Common Agreement, QHIN...
Ushering in a new era of data standardization across Health IT, Project US@ ("Project USA") Technical Specification Final Version 1.0 was released on January 7, 2022. This project has been a year-long effort to bring standardization to patient address information...
While the COVID-19 pandemic has been at the forefront of medical and public concern for the past year and a half, the opioid overdose epidemic has continued to quietly take its toll in the United States. In the twelve months leading up to April 2021, over 100,000...
It has been an active year so far in the health IT policy world. Implementation of the 21st Century Cures Act has continued at a steady clip and many policy developments have helped advance efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, momentum will continue...
Reducing hospital readmissions has been a major goal in healthcare for the past decade. In 2012, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) included a provision called the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program to incentivize hospitals to reduce readmissions. A readmission or...
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that existing public health tracking systems needed more insight into the healthcare system to effectively track the transmission of the virus. Experts weighed in on how to best support this cross-sector data...
In healthcare, the terms electronic medical records (EMRs) and electronic health records (EHRs) are often used interchangeably, despite having different uses, benefits, and drawbacks. The Office of the National Coordination for Health IT (ONC) notes that there is a...