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Bible Study with Jairus - Colossians We are striving to speed read several volumes of the Bible every month. The main consideration is to help some brothers and sisters who aren't able to read further when they reach Exodus in the Old Testament, and Romans in the New Testament. This will help those new ones to have a rough understanding on the contents of some books in the Bible. We started to speed read the Old Testament, from the first book up to the Book of Ruth. Meanwhile, we have done the opposite in the New Testament. We began to speed read from the Book of Revelation up to Colossians. Although it's just a passing glance, it might help some of our brothers and sisters who have never read the Bible from cover to cover. This time, the inspiration that I got after speed reading Colossians is how Paul dealt with carnal Christians in the church at Colossae. Originally, we arranged a speed reading of 3 letters: the letters to the Colossians, and First and Second Thessalonians. But because of the rich content of Colossians (one meeting will take up most of the time), we will have one Bible study session on both First and Second Thessalonians later. I had an inspiration after I read Colossians and First and Second Thessalonians. In Colossians, it was dealing more with carnality in the church. While in First and Second Thessalonians, it was dealing more with Christians who are easily deceived in church. As Paul mentioned in Colossians, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (NIV, Colossians, 3:2), and advised Christians in the church at Colossae to forgive each other.  In First and Second Thessalonians, it talks a lot about the lessons of the Antichrist which led people to be deceived. What does this mean?  Even when people are long time church goers, we  find that many Christians may actually possess the knowledge and truths of the Bible, but when something really happens, they still can't overcome their own flesh. For example, we know that God isn't happy with the divisions in the church and hopes that all of us can get along with each other, but when something happens, we will still form sects and factions.  This is a common situation in churches today. Another situation we find in today's church is people who don't have much biblical knowledge and haven't meditated on the truths of the Bible.  They may not have strong fleshly desires but they are easily led astray by wrong teachings leading to greater losses.  Both of these situations are ubiquitous in the church. Today, let's talk about Colossians. First of all, we have to clarify that there are fleshly or other problems in the church at Colossae but it isn't entirely a bad thing. For example, in the church at Corinth, there were also a lot of problems that existed. Thus, Paul wrote two letters to them, revealing many truths about Christ. There's background information behind every letter. Similarly, Colossians has a special background.  Paul wrote four letters in prison - Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.   There's very important historical background behind these letters. I asked a Christian who attended our Bible study, to imagine that he was Paul, he was in prison, he only had a little time left and the conditions were poor, but he has to say something important right from his heart to write these letters. Of course, after writing the letters, it has a lasting significance, letting the churches benefit from them for thousands of years after. But often, there is a latent cause in writing them initially. For example, when I mentioned the chaos in the church at Corinth, including the man who had married the stepmother, it leaves Paul with no choice but to write a long letter to them. What is the background of Colossians here? There are many things in the Bible that are not accounted for, but it doesn't mean that they didn't happen. I shared a story I personally heard. Soon after I received salvation, a brother told me of a situation that had happened in the church. There was a man who had been in the church for a long time and his car was accidentally hit by a newcomer causing minor damage. This man insisted on filing an insurance claim to let the newcomer compensate. Someone tried to persuade him to give a little grace to this newcomer, let him compensate just a little money, but the man refused. Naturally, in the end, the newcomer stumbled. The person, who told me the story, said that the man whose car had minor damage didn't have enough grace. He lacked real Christian love.  He regarded his own car as more important than the newcomer's stumbling. Of course here in the United States when we encounter such things, there is no reason not to file an insurance claim. The point that the person telling the story was trying to make is that we should look less at the circumstance and have more grace toward the person to avoid having them stumble. I don't know whether a situation like this is a common occurrence in the church, but as far as my own experience is concerned, there are indeed many similar situations. On the one hand, we are Christians. On the other hand, we are human beings. Humans have fleshly desires. When we talk about the love of Christ, we may speak clearly and logically, but when our interests are involved, the flesh often speaks louder than the spirit and we lose. After sharing this story in the meeting, I asked everyone “Is there a similar situation in the church at Colossae that Paul is concerned about?” As stated in Colossians 1:7, the church in Colossae was taught by Epaphras, and he also reported the situation of the church to Paul and others. Is there a possibility that after Epaphras told Paul about the grace of God to the Colossian church, he also told Paul about the situation in which some brothers and sisters become competitive, irreconcilable and unforgiving when they are in the flesh? And that these brethren are actually those whom Paul knew, even loved, or personally brought to be saved or trained? Is it possible that the two parties are both loved by Paul, but are incompatible, leading Paul to worry in prison and to write a letter to the Colossians to mediate them? Both are Paul's love, so Paul can't blame one, and hold the other in high regard. He must be very careful in dealing with this subtle situation. If these situations are possible, if you were Paul, how would you deal with it? We don't know if Paul was facing these things, but we know that in the life of the contemporary church, we often have to face these situations. We assume that this may be the background behind Paul's writing. Let's see how Paul's letters respond to this situation.    Suppose the parties involved are all Paul's acquaintance, and the two people are still arguing, it will be difficult for Paul to directly judge who is right and who is wrong. And judging right or wrong may not be a good choice because the dispute between right and wrong is often in the realm of the mind, the flesh, or the soul. What Paul needs to do is to help the members of the two factions to break carnal, and spiritual strongholds, enter the mind of Christ in the heavenly, and look at these problems from the eyes and perspective of God. When they can look at these problems from a Heavenly perspective, they can escape from earthly, carnal, and spiritual strongholds and they will be able to forgive, tolerate, and mutually compromise in love. If you were Paul, how would you start writing this letter? Of course, he wouldn't begin by blaming the two brothers. Instead, he avoided direct accusation. He started from a very high place - Heaven. Paul's slant at the beginning of Colossae is very high. Paul began by praising the believers of Colossae, saying he heard the praise of the Colossian believers from Epaphras, which he mentioned in 1:4: "because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God's people." (NIV) After praising the Colossian believers, Paul switched the thread of conversation to directly mentioning the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 12 Giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified youto share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (NIV) Then Paul used this opportunity to say that, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” (NIV, Colossians: 1:15). He added, “But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” (NIV, Colossians: 1:22). From here, we can speculate that what Paul means is we have eliminated all strife on the cross of Christ. Paul then uses his experience again to testify that, “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” (NIV, Colossians: 1:24). Paul mentioned how he was called to complete God's Word. He revealed the mystery hidden by God over the ages - Christ is our hope of glory. Paul has struggled and worked hard for this. He wants us to maturely dedicate our life to God. In this chapter, Paul seems to be saying good things. It appears that he doesn't have any criticism. But in the second chapter, Paul slowly began to raise the obscure issue of the Colossians. Of course, when Paul ended the letter, he never forgot to give encouragement and comfort to the audience of his letters. Some people call this type of writing a "sandwich". This kind of writing is very common in the Bible. For example, Jesus' seven letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation are also in the format of a “sandwich." It praised the faithfulness of each church in the beginning. After which, it criticized the church in the middle. In the end, there were words of encouragement and promise again. Let's take a look at how Paul began to put "meat" in this "sandwich" from the second chapter (we will use meat as a metaphor for Paul's criticism). In verse 2:4, Paul said that, “ I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.” (NIV) This sentence implies that in the church of Colossae, some people will use flowery words to deceive the Christians in Colossae. 2:8 says, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ”. (NIV)   This sentence has implicit meaning. In the church in Colossae, there are those who will use philosophy and empty deception according to human teachings rather on Christ, leading the Christians in Colossae astray. Thus, in the second chapter, Paul especially revealed many of the mysteries of Christ in these two negative situations. Then at the beginning of third chapter, Paul immediately encouraged the Christians in Colossae to set their minds on things above and not on earthly things (NIV, Colossians: 3:2). Chapters 3:1-4 are some of my favorite verses: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”. (NIV) Paul becomes more and more straightforward in here. 3:5 says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (NIV) 3:8 says, “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” (NIV)  3:9 says, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.” (NIV) 3: 12-15 also say, “12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (NIV) I shared my experience and said that when I was starting to learn to serve, I was with a brother who was a little older than me. We had a dispute when we once served together in the Church.   Our Elders in the church did not criticize us, but they let us sing Colossians 3:12-15. So at this bible study, my wife and I sang these same verses again to the tune of a hymn. Why is Paul particularly emphasizing here that as God's chosen people, we must have compassion, kindness, humbleness, gentleness, patience, and even if there is a discord between people, we must always bear and forgive each other as the Lord forgive us? It is not enough to just forgive, but we must also have love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect unity. So although these are just speculations, perhaps things such as carnality and strife among people really happened in the church in Colossae. Ultimately, the reason why such things happen is due to the fact that their life is not mature enough to let the life of Christ rule their lives. So Paul said in 3:16-17 (NIV), 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” In chapter 4, Paul has hardly any criticism. Instead, he began to comfort, encourage and greet. 4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” (NIV) 4:6 says,  “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (NIV) In conclusion, Paul ended the four short chapters of Colossae with a lot of greetings. Although our sharing is of a speed reading nature, or a passing glance, we can see that many of the verses in Colossians are written with a delicate touch. Let's pray and try to fathom the implications of these verses. This will be beneficial to our Christian life because it especially helps us to grow up into Christ, overcome the flesh, and even enter and preserve Christian unity.      

Sporting160EN Podcast 91: Entering 2021 In First by Sporting160EN

In our premiere episode, Dan, Kasey, and Ross the Boss discuss why they wanted to have a show not just on fantasy sports, but on the strategy that can help you win, from all angles. Ranging from how to throw the right kind of draft party, developing your relationships with your league mates, and knowing your own strengths and weakness to key insights on how you can make the most of your draft position and every pick in the draft, we get you ready for your upcoming draft and season. In First and Ten, we begin to help you see how to separate from the pack in your fantasy football draft, getting away from the typical, monotonous and one dimensional discussions about individual players and stats and focusing, instead, on the big picture to build a balanced, ferocious team and make you a better fantasy sports manager altogether for years to come. Fantasy Pros expert Andrew Seifter joins to give his top advice in preparing for the Fantasy Football draft as the season approaches. But that’s not all! The team will always make you laugh — whether about how much pastrami to buy for your draft or whether Yoda should be a 2 seed in the heroes and villains Monster Madness bracket. Lauren Auerbach joins Dan, Kasey, and Ross to announce the Monster Madness selection committee choices, so you can begin mapping out who you think will advance to the Final Four and who will win it all. Pop culture, debates, and intelligent humor drive so much of what makes this show different from other sports shows. In this week’s Post Game Interview segment, Rich Davis of ESPN and SiriusXM joins us to discuss the fantasy outlook for his 49ers, Bubble Guppies, and who should be the number one pick of the draft. The Hub has something for everyone, whether you are a rabid fantasy sports junky, a dabbler in the game, or simply like a hilarious take on sports, movies, music, raising kids, and so much more.

Star Trek Insurrection was released in 1998 and pitted Captain Jean-Luc Picard against his Federation superiors. The movie explored the classic 'fountain of youth' concept, and asked questions around hard far people are willing to go to help a large group, at the expense of a smaller one, and the theme of displaced people. In this episode, I look back on this film and discuss what worked for me, and what didn't. I find I enjoy watching this movie more now than I did the first time. It missed the mark for me when I saw it at the cinema, but nowadays I can just watch it for what it is and enjoy it as a part of Star Trek history. ----more---- Transcript Welcome to Nerd Heaven I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars And I am a nerd   This is episode 25 of the podcast. Today, we’re talking about Star Trek Insurrection. I’ve already covered the other 3 TNG movies on the podcast.   The description on Memory Alpha reads "The Battle For Paradise Has Begun" As the Dominion War ravages the Alpha Quadrant, an idyllic planet in the middle of an unstable region within Federation space serves as home to the peaceful Ba'ku – and a veritable fountain of youth. When the Son'a and the war-torn Federation plan to exploit the planet in order to rejuvenate themselves, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise-E must rebel against the Federation in order to save the Ba'ku and expose the atrocities that are about to take place.   The screenplay was written by Michael Piller based on a story by Michael Piller and Rick Berman. It was directed by Jonathan Frakes  And first released in cinemas on the 11th of December 1998   Make it so   This movie shows the title card and then jumps straight to footage, showing credits over the action. It’s great music. First contact stil has my favourite music but still really enjoy the theme of this movie, and it fits the film quite well. Also let’s appreciate the set design of this village. We get an Idyllic view of primitive living. Looks lovely, and yet, constant manual labour is hard work. There’s a reason people invented machines to do the mindless work so we can pursue more interesting things, which I appreciate. This sequence definitely portrays thee people as happy There’s a sudden Contrast in the music as the camera pans up to eveal the village is being watched. And then shock of all shocks, it’s startfleet who are watching them. We’ve seen this before in TNG season 3 who watches the watchers. That’s the first big plot idea stolen by this movie. But it works. Makes sense this is something starfleet would do multiple times.   When we realise it’s Data attacking the village, we can only assume there is something wrong with the starfleet people. I mean, they were shot creepily. The holographic suit is kinda cool. I like it. And while Brent spiner’s green suit is a very simple visual effect, it works for me.   Michael Piller actually wrote a book about his experience writing this movie. It’s an interesting read. I still haven’t gone over the whole thing in detail, but what I’ve read has been enlightening. It’s called Fade In, From Idea to Draft The Writing of Star Trek Insurrection. It really highlights the struggles of being a writer in hollywood. As an indie author, I only have to answer to myself. Sure, I need to listen to beta reads and my editor, but ultimately, nobody but me chooses where the story goes. It’s my baby. But when writing a movie, there are so many different voices that get to have an opinion. It’s a wonder any script ever gets completed. So, while I may speak critically about some things in the writing of this movie, I don’t want to sound like I’m coming off too hard on Pillar. First of all, he’s a much more experienced writer than I am. Second of all, Star Trek owes a lot to this man. He came in and revolutionised the show in season 3. He made it good. And I think  a lot of the credit does belong to him. He made TNG a much more character-driven show. He shaped what Star Trek would be from here on, though DS9, Voyager and even Enterprise (which he wasn’t involved in). Our most beloved Star Trek shows wouldn't be what they are without his input.   This is the first time we’ve seen new dress uniforms to match the standard uniforms introduced last movie. I like them. I like them a lot.   Picard and crew are involved in a diplomatic mission, entertaining alien representatives. And it’s nice to see them engaging in this kind of thing. We haven’t seen them doing diplomacy in a movie before.    But are we forgetting that we're currently in the middle of the most brutal war the federation has ever faced? They try to hand wave this away by saying the federation needs all the new allies it can get right now, which does make sense. But why would they send their flagship, a sovereign class vessel, to entertain these people. The federation diplomatic core is tied up with dominion negotiations. Ok. But this isn’t the hard negotiating. That appears to have already been done. This is a party. Any minor ship and crew could have done this.  The enterprise should be out there fighting for the survival of the federation.   Michael Piller and Rick Berman both wanted to do a light-hearted movie. And while I don’t have a specific objection to that, this hardly seemed like the time.   I can understand why they felt this way. First Contact was a much darker Star Trek movie. And both DS9 and Voyager were in pretty dark times at this moment. DS9 was in the midst of the Dominion War, and Voyager had recently been through a frightening encounter with the Borg and Species 8472. Frankly, I was loving it. This was one of my favourite periods in Star Trek history. But I like the dark stuff. And it wasn’t so dark that I felt the need for relief. I mean, this was hardly Battlestar Galactica. Some might have wanted some relief from that the darkness in Trek, but not me. This movie felt very out of place. ….. Very out of time…...to me.   I do like the conversation in the turbo lift, that hints at these being difficult times for the federation. Including picard’s line. “Anyone remember when we used to be explorers?”   And then we meet Worf. Picard asks him what the hell he’s doing here. And his voice fades out as he gives his explanation. I hate this. I really really hate this.  What a bloody cop-out!   First contact had a very good valid reason for Worf to be on the Enterprise. Theoretically, so did Nemesis, although they mishandled that as well.   The aliens that Picard is welcoming as a Federation protectorate look awesome. Very nice makeup design by Michael Westmore.The thing the alien puts on Picard’s head is silly. I think perhaps it was supposed to be amusing. I dunno.   In a lot of ways, this movie feels like an extended TV episode. I think from the moment Rick Berman told Michael Piller he wanted the next movie to be more light-hearted and comedic, it was never going to have the epic feeling that the last two movies had.   Star Trek IV was practically a comedy. And it worked. It’s a favourite movie of most Star Trek fans, including me. But I think that’s an outlier. It shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, but somehow, it did. They were deliberately trying to model this movie on Star Trek 4. See here’s the problem. Comedy in Star Trek can work. DS9 did some hilarious episodes. (They also did some real stinkers in the name of comedy). But we were getting 24 episodes a year at the time. We were getting a movie every couple of years. To dedicate an entire movie to comedy. Well, it feels like a bit of a waste to me.  Anyway, let’s see how this plays out.   So data was scheduled to observe the baku village for one week. He should be back on the enterprise by now. And admiral dougherty is calling, asking for Data’s schematics. Data has taken the other starfleet observers hostage and is refusing to respond to orders or anser hails.   Dougherty very much views this as a malfunctioning piece of technology. Which, of course, it could be, but that probably shouldn’t be the first thing that comes to mind when dealing with a sentient android like Data.   Doughtery keeps trying to discourage Picard from approaching the planet. And Picard keeps ignoring him. And this is where we get the one and only reference to Data’s emotion chip. Apparently, he didn’t take it with him. What? In generations, it was fused into his neural net, and couldn’t be removed. In First contact, he could de-activate it. And now, he has apparently removed it and left it on the enterprise. This was so badly handled, in my opinion. You see, Michael Piller wasn’t a fan of the emotion chip idea. He felt that since Data had finally gained the thing he’d wanted all of his life, that he’d lost of the most interesting part of his character. I disagree. And I would say that first Contact proves my point. They did some interesting stuff in that movie with Data’s emotions. They introduced new vulnerabilities to him that he’d never had to deal with before. But the interesting thing is, in an early draft of this script, Piller actually did some interesting stuff with Data. He had him dealing with some new realities. He’d gotten what he’d always wanted, but it had brought some unexpected disadvantages. For instance, he longer enjoyed playing poker. This was interesting. He could have done a lot with this. But instead of moving forward, he went backwards, and he essentially erased all of Data’s character development since Generations. I was really unhappy about this. This was a mistake. Data’s arc in this movie was about him learning what it’s like to be a child. It’s something we might have seen as a subplot in a TNG episode. And I found it very unsatisfying.   But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.   Anyway, given this strange turn of events with Data, Picard decides to delay Worf’s return to Deep Space Nine, and ask him to join them. I’m not sure that’s especially warranted, story-wise, but it keeps Worf in the movie. Picard all but disobeys the Admiral here, by setting a course for the briar patch. I guess Dougherty didn’t explicitly forbid him from coming, he just discouraged it. He said “It’s not a good idea. Just get me Data’s schematics.”   Picard thinks something is off about this whole affair. This is also the first appearance of the new Admiral uniform. In DS9, while most characters wore the new grey movie uniforms, admirals continued to wear the bright red admiral uniform. It was a bit glaring. We actually see Admiral Ross transition to the new uniform during the early part of season 6, after this movie had shown.   And this is our introduction to Ruafo, the movie’s alien villain, played by legendary actor F Murray Abraham.   Although he’s hardly recognisable under the alien prosthetics. And frankly I’m not sure this movie gives him a chance to really show why he’s such a legendary actor.   I like the dinosaur-esque aliens that work for the Sona. The Sona ship is also pretty cool. A bit of a unique design for Star Trek.   I also like the ship that data is flying. Very federation, but quite unique. Bigger than a shuttle but smaller than a starship. And quite different to a runabout.   The visual effects for the briar patch are nothing out of the ordinary by today’s standards, but at the time they looked amazing, and they still look great today. There’s some clear inspiration from real hubble telescope images.   Riker and Troi are investigating the sona, to see what they’re all about. Not only have they enslaved two primitive races, but they are known to have produced mass quantities of ketracel white. Every Star Trek fan at the time knew what this was. It’s the drug used by the founders to control the Jem Hadar soldiers. Sisko and his crew risked everything to destroy a ketrecel white facility in Cardassian space. Very recently. We are at war with the dominion, and the Sona are helping them create the very weapons that are killing our people. The sona are the enemy. Troi’s question “why would we be involved with these people” is the understatement of the millennium. It makes absolutely no sense. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the DS9 reference. I appreciate that they are again, at least acknowledging the war, but it just doesn’t work. Riker and Troi are acting like “Oh, so they’re drug dealers. That’s not nice.” But it’s so much more than that. The sona are enemy agents. They’re working for the dominion. In season 7 of DS9, we even hear Damar and Wyoun talking about how the sona are requesting dominion assistance to protect one of their ketrecel white factories.   In this scene, we also get our first hints of something rekindling between Troi and Riker   For some reason, they changed the hologram-esque viewscreen sound from First contact with the standard cut and beep in this movie. Not sure why. It’s just another thing that gives this movie a more TV feel.   Picard and Worf go out in a shuttle to capture and deactivate Data. So Picard tries to distract data by singing a gilbert and sulivan song that he’d recently been rehearsing. I think this was supposed to be funny. It just makes me cringe. Picard asks Worf if he knows Gilbert and Sulivan, and he says he hasn’t had time to meet all the new crewmembers. Why would Picard expect Worf to know 19th century earth composers? Sure he spent much of his childhood on earth, but still. I think this was supposed to be funny as well.   The bit where the two ships are connected together is pretty suspenseful. So they’ve captured data and they beam down to the baku village. This movie has one big strength over most of the other TNG movies. They get out of the soundstage and do a lot of location shooting. Generations had those beautiful vistas on Veridian III but nothing in First contact or nemesis can compare to the beautiful exterior shots we see in this movie. And as I think I’ve already said, I really like the outside sets for the baku village.   The baku, while aliens, look completely human. This is a general weakness of Star trek, dating back to the 60s. Back then, it was often a budgetary issue, and I guess that could still be the case even here. I read that at one point they had considered doing something to the baku, some dots on their faces somewhere, to make them look at least a little alien. It does seem a shame that in a big screen movie, that had supposed aliens that just looked human. Anyway The initial conflict wraps up pretty quick. The starfleet crew are not hostages of the backu. It was data who wouldn’t let them leave. But there’s still the mystery of what data was up to.   And then we learn that the baku are technologically advanced. They understand positronics. They once explored the galaxy with warp drive. But they have chosen not to employ their technological knowledge in their daily life. It does seem, however, that they do not wish to lose that knowledge all together.   Their leader says they believe  that “when you create a machine to do the work of a man, you take something away from the man.” I don’t agree with that statement.   Dougherty now orders Picard to leave the briar patch, but apparently, he’s not finished here. He says he has a few loose ends to tie up, which sounds suscisious.   Now Riker comes into Troi’s office to flirt. It’s clear that something strange is happening with these two. And yet it’s welcome to see them finally sorting themselves out. I think every TNG fan is now saying “it’s about time.” Troi’s reaction to kissing Riker with a beard for the first time was amusing. I did actually find that funny. Anyway, something about the way these two actors work together, I really feel the emotions between them.   It turns out, the sona, and doughtery were lying. They shot data first, before he malfunctioned. Why would they do that? Then his ethical and moral subroutines took over.   Data’s last memory of the mission is following some children in the hills in his isolation suit. So, we beam down to the planet to try to retrace his steps. The kids have a little alien animal as a pet. By today’s standard’s it’s not great CGI, but at the time it was pretty significant and impresive.   This is the beginning of Data’s relationship with the baku boy. The boy is uncomfortable around data, even afraid, because these people have rejected technology. As data says, I am the embodiment of all they have rejected.   Cut back to riker and troi, who are sharing a bath together. Troi is shaving riker. Apparently, they had to very carefully place the soap bubbles around Troi’s chest so as to maintain their intended PG rating.   Data finds the lake. And it looks incredible. They found a beautiful place to film the scene, and the water with the snow-capped mountains stand in wonderfully for a paradise planet. I love it.   Picard tells the boy that Data doesn’t breath. Which is wrong, because it was established in Birthright part 1, in a conversation between data and Bashir, that he does breath.to maintain thermal control of his internal systems.   Anyway, data uncovers a cloaked ship under the lake. A federation ship.   The effects for the cloacked doors opening looked pretty cool. And this is the second major plot point stolen from a TNG episode. The ship is a giant holodeck containing a duplicate of the baku village. It seems they plan to beam them on board during the night, they wake up in a holodeck, not knowing they aren’t on their planet any longer.   And so this is Worf’s arc in the movie. He gets pimples. Great.   We get two important pieces of information from Crusher. The sona refuse to be examined, and the federation crew from the planet are in suprisingly good health. Better than they should be.   Picard puts it together and beams down to the planet. The Baku came from a solar system where terrible wars with technology weapons threatened all life. They came here to escape it. They haven’t aged in 300 years. There’s a metaphasic radiation in the planet’s rings that keeps them from aging. Aging vs growing up   Admiral dougharty and the Sona planned to discreetly move the baku from this planet so they can harvest the radiation for themselves.   Anij explains that some young baku are attracted to a faster pace of life. Picard points out that those in the federation would sell their souls to slow it down.   Picard is temped by perpetual youth, but darkest chapters in earth’s history are the forced removal of a small group of people to satisfy the demands of a large one.   This ties in the with classic Star Trek theme of the needs of many vs needs of few.   There’s a nice character scene between Picard and Anij. Almost romantic. I don’t mind the relationship between them, but ultimately, it’s just a romance of the week and will never be addressed again. I hate romances of the week. I find them a ridiculous artefact of 20th century TV. But ultimately, I, like I think a lot of others, felt this was just a distraction from the real relationship between Picard and Crusher, which still, to this day, really hadn’t been explored. They wanted to give Picard some romance. Fine, so use the character he already has such a connection to.    Also, nice moment with geordi, where he gets to see a sunrise for the first time.    Picard gives one of his famous speeches. It’s a  reasonably good one. This planet is in federation space. The sona have the technology to harvest the particles. That means Starfleet and the Sona are partners in this. They need each other.   There is some nuance here, though. The sona are dying. That’s why they’re constantly going through horrific surgical procedures to replenish their bodies. The particles in this planet’s rings could save their lives. Many of them are so far gone that the slow exposure just from living on the planet won’t be enough. They’ll die before it has a chance to improve their condition. These particles could also save the lives of the sick throughout the Federation.   So by refusing to vacate the planet, in a sense, the Baku are condemning these Sona to death. But can you force a group of people out of their home to help the sick? And don’t forget, these sick are enemies of the Federation, working with the Dominion.   And is the Sona’s current state natural? We’ll talk a bit more about this a little later, after we learn more about their nature.   Dougherty says we’re only talking about 600 people. Ad Picard asks an important question. “How many people does it take, Admiral? Before it becomes wrong?” Again, needs of the many vs needs of the few.   So Picard is ordered to release the Sona and leave the system. There’s nothing more he can do, short of outright disobeying. And so, he goes to his quarters, and removes his rank pips.   Now that the big secret has been uncovered, the Sona see no need to bother with the holo ship anymore. They’re just going to move the Baku by force.   Picard’s senior crew find him getting ready to sneak off the ship. Of course, they’re with him. I like the moment where Data points out that the effects of the radiation could be stimulating feelings of rebelliousness common to youth in all of them, except him. To be honest, this is probably true. But that does change the fact that they believe this is the right thing to do. And so does Data. But I like how they ask him for an objective opinion.   Picard’s hope is that they won’t begin the procedure while the planet is inhabited. This is likely true of Dougharty, but what of the Sona? Will they really hold back from killing the Baku if necessary?   Picard says “It’s too easy to turn a blind eye to the suffering of a people you don’t know.” so Riker is to take the Enterprise out of the brier patch to blow the lid on this whole conspiracy.   The goal is to get the baku to some caves where natural minerals will prevent them from being beamed away. Then we get a nice action scene as fighters fly down and shoot up the village. I felt the tension.   Also, the Sona transporter effect is pretty cool.   There’s some tension between Dougharty and the Sona. They’re willing to go a lot further than he is. He still wants to keep his support in the Federation council. But Ruaffu talks him around to taking that next step over the line. He agrees to let the Sona ships go an dintercept the Enterprise. To fire on a Starfleet Ship. At a Starfleet admiral’s orders.   I like the scene as the Baku trek through the countryside. This gave me Lord of theRings vibes.   So the little boy is finally starting to talk to Data. And we get the next stage of Data’s arc in this movie. We’ve long explored his desire to be more human, but in this story, he wants to know what it’s like to be a child. There’s a nice little conversation between him and the kid, as they discuss the constant change experienced by a child. It’s a nice enough scene, but it feels like it belongs in a season 3 episode, not a movie, and not at this point in Data’s development. He is so far past all this.   So the Baku have super powers. They can slow down time. That’s an astonishing thing. Or is it just the perception of time they can manipulate. But time slows down for Picard as well. So, what? She’s causing his brain to process information at an accelerated rate, so that time appears to have slowed? Either way, that’s pretty incredible, and the movie does virtually nothing with it. But I must say, the visual effects here are pretty cool, especially for the time it was made.   And then we get the weird boob scene. Data overhears Crusher and Troi talking about their boobs. And then he goes and repeats their words to Worf. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Data doesn’t have boobs. Worf doesn’t have boobs. Data knows that neither Worf or himself have boobs. And this has got to be the record for the number of times I’ve ever said boobs in a podcast. Sorry about that. I’ve got no idea what I’m supposed to take away from this scene. Probably another of those things that are meant to be funny.   The drones that tag people for transport are kinda cool. Another nice little action scene.   So Geordi is sitting at the helm, instead of in engineering, just so he can be in the scene. I guess he’s acting first officer, so makes sense for him to be on the bridge, to exchange opinions with Riker. When things get dicey, he does go straight down to engineering.   So the Sona use an illegal subspace weapon against the Enterprise. If they have this technolgoy I can’t help but wonder why the Jem’ Hadar aren’t using it against the Federation and their allies, but anyway. It doesn’t bother me that Riker is now sitting at the helm. They’re doing a complex menouvre and it’s been well established in TNG that Riker is the best pilot on the ship.   So they eject the warp core and detonate it to stop the weapon. Ok. So now they’re stranded. It’ll probably take them decades to get to the nearest starbase now, unless they’re towed by another ship, but at least they’re in one piece. And then we get our obligatory minor swear word that seems to have become a part of Star Trek movies since Star Trek 5. Just one per movie to keep it edgy. And then Riker activates the manual steering column. Which is a joystick. Ok. I don’t really have an opinion on this. It seemed unnecessary and felt a little out of place, but whatever. All in all, the space battle was pretty weak, but the visuals of the gas were nice for their time.   There’s a wounded or dead Sona soldier on the ground. Not sure where it came from, since the Sona are using automated drones to tag the Backu, but Crusher learns something important by scanning his body. So I guess it’s just a plot convenience.   So what happens in every movie that stars a kid? They lose something, a pet, or a teddy bear, and they run back to get it, which means our heroes have to go after them. Yep, that happens here too.   So Picard an Anij are trapped by a cave-in. Anij is injured. They need to get through the rocks quickly so he can get medical attention. And so now, Picard also has the Baku super magic powers. The movie makes it pretty clear it’s picard who does this, not Anij, So...ok. Picard is a human. And he “learned” how to stop time. The only explanation I can come up with is it’s something to do with the radiation on this planet. So we now have super radiation that can not only regenerate human cells to prevent aging, but also grants people magic abilities to manipulate time. That’s a lot to ask of radion. And is a number of steps too far for me. This is the one time they actually do something meaningful to the plot with this magic power. It’s never used to solve their primary story problem. It all falls a bit flat for me.   Those beautiful vistas in this movie continue to impress me. It’s the main thing that keeps this movie feeling cinematic.   Of course there’s no reason for the drones to hover menacingly before attacking.   So Picard and Anij get tagged and are beamed up to the Sona ship. Ruaffu has had enough of this. If the baku want to stay on the planet, let them. He’s going to launch the injector, which will kill everyone down there. This is one line that Doughtery doesn’t feel he can cross, so we’ll see where that takes us in a minute. But first, Picard reveals what Crusher learned from her scan. The Sona and the Baku are the same race.   Ok. So years ago a group of young baku wanted to live the ways of the offworlders. They wanted technology. So instead of going off on their own, they tried to take over the colony. When they failed, they were exiled to die slowly. What this means exactly, we’re not sure. We know they were young when they left the planet, so their lives haven’t been extended unnaturally at this point. It seems more than just the fact that away from the planet they became mortal like the rest of us. No, I’d say their bodies became dependant on the radiation which means that away from it, their bodies deteriorate more quickly than they should. This opens up all kinds of cans of works. First of all, it means that by removing the baku from their planet, we’d be killing them too. It also means that the Baku condemned their rebellious children to death. This movie tries to play itself very black and white, and I do agree, obviously, that what Doughtery and Ruaffu have been trying to do all this time is wrong. I believe some things in life ARE black and white. But sometimes, these issues are difficult. There is more subtlety and complexity to this whole thing than I think the movie fully allows itself to explore.   Dougherty now realises he’s been wrong all along. This was an important moment in the movie. Gene Roddenberry always hated the idea of the Federation being the bad guys, and Rick Berman very much carried Roddenberry’s flame. It woldn’t suprise me if a last minute redemption of dougherty was madated by Berman. The tragedy of it all is Doughterty says “It was for the Federation. It was all for the Federation.” But, you can’t bring good out of evil, can you? So doughtery tries to stop Ruaffu and fails. Ruaffu kils him in a somwhat gruesome scene.   The camera zooms out before it gets too bad.   There’s a nice little moment when we see Picard tampering with a control panel. He didn’t succeed, but it shows that he wasn’t just sitting on his hands in that cell. Of course he’d be actively trying to escape.   So Picard tries to talk Gulnar out of it all. To make him feel guilty so he’ll change his mind. It’s the same thing he tried with Soran back in Generations. Trying to sway the bad guy with his words. The twist is that this time, it works. This was a cool moment and I wasn’t really expecting it, although Gulnar’s discomfort with the latest development was foreshadowed. Picard has a clever plan. As long as ruaffu doesn’t know anything is wrong, he won’t override Gulnar’s authorisation. Data weakens their shield and then beams the bridge crew into the holoship. Into a simulation of their bridge. The same trick they planned to use against the Baku. Nice one. But i’m very suprused none of the bridge crew know what it feels like to be transported with their own technology. That’s a hard one for me to swallow. We see the moment it happens. There’s a glow and Ruaffu says “What was that.” As an audience we don’t yet understand what just happened.   So ruafuu deploys the collect and we get to see it in all its horror, but it’s fake. Ruaffo notices a glitch in the holodeck, but it’s too late. And we get that terrible scream. Was that meant to be reminiscent of Kirk’s Khaaaan in Star Trek 2? Now ruaffo has to go directly to the collector to re-activate it. So Picard has to go on board and stop him. They technobabble a way to beam Picard through the shields. And this movie continues the trent from First contact, making Picard an action hero. This time he gets to have a shooting fight with ruaffo.   So this planet has helped Riker and Troi remember how they feel about each other, and that will continue on in the next film, which is great.   Picard arranges a reunion between baku mother and sona son. To start the healing process. He hopes the two groups can over come their differences. Except those sona who are too far gona and will shortly die from their condition, of course. But we won’t talk about that, because this movie is light-hearted and “Fun”   Picard intends to continue pursuing a relationship with Anij. He says he’ll use his shore leave to come back to her when he can. Of course, we’ll never hear of her again. In the end, it’s just another stupid romance of the week.   The movie closes out with Data playing the hay with the kid. “It’s time to go home now.” This is the culmination of Data’s arc, learning about what it is to be a child. And it falls really really flat for me.   So then the crew beam back up to the ship as the TNG theme plays and the enterprise warps off to it’s next adventure. It feels so much like a stock weekly TV ending. Nothing has changed in the universe. And apart from Riker and Troi, nothing has changed in our characters.   I came out of the cinema, having seen this for the first time, feeling a little empty. Is that it?   There was a lot of elements in this movie that I liked, and I can enjoy this film on re-watches, but it kinda missed the mark for me. But it’s still lightyears better than what would follow it in the form of Star Trek Nemesis.   So by now, I’m sure you’ve heard the news. The Snyder Cut is coming. That’s right. The much hoped-for Zack Snyder cut of the Justice League movie is going to be a reality. It’s expected to go live on HBO Max some time next year. I’m very excited to see how Zach’s original vision plays out for this movie and perhaps bring about a better conclusion to the story arc that began with Man of Steel. But my first thought, when I heard the news was “that’s nice, but will I get to see it?” HBO Max is an American streaming service that’s about to go online. However, there’s a lot of talk that they plan to go international with the service and it’s hoped that it will be available in many countries once the Snyder Cut releases. I’m holding my breath, hoping that Australia will be one of those. So it seems a perfect time to be delving into the DC Extended Universe movies. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.  Next episode, in two weeks time, I’ll be talking about Man of Steel. I can’t wait to geek out over this movie with you. Catch ya then.

Seth and Dr. Sap return for a second season of The Teams, brought to you by… The Sponsor: With a 10-year treasury low rates are about to follow, so if you're buying a home soon or looking to refinance, you should talk to Matt Demorest at HomeSure Lending now and see if you can't lock that baby in. In addition to being more ethical, knowledgeable, hands-on, intelligent, and fun to work with, Matt also never royally screwed over John Beilein in a failed bid to upset Michigan's basketball program. Previously: 1901, 1925, 1932, 1947, 1950, 1964, 1976, 1980, 1988, 1999 Special Guest this Week: Craig Ross, who was merely a 2,850-year-old druid when… 1. ORIGINS OF THE GAME (starts at 0:45) Composite of the Harvard-McGill game, courtesy of the McCord Museum at McGill Everything you think you know is wrong. Field and town games were purposely ignored through history, which puts a shroud over our records of these games going on in myriad forms throughout the Middle Ages. The American tradition comes out of England. We track the history of baseball because they're linked and it got there first. "Football" refers to all the soccer- and rugby-like games played with a large ball as opposed to "Handball" which used a smaller ball or "Stickball" from which tradition comes field hockey. Football at Michigan: a guy named William Gailey, who also wrote "The Yellow and the Blue," and also Cal's alma mater, organized these 11-on-11 games that might have been more like soccer. There was also the tradition of "The Rush" which was a violent diag battle where the goal was to throw the other team over their fence. Muscular Christianity and the cultural shift toward a mass appreciation athletics. The athletics movement on campus: students organize sports as they like, create their own athletics association.   Pushball on Ferry Field in 1907. [UM Bentley Library] Rutgers-Princeton: 100% soccer, but the rugby-like game (and things similar to rush) were around. Michigan wanted to play a soccer-like against Cornell but the game was canceled by Cornell. When does it become football? Rules tensions between places that had rugby- or soccer-like traditions but all called it "football." Harvard-McGill play a game of rugby with a round ball and 15-on-15, had a second game scheduled that was 13-on-13, and it's not clear if it was played. "Food poisoning" means they got drunk. Return game is in Montreal, has an oblong ball, is a very plausible argument that it was rugby. Craig thinks it was still 15-on-15 but it was definitely more like football than soccer. Harvard had a hard time finding opponents for their "Boston Rules" game—found Tufts. Walter Camp: a situational extremist, as opposed to the open, moving rugby game. What helped Camp win out was everyone was mad at Dartmouth, the extremist who wanted a game more like The Rush. Banned things like dressing like an orc from Warcraft. 2. THE FIRST GAME (starts at 50:00) A drawing of the first game from the UM Palladium, 1880 [courtesy UM Bentley Library] Camp's rules win out in late 1878, Michigan gets challenged by Racine and delays until next spring. Michigan puts on blue belts and blue hose and heads out to play a timed game of 11-on-11. We discuss the rules and the method of scoring a touchdown. Michigan dominates play, scoring the first TD in the first inning (half) but not converting it despite the Michigan fans and their umpire saying the ball went over the crossbar—like that's never going to happen again. Irving K. Pond scores another TD late and DeTarr makes the extra point good for a 1-0 victory (in modern terms it's 13-0). 3. THE TEAM AND THE TORONTO GAME (starts at 26:04) THREE-QUARTER BACK Edmond H. Barmore (IN): First quarterback in football. Son of a steamboat builder, director of the athletic association, graduated in 1881. Mustache came along. Moved to LA and got into the transfer business. Feted the 1901 team. Check out this mustache progression: HALFBACK Charles E. Campbell (Detroit): Dad was a regent and law prof, caught the opening kickoff. Studied under Angell, big-time lawyer and civic leader in Detroit. Trustee of Mariner’s Church where I volunteer, where there’s a picture of him. HALFBACK (didn’t make Chi trip): Collins Johnson (GR): Surgeon at Harper’s Hospital (overlooking the grounds where they played Toronto). Then was the district surgeon in GR for the railway. Made breakthroughs in Typhoid Fever at his lab in later life. RUSHER John Chase (AA): Doctor, later General John Chase, Colorado National Guard commander. Dad was one of the first treasurers at Mich. Founded Denver Medical College. Known for leading troops against strikers: Ludlow Massacre was under his men. RUSHER Irving K. Pond (AA): Engineer, son of a state senator. Architect who built a lot of the Arts & Crafts architecture in Chicago, including the Home Insurance Building, Hull House, The Lillie House, and the Lorado Taft Midway Studios, the Oregon Public Library, and the Union at Purdue and the Michigan Union. Rival of Frank Lloyd Wright. Also an amateur acrobat. RUSHER Richard DePuy (North Dakota): on the 1878-1882 teams. Brother William was on the team one year. Became a physician in Jamestown, part of a company that became Johnson & Johnson. RUSHER/KICKER/CAPTAIN David DeTarr (Iowa): First captain. Became a doctor in his hometown. LEFT SIDE Randolph Thomas “RT” Edwards (AA): Father of Tom Edwards, the star tackle for the 1925 team. Owned the rule book (family brought a rugby rule book from Warwickshire, England). Lawyer and teacher and manager of a Seeds sales office. LEFT SIDE Frank Reed (AA): Nothing available. RIGHT SIDE Jack A. Green (Austin, TX): Nothing available. RIGHT SIDE William W. Hannan (Dowagiac): Best athlete at the school, recruited by the athletic association but liked Law better. Became a real estate developer, top real estate guy in Detroit in the 1900s. GOALKEEPER Charles S. Mitchell (Minnesota): Newspaper publisher/editor, editor in chief of the Washington Herald. Founder of the Athletic Association at UM. Captain of the senior football team. Attorney when he graduated. FORWARD Frank Gates Allen (Aurora, IL): Moline Plow Company and the bank in Moline, Illinois. His home is the Moline Board of Education building. SUB William B. Calvert (AA) SUB Albert Pettit (AA): Real estate in Baton Rouge, LA: Grandfather of the basketball Hall of Famer. We don't know how the Toronto game was organized but it took place on the ballpark they had recently built in an attempt to get what would become the Detroit Tigers into the majors. Two-hundred and fifty students got on a train that morning. The game started late because Michigan didn't arrive on time. It ended in a 0-0 tie. Little is known about the play because the newspapers covering it focused on the rules. -------------------------------------------- MUSIC: "Meet Me in Chicago"—Buddy Guy "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General"—Gilbert & Sullivan “Across 110th Street” THE USUAL LINKS Helpful iTunes subscribe link General podcast feed link What's with the theme music?  It was fine to be learned and study but you really need to be a man.

Every four years presidential hopefuls and the national media travel the primary election circuit through Iowa and New Hampshire. Once the dust settles in these states, the nation's focus turns to South Carolina, the first primary in the delegate-rich South. Historically Iowa and New Hampshire have dominated the news because they are first, not because of their predictive ability or representativeness. In First in the South: Why South Carolina's Presidential Primary Matters (2020, USC Press), H. Gibbs Knotts and Jordan M. Ragusa make the case for shifting the national focus to South Carolina because of its clarifying and often-predictive role in selecting presidential nominees for both the Republican and Democratic Parties. Knotts and Ragusa talk with Walter Edgar about how they established the foundation for their claim, and then detail how South Carolina achieved its coveted "First in the South" status and examine the increasing importance of this primary since the first contest in

In First 2 Years Of Starts In #NFL History #RichardSherman Comeback Player Of The Decade #WillieCauleyStein Trade and more On #SportsSkope 1-24-20 Edition --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/robert-butler9/support

In Episode 2: Danny & Gio are high off the holiday spirit (or is it just the coquito). With 2019 coming to an end, it’s the perfect time to go over the games that made the most impact. In First segment Danny & Gio give a quick peek into themselves. Second segment (Time 3:06) “Where’s the beef” Danny goes over his top 5 video games for the year. Third segment (Time 13:02) Gio’s top 5 for the year. Final segment (Time 28:06) Bonus Round: Delve into what games we’ve been revisiting this week. We hope you join us next time for a New Episode in the New Year. Please follow on Instagram @gamershaze or any other streaming service. Mentioned : Polygon - Brutalism in Control https://youtu.be/7n7ylXPueYE Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gamershaze Twitter: https://twitter.com/gamers_hazegamershazeofficial@gmail.com

Just like everyone else in Iceland, the office of The Grapevine is lucky enough to receive people from all over the world. And of course, just like everyone else in Iceland, these people have opinions they can’t wait to share. In “First impressions” The Grapevine’s interns share their thoughts on Icelandic culture and Icelanders’ habits. Learn first-hand about what they think is weird, inspiring, and flat-out gross about Iceland. And since comparisons are inevitable, they’re bound to share things about their home countries. With food reviews, media talks, and a lot more questions than answers, they show that Iceland is a beautiful but confusing place.

The week is our Clinging to God & Guns Show and we are talking about the recent rise in anti-semitism and how we should think and respond as both Christians and as supporters of the 2nd Amendment. Use these Links to Support Armed Lutheran Radio Armed Lutheran Radio is a listener-supported podcast. If you value the information and entertainment we provide, consider supporting the show by joining our membership site, or shopping at your favorite online stores using the links below. Join the Reformation Gun Club! - http://gunclub.armedlutheran.us Download and listen using the RadioPublic app - http://www.armedlutheran.us/Radio Shop at Amazon* - http://www.armedlutheran.us/Amazon Shop at Shop at GunMagWarehouse* - http://www.armedlutheran.us/Mags Shop for everyday cigar deals at Cigar Page* - www.ArmedLutheran.us/Cigar Get Regular Refills at Dunkin' Donuts* - www.ArmedLutheran.us/Coffee Join the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network - https://www.armedcitizensnetwork.org/ Links of Interest Forward.com - Why Are American Jews So Anti-Gun? https://forward.com/opinion/12985/why-are-american-jews-so-anti-gun-01514/ CNN.com - Anti-Semitism 'neither human or Christian,' says Pope Francis https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/13/europe/pope-francis-condemns-anti-semitism-intl/ ADL.org - In First, New ADL Poll Finds Majority of Americans Concerned About Violence Against Jews and Other Minorities, Want Administration to Act https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/in-first-new-adl-poll-finds-majority-of-americans-concerned-about-violence Prayer of the Week O God, our Refuge and Strength, the Author of all godliness, be ready, we implore You, to hear the devout prayers of Your Church, especially in times of persecution, and grant that those things which we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. Get in Touch Visit our Feedback Page - http://www.armedlutheran.us/feedback Please tell your friends about us, leave an iTunes review, and like us on Facebook Join our Facebook group - http://www.armedlutheran.us/facebook Subscribe to us and follow us on YouTube - http://www.armedlutheran.us/youtube Follow us on Twitter @ArmedLutheran - http://www.armedlutheran.us/twitter And search for us on Instagram - http://www.armedlutheran.us/instagram Check Out More at our Website - http://www.armedlutheran.us Subscribe and Listen Apple Podcasts / iTunes - http://www.armedlutheran.us/apple RadioPublic - http://www.armedlutheran.us/radio Google Podcasts - http://www.armedlutheran.us/google TuneIn - http://www.armedlutheran.us/tunein iHeartRadio - http://www.armedlutheran.us/iheartradio Stitcher - http://www.armedlutheran.us/stitcher Spotify - http://www.armedlutheran.us/spotify Disclaimer The links above which are indicated with an asterisk (*) are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that I have experience with all of these items, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you. Our Closing Theme A rockin' rendition of A Mighty Fortress is Our God, performed just for Armed Lutheran Radio by Kenny Gates. Keep Shooting, Keep Praying, We'll Talk to you Next time!

In First and Saturday's Week Two recap we're talking LSU/Texas and asking ourselves what the deal is with Michigan, Florida State, Tennessee and UCLA. We also break out our new Top 10 and talk about this weekend's bad beats. Plus, a quick look at this upcoming weekend's games (hint: they stink).

2019-2020 FLL challenge - Youth are asked: What if you could build a better world? Where would you begin? In FIRST, youth are part of a community brimming with inspiration, creativity, and hope for a stronger, more sustainable future—one that’s built better together.    Provided in this episode is the audio from the CITY SHAPER Kickoff on the FLL League YouTube channel.

In First 30 Days of Direct Solar Purchase, SinglePoints route to Profitability, Projecting $7,000,000 Revenue in 2019, Achieved $1,709,460 in Trailing 30 Days

In FIRST teams, sometimes the coach of a team can be an adult, and sometimes it can be a student. In the case of FIRST LEGO League 10240, Aqualifters, their coaching is done by student Chloe. This, of course, does not mean that the faculty of the school, where the team is based, is uninvolved, but they have given some of the responsibility to Chloe. For example, she ensures that her fellow teammates are following the team checklist and sometimes leads team discussions. As an 8th grader, it means that this will be her last year on the team. When she moves on to high school next year, she plans on joining one of their FIRST Tech Challenge two teams: Roarbots and Den in Black. For any student that has moved from FIRST LEGO League into FIRST Tech Challenge, there is always a bit of nervousness, but Chloe is looking forward to the new challenge. She hopes to learn both the physical and programming aspects of building a FIRST Tech Challenge robot. After high school, she hopes to get into an engineering field, driven by her participation in FIRST. In addition to finding a path for herself after school, she also enjoys the social aspect of FIRST. While she is excited about her next steps in the program, she will miss the students she has been on her current team with for the past 2 years. Sponsored by: Support our coverage by shopping Amazon here. Whether you're programming a robot, playing a game or doing homework, the Microsoft Surface is the tablet that can replace your laptop. Get yours at the Microsoft Store.

In FIRST teams, sometimes the coach of a team can be an adult, and sometimes it can be a student. In the case of FIRST LEGO League 10240, Aqualifters, their coaching is done by student Chloe. This, of course, does not mean that the faculty of the school, where the team is based, is uninvolved, but they have given some of the responsibility to Chloe. For example, she ensures that her fellow teammates are following the team checklist and sometimes leads team discussions. As an 8th grader, it means that this will be her last year on the team. When she moves on to high school next year, she plans on joining one of their FIRST Tech Challenge two teams: Roarbots and Den in Black. For any student that has moved from FIRST LEGO League into FIRST Tech Challenge, there is always a bit of nervousness, but Chloe is looking forward to the new challenge. She hopes to learn both the physical and programming aspects of building a FIRST Tech Challenge robot. After high school, she hopes to get into an engineering field, driven by her participation in FIRST. In addition to finding a path for herself after school, she also enjoys the social aspect of FIRST. While she is excited about her next steps in the program, she will miss the students she has been on her current team with for the past 2 years. Sponsored by: Support our coverage by shopping Amazon here. Whether you're programming a robot, playing a game or doing homework, the Microsoft Surface is the tablet that can replace your laptop. Get yours at the Microsoft Store.

Competition is one of those driving forces that can either serve you or stall you. In First of all with getting straight, there are 7 billion people on this planet you alone cannot serve all of them and nor do you want to because some people are just not the right fit for what you're doing. You want to be really clear on what you were focused on and what you want to accomplish. Competition can be a good thing. What happens when people start competing or looking at their competition? Competition keeps you on your toes figure always looking for ways to improve and innovate and be cutting-edge. Competition pushes you to see how well you'll do under pressure. Your performance gets fine-tuned and productivity can skyrocket. The value that comes out of competition is the ability to step back and learn from the competitors. Take time to learn what they're doing well and also learn what they're not doing well. What do you need to be doing differently to get similar results in your style? “Anytime you find someone more successful than you are, especially when you're both engaged in the same business - you know they're doing something that you aren't.” ― Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X When you have competition it forces you to step outside your comfort zone to you don't get too comfortable to point that you get complacent. Complacency leads to decreased efforts and motivation. When there's competition this could mean that you're truly on to something and there is a demand to the marketplace. Why not you? What will you do to stand out from the crowd and create a memorable experience for your customer? Where competition gets bad is when you start comparing with a viewpoint of lack of what you have to offer. If you start thinking and believing your competition is better than you, you will lose motivation and not put in the effort required. When you start thinking this way you will create imaginary obstacles and roadblocks that will stand in your way from moving forward and actually stall you. This is where you may self-sabotage your own success. “If we can keep our competitors focused on us while we stay focused on the customer, ultimately we'll turn out all right.” ―Jeff Bezos You'll start focusing too much on your competition on ways you can improve in the fact of beating someone versus focusing on your own business or whatever you're working on. This could be detrimental because you're not in line with your why. What also happens when some people get into a competitive state is that they feel that if they can't win or be the best they don't put in the effort because they feel there's no point. These people tend to focus on the prize rather than focusing on improvement to become their personal best. Don't let the competition get you down. What I want you to do is use this to fuel you? Get to know your competition. What are they doing well? What are they not doing well? What makes them currently stand out? The more you learn about your competition the more you can learn about yourself and how to better position yourself. Know your avatar. Know who your ideal client is and how you can best serve them. The more you know about them, the more you can serve their needs. Increase your marketing efforts. You want more people to know about you, you need to increase your marketing efforts to get more exposure. No matter what the economic climate when people have seen marketing materials or have heard testimonials about a company they are more likely to work with someone based on a referral. Ensure that you have testimonials available on your website and marketing materials. Testimonials build trust. Collaborate with others to be stronger. Look for ways to collaborate with others. You do not have to grow your business all alone. Look for people who complement your services and how you can join forces in marketing and promotion. Show up at your best. First impressions are long-lasting.

Welcome back to Ping! We talk about the return of robot combat return to television, we chat about a one-way ticket to Mars on the space desk, and more stories that 'softies are pinging each other about...[00:58] Comments from last week[02:36] Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Blind Forest (Original Soundtrack)[05:29] CITIES: SKYLINES SELLS 250,000 IN FIRST 24 HOURS[07:37] Screamride[07:59] Robert Downey Jr. and Microsoft team up to give a 3D-printed arm to a child in need[10:22] Meet four people helping to design the future of Microsoft[15:31] DrinkTanks Offers the World's Largest Growler & Personal Keg[17:35] The Mercedes-Benz F 015 Bad joke time and Question of the week: [21:36] What do you think are the problems and possible solutions with self driving cars?Chat with us throughout the week using #PingShow on TwitterLike us on Facebook http://facebook.com/ThePingShowMail us (with a stamp on it :)The Ping Show c/o Channel 9, Bldg 20 One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052@MarkDeFalco @RicksterCDN

Welcome back to Ping! We talk about the return of robot combat return to television, we chat about a one-way ticket to Mars on the space desk, and more stories that 'softies are pinging each other about...[00:58] Comments from last week[02:36] Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Blind Forest (Original Soundtrack)[05:29] CITIES: SKYLINES SELLS 250,000 IN FIRST 24 HOURS[07:37] Screamride[07:59] Robert Downey Jr. and Microsoft team up to give a 3D-printed arm to a child in need[10:22] Meet four people helping to design the future of Microsoft[15:31] DrinkTanks Offers the World's Largest Growler & Personal Keg[17:35] The Mercedes-Benz F 015 Bad joke time and Question of the week: [21:36] What do you think are the problems and possible solutions with self driving cars?Chat with us throughout the week using #PingShow on TwitterLike us on Facebook http://facebook.com/ThePingShowMail us (with a stamp on it :)The Ping Show c/o Channel 9, Bldg 20 One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052@MarkDeFalco @RicksterCDN