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Category: Learn How to Hack Snapchat

How To Hack Snapchat Accounts On Android

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Burton Expands Infinite Channel System & EST Hardgoods

Burton Expands Infinite Channel System & EST Hardgoods Technology to 27 Boards, Six Bindings, and Three Boots in its 2009 Product Line

And Burton Boots Stomp New Tech and Style in 2009

Las Vegas, NV (January 28, 2008) -- Burton is proud to announce that for 2009 it will significantly expand its EST"¢ technology into six new binding models, including five that feature a women’s-specific True Fit"¢ design, as well as three new men’s and women’s boots. Additionally, the Infinite Channel System"¢ will spread to 27 board models, allowing even more riders to experience the ultimate in stance adjustability and board-to-binding connectivity.

First introduced in August, 2007, the Infinite Channel System and EST bindings were developed to answer the team’s demand for increased stance adjustability, and enhanced cushioning and board feel.

On its own, the Infinite Channel System allows riders more freedom in dialing in their desired stance width, as they are no longer restricted by traditional insert patterns. When the Infinite Channel System is combined with an EST binding, riders experience not only infinite stance options, including stance width, toe-to-heel centering and angles; but also enhanced feel, a more fluid and natural board flex, and a level of cushioning yet to be seen in snowboard bindings.

In addition to increasing the number of EST bindings and Infinite Channel board models, Burton is introducing three new, interchangeable cushioning ‘beds’ for the EST bindings. The new SuperBED"¢, CantBED"¢ and ShredBED"¢ all give riders even more options when it comes to customizing the type of under-boot cushioning they prefer.

In other 2009 Burton hardgoods technology news, Burton boots have raised the bar yet again with more function, innovation and attention to detail than ever before. In addition to eight new men’s and women’s models and a totally new kids’ line, this year’s boot developments include slimmer footprints, heated liners, adjustable cushioning, the magnified feel of an EST optimized midsole, park-tuned boots like the new Jeremy Jones, and an even easier and more powerful version of Speed Zone"¢ lacing. And while looks alone won’t stomp tricks, we couldn’t resist backing their sh*t-kicking performance up with a major dose of that “gotta have it shelf appeal.

Be sure to check out all of Burton’s new hardgoods innovations at booth E 52 at the SnowSports Industries America (SIA) tradeshow at the Mandalay Bay Convention center in Las

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TARE7 Domestic Bookings Up 89%, Signs Outerwear Deal

(GOLDEN, CO) TARE7 (T7), a world leader in marketing, selling and manufacturing of action sports and youth lifestyle products and owner of the airwalk, genetic, and ripzone USA brands, is pleased to report an impressive 89% increase in the company’s domestic bookings from Spring 2001 to Spring 2002. Bookings have increased 19% in international sales over that same period. The increase, which includes bookings for all T7 brands, reflects the company’s expansion in core, major and lifestyle accounts. In the last year, T7 has restructured its leadership team, sales force and strategic focus under the company’s President and CEO Bruce Pettet. The company is showing remarkable strides in fulfilling its vision to lead and inspire the action sports industry through its network of powerful brands.

“The dramatic increase in bookings for 2002 is directly related to our continuing to focus on product leadership within the industry. We will continue to be aggressive in partnering with our retail customers to grow their action sports business,” said Pettet. “We are at a critical point in the evolution of our brands. This incredible increase indicates that our TARE7 architecture is providing each of our brands the ability to evolve and grow within their core market.”

TARE7’s substantial booking increase can be largely attributed to the successful launch of the airwalk® brand’s Trinity Project featuring proprietary Verus technology. Verus technology features the first true impact control system designed specifically for action sports and is leading the industry in providing the most advanced shock absorption system for skateboarding. airwalk was recently awarded Colorado’s Most Innovative New Product Award in the Active Consumer Product category by the Denver Business Journal for Verus Technology.

Recognized as the original skate shoe brand, airwalk® offers an extensive line of skate, snow, and lifestyle products, and has enjoyed a strong resurgence of all its statement product. The company is seeing a heavy increase in bookings for all of its authentic, core products in the $60-90 price point range for Spring 2002. Additionally, the company’s genetic brand is on target with aggressive placement of its line of core skate shoes, while the ripzone brand of apparel continues to succeed in claiming its market share in the domestic action sports market in its inaugural season under TARE7.

Tare7 Grants Toronto-Based RMP Athletic Exclusive Development Rights For Airwalk Outerwear

(GOLDEN, CO) TARE7 recently announced a new strategic alliance with RMP Athletic of Toronto, Canada to handle all design, sourcing and development for the airwalk® line of outerwear. RMP has handled design, sourcing and development for the airwalk® brand of lifestyle apparel, and served as exclusive licensee in Canada for airwalk footwear, accessories and snowboard boots. RMP also serves as exclusive licensee in Canada for genetic footwear, accessories and lifestyle apparel. Since November 2000, TARE7 has served as the exclusive licensee in the United States for RMP’s ripzone brand.

“RMP has proven performance in delivering exceptional product for the airwalk lifestyle apparel category,” said Bruce Pettet, president and CEO of TARE7. “This new alliance will bring RMP’s exceptional outerwear designs, loaded with features and benefits, to airwalk — a recognized, leading outerwear brand.”

Under the new agreement, airwalk will offer three segments of technical outerwear for both men and women. The line will be distributed primarily in specialty and sporting goods stores and will premiere for the Fall 2002 season.

TARE7 has a vision to lead and inspire the action sports industry through its airwalk®, genetic and ripzone brands. Founded in 1986 as the leader in marketing, sales and manufacturing of action sports and youth lifestyle products, the company’s airwalk braand remains recognized as the industry original. The new performance-driven, skate-specific genetic brand was launched with an unprecedented response in September 2000. ripzone is well-known in the Canadian and Japanese snowboard and action sports markets as an outstanding apparel brand capturing the essence of lifestyle. airwalk® and genetic are registered marks of TARE7. ripzone is the registered mark of RMP International. All endorsements of airwalk and genetic products by pro team athletes are compensated by TARE7.


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European Open Slopestyle Results

Peetu Piiroinen and Enni Rukajärvi Win Burton European Open Slopestyle

Finnish riders Peetu Piiroinen (21 years old) and Enni Rukajärvi (19 years old) were the big winners of an exciting slopestyle finals up on Crap Sogn Gion today. Peetu claimed his 3rd BEO title today; while Enni secured her first win at the BEO. Both earned US$ 15.000 prize-money, 8.000 BGOS points as well as 1.000 TTR points. Mikkel Bang (NOR) and local rider Sina Candrian (SUI) took second and Gerjmund Braaten (NOR) and Sarka Pancochova (CZE) rounded out the podium.

Peetu – Swatch TTR World Champion 08/09 - was very excited about his win: "I'm so happy that I had a very clean final run. That gives me a lot of motivation for the halfpipe finals tomorrow after qualifying 16th in yesterday's semi-finals." Up and coming rider Enni Rukajärvi was a bit surprised: "I can't believe that I've won here. After taking over the lead in the first run, I wasn't that nervous anymore which helped me for the last runs."

The slopestyle competition today saw so many young guns riding exceptionally well both in the men's and women's competition. The slopestyle course was in perfect shape and every single rider seemed to have so much fun on the course. The course started off with creative features in the upper part with a kink box, a pole jam, the black jib tube and a stair set with a double kink rail and a down box, followed by the quarterpipe feature before finishing up with a kicker line consisting of three jumps.

Eight women and 16 men had three runs in the finals today to earn a spot on the podium. In the women's field last week's Roxy Chicken Jam Winner Enni Rukajärvi was clearly in the lead after her first run. She managed to hold on to her lead throughout the next runs and impressed everybody with super strong riding all the way through the finals. Enni's winning run started off with a 50-50 boardslide to fakie on the box, a cab 360 slide off the pole jam, a cab 270 boardslide on the jib tube, a 50-50 on the box, a stalefish on the quarterpipe feature and finished off with a frontside 360 indy, a backside mute 540 and a cab 720 over the kicker line.

On the men's side it was 2004 BEO Junior winner Mikkel Bang who took over the early lead with his first run that earned him 92 points. 08/09 Swatch TTR World Tour Champion Peetu Piiroinen topped Mikkel's score by only one point and took over the lead with 93 points on his final run. Peetu's winning run included a 270 boardslide 270 out on the box, a backside 360 mute off the pole jam, a frontside disaster on the jib tube, a switch frontside boardslide on the box, an inverted cab 720 on the quarterpipe and a backside 1080 tailgrab, a frontside 900 and a cab 1080 on the kicker-line. 2nd placed Mikkel mentioned: "I'm so stoked I could land all my tricks. It is crazy how many young riders are riding on such a high level. It means a lot to me to be on the podium again after winning the BEO junior title years ago." The 3rd spot on the podium was taken by 19 year old Gjermund Braaten (NOR) who fought his way into the finals all the way from the pre-qualification. His second run earned him the well-deserved podium spot after riding strong throughout the week and especially today. Gjermund had a great day and stated: "I had the best run of my life and it's the best result for me so far. I had to go through a long journey all the way through the pre-qualifications, but gained more confidence day by day."

Today's slopestyle finalists also earned valuable points towards both the Burton Global Opens Series title (US$ 200.000 prize-money) and the Swatch Ticket To Ride World Championship titles. Both the BGOS as well as TTR standings saw some changes today with Christian Haller (SUI) taking over the lead in the

BGOS men's rankings and moving into the TTR Top 5, as he now sits in World No. 5. Christian Haller has a chance to move into World No. 2 after tomorrow's halfpipe finals. Both Peetu Piiroinen and Sarka Pancochova defended their TTR tour lead today. Sarka is now also leading the BGOS women's standings. Peetu had this to say: "The points today are very important for me and I'm stoked I was able to defend the TTR tour lead."

After seven days of competitions the 11th BEO wraps up tomorrow with the big final show - the halfpipe finals. Be prepared for a thrilling show tomorrow before all riders, media and spectators will celebrate another great BEO during the live concert of "The Sounds" in Riders Palace Club.

If you can't make it to the BEO halfpipe finals up on Crag Sogn Gion at LAAX, be sure to catch the action LIVE on at the following times:

Jan. 16th Live Web Cast start @ 11h15 (CET)

If you don't have the chance to watch it live, you can watch the replay at 8 pm (CET) or 2 pm (EST).

Women's Slopestyle Finals Results
1. Rukajärvi Enni FIN ROXY 93.17
2. Candrian Sina SUI BURTON 78.50
3. Pancochova Sarka CZE FLOW 74.50

Men's Slopestyle Finals Results
1. Piiroinen Peetu FIN BURTON F 93.00
2. Bang Mikkel NOR BURTON F 92.00
3. Braaten Gjermund NOR OAKLEY F 87.83

For more information on the Burton European, head to .Follow the BEO on Twitter @ opensnowboard.


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Arsenal FC

Arsenal should buy Di Maria

Di Maria Sanchez pic for blogCall it a long shot, but I’m going to put it out there anyway, Arsenal should buy Di Maria. I don’t care what you, or anyone else thinks, if Arsenal is going to win this year, or next, then they need to invest in talent more than once in each summer transfer window. Furthermore, his purchase would be a huge blow to every other team out there, and propel them to the next level.

I’ve never been so excited about discussing something that probably won’t happen, but hey, excitement is best shared, right? Let me explain how much of an effect a purchase like this could have, on both Arsenal, and the entire footballing world.

1: By flexing their financial muscle one more time this summer, Arsenal not only prove to every club that they are not Arsene Wenger pic for blogto be messed with, but they also prove to all the players out there in the world that they’re in it to win it, and in doing so, become an even more desirable destination for both youth players, and world stars alike.

2, Di Maria is world class, put him on the opposite side of Sanchez, and allow Arsenal’s already incredible midfield of player makers to feed him the ball – and he’ll thrive even more than last year. Furthermore, Di Maria was unhappy at being played out of position at Real – at Arsenal, he would not only play on the left wing, but he’d be forced to take on more of a scoring role, similar to the roles Ronaldo and Bale have at his current club. At Arsenal, no longer would he be in a supporting role on the pitch, he would effectively be the main man, and main goal scorer. Plus, off the field, he would be Arsenal’s Batman, rather than Ronaldo’s Robin.

Ozil Arsenal pic for blog3: Di Maria’s talent is off the grid, he deserves more recognition. I wrote a post in the past about how ridiculous I think it is that Real seemed to have overlooked his importance to the team this past year (read that article here). Di Maria, if given more recognition, and a leadership role at Arsenal, would not only improve, but become a legend.

4: He and Sanchez are engines – they would cause so many issues for opposing team’s defenses as their batteries never run out. And, with Ramsey (another engine) playing behind them, Arsenal would become crazy good and instantly become title contenders. Call me crazy, but Wenger could also experiment with Walcott at Striker if he purchases Di Maria. I’ve always thought Walcott would be better employed their, instead of at the wing. Plus, Ozil is familiar with Di Maria’s style of play, and getting those two back on the same pitch together would be a site for the eyes.

5: Last but not least… why not? If you have the money, and the talent, and you’re goal is to win trophies, then why not? Furthermore, Di Maria would make the team bucket loads of money.

Anyway, as I’ve said, this transfer probably won’t happen, but, Arsenal have the funds to make it happen, and that’s what is so frustrating about it. Through purchasing Di Maria, Manchester United effectively drop out of contention for the next couple years in my opinion. The majority of Arsenal players are mid twenties, hitting their prime, Manchester United are in a rebuilding phase, and taking players of Di Maria’s calibre off the market, would really affect both rival, and football stars, as they would want to play with high profile guys like Di Maria, Ozil, and Sanchez. Let’s make this happen folks, repost this Facebook and get them to do the same, we gotta create a buzz around the idea that his transfer could actually happen!

Arsenal Logo

Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC, Clubs, Manchester City, Manchester United

Premier League Summer Transfer Review

Sanchez pic for blogArsenal have now made two big summer signings in each of the last two years… Ozil last summer, and Sanchez this time around. In doing so, Arsenal have come up as huge players in the transfer market… In buying Sanchez, Arsene Wenger has not only brought over a team player, but an experienced leader. I enjoyed Ozil’s move to the Emirates last summer, but I don’t think he possesses the leadership and conviction necessary to sweep away the players around him. When Ramsey went down last year, Arsenal lost the lifeblood of their team – he was the clock that never stopped ticking… And, you could tell that they missed his presence on the field. In fact, when he went down, their midfield seemed disillusioned and wary, missing his leadership and energy… but, with the arrival of Sanchez, the young Arsenal players get a world class player with that Ramsey-esque world class mentality – that will be sure to keep everyone on point. Furthermore, Keiran Gibbs declared Sanchez an “animal” in training – which goes to show you how mentally fit, focused and committed he is at getting better at his craft. Journalists would be dead wrong if they shared the same assessment of Sanchez that they did about Ozil at this past summer’s world cup. In fact, it’d be blasphemy to ever say that Sanchez hasn’t put his heart and soul on the pitch every time he’s been on it. With Laurent Koscielny in the back, Ramsey in the middle, and Sanchez in the front, Arsenal now have a psychologically fit player with strong leadership, in all thirds of the pitch, and I truly do believe that they’ll fight honorably for this year’s premiership title… I think they’ll finish second or third… That said, Wilshere needs to step it up – and, it wouldn’t hurt them to buy a true defensive midfielder… but, even if they don’t, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

Now on to Manchester, who finally seem “united” again . LvG has somehow taken lifeless players and breathed a new Herrerah pic for blogsense of belief into them… Ashley Young, Kagawa, Rooney, and even Chicharito have starred in their preseason campaign this summer, and, I believe their new 3-4-1-2 formation has a lot to do with it. Ander Herrera’s move to United kind of took me by surprise at first, but, what I’ve learned over the course of the summer is that LvG knows exactly how to put his players in the best position to win. United, like the Netherlands, don’t have any world class center backs, so, it makes sense to start Jones, Smalling and Evans together – with the attack oriented Rafael and Luke Shaw as wingbacks to offer support to both the attack and defense. Furthermore, Herrera’s combative yet technical nature seems to be exactly what the back three will need in front of them this year. He will play in a similar role as Nigel de Jong for the Netherlands this past summer, and will certainly succeed through developing a rapport with Spanish compatriot Juan Mata. With the back three, two wingbacks, and Herrera all shoring up the defense, players like Rooney, Van Persie, Ashley Young (unless LvG keeps playing him at wingback), Nani (if he gets his act together), Kagawa, Valencia, Mata, and Welbeck, will all be able to exert full energy to their attacking efforts. This will inevitably cause problems for anyone they face… And you’ll hear it here first. I think they’ll win the premier league this year because of it… even despite their terrible first season game.

Costa pic for blogChelsea have seemed to make all the right moves, but honestly, I’m not sure that they have. Although I love the Fabregas purchase, as it finally addresses the midfield hole that they’ve had since selling Mata, I think they’ve really missed the boat by selling David Luiz, and here’s why: Although Luiz played really well in a defensive midfield position last year, I think that he would have come into his own this year and really mastered it. In fact, I think his role at Chelsea this past year played a part in his ineffectual displays at the world cup playing center back with Silva. In other words, my mouth waters at the thought of Fabregas, Luiz, and Ramires in the Chelsea midfield together at the same time… Matic lacks the Fabregas pic for blogtechnical quality that Luis possesses, and he also isn’t as physically gifted… Chelsea must stop selling the wrong players, and start buying the right ones to compliment who they already have. For Mourinho, that means learning how to adapt to his players needs, rather than to his own, and also believing that he can make mistakes, because right now, his ego should be at an all time low due to the fact that he hasn’t won almost anything in the past two seasons… Chelsea should never have sold Mata, Luiz, or Lukaku… But anyways, this is the year that the “special one,” could potentially digress to being called the “tensile one,” especially if he again doesn’t win anything. That said I think they’ll finish third or fourth, and I don’t understand why everyone has them as favorites… I know Costa is immensely talented, but will he adapt well to English football? I guess we’ll find out this year…

Mangala pic for blogMan City addressed their only concern in the transfer market by buying Eliaquim Mangala… Kompany’s mouth must be watering at the thought of playing next to a center back that’s as physically gifted as he is. Demichelis was a solid back, but not as solid as Man City could afford. Furthermore, he’s old and Kompany has had to pick up the slack on many occasions last year due to his lack of pace. Perhaps they could have purchased another striker, but if Aguero stays healthy, I don’t think they’l necessarily need on. Manchester City will be a huge force this year, no doubt about it, and from my point of view, they’ll defend their league title unless if United do not. And, if they don’t they’l, certainly finish second.

Arsenal FC

Community Shield Review

Ramsey Community Shield PicArsenal looked unbelievable in today’s game against Man City, unfortunately it’s a game that doesn’t mean much, especially as Manchester City didn’t play many starters. Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero weren’t suited up, and others like David Silva began the game on the bench.

The first 20 minutes were dominated by Arsenal possession, as they swung around short passes that lead to a Santi Cazorla’s goal. The one issue though, Sanogo’s skills are better suited to the counter-attack than they are in a possession-based short-pass attack. He proved this on Arsenal’s second goal, when Alexis Sanchez placed a perfect through ball to him while he was in stride, then he managed to pass the ball off to Ramsey who took a brilliant touch before finishing with class. Despite the fact that Sanogo is very young, Arsenal still do miss a good striker with the quality of an Adebayor who could make the right runs, and also hold possession of the ball. If Thierry Henry, the full package, were part of this current Arsenal team, it’d be quite interesting to see the amount of damage he could do. Arsenal could do well to purchase a striker with a bit more quality. I know it’s ironic that I say that after Giroud’s stunner, but, let’s be honest, he won’t do that often this year. If Giroud were to go down with injury, Sanogo and Joel Campbell would be the only strikers left – Sanchez is not a striker, but rather he’s a more of a right winger/forward. In other words, if Giroud were to go down with injury, it’d be ridiculous that the backup options on a top team like Arsenal would be Campbell and Sanogo. Anyway, back to today’s game…

Alexis Sanchez looked great today, he started many of Arsenal’s counter attacks, dribbling the ball from Arsenal Community Shield picwith great pace and control. Although he wasn’t always able to pick out the right passes, once he gets used to the players around him, his high quality will be on full display.

Calum Chambers looked very strong next to Koscielny, although he got beat by Dzeko on a run down the left side. He’s only 19, and will develop if he’s keen to learn from those around him. Debuchy also looked great, making runs down the right half to support the attack.

It’s quite difficult to make an assessment of Manchester City, especially as many of their starers had no part in today’s game. But, I will say that the scoreline should have, and easily could have, been a lot closer had Nasri finished a cross in the box. At full strength, today’s game would have been quite thrilling, but considering that Arsenal was playing against many backups and reserves, today’s game shouldn’t affect the way you look at either club as they enter competitive competition.

Arsenal FC

Arsene Wenger’s Woes… And his huge transfer kitty

Arsene Wenger Pic for blogArsenal haven’t won the premiership since 2003… Apparently that hasn’t had to change for Arsene Wenger to continuously receive contract extensions – and while it’s frustrating that North London hasn’t achieved premier league glory over the past decade, I do believe Mr. Wenger is still the best man for the job. That said, Arsenal, with their new found ability to make pricey purchases (e.g. Ozil), must splurge on the right players, at the right positions that need improvement – this past year I would have rather seen Diego Costa, or a striker of his caliber, in an Arsenal shirt (rather than Ozil), as they have way too many attacking mids. Now with that said, depth is never really an issue, unless of course you try to field all that depth (Ramsey, Cazorla, Ozil, Wilshere, Rosicky, and Arteta) all at the same time, and start a lug of a striker (Giroud) in front of these creative and technically skilled masterminds with unique senses of vision and awareness. Arsenal’s technical and Brazilian-esque style of play is something to behold considering it’s played in the aggressive league that is the premiership, but, in order to make the most of such a style, they need to have players that can match that level of aggression. When they lost Ramsey’s workhorse mentality to injury, their season crumbled, even despite the solid partnership Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker have formed over the past couple seasons…

Aaron Ramsey pic for blogBack to Ramsey, his presence allowed players like Wilshere, Ozil (and everyone else) the ability to focus on what they excel at – attacking. Ramsey is the full package, defensively aware/aggressive and he has enough stamina to go box to
box and finish an offensive move.  Interestingly enough, Arsenal seem to always sell these Ramsey-like players that make their team tick – for example, Viera, Gilberto Silva, Flamini, Alex Song… I don’t include Fabregas because his role was not in the same vein as an them. Arsenal’s most successful years occurred when they had arguably the best defensive mid of his time Patrick Viera (well except for maybe Makalele), he was smart, aggressive and disrupted his opponents attacks beautifully while also making the necessary passes to support their offense. Arsene Wenger’s woes are much to do with his lack of appreciation of this role this year –  If Ramsey is to get injured again, he must have a backup in place, and he should have instantly turned to Flamini to put in front of, and tie together with Koscielny and Mertesacker. Arsenal cannot risk being beaten by Chelsea 6-0 again, they simply cannot, and must address this issue, and emphasize a holding midfielder’s importance… as well as make a couple other transfers…

To begin, I think Arsenal’s need for a striker should be addressed after the world cup, and I say this for two reasons: 1, because many players show up on the world stage and make names for themselves, and Arsenal need to take these players into consideration before splurging on anyone. And 2, because their competitors don’t have issues at striker, (Chelsea: Torres, Ba, Costa. Liverpool: Sturridge, Suarez. Man City: Aguero, Dzeko, Negredo, Jovetić. Man Utd: Van Persie, Rooney, Welbeck, Hernandez) so Arsenal can afford to wait and make a nice and thoughtful decision. But, it wouldn’t hurt them to gain some experience, and although you might believe otherwise, I think someone like Samuel Eto’o would make for a great player on Arsenal for multiple reasons…

1, He wants to prove Mourinho wrong, and show him that he’s not completely past his prime and should still be treatedSamual Eto'o Pic for blog with respect. 2, Eto’o has experience, he’s won almost every trophy under the sun through his time with Barcelona and with Inter and can share those unique experiences with Arsenal’s younger crop of players. 3, and most importantly, Eto’o would play well in Arsenal’s system, his best days were at Barca where attacking and quickly passing the ball around (rather than parking the bus) was considered the best form of defense (and also paramount to their success). 4, The young players at Arsenal (Ozil, Wilshere, Ramsey, Walcott) will breathe new  life into him… At Chelsea Eto’o was surrounded by older and highly paid/over-pampered players – the culture didn’t suit him, whereas at Arsenal, Wenger will surely be able to establish belief in him through the the young hardworking culture that’s established there. And last but not least, 5, Arsenal’s players – though young – are getting older and will mature through their mid twenties this year… In other words, they’ll all get better, and when Arsenal address their defensive issues with a new right back, they should only get better still. But anyway…. If you can’t tell by all that I’ve said so far – I still think Eto’o has a lot left in the tank, and Arsenal more than any other club can benefit most from his presence.

A younger player that Arsenal should swoop if Eto’o isn’t available is RomeluMichy Batshuayi pic for blog Lukaku, especially considering that he recently admitted to wanting to leave Chelsea… But, if they can’t workout a way to make a move for him, they should really consider his Belgium compatriot Michy Batshuayi. Michy recently stated that he wants to play for Arsenal, and although I don’t think he’ll be a force this year, with proper training he could become a huge success at Anfield.

Arsenal have a lot of work to do this summer to make sure that they compete for first place in the premiership, but if they’re smart about who they buy, and stop acting as a feeder club to other clubs (like Barcelona (e.g. Fabregas, Song)) then they’re in prime position to be a disruptive force over the next decade… As I said before, many of their players will be hitting mid twenties over the next couple years, and if they stay put at Arsenal, and grow together as a team, then they’ll give Arsene Wenger a lot more smiles than he’s had over the last decade.

Arsenal Logo


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Use Redundant Analytics Whenever Possible

by Andrew Krebs-Smith | March 15

If you only have one web/app analytics system (e.g. Google Analytics, Kissmetrics, etc.) then you risk significant inaccuracy moving forward. Simply put, if you only have one system measuring your web traffic, how do you know if the system is accurate or not? We have found numerous issues with client data in the past, leading to extremely misleading marketing data. Often these issues could have been solved by using two independent mechanisms.

How does redundant analytics help? When your two systems don’t align (+/- 20% margin), then you know something is wrong. And then, if you’ve lost data on one platform, it will exist on another. Furthermore, sometimes one system will have an advantage over the other. For example, Facebook Conversion Pixels will track someone moving across devices, while only Google Analytics will catch multi-touch attribution. Another example is that Facebook pixels report faster (Google Analytics can delay 1-2 days), and Google Analytics can track user behavior beyond just which steps a visitor hits.

So just because your system “works” doesn’t mean you are seeing everything you could be seeing.

What’s the best way to set up redundant analytics? We recommend an event-based system and a pixel-based system, such as Google Analytics and Facebook Conversion Pixels, respectively. We recommend setting them up through Google Tag Manager or your preferred tag management system, so that you can easily handle versioning, troubleshooting, and so that your tags load asynchronously.

That’s all!

Andrew Krebs-Smith
About the author

Andrew Krebs-Smith

Helping B2C Retail/Ecomm companies test, measure, and scale digital marketing. Trying to fix the agency model so that agencies are accountable to every client media dollar they spend.


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Keep your fracking sand out of our port

Brian Huseby reports on an anti-fracking encampment at the Port of Olympia.

Protests against fracking have continued at the Port of Olympia (Olympia Confronting Climate Crisis)Protests against fracking have continued at the Port of Olympia (Olympia Confronting Climate Crisis)

SUPPORTERS OF Olympia Stand, a climate justice coalition in Olympia, Washington, has constructed an encampment blocking the railroad tracks to the Port of Olympia--under a banner reading "No Fracking Sand in Our Port."

The purpose of the blockade is to prevent fracking sands, known as ceramic proppants, from being shipped from the port to the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota and other places.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of extracting oil and natural gas from source rock, primarily shale. This is done by pumping a mixture of fracking sands, and large amounts of water and chemicals into the veins of the source rock to open them and extract the oil and natural gas.

Each time a well is fracked, between 2 million and 8 million gallons of fresh water is used. Fracking fluid goes through the aquifers, contaminating drinking water with chemicals, many of which are cancerous. Fracking can lead to local drinking water becoming undrinkable and even flammable. Recent research has found further evidence that fracking is causing earthquakes.

As one activist at the blockade said in an interview: "We are here because we reject the port's complicity with the fossil fuel industry. For example, they have a bad contract with Rainbow Ceramics [the Houston-based company that produces the proppants] that allows the proppants to be stored at the port for free."

At about the same time last year and at the same place, a similar blockade was built to stop the trains then shipping fracking sands to North Dakota. The same activist added, "We are here to celebrate the anniversary of last year's blockade and also the 10-year anniversary of the attempt to prevent the port from sending military equipment to [Joint Base Lewis McCord]."

In 2007, members and supporters of Port Military Resistance engaged in a protest that included street battles with police over transporting military equipment between the port and Joint Base Lewis McCord. The equipment consisted mostly of motor vehicles that were returning from Iraq for maintenance and repair and were then scheduled to be returned to Iraq.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

OLYMPIA PORT Resistance, a participant in the current encampment and blockade, has issued two demands: First, that the Port of Olympia cease all fossil fuel and military infrastructure shipments; and second, that control of the port should be horizontal and democratic.

The second demand relates to concerns about the port that many area residents share. The port is governed by a commission consisting of three members. Only one of the members, E.J. Zita, has opposed allowing the port to accept anti-ecological and military cargos.

Two of the three seats, including Zita's, were open to voters in the November election. While Zita won re-election, a second progressive candidate was defeated by a business-backed candidate. So the composition of the commission remains the same--only one progressive member against two business-as-usual members.

A second activist at the blockade spoke about the favoritism the commission has shown toward business interests. For example, the port invested $3 million into automatic log loaders specifically to benefit Weyerhauser Corp., a huge forest products conglomerate based in nearby Tacoma. This resulted in lost hours for longshore workers at the port.

"I believe that protest is important," said the activist, "but we want to physically disrupt the process that we object to. The blockades have already delayed three shipments. We believe that Haliburton Corp. has threatened the port with ceasing business altogether over delayed shipments."

The future of the blockade is unclear. As this article was being written, it had lasted for four days. Both the Olympia Police Department and Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the tracks, have stated that they have no plans to break the encampment up.

However, last year after the blockade had stood for about a week, a railroad lawyer offered to meet with representatives of the encampment the following day, assuring them that no efforts would be made to disrupt the encampment beforehand.

Instead, both local police and railroad police raided the encampment at 4 a.m. on the day that the meeting was to take place. Twelve demonstrators were arrested and others were injured in the process.

Whatever happens this time around, activists have one message for attempts to ship fracking materials: "No frackin' way!"


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Archive for March 22nd, 2016

March 22, 2016, by The Sofia Globe staff

The European Union and its institutions stand united in the face of terrorism, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on March 22 in response to the attacks that left a […]

Anti-terrorism exercise scheduled for Sofia on March 22

March 22, 2016, by The Sofia Globe staff

An anti-terrorism exercise, involving the Sofia metro railway and police closing down streets in the centre of the city, is to be held on the night of ...

Russian court finds Savchenko guilty of murder

March 22, 2016, by The Kyiv Post

It ended as it had begun and continued throughout: in farce and confusion. A court in the small Russian border town of Donetsk in Rostov Oblast on Mar ...

Two Sofia – Brussels flights cancelled after terrorist attack at Zaventem Airport

March 22, 2016, by The Sofia Globe staff

Two flights linking Sofia and Brussels that had been scheduled for March 22 2016 had been cancelled, Sofia Airport said a few hours after the terroris ...

  • Speaker of Parliament: Brussels attacks not unexpected
    March 22, 2016, by The Sofia Globe staff

    The deadly bomb attacks in Brussels on March 22 obviously were retaliations by terrorists, said the Speaker of Bulgaria’s National Assembly, Tsetska Tsacheva, who was at the European Parliament at […]

  • Brussels rocked by airport, metro explosions
    March 22, 2016, by Lisa Bryant of VOANews

    At least three explosions rocked Brussels Tuesday morning – two at the airport and one at a metro station in the heart of the capital, with local media reporting at […]


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Archives For Fitness

Photo Credit:

Photo Credit:

Cheat day: a designated day where one purposefully strays from their typical eating habits to devour endless amounts of delicious, naughty foods to satisfy physiological and psychological needs.

When it comes to fitness and nutrition, the idea of a cheat day has been a disputed topic among experts, practitioners, and internet trolls for many years. One of the first known mentioning of the approach can be traced back to 1999 where Bill Phillips encourages a “free day” in his book Body-For-LIFE. Over a decade later, Tim Ferriss suggests a similar idea in his best-selling bible The 4-Hour Body. Clearly this idea is sticking around.

Maybe you have heard distant ramblings of cheating on your diet from the dark corners of your gym’s locker room, or perhaps you read it in a respected book. You know it is good to cheat but you don’t know why. In order to better understand the art of cheat days it is better to step back and look at the core of reasoning behind it all: a hormone called leptin.

What the heck is leptin?

Leptin is “a protein hormone produced by fatty body tissue and believed to regulate fat storage.” Thank you, Google – but it is a little more than that.

Leptin is the reason why you see so many people drop a lot of weight at first and then struggle to get rid of those dreaded “last few pounds.” Its main function is to regulate hunger, food intake and energy expenditure and is produced in your fat cells. Therefore, the more fat you have on your body, the higher your baseline level of leptin is.

It also directly influences the production and secretion of hormones that regulate metabolism, such as thyroid hormones T3 and T4. A higher leptin level equals a higher T3 and T4 count, which allows for faster fat burn. On the flip-side, lower leptin equates to lower T3 and T4. That is why the more fat you have the faster you can lose it.

Another thing to keep in mind is that leptin levels are relative to your caloric intake. When you want to lose fat you need to create a caloric deficit. A caloric deficit means that your leptin levels will drop but that also means a drop in fat loss because of your lacking T3 and T4 hormones, so in return your fat loss goes from a sprint to a crawl. This creates a nutritional catch-22. Let’s recap:

You need to eat less to burn fat, but eating less produces less leptin. The less leptin you produce, the hungrier you become and the more likely you are to eat more than you should.

This can get extremely frustrating. Therefore it is necessary to make your goal revolve around keeping leptin levels elevated while restricting calories. Based on what you just read that might sound impossible, but it isn’t.

Enter, cheat day.

We’ve already established that leptin levels decrease while in a caloric deficit. It is the periodic “bump” in leptin that will help you avoid fat loss plateaus and lose fat faster by creating a caloric surplus (read: eating a crap ton) on your cheat day. This will create enough of a boost to prevent all the negative effects of low leptin levels from wrecking havoc on your body.

How often you cheat depends on your current diet and fitness level. The more restricted your calories are, the more often you will need to increase leptin levels. The same goes for those with a lower body fat percentage.

It has also been researched to take it all one step further and combine your feasts with intermittent fasting to experience the best of both worlds: enhanced metabolic hormonal output with increased growth hormone production. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

Incorporating cheat days into your approach has the physiological benefits outlined above, but it is also wise to consider the (not-so-solid) psychological benefits of removing dietary mental shackles with freedom and choice. Strategically eating what you want one day of the week and still reaping all the benefits of fat loss can be a great mental motivator.

What are your thoughts on cheat days? Do you cheat on your diet?

Follow Shane on TwitterLike Shane on Facebook.

If you enjoy this article and would like to receive other similar articles directly to your email inbox please make sure to subscribe to So Healthy Nutrition.

Going to the gym and lifting weights isn’t for everybody. Some people simply don’t enjoy the monotonous workout routines because “it’s boring.” Others may actually feel intimidated by the atmosphere most gyms give off. If either scenario sounds like you please know that there are others in the same boat.

The good news is that you can definitely stay in great shape without ever stepping foot in a gym. The idea for someone not wishing to gym is to find other activities that promote a healthy lifestyle.

If you like working out but just not in front of a lot of people then you can do resistance training at home. Buying yourself a pair of dumbbells and a decent weight range is all you really need to cover your whole body.

If you straight up despise resistance training altogether then a great idea is to play a sport. There are several sports that can keep you in tip top shape all by just having some fun. On top of that, sports are a great way to get some cardiovascular exercise that most resistance trainers don’t get enough of.

I do resistance training at a gym 3 times per week but now am trying to make a personal goal of adding more activities outside the gym on top of my current workout. I plan to do sprints, ride my bike, and having recently joined a softball team, get some sports into my week to help work on my cardio.

Try to aim for 3 days per week where you do some sort of fun physical activities. They can be anything from kayaking, rock climbing, soccer, bike riding, or even something as simple as jogging. Whatever you find fun will entice you to do it more often and in the long run you will reap more benefits than always doing something you don’t necessarily enjoy, like going to the gym religiously.

What do you do to keep you in shape?

Follow Shane on TwitterLike Shane on Facebook.

If you enjoy this article and would like to receive other similar articles directly to your email inbox please make sure to subscribe to So Healthy Nutrition.

FREE Weight Loss Guide

January 28, 2013 — 1 Comment

Welcome to Weight Loss Cover

Today is a great day. Today I am releasing my 100% FREE weight loss guide. How cool is that?

Get your FREE weight loss guide here.

It includes 5 easy tips to help lose weight and it’s free! All you need to do is sign up for my So Healthy Nutrition newsletter and a copy will be emailed for you to read. The guide revolves around the strategy for weight loss I used for myself, as well as my clients.

I’m giving it away for free as a way to say thank you for reading my blog posts, and also to attract more people to my website so that I can help them with their nutrition and fitness goals even more.

It’s a really easy read, and hopefully you will come out of it knowing a lot more than you did going in. There’s no harm in giving it a shot, plus if you’re looking to lose a few extra pounds, this guide is right up your alley.

It’s pretty much a 2 in 1 deal. You get a free eBook guide, plus you sign-up for my newsletter which includes posts and contests that non-members don’t receive.

Click here to get started with the sign-up process now, and receive your FREE copy of Welcome to Weight Loss!

Let me know what you think.

I hope you enjoy it.

So Healthy Nutrition Newsletter Sign-Up Page


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Showing posts with the label Tutorial

Sony NEX-7 Rear Button Focus

Figure 1. Rear Button aka AF/MF Button Controls Autofocus.
Here's a way to autofocus using the rear AF/MF button instead of the shutter button. You can then separate focus from locking exposure with the shutter button half press. This will also prevent the lens from prefocusing when in AF or DMF mode.

Setting up the NEX-7 to use AF/MF Rear Button Focus.
Set the camera to Manual Focus, Figure 2.Set the AF/MF Control to HOLD, Figure 3.Set the AF/MF Button to AF/MF Control, Figure 1.Set the Function Button to Focus Settings, Figure 4. This will let us control the focus point via Flexible Spot. You can also use Center focus point then Recompose. The camera must be in MF or DMF mode, Figure 2., to use Focus Settings.

Figure 2. Set the camera to MANUAL FOCUS.

Figure 3. Set the AF/MF Control to HOLD.

Figure 4. Set Function Button to Focus Settings.

Here is the Sony NEX-7 Manual for download for more info.

What Shutter Sound? Sony DSC-RX1

Sony DSC-RX1 Shutter Sound
GPSVista compares the standard shutter sound of the Sony RX1 and the lack of shutter sound when it is disabled. The shutter sound can be silenced by turning off Audio Signals via Setup Menu #3, shown below.

Sony RX1 Setup Menu #3

Thanks GPSVista!

Sony NEX-6 Infrared Conversion by

Sony NEX-6 Disassembled for Infrared Conversion
Wiebe from uploaded his Sony NEX-6 infrared conversion tutorial video and here it is. Check out 4:59 for a surprise.

Visit for a more detailed NEX-6 disassembly and infrared conversion tutorial.

Thanks Wiebe and IR-Photo!

Download Sony NEX-F3 Manual in PDF

Sony NEX-F3 Parts and Controls

Here is the Sony NEX-F3 instruction manual in Adobe PDF. It provides descriptions of the cameras controls, basic operation, and general usage recommendations. The NEX-F3 manual in PDF can be previewed and downloaded here via Google Drive.

USB charging for NEX cameras introduced with the Sony NEX-F3, shown below.

Sony NEX-F3 USB Charger and AC Adapter

The alpha manual for the Sony NEX-F3 provides further instruction on using the camera. The alpha manual shows how to use the extensive features of the NEX-F3. The alpha manual for the NEX-F3 can be previewed and downloaded here.

Below is a new feature for the NEX system introduced by the Sony NEX-F3.
Sony NEX-F3 Auto Portrait Framing

Some picture effects available on the NEX-F3.
Sony NEX-F3 Picture Effects

Sony NEX-3 Surgery

Sony NEX-3 Shutter in Action

erkinson the disassembler posted his NEX-3 surgery. The guide takes you all the way down to the 14.2 megapixel sensor. Check out the step by step procedure at

Sony NEX-3 14.2 MP Sensor by erkinson

Thanks erkinson!

Sony NEX-7 Wired Shutter Release Mod

Sony NEX-7 Wired Shutter Release by Trunk at

Trunk contacted us again with his new mod. This time it's a wired shutter release for the Sony NEX-7. It was about a year ago that we posted Trunk's wired shutter release for the Sony NEX-5.

If you are using the NEX-7 in modes other than P,S,A, or M the wireless Sony NEX Remote will not work and the Self-Timer is also inaccessible.  Trunk has the solution for the NEX-7.  He goes through a step by step procedure on modding the NEX-7 for a wired shutter release.  The process is very complex and will void your warranty.  Do it at your own risk or contact Trunk as he may offer the modification service.

 Check out for Trunk's NEX-7 wired shutter release.  Here are some pictures by Trunk showing the insides of the NEX-7 and the finished product.

Images by Trunk at
Thanks Trunk!

Sony NEX-7 Dial Wheel Lock Option?

Have you finished reading the 211 page manual for the Sony NEX-7 yet? You may have run into this Dial / Wheel Lock option in the Setup Menu and tried to guess what it was. We had no clue until we ran into the video above by SonyAlphaSupport.

The Dial / Wheel Lock option can be found on the 1st screen (top) of the Setup Menu. It can be set to All, Control Wheel, or Off. When it is set to All, the Tri-Navi controls can be locked by holding down the Navigation Button of the NEX-7 for around 2 seconds. This means that whatever the Tri-Navi controls are controlling cannot be accidentally changed without unlocking them. The unlocking process is the same as the locking process.

Dial / Wheel Lock option in NEX-7 Setup Menu A more useful option might be setting the Dial / Wheel Lock to Control Wheel. The Control Wheel is usually the ISO dial so it can be locked and unlocked by holding down the Navigation Button for around 2 seconds.

A lock icon shows up on the top right of the screen when …

How To Clean a Sony NEX Camera

We have not experienced any visible dust on our images yet. We always make sure that the camera is turned off before changing the lens. We also try to change it only when we are indoors. We've never used cleaning mode on the NEX so the video is quite helpful.

From Sony's website:
Clean the dust or debris on the image sensor by performing the automatic cleaning function of the camera. If dust remains, use a blower.

Sony cannot honor the warranty if the user cleans the image sensor surface with a commercial solution. We recommend only using the blower to remove dust particles.

If dust still remains even if you try the above, consult your Sony dealer or local authorized Sony service facility.

Sony NEX-5N Family

Sony NEX-5N Users Guide Video

Just got your Sony NEX-5N or looking at getting one? Clear 18 minutes of your day and watch the NEX-5N tutorial courtesy of Sony Asia. Download the NEX-5N Manual and follow along and take notes. This is a good crash course on your camera when you're not out there shooting.

Download Sony NEX-7 Users Manual in PDF

Sony Alpha NEX-7 Parts from the Manual

Here is the Sony NEX-7 User's Manual in PDF. It contains a lot of information which will make the NEX-7 experience more enjoyable. Read through the manual multiple times while you wait for your NEX-7.

Download the Sony NEX-7 manual in PDF here.

Here are some NEX-7 features that we found interesting.

Sony NEX-7 Face Recognition for Up To Eight Faces

Viewing NEX 3D Pictures on a 3D TV

You can also download the NEX-7 brochure here.

Download Sony NEX-7 Brochure in PDF

Sony NEX-7 TriNavi Dials

If you are waiting for your Sony NEX-7, here is something to whet your appetite. The brochure includes minute details that most reviews have not discussed. The NEX-7 brochure provides operational details of the NEX-7 TriNavi dials. Other NEX-7 features mentioned are the 1200 zone metering, eight LCD display modes, three grid displays (3x3, 4x4, and 6x4 - square format shooters rejoice), and anti-dust system.

The NEX-7 brochure also mentions the new NEX lenses and shows an Accessories System Chart, which includes Sony Alpha Flashes.

***Use this link to download the brochure.***

*not working* Download the Sony NEX-7 Brochure in PDF here.

Sony NEX Camcorder Manuals PDF Download

Here are the owner's, instruction, or operator's manual for the Sony NEX-VG10, NEX-VG20, and NEX-FS100 Handycam Camcorders. The user guides below should be read by owners and perspective owners.

Sony NEX-VG20 Handycam CamcorderClick to download the Sony NEX-VG20 Instruction Manual in PDF.Click to download the Sony NEX-VG20 Handbook in PDF.

Sony NEX-FS100 Super 35 Digital Motion CamcorderClick to download the Sony NEX-FS100 Instruction Manual in PDF.

Sony NEX-VG10 Handycam CamcorderClick to download the Sony NEX-VG10 Instruction Manual in PDF.

We are using Dropbox to host the NEX manuals for free. Click here for an invite.

Download Sony NEX-5N Handbook in PDF

Parts of the Sony NEX-5N

Above is a page from the extensive Sony NEX-5N Handbook / User Manual. It explains many of the new features and capabilities of the new NEX-5N including its new lenses and accessories.

Click here to download the Sony NEX-5N Handbook / User Manual in Adobe PDF format.

NEX-5N EVF from the Sales Brochure

As a bonus we found the Sony NEX-5N Sales Brochure. The snippet above shows the features of the new XGA OLED TruFinder for the NEX-5n. It contains plenty of information on the new NEX-5N, E-mount lenses, and accessories.

Sony NEX-C3 PDF Owners Manual Download

Get ready for your new Sony NEX-C3 by reading the owner's manual. It is a great way to familiarize yourself with the NEX-C3's user interface and the camera's capabilities.

Sample Photo Search NEX-C3 Manual

The NEX-C3's interactive pdf manual has a very handy "Sample Photo Search" which will help users with the common question of "This is the scene I want to capture in a photo, but how can I..?" Click on the sample photo and it will lead you to instructions on what settings should be adjusted on the NEX-C3.

How to Use Leica Lenses on the NEX Camera.
The image above shows the answer to one of the most popular questions for NEX cameras. "How do I use a 3rd party lens like Leica with an E-mount lens adapter on the NEX?"

We suggest having the manual with you at all times as you are learning the NEX-C3.
To download the Sony NEX-C3 pdf owner's / instruction manual:
Click on the image at the top or this link.Click on "download this file…

NEX Tips and Tricks for Filmmakers

Here is Adam Roberts' tips and tricks on using the NEX-5 for film making. He discusses setting up the soft keys to help in creating videos. He then goes through the custom white balance setting. He used a very flat setting for the videos, reduced contrast, reduced saturation, and reduced sharpness, which was changed through the NEX's Creative Style menu.

After the NEX-5 settings, he discusses the hardware he used. He quickly talks about lens adapters, third party lenses, Lensbaby Tilt Transformer, and follow focus.

NEX-5 with Shoot35 Follow Focus

The last part of the video is on video workflow. Adam R. used AVCHD (.MTS) to film with the NEX-5. The files (.MTS) were then converted to quicktime files (.MOV) by using ClipWrap before using Final Cut Pro to do the final edit.

Here is "Another Yesterday" by Adam Roberts using the tips and tricks in the video above.

Thanks Adam R and for the tip Anon on 6/21!

Adjust Infinity Focus on NEX Lens Adapters

Here is a generic Leica M to Sony NEX E-mount lens adapter. The adapter allows for infinity focus but it occurs before the infinity mark. We wanted to get closer to the infinity mark so we took off the (4) screws that attach the silver part to the black part. We used a precision slotted screwdriver and made sure not to strip the very tiny screws.

We used pieces of aluminum foil to add thickness to the adapter. This will get the Leica M lens farther away from the Sony NEX sensor and infinity focus should be closer to the infinity mark on the lens. If the foil is too thick, the lens will be too far away and infinity focus may not be achieved.
Reassemble the adapter and test the lens for infinity focus.

NEX 3D Sweep Panorama StereoPhotoMaker Tutorial

If you don't have a 3D TV yet, here's a way to view your Sony NEX 3D pictures.

Sony NEX 3D Sweep Panorama to Wobble 3D via StereoPhotoMakerDownload the latest version of StereoPhotoMaker by Masuji SUTO.
Extract the file into a directory.Copy an MPO (multi-picture object) file created with 3D Panorama Sweep from the Sony NEX camera with ver. 02 firmware into the directory in step #2.Drag and drop the MPO file onto stphmkre.exe.StereoPhotoMaker will open up with the Left and Right image of your NEX 3D MPO file.To view with Red-Blue 3D glasses, click on Stereo > ColorAnaglyph > Optimized Anaglyph.To view as a wobble 3D image, click on Stereo > Single Image View > Flashing. Adjust the speed to your preference.You can resize the final output by clicking Edit > Resize. Enter your preference and make sure to Keep the Aspect Ratio.To save the anaglyph of the NEX 3D MPO file, perform step #6, then click on File > Save Stereo Image. The save dialog will pop up, press …

How to Use the NEX-5 with the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit

Here is a step by step tutorial on how to import photos from the Sony NEX-5 camera to the iPad with the use of the Camera Connection Kit.
Turn on Sony NEX Camera.Press Menu button > Setup > USB Connection > Mass Storage Turn off NEX Camera.Connect iPad USB reader from Camera Connection Kit to USB cable from NEX-5.Connect USB reader to iPad. Make sure the iPad is not in sleep mode. Turn on NEX Camera.The iPad will start displaying photos from NEX-5 memory card.We had Date folders in the NEX-5 but the iPad displayed all the photos at once.Select the photos to be imported by clicking on each one, or select none if you will import all the photos.Click the Import button and choose whether to Import only the Selected Photos or All of the photos.The iPad will start importing the photos, wait until all the blue checks turn green.RAW files can be imported, but due to their size, take longer to import than JPGs.Choose whether to Keep or Delete the imported photos from the NEX-5 memory …

Sony NEX Tutorial Videos

Here are two helpful tutorial videos on how to use your new Sony NEX Camera. They're great teasers for those of us waiting to get our hands on the NEX-3 or NEX-5.

The first video covers the following topics:
NEX unboxing showing the contents.Charging the battery.Different body color and lens kit options.Turning on the camera.Menu buttons.Jog Dial.Setting the time.

This video covers the following topics:
Taking a photo.Shooting tips.Changing the lens.Attaching and removing the included external flash.Changing flash options.Background defocus.Sweep Panorama.Shooting movies.Viewing images and videos on the camera.Deleting photos.

Sony Nex User Manual

Here is the Sony Nex User Manual from the Sony Japan support website.

Here is an alternate download link.

File Hosting Online Storage Backup


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Adam Jansch

Electronic Music Producer+

Adam Jansch on SoundBetter

An electronic music producer specialising in experimental media deployments and software designs. Makes with Maschine, Live, and hardware MIDI boxes.

I'm an electronic music producer, creating under the names -otron ( and Dorian Zoyd (, making with Native Instruments Maschine and Ableton Live (with long-term background in Apple Logic Pro X also). I'm available for music production, remixing, editing and software creation.

But there's a twist! I'm also an iOS/Mac developer, with audio app experience: in 2012, I released Futures EP (, an app containing 2 tracks of music which playback differently on each listening; and earlier this year I completed TapeLister (, a cassette prototyping app for Mac. If you have an audio app idea, get in touch.

Tell me about your project and how I can help, through the 'Contact' button above.

Gear Highlights
  • Neve 8816
  • Focusrite ISA428
  • Maschine Studio
  • Push
  • Roland Juno-60
  • Korg Z1
More Photos
More Samples


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Charles Rhodes

Music Producer / Beat Maker

Charles Rhodes on SoundBetter

A creative music producer with a modern ear - 7 years experience and a HND in Music Production.

With my own home music studio I can create you a track to suit any genre.

I am passionate and creative when working with artists, and love bringing
someones musical vision to life in production.

Please send across your proposals, and I hope we get the chance to work
on some great music together.

I'd love to hear about your project. Click the 'Contact' button above to get in touch.

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WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xml

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6.0 2006-02-27
Hardware Requirements Introduction

Before we start, we first list what hardware requirements you need to successfully install Gentoo on your box using the Installer LiveCD.

Hardware Requirements i686 or later128 MB1.5 GB (excluding swap space)At least 256 MB
Swap space
The Gentoo Linux Installer LiveCD Introduction

Gentoo Linux can be installed using a stage3 tarball file. Such a tarball is an archive that contains a minimal environment from which you can successfully install Gentoo Linux onto your system.

Installations using a stage1 or stage2 tarball file are not documented in the Gentoo Handbook - please read the Gentoo FAQ on these matters.

Gentoo Linux Installer LiveCD

A LiveCD is a bootable medium which contains a self-sustained Gentoo environment. It allows you to boot Linux from the CD. During the boot process your hardware is detected and the appropriate drivers are loaded. The Gentoo Installation CDs are maintained by Gentoo developers.

There currently are two Installation CDs available:

  • The Installer LiveCD contains everything you need to install Gentoo. It provides a graphical environment, a graphical as well as console based installer which automatically carries out the installation for you, and of course, the installation instructions for your architecture.
  • The Minimal Installation CD contains only a minimal environment that allows you to boot up and configure your network so you can connect to the Internet. It does not contain any additional files and cannot be used during the current installation approach.
Download, Burn and Boot the Gentoo Linux Installer LiveCD Downloading and Burning the Installer LiveCD

You can download the Installer LiveCDs from one of our mirrors. They are located in the releases/x86/2006.0/livecd directory.

Inside that directory you'll find an ISO-file. That is a full CD image which you can write on a CD-R.

After downloading the file, you can verify its integrity to see if it is corrupted or not:

  • You can check its MD5 checksum and compare it with the MD5 checksum we provide (for instance with the md5sum tool under Linux/Unix or md5sum for Windows)
  • You can verify the cryptographic signature that we provide. You need to obtain the public key we use (17072058) before you proceed though.

To fetch our public key using the GnuPG application, run the following command:

$ gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 17072058

Now verify the signature:

$ gpg --verify <signature file> <downloaded iso>

To burn the downloaded ISO(s), you have to select raw-burning. How you do this is highly program-dependent. We will discuss cdrecord and K3B here; more information can be found in our Gentoo FAQ.

  • With cdrecord, you simply type cdrecord dev=/dev/hdc <downloaded iso file> (replace /dev/hdc with your CD-RW drive's device path).
  • With K3B, select Tools > CD > Burn Image. Then you can locate your ISO file within the 'Image to Burn' area. Finally click Start.
Booting the Installer LiveCD Read this whole subsection before continuing, as you will probably not have the opportunity to read it before doing things later.

Once you have burned your LiveCD, it is time to boot it. Remove all CDs from your CD drives, reboot your system and enter the BIOS. This is usually done by hitting DEL, F1 or ESC, depending on your BIOS. Inside the BIOS, change the boot order so that the CD-ROM is tried before the hard disk. This is often found under "CMOS Setup". If you don't do this, your system will just reboot from the hard disk, ignoring the CD-ROM.

Now place the LiveCD in the CD-ROM drive and reboot. You should see a boot prompt. At this screen, you can hit Enter to begin the boot process with the default boot options, or boot the LiveCD with custom boot options by specifying a kernel followed by boot options and then hitting Enter.

Specifying a kernel? Yes, we provide several kernels on our LiveCD. The default one is gentoo. Other kernels are for specific hardware needs and the -nofb variants which disable framebuffer.

Below you'll find a short overview on the available kernels:

gentooDefault 2.6 kernel with support for multiple CPUsgentoo-nofbSame as gentoo but without framebuffer supportmemtest86Test your local RAM for errors
Kernel Description

You can also provide kernel options. They represent optional settings you can (de)activate at will. The following list is the same as the one you receive when you press F2 through F7 at the bootscreen.

Hardware options:

acpi=on         This loads support for ACPI and also causes the acpid daemon to
                be started by the CD on boot. This is only needed if your
                system requires ACPI to function properly.  This is not
                required for Hyperthreading support.
acpi=off        Completely disables ACPI.  This is useful on some older
                systems, and is also a requirement for using APM.  This will
                disable any Hyperthreading support of your processor.
console=X       This sets up serial console access for the CD.  The first
                option is the device, usually ttyS0 on x86, followed by any
                connection options, which are comma separated.  The default
                options are 9600,8,n,1.
dmraid=X        This allows for passing options to the device-mapper RAID
                subsystem.  Options should be encapsulated in quotes.
doapm           This loads APM driver support.  This requires you to also use
dobladecenter   This adds some extra pauses into the boot process for the slow
                USB CDROM of the IBM BladeCenter.
dopcmcia        This loads support for PCMCIA and Cardbus hardware and also
                causes the pcmcia cardmgr to be started by the CD on boot.
                This is only required when booting from a PCMCIA/Cardbus device.
doscsi          This loads support for most SCSI controllers.  This is also a
                requirement for booting most USB devices, as they use the SCSI
                subsystem of the kernel.
hda=stroke      This allows you to partition the whole hard disk even when your
                BIOS is unable to handle large disks.  This option is only used
                on machines with an older BIOS.  Replace hda with the device
                that is requiring this option.
ide=nodma       This forces the disabling of DMA in the kernel and is required
                by some IDE chipsets and also by some CDROM drives.  If your
                system is having trouble reading from your IDE CDROM, try this
                option.  This also disables the default hdparm settings from
                being executed.
noapic          This disables the Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller
                that is present on newer motherboards.  It has been known to
                cause some problems on older hardware.
nodetect        This disables all of the autodetection done by the CD,
                including device autodetection and DHCP probing.  This is
                useful for doing debugging of a failing CD or driver.
nodhcp          This disables DHCP probing on detected network cards.  This is
                useful on networks with only static addresses.
nodmraid        Disables support for device-mapper RAID, such as that used for
                on-board IDE/SATA RAID controllers.
nofirewire      This disables the loading of Firewire modules. This should only
                be necessary if your Firewire hardware is causing a problem
                with booting the CD.
nogpm           This disables gpm console mouse support.

nohotplug       This disables the loading of the hotplug and coldplug init
                scripts at boot.  This is useful for doing debugging of a
                failing CD or driver.
nokeymap        This disables the keymap selection used to select non-US
                keyboard layouts.
nolapic         This disables the local APIC on Uniprocessor kernels.

nosata          This disables the loading of Serial ATA modules.  This is
                useful if your system is having problems with the SATA subsystem.
nosmp           This disables SMP, or Symmetric Multiprocessing, on SMP-enabled
                kernels.  This is useful for debugging SMP-related issues with
                certain drivers and motherboards.
nosound         This disables sound support and volume setting.  This is useful
                for systems where sound support causes problems.
nousb           This disables the autoloading of USB modules.  This is useful
                for debugging USB issues.

Volume/Device Management:

dodevfs         This enables the deprecated device filesystem on 2.6 systems.
                You will also need to use noudev for this to take effect.
                Since devfs is the only option with a 2.4 kernel, this option
                has no effect if booting a 2.4 kernel.
doevms2         This enables support for IBM's pluggable EVMS, or Enterprise
                Volume Management System.  This is not safe to use with lvm2.
dolvm2          This enables support for Linux's Logical Volume Management.
                This is not safe to use with evms2.
noudev          This disables udev support on 2.6 kernels.  This option
                requires that dodevfs is used. Since udev is not an option for
                2.4 kernels, this options has no effect if booting a 2.4
unionfs         Enables support for Unionfs on supported CD images.  This will
                create a writable Unionfs overlay in a tmpfs, allowing you to
                change any file on the CD.
unionfs=X       Enables support for Unionfs on supported CD images.  This will
                create a writable Unionfs overlay on the device you specify.
                The device must be formatted with a filesystem recognized and
                writable by the kernel.

Other options:

debug           Enables debugging code. This might get messy, as it displays
                a lot of data to the screen.
docache         This caches the entire runtime portion of the CD into RAM,
                which allows you to umount /mnt/cdrom and mount another CDROM.
                This option requires that you have at least twice as much
                available RAM as the size of the CD.
doload=X        This causes the initial ramdisk to load any module listed, as
                well as dependencies. Replace X with the module name. Multiple
                modules can be specified by a comma-separated list.
noload=X        This causes the initial ramdisk to skip the loading of a
                specific module that may be causing a problem.  Syntax matches
                that of doload.
nox             This causes an X-enabled LiveCD to not automatically start X,
                but rather, to drop to the command line instead.
scandelay       This causes the CD to pause for 10 seconds during certain
                portions the boot process to allow for devices that are slow to
                initialize to be ready for use.
scandelay=X     This allows you to specify a given delay, in seconds, to be
                added to certain portions of the boot process to allow for
                devices that are slow to initialize to be ready for use.
                Replace X with the number of seconds to pause.

Now boot your CD, select a kernel (if you are not happy with the default gentoo kernel) and boot options. As an example, we show you how to boot the gentoo kernel, with dopcmcia as kernel parameters:

boot: gentoo dopcmcia

You will then be greeted with a boot screen and progress bar. If you are installing Gentoo on a system with a non-US keyboard, make sure you immediately press Alt-F1 to switch to verbose mode and follow the prompt. If no selection is made in 10 seconds the default (US keyboard) will be accepted and the boot process will continue. Once the boot process completes, Gnome will start up and you will be automatically logged in to the "Live" Gentoo Linux system as "gentoo" in graphical mode. You will be logged in as "root", the superuser on the other consoles and should have a root ("#") prompt there. You can switch to those consoles by pressing Alt-F2, Alt-F3, Alt-F4 Alt-F5, Alt-F6. Get back to the graphical desktop you started on by pressing Alt-F7. To switch to other consoles from within X, you must prefix the above with Ctrl. You are able to run commands as root from any terminal within the graphical environment by using the sudo application. You can even become root within a terminal to perform multiple tasks.

(Example only)
(Editing the group file)
# sudo vi /etc/group
(Becoming root for a session)
# sudo su -
Extra Hardware Configuration

When the LiveCD boots, it tries to detect all your hardware devices and loads the appropriate kernel modules to support your hardware. In the vast majority of cases, it does a very good job. However, in some cases, it may not auto-load the kernel modules you need. If the PCI auto-detection missed some of your system's hardware, you will have to load the appropriate kernel modules manually. These tasks require root access.

In the next example we try to load the 8139too module (support for certain kinds of network interfaces):

# modprobe 8139too

If you need PCMCIA support, you should start the pcmcia init script:

# /etc/init.d/pcmcia start
Optional: Tweaking Hard Disk Performance

If you are an advanced user, you might want to tweak the IDE hard disk performance using hdparm. You will need root access to use hdparm. With the -tT options you can test the performance of your disk (execute it several times to get a more precise impression):

# hdparm -tT /dev/hda

To tweak, you can use any of the following examples (or experiment yourself) which use /dev/hda as disk (substitute with your disk):

Activate DMA:                       # hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda
Activate Safe Performance Options:  # hdparm -d 1 -A 1 -m 16 -u 1 -a 64 /dev/hda
Optional: User Accounts

If you plan on giving other people access to your installation environment or you want to chat using irssi without root privileges (for security reasons), you need to create the necessary user accounts and change the root password. You need root access to change the root password and add new users.

To change the root password, use the passwd utility:

$ sudo su -
# passwd
New password: (Enter your new password)
Re-enter password: (Re-enter your password)

To create a user account, we first enter their credentials, followed by its password. We use useradd and passwd for these tasks. In the next example, we create a user called "john".

# useradd -m -G users john
# passwd john
New password: (Enter john's password)
Re-enter password: (Re-enter john's password)

You can change your user id from root to the newly created user by using su:

# su - john

You can also change the password for the "gentoo" user in the graphical environment. This account is already suitable for use on the Internet.

$ passwd
New password: (Enter your new password)
Re-enter password: (Re-enter your password)
Optional: Viewing Documentation while Installing

If you want to view the Gentoo Handbook (either from-CD or online) during the installation, make sure you have created a user account (see Optional: User Accounts). Then press Alt-F2 to go to a new terminal and log in.

If you want to view the documentation on the CD you can immediately run links to read it:

# links /mnt/cdrom/docs/handbook/html/index.html

However, it is preferred that you use the online Gentoo Handbook as it will be more recent than the one provided on the CD. You can view it using links as well, but only after having completed the Configuring your Network chapter (otherwise you won't be able to go on the Internet to view the document):

# links http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml

You can go back to your original window by pressing Alt-F7.

You can now choose to proceed by using the GTK+ based installer (which needs X) or the Dialog based installer that can be run on a console.


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Tag Archives: decisions based on fear

Your Safety Is Not Assured.

It’s been a while since I’ve written. It’s not because I haven’t had something to write, but rather I’ve been a bit stumped as to how to write it.

Sometimes when you’ve been doing something for a while, it’s hard to think back to the way you thought about those things when you were still new. But recent events have brought me back to some underlying assumptions I had about missions when I was growing up and even as an adult.

Before I was a missionary, I always assumed that if my church was involved in missions somewhere and was sending people, it must be safe. I know from the statements that people say to me, and from observing what goes on, that this is still a very prevalent assumption that people make. Why is that?  Well, as a general rule, in most churches I’ve been a part of , that is the case. We only send people to “safe” places. But what makes a place safe?

The philosopher Jürgen Habermas deals with this in what is probably an unnecessarily wordy way. He says, “Egalitarian universalism, from which sprang the ideas of freedom and social solidarity, of an antonomous conduct of life and emancipation, of the individual morality of conscience, human rights, and democracy, is the direct heir to the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of continual critical appropriation and reinterpretation. To this day, there is no alternative to it. And in the light of the current challenges of a postnational constellation, we continue to draw on the substance of this heritage.”  Dumbing it down, the ideas of love and justice in society are a direct result of the Judeo-Christian heritage which we draw from, even if our societies have moved away from that underlying paradigm.

If we look around the world, most places follow that general rule. The most dangerous places are those places that do not have a current or recent Christian presence. So if that is the case, then why are we going to the “safe” places? Is it because we are afraid to go the the places that God is really calling us to go? If a place is considered safe, there’s a good chance that a lot of missionaries have already been there. Do we go to the places that have already been evangelized because we feel that doing something is better than nothing? Is it our ersatz way of fulfilling the Great Commission?

It is said that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. I would like to amend that statement. I think what is even more dangerous than good men doing nothing is good men doing something that is neither good nor bad, but leaves them feeling as if they did something good. Rather than go to the places where God would actually call us to go, we give in to fear. We still go, but we go somewhere else.

Decisions that are made based on fear are almost universally the wrong choice. When we choose to do missionary work only in places where we feel safe and comfortable, we are not only disobedient to the Lord’s calling, but we carry that spirit of fear with us wherever we go. I read a quote this week from an indigenous Christian overseas. He was asked what his church learns from the Western missionaries. His answer was very telling. He said, “the Western missionaries teach us to be afraid.”

Why do we fear so much? I believe it is because many of us are building a kingdom, but it isn’t God’s Kingdom, it is our own kingdom. We seek to be gods of an empty universe of our own creation; kings of a kingdom with no subjects. We do what we want to do first and ask God to bless what we’ve already decided to do. As our towers grow taller and taller, they become harder and harder to maintain, and we fear they will topple. This is why Jesus says, “whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will save it.” This isn’t some trite conundrum. When we literally give our life, and our plans, and our finances, and our spouses and children, and our present and future over to Christ, all fear is taken away, because you can’t fear the loss of what you’ve already given away.

Most of Romans 8 deals with this, and so in closing I am going to sum up with the words of the Apostle Paul, who wrote,

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[a]who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shalltribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

It’s time to give up fear and go to the hard places.

What Would It Look Like?

There has been a reoccurring theme lately with random things I’ve read; with conversations I’ve had with people, and with the events in my own life and the lives of people around me. That reoccurring theme is the faithfulness of God and hearing God’s voice. The initial catalyst for this theme for me I think was the decision to go back to Ethiopia, but other things have built upon it since then.

As I’ve been drawn more and more into the events and the lives of people in Africa, I’ve become closer with certain people in ways I never would have imagined just a few years ago. I find myself wishing I could go back and visit with many of these people again, but there is only so much time and funding available for someone with a family and three kids. Besides, many times East Africa doesn’t necessarily need my physical presence, as many things can and should be done through and by people already there.

I talk a lot with a friend in Kenya, who has given up a lot to minister to kids who have been lost along the way somewhere. He ministers to girls in a reform school, many of whom are estranged from their parents, and to kids who are in prison, among others. He has given up any form of financial security to do this, as this is all volunteer, and any funds that come in are through the generosity of people who believe in his vision, and by the grace of God.

Last week, he asked me “how do I hear God’s voice concerning the things he wants me to do?” This question caught me a bit off guard, because I felt totally unqualified to answer it. For me, it was like Michael Jordan saying to me, “so tell me about this game you call basketball.” You see, the problem is that while he is out there doing, I am still currently unlearning what I have either been taught explicitly or by example from American culture. The great depression taught our culture a lot about security and setting up contingency plans. Our parents and grandparents swore they would never go through something like that again. Their children found a good job with a pension that would take care of them. They valued job security above everything else. Work that job for 35 years no matter how miserable you were; no matter how far from your true calling that job was. Get a job with health benefits, dental, pension, matching 401k. Wait until you are financially secure until you have children so they won’t have to go through the things you went through. Leave nothing to chance. Leave nothing to faith. Leave nothing to God. I don’t need God anymore, because I’ve got a contingency plan for everything. Life’s decisions became based on fear of the lack our parents had, and not on faith, or even on reality.

So here’s how that went. The children of the baby boomers who grew up with everything provided for them came to expect everything. They (we) still live on a fear based existence, unable to live without a well thought out escape plan from all of life’s struggles and problems, but now we expect to have everything handed to us. Well, let me tell you thing from the point of view of a business owner; job security is a myth, as fictitious as the Minotaur or the Medusa. There is no security in life, only the illusion of it, so prettily put together in a welcome packet with a brochure of your company’s stock options with a big red bow on top. We’ve given up our God given talents, our vision, that fire God placed into us to make the world a better place, and traded them for a matching 401k.

What would it look like if we started living by the seat of our pants again? What would it look like if we took risks? After all, there is no reward without risk, and we’ve given up an awful lot of reward.  We’ve fooled ourselves into thinking the only reward is financial, and in doing so given up our souls.  Hebrews 11:6 says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”

I’m still pondering this idea in my head, and I’m not yet fully sure if it’s true, but my thought is that God speaks to us the most when we put ourselves into a position in which we MUST hear him. This is why I feel unqualified to speak to my friend in Kenya. He has given up everything, and put himself in a position where he has to hear from God if he’s going to move forward. I personally believe this is the way to go. It’s not a comfortable way, because there’s always that gap between hearing from God and when everything comes together, but the alternative is to live in a manicured facade of security that I know does not exist. I would rather live in a manner that fulfills the destiny God has placed me here for. As such I have started to wean myself off of the high overhead that comes with the  typical American life. I believe it’s healthier in the long run, allows me and my wife more freedom to do what God calls us to do, and is a far better example to my children. This has not yet all fully ruminated for me, so as I think further about this, I will probably write again. What I learn this time in Ethiopia may further clarify things for me as well. So until next time…

The girls at the reform school in Kenya where my friend volunteers.
The girls at the reform school in Kenya where my friend volunteers.