A survey suggests many newly trained teachers are struggling to find secure positions in England’s schools…. From BBC News. Full story

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Either you’ve got it or you don’t. Complicated words cannot cover over an elementary lack of insight.

I turn into the driveway…. all is dark, quiet… the world at peace…. I turn off the engine…. silence

No sound of war… or of crying… no sound of gunfire… of violence… of death…   I look at my home… now going on 15 years being my home…  and I love it… and I am thankful for it… it is there before me in the peace of night…

And I think of the grace that allows me to have it…  the phrase that goes through my mind on this Thanksgiving eve is how did I come to this home… this life… all the blessings in the last year when it seemed that I would sink below the waves at any moment… that a hand reached out to me every last-minute… often unexpected… every time unasked… but a hand came. 

Tomorrow I will feast… too well… in the warmth of family, in love, in joy… what did I do to deserve this wonderful life… a home, more than enough, wonderful and meaningful work, a soft bed, warmth when I need it, cool when I need it… in a moment I will open the door and a little bird will screech its welcome… a loving, devoted dog will jump with joy…

There will be music if I want it…. silence if I want it…. sound if I want it… water when I want it… food when I want it… presently because life continues as it does… with life… and with death… I will be alone for a time… the one I took care of for so long is gone… out of pain, out of sadness… living in a home God created for her where she is living in perfect joy… 

But there are others… a loving family around the world… electrons away from me…  all I must do to hear their voices is cause electrons to move along wires… invisible signals through the air… and they are with me… 

Good friends invite me to join their family celebrations… members of my family call me to come offer thanks with them… I am not alone… I am surrounded with love… with friendship… with caring… so I will be with my family because I need to be with them… what a blessing to be able to choose between offerings from those who love me…

Then I have been given two great churches in which to worship and to serve… to minister… one small… one large… one in the country… one in the city…  both places where I meet God… Both places of great joy and friendship…

When I drove into my driveway… I was 30 minutes from the place I have been given by grace to work… where I have friends I have known for greater than half my life with whom I work… with whom I teach….

The building in which I work is new… state of the art really…  and I think of something else….

That I am one who has in a world where so many have not…. so many will not lie down on soft bedding tonight… millions will not be able to eat their fill… more than there fill tomorrow… millions who could not walk in a miracle where we have ever kind of food to choose from brought from every part of the world… 

And I have to ask why?   ….   Why was I born here in this most magnificent of countries?… Why was I born to the parents I was given?  …. Why do I have friends who are actually friends, who care, who would mourn, who did mourn with me a year ago when my mother slipped away into eternity with the Lord…

Why was I born here and named John?   Why was I not born in another country to parents who would beat me, where I would not have had enough to eat, not enough water to drink, nothing to learn or to hope for and named John?

I was given grace.. it was amazing grace… I was given all of this… why?  Just so I can be thankful?  Just so I can celebrate as across the world 18 children will die each minute as I will laugh tomorrow with my family….

And I think that I was given this so that I could give it away…  to those who are given much, much is expected… 

Father am I giving much as I have been given much… As I give Thanks am I pleasing you?  Do I love my neighbor as myself?   Do I really?  Will you be able to say to me “Well done my good and faithful servant”?  Will you say it?  Will I deserve it?   Oh, Father why am I not the child in the pictures with the swollen stomach whose equally weak mother brushes away flies from my near lifeless eyes….

So how do I thank you father?  Do I thank you in eating myself so full I must rest?  Am I honoring you?  And are there ways I can still honor you?  Father, what can I do? 

When I thank you for the food I will eat tomorrow will I be really pleasing you Father?  Will you look down on us and say well done? 

Oh Father in this season that starts tomorrow help me find some way each day to help someone…  so I can thank you for the opportunity… help me to feed the hungry… help me to clothe the naked…. help me find homes for the homeless…. Help me to find a way each day to do something that will help someone…. to love them as I love myself… for in that is true Thanksgiving…. giving with thanks for what we have been given.  

I lay here on the couch with the little dog laying on my chest feeling so blessed but also feeling that I have been given much and so I must give much… as I’ve done before to find that there was great joy in giving freely and without reservation.  

Please dear Father give me a thankful heart filled with

thankfulness and grace…..

Your solutions are right here now
and ready for you to receive
just let go and stop worrying stop fretting stop concerning yourself with how
focus on what you truly want to transpire and let source take care of the rest
put your Faith in source and the power and ability to manifest all things
put your faith in source and believe that you deserve all good things
and let your heart be free to desire whatever it chooses
let your heart be free to reveal the truth of what you really want
what your higher self knows you are here to have
do not be mislead by the silly conventions and conditioning of this world
that is what it means to be separate from the world but in it
you must allow your heart to communicate the truth of what you are here for and what it desires
what your highest and best self truly desires
for you have become confused with the things that are around you
it has grown into a self-perpetuating force
that you must break free from by simply letting those things go
simply let go and allow source to cleans your mind and heart with Love
allow the love to flow from your heart center and transform your inner being cleansing all limitations
all illusions
all conditioning that causes fear and concern
lack and limitation
allow source to work its magic and you will see that you are here for so much more than fear so much more than the things you have become so accustomed to
let go now and allow source to move in you and inspire you toward your true identity
toward your birthright toward all the power and love
that is within you
there is nothing more important than your alignment and trust in the power within around and through you
now
all is well
all is well

- Morning stream of consciousness writing from John Stringer

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This is technically part of my unemployment saga, I’m sure a large portion of you guys have had to wrestle with this before, whether it’s been during Summer holidays from school, at University when you’ve been out late often and have late lectures, during unemployment, insomnia, depression, stress, or because of switching from day-night or night-day shifts.

My “school” sleep pattern that I used to have, was something like this: Go to bed at roughly 11:00-11:30PM, wake up at 7:45AM. It would stay like that, even during holidays, except I would lie in until about 10AM on most days.

During my last year at school, I got rather depressed and stressed, simultaneously. I lost sleep just because I physically couldn’t sleep, and for 3 days in a week in December I didn’t sleep at all. I started staying up later, reading manga, playing games online. I put off my coursework and homework due to my stress and depression, but, not wanting to get in serious trouble, would often half-assedly do the work an hour before leaving for school, so I had to get up earlier. At this point, when I did sleep, it was more like 00:45AM-6:30AM on average. I get up at 4AM one morning to start and then finish a large piece of coursework due that day.

Then came the Easter holidays. Around this time period, stress in my personal life increases even more. Another night of no sleep at all, and no catch up since the last time I lose 3-4 nights of sleep, let alone this one. Plenty of late nights due to drinking, but I laid in to catch up on those. Also, I have the house to myself for a week or two. I stay up late playing games with the big surround sound system, having friends over etc, almost every night. School starts again. My sleep pattern is still off, and I have a massive piece of coursework that needs to be done in two weeks time. Stress in my working life increases. I have to stay up late every night, missing another night of sleep to complete the work the day before it is due in.

I then hit eighteen years old. This marks the chapter of “now being legal, so drinking on most Saturday nights and staying up late”. Exam time starts at school, and I realise I have a lot of work to do, and also I feel down that my school life is nearly over. One or two more sleepless (or low sleep) nights around this time, and staying up late just because it feels right to because I have done it so often. Sleep pattern at this point is more like 2:30AM-8AM, except of course on weekends, which is more like 3:30AM-12:15PM. I find myself, usually someone who has trouble sleeping, falling asleep at unexpected times, for example, as soon as I laid on my sofa to watch the Formula One racing, like I always do… Bam. I was out for half an hour. During study leave, I develop my odd sleep pattern further, to roughly 4AM-12:30PM. Of course, this hits me in the face when I have an exam; if it’s an afternoon exam, it’s fine, if it’s a morning one… I’m screwed. Which I found out the hard way, barely able to keep my eyes open during exams, due to my lack of work through the year I often stayed up till 5AM (admittedly not even revising for much of that time), and I even fell asleep for short periods of time during two of my exams (one of which I got 100% on… not to gloat, but I got two hours sleep that night, barely revised, barely did work throughout the year, wrote down some song lyrics on the paper that I thought of during the exam, and fell asleep… Not bad!).

During the summer, on several occasions, my parents went away, and with many friends going away to uni after the summer, it only seemed right to stay up VERY late, drinking a lot, at my house. These experiences are fantastic though, and are etched into my memory, like getting extremely drunk with a few friends, playing Rock Band, then aimlessly walking to the nearby park at about 3:30AM (during the height of summer, the sun was coming up as we headed home), and just messing about on the kids swings and such.

Or when I had been out drinking with a few friends of mine, since 8PM. One of my other friends was driving so couldn’t drink, so at 12AM I, in my already very drunk state, suggested that he must come to my house to enjoy some drinks. I drank with him until 5AM, playing Rock Band, listening to music, aimlessly being driven around by him (this was early on in the night, I don’t believe he was over the limit at this point) to find somewhere that sold burgers (I had been drinking since 8PM on an empty stomach), and then both sleeping until about 10PM after, what had been for me at least, roughly nine hours of solid drinking. And not just pussy drinks, I’m talking Henry Westons Cider, Buckfast, Smirnoff Vodka, Corona Beer…

Or finally, staying up with my friend Ollie for an entire, sober night, playing on the PS3, recording a fake “live” album of our previous, terrible “Constant Guzzle” album, and just generally talking and having a laugh. He had to go to work directly after, and was awake for well over 24 hours. I had the luxury of going to bed when he left at 7:30AM, and waking up at about 2PM.

I have so many memories that relate to my lack of sleep, and abundance of alcohol consumption. I will probably write down a few of those stories here in the near future, as they are great stories. The kind I would tell to my kids, if I had kids.

And, of course, since then, I’ve been unemployed, except for my brief spell at the computer store. So it’s been roughly 3:30AM-12:30PM every day now, except when I was at work, I JUST managed to change my pattern to 00:30AM-7:30AM (but I was extremely tired all day at work), but as soon as I left it got back to this problem.

I have probably over two weeks worth of nights that I haven’t slept at all, in under a year, and it has really caught up to me. The problem is, my body is half-used to it, i.e. it doesn’t let me sleep as much as I’d like, but does let me know that I’m completely exhausted. What a situation I got myself into

Relevant song lyric of the post: Dream Theater – A Nightmare To Remember

“A nightmare to remember
I’d never be the same
What began as laughter
So soon would turn to pain”

Closing KoLd Quote:

“Despite my sadness at this situation, it is important to note that it is self-inflicted. I enjoyed much of my time spent NOT sleeping more than I would if I had been sleeping, but doing nothing with my spare time at home. My motto is a common one; sleep when you’re dead. What is the point in living if you don’t exploit the very boundaries of your bodies existence, so you can experience some of the most amazing events. Perhaps you knock ten or twenty years off of your life, but so be it. I’d rather die young than never live.”

Jeder hat sie schon mal irgendwann und irgendwo gemacht. Diese kleinen Psycho-Tests, die es ständig in irgendwelchen Zeitschriften gibt. Kinder-, Jugend- und Erwachsenen-Zeitschriften: diese Spielerei gibt es wohl überall.

Sie sind durch ihre Fragestellungen leicht zu durchschauen und die Analysen meistens so allgemein, da ist das Ergebnis eigentlich zweitrangig.

Besonderheiten sind natürlich häufig die Antwort-Vorgaben, die so ganz und gar nicht passen.

BILD.de (siehe Screenshot) hat gerade so einen Test online.
Wer also schon immer mal wissen wollte wie versaut er im Bett ist, sollte die Grenzen am besten in der Praxis ausloten diesen Test mal machen.

Gehen wir einige der insgesamt 8 Fragen doch mal durch.

1. Wann hatten sie den letzten guten Sex?
a) Sommer 2002
b) Vor Monaten
c) Letzte Nacht

Wer also vor 2-3 Tagen richtig abgegangen ist, hat verloren. Der darf im Prinzip gar nicht antworten. Also muss man wohl am besten das auswählen, was näher an der Realität ist. Dumm nur, dass das vorher niemand gesagt hat.

2. Sprechen Sie über ihre sexuellen Vorlieben?
a) Nein, das ist mir zu peinlich.
b) Ich versuche meine Wünsche nonverbal zu kommunizieren.
c) Deutlich und gerne.

Klar, hier kann man die Antwort danach auswählen, was man sein möchte. Von a) spießig bis b) (Möchtegern-)Schlampe. Wobei b) schon zwei Wörter enthält, die den durchschnittlichen Bild.de (Thema Erotik) Leser fremd vorkommen dürften und er sie deswegen schon mal gar nicht auswählen kann.

3. “Ich liebe Liebe zu Dritt.” singen Stereo Total. Ihre Meinung dazu?
a) In der Fantasie ja. An der Umsetzung hapert`s.
b) Nicht meine Baustelle.
c) Ich stimme zu. Aus Erfahrung

Jetzt gehen wir aber ans Eingemachte. Und die Antworten sind natürlich gewohnt durchschaubar.

Danach folgen noch Fragen ob man Sex auch in der Öffentlichkeit mag, auf dem Nachtisch einen Teddy oder Dildos stehen hat, ob man Lack und Leder trägt, weiß was BDSM heißt und ob man Pornos guckt.

Gut, dieser Test ist, genauso wie viele andere, nicht wirklich ernst zu nehmen und nur eine Spielerei. Aber mal ehrlich, kann man die nicht ein wenig interessanter gestalten? Muss es sein, dass man schon beim lesen der Frage weiß, wie das Testergebnis ausschaut?

Übrigens dürft Ihr gern auch mal den Test auf BILD.de machen (Link ist ganz oben) und Euer Ergebnis in den Kommentaren schreiben. Ich hatte 24 Punkte und habe den Eindruck ich muss mir jetzt die Sünde abduschen gehen um wieder normal zu sein.

Vitamin D deficiency  increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, stroke and get to death, according to a study by U.S. researchers from the Institute of Cardiology of the Intermountain Medical Center in the U.S., announces Agerpres.

The study was conducted on a group of 27,686 persons aged 50 years and without cardiovascular history, and indicated that people with a very low level of vitamin D in blood vessels have a risk factor with 77% higher to die than those with normal content of this vitamin. Thus, subjects with a shortage of vitamin D had a 45% probability of developing a coronary heart disease, with 78% chance of suffering a stroke and also a double risk than those who have normal levels of vitamin D, to suffer from heart failure.

According to this study is indicated to treat deficiencies of vitamin D to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, the first cause of death in the U.S.. Also, recent research has shown that vitamin D plays an important role in many biological functions, including blood pressure, control blood sugar levels and inflammation, all major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases

I think, lack of communication is the key to all levels of disagreement.

Here’s a little story to visualize:

Two friends are quarreling. They talk about a certain brick. One insists it is a  big rock, the other insists it is a small stone.

They send a third person to check the brick. The third one looks at the it comes back to them, looks at the two and shakes his head. He realises, that both talk about the same stone/rock but one friend is a giant, the other a dwarf.

It is a matter of perception, if you see a rock or a stone. But the friends don’t try to find a solution, they just want to be right. Instead of looking at the stone together they spent their whole time blaming each other being stupid and blind, because they rather rely on their own experience.

We are all different. Everyone of us can be a dwarf or a giant, but we don’t realise the other as different, we think that we use the same language. In this example, size has a different meaning.

What is justice, what is big, what is small, what is beautiful what is ugly? That are words with different meanings to all of us. If some of us would be aware of this fact, they would understand the other more often.

This is what happens all the time. People don’t respect the other point of view.

It’s all about the goggles (our experiences), that define every problem you have to cope with.

The tiniest level of disagreement is choice, the biggest level is war.

The logic remains the same.

Deputy Interior Minister Bashir Abdi said that international donors need to fulfill their financial pledges…. From VOA. Full story

This site may contain information about: gum recession. The blog is also related to: recession stocks.

As visitors to ‘At the BookShelf’ would know, I have been reading ‘Reformers and Their Stepchildren,’ by Leonard Verduin. I have now started chapter four and progress through the book may appear slow and you may think this is a reflection on the quality of the book. That would be a mistaken assumption however.

In reality I am finding the book a brilliant treatment of the differences between the ‘partial reformers’ (such as Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc) and the more ‘radical reformer’ who sought a complete transformation of the church to that which more accurately reflected the New Testament model.

The ‘slowness’ of my reading is more a reflection of my reading half a dozen or so books at the same time. Reading so many books at any given time is fairly normal for me – in fact, I would call normal (for me) reading far more books at any given time, but I am trying to reign myself in a little here. I just love reading – I am a bibliophile and bookworm remember

The third chapter of Verduin’s work has to do with the lack of true church discipline in the churches of the Reformers and their indifference (generally speaking) to ungodliness in the church (remembering that their churches basically included all in a given location or region).

The third chapter presents a very clear case of the real time contradiction of the Reformers and the reform they were bringing to bear on such places as Geneva, Zurich, etc. To a large extent their work of reform didn’t go anywhere near far enough to satisfy their ‘stepchildren,’ who when they tried to go further were branded as heretics, with their efforts at a more thorough reform being identified by the reformers as evidence of their heresy.

It is a very engaging chapter I believe and one that is helpful for shedding light on Christianity even to this day.

Fenders painted and finished on the 1928 Ford. Pix!

1928 Ford pickup in for some paintjob on the front fenders.

Nations are built not with bricks and stones but with the capacity to create and apply knowledge. The result of knowledge creation and application in manufacturing and management practices is well demonstrated by Japan. Today we are witness to many industrialized economies that are strengthening their manufacturing activities simply by adopting these techniques.

The distinguishing characteristics associated with Japanese manufacturing techniques include an emphasis on designing and redesigning processes to optimize efficiency and a strong commitment to quality.

The manufacturing techniques that Japanese companies practice provide a competitive advantage and outstanding economic performance. The key for success is an understanding of the broad context of manufacturing culture, infrastructure and environment. These sound manufacturing and business techniques created and adopted by leading Japanese manufacturers have turned out to be the secret of their market leadership in many industries.

Following are a few of these concepts, which can help in managing any business set-up in a better way:

• Kaizen is one such technique, which in Japanese means ‘improve.’ This is commonly recognized as practices focusing on continuous improvement in manufacturing activities, business activities in general, and even life in general, depending on interpretation and usage. By improving standardized activities and processes, Kaizen helps in eliminating waste.
• Another management Japanese technique is the 5-S. It is a technique used to establish and maintain quality environment in an organization. It has five elements: Seiri (sorting out useful and frequently used materials and tools from unwanted and rarely used things); Seiton (keeping things in the right place systematically so that searching or movement time is minimized); Seiso (keeping everything around you clean and in a neat manner); Seiketsu (standardizing the above principles in everyday life) and Shitsuke (inculcating good habits and practicing them continuously). The 5-S practice helps everyone in the organization to live a better life.
• Kanban and ‘Just in Time’ are two other practices in inventory management practices that were pioneered by the Japanese automobile manufacturers, such as Toyota. Quality improvement, on the other hand, is the result of lower proportion of component scrap since the components spend less time in the supply chain.
• Poka-yoke is a process improvement focused on training of workers for mastering the increasingly complicated tasks to selectively redesign the tasks so they could be more easily and reliably mastered. It involves designing a foolproof process to eliminate the chance of errors.
• Jidoka is a practice by means of which an individual worker runs several machines simultaneously. Japan thus designs such machines that eliminate both error and the need for constant supervision.
• Muda is another technique that reduces wasteful activity in service processes. It ensures process efficiency and effectiveness.
• Mura curiously combines rigidity and flexibility and thus teaches service process improvement.
• Reducing Muri means reducing physical strain. In services process improvement, Muri applies to convoluted and unnecessary routings, physical transfer, and distances paper files may have to travel for a process to complete.
• Genchi Gembutsu means going to the actual scene (genchi) and confirming the actual scene (gembutsu). Observation of service processes at the point where it is actually delivered may unearth a host of problems such as lack of training, unnecessary steps, or a number of other areas that would benefit from small but significant process improvement ideas.

This is a glimpse of manufacturing techniques that Japan has so intellectually created and so profoundly practiced in its manufacturing systems that even with no natural resources, it has acquired the status of one of the most industrialized nations. Can we learn from Japan?

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight.

heya peoplessssss. I’m just on here right now, writing this blog, making sure none of you start getting worried about me… Don’t worry, I AM still alive. And I’d like to appolagise for the lack of Bloggage yesterday.

I was up to other things.But I’m here now, and thats the important thing. Have to say, I’ m freaking loving this weather. I bet most people are sat inside thinking shit, the end is nigh or something crap like that but I’m realy loving it.

To me, its realy cheerful and refreshing. It’s like a new start… ish. Blowing all the crap away so I can start again. YAY!

I have to go out in a little bittle to get some food. And I have some bullshit family thing on later, but I don’t plan on going. For a start, my family don’t even like me (which you know, means I have a shit life and can’t ever be happy ) and second, they’re having chinease. BLEH! chinease food is rank. I’m soory, but I just can’t stand it. it looks nasty, it smells nasty and it tastes the nastiest.

Plus, why should I treck out when they never bother to come and see me, when I can just watch X Factor?!

WoW its so freaking dark outside right now. Just sat waiting for the heavy rain and winds. c’mon c’mon c’mon.

Y’all blates think i’ve losted it. don’t worry, I losted it a long time ago…

Until we meet again people. Xx

Gestern habe ich den verregneten Novembertag genutzt und aus Salzteig einige Figuren modelliert.

Eigentlich sollte ich noch einen transparenten Lack aufsprühen…

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Dieses tolle Set, von Franzi auf den Namen “Hardcore Biene Maja” getauft, bekommt Ihr ab sofort am Midnight Mania Board. Also nix wie hin….

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There is a quiet surrender
we are leading you toward
a quiet surrender to the reality of life
that which beckons inside to a sanity rich with peace and quiet
yes
that underlying silence that does more than just sustain your life
it is the essence that allows you life
that enables and empowers life
that fulfills life
you must do all you can to allow it to flow freely
and immerse yourself in its glow

for your heart is ripe
with all that is required to follow source’s call
your mind is ready to let go of the stronghold it has on distractions
and your soul is waiting to unfold fully at a rate that fulfils it most
you need only choose to give into source
and watch the miracles continuously manifest in your life
a life of wonder
a life of richness
and abundance
a life of wholeness and freedom
yes that is true life lived abundantly
and if you are not living in this manner
you need focus further on letting go of fiction
and entering into the truth of life
letting go of the illusions that the outer world presents
and entering into the at inner world deep within that holds the truth of life
that connection to the everlasting part of you
allow source to guide you to a higher plane of existence
a higher life
void of the loss and lack you so often ponder
and let the love of the ages fill your soul
with a peace never felt before
know that source’s love is deeper stronger higher and wider
than any love you have ever encountered
and this love is always at your side
within you
as you
through you
ready to give you every good thing
at just the right time
not sooner not later
but exactly when you need it
your consciousness
is the key to accepting all the good awaiting you
and once you have found the truth of life
continue to unfold in a manner that is befitting a child of the most high
the greatest power
be not concerned with how others view you
but know that there is nothing more precious
more potent
and more important
than your alignment
than your unfolding
than your love
your life in perfect balance
yes

- Morning stream of consciousness writing from John Stringer

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