Shotgun:

Perhaps when a truly fleshed-out Christian apologetic is presented to you, you’ll see your critiques, however relevant they may be towards some apologists, aren’t applicable to Van Til’s presentation?

SimpleLife:

Ok, I am open to learn, though I have yet to see a Van Til argument that works.
I only ask that you boil the argument down to a logical flow, and skip all the rhetoric. A good position doesn’t need to hide behind long paragraphs of obfuscation. Lets examine the logic.

Shotgun:

Mr. Simple,

It may be popular to treat Christ as if He is a syllogism, or Christianity as if it’s an argument, but that is unfortunate. I worship a real God that came to Earth as a real man, who really died, and was really resurrected! Since the Reformed system is the most coherent and consistent expression of life in terms of God’s existence, then apologetics becomes the consistent expression of Reformed theology.

I want to make a bumper sticker, or a T-shirt that says: “TAG: It’s not an argument, it’s an attitude!” with a picture of Van Til.  (That should go over well here in D.C.!)

How, then, can I condense the entirety of Reformed thought down into a syllogism for you? For a formally valid argument, we could try this:

If the Christian God of Reformed Orthodoxy is real, then existence (and everything that entails) is possible! (With God being the only sufficient condition of existence.) Since we exist and have rational and coherent experiences, then the God of Reformed Orthodoxy is real. Or:

If God**, then Existence. Existence, therefore: God.

Existence IMPLIES the Christian God! We don’t present arguments FOR Him…rather, we show why all argument is impossible WITHOUT Him! This is common sense to the Sunday School child…but the philosophers scratch their heads and wonder if the premises can be proven. “There MUST be some way to account for our experiences other than by appeal to the Christian God!” they cry! “There HAS to be!” Indeed, the unregenerate seek to replace the God of the above argument with lies! Lies like existentialism, monism, atomism, rationalism, Buddhism, Islam, Mormonism, and more.

In the end…all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found tied up with this mysterious and controversial figure whose exploits are contained in some dust covered book on nightstands across the country.

**With God being the only sufficient condition of Existence, this becomes a formally valid argument. If this attribute of God were not noted, the argument would be guilty of affirming the consequent.

Lately I’ve been getting weird error messages when trying to text to the shortcode of a local radio station.  Since my messages were trivial feedback or text requests, I wasn’t really all that concerned… and there other ways to get a hold of the DJ’s.  Out of curiosity, I forwarded the error message to my phone, and then emailed it to a local radio personality… and we discovered an oddity amongst ourselves.  I decided to pop it into an email or two or three to Sprint, as I have acquired many customer service email addresses over the years.

Thanks to Dave again for editing help on the email to Sprint.  I get excited with this stuff, and it’s damn-near impossible to proofread your own work with any sort of clarity or efficiency.

Reads how the story unfolds below, DJ’s identity protected by request.

From: Eric Carroll me@myemailaddre.ss
To: customer.servicenet@mail.sprint.com
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 8:35:30 AM
Subject: Error Msg 1051 & Shortcode [shortcode] – ???

Hello Old Friends at Sprint Customer Service,

I have had several interactions with Sprint customer service before, and they usually go like this or like this.  So, please pardon me if I sound confoundedly abrupt, direct, or belligerent.  I will try to be as direct & concise as possible in describing this error, which may have an effect on a great number of customers.

The following is an email exchange that I had with a local radio personality today after emailing him out of frustration that every time I text to the number pimped out over the air, I get some sort of error message.  Full contents of that message below…

---

From: Me me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Wed 12/2/2009
To: [DJ] DJ@station.com
Subject: [shortcode]?Every time I try to text you guys from my phone at [shortcode], I keep getting this message…

—– Forwarded Message —-
From: ##########@messaging.sprintpcs.com

To: me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Wed, December 2, 2009
Subject:Fwd:
From: 9230
Sent: Dec 2 1:24pm
Msg: The shortcode you are attempting to use has expired and is no longer a valid short code.
Msg 1051

By the way, I dug the Flyleaf!

-E.

---

From: [DJ] DJ@station.com
To: Me me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Wed, December 2, 2009
Subject: RE: [shortcode]?really????  that is weird, got about a hundred txts for the pick today…

[DJ]

[station]-fm Pittsburgh

http://www.station.com/pages/dj.html

---

From: Me me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Wed 12/2/2009
To: [DJ]
Subject: Re: [shortcode]?

Sprint is the devil incarnate, so it comes as no surprise, must be their issue.  Or I’m persistently fat-fingering the wrong number…  Ha ha ha.

-E.
.seitilibasid gninrael fo nuf ekam ot ynnuf ton yllaer s’tI

---

From: [DJ] DJ@station.com
To: Me me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Wed, December 2, 2009
Subject: RE: [shortcode]?of the last 50 txts or so, not one is from Sprint..

[DJ]

[station]-fm Pittsburgh

http://www.station.com/pages/dj.html

---

Please pardon the “devil incarnate” crack, but again, I refer you to this and this… and I only wish I had saved my correspondence about splitting my phone from another plan years & years ago that was mired with “network issues” and a lack of any real solutions until I elevated it to a level where it trickled down to a regional manager to handle.

As you can see, any and all text messages to [shortcode] for their text requests, feedback on “[show segment]“, or general harassment of the DJ’s, may not be going through on the Sprint network.  I checked my phone dialing skills, and my fingers are indeed functioning properly.  [DJ]’s comment “of the last 50 txts or so, not one is from Sprint” ought to concern you, or at least throw up the proverbial red flag if you will.  How [DJ] comes to this conclusion, I know not, but he is a seemingly intelligent person, and who am I to question his knowledge and authority on the subject?  Would you dare question him?

It seems odd to me that a shortcode would expire for one network, and not any others.  Again, I know nothing of cell phone and data networks and their mysterious inter-workings… I’m just making a guess based on the evidence presented to me.

If the issue is a network problem, I felt that you might like to be notified, so this is that.  If the problem is simply with my phone or plan, I’d like the issue resolved as soon as possible.

Thank you in advance for your time, I hope to hear from you soon… and I really hope it’s not an automated response.  I hate automated responses with the line “please do not reply to this email”.  Seriously.  Who wants to read that?  I would rather read…  “If you don’t have a response from us within X# business days, please contact blah-blah@bowdownto.sprint.gov” or something like that.  And please, please, please… do not ask me to call any automated numbers… or provide my phone number to “discuss the issue”.  I don’t want to discuss the issue.  This is why I took the time to construct a thoughtfully worded and calculated email.

Inquisitively,
-Eric

Heh.  I really wish I had that 1st set of Sprint correspondence somewhere.  It was highly entertaining.  At any rate, got a few responses today already.  I’m amazed at the degree of  difference.

From: “McDonald, Maria [CON]” maria.mcdonald@sprint.com
To: Eric me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 8:40:38 AM
Subject: RE: Error Msg 1051 & Shortcode [shortcode] – ???

May be associated with this issue. We are currently working on this.

Thank you to all of you who helped our customers report this, and for those of you who sent these up to me.  This was posted yesterday, please let your customers know Sprint is engaged with our roaming partners to resolve this issue as soon as possible.  No ETR at current.

Thanks,

BB

Roaming SMS Text Messaging Issue
As of 11/24/09, Sprint CDMA customers nationwide are experiencing problems when sending and receiving SMS Text Messages on some roaming networks.

Details:

·         Customers may get an “error 3” message when SMS Text Messages are sent.

·         Voice and data roaming is not impacted.

·         Sprint is aware of the problem and working with their roaming partner to determine root cause.

·         No resolution time has been determined.

·         Updates will follow when available.

Actions:

If a customer contacts you about problems sending or receiving text messages while roaming:

·         Apologize for the inconvenience and let them know that Sprint is aware of the problem and working as quickly as possible to resolve it, however there is no resolution at this time.

Do not enter a trouble ticket

So, basically, “It’s a network issue that technically isn’t our fault, we have no idea what we’re doing and no resolution at this time even though you pay us a ridiculous amount of money each month for service, sorry.”

From: Eric me@myemailaddre.ss
To: “McDonald, Maria [CON]” maria.mcdonald@sprint.com
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 8:49:21 AM
Subject: Re: Error Msg 1051 & Shortcode [shortcode] – ???

Hello Maria,

While I don’t believe that I’m in roaming when I send these texts, as I’m at work, on top of a large hill, not far from the city, and in an area where my reception & service seem to be consistently good…  I can appreciate that this may be related to a larger-scale issue.  Why would a roaming issue give me an error message about an expired shortcode?

Thank you for your time & almost instantaneous reply!

Impressed,
-Eric

.seitilibasid gninrael fo nuf ekam ot ynnuf ton yllaer s’tI

Reasonable enough, no?  On to the secondary reply…

From: “McDonald, Maria [CON]” maria.mcdonald@sprint.com
To: Eric me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 8:52:23 AM
Subject: RE: Error Msg 1051 & Shortcode [shortcode] – ???

You’re welcome! I was online reviewing emails when I got your message. I believe it has to do with roaming partner agreements etc. While your phone will not tell you that you are roaming (it usually only alerts you while a voice call is made) it code be your location and the proximity to a roaming partner (usually Verizon) tower.

Try setting your phone to “Sprint only” in your roaming settings and see if it helps. May not change the error though but the company is aware of an issue with sms texting.

It’s Verizon’s fault? Verizon is SMS-blocking me and a local radio station?  I can see by the icon on my phone that I’m not in roaming where I’m trying to text.  Odd.  This is a route we’re not getting anywhere with.  Luckily, I have other replies…

From: “Belback, Sarah A [CON]” Sarah.Feather@sprint.com
To: Eric Carroll me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 9:07:22 AM
Subject: RE: Error Msg 1051 & Shortcode [shortcode] – ???

Eric,

Is your phone on roam when you are trying to text?

Sarah Belback
Store  Manager #985
114 Trinity Point Dr
Washington, PA 15301
724-250-1700 store
404-948-0699 fax
480-221-0101 wireless

A more subtle approach, I take it?  I’ll go with this then…

From: Eric me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 9:28 AM
To: Belback, Sarah A [CON]
Subject: Re: Error Msg 1051 & Shortcode [shortcode] – ???

Hello Sarah,

Thanks for the quick reply!  I don’t believe I’m in roaming… I am not too far from the city, on top of a large hill, and in an industrial park when trying to text.  I never have any reception rpoblems or roaming notificatons when I’m here at work… and the icon on my phone doesn’t indicate that I’m in roaming.

Thanks,
-Eric

.seitilibasid gninrael fo nuf ekam ot ynnuf ton yllaer s’tI

Regular Text

From: ” Belback, Sarah A [CON] ” Sarah.Feather@sprint.com
To: Eric me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 9:32:31 AM
Subject: RE: Error Msg 1051 & Shortcode [shortcode] – ???

Ok. When did this start? What is the address where you are at? What is your wireless #?

Sarah Belback
Store  Manager #985
114 Trinity Point Dr
Washington, PA 15301
724-250-1700 store
404-948-0699 fax
480-221-0101 wireless

Well, for starters, my wireless number is in the original email if you’re paying attention.  It’s the 10 digits in front of the SMS email address.  Dave and Kristin (my editing friends) would have a field day with the sentence ended by “at”.  Oh, look!  I did it again.  Oh well, I needed to keep this one going…

From: Eric me@myemailaddre.ss
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009
To: Belback, Sarah A [CON]
Subject: Re: Error Msg 1051 & Shortcode [shortcode] – ???

Hello again Sarah,

Noticed the error last week ignored it the first few times until I conversed with [DJ] at [station].  I’m in ________________ , PA _____ … my wireless # is ###-###-####.

Thanks!

-Eric

.seitilibasid gninrael fo nuf ekam ot ynnuf ton yllaer s’tI

So, she tries to help again…

From: “Belback, Sarah A [CON]” Sarah.Feather@sprint.com

To: Eric me@myemailaddre.ss

Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 10:48:17 AM

Subject: RE: Error Msg 1051 & Shortcode [shortcode] – ???

Ok. Thx!  Can you bring your phone to the store so we can test it. If need be we may have to call tech support as well and I know I will need the phone present when we call.

Sarah Belback
Store  Manager #985
114 Trinity Point Dr
Washington, PA 15301
724-250-1700 store
404-948-0699 fax
480-221-0101 wireless

Thx?  Thx! OMG. WTF? BBQ!

Well, I have no idea why I have this store’s contact info, as it isn’t near me, or where I got the phone.  So… I’m not about to go to that store for that reason.  The other reason being that I tried to send a text to a shortcode multiple times, and got the same result multiple time.  I described in details the problem I was having, and I even provided the exact text of the network error message, including a specific error code.  “Error Msg 1051″ is in the subject line of the email!  [DJ] says that he hasn’t received any text messages from Sprint in the last 50 or so that he had received.  It’s obviously not an error with just my phone.

At least Sarah accepts the fact that it may not be part of this larger blanket “Verizon text-blocking” issue.

I haven’t decided how to reply to this yet… as customer service at sprint seems to have time & time again locked me into an endless loop of email/call the #/come to the store/call the “special” #/go to the store/… Repeat ∞.

Which brings me to this gem…

From: “IDEN – Online@sprint.com” online@sprint.com
To: Eric me@myemailaddress.com
Sent: Thu, December 3, 2009 4:21:29 PM
Subject: Re: Error Msg 1051 & Shortcode [shortcode] – ??? (KMM65634876I15977L0KM)

Dear Eric,

Thank you for contacting Sprint regarding message to a short code.

I understand that you are unable to send messages to the short code
[shortcode].  I apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced. To
resolve this issue, please contact a Technical Support specialist by
calling (888) 211-4727 and follow the prompts for technical support
assistance.  In order to potentially test your Sprint handset, it is
important to call from another phone.

Further, to protect your Sprint account from unauthorized access and
changes, it is important that we confirm your information.

Please reply to this email and provide me with your:

1. First and last name
2. Email address
3. Wireless telephone number
4. Billing address

We value your business and appreciate the opportunity to address your
concerns. Please reply to this email or visit Sprint.com/mysprint if we
can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,
James P.
Sprint

Helpful Sprint Links:

Learn to pay & view your bill, check usage and more with our
“how to” videos: www.sprint.com/howto

Receive unprecedented value:
Analyze your plan: www.sprint.com/planfit
Try our individual, shared/family and push-to-talk plans:
www.sprint.com/simpleplans

Find a Sprint store, email a question or make an appointment:
www.sprintstorelocator.com

Preview cutting-edge devices that give you instant access to
what you want, fast:
Palm Pre & other Smartphones: www.sprint.com/smartphones
BlackBerry 8330i & other Push-to-Talk phones:
www.sprint.com/pushtotalk

Check out our network coverage: www.sprint.com/coverage

Live & breathe football with NFL Mobile Live: www.sprint.com/nfl

Original Message Follows:
————————

Wow, do I have several issues with this.  Just wow.  I think it warrants a bulleted list!

• “Thank you for contacting Sprint regarding message to a short code.”/“I understand that you are unable to send messages to the short code [shortcode].” – So, you did read my emai?  Cool!  Finally!
• “To resolve this issue, please contact a Technical Support specialist by calling (888) 211-4727 and follow the prompts for technical support assistance.” – So, you didn’t read my email?  (Especially at the bottom where I said “And please, please, please… do not ask me to call any automated numbers… or provide my phone number to ‘discuss the issue’.  I don’t want to discuss the issue.  This is why I took the time to construct a thoughtfully worded and calculated email.”)  Well, boo to you, my friends.
• “Further, to protect your Sprint account from unauthorized access and changes, it is important that we confirm your information.” – You goofy sons of… items 1 through 3 are all mentioned in the 1st email.  It’s an email, so you have my address and first and last name… and again, the phone number was listed.  So, I need to email you my billing address and call the 888 number that’s been programmed into my phone for the past 2 phones…?  For what?  To start the endless cycle noted above?
• “Please reply to this email or visit Sprint.com/mysprint if we can be of further assistance.” – I sent you this email for assistace in the first place.  I don’t need further assistance… I need an actual occurance of assistance before I can request further assistance.  In fact, I don’t even think I need assistance. I think you need the assistance with your network, and I think Verizon needs assistance in text-blocking you.

Wow.  I’m not sure where to go form here… but you can see how this is a downward spiral of nonsensical steps in order to (I think) exhaust me to the point where I no longer care about the problem.

And, was that advertisement for themselves at the bottom of the tech support email?  Really?

Maybe I should ask Verizon why they’re text-blocking me?

For auctioneers, we deal with oral and written contracts continually. So, no matter the kind, what elements must be present to have a valid contract? There are three:

• Competent parties
• Mutual assent
• Consideration

Competent parties means that both parties to the contract are competent. Competency relates to mental competency meaning that one of the parties isn’t mentally incompetent. As well, common law in the United States suggests that someone must be at least 18 years old to be competent.

Mutual assent means the parties have a “meeting of the minds.” For example, at an auction, during bid calling, if the bidder thinks he is buying a flower frog, and the auctioneer is selling a kitchen cupboard, and says, “Sold!” then there is no contract — clearly no meeting of the minds.

Consideration means “something of value” and can be money, property, services, or a promise to do something or not do something. For example, the auction buyer promises to pay for the item, and remove it within the given terms, while the seller (auctioneer) promises to transfer title.

When do auctioneers enter into contracts? We’ll discuss this in greater detail later, but basically at every turn. Auctioneers enter into contracts with sellers, bidders and buyers throughout their careers.

What happens if we don’t have the three essential ingredients to a contract? Basically, there is no contract, but there are cases where, for example, a minor entered into an auction contract and the court involved ruled that only the minor could void the contract, and otherwise, the auctioneer would have to perform. The concept of “voidable” typically only applies to the party lacking one of the essential ingredients.

The Pharisees challenged Him,  “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

Jesus answered,  “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I come from and where I am going.  But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.  You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.  But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone.  I stand with the Father, who sent me.  In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid.  I am one who testifies for myself, my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”  John 8:13-18.

For years, as I’ve read this passage I found it strange that in just a few short conversations earlier, Jesus seemingly invalidates His own testimony here by saying,  “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.”  The Pharisees were quick to point out the seeming inconsistency of His rhetoric but blind enough to miss the context of the previous statement, which concluded this way,  “There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that His testimony is valid.”  (John 5:31, 32.)

What else can we conclude except that Jesus is speaking of the Father.  He set the Pharisees up with their own litmus test for Him, then shot them down with the proof using the very evidence they wanted so very badly to deny.  Jesus’ miracles spoke loudly for supernatural help on His behalf.  Try as they might the leaders were stymied in their efforts to disprove Jesus’ claims and I think they became so obsessed with their goal they lost sight of commonsense.  If they wouldn’t accept the supernatural testimony the miraculous power Jesus demonstrated, then He would appeal to a human named John the Baptist, which met the criteria the Law requires.

Yet these men still refused to give in and sidestepped His victory by bringing up the circumstances surrounding His birth.  In these post-modern times we lose sight of what a scandal it was for Mary, Jesus’ mother, to be pregnant before the marriage officially consummated.  The Pharisees weren’t appealing to the known father figure in Jesus’ life but slyly intimating it could be anyone as well as Joseph.  “Where is your father?”  they asked Him.  Jesus threw their obvious ignorance back in their faces, though I don’t think they accepted it graciously, by saying,  “You don’t know me or my Father…”  I bet this puzzled them because it was assumed His parents were Mary and Joseph, or some other man unknown to them protected by Joseph’s noble act.  Since Joseph married her, however, the evidence pointed to him as the most likely candidate.

His miraculous ability should have kept them at bay, warning them off the hunt and quieting their objections.  Instead they pursued a course of open debate and challenged Him again and again.  Their efforts to discredit Jesus constantly landed them in the mud, yet they didn’t waiver or give up the charge.  Their arguments always centered on the only thing they accepted as true:  physical reality.

Why?

Why was it so important to defeat Jesus?

Mom used to say,  “If you could find a good reason for sin, you could excuse it.”  Paul dispels any excuse for humanity in Romans 1 by listing all the evidence of nature, natural law and Jesus Himself.  I don’t think in the scheme of things these men were as blind as they pretended to be—at least some of them.  I believe they were so blinded by ambition that any challenge to their ultimate authority and unquestionable place in the light set their teeth on edge.  How can I come to such a harsh judgment of their motivations?  They crucified Jesus for one; then at the martyrdom of Stephen they put their hands over their ears and yelling at the top of their lungs rushed him and began stoning him.

Don’t be blind to the nature of sin.  It motivates, captivates and demonstrates its heart time and again, though we ache to find an excuse or explanation for its behavior.  No such luck, folks.  The logic just isn’t there anywhere.  The leaders were possessed by blind ambition and self-glorification to the extreme where they killed a non-violent man for no other reason than that He bothered them.

Jesus led no insurrections, no call to replace the leadership, and not once did He even suggest a take over of Rome or the Jewish government through either Himself or His followers.  The Father testified His favor by giving Jesus an undefeated record in every debate as well as miraculous power to back it up.

Tell me, if you saw a man healed who’s limbs seconds before were twisted, bare bones with skin on them and unusable, stand up and walk, would you not be a little awestruck?  Absolutely!  Now take that several steps further to Lazarus who was dead 4 days before Jesus even got there, an unmistakable death for the historians who might suggest the man was merely in a coma.  Martha objected to rolling the stone back because of the smell, which probably leaked around the seal, testifying to the corruption happening inside the tomb, giving further testimony that Lazarus was dead. 

Jesus called him out of the tomb in front of a crowd of witnesses—even some from the Sanhedrin.  The evidence of this miracle was so convincing the Jews decided to kill Lazarus as well.  This is madness not mistaken theology, misplaced zeal or ignorance.  The only thing that drives a person to this level of insanity is a challenge to their own power over their world.  These men realized quite succinctly that Jesus was irrefutable and concluded (wrongly) nothing but death would remove Him as a problem.

It’s important to note Jesus’ argument about the source of their two perspectives.  He told them,  “You judge by human standards…” which is an identifying declaration not a guess or assumption.  In this one phrase He set up a contrast between Himself and His detractors in which they were judging by limited spiritual insight into the source of His life, family and mission.  In identifying the source of their grasp of truth He by default named His own.

It’s also vital to not pass over too quickly phrases or statements He makes because by doing so we can miss important truths.

“I pass judgment on no one.”

He could, and if He did, His judgment would be on the mark, but His mission to earth was not to pass judgment but to reconcile men to God.  His mission is our mission; His calling, our calling—except for the part about being God, Savior and the sacrifice for sins.  We are ambassadors of reconciliation, of peace on earth, good will toward men.  Any other agenda has been tagged on as an addendum or amendment by humans.  There is a Day for judgment set at the end of earth’s history with sin where God will judge all things, but for now all judgment is reserved for the Day.  Which means, then, the only judgment we can render anyone is to identify what displeases or pleases God.  Everything else is outside our jurisdiction or mandate. 

Jesus didn’t stand alone in His mission or grasp of human nature.  The Father stood with Him through it all, giving Him supernatural insight and wisdom to handle these things.  He demonstrated that God’s mere presence in the heart of the believer confounds all the wisdom of the world.  In the end, every argument will be answered and they will have no other way to fight back except to resort to violence.  It is always the way of those bound to human ideals and reasoning, for if they cannot defeat truth by standard human methods (rhetoric, “logic,” shouting someone down or social pressure), they choose violence.

So what does this mean for the believer?

By the process of elimination our last resort is to shake the dust of their town or home off our feet, retrieve our blessing and move on.  The only time we use violence is in the defense of the helpless, weak or oppressed, which even then needs to be a prayerful decision as to whether we will accomplish the desired outcome or not.  I would say most of the time our choice of preference is to shake the dust off and move on.

Here we also have a decision to make:  Will God’s Word in Christ be our first and last line of reasoning and defense or will we attempt to create a hybrid theology out of it by combining it to human values?

In order for us to figure out how many people actually read our Blog, we would like for you to simply leave a comment. It can be about anything, just use a valid email. We’ll even give you a prize!

Thanks so much for helping, The A Productions Blog Team

The spring controllers have become really snazzy with annotation based controllers the 2.5 release and it continues to evolve in that direction.  The  old approach (extending framework classes such as SimpleFormController)  is deprecated as of  Spring 3.x and the new design seems to be going in the right direction .  There are of course certain disciplines one has to adopt to make these new styled controllers maintainable , otherwise this flexibility would be very reason for troubles.  This blog has a very good suggestions on designing controllers with Spring MVC annotations using Spring 2.5.  As mentioned in the blog , in Spring 2.5 one had to explicitly call the validate on the form objects, but Spring 3.x version adds the support to annotate the RequetMapping method argument with a @Valid annotation so you don’t have to explicitly validate your form/command objects.  So you would do the following to get the framework validate the command object for you

import javax.validation.Valid;
......

@RequestMapping(method=RequestMethod.POST)
	public String postNewUser(@Valid User user, BindingResult results, ModelMap mmap)  {

             if (results.hasErrors()) {
                   return formView(mmap);
             }
             return successView(mmap);
        }

The formView() and successView() methods from this example are local methods that are used to populate the model values and also to return the view names to forward to.  This style would be really useful to deal with certain issues when not using @ModelAttribute annotation to populate the  model. I will write about this in a later post.

Of course, for this to work you need to have the following in your spring applicationcontext.xml.

	<bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.annotation.AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter">
		<property name="webBindingInitializer">
			<!-- Configures Spring MVC DataBinder instances -->
			<bean class="org.springframework.web.bind.support.ConfigurableWebBindingInitializer">
				<property name="validator" ref="validator" />
			</bean>
		</property>
	</bean>

	<!-- Creates the JSR-303 Validator -->
	<bean id="validator" class="org.springframework.validation.beanvalidation.LocalValidatorFactoryBean" />

The official spring documentation reference that explains this in detail is here. For this to work you would need a JSR 303 validator framework in the classpath and using maven this is as simple as adding the following in your pom.xml.   This  post has lot more information on the JSR 303 itself.

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
        <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
        <version>4.0.0.GA</version>
   </dependency>

References

Validation Annotations Reference (including Hibernate custom ones)

Spring documentation on validaton

Se intampla ca firma sa aiba azi mai putini angajati decat acum 6, 9 sau 12 luni? Se intampla ca seful vostru sa va ceara sa lucrati la inca un proiect pe langa cele pe care le aveti de facut in mod curent si care va ocupa tot timpul? Sau mai mult, sa va ceara sa lasati orice activitate si sa va ocupati de sarcina noua data?

Ce faceti in acest caz?

Ramaneti sa lucrati peste program? S-ar putea ca cei in masura sa nu observe, voit sau nu, efortul personal. Faceti eforturi mai mari ca sa rezolvati toate problemele in timpul orelor de lucru? S-ar putea sa nu mai fiti la fel de eficienti si sa sufere toate activitatile, nu doar una. Ii spuneti “nu” sefului? S-ar putea sa va riscati viitorul in firma fiind luati in vizor pentru insubordonare, lipsa spiritului de echipa sau sa vi se inventeze sau insceneze cine stie ce grozavii..

Inainte de toate incercati sa gasiti motivatia cererii. E posibil ca sefului vostru sa i se fi cerut sau sa i se fi impus de catre managerul de pe nivelul superior. Cazul cel mai fericit in care el are responsabilitatea iar voi resursele. Este bine sa aflati termenul real de predare a rezultatelor, sa ii solicitati ajutorul in sensul alocarii de resurse suplimentare (colegi care sa va ajute, orele suplimentare sa fie platite, o prelungire a termenului), sa obtineti beneficii imediate (resurse suplimentare pentru proiectele voastre, termene prelungite, etc) sau sa obtineti garantia, cel mai probabil nu mai mult decat verbala, ca la un moment ulterior efortul vostru va fi considerat si rasplatit.

E posibil ca cererea sa vina in urma unei schimbari de strategie la nivelul organizatiei, mai ales in timp de criza cand firmele obisnuiesc sa evalueze rezultatele cu o periodicitate mai mare si sa ajusteze planul de afaceri si bugetul mai des decat normal. In acest caz evaluati impreuna proiectele la care lucrati si vedeti care din ele mai sunt valide si operationale in noile conditii. Ar fi pacat sa irositi timp si efort pentru proiecte sau activitati care nu mai sunt necesare dar despre care, din varii motive, nu ati fost informati la timp.

In fine, e posibil ca solicitarea sa va vizeze direct, fie ca o testare a limitelor stresului, disponibilitatii, efortului; fie ca o modalitate de a va constrange sa plecati; fie ca o recunoastere a valorii si increderii cu care ati fost investit. Din nou, trebuie sa aflati motivatia cererii ca sa va pregatiti pentru ce urmeaza: evaluare, despartire, promovare, etc.

Bafta!

There are at least three different viewpoints taken in attempts to evaluate the contribution of advertising to the economic health of the firm. The generalist viewpoint is primarily concerned with sales, profits, returns on investment, and so forth. At the other extreme, the specialist viewpoint is represented by advertising experts who are primarily concerned with measuring the effects of specific ads or campaigns. A middle view, one that might  be classified as more of a marketing management approach, understands and appreciates the other two viewpoints but, in addition sees advertising as a competitive weapon. Emphasis in this approach is given to the strategic aspects of the advertising function.

Building on objectives for advertising can be assigned that focus on creating awareness, aiding comprehension, developing conviction, and encouraging ordering. Within each category, more specific objectives can be developed that take into account time and degree of success desired. Obviously compared to the large number of people advertising makes aware of the product or service, the number actually motivated to purchase is usually quite small.

In the long run and often in the short run, advertising is justified on the basis of the revenue it produces. Revenue in this case may refer either to sales or profits. Economic theory assumes that firms are profit maximizers, and the advertising outlays should be increased in every market and medium up to the point where the additional cost of gaining more business equals the incremental profits. Since most business firms do not have the data required to use the marginal analysis approach, they usually employ less sophisticated decision-making models. There is also evidence to show that many managers advertise to maximize sales on the assumption that higher sales mean more profits (which may or may not be true).

The point to be made here is that the ultimate objective of the business advertiser is to make sales and profits. To achieve this objective, the actions taken by customers must encompass purchase and continued repurchases of the advertised product. Toward this end, an approach to advertising is  is needed that provides for intelligent decision making. This approach must recognize the need for measuring the results of advertising, and these measurements must be as valid and reliable as possible. Marketing managers must also be aware that advertising not only complements other forms of communication but is subject to the law of diminishing returns. This means that for any advertised product, it can be assumed a point is eventually reached at which additional advertising produces little or no additional sales.

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

The email validation is a wonderful solution for making sure that the email address entered in your email form is correct (valid and not fake). This proceedure is done in real time, forcing the form filler to validate his address prior to submitting the form.
This kind of solution might seem complex, but it is actually really easy when using a form builder.

How do you use the email validation feature – following are the steps to add an email validation:

1- Enter the form builder
2- Select your email element.

3- Go to the “element settings” on the right and turn on the “email validation” checkbox and the “mandatory” checkbox as well. The reason for turning on the “mandatory” checkbox is that in order for the email validation to work the field must be mandatory.

4- Press on “apply”.
5- Save the form.
6-When a form filler will try to submit your form a window will appear, asking him/her to validate the email address.
The user will have to click on the link to send himself a validation email. Once this email arrives in the user’s mailbox he/she will need to copy the key number in it to the validation textbox in the validation window.

1) Wouldn’t every parent want to ensure that their child was perfect and had the attributes of physical attractiveness, intelligence and athletic prowess to be able to do whatever she or he wanted in life? If so, then why is the society in the film so devoid of happiness, vitality and fun?

In the film, Gattaca, almost all parents wanted to ensure that their child was perfect and had the specific attributes that they wanted in their children. Because of this, the society created a depressed and very formal atmosphere. The children are born with their goals laid out for them and have no choice in what they really want to be. Their talents and their strengths are laid out for them therefore planning out the rest of their lives with nothing for them to discover. These children who were born “perfect” were not really perfect at all. They lacked the heart and drive that is needed to accomplish something that is thought to be impossible.

When these perfect specimens like cannot live up to the expectations that are laid out for them, they do not know what to do with their life and therefore give up. Jerome was a perfect example of this. Jerome’s purpose (or what all his traits laid out for him to be) was an Olympic swimmer, Jerome took place in a swim meet and received second place. Jerome felt that second place was not good enough for himself and that is when he tries to commit suicide. However Jerome failed at committing suicide and became paralyzed from the waist down.

Another example of imperfection within perfection is Irene. Irene is a “valid” in the society and is constantly looking for flaws in her peers. By always looking for, and finding these flaws in her peers, she has become very distant with everyone. She has become distant due to the fact that she tries not to associate with those who she feels are lower than herself.

Not only is this society hard on itself as well as others but it also lacks true love. When someone becomes romantically interested in another person they take their DNA and have it tested to find out more about the person through their genes rather than actually talking and getting to know the person. Children are also conceived through test tubes rather than the natural way that Mother Nature intended for children to be made.

If I had the opportunity to genetically select my child I would not be able to. I believe that the child’s life should be decided by itself. Of course the child would have influences on its life but its life should not be set out in stone for it. I would want my child to be able to discover and develop its own strengths and weaknesses rather than them be given to him/her.

The human race is meant for imperfection. Nobody is perfect and no one ever will be perfect. There will always be someone who does not like you or something that you do not succeed at. The human race’s base emotional need is love. Without love humans are neither happy nor satisfied with their lives. Humans need to feel excitement and devastation in order to grow emotionally and spiritually. Without devastation you will never fully understand what excitement or love is. Just as you cannot explain good without evil.

2) In one scene, Vincent states that, “There is no gene for fate.” What does this phrase mean? Much of the film deals with the human desire to control face, versus willingness to let fate run its course. Explain some examples of moments in the film where characters try to control their destiny, and moments when they accept fate.

When Vincent says that, “There is no gene for fate,” he is referring to that success can never be guaranteed. When saying this he is stating that even though people, who are “perfect” to the standards of society, cannot always accomplish what is being asked of them. An example of this is when Vincent beats his brother in the swimming contest to see who could swim further than the other. Vincent, the “imperfect/invalid” brother, beats his “perfect/valid” brother even though Vincent is suppose to have a heart condition which would prevent him from doing so and his brother is suppose to be athletically superior to Vincent.

Examples of situations where the characters contorted their fate are when Vincent’s parents had a selective birth for Anton, Vincent saving Anton’s life, Vincent agrees to fake Jerome’s identity, Irene has Vincent/Jerome screened, Jerome attempting and finally succeeding in his suicide and Vincent constantly working towards his perfect image of himself as an astronaut. These are all examples of when the characters are trying to control their fate because they grab a hold of the situation that is present and try to bend it to better themselves.

Examples of situations where the characters accept their fate are when Vincent’s parents give birth to Vincent naturally, Vincent applying for a custodial job at Gattaca, and Vincent telling Irene that he is not Jerome but is really Vincent the invalid. These are examples of the characters accepting their fate because they took the situation and dealt with the situation as they could without trying to change it.

I believe that humans should accept their fate while being willing to change it but not to have their life planned out fully. As stated before humans need excitement and spontaneity in their life to be happy. If my life was planned and I knew exactly where I was supposed to be going I would be bored of my life before I got to live any of it.

PatriotSkyline.Blogspot.com

Pictured is a copy of Dr. Sun Yat Sen’s “Certificate of Hawaiian Birth”(Click to enlarge.) Dr. Sun Yat Sen, however, was actually born in the Guangdong Province of China. He was the leader instrumental in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and is credited with being the “Father of the Republic of China” and studied intensely the writings of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. He is revered as a great leader in both mainland China and Taiwan!
His brother lived in Maui, Hawaii and he visited the then Hawaiian Islands about 1/2 a dozen times. When Dr. Sun Yat Sen was 34 years old, he was able to obtain a “Certificate of Hawaiian Birth” based on his affidavit and that of several friends. The mere fact that he was NOT born in Hawaii was not an impediment to obtaining a “Certificate of Hawaiian Birth”. The point is that a Hawaii “Certification of Live Birth” means nothing regarding proof of location of birth, but, rather, merely indicates that the child was born alive.

Before the end of World War 1 most managers kept track of cash out and cash in. many senior citizen owner-managers still do today. There is an inherent problem in keeping the records that way, however, if the business offers and receives much credit. Doing business on credit displaces the time of the exchange of cash from the exchange of goods and services. Sometimes very little cash comes in during a particular month and very much cash comes in during other months. The same is true of cash out.

Keeping in track of what you pay or get paid for credit transactions causes the monthly reports describing the operations to fluctuate from month to month even though the goods and services flowing in and out of the business may be very much the same. About 1920 the accounting profession began placing emphasis on the accrual method of accounting to overcome this difficulty.

The accrual method portrays the smoothed-out profit as if all the transactions had been for cash and as if the business had purchased only exactly what was needed to make the sale. It is not an accurate portrayal of everything going on in the business, but it is a good approximation of the net effect of those things that affect profit. The problem is that so much emphasis has been placed on the accrual method income statement and balance sheet that the importance of cash has been regulated to virtual obscurity.

Even this result is satisfactory when the reports are describing large businesses with access to external financing through the stock market, commercial paper, and bank loans at the prime interest rate. But companies that do not have access to these external sources of financing have a different problem. For them, the flow of cash through the business means life or death, whether the accrual based profit is great or terrible. When new or small businesses need cash they must turn to the bank, the banker will look to the personal savings and assets of the owner-manager for collateral.

Accountants have not forgotten nor overlooked the importance of cash. They recognize the need for cash in sufficient quantity to keep the business operating. For their purposes, however, they often infer the cash available to the business from the income statements and describe future cash availability with the balance sheets. They, and others, frequently describe it as: cash flow equals net profit after taxes plus depreciation and other noncash expenses, such as amortization.

This statement is incorrect except under some very stringent preconditions that rarely exist in practice for a small business. This statement is an approximation that is valid for large and stable businesses in which changes from year to year are small and the statements from which the cash flow is inferred are annual reports. For a small and new business looking at monthly financial reports this approximation is inadequate. In a small, growing business the net cash flow to the firm’s bank account does not equal the net profit plus depreciation. Profit is not cash nor is it cash flow.

Although this pronouncement may be unconventional, entrepreneurs are realistic. Successful entrepreneurs ask how it really works and then get on with building their business. In the conventional approach the analysts, having inferred cash flow from profit, depreciation, and amortization, stop there, allowing their readers to assume that the resulting cash is in the bank wiating to be spent.

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, Line of Sight

This cartoon reminded me of a song I used to sing so joyfully as a child. It’s true because it says its true. Who could question that?

Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so; Little ones to Him belong, They are weak but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He who died, Heaven’s gate to open wide; He will wash away my sin, Let His little child come in.

Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! loves me still, When I’m very weak and ill; From His shining throne on high, Comes to watch me where I lie.

Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He will stay, Close beside me all the way; He’s prepared a home for me, And some day His face I’ll see.

Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

According to FactCheck.org:

FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as “supporting documents” to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.

Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said in a brief statement this past Monday:

“I … have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago.”

According to Media Matters:

On Fox News, Obama Nation author Jerome Corsi claimed that the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama “has a false, fake birth certificate posted on their website.” In fact, the Hawaii Department of Health has confirmed that the birth certificate posted online by the Obama campaign is “a valid Hawaii state birth certificate” and has called speculation about Obama’s citizenship “pretty ridiculous.”

More from FactCheck.org:

The document is a “certification of birth,” also known as a short-form birth certificate. The long form is drawn up by the hospital and includes additional information such as birth weight and parents’ hometowns. The short form is printed by the state and draws from a database with fewer details. The Hawaii Department of Health’s birth record request form does not give the option to request a photocopy of your long-form birth certificate, but their short form has enough information to be acceptable to the State Department…

The scan released by the campaign shows halos around the black text, making it look (to some) as though the text might have been pasted on top of an image of security paper. But the document itself has no such halos, nor do the close-up photos we took of it. We conclude that the halo seen in the image produced by the campaign is a digital artifact from the scanning process.

The copy of Obama's Birth Certificate on the Obama site Fightthesmears.com:

Blowup of text

The Obama birth certificate, held by FactCheck writer Joe Miller

The raised seal

Alvin T. Onaka's signature stamp

Blowup of certificate number

Will someone just let Lou Dobbs touch the damned thing so we can move on?

It is necessary to understand how knowledge is transferred to a novice. Textbooks provide novices with a background in a given area and a familiarity with the terminology used by other individuals in the field, but books alone usually do not produce an expert in a specific field. It is important to consider the type of experience that will be obtained and its role in developing expertise.

Certain difficulties exist when people try to gain experience from working with experts. Experts may be able to solve problems well may not be able to verbalize their techniques for solving them. Another difficulty in assessing the development from novice to expert concerns those problem areas that require creativity to generate solutions. For example, in the formulation of new products or new information systems, it is not always productive to look at past situations to find an appropriate method to solve a current problem. Sometimes new solutions are needed. Whether creativity can be learned is certainly open to debate, and there are valid arguments on both sides of the issue. If creativity can be learned, the issue of how to develop it and how to judge when creativity has been learned becomes important.

Overall, if the problem can be solved as a result of experience in the field and there are acknowledged experts available with sufficient agreement on the nature of the solutions, the problem can be attacked through the development of an expert system.

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, Line of Sight

The use of graphology (handwriting analysis) assumes that handwriting reflects basic personality traits. Handwriting analysis thus has some resemblance to projective personality tests, although graphology’s validity is highly suspect.

In graphology, the handwriting analyst studies an applicant’s handwriting and signature to discover the person’s needs, desires, and psychological makeup.According to a graphologist the writing examplifies uneven pressure, poor rhythm, and unseen baselines. The variation of light and dark lines show a “lack of control” and is “one strong indicator of the writer’s inner disturbance.”

Graphology’s place in screening sometimes seems schizophrenic. Studies suggest it is generally not valid, or that when graphologists do accutrately size up candidates, it’s because they are also privy to other background information. Yet some firms continue to use graphology—indeed, to swear by it. It tends to be bigger in Europe, where “countries like France or Germany have one central graphology institute, which serves as the certifying body.”

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, Line of Sight

If you are looking to validate a telephone number look no further!

There are several things to consider when trying to validate a telephone number, and in this blog we have broken down the process for you step-by-step. There are many ways to validate a telephone number, and many variables within the number to validate:

1. Is the telephone number valid?
2. Is the telephone number a landline, wireless, or VoIP?
3. Is the telephone number disconnected or not valid (e.g. area code 999 does not exist)?

Service Objects offers the following telephone validation options:

DOTS Phone Append

• A multi-database Web service designed to provide the most accurate lookup of landline telephone numbers available
• Updated daily
• 72% match rate for consumers, 63% match rate for businesses
• Coverage for the US and Canada

DOTS Phone Exchange

• Point-of-entry validation
• Instantly recognizes if a telephone number is valid and acceptable by verifying the first seven digits of the number
• Returns line type (landline, wireless, or VoIP)
• Telephone data compiled from over 2,600 US and Canadian telephone service providers
• Returns telephone service provider information (carrier, city, state, latitude, longitude)

DOTS GeoPhone

• Reverse-lookup of residential, business, and government telephone numbers
• Comprised of daily feeds from over 2,600 telephone companies across the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico
• Over 190 million telephone listings
• Dynamic access to a variety of public, private, and proprietary telephone data
• Determines contact name and address
• Determines telephone type (business or residential)
• Determines line type (landline, wireless, or VoIP)

DOTS GeoPhone Wireless

• Reverse-lookup of wireless telephone numbers
• Contains over 100 million consumer wireless telephone numbers
• Determines contact name and address
• Determines line type (landline, wireless, or VoIP)
• Returns telephone service provider information (carrier, city, state, latitude, longitude)

DOTS GeoPhone Plus

• Combines 3 of our powerful DOTS telephone validation services (DOTS GeoPhone, DOTS GeoPhone Wireless, and DOTS Phone Append)
• Compares a 10-digit telephone number to our database powerhouse of over 300 million records
• Determines contact name and address
• Determines telephone type (business, residential, Government)
• Determines line type (landline, wireless, VoIP, or toll free)
• Returns telephone service provider information (carrier, city, state, latitude, longitude)

I hope that I have helped in answering your telephone validation questions.

Thanks,

Ryan M.

I’ve made a function which return true/false whether it is valid or not.

function is_valid_url ( $url ){

$match = preg_match(“/^(http(s?):\\/\\/|ftp:\\/\\/{1})(([A-Za-z0-9-]+\.)+)\w{2,6}((\/([A-Za-z0-9-_\/\.])*)?)((\?(.)*)?)$/i”, $url);

if ( ! $match) {
return false;
}

$url = @parse_url($url);

if ( ! $url) {
return false;
}

$url = array_map(‘trim’, $url);
$url['port'] = (!isset($url['port'])) ? 80 : (int)$url['port'];
$path = (isset($url['path'])) ? $url['path'] : ”;

if ($path == ”){
$path = ‘/’;
}

$path .= ( isset ( $url['query'] ) ) ? “?$url[query]” : ”;

if ( isset ( $url['host'] ) AND $url['host'] != gethostbyname ( $url['host'] ) ){
if ( PHP_VERSION >= 5 ){
$headers = get_headers(“$url[scheme]://$url[host]:$url[port]$path”);
}
else{
$fp = fsockopen($url['host'], $url['port'], $errno, $errstr, 30);

if ( ! $fp )
{
return false;
}
fputs($fp, “HEAD $path HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: $url[host]\r\n\r\n”);
$headers = fread ( $fp, 128 );
fclose ( $fp );
}
$headers = ( is_array ( $headers ) ) ? implode ( “\n”, $headers ) : $headers;
return ( bool ) preg_match ( ‘#^HTTP/.*\s+[(200|301|302)]+\s#i’, $headers );
}
return false;
}

Iran’s top electoral body, the Guardian Council, has confirmed the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the presidential election after a partial recount.

News of the decision, which comes after a series of protests by the opposition against what it says was a rigged ballot, was announced by state TV.

The 12-strong council is the most influential body in Iran and is currently controlled by conservatives.

Some 17 people are thought to have died during opposition street protests.

“The secretary of the Guardian Council in a letter to the interior minister announced the final decision of the Council… and declares the approval of the accuracy of the results of… the presidential election,” the state broadcaster said.