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The Sign of The Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Sign of The Four Chapter I. The Science of Deduction
The Sign of The Four Chapter II. The Statement of the Case
The Sign of The Four Chapter III. In Quest of a Solution
The Sign of The Four Chapter IV. The Story of the Bald-Headed Man
The Sign of The Four Chapter V. The Tragedy of Pondicherry Lodge
The Sign of The Four Chapter VI. Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration
The Sign of The Four Chapter VII. The Episode of the Barrel
The Sign of The Four Chapter VIII. The Baker Street Irregulars
The Sign of The Four Chapter IX. A Break in the Chain
The Sign of The Four Chapter X. The End of the Islander
The Sign of The Four Chapter XI. The Great Agra Treasure
The Sign of The Four Chapter XII. The Strange Story of Jonathan Small

The Sign of The Four Chapter VII. The Episode of the Barrel

The police had brought a cab with them, and in this I escorted Miss Morstan back to her home. After the angelic fashion of women, she had borne trouble with a calm face as long as there was some one weaker than herself to support, and I had found her bright and placid by the side of the frightened housekeeper. In the cab, however, she first turned faint, and then burst into a passion of weeping,—so sorely had she been tried by the adventures of the night. She has told me since that she thought me cold and distant upon that journey. She little guessed the struggle within my breast, or the effort of self-restraint which held me back. My sympathies and my love went out to her, even as my hand had in the garden. I felt that years of the conventionalities of life could not teach me to know her sweet, brave nature as had this one day of strange experiences. Yet there were two thoughts which sealed the words of affection upon my lips. She was weak and helpless, shaken in mind and nerve. It was to take her at a disadvantage to obtrude love upon her at such a time. Worse still, she was rich. If Holmes’s researches were successful, she would be an heiress. Was it fair, was it honorable, that a half-pay surgeon should take such advantage of an intimacy which chance had brought about? Might she not look upon me as a mere vulgar fortune-seeker? I could not bear to risk that such a thought should cross her mind. This Agra treasure intervened like an impassable barrier between us.

It was nearly two o’clock when we reached Mrs. Cecil Forrester’s. The servants had retired hours ago, but Mrs. Forrester had been so interested by the strange message which Miss Morstan had received that she had sat up in the hope of her return. She opened the door herself, a middle-aged, graceful woman, and it gave me joy to see how tenderly her arm stole round the other’s waist and how motherly was the voice in which she greeted her. She was clearly no mere paid dependant, but an honored friend. I was introduced, and Mrs. Forrester earnestly begged me to step in and tell her our adventures. I explained, however, the importance of my errand, and promised faithfully to call and report any progress which we might make with the case. As we drove away I stole a glance back, and I still seem to see that little group on the step, the two graceful, clinging figures, the half-opened door, the hall light shining through stained glass, the barometer, and the bright stair-rods. It was soothing to catch even that passing glimpse of a tranquil English home in the midst of the wild, dark business which had absorbed us.

And the more I thought of what had happened, the wilder and darker it grew. I reviewed the whole extraordinary sequence of events as I rattled on through the silent gas-lit streets. There was the original problem: that at least was pretty clear now. The death of Captain Morstan, the sending of the pearls, the advertisement, the letter,—we had had light upon all those events. They had only led us, however, to a deeper and far more tragic mystery. The Indian treasure, the curious plan found among Morstan’s baggage, the strange scene at Major Sholto’s death, the rediscovery of the treasure immediately followed by the murder of the discoverer, the very singular accompaniments to the crime, the footsteps, the remarkable weapons, the words upon the card, corresponding with those upon Captain Morstan’s chart,—here was indeed a labyrinth in which a man less singularly endowed than my fellow-lodger might well despair of ever finding the clue.

Pinchin Lane was a row of shabby two-storied brick houses in the lower quarter of Lambeth. I had to knock for some time at No. 3 before I could make my impression. At last, however, there was the glint of a candle behind the blind, and a face looked out at the upper window.

“Go on, you drunken vagabone,” said the face. “If you kick up any more row I’ll open the kennels and let out forty-three dogs upon you.”

“If you’ll let one out it’s just what I have come for,” said I.

“Go on!” yelled the voice. “So help me gracious, I have a wiper in the bag, an’ I’ll drop it on your ‘ead if you don’t hook it.”

“But I want a dog,” I cried.

“I won’t be argued with!” shouted Mr. Sherman. “Now stand clear, for when I say ‘three,’ down goes the wiper.”

“Mr. Sherlock Holmes—” I began, but the words had a most magical effect, for the window instantly slammed down, and within a minute the door was unbarred and open. Mr. Sherman was a lanky, lean old man, with stooping shoulders, a stringy neck, and blue-tinted glasses.

“A friend of Mr. Sherlock is always welcome,” said he. “Step in, sir. Keep clear of the badger; for he bites. Ah, naughty, naughty, would you take a nip at the gentleman?” This to a stoat which thrust its wicked head and red eyes between the bars of its cage. “Don’t mind that, sir: it’s only a slow-worm. It hain’t got no fangs, so I gives it the run o’ the room, for it keeps the beetles down. You must not mind my bein’ just a little short wi’ you at first, for I’m guyed at by the children, and there’s many a one just comes down this lane to knock me up. What was it that Mr. Sherlock Holmes wanted, sir?”

“He wanted a dog of yours.”

“Ah! that would be Toby.”

“Yes, Toby was the name.”

“Toby lives at No. 7 on the left here.” He moved slowly forward with his candle among the queer animal family which he had gathered round him. In the uncertain, shadowy light I could see dimly that there were glancing, glimmering eyes peeping down at us from every cranny and corner. Even the rafters above our heads were lined by solemn fowls, who lazily shifted their weight from one leg to the other as our voices disturbed their slumbers.

Toby proved to be an ugly, long-haired, lop-eared creature, half spaniel and half lurcher, brown-and-white in color, with a very clumsy waddling gait. It accepted after some hesitation a lump of sugar which the old naturalist handed to me, and, having thus sealed an alliance, it followed me to the cab, and made no difficulties about accompanying me. It had just struck three on the Palace clock when I found myself back once more at Pondicherry Lodge. The ex-prize-fighter McMurdo had, I found, been arrested as an accessory, and both he and Mr. Sholto had been marched off to the station. Two constables guarded the narrow gate, but they allowed me to pass with the dog on my mentioning the detective’s name.

Holmes was standing on the door-step, with his hands in his pockets, smoking his pipe.

“Ah, you have him there!” said he. “Good dog, then! Atheney Jones has gone. We have had an immense display of energy since you left. He has arrested not only friend Thaddeus, but the gatekeeper, the housekeeper, and the Indian servant. We have the place to ourselves, but for a sergeant up-stairs. Leave the dog here, and come up.”

We tied Toby to the hall table, and reascended the stairs. The room was as he had left it, save that a sheet had been draped over the central figure. A weary-looking police-sergeant reclined in the corner.

“Lend me your bull’s-eye, sergeant,” said my companion. “Now tie this bit of card round my neck, so as to hang it in front of me. Thank you. Now I must kick off my boots and stockings.—Just you carry them down with you, Watson. I am going to do a little climbing. And dip my handkerchief into the creasote. That will do. Now come up into the garret with me for a moment.”

We clambered up through the hole. Holmes turned his light once more upon the footsteps in the dust.

“I wish you particularly to notice these footmarks,” he said. “Do you observe anything noteworthy about them?”

“They belong,” I said, “to a child or a small woman.”

“Apart from their size, though. Is there nothing else?”

“They appear to be much as other footmarks.”

“Not at all. Look here! This is the print of a right foot in the dust. Now I make one with my naked foot beside it. What is the chief difference?”

“Your toes are all cramped together. The other print has each toe distinctly divided.”

“Quite so. That is the point. Bear that in mind. Now, would you kindly step over to that flap-window and smell the edge of the wood-work? I shall stay here, as I have this handkerchief in my hand.”

I did as he directed, and was instantly conscious of a strong tarry smell.

“That is where he put his foot in getting out. If YOU can trace him, I should think that Toby will have no difficulty. Now run down-stairs, loose the dog, and look out for Blondin.”

By the time that I got out into the grounds Sherlock Holmes was on the roof, and I could see him like an enormous glow-worm crawling very slowly along the ridge. I lost sight of him behind a stack of chimneys, but he presently reappeared, and then vanished once more upon the opposite side. When I made my way round there I found him seated at one of the corner eaves.

“That you, Watson?” he cried.

“This is the place. What is that black thing down there?”

“A water-barrel.”

“Top on it?”

“No sign of a ladder?”

“Confound the fellow! It’s a most break-neck place. I ought to be able to come down where he could climb up. The water-pipe feels pretty firm. Here goes, anyhow.”

There was a scuffling of feet, and the lantern began to come steadily down the side of the wall. Then with a light spring he came on to the barrel, and from there to the earth.

“It was easy to follow him,” he said, drawing on his stockings and boots. “Tiles were loosened the whole way along, and in his hurry he had dropped this. It confirms my diagnosis, as you doctors express it.”

The object which he held up to me was a small pocket or pouch woven out of colored grasses and with a few tawdry beads strung round it. In shape and size it was not unlike a cigarette-case. Inside were half a dozen spines of dark wood, sharp at one end and rounded at the other, like that which had struck Bartholomew Sholto.

“They are hellish things,” said he. “Look out that you don’t prick yourself. I’m delighted to have them, for the chances are that they are all he has. There is the less fear of you or me finding one in our skin before long. I would sooner face a Martini bullet, myself. Are you game for a six-mile trudge, Watson?”

“Certainly,” I answered.

“Your leg will stand it?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Here you are, doggy! Good old Toby! Smell it, Toby, smell it!” He pushed the creasote handkerchief under the dog’s nose, while the creature stood with its fluffy legs separated, and with a most comical cock to its head, like a connoisseur sniffing the bouquet of a famous vintage. Holmes then threw the handkerchief to a distance, fastened a stout cord to the mongrel’s collar, and led him to the foot of the water-barrel. The creature instantly broke into a succession of high, tremulous yelps, and, with his nose on the ground, and his tail in the air, pattered off upon the trail at a pace which strained his leash and kept us at the top of our speed.

Sherlock Holmes Sign of The Four with his nose on the ground, and his tail in the air, pattered off upon the trail

The east had been gradually whitening, and we could now see some distance in the cold gray light. The square, massive house, with its black, empty windows and high, bare walls, towered up, sad and forlorn, behind us. Our course led right across the grounds, in and out among the trenches and pits with which they were scarred and intersected. The whole place, with its scattered dirt-heaps and ill-grown shrubs, had a blighted, ill-omened look which harmonized with the black tragedy which hung over it.

On reaching the boundary wall Toby ran along, whining eagerly, underneath its shadow, and stopped finally in a corner screened by a young beech. Where the two walls joined, several bricks had been loosened, and the crevices left were worn down and rounded upon the lower side, as though they had frequently been used as a ladder. Holmes clambered up, and, taking the dog from me, he dropped it over upon the other side.

“There’s the print of wooden-leg’s hand,” he remarked, as I mounted up beside him. “You see the slight smudge of blood upon the white plaster. What a lucky thing it is that we have had no very heavy rain since yesterday! The scent will lie upon the road in spite of their eight-and-twenty hours’ start.”

I confess that I had my doubts myself when I reflected upon the great traffic which had passed along the London road in the interval. My fears were soon appeased, however. Toby never hesitated or swerved, but waddled on in his peculiar rolling fashion. Clearly, the pungent smell of the creasote rose high above all other contending scents.

“Do not imagine,” said Holmes, “that I depend for my success in this case upon the mere chance of one of these fellows having put his foot in the chemical. I have knowledge now which would enable me to trace them in many different ways. This, however, is the readiest and, since fortune has put it into our hands, I should be culpable if I neglected it. It has, however, prevented the case from becoming the pretty little intellectual problem which it at one time promised to be. There might have been some credit to be gained out of it, but for this too palpable clue.”

“There is credit, and to spare,” said I. “I assure you, Holmes, that I marvel at the means by which you obtain your results in this case, even more than I did in the Jefferson Hope Murder. The thing seems to me to be deeper and more inexplicable. How, for example, could you describe with such confidence the wooden-legged man?”

“Pshaw, my dear boy! it was simplicity itself. I don’t wish to be theatrical. It is all patent and above-board. Two officers who are in command of a convict-guard learn an important secret as to buried treasure. A map is drawn for them by an Englishman named Jonathan Small. You remember that we saw the name upon the chart in Captain Morstan’s possession. He had signed it in behalf of himself and his associates,—The Sign of The Four, as he somewhat dramatically called it. Aided by this chart, the officers—or one of them—gets the treasure and brings it to England, leaving, we will suppose, some condition under which he received it unfulfilled. Now, then, why did not Jonathan Small get the treasure himself? The answer is obvious. The chart is dated at a time when Morstan was brought into close association with convicts. Jonathan Small did not get the treasure because he and his associates were themselves convicts and could not get away.”

“But that is mere speculation,” said I.

“It is more than that. It is the only hypothesis which covers the facts. Let us see how it fits in with the sequel. Major Sholto remains at peace for some years, happy in the possession of his treasure. Then he receives a letter from India which gives him a great fright. What was that?”

“A letter to say that the men whom he had wronged had been set free.”

“Or had escaped. That is much more likely, for he would have known what their term of imprisonment was. It would not have been a surprise to him. What does he do then? He guards himself against a wooden-legged man,—a white man, mark you, for he mistakes a white tradesman for him, and actually fires a pistol at him. Now, only one white man’s name is on the chart. The others are Hindoos or Mohammedans. There is no other white man. Therefore we may say with confidence that the wooden-legged man is identical with Jonathan Small. Does the reasoning strike you as being faulty?”

“No: it is clear and concise.”

“Well, now, let us put ourselves in the place of Jonathan Small. Let us look at it from his point of view. He comes to England with the double idea of regaining what he would consider to be his rights and of having his revenge upon the man who had wronged him. He found out where Sholto lived, and very possibly he established communications with some one inside the house. There is this butler, Lal Rao, whom we have not seen. Mrs. Bernstone gives him far from a good character. Small could not find out, however, where the treasure was hid, for no one ever knew, save the major and one faithful servant who had died. Suddenly Small learns that the major is on his death-bed. In a frenzy lest the secret of the treasure die with him, he runs the gauntlet of the guards, makes his way to the dying man’s window, and is only deterred from entering by the presence of his two sons. Mad with hate, however, against the dead man, he enters the room that night, searches his private papers in the hope of discovering some memorandum relating to the treasure, and finally leaves a momento of his visit in the short inscription upon the card. He had doubtless planned beforehand that should he slay the major he would leave some such record upon the body as a sign that it was not a common murder, but, from the point of view of the four associates, something in the nature of an act of justice. Whimsical and bizarre conceits of this kind are common enough in the annals of crime, and usually afford valuable indications as to the criminal. Do you follow all this?”

“Very clearly.”

“Now, what could Jonathan Small do? He could only continue to keep a secret watch upon the efforts made to find the treasure. Possibly he leaves England and only comes back at intervals. Then comes the discovery of the garret, and he is instantly informed of it. We again trace the presence of some confederate in the household. Jonathan, with his wooden leg, is utterly unable to reach the lofty room of Bartholomew Sholto. He takes with him, however, a rather curious associate, who gets over this difficulty, but dips his naked foot into creasote, whence comes Toby, and a six-mile limp for a half-pay officer with a damaged tendo Achillis.”

“But it was the associate, and not Jonathan, who committed the crime.”

“Quite so. And rather to Jonathan’s disgust, to judge by the way he stamped about when he got into the room. He bore no grudge against Bartholomew Sholto, and would have preferred if he could have been simply bound and gagged. He did not wish to put his head in a halter. There was no help for it, however: the savage instincts of his companion had broken out, and the poison had done its work: so Jonathan Small left his record, lowered the treasure-box to the ground, and followed it himself. That was the train of events as far as I can decipher them. Of course as to his personal appearance he must be middle-aged, and must be sunburned after serving his time in such an oven as the Andamans. His height is readily calculated from the length of his stride, and we know that he was bearded. His hairiness was the one point which impressed itself upon Thaddeus Sholto when he saw him at the window. I don’t know that there is anything else.”

“The associate?”

“Ah, well, there is no great mystery in that. But you will know all about it soon enough. How sweet the morning air is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gigantic flamingo. Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the London cloud-bank. It shines on a good many folk, but on none, I dare bet, who are on a stranger errand than you and I. How small we feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces of nature! Are you well up in your Jean Paul?”

“Fairly so. I worked back to him through Carlyle.”

“That was like following the brook to the parent lake. He makes one curious but profound remark. It is that the chief proof of man’s real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness. It argues, you see, a power of comparison and of appreciation which is in itself a proof of nobility. There is much food for thought in Richter. You have not a pistol, have you?”

“I have my stick.”

“It is just possible that we may need something of the sort if we get to their lair. Jonathan I shall leave to you, but if the other turns nasty I shall shoot him dead.” He took out his revolver as he spoke, and, having loaded two of the chambers, he put it back into the right-hand pocket of his jacket.

We had during this time been following the guidance of Toby down the half-rural villa-lined roads which lead to the metropolis. Now, however, we were beginning to come among continuous streets, where laborers and dockmen were already astir, and slatternly women were taking down shutters and brushing door-steps. At the square-topped corner public houses business was just beginning, and rough-looking men were emerging, rubbing their sleeves across their beards after their morning wet. Strange dogs sauntered up and stared wonderingly at us as we passed, but our inimitable Toby looked neither to the right nor to the left, but trotted onwards with his nose to the ground and an occasional eager whine which spoke of a hot scent.

We had traversed Streatham, Brixton, Camberwell, and now found ourselves in Kennington Lane, having borne away through the side-streets to the east of the Oval. The men whom we pursued seemed to have taken a curiously zigzag road, with the idea probably of escaping observation. They had never kept to the main road if a parallel side-street would serve their turn. At the foot of Kennington Lane they had edged away to the left through Bond Street and Miles Street. Where the latter street turns into Knight’s Place, Toby ceased to advance, but began to run backwards and forwards with one ear cocked and the other drooping, the very picture of canine indecision. Then he waddled round in circles, looking up to us from time to time, as if to ask for sympathy in his embarrassment.

“What the deuce is the matter with the dog?” growled Holmes. “They surely would not take a cab, or go off in a balloon.”

“Perhaps they stood here for some time,” I suggested.

“Ah! it’s all right. He’s off again,” said my companion, in a tone of relief.

He was indeed off, for after sniffing round again he suddenly made up his mind, and darted away with an energy and determination such as he had not yet shown. The scent appeared to be much hotter than before, for he had not even to put his nose on the ground, but tugged at his leash and tried to break into a run. I cold see by the gleam in Holmes’s eyes that he thought we were nearing the end of our journey.

Our course now ran down Nine Elms until we came to Broderick and Nelson’s large timber-yard, just past the White Eagle tavern. Here the dog, frantic with excitement, turned down through the side-gate into the enclosure, where the sawyers were already at work. On the dog raced through sawdust and shavings, down an alley, round a passage, between two wood-piles, and finally, with a triumphant yelp, sprang upon a large barrel which still stood upon the hand-trolley on which it had been brought. With lolling tongue and blinking eyes, Toby stood upon the cask, looking from one to the other of us for some sign of appreciation. The staves of the barrel and the wheels of the trolley were smeared with a dark liquid, and the whole air was heavy with the smell of creasote.

Sherlock Holmes and I looked blankly at each other, and then burst simultaneously into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

The Sign of The Four Chapter VIII. The Baker Street Irregulars

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The Holy and Great Council: With Great Preparation but Without Expectations

Conclusions and Summary of the Theological-Academic Conference:

The Holy and Great Council: With Great Preparation but Without Expectations

holysynodbanneromhkseaInvoking the blessings of the Holy Trinity, on Wednesday, March 23, 2016, in the Melina Merkouri Hall of the Peace and Friendship Stadium, in Piraeus, Greece, at Neo Faliro, the Theological-Academic Conference entitled “The Holy and Great Council: With Great Preparation but Without Expectations” began.

Sponsored by the Dioceses of Glyfada, Gortina, Kithyron, Pireaus and the Synaxis of Clergy and Monastics, as well as the Congregation of Priests and Monks, the conference was honored by the presence of many respected Fathers, priests, presidents of Christian Organizations, Professors of the Theological Schools, Theologians and about a thousand attendants. The Seminar was organized by the five-member Academic board: Metropolitan of Piraeus Seraphim, Archmandrite Athanasios Anastasiou, the former abbot of the Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron, Protopresbyter George Metallinos, Dean Emeritus of the Theological School of Athens, Protopresbyter Theodoros Zisis, Professor Emeritus of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Demetrius Tselingides, Honored Professor of the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Present at the Conference, with greetings from the Church of Ukraine, was the Bishop of Bantsen, Logginos and Fr. Sabbas the head of the Great Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos. Also, representing Metropolitan Gabriel of Losetz of the Church of Bulgaria, was Fr. Matthew Voulkanescou, priest of the Holy Metropolis of Piraeus, who read his greeting.

The general theme of the Conference was divided into four sessions, with talks given by their Eminences, Seraphim of Pireaus, Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios, Paul of Glyfada, Seraphim of Kithiron and Jeremiah of Gortyna and Megalopolis, the university professors, Prot. Fr. George Metallinos, Prot. Fr. Theodoros Zisis, Dr. Demetrios Tseleggidis, Archamndrite Saranti Sarantos, having a doctorate from the Theology School of the University of Athens, Archimandrite Athanasios Anastasiou, Protopresbyter Fr. Peter Heers, having a doctorate from the Theology School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Protopresbyter Fr. Anastasio Gkotsopoulos, Theologian (Master Theology) and rector of the Church of St. Nicholas, Patra, Archmandrite Paul Dimitrakopoulos, Theologian (Master Theology), Director of the Office Against Heresies of the Metropolis Piraeus, Mr. Stavros Bozoviti, Theologian-Author, member of the Brotherhood of Theologians “Sotir” and Protopresbyter Fr. Aggelos Angelakpoulos, Theologian and priest of the Metropolis of Piraeus.

Based upon the lectures and the ensuing dialogue, the following resolution was drafted and approved by all:

1. The Theology of our Church is the gift of Divine Revelation, the experience of Pentecost. There is no Church without Theology and no Theology outside of the Church, theology which was spoken by the Prophets, the Apostles, the Fathers and the Holy Synods. When a Council does not follow Orthodox teaching, it cannot be a true Orthodox Council, acceptable to the Orthodox faithful. This can happen when the participants in the Council do not have the experience of the Holy Fathers or do not, at least, follow them without misinterpreting them. In that case, the members of the Council proclaim heretical teachings or become influenced by political goals or other agendas. The modern ecclesiastical reality has shown that today’s high ranking members of the church hierarchy are, in fact, often unduly and improperly influenced by political agendas. In many of the cases, we can see that an inter-ecclesiastical rivalry is created where national and political agendas predominate.

2. After a long period of preparation for the convening of the Holy and Great Council – 93 years – we see from the topics, the pre-council documents and the comments of the organizing committee, that there is a great loss of the true ideal of a council, a loss of theological fullness and clarity and, with respect to the ideas of the documents that will be discussed, an even greater problem with the theological ambiguity in which they are written.

3. The fact that not all bishops, but only twenty-four, from every local autocephalous church will participate in the Council, is foreign to our canonical and conciliar tradition. The existing historical records bear witness, not to representation, but to the greatest possible participation of bishops from all districts of the Church throughout the world. In addition, the fact that this council is not being characterized as Ecumenical because of the novel assertion that “Western Christians are unable to participate” (Patriarch Bartholomew) stands in direct conflict with the Holy Fathers, who convened the Holy Councils without the heretics in attendance. Consequently, it is unacceptable for its organizers to claim that its authority is tantamount to and on par with the Ecumenical Councils. But neither can this Council be called Pan-Orthodox, because it obviously doesn’t allow all Orthodox bishops to participate. What is equally without witness in our ecclesiastical and canonical tradition, and for this reason unacceptable, is the rule, one Church–one vote, with the necessity of unanimity between all of the local churches. Every bishop has the right to his own vote, since for non-dogmatic issues the principle “let the vote of the majority prevail” is in effect. We also believe that it is both unacceptable to predetermine the issues and for the Council to be organized without the ruling body of bishops of the local churches having synodically expressed their position on these issues.

4. The Joint Theological Dialogues between the Orthodox and the heterodox which have taken place so far have been a tragic failure, as the pioneers of these dialogues themselves now confess. The so-called offering of help, through the dialogues, to the heterodox for their return to the truth in Christ and to Orthodoxy is now known to be false and nonexistent. In the final analysis, these Dialogues serve and promote the goals of a move to a New World Order and of Globalization. An important reality currently being ignored, which the pre-conciliar documents present, is the fact that there is, strangely, no critical assessment of the progress made so far, both in the Joint Theological Dialogues between the Orthodox Church and the rest of the Christian communities, or in the Church’s participation in the Ecumenical movement and the W.C.C. – something which was clearly present in the texts of the Third Pre Conciliar Conference.

5. The pre conciliar text entitled: “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World,” presents a series of theological inconsistencies and even contradictions. Thus, the first article correctly declares the ecclesiastical self-consciousness of the Orthodox Church to be the “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” However, the sixth article presents a contradiction to above article’s (1) formulation. It characteristically states, that “the Orthodox Church acknowledges the existence in history of other Christian Churches and confessions which are not in communion with her.” This raises the obvious theological question: If the Church is “One,” according to the Symbol of Faith and the consciousness of the Orthodox Church (Article 1), how then is there mention of other Christian Churches? It is obvious that these other Churches are heterodox. The heterodox “Churches,” however, can in no way be called “Churches” by the Orthodox. Theologically speaking, there can’t be many “Churches” with dogmatic differences and, indeed, with respect to many theological issues. Consequently, since these “Churches” remain steadfast in their faith’s cacodoxy, it is not theologically correct to impart to them any ecclesiality (especially in an official manner), while separated from the “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” In the same article (6) there is found a second serious theological contradiction. In the beginning of the article the following is noted: “The unity by which the Church is distinguished in her ontological nature is impossible to shatter.” At the end of the same article, however, it is stated that the Orthodox Church’s participation in the Ecumenical Movement is for the purpose of “pursuing an objective goal – to tread the path to unity.” Here another question is raised: Since the unity of the Church is a fact, what kind of unity of the Churches is being sought within the Ecumenical Movement? Maybe what is meant is the return of the Western Christians to the ONE and only Church? This is not at all apparent from the letter and the spirit of the text as a whole. On the contrary, it clearly gives the impression that the Church is, in fact, divided and that the goals of the interlocutors aim at the unity of the Church.

6. The above text moves within the confines of the new ecumenist ecclesiology, which has already been articulated by the Second Vatican Council. This new ecclesiology posits the recognition of the baptism of all the Christian confessions as its foundation (so-called “Baptismal Theology”). The writers of the text call upon the seventh canon of the Second Ecumenical Council and the ninety-fifth Canon of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, in order to lend canonical validity and synodical legitimacy to this cacodox ecclesiology. However, these Holy Canons only regulate the way in which repentant heretics are accepted into the Church, and no way do they speak of the ecclesiological status of the heretics, neither do they speak of the process of dialogue between the Church and heresy. Furthermore, they certainly don’t imply the “existence” of the sacraments of the heterodox, nor that such heresies impart saving Divine Grace. Never has the Church recognized nor proclaimed ecclesiality for those in delusion and heresy. The “portion of the saved” of which these Holy Canons speak is only found in Orthodoxy and not in heresy. The economy, which the above canons introduce, cannot be applied today to Western Christians (Roman Catholic and Protestants), because they lack the theological presuppositions and the criteria which these specific canons set. And, because economy can’t be applied in matters that concern the dogmatic self-awareness of our Church, the Western Christians are called upon to renounce and anathematize their heresy, to abandon their religious communities, to be catechized and, in repentance, to seek acceptance into the Church through Baptism.

7. There is also no mention, in the above text, of any specifically defined cacodoxy or delusion, as if the spirit of delusion was no longer at work in our days. The text doesn’t point out any heresy or distortion in the ecclesiastical teachings and practice of those in the Christian world who are outside of Orthodoxy. On the other hand, the cacodoxy and heretical departures from the teachings of the Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils are characterized as “traditional theological differences, or possible new disagreements” (§ 11), which the Orthodox Church and heterodoxy are called upon to “overcome (§ 11).” The authors of this text desire the unity of the “Churches,” not unity in the Church of Christ. And it is for this reason that there is not found any call to repentance, nor to the denial and condemnation of the delusions and false teachings which have infiltrated the life of these heretical communities.

8. The above text references at length the W.C.C. (§§ 16-21) and it positively evaluates its contribution to the Ecumenical Movement, pointing out the full and equal participation of the Orthodox Churches and their contribution “to the witness of truth and promotion of unity of Christians” (§ 17). However, the image that is given to us by this text regarding the W.C.C. is false and artificial. To begin with, the very inclusion of the Orthodox Church in an organization which presents itself as a kind of “super church” [ὑπερεκκλησία], and it’s coexistence and cooperation with heresy constitute a violation of its canonical order and a breach of its ecclesiological self-understanding. The theological identity of the W.C.C. is clearly Protestant. The witness of the Orthodox Church in its whole has not, thus far, been received by the Protestant confessions of the W.C.C., as is apparent from its seventy year history. All of this makes manifest that the end result of the W.C.C. tends toward the homogenization of its confessions/members by way of a long, drawn out intermingling. This text hides the truth of what has really been going on during these dialogues with the Potestant confessions/members of the W.C.C. and the dead-end which they have reached. Besides this, the text doesn’t condemn the unacceptable, from an Orthodox point of view, common documents of the General Assembly of the W.C.C. (Porto Alegre, Busan etc.), and in addition, it neglects to mention the many degenerative phenomena that we find there, such as the “Liturgy of Lima,” intercommunion, inter religious common prayer, ordination of women, inclusive language, and the acceptance of homosexuality on the part of many confessions, and much more.

9. The changing of the Church’s calendar in 1924 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Greece was a one-sided, arbitrary act, for it was not a Pan-Orthodox decision. It fragmented the liturgical unity between the Local Orthodox Churches and caused schisms and divisions between the faithful. The change the calendar came about through the efforts of Patriarch Meletios (Metaksakis), heterodox confessions and Western governmental agencies. [Leading up to the Pan Orthodox Council] there appeared a commitment on the part of ecclesiastical leaders, which raised expectations among the faithful, that this Council was to discuss and resolve this issue. Unfortunately, during the long drawn-out pre-conciliar proceedings, the Papal Protestants and the Reformed Protestants posed a new issue for the Orthodox, the “common celebration of Pascha.” Consequently, the interest was turned to this new issue and the discussion regarding the healing of the wound of liturgical unity, during the celebration of the unmovable feasts, (something which was caused without reason or pastoral need) lost momentum. Even though it was the most urgent and burning issue, during the final stage of preparations for the Council, and without any synodical decisions made by the Local Churches, the calendar issue was removed from the list of issues.

10. The history of the Ecumenical Councils confirm that each time they were convened it was on account of some kind of heresy which was threatening the experience, in the Holy Spirit, of ecclesiastical truth and its expression by the Church’s body. On the contrary, the coming Council will be convened, not to define the faith in opposition to heresy, but to grant official recognition and legitimization to the pan-heresy of Ecumenism. The proceedings as a whole, the preparation and subject matter of the Council are the result of the imposition of an ecclesiastical oligarchy, which expresses an academic, ossified, limp and spiritless theology, cut off from the ecclesiastical body. The final judge of the rightness and the validity of the decisions of the Councils is always the fullness of the Church – the clergy, monastics and the faithful people of God – that with its watchful ecclesiastical and dogmatic consciousness, confirms or rejects all such decisions. However, this planned Council completely lacks this important parameter, since, as was officially stated, the bearer of the validity of its decisions will be its “conciliarity” and not the Orthodox plentitude.

11. Another basic prerequisite for the legitimacy of the Great and Holy Council is for it to recognize as Ecumenical, as does the consciousness of the Church, the VIII (879-880) Council, which convened under St. Photios and the IX (1351), which convened under St. Gregory Palamas, and which condemned the heretical teachings emanating from Papism. But this possibility has not even entered the subject matter of the Council or the pre-conciliar texts.

12. The Orthodox way of fasting is so firmly entrenched in the consciousness of the pastors and the people, that it needs no reduction or adjustment. It is the pastors of the Church who have the responsibility to acquire an ascetic mindset and to be educated in their Orthodox Faith in order to therefore discerningly teach their flock by example and by making use of the inconceivable wealth of the writings of the Holy Fathers. Our Orthodox Church benevolently applies economy, in all its grandeur, to all Orthodox Christians throughout the world. There are so many texts by the Holy Fathers on fasting and its passion-killing and saving effects that there is no need for the trivialization which this issue is undergoing at the hands of the post-patristic revisionists with their minimalist mindset, who pretend to care about modern man. If the coming Council imposes new reforms on the number of fasting days and types of food, it will be mimicking the totalitarianism that characterizes papal canon law, which officially and stiflingly regulates even economy itself.

13. Throughout the twentieth century Ecumenism degenerated and has now morphed into a pan-religious fantasy. The unending inter-religious meetings and common prayer services between Orthodox and the leaders of the world’s religions (e.g. Assisi) testify to the fact that the ultimate goal of Ecumenism is the mutual acceptance of all religions and their merging into one grotesque “religious” body, a pan-religious nightmare, which seeks to negate the saving truth of Orthodoxy. In light of this, it impossible to justify inter-religious cooperation. Neither can it be founded on Holy Scripture nor the teachings of the Holy Fathers. The God-inspired words of the Apostle are crystal clear: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” II Cor. 6:14). In addition, the ideal of peaceful coexistence, which is pushed by the inter-religious dialogues ad nauseam, is impossible, since it stands in direct contrast with the Lord’s words, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” (Jn. 15:20), and with the words of the Apostle, “all who desire to live godliness in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (II Tim. 3:12). Those who have participated up to now in these dialogues have, unfortunately, not been able to convey the unadulterated Orthodox Christian teaching, nor has their witness brought about the conversion of even one person of another faith to Orthodoxy. On the other hand, they have now reached the sorry state of being led astray into delusion and heresies, putting forward blasphemous declarations, scandalizing the faithful people of God, misleading into delusion those who are weak in the Faith and causing a great spiritual erosion and corruption in the Orthodox mindset. Besides this, despite the plethora of dialogues which have taken place up until now, not only has Islamic fanaticism not lessened, but it is growing more and more.

14. We must be inspired by the struggles of the Prophets of the Old Testament and by the Holy Fathers of our Church to guard the Sacred Trust [Παρακαταθήκη]. Like them, we are facing attempts to adulterate the Orthodox faith, like the Mosaic faith in the Old Testament, where first Canaanite and later Babylonian and Egyptian elements were threatening to contaminate the faith in the One God. Great men – prophets, kings, political leaders, and others – struggled valiantly to preserve this faith pure. They especially fought against the various false prophets who emerged from time to time.

In summary, we conclude that the coming “Great and Holy Council” will be neither Great nor Holy because, based on the facts as they now stand, it does not appear to be in accord with the synodical and canonical tradition of the Orthodox Catholic Church. It also appears that it will not truly function as a genuine continuation of the ancient and great Ecumenical and Local Councils. The way in which the Pre-Conciliar documents are worded, which are dogmatic in character, leave no room for doubt that the Council in question aims to grant ecclesiality to the heterodox and to expand the canonical and sacramental boundaries of the Church. However, no Pan-Orthodox Council has the authority to delineate the Church’s identity differently from that which has always been and now is. There are also no indications that the Council in question will move to condemn the modern heresies, especially the pan-heresy of Ecumenism. To the contrary, everything indicates that the upcoming Great and Holy Council is an attempt to legitimize and consolidate this pan-heresy. Nevertheless, we are wholly convinced that all decisions expressing an ecumenist spirit will not be accepted by the clergy and people of God, whereas the Council itself will be recorded in our ecclesiastical history as a pseudo-synod.

Translation: Fr. Nicholas K.
Editing: Fr. Peter H.

Speak Your Mind

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Thursday, July 13, 2017

Top 10 in Nation Rabbit Hill Inn in Vermont Provides Perfect Sanctuary From 24-Hour Presence of Real World

The stars perfectly aligning for a visit to the beautifully restored Rabbit Hill Inn (RHI) outside St. Johnsbury, Vermont awesomely shows that some things are meant to be.

On the broadest level, innkeepers/soulmates Leslie and Brian Mulchay purposefully not putting telephones or televisions in the 19 guestrooms achieves the goal of providing a oh-so-rejuvenating break from the 24-hour-a-day seven-days-a-week barrage of news (fake) and otherwise about the horribly combative state of the world.

Your not-so-humble reviewer recommending putting your iPhone and your iPad in your suitcase on checking in until you check out is a textbook example of do as I say, not as I partially do.

Creating this luxurious environment that facilitates letting the toxic real world ooze along without you for a couple of days alone warrants the numerous accolades for this 1795 inn with strong WiFi and copious charging options; ranks RHI in the Top 10 B&Bs in America, and Travel + Leisure rates the inn as Number 6 hotel in the country and Number 30 in the world. It seems that Numbers 1 through 5 must actually tuck you in and serve breakfast in bed.

History Awesomely Repeating Itself

The genesis of a recent birthday visit to RHI goes back 12 years; a significant other of that time was planning a getaway to mark a milestone birthday. Your not-so-humble reviewer loving three years spent living in Vermont and exclaiming 'BUNNY!" on various occasions made this future ex finding RHI online an immediate (and enthusiastic) success. The next bit of fun related to choosing which individually themed rooms to book. We chose the Samuel Hodby Suite for the combination of the whirlpool bath, the sitting area, and the particular decor.

The stay made that visit the best-ever birthday to date even without the Mulchays knowing that it was an event celebration. The room was clean, playing the game of moving the bunny dolls into G-rated amusing positions with the housekeepers was fun, and the breakfast was filling and delicious.

The below photos from the trip last week show that the tradition of hide the bunny remains strong. The first one additionally shows the thoughtful bonus of evening gifts that the detailed turn-down service includes. Bugs and Babs are aptly enjoying a box of gourmet Bunn chocolate.

Memories of that wonderful time surfaced a week before the aforementioned recent (non-milestone) birth anniversary. This prompted emailing the inn with thanks for the spectacular prior birthday, mentioning the pending birthday, and inquiring about a visit later in the year. Leslie quickly replied that I and my currently highly significant long-time companion were welcome to come for the birthday itself. We rapidly accepted this kind invitation.

Before sharing the details of the recent trip that exceeded the perfection of the previous one, it is worth mentioning that the same "art v. commerce" issue that is central to Unreal TV applies to historic B&Bs.

The great potential to profit from providing this type of experience has prompted large and small corporations to purchase these properties and to operate them in the same manner as a Best Western by folks whose heart is not in the game. This is HIGHLY incompatible with the personal touches and hospitality that make staying at an inn special. Take it from a (TV DVD) guy who booked a quaint and charming room for a particularly milestone birthday two years ago only to get a room literally the dimensions of a mid-sized walk-in closet and to get threatened with intensely dire consequences if I did not remove a negative Trip Advisor review.

Warm Welcome

Georgia-born and New Hampshire raised assistant innkeeper Don displayed his southern hospitality and country boy manners in greeting us on our arrival. This quickly led to sitting down for the inn-made from scratch gourmet baked goods and the lemonade that the inn serves guests from 2-to-5 every afternoon.

The strong sense that I was not in Marriott anymore related to craving a third indescribably good bite-size chocolate and peanut butter cake; I justified taking the second one on my highly significant other passing on that treat. Hesitancy to eat a third mostly related to not wanting to take more than my fair share and depriving a future arrival of his or her treat.

Don broadly smiled and stated that he just kept replenishing the treats; this was in strong contrast to a prior stay at a corporate-owned five-star Vermont inn at which the afternoon tea is a feeding frenzy at a table of cookies that is not replenished.

Oh Jonathon

Having full faith in the Mulchays on booking the room, I did not know where they were putting us. Don told us that we would be staying in the spectacularly California chic Tavern's Secret room but that he would first provide a requested look at the Jonathon Cummings Suite that was the best room in this inn that does not have a bad one. He proceeded to show us around this Vermont-style penthouse complete with completely private screened-in porch.

A thrill that exceeded having three (perhaps four) of the chocolate-peanut butter treats came when I thanked Jonathon and headed for the door when he beamed his huge smile and stated that we were staying there.

The interest in checking out the Cummings suite related to a secondary purpose for the trip. General disdain regarding the expense and inconveniences of air travel and recently having a LAX TSA agent follow up a no-choice-in-the-matter intense groping (after a scan that was taken before having a chance to stand still in the machine) with a non-consensual strong and humiliating grabbing that could be felt an hour later has made spending money that otherwise would go to flying on luxury accommodations within driving distance an excellent choice. The highly significant other of your not-so-humble reviewer stated this more concisely regarding this trip in stating "everyone from all over the world comes to New England in the summer."

The Cummings Suite more than lives up to its status as the showcase of the inn. Guests enjoy a spacious bedroom with a beautiful and comfy canopy bed and a gas fireplace, a large sitting room with a desk and a comfy chair, an alcove with two great reading chairs, and the aforementioned porch that looks out over the Vermont greenery. Sleeping out there is very tempting but for the greater comfort inside.

The large whirlpool tub with the jets that go from rippling to pounding is a wonderful bonus that many other rooms share. (Seymour the rubber duck makes a great tub companion but needs a racing partner.)

Providing two spa robes when many other fine properties limit them to one was another example of  the RHI rocking. The carefully chosen robes having a terry lining and silky dark maroon outside reflected the attention to detail at the inn and the perfect balance between spa and vintage elegance that sets top B&Bs apart from merely nice ones. A second case of doing as I say and not as I do relates to suggesting that you treat yo self by buying a robe.

Dine Without Dashing

The quality and the presentation of the dinner, which non-guests can make a reservation to enjoy, in the casually stylish dining room prompted asking Leslie how she got a world-class chef and equally good pastry chef to work in rural Vermont; she laughed and shared that she was very fortunate.

The policy that cell phones be turned off in the dining room enhanced the mood that the decor and the soft music created. The only negative aspect of this was that the perfect setting and phenomenal food quelled a desire to run out to play with the neighbor Great Pyrenees and Golden Retriever dogs who were romping on the lawn outside the dining room. (Nearby Dog Mountain provided substitute canine playtime.)

The meal commenced with a small square of fried gourmet cheese on a bed of an inn-made ranch dressing; choosing the potato leek soup over the very tasty local greens comparably made the choice of Sophie a non-brainer. The inn-made bread made me want to request a few loaves to bring home (and the Mulchacys likely would have provided it with a smile.)

My chosen entree was perfectly spiced and cooked short ribs with the smoothest grits ever. This dish on top of the other food required a break before requesting dessert. The chosen sweet was hard-to-describe sweet and flaky graham crackers with inn-made cracker jacks and equally local ice cream. Your not-so-humble reviewer who delights in burning Starbucks rewards on Venti Frappuccinos with everything but the kitchen sink could not finish the desert. (Every other day use of an elliptical machine helps burn the calories from these treats.)

The below photos are of the aforementioned feast. Please note the bunny-shaped butter with the bread and the Happy Birthday chocolate with the dessert.

Innsight of Leslie

This ideal stay ended with Leslie taking tine from her 12-hour-a-day 7-days-a-week schedule to discuss how she and Brian provide every guest a fantasy experience.

This chat began with the story of Leslie and Brian working together for a Providence, Rhode Island corporation in 1994 when the stress of that life led to seeking a Vermont getaway; Leslie reminded me that the sales material of that pre-Internet era largely were limited to brochures and the personality of the innkeeper. When asked why she selected the RHI, Leslie replied that it was because of the warmth and the friendliness of the then-innkeeper on the telephone.

That visit led to a nontraditional form of love at first sight that a coincidental vacancy for a two assistant innkeepers facilitated. The Mulchays jumped on that opportunity and took the next logical step when the inn was for sale in 1997.

The pattern of urban couples gleefully buying a B and B to operate together only to have the intense stress related to such an undertaking transform them from the Bradys to the Bundys within five years prompted asking Leslie how she and Brian have avoided that trap in their near 25 years at the RHI.

This woman whose honeymoon period has lasted 34 years and counting replied that "we can't even imagine a day not working together." She added that Brian independently working in the areas for which he was responsible and her doing the same helped maintain their exceptional personal and professional relationships.

Another shared element of the secret of that enviable success was that "it's not that one likes it more than the other; we are equally passionate about what we do here."

The conversation soon turned to what brought me to the RHI in 2005 and to the experience with the corporate property that contributed to the recent return. The always gracious Leslie commented that corporate-owned properties created a different (but not worse) product that changes the personality of an inn.

Leslie next discussed her parental feelings toward the RHI. Her response when asked if she would consider selling the inn to a corporation when she decided to retire was "it always has been in loving hands; it must stay in loving hands." She further praised her offspring by commenting that "it always has been premium for its day," which included a 50s-era life as a motor lodge.

Checking Out

The subject of corporations literally and figuratively changing the landscape of Vermont makes this once-and-future RHI guest  (with equal loves of alliteration and classic television) strongly hope that either Brian or Leslie does not awaken one morning to discover that their ownership of the inn was a very long dream.


text:
Date: Friday, June 20, 2014 at 6:00:00 pm

Join us on Midsummer's Eve for a gathering of amazing Northwest artists celebrating the Divine Feminine in her myriad forms.

Merlyn Ahern, Braden Duncan, Heidi Estey, Valerie Herron, Thea Maia, Monica Miklova, Maxine Miller, Lisa Noble, Laura Tempest Owlkeyme, K. Amarak Waters, & Lis Wright-Ivec
will bring us images of inspiration & mythos.

Spirits of Earth and Ether

Date: Friday, April 18, 2014 at 6:00:00 pm

Gargoyles is pleased to present:

Spirits of Earth and Ether

Featuring new works by K. Amarak Waters & Jessica Geiger

Their works will include animal spirit paintings and sculptural nature deities and elementals. Also featured will be Keith's cat and wolf totem sculptures.

Opening Reception Friday, April 18th 6:00-9:00pm

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text:
Toughest Developer Puzzle Ever

So you think you're a hot shot developer able to resolve every problem that comes your way. Put your skills to the test by visiting The site offers 100 levels of varying difficutly. To maneuver through the levels, you have to examine the page for cllues that will allow you to go to the next levels. Some pages have a hidden link, others require you change the URL manually, etc.

The site is scheduled to launch on May 31 and offers great prizes for the first 100 people to complete it, with excpetionally great prizes for the first 5! Put your thinking caps and visit!

Barry said…
From real life, it strikes me that the tougher developer puzzle is not to write code that is obtuse, but to write code that is clear enough that even your cat could maintain it.
Ray said…
Meow to that!

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Burke School of Irish Dance

   Cleveland, OH

Welcome to the world of Irish Dancing! The Burke School of Irish Dancing strives to instill a love of Irish dance and culture in all of our students. The dancers of the school range in age from 4- 21, learning high self-esteem, fast friendships and success that comes with Irish Dancing. Some of the dancers have traveled all over the United States competing at numerous feisianna (a Gaeilc word for competition). The Burke School of Irish Dance is continuing to grow and share the love and culture of Irish dance with everyone.

The Burke School has a long tradition of excellence. Founded in 1958 by Theresa Burke, the school now operates in three locations; Cleveland, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh. The school founder, Theresa Burke, is one of the most prominent Irish dancing teachers in the United States. In 1965 she became the first North American woman to be certified by the international body governing traditional Irish step dancing. Theresa was recently honored in the Irish Dance Hall of Fame and celebrated fifty years of success teaching Irish dance. Theresa’s dancers have continuously won top prizes at the regional, national, and world level competitions.

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Human Suffering in Haiti ~ and my Faith

The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake is iconic in the philosophical and theological discussions of evil and suffering. The Hatian earthquake threatens to surpass Lisbon in death toll, perhaps rising into the top ten earthquakes in the category of human casualties. We are confronted once again with the age-old theodicy problem: How can we account for such incredible suffering in a universe purportedly created and governed by a God who is loving and good.

It has been my contention that no world-view, whether theistic or non, can skate on this issue. No philosophy, no theology, has integrity if it ignores this elephant in the room, the problem posed by suffering and evil. Today, as I view dump trucks discharging their faceless, nameless loads into mass graves, I am sometimes amazed at the indifference of some believers who claim this huge affront to faith does not faze them. The comment threads on this site are littered with such cavalier dismissals. Many other believers are guilty of a greater atrocity, blaming the victims of tragic disasters for exciting the Posieden-like anger of a vindictive God. Still others take the easier hand-in-the-sand mentality: what I don’t think about can’t threaten me!

Lisa Miller, Religion Editor at Newsweek, commenting on the suffering in Haiti, has raised the question again in her column, Why God Hates Haiti, The frustrating theology of suffering. Read it. Ask the hard questions.

Some Christians react defensively when I call them to consider the problem of evil. They perceive me as attacking their faith. Of course, they are correct. A faith which does not take into account the horrors of evil and suffering ought to be attacked. But my purpose is never to destroy faith. Rather, I seek to build faith that is rational, robust, reality-based. Arriving at such a faith may involve a good deal of illusion dismantling. Is it worth the risk? For some, such an examination may result in the complete crumbling of faith, as it did for Bart Ehrman. It is my experience, however, that most Christians who engage is this perilous work of critical thinking, asking the hard questions, emerge on the other side with a faith that is more vibrant, more reliable, more defensible. For me, it is the only kind of faith worth possessing.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Retroactive Curse?

I’ve been involved in an interesting discussion over at Undeception. In this post, Steve discusses how William Dembski, one of the foremost proponents of the Intelligent Design movement, has embraced Old Earth Creationism. That is, he understands the incontrovertible evidence for the age of the earth. And he knows that such evidence includes a history of suffering and death on our planet before the dawn of man. While he still rejects evolution (acceptance of evolution in Dembski’s case would apparently spell the end of his employment at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where he is a philosophy professor), his acceptance of the geological and paleontological records creates a conundrum for his theology: billions of years of suffering and death on our planet prior to the dawn of man. More importantly, all of this death occurs before the Fall of man. And Dembski’s theology posits that death and suffering are included in the curse which resulted from the sin of Adam and Eve. No problem, according to Dembski. God merely set a curse upon Creation in anticipation of the Fall.

This is like blaming that the man who struck a match at 3:30 in the afternoon for thereby causing an early morning fire on that same day. Except that God is all-knowing, and apparently therefore it is perfectly rational that the curse resulting from Man’s sin might extend backward for billions of years. And thus does Dembski solve the theodicy riddle (how can evil exist in the creation of a good God?) in his book, The End of Christianity. Blame the extinction of dinosaurs on Adam! Eve eats an apple, and trillions of preexistent bacteria die over billions of years. Of course, such a view wreaks havoc upon common sense notions of cause and effect, which lie at the foundation of all science. If God plays such a huge cosmic trick with the sequence of events, can a scientist like Dembski really trust anything in the natural order?

Dembski has effectively rewritten Genesis 2:17 to read, “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely set into motion a whole set of retroactive physical, spiritual, and biological laws including the eventuality of death, laws which will not only henceforth govern your lives and all Creation, but actually have already been governing Creation for 13.7 billion years. So, verily, don’t eat thereof. On second thought, maybe you should eat because if you don’t you’ll really screw things up.” And he has altered the grammar of Genesis 3:14-19, effectively replacing a string of straightforward future tense verbs with past perfects. Exactly how does this solve anything for a man who has so much invested in literalism and inerrancy?

Dembski’s commitment to a literal reading of an inerrant Genesis 1 compels him to reject evolution (God created each species “according to its kind”). His insistence upon a literal understanding of Genesis 2 and 3, (and thus a literal Adam and Eve) lead him to reject common descent. But unlike other Biblical literalists, he cannot square the geological and paleontological record with six-day young earth Creationism. The resulting theological dilemma has Dembski contorting Biblical literalism beyond recognition.

Christians who take seriously their faith must deal with the issue in some way. It won’t go away anytime soon. So I am asking my believing readers, How do you solve this dilemma?

o I avoid science, thus shielding myself from all the potential difficulties of squaring my chosen beliefs with hard facts.

o I avoid the philosophical issue of the problem of evil. If I don’t think about it, it doesn’t effect me.

o I avoid the theological issue of death before the Fall. If I don’t think about it, it doesn’t bother me.

o I accept Dembski’s logic. It is the only way to hold together my acceptance of Biblical inerrancy in the face of the vast fossil record showing a long history of death and extinctions prior to man.

o I reject Dembski’s solution as irrational. I accept Biblical inerrancy, but have another solution to the dilemma.

o My view of reality compels me to redefine how God reveals truth, and I do not read the Bible as the literal, inerrant “Word of God”.

Or do you have a different approach than one listed here?


text:
Off To The Races – The Canadian Derby

This is a sponsored post.

It’s the biggest event in Western Canadian racing—the thrilling afternoon where the past and present collide and the sport of kings gets the full attention it deserves. It’s a day of glamour and action, filled with history and traditionIt’s the Canadian Derby and this is how it began.

Robert James Speer was an Ontario-born racing fan who moved to Manitoba in 1900 when he was 18. Over the subsequent decades he built several racetracks across Western Canada, including Winnipeg’s Polo Park, which opened in 1925. Five years later, Polo Park inaugurated the Manitoba Stakes—an annual race limited to Manitoba-bred horses. Six years later, the race was renamed the Manitoba Derby and opened up to all three year-old Canadian thoroughbreds.

It stayed that way for another five years before finally officially becoming the Canadian Derby. From 1941 to 1956, the race drew the top competitors from across the country to Winnipeg, including legendary Canadian racehorses Budpath (who won in 1941) and Chain Reaction (who won in 1953).

Following the closing of Polo Park, the Canadian Derby moved to Edmonton’s Northlands Park, where it has been run annually for nearly six decades, growing in importance and prestige throughout the years.

Now when I was invited to take part in the 88th running of the Canadian Derby this Saturday August 19th, I literally squealed with delight. Watching gorgeous horses race. Check. Eating awesome food. Check. Drinking alcoholic beverages. Check. Getting my husband to dress up. Check. Having a date during the *gasp* day. Check. Wearing a pretty dress. Check. Wearing an awesome hat. Check. Which nicely segues into the rest of this post. Yep I made a hat for the occasion.

First I went to Value Village’s 50% off sale and bought a dress and hat. Then I took the belt off my dress to the Michael’s and the Dollartree and got some flowers and assorted things that matched. I ended up not using the feathers shown in the photo below. Then I got a pair of scissors, a glue gun, and some wire together.

Next I glued all the butterflies to the stems so they wouldn’t fall off.

Then I cut all the flowers off the bouquets and glued them to their bases.

Then I secured the butterfly cluster by bending the wire and feeding it though the hat band. I then tied it with the wire and attached it with the wore to my hat. Then I glued the hat band to the hat.

Then I just started in the middle where I secured the butterflies and worked outwards on each side gluing flowers and leaves to the hat. To keep them from falling off, I glued various petals to the hat.

And that’s it. I’m derby ready!

I suck at crafting so if I can do this so can you! To see my full outfit, head to the races Saturday! Grab your tickets here.

So, would you try this? Let me know in the comments below.

This is a sponsored post, however all opinions are my own.

About Joelle

Hello! I'm Joelle and this is my Canadian fashion blog with my dog. My family consists of God, my soulmate Tim, my son James, and my co-blogger Zeke the Boston Terror. In my spare time (Hahaha, good one!) I'm praying, singing, reading, drinking tea, or eating some very hot wings.

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• 29.11.2016

    The Final Report is submitted to the Research Executive Agency. Publishable Summary can be downloaded here.
  • 01.10.2016

    The Marie Curie EU project CLOUD-TRAIN has been successfully finished on September 30. Final Reporting period started on October 1st.
  • 26.09.2016

    CLOUD11 Experiment has been launched at CERN.
  • 14.06. - 16.06.2016

CLOUD-TRAIN Open Conference took place at KTC Königstein, Germany

The conference was organized by Frankfurt University, coordinator of the EU project CLOUD-TRAIN. More than 70 scientists from France, Germany, USA, UK, Finland, Switzerland, Portugal, China, and from the European Research Organisation CERN took part in a vital discussion on the new results of the CLOUD experiment at CERN and challenges of modern aerosol research.

  • 26.05.2016

  • 14. - 18.03.2016

    CLOUD-TRAIN fellow at TOFWERK Dr Sonja Klee initiated a mass spectrometry workshop at the Institute for Pure and Applied Mass Spectrometry (ipaMS) in Wuppertal, Germany.

Sonja Klee:”The first Mass Spectrometry Fundamentals Workshop presented and organized by the Institute for Pure and Applied Mass Spectrometry (ipaMS) of the University of Wuppertal in collaboration with the EU-Project CLOUD-TRAIN and Tofwerk AG took place in the facilities of the University of Wuppertal from 14th to 18th of March 2016. Within these days 31 participants with a broad variety of background knowledge in the field of mass spectrometry – from students up to professors – had the chance to renew, widen or just discuss their knowledge in the fundamentals of mass spectrometry. The basic concepts of fluid dynamics, ion motion, matter and light, thermodynamics and kinetics cleared the way for the physical and chemical fundamental understanding of the functions within a mass spectrometric system. All steps from sampling via ionization and transfer up to the detection and data processing were included. Further the “MS practice” part offered the participants the opportunity to literally grasp the inside of a mass spectrometer and ask questions to different parts within those complex systems.
At the end of each day an open evening including drinks and snacks offered the chance for small group discussions in a casual atmosphere. Due to this every participant had the chance to handle the high density of knowledge that was transferred in a very short time period on his own level. The workshop dinner at the brewery of Wuppertal on the last evening gave the chance to socialize, get to know everybody’s work with or without mass spectrometry and thus helped establishing contacts to different working groups and specialists.”

  • 01.02. - 05.02.2016

    During the CLOUD-TRAIN collaboration meeting (01 - 05.02.2016) in Hyytiälä (Finland) details of the training and research were discussed. This included planning for the CLOUD-TRAIN Open Conference in June, the experiences with the secondments at the industrial partners of the project were discussed, the status of the research projects was reviewed, preliminary results of the latest CLOUD experiments were presented, integrated analysis was coordinated and plans for further analysis and publications were defined.

  • 21.09. - 11.12.2015

    The CLOUD 10 experiment at CERN, took place from mid September to mid December 2015.

    The main goals of CLOUD10 were:
    - to simulate the nucleation and growth mechanisms as observed at the Hyytiala measurement station, Finland;
    - to study nucleation and growth for a range of parameters (especially temperature) to cover a large amount of parameter space needed as input for parametrizations for atmospheric aerosol modelling.

    CLOUD10 has been successfully finished on December 11. The results of CLOUD 10 will be discussed during a CLOUD-TRAIN Collaboration meeiting/Data Workshop in Hyytiälä, Finland, in February 2016.
  • 21-23.10.2015
From 21 to 23 October, 2015, the CLOUD community met for a CLOUD-TRAIN Collaboration meeting and a Data Workshop at CERN.

One of the important discussion points was the progress with the joint publications of the scientific papers, based on the results of CLOUD experiments. Neil Donahue (Carnegie Mellon University, USA) chaired the session devoted to this part of the agenda.

The ongoing CLOUD experiment was discussed in a real-time mode, quick-look results were presented and plans for the upcoming measurements were discussed and revised.

Joachim Curtius (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany, coordinator of CLOUD-TRAIN) reported the status of the project, its progress and forthcoming tasks. One of these tasks will be organising the CLOUD-TRAIN Open Conference in June 2016, which will be focused on organic aerosols.

Working Groups presented their acheavements and reported how the team work is organised within the groups.
  • 06-11.09.2015

The EAC 2015 (European Aerosol Conference) took place in Milan, Italy, September 6-11, 2015. CLOUD-Collaboration has been represented by a large number of participants. Young researchers of the CLOUD-TRAIN project presented talks and posters.
Alexander Vogel, one of the CLOUD-TRAIN fellows at CERN, chaired together with Yoshi Linuma the session "Secondary Aerosols 2" on Monday, September 7.

Claudia Fuchs, the CLOUD-TRAIN young researcher at PSI, was awarded with "Best Poster Award" for the work "
Secondary organic aerosol formation during aqueous phase processing in the CLOUD chamber at CERN "
  • 10.09.2015

    The Smoluchowski Award for 2015 has been conferred to Andreas Kürten by the Gesellschaft für Aerosolforschung (GAeF) during the European Aerosol Conference held in Milan, Italy, September 6-11, 2015.
With this Award the large contribution of Andreas Kürten into the scientific results, obtained in CLOUD Experiments and reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science last year, was recognised.
  • 07.06. - 13.06.2015

The 3rd CLOUD-TRAIN Summer School took place in Cascais, Portugal. The training event was organised by Frankfurt University. PIs of the project: Jasper Kirkby (CERN), Joachim Curtius (Frankfurt University), Armin Hansel (Ionicon), Urs Baltensperger (PSI), and Katrianne Lehtipalo (Helsinki University) gave talks and classes. The CLOUD-TRAIN management, as well as the recent CLOUD10-T experiment and the plans and preparations for the upcoming CLOUD10 campaign were discussed also. Associated Partners were represented by Antonio Amorim (Lisbon University), Antonio Tome (Lisbon University), and Doug Worsnop (Aerodyne). Neil Donahue (Carnegie Mellon University) and Rainer Volkamer (Colorado University) were invited to give talks and classes also. University of Lisbon was closly involved in the organisation of the Summer School.

The programme of the Summer School covered a wide range of research topics. The evaluation of the summer school contents revealed that the sessions on scientific writing and on the further career development in industry or in academic research were evaluated as very useful by the majority of the ITN fellows at the current stage of the EU Marie-Curie project.

Hotel Baia provided seminar rooms for the general sessions as well as additional seminar rooms for the small working groups.

A tour to the historical part of Lisbon University included the Science Museum and the Botanic Gardens. The tour was informative and interesting for the participants of the Summer School.

  • 20.04. - 20.05.2015

    A recent CLOUD experiment at CERN was titled "CLOUD10-T", "T" is used for "Technical", as this was a technical run to test new instrumentation and to do preparatory instrument characterizations and calibrations for the upcoming CLOUD10 scientific experiment.
CLOUD10-T delivered a large number of substantial details for improving the CLOUD10 experiment, which is planned for September - December 2015. New instruments from University of Frankfurt, University of Wien, and from CERN were tested.

  • 22.04.2015

A Media Training Workshop arranged by the CERN press office was held at CERN on April 22, 2015. It covered topics how to interact effectively with the media including print, radio and TV. The fellows obtained insight how journalists and newsrooms operate. They learned about the expectations of journalists, how to handle interview situations and how to present complex scientific issues.
The seminar was given by trainers from Inside Edge. Inside Edge specialises in highly bespoke media training for experts. They currently work with over 30 universities, institutions and Research Councils across Europe.

Trainers :
Chris Jameson has extensive experience as a senior BBC network producer and reporter. For much of the last decade he has worked at BBC Radio 5 Live on a range of programmes and as a reporter based in Japan. He has produced several major set-piece broadcasts for the network and his programmes have won several Radio Academy Awards.

Tony Prideaux is an experienced journalist, teacher and communications specialist. As a reporter he has worked extensively with the BBC and in commercial radio. Tony has undertaken training in colleges and universities and has held management positions within education and business.

  • 05.03.2015

    Leonid Nichman – CLOUD-TRAIN ESR at Manchester University is a winner of the 1st prize in the category GRAPHENE of the tenth "Students Venture Out in Enterprise Competition".

  • 02.02.2015 - 06.02.2015

    All of the 15 Fellows of CLOUD-TRAIN participated at the collaboration meeting at Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland.

CLOUD-TRAIN Fellows and PIs of the project
Intensive discussions within the 6 existing Working Groups, based on the PP-presentations of young researchers, contributed to the further successful development of the project. For opening new horisons and preparing the instrument testing experiment CLOUD-T at CERN in spring 2015 several "breaking out groups" have been established during the meeting. The achieved results have been presented to the CLOUD collaboration community.

Joachim Curtius presented in his talk the status of the project Consortium Agreement and the schedule of the 3rd CLOUD-TRAIN Summer School. During an interactive discussion Fellows of the project reported about their secondments. Members of the CLOUD-TRAIN Supervisory Board discussed the implementation of the project and future plans.

  • 22.09.2014 - 29.11.2014

    Between the 22nd of September and the 20th of November the ninth series of nucleation experi ments with the CLOUD chamber took place at CERN. CLOUD9 focused on a) liquid-phase cloud chemistry, b) ice formation and ice properties, and c) ion processes.
    The global aerosol model GLOMAP has been run to test the sensitivity of global CCN concentrations to new aerosol formation mechanisms that represent the new findings from the experimental measurements during CLOUD7 and CLOUD8.
On the 29th of November Periodic Report for the first two years of the CLOUD-TRAIN Marie Curie project has been submitted to REA.
  • 30.09 - 02.10.2014

6 Working Groups, which have been established at the collaboration meeting in Manchester,  presented their achievements at the CLOUD-TRAIN Collaboration Meeting at CERN. Early Stage Researchers of the project Claudia Fuchs, Emma Järvinen, Robert Wagner, Chao Yan, Kamalika Sengupta, and Jasmin Tröstl have been chosen as speakers of the working groups.

  • 28.08 - 02.09.2014

The IAC 2014 (International Aerosol Conference) took place in Busan, Korea from August 28 to September 2, 2014. CLOUD-TRAIN collaboration was broadly represented at the conference. Young researchers of the Marie Curie project as well as the experienced scientists of the collaboration gave a number of talks and presented posters on the results of the CLOUD experiment at CERN.

  • 13.08 - 22.08.2014

A Summer School "Formation and growth of atmospheric aerosols" took place at Hyytiälä Foresty Field Station, Finland, from August 13 to 22. The Summer School was organized by Markku Kulmala, professor of Helsinki University, one of the participants of the CLOUD-TRAIN project. Coordinator of CLOUD-TRAIN, professor of Goethe-University Frankfurt Joachim Curtius also participated in the Summer School. On August 14 he gave a talk entitled "Ion-Induced Nucleation". In the afternoon session he discussed with the students the rules of good scientific practice.

Representatives of the Associated Partners of the Marie Curie project CLOUD-TRAIN Douglas Worsnop (Aerodyne Research Inc.) and Katrianne Lehtipalo (Airmodus Ltd.) gave talks on atmospheric mass spectrometry and instrumentation.

Almost all of the fellows of the CLOUD-TRAIN project participated at the Summer School.

  • 27.03.2014

Participants of the CLOUD-TRAIN Mid-Term Review meeting at Manchester University

On 27 March 2014, the University of Manchester hosted the CLOUD-TRAIN Mid-Term Review meeting. It started with a report of CLOUD-TRAIN Scientific Coordinator Joachim Curtius on the overall progress of the CLOUD-TRAIN project and achievements of the first 18 months of the collaboration. Each of the 13 CLOUD-TRAIN fellows gave a presentation on their research, their training program and their experiences as a Marie Curie fellow. In fruitful discussions between all Scientists in Charge, the representatives of the Associated Partners, the Fellows of the CLOUD-TRAIN project, the Project Officer G. Donini from the Research Executive Agency (REA), and the Scientific Reviewer Dr. J. Ingrin the status of the project, experiences with the ITN structures and potential needs for changes were discussed.

  • 04. -  06.11.2013

Coordinator of CLOUD-TRAIN Joachim Curtius, and two of the Early Stage Researchers of the project Christina Williamson and Martin Heinritzi participated at the international conference, organized by the EU Marie Curie project SPOT-ITN.

Joachim Curtius explained in his talk that substances emitted by plants under stress are probably of high importance for organic aerosol nucleation. The topics of the presentations of Christina Williamson and Martin Heinrtzi were: “Nano-aerosol concentration and growth rates” and “From plant emissions to atmospheric new particle formation” respectively.

  • 30.09. - 09.12.2013

    The CLOUD8 experiment at the CLOUD facility at CERN started on the 30th of September 2013 with the installation of instrumentation inside the thermal housing followed by a thorough chamber cleaning cycle and determination of background levels for sulfuric acid, sulfur dioxide, ammonia and various organics.

    During the first part of the CLOUD8 runs nucleation events were studied. The subject of investigation in the second part of the experiment was the formation of liquid and ice clouds at various temperatures.

    High quality data were collected on a broad range of topics, including:

    - nucleation with alpha-pinene oxidised species

    - homogeneous freezing of water droplets

    - homogeneous freezing of solution particles

    - ice particle morphologies during ice formation, sublimation and re-growth

    - uptake and aqueous-phase processing of SO2 and organics at different temperatures

    - glassy organic aerosolhe
  • 30.10 - 01.11.2013
The CLOUD team including the PIs and the young researchers of CLOUD-TRAIN met at CERN, Switzerland, to discuss the progress of the project and the new scientific results of the ongoing CLOUD8 experiment. The CLOUD8 experiment is running from beginning of October to mid December 2013. Scientists from Finland, Switzerland, Germany, UK, Russia, Austria, and the USA were working together on the new challenges of the CLOUD experiment initiating adiabatic expansion runs where clouds are formed in the chamber. Ottmar Möhler from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology chaired the session on the ice nucleation experiments.

    Ken Carslaw from the University of Leeds, a leading expert for global aerosol modeling, gave a talk on the complicated relationship between pre-industrial and present-day aerosol burden of the atmosphere.

     The scientific papers which are currently in preparation for publication were discussed.
    • 06.10.2013

    A paper "Molecular understanding of sulphuric acid–amine particle nucleation in the atmosphere" (Almeida et al.) has been published by the CLOUD collaboration team at CERN in the scientific journal Nature
    “Thanks to CERN’s expertise in materials, gas systems and ultra-high vacuum technologies,” said CLOUD spokesperson Jasper Kirkby to the CERN press office, “we were able to build a chamber with unprecedented cleanliness, allowing us to simulate the atmosphere and introduce minute amounts of various atmospheric vapours under carefully controlled conditions – in this case amines and sulphuric acid."

    15 young researchers of the CLOUD-TRAIN project and of the succesfully finished Marie Curie project CLOUD-ITN (among them the first author of the paper João Almeida) made their contribution to the scientific results, which have been published on October 6th, 2013.

    Read more in CERN press releases about the key discoveries made by the CLOUD researchers.

    • 17.09-21.09.2013
    "Die Wolkenmacher" ("The Cloud-Makers") was the title of the presentation stand for the CLOUD project at  the "Highlights der Physik 2013" in Wuppertal, Germany.
    In the exhibition selected achievements of physics were presented in German. Posters, shows for a broad public, scientific discussions and science slams attracted more than 30 thousands of visitors, - informed the Medienbüro "Highlights der Physik".

    The participation of the CLOUD project in the exhibition has been prepared and realized by Frankfurt University, coordinator of the EU Marie Curie project CLOUD-TRAIN.
    Dr. Andreas Kürten and Markus Leiminger, a graduate student of Frankfurt University, explained general mechanisms of cloud formation and the goals of the CLOUD project at CERN to the visitors of the "Highlights der Physik 2013" exhibition.

    Karlsruhe Institute of Technology provided the small expansion chamber in order to visualize the cloud formation process. Markus Schauer, a graduate student of Wuppertal University was supporting the team from Frankfurt during the exhibition. "Highlights der Physik 2013" has been organized by Federal Ministry of Education and Science (BMBF), the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG), and University of Wuppertal, and was arranged by AC-Science-Consulting.

    • 08.09-15.09.2013
    A Summer School organized by TROPOS (Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Leipzig) and supported by CLOUD-TRAIN took place from September 8th till 16th 2009 in Braunfels, Germany.

    Kick-off meeting of the Summer School on September 8th, 2013, in Braunfels, Germany

    24 students from all over Europe had the possibility to improve their knowledge in topics related to atmospheric aerosol, clouds, and atmospheric chemical processes. The young researchers could also upgrade their scientific writing and presentation skills. Following scientists from the CLOUD-TRAIN project gave lectures during the Summer School: Joachim Curtius (Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany), Jasper Kirkby (CERN, Switzerland), Frank Stratmann (IfT, Germany), Ken Carslaw (University of Leeds, UK), D. Wosnop (AERODYNE), M. Gallagher (University of Manchester, UK), U. Baltensperger (PSI, Switzerland), and A. Hansel (IONICON, Austria).
    Intensive meetings and sessions on CLOUD-TRAIN management took place parallel to the Summer School courses.

    • 11.06.2013
    The CERN PH Newsletter published the article "The CLOUD Experiment", written by Jasper Kirkby, the spokesman of the CLOUD project

    • 25.02 - 01.03.2013
    The PIs of the CLOUD-TRAIN project met with the CLOUD collaboration community at the KTC Königstein, Germany, in order to discuss the progress of the project. Coordinator of the project Joachim Curtius from Frankfurt University introduced 6 young researchers, newly recruited for the CLOUD-TRAIN project, to more than 50 scientists from Finland, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Russia, Austria, and the USA. The obligations on the outreach of the project were discussed. Joachim Curtius informed all PIs that the ESRs should spend at least 1 day per year for outreach activities.

    Frank Stratmann from the Institute for Troposphere in Leipzig presented the schedule of the 2013 Summer School. The courses and core themes were discussed.
    An active discussion on how to help young researchers to participate efficiently in analysing the data and publishing the results was initiated by Jasper Kirkby. Jonathan Duplissy and Alessandro Franchin, young researchers of the CLOUD-ITN project (the EU Marie Curie Project which has been successfully finished in summer 2012) participated in the discussion.

    • Between 1 October and 13 December 2012, the seventh series of nucleation experiments with the CLOUD chamber took place at CERN. The measurement campaign started with pre-conditioning (cleaning) the chamber followed by monitoring with PTRTOF. Dry air, water vapours, ozone, sulphur dioxide, and ternary species were added in stages into the chamber. For the first time nitrous acid, hydrogen, and alpha-pinene were used for the CLOUD chamber experiment. Ions in the chamber were produced by the CERN beamline. Various state-of-the-art instruments were operated for time resolved and comprehensive characterization of trace gases, ions, ion clusters and aerosol particles.

    CLOUD experiment at CERN during the fall 2012 series

    • On October 15th, 2012, the Kickoff Meeting of the project took place at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland. Coordinator of CLOUD-TRAIN Joachim Curtius, professor of the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, presented the figures of the EU Project CLOUD-ITN, which has been successfully finished in July 2012, and outlined the main items of CLOUD-TRAIN.

    Principal Investigators (PIs) of the EU project CLOUD-TRAIN during the kickoff meeting at CERN on October 15th, 2012

    The recruitment process has been discussed in details. Institutions, participants of CLOUD-TRAIN, have been invited to publish the job advertisements at the EURAXESS webpage as well as at national web pages such as http://www.findaphd.com/ etc. Joachim Curtius highlighted the role of gender aspects set out by the Grant Agreement of CLOUD-TRAIN.


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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Unfit To Lead (?)

February 15, 2012. The day Dalton McGuinty proved himself unfit to lead this province by backing away from the tough choices offered by Don Drummond. The greatest financial challenge since WWII, and Dalton screwed the pooch.

Dalton commissioned the province's top economist for a report on cutting costs which he won't fully implement. That staggering conclusion is, sadly, obvious.

Oh, but. But. There is another way. Christopher Hume and Thomas Walkom and Linda McQuaig make it clear. Dalton could raise taxes. Sure, it didn't save us from the current mess when he did it before, but it is right there.

Backing away on corporate tax cuts isn't the same as raising taxes. Backing away on corporate tax cuts doesn't fix the economy. It does nothing. It leaves things as they were.

No, if Dalton wants to follow the time-honoured Liberal tradition of booting the ball down the field, tax hikes are the only way to go. And the only way Dalton could get away with that is if Ontarians are actually that incapable of standing up for themselves.

Like, if they actually don't care if the government keeps its promises or not. Like they'd rather have a government that lies to them than a government that does the difficult but necessary thing.

Ha, ha. That'd be silly. That'd mean that Ontarians don't deserve to have good government. There's no way that's true.

Yeah, that's not going to happen. Instead, Dalton's going to forego tax increases, just like he said he would, and infuriate the left even more, just like he's already infuriated the right with, well, everything he's done over the past 8 years.

Dalton's the problem. Not the people who put him there and kept him there. Obviously.

UPDATE: Dwight Duncan says we have to wait for Budget 2012 to figure out what's going to happen. *Sigh*.....OK everyone, start up the countdown again......tick tock......

  1. Consider the uproar that ensued after comments about closing a few branches of the Toronto library. In the day of the internet it is a reasonable action to take even if surpluses were the norm.

    To some this action is akin to a war on children.

    What hope do we have of expecting a mature debate on these measures?

    Don't forget we already have had record tax increases in the last 8 years. Remember the health tax?

  2. McGuinty was unfit to lead the day he first took office.

  3. the only recommendations dalton will go for are those that increase costs to the taxpayer.

  4. The exodus of people, business and investment leaving Ontario will only increase as the Liberals flail about for more money to pay their "Working Families" cronies