Okay, we're back. This is Dave Vellante of wikibond.org, siliconangle.tv's continuous coverage. We're here at the EMC V-specs launch. We're in downtown San Francisco at the Terra Gallery, great venue. We're here with Prasad Rampali and Greg Ambulos. Prasad runs EMC's Solutions Group, and Greg is a longtime EMC-er, a longtime executive with the channel. Both of these gentlemen gave keynotes this morning, and so welcome to the Cube. Thanks, David.  Okay, great. So Prasad, I want to start with you. Listen carefully to your presentation, we just had Jeremy Burton on. He said, we wanted this announcement to be more than a white paper, and that's what you think of when you think of things like this that are proven and tested solutions and reference architectures. The result is a white paper. What's the difference between V-specs and the traditional sort of white paper reference architecture? Yeah, that's a great question. V-specs is really a total solution validation approach, and we are looking at really doing two specific activities from an engineering standpoint. The first is ensuring interoperability at all levels of the stack, all the way from our storage through the compute, through the hypervisor, as well as the networking components, right? And we do that today for large enterprise, which is what the ELab is all about. But what we have never done is take that asset that we've been deploying for the past 15 years for large enterprise to the channel, and in many ways it's shifting that core asset with this engineering discipline that's proven and aiming that squarely in Greg's business, which is new, right? So is it a new methodology, a new technology? No, from the validation or interoperability standpoint, it's essentially aiming it in a market that we have never done before. The second point is the integration piece, which is the interesting part. This is where we are looking at specific use cases, and we are ensuring that the appropriate integration elements from the networking component, from the storage component to the management component with the application are implemented in such a way that the customer meets their specific needs. This aspect of integration obviously requires development, API enhancements from our storage, full understanding of core technologies that the networking guys are enabling, like Brocade, on their IP-based fabrics, and tying with even applications like SAP that are more orchestration aware today with things like LBM, which is their landscape visualization manager, where we can say, hey, we can connect with the application layer directly and enable fast cloning, as an example. We can tie with the networking component and enable some aspect of offloading of network bandwidth tied to certain aspects of the workload. This intelligence that can be manipulated at all levels of the stack is a new game that we are going to be getting into in a big way at the integration level for VSpecs. And we believe we can do that because we have the support and frankly a lot of excitement and interest from these six partners that I spoke to today. I tweeted that I felt like this announcement was more innovation and packaging, and I guess what you're adding to that is methodology and other capabilities of knowledge transfer and knowledge capture, than it is invention. Is that fair? Yeah, I think it is true. I really think it starts with the end customer and as Greg will tell you the requirements that the channel has are many. And to codify those requirements into a set of reusable solution building blocks, as I said, requires significant innovation. You can take the high disorganized entropy of unmet needs into saying, okay, I'm going to have a finite set of building blocks that will meet those needs. And that is what my team is trying to address with our ELabs, with our VLabs and the core developers and engineers who are working with this with our technical partners. I want to come back to that, I have a number of questions, but I want to go to Greg. Greg, I watched carefully the VBlock announcement in 2009, and there were a number of channel partners. It was at an analyst meeting that you guys unveiled it. And there were a number of channel partners there. And they were excited on the one hand. And then I remember a discussion about, hey, should we do this as a single skew? And of course, all the analysts said, absolutely. That's really the way to go. And I remember some of the channel partners saying, I'm not so sure about that. And then subsequent to that, you saw some of the channel partners come out with their own versions, with more showhace, with more. Maybe a different server vendor. Hey, we resell Dell servers or IBM servers. We don't want to do UCS. So VSpecs appears to be a response to that. Is that accurate? And give us a little color there. Yeah, no, I think you're spot on. VBlock has its place. And you're right. It's a single skew, single management, single support. But if you look at the opportunity that's at hand in the marketplace, it's just VSpec addresses a good portion of the market and VBlock addresses another portion of the market. So from our perspective, we have the best of both worlds. We have the VBlock offering and we've got the VSpecs. Our partners want choice. And this is what came back to us time and time again. They might be positioning HP servers or IBM servers or Dell servers, and they might be brocade, not Cisco, and they want that flexibility. So what Poseidon 2 put together has really been music to their ears because now it's going to provide them the flexibility that they need to go out and address their requirements for their end user customers as they build out their infrastructure for the cloud. Yeah, now, Mark, I don't know if you can pull up that figure one. So Greg, you're right. It's an enormous opportunity. We just recently quantified the converged infrastructure market. The TAN, by 2017, we pegged at 400 billion, and it's enormous. And essentially, it makes sense when you think of it. First of all, you have 400 billion. You crazy, Dave Vellante? Well, it encompasses all servers, all storage, all networking, all management software, the services around that. And so, I don't know if you can see this, but. I would bet you that VSpecs probably addresses a bigger portion of the market then. Yes, absolutely. So the green here is the legacy roll your own. The red is what I would call reference architectures, and the blue is single skew, which is really only today VBlock and Exadata. And maybe, I guess, Avnet resells a single skew of flexible, but the red here is what I call the reference architecture. That's the opportunity. So it's probably today five or six times bigger than the single skew. And that kind of makes sense, because people want heterogeneity, and it sounds like you're seeing the market the same way. Exactly. And in Camely, the other big benefit is that we're getting closer and closer to our technology partners. So if you look at that market opportunity, naturally, we want to be able to work in a collaborative manner with our technology partners to go out there and capture that opportunity. So with a partner community, with our technology partners, this is really, to me, a key solution set that I think is going to be very, very relevant with the marketplace. Well, that's another interesting angle here. I think it might have been Jeremy who talked about competition, co-opetition. You got Cisco up there with Broke, you've got Dell, and IBM and HP sort of playing, maybe not playing nice, but playing in this announcement. You're including them. And I'm sure they're happy to be included with the channel. So it's a strange world we live in from that standpoint. But Prasad, for you, that's great, because there's more complexity. That means there's more demand for your services, right? And frankly, to your point, there's a tremendous switch of cycle of innovation. Because as Greg said, as we include these six leading light partners, with each one of them, as we are getting into these deep conversations in the solutions stack, there is a very significant opportunity to look at, where are they innovating in the networking space, if you take Cisco as an example? And how can we leverage that innovation as part of the private cloud? I mean, they are working on things like network security. They are looking at enabling wide area network bandwidth optimization for hybrid cloud use cases. How do we leverage that as part of our implementation in this respect solution use case? And so as we get these technology giants together to collaborate, I think this innovation is going to just go through a spiral that we haven't yet seen in the channel. So I'm very excited about that. Prasad, we first met last year at EMC World. We had you on theCUBE. And I knew Todd Pavone, who sort of helped get the proven solutions group off the ground. And I asked you, where do you want to take it? And you just talked about scaling the group. And I thought about that a lot. I said, OK, how does that work? And here's an example, I think, today, clearly. I want to come back to the point you made about codifying all that expertise. How do you do that? How do you capture and do you capture expertise from the channel, from the field, codify that, bring it in and bake it into these solutions? How do you do that? Well, today, we are just starting to be honest. But we clearly are recognizing that as we meet our end customers, both in large enterprise and especially the channel, which is much more heterogeneous and diverse, all the way from SMB to the commercial segment, we will need, frankly, an end user database. And we are constructing that. And what we are looking at is creating a templatized view of those requirements that tie to use cases. And more importantly, I'm reorganizing my team around a set of development activity that's tied to solution building blocks. There's only so many ways you can architect a storage management interface to a third-party orchestration environment. But you don't need 10 groups to do that. You need one group to do it. And as we look at specializing around these building blocks, we think that we can standardize and, frankly, we can get the high-fidelity discussion between customer and us as a developer going on in a channel that over time will be very rich. And that requires us to have partnerships with these six leading lights with Greg and what he's doing in the front end of the tip of the spear, engaging these customers together to create this kind of cycle. So exciting times. Simplification all the way back into your organization. So Greg, I want to come back to you. I'd be remiss my partner and co-host, John Furrier, is the channel's guy. And he always says, for the channel, it's about making money. So talk about that a little bit.  Obviously, it's very positive. You saw them up on the stage. But how do they go to market? How do they profit from this? So I think, great question. As I mentioned on my presentation, partners really, just like EMC sales organizations, they go out there and they try to solve customer problems and issues. And they're very, very good at positioning solutions. So when you position a solution, typically you're addressing that challenge. And if an user customer sees value in that solution, they're less likely to try to take a part and pull apart an overall deal. So number one, when partners position an overall solution, they have a lot better, more flexibility, and they have a better chance to get an increased value for that overall solution versus a point product. Number one. Number two, as it pertains to v-specs, even though the recipe, we call it the recipe, so to speak, has been created, there's a lot of still service opportunities that are available. Because even though we have some sizing parameters, the partner still needs to go in there and finalize the sizing. If they want to do any type of application deployment, we have the v-specs lab, they can go in there and they can basically work with their end user customer to determine which is the best way, the most efficient way to deploy an application, and then naturally want them to do the implementation services. So not only addressing the business need and positioning overall solution, which is going to give them a little bit higher value with their end user customer, now there's also a lot of services opportunities that go with it. And despite all the talk about simplification, again, we got it covered here at Wikibon. We did this study. The number one biggest slice of the pie for converged infrastructure is services. It's still well over 40% of the opportunity. So even though you're converging, I think you've got to, IT departments have to do this just to keep pace with data growth. Without a doubt, and I think the other thing here too is like, our job is to, we want to go on through, we want to penetrate the marketplace. So with v-specs, now we have the branding, so now we're going to provide that umbrella. We're going to provide that marketing umbrella that the partners are looking for. So to me, they're going to make additional service capability, I mean margins and higher margins selling a v-spec solution from my perspective, but also now with the branding, they're going to be brought into a lot more opportunities. Gentlemen, I wish we had more time because there's a lot of, there's a great discussion and we can get into some of the pricing and some of the concerns about lock-in. We'll cover that throughout the day. But Greg Amulos, Prasad Rampali, thanks very much for coming on theCUBE. It was great to see you guys. And keep it right there. We'll be right back with Cisco and Wendy Barr, who's an executive in the channels group at Cisco, so keep it right there. Great. Flash memory is a hot topic these days in both the consumer and enterprise markets. And the prevalence of flash in the consumer world on our mobile phones, tablets and laptops is beginning to drive down the cost of the technology across all markets. Forbes magazine declared flash to be 2011's technology of the year. Another say that flash is the future of the data center. In 2008, EMC CEO, Joe Tucci, predicted that the one thing that will change the storage industry more than anything else over the next 10 years is the advent of flash technology. With EMC's recent launch of the new VF Cash hardware and software solution that leverages flash technology and intelligent caching software to dramatically increase throughput and reduce latency, that prediction appears to have come true. Today, we're doing the launch of VF Cash. Everybody's really excited. Obviously, a little bit of press leaks over the weekend and people looking forward to the new product, the performance capabilities it gives. We got early morning rock bands. We got a little bit of cartoon character fun. And it's good. And I think the marketing's innovative and I think the product's innovative. Reaction's been great. You know, press analysts and bloggers in the room, which has been great, but the vast audience is really online. We've had about 3,000 people online. Just a lot of good talk about how this is a compliment to EMC technology, to VMAX, to VNX, compliment to fully automated storage steering, just taking our leadership of flash just to the next level. It's really great. Flash is going to transform the look of the data center. In the same way as the consumer experience has been transformed by Apple utilizing flash technology, I think the enterprise experience is going to be transformed by flash and EMC is going to be driving it. So VF Cash is basically taking this exciting new flash technology and moving it into serving an intelligent wet. We marry that flash storage closer to the CPU complex with an intelligent software layer that determines what data should sit in the server closer to that CPU. If you think about it, flash is over a thousand times faster in terms of IOP capabilities. The performance of a persistent memory, right, in a thousand plus X, right, is really a game changer for many of our customers. But now if we move it close to the server, we're able to make yet another enormous jump in terms of latency, as well as bandwidth and IOPs per gigabyte. So it really is exciting from our customers from that perspective. They get the performance with intelligence, but they also get that protection that they demand in their mission critical application environments. It's a continuation of the EMC flash story that we introduced in 2008. When we first introduced flash drives in the VMAX platform, 2010, we introduced fast, we introduced VNX fast cash. This is another step in that progression. The code name for VF cash, it was Lightning, and what always follows Lightning is Thunder. So we pre-announced today Thunder, which is essentially server networked flash. So something that's shareable, something that's scalable, still on the server side, but something that can provide literally millions of IOPs to multiple server applications. That's coming next. Let's say it's EMC's commitment to innovating in the core business. We challenge ourselves, we question conventional wisdom and we're not afraid to come to market with disruptive technologies. That may have some impact on that core business, but if we don't do that, then we're not gonna stay ahead.


This paper provides an overview of the latest studies on using nanoparticles to enhance oil recovery. The first part discusses the major mechanisms of nanoparticles used in forms of nanofluids, nanoemulsions and nanocatalysts, including disjoining pressure, viscosity increase of injection fluids, preventing asphaltine precipitation, wetability alteration and interfacial tension reduction. The second part reviews the most important research on various novel nanoassisted EOR methods that target thermal, chemical and gas methods. Finally, the paper identifies challenges and opportunities for future study regarding application of nanoparticles in EOR processes. Overall, this paper highlights the potential of nanoparticles to enhance oil recovery and paves the way for further research in this area. This article was authored by Xiao Fei Sun, Yin Yu Zhong, Guangping Chen and others.


Hey everybody, this is Brett, and today I am excited to show you this 2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 4xE Instinct Gray Clear Coat. This is a 2021 4xE Unlimited Rubicon. It has the 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbocharged engine, and it combines with the hybrid system. The combined horsepower is 375 horsepower, and it's going to get you 470 foot-pounds of instant torque. We're going to go around this vehicle, check out all the options. I'll show you the window sticker, and just talk about my recent experience. I just took this on a test drive. You can see that video in the upper right-hand part of the screen. First off, we're going to go over everything on this particular Wrangler. I'll show you under the hood here so that you can see the 2.0-liter 4-cylinder. Once again, 375 horsepower, 470 foot-pounds of instant torque. You can see that orange wire right there that's going to the batteries, which are actually located underneath the back seats. Let me show you the charging outlet here. This just comes off like so. You plug it right in, hit charge on your charger, and you're all set to go. A 240-volt outlet will charge this in 2.4 hours, and 120-volt outlet will charge it in about 12 hours. Notice you get everything outlined in that blue, including the outside of the Jeep logo. It goes with BF Goodrich All-Terrain LT28570R17K02 tires. Has the painted and polished aluminum rims, and you even get the little Wrangler in blue there. You get the Rubicon outlined in blue. You get the anti-glare decal on the hood that's also outlined in blue. You get the blue tow hooks. The Rubicon comes standard with the LED headlamps and fog lamps and running lights, and this one has the optional satin black grille on here. Color-match fenders and color-match hardtop are also options on this vehicle, and it does have the rock rails, which are standard. You get the little sandals on the plastic shroud there, and the Jeep climbing up the side of the vehicle. You also have T-50 to let you know which torx wrench to take your doors off. We actually did a video on how to take the doors off of the JL if you want to check that out. It's in the upper right-hand part of the screen. Here's the original window sticker. I'm not going to go through everything, but feel free to pause this at any point. 2021 Unlimited Rubicon 4x2-liter dual overhead cam 4-cylinder 8-speed automatic transmission. Sting gray black interior has a Jeep Wave membership, LED lighting group, everything on your left there is your standard features, standard interior features as well, and then your optional equipment starts with the Sting gray clear coat, which is 295, leather trim bucket seats, and premium-wrapped instrument panel bezels are 1725, and what they're talking about is this right here. This is leather wrap. Normally this is metal, and it's painted either gray or red. This one's leather wrap, so that's really cool. Steel bumpers, a steel bumper group is 1745, remote proximity keyless entry, or the entering-go system is 695. The three-piece body-colored hardtop is 2595, and the satin black grille by Mopar is 325. Body-colored fender flares are 695, and your total MSRP is 65, 890. If you want to get your summit price in the upper right-hand part of the screen, there's a link to this vehicle on our website with all the rebates and incentives. Go check us out there.  And then you get three-year 36 bumper-to-bumper. Now the hybrid system gets a 10-year 100,000-mile warranty, as well as the batteries for the hybrid system, which is 10 years, 100,000 miles as well. So it's neat to know that those warranties are there for the hybrid system. So when it's just gas, you're going to get 20 miles per gallon average, and then the electric plus gasoline is 49 MPGE. You're going to get 68 kilowatt hours per 100 miles, and you're going to get about 22 miles of just electric. All electric range is 0 to 21, and then total is 370. So that's gas and electric on there. Total fuel cost is $1,700, and then here are your greenhouse gas and smog ratings. There. It's not rated for crash test, but probably will be soon. I really like the color-match fenders on here, and I like that Jeeps put the three on tape on there to protect it from rock chips, especially on these Rubicon's, the bigger tires. They kick up rocks a little bit more, and this can get really pelted, but it's nice that that is on there. You get the rock rails, standard with the Rubicon package as well. As the four-wheel disc brakes, and those are regenerative brakes, so as you're breaking, slowing down, it's actually charging the vehicle, and there's actually a setting where you can max recharge the vehicle. I'll show you that in a second. LED tail lamps, backup cam. Back here is your charger that comes with the vehicle, so you can plug that into your wallet home, and then you can plug it right into your Wrangler. Now that'll be 12 hours to charge, so you've got to make sure you've got 12 hours to charge that. This bag is for that charger. Get the Alpine Premium Sound System, three-piece hardtop, comes off four bolts on each side, two quick disconnects. We actually did a video on how to take your hardtop off if you want to check that out. It's in the upper right-hand part of the screen. Those seats do fold down, now they don't go flat. It's different in a hybrid, and I'll show you that in just a second here. You get the JL badge back here as well, and these doors, a lot lighter than the old JKs.  It still does have the fuel door, because it still put gas in it.  Really like that blue stitching on here. The Rubicon is stitched in blue as well. Has lumbar driver seat height adjuster, auto headlamps, tilt telescopic steering wheel, and this is for your hybrid system right here. So you can do E-save mode, that'll save your battery, all electric mode, and then a hybrid mode where it uses both. I did a video driving in all the different modes, you can check that video out in the upper right-hand part of the screen. Really a fun drive, that's all I can say, it was fun. You get the leather-wrapped door with the blue stitching on there, we'll hop inside. I do have the hood open because we just checked that out so I can't turn it on here, but I can turn all this on. So you can see I was getting 24.7 miles per gallon, I'll dim it down a little bit. Get the digital speedometer, time, you can see your battery charge is 10%, 3 miles left on this charge for an all-electric, and you get the 7-inch LCD display, you get the heated leather-wrapped steering wheel, notice you get the blue stitching on there as well. Those controls on the right, Bluetooth and Information Center controls on the left, and audio controls on the back. This one has the 8.44C with the factory navigation system, so you get the NAV system there, AMFM and SiriusXM radio capabilities, heated seats, heated steering wheel, backup cam, notice that that is HD now, super clear, really like those backup cams, you have all your different apps here, including your off-road pages and projection manager, you can project your cell phone to the screen via Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, and use a different NAV system or play music, I actually did a demo on that with Android Auto in the upper right hand part of the screen if you want to check that out. And then you get your off-road pages, they take a second to load, maybe lost but never stuck, and notice you got your pitch and roll, latitude, longitude, altitude, accessory gauges, drivetrain, if your sway bar is connected or disconnected, front axle if it's locked or unlocked, rear axle if it's locked or unlocked, if you're in two-wheel drive, four-wheel drive, then your steering angle, you can see that changes as I turn the steering wheel, so that's all really cool stuff that you can do with this radio. Down here your more tactile climate and audio controls. Now this is your max regeneration button, so you press that, you can actually feel the vehicle slowing down faster, using more of that energy to charge the batteries back up. It's kind of a weird feeling, and I would say that's the biggest difference in driving this vehicle is when that is on you can definitely tell.  Four-wheel drive shifter, 8-speed automatic transmission, any of your keyless entry with your remote start, get that flipper key, very chunky key fob, and it sits nicely right there. Notice you get the blue stitching on the handle, the shifters, and on that dash, really a good look. I would definitely option for the leather trim dash, and those hard top pieces come off pretty easy a lot like the old JKs, you got SOS and assist buttons up there, auto dimming mirror, and then your home link buttons for your garage door security systems and lighting systems. I'll take a quick look, I'll show you the back seats and how they fold down because they are different than the other Wranglers because your batteries are located right under here. So the seats do not fold down completely flat, that's about as far as they go, and it's because those batteries are underneath there. You still get cup holders right here, two USBs, two USB-C's, 115 volt, 150 watt plug-in, rear air vents and window controls, there's your bag for your hard top pieces in the front, and child safety locks on the back doors. I'll do one more walk around here with all the lights on so that you can see this beautiful Stingray Rubicon 4xE with all the lights on here. I would personally like to thank you for checking out the video today, and hopefully from this video you will be able to get a good idea of the overall looks, styling, and color of this particular Wrangler, learn a little bit about the 4xE, and hopefully you want to check out some of those other videos that we did on this vehicle. So you get the LED running lights, the running lights there, and then the premium LED headlamps, LED fog lamps, these bumpers are the metal bumpers as well. This is a really good Wrangler, and this one is for sale, so go check us out at that website right there, www.SummitAuto.com. Full pictures and descriptions of every single vehicle from two locations, all at SummitAuto.com. And if you'd like to check out more HD videos, you can go to YouTube.com slash Summit Auto. Remember to like, subscribe, and share on this video, and all the videos that you see there. In fact, in a second you will see a link to subscribe to our YouTube channel on the upper left. A link to more Wrangler videos like this one on the upper right, a link to this vehicle on our website on the lower left, and a link to one of our latest YouTube videos in the lower right. Click those, check us out, and we're super excited to be offering the 2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 4xE in Stingray clear coat. Thanks again for checking out the video. Remember to like, subscribe, and share, and thanks again.


We, Deina and Aletta from Icoholics, are embarking on another journey. This time we are in Italy, on the beautiful island of Sardinia. We are hiking the Camino Minerario di Santa Barbara, in the southwest of Sardinia. The CMSB is a 500 kilometer long Camino, which is divided into 30 stages. We are hiking stage 11 till 18, from Montimanu to Nougi, 100 kilometers along this beautiful trail. We are walking on the most ancient land in Italy, along mountains, mines characterized by the millennial mining epic of Sardinia. Welcome to the CMSB. Good morning. It's day 600 Camino, which also means it's the last day on the Camino. And to be honest, we're a bit sad to leave the Camino, right? A bit sad. So far it was really enjoyable and way better than expected, to be honest. We're not sure what we would expect, but the mountains, the people, it was an incredible experience. Yeah, and this morning we woke up in Rosos, that's the mining village. And we woke up in a mining house and it was really, really special. Like, it felt really special to be honest. And yesterday we had a really nice pizza over at the same place. And yeah, the people there are also really friendly. So we absolutely love the experience to wake up in a mining village. And it's not finished. Today we have a short hike towards our finishing point in Nougi. Noxus, I'm not sure how you pronounce it, actually. But it's a 12 kilometer hike with a little bit of elevation gain of 300 meters and almost the same of descending. So it's not that long day and there we're going to have an incredible lunch. For the summer has gone away. Swim out under a broken sky. Old sun, colored with shades of white. So let's lay under the falling moon. Tell me something about yourself. I've talked to no one else last summer. Yes, 100 kilometers on this beautiful Camino Sardinia took our heart. So everyone, we would really recommend this drill. If you want something else, something different for a change, right? Yes, something historical, mountainy, there's a seaside. So Camino, the Mineraro, the Santa Barbara is really a recommendation. This last one is about Perganena, where in Pocherriga the sense of the Camino was closed. These rites were written by the monks and clavists of a Camino di Grisias who made a synthesis of the sense of the Camino. They gave a sense of religiousness to the Camino. But we know that for the Gris they make the Camino, each one giving their own sense. I'll give you the text of the testimony. It is expected that Alec Sardin, under the protection of the Blessed Virgin of the Good Camino, who indicates and opens the way, and of Santa Barbara, Virgin and martyr, who intercede strength in adversity, have gone on foot, with spirit of devotion, the Minerario of Santa Barbara, through the incontaminated beauty of the Creator, in the most ancient land of Italy, giving him the Creator for his works, and contemplating the work of man in the tracks of 8,000 years of history, with his glory and his efforts, visiting the place of worship and worship, and making memories of the civil and religious tradition of our people. I will translate later.


I've got my notes here but it goes without saying that it is good to see you all and also that we miss the people that aren't able to come here today for whatever reason. Not necessarily that we didn't invite them, so it's only 30 votes but we'll do that. Thanks to Stuart, the driver for his institution. Thank you very much. Douglas recently celebrated 30 years of service to the fishery. I'll enjoy that Douglas. Alan is quite a good next year, it's our 50th anniversary so with a bit of deduction, Elma was in it from the start so that means she's been working here for 39 years. As a wee point of interest today, I think the zombie trout should still be out there. It's a strange looking thing with a yellow pigmentation. I think it's quite attractive but other people go on. First person to catch it, get a photograph and we'll get a free vote. Traditionally it's been a woman that opens the fishing but finding a willing woman. The connection to the fishery was getting increasingly harder to find. So we thought we'll have a change of that and we thought get a VIP and Gordon Watson, who is the chief executive of the National Park, who we're standing today, fits the bill precisely. So thanks, Gordon, for coming along. Pleasure. I understand that I'm a complete breaking tradition as I've said.  So I can assure you I'm going to break with tradition and I'll have to disappoint you in those two fronts. But I would like to take full credit for the magnificent day that you've got today. It's really magnificent so I'll take full credit for providing you with the weather and I hope you have a great day. It's a real pleasure to be here. The Lakerman Teeth is one of the absolute gems of the National Park. Not only is it one of the best, well, the best and well-known fishery in the National Park. It's a cultural heritage of Inchborough and Priory. It's an important conservation site being a designated water. It's a popular visitor location and it's a place where people can come and see osprey fishing on the lake. I believe we've not actually seen them back this year yet. So maybe as well as catching the fish, anyone who sees the first one today, maybe they'll come back today to give us a shout. Well done. So it's really a magnificent place but obviously most importantly, a great fishing spot in the National Park and fishing is really important right over the National Park. It's a popular pastimes. It brings a lot of people into the park and the great thing about it is how accessible it is for so many people right across Central Scotland and that's what we're here for. It's great to see you all here today. I don't have a song.  I'm afraid I'm not a fisherman but somebody has given me some advice to read out to you which I'm not convinced about. I might be made about to make a critic of the backside myself but I'll do the joke first. Apparently there was a retired GP who used to live around the Port of Benteith and one day when he was out fishing he got a call from a local farmer whose wife was about to deliver a baby. So having delivered the baby there was nothing around to wait to find out what the birth weight was going to be. Apparently this doctor was very famous for catching very large fish so he had his fishing skills to go and weigh this baby so he got those and went back and weighed the baby and apparently it was 22 pounds, 13 ounces. The advice I have for you today I'm not really convinced about. I'm going to read it anyway and then if you'll either be good advice or you'll be laughing at me because I don't know much about fishing but the best advice we're opening today is to head for the butts. I know that those are the butts but head for the butts, midgetit line, booby on the point, is that correct, booby on the point and black buzzers on the droppers so that's apparently the advice I've been making today. I hope you have a magnificent day. I feel like I've seen a better day in the lake. I really hope this is the start of a great season for you and you get more and more days like this as you go through the season. So without much further ado I'd like to declare the season open and hope you have a great day out there today. Thank you. It's really magnificent to be here on such a beautiful day at the opening of the fishing season on the Lekamyn Teeth. Lekamyn Teeth is one of the great gems of the National Park not only for the quality of the fishing that's available here but the cultural heritage of Inchbone Priory, many families going over to see that and obviously it's great conservation importance as well and a place where we can enjoy things like osprey fishing in the water as well as looking at the magnificent landscape around here. So it's a wonderful place to come. Today I think it was good. You couldn't ask for better weather. We've been blessed with the weather. We're having a roast pork later on, a spit roast and it could be a bit of a disaster if the weather's not good. So it's been fantastic. All our boats are out. People are fighting hand over fist to try and get on so it's never a problem filling the boats on opening day even the worst of weather. But it's great to see everybody. You go for five, six, five months of the year without seeing a lot of people and then suddenly you're inundated. You can get a bit nerdy ensuring that everything's ready for opening day but it's gone well. The tunes were great to see everybody and it was great to have Gordon Watson from the park here just to see what we do. So I'm very pleased with how things have gone.


So you'd go to edge.edx.org as before and you will see all the courses that are being created. This is the student view and you view a course. As you'll see when you watch this you have a courseware tab with a whole series of lessons. Each of which consists of videos interspersed with questions. Now to edit it you can either click on view unit in studio or you can go straight to studio.edge.edx.org which is the authoring environment. Let's just go here view unit in studio. You'll see exactly the same thing either way around. Now if you just go to studio, studio home, now you probably won't have this button. To get this button to create a new course you have to have a new course authorship permission and that's something that edx has to give you and they only do so at the request of Richard Robinson at A&U Central and he is very reluctant to give that very often because he doesn't support this. You may need to get someone else like one of us to give you a course which you can then edit and be made author of and so on and add other people to. So anyone can get an account on edge but to actually author new courses you'll need to get permission from A&U Central and that is a pain. Anyway you can then go into the course and then let's say we want to do something here implementation example to Paul Francis and we can create a unit or whatever we like and then we can add a video. So it comes up with the default of Anant Agarwal the CEO of edx but you can come in here and give it a name like and then you need to put the YouTube video so let's find one of our YouTube videos. Start off with this one share and that gives us the URL copy go in here and paste and that's done. You may now want to add a new unit which would be a question discussion or something like that but it's a multiple choice question so you put the question up here number of options the x you can put in curly brackets, answers, feedback if students get the wrong answer and then if you have settings you can give it a title, you can set the number of attempts the students have, how many marks it's worth and various other parameters of that sort and then you're done. When you're done press publish and it's visible. Down the bottom looking for help with studio click on this and it will give you a huge amount of documentation about how this whole thing works.


Tonight, we're in Ecclesiastes. We'll begin at verse 1 in chapter 9. I'll begin at verse 1, give an introduction, and we'll move into our study. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. Solomon writes, I considered all this in my heart so that I could declare it all that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. And so Solomon has been speaking and writing concerning a variety of things and in the chapter prior in chapter 8, he had concluded that life itself is beyond comprehension and in verse 17, he had pointed out there are simply many things that we can never expect to know. He had said in chapter 8 verse 17, I saw all the work of God that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the Son. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it. Moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it. And so he's simply pointing out that there are things that we can never expect to know. And as he had been writing, he has also pointed out that sometimes life just doesn't seem fair. In chapter 8 verse 14, he said there's a vanity which occurs on earth that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said this is also vanity. And so sometimes some receive rewards in life that should be reserved for the righteous and sometimes the righteous seem to receive less out of life than they deserve. And so as we looked at chapter 8, we closed with him pointing out that growing in wisdom helps us understand that there will always be more that we need to know. And so we need to learn to accept the things that we can't change. It's that old serenity prayer that some of you learned in AA. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. And so that's a fact. We need to know what we can and cannot really impact and affect. And so that's how we had left off last time. And now in verse 1 and chapter 9, he continues by saying, I considered all this in my heart so that I could declare it all, that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. And so with that in mind, he continued by saying, I considered all this in my heart. I've considered that life doesn't seem to be fair. I've considered that wisdom itself should be pursued. And these are things that I gave my heart to dig through. The word considered in the Hebrew literally means to dig through something. So these are things that I gave my heart to dig through, to explain, to understand. And as I've done so, as I've continually looked through these things and dug through these things, considered these things, well, I've concluded that ultimately the wisest thing that I can do, seeing that I can't know everything, is to learn to just trust God. You see, he says in verse 1, the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. Ultimately, we need to understand our lives are under the divine control as well as the supervision of God himself. And though we may not understand why things happen, we can still trust the Lord. My pastor Chuck Smith one time said that there are things I can't understand. And because there are things I can't understand, he says I've chosen to just trust in the things that I do. And there are some things that the Lord may not reveal to me this side of heaven, but I have one knowledge and that is my God is good. And I trust that he loves me, knowing that my God is good and that he loves me is enough to help me to get through the trials that I go through. So we may not understand why things happen, but we still can trust the Lord. It's interesting in verse 1 how he says in the last portion, people know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. Earlier it had written, sometimes the good seemed to suffer more than the righteous, or rather the evil, the good seemed to suffer more than the evil. So we must not use outward circumstances as our measuring rod of God's love for us.  You raise them, you give them devotions, you're loving them, you're bringing them to church, and they turn the other way. They cause problems in school, they don't do well in their getting bad grades and all, and some child down the road whose parents don't care about them, who seems to just let that child live the way he wants or she wants. You know, they're honor roll students and everything seems to go good for them. And there are times that you can sometimes wonder, how come that is? Why is that going on? And then you can say, well, maybe it's just me, maybe the Lord just doesn't love me. You see, ungodly people can have great jobs. They can have good kids. They can have productive marriages. And here we are struggling. So it provokes us. Sometimes we wonder whether the Lord loves us. There are times that you may even go so far as to wonder what you've done to make him mad. Why is God displeased with me? Sometimes outward circumstances, well, they don't necessarily reveal God's disposition towards us. There are some things that are simply the adversities that actually will strengthen our faith and develop our character. You know, it's that old saying, it's that old story about that, that guy who was walking, and as he was walking, he saw a cocoon and it was moving and he was a curious sort. And so he walks up and he sees this cocoon as it's moving everything. And then he discovers that there's a butterfly that's trying to emerge from it. And so he's fascinated by it and he watches it and he sees now it splits and then he sees how the head comes out and everything. And it seems to be struggling so much that it bothers him. So he kind of snips the cocoon a bit. And as he does so, it makes it easier for that butterfly to come out. And as the butterfly begins to emerge from the cocoon, he looks more closely at it and he discovers that the wings are dwarfed, they're misshapen, and doesn't know why. And later on, he asks and they say, well, the person he asks says, well, he says part of the way that the fluids in the body are placed or actually squeezed through that opening, it's intended for those fluids to squeeze into the wings. And so as it struggles to get out of the cocoon, body fluids are being pressed and the wings that are small and undeveloped really, are not fully developed, are receiving the juices that flow and it causes the wings to be able to take shape. And that's how the butterfly is able to survive. So what this man had done is he actually had killed that butterfly rather than helped it because by removing it of its struggle, he also removed it of its wings. And there were things for us that we will go through, that we wish somebody would bail us out, can't you help us? But sometimes the Lord would say, no, this is the process that is going to give two wings to fly. These are the things that I'm doing in your life that will strengthen you. So some things are simply that we consider adversities are really the things that strengthen us. They will shape our faith and develop our character. In James in chapter one, verses two through four, James said, consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. So instead of kicking against the prods, it's a good thing for us to realize that the Lord is involved in all of this. And so outward circumstances never really reveal God's love for you or even his anger. You don't get it. That's not how you perceive these things. Verse two, all things come alike to all. One event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good, the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner. He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath. So it's interesting how he says that all things come alike to all. One event happens to the righteous and one also to the wicked, etc. So this event he's speaking about occurs to everybody. It happens to the righteous, it happens to the wicked, it happens to the good, it happens to the clean, the unclean, the churchgoer, non-churchgoer, the oath taker. An oath taker is revealing spiritual life, the non-oath taker. In other words, one who doesn't fear God. So he's speaking of one event that happens to everybody and you know what that event is, it's death. One event happens to all, no matter what and that event is death. In Psalm 89.48 the question is asked, what man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave? And so we share a common destiny on earth in that both saint and sinner die and both saint and sinner are buried. So if all people, Christians should have the greatest courage in facing death. We recognize its inevitability and we are prepared to face it because we know what it is. There are those who will say that death is your friend, but the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches that death is our enemy. That's what it says in Scripture, 1 Corinthians 15, 26. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. So we know we die. Well, if you know you die, isn't that going to bum you out? Well, no, not necessarily. We know we're going to die, yet we can live with joy because we don't have a fear of what's going to happen.  It's how it's going to happen. You know, and I think we could talk a lot about weirdnesses and fears about like that. Because we've been in interesting situations when it comes to mind, you know, we were flying home one day from Israel. Now this is going to cause people who are going to Israel with us to be afraid. So let me encourage you. But we're flying home from Israel. And as we were flying, we were approaching New York because we had a layover in New York. We're landing in New York. And as we were beginning to approach, there was a tremendous storm that we were flying into. And as we were flying into this storm, the plane that we're in, it's a huge plane, 747, is beginning to shake. And as it's beginning to shake, and again, that's a huge plane, there are people who are beginning to get nervous. And as it shakes even more, and it becomes even more violent, it gets everybody, you can hear people very nervous all over the plane. And then it gets so bad that the oxygen masks begin to fall from the, yeah. And people at that point are a bit afraid. It's all airlines. And so this is how afraid people were. We had Jewish people, Orthodox Jews approaching us saying, please come into the back and pray with us.  It's a big thing.  And as the, and as I mean, they're getting nervous. It's a nervous time for a lot of people. And as this is taking place and I'm sitting there, I had a newspaper and I'm reading it. And my daughter, Corinne, who was 15 at the time in her seatmate, who was also 15, and you need to know if you know my daughter, Corinne, you'll, you'll understand what I'm saying right now. All of a sudden I could hear her singing, rejoicing the Lord always, and getting, she's singing. And at that point at 15, she wasn't one who was singing to the Lord a lot. So all of a sudden I'm saying, I can hear this little quiver in her because if she's going to heaven, she wants to go singing, right? Maybe, maybe she thinks that'll get her in. I don't know. But as she's doing that, she's right here behind me and I'm reading the newspaper. And, and, and we go down and then we have to come up again. And we come back and we go down and we're going close to the waves and you can see the white caps as we're going over the waves. It's a real, really thrilling time, quite exciting.  And so we were, we were diverted to Montreal, came back, were able to land. My daughter approaches me afterwards and she says to me, dad, I have to ask you a question. I said, what? Why weren't you afraid?  And I said, well, baby, because I knew that the Lord is not through with me, with our church. I knew that God is not through with our church. And with her 15 year old wisdom, she looks me in the eye and she says, has it never occurred to you that He doesn't need you to finish with the church?  Oh death, where is your sting? The fear of death is sin. But thanks be to God, because Jesus Christ overcame. See, this is the Christian faith and the Christian hope that we have. We are overcomers because of Him. And so the fact of the matter is, yes, one thing does happen to all, to the sinner and the saint alike and to everything in between. And that one thing, that one event is death. And that's what He's talking about. One event happens to the righteous, the wicked, the good, the clean, unclean. The one who sacrifices, the one who doesn't sacrifice, the good. So the sinner, he takes an oath, he who doesn't, he who fears an oath. And so one thing happens, we know that we're going to die.  That's not news though that you've never heard before. When I was a kid, before I came to faith in Christ, I was one of those kids who began to think, you know, where am I going? I mean, I've lived all of these 16 years, you know, and I thought I was old at 16. And so I think, where am I going? I've got nothing.  I was seated in the back. My two friends were in the front seat, driving and passenger.  And when that happened, you know, I used to get very pensive and very thoughtful. And I still remember being seated back there. And I said, with all of my teenage wisdom, I said, Hey guys, we're not living. We're all dying. From the moment we were conceived in our mother's womb, the death process has been within us all this time.  But I was thinking about that in my teen years. I was, I was thinking, you know what, we're slowly winding down. And so that's one of the things the Lord puts in your, in your heart, this eternity is in your heart, this knowledge that, that, that we're proceeding in a certain direction that all will go to and that's death. And so it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, it doesn't matter if you're an oath taker or a non oath taker. The whole point is, is there something waiting for all? And it is an enemy and it is death. And yet we know that enemy that is destroyed is death. Jesus conquered the grave. And because we have a living savior, we have a living hope. And so we have of all people hope because our hope is in our God who is alive. In Psalm 49, 15, God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. He shall receive me. When Jesus was speaking on one occasion to one of his disciples whose brother Lazarus had died, Jesus in John 11, 25 and 26 said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.  And then he asked this question, do you believe this? That's the question we all have to answer ourselves, right? Do you believe this? It's one thing for me to say, well, theoretically I do. But no, practically, do you, do you honestly believe that if you have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, is you're just passing through and you're moving on to his glory? Because if you do, you've got hope. And that's the whole bottom line. Everybody dies. But what we do is we continue life with him. And that's the promise of life we have in Christ. And verse three, this is an evil in all that is done under the sun that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. Madness is in their hearts while they live. And after that, they go to the dead. He's in a cheerful mood, isn't he? So how do people react to the fact that they will die? Well, some live as if there's no tomorrow, and they sin to their heart's content. They reject the Lord, they end up living debauched lives and die.   And you see that kind of mentality in many ways in various festivities throughout the world. You can see Mardi Gras, where it's that mentality and all of that, eat, drink, for tomorrow you die. Well, he goes on in verse four, but for him who was joined to all the living, there is hope for a living dog. For a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, the dead know nothing. And they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also, their love, their hatred, their envy have now perished. Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun. And so others just look at death as another obstacle. They accept its reality. They have no faith in God. They cling to the model where there is life, there is hope. Though they know they're going to die, they put thoughts of death on the back burner. They live as though they'll not die. They don't prepare for it. There is a guy, some of you have heard his name for others. This is a reference in a history book. There was a guy named Woody Allen, great philosopher, Woody Allen. And Woody Allen, a Hollywood actor, and all said, I'm not afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens. And that's kind of how they think. They know they're going to die, but they don't think about it. They put death on the back burner. In Luke 12, 16 through 21, Jesus spoke a parable. He said, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. He thought within himself, saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? So he said, I'll do this. I'll pull down my barns and build greater. And there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years.  God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you. Then who's will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for himself. And it's not rich toward God. Fool, you have spent all of your life saving this up, only to leave it behind. You didn't get rich in your soul. You just had material riches.  As I've said to some of you for this before, my cousin's husband, his name was Manuel. Manuel worked many years and finally got to the point of retirement. And Manuel had his retirement party and his friends and everybody were at his house and he and my cousin Eleanor were preparing to start living, to travel together and all. And so Manuel had his retirement party and he went to bed that night and died in his sleep. He never had one day of retirement. He put his head on his pillow and never opened up his eyes. You don't know. You have no guarantee for tomorrow. He says the living know that they will die. The dead know nothing. The living on earth can see death approaching and prepare for it. Those who have already died don't know what's happening on earth, nor can they add to their reward or their reputation once they have died. Verse 7.  For God has already accepted your works. Let your garments always be white.  So don't wash your hair. No, that's not what it means. That was dumb. Since death, since death is inevitable. Instead of brooding over it, enjoy your life. Now he's already stated that. He has said it more than once. Let me see. In verse 15 of chapter 8 he has said, I commended enjoyment because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be a merry. For this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.  In chapter 2, verse 24, he has said there's nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw was from the hand of God. And so he's not encouraging his readers to go out looking for unusual experiences. He's advising them to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Listen, if you can learn, by the way, to enjoy the simple pleasures, that's a very good lesson to learn. I can't explain to you. Some of you know what I mean. Others will discover what I mean. When you learn to enjoy the simple pleasures, that's a secret of contentment.    But it's just true. I don't know how to say it. It comes to mind as I'm saying this, enjoy the simple pleasures. You may be blessed over a lifetime as you're growing older to experience many things. You may have a chance to do a lot of things that others may not ever get a chance to do. You may have chances that others aren't afforded. And you might even take them for granted. And I can tell you as somebody that the Lord has blessed in many ways. I began traveling when I was 25 years old. I spent three months backpacking Europe. I spent almost a month in Greece alone. I saw 13 countries traveled. And I drove a Mercedes Benz from Athens, Greece to Frankfurt, Germany, drove straight through Yugoslavia. I've traveled a lot. I've seen a lot of cities and places in the world by God's grace. I've seen places like Manila, Philippines. I've seen Paris, France, London, England. I've been to Brussels, Belgium. I've seen Edinburgh, Scotland. I've been around the world. I've seen Bangkok. I've been, you name it, I've been all over the world, traveled the world, ministered in Thailand, gone to Mexico several times, South America. I've been around the world, seen a lot. And there are times when people have been very kind and have taken us out to eat. And we've eaten at very, in very nice restaurants. And it's not, it's not like, like, oh, we deserve this has been the grace of God and the kindness of others. And it's been a blessing.  But I've had chances to do those kinds of things, you know, to be in the Champs-Elysees and in Paris and to be drinking a bottle of pariette that's about six ounces that costs seven dollars. That's a one-time thing for me. But I've seen, I've gone to Jordan. I've been to Egypt. I've been 26 times to Israel. So I've seen the world, Tokyo, Japan. Yeah. But you know what, Marie made me dinner on Monday. And man, it's better than anything else I eat anywhere. And what is it, honey? It's hamburger meat and potatoes. Yeah. And bell pepper and onions, some beans, some tortillas. Oh man, I was eating. It's, it's, that's my favorite food. It doesn't cost anything. It doesn't cost anything. Enjoy the simple pleasures. I'm telling you, it's true. You can try things in different places and, and there's nothing wrong. I'm not saying it's wrong. Please forgive me if it sounds like I'm not saying it's wrong. But what happens over time is you begin to see that the simpler things really are the better things. They are the more, they make you content.  No, what it costs? A couple of bucks.  It's good. I like it. So simple, learn to be content in the simple things. That's what I'm trying to say. Who would make some sense? Because that's what Solomon is saying. From the mouth of the richest man and wisest man, he's teaching us simplicity and moderation. Escape the clutter of life. Enjoy the simple pleasures. Listen, life is to be lived at peace with God. And when that happens, there's peace within. When you enjoy the simple pleasures of life as a gift from God, stress is eliminated. The clutter simply produces anxiety. It robs you of your joy. You've had, my dad used to call these clunkers, beaters. The cars that when you're driving down the street, it's like smoke signals coming out of the exhaust. They hardly ever start when they do. They hardly ever run.  Again, there's nothing wrong with this, but you save your nickels in your dimes and you buy your first newer car. And then what happens? You take up two parking spaces. You don't want anybody near it.   And they swing the door open and bang and hit your car. And you're looking at them with daggers in your eyes.  And you climb out and you look at it and say, oh man, if you look at it this way, you can see the dent. I'm so mad. It's true. It's true. What happens is we get caught up with that thing and we can live without peace. It's true. So be careful. Be careful that the things that you own don't own you. Be aware of that. Much of our activity is little more than an anesthetic to dead in the pain of an empty life. What we need to do is simplify our lives. He says in verses seven and eight, God has already accepted your works. In a New Testament sense, because you have faith in Christ and you are right with God, it means that God accepted you. And that includes the works that you have even yet to do. You see, in a sense, it simply reflects that God has totally accepted you for all time. The good works that you have yet to do, this is interesting, but they're already known by God. Good things you have yet to do are already known. In Psalm 139, verses 14 through 16, listen to this. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My frame was hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. God knows you even before he were created. Think about that. So instead of living a stress-filled life, learn to live at peace with the Lord, because he's aware of what you do for him and he does reward your good works. In Hebrews 6, verse 10, it says, God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you've shown towards his name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. God doesn't forget the good things and he rewards you properly.  Isn't that sweet? Which he has given you under the sun all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life and in the labor which you perform under the sun.  In verse 7, he said, Eat and drink with joy and a merry heart rest in God's grace. And so the best meal that you can have, really the best thing that you can find on your menu is love and love in the family. And so love makes an ordinary meal into a joyful banquet. So enjoy simple pleasures and that would include enjoying your marriage. That's what he means when he says, Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life, which he's given you under the sun. Joy should fill everything and so enjoying simple pleasures includes enjoying your husband or your wife.  This upcoming Sunday, I'll be speaking on the role of the husband in the Christian home and hopefully I'll be able to give more concerning that.  Remember Proverbs 18 22, he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives savor from the Lord. Proverbs 19 verse 14, houses and wealth are inherited from parents. Prudent wife is from the Lord. Well, as is true in the case of so many, Solomon didn't live up to his own ideals. He understood marriage, but he also forsook God's pattern for marriage. And ultimately, when you look at the life of Solomon, you'll see that he actually disobeyed the rules that the Lord had given concerning marriage. You'll find this interesting because even before there was a king in Israel, God had given laws that were to be related to the behavior of kings. It's found in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Old Testament. And when God was giving laws to the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 17, one of those laws was neither shall the king multiply wives for himself. Let's just heart turn away. Kings are not to have any wives. God said that in the law. And that law was there long before Solomon. But in first Kings chapter 11 verse three, it reads Solomon had 700 wives. He wasn't that wise, was he? He had 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines. Yeah, I'll let that set for a while. And he never slept. No. And his wives turned away his heart. I may have authority. My wife does have influence. And these women turned his heart from following perfectly after the Lord. He actually began building places of worship for them and their false gods because many of these marriages were actually political marriages that he had so that he could strengthen himself throughout the world. But in bringing them, he actually grew attached to them. He loved many wives and their idolatry infiltrated the religious beliefs of Solomon himself. Now it would seem that in later years, he embraced what he had once rejected, but you see how that happened in his kingdom.  Love your wife if you're married with a fully committed heart. Verse 10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. For there's no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you're going. This is one of those verses that the Lord gave to me when my children were young. I like the first portion of it especially where it says whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Be fully committed in what you do. Be fully committed. See, whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. And do it well while you still have strength. Put your hand to it and do it with your strength.  So if you do things with the right heart, you can actually enjoy your work.  Don't be half-hearted. Don't be lacking in commitment. If you're going to follow the Lord, follow the Lord with all that's within you. If you're going to follow him, follow him. But there's hardly anything that makes the Lord more disgusted than it is lukewarm believers. Be either hot or cold, he says.    Luke warmness is ugly.  You don't want to play next to them. I played sports for a long time. For a long time. A lot of baseball and a lot of football. A lot. And I enjoyed it. And when we would play, even as kids, we'd play over the line. I don't even know if that's a game anymore, but it was called over the line. Usually we're three. There were two in the outfield in the shortstop and we played against each other. And when we played just even in pickup games like that, somebody would hit the ball and maybe it went over short and that's a hit, you know, and all of that. And it might get past one of the outfielders.  I hated that. I wasn't the kid who liked to play with lukewarm ballplayers. I just, you know what, if you don't want to play, then don't. You want to sit and watch or you want to be a cheerleader, that's good. But don't come on the field. Don't come on the field. Because at an early age, there was this competitive urgency in my heart that God had to deal with. But there was a competitive urgency that if I was going to do it, I was going to be the best I could at it. I wasn't going to be that guy who just kind of makes excuses. Well, I learned that as a kid. And I brought that into my spiritual life. I want to be the best Christian that God can fashion me to be. There needs to be this. Whatever you put your hand to do, do it with all your might. Don't do it half heartedly. Do it as unto the Lord. Do it as unto him.  In Mark 12 verse 30, you shall love the Lord your God with some of your heart, some of your soul.  So serve God with everything. And this love for the Lord works itself out in our daily lives. We're to love and serve the Lord with everything. That includes everything we do, whether it's work, whether it's school, whether it's marriage, it's just life. In 1 Corinthians 10, 31, Paul said, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. He wrote the Colossians in chapter three verses 23 and 24, whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, not to men. Knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance. You serve the Lord Christ. Keep that in mind. When you serve the Lord, just serve him with all that you have today. And then when you wake up tomorrow, serve him with all you have tomorrow. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your mind. In verse 11, I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill. But time and chance happen to them all. That's interesting. Time and chance happen to them all. Even the wisest person can go hungry. The rich can experience sudden poverty. Those of understanding or those who are skilled can lose their positions due to downsizing. They can be injured and lose their position. Sometimes they may be overlooked because of favoritism on the job site. Now the fact is time and chance happen to them all. Sometimes, in other words, things just do not go according to our plans. Things can happen that we simply have no control over. And those plans that we once had can be undermined. So when he says time and chance, he's not referring to luck, but rather to unforeseen circumstances. We don't believe in luck because we trust in God who provides for us. So we trust God to guide us, to help us. And we prayerfully make our decisions and we do rely on him. It's like it says in Jeremiah 10, 23, Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself, and it's not in man who walks to direct his own steps. We already saw in Proverbs, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him. He will direct your paths. And so he's simply saying that there are some things that occur that were unforeseen. And these things happen. So time and chance happen to them all. And verse 12, a man does not know his time like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare. So the sons of men are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them. No matter how detailed your plan may be, there are things that come unexpectedly. He uses illustrations like a net that captures a fish, a snare that catches a bird, suddenly. In other words, sometimes events occur beyond our control. We're snared by evil events. So life is out of the control of man. So what do we do? And this is a key, by the way, and this is a key, by the way, we submit ourselves to the Lord and we submit our plans to him. One of the passages that makes this very clear is found in James chapter four, verses 13 and 14, where he says, come now, you who say today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. Then he asks the question, what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. A little vapor, that's what your life is. How do you illustrate that? It's a cold winter. We may get a few days like that this year. Cold winter. And you take a shower and you didn't heat up the bathroom area, shower area there. You didn't heat it up. So you take a hot shower, you're there in the shower for a while. You step out and all of that mist begins to settle on the mirror.   How long did that vapor last? It just doesn't. It feels like it lasts forever if you're in a hurry. But it doesn't last that long. That's the whole point. My life is a vapor. It is here right now and gone. And when you become aware of that, how transient your life is, we need to make sure that we submit ourselves and our plans to the Lord. We need to make sure. Why? Because like he says in verse 12, a man does not know his time because the Lord's in control. In verse 13, this wisdom I have also seen under the sun. It seemed great to me. There was a little cry with a little city with few men in it and a great king came against it, besieged it and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. I said, wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless, the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard. Now that's really interesting. He gives an illustration that highlights something that is both unusual and common at the same time. It's highlighting how the battle doesn't always go to the strong and he illustrates it like this. A powerful king comes up against a small, sparsely populated city. The mighty king lays siege to the city. He uses his military strength and though heavily out man, the city is delivered by the council of a poor wise man. Now this is his illustration. Because of this, the man should have been held in honor and should have been remembered. But he was not given proper honor. Eventually, he was forgotten. And so such is the transience of human honor and fame. Honors gained from man will not last. Keep that in mind. That is an important point to make. There are things that you may do that are just noteworthy man. They should be remembered. But they're not. There are things that you've done that should have been commended or sometime in the future you will do that will really be commendable. But you're not going to get the honor for it. That's the point he's making. He said this poor wise man gave advice that saved a city from destruction and he never got the honor that he should have received. He eventually was forgotten. So honors gained from man will never last. So here's your key. Desire, honor from the Lord. Because he honors you properly. When you do something to be seen by men, Jesus said, and men give you credit and give you honor. He said you receive your reward. But when you do something as unto the Lord, the Lord who sees in secret is the one who rewards you openly. And so if you can as a Christian learn that, that your life is not to be filled with you expecting honor and glory from people, you'll be more peace filled. There are even in the ministry, sometimes there are ministers who have to tell you everything they do and all that they know and all that. That's just not a good thing to do.    Do it as unto him, not for the praise of man. Because if you do it to be recognized, honored by others, you'll never be satisfied. Because what happens is once they give you honor, you get addicted to it and you want more and you want more and you can begin to compromise. And as you begin to compromise, you lose that edge that you once had and you stop having the reward of the Lord and you now begin to have the recognition of man. It's a very dangerous place to be. We need to understand that today. Honor gained from man doesn't last. In Philippians chapter 2 verse 3, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each of his mother's better than himself. Verse 17, words of the wise spoken quietly should be heard rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. The wisdom is to be preferred over the fool that shouts. That's often not the case. Wise men are often ignored. You know why they don't draw attention to themselves. Loud and obnoxious people often get attention and glory that they don't deserve. That's true once again, not just in life, but that's just true even in the ministry. You know, I was about to share something with you, I won't, but I can tell you that's very true. I've seen that. So I'll move into verse 17. Words of the wise spoken quietly should be heard. We should look to those with a quiet wisdom and respect them. You see, wisdom, verse 18, is better than weapons. Using wisdom can produce great good, because it can lead to victory, even peace. And listening to one who is driven by sinful foolishness undermines what is good. So when he says wisdom is better than weapons of war, one sinner destroys much good. Be careful who you allow to give you counsel. Be very, very careful who you listen to. My mom tried to teach me that she was fairly successful, not completely, but fairly. And my mom tried to teach me, David, be careful who you hang around with. And she used to use a word when I was a little boy, I didn't even know what the word meant. She said, look out, that person's an instigator. She would say that that person's an instigator. I didn't know what an instigator was, but whatever it was, I had to watch out for it. It's a person that's going to get you in trouble, she was saying to me. The instigate problems. Be careful who you hang around with. Be careful who you allow to influence you. The person who walks with the wise will be wise. But if we walk with the fools, we become foolish ourselves. Be very careful. Be very careful who you allow to influence you in every way. Spiritually, be careful to check out the things that I as a pastor teach, or those who you listen to. Be careful. That's a good thing to do, to take the words and investigate them. Years ago, I was at a pastor's conference, and a man walks up and introduces himself to me and says to me, I want you to know that I went to your church for a while, and he was actually at Bible college. I was teaching at the Bible college, and so he walks up and he was one of the members of my class.  And I said, well, that's great, because I had never met him. So we had a conversation, and this is what he said, paraphrased, but he said, he said, I live in Pomona, but you were in Ontario at that time. We were in Ontario. He said, and so I couldn't get to church. So I came to visit you because you were close by because the church that he would attend was in the LA area, and it was a pastor by a well-known teacher of error. And on one occasion on a Sunday morning, I just happened to reference this particular teacher of error by quoting him. And as I quoted this man, I said, this is what he's teaching, but you have to be careful because this is the error of what he's saying. And so he said, that was my pastor. He said, and when you gave the reference, I got angry at you. He says, I was a visitor to the church. Who are you to speak about my pastor in that way? He said, I've got my loyalties. He says, and I have every one of his tapes and boxes in my garage. He said, when you referenced it, you told me where I could find that quote. He said, and I went home and I played that cassette and I found that quote. And then I discovered you quoted him fairly and accurately. But I was still angry at you. He said, the next week I can get to church again, so I came to visit you a second time. And he said, for some reason, you had to quote him again, which I normally don't do. I actually never do that. But I apparently did it again. He said, you quoted him again and you got me mad again. He says, so I went home and I listened to that tape and you quoted him accurately and fairly. He said, that made me start coming here to listen so I could test what you were saying against what you were teaching and what he had taught. He says, make a long story short. He says, I started coming to your church because I saw that you were teaching the word and I wasn't receiving it where I was going. He says, and now I'm in the Bible college and I'm going to be going out to do works of ministry. And he went out and he pastors Calvary Chapel of San Antonio, Texas now. And he was once, you know, a person who was all offended, but he took time to read and to study and to check. And he saw the accuracy of the division of the word. And he's been serving the Lord there for well over 20 years now. And the God has, and God has blessed him tremendously. And so it's very wise for us to be careful who we allow to influence us. Be very careful. And it can sound self-serving. I don't, I don't mind if you check me, please do. I have no problem with it because you should be a Berean. Check to see whether these things are so whole fast of the things that are true and be careful who you allow to influence you. There are a lot of places. I won't name names today. I don't feel like it, but and I'm about to close, but there are places that I, if I began to mention them, you all know, you know the names of those pastors, but I can tell you those pastors are preaching themselves and not the gospel. And yet they're very popular and people will listen to them, buy their books, get their DVDs or CDs, use them for various things in their own churches. When in fact, these people aren't teaching the truth because what we have done in these last days is we've heaped into ourselves teachers because we have itching ears. They tell us the things we want to hear and we get ourselves teachers who agree with us. We already believe certain things when we get into the church. When they say things we like, it only builds up our own beliefs rather than being challenged and being, you know, caused to be a Berean to check to see whether these things are so. We want it a lot easier. We want it kind of like, like baby food. We don't want anything that we need to chew or anything for ourselves. We want it predigested so that way we can just come out and say we went and heard something and it's changed our lives. But in fact, it's simply agreeing with what we already believe. The studies that have been best for my soul have been the ones that have challenged what I believe so that I can dig deeper to discover what God may really be saying, which convicts me of my own error and helps me to know his truth. Be careful who you allow to influence you.


When I pull up on a hater watch a hater fall back I'm too good with these hands, watch a hater fall flat If I die, all I know I'm a motherfucking legend It's so great for my city, I'm the realest one that's repping Oh my God, oh my God, if I die I'm a legend When they lay me down to rest


Hello everybody. E here. I'm doing something a little different today. I am doing a comic book review in fact my friend Jen Bernardini recently did a Graphic novel review. I'll put that up here somewhere. Okay. I in the sky. Um This is Sisters of sorrow. I finished this last week. Um, I didn't like it like at all This is also like Kurt Sutter. Um, actually he's the creator Writers and everything is down here. It's a Courtney. I'll meet a Name I cannot he on Jen Kim and Jean Paul Suska Suka, because Suka something like that. I'm sorry if you're watching this and I screwed up your name That's gonna be the least of your worries So this I figured with Kurt Sutter's name on it I don't know if he lost a bet or what? I figured with Kurt Sutter's name on it. How could you go wrong? I mean dude did Sons of Anarchy and it's a terrific Terrific show if you haven't watched it you need to go watch it. I loved it. This is a Graphic well comic book graphic novel. What do you want to call it a reboot of the like nuns nuns for revenge? Exploitation films a very popular genre Just anything that you know kind of turns none behavior on its head, you know death murder Sex all that stuff, but this one is about five ladies or four. I think it's four or four or five I can't even remember that's how bad this is. I can't even remember the ladies names But um, they it's very by the book very by the numbers paint by numbers However, you want to say it you know exactly going into each issue who they're going to go after You know exactly what's going to happen. I even called two of the people how they're going to die now This that isn't the only problem here. The writing isn't the only problem by issue three There are problems with the actual artwork in the comic. Let me show you something Some people have no faces Let's see, you know just blank. There's they don't even try. I don't know if you guys can see this But like there's one down here. I mean you get the bear you get the barest the barest idea of a face and then some of the some of the artworks for the faces that they do get right are just Unintentionally funny and I wish I would have marked them But I didn't if you go over to my Instagram and you scroll through my Instagram I'll leave a link down they do believe you're gonna see all the hilarious pictures But then by issue four and we're gonna get to the reason why all these covers look different Okay, we'll get to that in just a second, but then by this one you start finding stuff where there's no background There's just color.  So now here's another reason why I'm so upset about this First off. I was looking forward to it second It took them four months to send me my first issue. Okay, then it took them another two months to send me Another issue. Okay, now you notice these aren't the same types of colors. This is the this is the variant cover Okay, so you have number one is the then you have the variant or one of these is the variant I'm not sure which one but then number three. I bought this from Boone Studios. I bought the subscription from Boone Studios Now I'm I apologize. I lied to you. They didn't send me this one at all. We're gonna get to that in a second So they took them Four months to get me this one another two months to get me this one and then they ended up sending me another copy of Number three. So I have two number threes.  This was I believe my no this one was my first issue Then I got This one and then I got this one.  I paid 1999 these motherfuckers are only they're three three ninety nine a piece. Okay, I Bought what I thought was a full run of comics because they did the same thing with Victor Laval Frankenstein I got six comic books. I got four Well, I got five comic books, but only because of an error because of their stupidity But so that means that I would have only gotten Let's take let's let's put I to go out to my local comic book shop and get this one Okay, I had to I would have only gotten these three comics for $20 I Was buying from Boone Studios because I thought I was getting a discount I ended up paying more getting it from the actual studio and I also figured if anything Boone Studios would get it right because they're a fucking publisher Anyways, I'm a little upset about that Now as far as past experience with this company Victor Laval's Frank Frankenstein was terrific. Okay, the artwork everything was great But this one seems like they slapped Kurt Sutter's name on it And then they didn't even care enough to Help me out with customer service and send me a back issue or whatever of the first one after I got through paying 1999 for the subscription Anyways, so there you have it until next time.  Bye. Bye


The major traditional consultancy companies, or food leaders of the internet era, I'm thinking about task offer, are saying that big coins are nothing, but real focus is blockchain. In those gatherings, big coins, blockchain go together, which is your view. Can we have blockchain without big coins? That's a question that comes up a lot, and I'm going to talk about that more tomorrow. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding as to what blockchain is, what Bitcoin is, how they relate, and what each can do. I like to call Bitcoin the open blockchain, with the emphasis on the word open. That qualifier is the all-important one. Bitcoin has an open blockchain, which is global, decentralized, burdenless, and allows anyone to participate and innovate without asking for permission. Those are the characteristics of open. It's also a system that works by anonymous submission of proof of work, which is also a very key characteristic of Bitcoin. You can create other blockchains. However, if you create a blockchain without a currency, you have to come up with an alternative way of reaching consensus that doesn't lead to centralization. The other thing you have to realize is that some of the characteristics that you see in Bitcoin do not exist, but for the anonymous proof of work system. One of the most important to those is immutability. A lot of people tell you that we have a blockchain where we can record things that cannot be changed. The reason things cannot be changed on Bitcoin is not because of the open blockchain, it's because of the proof of work. Even the miners with 99% of the hashing power colluding together cannot rewrite history for more than a few dozen blocks. 144 per day. They can affect an afternoon. Beyond the scale of an afternoon, Bitcoin is immutable. It's immutable because you cannot forge proof of work. You would have to recalculate proof of work for all of these, and that is physically impossible at certain scales. That characteristic comes directly from the needs to present proof of work. A lot of people who use the term blockchain, not open blockchain, or decentralized ledger technology, which is the new one, they're not talking about things that use proof of work, yet they assume immutability is one of its characteristics. It doesn't have immutability. It has unforgeability to a certain extent, in that if the five banks that are part of the consortium of the blockchain and have signing privileges decide to go back, rewrite the last two years, and zero the balance of WikiLeaks because the government ordered them, not that that would happen, of course not. We live in a democracy that would take a big court fight. They could do that. They could do that instantaneously without presenting any proof of work, but they couldn't do that without it being noticed. That's the fundamental difference. Whereas on the Bitcoin open blockchain, they could not do that. That is immutability. These two characteristics are very different from a security modeling perspective, and there are many other characteristics that are very different. One of the fundamental aspects of having a proof of work system, and you can say that Bitcoin is more centralized than we would like, and the miners are less anonymous than we would like, but they are still decentralized and anonymous more so than many other systems, certainly more so than any other system at that scale. By being anonymous, they can't be coerced. That is another very fundamental aspect of this. If you know who has permission to write on the permissioned ledger, then you can extort, hack, steal the keys, and take away that permission for yourself. I can't imagine all of these systems running as permissioned blockchains with full identity of every participant, because they also want to put identity KYCAML on top of it, with full identity of every participant in a system where all it takes is one set of keys, or several set of keys to be stolen, or one copy of the blockchain to be stolen for every single transaction to be visible to the world, and the ability to disrupt the operation of that system. That is Panama Papers on a magnificent scale. If they want to build a blockchain where it is completely controlled by five entities, and it can be leaked and provide forensically secure evidence of every transaction that every corporation put on there, I will bring it on. Anonymous is going to have a field day. They are going to have so much fun hacking these decentralized ledger technologies. I am very skeptical until I have seen what is the security model and what are you trying to achieve. Bitcoin sacrifices transactional efficiency to give you freedom, global access, open access, permissionless innovation, and most importantly, censorship resistance. If you don't want those things, then why are you sacrificing transactional efficiency? What do you really get? There is no question that a distributed ledger technology is probably better and more secure than a single entity clearinghouse. That is only because a single entity clearinghouse is a ridiculously anachronistic and insecure idea that should have died two decades ago.  To me, that puts me to sleep. What I am working on, and what many people in this forum are working on, is the open, global blockchain that fundamentally changes the nature of trust and authority on a global level, empowers billions of people to participate economically and provides censorship, resistance, and individual freedom. For that, I am willing to sacrifice transactional efficiency.