May 26, 2015 / Brooklyn news / Williamsburg / Music / Brooklyn Is Awesome Juan Morel Campos students play hallway rock shows Appetite for instruction! Williamsburg school teaches Rock 101 The Brooklyn Paper

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The halls are alive with the sound of music at Williamsburg’s Juan Morel Campos Secondary School, where rock ’n’ roll high schoolers play concerts in the corridor every Friday afternoon.

The bands set up right by the school’s main door and play rock and pop tunes as kids and teachers are heading home for the day — and now students actually want to stay behind after class, says the teacher-turned-band-booker behind the gigs.

“Every week, everyone will crowd around the musicians,” said Stacey Wong, who teaches music to kids from sixth to 12th grade at the school on Heyward Street, between Marcy and Harrison avenues. “They love it.”

The acts cut their teeth in Wong’s music classes, where she forms the mini Hendrixes and junior Joan Jetts into rock supergroups — each including several guitarists, bass players, keyboardists, and vocalists — and schools them in songs such as “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele, “Take Me To Church” by Hozier, and “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran. Kids learn music more quickly by playing Bruno Mars than Beethoven, she said.

“I want them to be able to enjoy playing music and then they can throw themselves into the theory,” said Wong. “If they are playing music they do not like, they will not stick with it. I get them playing Adele right away and they love it.”

Wong uses a curriculum called Amp Up NYC, which helps educators to get their students hooked on music class by teaching them the modern songs they already listen to. Little Kids Rock — an organization that offers free instruments and teacher training to low-income schools with shoddy or no music classes — created the program in partnership with Massachusetts’s Berklee College of Music and the New York City Department of Education, and they collectively intend to roll the scheme out to 600 schools city-wide by 2017.

At Juan Morel Campos, the school of rock has been such a success that some of the students have split off into their own bands and solo projects outside of the class. And the kids say they intend to keep on rocking long after school’s out forever.

“Doing this makes it seem easier for me to branch out when I leave here and continue with music,” said 10th grader Shanice Rodriguez, who has formed a duo with 11th-grade guitarist Elvin Jaquez. “I really want to keep doing this.”

Jaquez said he learned jazz drumming in middle school, but didn’t realize he was really born to shred until he was exposed to the axe in class.

“My family never had that kind of musical direction, but now that I am doing this, it is something that really interests me,” he said.

Amp Up NYC provides the schools with some equipment, but Wong says she has kept up with student demand by asking for donations to purchase extra guitars, amps, strings, picks, and tuners on fundraising websites.

Sadly for music scenesters, the Friday shows are the only gig in Williamsburg you can’t get on the door-list for — they are open to Juan Morel Campos students, parents, and staff only.

Updated 10:17 pm, July 9, 2018

©2015


Microsoft is again involved in talks over United States’ PRISM spying program, this time in Australia where the local security boss claims that government computers could be monitored using a Windows backdoor.

This isn’t the first time when Microsoft is accused of implemented a backdoor in its operating system to provide unrestricted access to US intelligence agencies, even though Redmond has strongly denied such a scenario, claiming that it only provides user data based on federal request.

Eija Seittenranta, head of the network security department in the Australian government, said in a statement that the country hasn’t tried anything in particular to secure the computers and block any surveillance system that might be employed by the United States under the PRISM program.

“It probably should be noted that our network is not a protected network, it is unclassified,” Seittenranta stated according to The Guardian.

While she hasn’t said it very clear whether a Windows backdoor would provide access to secret data, Seittenranta mentioned that “we don’t have the technical skills to create patches,” so in case such a backdoor exists, it’s still unblocked at this point.

On the other hand, Seittenranta stated that while leaked documents confirm that the PRISM program was indeed launched by the United States, some of the information that reached the web was only speculation, suggesting that Australian’s parliamentary IT systems might not be at risk.

“We are aware there are rumoured to be things like that around,” she said.

Some leaked documents belonging to the German government that got leaked during the summer indicated that local authorities have been advised to avoid using Windows 8 due to a potential backdoor hidden in the operating system.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has quickly denied all accusations, saying that Windows 8 is an important step forward in terms of security and all privacy concerns regarding the operating system are “addressable.”

“Since most users accept defaults, requiring the user to enable the TPM will lead to IT users being less secure by default and increase the risk that their privacy will be violated. We believe that government policies promoting this result are ill-advised,” the company stated.


CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men's basketball team will play nine nationally-televised games and host six conference foes that played in last season's NCAA Tournament, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced with its 2017-18 league schedule release Thursday.

The Hurricanes will make two appearances on ESPN's "Big Monday," hosting Duke and traveling to Notre Dame, and will make six other appearances on ESPN or ESPN2, including a road tilt at defending national champion North Carolina. The Hurricanes will also be showcased nationally on CBS when they host Syracuse.

"Year in and year out, the ACC is the best basketball conference in the country from top to bottom and this year will be no exception," Hurricanes head coach Jim Larrañaga said. "This schedule will provide a tough test every night, and we will need to play our best because nearly every game we will be squaring off against nationally-ranked opponents."

The ACC sent a league-record nine teams to the NCAA Tournament last season, including Miami, which has made the tournament in three of the last five years. Miami posted a 7-2 home record in conference games last season.

"Our fans created an electric atmosphere at Watsco Center last year and we are looking forward to having that same type of home court advantage this year," Larrañaga said.

Miami will host the Blue Devils on Monday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m. The Hurricanes defeated Duke at Watsco Center on Senior Day last season, 55-50, behind 25 points from then-freshman guard Bruce Brown. The Hurricanes will venture to South Bend for their second "Big Monday" appearance on Feb. 19.

Miami hosts four conference games – Louisville, Wake Forest, Virginia and Virginia Tech – on either ESPN or ESPN2. The Hurricanes travel to Chapel Hill to face the Tar Heels on Tuesday, Feb. 27 on ESPN. Miami defeated North Carolina, 77-62, last season, UNC's largest margin of defeat in 2016-17.

The Hurricanes will also host Syracuse on Feb. 17, in a nationally televised CBS encounter. The Orange defeated Miami, 70-55, at the Carrier Dome last season before the Hurricanes exacted revenge in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament with a 62-57 victory.

The Hurricanes open their conference slate with two games on the road – at Pittsburgh (Dec. 30) and Georgia Tech (Jan. 3) -- before returning home to Watsco Center to host rival Florida State on Sunday night, Jan. 7, 2018, on ESPNU at 6 p.m. Miami then travels to Clemson on January 13, for another ESPNU telecast.

After hosting Duke, the Hurricanes travel to Raleigh, N.C., for a second consecutive season to face NC State for a regional telecast on Jan. 21. Miami swept the Wolfpack last season, opening ACC play with an 81-63 win in Coral Gables and then rallying for 84-79 victory at PNC Arena.

The Hurricanes return home to battle Louisville on Jan. 24, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Miami then faces the Seminoles a second time for a regional telecast in Tallahassee, Fla., on Jan. 27.

Pittsburgh visits Watsco Center on the final day of January before the Hurricanes head to Blacksburg, Va., on Feb. 3, to face the Hokies. That 2 p.m. tipoff will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2.

The Hurricanes welcome Wake Forest to Coral Gables for an ESPN2 telecast on Feb. 7, followed by a road trip to Boston College on Feb. 10. The Hurricanes then return home to face Virginia on Feb. 13 for a 9 p.m. tip on ESPN2 before hosting the Orange four days later.

Miami has a quick turnaround for its "Big Monday" encounter in South Bend on Feb. 19. The Hurricanes host Boston College on Feb. 24, for a regional telecast prior to their trip to Chapel Hill for a 9 p.m. tip on Feb. 27. Miami wraps up ACC play at Watsco Center on Mar. 3, against Virginia Tech at noon. That game will be telecast on either ESPN or ESPN2.

The ACC Tournament will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., for the second consecutive year. The 2018 tournament starts on Tuesday, Mar. 6, culminating with the championship game on Saturday, Mar. 10.

In addition to their nine ACC games, the Hurricanes host five non-conference games at Watsco Center, starting with Gardner-Webb on Friday, Nov. 10. After back-to-back season ticket sellouts in 2015-16 and 2016-17, the demand for Hurricanes basketball season tickets is at an all-time high.

"We have sold out our season tickets for the last two season and we anticipate that this will be the third year in a row that you will not be able to buy a ticket once our season begins in November," Larrañaga said. "We encourage all of our season ticket holders to be sure they sign up now -- don't wait, because there won't be any available soon."

A limited amount of season tickets are still available to purchase beginning at only $150. Call 1-800-GO-CANES.

2017-18 Miami Hurricanes Basketball Schedule

Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 Gardner-Webb TBA

Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017 Navy TBA

Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 Florida A&M TBA

Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017 LaSalle* TBA

Saturday, Nov. 25, 2017 North Florida TBA

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017 @ Minnesota^ 9 p.m. ESPN2

Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 Princeton$ 8 p.m. ESPNU

Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017 Boston University TBA

Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017 @ George Washington TBA

Saturday, Dec. 23, 2017 @ Hawai'i! 1 a.m. ESPNU

Saturday, Dec. 23, 2017 Diamond Head Classic TBA

Monday, Dec. 25, 2017 Diamond Head Classic TBA

Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017 @ Pittsburgh 4 p.m. ACCN

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018 @ Georgia Tech 9 p.m. RSN

Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018 Florida State 6 p.m. ESPNU

Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018 @ Clemson 3 p.m. ESPNU

Monday, Jan. 15, 2018 Duke 7 p.m. ESPN

Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018 @ NC State 2 p.m. ACCN

Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018 Louisville 7:30 p.m. ESPN2

Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018 @ Florida State 4 p.m. ACCN

Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018 Pittsburgh 7 p.m. RSN

Saturday, Feb. 3, 2018 @ Virginia Tech 2 p.m. ESPN/ESPN2

Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018 Wake Forest 7 p.m. ESPN2

Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018 @ Boston College 2 p.m. RSN

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018 Virginia 9 p.m. ESPN2

Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018 Syracuse 12 p.m. CBS

Monday, Feb. 19, 2018 @ Notre Dame 7 p.m. ESPN

Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018 Boston College 2 p.m. RSN

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018 @ North Carolina 9 p.m. ESPN

Saturday, Mar. 3, 2018 Virginia Tech 12 p.m. ESPN/ESPN2

65th Annual ACC Tournament (Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Tuesday, March 6 (First Round)

Game #1 ESPN2/ACCN 12 p.m.

Game #2 ESPN2/ACCN 2 p.m.

Game #3 ESPNU/ACCN 7 p.m.

Wednesday, March 7 (Second Round)

Game #4 ESPN/ACCN 12 p.m.

Game #5 ESPN/ACCN 2 p.m.

Game #6 ESPN2/ACCN 7 p.m.

Game #7 ESPN2/ACCN 9 p.m.

Thursday, March 8 (Quarterfinals)

Game #8 ESPN/ACCN 12 p.m.

Game #9 ESPN/ACCN 2 p.m.

Game #10 ESPN/ACCN 7 p.m.

Game #11 ESPN/ACCN 9 p.m.

Friday, March 9 (Semifinals)

Game #12 ESPN or ESPN2/ACCN 7 p.m.

Game #13 ESPN or ESPN2/ACCN 9 p.m.

Saturday, March 10 (Finals)

Game #14 ESPN/ACCN 8:30 p.m.

*Reading, PA

^ACC-Big Ten Challenge

$Hoophall Miami Invitational (American Airlines Arena)

!Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu, HI)

ACC Regional Sports Networks Lineup

FOX Sports South

FOX Sports Southeast

FOX Sports Florida

FOX Sports Sun

FOX Sports Midwest

FOX Sports Indiana

NESN

YES Network

CSN Mid Atlantic

AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh


Lin-Manuel Miranda with cast during his final performance curtain call of ‘Hamilton’ on Broadway at Richard Rodgers Theatre on July 9, 2016, in New York City.

A Meowth on 46th and 6th almost made me miss a historic night on Broadway, the last performance of Hamilton for star/creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. (Aaron Burr), Phillipa Soo (Eliza Hamilton), and ensemble member Ariana DeBose. I was blocks away from the Richard Rogers Theatre, with my head down, looking at my Pokémon Go screen, and out of nowhere, one of my favorite Pokémon shows up. I needed to get to the theater, because I knew the scene outside would be a biblical shit-show, but this was Meowth. So I turned and walked the opposite direction from the theater, in an attempt to catch it.

It took seven Pokéballs, one slight stumble off the curb, and dirty looks from a family that thought I was creepily taking pictures of them when in reality they were just standing right behind this beautiful Pokémon, but I got it.

Celebrating with no one but myself, I remembered that Hamilton was happening in 20 minutes. And upon arriving on the block of the show, I realized that my seven-minute detour might have been a mistake. Because it was packed.

Photo: Rembert Browne

The scene outside felt like a red-carpet premiere. “Look who I’m with,” one man said looking into his phone, as a famous woman walked by, briefly crossing his screen. After she left, he stopped shooting video and asked his friend who she was. The friend didn’t know.

It was Mariska Hargitay, which made me want to take his phone and stomp it out for not knowing the Queen.

Before I went in, I saw Jane Fonda, Spike and Tonya Lewis Lee, Rosie O’Donnell, and many people who looked like Adam Levine but weren’t. By the time I made it to my seat, I’d already heard four people say versions of “We’re actually in the room where it’s happening,” a reference to the song “The Room Where It Happens,” in which Aaron Burr describes the envy of not being part of the power circle, in the room where the big decisions are made. Under any other conditions, moments like this would bring out a slight bit of eye-roll, but not tonight. The excitement was understood and it was clear no one was attempting to play it cool, which was oddly refreshing for New York City.

Some people were pajama rich, dressed down like they were going to the movies, others glammed out as though they’d just come from the Met Gala. The spectacle was real, and the lights were still on, with six or seven minutes until the show was set to begin. Apparently Jennifer Lopez was there, which certainly gave her the belt for “most famous person here.” But it made sense — she and Lin-Manuel recently made a song together, “Love Makes the World Go Around,” a tribute to those affected by Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub shooting.

What a weird thing Hamilton became, that it made sense for J.Lo to be in attendance. Unreal.

Sitting there, thinking about J.Lo in the building, and then J.Lo in The Wedding Planner, and then J.Lo and Jane Fonda in Monster-in-Law, and then wondering what Michael Vartan has been up to, I must have missed a crew of men in suits with earpieces enter my area. Snapping out of my analog Wikipedia dive, I cased the room and saw four of these men, two by a doorway, two walking up a staircase. Moments later, Secretary of State John Kerry.

One person started clapping, and then more people started clapping, and then a few people stood up, and then the entire room was giving John Kerry a standing ovation. Sorry, Ms. Lopez, but it looks like there’s a new belt-holder in town. And I don’t know why, but I felt great for Kerry in this moment. He’s not really hurting in any way, but it was nice to see him get some public respect. It’s easy to forget about Yung Swift Boat, so this was great.

I wondered if he’d seen the show before. I wondered if there were parts of this that might get a bit real for him. I mean, he always kind of wanted to be in the room where —

Okay, I now understood how painfully easy it was to make that annoying joke. It was embarrassing, but who cares.

A few minutes later, after being thrilled for Secretary of State Kerry, I felt terrible for him, as things turned into a meet-and-greet, clogging up a staircase. People were talking to him and asking for pictures, and if you weren’t in the actual line, you were standing in front of him, getting that massive head and granite hair of his in your rudely unauthorized selfie.

But then I felt good again, because he bent over to talk to a little kid in a backwards Hamilton hat. This was all so weird, and again, the show hadn’t even begun.

And then things got really good. The Kerry meet-and-greet picked up steam again, with the long-armed Kerry now taking the selfies himself, again crowding the staircase.

Which made it comically difficult for Aaron Paul to get where he needed to go.

Photo: Rembert Browne

When this happens, you have to break your “no photos of celebrities” rule. Is Aaron trying to talk to Secretary of State John Kerry? Did he sign up for this meet-and-greet? Is John Kerry a Breaking Bad fan, and if so, will he say something to Aaron? Is Aaron just trying to test his July 2016 swag by walking by Kerry, catching his eye, and seeing what happens?

Unfortunately, we’ll never know, because someone thought this was the moment to dim the lights and start the musical. Moments later, “How does a bastard, orphan …”

***

Intermission was wild, mainly because I walked around and finally spotted Jennifer Lopez. It wasn’t hard to figure out where she was, there were throngs of people standing around, near her as well as up on the balcony, just staring at her. The room was buzzing, after being extremely fired up through the whole first act. Miranda received a standing ovation for the first number, “Alexander Hamilton,” and the cheers sounded more like what you’d hear at a sporting event than a Broadway show. It was exciting, and almost everyone behaved perfectly, except for that one lady.

That lady.

The thing about Hamilton is that it’s a triumph, easily one of the great musicals, an extremely transformative experience. The other thing about Hamilton is that some people like it too much, and these people are terrifying and must be destroyed, because they might challenge you to a duel and shoot you between the ribs if you interrupt them while they’re singing “Wait for It.”

I had one of these people in my section, and not only did she sing along, she repeatedly raised her arms and screamed, and would drum on things that weren’t drums, and any time there was a progressive line about immigrants, slavery, or equal rights, she would either clap, or stand up and then clap.

During “The Schuyler Sisters” — the fifth number — her presence had already been felt. And throughout that song, in her honor, I mentally changed the word “work” to “woke” in the lyrics.

Because she was so woke. The woke god. But it made sense, there were groups in this country that helped build it, groups that were treated unfairly and not properly credited. And she wanted you to know that she knew that. God bless her.

Anyway, after about 20 minutes, the lights dimmed again.

***

Hamilton will go on in a powerful, important way — both in New York and on tour — but this was certainly the end of an era.

While the crowd was in a frenzy, what happened on stage was like any other night. There was one moment when Rory O’Malley (King George) blew Odom (Burr) a kiss, making Odom laugh, which delighted the crowd. And both Odom and Christopher Jackson (George Washington) received standing ovations for “The Room Where It Happens” and “One Last Time,” respectively. But when it wrapped up, there wasn’t a ten-minute Lin-Manuel speech, no one rolled out a cake, Barack and Hillary didn’t show up — there was no self-initiated hoopla.

Photo: Rembert Browne

After bows from the full cast, the four actors who were leaving stepped forward, and then Jackson pushed Miranda to the front of the stage for more solo applause from the crowd, which was very much deserved.

But right when it seemed to be over, suddenly the orchestra started playing the theme song from The West Wing, a show Miranda has cited as an inspiration. I expected many things on this night, but getting slightly choked up at watching Lin-Manuel Miranda laugh at the surprise, while thinking about my heroes Josh Lyman and Sam Seaborn, wasn’t one of them. But this wasn’t a normal show, and this wasn’t a normal night, so it was a fitting way for it to end, triumphantly abnormal. What a run.


Settlement in ignition defect doesn't include criminal charges against individuals.

GM recall survivors protest on Capitol Hill in 2014. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, AP)

The $900 million General Motors agreed on Thursday to pay the government for concealing a deadly ignition switch from regulators is a lot of money — nearly one-third of GM's earnings last year — though hardly an existential threat to the company. Indeed, GM stock was up 11 cents to $31.31 a share on the news.

But the truly disturbing part of the announcement was that not a single individual has been criminally charged for concealing the defect: a faulty ignition switch that allowed cars to suddenly stall or prevented air bags from deploying. Defective vehicles remained on the road even as cars crashed, lawyers secretly settled complaints with victims' families, and more than 120 people were killed.

Real people, not some faceless “company,” made the fateful decisions not to fix a switch that failed to perform properly even before it went into production in 2002; not to do more once complaints of stalls and shutoffs came in; not to inform regulators of the defect when occupants began dying in crashes; and not to stop selling cars and misleading the public about their safety.

No one — engineers, lawyers or executives — has been personally called to account before the law.

Laura Christian, whose 16-year-old daughter was one of GM's earliest victims, in 2005, described why the system needs to change. “We buried our loved ones because GM buried a deadly defect. And yet today, all GM has to do is write another check to escape.”

Thursday's disappointing conclusion after months of federal investigation is simply par for the course. In the past decade, corporations have gotten away with all manner of fraud, self-dealing, negligent manufacturing and market manipulation. The subprime mortgage industry nearly brought down the U.S. economy and ruined untold number of lives. But to the extent there was punishment at all after these acts, it usually involved a company writing a check, as if these firms ran on automatic pilot.

Individuals are deterred from wrongdoing by the prospect of going to jail, much more so than by the prospect of seeing the corporate treasurer pay money to the government.

In GM's case, federal prosecutors in New York can point to two criminal charges against General Motors, the company, for concealing a deadly defect and for wire fraud. But even here, GM got off easy. The charges are deferred and will be dismissed in three years if GM fixes its recall process under an appointed federal monitor. Prosecutors also left the door open to charging individuals in the future, but nobody should hold their breath. It's hard to see what more investigating could turn up at this stage.

If criminal laws are inadequate to handle the types of fraud or negligence committed by people running companies, it’s time to carefully re-examine those laws.

For auto safety, there’s an easy fix. Under laws that cover many consumer products, individuals at companies can be charged criminally when they willfully fail to report unsafe products to regulators. Auto safety laws make it far more difficult to prosecute company executives for similar acts. Three Democratic senators — Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Bill Nelson of Florida — have been pushing a measure that would plug this hole, making it easier to hold auto executives responsible when safety laws are willfully flouted. Despite the uproar over hidden defects in Toyota vehicles a few years ago and the recent GM fiasco, the measure has failed to gain traction in Congress. The Senate, which will consider an auto safety measure this fall, should embrace it.

The logic is pretty simple.

If an individual who kills someone, even unintentionally, through negligent acts with a car can be charged with manslaughter, individuals at a company that kills scores of people with a car they know is unsafe ought to face criminal prosecution, too.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.

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A Fundamentalist Born and Raised

I was born and raised a fundamentalist. Or, as some of my friends used to passionately say, a “King-James-Bible-Preaching-Devil-Hating-White-Shirt-Wearing-Biscuit-Eating-Capital-B-BAPTIST.” Please, don’t turn off your computer and run away scared. My story doesn’t end that way.

[Tweet “I was a King James Bible Preaching Devil Hating White Shirt Wearing Biscuit Eating Capital B-BAPTIST.”]

I graduated with honors and a four-year diploma from a fundamental baptist Bible college. I almost completed several years of graduate work from the same school. I attended “King James Only” or “TR only” churches for almost all of that time. I preached in some of them on a regular basis.

If you had asked me in those days, I would have help up my nose in pride and explained that I was King James in much the same way as one might say, “I am reformed.” I look back and wonder at the oddity of such a statement. My name is Tim, not James! And while I’m a king in God’s eyes, I’ve never worn a crown. Nevertheless, that’s what we said. What was meant by this sentiment? I was convinced that the KJV was the only preserved Word of God in English, and that every other translation was inferior at best, and perhaps even evil or demonically influenced.

Then, something amazing happened—something that rocked my world and made me a different person. It brought me closer to God than I’d ever been before and gave me a stronger faith than I’d ever had;

I learned things.

The KJV Is Not the Only Option for a Bible Translation

I took Dan Wallace’s Credo Course on Textual Criticism. I took Gary Habermas’ Credo Course on the Resurrection. I went through the entire “Theology Program.” I learned things—things I had somehow never known, and things, I suspect, I had been carefully “sheltered” from. I realized how utterly and unforgivably ignorant I was. I’ll mention only a few of the things I learned.

The resurrection of Jesus was the true center of my faith.

He and he alone deserved the place at the center of my life that, sadly, so many other things had occupied.

I could let go of everything but Jesus, and still have all that I needed, because I had Him.

God was most honored, not by a blind adherence to dogma that cannot be challenged, but by a breathless pursuit of truth that was willing to go wherever the evidence took me.

After reading Aland, Metzger, and Tov as well as Scrivener, I realized it simply wasn’t possible to claim that the KJV was verbally perfect or that the Greek Textus Receptus and Hebrew Masoretic Texts were perfect unless one was willing to say that the KJV translators were supernaturally inspired by God to correct every Hebrew and Greek manuscript in existence. And even if you grant this, you’d still have to decide which KJV was perfect – the 1611 in its original form or the slightly different edition of 1769 which is what most today use? I didn’t know much, but I knew enough to know I couldn’t and didn’t want to say that. It wasn’t honoring to God, his Word, or to truth.

This left me with something of a dilemma—one which, due to my upbringing, I had never faced before. If the KJV is not perfect and is not the only Word of God in English, how do I choose what translation to use? If the KJV is not the only Word of God in English, there are options, and with all options comes the responsibility of choice.

So how do you choose? To answer questions like this, you must know a little bit about the history of English translations of the Bible, and the different textual and translation theories behind modern versions.

A Brief History of English Bible Versions

The Original Tongues

While some may not be aware of this, the Bible wasn’t originally written in English. When the human authors of the Old Testament (OT) put quill to papyri, they wrote in Hebrew, and a few small portions of Daniel and Ezra were written in Aramaic. When the New Testament (NT) authors penned their works, they wrote in Greek. However, most of us simple folk do not know Greek well enough to pick it up and read it. Even fewer of us chat with our friends on Facebook in Hebrew and Aramaic. This means that if we are to read the Word of God, we must do it through an English translation of the original languages.

John Wycliffe

While one may rightly point to figures like Alfred the Great, the Venerable Bede, and others as early examples of translating the Bible into English, it is in the work of John Wycliffe and his followers that almost all today would find as the first complete Bible in English. The official Bible of Wycliffe’s day was the Latin Vulgate, which was translated by Jerome almost a millennium earlier. But the common man spoke English.

Convinced that every man was responsible to obey what God had said, Wycliffe and his “Lollard” followers desired every man to be able to read the Scriptures in their own tongue. The story of their brave persistence and sacrifice in completing this translation, at risk of life and limb, would rival the level of action in your favorite comic book series.

However, their work was to translate from the common Latin into English. While this gave us a Bible in English, it was an extra step removed from the original languages. With the fires of the Reformation burning bright, fueled by the invention of reusable metal type and fanned by the revival of learning which it sparked, a second-hand translation from the Vulgate would not suffice. As the cry of Ad Fontes rang loud, a direct translation of the original languages was the desired response. And one William Tyndale arose to bravely answer this call.

William Tyndale

Tyndale had the advantage of an Oxford and Cambridge education, as well as the benefit of the Greek NT of Erasmus (though he at times still leaned on the Latin Vulgate). With the bravery of a lion, he faced opposition and persecution as he translated first the NT and eventually the OT into English.

The Constitutions of Oxford had made translating the Bible into English illegal, and both translations and their translators were being burned. Even so, Tyndale and his helpers pressed on in their goal, even to the point of Tyndale’s own death by burning at the stake. A Bible in English, from the original Hebrew and Greek, was the blood-wrought result. There would be others along the way (Coverdale, Matthew, Geneva, Great, Bishops, etc.), but none would so stand out or endure as his. In fact, in some ways, each of the runner-ups could be considered as mere revisions of Tyndale’s work. Truly, the splash made by Tyndale’s life and work rippled into almost every English translation to come after him.

The King James Version

In 1604 at the Hampton conference, a new translation was called for.

Then in 1611 six panels consisting of forty-seven of the best scholars of the day finished what became the most enduring English translation to date. While they sought to create a work “newly translated out of the original tongues,” they noted the diligent comparing and revising of the former translations as essential to their work. In fact, in the prefatory “The Translator to the Reader,” they noted the following:

“Truly (good Christian Reader) we never thought from the beginning, that we should need to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one […] but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principle good one…”

Their admitted indebtedness to Tyndale is revealed on almost every page. It has been said that more than 70% of the language of the KJV is actually the language of Tyndale repeated. They did produce a new translation; and in the process, created one of the greatest and most enduring literary works ever produced in English. But in another very real sense, they were simply retweeting Tyndale.

[Tweet “They did produce a new translation but in a sense, they were simply retweeting Tyndale.”]

The Arrival of a Modern Text – What Do We Translate?

Erasmus to Lachmann

Much work was done after 1611 in the ever-blossoming field of NT studies. When Erasmus had produced the first critical edition of the Greek NT in 1516—which is essentially the text the KJV translators had used—he had included around 1000 annotations to the text which dealt with differences between the different manuscripts of the NT that were known to him. These differences are known as “textual variants.” With his text, the science of NT textual criticism was born.

Textual criticism is the science of comparing the minor differences in the different manuscripts to discover exactly what the text read when it left the original author’s control.

As with most births, a growth period would soon follow the birth of textual criticism. As more and more Greek NT manuscripts were discovered, new editions of the Greek NT continued to incorporate these finds (mostly in marginal notes) without making any significant changes to the text itself.

With Karl Lachmann in 1831, that all began to change. His printed Greek text was the first to break with Erasmus’ text and allow textual variants to change not only the shape of the marginal notes, but also the shape of the text itself. He believed the most reliable way to reproduce the original form of the NT text was to lean most heavily on the manuscripts which were most ancient rather than relying exclusively on Erasmus’ much later texts. His ideas were continued in critical editions of the Greek NT published by men such as Griesbach, Tischendorf, and Tregelles.

But none of them would have the impact of the two scholars who broke onto the scene in the latter half of the 1800s. If Erasmus started the journey, and if Lachmann and others broadened the small trail, we must give credit to two men who turned that trail into a blazing highway. These two men were B.F. Westcott, and F.J.A. Hort.

Hort and Westcott

After roughly 30 years of intense work on the Greek NT, these two scholars had taken the spark of Lachmann and fanned it into a burning flame. They were working on a new edition of the Greek NT, following text critical principles that have come to underlie almost all modern editions of the NT today.

Hort and Westcott were committee members of the newly commissioned revision to the KJV (known as the Revised Version) that had been called for in 1870. As the revision took place, they shared the results of their own textual critical work with those on the translation committee.

Like Lachmann before them, they were convinced that the form of the NT text that most closely resembled the original autographs would be found in the most ancient copies. Several uncial manuscripts had been discovered which were almost a full millennium older than those upon which Erasmus had primarily based his work. Whatever the merits of the translation of the RV, its great gift to the world was that it was essentially based upon these older manuscripts. The era of modern translations was born.

Older Is Better, and Newer Is Older

When we speak of “new manuscript discoveries”, we’re typically talking about the discovery of older manuscripts. The only way in which they’re new is that they were recently discovered. In this sense, newer isn’t better because it’s newer; it’s better precisely because it’s older.

Hort and Westcott did their revising work with basically five uncial manuscripts that predated those which had formed the Textus Receptus by, in some cases around 1,000 years. Today, we have discovered so much more.

We’ve discovered 323 uncial manuscripts.

Even more significant, we have unearthed 131 papyri manuscripts which mostly date even earlier than the uncial manuscripts. A few date to as early as the second century A.D. Historically speaking, that is astonishingly close to the writing of the original autographs.

Rumor has it that a fragment of the Gospel of Mark has even been recently discovered which dates somewhere in the 80s A.D.

We also continue to discover manuscripts from the later periods. This increases our confidence in the general stability of the text of the NT.

In addition to the Greek NT manuscripts, we also have over 10,000 manuscripts of ancient Latin translations of the NT.

We have anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 manuscripts of translations into other ancient languages.

As if that weren’t enough to garner confidence, we also have over a million quotations of Scripture from the early church fathers which bear witness to the text of Scripture.

[Tweet “Quite simply, we have an astounding amount of data that bear witness to the NT text.”]

When the KJV translators produced their work, it was based on essentially a dozen or so Greek NT manuscripts. Today, we have access to 5,839 of them. As the work of textual criticism continues today, we gain (with every new discovery) an ever-increasing confidence in the general reliability of the NT text, and we tweak the minor details to bring us closer and closer to exactly what was originally written by those who penned our NT under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We can rest quite confident that the NT text we have today is, in all essentials, exactly what was written by the original authors.

Modern translations differ from the KJV in that they are based on representations of the original text that are much more fully informed by the evidence. Today, that text is found in the NA28 and the UBS5 Greek texts.

Put simply, we have much more data today than they did then.

Today, there are only two English translations which are based on the older Textus Receptus (Remember, older here actually means later.): the King James Version, (last updated in 1769) and the New King James Version. All other modern versions are based on the newer (which means older) texts.

Translation Philosophies – How Do We Translate It?

When choosing a translation today, not only do you have to make a choice between an older or newer original language text, you must also choose between different philosophies of translation. Where did these theories come from, and how to they work? To answer that, we must first consider two men who have had a major influence on how translations are done today.

Adolf Deissmann and the Discovery of the Papyri

In 1895 Adolf Deissmann changed the landscape of biblical studies significantly when he published his work Bible Studies . In some ways, what made his work so revolutionary were the presuppositions which had come before it. It had been common to think of the language of the NT as a unique language, above that of the mundane life. Some even spoke of “Holy Ghost Greek” in reference to the NT.

Deissmann demonstrated that a comparison of the many ancient papyri scraps from the Roman period with the Greek of the NT revealed that the language of the NT was rather the language of the common man. It was written in the conversational style of the average Joe.

While the effect of Deissmann’s work was initially felt in the revamping of lexicons, it would eventually also be felt in the revamping of translation theory. If the original language of the NT was a conversational style intended to communicate to the common man, then shouldn’t translations into other languages seek to communicate in the same way?

Eugene Nida and the Proposal of Dynamic Equivalence

In the mid 1950s a man named Eugene Nida would take similar ideas and help us think carefully through our understanding of translation and the task it should accomplish. Born right here in OKC, OK, Nida was a Baptist minister who gained his Ph.D. in linguistics and began to propose refinements to translation theory. He published Toward a Science of Translating (Brill, 1964) in the mid 1900s and was a founding member of Wycliffe Bible Translators.

His suggestions were very widely received. While it had been common to think of translation in terms of either strictly literal or simply paraphrase, Nida showed at length that, in fact, these tight categories were overly simplistic. There is never perfect correspondence between any two languages, and perfect translation between them is impossible. He understood well that all translation already involves interpretation and that a goal of being less interpretive in translation is to miss the target by shooting for the moon.

No translation, however literal, can claim not to involve the interpretations of the translators.

He proposed that instead of thinking of two strictly different ways of translating, we should recognize that these traditional options are actually more like two opposing poles on a continuum; and it might be a more accurate representation of the function of an original text if a translation sought a kind of “middle ground” between them. This middle ground he termed “dynamic equivalence.” And so was born the modern approach to translation theory.

It has been suggested that today there are basically three philosophies of translation in use: formal equivalence, functional equivalence, and what is known as free translation.

Formal Equivalence (Emphasis on Individual Words)

Formal equivalence is the philosophy that seeks to keep as close as possible to the form of the original language, retaining (as much as possible) the words of the original and even, where possible, the form of those words. It has as its goal the representation of the words of the original language in equivalent words in the translation, even if this causes awkward and unnatural English.

Functional Equivalence (Emphasis on Sentences)

Functional equivalence recognizes that all translation is already interpretation and that for the modern reader to feel the impact the original readers felt when they read the original, the translators must find the meaning of the text and convey that meaning through the translation. Its goal is to represent the meaning of the original text in modern equivalents. In one sense, one might fairly say that the sentence becomes the translational unit in such a philosophy. The words and their order may be changed slightly into more modern equivalents so that they are smooth English. In another sense, that wouldn’t be true, since the goal is still to translate the words. However, if the language and grammar must be sacrificed to make the meaning clearer in natural English, the degree to which a translation is willing to make this sacrifice is the degree to which the translation has chosen functional over formal equivalence.

Free Translation (Emphasis on Thoughts)

Free translation is what is often referred to as paraphrase. There is no attempt to maintain the words or the form of the original. The goal is to remove as much as possible the distance between the modern reader and the ancient text. The goal then is to translate ideas rather than words or even sentences. In many ways, such paraphrase is not truly translation. By definition, such an approach will contain more of the interpretation of the translator. Most who have produced such free translations would readily acknowledge this and wouldn’t want anyone to use their work as their sole Bible.

That being said, understand that all translations are to greater or lesser degrees a mixture of these approaches. It is impossible to be woodenly literal in translation at all points. It is also impossible to be fully “free” and avoid formal translation at all points. It might be best to think of a spectrum with a woodenly literal interlinear at one end and a free paraphrase at the other. Every translation can be placed on this spectrum. If we were to chart the most readily available translations today, we might see where they would land on such a continuum by suggesting the following chart;

Chart of Translations

A Brief Examination of Some Major Translations

Interlinears

YLT/Mounce

If someone chooses (for whatever reasons) to go with a translation from the older TR instead of the modern texts, they could turn to Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) for the most literal translation of that text.

Robert Young felt that belief in the verbal inspiration of Scripture demanded the most literal translation of the text as was possible, even if slavishly following the word order and form of the original text produced horrible English. He thus produced in 1862 the YLT. While not truly an interlinear (because it doesn’t present the Greek and Hebrew texts), it follows the same basic woodenly literal style of translation followed by an interlinear version. For example, note how his rendering of John 3:16 reads:

“For God did so love the world, that His Son—the only begotten— He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during.” (Footnote)

Today, William Mounce has worked with Zondervan to produce several interlinear translations which are much more valuable than previous formats and take advantage of modern textual advances; . In these new editions, the original language is presented in its original order. This can easily be seen, but instead of awkward and impossible English, Mounce has used a system of italicized words to still produce good English. In addition, he has included the full text of common English translations in columns on the side. If you are looking for a way to see a glimpse of the structure of the original language but don’t want to learn the languages, such interlinear are a valuable option.

However, there is no substitute for an understanding of the lexical, syntactical, grammatical structures, and nuances of the original languages. All you will truly get from an interlinear is the original word order and perhaps some good lexical definition. One could easily mistake such a brief passing acquaintance for a close relationship with the original text, but that would be to fool oneself. If your acquaintance with the original languages is based on an interlinear, your relationship with them is on the level of “just met.” So please don’t go around telling people that you’re married.

Formal Equivalence Translations

KJV/NKJV

If you want a translation that has the TR as its basis but don’t want the slavishly literal translation of Young’s, you’re left with two basic options: the KJV or NKJV.

The KJV is nothing short of a monument to the English language. Its beauty and elegance are unsurpassed. When it was first printed, it became an instant literary classic. In terms of English style, probably no English version will ever approach it.

If you’ve come from a long tradition of using the KJV, it may be hard for you to even read the Bible in anything other than “King James English.” Many have formed a deep emotional attachment to this translation . I would never try to get anyone to stop using it. In fact, I think every Christian should own and read a copy of the KJV. We just shouldn’t claim it’s perfect or that it’s the only translation God approves of. Using the KJV will leave you with the impression that you’ve been in the presence of royalty, and its rhythmic prose and enduring turns of phrase will leave a lasting impression upon your heart and will likely spring easily to mind for many years to come. It is and always will be a great translation with an impressive pedigree. It will always hold a dear place in the hearts of English speaking peoples.

The NKJV has retained the same original language texts that stood behind the KJV, but the translation has been updated to reflect modern English (and in some cases to produce a more literal translation and more natural translation).

However, some have suggested that the choice to retain the text of the KJV but revise its language was in fact to choose to keep the element of the KJV which was inferior (its text), and remove the element which made the KJV so superior (the beauty and elegance of its language) . It might even be said that it was like snipping the rose off its stem; you lose the enticing aroma and the intrinsic beauty, but you keep the thorny stem.

The only reason to use the NKJV is if you desire for theological reasons to retain the use of the TR as the original language text but desire a good translation of that text into modern and more easily understandable English. But anyone reading either the KJV or the NKJV should know that several of the passages in it were almost certainly not written by the Biblical authors (such as I John 5:7, or Acts 9:5–6).

NASB/HCSB

Produced by the Lockman Foundation in 1971 and significantly revised in 1995, the New American Standard Bible (NASB) sought to be the most formally equivalent translation of modern texts as possible without being a slavishly literal translation like that of an interlinear. The Lockman foundation makes the claim for their work that,

“At no point did the translators attempt to interpret Scripture through translation. Instead, the NASB translation team adhered to the principles of literal translation. This is the most exacting and demanding method of translation, requiring a word-for-word translation that is both accurate and readable[…] Instead of telling the reader what to think, the updated NASB provides the most precise translation with which to conduct a personal journey through the Word of God.”

As we have seen when we mentioned Nida’s work above, such claims are at best overstated. All translation is interpretation. Nonetheless, if one is seeking for the most literal translation short of an interlinear, the NASB is a good choice. It was the favorite among Southern Baptists for many years, but that pride of place has now gone to the HCSB.

The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) is a much more recent translation. Produced by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the HCSB intended to serve as an alternative to the NIV for Southern Baptist curriculum and ministry. The translation promoted what they termed “optimal equivalence” as a middle ground between formal and functional equivalence. In some ways it picks up the very literal style of the NASB before it. It seeks to follow in that literal translation vein except when that would sacrifice good English. At that point, it maintains good English and presents the more literal translation as a footnote with the “Lit.” abbreviation.

I think this is a very helpful approach, especially for those seeking a more literal translation. It’s generally more theologically conservative in its translation and suits well the SBC which created it. It generally leans towards more traditional use of gender language.

My understanding is that it was originally intended to be a translation of the “Majority Text” of Hodges and Farstad. This would have made it a very unique translation and would have thrown a “3rd text” of the Greek NT on the English market, but this plan was ultimately abandoned. However, as perhaps something of a vestigial remnant of that purpose, it does still occasionally retain TR readings (in brackets) that have been relegated to the footnotes in most modern versions (e.g. the doxology at the end of Matt. 6:13, or the text of Acts 8:37).

RSV/NRSV/ESV

The British Revised Version was the first major revision of the KJV, appearing in 1881. It had incorporated the new textual discoveries in its NT that have been noted above. In America, it was edited slightly, and then published as the American Standard Version (ASV) in 1901. While finding a better reception in America, it didn’t quite gain the wide acceptance that had been hoped for. Really, its great gift to the world was its Greek text.

In 1952, it underwent a major revision, both of text and translation, known as the Revised Standard Version (RSV). In some ways, this was truly the first modern translation which wasn’t simply a revision of the KJV.

The RSV garnered quite a bit of rather controversial attention. It had translated the Hebrew text of Is. 7:14 as “young woman” instead of the more traditional “virgin.” While their translation was quite justified, there was an uproar in some hyper-conservative circles claiming that the RSV was seeking to impinge upon the deity of Jesus through this change. As if that wasn’t preposterous enough, several of its translators were (with no warrant whatsoever) accused of being “communist” and “communist sympathizers.” Add to this, the rather emotionally based knee-jerk reaction to some of the many updates in the Greek text which it had incorporated, (e.g. not printing the phrase “through his blood” in Col. 1:14, etc.). One can grasp the controversy that unfortunately resulted. One pastor in the Rocky Mountains even burned the new translation. The revision, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), introduced gender inclusive language to a much greater degree than translations had done previously (though not in relation to Deity) as well as updating the Greek and Hebrew texts with modern textual advances, and continues to be used by those who might prefer a more literal translation of the Greek text.

ESV

In 2001 the English Standard Version (ESV) entered the scene. It was an entirely new translation from the original languages into contemporary English, but one which consciously stood in the lineage of the KJV-NRSV tradition.

Leland Ryken had a huge influence on the translation work, and due to his input, the ESV has retained a kind of understated elegance that is quite exceptional. The emphasis on literary excellence is one of the more remarkable features of the translation. Understanding that theological language has a way of being “stabilized” from generation to generation, Ryken sought to retain the language that began with William Tyndale as a fountainhead (where such stabilization was accurate). He departed from that language only where accuracy and smooth modern English required it. Thus, there is a “dignity of expression” to the ESV often lacking in modern translations.

Their goal was to produce an “essentially literal” translation into modern English, taking formal equivalence as the starting point and departing from it only where good English demanded such a departure.

While most recent translations (HCSB and a few other excepted) have employed ever-increasing gender inclusive language, the ESV deliberately sought to resist that trend.

The names of the men who worked on the translation reads like a “Who’s Who” list of modern evangelical scholarship, and the results of their work have become one of the favorite translations of many an English Bible reader.

Functional Equivalence Translations

The NET Bible is something of an innovation in modern English translation. The acronym “NET” is a bit of a play on words. First, referring to the name of the work “New English Translation” and second, the unique nature of the work which was primarily planned as an Internet translation. It was released online in 2005 and, while available in print, sought to accommodate the modern age by being an online accessible Bible. It is available online, in its entirety, free for all, for all time.

This is an inherently ministry-focused model which created a format that immediately solved common problems for those who sought to produce ministry materials which quoted large sections of biblical text. Prior to the publication of the NET Bible, they either had to use older public domain works or obtain difficult permissions from publishers of modern versions which often delayed and sometimes prohibited publication of ministry resources intended to be offered for free online and elsewhere. The NET Bible sought to resolves those difficulties by producing a translation downloadable free online in its entirety.

The combined work of over twenty-five prominent biblical scholars, the translation has provided a unique solution to the tensions inherent in translation work. Every translation must balance the competing aims of readability, elegance, and accuracy. The closer a translation moves towards one of these goals, the further they get from the other two. For example, if you glance at the chart of translations above, you see (obviously) that the further one moves to the right, the further he also moves from the left. Deep stuff, I know. This is the inescapable nature of translation work, and every translation inherently faces these tensions.

Typically, a translation must land somewhere imperfectly between these competing goals. The NET Bible sought a unique solution. They provide in the actual text a more functionally equivalent translation which is more readable while still seeking an elegance balanced with readability. But then in the footnotes (at important points) they provide an explanation of the interpretive, textual, and translational difficulties of the passage and give a more literal rendering of the text as well as occasionally dealing with general Bible study issues. This allows them to maintain the goal of accuracy. There are over 60,000 such notes. That’s more than any other translation ever produced; and because of the Internet format, they can continue to be updated and added to. Since these notes are provided by the translators themselves, they provide a unique way to “look over the shoulders” of the translators as they did their work, which is not available in any other English translation.

Overall, the NET Bible is a unique translation, which has met the competing goals of translation in a hitherto impossible way, and has a clear focus on ministry values. It will no doubt continue to be a favorite among many Bible students.

NIV/NIV 2011

In 1894 the complete New International Version (NIV) was published. The release immediately stressed the international character of the work. Employing over 100 translators from America, Canada, Great Briton, Australia, and New Zealand, the translators aimed to produce an entirely new translation that would represent a widely interdenominational and truly international perspective.

Taking the “I” in the name very seriously, they sought to make the translation simple enough that it would be easily usable even by a student for whom English was a second language. Thus, they avoided technical theological words (and any words with too many syllables), and sought to employ a more colloquial style. The translators all professed their “commitment to the authority and infallibility of the Bible as God’s Word in written form” which struck a chord with some conservative readers who had been suspicious of translations since the RSV.

Such a commitment sought accuracy to the original but also a clear, smooth English style. Thus, three separate committees reviewed both the translation and the style of the English. Further, while using the standard NA 26 Greek NT as its base, the committees occasionally disagreed with the textual choices of the NA, and so, actually translated an eclectic text which differed from the standard text at many points.

Needless to say, such an intricate process involving so many scholars was time-consuming, and expensive. It has been estimated that the total editorial cost was around eight million dollars. The NIV almost instantly rose to be the most widely used translation (perhaps excepting the KJV) and continues to top the charts of the best selling translations.

While the NIV has faced a few minor revisions (NIVR, and TNIV), they didn’t take on as widely. In 2011 the NIV received a full makeover that is definitely here to stay in the mainstream. Continuing to update the translation to be current with contemporary English usage, the committee also incorporated a greater degree of gender inclusive language. The NIV 2011 will likely continue to be one of the most widely sold and used English translations.

NAB/NJB

The New American Bible (NAB) was a production in 1970 of the Roman Catholic Church, but unlike several previous such productions, was much more ecumenical in its approach. One third of its translation committee was Protestants, and the translation shows the influence of the cooperation between both traditions. The revisions in 1986 and 1991 also introduced slightly more gender inclusive language.

GNB/REB

In 1976 the Good News Bible (GNB) arrived as the culmination of its Today’s English Version TEV) predecessor. It sought to directly apply the principles of dynamic equivalence stated by Eugene Nida, and was one of the first translations to do so in such an intentional way.

The Revised English Bible (REB) was published as the revision of the NEB in 1989. It moved the translation away from much of its colloquial language and more towards the middle of our chart. The REB also used slightly more gender inclusivity in its language and was much more consistent in its translation of theological language.

JB/NLT

J. B Phillips originally published his translation as separate entities, but they were eventually published as the single volume The New Testament in Modern English in 1958. His purpose was to convey the sense of the original in a way that would have the same effect on the modern readers that the original writings had on theirs. He sought to set aside the traditional language that had been associated with English Bibles since Tyndale and to translate the text as one would translate any document from a foreign language, using the same freedom of style that would normally be employed in such an endeavor. The result garnered great praise from those who could see the meaning of the text being made plain. The eminent scholar F. F. Bruce stated that, in his time, the translation of the epistles was probably the best available for the average reader.

The New Living Translation (NLT), originally a revision of the Living Bible, actually became an entirely new translation in 1996. Based on the original languages, it primarily used a dynamic equivalence method. It thus departed significantly from the LB and became an altogether different translation.

Recognizing that the original documents of Scripture were intended primarily to make an impact when read aloud, the NLT has employed a unique focus on recovering that impact in the public reading of the translation. Like the ESV and other modern translations, the translation team enlisted scholars to translate the books of the Bible who were specialist in exegesis and theology of each particular book. They employed such notable translators as Daniel Block, Tremper Longman III, Craig Blomberg, Darrell Bock, D. A. Carson, Douglas Moo, and Tom Schreiner. Its 2007 revision is truly remarkable as a functionally equivalent translation.

NEB

With a wide variety of denominational input from a variety of British traditions, the New English Bible (NEB) sought in 1970 to leave behind traditional language and create a truly new English translation that did not simply recreate the traditional biblical English. It was in many ways simply a more functionally equivalent version of the RSV. With the notable C.H. Dodd overseeing the work and as notable a figure as C.S. Lewis contributing to its English style, the NEB was instantly popular and remains a favorite for many.

Free Translation

Living Bible

Kenneth Taylor didn’t originally intend to produce a new translation. As a father who wanted to render the great stories of the Bible in a way that his young children would understand, he began to take the ASV and more freely paraphrase its meaning into simple language that would help the ideas be easily grasped by even young children.

Eventually, his renderings became wildly popular, and he completed an entire Bible and published it as The Living Bible in 1971. The huge success of his work prompted him to start Tyndale House Publishers, and the free paraphrase nature of his work remained immensely popular in the ‘60s and ‘70s. It was especially popular among young people and many who were less acquainted with traditional biblical language. While still used, one of the major weaknesses of his paraphrase was that it was a paraphrase of an English translation, rather than a paraphrase of the original languages themselves.

While Taylor’s work was immensely popular for its ability to bring the concepts of the Bible into idiomatic English, the fact that it was in fact a paraphrase rather than a translation from the original languages severely limited its value.

The Message

In 2002 Eugene Peterson produced a new free translation which was of much greater scholarly aptitude. Much like Taylor before him, Peterson didn’t originally intend to produce a new translation. He simply began to write out a more idiomatic translation of the books he was preaching in the church he pastored.

He had the academic background (from Regent College) to work directly from the original languages, and he submitted his work to the review of a group of other scholars. The result was a free translation much more accurate to the original languages. Rather than translating the words or even the exact ideas of the original languages, The Message sought to reproduce the effect of the original. It used idioms that were current, fresh, and part of the normal speech of everyday life. The language is thus much like that in which you would chat with friends and doesn’t have an “airy” feel at all. As we saw above, Deissmann had shown already that this common language was in fact the conversational speech in which the NT was originally written.

While a work like The Message has immense value in helping the reader “feel” the force of the original in fresh language that most translations would prohibit, the reader also must keep in mind that a more free translation has inherently exercised a greater degree of interpretation before he even reads it.

Some Concluding Principles

Choose the Translation You Will Read

At the end of the day, almost any translation of the Bible can be a good one. They each have their strengths; they each have their weaknesses. When it comes to the common question, “Which translation is the best one?” the answer, in some ways, is simply, “Whichever one you will read.” If a Bible never leaves your shelf, its merits and pitfalls don’t really make much difference. I would recommend something near the center of the chart for a regular reading Bible. But really, whatever Bible you will use regularly is the one that is best for you.

Study from Multiple Translations

Recognize that all translation is interpretation. While almost all translations are good and accurate, when reading the Bible in English, you are already removed somewhat from the Bible as it was originally written. What you are reading inherently contains the interpretive choices of the translators. This is not a bad thing, but it needs to be recognized.

While I recommend having one “primary reading Bible,” I would suggest that one of the best habits you can form is to never study from only one translation. When you are really digging into Galatians for that Bible study, read the passage from a few different translations. Take note of where they differ. The differences you see between them will give you a good indication of where there may be a textual difficulty in the originals or where there may be several possible ways to render the original language into English. You’ll get the best understanding of the passage if you compare translations from opposite ends of the spectrum. Compare a more functionally equivalent translation with something on the more formal end of the spectrum. Most of these translations are now available free in online formats (e.g. the YouVersion Bible app).

Use a Good Study Bible

Finally, I would recommend that you make use of a good study Bible. The additional information you will glean from the study notes will enrich your study in ways that you can’t imagine. The NIV study Bible is excellent. The ESV study Bible is one of the most helpful such tools I’ve ever seen. The NET Bible notes are unsurpassed in text-critical questions. If you desire a “TR” translation, the “King James Study Bible” from Thomas Nelson would be right up your alley. Whatever you choose to use, a good study Bible can give you a wealth of background information that you won’t get by reading only the Bible.

Conclusion

So, what did I end up choosing? How did a former KJV only preacher choose a translation? After looking though quite a few, I have opted to use the ESV Study Bible as my primary reading Bible. I also regularly compare the KJV, the NET, and the NIV 2011, and I occasionally consult the NLT and the Message.

But my choices shouldn’t necessarily be yours. You should make your own decision, and whatever you choose to use, read it.

I am reminded of when I read through the story of Augustine’s conversion in The Confessions. It was one of the more powerful moments I’ve experienced in my own Christian walk. As he wrestled with his own depravity, having for so long been afflicted by his own wretchedness, he found himself sitting alone in a garden with his bitter tears pouring out under a fig tree. As he wept, he heard the voice of a child nearby (perhaps playing games as children do), repeating the phrase, “take up and read; take up and read.” Interpreting the words as a “command from heaven to open the book,” he picked up a copy of the book of Romans, began to read, and found in the Scriptures the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. And none of us has ever been the same since. As he heard so long ago, I encourage you with advice that will change the life of all who will heed it;

Tolle Lege, (Take up and read)

Tolle Lege (Take up and read)


Colorado State Senator Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, holds up a black ten-round rifle ammunition magazine with a green capacity extender, as he argues against one of several gun control bills before the Colorado Legislature, at the State Capitol, in Denver, Monday March 11, 2013. Colorado Democrats are advancing gun-control proposals in a state balancing a history of heartbreaking shootings with a Western heritage where gun ownership is treasured by many. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

DENVER (AP) -- Fiercely debated ammunition limits have cleared Colorado's Democratic Legislature and are on their way to the governor, who has said he'll sign the measure into law.

The 15-round magazine limit would make Colorado the first state outside the East Coast to ratchet back gun rights after last year's deadly shooting sprees. Colorado's gun-control debates have been closely watched because of the state's gun-loving frontier heritage and painful history of mass shootings.

Colorado lawmakers decided to keep negotiating on a bill to expand background-check requirements to most private and online gun sales.

The measures are part of a Democratic gun control package that has been the focus of much debate, drawing thousands to the state Capitol over the past week. The GOP has decried the whole package as a bad reaction to last year's horrific shootings in Newtown, Conn., and at a suburban Denver movie theater.

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Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt


Pope Tawadros II has arrived in Jerusalem in a historic visit that marks the first time that a head of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church has visited the city since Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.

The website of the Coptic Church in Jerusalem said the pope's only reason for the visit on Thursday was to attend the funeral prayer of the Bishop of Jerusalem Anba Abraham, the head of the Coptic Church in the Holy Land, who died on Wednesday.

The late Egyptian Pope Shenouda III had issued a ban in 1979, in the aftermath of the Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel, preventing Egyptian Coptics from pilgrimage to Jerusalem while under Israeli occupation.

Father Boules Halim, the spokesman for the Coptic Church in Cairo, said that the visit was arranged for an "exceptional situation".

Halim told the AFP news agency that the visit will not change the stance of the Egyptian Church towards the occupation which it historically opposes.

"The stance of the Coptic Orthodox Church concerning travelling to the Holy Lands will always remain the same. The Pope's visit came as an exception," said Halim.

"The position of the church remains unchanged, which is not going to Jerusalem without all our Egyptian [Muslim] brothers."

The Egyptian government does not ban Egyptian citizens from visiting Israel and encourages normal relations between the two countries.

Shenouda III, who was head of the Egyptian Coptic Church for more than 40 years, until his death in 2012, was against normalising relations with Israel despite the peace treaty between the two countries.


The pie list swelled; the richer puddings had vanished; the sausage, with his drapery wrapped about him, barely lingered in a pleasant thanatopsis with the buckwheats and the sweet but doomed maple.

1) In Gopher Prairie there is Thanatopsis Club ( thanatopsis = Greek "vision of death"; a name that was probably suggested by the poem which William Cullen Bryant, aged sixteen, wrote after reading Robert Blair's The Grave and William Cowper's The Task): this is the main cultural force of the city, led by the most eminent ladies, who attend conferences on the English poets.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, Thanatopsis , in THE POETICAL WORKS OF WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 21, 21 (D.

9) John Lennon and Malcolm Foley, Dark Tourism: the Attraction of Death and Disaster (London: Continuum, 2000); Valene Smith, "War and Tourism: an American Ethnography," Annals of Tourism Research 25 (1998): 202-227; Anthony Seaton, "From Thanatopsis to Thanatourism: Guided by the Dark," Journal of International Heritage Studies 2 (1996): 234-244.

The term derives from the ancient Greek, thanatopsis , which means 'contemplation of death'.

The capsule held more than 50 items, including a piece of wood from Independence Hall, a copy of Thanatopsis , an 1818 poem by William Cullen Bryant said to be the first to contain the word Oregon, and a souvenir badge welcoming the President to Portland.

Ishmael experiences other tropes or turnings from his thanatopsis mood, as when in the Spouter Inn he is terrified by the prospect of a cannibalistic, harpoon-toting savage for his bedmate, only to find a bosom friend who indirectly saves his life; as when in the chapel, staring at signs of his seemingly foreordained death in the black-bordered tablets commemorating sailors lost at sea, he finds unaccountably that his "Faith, like a jackal, [that] feeds among the tombs, [.

And finally, it means to give oneself back to the place, as the speaker affirms in the opening lines; elsewhere Berry expresses this ecological thanatopsis as "slowly falling / into the fund of things .


Many businesses are planning out their CRM data quality strategies for 2015, yet some will fail to win the battle because their approach is simply wrong.

According to Experian’s Data Advantage Report from last year, more than 99 percent of organizations had a plan, but 94 percent still had data errors. That figure was an increase on the previous year’s total too.

The takeaway from the report is simple: Data quality is a battle that requires stamina and commitment.

Fighting the battle means constantly working towards better quality data to improve efficiency, customer satisfaction, reporting and growth. Winning the battle means approaching the issue effectively, using the right techniques.

The Losing Battle

Data quality initiatives require investment and an ongoing focus on improvement. Many businesses see data quality as a cash drain, not a cash gain.

To cut costs, some businesses try to cut back on spending by using members of staff to carry out complex correction and error detection. The report found that 27 per cent of businesses are using manual database editing to tackle data quality. (While 40 per cent of businesses said that they would be using dedicated software for cleaning databases, this was a drop compared to previous years’ figures.)

Here’s the fact: Cutting corners is not a good battle tactic. Manual correction is not fast enough, or accurate enough, to stem the flow of bad data that is being manually entered into other areas of the system. Bad data is also introduced through bad merges, incorrect character sets and the connection of different systems that have different standards and norms. It is also impossible for human reviewers to find fuzzy matches, phonetic matches and duplicate records when scouring a database line by line.

Data quality software does the opposite. It automatically catches new data problems at the input stage before they are committed to a database or customer relationship management system (CRM). It can detect and remove the duplicates that already exist. And as businesses work towards a situation where all data is held in one location, they also cut down on the manual import and export operations that are so problematic.

Persistence

Data quality benefits are well understood in business:

63 percent of respondents wanted to increase efficiency

53 percent aimed to improve customer service

51 percent wanted to make better decisions based on their data

43 percent said they needed to profile customers more effectively

37 percent were working towards a single customer view

Winning the battle has almost become a utopian goal, but it is not an unachievable one.

Going into battle is daunting, and maintaining the fight on an ongoing basis can be a challenge for everyone, particularly when every single typo generates work and cost. But struggling through with manual editing is a false economy. We are handling more data than ever, and we are responsible for handling it well.

Better data means a better return on investment: better response rates, better customer retention, better productivity. Once you’ve won the battle and have a grip on your data, you’ll realise that cost-cutting is actually the worst battle tactic you could use.

About the Author

Armed with qualifications in mechanical engineering, business and finance, and experience of running engineering and CRM businesses, Martin founded a successful CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software house in 1992, supplying systems to large, medium and small sized companies. Developing a deep understanding of the value of data, he became concerned that many organisations were making decisions based on poor quality data. To fill this gap in the market, he sold the CRM Company and started DQ Global in 2002 to provide data quality solutions, with a mission to detect, correct and prevent data defects which undermine business decisions. Since then, DQ Global has become a global market leader, delivering enterprise-wide data solutions utilising leading edge technology. Martin has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience and has established himself as a Data Quality Improvement Evangelist and an industry expert.


Google's Chrome is on the brink of replacing Firefox as the second-most-popular browser, according to one Web statistics firm.

Data provided by StatCounter, an Irish company that tracks browser usage using the free analytics tools it offers websites, shows that Chrome will pass Firefox to take the No. 2 spot behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) no later than December.

As of Wednesday, Chrome's global average user share for September was 23.6%, while Firefox's stood at 26.8%. IE, meanwhile, was at 41.7%.

The climb of Chrome during 2011 has been astonishing: It has gained eight percentage point since January 2011, representing a 50% increase.

During that same period, Firefox has dropped almost four percentage points, a decline of about 13%, while IE has also fallen four points, a 9% dip.

That means Chrome is essentially reaping all the defections from Firefox and IE.

If the trends established thus far this year continue, Chrome will come close to matching Firefox's usage share in November, then pass its rival in December, when Chrome will account for approximately 26.6% of all browsers and Firefox will have a 25.3% share.

StatCounter is not the only Web metrics company that publicly posts browser share statistics, however. Data provided by U.S.-based Net Applications, for example, shows a much bigger gap between Firefox and Chrome: In its numbers for August, Net Application had Firefox with a 22.6% share of desktop browser usage, and Chrome at 15.5%.

Using Net Applications numbers, Chrome could have a 17.8% share by the end of 2011, short of Firefox's projected 22.3%. But if the pace of change lasts, Chrome should pass Firefox on Net Applications' chart by mid-2012.

Because Net Applications weights its numbers to more better estimate usage share in countries from which relatively few users navigate to sites it monitors, the company's data theoretically paints a more accurate picture because it factors in the huge Chinese market.

Some browser makers -- Microsoft in particular -- cite that as a reason why they regularly defer to Net Applications' numbers. Not coincidentally, Net Applications pegs IE with a much higher share -- 55.3% -- than do other metrics firms such as StatCounter.

Both Net Applications and StatCounter, however, have traced the same trends: usage declines of IE and Firefox, and a corresponding climb in Chrome.

Chrome may pass Firefox as the world's second-most-popular browser by the end of the year. (Data: StatCounter.)

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

See more articles by Gregg Keizer.


Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Pretty patties resting on a bed of oven roasted carrots. Doesn’t that sound delicious?

I guess I’m having a ‘vegetable patties’ period. These are wonderfully soft and crispy at the same time, with a ton of options to spice them up. Since potatoes and cauliflower have a very mild taste, you can play around with herbs and spices.

For about a dozen patties you will need:

4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

½ medium cauliflower or whole if it is small, cut into florets

2 tablespoons coconut oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon turmeric

¼ teaspoon ground red paprika

½ teaspoon dried basil (or a few leaves if you have the option of fresh basil, finely chopped)

¼ teaspoon dried oregano (again, use fresh herbs if you have the option, a few leaves will do the trick)

1 cup vegan bread crumbs (You can make your own if you bake bread at home – leave it to dry and process it in your blender/food processor.)

Other options for flavor: garlic, sautéed onions, soy sauce, curry, thyme…

To make:

Cook the potatoes and cauliflower, potatoes need about 15 minutes, cauliflower 10 minutes – I just add the cauliflower 5 minutes later and cook until soft. Strain and mash well, try to break as many lumps as possible. Season with salt and other spices or herbs to your liking and start adding the bread crumbs a few tablespoons at a time. The mixture will be soft but keep its form. Taste and adjust if necessary. Use an ice cream scooper as a measuring tool to make the patties uniform in size and shape. Flatten them into discs and roll in bread crumbs. If you are not using them all just freeze them on a tray lined with baking paper and later when frozen transfer them into a bag to save on space in the freezer. You can fry these in a pan with a bit of coconut oil for 3-4 minutes on each side, but be careful: they soak up a lot of it. You could also bake them in the oven (375 F 15-20 minutes). The bed of carrots on which these heavenly patties rest are just organic carrots washed and sliced, tossed together with some olive oil, salt and thyme. Set on a baking tray lined with baking paper, 15-20 minutes at 375 F.

Bon appetit!


NO, it’s not Honda’s long-promised RCV road bike but in the meantime the newly-revealed Ronax 500 is the closest thing to a GP bike you’re ever likely to be able to buy.

As you can probably tell from the ‘500’ name, it’s not taking its inspiration from the latest generation of four-stroke monsters but from an earlier era of more delicate, knife-edge 500cc two-strokes. Yes, it does look a lot like an NSR500, doesn’t it? And yes, they’re making 46 of them, which is a number that’s reminiscent of someone who perhaps took the NSR500 to its last world title. But you’ll find no official mention of that chap’s name on the Ronax website.

In terms of spec, the bike isn’t far from an NSR either, even if it is all actually the work of the guys at German firm Ronax. The 499cc motor is an 80-degree V4 with twin contra-rotating crankshafts, fuel injection and a six-speed cassette gearbox. At 160bhp, it’s a tad down on the 180-200bhp that the last of the 500cc strokers were making, but it’s supposed to be road legal and will hopefully last more than a race distance, too, so we’ll let them off for that.

What’s perhaps harder to swallow is the price. It’s €100,000. Plus VAT. Plus shipping. Let’s face it, you’ll get no change from £100,000 once you’ve landed one in the UK. Call it two-and-a-half Desmosedici RRs. Or an NR750 and enough change to get a brand new S1000RR for daily use. Or, possibly, one of Honda’s RCV road bikes as and when they get around to actually making them.

But then again, maybe if you’ve got that sort of change sitting around, you’ll be in a position to simply get one of each.

For more details, see Ronax.


TOULOUSE, France – Satellite builder Thales Alenia Space and six partners are investing their own money, plus grants from the French government, into the Stratobus high-altitude platform station (HAPS) on the assumption that the development yields a contract in 2017, the program manager said.

The Stratobus backers are focusing only on Earth observations in the tropical regions for the moment, but expect to add telecommunications payloads once international regulators have authorized HAPS systems to operate in Ka-band.

Current International Telecommunication Union (ITU) rules limit HAPS systems to the Q- and V-bands for fixed services communications, between 47 and 48 GHz. These higher frequencies are not well suited to rainy conditions.

The U.S. government is leading the effort at the ITU to broaden the frequency regime for command and control of high-altitude drones to Ka- and Ku-band, already in mainstream use by satellite fleet operators. It is unclear whether HAPS could be covered under this.

The U.S. position met with substantial resistance – for reasons that were never made clear — at the last quadrennial meeting of global regulators, WRC-15, which agreed only to create a study group to examine the issue in view to a decision at WRC-19. WRC-15 agreed to study future use of Ka-band for HAPS.

Until additional frequencies are made available, Thales Alenia Space’s Stratobus will limit itself to optical and radar Earth observation, said Jean-Philippe Chessel, head of the Stratobus project.

“If [the ITU decision at WRC-19] is positive, it will clearly open the telecommunications market for HAPS and for Stratobus,” Chessel said June 30 at the Toulouse Space Show.

The French-Italian Thales Alenia Space announced Stratobus in April following the receipt of 17 million euros ($19.2 million) in financing from France’s PIA Investing in the Future public bond fund, plus 3 million euros from four regional governments in France that are home to the Stratobus industrial team.

Chessel said the industrial partners are financing 60 percent of the development over the next two years, with French government support totaling 40 percent.

The commercial version of Stratobus will measure 100 meters in length, as long as an Airbus A380, and 33 meters in diameter at its widest point. Its four electric-powered engines are designed to keep the platform steady at 20 kilometers in altitude in headwinds of up to 90 kilometers per hour. Air density at that altitude is less than half what it is on the ground.

It will carry a payload, typically a radar or optical Earth observation sensor, weighing up to 250 kilograms, that will image an areas of between 250 and 300 kilometers for radar applications, and 40-60 kilometers for optical.

The top half of Stratobus is transparent material. Attached to the underside of its roof is a solar panel drawing power both from the Sun above, and below from a row of solar power concentrator mirrors lining the floor.

The space industry last viewed solar concentrators on the first models of Boeing’s large 702 telecommunications satellite platform. A design flaw caused the concentrators to damage the solar panels and resulted in reduced power, causing large insurance claims for the first batch of satellites. Boeing subsequently dropped the concentrator design, although in the years since then the damage to the satellites in terms of reduced operational life turned out to be less than originally feared.

Chessel said the concentrators will triple the amount of solar illumination onto the solar array and provide the 150 kilowatts power day of total power demand for Stratobus, of which 5 kilowatts will be reserved for the payload.

Stratobus’s volume is 50,000 cubic meters. Chessel said the pressurized gas will be either helium or hydrogen, with hydrogen preferred because it is less costly to produce and is lighter, saving 300 kilograms over helium. But hydrogen has the downside of requiring special safety procedures.

Operating in the tropics with sufficient sunlight year-round, Stratobus could remain on station for up to five years, Chessel said. At more-northern latitudes, the platform would be limited to the spring and summer months and could operate for eight months.

Chessel said the current budget is enough to carry the project’s development for two years. A critical design review is planned for 2018, after which a full-size test model could be flown in 2020. Thales Alenia Space has begun the process of Stratobus flight certification with the European Aviation Safety Agency. A new certification category is needed because HAPS platforms like Stratobus fall somewhere in between the existing regulations for balloons and drones.

“We expect to have our first contract in 2017 to develop the first proto-flight model,” Chessel said. “It will be paid by the first customer and lead to the production of future flight models. Stratobus is a low-cost product, an order of magnitude less costly than a satellite, plus the fact that we don’t have a launcher. We can take off and land by gas management and we don’t need space-qualified components. Of course, this is a regional product only. It doesn’t provide global coverage like a satellite. The prospects we have today suggest we are going in the right direction in terms of product.”


Apple's iOS 9.3 beta introduces major new features like Night Shift , but there are also dozens of little tweaks to be discovered in the operating system update. It appears that one of those minor changes applies to Wi-Fi Assist, adding a much-needed feature that allows users to see just how much data it's using.Wi-Fi Assist data usage can be checked within the Settings app by choosing the Cellular section and scrolling down to the Wi-Fi Assist option. Next to the toggle that turns the feature on and off, there's now a data usage number that displays how much data has been consumed when it is in use.Wi-Fi Assist was first introduced with iOS 9. It's a feature that allows an iPhone to seamlessly switch over to a cellular connection whenever a local Wi-Fi connection is weak. Enabled automatically when updating to iOS 9, Wi-Fi Assist proved to be unpopular with users who claimed it was eating up a lot of data . One recent news story even accused Wi-Fi Assist of causing a teenager to receive a cell phone bill for upwards of $2,000.Concerns about Wi-Fi Assist led Apple to publish a support document on the feature, explaining how it works and assuring users that data usage should only be a "small percentage higher" than previous usage. Wi-Fi Assist only turns on in a limited number of circumstances and won't activate when data roaming, when apps are downloading background content, or when using third-party apps that stream audio or video.Despite Apple's reassurances about Wi-Fi Assist, unhappy customers filed a $5 million class action lawsuit over the feature, with the plaintiffs claiming they were subjected to overage charges on their iPhones after updating to iOS 9. The lawsuit also claims Apple did not do an adequate job explaining the feature when iOS 9 was released.Wi-Fi Assist is available on any iOS device running iOS 9 or later, with the exception of the iPhone 4s, the iPad 2, the third-generation iPad, and the original iPad mini. Wi-Fi Assist can be turned off using the Settings app for those who don't want to risk using extra data.


NComputing has officially launched the RX300 which is Raspberry Pi 3 based thin client that can run Windows and Linux. It can utilize the cloud, is dual-screen capable and has Wi-Fi.

The RX300 will retail for $99 and that price will include a one-year subscription to NComputing’s VSpace 10 platform. For those who are unaware, NComputing specializes in creating virtual desktops to multiple machines. Using this technology, a person will make it easier to manage multiple computers from a single host server. Obviously, larger companies may find it easier to do this manually, but the low price tag makes this an attractive option for mid-range companies that have multiple computers to manage.

According to NComputing’s press release, the RX300 will offer full-motion HD video playback, four high-speed USB ports, wi-fi and bluetooth, access to both vSpace and the Linux OS, 8GB of internal memory and 1 GB of RAM, a one-year subscription to VSpace 10, and be compatible with Vcast streaming. In terms of power consumption, NComputing has stated that the RX300 will use less than 5 watts of energy and will feature a sleep mode to save power.

Additional options and features will be available for an extra charge and once the yearly subscription has expired, users will be required to purchase a new one to access VSpace 10.


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Arsenal have agreed a new partnership with Universal Pictures that could see the club’s players appear in promotional videos for the latest blockbuster films.

The deal will see Arsenal promote a number of the film company’s upcoming releases, including Despicable Me 3. Replicas of the stars of that movie – Minions – have already been involved in promotional activity at the Emirates, where they were paraded on the pitch ahead of the final game of the season.

“This partnership with Illumination and Universal Pictures is the first of its kind for the club and one we are extremely excited about,” said Vinai Venkatesham, Arsenal’s chief commercial officer.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for both the club and the studio to be introduced to new audiences and we are already working closely with them to engage with our supporters in the UK and Ireland around their upcoming film releases.”

Star names such as Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil could – if they are still at Arsenal – even be asked to take part in unique content or promotional videos for movies.

Arsenal are not the first team to agree such a partnership, with Manchester United having had a deal with 20th Century Fox that has seen Wayne Rooney appear in a trailer for X:Men Apocalypse and mascots painted blue for promotional activity, neither of which were well-received by the general public.

Universal have also been working on a documentary film about Arsenal’s famous 1989 league title win at Anfield.


The inhabitants of the Crimean peninsula have found a way out of the intricate situation in economics they have had to deal with for 6 months – the Bitcoin payments.

As a result of the referendum on the status of Crimea held on March 16, 2014, when the majority of the Crimean population voted for integration of the region into the Russian Federation, the local residents are reported to have started experiencing difficulties accessing essential services, including banking. Michael Chobanian, head of the Ukrainian bitcoin agency KUNA, sees the de-facto separation of Crimea from Ukraine the main reason why the Crimeans started to actively use BTC to purchase goods and items on the Internet.

According to Chobanian, Crimea remains completely outside of the international banking system, which means there is no chance at all to conduct any foreign economic activity on the peninsula. The only solution for shopping, payments and financial transactions is the Internet. If you go the usual way, you’ll end up in a bank, standing in a queue to open an account and make a ruble deposit. Then you would have to wait hours in another queue in order to get to the mainland. Once in Krasnodar Krai, you would need to go to another bank, open an account there, and then transfer your funds from a Crimean account to the one you opened in a Krasnodar bank; only then will you eventually be able to effect your payment.

“Seems unrealistic for busy people. That is why my colleagues from Sevastopol and Simferopol switched to Bitcoin payments; they purchase BTC with rubles and then pay for whatever they need with Bitcoin” – Chobanian sums up.