€15 might sound a bit pricey for a few hours of an excursion, but for Dublin Zoo it’s well worth it. There has been  a huge amount of development and work done at the zoo over the past number of years, and if you’re one of those people who haven’t been for over a decade, it’s definitely time to reacquaint yourself. But you will need to be strategic!

First things first, it is not a culinary highlight to the city, nor are there scenic or relaxing places to sit and eat so you should really dust off your picnic basket, make a few sambos, a flask of coffee and a rug. There are loads of spots around the zoo to sit and watch the world go by as you munch on your homemade goodies. It’ll also make the day a lot more affordable!

Then, choose wisely when you go. Weekends are pretty crowded, especially in the summer. Also, pick the time of day carefully. You will be surprised at how long it will take to amble around so if you wish to see everything try to get there before lunchtime to give yourself plenty of time.

Wear comfy shoes and bring a raincoat…avoid umbrellas – you’ll just obstruct everyone else’s view!

Have a look at the start of your walk to get an idea of what events are happening. Animal feeding times are good fun to watch and the keepers will fill you in about the animal’s personalities which is really interesting.

Don’t forget that it’s the zoological gardens…Dublin Zoo is as interesting for it’s flora as its fauna so have a look at the trees, plants, flowers which are often very exotic and beautiful. The zoo has been open since 1831 and some of the trees date from around this time. There is always the argument for and against zoos, and that’s a whole other topic! But whether you’re in agreement with them ideologically or not, the grounds of Dublin Zoo are a wonderful place to just walk around!

If you want to be REALLY strategic, have a look at the Zoo website and pick what you especially want to see so you can plan your day if you’re tight on time.

And finally, don’t forget the rest of the park. The Phoenix Park is the largest park in a city centre in Europe apparently! There are loads of other things to see and do when you’re there for your zoo trip. The park is home to President McAleese in Aras an Uachtarain and you can get tours of the house on Saturday mornings which are brilliant and very informative. You can also have a snoop at the American ambassador’s residence which is there too.

And don’t forget Farmleigh which you can also get tours of and has a season of free family events during the summer. And you can also have a look at the deer herd and the polo grounds for more animal sightings!

Every activity related to the administration and management of a worker injury should be performed in a consistent manner. If this is not done at least two outcomes may result, and both are bad:

• Employees will view the workers compensation claim management process to be unfair, unreliable and threatening. As a result, they will be hesitant to participate in the accident investigation process, perform their role in the Prompt Injury Response and Temporary Return To Work Programs, and may retain an attorney.
• Actions on the part of the organization, as well as individual members of the claim management team, may be deemed discriminatory. Also, there are potentially severe fines and civil penalties associated with this discrimination.

The following are proven methods that your claim management team should use consistently in accordance with its claim management policies and in strict compliance with state and federal employment laws:

1. A Prompt Injury Response Program designed to be delivered consistently every time an employee is injured on the job. While the nature of virtually every injury is different, the way in which the claim management team responds to it should be the same. This program should provide a prompt injury response “track” that designed to put the entire claim management team in motion so that the employee receives prompt, quality medical care, the “root cause” of the injury is determined, compensability is established, the claim adjuster is promptly notified and, if needed, initial steps are taken to initiate the Temporary Return To Work Program.
2. A Temporary Return To Work Program designed identify possible temporary duty jobs, obtain formal approval from the treating physician that these jobs match the injured employees physician limitations, and formally offer these jobs. All must be done in strict compliance with the American With Disabilities Act (ADA). Temporary Return To Work Programs are an essential component in a successful workers compensation claim management program.

ポッドキャストとは、Webサーバ上にマルチメディア・データファイル（音声データ・動画データなど）をアップロードし、RSSを通してWWW上に公開すること。その内容は、個人のブログと同様のものもあれば、テーマに基づいた対談などもあり、多岐に渡る。

ポッドキャストは、アップル社のポータブルマルチメディアプレーヤーであるiPod（アイポッド）と、”放送“を意味するbroadcast（ブロードキャスト）を組み合わせた造語である。^[1]元々は『iPodなどの携帯プレイヤーに音声データファイルを保存して聴く事が可能な放送（配信）番組』という意味で名付けられた。配信に利用されている音声データファイルのほとんどは標準的なMP3形式のオーディオファイルであるため、iPodに限らず、MP3オーディオファイルを保存して再生できる全てのデジタルオーディオプレーヤーで聴く事ができるというものであったが、現在ではMPEG 4やH.264形式の動画配信も含めて、ポッドキャストと呼ぶ。

一般的にはポッドキャスト(Podcast)という言葉でこの仕組み自体を指し、ポッドキャスティングはこの仕組みを利用して実際に配信を行うという行為を指すのに使われることが多い。またポッドキャスター(Podcaster)は、一般的にポッドキャストを放送（配信）している人物を指す。

名称の由来がiPodに関係しているため、『ポッドキャストはiPodを使用しなければ聴く事ができない』という誤解を招き易く、ビジネス的にも不公平感があるという意見も存在する。しかし、ポッドキャストという名称は、iPodが（かつてのウォークマンのように）一般名詞に近い状態になった段階で、アップルの社外から派生してきたという経緯もあって、名称変更を望む声は比較的少数である。なお、ポッドキャストに代わる、より中立的な名称としては、ブログキャスト(blogcast)などが提案されているが、やはりメジャーな名称ではない。

広義のポッドキャストでは、公開するマルチメディアファイルの種類は問わず、ポッドキャストのダウンロード専用ソフトウェア（アグリゲータ）を利用して、RSSから指定のファイルを得られる仕組みそのものを指す。だが一般的には、ポッドキャストと言った場合には音声データファイル（MP3など）の公開を意味するのが普通である。現在では音声データファイルだけではなく動画データファイルの配信も広く行われている。これらはビデオポッドキャストやビデオキャスティング、もしくはVlogなどと呼ばれる。

配信する音声データファイルがAACの場合、ファイルにチャプターマーカー（チャプター毎に画像やURLリンクを埋め込むことも可能）を付加することができる。これを拡張ポッドキャスト(Enhanced Podcast)と呼ぶが、これに対応した再生環境はiPod+iTunesなどに留まっている。拡張ポッドキャストを編集できるソフトにGarageBand、Sound it!などがある。

聴き方

大きく二つに分類される。

一つはその音声ファイルを配信しているウェブサイトをWebブラウザ等で訪れてポッドキャスト・ファイルのリンクURLを探し出し、直接ウェブブラウザ等を使用してファイルをダウンロードし、マルチメディア・プレーヤー等に読み込ませて聴く方法である。その場でポッドキャストを簡単に聴きたい時などに向いている。

もう一つはポッドキャスト・ファイルをダウンロードする為に作られたアプリケーションソフトウェアを使用する方法である。これは一般的にアグリゲータ(Aggregator)と呼ばれる。アグリゲータはポッドキャスト用RSSへとリンクするアドレスを登録し保持することで、登録されたRSSの最新の情報を入手し、RSSに関連付けされているポッドキャスト・ファイルを一括または選択してダウンロードすることを可能にする。RSSを発行しているポッドキャスターがデータを更新すれば、自分でポッドキャスターのサイトを訪れなくとも即座に最新の音声ファイルを入手できるため、複数のポッドキャスト番組を定期的にダウンロードして聴くのに適している。この方法がポッドキャスティングにおける最大の特徴を活かした聴き方であり、かつ最も一般的な方法となっている。

アグリゲータで登録できるRSSは、前述の通りRSS 2.0のフォーマットで、エンクロージャー要素によって音声ファイルへのURLアドレスが記述されている必要がある。

ポッドキャスト用アグリゲータの主な目的はRSSに関連付けされているポッドキャスト・ファイルのダウンロードだが、音楽再生機能を持ち、ダウンロードしたファイルを直接再生できるものも多い。また、ポッドキャスターが管理するウェブサイト上でMacromedia Flashを利用して直接聴けるポッドキャスト・Webサイトも既に多く存在している。携帯ゲーム機のプレイステーション・ポータブルでは、ポッドキャストのストリーミング再生、時刻設定して無線LAN経由で保存するタイマー保存に対応している。

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Speak! English Salon/スピーク英会話サロン
http://web.me.com/josephcamcinnis
福岡市中央区大名１－１２－３６

A collection of resources for those interested in teaching substance misuse have just been published by SWAP. The resources include:

• information on integrating the topic into the curriculum;
• teaching the basics;
• involving alcohol and other drug specialists;
• a case study and a list of useful online sources.

The resources are all available to download from the SWAP website www.swap.ac.uk/resources

This presentation by Anna Vernon – Project Manager: JISC e-Books for FE Project – was made at the RSCni LR Forum on 20 Nov 09 and summarises the latest position in the use of the e-Books for FE collection.

[*this was to be posted last week, but discovered that wordpress + twitter were still being unreachable while in china.]

viv and i got a chance to vist union church this past sunday (an english-speaking church where we attend whenever we’re in hk). it was a good sunday for us to be there. much was heard and digested (spiritually and physically) and still gestating in me (mainly the spiritual things now).
being away from seattle/home and our normal day-to-day routines we’ve sort of lost track of time… we’re no longer looking at clocks, outlook calendars, etc. and it’s weird but equally good for our soul! we find ourselves unsure of the day of the week or even the time of the month. that’s why it was both serendipitous and a bit sad when the welcoming pastor announced a thanksgiving feast/meal after service.
thanksgiving time already?!?!
has that much time passed?
my stomach was like: turkey, cranberries, sweet potato and pumpkin pie… YES!

BUT… it also meant the first time i’d be away from my immediate/extended family for the holidays and our time abroad will be coming to a close soon…
as the service continued, the senior pastor gave the message on mary’s (lazarus’ sister) act of breaking the bottle of nard/using her hair to wipe Jesus’ feet… and judas’ response to this display of worship. just having been in france and seeing the molinard museum and learning more about perfume/nard made the message that much more interesting to me.
i’m sure when judas voiced his concern/criticism to Christ it must’ve sounded legit and perhaps even justified… i mean c’mon… the loss of 300 denarii (if the nard had been sold instead of broken) and the money that could’ve been raised for the poor? almost a year’s worth of wages! the guy could’ve sounded downright saintly!
i’m fearful/concerned because i could’ve easily thought and/or said the same thing… i would’ve rationalized all the good and longer-lasting good that could’ve been done had the bottle been sold. BUT i realize judas as the treasurer had alterior motives behind the sale of the perfume:

john 12:6: “he did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.“

(i truly feel bad for judas… seems like his life/life choices were unfair/plain sucked.  :|)
anyway, back to mary and her simple act of reckless abandon. no second thought or guessing… taking such a valuable resource and using it to beautifully worship the Lord.
near the end of his message, the pastor invited up adrian merryman. a former investment banker and ceo of several companies who walked away from a lucrative career in the financial business world to focus on what God had placed on his heart as a young child… to use his resources to help the poor through opportunity international. to hear pastor greg anderson’s message and his interview with adrian, click here.
i’m so encouraged to be hearing of more and more grass-root movements/non-profs (thanks to the internet) being started by everyday folks who feel like they simply have to “do something“. and when i hear this i seemingly convince myself:

“when i get to ‘this point’ in life or ‘that point’ then i will do something“.

what the #@%! is wrong with me?!?! why is my heart/head not drop-kicked into action NOW? my inactivity is costing lives! do whatever i can NOW, however i can NOW!
i know i will struggle to continually find balance in my life. do i use my real-world business experience to get a job and make money and then to give charitably out of my earnings or do i work for a non-profit organization (and potentially not make enough for my mortgage) instead? can i find a balance and perhaps do both… and do it well?
i will continue to press on/struggle to be faithful in prayer and faithful in response to what the Lord calls vivien and i to do.

“Lord, no matter what… may my life be a reckless and beautiful act of worship to You and of service unto others.
amen.”

Tools ‹ Talent Recruitment – a meeting place — WordPress.

Well, as it turns out, a lot.

I had my first French macaron during my connecting flight in Paris a couple of months ago – it had me at first bite. I still remember when my teeth first met the crusty surface.  Then they descended into the chewy core, which was followed by just the right amount of fillings to top off the ultimate delectable experience. I thought the whole world must have been added to each macaron, only to learn later on that the ingredients are incredibly simple. After about the 5th one, I started contemplating whether or not my husband and I should continue on to Spain, which was our final destination, or stay in Paris and eat our way out of every single patisserie that carried this tongue altering narcotics.

Once we returned to California, I was determined to find these Parisian treats. Soon enough, I started eating my way out of the local bakeries – from Pualette to Miette to XP Patisserie and even Starbucks – yes, THE CHAIN – who knew!

As if that wasn’t enough, I decided that I would learn to make my own macarons. So I’m taking a 3-hour class in LA late December. I figured that if each macron costs $1.65, and a class costs $50, taking the class was no brainer. So this is now my little personal challenge. I consider myself a good cook, but I don’t bake.

So what do bakers and product managers have in common? In general terms:

Creativity: In baking, it’s about taste, presentation, tools and techniques. In product management, it’s about design, processes and resources. Yes, you CAN be creative in how you use your resources to get things done!

Patience: In baking, every step has to be meticulously done – the ingredients, the step by step preparation, and the wait . . . before you can enjoy the fruit of your labor. Product Managers generally lack patience. That might just be the nature of A-type personalities. But patience can result in better timing (i.e., go to market), better outcome (due diligence in planning, execution and QA) and increased productivity.

Persistence and the desire to achieve perfection: When I scoured the internet for a macron recipe and for people’s experience in making macrons, the common thread seemed to be the multiple attempts. One person went through 7 batches before he was happy with the outcome. PMs persistency comes from selling ideas they truly believe in to both the internal and external stakeholders. Persistence is also about finding an optimal solution to a problem.

Pride: In baking, it’s about repeated business via word of mouth. It’s about who wins the bake off contest, and if you have kids, it’s about who’s mom makes kick butt cupcakes. In product management, it’s the satisfaction of seeing your product move off the shelf and knowing that you’ve put your heart, soul, sweat into creating something that never existed before. It’s about making a difference in someone else’s life because of your product(s), or better yet, it’s about making a better world.

Passion: Bakers exists because they are passionate about food. If you don’t believe me, just look at their size (I’m going to get into so much trouble for this). As a marketer, I’m guilty of accumulating a lot of personal “stuff” I might not need. My husband accuses me of it, and I tell him that the product was so brilliantly marketed that I just had to buy it. Truly the bottom line is that if you are not passionate about the product that you manage, you are less likely to succeed.

So will baking make me a better product manager? Maybe . . . but I’m sure going to find out!

As posted on C18-L:

William Blake, "The Ancient of Days," 1794 (London: BM); Wikimedia Commons

The William Blake Archive is pleased to announce the publication of the electronic edition of Europe a Prophecy copy G, from the Morgan Library and Museum. Europe, extant in nine copies, is dated 1794 on its title plate. The first six copies were color printed that year; four of these copies were printed on both sides of the leaves and two were printed on one side only. Copy G belongs to the former issue and joins in the Archive copy E from the same issue and copy B, more heavily printed, from the latter. It also joins copy H, the only monochrome copy, printed in 1795, and copy K, from the last printing session, c. 1821. With each printing session represented in the William Blake Archive, users can trace the full printing history of Europe.

Like all the illuminated books in the Archive, the text and images of Europe copy G are fully searchable and are supported by our Inote and ImageSizer applications. With the Archive’s Compare feature, users can easily juxtapose multiple impressions of any plate across the different copies of this or any of the other illuminated books. With our new Related Works feature, launched last month, users can access related materials through active links on the work index pages and in the Show Me menu on the object view pages. New protocols for transcription, which produce improved accuracy and fuller documentation in editors’ notes, have been applied to all copies of Europe in the Archive.

With the publication of this copy of Europe, the Archive now contains fully searchable and scalable electronic editions of seventy-one copies of Blake’s nineteen illuminated books in the context of full bibliographic information about each work, careful diplomatic transcriptions of all texts, detailed descriptions of all images, and extensive bibliographies. In addition to illuminated books, the Archive contains many important manuscripts and series of engravings, sketches, and water color drawings, including Blake’s illustrations to Thomas Gray’s Poems, water color and engraved illustrations to Dante’s Divine Comedy, the large color printed drawings of 1795 and c. 1805, the Linnell and Butts sets of the Book of Job water colors and the sketchbook containing drawings for the engraved illustrations to the Book of Job, the water color illustrations to Robert Blair’s The Grave, and all nine of Blake’s water color series illustrating the poetry of John Milton.

As always, the William Blake Archive is a free site, imposing no access restrictions and charging no subscription fees. The site is made possible by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the continuing support of the Library of Congress, and the cooperation of the international array of libraries and museums that have generously given us permission to reproduce works from their collections in the Archive.

Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick, and Joseph Viscomi, editors
Ashley Reed, project manager, William Shaw, technical editor
The William Blake Archive

Let me start out by saying i am not anti-formula. My son for various reasons of the course of his year life span has and does drink formula. This has been a bittersweet decision for my husband and I. Bitter right now because i’m not ready to wean and yet we are fighting hard to maintain a minimum supply while i’m prego; and “sweet” when he was 5 days old and with no chance to have an adequate pumped supply i had to resort to formula after i had a cat scan and had to pump and dump for 24 hours. But even though I’m not anti-formula I am Pro-breastfeeding. I believe in the health benefits of it, i believe that its complexity can not be replicated in formula and i believe in the emotional value of breastfeeding. I believe its important to breastfeed if you are physically able to breastfeed. The AAP recommends to breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months, but to continue at minimum through the first year. I believe this is so important!!! yes there are going to be occasions where fixing a bottle would be easier but thats what pumps are for; so i believe if you are physically able to its important that you give your baby breast milk.

With that said, i want to share with you a website i recently came across… Formula Fed America. It’s a website centered around a movie that i can’t wait to see about Formula Feeding vs. Breastfeeding in the United States. I recommend checking out the site and viewing the trailer for the film. 

The film is based on the lack of education, mis-education and support available to women in this country who choose to breastfeed. Such an important topic!

I read once on a blog that someone felt that nursing mothers get more attention in the hospital than mothers feeding their baby’s formula. This may be true, i dont know i’m a mom who choose to breastfeed. but i do know that once you leave the hospital after your 1-2 day stay, it’s a lot of work to find the support you need to continue the relationship if there are any hiccups. I discovered for myself that while all the hospitals in my area have lactation consultants not all are free to visit after you’ve been discharged. Also not all pediatricians and OBs are made a like some will fully support you in your breastfeeding relationship and help you diagnose your problem but others will actually encourage you going to formula because they have little to no experience or knowledge of breastfeeding. Get a further than first week, like say into your 4th month or 8th month and run across roadblocks such as an infection, growth spurt, or nursing strike and you may get misinformation that you are drying up, or that you should stop due to a risk for your baby; and if you try to see that lactation consultant at your hospital you may get told as i did that once your baby is 6 weeks old they will no longer see you. Given all of this its no wonder that so many moms turn to formula feeding. its accessible in every store, free samples are often available from the makers, and well just about any sales rep can help you pick out a can and bottle. I do see more and more moms breastfeeding, and now that i am around more natural parenting parents i have come across more and more independent lactation consultants but i am excited to see a documentary comparing the two choices and i hope it will help women to make more informed choices.

Google has been sending more Google Wave invites. If you were on the waiting list you might be getting an invite about now.

https://wave.google.com/

The Institute for Humane Education (IHE) believes that we can solve the many challenges facing the world and that the solutions can and must serve everyone: all people, the environment, and other species.

http://humaneeducation.org/sections/view/issues

Even though this school year hasn’t even finished yet, parents of those starting school in the Fall of 2010 should have already started the process of finding the schools you are interested in for your child. Whether you are looking into public, private or charter schools, now is the time to tour the prospective schools and be ready for next years application. Below are some sites to help you in your search:

InsideSchools.org

A great site with reviews and lots of information that you are going to need!

Schools.NYC.gov

Provides information on the enrollment process, schools in your area, and more.

http://maps.nycboe.net/

Use this to find your zoning information

As budgets tighten, businesses are outsourcing research and development and the creation of new products as a way to slash costs, speed development time and tap into top talent outside the company.

Professors from North Carolina State University and Michigan State University studied the sourcing habits and innovative performance of 359 companies based in the U.S. and reviewed existing research on outsourced innovation.  As a result, they identified 4 situations where innovation should be outsourced.

With budgets tight, more companies are hiring third parties to come up with new ideas – WSJ.com.

Excellent insights in this article, including information on the Biennial US-Africa Business Summit, which most recently took place in September of this year.  Below are a couple of the key questions asked to Stephen Hayes of the nonprofit trade group Corporate Council on Africa:

A lot of that negative publicity that you mentioned involves war, natural disaster, and governments steeped in corruption. Those don’t seem like ideal business conditions.

Well, the charge of corruption is valid in some countries. But you have to remember that there are disasters and corruption all over the world, including in South America and North America. That doesn’t preclude us doing business there.

Which African countries offer the most promise for business exchanges?

The best possibilities are in the southern half of the continent, countries like Mozambique, South Africa, Mauritius, and Namibia. Ghana has enormous potential in its ports, fisheries, and tourism, as does Botswana. Advice on Doing Business in Africa – BusinessWeek.

Here I will list the batting cages I find in DC.  Please add others you know about in the comments and replies to this page and they will be added.

MARYLAND:

Night Hawk Golf Center – Gambrills, MD – open year-round – 15 pitches per token, one token costs $1, six for $5, 42 for $30.  Directions

Extra Innings Upper Marlboro Indoor Training Center – Upper Marlboro, MD – open year-round – $8 for 10 minutes (more than 100 pitches), $12 for 15 minutes. Private hitting lessons $39 per half-hour. Directions

Laurel Golf Center – Laurel, MD – 20 pitches per token, one token costs $2, four for $7.  Directions

Rocky Gorge 4 Seasons Golf Fairway – Laurel, MD – 9 pitches per token, two tokens cost $1, 12 for $5. Directions

VIRGINIA:

Woody’s Golf Range – Herndon, VA – open year-round – 20 pitches per token, one token costs $2. Directions

Cameron Run Regional Park – Alexandria, VA – seasonal (open mid-March to early November) – 16 pitches per token, one token costs $1, six for $5. Directions

The Dugout – Clifton, VA – 14 pitches per token, one token costs $2, four for $5, nine for $10, 19 for $20; bat rental 50 cents. Directions

Dulles Golf Center & Sports Park – Sterling, VA – 10 pitches per token, one token costs $1, six for $5, 13 for $10. Directions

Occoquan Regional Park – Lorton, VA – 16 pitches per token, one token costs $1, six for $5. Directions

Upton Hill Regional Park – Arlington, VA – 16 pitches per token, one token costs $1, six for $5. Directions

Just a heads up, I put up a new section here for any interesting reading I come across.  Any links to worthy material for the archive are welcome, as always.

The words on page 74-75 of Kinnaman & Lyon’s book, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity … and Why It Matters, jump off the page at me every time I read them:

      The opportunities that outsiders have to hear about Christ and know Christians are nothing short of astounding [in the United States]. For nearly two decades, the Barna team has been exploring church participation among American teenagers. We consistently find that the vast majority of teenagers nationwide will spend a significant amount of their teen years participating in a Christian congregation. Most teenagers in America enter adulthood considering themselves to be Christians and saying they have made a personal committment to Christ. But with a decade, most of these young people will have left the church and will have placed emotional connection to Christianity on the shelf. For most of them, their faith was merely skin deep. This leads to the sobering finding that the vast majority of outsiders in this country, particularly among young generations, are actually de-churched individuals.

      In spite of the fact that many of them are currently disconnected from a church, most Americans, including two-thirds of all adult Mosaics and Busters (65 percent), tell us that they have made a commitment to Jesus Christ at some point in their life. This is slightly lower than the percent of older adults who have made such a commitment (73 percent). This is an amazing fact about our culture. The vast majority of Americans, regardless of age, assert they have already made a significant decision to follow Christ!

      Of course, this raises the question of the depth of their faith. If that many Americans have made a decision to follow Jesus, our culture and our world would be revolutionized if they simply lived that faith. It is easy to embrace a costless form of Christianity in America today, and we have probably contributed to that by giving people a superficial understanding of the gospel and focusing only on their decision to convert.

      At Barna, we employ dozens of tools to assess the depth of a person’s faith. Let me suggest one for our discussion: a biblical worldview. A person with a biblical worldview experiences, interprets, and responds to reality in light of the Bible’s principles. What Scripture teaches is the primary grid for making decisions and interacting with the world. For the purposes of our research, we investigate a biblical worldview based on eight elements.

      A person with a biblical worldview believes that …

1. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life.
2. God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He still rules today.
3. Salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned.
4. Satan is real.
5. A Christian has a responsiblity to share his or her faith in Christ with other people.
6. The Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches.
7. Unchanging moral truth exists.
8. Such moral truth is defined by the Bible.

      In our research, we have found that people who embrace these eight components live a substantially different faith from other Americans – indeed, from other believers. What we believe influences our choices.

      Getting back to the issue of spiritual depth, if two-thirds of young adults have made a commitment to Jesus before, how many do you think possess a biblical worldview? Our research shows only 3 percent of Busters and Mosaics embrace these eight elements. That is just one out of every twenty-two young adults who have made a committment to Christ. (Although older adults are more likely to have such a perspective, it is also a small slice – only 9 percent – who do).

      This means that out of ninety-five million Americans who are ages eighteen to forty-one, about sixty million say they have already made a commitment to Jesus that is still important; however, only about three million of them have a biblical worldview.

Wow – those numbers are shocking!

Quantifiable research done over the course of many years including hundreds of thousands of interviews has enlightened us to this: the vast majority of young adults living in America today who claim to be following Jesus don’t have a grasp of the most basic Christian doctrines.

The eight elements listed do not comprehensively paint a picture of a disciple of Christ, but they do represent many of the basics.

After reading UnChristian for the first time a couple of years ago, I set a goal to do my best to make sure those learning from me adopt a biblical worldview. Meeting this goal takes intentionality. Before I simply assumed most people who’d been part of my church for a while (barring brand new Christians) understood the basics. I’ve since learned it’s a mistake to assume too much – one I doubt I’ll make again anytime soon.

I’m interested in hearing from others …

Do these numbers shock you? Are any of these eight topics ever tackled at your church? Have any of you come up with a teaching strategy to instill a biblical worldview in others? What’s missing from this list that needs to be added?

Love to hear your thoughts.

This edition of Nielsen Notes falls in the category of books I would like to read.

Although I haven’t extensively studied or researched legal issues associated with marketing and communications, I find them to be interesting. This past week, I read this article about a new book on copyright law from William Patry, an intellectual property lawyer who is currently chief copyright counsel at Google. He also writes a blog about the book, and he presents the book’s table of contents in his November 8, 2009 post.

I hope to pick up this book and find out more about Patry’s take on copyright issues.

Photo credit: Joe Gratz

Another great blog from a DC cabaret maven !!!

Emily Leatha Everson has recently found a new performance niche of singing illustrated books to children.  Now Sing Books with Emily is her blog devoted to the subject.

What a terrific resource for parents (or those who know parents) of young children.  Her most recent post has some terrific ideas for holiday themed books.  And hopefully, training young audiences to expect a story with their music will plant the seeds for the next few generations of cabaret-goers.