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Pray Not for Light Burdens but for Strong Backs

Ardeth G. Kapp Apr. 29, 2004 • Devotional

I have prayed earnestly concerning the topic I have been asked to address—that we pray not for light burdens but for strong backs. I have come to understand that to honestly pray for a strong back is a very courageous thing to do. The spiritual exercise required is not an easy course, but the promised blessings make it worthy of our total commitment—whatever the cost.

I learned of the importance of a strong back when I was about ten years old.

In the summertime after we had put in a full day’s work, my father would take me down to the Belly River near the edge of our small Canadian town, Glenwood, not far from the Alberta Temple in Cardston. There he taught me to swim. Not only to swim but also to eventually jump off the pier into the cold water and swim upstream against the current. It wasn’t easy. It took a lot of courage and determination—yes, and a lot of encouragement from my dad. As I recall, the water was always cold and it seemed very swift to me. What made it possible was my father swimming along beside me. I can hear his voice in my mind even today: “You can make it. Keep going.” By the end of the summer, my back was stronger from the consistent effort and constant encouragement. The water in the river had receded, and the swiftness of the current had subsided considerably—but only after I had learned the lesson. There must be opposition if we are to develop strength. The river had served the purpose my father had in mind.

Today we must be prepared to swim upstream against the current. We face tremendous opposition. President Hinckley recently spoke of the challenges we face:

In the Church we are working very hard to stem the tide of . . . evil. But it is an uphill battle, and we sometimes wonder whether we are making any headway. But we are succeeding in a substantial way. . . .

We must not give up. We must not become discouraged. [“Standing Strong and Immovable,” Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, 10 January 2004 (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004), 20]

Sisters, we must be strong enough to take a stand, to defend our values, and courageous enough to speak up and speak out, to register our vote and stand firm for truth and righteousness under all circumstances. We are swimming upstream against a river of opposition. Our families need our constant encouragement, reassurance, love, and faith. We will never be given more than we can handle with the Lord’s help.

When we pray for a strong back, we learn that it is through our covenants with the Lord that we are strengthened far beyond our natural ability. The testimony of President George Q. Cannon explains this relationship:

When we went forth into the waters of baptism and covenanted with our Father in heaven to serve Him and keep His commandments, He bound Himself also by covenant to us that He would never desert us, never leave us to ourselves, never forget us, that in the midst of trials and hardships, when everything was arrayed against us, He would be near unto us and would sustain us. [Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, sel., arr., and ed. Jerreld L. Newquist (n.p.: Zion’s Bookstore, 1957), 1:170]

Honoring our covenants is the only way to swim against the escalating opposition of our day. When we are baptized and confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Each week we have the blessing and opportunity to strengthen our backs and fill our spiritual reservoir. We renew our covenants by partaking of the sacred emblems of the sacrament. We hear in our mind and heart the words of the covenant to “always remember him and keep his commandments” so we can “always have his Spirit to be with [us]” (D&C 20:77). This should be our most earnest desire. Nothing will prepare us to stand against the opposing forces like the blessing and power of the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is the messenger who provides personal revelation, communication, and connection with our Father in Heaven and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Suppose we were to make a pledge to do all within our power to keep the communication lines open. Suppose there were no compromise, no justification, and no excuse to tolerate any enticement of the world—in our entertainment or other activities—that would lessen the Spirit. Let us strive every day to avoid anything that could weaken our spirit and extinguish the light. Let us simply give it up, turn our backs, and walk away.

Elder David B. Haight helps us understand the strength that can be found in our temple covenants, not only for our backs but for every fiber of our soul. He says:

A temple is a place in which those whom [God] has chosen [that’s all of us] are endowed with power from on high—a power which enables us to use our gifts and capabilities with greater intelligence and increased effectiveness in order to bring to pass our Heavenly Father’s purposes in our own lives and the lives of those we love. . . .

Come to the temples worthily and regularly. . . . Freely partake of the promised personal revelation that may bless your life with power, knowledge, light, beauty, and truth from on high, which will guide you and your posterity to eternal life. [“Come to the House of the Lord,” Ensign, May 1992, 15–16]

A very significant chapter in the Book of Mormon tells of Father Lehi explaining to his son Jacob the need for opposition. “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not, . . . righteousness could not be brought to pass” (2 Nephi 2:11). The very purpose of this life is for us to be tried and tested in preparation to receive all the blessings the Lord has promised those who love Him and keep the commandments (see D&C 136:31).

We can expect trials and tribulation—they are an essential part of the great plan. Some we will experience because of our own mistakes—our sins—others merely as a part of living in mortality, and others because the Lord loves us and provides experiences that tend to our spiritual growth. “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth” (Hebrews 12:6). It doesn’t seem so hard once we understand the purpose for the trials. There are times when we must trust in the Lord with all our hearts even when we don’t understand (see Proverbs 3:5).

As Elder Bruce Hafen teaches,

If you have problems in your life, don’t assume there is something wrong with you. Struggling with those problems is at the very core of life’s purpose. As we draw close to God, He will show us our weaknesses and through them make us wiser, stronger. [“The Atonement: All for All,” Ensign, May 2004, 97]

Some years ago, Sister Jana Taylor, one of our faithful sister missionaries who committed to be totally obedient and strive to have the Spirit with her always, had some very difficult, discouraging, and challenging times—not unlike a typical mission. If one is committed to really make a difference, it seems the adversary is right there to increase the swiftness of the current, to increase the opposition that would, if possible, carry us downstream away from our goal. The last day before Sister Taylor was to return home from her mission, she stood before her peers to testify. She had a glow about her, a confidence different than when she arrived. “I’m thankful,” she said, “for the challenges and the trials. I’m thankful for every single hard day.” She paused, then added, “And every day was hard. If it hadn’t been, I wouldn’t be who I am now. I am not the same person I was when I came out.” And because of those hard times she will never be the same person again. She had, as the scripture says, grown up in the Lord (see D&C 109:15). And her growth will continue.

The writings of Orson F. Whitney help us understand the need for adversity:

No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God. . . . And it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we came here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven. [Quoted in Spencer W. Kimball, Tragedy or Destiny, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year (6 December 1955), 6]

While serving in the Alberta Temple the past 3 years, I witnessed many people with strong backs. Some were stooped with age and others who had traveled long distances to enter into the walls of the temple. I’m not talking about the physical distance of miles or kilometers, but about the inward desire, about their priorities and commitment.

One day a young woman, Annae Jensen, came to the temple to receive her endowment. I could feel the radiance of her spirit. This young woman was born without any arms—nothing beyond her shoulders. However, it was almost as though she had lost awareness of her physical limitation and had been spiritually compensated.

Just this past month, my husband and I received a call from Annae and Garath Jones telling us of their blessing and excitement. I asked her for permission to share part of their story. They are expecting their first baby in just a few months—the beginning of their posterity. Into my mind I saw this faithful young mother without arms and thought of her desire to cradle and love this special little spirit.

I asked Annae, knowing she would respond positively, “How have you learned to handle the hard things in life?”

In her usual happy, upbeat tone, she said, “I just say, ‘Heavenly Father, what am I supposed to learn from this?’ And if I don’t learn it, I’ve missed an opportunity.” While Annae is without arms, her back is strong. She has developed spirituality under what would appear to be adversity. There is no question—that baby will be enshrouded with its mother’s love.

We have many examples in the Book of Mormon that show us how the Lord intervenes when we turn to Him and how trials and tribulation turn to our good. When Alma and his people were being persecuted by Amulon—the leader of the priests of the wicked King Noah—they began to pray “mightily to God” (Mosiah 24:10). The voice of the Lord came to the people of Alma, just as it will come to us. The Lord said, “I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage” (Mosiah 24:13).

From this record we learn several very significant lessons. The steps toward the complete delivery from bondage did not happen all at once. Alma’s people were told that the Lord would first ease the burdens on their backs, even to the extent that they wouldn’t even be able to feel them. The Lord did not take them away completely. There was a reason. It would not have allowed for the growth that took place as they learned to trust in Him. The Lord explained this when He said, “This will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions” (Mosiah 24:14). Learning to carry the burden with ease allowed them to testify from personal experience that the Lord does watch over us in our adversities.

We can follow these steps as we apply the pattern in our own lives.

And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. [Mosiah 24:15]

And the lesson continues. Because of their great faith and patience through their trials, the Lord spoke to them again. He would not only ease their burdens, but as He had promised in the beginning, He would deliver them. “Be of good comfort,” He said, “for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage” (Mosiah 24:16).

We know about our Savior, but it is often in our adversities that we truly find Him and know Him and love Him. In our times of trial, if we turn to Him, the Spirit bears witness that our Savior not only can, but will, ease our burdens. I can testify from my own experience in life, that some of our heaviest burdens, disappointments, and heartaches can in time be replaced with “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Phillipians 4:7) while “we wait upon the Lord” (Isaiah 40:31).

In the words of Elder Neal A. Maxwell, we read,

We can say: “I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things” (1 Nephi 11:17.)

There have been and will be times in each of our lives when such faith must be the bottom line: We don’t know what is happening to us or around us, but we know that God loves us, and knowing that, for the moment, is enough. [Not My Will, But Thine (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988), 119]

Sisters, we have a work to do. Our trials and tests are an important part of our preparation. The Lord is counting on us.

Now let us consider the possibility of burdens on our backs of our own making. Some would think that by filling up their daily planners with activities, events, and lists of good things to do, it defines them as being successful. But the burden slowly gets heavier and heavier, and without noticing it, they are in danger of being hunched over with osteoporosis. “Oh my aching back” or “My back is breaking” might be the shout for relief at such times.

President Kimball’s statement about life invites some thoughtful contemplation. He says, “Since immortality and eternal life constitute the sole purpose of life, all other interests and activities are but incidental thereto” (The Miracle of Forgiveness [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], 2). Now does that suggest there should be no time for fun, sports, scrapbooking—yes, shopping—and fancy parties? Of course not! We need to make time to do other worthwhile things, as long as they do not distract from what matters most, the very purpose of life.

Deciding what we really want is a very significant and powerful tool. It gives us a sense of being in control of our life, rather than being controlled. You see, the feeling of being controlled, or being out of control, is contrary to our divine nature. We cannot feel the Spirit or the peace and joy of each day when we are burdened beyond our ability to handle it all. I believe that if it were possible, the adversary would keep us busily engaged in a multitude of good things in an effort to distract us from the few vital things that make all the difference.

Now this task of cutting back on some of our activities is really the hard part. It may seem as painful as cutting off an arm or a leg. It requires determination. Pruning is hard. It can come only after pondering and praying to know what we’re willing to cut out to provide more time for what we really desire. I love Michael McLean’s song “Hold On, the Light Will Come.” As we look at our busy lives, we might sing, “Let go of some things so the light can come.”

In the Book of Mormon, the writings of Zenos teach us the need for pruning, cutting back, and thinning the branches. The Lord of the vineyard looks at his dying trees and says to the dedicated servant what we might say when we have concerns for the welfare of our family: “What could I have done more in my vineyard? Have I slackened my hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it” (Jacob 5:47). We might echo his lamentation, saying, “I’ve worked all day long, even into the night. What else might I have done?” (see Jacob 5:47, 49). Sound familiar? It sounds like complete dedication doesn’t it? The servant then explains the problem. It wasn’t a lack of dedication or hard work. The branches of the tree—like our overcrowded lives—had “overcome the roots,” or grown faster than the roots, “taking strength unto themselves” and leaving the roots undernourished (Jacob 5:48). We are not left to wonder what nourishes our own roots. It is time spent together. It is in following the words of the prophet—including the guidance given in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.”

The first responsibility to ease the burden on our backs rests with us. We must take time to ponder, to pray, and to prune. Perhaps it would be a good idea to ponder the question Nephi was asked when he was swept away by the Spirit in chapter 11 of 1 Nephi. We learn that Nephi must have spent some time thinking and pondering when the Spirit said to him, “What desirest thou?” Nephi was prepared with an answer. If we were asked in answer to our prayers, “What desirest thou?” would we be ready with an answer? Do we know what it is we really want? Not only what we want, but more importantly, what we want to have happen and why?

I can hear one of my darling nieces say something like, “What I most desire is to make it through the whole day without being impatient or raising my voice. Or just to catch my breath for a few moments before the troops come home. Or just to feel loved, appreciated, and in control.” Certainly those desires are reasonable and real, but when time is provided to get an eternal perspective and see beyond the urgencies of the day, our perspective changes. We are willing, even anxious, to do some pruning, some cutting back if that would provide more time for the things we most desire.

I have been impressed with the moving account of Emma Smith’s most earnest desires at a very challenging time in her life. We read of when her husband decided to return to Carthage:

Emma asked [him] to give her a blessing. The Prophet told her to write the best blessing she could desire. He promised her that upon his return, he would sign it for her. [In Relief Society Courses of Study, 1985 (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1984), 199]

That tells us something about the confidence the Prophet had in the desires of Emma’s heart. He never returned from Carthage. But we have a record of her desires at that fateful time in her life. She wrote nine things she most desired. The first sentence used the words “I . . . crave,” and the following nine “I desire.” I would like to share with you her first and last statements:

First of all that I would crave as the richest of heaven’s blessings would be wisdom from my Heavenly Father bestowed daily, so that whatever I might do or say, I could not look back at the close of the day with regret, nor neglect the performance of any act that would bring a blessing.

She completed her list of ten with this statement: “Finally, I desire that whatever may be my lot through life I may be enabled to acknowledge the hand of God in all things” (in Relief Society Courses of Study 1985, 199). Under the most severe testing during that crucial time in the history of the Church, Emma Smith’s desires tells us something of the strength of her back.

There are courageous women among us today and those who will follow after us when we do our part. In the poetic words of a Mormon pioneer, Vilate C. Raile, we see this legacy of faith passed from one generation to the next.

They cut desire into short lengths

And fed it to the hungry fire of courage,

Long after—when the flames died—

Molten gold gleamed in the ashes.

They gathered it into bruised palms

And handed it to their children

And their children’s children.

[Cited in Asahel D. Woodruff, Parent and Youth (Salt Lake City: Deseret Sunday School Union Board, 1971), 124]

Sisters, we are on the Lord’s errand. We can have His Spirit to be with us always, with angels round about us to bear us up. Today I pay tribute to my great-grandmother Susan Kent Greene and her unwavering testimony.

In 1835 Susan married Evan M. Greene and soon after went to Kirtland to live. They were among the first of the Mormon fugitives at Mount Pisgah, Iowa, in the early spring of 1846. We read,

As soon as Evan pitched the tent he left his wife and their little ones while he went with his team and wagon to aid in bringing forward some of the saints who were without means of their own. Unfortunately for Susan she had no near neighbors. Almost as soon as her husband had gone the eleven-month old baby became ill. The baby rapidly grew worse, and after a few days died in its mother’s arms. This occurred on a dark and stormy night accompanied by loud thunderbolts and vivid lightening flashes. All she could do was to pray that the Lord would not forsake her, but would send someone to help her, which prayer was answered. A young man came to the door and spoke words of pity and comfort. In the morning he made a coffin and dug a grave for the baby and buried it. Susan had to prepare the little body for its last rest, herself. [Lula Greene Richards, “Life Sketch of Susan Kent Greene,” typescript, in author’s possession]

This was only the beginning of the tests that were to follow.

Evan and Susan arrived in Utah, having endured much, she wrote the following on the first page of her journal dated February 3, 1875:

I make this covenant to do the very best I can, asking God for wisdom to direct me in that I may walk with Him in all righteousness and truth. I much desire to be pure in heart that I may see God. Help me, Lord, to overcome all evil with good. Signed: Susan K. Green.

This covenant with the writings on this page is written with my blood and I have not broken my covenant and trust shall not. Signed: Susan K. Greene. [Quoted in Ardeth Greene Kapp, “‘I Shall Know They Are True’: Susan Kent Greene,” in Heroines of the Restoration, ed. Barbara B. Smith and Blythe Darlyn Thatcher (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1999), 87–88]

I look forward to one day meeting my great-grandmother and pray that I can tell her that I have followed her path and kept the faith and all of the covenants.

With an understanding of the purpose of life, of our promised blessings as women of the covenant, and of the need for opposition, let us be grateful that God allows us to struggle, to cry, and to feel pain. Else how could we comfort others in their tribulation? (See 2 Corinthians 1:6.)

Let us be grateful to know about hurt and healing. Else how could we know the Healer, the Great Physician, who invites us to come unto Him and be healed? (See D&C 42:48.)

Let us be grateful to know about fear and faith. Else how would we recognize the light of faith after the dark night of fear? (See D&C 6:36.)

Let us be grateful to know about discouragement and encouragement. Else how could we reach out and take another’s hand in empathy, understanding, and love? (See John 13:34.)

Let us be grateful to know about offenses and forgiveness. Else how could we ever begin to appreciate the Atonement? (See Alma 7:11.)

Let us be grateful for His infinite love and hear in our minds and hearts His words of comfort: “What I say unto one I say unto all, be of good cheer, little children; for I am in your midst, and I have not forsaken you” (D&C 61:36).

I testify that in those difficult times, when our crosses seem unbearable, He who carried the cross for all of us—our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—will sustain us, be with us, and will be the strength in our backs when we turn to Him in earnest and fervent, sincere and humble prayer.

Ardeth G. Kapp gave this Women’s Conference address at Brigham Young University on 29 April 2004.

© Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.

See the complete list of abbreviations HERE

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Source: Augusta’s fifth hole being lengthened 30 yards

Golf Channel Digital
Golf Channel

Augusta National is adding a tee box which will lengthen the par-4 fifth hole by 30 yards, Golf Channel’s Tim Rosaforte reported Wednesday night on “Golf Central.”

The hole currently plays upwards of 455 yards and was the fifth-most difficult par 4 at this year’s Masters Tournament.

"The new hole will play upwards of 485 yards in an attempt to restore the shot value that has been taken away by the distances achieved by the modern game," Rosaforte said. "Instead of 3-woods and 7-irons, the new fifth should require a driver and a 5-iron, at the very least, depending upon the conditions."

It was first reported in February that the fifth hole would likely be lengthened. The change is expected to alleviate congestion between the tee and the nearby fourth green and includes plans to curve the road – which has been closed to public traffic since 2015 – around the new fifth tee.

This is the first club-enacted course change since six holes were altered in 2006.

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Painted Sugar Cookies

I haven’t posted in the last week because I’ve been so busy making sugar cookies (I currently have 116 sitting in my fridge and freezer at home), plus a cake that will appear in another post soon.

I’ve refined my technique for the sugar cookie kilts a bit since last time I posted, so I wanted to show off my new and improved method (plus bonus dairy-free cookies at the bottom of this post).

Previously, I dyed some of my royal icing in various colours and some of it in black, then piped on the tartan pattern. While this worked well, the black didn’t always settle to be flush with the white and the colour, and the edges of the cookies turned out a bit wobbly instead of nice and straight.

Now, I start by icing my cookies with flood consistency Royal icing in white, and I let these set overnight (or around 8 hours):

Once these are nice and set, I’ve not taken to painting on my colours. I’m using Americolour food colouring (they are guaranteed gluten-free and nut-free, which is great for my baking needs), and I tested a two methods for diluting these colours before painting. The first was to mix these colours with lemon juice. This worked alright, but it did slightly soften the royal icing (leaving a series of tiny holes on the surface). It also didn’t mix well with pink and purple (but only pink and purple, for some reason). The second thing I tried was to mix the colours with some clear alcohol, namely vodka. I was a bit nervous about this at first, because some of the cookies I was making are for kids, but (a) I added about 1/4 tsp to an amount of food colouring that could spread across 20 cookies or so, and (b) the alcohol is supposed to evaporate off anyway. This did a good job of diluting the colour so it goes on evenly, as well as helping it drydry relatively quickly.

I was making these cookies in packs of two, so I did 3-4 packs (6-8 cookies) in each colour. I made more of pink and blue because these colours are usually popular. I have a few brush widths so I did a thin plaid, a chunky plaid, and one in between. I did all of my colours in one stage before moving on to the black. At this step, my cookies looked like this:

They are lovely and bright, but something is missing without the black.

I also played with a few approaches to adding the black food colouring.

On some, I used my thinnest paint brush and simply painted on the black. This is relatively quick, but it’s hard to get the lines as thin as I’d like, and they aren’t all exactly equal widths.

My next approach was to use a toothpick to paint on thin black lines. This wasn’t my favourite method. Though it gave me the thin lines I wanted, I couldn’t make the black as dark on every cookie, and it was quite time consuming. But I was still pleased with the results:

Finally, I had ordered a black food colouring pen and it arrived when I was almost done my order, just in time to try on the last few cookies. I found the lines to be faster to draw, more consistent, and still fairly dark. However, even when applying light pressure I found that the pen had a habit of poking through the icing. I’m not sure why this happened with the pen but not the toothpick. Still, I think the pictures below show that this is likely the best method:

Overall I think all three of these methods work well, and they are definitely a vast improvement over my first set of kilt cookies! I’m excited to deliver these two giant cookie orders tomorrow – in part because it’s so hard to resist the temptation to eat them when I have over 100 staring me in the face every morning!

Now, on to those dairy-free cookies I promised. One of the sets of cookies in this order is for someone with a dairy allergy, so in addition to choosing a dairy-free cookie recipe I also made evey effort to avoid cross-contamination. I cleaned my kitchen and counters, then sat down and made a list of all the equipment I’d need, washed it with a fresh cloth, and used only that equipment while baking. I also placed the cookies in a clean Tupperware container while the icing was drying (since they have to sit out for so long to set I’d find it difficult not to touch dairy in that time, so I wanted to keep them safe from anything nearby in my kitchen).

The recipe is here. My only modification was to swap out the almond milk with full-fat coconut milk, since I’m allergic to almonds and can’t have almond milk in my kitchen. Unfortunately because the kilts are quite large, I only got 7 cookies out of this batch, but luckily I only really needed 2 for this order:

I’m always nervous that cookies made with coconut oil will spread more in the oven, but these rolled and held their shape really well (the recipe does say not to reroll the scraps, as they become too crumbly, so I used the leftover to make essentially a dairy-free sugar cookie equivalent to millionaire shortbread and brought it into work the next day, so the scraps did not go to waste!).

I was able to use my usual royal icing recipe, as it contains no dairy. I just snipped the end of a disposable piping bag instead of using a piping tip, as I find those a bit harder to clean thoroughly and I’d rather be safe and avoid all chance of traces.

I had a tester and I found these to be quite good in texture, though they are a little sweeter than my regular sugar cookie recipe, so keep that in mind if you are interested in trying it out yourself. I added my usual spice blend to these (1/4 TSP cinnamon, 1/8 TSP ginger and cloves) but it came out a bit more subtle with this cookie so next time I might try doubling these amounts.

I’m using a new logo scheme, so these were packaged with a black logo to make sure they are easily distinguished from the cookies that do have dairy. I also like being able to show that I’ve thought about the allergy in question all the way through the process until packaging, which hopefully gives some extra peace of mind to those receiving their dairy-free (or egg-and gluten-free) goodies.

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22Apple Removal Guide

Do you know what 22Apple is?

22Apple is a website that provides instant access to a list of popular pages such as Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo!, YouTube and so on. In a sense, it functions just as 22Find. It is possible to presuppose that both websites are related because they share almost identical interface. The difference between their home pages (22find.com and 22apple.com) is that 22Find provides browser extension removal instructions and 22Apple does not. The clear things is that 22Apple is not a computer virus, although users should be careful about utilizing this website and browser extension that comes with it, because it might be engaged in collecting personal data and then using it for marketing purposes.

Another thing that could make you suspicious of 22Apple is the fact that its home page does not provide the download link for the application. If you see this website pop up into your browser and you don't remember having installed it, it means that 22Apple was installed and downloaded with another free software program. Bundled downloads is the most common way for 22Apple to get installed on your PC.
22Apple Removal Guide22Apple screenshot
Scroll down for full removal instructions

On the surface 22Apple looks harmless. And it is true that it is not a computer virus. However, it could easily display commercial advertisements, and collect your Internet browsing data, in order to direct pop-up ads that are tailored to your likes and preferences. What is more, things like 22Apple are often vulnerable to third-party exploitation. Thus, it can display advertisements with embedded links to corrupted websites, contributing to malware distribution process.

Nevertheless, some users might find 22Apple useful, with all the shortcuts to frequently visited websites. Yet, if you want to remove 22Apple from your computer and restore your default browser setting, follow the instructions below:

Remove 22Apple from Internet Explorer

  1. Press and hold Alt and press X. Click Manage add-ons.
  2. Click Search Providers on the left pane and remove 22apple.com.
  3. Exit the menu and press and hold Alt+X again.
  4. Go to Internet Options and click General tab.
  5. Remove 22apple.com from home page section.
  6. Enter a new home page address and click OK. Close the browser.
  7. Right-click Internet Explorer shortcut and select Properties.
  8. Go to Shortcut tab.
  9. Leave only "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" at Target line.
  10. Click OK to save changes.

Remove 22Apple from Mozilla Firefox

  1. Press and hold Ctrl+Shift+A one after another.
  2. When Add-ons Manager tab opens, remove 22Apple from Extensions.
  3. Click search icon on the left of the search bar (top right corner).
  4. Click Manage Search Engines and remove 22Apple.
  5. Set a new default search engine. Click OK.
  6. Click Firefox button and select Options.
  7. Remove 22Apple from home page section under General tab.
  8. Type in a new home page and press OK. Close the browser.
  9. Right-click Mozilla Firefox shortcut.
  10. Click Properties and open Shortcut tab.
  11. At Target leave only "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe".
  12. Click OK and close the menu.

Remove 22Apple from Google Chrome

  1. Press Alt+F.
  2. Go to Tools --> Extensions.
  3. Choose Open a specific page or set of pages. Select Set pages.
  4. Delete 22Apple and enter a new home page address. Click OK.
  5. Click Manage search engines under Search.
  6. Remove 22Apple and set a new default search page and click OK. Close the browser.
  7. Right-click Google Chrome shortcut icon.
  8. Select Properties and click Shortcut tab.
  9. At Target leave only "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe".
  10. Click OK and close the menu.

If you still have problems with 22Apple even after manual removal, then you should scan your system with SpyHunter. It is possible that your computer is infected and it does not allow you to remove 22Apple properly. Acquire a reliable antimalware tool if necessary to make sure that your system is safeguarded against various threats.

In non-techie terms:

22Apple is a website that has a browser extension. This website changes your home page to its own and displays commercial ads. Due to its intrusive nature 22Apple is a potentially unwanted program and it would be for the best to remove 22Apple from your PC for good, if you do not use it daily.

Aliases: 22apple.com.

  • http://yahoo Meraz


text:
Tickets on Sale: Much Ado About Nothing Starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate

This summer, David Tennant and Catherine Tate are to appear together on stage for the first time in a brand new production of William Shakespeare’s timeless comedy Much Ado About Nothing

Two young lovers Claudio and Hero are to be married imminently but the devious scheming of a resentful Prince looks set to thwart the nuptials.  Meanwhile, marriage seems inconceivable for reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedick whose endless witty sparring threatens to keep them apart forever.

Directed by Josie Rourke, Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s great plays and reminds us all of the failings and triumphs of the human condition in our never ending search for perfect love.

Performance Times: Evenings(Monday – Saturday – 7.30pm) and Matinee(Saturday – 2.30pm)

Venue: Wyndham’s Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0DA

Booking Dates: 16-May-2011 – 03-Sep-2011

Buy Tickets for Much Ado About Nothing at Wyndham’s Theatre!


text:
Opening Night: Love Never Dies Press Reviews!

Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess in Love Never Dies (© Catherine Ashmore)
© Catherine Ashmore

With the official opening night of Love Never Dies having taken place last night, 9 March 2010, it is what everyone is talking about.  There are mixed reviews of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s newest show some finding it weak in plot and perhaps a bit gloomy but one certainly can’t fault the music, the effort of the actors, and the charisma between the two main leads, Phantom (Ramin Karimloo) and Christine (Sierra Boggess).  Many find it a disappointment because they were expecting the same as Phantom of the Opera.  If it was going to be the same, there would be no need for a new show.

This mix of the heart-stopping and the stomach-lurching (a true kinaesthetic experience) characterises some of the best sequences in Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s much-heralded follow-up to The Phantom of the Opera. This latter was – and is – the most commercially successful show in theatre history and, by virtue of that fact, is not an easy piece for which to write a sequel (the fans – or “phans” – are very possessive about the original) nor is it one which self-evidently demands a dramatic extension.
Paul Taylor at the Independent (

There is much to enjoy in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical. The score is one of the composer’s most seductive. Bob Crowley’s design and Jack O’Brien’s direction have a beautiful kaleidoscopic fluidity. And the performances are good. The problems lie within the book, chiefly credited to Lloyd Webber himself and Ben Elton, which lacks the weight to support the imaginative superstructure.
Michael Billington for The Guardian (

But then this Phantom is not the phantom we knew. The “poisoned gargoyle who burns in hell” has clearly taken an anger management course in New York. True, he fills his eyrie with oddities, like the skeleton who pushes a cocktail trolley, but he’s very much the considerate gentleman, eager impresario and, soon, doting father. Would he whimsically hang the backstage crew or send a chandelier crashing into a crowd? Not any more. Even his blemish, which only ever looked as if an aspiring seamstress had done a little sewing practice on his face, seems tidier. Beside, say, the Elephant Man, Karimloo’s urbane, melodic, not-so-sinister Phantom might be Cary Grant. Maybe the tattooed giant in his retinue is a plastic surgeon or a pre-Freudian shrink.
Benedict Nightingale for The Times (

I must admit I attended Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-awaited sequel to his world-conquering Phantom of the Opera with a degree of trepidation. Sequels often prove pale shadows of the original work that inspired them, and trail a disagreeable odour of the opportunistic cash-in. More ominously still, many of Lloyd Webber’s most fervent admirers appear to have turned against the new show.
Charles Spencer in the Telegraph (

So: a hit? Not quite. It is too much an also-ran to the prequel, and its opening is too stodgy. But if it is a miss, it is — like Christine — a noble miss, noble because Lloyd Webber’s increasingly operatic music tries to lift us to a higher plane.
Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail (

It’s easily the pick of his typically lush melodies. Sets and special effects cannot be faulted, the singing is terrific. Director Jack O’Brien cranks up the melodramatic tension to a stunning ending. But phantastic? Afraid not.
Bill Hagerty for The Sun (

The music is a more mixed bag. Several numbers are waltz- based, and these are the best part. “Look With Your Heart” is a wistful three-step. Madame Giry’s daughter Meg, a hoochie- coochie dancer, does a vaudeville turn in the strip-tease number “Bathing Beauty.”
Warwick Thompson at Bloomberg (

That’s the concluding number of the first act, and it actually has some energy. But true to self-sabotaging form, this musical follows that song with the bizarrely unexciting postscript of Mrs. Danvers, I mean Mme. Giry, tossing the kid’s jacket down a stairwell. This is matched, in the second act climax, by what feels like the longest death scene of all time. Relax, I’m not going to tell you who dies (while gasping out a reprise of the title song). Why bother, when from beginning to end, “Love Never Dies” is its very own spoiler.
Ben Brantley at The New York Times (

With director Jack O’Brien, lyricist Glenn Slater and co-librettist Ben Elton, Lloyd Webber has fashioned a deeply personal story once again of re-awakening his own talent, which in the Phantom?s case is an expression of sexual love, and meditating on the transmission of that talent from one generation to the next (from his own father, perhaps and onwards? to whom?). Expert musical supervision by Simon Lee, orchestrations by the ever crucial David Cullen, and lighting to die for by Paule Constable all contribute to this outstanding and heart-stopping occasion.
Michael Coveney at Whatsonstage (

Visually, the show is stunning in places, with projections designed by Jon Driscoll. This is technology Lloyd Webber first played with in The Woman in White and here they form a large part of the backdrop, particularly in the opening sequence, during which a grey and deserted Coney Island is cleverly brought back to life.
Matthew Hemley The Stage (

Phantom may be the most commercially successful entertainment ever devised. Its aficionados are legion. Love Never Dies is both an attempt to mobilise them and a risky revival of motifs and characters that the original seemed decisively to have put to bed.
Henry Hitchings for The Evening Standard (

The audience, packed with stars including Sir Michael Caine, Lord Bragg, Graham Norton, Gerard Butler, Sir Terry Wogan and Chris Evans, rose to their feet and cheered as the show reached its climax. Lloyd Webber bowed and blew a kiss to the audience, and kissed those on the stage. The biggest cheers of the night were saved for Ramin Karimloo, who plays the Phantom, and Sierra Boggess, who plays Christine.
Jody Thompson by (

What is interesting is that there is usually a love/hate relationship when most shows first start. Look at Phantom of the Opera, for example. Critics were not particularly taken with it either when it first opened in 1986 but it has gone on to perform in 149 cities (in more than 25 countries), has been seen by an estimated 100 million people in a minimum of 14 languages, and has won over 50 major awards. Only time will tell but we wish Love Never Dies and all involved much success.

Book Tickets for Love Never Dies at Adelphi Theatre!


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text:
Singapore stamps Catalogue 1948-2016

Singapore stamps Catalogue 1948-2016
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Singapore Stamp Catalogue

Full Color Illustrated Singapore Stamp Catalogue

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Include Stamps from 1948-2016

This Catalogue is Printable and fully illustrated in color with high-quality images.

All pages are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Before you be able to print the pages you download, you'll need a copy of the Acrobat Reader for the type of computer you're using. If you don't already have the appropriate reader, you can visit Adobe website at  and download one for free.

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(Title Image: metaleater.com)

The future is now. Supposedly.Despite that, many independence arguments and discussions are stuck in the 19th century (or earlier), presented in very two dimensional terms. For any independence argument to be future-proofed, it has to take into consideration technological and scientific change as much as politics, culture and the constitution – hence this series of posts.

Some of those areas – including robotics and cybernetics – are at the cutting edge of modern technology. They present very delicate and complicated philosophical and ethical considerations that inevitably drag public policy into it.

Wales is currently at the forefront of at least one of those debates.

Modern Robotics: A Quick Guide

Firstly, it’s worth briefly defining what a robot actually is.

  • Robot – A machine pre-programmed to perform certain tasks which may or may not involve some autonomous decision-making.
  • Android/Gynoid – An autonomous artificial being designed to resemble a human in appearance and behaviour, with a heightened artificial intelligence and/or free will.
  • Cyborg/Cybernetic organism – A combination of organic/biological matter that includes technology that’s consciously-controlled (biomechatronics).
  • Mech/Mecha – A humanoid-looking machine controlled by a human from the inside (i.e. Titan the Robot).

Humanity has been trying to create semi-autonomous mechanical devices since Ancient Greece. The most famous example in pre-industrial history was perhaps Leonardo da Vinci’s plans for a mechanical knight – whether it was actually built or not is debated.

Although the word “robot” conjures images of humanoid science-fiction examples like Metropolis, Bender fromFuturama or Data from Star Trek, robots have primarily been developed as industrial tools, not with an end goal of creating and sustaining artificial life.

Robotics have been a key part of car manufacturing for decades. You can buy robots to do the vacuuming, while a new one on the market called Jibo functions as a home entertainment centre. If Google had their way, within a few years self-driving cars will be on American roads – tests are expected on public roads in the UK in 2015.

You’ll find robots in unexpected places too, notably the NHS. Some Welsh hospitals have robots working in pharmacies, others have “Dalek” cleaning robots to sterilise rooms. In last year’s budget the Welsh Government put funds towards the purchase of at least two Da Vinci surgery systems – which are used to carry out hysterectomies and prostate cancer treatments.

In terms of biomechatronics, artificial limbs have been developed that are consciously controlled. It’s seen a lot of focused research since the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, where there was a large increase in “traumatic limb amputations” (here). TheiLimbartificial hand – developed by Scottish company, Touch Bionics – provides fine motor control which was previously unachievable with traditional prosthetics.

Cochlear implants have been used for decades to treat deafness, while retinal implants/”artificial eyes” are being actively developed along the same lines to treat blindness – to mixed success so far. Bionic implants could be used in the brain to treat conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’sdiseases by acting like a “pacemaker”.

In terms of education, I’m sure many of us who went to school in the 1980s and 1990s remember Logo– a simplified programming language used to control a device or draw patterns. I’m not sure if it’s still used or not. More advanced robots have been developed for medical and dental training.

You can’t discuss modern robotics without mentioning Japan. It’s said around 40% of all the robots in the world are in Japan, and they’re a leading research centre into artificial intelligence and the creation of humanoid-like robots. They’ve developed completely automated restaurants, robot hostesses and a (very disturbing) artificial mouth and nasal cavity to mimic human speech.

Closer to home, Glyndwr University recently announced theyre going to offer a Master’s degree in robotics based around the Baxter Research Robot. The University of South Wales also has a centre for robotics research, and back in April, computer science students were investigating the use of robotics to help people with cognitive impairment.

See, these posts aren’t as far fetched or random as they appear to be. The technology’s moving at such a pace that it’s claimed robots will be routinely carrying out household tasks by the 2030s and rivalling human intelligence by 2050….though it’s worth pointing out people have been saying the same thing since the 1980s, just pushing the dates back.

Robots are completely amoral and by definition “technology”. You can therefore argue that they’re no more subject to ethical considerations than a toaster, and all issues surrounding robotics are technical. But when you factor in potential human uses of robotics and biomechatronics, as well as the future of artificial intelligence, then there are very significant questions and issues.

Culpability and responsibility – If a self-driving car has a fatal accident, or if a Da Vinci robot goes all Hannibal Lecter, who (or what) is culpable? Would it count as manslaughter by the programmer, or an industrial accident? What if this was taken further and an android with pre-programmed free will commits a serious crime? Can that “individual” be punished on the same terms as a human? Or is the person who built the machine responsible?

Technological unemployment/Automation – Many jobs that could be considered menial or dangerous could be carried out by robots or computer programmes once the technology’s there. Robots don’t eat, don’t sleep, don’t take holidays and don’t go on strike. There’s a bigger up front cost, but after that the only considerations are routine maintenance, upgrades and spare parts. Technological unemployment is a process that’s already underway through computerisation, and it’s one overlooked reason why Wales lost most of its heavy industry jobs.

Skills that are currently in demand – like social-based “soft skills” – would go out the window if large chunks of human interaction were replaced with automated machines and algorithms. If lots of low-skilled customer service and consumer roles are automated (we’re already seeing it in supermarkets), roles traditionally taken up by larger numbers of women and students – especially those who prefer to work part-time – could become hard to come by.

A “post-work economy”? – Following on from the above, if more people are put out of work by automation and there are fewer jobs around, what would everyone do? How would class dynamics change?

The economy might – in the long term – create a “technical class” of engineers, mathematicians and scientists that would become dominant in an automated economy, along with those that bankroll it.

At a more fundamental level, we would all have to rethink what “work” is and it could go two ways.

The first is that it leads to much shorter working weeks, allowing people to devote more time to personal interests and providing the environment for things like culture, arts and sport to flourish, with the emphasis on personal improvement rather than material gain as most material needs will be taken care of.

But simultaneously, people would earn significantly less than they would working full-time. So an automated economy could require a mass redistribution of wealth from the centre to make sure everyone benefits.

Without that, the second scenario is more likely – mass unemployment and slump in living standards for those who’ve been left behind academically or replaced by technology. That’s a lot of people.

The routine use of automation and robotics could massively increase domestic productivity, yet at the same time result in little to no economic gain for the population at large. You could even consider it counter-productive in economic terms.

Use of robotics in medicine – Use of artificial prosthetics will remain uncontroversial. Using robots routinely for things like surgery, or even eventually basic nursing care, will raise questions about liabilities (as mentioned earlier) as well as safety standards and the levels of “trust” between patient and care “provider”. Dehumanising something as quintessentially social as health care will probably cause a lot of concern.

There’s also the issue of the use of machines to voluntarily enhance human abilities (transhumanism). Those human abilities could, however silly this sounds, be used nefariously – arms with super-strength, for example – especially if such things aren’t properly regulated and become available on the open market.

Artificial intelligence and free will – There’s a clear difference between a robot designed and built for a series of specific tasks, and an android that may or may not have free will or consciousness. As you might expect, a subject as obtuse as this has been explored in several episodes of Star Trek.

It looks like this one may have an answer (for now).

Physicists and mathematicians from the University of Wisconsin-Madison recently released research which suggests a completely sentient artificial being would be impossible at present. Current technology and computing can’t completely recreate consciousness because current/known computers can’t fully integrate information in the same way a brain can. An entirely new field of computing and mathematics would need to be created before we can think about creating androids with free will.

None of this means you couldn’t create a robot or android that mimics a human down to the finest detail – they’d just be an unconscious zombie. It might even be incredibly dangerous to attempt to create a human-like artificial intelligence, especially if that intelligence doesn’t like what it is….

A future movement for “Robot Rights”? – When people talk of a code of practice for robotics, they might point towards Issac Asimov’s famous “Three Laws”:

  1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

That sounds like slavery : “individuals” owned as property, obligation of unquestioned self-sacrifice, denial of liberty. This won’t matter to a pre-programmed automaton; but if we end up way down the line with robots that possess some measure of free will, it’s not improbable that they might question their situation and demand equal rights or status in society. A robot/android could be significantly more advanced and intelligent than a chimpanzee – and know it – yet not have the same protection or rights.

Killer Robots?

As you would expect, robots are currently being developed for military applications (through the likes of DARPA), and there’s an entirely separate debate on the rights and wrongs of automated warfare, with Ceredigion’s Parc Aberporth a testing ground and research facility for unmanned aerial vehicles (aka UAVs, “Drones”). The British military already make routine use of automated vehicles too – bomb disposal, for example.

Drones and UAVs aren’t “killer robots”; they’re remote-controlled by a human being. So they’re not autonomous, not programmed to perform a task and don’t make any decisions. I don’t have an issue with the use or development of drones themselves – they have a multitude of very useful civilian purposes. I’d be more concerned about what they could become in the future.

I doubt it’s beyond the realms of possibility that in the short to medium term, drones will be developed – whether for military, policing or scientific purposes – that have a level of autonomy and, therefore, the ability to make a tactical decision that could result in death or injury to humans.

The ethical considerations here are whether the automation of warfare creates a psychological distance between combatants that would otherwise leave room for negotiation. It means less empathy for the enemy, no conscience, less questioning of decisions, and – if the technology’s there – more destruction.

Not sending sons and daughters to conflict zones and instead sending drones and automated defence systems may also make warfare a more palatable option for some leaders, when they would otherwise think twice due to the human cost. That’s OK if you have the technology, of course.

The timing of this post is quite fitting, as the mechanisation of warfare during World War One was as big a technological leap as the future automation of warfare would be.

Through the use of drones and air superiority alone, the United States could probably win a conventional war against many nations without having to put any boots on the ground. And some people in the UK still think Trident makes you a global power….

Then there’s the (more outlandish) prospect that unrestrained military robotics could cause what’s known as a “technological singularity” – where artificial intelligence improves to such an extent that a military robot or automated defence system disagrees with, and possesses the power to counterman, a human order.

Issues relating to robots and cybernetics are likely to be a mix between devolved and non-devolved – it depends on the subject. Something like UAVs or licensing new robots in medicine are obviously non-devolved; while routine use of robots in medicine, industry and funding the research behind it will probably be devolved.

There are several issues here that have the potential to be debating points in public policy in the future should Wales be independent, and – in some cases – even under the current devolution settlement.

According to the European Commission, robotics is currently worth around €15.5billion per year globally, and €3billion to the EU. The EU has funded some 120 robotics projects. It’s only likely to grow as the years pass, so there’s an economic imperative for Wales to start making a move here.

  • The issue of criminal liabilities relating to robotic medicine will need to be cleared up – probably in legislation.
  • Guidance on whether robots should be used routinely in direct patient care (jobs currently undertaken by nursing staff and care assistants).
  • There would need to be government guidance on the use of“artificial/cybernetic” enhancements – subject to powers over licencing medicines and medical treatments. This could include banning the use of bio-mechanical prosthetics that would enhance abilities beyond that of an average human, as well as bans on the sale and surgical application of such things privately.
  • Debate over the effect the development and widespread application of robots would have on the environment – in particular nano-machines – and what this would mean for population growth, abundance of consumer goods, the effect on population levels and the effect on energy supplies.
  • Continued debate over the ethics and use of robots in intelligence gathering and military operations. Wales could – if independent – ban the testing of drones or automated defence systems on Welsh territory, but that would come at an economic cost.
  • There might need to be enhanced labour and redundancy rights given to people who lose their jobs due to automation. There would also be room for debate on reducing the working week (to create more part-time jobs), the introduction of some sort of “citizen’s dividend” to make up for loss of household earnings, or even a tax on the use of robots/automated machines to do jobs that could be done by a human.
  • At some point in the distant future there would need to be debate on the status of robots that possess human-like levels of artificial intelligence.


text:
I recently learned about a principle of probabilistic reasoning called "explaining away," and I am trying to grasp an intuition for it.

Let me set up a scenario. Let $A$ be the event that an earthquake is occurring. Let event $B$ be the event that the jolly green giant is strolling around town. Let $C$ be the event that the ground is shaking. Let $A \perp\!\!\!\perp B$. As you see, either $A$ or $B$ can cause $C$.

I use "explain away" reasoning, if $C$ occurs, one of $P(A)$ or $P(B)$ increases, but the other decreases since I don't need alternative reasons to explain why $C$ occurred. However, my current intuition tells me that both $P(A)$ and $P(B)$ should increase if $C$ occurs since $C$ occurring makes it more likely that any of the causes for $C$ occurred.

How do I reconcile my current intuition with the idea of explaining away? How do I use explaining away to justify that $A$ and $B$ are conditionally dependent on $C$?

  • 2
    What does $A \perp\!\!\!\perp B$ mean? – mark999 Apr 1 '13 at 7:44
  • 1
    It means that $A$ is independent of $B$, sorry. – David Faux Apr 1 '13 at 7:59
  • 1
    I would choose a scenario that is less likely to confuse you. "Shaking ground" could be the cause or the effect of "earthquake", and both are probably caused by the "green giant strolling". For explaining away to happen, both A and B must be causes of C. – Neil G Apr 2 '13 at 3:05
  • @DavidFaux you don't need to apologize. That is standard mathematical notation for stating the independence of variables. Btw, kudos on the good question and also +1 because the link you provide is really really good! I had been confused about all those concepts and that article you provided is really good. Thanks! :) – Charlie Parker Jun 28 '14 at 23:30
up vote 30 down vote accepted

Clarification and notation

if C occurs, one of P(A) or P(B) increases, but the other decreases

This isn't correct. You have (implicitly and reasonably) assumed that A is (marginally) independent of B and also that A and B are the only causes of C. This implies that A and B are indeed dependent conditional on C, their joint effect. These facts are consistent because explaining away is about P(A | C), which is not the same distribution as P(A). The conditioning bar notation is important here.

However, my current intuition tells me that both P(A) and P(B) should increase if C occurs since C occurring makes it more likely that any of the causes for C occurred.

You are having the 'inference from semi-controlled demolition' (see below for details). To begin with, you already believe that C indicates that either A or B happened so you can't get any more certain that either A or B happened when you see C. But how about A and B given C? Well, this possible but less likely than either A and not B or B and not A. That is the 'explaining away' and what you want the intuition for.

Let's move to a continuous model so we can visualise things more easily and think about correlation as a particular form of non-independence. Assume that reading scores (A) and math scores (B) are independently distributed in the general population. Now assume that a school will admit (C) a student with a combined reading and math score over some threshold. (It doesn't matter what that threshold is as long as it's at least a bit selective).

Here's a concrete example: Assume independent unit normally distributed reading and math scores and a sample of students, summarised below. When a student's reading and math score are together over the admission threshold (here 1.5) the student is shown as a red dot.

explaining away as a collider relationship

Because good math scores offset bad reading scores and vice versa, the population of admitted students will be such that reading and math are now dependent and negatively correlated (-0.65 here). This is also true in the non-admitted population (-0.19 here).

So, when you meet an randomly chosen student and you hear about her high math score then you should expect her to have gotten a lower reading score - the math score 'explains away' her admission. Of course she could also have a high reading score -- this certainly happens in the plot -- but it's less likely. And none of this affects our earlier assumption of no correlation, negative or positive, between math and reading scores in the general population.

Intuition check

Moving back to a discrete example closer to your original. Consider the best (and perhaps only) cartoon about 'explaining away'.

semi-controlled demolition

The government plot is A, the terrorist plot is B, and treat the general destruction as C, ignoring the fact there are two towers. If it is clear why the audience are being quite rational when they doubt the speaker's theory, then you understand 'explaining away'.

  • 2
    I think the examples are most unfortunate, while maths and reading ability are stated as being assumed to be independent, this is probably not actually the case, which leads to some confusion with respect to the later use of the term "fact". – Robert Jones Apr 4 '13 at 14:22
  • I think a better example would be the case of a person, who could have eaten a pound of something which could have been potatoes or sausages. If that person had not put on weight during the period of the experiment then the probability of having consumed either potatoes or sausages would be less than if the person had put on weight. – Robert Jones Apr 4 '13 at 14:32
  • Obviously, that person could have instead eaten something else and to confuse the issue further may also have been to the lavatory, so clearly there is a need to be prepared to look elsewhere for explanations. – Robert Jones Apr 4 '13 at 14:33
  • @RobertJones, the example I was given in class was "brainy" and "sporty" as admission criteria. – gwg Jan 3 '17 at 16:24
  • As I understand it, mental and physical fitness are generally considered to be correlated. – Robert Jones Mar 3 '17 at 21:09

I think your intuition is ok but your understanding of "explain away" reasoning is wrong.

In the article you linked to

"Explaining away" is a common pattern of reasoning in which the confirmation of one cause of an observed or believed event reduces the need to invoke alternative causes

(emphasis added)

This is quite different from your:

I use "explain away" reasoning, if $C$ occurs, one of $P(A)$ or $P(B)$ increases, but the other decreases since I don't need alternative reasons to explain why $C$ occurred.

You don't just need $C$ to occur it also needs to have been explained away by confirmation of $A$ or $B$ before you reduce the probability of the other possible explanation

Think of it another way. The ground is shaking. You observe $B$, the giant is wandering around. This explains away $C$, so it seems unlikely that there is now an earthquake - you settle for the giant explanation. But observing the giant was key - until you had this as the likely explanation of the earthquake, nothing had been explained away. When all you had was $C$, in fact both $P(A|C)$ and $P(B|C)$ are > $P(A)$ and $P(B)$ respectively, as per @Glen_b's answer.

  • +1 for a couple of the other answers but I think not emphasis put on what I think is the OP's misreading of "explaining away". – Peter Ellis Apr 2 '13 at 2:07
  • +1: Concise and to the point. You might want to also point out that OP might also be missing that A and B must be causes of C. – Neil G Apr 2 '13 at 3:07

In the absence of specific additional information that changes the conditional probability of $A$ or $B$, Bayes rule tells you

$P(A|C) = \frac{P(C|A)P(A)}{P(C)}$ and similarly for $P(B|C)$

If $\frac{P(C|A)}{P(C)}$ and $\frac{P(C|B)}{P(C)}$ are both bigger than 1 (which you'd expect if the word 'explanation' is really to mean anything), then both $A$ and $B$ will be more conditionally more probable than they were before $C$ was observed.

It will be of interest to see if one becomes relatively more likely after observing $C$ compared to before.

$\frac{P(A|C)}{P(B|C)} = \frac{P(C|A)P(A)}{P(C|B)P(B)}$

That is, the relative probability of the two after observing $C$ is the relative probability before ($P(A)/P(B)$) times the ratio of the conditional probabilities of observing $C$ given the two 'explanations'.

You're asking for intuition. What does it mean that $A$ and $B$ are independent? It means that if I tell you that I've just seen the monster, your opinion about the occurrence or not of the earthquake doesn't change; and conversely. If you think that both $P(C\mid A)$ and $P(C\mid B)$ are high, and I tell you that the ground is shaking and there is no monster in the town, wouldn't that change your opinion about the occurrence of the earthquake, making it more probable?

I think an easier way to think of it is: If there is any variable $C$ $(0<P(C)<1)$ such that the occurrence of $C$ increases the probability of both $A$ and $B$, then $A$ and $B$ cannot be independent. In your example, you actually chose variables that you intuitively understand to be dependent, not independent. That is, the event that there is an earthquake and a giant stomping around aren't independent, since they both are more likely to occur when the floor is shaking. Here is another example: Let C be the event that it rains, and A be the event that you use an umbrella, and B the event that you wear rainboots. Clearly A and B are not independent because when C occurs, you are more likely to both wear galoshes and carry and umbrella. But if you lived in an area that never, ever rained, then A and B could potentially be independent--neither the umbrella nor galoshes are being used as rain gear, so perhaps you wear the galoshes in the garden and use the umbrella to catch fish. They are only able to be independent because they don't share a cause.

Here is a proof: Suppose $A$ and $B$ are independent and also conditionally independent given $C$.

  1. $P(AB) = P(A)P(B) = P(A|C)P(B|C)P(C)^2$ since $A$ is independent of $B$
  2. $P(AB) = P(AB|C)P(C) = P(A|C)P(B|C)P(C)$ since $A$ is cond. independent of $B$ given $C$.

It follows from 1 and 2 that $P(C) = P(C)^2$ hence $P(C) = 0$ or $P(C) = 1$.

  • I think the OP is wondering how to understand A and B being marginally independent but dependent conditional on C, not how to understand A and B being marginally dependent but independent conditional on C. – conjugateprior Apr 1 '13 at 9:57

From the linked abstract, it appears that "explaining away" is discussing a learning mechanism, a common way that humans reason, not a formal method of logic or probability. It's a human-like way of reasoning that's not formally correct, just as inductive reasoning is not formally correct (as opposed to deductive reasoning). So I think the formal logic and probability answers are very good, but not applicable. (Note that the abstract is in a Machine Intelligence context.)

Your giants example is very good for this. We believe that earthquakes or giants can cause the ground to shake. But we also believe that giants do not exist -- or are extremely unlikely to exist. The ground shakes. We will not investigate whether a giant is walking around, but rather we'll inquire as to whether an earthquake happened. Hearing that an earthquake did in fact happen, we are even more convinced that earthquakes are an adequate explanation of shaking ground and that giants are even more certain not to exist or are at least even more highly unlikely to exist.

We would only accept that a giant caused the ground to shake only if: 1) we actually witnessed the giant and were willing to believe that we were not being fooled and that our previous assumption that giants were highly-unlikely or impossible was wrong, or 2) we could totally eliminate the possibility of an earthquake and also eliminate all possibilities D, E, F, G, ... that we previously had not thought of but that now seem more likely than a giant.

In the giant case, it makes sense. This learning mechanism (an explanation we find likely becomes even more likely and causes other explanations to become less likely, each time that explanation works) is reasonable in general, but will burn us, too. For example, the ideas that the earth orbits the sun, or that ulcers are caused by bacteria had a hard time gaining traction because of "explaining away", which in this case we'd call confirmation bias.

The fact that the abstract is in a Machine Intelligence setting also makes me thing this is discussing a learning mechanism commonly used by humans (and other animals, I imagine) that could benefit learning systems even though it can also be highly flawed. The AI community tried formal systems for years without getting closer to human-like intelligence and I believe that pragmatics has won out over formalism and "explaining away" is something that we do and thus that AI needs to do.

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Member since:  Mar 2013

Hi, I am Nicole
“ Our house is available for you in Los Angeles, California, United States ”.
  1. We are a family of 5. I took my first trip abroad at age 10 by myself to Japan (chaperoned, of course). My travel bug never stopped - Exchange student in Portugal, Spain and Costa Rica. As an adult
  2. Nicole is a TV producer, with 20 years experience working for nearly every major network, turned media trainer/consultant. She is responsible, detail-oriented and quite a planner.
  3. Robert has been in the real estate and construction business nearly his entire career. He has overseen the renovation of hundreds of residential properties including a handful of our own.
Personal Message
We have been renting out two properties as part-time and full-time rentals for years. We are experienced at hosting guests from around the world and enjoy doing so. We have many wonderful experiences traveling the world ourselves and in turn want to help create the best experiences for our guests. We look forward to house swapping with you. Cheers!
Prior exchanges:    0
  Depends on the offer
Our dream trip
destinations Anywhere,  United States,  France,  Australia
We are looking for family friendly homes in Hawaii. We are particularly interested in Kauai the big island.
destinations Anytime
We are working around kids' schools and parents' work schedules so can't get away for more than a week. We are flexible around our preferred dates.
Our home
Los Angeles, California, United States
House  sleeps 10, bedrooms 3
The Villa on Victoria is a modern oasis just a straight shot down Venice Boulevard to Venice Beach (3.5 miles), also just minutes to Santa Monica, Culver City,...


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Steam Greenlight
Greenlight is being retired. For more information on how to submit games to steam, refer to this blog post.
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The Greenlight Supershow
These are the games that are part of the massive Livestream event, The Greenlight Supershow. it will be held on June 29th, from 11am EST/EDT to midnight!

It's a 13+ hour long event that showcases over 25 games from Steam Greenlight, and their creators. Tons of gameplay, special guests, Q&A's, game giveaways, sneak peaks, cake (byoc), and possibly even rap battles! This is an event dreamed up by one game dev to unite devs and players together in a unprofessional fun-time bonanza.
Items (26)
Syder Arcade
Created by DIT
Killing zombies never gets old, but some times you just need a break.

Get back to some serious Old-School gaming with Syder Arcade!
A love letter to Amiga the games of the 90', no coins, no upgrade grinding, just your tenacity and a motherload ...
Ray's The Dead - Create and Control your own Zombie Army!
Created by RagtagChris
In Ray's The Dead, you take on the role of Ray, the newly arisen zombie! In this single player, story driven Action-Stealth-Puzzler, join Ray as he makes the most unlikely friendships and builds a diverse zombie army on his quest to find out how he...
Castaway Paradise
Created by Stolen Couch Games
Instant vacation on your own tropical island! Decorate the island, play dress up, collect bugs, grow crops and help your new neighbors. On Castaway Paradise you can do whatever you like. Enjoy outstanding 3D graphics, fun quests & characters and great game...
Created by Fly'n
FLY’N is a PC platformer in which you control four original characters with their own complementary abilities. They are the guardians of the World-Trees: the Buds

Created by BetaDwarf
Pre-order and get beta access now - Click here![//]

“Forced is certainly on to something. It’s compact, controlled and co-operative. And there are no magic pants.” - RockPaperShotgun

Main Features...
Originally posted by Kotaku:
People keep talking about making the video game equivalent of The about somebody make a Hollywood version of this? Because this is how I remember 80s action movie heroes to be.
Originally posted by RockPaperShotgun:
No Emotions, J
Dukes and Dirigibles
Created by Backward pieS
*Dukes and Dirigibles is currently on hold due to financial limitations. We hope to return to the project as soon as possible because it's just too much fun to let go!*

We took an old-school approach for the game that emphasizes both skill and tactics. ...
Girls Like Robots
Created by Ziba
“a slick puzzler...extremely charming" - IGN
"an intelligent game for intelligent people" - Kotaku
"Navigating a social minefield has never been so much fun." - G4TV

The characters are the playing pieces and their feelings are the rules. Arrange for h...
The Stanley Parable
Created by Cakebread
Follow the game on Twitter

What is The Stanley Parable: HD Remix?

It is the remake/sequel/expansion to The Stanley Parable, a Source mod released in 2011. The game is an expe...
The Red Solstice
Created by Ironward Games
  • demo multiplayer with this key(multiple uses) : n6UXnagy
  • Register in game :)

Immerse yourself in a survival top-down cooperative shooter for up ...
Rollers of the Realm
Created by Phantom Compass
Rollers of the Realm: The pinball puzzle role-playing game!
Combining the skill mastery and physics of pinball with the engagement of role playing games, Rollers of the Realm offers a new yet familiar gaming experience. Collect an ensemble...
Escape Goat
Created by MagicalTimeBean
'…winner of the Best Game I’ve Seen In A While Award' -Rock, Paper, Shotgun

**Try Now In Your Browser! Link Below**

'... we whole-heartedly recommend it.' -GamesRadar
'... incredibly fun puzzle platformer with a rockin' soundtrack.' -Destru...
GoD Factory: Wingmen
Created by Gheeyom
GoD Factory: Wingmen is a 4v4 competitive space combat game in which the goal is to destroy the enemy's carrier ship while defending your own. The game will cost $20 and we'd like to support it for years to come with additional content and DLC, both paid a...
Black Annex
Created by Lance E. McDonald
  • PAX Indie Showcase - Judge's Choice - PAXAus 2013
At Black Annex, we're in the business of corporate espionage and sabotage - and business is good. Your role here will put you in charge of a number of agents with ski...
Created by Sos Sosowski

McPixel is a save-the-day guy that you guide through short challenges in an oldschool point'n'click fashion. The goal in each challenge is to prevent stuff from blowing up using available tools! You have only 20 seconds to save th...
Delver's Drop
Created by pixelscopic
Delver's Drop is a 2D Action RPG with fluid physics-based movement, snappy combat, shifting dungeons, and a rogue's gallery of individually leveled character classes. It features procedurally generated levels and puzzle permutations for infinite replay, a ...
Signs of Life
Created by Signs of Life
Signs of Life is a sci-fi survival sandbox platformer with a combination of procedurally generated and hand-crafted content. You'll explore mysterious locations, Mine blocks for resources, and meet strange (and some familiar) creatures, some of which don't...
Paranautical Activity
Created by Mike Maulbeck

Paranautical Activity combines the classic FPS gameplay of games like Doom and Quake, with the randomness and...
Created by laurent
McDROID is Green Lit, soon to be on Steam : McDROID on Steam

Join the group

Imagine the hectic big boss fights of RTYPE combined
Potatoman Seeks the Troof
Created by Pixeljam Games
Potatoman Seeks the Troof is a challenging potatosophical platformer from Pixeljam, the creators of Dino Run and Gamma Bros.

Put your reflexes and worldview to the test through dry deserts, dark forests, busy cities...
Dino Run SE
Created by Pixeljam Games
Strap on your raptor feet, grab a hat and get ready to out run the pyroclastic wall of doom! Alone or in online multiplayer races, guide your dino across tar pits, crumbling hillsides and meteorite showers while gobbling up anything that gets in the way. ...
Hoodwink [series]
Created by E1 Studio
Hoodwink is an adventure game set in a unique world inspired by Red Dwarf and classic LucasArts games

Originally posted by Total Biscuit:
Steam Greenlight has launched. I recommend Forge, Project Giana and Hoodwink.~Total Biscuit

Get acquainted with...
Created by RobbyZ
8BitMMO is a retro-style 2D massively multiplayer game! It's a giant construction sandbox -- you can build a home or a castle in a persistent streaming world. Found and manage your own city. Fight evil LawyerCats and engage in Player vs Player battle. Work...
Created by Mogumbo
A reinvention of the cave-flyer in which you pilot an incredibly responsive thrust ship. Retrobooster will take all your dexterity and brains, and it will crush you if you don't stay on your toes.

Playable demo
Created by Joewa
InFlux is now released, though not on Steam. You can buy it right now! Here's where you can buy it![//]

One of 6 games selected for the PAX Aus Indie Showcase 2013! [//]
Tower of Guns
Created by blankslatejoe
Tower of Guns is a fast paced shooter for the twitch gamer... with a few roguelike-ish-y elements to keep it fresh with each playthrough. Think of it like FTL or Binding of Isaac mixed with Doom 2. The game is being made by a guy named Joe (his brother Mik...
Popular Discussions View All (1)
May 7, 2015 @ 7:57am
[Greenlight] Cow Kapow! -Warrior cows and wacky weapons in a new TBS
< >
mohamed amine dghim Apr 27, 2017 @ 3:16pm
Hey bro :steamhappy: Finaly i find a show of a fresh collection list !!!!
It will an honor for me if i see my strategy game attached into your amazing collection , any help or support also will be appreciated , and thanks really much bro in advance :steamhappy:
psyinx Apr 22, 2017 @ 3:38am
Hello Cap'n Robot! :steamhappy:
Today I bring to you something unique and special, my gorgeous and addicting space sci-fi puzzle game ORB:

Please do check it out when you get a chance and consider adding it to your collection!
Any and all support is most appreciated!
Thank you! :steamhappy:
2dgamemania Apr 18, 2017 @ 2:32pm
hey, could you check out my game "2dgamemanias Taken", retro 2.5D platformer, love to have it on your collection, thanks
Okay Studios Apr 12, 2017 @ 4:44am
Hello! I was wondering if our game can be added in your collection. What can we do to make it happen?

I'm the developer behind Liberator TD, a tower defense / top down shooter mix. Here's our Steam Greenlight link:

Thank you in advance!
Aileron 64 Mar 26, 2017 @ 9:05am
Please consider Solar Core if you get the chance, thanks
AmusedSloth Mar 20, 2017 @ 1:44am
Hi guys,

We are currently on Greenlight with our game Gorescript, please take a moment to have a look and vote for us if you like it:

There is also an alpha version available for download!

Thank you guys!
Konstructors - Nestor Yavorskyy Mar 9, 2017 @ 5:25pm
Mysterious story. Beautiful graphics. Difficult puzzles. Linkage
KeySam Mar 2, 2017 @ 5:10am
If you have some time I would be happy if you would take a look at Will Glow the Wisp and add it to your collection, If you enjoyed what you saw.
Connor O.R.T. Linning Feb 17, 2017 @ 4:26pm
Hey everybody we've released a new trailer for our game Towards The Pantheon along with the launch of our Steam Greenlight campaign, come check it out!
Flykt Jan 1, 2017 @ 6:25am
Hello everyone,

Our greenlight campaign has just started for our MMOFPS game and we are looking forward for your feedback and support. Happy new year!


text:
Home-sewn Cat

in animal •  14 days ago

A friend of mine has recently had her second child diagnosed with Diabetes. I'd made a Guinea Pig a while back as part of their fundraiser for their daughter, which ended up becoming the daughter's, so after this diagnosis I decided to make something for her son as well. After going through with her what fur and animal etc he'd like, this lil guy is the outcome :)

Faux Cat.jpg

Sorry the photo isn't real good. Taken on Moto G4 Plus Smartphone.

Thanks for looking

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Soooooo Cute!!! Must have taken a while to make. Great job and I'm sure the young man loves it! ❤

Added to the Best Funny Cute Cat pics on Steemit!

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Thankyou :) I actually timed it this time wondering how long it would take, took 15 hours. I also heard both the kids were quite happy and are looking forward to choosing a name.

I think the photo is just fine, and the kitty is adorable! Great job on this! I hope it made the little tyke feel better! 😊


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