Thoughts On Wales

Trinity Saint David

Paying some attention to my former PhD University, that issued my Doctorate.

The University of Wales, TSD-Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia.

Wikipedia TSD

Cited:

'The University of Wales, Trinity Saint David (Welsh: Prifysgol Cymru, Y Drindod Dewi Sant) is a collegiate university in South West Wales, comprising the Lampeter campus, the Carmarthen campus and the Swansea campus.

It also has a campus in London, England.[5] The University came into existence through the merger of the two oldest higher education institutions in Wales, the University of Wales, Lampeter (UWL) and Trinity University College (TUC) in 2010.[1][2] In 2011, it was announced that the University of Wales will also be merged into Trinity Saint David.[6][7][8]

On 1 August 2013 the University merged with Swansea Metropolitan University.[9] The University is made up of the Faculty of Humanities (primarily based within the Lampeter campus), the Faculty of Education and Training, and the Faculty of Arts and Social Studies (both primarily based within the Carmarthen campus) each providing courses such as theology, religious studies, philosophy, classics, anthropology, archaeology, ancient history, English, history, drama, film studies, business management, IT, education studies and Initial Teacher Education and Training.'

Cited:

'Completed in 1997 and named after Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a benefactor of the UWL, the Sheikh Khalifa building is the home of the School of Theology, Religious Studies and Islamic Studies, one the largest Schools of its kind in the United Kingdom.'

Cited:

'Reputation

Both Trinity and Lampeter each had positive reputations in separate areas. Whilst Trinity had a good reputation for the arts and vocational training for areas such as teaching, Lampeter historically enjoyed a reputation as the best University in Wales for research. The merger of the universities has aimed to ensure that these two reputations survive and the new university has recently gained a good reputation for its research particularly in the area of religion and the humanities and for personal development. In addition, the university's school of business has recently been ranked second in Wales for its degrees.'

The source link is now gone, but I stated here:

DRRNM

'May 2009

In the most recent Complete University Guide published in association with The Independent newspaper, the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at the University of Wales Lampeter was ranked 13th in the UK.'

'In December 2008, the Research Institute for Theology & Religious Studies was rated 9th in the UK for its research strength by Research Fortnight magazine in its RAE 2008 Analysis Power Rankings.'

'Then in February (2009), The Guardian newspaper placed the Department in first position in the UK for the number of postgraduate distance learning students.'

Interestingly with the University of Wales, Lampeter and its merger with Trinity University College:

Trinity was the first institution I signed with my new adviser, as I left Manchester. The stay was brief as I followed him to the University of Wales, Bangor, now Bangor University. There my MPhil was completed, while I was in British Columbia.

I remember Wales, Lampeter being rated ahead of Oxford in at least two of three Religious Studies and Theology related categories and ahead of Cambridge in one.

This was a fairly major accomplishments considering the difference, according to Wikipedia in 2013 endowments.

Wikipedia Cambridge

 'Endowment £4.9 billion (2013, incl. colleges)'

Wikipedia Oxford

 'Endowment £3.772 billion (inc. colleges)'

Wikipedia TSD

 'Endowment £14.3 million (2009)'

Obviously there is a massive, many times difference between the new Wales, TSD and 'Oxbridge'.

This would have been the same in 2009 in regard to Wales, Lampeter, although I am not aware of what the combined endowment of Wales would have been.

Even so, I do remember within the last year or so the Wales, TSD website claiming the new University was now one of the largest in the United Kingdom and with four campuses this is probably the case.

When I started at Wales my adviser told me that the University of Wales was the second largest University in the United Kingdom, after London. So, now it appears to have scaled down somewhat with Bangor and other campuses becoming independent.

Thoughts on employment benefits of a University of Wales/Bangor University/University of Wales, Trinity Saint David degree:

Again, obviously, from a world-wide acknowledgment perspective, one would be better with a degree from Oxbridge, or London. As I have probably noted previously online and in person, London was my first choice for academic and lifestyle reasons. I applied at two colleges and neither had an adviser for me.

My second choice was Cambridge, as I had been there in the Summer of 1995 and had also been to Oxford, and much preferred Cambridge. In the Spring of 1997 I had a pleasant interview at Cambridge and I reason they would have accepted me in the PhD program providing I passed the Graduate Records Exam (GRE).

I thought that as I already had great distinction and a 3.8+ GPA at Trinity Western with an MTS degree, I should not be expected to study for a few months (by my high standards) in order to pass subjects that had nothing to do with Religious Studies in order to write a PhD thesis.

Wales was in my top five preferences, along with Durham. I had been to Wales previously and thought that a national University would be prestigious on my curriculum vitae providing there was high academic standards in the area of Religious Studies and Theology.

So, by attending Wales, and what is now Bangor University, to start, I basically exchanged studying for a GRE at Cambridge that I admit would have been good learning, for an MPhil thesis.

My Theology and Philosophy knowledge would be greater with the second approach.

Would more academics in Human Resources departments potentially pay more attention to me when applying for positions if I had a MPhil/PhD degree from Oxbridge or London?

Perhaps, especially in North America where at times those in Human Resources I am deducing are unaware that the level of thesis research at Wales is identical to that of Oxbridge and London.

In other words, the work written MPhil/PhD theses are the same level.

Remember in the United Kingdom system the external thesis reader and external reviewer at the Viva is from an outside University. Therefore standards must be roughly the same.

University Rankings 2013

Wales, TSD was 28th in the United Kingdom for 2013 and is not listed so far in the 2014 top forty list.

Times

The Times list had Bangor, University 20th for 2013.

Those in Human Resources, Religion Studies and Theology in the United Kingdom at least, and those in the know in the Western World, will have some understanding of MPhil and PhD theses and will realize that the highest level United Kingdom theses work was accomplished in my case.

I would reason comparable to anywhere in Europe having done 600+ pages at ten to twenty references per page with the PhD and having done two academic surveys.

I have received the impression that some in North America are pretty unaware however of the United Kingdom and European academic systems.

One University in the United States wanted me to pay a professional service $50 to verify my degrees.

I balked.

Not so much at the verification, but at a University and professional service profiting in such a scheme.

I was ethically offended that such a request would be made of me after applying online for an academic position. Spending thirty minutes with my career life story and then facing this unethical behaviour.

Guess what?

I could soon learn if hired to be a very effective Human Resources person within an academic institution and I would soon learn which degrees can be verified and which cannot. In other words, the world rating of academic degrees.

Within a few six to ten hour shifts I would have much of the knowledge down.

Others with solid academic backgrounds could do the same.

That money grab approach strikes me as being at the expense of those in academia, at times out of work.

An institution should hire at least one person to perform that kind of work.

Wales, Trinity Saint David, in its current form was only established in 2010 and is rated well considering.

These things considered I lean toward the idea that having two Wales theses degrees, MPhil and PhD, serves me better academically than a GRE and PhD from Cambridge.

But it is debatable, definitely.

 

Facebook

From Facebook, supposedly Justin whatever...

Run From A Nuclear Blast

Austria-Google. Is this a good place to hide from a nuclear blast?

Google+. Probably not as good as place to go to in case of nuclear blast.

January 18, 2014

My thought too:

Cited:

'Current U.S. Government advice is to 'shelter in place' but you're probably better off making a run for it A mathematical model of nuclear fallout suggests that sheltering in place is not always the best survival strategy If you can reach higher quality shelter in less than 30 minutes after a nuclear blast, then go for it If you’ve got nothing, you definitely need to seek shelter immediately'

Cited:

'Run! A mathematical model of nuclear fallout suggests that sheltering in place (the first option above) is not always the best survival strategy. If you can reach higher quality shelter in less than 30 minutes (the second option), you should go for it. And if you've got nothing, you definitely need to seek shelter immediately (third option)'

Cited:

''If your current shelter is poor and higher quality shelter is less than 5 minutes away, the model suggests that you should run there as soon as you can,' Science online reported. 'If you have poor shelter but higher quality shelter is available farther away, you should get to that high-quality shelter no later than 30 minutes after detonation. Depending on the size of the city, if everyone follows this advice, it could save between 10,000 and 100,000 lives.''

Cited:

'Not everyone is on board with Dillon’s run-like-the-wind strategy, however. 'I disagree with the conclusions,' says Lawrence Wein, an operations research scientist at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. 'He fails to account for several important issues that are vitally important for policy recommendations.''

Then of course there is the 'zombies' concern....

News.com.au

News.com.au

January 18, 2014

Cited:

'IN THE past, most nuclear emergency guides have suggested that we should just get to any shelter as soon as possible. But a new mathematical report suggests we're better off sprinting to a better shelter as long as its less than 30 minutes away. Michael Dillon, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, created a mathematical model of nuclear fallout survival for some family members who were curious what would happen in the even of a nuclear fallout. "I realised that I really didn't have a great answer," Dillon said to Science online. The official US government advice is to "take shelter in the nearest and most protective building". For most people in the states, that would be the basement, but here in Australia most people don't have one.'

I would think that Australia, like Canada would have many wilderness areas to head to, including some with higher elevations.

Few basements in Australia? Not much of a surprise with the snakes, spiders and crocodiles.

Hunterszombie

Philosophical & Theological Reflections On Satirical Images: The State Of The World

Azerbaijan, Beautiful Earth, Google+

Sorrento, Google+

Jigsawlounge.co.uk

Pure Travel.com

Neogaf.com

The eleventh post in this series. I check the Google+ statistics to see if people are still reading and at 24, 000+ pageviews I assume so. One may have noticed that Google+ has become very helpful in the excellent images department. I always document photos as much as possible but even still some people still think I took the photos. If I take the photos they rarely look as good as the professional ones and will usually have no documentation, although in my earlier blogging days I would name self as 'photographer'.

If a source protests I will remove an image, but as well as providing excellent blog material with those world images, I am providing advertising for Facebook, Google+, Google Images, Trekearth and so on. Therefore, I think I am ethically fine.

Philosophical & Theological Reflections On Satirical Images: The State Of Society

An advertisement off of Statcounter I posted on Facebook. More spin and fluff from copywrite, as if one food caused that image. I am not even sure that photo is not edited to make him look grossly obese.  He looks like he swallowed a large beach ball, or it was implanted, and then blown up.

From Facebook, this certainly looks satirical. Nothing conclusive online from a brief search. Are man#1 and man#2 related? Satire in regard to the gullible males and gold diggers of the world.

Adorable Animals, Google+. I love puppies and kittens but this cat is kind of typical with the 'tude'. Here it has been apparently lovingly adopted by a dog with puppies and it has the 'What the hell, am I doing with these losers look'.

Family pet coyote in Wisconsin from Daily Mail

Quote:

'An eight-year-old girl has formed an unlikely friendship - with a coyote. Hailey Hanestad thinks nothing about nuzzling up to the animal, called Wiley, and even dozes off with him on her bed. She's even taken to howling with him during the evenings. Wiley has been a treasured member of the family since being rescued by Hailey's dad, Rick, three years ago.'

'Today he's thought to be just one of two coyotes in the US that have become domesticated after being born in the wild.'

Wiwildlifeethicdotorg-I personally would not trust a Coyote from what I have read and heard in regard to Coyotes attacking humans.
Also based on the Roadrunner cartoons, of course. He may have dynamite.

Now here is where I think Crisco may have a truly useful purpose, in contrast to bodybuilding...


Tame ride by coaster standards but there is little protection. It appears the legs and the groin would get it first in case of accident...


An apparent joke. But I see it as perhaps a satire on society, intentional or not. I have missed church for a key European football match, very occasionally, but this video demonstrates what is important on Sundays in North America.

I would not take the sacraments lightly whatsoever in light of 1 Corinthians 11 from the New American Standard Bible.

1 Corinthians 11:23-30 (New American Standard Bible)

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number [a]sleep.

No surprise from the United Kingdom. Google Images

I am not a huge drinker of alcoholic beverages, but find the labels artistic. Interesting art.

Neogafdotcom-Most Canadian media is headquartered in Toronto.

New Year Follies 2014

Golden Ears Mountain (Casino to the right). My cell camera just does not catch the brilliant white of the mountains 

Eat....NY Daily News

January 8, 2014

Quotes:

'A New Zealand baker sent a woman the above 'crap cake' with the 'Eat S--t' sign on top for an engagement party after the woman’s sister rescheduled a meeting.'

'Looks like crap! A hotheaded baker sent a rude "human feces" cake to a client for her engagement party after an argument.'

Disgusting and I am not posting the 'cake' here, but there is an image with the link.

I had posted on the lack of civility in present society in the previous post Facebook comments. I stated:

The longer I live the more I realize that in myself and from others that the overly emotional, that risks being irrational or closed-minded, approach to problems is not sufficient. Spitting in someone's face for an article, if she was spitting in mine and not at the pastor or 'prophet', but the fact she left the comment and pulled the profile likely means the first possibility, likely comes from an emotional position of fear, and not faith. It comes in anger, not love certainly.

There is so much fear today, so much non-civility today. So much 'me'and my party/group at the expense of the spiritual condition of the other person (s) one is reacting to. I have been forced to, in faith, deal with fearful aspects of my life in career, social life and of course academia and Christian learning. The faithful approach of openness in love is sufficient. We are sinful and finite as human beings and within a problem it is good and sufficient to reach out to the other person where there is an issue. Anger, avoidance etc... risks sin in fear.

The sufficient approach is to deal with another and point out supposed faults, but this opens the offended to the possibility of fault and wrong thinking personally and/or in the party associated with. Entire paradigms may be placed at risk. Many today are simply unwilling to take that chance...

Matthew 18...

Usually, I find myself 'attracted'  not necessarily romantically, to women from various ages if they bake, because I am a cookie monster.

But in this case, I definitely am not interested.

Man loses manhood satirically

Man loses his sex organ...huzlers

Quotes:

'CHICAGO – These freezing temperatures are no joke they have already claimed the penis of Curtis Williamz, Curtis uploaded a video onto facebook January 6th at around 12pm the video shows him in the nude doing flips and diving inside the snow. '

'Family of Curtis say shortly after the video he felt a numbness and the pain only thicken he was rushed to the hospital, Doctors made the decision to cut 2 fourths of his penis.'

If person's took Genesis 3 seriously and left nudity for, in general terms, the washroom/changing room, the bedroom and medically related, these types of events would largely be avoided.

Thank you, Alieux via Facebook.

Story is apparently hoax and satire

January 7, 2014

Quotes:

'An article claiming that a man named Curtis Williamz was seriously injured “doing the snow challenge” is just satire. The short article was published on the satire website Huzlers.com, which posts mostly fake news. On the website’s Facebook, it says it is for “your daily laugh!” On the bottom of the Huzlers page, it says the site “is a combination of real shocking news and satire news to keep its visitors in a state of disbelieve (sic).”'

Cannot state I am shocked...

Cold baby cold?

Capital offense?

13-Year-Old Student Arrested For "Passing Gas" In School: Huffington Post

Quotes: 'STUART, Fla. -- A student at a Florida school has been arrested after authorities said he was "passing gas" and turning off his classmates' computers. According to a report released Friday by the Martin County Sheriff's Office, the 13-year-old boy "continually disrupted his classroom environment" by intentionally breaking wind. He then shut off some computers other students were using.'

What do you think? Should the teen receive the electric chair?

In a very ventilated room?

There is the story about a previous boarder named Bob, that thought Bobby Buff was demonized because he passed gas.

No, probably all the weight gain powder...

Bob had also claimed to have met Jesus Christ several times.

Hey, that reminds me of that 'prophet' from a Langley restaurant see

Dr. Kingpin & the Demon Chaser

Wow!! That means that in my fairly short life I have met two men that may have met Jesus Christ. 

Mysteriously and amazingly both have significantly bad theology...

And by the way, let me be very clear here. I did not theme focus for this post. Not my first choices! But admittedly fits blog requirements.

These are articles recent via Facebook. Sad but true...

Sunk Misplaced Faith

Paris-Google+

I am not claiming the stories below are definitely true. I am simply listing sources and will comment.

All Christian News: Januray 2, 2014

Cited:

'Pastor Tries to Walk on Water Like Jesus, Then Drowns in Front of His Congregation' 

'Unfortunately for one pastor on the West Coast of Africa, his attempt to become the second man to make this impossible feat a reality cost him his life. Pastor Franck Kabele, 35, told his congregation that he was capable of reenacting the very miracles of Jesus Christ. He decided to make it clear through way of demonstration on Gabon’s beach in the capital city of Libreville. Referencing Matthew 14:22-33, Kabele said that he received a revelation which told him that with enough faith he could achieve what Jesus was able to. According to an eyewitness, Kabele took his congregation out to the beach. He told them that he would cross the Kombo estuary by foot, which is normally a 20 minute boat ride. Sadly by the second step into the water Kabele found himself completely submerged. He never returned.'

'This is not the first incident of this nature in Africa. At Ibadon zoo in south-west Nigeria, a self-proclaimed Prophet claimed to be able to do what the Daniel of the bible did by walking into a den full of lions. Though he was warned numerous times by zoo keepers, according to NG Newspapers, the Prophet thought of them as nothing more than enemies of progress. The Prophet, with a crowd of people watching, put on a long red robe and proceeded to enter the cage full of lions. Within seconds of opening the door, the lions ripped the Prophet from flesh to bone.'

Red Pepper: January 2, 2014

Cited:

'A news organization, has reported the following unfortunate incident: “An evangelist who tried replicating Jesus’ miracle of walking on water has reportedly drowned off the western coast of Africa. Pastor Franck Kabele, 35, told his congregation he could repeat the biblical miracle, and he attempted it from a beach in Gabon’s capital of Libreville He told churchgoers he’d had a revelation that if he had enough faith, he could walk on water like Jesus,’ an eyewitness told the Glasgow Daily Record. ‘He took his congregation to the beach saying he would walk across the Komo estuary, which takes 20 minutes by boat. He walked into the water, which soon passed over his head and he never came back.’

A researcher at Florida State University believes he has a natural explanation for the account of Jesus’ miraculous walk on the surface of water — ice. Professor of Oceanography Doron Nof and the co-authors of his study theorize that a rare combination of optimal water and atmospheric conditions resulted in a unique, localized freezing phenomenon called ‘springs ice.’ This horrible incident, together with a “professor’s” response, progresses from the tragically untaught to the supremely obtuse. The Tragedy of Ignorance“‘Pastor’ Kabele” obviously was a very sincere man; but sincerity does not nullify ignorance.'

End of citations

Well, on the bright side, if the Pastor had not been baptized full immersion....

Not my position necessarily by the way, and bad joke.

The Florida State University professor attempts a natural explanation with 'springs ice'.

France writes that from the Matthew text,'the disciples groped for adequate words to express their awareness that Jesus was more than an ordinary man'.  The idea that Christ is God's Son is expressed, John 14: 33 by those in the boat.  France (2001: 240).

The idea of Christ as God the Son and deity expressed in Mathew 28 in Christ's own words, for example.

Barclay states in regard to Peter walking on water and other miraculous material that this material from Matthew has the 'flavour of sacred legend rather than fact'. Barclay (1975: 105).

Ellison is his Matthew commentary appears to take the event as actually occurring as presented in text. Peter had the permission of Jesus to walk on water. Ellison (1986: 1137).

Peter was at least temporarily the second person to walk on water, it appears.

If this miraculous, supernatural event is claimed to have a natural explanation then what about the other healings and supernatural occurrences in regard to Jesus Christ?

If this miraculous, supernatural event is claimed to have a natural explanation, then what about the resurrection and post-death appearances of Jesus Christ?

The event appears to be presented as religious history in plain literal language.

Ellison's point in regard to Peter having the permission of Jesus Christ, and therefore God the Son to walk on water is very useful and relevant here.

Rather then getting into a debate about I Corinthians 12-13 and 13:10 in regard to the issue of the existence of supernatural gifts ceasing after the closing of the New Testament canon, or their existence until the 'perfect' God the Son, returns; the issue of the African Pastor supposedly attempting to walk on water as well as the supposed story of the foolish supposed 'prophet' and the lions, is crucially an issue of receiving permission and sanction from God or not to work the miraculous.

I reason in both cases, again if they actually occurred, the permission was assumed and the power to commit such supernatural acts assumed with a misplaced faith.

It was never divinely granted. I reason it rarely is and rarely has been throughout human history and it was not in these cases.

A sunk (sunken) misplaced faith in the walking on water case.

BARCLAY, WILLIAM (1976) The Letters of James and Peter, Philadelphia, The Westminster Press. 

ELLISON, H.L. (1986) ‘Matthew’, in F.F. Bruce (ed.), The International Bible Commentary, Grand Rapids, Zondervan.

FRANCE, R.T. (1985) Matthew, Grand Rapids, IVP, Eerdmans.