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There are a lot of things to think about when establishing a new company blog or website, but perhaps one of the most important thing to get right is the design. This is one of the biggest factors of whether a visitor stays on your website or leaves without even scrolling down to see what you have to offer. The following Top 50 Best WordPress Themes for Online Businesses and Blogs can help.
Research has shown that it actually takes a maximum of 50 milliseconds, or 0.05 seconds for a reader to form an opinion on whether or not they like a website. That gives you less than a second to ensure that your customers stay with you, meaning that your website has to be completely on point and design-savvy. Indeed, building on the above statistic, 75% of customers admit that they rate a company's credibility based on website design.
Many of your future readers will be exclusively online and therefore your website is your only opportunity to show off and demonstrate that you are quality website with plenty to give, but more than that, you are trustworthy and professional. A good website design will inevitably increase confidence, traffic, user experience and conversions. You need to carefully consider the following:
All of this needs to be taken into account and actioned well, but there are many people out there that would like to help, and that is why there are hundreds of customizable themes available for WordPress to minimize the amount of work you have to do from scratch, and carefully guide you in the right direction.
Before we get down to recommending the themes, let's first take you through how to install a theme on WordPress:
It is really easy to download your chosen theme straight onto your blog:
Now that you know how to upload a theme to your blog, here are 50 of the best WordPress themes, as chosen by us:
Looking for slick and on-trend? Then look no further than Moesia, a super stylish corporate skin with eleven 'predefined blocks' for a unique homepage best-suited to your niche. Each of the blocks comes with its own parallax background image and individual color palette, as well as a selection of Google Fonts, various different layouts and animations.
Responsive does what it says on the proverbial tin and offers users a responsive theme with an adaptable grid system layout that looks great on any device. With 9 page templates and 6 template layouts as standard, it is WooCommerce compatible, retina-ready and translated into over 45 languages.
Nirvana's developers would like you to imagine a beautiful landscape not unlike paradise, with white sandy beaches and clear blue waters, or crisp snow-capped mountains and a vividly clear sky, or indeed a serene forest with impossibly tall, elegant pine trees. Whatever your Nirvana, the theme of the same name is the website equivalent with over 200 settings helping you to create a truly individual and unique website across various niches.
Vantage is a fantastic theme that caters for a huge variety of purposes and gains its namesake from the strength it achieves from being a plugin king. Seamlessly integrated with PageBuilder for building great responsive layouts, MetaSlider and WooCommerce. Perfect for any corporate vertical, portfolio or eCommerce site.
The aptly-named Customizr offers multiple customizations, including 17 color skins, different layout options, various Google fonts and the opportunity to upload your own logo. Customizr also makes use of the modern, flat design cues and is fully responsive and retina ready. It is perfect for corporate websites, porfolios, blogs or landing pages.
A beautifully elegant, fully responsive theme for WordPress that looks great on any device. It is sleek, clean-lined and professional-looking. Catch Kathmandu is fully customizable and easy to tailor to your specific needs. With a definite image-based focus, CK is perfect for photographers and bloggers alike.
ThemeForest's most popular new theme and the fastest-selling of this year. Designed by ThemeCo who have since marketed X as the theme of the year.
The unique 'stacks' function on this theme allows you to realise any look or layout you desire. Choosing from multiple, unique designs across four different Stacks.
There is also the option to add in-built extensions to your design – over a dozen WordPress plugins that are specially tailored for X for seamless integration. These are included for free with your purchase.
Bridge offers various on-trend design cues with clean, simple interfaces and striking typography.
Avada is ThemeForest's #1 selling theme of all time, with over 100,000 users to date. It is incredibly simple and intuitive to use and makes use of some brilliant functions, such as:
Flexibility is the name of the game with the Enfold Theme which utilizes a contemporary 'backend' to ensure complete ease-of-use, enabling you to build unique layouts just by dragging and dropping content into place – it really is that simple!
As its name might suggest, Website caters for every kind of site out there. It offers superior quality and is incredibly simple to use. Offering a fully customizable platform to ensure that your content looks fantastic on any device, even giving you the chance to omit certain content on specific devices.
"Stop blending in and leave your mark on the web"
Salient lives up to its name and delivers outstanding designs for your online business portfolio, and there are hundreds of configuration options and dozens of layouts to choose from. With fashion-forward design cues from ThemeNectar and SEO-optimisation included as standard.
Own a construction company or work as a skilled tradesperson? Then look no further than BuildPress – the 'most advanced and sophisticated version' of the theme to date. It offers an intuitive user experience, ensuring that your site is simple to setup and run. Available exclusively on ThemeForest.
This clever theme has been specially designed with the maximization of SEO in mind. Aimed at those running social media or SEO businesses, it offers unlimited header styles, page design and live customisation, amongst others.
Logistically speaking, this is one of your best options for anyone looking for a transport and logistics based website. It is very simple to set up and easy to use. It includes a variety of great features including animated content and CSS3 animations to really make your site stand out!
You can basically 'be' who you want to be!
BeTheme is a little bit different – with hundreds of ready-to-click demos available, you could have your website up-and-running in minutes. According to BeTheme their versatility knows no bounds and they have created websites for countless industries including charities, universities and hairdressers.
Jupiter is modern, fresh and funky. It offers various good-to-go templates, each with their own customizable extensions. You can create virtually anything you want to, with almost unrivalled freedom and control!
Completely responsive and optimized for SEO, Vellum has a unique structure that allows you to create multiple designs seamlessly, from one single theme in a one-size-fits-all approach.
With some very cool design features, Eatery offers you the chance to showcase your restaurant in a professional, modern and unique way. It includes useful tools such as menu pages and events.
Sounding like a gorgeous new summer dish or sumptuous cocktail, LemonChili offers a responsive WordPress theme, aimed at the restaurant industry. With special tools such as food and drink menu optimization, events pages and team profiles are a big plus.
GymBase is perfect for anyone in search of a sleek new design for their fitness-based business. The simple, responsive design looks great and is compatible with mobile and tablet devices too.
The theme also has the option of a blog page, portfolio (useful for displaying fitness progress) and a responsive timetable page.
This is one of the best multi-purpose themes out there on WordPress – perfect for almost any business, with WooCommerce and BuddyPress capabilities, DynamiX is more than likely to suit your purpose, as well as your tastes.
"Let your imagination run wild and create the site of your dreams. Kleo has all the tools to get you started…" Kleo's aim is to enable anyone to create developer-level content, with stunning graphics and enhanced tools that will wow any potential client.
Kickstart is a beautifully designed theme that will look great on any device or screen resolution. Offering huge amounts of personalization, with the ability to change almost any design feature countless times, it also comes with 1266 uniquely designed dual tone icons for true individuality.
RT-Theme is the perfect theme for cataloguing various corporate websites. You could easily use it for displaying a product catalogue or creating a professional product portfolio. It has been used for various purposes, including tour itineraries, rent-a-car websites or real estate.
BuzzBlog is completely responsive and the developers claim that this allows it to adapt both to your style and the device it's viewed on. Loaded with great features, including an almost unlimited amount of customizations, BuzzBlog is worth checking out.
Florence is a content-enhancing blog theme, offering multi-purpose layouts, including both sidebar and full-width screen options and various post-layout options too. As expected from a blog theme – there are also many exciting widgets to choose from, including customizable About Me, Facebook and Social Media widgets.
Sahifa is a sound choice for those looking for a magazine, news or blog template, as it has some brilliantly tuned features.
Backstreet is cool, sleek and contemporary and that is just what you want from a WordPress magazine, portfolio and blog theme. Offering video, audio and gallery post formats, Backstreet can be used across any vertical. The integrated review system is particularly clever, as are the multitude of customizable features such as light and dark skin modes as well as spotlight features.
ReviewIt is a great theme for any review-based website and is integrated with the GD Star Rating plugin for optimum performance, including:
Portfolio Themes
Brooklyn is a fantastic one page theme that is incredibly striking – great for any business.
Brooklyn is fully responsive and retina ready and is compatible across all platforms. It is marketed as a stand-out theme and it definitely delivers! As a one page theme, it is great for a photography-based portfolio.
Oysters are famous for having beauty inside them and that is definitely the case with the beautifully crafted design that Oyster offers for showcasing your photographs. It is fully customizable, so that you can display your portfolio however you like and includes everything you'd expect from a photography-based theme:
Minimalism, elegance and simplicity are Kon/Cept's buzzwords and it definitely delivers. Offering a one-of-a-kind portfolio theme for WordPress, including a stunning tiled portfolio grid, Kon/Cept is packed with useful features, customizable selections, shortcodes and now offers WooCommerce support for selling items from your collection.
Grizzly is the perfect corporate theme for developers wishing to showcase their apps. With unlimited styles and an easily customizable platform, it is the go-to place for techies.
Great easy-to-use store management system for selling both 'simple' and 'variable' products, digital downloads or affiliated/external products. The store is fully customizable and the current version has been built around feedback from existing clients.
WooCommerce integration is offered as standard with Aurum for a 'smooth shopping experience' across a range of different retail industries including, but not limited to bookstores, technology and fashion boutiques. The developers reckon it's beautiful: have a look for yourselves…
Flatsome has been designed by eCommerce people for eCommerce people, and it shows. Beautiful, eye-catching store templates make it a positive contender for your new online shop.
Mingle is a great WordPress theme with networking at its core. It is BuddyPress ready, so your website is geared towards social interaction with intuitive tools such as groups, forums and private messaging to maximize users' communicative capabilities.
It is hopefully pretty obvious what kind of website SweetDate was designed for, but it can actually be used across any vertical and is fully customizable to suit any business domain. Though with online-dating as its primary focus, SweetDate contains multiple tools needed to establish a good community-oriented website.
Integrated with BuddyPress, OneCommunity is another website which puts social networking to the fore. Using this theme allows you to create networks for companies, schools, sports teams or any other community.
Simple, intuitive and well-organized, Salutation is easy-to-use and gives you full control over your website. Aimed at creating a comprehensive community portal, it is BuddyPress compatible and includes options for forums, groups, status updates and private messaging.
One of the best directory-based themes out there, with integrated booking service plugins. It also includes Open Table, Resurva, Guestful and WooCommerce bookings.
For those of you that need to produce a sleek, professional job listing website, you might just find what you're looking for with Jobify. This easy to navigate job board theme allows you to establish a network of employers and their prospective employees. You can implement simple live searches and job filters for increased utility and can even charge a fee for your services.
Another great directory theme which allows you to establish an online directory of listings across numerous niches. The theme comes with dedicated advertising spaces, custom search and filter options.
WPLMS is a Learning Management System for WordPress which offers tools geared towards creating a successful e-learning platform. This platform includes course management, staff and student administration and a marketplace for the courses you offer.
The theme package contains seven unique plugins designed with the idea of maximizing the student learning experience.
Another great Leaning Management System that makes sharing and selling knowledge a relatively pain free experience.
You can rock on – because Lush is here to offer you the complete musical web experience and nobody says it better than Lush. With a slick user interface, this website theme will definitely be awesome enough for your brand.
Get yourself heard with Voice, a WordPress theme created especially for the online news/magazine industries, with the ability to extend to blog-based websites. Extremely easy to personalize and some fantastic typography options included as standard. This is definitely worth checking out.
Clubber is a great theme aimed at nightclubs and other hospitality businesses, with special simple-to-use tools aimed at making events managing, sharing music and videos, even easier.
For those of you planning a wedding or hoping to capture some beautiful memories of that special day, look no further. Marriage is the successor of 'Our Wedding Page' and it's now even better. It has a responsive layout, mobile-compatible and with its minimalist design and simplistic color scheme your day will be remembered beautifully, forever.
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I'm truly enjoying the design and layout of your website.
It's a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable
We like to use Warrior Forum, Blackhatworld and Wicked Fire!
Fantastic blog you have here but I was wondering if you knew of any community forums
that cover the same topics talked about here?
I'd really love to be a part of group where I
can get advice from other experienced individuals that share the
same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know.
Thanks a lot!
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Is Climate Change this Generationâs Titanic?
By Terry Leach, President, LDC
November 2007
Most of us were mesmerized and saddened as we watched hours of cable news covering the southern California fires. My television watching was a little more loaded, perhaps, than some of yours, as I exchanged frantic text messages with our 18-year-old daughter, a UC San Diego freshman without a car, who was instructed to stay in her dorm until the campus determined whether the students would be evacuated, and if so, how, since most non-essential personnel were not reporting to work and there might not be enough shuttles to get them out.
I am happy to report that our daughter and her room-mates all made it out of San Diego safely and are heading back to school.
Not as clear-cut is the role that our nationâs failure to take a leadership role in addressing climate change played in the wildfires. California Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi is on record for asserting that climate change exacerbated the damages. He was immediately attacked and labeled an alarmist. He is also on record for stating that our ability to protect our citizens and our property is diminished because of our participation in the war in Iraq and the resulting deployment of resources and National Guard men and women out of the United States.
Not surprisingly, right wing blogs and Fox TV have attacked Garamendi for these statements, as well.
In the last year, I have heard a variety of speakers, ostensibly opining on a variety of topics. The majority, however, focused on climate change and the war in Iraq (and the need to avoid war in Iran). One, an MP from the British Parliament, who is known for her work on nuclear non-proliferation, boldly stated that climate change is the most serious threat facing our planet. She suggested to the audience of policy-makers that we have five years, eight years tops, to get in front of this disaster facing our planet.
She also pointed to the war in Iraq as not only a monumental mistake resulting in unnecessary suffering and loss of life, but as a diversion of resources that will be needed to save our planet.
At another event, the keynote speaker, a scientist and venture capitalist, explained why he is dedicating the rest of his life to bringing about the requisite policy change to address climate change. He explained that it is not a question of having âlife as we know itâ change in 200 years; he firmly believes that there may be no life at all left on earth in 200 years. He analogized our current situation to that of the doomed ship, Titanic. He says that we, too, are on a course that is predictable, and if prudent action is taken in time, reversible. He, too, gives Planet Earth 5 to 8 years to reverse our negligent handling of climate change, or, our âTitanic,â? before itâs too late when any changes made will be pathetically impotent.
The experts are adamant that we achieve the following:
This morning, I had the pleasure of competing in the Lafayette Reservoir Run, and then helping to register new Democrats at our clubâs first ever voter registration event at the Lafayette Reservoir Run event.
I was struck, as I often am, when I have the opportunity to help with voter registration and meet real voters, by how frustrated most of our neighbors are by what appears obvious to policy-makers around the world. Many of my fellow runners declared frustration with Bush, even if they voted for him, many expressed concern about the war in Iraq and concerns that Cheney and Bush would start a new, horrific war, maybe World War 111, in Iran. Many expressed concerns about climate change. Most of these same voters, however, declined politely to get involved with our clubâs efforts to elect more Democrats for a variety of reasons, all of them credible. They work, or they donât work and are now traveling, they have children, or they donât have children, but want to visit their grandchildren—all worthwhile endeavors.
I ask, however, if the scientists are right, and if what we saw in San Diego was only a taste of whatâs to come, and if we truly only have a few years to turn this situation around for our children, and their childrenâs sake, will you be able to tell your children that you did everything you could to hand over to the next generation the precious gifts that were given to us?
Voting is an important first step. Giving money to your favorite Democratic candidate is sadly also necessary, until we get real campaign finance reform. But itâs not enough.
We must work together to elect policy-makers who will speak out and take action about climate change and the drum beats to wage even more wars, even if these policy-makers take risks that imperil their political careers. We must support these truth-tellers and we must hold those lawmakers accountable who refuse to move the most important issues to the top of the agenda because it is not politically expedient for them to do so.
Learn as much as you can about climate change. And learn as much as you can about the Bush Administrationâs drumbeats to wage even more war. Enjoy Thanksgiving and the holidays with your family and friends, but donât let opportunities pass to share your concerns with the people you love and ask them to get involved. We are stronger if we work together. We can place pressure on candidates to adopt agendas that we believe imperative, if we work together.
Please let us know how you would like to get involved and letâs get to work together in one of the largest and most active Democratic clubs in the State of California. At over 700 members strongâwe have access to those who sit at the table. If our number were several times that—weâd have the table.
Currently, our organization works closely with other similar organizations throughout the region. If we all doubled in size and political action, the issues we care about the most would be the issues under discussion in Sacramento and in Washington.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving table and think of how you can help organizations like ours take our country back.

subset: commoncrawl


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A host of street artists have spruced up a north London housing estate in a bid to transform the drab buildings with vibrant colours and designs. An invited group of 30 artists visited the Chalk Farm housing estate in Camden to help transform the estate for the hundreds of people who live on the ageing…
Category: Andy Council
Cardiff Andy Council
Bristol born illustrator and murialist Andy Council made a whistlestop tour to Cardiff and visited the offices of Rio Architects on Allensbank Road in the suburbs of Cardiff. Organised by Cardiff Doozie whom are a collective of 'Cardiff Creatives' – this was the latest in a series of meetups and networking events in the city….


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Words of Anthrotheist: a friendly regular contributor on my blog (he wrote this in a combox there), will be in blue.
I remember some time ago having a conversation with Dave, the author of this blog, and he expressed interest in my 'deconversion' story. So here goes.
I don't remember there ever being any particular anguish or trauma involved as I drifted away from church. I grew up in a Methodist home with my grandparents who attended services every Sunday (and at times in my childhood went during other days of the week; I don't recall exactly what for). I think what I recall the most was sitting in church during Sunday school or the sermon, and thinking to myself, "I should feel more inspired by all of this." There wasn't any emotional connection for me, and as I grew older I started looking for an intellectual connection instead. I asked my pastor and elder church members (generally Sunday school teachers) questions, and the only answers I remember getting were, "You just have to have faith." If there were more substantial responses, they were inconsequential enough that I have no recollection of them.
Looking for any sort of connection, in my teens I tried testing the messages I got from church, primarily regarding prayers. One evening, after chores, I spoke with my uncle regarding a particular cow he had in the pen used for cattle that were sick or close to delivery (the dairy farm I grew up on was run by my uncle and aunt, who had taken it over from my grandparents with whom I lived); he told me that he didn't think that she (the cow) would survive the night. I didn't have any particular connection to that cow, but was saddened; I decided to offer what wound up being my most heart-felt and earnest prayers that evening, pleading for the life of a simple farm animal. The next day, after school and during chores, I asked my uncle about it and he told me that she had lived and would probably be alright. It would be natural to assume that I felt vindicated by this apparent response to my prayers, but if anything I felt even less connected; the absolute lack of reaction from my uncle (or anyone else, cousins, hired hands, etc.) left me thinking, "Nobody sees this as miraculous, they all are taking it in stride like it's nothing." I think that I understood that what I had taken as a critical situation for this living creature's wellbeing, was really just another day in the life of a dairy farmer. My prayer, honest as it was, really was quite trite; at the end, I felt more embarrassed than I did reassured.
Time passed, I stopped attending church, moved out and went to college, worked jobs, etc. One girlfriend in my twenties tried to re-convert me, but her attempts amounted to little more than emotional blackmail: believe in God or I'm going to break up with you. That relationship didn't last, go figure. My first wife was a preacher's daughter, but as long as I knew her she never expressed anything but indifference regarding her faith, which complimented my own feelings on the subject. My second and current wife was a member of a Pentecostal church when we got married, and I attended her church a couple of times early on. She struggled a bit with her own deconversion, but has remarked many times how she never felt committed to the message of her faith, and for over a decade had been faking it, expecting one day to "make it", so to speak. We're both quite content having nothing to do with any particular supernatural tradition, though we both find some interesting philosophical grist in the Tao Te Ching.
Ultimately, I have skimmed the world's religions, curious about their essential messages. They all make fantastic claims, all of them have dedicated and sincere apologists that work diligently to support their theology (and have for centuries, at least). None of them have any greater insight into the reality in which we all find ourselves; none of them have produced answers that stand up to skeptical scrutiny. The most powerful epistemological system mankind has right now is premised precisely on the idea that there are no "supernatural" forces that cannot be accounted for. I don't believe that science can answer every question; it is particularly lacking in areas where any data that may exist is almost entirely subjective. But it has revealed knowledge that flatly defies the claims made by the world's religions, and provides the tools to test and confirm that knowledge. It seems my religious philosophy is basically, "Every adherent to any religion in the world has rejected the possibility of every single religion that has ever existed, with one exception; I have found no compelling reason to make that single exception for any particular religion." I live my life in the secular realm, sharing that space in which people of all faiths can gather and interact; anyone is free to express their beliefs, no one has the privilege of demanding anyone else's devotion. I have a former professor who is a good friend, who happens to be Catholic; a former classmate-turned-friend who is Protestant, and numerous acquaintances who's beliefs have never come up, excepting perhaps a "thank God", or "God bless you", or perhaps a "We're so blessed to… [whatever it may be]." It doesn't bother or offend me, I am not threatened by it, and I don't confront it with my own beliefs; I enjoy the religiously neutral space in which we live our day-to-day lives.
And that's about it. Thanks for reading.
Thank you very much for sharing your story. I have a few thoughts, if I may:
1. Apologetics is necessary to maintain belief in the Christian faith. We must harmonize faith and reason. We have to know why we believe what we believe (assuming we even know the latter; I certainly didn't in my early years: which was also Methodism at first). This is why I do what I do. If one isn't taught reasons to believe in Christianity, then there is also no reason to remain a Christian. Such a person is easy pickin's for any other competing worldview that comes around. By the same token, from where I sit: you present no reason for leaving that poses a challenge to any other Christian, in terms of compelling disproofs of their worldview. Reason per se seemed to have little to do with the whole thing (though I can see that if you weren't presented adequate reasoning, why you would take the route you took).
2. Your story also highlights the tragedy of having no Christians around one who express enthusiasm; who "carry the torch": who show forth the light and joy of Christ, to "spark a fire under us." It's very tough to have a lasting faith minus such people around us. We're too social as human beings to not need others whom we admire, that are of our same belief-system. If we don't, many times we won't last long in a given environment.
3. Neither #1 nor #2 were your fault. It was the fault of your pastors and role models in the faith. And that was my experience, too, up till age 13, when my brother got "saved" and started sharing his faith (though often in a boorish, unappealing way). I didn't come into contact with apologetics till I was 19, and especially after age 23, when I discovered historical apologetics (in my evangelical period), and my life was changed, and I knew what I was to do with my life. It was very important to me (right out of college at the time) — indeed, crucial — to merge my faith with reason.
4. Like many atheists and former Christians, you seem to have virtually made science either your religion, or at the least, what "guides" your outlook on life (worldview, philosophy). It's a view that I have written about as "atomism": belief that the atom can literally do everything that we believe God does: "create" the universe and the marvelous laws of science, and life and consciousness: the whole ball of wax. Personally, I think that is exponentially more difficult to believe in than a God Who is an eternal spirit and all-powerful, etc.
5. The question then is whether science contradicts or overthrows Christianity. You say, "science . . . has revealed knowledge that flatly defies the claims made by the world's religions." Perhaps it casts doubt on other religions, but I have yet to see an argument proving to me that our present knowledge of science casts the slightest doubt on my Christian beliefs. I've seen nothing that was a fundamental / essential disconnect or contradiction. Perhaps you'd like to share what it is in science that you think does that. I'd be extremely interested in that. Science can't disprove the presence of the supernatural because its purview, by definition, is matter and empiricism. That simply can't rule out spiritual forces or the miraculous, or God, any more than an apple rules out an orange, or east, west, or baseball, algebra.
I commend you for your tolerance and civility (having just endured a two-day marathon of some 30-40 atheists all calling me every name in the book, simply for banning one person: who last night — irony of ironies — banned me from his site). I'm not prejudiced against atheists as a class of people; you don't seem to be prejudiced against Christians. That's all that's required for thoughtful human beings to interact and even to become friends. It's the deadly combination of hostility + ignorance (along with an automatic attribution of bad faith and insincerity) that causes problems on both ends.
Do I have your permission to make this exchange a new blog post? We can continue the discussion if you like, and I'll add any new parts. Most atheists whose deconversion stories I have commented upon got mad at me, as if it was the most objectionable thing in the world that a Christian would "dare" critique reasons an atheist gave for forsaking Christianity. I think it's quite obvious that examinations of such stories would be part and parcel of my job as an apologist defending Christianity in general and Catholic Christianity in particular. If someone is giving reasons to leave Christianity, then the one who gives reasons for being a Christian would and should reply to such reasons.
You are certainly welcome to post this conversation if you wish; you don't need my permission, given that I posted my comment on your blog in the first place, but I do appreciate you asking. As for objecting to your response, I honestly would have been disappointed if you hadn't replied. I was curious what you would make of my tale, and never expected that we would necessarily see eye-to-eye on every part [of] the interpretation. It seems to me that increasingly (at least in America where I live) it is far more important to be able (and willing!) to disagree politely, rather than surrounding ourselves solely with messages that fail to ever challenge us and lashing out when our views are confronted.
I agree: polite disagreement is more and more rare and all the more to be sought after in our present toxic environment, where every honest disagreement becomes an opportunity to demonize folks who are different from us. Thanks for being a civil voice and for being willing to discuss things on my page!
Regarding points 1-3, I don't blame anyone in my former congregation for my deconversion. Whether they are at fault for anything would depend on who is (or should be) responsible for what activities in a church, and that is well beyond my areas of experience; as an atheist now, I don't feel justified making any such judgement. I believe that the church I attended was probably a bit on the older side, in terms of its members; I went there with my grandparents, and the younger or middle-aged members were perhaps more active than others, but mostly limited to teaching Sunday school.
You may not blame the people around you, but I do, because any belief-system is social in nature, and all involve role models that we look up to and emulate. No one formulates their beliefs in utter isolation from social surroundings and influences. "We are what we eat." You yourself note that no one answered your questions or showed much enthusiasm for Christianity, so yes, I do blame them. Not that you were absolutely perfect and blameless in all of it (I have no idea, but since we're all sinners, I highly doubt it). I'm just going by your report and accepting it at face value.
I imagine that my pastor was probably used to older congregates who had far fewer questions than I did, and I imagine my questions were more challenging than she was ready to answer off the top of her head.
Any pastor ought to be equipped to answer intelligent questions from a young person. But sadly, many did not learn enough apologetics (if any). The seminaries don't teach it much.
Ultimately, I never felt drawn to the church or to religion; even during times of crisis I never turned to God, neither for support nor in blame. It just didn't occur to me.
I'm saying that at least part of that apathy had to do with the lack of inspiring role models and question-answerers around you. You confirm that in a statement near the end of your comment: "For me, if I wanted a community I could go to church, but my past experiences have been everyone sitting quietly in their pews until it's time to leave, with only brief moments of mingling after the sermon." Yep: no inspiration, no fire, no motivation to emulate inspiring role models, no one whose enthusiasm makes you curious and draws you further into religion and seeking after God . . .
All of that almost always occurs in a community. I was drawn to evangelicalism in 1977 by social and communitarian factors, and to Catholicism in 1990 via the same things. I thought through both (especially in 1990, which was a very "intellectually dominated" conversion). But we can't underestimate the role of a like-minded community. It's why, after all, most atheists online congregate together, and concentrate on running down Christianity. They have their confirming community, and they all agree to bash the thing that most of them used to hold: which is a further confirming — though usually fallacious — practice. I majored in sociology, so I know a little bit about social groups.
I am inclined to opine that something that is supposedly so true requires an inordinate amount of effort to support and explain. Nobody has to explain that gravity pulls objects to the ground or that sunlight can burn unprotected skin (artificial or natural protection of course), these things are clearly evident; and yet the most profound truths about the realities of the universe are only to be found in a single collection of writings from a single region of the world drafted thousands of years ago which take staggering amounts of effort to translate and to understand even casually. It ends up seeming to me like much ado about nothing.
I don't see that this is apparent at all. You go on to mention gravity as a supposed simple and obvious truth of science. Of course it is not at all, because now we understand gravity not as an apple falling in Newton's head, but as gravitational waves per Einstein: exponentially more difficult to fully explain. But I would say that science in general is made up of very complicated concepts and formulas that are above most of our heads. I would say all that is confirmation of its truthfulness, not the opposite.
Yet when it comes to religious matters, the same people who accept — virtually worship — science, complain about almost any complexity at all (say, transubstantiation or the hypostatic union) and assume that this suggests falsity rather than being true. I say that that is hogwash: truth of any sort will ultimately be complex. It can be summarized or simplified for teaching purposes, but in the end it'll be complex. We find that in science, theology, and anything else. I myself, when writing on many topics in theology, present a simple, summed-up version and also go into the greatest depth (usually in dialogues). Both have their purpose. But in the end, the longer treatments show how complex each topic is when closely examined.
(As an example, virtually every culture on Earth has means of creating fire; the methods differ and their explanations for what fire is differ greatly, but the phenomenon is universal. Why would God and his truth be limited to a book derived from a single culture in one part of the world? Why isn't God more like fire, approached and explained differently, but universal in his characteristics?)
No one is saying that it is limited to the Bible (except a few fundamentalist anti-intellectual dumbbells). There are vast areas of learning and culture not dealt with at all in the Bible or not much (mathematics, logic, philosophy science, architecture, on and on . . . ). All truth is God's truth. As Galileo said, "The Bible teaches us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go."
Your fourth point is interesting, and I imagine it comes as no surprise that I disagree with you at least in part. When I think about religion, it seems to me that several roles or functions are fulfilled by it most of the time: epistemology, morality, congregation, and tradition are the main ones that come to mind. So when I consider an atheist taking science as their new religion, I have a hard time seeing it as anything more than an epistemology. Science is notoriously bad in areas of morality and congregation (pure logic makes cold morals, and scientists tend to be introverts), and the enterprise of science is in many ways an effort to prevent the establishment of any traditions (particularly ones that would interfere with discovery, but generally as well). Even in the area of epistemology, any sort of 'atomism' differs profoundly from any religious belief in one critical way: agency. Atheists may believe that all that exists in the universe is matter and energy, but there is no sense that there is any agency behind those things; materials didn't create the universe, there was not a creative power in place.
Yet somehow the universe we observe and marvel at, in all its wonders, is here, and had to come about somehow. If all you have is matter, matter had to do all that, and from scratch (as we have no proof that the universe is eternal: the Big Bang is the current consensus).
That matter and energy follow patterns of behavior seems to me self-evident at this point, and those patterns can both generate and destroy complex arrangements of material, depending on circumstances. That's about it. I don't hold scientific knowledge in any particular reverence (another aspect of religion to my mind); any sense of awe I may find is usually the result of my experiencing the wonders of nature, rarely as a response to human endeavor.
As for science vs Christianity. I think what I was referring to most was notions like the sun being a flaming chariot wheel, or illness being caused by malicious spirits. Where once the only answers to be found explaining the world were religious, now the scientific method provides answers that are more precise and universal (and therefore at least more useful; and thanks for correcting my misuse of 'therefor' at some point before, I may not like English but I dislike misusing it more). Those answers are not more satisfying, usually exactly because they paint a worldview in which nothing but human beings care at all about humanity. It's hardly inspiring or uplifting, but then it was never meant to be nice any more than it was meant to be bleak. I think the only place I feel that science and religion are incompatible is when a religious claim is made that could be testable; in such cases, the tests always fail (such as prophesies, claims of healing powers, etc. You know, religion's hucksters.).
I recently (in May) produced plenty of documented scientific / medical evidence for miracles occurring at Lourdes. This was in response to your own queries. To my knowledge, you have not grappled directly with that evidence (let alone explained it away). It's easy to make blanket statements, as you have here; much more difficult to wrangle with this specific proposed evidence of the miraculous. Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. I'd rather be in a place of being pressured to prove and confirm miracles rather than in a position of having to categorically deny that any ever take place (the good ol' universal negative).
I think where people tend to have an issue is: if religion doesn't make a testable claim then it doesn't conflict with science, but then what does religion offer? It could offer morality and community, but too often it seems that the most fervent faithful (e.g., fundamentalist evangelists) uphold a morality that is oppressive and provincial, all while excluding all but the most devoted from their midst. For me, if I wanted a community I could go to church, but my past experiences have been everyone sitting quietly in their pews until it's time to leave, with only brief moments of mingling after the sermon. Religion has lost to science as an epistemology for the objective material world, and in my experience all accounts of the supernatural are singularly subjective. A religion may tell me that an angel is watching over me, but my seat belt seems more likely to save me. I can't help but conjecture that perhaps a large part of why religious affiliation is declining is because religions are still trying to claim truth about how the world is, rather than making more effort to offer a vision of how the world should be (but again, I don't feel entitled to say what religions should be doing, I'm just sharing my opinion).
There is no epistemological "loss" because it's apples and oranges. The Bible and Christianity don't claim to be textbooks of science. The main claim we make about the world and its natural forces are that God created that and sustains it by His power. But He does so through almost all natural forces. Thus, science studies those and builds up a tremendous and immensely helpful body of knowledge that we are all grateful for and use every day. Modern science began in a thoroughly Christian cultural and intellectual environment and was dominated by Christians and theists for 300 years: who founded 115 separate scientific disciplines. There simply is no conflict here at all. Science is more "ours" (if we must talk in that way) than yours.
Thanks again for your long and thoughtful, stimulating comment and your civility, as always.
Whatever the charges may be against my former congregation and pastor — I can see how a bit more fire and motivation, and especially intelligent engagement could have made a big difference — I have never dwelt on it. At this point I find little pragmatic reason to do so; I have viewed the world the way that I do for nearly 25 years now, and that is an enormous amount of momentum at which to throw a little bit of conjecture about what may have been.
Yes. From our perspective, it was this lack of what should have been from others, that helped lead you down a path away from the faith. It was one of the reasons, I submit, why you choose Path B in the fork in the road, instead of Path A ("the narrow way," as Jesus calls it).
I'm just glad that you don't accuse me of simply being angry at God because my father died or because I want to live a life of sin, an all-to-common theme of conversations with the devout.
We can't read people's hearts, and can't make such judgments about motivation, unless we have overwhelming evidence from a person's own report. It's wrong for anyone to do it. And you are right: far too many Christians exhibit this sinful shortcoming. I have written about how the Bible describes two sorts of nonbelievers: the rebellious rejecter of God and the "open-minded agnostic."
I am glad, but not surprised though; the conversations I have had with you have been singularly uncommon in their polite candor.
Well, thank you very much. I enjoy our dialogues too. I greatly appreciate your open sharing and refusal to bash Christianity, like far too many atheists online do.
The point that I was trying to get at with gravity and fire is that these phenomena are universal. Everywhere in the world, societies have stories where something falls to the ground or something catches on fire. The explanation for why these things happen may vary quite a bit, but in every case we can look back retrospectively and claim with reasonable certainty, "That is an account describing gravity/fire." Modern physics can quantify the properties of gravitation and combustion, and can even reveal the invisible forces at work (at least in the case of combustion; as far as I know, there still isn't a clear explanation for why matter has mass), but the visible effects have always been apparent and consistent no matter where you go or when.
Yes, of course: the laws of nature.
The particulars of the Christian God are quite precise, and as far as I have found fairly unique: virgin birth, miraculous powers, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension. Take any of these away (and I may have missed some myself of course) and it seems to me that you have an incomplete picture of Christ; nowhere else in the world's oral or written traditions do these themes appear together except in a tiny part of the Roman Empire two thousand years ago.
I don't see how that is relevant. Likewise, modern science began in western Europe in the 15th-16th centuries, in a thoroughly Christian cultural and intellectual milieu. Nowhere else in history did this occur. I don't see how that has any bearing on the truthfulness of science. It's simply how modern science began; and you describe how Christianity began. The uniqueness of that historical event has no bearing on whether Christianity is true, either.
Polytheism doesn't look like the Christian God, and animism certainly doesn't. Why isn't the true nature of the one true God more universally apparent?
Because cultures can develop false premises and then build upon those. If you walk two feet to the left, eventually where you end up could be hundreds of miles away from where you would have been if you walked straight ahead. Sometimes, when Christianity would have been introduced to a region, they killed the ones who were brining it, so that it couldn't get off the ground (e.g., Japan).
Leaving descriptions of the universe apart, the Bible describes what God is like and what to expect after death, and nowhere else in the world does that particular narrative appear except the Bible.
There are certainly other religions that talk about the nature of God and the afterlife. Islam, for one. That's a billion people. So this is an odd comment from you.
God's most important truth, the one that will affect everyone for eternity after death, is tucked away in a single culture that only appeared thousands of years after humans started farming.
If you are implying that this is unfair, the Bible says that every man will be judged by what he knows (Romans 2).
Taken all together, it appears to me to be just another local religion that won the lottery of history and expanded into a world religion.
For you it is all chance and happenstance. We believe it is God's providence: all part of His plan.
As for the beginning of the universe, I don't have an answer to that quandary.
No atheist seems to. And I think that is a big problem in the atheist worldview: at least for those who strive to find answers to the basic questions of life: "why are we here?" etc.
My inclination is to assume that the universe is like a marble statue that has been pulverized to rubble and dust: the resulting material didn't come from nothing, but there is zero evidence remaining that could be used to piece together an understanding of what it had been like before. The rubble can go on to do other things, and some of the essential properties are certainly consistent with its previous state, but what came before may always be a mystery. The fact that science is currently stumped by the universe's origin (and as a result its essential nature) is no form of support for any competing narrative; just because I don't claim to know, doesn't mean that your claim that you do know has any greater validity.
I've always said that our view is at the very least equally as plausible than yours, and requiring no more faith or (to express it in logical terms) no more acceptance of unproven / unprovable axioms. And you seem to basically agree. You guys offer nothing (a big "Who knows?"). We simply believe in /posit an Eternal Spirit Who brought everything about (a notion which has a long and noble philosophical pedigree, so that it is not merely a religious "blind faith" belief or intellectually equivalent to leprechauns and Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny). The fact that He is eternal overcomes the quandary of how matter (which, as far as we know, is not eternal) ever came to be in the first place.
So I did finally look more into the Lourdes cures (I admit that I pretty much glossed over it before, enticed as I was to pursue other lines of thought that appealed to me more at the time), and I honestly don't know what to make of them.
Thanks for your honesty.
Part of the problem is that it appears impossible to differentiate the claims from the Catholic church; while I don't doubt any particular person's sincere intention to evaluate the claims objectively, I can't ignore the church's clear conflict of interest given the region's immense dogmatic value to the organization. The thing that strikes me most is, given the area's long history, why have I never heard of it before?
Because it is mostly known in Catholic circles. I hadn't heard of it, either, when I was a Protestant. I remember the first time I heard the word was in a George Carlin comedy routine. I thought he was saying "Lord's" at first.
Why are references to it almost exclusively limited to Catholic and faith websites and organizations?
Non-Catholics often ignore things that they pigeonhole as "just more Catholic junk."
If the claims have any veracity, where are the research doctors and scientists that should be clamoring to examine the facts in excruciating detail?
They have to have the will to do so. There are motivations not to pursue it, because what happens if the miracles are verified? Folks might have to act on that and become Catholics! Since they don't want to, they choose not to begin. Just speculating . . .
Billions of dollars are spent every year researching treatments for cancer alone; if there is clear evidence that cancer is being cured in Lourdes, surely someone outside the faith would want to be involved?
Our actions and beliefs are often determined by presuppositions that we adopt: either favorable or hostile.
Finally, I honestly didn't ever intend to claim that the Bible was meant to be a science textbook, but hasn't it served at various points in history as exactly that?
Sometimes it is misunderstood as that, by less sophisticated portions of Christianity.
Wasn't the position of the church for at least some time that the Earth must be the center of the universe exactly because of a passage about the Earth being set on its foundations and the sun and moon moving about it?
Yes. Later it was better understood that that was phenomenological language: the same sort that all of us use every day: "the sun comes up and goes down." Or some of the language was poetic and not intended to be literal (as was done in describing God Himself too). Without knowledge of heliocentrism (or any science at all), it's perfectly logical (and not absurd) to assume or conclude that we are stationary and it's the sun that is moving. And many great scientists did that, too (backed up also by Aristotle and other great philosophers). At least one great scientist did even after Copernicus (Tycho Brahe).
I know that it describes the creation of the world, and that description counters many current understandings of the order in which things had to happen; literal readings of scripture aside, when a text says "First this, second this, third that," and so on, that isn't at all poetical or allegorical.
The ancient Hebrews had a very different conception of chronology, and often, texts that we casually interpret as literally chronological, were not intended to be (I've written about the Hebrew conception of time). Early Genesis is a combination of symbolic language (trees and picking fruit, talking serpents) and some real, literal things (the earth did have a beginning — as science also tells us –; there was a primal human pair, who did "fall" and rebel against God). The word for "day" (yom) was understood to not have to be literal, at least as far back as St. Augustine (d. 430).
I suppose the point that I am trying to make is that it is all well and good to say in modernity, "the Bible isn't a science textbook," exactly because we now have science textbooks. Prior to that invention, far more stock was put in the Bible's capacity to explain the world, and that stock has only receded in response to the epistemological successes of science.
Yeah; science (originating in a Christian worldview, not an atheist one; formulated in Christian and medieval minds) was a great advance in human knowledge about the material world, and even interpretation of the Bible was improved because of it. I think that's great. It didn't prove that the Bible was wrong; only that we interpreted it wrongly in some respects. Biblical interpretation is a human field of knowledge where we can improve and do better over time. The Bible itself didn't change, but over time our understanding of it can improve.
That is the loss that I refer to. It isn't that the church has tried to stymie science, just that by its own hand it has limited the Bible to spiritual matters (whether that amounts to a diminishing of the Bible's stature is another matter, and I suspect that you don't believe that it is at all).
The Bible is primarily about spiritual matters. When it touches upon matters that are scientific in nature it is not inconsistent with science. We believe that God created the universe ex nihilo. Science eventually figured out that it began in an instant with a Big Bang (the theory was formulated by a Catholic priest-scientist), which was not inconsistent with our existing view at all. It's quite harmonious with it. Science came up with evolution (conceived in a then-theist — not atheist — mind, by Charles Darwin).
Nothing in the Bible requires us to believe that Adam was necessarily created in an instant. It says that God made Him from the dust ("the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground": Gen 2:7, RSV). The "formed" could very well have been a process of millions of years, from matter. It's interesting that it doesn't say that God created man out of nothing, but from the dust (matter). To me, that almost implies process itself.
Thus, there is no necessary contradiction. The real contradiction comes with materialistic science, that attempts (inconsistently, among some scientists) to rule out God as impossible in the whole process (even with regard to ultimate origins). That contradicts Catholicism and the Bible (and I would say, logic as well). But evolution itself does not, as long as God isn't arbitrarily / dogmatically excluded from the process.
And so on and so forth. No unanswerable contradiction between Christianity and science has been demonstrated.
Photo credit: Albert duce (10-8-09). The main sanctuary of the Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church, in Detroit [Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license]


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keep your fingers crossed
Also found in: Acronyms.
keep (one's) fingers crossed
To hope for good luck or that something will happen. The actual gesture, which does not have to accompany the phrase, involves crossing one's middle finger over the index finger as a superstition believed to bring good luck or ward off bad luck. Cross your fingers that this is the package we've been waiting for. OK, I've been crossing my fingers—did you get the job?
keep your fingers crossedor
cross your fingers
COMMON If you keep your fingers crossed or cross your fingers, you hope for luck or success in something. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes well. We all cross our fingers and hope it never happens. But if long-term illness struck tomorrow, could you keep paying the bills? Note: People say fingers crossed when they are wishing someone good luck or hoping for good luck for themselves. We don't have tickets but we're going anyway. Fingers crossed we'll be able to get in. Note: People sometimes actually cross their middle finger over their index finger when they use this expression or are wishing someone good luck. In the past, people believed that making the sign of the cross in this way was a way of protecting themselves from the devil or bad luck.
have/keep your ˈfingers crossed,
cross your ˈfingers(informal) hope that something will be successful; wish somebody good luck: I'm going to give my first lecture tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed for me, won't you? ♢ Good luck, Ingrid. Fingers crossed!
People often cross the first two fingers of one hand when they use this expression.


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Islands of New England 2020-2021 (New York City to Boston)
7 days with Blount Small Ship Adventures Rating:
Day 1 New York, NY
Admire the postcard-perfect view of the Big Apple's world-famous skyline, then enjoy a day of leisure and adventure. From lovely Battery Park to dazzling Times Square and the neon lights of Broadway, New York City is an eclectic mix of cultures and attractions sure to excite travel lovers from all walks of life.
Day 2 Block Island, RI
Block Island, RI has been named one of The Nature Conservancy's "12 Last Great Places in the Western Hemisphere." With over 40% of its land dedicated to conservation, the island offers endless beaches and supreme sailing opportunities. An optional tour introduces you to gorgeous Mohegan Bluffs, where green hills plunge toward crashing waves. Or, enjoy an Eco-kayaking tour.
Day 3 Newport, RI
Arrive in picturesque Newport, RI, known for yachting, world-class dining and shopping, and spectacular mansions. An optional tour of Newport includes visiting The Breakers, an opulent Gilded Age "summer cottage." Tonight, enjoy sunset views of Fort Adams and the iconic Newport Bridge.
Day 4 Martha's Vineyard
Enjoy a full day on Martha's Vineyard, a laidback summer getaway loaded with colonial charm where several U.S. Presidents have vacationed. On an optional tour, visit Edgartown, home to the Vineyard's most famous lighthouse; West Tisbury, a "typical New England village"; Oak Bluffs, featuring colorful gingerbread cottages; the Gay Head cliffs, and much more!
Day 5 Nantucket, MA
Nantucket Island, MA welcomes you this morning with its iconic Cape Cod charm. Begin with an optional tour of Nantucket's pristine beaches, fishing ports, old-style lighthouses, and bright cranberry bogs. Later, enjoy time to explore the Nantucket Whaling Museum, or stroll through the brick-lined streets lined with historic clapboard homes and local shops. This evening, cruise to Martha's Vineyard.
Day 6 Plymouth, MA
In 1620, English settlers, known as Pilgrims, boarded their ship, Mayflower, from Plymouth England and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in search of religious freedom. As one the country's first settlements, Plymouth is also known as "America's Hometown". Be sure to stop by the Pilgrim Hall Museum, the oldest continuously operating museum in the US.
Day 7 Boston, MA
Your voyage begins in beautiful Boston, one of the country's most historic cities. Relax and unpack as you take in the gorgeous view of the city's skyline, where towering skyscrapers mingle with colonial steeples.
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How could anything be more delightful than hopscotching your way across the islands of New England in the summer? New England is pretty in any season but imagine seeing its full blossoming glory from the deck of our cruise ship as we set sail out of New York City or Boston.
You'll experience 7 unforgettable days that take you to storybook villages on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, to the cozy beauty and pristine beaches of Block Island.
You'll visit Newport, RI, where you can shop, stroll or choose from optional excursions like sailing on an America's Cup boat, or touring its famous mansions.
From our ship, you'll see rocky cliffs that seem to plunge into the surf, as well as brave lighthouses that stand ready to warn to sailors of the perils of the sea. And, of course, at every port, you will find exquisitely delicious New England seafood. Lobster, scallops, fried clams and authentic New England clam chowder—it doesn't get any better than this! Welcome aboard!
Category I cabin onboard the Grande Caribe or Grande Mariner
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* The prices shown are U.S. dollars per person, based on double occupancy, and subject to availability. Prices quoted for land/cruise arrangements are subject to increase without notice. Once we have received your deposit, land/cruise prices are guaranteed. Air prices quoted via phone or email are subject to increase and are guaranteed only from the time that full payment is received. Also, air prices or air promotions mentioned on this site or on the phone do not include baggage fees imposed by airlines.


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Mechanika Inwazja Motywy Magpie
Magpie / Sroczka
Co to jest:
Magpie. Usually, a small creature or entity which steals shinies and valuables. By itself, magpie is not dangerous. However, the magpie nest can be located in a very unpleasant location; also, a magpie is able to acquire something dangerous. Maybe it is a small crystallized bomb which will explode? Maybe it is a secret of some kind? Whatever it is, magpie has managed to snag it and run away with it. Magpie will try to get the shiny to its nest; it may get distracted and drop it. A shiny may get stolen from it.
All in all, we are talking about a small not dangerous thief which is not necessarily a human.
to snatch valuables / shinies
- relocate its nest to <location>
- snatch <something> valuable from <someone>
- acquire a key evidence / information related to <event>
- be hunted down by <someone>
- snatch <something> extremely dangerous
- snatch <something> embarassing or secret
- get blamed for <something>, innocently (<someone> else did it)
- snatch <something> and incite <event>; <someone> else is blamed for snatching
- get robbed by <someone> of <something>
- reveal its nest in unaccessible <location>
- get distracted / bribed by a different <something> which shines more
- get trained by <someone> to snatch <something> specifically
- reveal to <someone> a hidden secret of <something>
- be a part of a hot pursuit: be chased by <someone> under often ridiculous circumstances
- lose <something> shiny in transit
- drop breadcrumbs leading to a <location>
- find a lost / hidden <location> and start 'collecting' from it
- get identified by <someone>; get spotted / caught in act
- be pursued by multiple parties wanting the same; lead them to contact with each other
- lead <someone> to extreme danger (to location or object)
- have a solution to <someone>'s problem in its nest; reveal that information


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She extended an olive branch to her detractors and those threatening her with death, saying she is willing to change if she wronged anybody
Kampala minister, Beti Kamya, has said her life is in danger.
Kamya, who addressing journalists on Thursday morning at her office in Kampala, said she is bothered by death threats emanating from a carefully crafted list of people targeted for assassination, which has been circulated by unknown people.
The Kampala minister told journalists that she has seen the 'death' list and that she has since undertaken precautionary measures.
"I am bothered about these death threats. I now can't move without security," Kamya said.
On the other hand, Kamya, a former opposition die-hard, who recently joined President Yoweri Museveni's government, as a senior minister in charge of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), has extended an olive branch to her detractors and those threatening her with death, saying she is willing to change if she wronged anybody.
"I do not fear death but that does not mean we should not take precautions. But let them give me reasons why they are listing me on the death targets. If there is something wrong that I am doing or if I upset someone, I am ready to correct it," she said.
Kamya, however, said she does not regret joining government.
"From the time I joined government, my life has been threatened. But, I do not regret joining government," she said.
Of late a number of public dignitaries, including ministers and MPs, have come out to express concern about the unending death threats.
These death threats have come against the backdrop of systematic assassinations in the country, such as that of the former Buyende District Police Commander, Muhammad Kirumira, former Arua Municipality MP, Ibrahim Abiriga, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Andrew Felix Kaweesi and a number of Muslim sheiks.
In November 2016, other unknown gunmen shot dead Sheikh Maj. Mohammed Kiggundu, a former commander of the rebel outfit, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who had denounced rebellion.
To curb the rising criminality, on Independence Day, President Yoweri Museveni launched the National Command and Control Centre for the CCTV camera project, which is stationed, at Natete Police Station to monitor crime.
During the launch, a total of 150 CCTV cameras were tested to monitor Lungujja, Old Kampala, Rubaga, Kasubi, Kawaala, Kabowa, Natete, Mutundwe and surrounding areas.


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The Commodity Procurement Program of the Agricultural Marketing Service issues invitations to the public to purchase commodities and related durable goods. Below are links for more details on how to qualify to make offers under the various categories.
Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)
The goal of QASP is to provide Government surveillance of the contractor's/subcontractor's quality control system, to verify the system's effectiveness, and to ascertain the contractor's ability to deliver product meeting contract requirements. Quality Assurance Surveillance is used to determine contractor compliance with technical and performance requirements. Download a sample quality assurance surveillance checklist, to be used by Commodity Procurement COR's verifying compliance with FAR Clause 52.246-11.
- Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (pdf)
- Sample QSAP Checklist (pdf)
- Archived QASP effective Apr 15 - 24, 2008 (pdf)
Bulk Commodities provides information about purchasing and selling of bulk commodities, such as grains, rice, pulses, peanuts and sugar.


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This September, Cultivate are partnering with local chef Jack Greenall of Smoke and Thyme to present their 'Bring the Harvest Home' campaign, a fantastic series of special offers, events, recipes and tastes that celebrates the best local, ethical and delicious produce of the season.
The highlight of the campaign will be two very special Pop-Up Restaurant nights at the Restore Garden Cafe taking place on the 14th and 21st October and coinciding with the Oxford Food and Drink Festival Fringe. Curated and created by Smoke and Thyme, each night will feature a 7 course vegetable tasting menu made with the best seasonal fruit and veg. Although the menu is completely suitable for vegetarians, we want to bring the delicious possibilities of harvest produce to everyone. Which is why we're encouraging vegetarians to bring a non-veggie friend along to show them how fresh, seasonal vegetables can be the star of a meal.
On top of this, every week through September-November 2016, Cultivate will be celebrating at each of their VegVan and Market Stops by offering seasonal recipes, free tasters, chances to win harvest hampers and by selling the best local ethical and delicious produce Oxfordshire has to offer. We'll also be proudly popping up in their trusty VegVan at the Botley Food Festival on Saturday 17th September, The Earth Trust Autumn Water Festival on Sunday 2nd October, Barracks Lane Harvest Festival on Saturday 8th October and at the Oxford Food & Drink Festival Sunday 16th October.
The 'Bring The Harvest Home' campaign will showcase all the fabulous seasonal produce available in our local area and encourage people to make the most of it at this time when it's at it's best and brightest. With so many exciting things planned in the coming weeks it will be easy for everyone in Oxfordshire to enjoy the season and truly 'Bring The Harvest Home'.
Click Here For more info or to book your place on the Harvest Tasting menu


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Remember this is an audiobook of interviews -- I don't own the paper copy, and I downloaded, so do not even have the CD cover -- the names of the characters are only mentioned once or twice at most. As you listen they become, "The Russian soldier," "the Chinese doctor," stuff like that, and the chapter names are the places the narrator talks to them, not the place the action in the chapter happens (Meteora, Greece, is the chapter that has the Canadian soldier).
So, I made a list that includes the chapter place, the character name, and the voice actor, plus what I called the character in my head and some annotations about each chapter to jog a memory or two. (The ones without parenthetical character names I haven't listened to yet.) I tried not to be spoilery, but there may be some hints in the following...
World War Z Complete Audiobook – Chapters, Characters, Cast
Introduction Max Brooks as The Interviewer
- Greater Chongqing, United Federation of China [Patient Zero/The First Case] -- Steve Park as Kwang Jingshu (the Chinese doctor)
- Lhasa, the People's Republic of Tibet [Smuggler seeing signs] -- Frank Kamai as Nury Televadi (smuggler)
- Meteora, Greece [Bandits in cave/Canadian soldier's account] -- Nathan Fillion as Stanley MacDonald (Canadian soldier)
- The Amazon Rain Forest, Brazil [virus-infected heart transplant] -- Paul Sorvino as Fernando Oliveira (corrupt doctor)
- Bridgetown Harbor, Barbados, West Indies Federation [South African slum outbreak] -- Ade M'Cormack as Jacob Nyathi (Black South African)
- Tel Aviv, Israel [Gathering Evidence/The Warmbrunn-Knight Report] -- Carl Reiner as Jurgen Warmbrunn (Israeli spy)
- Bethlehem, Palestine [Militant Son/Family Move to Israel] -- Waleed Zuiater as Saladin Kader (Rebelling son)
- Langley, Virginia USA [CIA director/CIAs non-response] -- Jay O. Sanders as Bob Archer (CIA guy)
- Vaalajarvi, Finland [The Military/America's response] -- Dennis Boutsikaris as General Travis D'Ambrosia (military brass)
- Vostok Station, Antarctica [Capitalist who marketed vaccine] -- Martin Scorsese as Breckinridge "Breck" Scott (moneymaker without remorse)
- Amarillo, Texas, USA [Former White House chief-of-staff] -- Simon Pegg as Grover Carlson (White House spin doctor)
- Troy, Montana, USA [Zombies attack family in suburbia] -- Denise Crosby as Mary Jo Miller (suburban mom)
- Parnell Air National Guard Base: Memphis, Tennessee, USA [Highway traffic jam/zombies] -- Bruce Boxleitner as Gavin Blaire (derigible pilot)
- Alang, India [Ship Scrapyard] -- Ajay Naidu as Ajay Shah (Indian refugee)
- Topeka, Kansas, USA [Feral children; church attack] -- Nicki Clyne as Sharon (4-year-old)
- Khuzhir, Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, the Holy Russian Empire [Russian army experiences/decimation] -- Jeri Ryan as Maria Zhuganova (Female Russian Soldier)
- Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies Federation [Famous Millionaire's Haven] -- Henry Rollins as T. Sean Collins (merc)
- Ice City, Greenland [Iran & Pakistan] -- Maz Jobrani as Ahmed Farahnakian (Iranian pilot)
- Denver, Colorado, USA [The Battle of Yonkers] -- Mark Hamill as Todd Wainio (Army infrantry)
- Robben Island, Cape Town Province, United States of Southern Africa [The Redeker Plan] -- Eamonn Walker as Paul Redeker and Xolelwa Azania (South African plan)
- Armagh, Ireland [Hamburg, Germany, Army withdrawal] -- Jürgen Prochnow as Philip Adler (West German soldier)
- Yevchenko Veterans' Sanatorium, Odessa, Ukraine (Kiev bridge blown to prevent zombies crossing) -- David Ogden Stiers as Bohdan Tara Kondratiuk (Kievian soldier)
- Sand Lakes Provincial Wilderness Park, Manitoba, Canada [Family Flight to Canada] -- Michelle Kholos as Jesika Hendricks (little girl flees)
- Udaipur Lake Palace, Lake Pichola, Rajasthan, India [General Raj-Singh; monkeys and blowing the pass] -- Kal Penn as Sardar Khan (Indian soldier with the monkeys)
- Taos, New Mexico [DeStRes, talent and tools] -- Alan Alda as Arthur Sinclair (DeStRes guy)
- Burlington, Vermont [Vice President, capital punishment] -- Rob Reiner as "The Whacko" (VP)
- Wenatchee, Washington [Wheelchair Home Watch; quizlings] -- Dean Edwards as Joe Muhammad (wheelchair neighborhood watch guy)
- Malibu, California [Countering suicides with success stories] -- Frank Darabont as Roy Elliot (director)
- Parnell Air National Guard Base, Tennessee [Pilot of downed plane] -- Becky Ann Baker as Christina Eliopolis (Downed pilot)
- Province of Bohemia, the European Union [Castles, She wouldn't leave] -- Eamonn Walker as David Allen Forbes (Englishman)
- Ulithi Atoll, Federated States of Micronesia [Radio Free Earth] -- Parminder Nagra as Barati Palshigar (Radio translator)
- The Demilitarized Zone: South Korea [North Korea mystery] -- Brian Tee as Hyungchoi Choi (South Korean)
- Kyoto, Japan [Okatu, hacker escape] -- Masi Oka as Kondo Tatsumi (Japanese hacker)
- Kyoto, Japan [Blind monk] -- Frank Kamai as Sensei Tomonaga Ijiro (blind monk)
- Cienfuegos, Cuba [Defending Cuba] -- John Turturro as Seryosha Garcia Alvarez
- Patriot's Memorial, the Forbidden City, Beijing, China [Chinese submarine] -- Ric Young as Admiral Xu Zhicai
- Sydney, Australia [Space station] -- Alfred Molina as Terry Knox
- Ancud, Isla Grande de Chiloe, Chile [Saratoga Conference of Nations] -- John McElroy as Ernesto Olguin
- Aboard the Mauro Altieri, 3000 feet above Vaalajarvi, Finland [Total War] -- General D'Ambrosia
- Denver, Colorado [The First Fight – Hope, New Mexico] -- Todd Wainios
- Ainsworth, Nebraska, USA [K9/soldier teams] -- Common as Darnell Hackworth
- Siberia, the Holy Russian Empire [Russian tactics; priests' role] -- F. Murray Abraham as Father Sergei Ryzhkov
- Aboard the USS Holo Kai, off the Coast of the Hawaiian Islands [Fighting undersea zombies] -- Brian Tee as Master Chief Petty Officer Michael Choi (Diver)
- Quebec, Canada [Paris tunnels] -- René Auberjonois as Andre Renard
- Denver, Colorado – A Day Later [The Road to New York] -- Todd Wainios
- Burlington, Vermont -- The Whacko (VP)
- Khuzhir, Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal, the Holy Russian Empire -- Maria Zhuganova (Female Russian soldier)
- Bridgetown Harbor, Barbados, West Indies Federation -- T. Sean Collins (merc)
- Sand Lakes Provincial Wilderness Park, Manitoba, Canada -- Jesika Hendricks (fleeing child)
- Troy, Montana, USA -- Mary Jo Miller (suburban mom)
- Chongqing, China -- Kwang Jing-shu (Chinese doctor)
- Wenatchee, Washington -- Joe Muhammad (Wheelchair neighborhood watch artist)
- Taos, New Mexico, USA -- Arthur Sinclair (DeStRes guy)
- Kyoto, Japan -- Sensei Tomonaga Ijiro (blind monk)
- Armagh, Ireland -- Philip Adler (West German soldier)
- Tel Aviv, Israel -- Jurgen Warmbrunn (Israeli spy)
- Aboard USS Tracy Bowden -- Michael Choi (diver)
- Denver, Colorado -- Todd Wainios (Army infantry guy)
Resources used:
My own listening plus


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Lucas delivers keynote address at Transnet Event
On Thursday morning, 11 July 13, Lucas gave a powerful address during the day session of Transnet's CE Excellence of Awards Ceremony at Theatre on the Track, Kyalami near Johannesburg. As the keynote speaker, Lucas talked about the attributes of a winning mentality and how focused leadership and teamwork help foster that in business, sports and life.
Lucas supports Transnet's continued investment into the infrastructure of South Africa. Afterwards he said: "I am proud to have contributed in some small way to the company whose teams are so integral to moving SA forward. And they do so with an emphasis on safety and reliability, which as a former defender I can fully appreciate!"
The CE's Excellence of Awards is an annual event that is aimed at recognizing, appreciating and acknowledging employee's excellent performance. At the Gala Dinner Lucas jointly presented the award for Teamwork with former South African International cricketer Makhaya Ntini.
Transnet, the company behind South African business, prides itself on delivering integrated, efficient, safe, reliable, and cost-effective service. It is committed to safety and sustaining investment to improve asset utilization and customer satisfaction. The company's goal is to be one of the top 5 railroads in the world by 2018.
View the image galleries of the event below:
Transnet Freight Rail Awards Day.
Transnet Freight Rail Awards Gala Dinner.


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Thursday, April 20, 2006
Fabric Worthiness
To my dear, dear friends . . . if you want to know one thing I am absolutely passionate about, it is fabric. I just love fabric. The clip of this (ahem) redhead rubbing the fabric up to her cheek – um, yes, this is entirely me (redhair and all). All my projects have to go through a fabric-worthiness beauty pageant. Most times, the fabric gets neatly folded and put away again. I honestly just cannot bear to cut it, unless of course I have yards upon yards to spare and cherish and rub up to my cheek for years to come.
Yes, I do have a fabric stash, or should I say "section" of the house. I'm beginning to feel it is a contagious disease – this fabric hoarding. (Just ask my friends Tammy and Karen – I'm sure they'll concur.) Oh, for the love of textiles! I even have an annual trip to one of the most fabulous fabric stores that I save up for each year.
I do not know whether it is the colors, the designs, the prints, the vintage-flair to most of my collection, or just my personality, but I am like a kid in a candy store when it comes to shopping for fabric. I even like the word. F a b r i c - it just sounds nice. Be sure and click here… you'll see my hearts desire and passion when it comes to my stash… I've already found some new prints I want to just buy! If I could afford to buy bolts and bolts at a time, I most definitely would – (er…um, have). No project in mind, just to have it on hand for when I do have a project, er… uh, when I do have uh… OH!, for the LUV!… when I need to just rub it against my cheek.
Posted by R at 12:44 AM
3 comments:
- Unknown said...
Love love love that yellow fabric. I've sworn to use up some of my stash before I buy more. It's painful but it's the only way I can continue to get unbridled permission to buy at my own discretion. (sigh)
- R said...
Thanks, Karen... I think I'm stumbling all over myself with eQuilter... since the quality, I'm sure, is the same as Quilt Crossing. Yes, I bought some last night. shhhhhhhh! ;)
- JD said...
Cute bloggy!! I am the same about soft flannel baby fabric. Hate to cut.
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text: Carrn 284 Report post Posted November 13, 2015 For those of you who haven't read it already: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/19955666/legion-class-preview-series-rogue-11-12-2015 Let's talk! What do you like? What don't you like? I think the changes for Sin and Combat / Outlaw are absolutely fantastic, but I'm sort of on the fence about Sub. The whole gun thing looks too cool, and might finally add some dynamic elements to playing Combat. Sin becoming a more fast-paced spec is really appealing too, since that was my main complaint about it before (other than it just straight up not being very good) What about ya'll? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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