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Aetheryte Radio 90: Light Party +1

Join us for the latest episode of Aetheryte Radio as we introduce two brand new hosts!

We talk about Patch 3.25 as well as some of the info that was teased during the latest episode of the NA Community Team’s Duty Commenced including info on PAX East.

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Dumpling Dash

Start Time: Saturday 1:00 PM
Location:Grand Ballroom B-13
Game Master(s): Richard Battaglia
Game System:board game
Duration:1 hour
Player Max:5
Signed up:2
Track(s):Game Lab
Event Type:Game
Experience Level:Familiar
Age group:All Ages

Players simultaneously play cards from their hand. These cards are revealed and resolved in order based on the type of card it is, thus players move their pandas into position behind the bowls they believe to be most promising to receive dumplings that round. Watch out though as other pandas may tilt-the-table, take a dumpling from right in front of you, belly bump you out of the way, or even steal one from your tray.


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Problems Related to Business Health orQuestions Generally Asked…

Health is one of the vital and most important things or resources of life. Therefore, problems related with health and vitality are grave problems, which must be handled seriously, impeccably, and as quickly as could be possible. The science of astrology is fully capable of tackling various health related problems also. Your horoscope gives several clues to your health and what you might do to improve problems you may have with it. Your health problem will be particularly influential and apparent in the environment of the House the planet is in, and the reason for the planet causing trouble is seen in the aspects it forms to other planets – either those of your birth chart, or planets in the sky that form transit aspects to those in your chart. One of the great things about Medical Astrology is that it can enable us to work around the timing of diseases, or accidental injuries, or other health problems and to estimate the duration of any illness. This is very useful, as well as being reassuring to sufferers. Health issues are largely governed by the sixth house and its planetary ruler, along with the ascendant and its planetary ruler in a nativity (personal birth chart). The situation of the Sun and Moon are also significant, as are the placement of Saturn (chronic conditions) and Mars (acute conditions). Naturally the nativity must be viewed as a whole and these factors seen in context, especially with regard to the Decumbiture chart, the horary tool for astrological diagnosis.

  • When will be my health improve?
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  • I think I have a serious disease. Please advise me.
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  • Doctor are unable to cure the disease. Astrologically can you point out if this a curable disease or do I have to live with it?
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Gapers Block has ceased publication.

Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
 Thank you for your readership and contributions.

Saturday, June 19

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Six on Saturday – 26/5/2018

I popped up the allotment first thing, earthed up spuds and planted more seedling dahlias. Rain is forecast and the clouds are gathering. A good downpour would be ideal this weekend, just before things start to get seriously stressed. What with newly planted stuff on the allotment and all the pot stuff back here, I’m spending a lot of time watering. At least the slugs have been slowed down a bit.

From the shady section of the garden, and very definitely one of my favourites. Polygonatum mengzense f. tonkinensis HWJ573 has only put up one stem this year, but we’re talking quality, not quantity. It’s 20 inches tall and has clusters of flower buds emerging at each leaf axil. They will be no bigger or showier when they’re out but they are followed by berries which turn scarlet. There are still one or two on one of last year’s shoots in the picture. I also have a bunch of seedlings. And it seems pretty much slug proof.

On Tuesday I called in to one of the garden centres on the fringes of Plymouth, just for a few bedding plants and a mooch around. I didn’t expect to find a bench full of Bletilla striata. Four different named forms, well filled 2 litre pots, at £7.99, which I thought reasonable. Seizing the moment, or succumbing to temptation, I bought three, ‘Kuchibeni’, ‘Blue Dragon’ and ‘Shi-ran’. I blame the SOS’er from last week who put up pictures of hers. Then I had to find somewhere to plant them.

Melittis melisophyllum ‘Royal Velvet Distinction’ was also mentioned last week, by sedumsdahliasandhayfever. I’ve had this for a couple of years and it’s having a good one this year. There is a lane near here where the wild form grows in the hedgerow. The grandiose ‘Royal Velvet Distinction’ leads you to expect a massive improvement on the wildling, but it’s not so very different.

Tulips are gone, all over, died down and forgotten. Pots of all shapes and sizes are accumulating at the front of the house to take their place and then some. Violas are providing colour for now.

Back to the shade for another woodlander. This is Disporum viridescens, which is happily spreading and has these small white flowers in spring. It has an understated, refined quality that would work better if it was able to colonize a sizable area.

This was a complete surprise that I only noticed yesterday. It’s come up from a carpet of Cardamine trifolia and I couldn’t find the beginning, let alone a label. It’s pushed up about six feet through Fuchsia and Holboellia to reach the light.

I’ve earthed up my potatoes, now the weather can do what it likes. I can go in and out between showers at home, it’s trickier on the allotment. It’ll give me a chance to check on the Saturday sixes as they come in. Links as ever in the comments to The Propagators piece.

23 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 26/5/2018

  1. Bletilla striata..I missed that last week, but I can see why you were tempted. Violas: I have seedlings popping up everywhere! Funny how the seasons overlap.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. It’s funny to see you talking about Bletilla, I just bought 2 last Sunday just after reading someone’s post… I found Bletilla striata alba but it was not cheap compared to your price … 5€ for 2 bulbs. .. Already in the ground with new shoots, they will be shown in a next SoS.

  3. I like all the interesting plants you share – I learn something every week that I haven’t met before. Does the first one have purple flowers? It looks like something I grew in Oz but the leaves had a green tinge when young.

    1. It was a Wynn-Jones/Dan Hinkley collection from Vietnam in 1999. They seem to have collected several forms, Crug list 6 with HWJ numbers, and they collected seed, so there will have been some variation to start with. Whether they subsequently propagated by seed or division I don’t know, but seed seems more likely. My HWJ573 has greenish flowers, small and hardly opening. The picture on Crug’s website has dark purple flowers. The leaves start dark purple and gradually turn green.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Melittis melissophyllum is Bastard Balm. It’s very localised in a few southern counties from Cornwall to Sussex and in South Wales. It grows in a lane nearby, I must go and see how it’s doing.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I wonder if your local wildlife trust keeps records of sightings. I think they should actively try to increase populations of rare natives, rather than just conserve what’s there. Perhaps they do.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. A fantastic collection of plants, all of which are new to me – well not the violas! I have a shady border to tackle sometime soonish so I must take notes. Thanks for sharing and I can see the collector’s gene that you have. 🙂

    1. I’m a firm believer in using all the little areas with distinct microclimates to the full, to get maximum variety in a small space. If the collecting thing is genetic, I don’t know which parent I should blame; a little from both perhaps.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Some really nice plants this week. I especially like the Polygonatum and Disporum.

    Your Melittis is growing much better than mine. I’m glad to hear that “Royal Velvet Distinction” isn’t that different from the wildlings. As that is the only clone I could obtain over here, it’s nice to know that it resembles something that might be found in the wild. I love growing plants from places I have visited, so it’s fun to see that there are records from near Looe (childhood holiday spot) on The Cornish Biodiversity Network.

    1. Just been looking up that record, it’s a different lot from the site I know, which doesn’t seem to have been recorded. I went to have a look this afternoon, there’s much more of it than I realised, and quite a range of colour. On an east-west lane it was mainly growing on the south facing bank, though there was some on the other side too. This is about seven miles directly north of Looe.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. My tulips have been relegated to an out of the way corner pending a decision on what to do with them. Keep for next year, plant in garden, chuck and buy new, it’s a dilemma.

  6. Having a bit of a thing for dark leaves I love the Polygonatum. Sadly, I’ve never been able to grow Solomon’s Seal. Although the books don’t say that it likes an acid soil I wonder if, being a woodland plant, it prefers something less alkaline than I have in my garden. And then there was the matter of the sawfly!

    1. As you say, there is no reference anywhere to them wanting acid soil. They do like a humus rich soil and they don’t like being too dry in summer. My ordinary Solomon’s Seal was about holding its own while getting ravaged by sawfly, then I had one year where I meticulously checked it every couple of days, picked them off and squashed them. The clump about doubled in size that year. They haven’t touched P. mengzense tonkinensis. P. verticillatum is the worst, though they have to make do with what the slugs have left. Polygonatum x hybridum ‘Betburg’ is purple when it first leafs out, very nice.

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Spring Lawn care and maintenance. Preparing for the seasons ahead.

Spring Lawn care

The spring season is an important time for getting your lawn into top shape for the following months. What you do now in the spring by way of lawn care, will determine how well your lawn will cope with the wear and tear of day to day use, and also its ability to withstand drought or even water-logging during the summer months.

If you are just starting out with your lawn, then have a look also at our Autumn lawn care page.

When the spring season actually starts is more a combination of climatic conditions and general 'feel' about things than an actual date on the calendar! This is certainly true of lawns and lawn care maintenance.

If the grass is sodden or frosted - and it is certainly the former as I look outside at the moment (March 28 - 2008) - then stay off the lawn, don't cut the grass, and just read a few more pages of the web site.

Spring | Schedule of Lawn Maintenance

The grass can often be a little on the ling side after a mild, wet winter, so the first task is to lightly mow off the top growth. DO NOT cut the grass to short. Most of the 'hard' work should have been carried out with the Autumn Lawn Care and maintenance tasks. Spring is NOT a good time for scarifying the lawn - as has been explained in the Autumn page.

Likewise, most books will tell you to start the spring lawn maintenance schedule by giving the lawn a good raking over. Not so. See below.

If the lawn is dry enough, then it would be good to start the spring maintenance with a light roll. All sorts of things happen to the lawn and the soil under it in winter months - often resulting in some of the grass being actually lifted slightly. A light roll, either with the roller on a mower or a purpose made roller will settle the grass down again. Not a heavy roller! Do not expect to be able to roll an uneven and bumpy lawn flat. It does not work.

The First Lawn Cut of the Year

First spring lawn cut into stripes

The First Cut

The first task in the spring garden - once the lawn soil conditions allow - is to carry out the first cut. However long the grass has grown throughout the winter months - either by neglect or as a result of mild wet conditions - do not be tempted to mow the lawn too close. Set your mower to cut off about an inch (25mm) of grass. No more. Then exception for this would be if your lawn grasses have grown over 6in (15cm). This is normally neglect. In this case then rather more drastic action is required.

Subsequent cuts can be carried out from April onwards - preferably on a weekly basis, and lowering the cutting height of the lawn mower at every cut, until the desired height of grass is attained. Aim for grass around 1in (2.5cm) in height with normal use lawns. Leave a little longer under trees.

Weeds and Moss in the Spring Lawn

Once cutting is carried out on a regular basis, you will be able to ascertain whether or not you have a moss or a weed problem that needs to be treated. April is a good month in which to carry out treatment - just as everything starts into vigorous growth. If you don't have weeds or moss in your lawn, then DON'T use a weedkiller or Mosskiller!

Any areas of rough grass can be dug out at this time of year - before they take hold. If your lawn is basically all rough grass, then read Lawn Renovation.

Bare patches in the lawn can now be over-sown - providing the cause is firstly diagnosed. Use a general grass seed, unless you have a lawn that was sown with a fine mix.

Feeding the Lawn in Spring

April is a good time to start feeding your lawn in the lawn maintenance and care programme. A fine day, with damp soil under the lawn will be ideal. Read our tips on Lawn Feeding.

Feeding - if necessary - can then be carried on right through until the hot weather (Please) starts. You might also consider a dressing of Lawn Sand - which is chemically treated to kill off moss. This is not the sand that is normally used for top dressing your lawn.

Spiking the Lawn

If your lawn has not been spiked and has hard compacted areas through regular use, children, or dogs, it would be a good time to carry out a little spiking of the lawn whilst still damp from the winter rains. This will help the drainage and allow air to get down to the roots of the grass to help vigorous growth. You should also put in diary for possible aeration of your lawn in the Autumn.

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This 12 week training plan is recommended for mesomorphs who are experienced with weight training and train consistently and need new performance oriented challenges. The goal of these workouts is to reduce body fat while toning and adding lean muscle definition. There are a total of 3 workout routines in the program intended to be followed for 4 weeks at a time. This program is broken down into weeks 1-4, weeks 5-8, and weeks 9-12. Every workout includes a visual aid for each exercise to ensure your form is correct.

NOTE: The digital product allows you up to 5 downloads. We recommend saving a permanent copy of this file to iBook’s, Google Drive, or Dropbox for future reference. You can also get them printed out.

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As the majority of our products are digital, they are deemed “used” after download or opening. This unfortunately means we have a strict No Refund and No Exchange Policy in regards to dissatisfaction with product.

We are not liable for refund and exchange due to technical problems on your computer, iphone device including but not limited to printer malfunction, inability to install Adobe Acrobat Reader, and/or problems due to Internet connectivity.

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dear pastor

Dear Pastor,

Do you remember when I showed up to the Saturday service alone, as I always did, and you called me up to to sit next to you and your wife in the front row, during worship, pushing a few chairs aside and making enough of a scene that I had to comply? Thank you.

And do you remember the following Saturday (or maybe the one after that), when all the lights were dimmed and we were about to celebrate communion and whoever was speaking gave the usual call for families to go up and partake of the bread and cup together, how your wife came over and asked if I wanted to share in the ritual with you two? And do you remember how I had to decline because I was allergic to the bread but didn’t really care because I was overwhlemed with gratitude anyway? And how, while your wife was asking me, you were asking an older, single woman the same question, and how, I didn’t tell you this, I started to cry from joy because perhaps in fifty years I would be that woman and your simple act of generosity struck me like a bolt of lightning? And how that was such a beautiful gift because, for the ten minutes prior to communion, I had been watching what I thought must have been the church’s happiest family and was achingly aware that the seats next to me were empty? Do you remember that? Thank you.

And do you remember how, when the pastoral staff responded less-than-favorably to my testimony, you began to conclude most of your emails with “I’m for you”? And how you kept inspiring me, kept affirming me, kept speaking wisdom to me, kept being there for me even as I started to lose confidence that I would ever be welcome in the church again, and reminded me that this wasn’t “us” vs. “them” but just “us,” the church, striving in a fallen world to preach the gospel amidst disagreement? And how you never stopped asking me hard questions, either, because you desired to know truth and to encourage me to live in that truth? Thank you.

And there was that other time, and I still find this hilarious, a day or so after you and I met with your son and his ex-roommate who was gay to talk about how the church could more profoundly minister to people like us, and you told me, “You know, sometimes I’m impulsive, and last night I was thinking that if the church won’t let you guys serve because of your orientation, we should just start a gay church!” Do you remember that? I hope I always will. Thank you.

And I haven’t forgotten how much research you’ve done, how much time you’ve spent in prayer, how many hours you’ve put into helping my dad process through the revelation that his son is attracted to men, and how, because of that, my relationship with him is better than it ever has been.

And you fought for me! When it seemed like the drafting of the church’s position statement on homosexuality wouldn’t be too friendly to me, you worked hard to defend my right to membership and inclusion and community. Do you remember how pleasantly surprised I was when I read that first draft? Thank you.

Do you remember, I’m sure you do, how you sent me another email just last week, which casually mentioned how you pray for me often? That amazes me, even still. Thank you.

And do you remember (as I hope this brief note has reminded you) just how grateful and blessed I am to know you, to learn under you, to serve alongside you, and to call you my friend? Please don’t ever forget.

Thank you for being the arms of Christ to me in a difficult and formative time, for relentlessly pointing me back to the very great love of God, and for taking my discipleship so seriously that you would be willing to spend far beyond the requisite number of hours talking with this dorky kid who was, and still is, trying to figure out what on earth it means to serve the church with faithful devotion.

I love you, and hope you are well.

to know you belong

On December 23 I received a $10 Starbucks gift card. It was handed to me nonchalantly by one of the long-term missionary staff here at the orphanage as I was leaving the house to play some soccer. “It’s just a Christmas present from Rachel and I,” he said, “so… Merry Christmas!”

He was right, of course, it was just a Christmas present. But with it he and his wife had unknowingly given me something greater: they had surprised me with community.

My love of chatting over espresso is no secret – within the first week I had asked/begged/drugged/jedi-mind-tricked this guy into driving me to the nearby Starbucks – but I was blown away by the simple fact that he and his wife would have even thought, “Hey, let’s get Jordan something for Christmas even though he’s only been here for two weeks and we barely know him and he hasn’t really done anything except mess up easy spanish phrases and we have no obligation to get any of the volunteers anything because we’ve been here for almost a decade and have seen thousands of them come and go and he’s no different.” I mean, seriously!

Then, later, they invited me to an impromptu worship session of music and prayer. Five of us sat in a circle, enjoying the acoustic simplicity, the apple-cinnamon scented candles, and each other’s company. We left knowing it wouldn’t be long before we met again.

These are just two examples of a larger phenomenon. As I’ve thought about it, as I’ve marveled at a month devoid of anxiety and loneliness in a context in which I should almost certainly feel both, three things seemed to stand out as essential to the joy of my experiences here:

1) The first and perhaps most obvious observation is that it has taken the efforts of many people for me to feel that I am being included in the community. Yes, one young couple in particular is responsible for a majority of the warm-fuzzy feelings, but almost everyone here has said or done something that has made me know I am welcome. From offering to drive me places to telling me that I had permission to knock on their door at any hour of the night if I needed something, people have gone out of their way to demonstrate an easy self-giving that has been definitive of most of my relationships. Nothing like this is required behavior.

I totally didn’t see it coming, at least not to such an alarmingly generous degree.

But it’s not a unilateral accomplishment. I, too, have had to make an effort to include myself. Even on days when I’m feeling sick or tired (which have been frequent) I have tried to be involved. This is especially important, I think, in the early stages of entering a new context. Granted, if I’m utterly exhausted or dangerously ill, I’m not going to go play soccer or spoons or anything that doesn’t involve sleeping or vomiting as its main activity, but by this point people know that if I turn down an invitation it isn’t because I don’t want to be with them.

2) I’ve needed to grow up. A lot. I have generally suffered from a deep hypocrisy that usually compels me, in my feverish desire to be included, to distance myself from the people I don’t see helping me in my quest for social mobility. Even if I can tell that someone is lonely, if I think they are “weird” or “awkward” it becomes difficult to ever want to include them. They threaten my social stability, and when you are as desperate as I can sometimes be such people easily become burdens and competition rather than brothers and sisters. Such behavior is, honestly, one of the ugliest things about myself.

But I’ve realized it’s impossible to feel fully included in a community, fully rooted in the life-giving grace of belonging, if I am not willing to go out of my way to become the kind of person I so passionately hope everyone else will be to me. It’s simple, biblical logic. My own inhospitality, my haunting hypocrisy, corroded my ability to find peace. I was always worried other people resented my presence, my idiosyncracies and social failures, my struggles, because I knew myself all too well; I knew that if everyone else were like me, all my fears would be realized.

There are, in fact, people here who my sinful selfishness would want me to avoid. I am not. In fact, I spend more time with one of them than anyone else. And you know what? We have fun. I increasingly enjoy his company, and he has taught me some things that, well, I wouldn’t have considered otherwise. I am still in many ways an inhospitable person, but by the grace of God and the patience of others I hope to daily put such toxic hypocrisy to death.

3) I am confident that, should it somehow be discovered that I’m gay, there are numerous people who would stand by my side and advocate on my behalf. Latin America is not always the friendliest place to be attracted to the same-sex, and I’ve encountered some astonishingly aggressive homophobia among the teenagers I work with. But even so, I’ve had numerous conversations about homosexuality with some staff members and other volunteers and I’ve been amazed at the kindness and passion that has been displayed, even without anyone knowing I’m gay. These are safe people. I am safe.

Sure, it would be nice to have an hour where I didn’t need to creatively explain why I wasn’t dating one of the numerous single women in the orphanage, but I’ve matured enough to the point where it doesn’t really bother me all that much. And sure, sometimes it’s frustrating to work with an older woman who has a strange and magical ability to materialize whenever romance comes up in conversations, with a twinkle in her eye and a list of eligible women in her hand, but arguing with her (in spanish) has become more of a cheerful game than anything else.

I’ve learned that one community doesn’t have to fulfill all of my needs in order for it to be profoundly good.

I’ve learned that shifting my focus from “How can this community meet my needs” to “How can I meet the needs of this community” allows for surprising manifestations of care and love to flow more freely from myself and those I live with as we seek to encourage and strengthen each other.

These are not comprehensive observations, but rather just some small points that have been rattling around my dopamine-flooded skull for the past few weeks.

It isn’t a perfect community by any stretch of the imagination; there are some very serious problems that need to be addressed, some very real failures that vitiate the witness of this place. But my, our, passion for this place and these kids is greater than those troubles, and I consider it a privilege to be both aware of and fighting against those things which threaten the growth of this community. It means I really am a part of this place, that my life is in some serious way bound up with the future of the orphanage. It fills me with a fiery sense of purpose that is usually reserved for when I’m engaged in social peacemaking, studying theology, or eating pizza, and I am in awe of it all.

For what little reflection I’ve done on the subject, the blessed occurrence of community remains, like so much of what makes the world beautiful, a mystery.

And that $10 Starbucks giftcard? It bought a couple of mochas for some of the other volunteers before we saw The Hobbit. It just seemed like the only right thing to do.

a modest(y) proposal

(This is in response to an article by the lovely Emily Maynard, titled Is a Woman Responsible For a Man’s Lust? It’s a great piece that deserves to be read. She was incredibly bold to write what she did, and I admire the sincerity and truth behind much of what she says. Check it out. Even if you don’t read what I write in response, you should read what she has to say.)

I’m pretty sure nobody knows what the word “modesty” means anymore, especially within the context of the evangelical church. And when I say “nobody” I include myself. Over the years my understanding of the word has always seemed terribly shallow and distressingly tangential, as if its charged and controversial outer layer denies all attempts to comprehend its blessed center.

But we sure think it’s important to talk about it! Well, at least for women. It seems that modesty has become, primarily, the rope with which the evangelical church hopes to pull each junior high girl from the deep-v abyss into the light of unassuming crew-necks and inner adornment.

This is important, the common rhetoric goes, because to reveal “flesh” or dress to enhance the feminine figure is just asking the male masses, dominated as they are by uncontrollable sexual urges, to lust. It’s inevitable because men are “visual” creatures (as opposed to the tactile and verbal females), and can’t help themselves. By dressing immodestly, women are causing their vulnerable brothers to stumble, striking a critical blow to their pursuit of purity. This has been the standard discourse on modesty for some time.

But things might be changing. Courageous women are coming forward and opening up about the harm they have suffered on the receiving end of this kind of rhetoric. In the linked article above, and in the subsequent comments, we hear numerous stories from women whose relationship with their bodies, with men, other women, and even God, have been vitiated and filled with poisonous, painful lies.

Implicit in the rhetoric of “modesty” is the idea that women are responsible for male lust. In a nutshell: (straight) men lust because women dress immodestly. There’s more, obviously, but that is the consistent emphasis. I know I thought along similar lines growing up, and it’s taken the testimonies of brave friends and strangers to open my eyes to the horrible consequences of “modesty” as we know it. (Again, read the article for greater detail.)

For the sake of space and time, I simply want to ask some questions and throw around some ideas that may help us move forward as a loving community dedicated to mutual responsibility. I don’t claim to have answers – I’m new to this discussion – so bear with me.

  1. Modesty is not just a female virtue, and lust is not just a male vice. So often the relational dynamic is framed as “Men struggle with lust, and women struggle with a desire to be lusted after.” This goes hand in hand with the lie that porn is just a male problem, and contributes to the sinful stereotype that women are naturally designed as “responders” rather than “actors.” What is more, I, as a male, never had a message on modesty addressed to me. Bluntly, that is ridiculous. How can we reclaim modesty as a non-gendered virtue that is integral in the life of the church?
  2. The sin of lusting is not merely the presence of “dirty thoughts,” but exists, primarily, in the act of stripping someone of their inherent dignity and worth before God. Emily Maynard’s article addresses this point beautifully. It’s impossible for a woman to be responsible for male lust defined in this way. The question needs to be asked, however, When does “natural, non-sinful desire” end and “lust” begin?
  3. Modesty as an ecclesial virtue (akin to humility and an awareness of one’s value before Christ) is not a cultural construct. Modesty as an apodictic shopping list for women is a cultural construct, and means vastly different things all around the world. Topless women in rural Africa are not being immodest; Victorian-era women showing ankle are. Women’s hair in 1st century Palestine was considered sexual; now, we are totally fine with whipping it back and forth in public.
  4. I worry that the truth of #3 too often leads critics of “modesty” to say standards are arbitrary and therefore theologically irrelevant. I don’t think this is the case. Paul’s understanding of modest dress in his letter to the Corinthians and elsewhere is certainly culturally bound (head coverings, anyone?), and yet transgressing those cultural constructions was still a sinful transgression. Are current standards the problem, or is it found primarily in the rhetorical failings of those who speak about them? Are we past the point of being able to deal with the two separately?
  5. Paul’s culturally bound instructions, however, do not primarily frame modesty in terms of sexuality and lust, but in terms of power and excess and a failure to live into one’s status as a new creation. Though we cannot ignore the present reality that modesty intersects significantly with sexuality, we need to reclaim it’s broader purpose of challenging the selfish use of wealth, the refusal to consider the good of the community more important than your own desires, and the maintenance of unchristian power dynamics (e.g. to wear the ignomious “braided hair” Paul references would require the tedious labor of a servant).
  6. Emily Maynard says, “…nothing you do or do not do can influence lust in someone else.” This is, I think, incorrect. Temptation is influence. You can’t force someone else to lust, but you can sure make it harder not to! Women have been the locus of blame for so long, that I understand (in a limited way) the desire to be totally blameless. But autonomy has never been the modus operandi of the church, or of Christian morality.
  7.  She continues, “…you’re only responsible for taking your own heart to Jesus.” In the sense that we are not responsible for the salvation of others, and that women must be freed from the crippling guilt of male lust, this is true. But, as I said above, the Church is built upon mutual responsibility to the other. The solution to the problem of “modesty” will not come from emphasizing individualism, autonomy, or freedom from responsibility, but from reclaiming a just mutuality that requires men to bear the weight of their own sin and to acknowledge their role in the suffering of women and to strive alongside them to eradicate the stigma and shame. This won’t be resolved by “men doing something” or “women doing something” but by the Church doing something. What this looks like, I’m not sure yet. But it certainly wouldn’t be a mistake to begin by giving women a safe space to tell their stories and be heard, as they always should have been.
  8. Romans 15 (“Do not cause another to stumble…”) has been used incessantly to charge women to be modest. But it also mentions that if we unduly cause others in the church pain, we are accountable for it. It’s about time we realize that the old rhetoric is causing many women and girls incredible pain, and that this pain has been largely ignored or demonized by those in positions of cultural and ecclesial power. Whatever male “need” there is for women to dress certain ways may have to take a backseat to the female need to know their bodies are good, beautiful, loved, and their own.
  9. Women need to be listened to, more and more. Their voices have been historically muted in the Church, and we must do everything in our power to acknowledge the worthiness and truth of what they have to say, especially in regard to (though certainly not limited to) their own bodies. If I hear another sermon with someone “mansplaining” to a woman about her body, I may go crazy.
  10. The radical love and mutual submission taught by Christ must be the posture we assume as we move forward. To continue on as we have been would require us to blind ourselves to the demands of the Gospel.

There is so much more to this, and I have this nagging, dreadful feeling that, even still, I’m perpetuating some of the same terrible binaries, stereotypes, and inconsistencies so prevalent in this discussion. I had hoped to write more constructively about what modesty actually is, how it must also be articulated as an essential virtue for men, and how American culture generally devalues and abuses women’s bodies, but living in an orphanage with a crazy schedule and a lack of resources has made that a bit more of a task than I could manage right now.

Please, let’s talk about this. Any ideas? Thoughts? Rants? Stories? It’s about time we create a space to have this discussion in love.

Well, everybody, it’s time to admit the humiliating truth: I can’t see into the future.

I know, I know, it’s embarrassing, but I’ve got to be honest with myself, and the reality is that, for all my effort, all my reading, all my thinking, all my praying, I simply don’t know what my life will look like five, ten, or fifty years from now. Heck, I can’t even guarantee an irradiated dino-spider isn’t going burst into my room within the next three seconds.

No worries guys, I made it.

My inability to pierce the hazy veil of time usually stings most when I’m at home; because I spend so many months away, people want to know who I am now, how I’ve changed, and who I am becoming. That is all wonderful, and I appreciate being able to process through things with people and share what God has been doing in my life, but since I began coming out to people this past summer a new question has started to dominate certain conversations: who will I be in the future?

People who love and care about me want assurance that I will always be staunchly conservative and celibate. I mean, I want that assurance of myself, too. It would make life so simple to be able to say, “I will always and forever believe all the things I think to be true right now. I will never doubt, never question, never reconsider, never ‘switch sides.’ So don’t worry.”

Simple and, I think, totally miserable. It would be miserable because I know I’m not right about everything. In fact, I count it as one of God’s greatest gifts that we can learn and grow and be challenged and changed. I am thrilled I am not now who I was five years ago, and I suspect, five years from now (if I am still alive), I will be similarly amazed at what God has done to draw me closer to him in, I’m sure, surprising and unforeseen ways.

Before I went to college, I thought I would always be a “creationist,” never question gender roles, always be a Calvinist, never be a pacifist, always avoid an espresso addiction and, of course, never be gay.

So I can’t promise I’ll always be convinced that celibacy is my requisite (though not unhappy) path. I just can’t. I know myself too well, and I don’t know the future well enough.

What I can promise, though, is that I will live each day pursuing the glory of God, seeking to rest in his love and display it relentlessly to others. I can promise that I will place myself under the authority of scripture and Christian community, and that I will ask hard questions and, I hope, obey hard answers.

As it is, if I continue to live that kind of life, I feel confident the convictions toward sexuality that I have now will remain, though enriched, nuanced, and deepened. I hope they do.

I hope they do, because I’m scared they won’t.

I hope they do, because, when I lay in bed some nights, I hope they don’t.

I’m not some invincible dogmatic war-machine, impervious to any and all pain or insecurity. There are enough people telling me exactly who I need to be now because of my sexuality that I’ve found the added demand to simultaneously guarantee and justify who I will be in the future both beyond my capacity and deeply exhausting.

For so long I felt the need to put up some kind of iron-clad front to earn people’s approval, to dispel any doubt that I will always believe what I believe now. That I will be strong enough. That I will be wise enough.

Ridiculous. I’m a Christian. I should be the first to admit that I am both weak and unbearably stupid on my own. I am, as all humans are, an ever-changing work in progress.

No, I need God desperately, and trying to come across as sufficiently immutable was just smoke and mirrors to deter people from piercing me with that uncertain stare that says, You aren’t going to make it past forty, little more than a small rebellion against my utter dependence on Christ and the Church.

Because I am weak, I need to cling to the God whose strong embrace surrounds me and lifts me up. Because I am irrational and inconsistent, I need to draw near to the God who will lead me in righteousness all the days of my life. Because I can’t rely on my own feeble promises, I need to trust solely in the God whose promises never fail, who will guide me and teach me and nurture me and place before me a joyful path of discipleship that will lead me ever further into his marvelous light. Because I don’t know who exactly I will be as I grow, I need a church community to continually remind me who I am and who I serve.

Precisely because the future is hidden from me, I need to seek God in the present. My fear-fueled visions of what may be will always overwhelm me because I don’t yet have what it takes to overcome them. I suspect I won’t until that future becomes the present and God, as he always does, meets me in a way that is more astounding, more good than I could conceive of right now.

I’m only 22. I still struggle with child-proof Advil bottles and sometimes daydream about being a Pokémon master. I have a lot of maturing to do. As I have recently engaged in the conversation surrounding homosexuality and the church, I have realized that no matter how much research I may do, no matter how many blog posts I may write, I simply cannot change the fact that there is much I am unable to learn about myself and my sexuality except through the passing of time. There are fears and trials I cannot fully address until they actually materialize. Now, I’m in no rush – the future can hold on to its crow’s feet and baldness – but, well, patience doesn’t come naturally.

So, I’d rather not have to pretend that I have all, most, or even a decent chunk of the answers right now. What I do have is Jesus, transcendant and imminent, and his assurance that he will be with me as the seconds pass like gravel or grass beneath my uncalloused feet. And, as he’s told me in the past, I shouldn’t worry so much about the future because it distracts me from the present moment in which he is working miracles.

My goal in life is to glorify God in all that I do, not to merely be successfully celibate. Just because I’m confident the former leads to the latter, and just because I am committed to working hard to develop as someone who flourishes in singleness, doesn’t make the distinction any less important.

Why do I get the feeling that I’m just now beginning to learn what it looks like to really trust God? Maybe it’s that I’m finally having to admit that I don’t trust myself. Not yet, at least.

Well, whatever it is, to God be the glory, forever and ever, amen.

the times they are a-changin’

Hey there, you. How are you doing? Well? Glad to hear it. I’m doing fine, I guess. Lots of stuff going on, so I’ve been pretty busy.

Now that we got the awkward small-talk out of the way, I figured I’d let you in on what’s happening over on our side of things, including some info on how the blog may be changing in the coming months.

So, as you may know, I (Jordan) recently got back from a brief three month romp in Africa. What you may not know is that I (still Jordan) am leaving this weekend for a brief four month romp in Latin America to work with street kids and orphans. Internships are addicting, ok?

I (Tony… j/k it’s Jordan) am not sure how often I will post once I arrive down there. There are a few reasons for this uncertainty: 1) I’ll be living with a bunch of insane latino teenagers and may exist in a perpetual state of semi-unconsciousness, and 2) I’ll be focusing on blogging from a separate, non-pseudonymous website (assuming I can ever decide on a gosh-darn domain name) about my time with the kids and all the zany lessons I learn, and to effectively maintain both seems unrealistic given how lazy I am (on a scale from 1 to 10, I didn’t bother to fill it in).

I’m to the point, now, that I think it would be best for me to take a small break from writing and thinking constantly about sexuality and to grow up a bit while focusing on my other passions (of which there are distressingly many). But I hope to jump headlong back into the sexuality discussion when I return from Latin America, at which point I will “come out” on my personal website and continue things from there.

I’ve decided not to “go public” until then because I don’t want to risk complicating this internship. I’m not sure it would, but I can wait. Once I do, however, I will post links on this blog.

While I may not write as many full-length posts, I intend to become more active on GaySubtlety’s Twitter, so if you aren’t following us there, you totally should (I’ll give you, like, 20,000,000 GS points if you do). I’ll frequently post links to interesting articles and videos, though not necessarily opining about them. As for this blog, we are looking at ways of turning it into a more formalized, indexed resource, but more on that later.

Anyway, thanks for your grace as we move into a bit of a different season and try to figure things out. I’ve already finished a post that I’ll put up on Friday. It’s one of the more important ones that I’ve written, at least for myself. After that, who knows! I’ll keep you updated as things progress.

Oh, and have a blessed Advent. What an incredible time to meditate on the nearness of Christ and the overwhelming beauty of the incarnation. God is very, very good, isn’t he?

link: “To Come First for Someone”

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but a dear friend’s tumblr alerted me to a recent post I had missed by the incomparable Eve Tushnet on the subject of the common desire to be the most important person in someone else’s life (which I’ve written about here and here). If you haven’t read much of Eve’s stuff (she’s a lesbian Catholic), I would highly recommend you do. She’s a phenomenal writer and thinker with a profound gift for expressing ideas that are surprising and thought-provoking and resonantly human.

You can find her post here.

At the risk of you deciding not to expend the herculean effort to depress your mouse button or track-pad, here’s an excerpt:

“There are a lot of pieces to this emotion [of wanting to come first]. To be always the one who watches the love between spouses or parents and children, supporting that intense your-needs-first love but never receiving it yourself… Feeling like you’re burdening people when you need them–like you’re asking them to do something outrageously above and beyond the call of duty when you ask them to sacrifice time, effort, or their own priorities to care for you, even when you’re really seriously in need…

This is an area where our refusal to honor or even imagine important vocations other than marriage causes a huge amount of pain, loneliness, and sense of worthlessness. If we took friendship seriously as a potential site of devotion and sacrifice, far fewer people would feel neglected and unwanted. If we considered lay community life (“intentional communities”) more seriously, and if we expanded our concept of family and welcomed single people into familial homes (for a season or for life), many more people could have the experience of living in a realistic familial love in which we all come first at times, and nobody is just there as support personnel…

And finally, maybe the most important thing to say about this desire to ‘come first’ is simply that I’ve felt it too. It’s been really hard for me sometimes. Other times, like now, I don’t feel it as strongly. But maybe the most important thing I can offer in response to this painful and pretty humbling cry isn’t advice or theology but just solidarity. I feel it too.”

There’s plenty more to read, and you simply must clink the link. Here it is again. Click it. Then click all her other links, because they’re great too.

the happiest place on earth

I used to hate following the news. It was so depressing, so endlessly troubled and gloomy, that I would be filled with an ambiguous sadness at every new report; suicide, homicide, war, famine, rape, disaster, greed, ignorance… all of it overwhelming to my sheltered self – shadowy threats to my naive understanding of how things should be, at least for me.

So I adapted, developing a nearly manic imagination capable of wild flights of fantasy. I daydreamed my way through school, consumed so many fantasy novels and video games that the immersive worlds they depicted began to poison my perception of existence, and tried to distance myself from the pain and anxiety that comes with awareness. I wasn’t always successful, of course, and I didn’t really know what on earth I was doing, but nonetheless I had somehow become a self-described escapist. So much so, in fact, that a mentor once told me during freshman year that my connection to reality frequently seemed tenuous, at best. Please, don’t all line up to marry me at once.

I was recently reminded of this part of myself while running around Disney World on vacation with the family. You guys, I love Disney World. I could probably wander around Epcot’s World Showcase for, oh I don’t know, forever and ever.

But, was it just me or did the stone walls look a bit more like painted plaster this time around? Did the water always have such a garish blue tint? And were the security cameras always so obvious, and the costumes so lifeless? And I wondered, Is my increasing exposure to poverty and brokenness corroding my imagination…

…or are my experiences bringing it more to life?

While I was in Africa, one of the recovering drug addicts and I were walking by the beach talking about his newly emerging hopes and passions for a life of sobriety and Christian discipleship. As we walked, we passed an unassuming man wearing sunglasses, a loose jacket, and boring jeans. My friend (who has a fascinating history of gangsterism, murder, theft, and meth) leaned over and whispered, “He’s an undercover cop, I promise you.” I tried to remain as nonchalant as his tone of voice. “And that man over there, he’s a meth addict. So is that guy, most likely. There’s a drug den just around the corner; it’s a nice house. And make sure you never leave your keys or valuables unattended – syndicates have lookouts on that mountain right there and will send nearby runners to grab your stuff. Just, you know, don’t be stupid. So anyway….”

Welcome to reality, Jordan. Population: You and a bunch of scary people you probably didn’t want to know were absolutely everywhere. But that conversation got me thinking. How blind am I to the dark and unmentioned world that exists just beneath the surface of “normal”? You know how people talk about spiritual warfare, and say that we are constantly surrounded by angelic and demonic hosts? And how, if we could see that realm clearly, we’d likely explode from incomprehension? Well, my friend gave me a glimpse of something similar. How insular and near-sighted has my life been! How adeptly have I shielded myself from the grotesque underbelly of the communities in which I’ve lived! Why have I been so content to live with such a stunted understanding of reality?

I decided in that moment that, wherever I live, I want to be aware. I want to know where the drug deals go down, I want to know that crazy homeless man’s story, I want to know the names of the prostitutes that hang around Main St. for some tragic reason or another. And not just to know so that I appear socially conscious and “moral,” but so that my life, and maybe theirs, is challenged and changed and conformed more closely to Jesus’. I want my roots to go deeper than the anemic suburban strata.

My imagination used to be my escape from bitter reality. But I’ve learned, slowly, that we have been given the incredible gift of imagination not to transcend reality, but to inhabit it more profoundly. It is not for the abolition of reality, but so that we may see it in some small way as Christ does. Extricating myself, actively or passively, from reality, in all its ugliness, was actually denying myself the blessings of a Spirit-filled imagination. It was anti-incarnational.

I’ve realized that, without becoming aware of and rooting myself in that “hidden” world around me (which isn’t so hidden for countless others), with its abuse, addiction, violence, injustice, and insanity, I could never understand the true significance of redemption or hope, and my encounters with the brokenness within myself and others would continue to overwhelm me. This is why, I think, the book of Revelation is so powerful: John is calling his flock to see, not past, but more deeply into their circumstances, to the cosmic battle of good and evil and the insurmountable supremacy of the crucified lamb who reigns in love. (I read Revelation as poetic theological commentary on the nature of the way things are, a la Richard Hays and Greg Beale…and the original audience.) Such a vision empowers the Church to live boldly and with grace, embodying the Gospel with passion.

So maybe Disney World isn’t quite so captivating as it once was. But that’s ok, because life, in all its maddening complexity, has become so much more profound and engrossing. We who claim to follow the risen Christ have the unbelievable privilege of living, wherever that may be, amidst the darkness of the earth and proclaiming light, of encountering addict and dealer, pimp and prostitute, abused and abuser, poor and rich, and imagining them as the people they could become through the miracle of redemption and then walking with them on that difficult and trying road.

Is it simple? No. Is it easy? No. Is it painless? Not even close. Do I have any idea what I’m really getting myself into? Nope. But am I more excited about life and ministry than I ever have been? By the grace of God, yes. (Mostly) Gone are the days of wanting to cling to privilege and ease, to seek happiness in the absence of difficulty rather than in the midst of it. In their place is a renewed desire to be, as Barth repeatedly demanded, for the world, in it, living relentlessly and selflessly for the freedom of others in a way only Christians can. If the Church does not model such an existence it will find itself lost in an inward-turning labyrinth of isolation and comfortable folly – unaware and unconcerned with the brokenness across the ocean, around the corner, and in its sanctuaries. And, consequently, it will have ceased to fully be the Church, the body of Christ which has always embraced the downtrodden and marginalized.

But wherever the Church is living into this Spirit-filled imagination, wherever that consuming love of God is breaking into and transforming the desperate brokenness of the world, that is, really, the happiest place on earth.

(Though The World Showcase is totally a close second.)

…for friends, family, and the easy laughter that nourishes my thirsty soul.

…for beauty, and the joy of finding daybreak and nightfall equally inspiring.

…for food, and the miracle of gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free snickerdoodle cupcakes.

…for books of poetry, inspired ink married to parchment, and the mysterious way words can simultaneously arrest and excite the imagination.

…for abundance and privilege, and the opportunity to sacrifice both for the sake of the outcast and suffering.

…for the Church in all its myriad forms, and the beacon of hope it can be to a weary and cynical world.

…for the endlessly humbling command to serve, and the million little examples others have shown me of how to be like Christ.

…for love, and the ability to give and receive it.

…for Calvin and Hobbes.

…for levity, and the presence of peace that, even two years ago, seemed unattainably distant.

…for sanctification, and the fact that I am not now who I once was, by the grace of God.

…and for my infinitely loving, gracious, forgiving, holy, just, life-giving Savior who didn’t leave me to my own hell-bent devices, but bore the full weight of sin so that I might come alive in him.

For all this and more I am deeply thankful today and always.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

what is love?

Let’s just get this out of the way.

Now, on to business.

A sentiment I often hear within the evangelical church is, “If we want to love people, we must be willing to speak the truth about their sins. To ignore or sugarcoat them would be the most unloving thing we could do, even if other people don’t see it that way.” The basic idea is that sin, separation from God, is the greatest tragedy, and if you really do care about someone then you will want them to be free from that blinding, oppressive weight even if they refuse to acknowledge it – you will want them to know God. So we must preach the Gospel.

This is all true. But I’m beginning to wonder if the way that sentiment is commonly played out misses the mark of true love, especially when it comes to the church’s interactions with the LGTBQ community.

When someone raises a concern like the one above, my first thought is usually, The LGBTQ community probably doesn’t need to be reminded, again, of what the evangelical church generally thinks about about homosexuality. I’m pretty sure, actually, that the first thing that comes into most LGBTQ people’s mind when they hear the word “evangelical” is the anti-gay rhetoric that seems definitive of conservative Christians’ public discourse.

What strikes me as odd, and dangerous, is that somehow the message of “We don’t think you should be having sex” is considered more essential to the Gospel than “God loves you and so do we.” How the heck did that happen?

Why is it that any message to an LGBTQ person is not considered to be true, or truly loving, unless it contains a litany of his/her/their sins, and yet a message that is only about sin, devoid of any mention of God’s grace or a commitment to fight injustice on their behalf, somehow passes as an acceptable proclamation of the Gospel? As if, from the start, we don’t think LGBTQ people deserve anything better than judgment.

It’s like the church is chasing after them, hurling spears of condemnation and prejudice, all while shouting, “We love you! God loves you! No, seriously! Come back!” And when they keep running we just shake our heads and attribute their retreat away from us as a sign of their gross sinfulness, a refusal to accept the “Gospel-centered” kind of love we’ve offered them.

What the hell is wrong with us?! We treat them like crap throughout history and expect a different outcome? Maybe they reject us because we’ve never really loved them in the first place. Maybe they reject us because we are continually rejecting them.

Where were we when they became victims of abuse, hate crimes, disease, stigma, and bullying? We were either perpetuating their pain or apathetic toward it. And for those brave few who dared to stand beside them and model a different kind of love? We yelled across the chasm of our fear, “While you’re over there, make sure you tell them they’re sinful, otherwise whatever you’re doing doesn’t count!” Then we patted ourselves on the back for being “missional.” It’s maddening!

Ok, wow, deep breaths. The whole thing is just very frustrating for me. I once asked a gay man I was sitting next to on a plane what it would take for him to know he was loved by the evangelical church even if it never became “affirming.” It’s a question I had been dying to ask someone, and after I had so intently listened to his impassioned monologue about his spiritual connection to Diana Ross (who he’d seen over two-hundred times in concert), I figured he owed me. His short answer has stuck with me for the past two years: “I might believe it,” he said, “if you would at least fight the stigma that claims so many lives. But you don’t.”

If the only examples we have of showing the LGBTQ community “love” are the sermons where we preach the “truth” about the sinfulness of that community, then I would humbly propose that we repent of our anemic understanding of love, our exceptional failure to be consistent with how we live out the Gospel, and then to actually do something – not because we need a new conversion tactic but because we are Christians, and it’s simply how we have been called to live.

Read this article. Please, please read it. I’ve posted it so many times on Facebook and Twitter because it stands as a soul-crushing indictment of the loveless rhetoric so common in conservative evangelicalism. We cannot pretend we are blameless anymore, we cannot go on as we always have.

This is not an “easy solution” to a complex problem; it’s a reminder of what we have forgotten, what we have forsaken. How this will manifest in individual lives and church communities will vary, but it must be made manifest. Otherwise, honestly, I don’t think we have anything more to say.

Well, good news, everybody: I have definitively proven that my tolerance for espresso is greater than the average human’s (this must be what mom meant when she told me I would be special some day). I have got to figure out a way to have deep, meaningful conversations without clutching a latte. Despite the minor annoyance of having my retinal fluid become caffeinated, my time at Wheaton has been truly wonderful. The “regular” posting schedule will resume over the weekend, I hope.

So, I have a favor to ask. I’m going to assume that there are people who read the blog and seriously disagree with any number of things in it, and I’ve been wondering, for a while, what I could be doing to better communicate in a way that is gracious and understanding. If you are one of those people, would you be willing to help me out by sending me an email with your thoughts or suggestions on how to improve the blog? I’m not so much looking for a flood of side-A arguments, though I guess you can send those along. Rather, I’m more interested in exposing my blind spots. Maybe I’ve stated things in a harmful way, maybe I haven’t done justice to an alternative view (as is inevitable, really), maybe I’ve dealt in false stereotypes, maybe I’ve incited feelings of alienation for some people. I’m sure I’m guilty of all those, and more, to one degree or another and I’m sorry for that.

I have a lot to learn, a lot of growing up to do. I hope to continually become a safer, more loving contribution to the conversation as a whole, and I think this is an important step forward.


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Amphenol Information Communication & Commercial

Amphenol Information Communication & Commercial - Amphenol ICC, a division of Amphenol, was established through the alignment of Amphenol FCI (AFCI) and Amphenol IT Communications Products (AITC) from January 2017. The new Amphenol ICC division is made up of the following Amphenol groups: Amphenol FCI, Amphenol Commercial Products, Amphenol High Speed Interconnects, Amphenol InterCon Systems, Cables on Demand, and Amphenol TCS. The new division further strengthens the design and manufacturing footprint while deepening relationships with Amphenol customers. Amphenol ICC is a world leader providing interconnect solutions for the information, communications, and commercial electronics markets. +More Amphenol ICC designs and manufactures a wide range of innovative connectors as well as cable assemblies for diverse applications including server, storage, data center, networking, industrial, business equipment, and automotive. With their global presence in R&D, manufacturing, and sales, theyare well positioned to support customers wherever they operate. Related product brands include: Amphenol, Amphenol Advanced Sensors (formerly GE Sensing), Amphenol Aerospace Operations, Amphenol Anytek, Amphenol Industrial, Amphenol LTW, Amphenol Pcd, Amphenol RF, Amphenol Sine Systems, Amphenol Spectra-Strip, Amphenol SV Microwave. -Less
პროდუქტის კატეგორია
უახლესი პროდუქტები

Amphenol RF 12G MCX Connectors & Adapters support data rates up to 12Gbps, enabling the transmission of high-resolution uncompressed video signals.

თარიღი: 2019-09-25

Amphenol FCI BergStak FX10 Board-to-Board Connectors provide fast data transmission of up to 15Gb/s+ for high-speed applications.

თარიღი: 2019-09-24

Amphenol Sine Systems AT Series™ Integrated Resistors & Diodes feature IP67 moisture resistance and 100 cycle mating durability ideal for heavy duty applications.

თარიღი: 2019-09-24

Amphenol RF SMA Panel Mount Receptacles offer excellent VSWR performance up to 18GHz and come in 2-hole and 4-hole flanges configurations.

თარიღი: 2019-09-17

Amphenol Sine Systems SpeedSplice A Series Terminals is field serviceable, splicing solution for heavy equipment, automotive, and other applications.

თარიღი: 2019-08-09

Amphenol Advanced Sensors Cable Probe Temperature Sensors are available at Mouser Electronics and are designed for industrial HVACR applications.

თარიღი: 2019-08-07

Amphenol Advanced Sensors JS8746 Harsh Environment Temperature Sensors are designed to address all aspects of temperature measurement for HVAC control systems in the container-ship market.

თარიღი: 2019-07-31

Amphenol / SV Microwave Male and Reduced Flange PCB Edge Launch Connectors offer a 26.5 to 67GHz frequency range, a 50Ω impedance rating, and are 30% smaller than the standard flange..

თარიღი: 2019-07-30

Amphenol LTW M8 Double-Ended Cables expand the popular M series and come in a variety of configurations, consisting of key and non-key connectors.

თარიღი: 2019-07-29

Amphenol FCI Minitek® Pwr 2.5 Connector Systems are designed for power applications with a current rating of up to 6.5A per circuit.

თარიღი: 2019-07-26

Amphenol LTW Ceres IP67 Crimp Terminal Connectors are waterproof and field-installable circular connectors for easy wiring and quick assembly.

თარიღი: 2019-07-24

Amphenol Commercial Rugged MRU USB 2.0 Type A Connectors provide IP67 protection for enclosures per IEC 60529.

თარიღი: 2019-07-24

Amphenol Sine Systems HYPERBUSS™ ATV Series 18 Position Receptacles are heavy duty, high performance, and cost-effective solution that is designed for “bussed” electrical pathway interconnect applications.

თარიღი: 2019-07-24

Amphenol RF High-Speed Data (HSD) Cable Assemblies are a 100Ω connecting system for differential and digital data transmission.

თარიღი: 2019-07-22

Amphenol FCI Minitek® 2.00mm Blind Mate Interface (BMI) Connectors offer a 20mΩ max. contact resistance, a 200Vrms voltage rating, and a 2A current rating per contact.

თარიღი: 2019-07-10

Amphenol / SV Microwave Extreme RF Cable Assemblies feature low solder wicking and the high flexibility allows tight bends.

თარიღი: 2019-06-27

Wilcoxon 786 Motion Sensors include accelerometers and dual-output sensors with a sensitivity tolerance of 100mV/g, 300mV/g, or 500mV/g with ±5%.

თარიღი: 2019-06-04

Wilcoxon 793 Motion Sensors feature hermetically sealed transducers, velocity sensors, and accelerometers with a top exit connector orientation.

თარიღი: 2019-06-04

Wilcoxon PCH420 Vibration Sensors are velocity transmitters with 4-20mA outputs and enabled with the Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) communication protocol.

თარიღი: 2019-06-04

Wilcoxon 787 Motion Sensors are hermetically sealed and feature a sensitivity tolerance of 100mV/g or 500mV/g with ±5%.

თარიღი: 2019-06-04


text:
Dangerous Games Sets Murder Mystery at Gen Con

Kickstarter People

Matt Forbeck, award-winning game designer, novelist, and GeekDad contributor, has had a busy year. Back in December, he announced he was writing one novel every month in 2012, and he’s successfully Kickstarted two trilogies. Now he’s back with his third series: a murder mystery set at a gaming convention.

Dangerous Games tells the story of a gaming group visiting Indianapolis for Gen Con. When their favorite game designer turns up dead, the gamers work to unravel the mystery of his murder. In no time, they’re surrounded by conspiracy and playing a game that punishes its losers with death.

I was a huge fan of the concept for Matt’s second series, Shotguns & Sorcery, but I love that his third series swerves away from fantasy and science fiction into the mystery genre. It’s always fun when fandom is explored in mainstream mystery television (Castle and Criminal Minds come to mind), but it always seems either insulting or pandering. Matt has been going to Gen Con since he was a kid — this year will be his 31st trip to Indianapolis for the convention — and he’s been designing games for over 20 years. It’ll be nice to see an industry vet tackle the setting.

$25 will get you the entire trilogy in ebook format, but I think it’d be fun to go in with my gaming group for the Alpha Gamers reward tier. You get a personalized and autographed limited edition hardcover of all three Dangerous Games novels, but your gaming group will also be featured in the books, playing their favorite game. It’s a bit pricey at $1,000, but it also nets you up to ten ebook copies of the book for your buddies. That’s a fun way to memorialize your group, though some might be tempted by the Industry Legend tier: work with Matt to create a major character and, if you’d like, kill them off. We’ve all had that guy in our group, right?

The Dangerous Games Kickstarter runs until midnight on Monday, June 18th. View the details and pledge here.

Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!


text:
Comic Review: Cyborg 009 HC

Cyborg 009
Written by F.J. Desanto and Bradley Camp
Illustrated by Marcus To
Colored by Ian Herring
Lettered by Deron Bennett
Designed by Jon Adams
Edited by Stephen Christy
Created by Shotaro Ishinomori
Archaia Entertainment
Release Date: September 24, 2013
Cover Price: $24.95

Archaia Entertainment has updated Shotaro Ishinomori‘s manga about a multicultural group of cyborg outcasts, Cyborg 009. A young man known only as Cyborg 009 wakes up in a top-secret research facility. He has no memory of his previous life. He is immediately told to destroy his predecessors Cyborgs 001-008.

Eventually, the cyborgs escape along with Dr. Gilmore, one of the more sympathetic scientists involved in the cyborg soldier project. Cyborg 009 learns about his origin and the origins of the other 8 cyborgs. Most of them were randomly kidnapped and they have very diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. He has a bit of a rival in the group in the New-York born Jet Link, and a potential love interest in the French-born Francoise Arnoul. Cyborg 009 has to deal with an emotional tug-of-war between a longing for his old life, and the pressing need to unite with his cyborg brethren against Sekar, the villainous leader of the group that turned them all into cyborgs.

...continue reading »
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Our research interest is focused to shed light on the unusual bonding situations and reactivity present in different sort of molecular systems, including materials, molecular recognition (host-guest systems), and self-assembly processes, and transition metal complexes. In this way, both (i) electronic structure calculations and (ii) molecular dynamics simulations are regularly employed. Among the employed analyses, energy decomposition (ETS-NOCV, DFT-SAPT, DLPNO-CCSD (T) -LED, GKS-EDA), charge displacement, core electron binding energy (CEBE), topological (QTAIM, ELF, NCI, ACID), magnetic response, and binding free energies can be highlighted.

Research Lines

Line 1 – Unusual covalent and non-covalent interactions

The focus of this research line is to elucidate the physical nature of covalent interactions with unusual bonding situations as well as the non-covalent interactions, which are central in supramolecular systems, regulating highly specific recognition, transport, and regulatory mechanisms. Biological and chemical processes are both orchestrated by a complicated interplay between covalent and non-covalent interactions.