There are ‘good’ characters and ‘bad’ characters – though quite often, I like the ones in between. I think it’s important to distinguish peripheral charaters just as much as the main ones – it gives a sense of reality, especially in the context of a community – and these are the characters which often fall into a third category, which I call ‘neutral’. The point of this blog is to see if you can disinguish a character’s alignment, just from the way I present them.

I like my characters to come across as real people – just like those you would meet in every day life and in order to do that, you need to describe them in ways which allow readers to get to know them – not just through their appearance, but their actions and mannerisms, the way they talk, the way they move and in some cases, even the way they think.

On to a few of the characters themselves, from my debut novel ‘Beginnings’

Here are some examples of the descriptive passages I use, to depict the some of the people in my book – starting with their actions:

Leaning back against the sofa, she closed her eyes. She was dragged down with exhaustion and tried to swallow, but with some difficulty – her throat felt so dry. Jake, who was carefully watching her, recognised the signs – especially when she touched her hand to her throat. Without another word, he wandered into the kitchen and made two mugs of tea – then found a clean cloth from the cupboard and dampened it slightly with water, still warm from the tap. Once he was settled down next to her, he then took her chin gently in his hand, tilting her face towards him from where he proceeded to wipe her face – smoothing the away the dirt as well as the salt trails from the tears which had dried on her cheeks.

The gentleness of his actions speak volumes, suggesting he is a good character – which he is. Jake is an innocent rock musician from Holland, forced into hiding.

Read on to learn more about the law of vibration.

We Come From One Universal Source.

According to the law of vibration, all of us are a part of something bigger than ourselves. We all have different names for this universal source.

In the context of the new age, however, this universal source is often called the universal consciousness or the super conscious mind. The universal consciousness is everywhere. We can’t escape it because we are a part of it. We don’t always see the connection with it, but it is there.

Now that you’re aware of its existence (in a sense, you have been awakened), you’ll have an easier time connecting with the universal consciousness.

We Are All Vibrations.

As part of the universal consciousness, we’re all somehow connected to one another. We are all vibrations. The trees, the rock, our bodies… In fact, we are all in a constant state of motion.

Don’t believe me? Why don’t you try standing as still as possible. Even though you have willed yourself to stop moving, the particles and other body building forms of matter inside you are still in motion. Even if you hold your breath, the molecules and atoms that make up your body aren’t at a standstill. In that sense, we all affect one another as vibrations.

We Need To Signal Positive Vibrations.

The law of vibration is strongly connected to the law of attraction. Basically, we send vibrations out into the world and to the universe every second of everyday.

If we send out negative vibrations, negative things come back to us. However, if we send out positive vibrations, positive things manifest in our lives. It sounds very simple, but that is actually the way life is (and supposed to be).

The law of vibration is evident in the world around us. Even science agrees with this one. And if you think that this is just another crazy spiritual trend, think again.

The law of vibration has been around for much longer than you might think. It’s just that humankind didn’t realize it for what it was.

Like this article? Receive a law of attraction   lesson daily by: Clicking Here

Initially this situation seemed like a usual robbery, but an investigation by Columbia College journalism students show otherwise. There are numerous inconsistencies in the witnesses’ stories and flaws in the investigation. Officer Haile was cleared only six hours after the shooting. The round table only lasted 40 minutes, and the officers and investigators didn’t wait for the autopsy results.

Also, there was only one identifiable fingerprint on the gun’s magazine, and it did not match Brooks or Rivera. The fingerprints weren’t matched to Haile or Fairley’s and still remains unknown.

According to the Round Table police report, on September 14, 2001 at 1:50 a.m. Officer Robert Haile, #12431, of the 007^th District, who had just gotten off duty for the night and was in civilian dress went to Reese’s Lounge, 1827 W. 87^th St. When he arrived, the bar was closing so he did not enter. He went over to his friend Sylvester Fairley who told Haile about damage that was recently done to his beloved midnight blue Corvette. Both walked to the lounge garage driveway where the car was parked to observe the damage.

Then the two headed back to the lounge, walking north on Honore. Soon after leaving the car they noticed a man, later found out to be Lajuanzo Brooks, 21, wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, jeans and white gym shoes, come out of the alley and quickly approach them.

The two split to let Brooks go between them and once he was three or four steps ahead, he turned around to face them. Brooks then raised his sweatshirt to reveal a handgun in his waistband, which he then drew and pointed at the two men. Brooks announced a robbery and told them they might as well “give it all up.” While Fairley reached into his pocket for his valuables, Haile, who was slightly behind Fairley turned sideways to reach behind his right side with his right hand as if getting his wallet.

Brooks asked Haile what he was doing because he was taking a longer time and Haile responded that he was getting his money. Instead, Haile unsnapped his service holster and pulled out his pistol. He pointed the gun at Brooks and told him, “Police, freeze.” Brooks did not drop his weapon, and this was when Haile fired at him five times, hitting Brooks three of those times. Haile was able to demonstrate his movement during the shooting where he shifted his feet to keep Brooks in front of him as Brooks moved toward and past him. Haile said he fired standing two or three feet away from Brooks, and that he was in fear for his life and that of Fairley’s.

Instantly after Brooks was shot, he fell to the grassy parkway and a Chevrolet came from the alley and pulled up near his body. The driver, Jose Rivera, ran from the car to his friend. Officer Haile identified himself and told Rivera to stop. Rivera confronted Haile, so Haile grabbed him. Rivera broke free and tried to grab Brooks’ gun, but was unsuccessful. He was later caught and detained with the help of fellow officers.

Soon after Brooks was taken to Christ Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:45 a.m. Melvin Burnside, the owner of Reese’s Lounge, stated that his lounge attracts many police officers as customers. Everyone included in the Round Table Panel works for the police department, and within this 40-minute meeting the police investigators cleared Haile and decided he was innocent instead of waiting for autopsy results and other key interviews.

Meanwhile, just across town and minutes after Haile was cleared, Dr. Eupil Choi of the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office began conducting Brooks’ autopsy. In the autopsy report he wrote notes on his primary observations of the exterior of the body including Brooks’ fingers having ink on them, meaning his fingerprints were already taken, which he admitted in his deposition as unusual.

Choi was not able to determine the order of the bullet wounds, so he describes them from the top of the body to the bottom. The first was located eight inches from the top of the head at the midline level in the back of the neck, “0.5 inches in diameter with abrasion rim extending from 6 to 12 o’clock.” The fact it had an abrasion rim makes it known that it was an entry wound, and the last part indicates the direction of the bullet by the abrasion or scratch, in this case it went from left to right. The exit wound for this bullet was located on the right side of the neck below and behind the earlobe, and he could tell it was an exit wound due to the minute lacerations surrounding it. This shot did not strike any vital organs and was the least harmful out of the three.

The second gunshot wound is located three inches left of the middle of the back and 18 inches from the top of the head. This wound had a thin marginal abrasion rim, and the direction of the bullet was right to left, back to front and upwards. After entering the skin this bullet struck and fractured Brooks’ ninth rib (counting from top to bottom). The bullet then went through both the lower and upper lobes of the left lung, which caused blood to enter the lung and would make it difficult for Brooks to breathe. The bullet exited through the chest at 12.5 inches from the top of the head.

Gunshot wound no. three entered the body 25 inches from the top of the head and 3.5 inches to the right of the spine, where a thin abrasion was present at the right lower margin of the wound. The bullet entered the abdomen and caused a hemorrhage, then went up through the backside of the kidney and through the stomach. The bullet remained in the body and was found in the front of the spine between the esophagus and the bronchus (the windpipe area). Choi stated that this wound was the most severe because it struck main organs and caused internal bleeding.

In conclusion, every bullet had the same direction, back to front, and all were pointed upward. There was also no stippling around any of the entry wounds, which means the shooter (Haile) was more than 20 inches away from the victim (Brooks). The differences between shots were the bullet angles; the first went from left to right, and the last two went from right to left. Choi explains a toxicology analysis was done to check for alcohol, cocaine and morphine; all three came out negative.

But none of this would matter. Even when police officials learned of Dr. Choi’s findings, they ignored them.

Thomas Smith, chief investigator at this time, spent 26 years with the FBI, nine with the Office of Professional Standards where his duties were to reorganize investigations, get training up to standards, and to make the investigative process more of a scientific and interview basis.

But Brooks’ shooting is a case that shows Smith did not do his job, the investigation, properly.

First of all the autopsy results raised unanswered questions to how exactly Brooks was shot in the back, none which were noted as asked or answered. Smith said the only possible options are that Brooks started to run away or run to the side of Haile after Haile started shooting.

No witnesses were further questioned after the Round Table Report, and some key witnesses are missing such as the still anonymous 911 callers who had a lot of specific detail of what happened.

Cory Wilson, a man who was punched by either Haile or Fairley, is not mentioned in the OPS final report. Detective Lukas basically just rehashed what was said at the Round Table.

After Haile gave his account at the Round Table, he was never called back in for questioning.

Smith also said that he doesn’t know if the detectives canvassed the area, but that it should always be done.

Haile voluntarily submitted to an alcohol breath test, which indicated that his blood alcohol level was .006 at 5:24 a.m. This means Haile had a trace of alcohol in his system only a little over three hours after the shooting occurred.

The only clear fingerprint, on the gun magazine, did not match Brooks or Rivera. It was not compared to Haile or Fairley’s and still remains unmatched.

There were also several witnesses, Wilson, Gant, Burnside, Brown, who never mention seeing a gun next to Brooks’ body. When Smith was questioned as to why he thought Brooks didn’t return gunshots he said, “The critical thing is whether or not Brooks had a gun.” He also agreed that the gun’s serial number should have been traced so they could know who the last owner was.

Smith admitted to signing off on the investigation without actually reading the whole thing, “Well, you know, I probably should have read all of this report, but, you know, it’s apparent I didn’t read all of this.”

Smith declared that he still wouldn’t change his mind from agreeing with Lukas that Haile is not guilty, even if he knew about the fingerprints.

“As we review Paul’s letter to the Romans is his most systematic presentation of the gospel. He explains human sinfulness and the forgiveness that we have in Christ in chapters 1-8. Starting in chapter 12, he moves into the practical results of the gospel…

…”In Romans chapter 14, he will addresses at length a specific problem in the first-century Roman churches, namely, that people had disagreements about different customs and religious convictions. Even though Paul had never been to Rome, he had heard about the controversies,  Sounds like that never changed! Hmmmmm…

…”Disputable matters”…
“Accept the one whose faith is weak, Paul begins, without passing judgment in disputable matters…Romans 14:1…Here, we learn several important things!…

“Some Christians are “weak in the faith” and, as verse 2 explains, they are overly restrictive…hummm…

…”Weak-faith Christians should be accepted”…”not ridiculed”. People grow in faith through love and acceptance, not through ostracism…

“Christians who think they are strong are sometimes tempted to look down on others”…

…”Some matters are disputable. The beliefs and practices that some Christians think are important are unimportant to others…

“One person’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another person, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables…….
……..Paul then addresses the dispute in Rome: One person’s faith allows him to eat anything, but another person, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables…Romans 14:2…Why did some people avoid meat? Perhaps they were influenced by ascetic philosophies, but more likely, the concerns came from Judaism…

“The terms “unclean” and “clean”…Romans 14:14 and 20…were important in Judaism, and as we have seen, the letter to the Romans repeatedly addresses Jews and Gentiles as the most significant divisions in the church…

…”Some…but not all…Jews avoided meat because they could not be sure that the animals had been properly killed…Daniel 1:8…Some Gentiles may have been just as cautious…

…”Accepting sin?”…
“Let’s see how Paul dealt with this situation: The one who eats everything must not look down on the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not condemn the one who does, for God has accepted them…Romans 14:3…The strong-faith Christian should not belittle the weak Christian, and the weak one should not condemn the more permissive Christian…

“What shocking advice! Imagine that you believe it is wrong to eat meat. Paul is not only calling you “weak,” he is also telling you not to condemn people you believe are sinning! Why? Because God accepts people on the basis of faith, not on works!…

…”Paul did not mean that we should accept idolaters, fornicators, thieves and drunkards…1 Cor. 5:11…”The New Testament clearly tells us to avoid certain behaviors”. But it doesn’t address every situation and every behavior, and because of that, there will be differences of opinion within Christianity…

“For example, if we are convinced that wine is bad, we should avoid wine. But we should not call all wine-drinkers sinners, nor should we separate from them. Wine is a disputable matter, and so are days and foods. These are matters for tolerance, not division and criticism…

…”Paul asks: Who are you to judge someone else’s servants? To their own master servants stand or fall…Romans 14:4…”The Lord has called us to serve”..”not judge” If he has been so merciful as to include us, we must let him be merciful to them, too. He will manage his own servants. They will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand…

…”Be fully convinced”…
“Paul then addresses another difference of opinion in the Roman churches: One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind…Romans 14:5…

“In a church composed of Jews and Gentiles, what days would be considered better than others? For some, it would mean weekly Sabbaths and annual festivals; for others, it might mean superstitions about other days. Paul describes it in such a way as to cover both situations. People should act from conviction, not from fear of what others might think…

…”Astonishing! Paul is asking fully convinced Sabbath-keepers to be tolerant of people who ignore the Sabbath. They thought that Sabbath-breakers were unbelievers, but Paul says that they should be accepted. The Sabbath-keepers thought the Sabbath was essential, “but Paul is saying that “it is not”…

“And on the other side, Paul tells those who are strong in faith to respect the weak. They do not have to adopt their restrictions or let them dictate church policy, but they should accept them…

…”Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God..Romans 14:6…Sabbath-keepers are responding to God as best they know how. So are the others. “Meat-eaters and vegetarians” are both trying to obey God. When we are trying to please God, we must be gracious toward one another’s doctrinal errors, because we are all going to have them until the return of Christ, and He sets us strait…….

…”Judged by Christ”…
“Our lives belong to Christ: For none of us lives for ourselves alone, none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord…Romans 14:7-8…On the day of judgment, after we die, we will belong to Christ, but we also belong to him now, while we live. A promise of salvation on the day of judgment does not mean that we can live selfishly in this age…

…”Jesus-Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living…Romans 14:9…He is our Master both now and in our future…

“You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat…Romans 14:10… “God will be the judge” we are not to take his role. We should not say, “They are too liberal to be real Christians”; nor should we say, “They are too legalistic to be real Christians.” We should let God decide that…Matt. 7:1…We should not even look down on another believer…

…”Paul then quotes Isa. 45:23 to show that God will judge every person: “As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God” …Romans 14:11…And Paul concludes, “So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God”..Romans 14:12…Since God will judge each person individually…Paul exhorts, Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another…Romans 14:13…

…”Avoid offense”…
“Paul now speaks to the strong, to those who eat everything, and encourages them to be careful about their freedom. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister…Romans 14:13…We are to be considerate of their beliefs…

“Paul makes his own position clear: I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus-Christ, that nothing is unclean in itself…Romans 14:14…The Torah declared many things to be unclean, but Paul is convinced that in the Christian era, those ritual categories are obsolete. They no longer matter to God but some people do not yet have that understanding…

…”A Christian must balance two needs: first. “Do not let someone else’s conscience dictate what you do” and secondly “Do not let your behavior cause them to sin”….
But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If people think it wrong to eat pork, they should not eat pork, and others should not pressure them into doing it, because for them, it is wrong…

“If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Jesus-Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good to be spoken of as evil…Romans 14:15-16…

…”Jesus-Christ calls us to be considerate of others, without letting their conscience dictate how we live. We cannot become so afraid of offending others that we conform to every sensitivity everyone has. Just because one person in our church thinks it is a sin to drink wine, does not mean that everyone else has to abstain…

“Paul is talking about an offense so serious that the person would be spiritually destroyed, someone who might think, “If Christianity allows that, then I don’t want Christianity.”

…”For the “Kingdom of God” is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy-Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval…Romans 14:17-18… That is, be willing to abstain, because the kingdom does not require you to exercise all your liberties. Righteousness does not require eating, nor does it require abstaining, because it comes through faith in Christ…

“Good behavior does not earn us a place in God’s kingdom, for we all fall short, but it is a good reflection of what God’s reign produces, and his kingdom does not have rules about what we eat and drink…

…”A plea for peace”…
“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification…Romans 14:19…We are to teach one another what is true, and try to live peaceably with one another despite our differences. With peace and mutual acceptance, people will learn the truth about foods and days…

“Paul then warns the strong, who have the right doctrine but the wrong attitude: Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall…Romans 14:20-21…

…”If you are too aggressive, you will drive the weak people away from Christ, and consequently “destroy the work of God” that is being done in their lives. Paul is not dealing with minor personal preferences, but major questions of faith and apostasy, you have seen the ones who go around damming people to hell, if they don’t do what they tell them to do and to think, their own salvation is the one really in question!

“So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God,Paul did not keep his own position a secret…Romans 14:20-22…but he did not badger the weak to eat and drink what he did. He did not pressure people to violate their own consciences…

…”Paul is clearly on the side of liberty, but he also sounds a warning: Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves…Romans 14:22…In other words, make sure that your freedom in Christ does not hurt others. Yes, you may eat pork, but if you pressure a weak person to eat pork and cause that person to fall away from Christ, you have sinned…

“But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat…This reveals what the problem was. It was

Are you being a Stumbling Block to others?

not that vegetarians were annoyed when others ate meat…rather… vegetarians were being pressured to eat meat themselves, even when they believed it was wrong. In their minds, they thought they were disobeying Christ, and the pressure was destroying their allegiance to him…

…”In such a case, their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin…Romans 14:23…The problem was not in the food, but in their perception. The conscience should be obeyed…but it should also be educated…

“On some matters, Christians may have different beliefs, but they should not push those beliefs onto others. People should not be “tricked”…”shamed or coerced” into behavioral change”…they should be taught. It all comes back to faith. “We are saved by faith”, not by observing or avoiding certain days and foods…

…”Paul will continue this subject in the next chapter….Until then…have a great day in our Lord and Saviour Jesus-Christ!!!

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“In Romans 12, Paul wrote that we should be “living sacrifices”, transformed in our minds so that we please God and do his will. Paul described the attitudes that should characterize believers: humility, service, love and peace. In chapter 13, Paul gets specific about how a Christian “should respond to civil authorities”…

…”Submission to civil government”…
“Yes..Paul writes..”Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities” for there is no authority except that which God has established…Romans 13:1…Rulers have sometimes used this verse to tell their citizens to obey, but many citizens have rightly wondered if this is what Paul meant, because rulers sometimes tell people to sin. Paul himself once had authority that he used to persecute the church, so how can he say that all authority comes from God?…….

“Remember the context, Paul has just written several verses about how we should respond to evil, and he concludes, “Overcome evil with good”…Romans 12:21… Although government authority is established by God, and is good in itself, it is sometimes used in an evil way. Christians should not fight against the government, repaying evil for evil, but are to respond with good behaviour…

…”Paul is giving a general principle, not writing about specific rulers. We do not subject ourselves to specific people, or pay taxes to specific people, rather, we submit to the office, and when a new person is in office, we submit to the new person, not the old one. Once a person is out of office, we do not owe that person any allegiance or payments. The “authorities” that Paul writes about areroles, not specific people…

“Submit” does not always mean “obey,” but it usually does, and Christians should be willing to obey civil authority. If the government commands a sin, then we have to disobey…Acts 5:29…but that does not mean that we can fight against the government on other issues. We do not conform to the world…Romans 12:2…but “neither do we try to overthrow it”…Remember God put in charge whomever He wish…

…”When Paul wrote this, he was planning to visit Jerusalem, where there were many political tensions. Jewish Zealots were taking up weapons to fight against Rome. There were also political difficulties in Rome: Jews had been involved in so many disturbances that Claudius had forced them to leave…Acts 18:2…After Claudius died, many Jews returned, but the tensions were still there…

“Paul knows that his advice will not be accepted automatically, so he supports it with theological principles: The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted…

…”If Caesar demands to be called “Lord and God” as Domitian did a few decades after Paul wrote, Christians should refuse, even at risk of their lives. But there is a big difference between refusing to obey one law, and a rebellion that claims that Caesar should not rule. It is not wrong to resist specific injustices, but it is wrong to work against government itself. Those who rebel against a God-ordained authority will bring judgment on themselves. Civil government is temporary, but none the less it has been established by God…Dan. 4:17; John 19:11…It is not our place to try to overthrow the government…What God decides stays…

“Paul is writing about a dictatorial government, “not a democracy”. In a democracy, all citizens are given a small amount of authority each time they vote, and it is not a sin for people to use that authority. They are not rebelling against the government even if they are voting for a new person to fill the office. Quite the contrary: they are supporting the government by participating in it…

…”Even Nero, servant of God”…
“Then Paul explains how rebels might be punished: For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Empires are built on the blood of thousands of innocent victims. Jesus himself was killed by the Roman government. But when civil rulers are performing their God-ordained role, they are a threat to evildoers, not to those who obey the laws…

“Paul is giving a general principle, not addressing all the confusing situations that sin creates. He does not say what we should do in a civil war, or when the rulers are so corrupt that they terrorize good people and support criminals!!!…

…”Paul asks, Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. If you are a law-abiding citizen, you should have no reason to fear the government. However, governments sometimes go awry and persecute Christians. Revelation 13, using imagery from Daniel, depicts civil government as a terrifying “beast.” And we are seeing these things going on today!

“Paul then makes the astonishing statement: For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. When Paul wrote Romans….”Nero was the emperor”…In his early years, he was a good ruler. But he turned evil, and tradition says that Paul was executed under his reign…”But Paul calls him “the minister of God!!!…The fact that rulers often sin, even serving Satan at times, does not change the fact that God designed those roles to be used for good…

…”But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. “Rulers are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Civil rulers serve God by bearing the sword, Paul says. They have authority from God to execute rebels. Genesis 9:6..authorizes capital punishment for murder. God “authorized even imperfect governments to administer the “death penalty” to punish and deter crime…….

“God has the authority to punish evil…Romans 12:19…and he delegates that authority to civil rulers. Personal vengeance is wrong, but civil rulers have the God-assigned responsibility to punish evil. When we report crime to the police, we are seeking the justice that God has designed. Since God wants civil justice, it is permissible for a Christian to serve on the police force, or as a judge, or on a jury, doing what God has declared good, punishing crime not for our own vengeance, but acting on behalf of the civil government that God has authorized…..et-voila…

…”We should Let God be God”…Paul concludes, Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. We should obey civil laws not only because the civil government might punish us if we don’t, but also because God wants us to be law-abiding people ….1 Peter 2:12-14….

…”Taxes, too”…
“Paul then moves from general principles to the more specific matter of taxes:This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing…Romans 13:6…Since civil rulers have a legitimate, God-ordained function, it is right for us to pay taxes to support this service. Rulers are never perfect, but they are still worthy of their wages, and “God does not want us to rebel against that role”…

“Nero changed the tax system in A.D. 58 because of a widespread outcry against the greed of the tax collectors. Paul wrote shortly before that, when the resentment was growing. But a tax revolt would be bad for the Christian community. Paul did not want the believers to be associated with rebellion especially when Christ himself had been executed for anti-government activity in Judea! Such a reputation would make it difficult for Paul to spread the gospel…

…”Just as Paul began this section with a comment about what “everyone” should do, he concludes with a command for everyone: Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor…Romans 13:7…Taxes are a debt that should be paid, he implies. We should also pay customs duties, commissions, royalty fees and other obligations spelled out by law. We also have intangible obligations: to respect and honor government officials…Acts 23:5; 1 Peter 2:17…not for their private lives, but for their God-ordained role of restraining evil…

“Since we should respond to evil with good, blessing even those who persecute us …Romans 12:14-21…in most situations we should cooperate with civil authorities, since they have a God-ordained function in society. The basic Christian ethic is not to fight for our own benefit, but to do good to others…

…”Paul’s “own experience with the government” is an example of a balanced approach. When he was on trial for his life in Judea, he was respectful, but he did not passively submit to whatever the rulers wanted. Rather, he used his rights as a Roman citizen to prevent a flogging…Acts 22:25…and to prevent being sent back to Jerusalem…Acts 25:11…

“The government gave citizens the right of appeal because they knew that their officials sometimes made wrong decisions, and when Paul used his rights, he was not submissive to the specific person in front of him, but he was submissive to the governmental system. In the same way, Christians today can use their rights as citizens to request changes in government policy, including changes in personnel. Voting is not a sign of disrespect, but is an opportunity to use some of the civil authority that God has authorized…

…”The law of love”…
“After saying that we should pay whatever we owe, Paul shifts the subject back to love through a play on words: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another…Romans 13:8; 12:9-10…”Love” is the most basic Christian ethic. We will always need to love one another; it is an eternal obligation…

“Why?….Because whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The way this is written, the logic could imply that “the law” is the primary goal, and love is a stepping-stone toward that goal. But more accurately, love is the goal, and the law provides guidance about how we are to love. Paul then gives some examples of harmful behaviors we should avoid……..

…”The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself”…Romans 13:9..Matt. 22:36… These commandments are not a complete guide to love, they specify a few things to avoid. Written commandments can never be a complete guide to love. Human situations are too diverse for rules to be written about all possibilities. However, the law guides us, it is impossible to love our neighbor while violating these commandments…

“Paul is dealing with laws about how we interact with other people he is not saying how we should show love to God. Now most of the “old covenant laws” about worship are obsolete…

…”Love” does no harm to a neighbor, Paul says, but love must go further than simply avoiding harm, it should actively seek to do good to the neighbor. Paul is summarizing the function of the commandments he quoted. He concludes, Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law…Romans 13:10…If we love others, we have fulfilled the purpose of the law and have gone further than what it requires. If we love our neighbor, we should pay our taxes. Even if the government is evil, we should respond to evil by doing good, not by taking matters into our own hands…

…”We are “Clothed in Christ”…
“Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy…Romans13:13… The Roman Christians were probably not involved in debauchery, but judging from chapter 14, they probably were involved in dissension and jealousy. By grouping these vices together, Paul is implying that competitive attitudes within the congregation are just as inappropriate as debauchery…..The church is to be a community of “brothers and sisters” in the “faith”, not a place where one person vies against another…

“And finally Paul then gives the alternative: Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus-

Nero was the emperor when Paul was executed under his reign But Paul calls him the minister of God?

Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh…Romans 13:14…Drunkenness and immorality come from the sinful nature; so do jealousy and dissension. “Neither are appropriate” for people who “give their allegiance” to Jesus-Christ…When we clothe ourselves with him, imitating him, cooperation and mutual esteem will replace selfishness…

…”And we will continue this biblical study tomorrow Lord Willing! Your dedications and perseverances does not go unnoticed in the eyes of Jesus-Christ our Lord and Saviour!!! Thank-You and may our Heavenly Father gives You all your blessings of life…Have a wonderful and joyous day together with friends and families…Until tomorrow, take good care and invite your friends to our bible study!!

Related articles

• To “Submit” does not always mean “obey” (whatshotn.wordpress.com)
• Attitudes That Please God, Romans 12 (whatshotn.wordpress.com)
• All Israel Will Be Saved, Romans 11 (whatshotn.wordpress.com)
• Sharing in the Life of Christ, Romans 8 Pt. 1 (whatshotn.wordpress.com)
• Romans, Chapter 6, Enslaved to Righteousness or Enslaved to Wickedness? (whatshotn.wordpress.com)
• Israel’s Opportunity for Salvation, Our Study of Romans 10 (whatshotn.wordpress.com)

God Loves You and so do I!

“The True Meaning of Christmas”…”Why and for what purpose”…Must Read….

…”May this Christmas season be a wonderful time of joy in which we remember and celebrate what the birth of Jesus-Christ means for all the world”

“Even though people around the world celebrate Christmas on December 25, that was probably not the actual day on which Jesus was born. Many scholars believe that Jesus was more likely to have been born in September…but it’s not the date that’s important…it’s the celebration…

…”But the Christian celebration of Christmas is not about getting the date right. No one really knows the actual date. The celebration is about the fact that God loved humanity so much that he sent his Son in the flesh as one of us for our salvation…

…In Matthew 1:23, “the child Jesus is called, “God with us.”

…In Mark 1:1, “Jesus is called the Son of God”…

…In Luke 2:32, “Jesus is called a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to the people of Israel”…

…And In John 1:4, “Jesus is called the life that was the light of men”…

“Christmas is about God’s love for us”. It is about God’s undying commitment to us. It is about God becoming one of us and drawing us into himself. It is about Jesus sharing with us his perfect relationship with the Father, as the Father’s beloved Son”

…”For God so loved the world,” John 3:16-17, tells us, “that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have “eternal life”. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

……”And Christmas is about hope”…….

“John 1: 9-13 says, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God”…John 1:9-13…

JESUS WAS THE BEST GIFT WE EVER RECEIVED FROM OUR HEAVENLY FATHER…THAT IS A GOOD EXCUSE TO CELEBRATES “CHRISTMAS”…SO LET’S DO IT CHEERFULLY AND FULL OF LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER”…SMILING!!!

And Christmas is about hope!

…”May this Christmas season be a wonderful time of joy in which we remember and celebrate what the birth of Jesus-Christ really means for all the world”…God Loves You and so do I…Have a wonderful Christmas Seasons with your friends and families…in Jesus name I pray! Amen!

Related articles

• Help make a difference!

• You are the Apple of God’s eye!
• Should a Christian celebrate Hanukkah or Christmas?
• Jesus Celebrated the First Feasts of Israel

• Jesus is our Sabbath Rest

Today would be the day that I do not have my solution, lense container or new glasses with me.  I tried so hard to hold on for as long as I could, but whatever was in my eye, underneath my contact lense, felt like it was burrowing further and further in every time that I moved my eye!  I begged my colleagues for solution, but alas, none of them had.  I eventually resorted to cleaning my lense in water (yes I know, baaaad) and then sticking it back in my eye.  Who the hell knew that water could be so dry?  I seriously think that my eye felt WORSE after rinsing my lense with water, than when it was in my eye with whatever was underneath it.  I very VERY quickly removed my left lense again, and thought ‘oh crap’.  I then remembered that I had my old glasses in the car, and then went and found 2 containers, filled them with water, and placed each contact lense into a container.  Yes, I wrote L & R on each container

Whether or not my lenses will still be wearable by the time I get home, is another story, for another day.

G

As more information about the IRS scandal trickles out daily, the White House’s involvement is becoming clearer. Those of us who’ve been warning about the demise of freedom with Barack Obama’s efforts to “fundamentally transform” our great nation are about to witness some sad vindication. Will awakened Americans finally join us in saying “enough is enough”?

The president would like us to believe that he only learned about the IRS corruption from watching the news. But we recently learned that the White House was actively working with the IRS on how to roll out the story of this scandal. So, Mr. President, how can you have your staff work on the roll out of the biggest controversy since Watergate, and yet claim that you only heard about it by watching the news with the rest of us?

For the president to deny any knowledge of what was brewing and to claim to know nothing about the Benghazi cover-up or anything about anything White House-related lately, he’s either a liar or a hugely incompetent CEO. You decide.

Yesterday, we also learned that the top IRS official involved in the targeting scandal is planning on pleading the Fifth during her Congressional hearings. That’s keen – she’ll be able to enjoy her Fifth Amendment rights in a hearing about how her intimidating organization denied Americans the ability to fully exercise their First Amendment rights.

Keep in mind that the IRS considers you guilty until proven innocent when they audit you.  The Fifth Amendment doesn’t apply.

This scandal is not just about the IRS targeting Americans to deny them tax-exempt status or subjecting them to harassing retaliatory audits. The IRS also leaked to left-wing reporters the confidential application information submitted by conservative groups.

The IRS claims that their leaking of information was “inadvertent and unintentional disclosures by the employees involved.” They at first blamed the entire IRS scandal on a couple of employees who “went rogue,” but we soon found out that this was just more malarkey coming from the president’s spokesman. But even if these were “inadvertent and unintentional disclosures,” is that supposed to make us feel better? With the IRS running Obamacare, what are the chances that our confidential information and medical records will “inadvertently” and “unintentionally” be disclosed? Please remember that some of us warned America about the dangers of having the IRS play such a big role with the administration of Obamacare. We were laughed at and mocked relentlessly back then. It sure doesn’t seem funny now, does it?

This IRS scandal is especially terrible because Americans live in fear of the IRS like no other entity because this monstrous bureaucracy has the power to take your hard-earned money. Your wages are the sum of your labors; hence, the IRS has the power to steal the fruits of your labors. Average Americans live in fear of making an error on their tax returns that could cost them massive amounts of money, plus their reputation and good name.  If a small business makes a mistake, the IRS can shut them down and send them to jail.

The IRS has always been the face of intimidating and controlling big government. Now it’s the face of corrupt big government that actively attacks the people it is supposed to serve. This isn’t the change America was hoping for, Mr. President, but it certainly is transformative.

Average everyday Americans like my dad and his non-political buddies are outraged by this IRS scandal, perhaps more so than all the other White House fiascos that are making the radical Left’s intentions crystal clear. It’s because this IRS cluster hits close to home for everyone. It’s tangible proof of how a corrupt government can intimidate and target a person’s record, reputation, and life, and make them feel helpless.

These Obama administration scandals are a sad and stark reminder that only limited government can ensure liberty. At our core, we Americans just want to be left alone to live freely, peacefully, and productively.

Last year the Obama campaign told us that government is something we all “belong” to. I guess they’re right because when the government is powerful enough to target, intimidate, and harass us, we do “belong” to them. The real question is: Will we stand for this?

These atrocious government actions are bigger, uglier, and much more dangerous than “a few rogue employees.” It’s time for all Americans to stand together and join in the growing outraged chorus that looks at our out-of-control government and says, “Enough is enough!”

†

See also:

• “Groups & individuals targeted by Obama’s IRS witchhunt,” May 15, 2013.
• “Tax-exempt charity of Obama’s half-brother is a fraud,” May 21, 2013.

~Eowyn

Alex Jones, host of the Alex Jones radio show, appearing on Piers Morgan Live, against the relinquishing of guns. (Photo: mirror.co.uk)

Radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones told his listeners that the devastating Oklahoma tornado could have been caused by “Government weather weapons”.

After a caller enquired about the possibility of Government technology being behind the recent incidents of sinkholes, Jones went on a tangent and spoke about how insurance companies use weather modification technology to avoid having to pay ski resorts for lack of snow.

Jones then restated his belief in “weather weapons”, and said, ”of course there’s weather weapon stuff going on — we had floods in Texas like fifteen years ago, killed thirty-something people in one night. Turned out it was the Air Force.”

After going on a further tangent, he returned to the subject of the Oklahoma tornado. Although he acknowledged that natural tornados do exist and was unsure whether the Government was in fact behind the tornados, he warned his listeners that the Government ”can create and steer groups of tornadoes.”

He then said that it all depends on whether people in the area saw small aircraft ”in and around the clouds, spraying and doing things.” He added, “if you saw that, you better bet your bottom dollar they did this, but who knows if they did. You know, that’s the thing, we don’t know.”

Alex Jones has been almost a spokesperson for conspiracy theorists, and recently called the Boston bombings a Government “false flag” operation. He endorses the idea that the U.S. government carried out or was somehow involved in the 9-11 attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing, and recent mass shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary school and the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

He also attempted to create a WhiteHouse.Gov petition to deport British CNN host Piers Morgan. Morgan had called on the Government to pass strict gun laws, including the confiscation of firearms. The two confronted each other on Piers Morgan Live, where a fiery Alex Jones went into a crazy tirade about the Government and added ad hominem arguments against Morgan.

(full story on alternet.org)

When the time screeches round the bend, goes up the pavement and career retires into us like a ton of malmashing capable metallic wrathlove, the mind chips in any person born between two independent seconds chiming will suddenly switch on. Your every thought will be interrupted with a minimum of 5 seconds of needless advertisement video or the latest marketing advice, advicing you on how to break the market. The best way to break the market is to pull out the marquee pegs, take a bread and hurley it at the market stall seller, especially if they are selling friendship bracelets, twigs, or things that should not be sold separate from the multipack. So right anyway, you cannot skip these advertisements. They are short moving video clips to distract the imagination’s crazy train of thought.

Another feature of the chip is the uncontrollable ability to pause and rewind ‘reality’, but only for as far back as you have been daydreaming, so potentially 50 years. This feature proves jobhandy when you want to perform a hand pants maneouvre meditation on a memorable face. You will never miss another bus, train or flight, have your seat taken, lose an argument or get distracted and try to answer the hot iron when it rings. There are yet more positives to be benenourished from, so they say.

Portions of your brain will be shared with unknown third party private investors and given away as space to be filled with crapspam, to merge with hours of mindless televisual communigay and compete for time slots in your imagination. Consequently, all affected by the omniswitchon will become reality TV script writers. The following diabolicagram shows the process from idea conception to birth canal delivery of yet another extended series of bullpap into this world:

The same method applies to every chip until the populace comes together to produce the awe inspiring successor to Two And A Half Men, entitled Two And A Half Ben, where a man becomes so morbidly obese he eats the other cast members. Vivacious and eccentric will grow out of the dictionary and slam onto the clothes, hearts and infected minds of the semi zombies after the mass switch on. It will see the majority swallowed into a telephenomenal black hole. Just a minute, there’s an advertisement and I can’t skip forward. Okay, it has gone now.

Can we hope for salvation? If there is a way out, where do we look for the bailout door? This exitaid is closer than we realise. Most households have a time consuming 500 channel nonsense box. It can be unplugged with a remote used to walk a small robot to the mains and remove the 3-pin life giver (2-pin in mainland Europe, as there is no earth wire. They live on a different planet). The best place for a deactivated box is at least 20 to 30 metres from the brain in order to fugger the signal and prevent the switch of no return from being breached. We can thank the government shockkeeper / spokesperson for bearing the burden of bad news so that we can be correctly informed. Stay tuned for more on this, unless you are a guitar.

Fr. John Brooks, SJ, died in July 2012 and I asked Fr.  Boroughs about attending Fr. Brooks’ funeral which was held on campus.   He never replied.   Because I did not receive a response, I asked several times.   I was completely ignored.   Later that month, the college filed a complaint against my professional license — which I won — which was clearly another act of retaliation.   Fr. Boroughs was in a retaliatory frame of mind at the time of Fr. Brooks’ funeral.

What is the proper penance for the College of the Holy Cross and Fr. Boroughs for behaving in such a callous and hypocritical way?  Recently I asked Fr. Boroughs and the Board of Trustees what they think is the proper penance for banning me from Fr. Brooks’ funeral, but there has been no response.

Today someone left a beautiful comment on my last post and I want to highlight most of it here because it explains why this matters.   If anyone has any ideas on the proper penance for the college, please let me know here or at   vigilatholycross (at) gmail (dot) com.

Not to allow a student or an alumni to attend a funeral, is truly truly callous and disheartening. I would think that a funeral situation of someone well regarded, that there would be only due respect for the deceased. The fact an alum would wish to attend, and with that alum being a clergy abuse victim, it seems to me that the Jesuit’s embarrassment (of the criminal activity the order played in the abuse of Kate) is more than obviously the reason she was not permitted to attend.

It is totally a lack of Catholic faith to not allow a friend or student of the deceased, to attend a funeral. In all due respect, she should have been permitted to attend, for the only danger is that of the criminal actions of a perpetrating Jesuit priest. Maybe by allowing an alum and a Jesuit abuse victim attend, there would have been greater opportunity for a better healing process for Kate as well as a lovely memory of a dedicated and loved Jesuit.

If the Jesuits feel they can abuse a women in the deepest part of her soul, then is a funeral any more sacred than that? I would think the Jesuits would welcome a victim of clergy abuse to a funeral, for nothing is more deeply disturbing than soul-murder or clergy sexual abuse,,,,,The pain she suffers might be as much a vulnerable reality, as that suffering and vulnerability some of the Jesuits and family members of the deceased may be feeling.

I think a clergy abuse VICTIM’S attendance would bring union and harmony in the faith’s deepest sight and reality. Maybe the Jesuits just need to accept their own humanity, feelings, consciences, and responsibilities in a healthy exemplary form and manner. This seems to be a better and more healthy solution to this matter, for there is such glory in “”growth”” for all involved, if the Jesuits would just be who they are,,,,””real like everyone else.

Life is so short,,,no religious order should cut the days shorter with pain they cause to their victims and to themselves.

Firstly the numerology . The date 22/5/2013 is very similar to the date of the Boston Marathon incident 15/4/2013 which includes 0,1,2,3,4,5 . 2+2 = 4, so again 0,1,2,3,4,5 are prominent . The date and time of the incident 22 and 2-20 in a numerological/alphabetical translation are BB . And Woolwich = WW = 66 and the incident occurred 37 days after Boston – 3×7 = 777 .

According to reports, the soldier was beheaded . Further to the Boston Marathon amputees, Angelina Jolie and the eating of a heart by Abu Sakhar – click ‘Abu Sakhar, Angelina Jolie And The Flesh’ – ‘The Flesh’ and the theme of dismemberment again is seen .

In the article, I noted that in the last major terrorist incident in London, 7/7, the poster for a Zombie movie ‘The Descent’ was seen – ‘Outright Terror – Bold and Brilliant’ . I would not be surprised if the same theme applies to Woolwich . From ‘Shaun of the Dead’ zombie movie by Sky News presenter Jeremy Thompson telling Britain how to kill a zombie : “Removing the head or destroying the brain’ .

Seeing the videos and images from Woolwich, it’s difficult not to get the impression ‘that’s something not quite right here’, especially with the two suspects . First we have the video of one of the suspects chatting to a camera and seems to be channelling South London singer ‘Dizzee Rascal’ .

And (thanks to Oldenwise) in this video version of the same scene, we now see the suspect without blood on his hands . It’s possible someone’s photo-shopped the non blood video, but the original may have been photo-shopped, if you see what I mean . Ooops !

And then we have the second suspect who looks like a film extra from the old Black Power movie ‘Shaft’ .

My suspicion that Woolwich is staged comes from the increasingly bizarre and grotesque images we are seeing . From James Holmes and his red hair, and James Baumann turning up on the Boston Bruins ice rink looking as right as rain, nineteen days after his legs were blown off to the images of the cannibal victim Ronald Poppo and his damaged face, I feel like I’m entering The Twilight Zone .

The problem is that we don’t know what we are seeing, when we watch the TV or read the print media or go online . We see flickering images on the screen and are told this is what happened but we don’t really know . And even if you are a witness at one of these incidents, you cannot say for sure what you are seeing is real .

But there are real repercussions . It puts everyone on edge and gives the government an excuse to continue with its control freakery in the name of protecting us from The Bogeyman and also gives rise to events such as the English Defence League ( who are probably run by MI5 ) attacking mosques in Woolwich last night – click Sky News . Divide and Rule .

When we are children, we believe in Santa Claus and then get to a certain age and realise that our bastard parents lied to us . Maybe we’ve now reached that ‘certain age’ .

Read More… http://wp.me/p283Jh-7vd

Wolf Blitzer had his assumptions handed to him by a tornado survivor, and rather tactfully, too. Oklahoma atheists are adding to the relief effort.

It’s just harmless political pandering until shit gets real: For Republicans, Oklahoma Tornado Revives Questions About Disaster Relief.

This is what intellectually, ethically and morally bankrupt political tools like Inhofe/Coburn invite: “NO EMERGENCY FUNDS FOR OKLAHOMA”.  Fellow Okies, you made your bed when you voted these ass-hats in. Remember the Dust Bowl, gang. Pull your heads out and quit acting like such a bunch of pond scum, already.

Here’s an anthem in support of the oppressed minority that Our State’s senate delegation really cares about.

Apparently the wingnuts think Mr. Obama is Superman and Lex Luthor rolled into one:

• Alex Jones Explains How Government “Weather Weapon” Could Have Been Behind Oklahoma Tornado
• Why Did Obama Make Those Tornadoes? Ask the Tornado Truthers!
• Hurricane Sandy Spawns Right-Wing Theodicy

A man set up a video camera to capture paranormal activity in his kitchen but recorded another kind of creepiness altogether.

Do you remember the Rossi E-cat machine? It’s been featured in Popular Science and debunked by skeptics. Now, a new study is out. Take a peek: Finally! Independent Testing Of Rossi’s E-Cat Cold Fusion Device: Maybe The World Will Change After All – Forbes. I’m still not holding my breath over this.

Notes from ‘Tornado Alley’

It’s a morbid fascination: if you live here long enough you get to thinking about tornadoes. You just can’t help it.
I started looking for early Native American depictions of tornadoes (didn’t find any, please send them if you’ve got them!), but I ran across some other data points, and sharing is caring.

Very early tornado descriptions:

Perhaps 1 Kings 19:11-13 (NIV), circa 860 BCE:

¹¹ The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

{Or, alternately,”What the hell are you standing there for, Elijah? Seek shelter, fool!”}

Aristotle writes in his “Meteorology” (circa 350 BCE):

So the whirlwind originates in the failure of an incipient hurricane to escape from its cloud: it is due to the resistance which generates the eddy, and it consists in the spiral which descends to the earth and drags with it the cloud which it cannot shake off. It moves things by its wind in the direction in which it is blowing in a straight line, and whirls round by its circular motion and forcibly snatches up whatever it meets.
When the cloud burns as it is drawn downwards, that is, when the exhalation becomes rarer, it is called a fire-wind, for its fire colours the neighbouring air and inflames it. (E.W. Webber translation)

Earliest European tornado reports:

The earliest recorded tornado in Europe occurred at Rosdalla, near Kilbeggan (Co. Westmeath) in Ireland on April 30, 1054. Some violent squalls which may be tornadic are known from before 1000, but evidence of conclusive (or even probable) tornadoes is lacking.

On October 17, 1091, the London Tornado of 1091 struck. It was Britain’s earliest reported tornado, possibly because it was so fierce. Only two people were reported killed, however damage to London was immense.

In August 1456 a tornado formed on the Adriatic Sea near Ancona, crossed Italy, and entered the Mediterranean Sea near Pisa. In hisIstorie Fiorentine, first published in 1532, Machiavelli describes it as follows:

“On the twenty-fourth of August, about an hour before daybreak, there arose from the Adriatic near Ancona, a whirlwind, which crossing from east to west, again reached the sea near Pisa, accompanied by thick clouds, and the most intense and impenetrable darkness, covering a breadth of about two miles in the direction of its course. Under some natural or supernatural influence, this vast and overcharged volume of condensed vapor burst; its fragments contended with indescribable fury, and huge bodies sometimes ascending toward heaven, and sometimes precipitated upon the earth, struggled, as it were, in mutual conflict, whirling in circles with intense velocity, and accompanied by winds, impetuous beyond all conception; while flashes of awful brilliancy, and murky, lurid flames incessantly broke forth. From these confused clouds, furious winds, and momentary fires, sounds issued, of which no earthquake or thunder ever heard could afford the least idea; striking such awe into all, that it was thought the end of the world had arrived, that the earth, waters, heavens, and entire universe, mingling together, were being resolved into their ancient chaos. Wherever this awful tempest passed, it produced unprecedented and marvelous effects; but these were more especially experienced near the castle of St. Casciano, about eight miles from Florence, upon the hill which separates the valleys of Pisa and Grieve. Between this castle and the Borgo St. Andrea, upon the same hill, the tempest passed without touching the latter, and in the former, only threw down some of the battlements and the chimneys of a few houses; but in the space between them, it leveled many buildings quite to the ground. The roofs of the churches of St. Martin, at Bagnolo, and Santa Maria della Pace, were carried more than a mile, unbroken as when upon their respective edifices.

Earliest recorded tornado in the Americas:

Tlatelolco (in the modern-day Greater Mexico City area), August 1521: on the eve of the fall of the so-called Aztec empire a tornado swept around the besieged capital:

“And when night had fallen, it therefore rained at intervals; it sprinkled at intervals. It was already deep night when a fire appeared. As it was seen, as it appeared, it was as if it came from the heavens like a whirlwind. It went continually spinning about; it went revolving. It was as if the blazing coal broke into many pieces, some very large, some only very small, some just like sparks. It arose like a coppery wind. Much did it rustle, crackle, snap. It only circled the ramparts at the water’s edge; it went toward Coyonacazco. Then it went into the middle of the water. There it went to disappear. (English translation of the Nahuatl text of the Florentine Codex by Arthur Anderson and Charles Dibble).

Earliest North American tornados:

In July 1643 Governor John Winthrop described a sort of wind gust  in northeastern Massachusetts and costal New Hampshire. According to Winthrop this “gust” blew down many trees, filled the air with dust, lifted up a meetinghouse in Newbury, and killed one Indian. There is doubt as to whether this was a true tornado or simply a down-draft wind.

The first generally accepted tornado recorded in American history occurred in August 1671 near Rehobeth MA, 7 miles east of Providence, R.I.

The first recorded American tornado fatality occurred in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 8, 1680. Rev. Increase Mather tells in his Remarkable Providences of eyewitness accounts of this terrible whirling wind. One eyewitness, Samuel Stone, described it as a whirl-wind that tore trees, sucked up hay, tore off a large portion of a barn roof, and made a singing noise so very loud that the people around could not hear the falling objects. It was said that you could find people a mile away that could hear those objects falling. Matthew Bridge reported that its motion was continually circular, tearing bushes by the roots, removing old trees, and sucking up large rocks that were not found again. One servant man, John Robbins, was killed by this whirl-wind because of broken bones and overall body bruising. It is interesting to note that this “whirl-wind’s” path was close to that of a larger storm that moved through West Cambridge on August 22, 1851.

Deadliest single tornado in history:

Probably the Daulatpur-Saturia, Bangladesh Tornado, an extremely destructive tornado that occurred in the Manikganj District, Bangladesh on April 26, 1989. There is great uncertainty about the death toll, but estimates indicate that it killed around 1,300 people, which would make it the deadliest tornado in history.

Instrumentation for gathering data in tornadoes: A historical perspective of In-Situ observations within Tornado Cores

Earliest photograph of a tornado: An unknown photographer inspired legions of tornado-chasers when he captured the earliest known photograph of a tornado. This black-and-white image was taken on August 28, 1884, about 22 miles (45 kilometers) southwest of Howard, South Dakota.

I loved Star Wars as a child, but when I got a bit older, a teenager I grew away from that. It thought Star Wars was still OK, but a bit childish. Then they made the remastered versions, which was nice. However after that they made the butchered version with all of the annoying CGI crap added. Anyone with half-a-brain hated it, we felt betrayed and hurt. Then there was Episode 1 which was awful. It hurt us more. Episodes 2 and 3 were even worse. In the end I got tired of all this Star Wars stuff. I stopped caring. What once had been a great adventure trilogy combined with some actually neat toys and computer games, had became a painful joke.

Star Wars was only the beginning. For the last ten years or maybe more, Hollywood is continuously taking a franchise from our youth and making a new version of it. Transformers, Star Trek, Marvel stuff, Planet of the Apes, Alice in Wonderland, Evil Dead, ad nauseam. Sometimes remakes are good, a fresh way of looking at something familiar, but when most of the movies you make are remakes you have a problem. The question is why do they do this? I don’t have the full answer, but I have some ideas why they might be doing it. And the answer, is of course multifaceted.

1. Hollywood is run by reptiles with no imagination or originality, therefore they have to rip off old ideas to make money. That is probably one reason, but not the whole reason.

2. Taking your childhood fantasies and distorting them makes you more apathetic toward the world. You no longer care about things you thought were important to you as you let go off it, thus it is easier for the New World Order to push their agenda unhindered. Making bad movies might seem far off from being a form of social control but along with countless other factors they can affect people’s behaviour.

3. Re-writing history in an Orwellian manner. For us old people (I’m 31) who still remember the “good old days” it may not work as well, but for young people (20 and under) it gives a wrong idea of those movies, of our cultural history. How many preteens have seen the original versions of the Star Wars movies, without the CGI? They might not even know they’ve been altered, or if they know they don’t care because they’ve told this is newer, better. Kids tend to like new things and see old things as musty and boring. They see the new Star Trek movie and think that is Star Trek. It is not. It is only the shell of Star Trek. It just looks more flashy, new, energetic compared to the old stuff, kids think it’s better compared to the Original Series which has silly cardboard sets, guys in silly costumes pretending to be aliens and so on. The new one looks so much better. But is has no content. It might be entertaining (to some), but those remakes have no idea what the soul of the original was.

If they can just rewrite movies like that to suit their purposes, what prevents them to write history that way too? The remakes try to make it is seem as the original didn’t matter. It wasn’t good enough, or suitable for our agenda. We can remake it in our image. It’s as if historical facts do not matter, all you need to know are a few details you can spin anyway you want as long as it sounds good.

The myths of my generation are our movies and video games. They gave us a sense of identity of who we are. They gave us philosophical concepts to ponder about. Adventures to inspire us. Moral dilemmas to worry about. Our myths did not consist of pantheon of ancient gods and heroes like Zeus and Hercules, or even the Bible. They were for older, rural generations. My childhood heroes varied from Luke Skywalker to the ninja turtle Michaelangelo. Treasure Island Dizzy and Final Fantasy VII inspired me in many ways. Among my current heroes are captains Kirk and Picard. They inspire me to be something better, to hold on to values I deem important. It doesn’t matter I know they are fictional heroes. In fact, I think it is good that way. Yet when someone tries to distort the image of those heroes, it does concern me. I have every right to see that as an attack toward something I care about. I have a responsibility to do so.

Most of these remakes movies are watered down entertainment at best. You may argue as much as you want whether a particular remake was good or not. If it was faithful to the original, and how faithful it should be in the first place, since it’s a different movie it should be different in some ways. None of that matters, since I don’t care about the entertainment value of the movie that much. There are countless ways of being entertained in this world. The argument is that the remakes can never capture the spirit, the message of the original, whatever that was. Telling a story, a good one, is always based on the author having something he or she wants to say. A message, a feeling, an experience, an idea, the sense of adventure. That is why real people tell stories. However I don’t see that is most of the remakes, not in contemporary Hollywood. It’s more about selling something. If they really wanted to tell a story, they’d make original stories instead rehashing old ones. Like the Troy movie which came out some years ago, where Brab Pitt played Achilles. I watched it a few months ago. It was OK, I didn’t have many complaints about it. Yet, I still cannot understand why it was made. What was the story they wanted to convey. It was more like they have this big movies industry with all the machines and people so they have to use it. Like the arms industry. They make new weapons every year, so someone has to find a war to fight in order to be useful, so the industry keeps making more weapons.

I don’t hate all remakes. For example the new Battlestar Galactica was great, and I guess it’s not Hollywood since it’s a TV series. That series had a message, philosophical and spiritual issues to think about, mysteries to marvel and exciting adventure. It wasn’t merely a nicely painted shell.