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Modules Features Benefits System Requirements Return On Investment APIS Modules This module is used to record details about an actual case and the supporting court information. A case is created when some type of determinate action has been taken. - I.e. a person has been apprehended, arrested and / or terminated and a Case File is being documented. All details of supporting investigation(s), incident(s) and person(s) are stored in the appropriate data tables and linked via the APISdataweb to the case record. A case may also have a restitution or civil demand record associated with it, giving you the ability to connect with your 3rd party Civil Recovery and Restitution companies. APIS allows for the attachment of digital photos or digital video which will display as part of the record. An investigation record documents an active or completed investigation. The main purpose of an investigation record is to identify and explain details of the investigation and to manage investigation progress and results. There are two types of investigation records maintained within APIS - Employee Investigations and General Investigations. An incident record is used to explain details and specifics on an event. It can involve a person, in which case the Incident record is linked to an existing Personal Record. Unlike a Case or Investigation, an Incident can be based on more than one individual. For example, if there were a protest with six persons apprehended, all six persons may be documented and directly linked to the single incident. The Report Designer module is included with each installation and is extremely flexible, which allows for a high level of customization. Although APIS is designed with some very basic statistical reports, we provide an option for creating over a dozen customized reports to ensure that you are getting the data you want - the way you want it. Talk about powerful! Here is where the good stuff happens. The administration module is included in all packages and allows you to configure the system the way you want it. You can set the field names and labels and customize drop-down boxes to create the data entry screens specific to your needs. Setting up the System Hierarchy is simple and allows easy manipulation of locations, regions, districts and divisions. User access can be set to specific area of responsibility, limiting access to specific location or region. User security levels are set up quickly and easily to facilitate adding new users and establishing authorizations within each module. System Administrators can access the configuration and add new users while Users are set to varying levels of access within each module. Viewer ID's can be set to allow view only access to details and data. There is quite a bit to do in this module including setting a standard for recovery amounts by state to coincide with state law, with company policy or both. This module provides you the ability to perform your recovery in-house and manages and tracks information for restitution and civil recovery letters and payments. The APIS system automatically creates an account at the time a case is generated. Once approved, the account can be automated to produce demand letters that can be mailed to demand payment. This module acts as a mini accounting system to enter and track all payments and payment history. This module helps you to effectively manage your internal employee award and incentive programs. Features include the ability to manage payments and budgets, as well as print award certificates. This module streamlines the management of Missing Merchandise Discrepancy Reports between locations, warehouses and vendors. You can to track, monitor and resolve merchandise discrepancies including Known Stolen details, Suspected Theft; Discrepancies from the Distribution Center; Discrepancies for shipments between various departments from LP to Operations and from Inventory to Finance.

Redirected from William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Lord Beaverbrook He was born in Maple, Ontario, Canada and at an early age his family moved to Newcastle, New Brunswick, the place he would always call home and where, at the age of thirteen, he published his first newspaper. Although he wrote the entrance examinations for Dalhousie University and registered at the St. John Law School, he did not receive any formal higher education. As a young man, he made his way to Halifax, Nova Scotia where John F. Stairs, part of the city's dominant business family, gave him employment at his newly formed Royal Securities Corporation. Under the tutelage of Stairs, who would be his mentor and lifelong friend, Aitken engineered a number of large business deals and mega-mergers. Soon, Aitken moved to England, where he bought and later sold control of the Rolls-Royce automobile company and began to build a London newspaper empire. He often worked closely with Bonar Law, another native of New Brunswick, who became the only Canadian to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In 1911, he was knighted by King George V. During World War I, the Canadian government put him in charge of creating the Canadian War Records Office in London, England and Aitken then made certain that news of Canada's contribution to the War was printed in Canadian and British newspapers. Aitken also established the Canadian War Memorials Fund that evolved into a collection of War art by the premier artists and sculptors in Britain and Canada. His visits to the Western Front during World War I resulted in his 1916 book Canada in Flanders[?], a three-volume collection that chronicled the achievements of Canadian soldiers on the battlefields. After the War, he wrote several books including Politicians and the Press[?] in 1925 and Politicians and the War[?] in 1928. Adding to his chain of newspapers, which included the London Evening Standard he bought the failing Daily Express in 1915 for the paltry sum of ₤17,000. Over time, he turned the dull newspaper into a glittering and witty journal, filled with an array of dramatic photo layouts and in 1918, he founded the "Sunday Express." By 1934, daily circulation reached 1,708,000, generating huge profits for Aitken whose wealth was already such that he never took a salary. Following World War II, the Daily Express became the largest selling newspaper in the world, by far, with a circulation of 3,706,000. He would become a "Fleet Street" Baron masterminded the British newspaper conspiracy of silence over their romance. During World War II, he joined the British cabinet as minister of information and in 1940, Winston Churchill, the new British Prime Minister, would appoint him as minister of aircraft production and minister of supply. Under Aitken, fighter and bomber production increased so much so that Churchill declared: "His personal force and genius made this Aitken's finest hour". After the war, Lord Beaverbrook served as chancellor of the University of New Brunswick and became the city of Fredericton's and the Province's greatest benefactor. He would provide additions to the University, scholarship funds, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Beaverbrook Skating Rink, the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel (profits donated to charity) and numerous other projects. His statue stands in the park in the heart of the city of Fredericton. Lord Beaverbrook died in Surrey, England. Bibliography:

Thailand will impose a curfew and send Red Cross workers to evacuate women, children and the elderly from Bangkok's deadly protest zone where 25 people have been killed in three days of rolling street battles between anti-government activists and soldiers. A towering column of black smoke rose over the city Sunday as protesters facing off with troops set fire to tires serving as a barricade. Elsewhere, they doused a police traffic post with gasoline and torched it. the military operation to quell protests was the answer in ending the country's two-month-long crisis. "Overall, I insist the best way to prevent losses is to stop the protest. The protest creates conditions for violence to occur. We do realize at the moment that the role of armed groups is increasing each day," he said. The Red Shirt protesters have occupied a 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) zone, barricaded by tires and bamboo spikes, in one of the capital's ritziest areas, Rajprasong, for about two months to push their demands for Abhisit to resign immediately, dissolve Parliament and call new elections. Army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd announced on national television the government will send the Red Cross and voluntary organizations into the protest zone to "invite or persuade people, especially women, children and older people to leave the area." About 5,000 people are believed camped in the protest zone, down from about 10,000 before fighting started Thursday after a sniper shot and seriously wounded a Red Shirt leader. It quickly spread to nearby areas, which became a no-man's land after the army set up barriers in a wider perimeter around Rajprasong. The area already resembled a curfew zone with no public transport or private vehicles. Most shops, hotels and businesses in the area are also shut. The government has shut off power and water supplies to the core protest zone. Schools were ordered shut Monday in all of Bangkok. At least 54 people have been killed and more than 1,600 wounded since the protests began mid-March, according to the government. The dead include 25 killed since Thursday. Sansern said the government has decided to impose a curfew in the violence-hit areas. The timing and the exact locations will be announced later, he said. On Saturday, soldiers blocked major roads and pinned up notices of a "Live Firing Zone" in one area of Bangkok.. Demonstrators dragged away the bodies of three people from sidewalks — shot by army snipers, they claimed. Red Shirts, drawn mostly from the rural and urban poor, say Abhisit's coalition government came to power through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military, and that it symbolizes a national elite indifferent to the poor. The New York-based Human Rights Watch on Saturday called on the Thai government to revoke the fire zones and negotiate an end to the fighting. "By setting out these 'live fire zones' the Thai authorities are on a slippery slope toward serious abuses. It's a small step for soldiers to think `live fire zone' means `free fire zone,' especially as violence escalates," the rights watchdog said in a statement. The Red Shirts especially despise the military, which forced Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist premier favored by the Red Shirts, from office in a 2006 coup. Two subsequent pro-Thaksin governments were disbanded by court rulings before Abhisit became prime minister. (Agencies) Baby girl for model Claudia Schiffer

." Helmuth von Moltke the Elder said it first (Score:3, Insightful) nuff said Brother-in-law to Pignose, Scott said it second (Score:5, Funny) I don't know why they call it Hoth, they should call it "Coldth" Re:Helmuth von Moltke the Elder said it first (Score:4, Interesting) very true. people can armchair quarterback real historical battles, let alone fictional ones in a setting where magic exists. this is why i find the endor holocaust [theforce.net] a little more interesting. Re:Helmuth von Moltke the Elder said it first (Score:5, Funny). Every read that about a hundred times and every time I read it just makes me so happy. The only other thing better than this is this wonderful piece of liberal baiting from the WS [weeklystandard.com] Re: (Score:2) Re:Helmuth von Moltke the Elder said it first (Score:4, Insightful) The arguments are pretty weak. Evil is as evil does. Summary execution, collective punishment and decimation, these are evil acts, and hallmarks of tyrannies. Just because supposed good guys like the United States and Israel engage in them now does not make them any less evil, it only makes the people that engage in them evil. History is written by the victors (Score:2) Re:Helmuth von Moltke the Elder said it first (Score:4, Informative) "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." nuff said It was a kids movie. Lucas even said so. This is like dissecting a Gumby show. Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:2) Yup. In the VHS edition of episodes 4-6 George Lucas said the first was yellow, the second white and the third green. I think that explains a lot. (Incidentally, also the reason I ff'd past his introductions the first five years I watched those VHSs.) Re: (Score:2) "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." nuff said But hindsight is 20/20, and Helmuth von Moltke lived a long time after the battle of Hoth. Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:2) An (apparently serious) complex battle analyses of a hastily written mythical battle !! All the while not blinking an eye in disbelief at either FTL or the existence of Darth Vader. Re: (Score:2, Funny) or the existence of Darth Vader. I hope he does not find you lack of faith disturbing, for your sake. Lord Vader is not as forgiving as I am. Re: (Score:1) Re: (Score:2) Just because magic exists in a story’s universe doesn’t excuse plot holes and behaviors that make no sense. Internal consistency matters in works of fantasy, not the hard-science plausibility of the setting. Re: (Score:2) One can not expect internal consistency in any situation where they accept the presence of magic. Re: (Score:2) Nonsense. You establish rules for your universe and then the story has to follow them, whether the rules make any scientific sense or not. Superman can't suddenly be invulnerable to kryptonite because the writer is lazy; he has to at least take a serum or be granted that power somehow. Characters’ ability to breathe on a planet with no source of oxygen doesn’t mean their motivations and actions can be untethered from each other. Shield (Score:2) The shield it's job quite well enough - the base wasn't glassed from orbit. Re: (Score:2) Indeed. The orbital defenses were just that - defenses against things in orbit. The guns and troops on the ground, the bunker itself - that's all there to protect against a planetside assault. It accomplished that task - the shields and ion cannon prevented the Imperials from slagging the area, and the ground force stalled the invasion long enough to evacuate. Vader was on the ground, presumably, to capture Luke. Keep in mind that Luke was his son, and he knew about it - as we see in Cloud City. He wanted a c Re: (Score:2) hence keep the reliegous nut with his own ego, and personal agenda away from command Re: (Score:2) I believe his motivation would be more of thinking he was the only one capable of catching a budding jedi. He'd much rather capture him than risk him escaping, or worse yet, be killed by an orbital bombardment. Though one wonders why when he spots the Flacon taking off, why he doesn't radio the fleet above him, to capture the escaping Re: (Score:2, Interesting) Exactly this. The shield prevented orbital bombardment, which is an automatic loss condition given the rebels cannot repel the empire fleet at Hoth. (I'd guess not enough time to recall their entire fleet from other locations) Their strategy at Hoth looked to be simply to buy enough time against a ground invasion so their ships could leave the atmosphere and jump to hyperspace. (Presumably this is easy enough to do while being covered by the ion canon) The Rebels seemed to know all this in advance, had planned Re: (Score:2) > They didn't even seems surprised when the empire eventually did find them. Until the destruction of the first Death Star, there was not a single instance of the rebellion repelling an Imperial Assault. They were always found out eventually. Paratroopers could have made the difference (Score:2) and commando units, had Ozzel come out of light speed undetected. But seriously, paratroopers ahead of the main assault force. A Serious Fan Could Apologize This All Away (Score:5, Insightful) Also, the article asks why Vader didn't bomb out the base. One explanation is that he senses Luke is inside and it's his duty to turn Luke over to the Emperor. Another explanation is that they're dug in too far and they don't have the bunker busting utilities on the ATATs and ATSTs. He flies into an asteroid belt — which somehow the Imperial Fleet had failed to account for when planning its hasty “blockade” — and the Falcon has defied the odds. I would have guessed that since the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid belt are so low (as threepio notes) that the blockade used that as a natural barrier like you would a mountain or sea in an earthly battle. When they flew into it, nobody was expecting them to opt to be blown up in an asteroid belt and they reluctantly gave chase. Yeah, I know, I'm the life at parties and this is all done tongue in cheek but I could probably come up with apologetic responses. I'm actually really glad that Lucas didn't decide to have meaningless strategic dialogue of Tom Clancy proportions so that we could all follow why every little thing was happening. I've read fantasy books by authors with military backgrounds and the battles get tedious -- though very informative. Re: (Score:1) I love detailed discussions of hypothetical scenarios, but Star Wars is really way too soft of SciFi for it to do anything other than maintain suspension of disbelief. Trying to apply reality to it quickly results in an obvious mess. Re: (Score:2). Re:A Serious Fan Could Apologize This All Away (Score:4, Informative) Re: (Score:2) Honest question (from a not so die hard, but still a Star Wars fan) - what's the shield that blocks the path between first Darth Maul and Qui Gon Jinn and then later Obi Wan prior to the last part of the duel which kills both Qui Gon and Maul in Episode I? I guess it's a particle shield, given that it stops the Jedi themselves for a while, but if I recall correctly it also blocks the light saber when someone (can't remember who) briefly strikes at it to test it. I would have assumed a light saber was "energ Re: (Score:3) Re: (Score:3) what's the shield that blocks the path between first Darth Maul and Qui Gon Jinn and then later Obi Wan It's called a "Plot Device". The Star Wars films and other films are full of them. It gets quite amusing watching people try to rationalise stuff when the only real logic is to allow the writer to manipulate the narrative the way he wants. Allegedly J. Michael Straczynski was once asked by an obsessive fan how fast a certain spaceship (in Babylon 5?) could travel and the answer he gave was "at the speed of plot". You may also have noticed that things like transporters and communicators in Star Trek are exac Re: (Score:2) Here's the real explanation. (Score:2, Interesting) Vader didn't want to eliminate this particular Rebel Base, he wanted to deal with the whole alliance, and the Emperor had a plan for that, his fully operational Death Star which was a honeypot meant to suck in the Rebels yet again, but this time with surprise on their side. And most of those authors with military backgrounds just sound like pompous asses in my experience. Armchair generals declaring their own vacuous superiority instead. Re: (Score:2) Doesn't work. Relativistic death bombs run into one small problem - atoms. If it was moving at a more than 10% fraction of the speed of light it would be vapourised long before it hit the rebel base. And that's assuming the Imperials had the ability to accelerate that quickly, one of the bonuses of a "warp" drive is that you can just use that to cross long distances and stick to sub-5000km/h speeds otherwise, also an excellent reason for the dogfights. Re: (Score:2) This always drives me crazy. Velocity is relative. Isn't there a high probability at any given time that you're moving at more than 10% of the speed of light relative to those atoms? Or is it the case that basically everything in the local part of the universe is going at "relatively" the same speed with respect to the fixed stars? Re: (Score:2) There is, in fact, some precedent for that in the first movie's Death Star's exhaust port being "ray shielded." The countermeasure to ray shielding was to use a physical torpedo. Small flaw (Score:2) If the Rebel shields couldn't stop matter entering (and the Imperials didn't even have a crowbar [wikipedia.org]) - then how does it prevent the Rebel ships from leaving? A shield that won't stop a kinetic bombardment or even an invasion, but still blocks your own retreat, is worse than useless. Re: (Score:2) then how does it prevent the Rebel ships from leaving It's an energy dampening field - it would kill the anti-gravity field the ships use for atmospheric navigation, and they have no aerodynamic glide capability so they'd fall like stones. I just made that up to show that there's always going to be an excuse to move the plot along in a fantasy. Re: (Score:2) That explains the wings on those invading AT-ATs... Re: (Score:3) the Empire ground forces landed beyond the energy shield - that's from dialogue, not speculation. Re: (Score:2) TFA indicated the energy shield covered the whole planet, but perhaps that was wrong. Re: (Score:2) If you have virtually unlimited energy, and the capability to fire that energy in a highly concentrated 'blast' then targeting computers take care of the rest. De-orbiting large objects doesn't allow for much maneuvering. You didn't see the cannons designed to defend against physical bombardment because physical bombardment wasn't used and therefore wasn't shown in the film. "Sir, what about physical bombardment?" "Idiot, didn't you read the situation report? The probe identified that the base is equipped wi Re: (Score:2) Seems to me, if they had systems capable of shooting down crowbars falling from space, they could probably shoot down landing ships too, which would be a lot larger and slower. Dropping a kinetic weapon from orbit is a lot faster than landing a ship. It would take only 2.5 minutes to fall 100km at 1G (regardless of mass and assuming an efficient aerodynamic profile of course). That's probably too fast to evacuate, and a tonne travelling at 1.4km/s contains significant energy. From 1000km, it'd still only tak Re: (Score:2) I realize this reply is a bit late, but here goes. Anything firing LOS from a fixed position (echo base) is going to have a range limited by the curvature of the planet. You could land anything you wanted beyond LOS and approach by land (ie, that's what it looks like they did.) With regard to time, I'm not talking about the time it takes to get something from 200km to 0, I'm talking about the time it takes to get something from wherever the hell they are sourcing the mass from. While objects small enough to Re: (Score:2) LoS only applies to energy weapons, but we know the Rebels have proton torpedos. I'm sure they've invented homing technology too. OK, you could fly an invasion down outside LoS range, but you'd have to enter atmosphere from hundreds of kilometers away (given an earth-like radius), and fly no closer than 30km or so. Those AT-ATs were not exactly fast-moving - 10km/hr tops, so it'd take a few hours to advance. Self-guided kinetic weapons are easy too, and crowbars/poles with steerable fins don't destabilise ea Re: (Score:2) Well done! Now do the Enterprise E against an Imperial Star destroyer. Re: (Score:3) Well done! Now do the Enterprise E against an Imperial Star destroyer. No contest - the Old Republic had way more energy than the Federation. They had a fully galactic Republic/Empire, whereas warp engines take decades to travel across a galaxy. The Rebels rendezvoused at a point far outside their own galaxy to stay hidden at the end of ESB. Which makes sense - the Federation is about 250 years more advanced than we are, while the Old Republic was stable for over a thousand generations. Add to that the Emp Re: (Score:2) If you believe in the future that energy is cheap and mass is expensive Past. Star Wars happened a Long, Long Time Ago. That's what Kim Jong-il said (Score:1) US=Empire North Koreans=Rebels South Korea=Echo Base Harry S. Truman=Darth Vader Re: (Score:2) US=Empire North Koreans=Rebels South Korea=Echo Base Harry S. Truman=Darth Vader Except that a popular but absolutely mediocre general like Douglas MacArthur pulled the trick of a lifetime with the Inchon landing, neatly regaining control of the capital city/ transport node, cutting away supplies to the north Korean thrust, and giving the enemy the unpalatable choice between an hasty but long retreat or trying to basically fight a three front war against an enemy which could make good use of a reasonable ability to deny ground movement. they could have tried to leave a screen south, Re: (Score:3) Except that a popular but absolutely mediocre general like Douglas MacArthur pulled the trick of a lifetime with the Inchon landing... That wasn't exactly a mediocre move, was it? Some people point out that he relied on some previous staff work, but staffs exist to plan for every possible contingency, and MacArthur found this solution and implemented it. I must grant, however, that even a mediocre general may display an occasional flash of brilliance. In addition, his success also contained the seed of eventual failure. Once the Inchon Landing succeeded and MacArthur kept on rolling, the Chinese saw a general coming toward their borders at Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:2) Landings like that had been conducted in WW2 in the Mediterranean during Sicily by Patton when he made his drive from Palermo to Messina. So there's definite preexisting work that had been done regarding using amphibious landings to cut off enemy forces. In Patton's case, the landings were done with smaller detachments that couldn't hold long and required the main body to punch through and join up rather than drop a corps behind enemy lines to relieve a defense. Re: (Score:2) I am familiar with the Sicily campaign, and it was not the high note of Patton's career: a si Re: (Score:2) I'm not sure I would compare bypassing islands in the pacific that were cut off from Japanese reinforcements on the same degree as using a maneuver to cut off or otherwise place pressure on the enemy's force. In the Pacific, if I remember correctly, skipping those islands was a trivial matter since we had naval and air dominance by that time. So there was no point wasting troops on islands that had little to no strategic values, like the Philippines. Maybe they had advance intelligence? (Score:1) traceroute -m 100 216.81.59.173 Re: (Score:2) Really, the author of TFA had nothing better to write about than a science fiction battle happening in a movies from 30 years ago???? Ever read "Falkenberg's Legion" or other Scifi of mixed "sci fi / military" theme? they are actually quite good. and anyway, I am quite sure that the powers that be have wargamed scenario that would seem farfetched even to a preteen on a high from "battlestar galactica". It's cheap, it's outside the box, and it's effective. on a sidenote, I had a classical education at school, and please do remember that the basic ingredients of the classical epic story are the same. I always joke with my son about how his Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:2) Many years ago, before the world wide web existed, I went to some online system, maybe Compuserve, I don't remember, and I noticed that they had a bunch of forums for Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. Being a big sci-fi fan fan I thought "this sounds pretty cool." Wrong. It took me all of about 5 minutes to discover that having serious discussions about fictional characters and events is boring, pointless and just plain stupid. Why did [some character] do [something] instead of doing [something else]? Why? Bec Re: (Score:2) I didn't need sex for Star Wars to lose its cool.... George Lucas did that with his wretched prequels and constant fiddling with the originals. Re: (Score:2) Dude, get laid... Then you won't care about what one very rich man does to a bunch of kids movies. Wait a second, I forgot this was Slashdot... Nevermind. Re: (Score:2) Too much valuable intel (Score:5, Interesting). Re: (Score:2) Not to mention that scattering the Rebels complicates their operations, logistics, communications, etc... (In a real war, that's a non trivial win.) If the goal is to deny the Rebels the use of the base as the author claims - it doesn't matter if the base is turned into a smoking crater or the Empero Re: (Score:2). Re: (Score:3) Basically this: The ion cannon prevented the ability for the blockade to be in a position to directly target the weak spot in the shield, and just far enough away to give a fast transport enough time to zip through. People who get upset at that have never watched a football game where an offensive lineman opens a hole just long enough for a runner to slip past the defenders. It's not much of a hole, but it's enough if you are quick. It was Ozzel (Score:4, Funny) It's well known that Admiral Ozzel came out of hyperpsace too close to the system and cost them the element of surprise. He's as clumsy as he is stupid.... Re:It was Ozzel (Score:5, Funny) Also, as a good manager, Vader gave Ozzel immediate and clear feedback on his poor performance, promptly demoted him, and simultaneously strongly motivated the replacement to perform better in their new job. Re: (Score:3) It's well known that the late Admiral Ozzel came out of hyperpsace too close to the system and cost them the element of surprise. He's as clumsy as he was stupid.... FTFY Re: (Score:1) Re: (Score:1) News for Nerds, (Score:5, Funny) Only attack from in front... (Score:2) Haven't most of these points been argued to death before, like why everyone attacks the AT-ATs from in front? Why not flank them and attack from behind or from the sides? The trip cables don't care which part of the body they start from, and you're less likely to be shot with cannons that only shoot in the front quadrant... The real point (Score:3). Re: (Score:3) I don't always (Score:1) Re: (Score:1) Ignorant Journalist (Score:5, Informative) Motives (Score:3) I think the author is missing the point about Vader's motives. The article said: The author assumes that Vader actually cared about winning whatever military objectives the Empire had. I don't think he did. In Episode V, Vader wanted only one thing: to get Luke Skywalker. I imagine that after the Death Star was destroyed and there was a big ceremony highlighting to everyone in the Rebel Alliance that Luke was the hero, word got to the Empire (and Vader) that someone named Skywalker was involved. Vader may have claimed that the name had no meaning for him, but it certainly did. So that's why he went down to the base. He didn't trust the stormtroopers to be able to capture Luke; he was going to do it himself. In Episode IV, Vader seemed to be nominally to be a team player (at least he stopped choking that guy in the conference room) and willing to take orders. By the time Episode V rolled around, Vader was off the leash. All he wanted was to get Luke to turn him into his Sith Apprentice and everything else (stormtroopers, admirals, star destroyers, what have you) was just fodder. So although I enjoyed the article, I don't think Vader's tactics weren't because of poor planning or insight. If every Rebel escaped and every Imperial died, it wouldn't matter to him if he captured Luke. It other words: it's not that I'm a bad driver. It's that I needed to get to the airport to make my flight and that now-dented car was a rental. Rebel Strategy Fail (Score:3) Let's not forget... Hiding the base on Hoth was Luke Skywalker's one major leadership decision. The base was discovered and attacked before even becoming fully operational. Although the rebels themselves escaped, there would have been a massive loss of costly and difficult to replace military hardware. Skywalker did at least have the sense not to show his face again except for personal rescue attempts in The Empire Strikes Back and then not to even attempt to participate in the actual rebellion until after the strategic decisions had already been finalized in The Return of the Jedi. No planetary shield (Score:3) The Rebels had a poorly-laid-out ground defense, and a planetary shield that can't keep an invader out while complicating their own escape. But they didn't really have a planetary shield. It was merely a shield over Echo Base. With highly limited resources and a shoestring budget, it was better than nothing. Don't forget, this was not a well funded, professional army, it was a ragtag group of rebels on the run. TL;DR (Score:3) It was damn cold. The good guys got away, as expected.

Kolo Touré - Full Name: Kolo Toure - Squad No: 28 - Position: Defender - Age: 32 - Birth Date: Mar 19, 1981 - Birth Place: Sokoura Bouake, Ivory Coast - Height: 6' 0'' (1.83m) - Weight: 74 kg Teams 2012/13 Barclays Premier League KOLO TOURÉ One of Arsene Wenger's best value signings after his reported £150,000 purchase from Ivorian side Asec Mimosas, Toure was an integral part of Wenger's 2003-04 'Invincibles' side, forming a solid defensive partnership with Sol Campbell. Toure had already earned 17 international caps when he joined the Gunners, aged 20, winning his first against Rwanda in 2000. He helped Ivory Coast to the 2006 African Nations Cup final, where he scored a penalty in the shootout defeat to Egypt, and played in the Elephants' inaugural World Cup appearance in 2006. At Arsenal, Toure formed a useful partnership with William Gallas after the Frenchman signed in 2006, but after being passed over for the captaincy in favour of Gallas following Thierry Henry's departure, Toure reportedly had a bust-up with the Frenchman. His performance levels dipped and he demanded a move away from the club in January 2009. That summer, Manchester City signed Toure for £16 million, with Mark Hughes valuing his experience so much that he appointed him club captain to lead his side's charge as they looked to challenge the Premier League's top clubs. His first season did not work out quite as hoped but, with brother Yaya among the players to have moved to Eastlands, he will be hoping for much more success in his second. Strengths: Exceptional tackler and an all-round powerful centre back, with a great ability to intercept and solid aerial presence. Weaknesses: Toure has often been criticised for occasional lapses in concentration and, particularly as he is the captain, he takes some of the blame for City's lack of organisation in defence in his debut season. Career High: Winning the 2003-04 Premier League title with the Arsenal 'Invincibles' team. Career Low: Losing the final of the 2006 African Nations Cup on penalties. Style: Commanding centre back with bags of experience. Quotes: " - Kolo Toure, March 2010 Trivia: Toure was the final regular starter from Arsenal's 'Invincibles' to leave the club when he departed for Manchester City in July 2009.

ESPNsoccernet: England Saturday, March 1, 2008 Gunners feeling the pressure The Insider If there is a flaw in Arsene Wenger's make-up, it comes with his reaction to a major setback. The Gunners' boss explains just what it means to play for the Arsenal 'team'. (AdamDavy/Empics) Few doubt that the brilliant Arsenal manager is one of the finest coaches in the world game, with his reputation as the master moulder of young talent secure whether his side end up collecting any silverware this season or not, yet when it comes to finding a way of rallying his troops when they have received a blow to the egos he has inflated, Wenger may have something of a blind spot. You see, Monsieur Wenger has become one of the game's top winners purely on the basis that he is long established as one of its worst losers and his attitude of angst and frustration following a rare setback can rub off on his players in a manner that damages them severely. Take the game at Old Trafford back in 2004 that saw his side's record-breaking 49-game unbeaten run come to an end. Instead of dusting himself down and remaining focused on the job in hand, he lost his cool and his players then try to react with anger an aggression rather than the silky football that makes them a great side. 'We cannot play when we are full of hate,' Wenger muttered to the media on Friday, yet after his afternoon from hell at Birmingham last Saturday, you always suspected this was going to be the most severe test of Arsenal's status as major contenders for the Premier League title. The horror of Eduardo's tackle was compounded by the pathetic antics of captain William Gallas as he threw an almighty and tearful tantrum as the final whistle blew at St Andrews, leaving the dark horses for the title all season in a position where they needed to reaffirm their intent against a gritty Aston Villa side. The 'let's do it for Eduardo' cry was noble, but the reality is Arsenal have a history of failing to bounce back when they feel as if the world is against them and thus was the case against a Villa side who were in no mood to show any sympathy. It was with an air of determination that Arsenal set-out on their first game since the St Andrews disaster and while they could not be faulted for the urgency displayed in the opening exchanges, the raw pace of Theo Walcott was not enough to give them the lead they craved. While it was something of a surprise to see Villa take a 27th minute lead, the warning signs had been there as the pace of Gabriel Agbonlahor had been concerning the Arsenal backline and as he burst down the left flank and squared to John Carew in the box, Philippe Senderos could only divert his clearance into the back of his own net. If there were any fragile minds in the Arsenal camp, conceding the first goal of the game was likely to expose them and on a day when Wenger needed the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas to lift spirits, the two stars of their season to date were missing in action. While Scott Carson made a few decent saves to maintain Villa's advantage, there was just as much work for Manuel Almunia down the other end, with the impressive Agbonlahor always a menace on the break and Marlon Harewood adding to the Villa threat when he was released from the bench late on. Walcott's contribution would also have been a worry for Wenger as after his two goal showing at Birmingham last weekend, the English boy wonder fluffed his lines as he appeared to be little more than a one-trick pony in this game. If your trick results in a goal every now and again, then any side can cope with a luxury player, yet Walcott's pace is an asset that is rarely complimented by an end product. In truth, this became a comfortable holding job for Villa and with Wenger pacing the touchline with increasingly animation antics, panic began to spread like a fatal disease around the Emirates Stadium. Every title race has a defining moment that counts for more than any other and this was rapidly feeling as if was the moment when Arsenal's challenge would unravel. Even when time is short, this team like to play their way out of trouble and as they completed their 20-pass moves in front of a compact Villa backline, their demise was apparently inevitable, but they managed to drain one final chance out of the game and it earned them a point that keeps them on top of the table. Substitute Nicklas Bendtner provided the finishing touch deep into injury time and Wenger's obvious relief on the touchline was confirmed as he met his admirers in the media. 'If we had lost this game, it would have been very hard for us to come back,' conceded a relieved Arsenal manager. 'As it is, I believe the point we have gained against a difficult opponent in Villa could be crucial come the end of the season. 'Manchester United are now the favourites for the title and they seem to have all the momentum, but we are still one point ahead at the top of the league and have to make sure the dip in form we have suffered comes to an end now. 'The desire in this team means we refuse to be beaten or to concede we cannot win this championship and while we clearly suffered a hangover from the events of the last week in this game, I hope we can grow once again from here.' The leveller was cruel on a Villa side who battled so hard to secure what would have been a famous victory and manager Martin O'Neill struggled to hide his disappointment as he reflected on the glory that had passed him by. 'The mood is our dressing room is of desperate disappointment,' said the ex-Celtic manager. 'We feel like we have been beaten here and to play that well and only come away with a point is heartbreaking. We played brilliantly against a top class side and no one can dispute that we deserved to win the game. It is a sign of how far we have come that we can take on a side like Arsenal and play as well as we did.' Arsenal are clearly beginning to crack and if they do go out of the Champions League in Milan on Tuesday, you wonder whether their demise will kick-off in earnest. • MAN OF THE MATCH: Gabriel Agbonlahor - In the battle of the two speediest England strikers of the day, the Villa man stole all the accolades. He deserved to finish this game as a winner after he tormented the Arsenal defence throughout. • FOOD WATCH: Rarely have the media been treated to the sort of culinary delight that was a beautiful piece of beef prior to kick-off. The dish would not been out of place in a top class restaurant. • SICK BRUMMIES: The travelling Villa fans covered themselves in shame as they wasted just 14 minutes before signing derogatory songs comparing stricken Arsenal striker Eduardo to amputee Heather Mills-McCartney. It was an example of football fans sinking to gutter level. • INJURY NEWS: Villa defender Curtis Davies is out for a lengthy period after rupturing his Achilles tendon. He will be operated on immediately. • ARSENAL VERDICT: There can be little doubt that they are beginning to crack and you wonder whether the walls will tumble around Arsene Wenger if his side go out of the Champions League at the San Siro on Tuesday night. They are hanging on admirably, but look less like potential Premier League winners than ever. • VILLA VERDICT: They may have been let down by their shameful supporters, but Martin O'Neill's side showed they are now a match for one of the Premier League's established big four. Along with Everton, they will push Liverpool close for a Champions League place. Any comments? ESPNsoccernet: | Media Kit | | | Tools | Jobs at ESPN | Supplier Information (Updated 5/6/08) , and

! So awesome, Andi! Thanks for sharing and go you for making such monumental changes! Food information becomes kind of addictive, doesn't it? I saw Food Inc in Feb of 2010, and that started it for me, and it's funny how I don't even think to buy some of the stuff I used to consider staples in my kitchen. I look forward to reading more of what you post in the next few weeks. :) Katie, your blog has been a lot of inspiration. I know you've fought the good fight cutting out processed foods and making lots of healthy snacks/meals for you and your kiddos. Love love love reading your posts and trying your tips and recipes. :) You got me to cook tofu, for heavens sake! Excellent! As someone who's been sucked into the Weight Watchers world for years, without reaching (or coming close to) goal, I'm so intrigued by this! I've often thought about "just" eating healthy, but have been afraid to try it without a structured program. So silly. I can't wait to read about your experience! It sounds too easy doesn't it??? And if you're anything like me, you like to see quick results. That's the hardest part. That's why it was so effective for me to "forget" about it, and just let this happen over time. I used to jump on Atkins, lose 40 pounds in a few weeks or a month, but then it would yo-yo right back on. This feels like a forever thing! Whoohoo! Congrats on those 40 lbs! And, what you've been doing, basically, is "Intuitive Eating (that's my old blog about it). You eat only when you're actually hungry, and you eat only enough to satisfy -- not stuff yourself. I lost 25 lbs this way back in 2005, and have been re-starting with it this year, and am pleased to announce that I'm already making progress, just one week in! :D If you're interested, I just got offered a book for review that talks about both intuitive eating (though, he doesn't call it that), and choosing healthier foods... email me and I'll send you the contact info. I chose not to take him up on the review offer, as I don't need to read any more books on the subject -- I need to start PRACTICING what I've learned. ~MizB Exactly! And I thought about your intuitive eating posts as I was going through this process. Good luck with restarting your own intuitive eating. Definitely want to know about the book. I'll FB message you. :) Thanks for your blog. Congratulations with your progress and sharing your journey with us. Eating healthily and only when you are hungry are certainly the way to go. Best wishes for your ongoing quest. Thanks, Diane! It sounds so simple but it's amazing how hard it was to internalize these simple steps for so long! Congrats to you Andi! Keep up the good work. After many failed attempts at dieting, I've finally found something that works. Exercise. When/if you get into the routine of exercising, you don't want to eat things that are bad for you. Before my hip replacement, I was walking a mile and a half on my treadmill and I'm hoping to get back to that level soon. It's the only thing that works for me...focus on moving and the food will take care of itself. I also eat/keep a lot of fresh fruit, vegetables and nuts around. Robin, I've been slow to adopt a full-on exercise routine. But this is another area where in the past I would jump in with both feet, burn out, and stop. I've taken to walking more at work -- even if it means a stroll around campus at work. I also am much more active around the house -- constantly cleaning, organizing, straightening, and playing with/chasing my son. That helps a lot too without the bore of tedious exercise. Wow, what a great story! Cutting out all processed foods really helps, and I'm glad you noticed a major difference! I stopped eating processed foods and ingesting chemicals in general (including medicines, prescription drugs, etc) in 2009, and I also lost tons of weight naturally. I actually still eat some of the same stuff I ate before (cookies, baked goods), but only the all-natural/organic versions, never anything processed. I love these types of blog posts, and I can't wait to read your next update! :) Thanks, Sarah Ann! I haven't made it to cutting out all processed foods, but I'd say I've cut our processed intake by about 60%. Tonight was an exhausted night and I needed something comfort-foody to take for lunch at work this week. I made a casserole out of leftover turkey, some noodles, green beans, and some canned soups and spices. I've cut down on the use of "cream of" by probably 80% and the next step is to make my own homemade versions for nights like this one! This is awesome Andi! You're very right - it's about eating real foods, and enjoying what we eat, and knowing our hunger cues. I know too many people who try to lose by calorie deprivation, who are hungry all the time and think that their stomachs are the enemy. It's just too bad, because real permanent weight loss has nothing to do with dieting. This is fantastic! Thanks, Amanda! Amen to real foods. Definitely have some blog posts coming up about that topic. I often find that I skip dinner. People's first reaction is "you're starving yourself!" But the truth of the matter is that I'm hungrier for breakfast and lunch, and by the time dinner rolls around I'm REALLY NOT HUNGRY! But there will be a post about that. lol I find it's way easier for me to eat healthy when I'm working out regularly, because if I work my butt off at the gym I'm horrified at how many calories are in candy and stuff. If I'm not working out, I just don't care. Lisa, I hear ya. I get extremely bored with exercise. I don't particularly like watching TV or anything while I'm on a treadmill; I much prefer scenery. It's a little binding in the fall/winter months when the days are short, so I find I purposely move more at work, stay on my feet more at home. All that good stuff. Exercise is tough for me, but there will be a post about that. lol I'm with you - it should be easy. Eat less and exercise more, but why do we have such cravings? Ann Good for you! It's amazing what healthy eating can do for you. I bet you feel better too. Amen! I feel much much better (except when I have a month-long cold). lol Awesome, Andiloo! I gained weight after moving but it's probably because I'm exercising less. We have a new gym and I miss my old one like crazy. It was so friendly and inviting! Gotta get back to work on the flab. We're eating better, though -- lots of fresh veggies. In fact, Kiddo keeps looking in the fridge and saying, "What's up with all this HEALTH FOOD?" LOL He eats it if it's fixed for him but he doesn't know what to do with it, otherwise. He might need a crash course in cooking fresh veggies. Can't wait to hear what all you've done and see your recipes! Thanks, Nancy! I have never been a very good gym member. Maybe because I haven't found one that "fits" me. I used to find them intimidating, but now I have a problem of getting bored at the gym. I'm hard to please, obviously. lol Congratulations, Andi! I've fought the weight battle too, and I know how tough it can be. But I also know that I've felt SO much better since I got to a healthy weight. I've found that I can eat most anything I want if I do it in moderation and exercise on a regular basis. Part of that is, as you said, not eating unless you're hungry, plus learning to stop eating when you're full! It takes a lot less to fill up then you think! I've found an exercise I enjoy, so I can do it four or five times a week and I actually miss it when I can't do it. Keep it up! Thanks, Becca! Congrats to you on reaching a healthy weight! I'm well on my way. A lot left to do, but I'm pleased as can be with my progress thus far. And yes, I haven't restricted myself a lot as I find I'll go nuts and binge on bad stuff if I'm too restricted. 90% of the time I eat wise choices, so I don't even feel guilty about splurging from time to time. And what's your exercise of choice? I'm still searching. :) Congrats. I'm with Robin and Bookfool on the importance of exercise -- not so much for the calories burned but the way it makes you feel-- so much better (and studies now suggest it affects not just self-image but mood and brain power) that you start eating better too. I went through a very hard time many years ago -- not about weight but I did all kinds of things to make me feel better and change my routines. At the grocery I tried to buy one new healthy thing -- something I had never bought before generally healthy stuff like weird fruit, new grains, vegetables that I had no idea how to cook -- things like kale and salsify. It made eating a little more interesting. Love kale. Have never bought salsify again. Thanks, Barbara! And yes, I need those endorphins! :) And I love the idea of buying one new healthy thing at the store. Adventure is the key to not getting bored with the food routine. I'll share my herbs (growing lots of sage :)) and veggies with you and I'll help you put together those wonderful garden boxes like I have in my backyard (we talked about this today). Here's a site that gives information regarding how to use your oven to dehydrate tomatoes, but the principles are the same for other veggies as well. And the next time I make my homemade tomato sauce or soup, I'll take pictures so that you can see how I dried the solids. Awesomeness all the way around! Susan, thanks so much for sharing! I'm genuinely looking forward to growing my own veggies this year. It's so nice to have stuff on hand to play with! lol Will be checking out the site! So wonderful!! Congratulations to you! Looking forward to posts about healthy cooking! Thank you, Kate! Wonderful, Andi! It's great how switching your focus to healthy foods made all the difference - very inspiring. Thanks, Belle! And so ridonkulously easy. It's almost like a game at this point -- cutting out the crud and forging my way to the good stuff. :) Super awesome, Andi, and congrats on the 40 lbs. I know how amazing that feels as I've lost a similar amount of weight since leaving my job from hell a 1.5 years ago. I didn't make huge drastic changes either or follow any kind of fad diet - just stopped drinking my calories, cut out a bunch of fast food eating, and tried to only eat when I was hungry as well. Looking forward to reading more about your journey! Thanks, Brooke! Amazing how the job/stress can take a toll, eh?? I'm actually surprised I lost instead of gained at my old (hell) job. I think I was too busy to eat much of the time (not good!). I have also made an effort to cut out fast food, though I've slipped a little since I'm getting back into a work routine. Even when I eat out, though, I think I make better choices and that's really important to this working. That is awesome … and I think the way you looked at eating more healthy food rather than dieting may be the mental key to doing this! Definitely the key for me, Jenners! :) What a wonderful post, Andi. Congrats. Thanks for sharing this with us. I'm looking forward to reading more about your journey. Thank you, Natasha! Cheers to more fun healthy posts! ;) Yay you! That's always the problem with "dieting" -- it's restrictive and it implies that it has an end. Being more healthy, eating more healthfully, and learning about yourself are ongoing, satisfying, and positive. I can't wait to read more. Thanks, Candace! It is definitely restrictive and does not lend itself to a lifestyle change. Congrats on your weight loss journey!! Thanks, Kelly! :D If you were here I would give you a giant hug. Way to go, Andi! And guess what? I did the same thing last year. I made small changes (eating lots of fruits and veggies every day, getting more exercise, eating sweets and goodies in moderation, drinking plenty of water, etc) a bit at a time, and now they're practically habit. My weight loss has happened slowly (it was months before anyone actually noticed) but so far it's stayed off, which is the important thing. And I feel better, too! I never really noticed before how lousy bad food made me feel. Thanks so much for sharing this, Andi! I'm proud of you :) Awww, thank you, Emily! Good for you for doing the same!!! And yes, staying off is the key. I gained about 3-4 pounds over the holidays, but I'm back to my good habits and they've fallen right back off. It's so much easier when it's a life change and not a "diet." :) It's wonderful that you have made the changes in your life to eat healthier. It shows that even one change, in resolving to eat healthier food, can make a big difference. Can't wait to read some of your tips over the next few weeks. It makes a HUGE change, Janel. And it feels good -- like a new challenge. :) How wonderful that you've been making these small changes for the better! Hope you have a healthy and happy 2013! Thank you, Cecelia! :) I read this on Friday afternoon but then didn't open up my computer at all this weekend. I just wanted to tell you again how awesome I think that this is and how awesome I think that you are. For some reason working out comes more easily to me than watching what I eat but I do try to be mindful and make sure that the good outweighs the bad. It's easy to get caught up in numbers but it's amazing what we learn when we just stop and listen to how our body feels and the cues it is putting off. Can't wait to read more and to continue to celebrate this journey with you. Thank you so much, Trish! I never realized the importance of the natural cues. I was trying to FORCE myself into a new, unnatural routine, and it just never ever worked. :D You're awesome, Andi! You make an excellent point here: when you focus on health instead of weight loss, the transition is so much smoother. I'm actually getting ready to start Weight Watchers in an attempt to get control of my habits and health, and I hope I enjoy some of your success! Isn't it, Meg? I hope you have good luck with Weight Watchers and that it's a good fit for you. I tried some websites and stuff to help me in the past, but it just felt like one more obligation. Ultimately it worked for me to just be more laid back and intuitive about the whole thing. Looking forward to hopefully hearing more from you on your experience. :) Well done, that is awesome! I really need to lose weight but I eat far too much crap for it to happen. You've inspired me to get serious about my workouts, Andi. I'm on my feet all day and use that as an excuse to skip the treadmill after work. And it's time to getting moving and start eating healthier meals. Time to give up that second glass of wine, too! Love the new look of your blog background, and I know you yourself look lovely as well. I naturally crave the things that are bad for you, being raised in only the things that are good for you I've tended to over indulge the processed things. But, you're right of course. Eating good things, in small amount, works. Like my mother who has three lettuce leaves on a rice cracker and calls it lunch. No wonder she's a size two! Forgot to mention that falling madly in love is also a great diet plan. Twenty pounds gone last time that happened to me. I'm so thrilled for you! I'm trying to get back to being really mindful of how much I'm eating after having my son last year. Hopefully I'll be able to start exercising; that seems to help me keep my hunger under control for some reason.

Startup formula for becoming an overnight success: Work hard. Get Lucky. Ride the Wave and then make sure to smile for the camera. I got an email the other day from a CEO at a company I advise who had applied for a startup accelerator called Impact Engine. The news in the email was not good. She had reached the last round of judging but didn’t make the final cut. My advice to her was: don’t worry about. As a startup founder, there is so much that is outside of your control, that all you can really do is continue to work your tail off and hope to catch a few lucky breaks along the way. Here’s an example. In 2009, I fell in love with a venture capital firm called First Round Capital. A tweet from one of their associates had led me to a blog post, which led me to their website, which led me to their holiday card video. If there is such thing as love at first sight with a venture capital firm, this was it. ”OMG,” I thought to myself after I watched the video, ”These guys are as weird as I am.” So I decided to email them. It was the first venture capital firm I had ever reached out to and I had absolutely zero clue as to what I was doing. I wrote a stupidly long and wordy email telling them about GiveForward and asked for the opportunity to pitch. Within a day I got a very thoughtful response from an associate. He said no and that we’d probably be better off as a non-profit. A year later after graduating from Excelerate Labs, I reached out again to FRC to see if we could pitch and again the same associate said no. This time, he wrote that he appreciated the progress we had made but didn’t see this as a “venture type deal”. Another year passed, and then in April of 2012 I reached out to FRC again. This time, we got a better response. They agreed to hear our pitch and a few weeks later decided to co-lead our round along with Founder Collective. (hooray!) Now, the funny thing is, last night I got an email out of the blue from the First Round Capital VC who I had written to all the way back in 2009 and 2010. I hadn’t spoken to him in two years and he has since moved on from First Round Capital to start his own VC firm. His email consisted of only one word. It said: Congrats :) Moral of the story. In life and in startups, if you believe in what you’re doing, just keep doing it and with a little luck, eventually someone is going to notice. I think this is particularly true with raising capital. As a first time entrepreneur, when you go to pitch investors you’re going to hear NO a lot more than you hear YES. When we did our angel round with GiveForward in 2011 we ended up oversubscribed, meaning that more people wanted to invest than we had room for in the round. Even so, the NO’s outnumbered the YES’s nearly two to one. (we pitched 45 investors. 16 said yes. 29 said no. 13 participated in the round). With our most recent round of funding that closed this past July, we ended up oversubscribed again. But we still heard NO eight times before we heard our first YES. NO’s are the default answer in the VC world. Rejection is part of the game. It doesn’t mean your idea is bad. It might just mean that your idea doesn’t fit within a firm’s investment thesis or the timing is bad for the firm or that your concept is “too early” and the market isn’t ready for it yet. When I look back at GiveForward in 2009, we definitely fit into this last category of being “too early”. And to be honest, if I was First Round Capital, I probably wouldn’t have invested in us back then either. Here’s what the landscape looked like in 2009: - GiveForward, Kickstarter, and maybe three or four other crowdfunding sites exist; none of which have really taken off yet. - Facebook, the main platform people use to share their crowdfunding pages, has a ‘paltry’ 200 million users - The term crowdfunding is largely unknown. Most people in the industry were still referring to the space as “peer to peer fundraising” Here’s what it looks like in 2012 - There are over 300 crowdfunding sites worldwide; Kickstarter has become a household name. - Facebook now has about a 1 billion users worldwide sharing crowdfunding pages millions of times a day. - The term crowdfunding has not only been popularized by the general public but President Obama has even passed a crowdfunding law called the JOBS Act with near unanimous support from Congress. What a difference three years makes, right? GiveForward isn’t a fundamentally different company than we were in 2009, but in 2012 the public is now comfortable enough with the concept of crowdfunding to make market adoption a real possibility. And truth be told, we got really lucky with our market timing. Although we were a little early when we launched in 2008, we bootstrapped and stayed in the game long enough to be in the right place at the right time. In 2010 Kickstarter got funding from Union Square Ventures, putting crowdfunding on the VC map (thank you Fred Wilson). By 2011, Kickstarter had blown up and crowdfunding had officially arrived. And now in 2012…well, now everyone who got into crowdfunding early is just riding the wave and hopefully looking good when we smile for the camera. I enjoyed reading this. Your last one was pretty good too! Great post, and CONGRATS on the round ! you have a great vision, great product, great team, and not more great investors. Great opportunity !

Teaching Tips: Student-Led Conferences This site provides articles and videos on student-led conferences and how to implement them in the classroom. Grades - 3, - 4, - 5, - 6 Links - Implementing Student-Led Conferences in Your School This presentation provides information regarding implementing student-led conferences; including: a look at student-led vs. traditional conferences, the rational for using student-led conferences and examples of the benefits of implementing student-led conferences, what others have to say about them, organizing for them, sample documents, tips for preparing teachers for the conferences, advice for preparing students for the them, sample agenda, and a list of FAQs. - Student Led Conferences PPT This presentation looks the philosophy of student-led conferences, the purpose, the power, the nuts and bolts of student-led conferences, the keys to success, challenges, role of vision, and the future-focused role image. - Student-Led, Teacher Supported Conferences Resources These resources for student-led conferences include: general information, and online scheduler, parent resources, teacher resources and videos. - SchoolTube: An Introduction to Student-Led Conferences Video This video introduces you to the concept of student-led conferences. (Total Running Time: 15:43) - Assessing and Reporting Progress Through Student-Led Portfolio Conferences This article looks at assessing and reporting progress via student-led conferences. Topics include: organizing portfolios; and student, teacher, and parent roles. - Scholastic: Let Your Students Take the Lead! This site provides a guide to organizing student-led conferences. NOTE: This site contains ads. - Student-Led Conferences This site provides a series of videos which describe student-led conferencing. Viewers may select a grade level and watch a description of student-led conferencing and 3-4 actual conferences with parents and their children. - Student-Led Conferences This site provides descriptions of how teachers organized for student-led conferences. NOTE: This site contains ads. - Student Comments for Conferences This article from the National Education Association provides a teacher tip on how to integrate student comments into a conference. - Scholastic: Involving Students in Parent-Teacher Conferences This site provides a plan designed by a third grade teacher to have students lead the conference. NOTE: This site contains ads. - Strategy: Student-Led Conferences These articles focus on how to organize for student-led conferences and the positive outcome of holding them. Several links provide additional articles. NOTE: This site contains ads.

University of Helsinki, Helsinki 2006 A Study of Academic and Professional Qualification on Teachers' Job Effectiveness in Nigerian Secondary Schools Doctoral dissertation, December 2006. University of Helsinki, Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, Department of Applied Sciences of Education. This academic work begins with a compact presentation of the general background to the study, which also includes an autobiography for the interest in this research. The presentation provides readers who know little of the topic of this research and of the structure of the educational system as well as of the value given to education in Nigeria. It further concentrates on the dynamic interplay of the effect of academic and professional qualification and teachers' job effectiveness in secondary schools in Nigeria in particular, and in Africa in general. The aim of this study is to produce a systematic analysis and rich theoretical and empirical description of teachers' teaching competencies. The theoretical part comprises a comprehensive literature review that focuses on research conducted in the areas of academic and professional qualification and teachers' job effectiveness, teaching competencies, and the role of teacher education with particular emphasis on school effectiveness and improvement. This research benefits greatly from the functionalist conception of education, which is built upon two emphases: the application of the scientific method to the objective social world, and the use of an analogy between the individual 'organism' and 'society'. To this end, it offers us an opportunity to define terms systematically and to view problems as always being interrelated with other components of society. The empirical part involves describing and interpreting what educational objectives can be achieved with the help of teachers' teaching competencies in close connection to educational planning, teacher training and development, and achieving them without waste. The data used in this study were collected between 2002 and 2003 from teachers, principals, supervisors of education from the Ministry of Education and Post Primary Schools Board in the Rivers State of Nigeria (N=300). The data were collected from interviews, documents, observation, and questionnaires and were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods to strengthen the validity of the findings. The data collected were analyzed to answer the specific research questions and hypotheses posited in this study. The data analysis involved the use of multiple statistical procedures: Percentages Mean Point Value, T-test of Significance, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Cross Tabulation. The results obtained from the data analysis show that teachers require professional knowledge and professional teaching skills, as well as a broad base of general knowledge (e.g., morality, service, cultural capital, institutional survey). Above all, in order to carry out instructional processes effectively, teachers should be both academically and professionally trained. This study revealed that teachers are not however expected to have an extraordinary memory, but rather looked upon as persons capable of thinking in the right direction. This study may provide a solution to the problem of teacher education and school effectiveness in Nigeria. For this reason, I offer this treatise to anyone seriously committed in improving schools in developing countries in general and in Nigeria in particular to improve the lives of all its citizens. In particular, I write this to encourage educational planners, education policy makers, curriculum developers, principals, teachers, and students of education interested in empirical information and methods to conceptualize the issue this study has raised and to provide them with useful suggestions to help them improve secondary schooling in Nigeria. Though, multiple audiences exist for any text. For this reason, I trust that the academic community will find this piece of work a useful addition to the existing literature on school effectiveness and school improvement. Through integrating concepts from a number of disciplines, I aim to describe as holistic a representation as space could allow of the components of school effectiveness and quality improvement. A new perspective on teachers' professional competencies, which not only take into consideration the unique characteristics of the variables used in this study, but also recommend their environmental and cultural derivation. In addition, researchers should focus their attention on the ways in which both professional and non-professional teachers construct and apply their methodological competencies, such as their grouping procedures and behaviors to the schooling of students. Keywords: Professional Training, Academic Training, Professionally Qualified, Academically Qualified, Professional Qualification, Academic Qualification, Job Effectiveness, Job Efficiency, Educational Planning, Teacher Training and Development, Nigeria. The title page of the publication This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited. © University of Helsinki 2006 Last updated 22.11.2006

Service tools Navigation path MEMO/11/898 Brussels, 12 December 2011 EU Economic governance "Six-Pack" enters into force. This change represents the most comprehensive reinforcement of economic governance in the EU and the euro area since the launch of the Economic Monetary Union almost 20 years ago. In line with 8-9 December European Summit agreements, the legislative package already brings a concrete and decisive step towards ensuring fiscal discipline, helping to stabilise the EU economy and preventing a new crisis in the EU. The economic and financial crisis exacerbated the pressure on the public finances of EU Member States. Today,. Member States currently in excessive deficit procedure must comply with the recommendations and deadlines decided by the EU Council to correct their excessive deficit. The European Parliament and the Council adopted a package of six new legislative acts, upon a proposal by the European Commission and which will come into force on 13 December 2011. It represents a major step towards economic stability, restoring confidence and preventing future crises in the euro area and the EU.. Deficit From 13 December 2011 onwards, financial sanctions will apply to euro area Member States that do not take adequate action. Member States currently in excessive deficit procedure should comply with the specific recommendations the Council addressed to them to correct their excessive deficit. In case a euro area Member States does not respect its obligations, a financial sanction can be imposed by the Council on the basis of a Commission recommendation, unless a qualified majority of Member States vote against it. This is the so-called “reverse qualified majority” voting procedure1, which makes the enforcement of the rules stricter and more automatic, therefore more dissuasive and credible. Such a financial sanction can be activated at any moment after 13 December, if and when the conditions are met. Public debt The new rules of the amended Stability and Growth Pact make the debt criterion of the Treaty absolutely operational, since it has been largely neglected over the past years. Another major element of the new rules is that a new numerical debt benchmark has been defined: if the 60% reference for the debt-to-GDP ratio is not respected, the Member State concerned will be put in excessive deficit procedure (even if its deficit is below 3%!), after taking into account all relevant factors and the impact of the economic cycle, if the gap between its debt level and the 60% reference is not reduced by 1/20th annually (on average over 3 years). Given that that most Member States are already in excessive deficit procedure, and therefore have to comply with agreed fiscal consolidation paths, a transitional period is foreseen in the amended legislation to ensure no abrupt change in these agreed paths. Accordingly, each Member State in excessive deficit procedure is granted a three-year period following the correction of the excessive deficit for meeting the debt rule. This does not mean that the debt rule does not apply at all during this period as the amended Regulation foresees that Member States should make sufficient progress towards compliance during this transitional period. A negative assessment of the progress made towards compliance with the debt benchmark during the transition period could lead to the opening of an excessive deficit procedure. Sufficient progress towards compliance with the debt rule should start on 13 December 2011, depending on country-specific deadlines for correction of their excessive deficit. The expenditure benchmark under the preventive arm of the Pact The preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact guides Member States towards a country-specific, medium-term budgetary objective (MTO) which sets out to ensure public finance sustainability. The new rules define a new 'expenditure benchmark' to help assess progress towards these MTOs. This expenditure benchmark places a cap on the annual growth of public expenditure according to a medium-term rate of growth. For Member States that have not yet reached their MTO, the rate of growth of expenditure should be below this reference rate in order to ensure adequate progress. This new instrument will improve the budgetary planning and outcomes of Member States by ensuring that expenditure plans are adequately resourced by equivalent permanent revenues. However, it does not constrain, in any way, the level of public expenditure, as long as it is financed effectively. The provisions of the preventive arm of the Pact provide the main guidance for budgetary planning and budgetary execution by Member States when they are not subject to an excessive deficit procedure. Today, this is only the case for Estonia, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden. All the other EU member States are in the corrective arm. Effective enforcement of the rules is as important as the rules themselves. This equally applies to the preventive arm. The amended Stability and Growth Pact allows stronger action when the budgetary execution of a Member State deviates significantly. In order to enforce this rule, deviations have been quantified and can lead to a financial sanction (an interest-bearing deposit of 0.2% of GDP as a rule) in case of continuous non-correction. Such a sanction is proposed by the Commission and adopted by “reverse qualified majority” voting in the Council. Furthermore, if its budgetary plans do not comply with the provisions of the preventive arm, a Member State can be requested to present new plans that do comply. Member States not in EDP will have to demonstrate compliance with the provisions of the preventive arm in their next stability or convergence programmes as of next Spring 2012, in the context of the European Semester. Member States under EDP should show compliance after the correction of their excessive deficit. Reducing macro-economic imbalances Over the past decade, the EU has registered serious gaps in competitiveness and major macroeconomic imbalances. A new surveillance and enforcement mechanism has been set up to identify and correct such issues much earlier: the Excessive Imbalances Procedure (EIP), based on Article 121.6 of the Treaty. It will rely on the following main elements: - Preventive and corrective action: The new for euro area countries. It consists of a two-step approach whereby. - An early warning system: an alert system is established based on an economic reading of a scoreboard consisting of a set of ten indicators covering the major sources of macro-economic imbalances. The composition of the scoreboard indicators may evolve over time. The aim of the scoreboard is to trigger in-depth studies which will do deep dive analyses to determine whether the potential imbalances identified in the early-warning system are benign or problematic. The Commission can organise missions, with the ECB if appropriate, to conduct the in-depth reviews which shall be made public. Planned scoreboard 3 year backward moving average of the current account balance as a percent of GDP, with the a threshold of +6% of GDP and - 4% of GDP; net international investment position as a percent of GDP, with a threshold of -35% of GDP; 5 years percentage change of export market shares measured in values, with a threshold of -6%; 3 years percentage change in nominal unit labour cost, with thresholds of +9% for euro-area countries and +12% for non-euro-area countries. 3 years percentage change of the real effective exchange rates based on HICP/CPI deflators, relative to 35 other industrial countries, with thresholds of -/+5% for euro-area countries and -/+11% for non-euro-area countries; private sector debt in % of GDP with a threshold of 160%; private sector credit flow in % of GDP with a threshold of 15%; year-on-year changes in house prices relative to a Eurostat consumption deflator, with a threshold of 6%; general government sector debt in % of GDP with a threshold of 60%; 3-year backward moving average of unemployment rate, with the threshold of 10%. More information: In case the Member State concerned faces a notice under Article 126(9), the financial sanction will be adopted by qualified majority voting as foreseen by the Treaty.

A kind of dress shoe for men. Usually in black, though maybe in brown, wingtips are characterized by their decoration. Wingtips have somewhat pointed toes and have 6 to 12 eyelets laced by thin round shoe laces. Usually made of shiny leather, although suede examples also exist. The "wingtip" decoration is found on a extra piece of leather on the toes and at the edges of the individual pieces of leather that make up the shoe. The decoration consists of holes of various sizes that make up a pattern. A good example is the Florsheim Lexington Wing Tip. I once read about a man's first day working at IBM in the early 60's. He was fresh out of college. Like everyone else at IBM, he came to work in a suit. His boss looked him over, pointed to his shoes and asked him what the hell those were. He pointed out that they were loafers. His boss told him to go home, and come back the next day wearing wingtips. In my opinion, wingtips are the dressiest of the male dress shoes. To trace the history of the wing tipped shoe one must start at its birthplace; the Isle of Skye. Although sources agree that the wing shaped tip originated there, in shoe terminology the word tip describes any shaped piece of material that covers the portion of the shoe distal to the vamp, determining when the design first appeared is a detail that has been lost to the sands of time. A study of politics may not seem related to shoe history and many factors may influence why a particular shoe became popular however wearing of the more relaxed, casual Oxford shoe is generally viewed as a break from the more formal shoes and boots of the previous century and a general easing away from the strait laced rigidity of the Victorian era. A type of Oxford styled shoe the wing tip spread through the United Kingdom after its inception. Reportedly students attending Oxford University helped reduce boot shaft height during the turn of the 19th century by rebelliously preferring half boots to full length knee high footwear. This resulted in the appearance of the Oxonian boot after which the Oxford shoe was modeled. A similar rejection of the shortened boots in favor of lower cut shoes at the beginning of the 20th century gave the name of the town to the shoes students wore, the name stuck and Oxford as a descriptive shoe term lives on today. Originally marketed as an athletic leisure shoe for golfers much as the white buck shoe was sold to tennis players of the day wing tipped shoe sales rose during the early 20th century for several reasons: the automobile is gradually replacing travel by horse decreasing the need for boots (most women still wore boots to drive), city life becomes more attractive than rural farm life which further decreases the desire for boots, returning American soldiers prefer the roomy comfort and easy donning of the low cut Oxford style shoes they discovered overseas, and shoes require less material than boots making them cheaper to produce during a war time economy. During the reign of Edward VII the short tuxedo coat paired with less formal shoes such as the wingtip become an increasingly acceptable mode of daytime dress. By 1910 the longer swallow tail coat and dress pumps are still considered proper evening wear but are gradually losing their stranglehold on nighttime formal dress apparel. As women's shoes are mostly hidden under and beneath skirts not much attention is paid to their footwear although Mary Janes, or bar shoes, are gaining in popularity. Other shoe styles available for women at this time include slippers, clogs, and boots with buttons. Prosperity reigned during the 1920s however the next decade brought sobering consequences for those who had enjoyed the highlife during the glorious stock market rise. By the time the Great Depression hit the United States of America boots are worn mainly by farmers and certain factory workers although a notable exception is the cowboy boot. While the wing tip shoe is now accepted as a business shoe the color scheme has changed from black to brown. Knickers, which are worn with wingtips, are banned by Oxford University in 1925. Wily students retaliated by favoring baggy trousers that could be worn over the academically unacceptable plus-fours. Worldwide the 1930s is a decade of political unrest and instability, setting the stage for the conflict known as World War II. Again the war time economy directs goods towards munitions, uniforms, and rations and away from retail and grocery stores. People who have money have few items to purchase. Soldiers enjoy Wrigley's gum and Hershey's chocolate bars along with Lucky Strike cigarettes while civilians have to make due with Sen-Sen and makeup paint for legs as nylon has been diverted towards parachute manufacturing. Cutout, Peep-toe, and slingback shoes for women can be made with less material than shoes with full toe coverings. Leather is in high demand for war time efforts. Fabric shoes become more common. Light, material saving ballerina flats are popular shoes for female students attending school during the 1940s. Before World War II there were two main classes of citizens in the United States: city dwellers and the rural populace. After the war a new blend known as suburbia emerged. Shoe styles for women exploded as war time restrictions vanished. Heels narrowed, the chunky wedge style of the previous decade gives way to the sleeker, sexier, stiletto. Pumps for women are popular, shoes for women can be found in virtually any color to match any outfit imaginable. Young girls favor saddle shoes and bobby socks however men are left with few choices and a much slimmer color palate. Loafers and wingtips are standard dress fare. Crepe soled brothel creepers made a brief appearance, other casual styles including white buck shoes are worn although another shoe is gaining market share as people with leisure time sport black Chuck Taylors. Business casual is a relatively recent term, for the majority of the 20th century suits were appropriate business attire. To address the point fhayashi makes IBM expected its employees to wear dark suits, gray was also permitted, knowledge of the dress code was expected and anticipated. Thus far the wingtip has changed little through the decades. That changes when a shoe known as the Longwing emerged during the 1970s. Named for the wing extensions on the shoes which now extend to the rear of the shoe, lasting of the shoe was redone. The result was a trimmer, more modern shoe. Moving on into the 1980s the wingtip is still a shoe for the business world which is considered dressier than loafers of any style. The 1990s as a decade is one I have personal experience with. After college I was hired by a firm named Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover, we were required to state the entire name when we answered the phone since the merger with Morgan Stanley had just gone through. While I remember spending $80 on a pearly silver pair of Etienne Aigner heels that went surprisingly well with most of my suits every man I worked with wore black dress shoes and most of them wore wingtips. My husband was an IT drone for the now defunct Arthur Andersen, he had two pairs of black dress shoes although his wingtips had a monk strap instead of laces. Wingtips suffered during the first part of the 21st century as more companies adopted business casual dress codes; today wingtips are making a comeback. Those who believe they can not afford to purchase a good pair of shoes or a nice suit are still able to shop for these goods. Inform sales people that you are not able to purchase anything but are interested in determining what cuts will work best for you. Building your wardrobe around good supportive shoes shoes insures that your body will remain in alignment as you go about whatever your day has in store for you. Good shoes are relaxing, stabilizing, confidence builders. Looking your best means knowing that you have done your homework, shop at thrift stores if you must, try on as many different pieces of clothing as you need to but do not settle for anything less than a great fit which will stand you in good stead as fashions come and go. While a good pair of wing tipped shoes may set the wearer back, properly cared for, these shoes can provide years of comfortable utility. Wingtips are the travelers friend, able to smoothly transition from airport to business meeting to supper date to theater outing. In a pinch they can be worn on the golf course since they were originally designed as a golf shoe. Requiring little in terms of maintenance all shoes should be routinely shined and inspected for excess wear as early repairs may save a shoe from ruin. While wingtips are frequently thought of as a men's shoe, women's styles are also available, offering the same functional advantages to what was formerly known as the fairer sex. A wardrobe building shoe for men and women; consider the wingtip a foundation piece designed to keep their owners in good standing. Sources: Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.

A reputable art historian once told me that it is something of a standing joke that in the panel depicting the fall of man in the Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, Michelangelo has deliberately posed Adam and Eve in such a way that her momentary distraction towards the serpent and eating the forbidden fruit has taken her attention away from eating a different type of fruit attached to Adam's body. Michelangelo was certainly clever enough to have embedded this as an inside joke, as we see, for example, in the way he puts friends and foes into the last judgment. Michelangelo was probably reading his Bible correctly, however, even if he has suggestively particularized the sexual connotation of eating from the tree of knowledge into edenic fellatio. The trick here is to see first of all that Michelangelo is not creating a narrative that plays out linearly like a story--he's making us work a little harder by compacting the action into a single scene. Eve is not just turning from having oral sex with Adam to get the forbidden fruit; the idea of sex and the fall are merely being put into close juxtaposition (if you insist on reading from left to right you might think of it a bit like the literary figure of hysteron proteron). But even more tellingly, if you examine the image at the link below, you'll see that Michelangelo is clearly compressing action by having the same scene show Adam and Eve twice, once before the fall, and once shortly thereafter; serpent, tree, and angel act as a sort of pivot between the episodes. As another sign that Michelangelo is visibly playing with "chronology" for the sake of deeper purposes, see the sizeable dead tree trunk the tempted Eve is leaning against. If you've been to a cemetary with monuments lately you'll have seen that even now broken trees (and headless columns) are symbols of death. If you work out the math you can see the message. But this is Eden, created only a little while before--what is a tree trunk so old it is already a broken, withered stump doing there? The second trick in interpreting this scene correctly is to remember that Michelangelo (and his contemporaries) were not Biblical literalists (clearly: this compressed scene cannot be reconstructed literally from Genesis 3: 1-7). Michelangelo felt no fundamentalist urge to avoid metaphorical or allegorical interpretation of scripture, and this opened up the way for a rich understanding of the text. In 1667, Milton, too, clearly saw the connection between sex and the fall in his Paradise Lost (9.1011-1045), and had no problem with depicting it. But it's not just that Adam and Eve were naughty and that this got them hustled out of the garden, and then the author of Genesis prudishly disguised their "sin" behind a "tree of knowledge" allegory. The author of Genesis was seeking a way to explain why life is so hard. He believed that a transgression against God was involved, of course, and adapted a story which was almost as old to him as he is to us to craft an explanation. A version of this ancient story exists in fragmentary form in the widely-noded Epic of Gilgamesh. Interestingly, the author of Genesis turned the Gilgamesh story on its head to adapt it to his purposes. (The Epic of Gilgamesh was widely known throughout the ancient middle east in several versions, and the story it tells was probably circulating as various shorter folk tales the whole time.) In the Gilgamesh, for purposes unconnected with this writeup, a wild man named Enkidu is created by the gods from a pinch of clay (like the dust that went into Adam). Enkidu hangs out with the wild animals, living pretty much like one of them (the translation I am dependent upon uses the leading term "child of nature" for him). The idea is that he is good raw material. He angers a trapper by spoiling his traps and as a result the authorities decide to domesticate this natural force which is hampering the labors of civilization. Now it gets interesting. Advised by his betters, the trapper fetches a pretty temple prostitute (honorably serving a stint performing sex as an offering to Ishtar, goddess of you-know-what, and presumably pretty good at it) from the big city and brings her out to Enkidu's haunts. When Enkidu next comes to get a drink of water she reveals herself to him (in more than one way) and Enkidu ravishes her for six days and seven nights without leaving her body. When Enkidu "comes to," he finds himself irretrievably altered. A few verses :. Sex (and implicitly, domestication through contact with woman) has wrought this change, and knowledge ('reason and wide understanding') is the result. Enkidu has lost his (from one point of view) edenic existence of simple pleasures, but as the story unfolds he is slowly acculturated to mankind and civilization.. Where he earlier spoiled traps, he now stands guard over the flock for the group of shepherds who have introduced him to the pleasures of bread and wine (civilized, processed foods, that is), thwarting the natural predation of wolves and lions. We are so culturally accustomed to approve a version of the Golden Age myth which goes back to nature and some sort of primordial purity and goodness that it comes as a genuine shock to realize that they are celebrating getting away from nature and becoming more sophisticated and civilized--or more human, as they would see it. Call it anti-pastoral. And now with new eyes we can look at Adam and Eve's rustling of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. When they eat the fruit "the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked." Naked indeed, with all of its sexual connotations: why did they make "aprons" out of fig leaves for themselves if there were not something they suddenly knew about in regions an apron covers which now embarrasses them? The knowledge they have earned by eating the fruit is the purpose and function of genitalia. Sex (and procreation) brings them the immortality the serpent promised, but a vicarious intergenerational immortality. As for themselves, when they got the power to create life like God, they were smacked down for it with personal mortality and banishment from a life of ease. The Genesis account is not as explicit but nevertheless lines up astonishingly well with the story of Enkidu; but instead of looking at the good side of knowledge and domestication, the author of Genesis chose to adapt the story to explain why life is hard by portraying the acquisition of knowledge as a transgression that leads from a better state of nature to a harder one of labors and death. How much Genesis prompts us to be sympathetic with a "back to nature" program, and how much that program prompts us to look sympathetically on Genesis' idea of a fall is anyone's guess. But Michelangelo was right on the mark, and without the benefit of Gilgamesh, which was found much later. A good image of the fresco in question: Brandon, S.G.F. Creation Legends of the Ancient Near East (1963). Brandon sometimes goes a little too far, but this is the best psychosexual treatment of Genesis, Gilgamesh, and their overlap I have yet seen. George, A. The Epic of Gilgamesh. A New Translation (1999). All Gilgamesh quotes are from this translation. Revised Standard Version of The Holy Bible (1974).

I can only describe my feeling by the metaphor, that,if a man could write a book on Ethics which really was a book on Ethics, this book would, with an explosion, destroy all the other books in the world. -Wittgenstein, “A Lecture on Ethics” Wittgenstein’s work and thought on ethics remains a largely enigmatic area of his overall body of work. Yet throughout his career, Wittgenstein held ethics to be a crucial part of his philosophy. The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is, according to him, fundamentally a book about ethics1 ; however, Wittgenstein’s ethics are of quite a different sort than we might find being developed by Kantian deontologists or utilitarians. Quite contrary to any conventional ethics, Wittgenstein’s is one of restraint, of withholding, rather than theorizing or promulgating. In the Tractatus, he writes, “it is clear that ethics cannot be put into words. Ethics is transcendental” {TLP 6.421}. But what does he mean by this kind of talk? The Vienna Circle interpreted Wittgenstein as taking up a positivist stance– ethical propositions, as nonsense {TLP 3-4}, are to be excluded. For Wittgenstein, anything that cannot be represented by propositions in language is nonsense. To quote A.J. Ayer on the Tractatus, “metaphysical pronouncements fail to represent anything. They are nonsensical. At their best they are attempts to say what cannot be said but only shown. This applies to ethics and aesthetics” {PTC 112}. I would like to argue that Wittgenstein’s assertions about ethics embody a critical attitude toward philosophical language. This attitude is one that sees the preservation of ethics as lying in an anti-philosophical (or perhaps extra-philosophical) approach. Of course, this statement requires some qualification. I do not mean to say that Wittgenstein is not doing philosophy; it is obvious that the contrary is true. I would like to suggest, however, that his philosophy functions by showing limitations: not only the limitations of language, but also the limitations of philosophical activity itself. Furthermore, I would like to suggest that it is the most important things that fall outside of representation. This is why it is important to invoke the distinction between saying and showing. By saying, we can express certain ideas; by showing, we can express others2. Not everything that can be shown can be said. For instance, we can show that a mathematical equation works and we can also say that it works, but we cannot say anything about the nature of numbers themselves. We can show the idea of infinity, but we cannot express it properly in language. Similarly, we can “get at” or show ethical ideas, but no set of propositions can capture ethics. Poetry and literature may perhaps be able to better give us a sense of ethical thought than philosophy. This is related to Wittgenstein’s “religious” point of view. In his work, Wittgenstein seeks to move away from explanation and justification, and move toward something more concrete and immediate. As Norman Malcolm puts it, A possible clue my lie in the reiterated theme of his writings, that explanations, reasons, justifications, come to an end. This theme itself needs to be clarified. Does it mean that there are no justifications for anything? Or does it mean that there are – but only up to a certain point? If so, what is that point? Can it be described? {WR 2} These questions, as I see them, are central to proposing the kind of ethics that we can draw out of Wittgenstein’s work. They point first and foremost to a rejection of a mistaken commitment to a certain kind of metaphysics. I would call this metaphysics the metaphysics of science, but that is too crude a moniker to attach, and I will clarify it through the paper. Fundamentally, Wittgenstein’s view tries to show the ways in which philosophical language can and cannot be used appropriately. The use of “nonsense” and “silence” do not necessarily carry negative connotations, and Wittgenstein’s picture of the ladder up and out of philosophy {TLP 6.54} is immensely valuable. In this paper, I will expand upon these ideas3 and try to bring out some ideas about ethical living outside of philosophical theory. Wittgenstein’s critique of philosophy Wittgenstein’s main objection toward philosophy is its pretension of being able to “catch” everything. Along with the advent of the scientific method, philosophy has been used to analyze the world and contain it within a framework that supposedly tells us the truth about things. In a sense, philosophy and science have purported to reflect the contents of the world in a meaningful way. Because of this, a certain vocabulary has taken a primary place in our talk about the world and about ourselves; “thus,” Wittgenstein writes, ” {Ibid. 6.372}. By now, this is not an uncommon comment to make. In Mind and World, John McDowell writes, “if we conceive the natural as the realm of law, demarcating it by the way its proper mode of intelligibility contrasts with the intelligibility of the space of reasons, we put at risk the very idea that spontaneity might characterize the works of our sensibility as such” {MW 71}. Of course, this refers to problems in the philosophy of mind, but it is an example of how one way of thinking and speaking has taken hold in philosophical activity in general. The notion of explaining everything has become violent; at the very least, the traditional philosophical commitment to this view of the world has caused serious problems for ideas about the self as well as religion and the supernatural. The causal efficacy of the mind, for instance, has been marginalized and excluded because it cannot properly figure into scientific or physicalist accounts of causation4 . Why are we in this position, though? Why do we feel the need to stick with it? As Wittgenstein says, again in the Tractatus, “the whole modern conception of the world is founded on the illusion that the so-called laws of nature are the explanations of natural phenomena” {Ibid. 6.371}. It is important to notice that he uses the word “explanation” here. “Explanation” implies that a truthful story is being told about something; however, can everything actually be explained? Moreover, is explanation meant to have such an all-encompassing function in the first place? Is it necessary to use this type of talk to represent the world? Wittgenstein thinks that it is not. By putting thought in its proper place, Wittgenstein’s transcendental critique wants both to preserve the legitimate role of thinking in natural science and to prevent its encroachment into territory reserved to other human interests, much as Kant wanted his critique to limit knowledge in order to make room for faith. For Kant and Wittgenstein some things must be passed over with that pregnant silence which indicates that representation is out of its depth. {EWP 12} Here James Edwards makes an appropriate connection between Kant and Wittgenstein: in the Critiques, Kant tried to highlight the limitations of representation and thus show that there are things about which we can make no final judgment or analysis5 . Wittgenstein tries to do the same in his work. When he says something like “the law of causality is not a law but the form of a law” {TLP 6.32}, he means that the way in which we describe it takes on a law-like character. Description is often mistaken for explanation: what may suffice as a good practical framework for moving around in the world is often misinterpreted as a foundational picture of it. Another way of putting it is that explanation is a form of justification; description, on the other hand, does not necessarily require justification. If we hold our propositions only to a standard of pragmatic use, we may not run into the kind of philosophical confusion that troubles Wittgenstein. Logic, for instance, can play the role of demarcating the world’s structural/formal traits: At 4.4511 Wittgenstein says that a tautology, while it says nothing, is not nonsensical, because it is a “part of the symbolism”, like the ‘0’ (zero) in mathematics. A tautology is part of the symbolism because by considering it one learns something of how to operate with its constituent symbols. And, since these symbols represent propositions, one at the same time learns something of how to operate in the world. That’s what is meant at 6.12 when he says that logic mirrors the formal properties of the world, as well as those of language. A tautology does not depict the world of contingent states of affairs; yet it conveys knowledge of the formal structure of language and the world. {EWP 55} Logical propositions are useful for purposes such as predicting consequences of actions (making causal claims, in other words), understanding that certain events occur regularly, and so on; logical propositions cannot, however, get any grasp on what makes those things happen, or even (with total certainty, at any rate) how they happen. They can show, not say – but then again, the showing occurs in the saying, to some degree6 – ideas about the world. Edwards argues that ethical propositions are of the same order. “The remarks of ethics, which literally cannot be said … are attempts to convey a sort of practical knowledge; it is a knowledge of how to live so as to give a sense to the world” {Ibid. 57}. Both logic and ethics can provide us with useful knowledge, but that knowledge does not necessarily point to any metaphysical truths. Moreover, Wittgenstein says, we do not need metaphysical truths for propositions to be useful; in fact, it is the desire to obtain metaphysical truths that causes us to speak nonsense. Metaphysics is a manner of explanation and justification: it constructs foundations that anchor our view of the world. The problem is that we cannot be certain of those foundations, however much we wish it. When we incorporate metaphysical mistakes into our talk about the world, we begin to make nonsensical propositions. By saying nonsensical things, we are essentially trying to articulate what cannot be articulated; in other words, we are trying to get at something but only coming up with senseless statements. as the beautiful.) And it is not surprising that the deepest problems are in fact not problems at all. {TLP 4.003} Nonsense consists in the production of meaningless ideas through the misuse of language. If we take this to be true, then philosophy really is plagued with nonsense, since throughout history, philosophers have been asking questions about God, the nature of time, the soul, and myriad other problems. Is “nonsense” necessarily a pejorative term, though? I would suggest that it is not. Ayer says that I wholeheartedly endorsed Wittgenstein’s conclusion that metaphysical utterances were nonsensical but did not count the utterances of the Tractatus itself among them. I did not see, and still do not see, how a sentence could at one and the same time express a pseudo-proposition and an unassailable truth. I agreed rather with Ramsey that ‘if the chief proposition of philosophy is that philosophy is nonsense … we must then take it seriously that it is nonsense, and not pretend, as Wittgenstein does, that it is important nonsense’. {PTC 112-3} If we consider this problem in relation to §435 of the Investigations, we may see how Wittgenstein believed the propositions of the Tractatus to be at once nonsensical and truthful. In articulating what ultimately turns out to be nonsensical because it ends up running into its own limits, we are able to convey, to show that limitation as well as the function of language, properly conceived. Thus the truth of the Tractatus’ propositions lies not in the expressed content of the propositions themselves, but rather the truth that they reveal. Furthermore, Wittgenstein says in the introduction to the Tractatus that “the truth of the thoughts that are here communicated seems to me unassailable and definitive” {TLP p. 4}; this is a subtlety that may also answer Ayer’s question. The thoughts communicated in the Tractatus are not solely to be found in the propositions on the page. “My work consists of two parts: the one presented here plus all I have not written. And it is precisely the second part that is the important one” {PT 16}. On this view, we can see that there is no conflict between the assertion that the Tractatus is at once full of nonsense and truth. The point of this is that nonsense does not have to be seen as pernicious or even always useless. Edwards notes that since, according to the doctrines of the Tractatus, ethics, logic, and Tractarian philosophy all lie outside the boundaries of sense, ‘nonsense’ is not always a derogatory characterization in Wittgenstein’s early vocabulary. Sometimes there is something that cannot be conveyed except by uttering something that is, strictly speaking, nonsense. This is the case for the propositions of logic: they show the formal structure of language and world; but they are themselves literally senseless. They do not represent the existence of contingent states of affairs. It is also the case for Wittgenstein’s philosophy itself. Witness the Tractatus: it says nothing, but intends to show everything important. {EWP 106} So what distinguishes useful nonsense from dangerous or misused nonsense? I would suggest that the difference lies in justification. When nonsensical propositions are set up as–or made part of–metaphysical foundations7 , they become dangerous: they lead us into confusion and misunderstanding. Plato’s myth of the immortality of the soul may become dangerous if it is transformed into philosophical doctrine; however, when it is employed merely to convey some idea without trying to ground it in “truth” or justify it, it can be useful in what it points to or shows. As Wittgenstein says in Culture and Value, “don’t for heaven’s sake, be afraid of talking nonsense! But you must pay attention to your nonsense” {CV 56e}. This distinction is of the utmost importance. It is the difference between the Tractatus and a work such as Jaegwon Kim’s Mind In A Physical World, which refuses to see the inherent meaninglessness of trying to talk about the mind and the body as somehow separate or bound in a hierarchical relationship8 . Philosophical inquiry can congeal and harden into doctrine from which it is difficult to escape: we become the fly in a bottle {PI §309} of our own construction. We become forgetful, we are convinced that this is the way things are. In Wittgenstein’s words: the frame through which we look at it. {PI §114} Here we see another theme emerging: certainty. Mistaking propositions for a priori or unconditional truths both spurs on and satisfies the desire for absolute certainty – epistemological or metaphysical safety, as it were. Yet is certainty possible? Or is it, on the other hand, a false hope? “’But this is how it is––––‘ I say to myself over and over again. I feel as though, if only I could fix my gaze absolutely sharply on this face, get it in focus, I must grasp the essence of the matter” {Ibid. §113}. Our fixation on the frame, as Wittgenstein puts it, gives us the illusion that we have certain knowledge of the thing being framed; however, as the seemingly endless stream of philosophical problems implies, the illusion is an illusion and not much –if anything– else. The religious point of view So far we have been examining Wittgenstein’s critique of philosophy. The most prominent problem appears to be the unwarranted and untenable development of metaphysical roots– a development that may have come about accidentally, or may simply be a normal, unavoidable byproduct of the way in which we use language. Of course, because it is unavoidable does not mean it is not troublesome9 . It is also, in a sense, dishonest. Despite the warnings of Hume and Kant, we still fall into the trap of assuming that everything can be explained. We assume that propositions about the world accurately and fully represent it, even though we would see after some examination that this is not always the case. Thus, we are certain of propositions’ validity– but what do we know? How can we say that we have a firm purchase on reality, if there is no way to get outside and make sure? Yet certainty is not in itself a bad thing; just as the propositions of logic provide us with practical knowledge, certainty is also practical. When we are certain, we have a coherent view of our own world. “I act with complete certainty. But this certainty is my own” {OC §174}. There is a catch: the ground (and this is a troublesome word, to be sure!) upon which we stand is always ours; it does not come from external and “objective” point of view. The ground, then, is not a ground insofar as it is not rooting us in anything permanent or absolute. Rather, it is the way our world is constituted, the way in which it comes together for us. It is not above or below us. It is there, in the most immediate way. For instance: goes unnoticed. {Ibid. §167} Our world-picture is bound up in our everyday lives; it has been given to us by virtue of the fact that we are born into a community of language-users. The important thing about all of this is that it brings out the way in which explanation does come to an end at some point. For all of us, there is a limit to what we can sensibly doubt; outside of that limit, it does not make sense to doubt. We do not doubt that the sun will rise tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on. None of us can say, though, that we know that it will rise {TLP 6.36311}; as Wittgenstein says, “There is no compulsion in making one thing happen because another has happened. The only necessity that exists is logical necessity” {Ibid. 6.37}. We all essentially take on a religious point of view at some point or another. When we arrive at the point at which doubt no longer makes sense if we are to make sense of the world, we have reached the end of justification and the end of explanation. Consider logical propositions: we have no way of knowing if they do not merely approximate some kind of correlation to reality by way of a fortuitous accident, or if there is some meaningful way in which they can help us gain practical knowledge about the formal structure of the world. Despite this, we do not focus on doubting logic’s efficacy; we just accept it. In this way, we all take up a religious point of view at some point. To think of it another way, “we are satisfied that the earth is round” {OC §299}. In this way, the world-picture given to us by science is just as religious as the “properly” religious one. We cannot in the end escape from it. “The difficulty is to realize the groundlessness of our beliefs” {Ibid. §166}. If the difficulty is to realize the groundlessness of our beliefs, then our task should be to make that realization. This consists in paying attention to our nonsense, and not making the mistake of constantly searching for justification and explanation. We have to forsake the safety of false certainty and adopt a more critical stance in relation to our propositions about the world. Wittgenstein holds that we will then recognize the non-existence of many philosophical problems and be able to work our way out of them instead of bouncing back and forth inside of them without solving anything. He writes, “my propositions serve as elucidations in the following way: anyone who understands me eventually recognizes them as nonsensical, when he has used them–as steps–to climb up beyond them” {TLP 6.54}. Of course, the Tractarian notion that we can just escape is not really present in the later Wittgenstein; instead, we have the notion of philosophical therapy. It is not our aim to refine or complete the system of rules for the use of our words in unheard-of ways.. There is not a philosophical method, though there are indeed different methods, like different therapies. {PI §133} The idea is that we start to unravel and extricate ourselves from philosophical confusion and anxiety. In essence, we are taking philosophy apart instead of trying to iron out its wrinkles; we are dismantling instead of tinkering10 . When we start backing out of (or perhaps fighting through) the false problems and booby traps of philosophy, where do we end up? Since we are refusing the need for justification, we move into a religious point of view. No longer do we cleave to endless explanation and the desire for absolute knowledge; instead, we adopt a more honest way of relating to the propositions that we use and the language-games that we play. “An honest religious thinker is like a tightrope walker. He almost looks as though he were walking on nothing but air. His support is the slenderest imaginable. And yet it is really possible to walk on it” {CV 73e}. Instead of endless nonsensical babble, we start to choose silence. This silence is not truly the refrain of someone not saying something; it is the silence that occurs when there is nothing to say. This, I would suggest, is what Wittgenstein means by saying “I am not a religious man, but I cannot help seeing any problem from a religious point of view” {LW 94}. It is that tightrope walk, the other road we can take instead of winding ourselves up into the false promises of metaphysics. Ethics If we take up the kind of activity proposed by Wittgenstein, the notion of ethics also takes on a very different cast. Rather than the construction of theories or doctrines, ethics on this view takes the form of a resistance. It is resistant to philosophy, and most importantly, it is resistant to codification. In “A Lecture on Ethics”, Wittgenstein says, value, can be no science. What it says does not add to our knowledge in any sense. {LE 44} As we saw earlier in the essay, nonsense is not necessarily to be condemned; indeed, if the Tractatus is any indication, it can be quite useful. Its use, however, is found in showing. Accordingly, I would suggest that we can engage in nonsensical talk about ethics, but not as a means of directly articulating ethical “truths”. Instead, we can convey ideas about ethics by showing them through our various activities within language-games. As I said in the introduction, literature and poetry can play this kind of role. In Ethics Without Philosophy, Edwards writes that there is no way directly to say what cannot be said. But there are things that can be said which will ‘contain’ the unsayable: to say these things is somehow to communicate what is in itself unsayable. A poem is an example of this phenomenon: it can communicate some ineffable truth about life while talking about the growth of a sprig into a hawthorn bush. A poem may alter one’s whole view of the world, making happy what was unhappy; and it is no accident that the poem makes the change possible. Perhaps without the poem the alteration would never have occurred. {EWP 51-2} Ethical ideas cannot be said, but they indeed can be communicated or shown, thus preventing us from being sealed off into so many solipsistic units. We can indeed affirm ethical stances and beliefs; in The Writing of the Disaster, Maurice Blanchot writes, “affirmation does without proof, provided it claims to prove nothing” {WD 62}; here we see how ethics can thrive (as can ideas about many other meaningful things in life) without the justification of philosophy. But what of lost “objectivity”– how do we prevent the slide into chaotic subjectivity and relativism? The fact that language-games are shared forms of life {PI §23} into which we are all born and initiated shows that we do have a milieu in which the communication of ideas can and does take place. In fact, it would not make sense to deny this! Language is deeply11 and fully a part of our lives and what constitutes us as human beings. Before philosophizing (as well as scientific inquiry) became a cardinal language-game and form of life, ethical living existed: we are not dependent upon it to continue to sustain ethical living. Conclusion An ethics proposed on the strength of Wittgenstein’s religious point of view could not properly be called an ethics. It could not really be theorized or codified: we cannot say the unsayable. Wittgenstein “connects theory, naturally enough, with the concept of explanation; and philosophical explanation he understands to be the attempt to provide foundations” {EWP 99}; since foundations present nothing more than an illusion that leads to misinterpretation and confusion, they should be discarded. If anything, ethical behaviour and thought should be rooted in our forms of life, not in an appeal to a set of regulations or some philosophical doctrine. We can perhaps articulate ideas about ethics, but it is not in the utterances themselves that we see the most meaningful notions. Rather, I would say that the utterances simply point to something that cannot be captured –not necessarily because they are transcendental, as Wittgenstein said in the Tractatus, but perhaps because they are too broad and too complex–by them; the general impulse or direction of ethical propositions can help convey what we really mean, or point us toward what really merits attention and contemplation. In terms of practical matters, ethics on this view would not be treated the same way as philosophical theories. We would not, for instance, try to reconfigure some utilitarian calculus of the “good” over and over again until we got it right. Nor would we ask questions such as whether the good is identical to the beautiful. Instead, I would suggest that issues of the treatment of others would come to the fore, since all ethical thought would occur within forms of life not touched upon by theory. A blanket solution would not be imposed on myriad problems, just creating a disjunction between propositions and the everyday situations to which they supposedly pertain. Propositions (that is, logical propositions or globalizing statements), as we have said, cannot capture contingent states of affairs: this is why propositions about ethics are nothing more than chatter in the end. Realizing this, we can adopt a more critical attitude toward ethical problems, one that does not ignore particular situations in favour of more general ideas. We may be running up against the walls of a cage, but at least we may be doing it in new and different ways every time. Ethical discourse might not, on this view, be restricted to what counts as “rational”; thus, our possibilities for discourse with one another may become fruitful and multiply. This, I suggest, is the type of ethical practice and living that Wittgenstein has in mind when he calls for a refusal of philosophy. Footnotes Works Cited

The pictures here highlight some of the more artistic endeavours we have achieved through the years. Photo 2) The Creepy Train Condunctor Photo 3) Bart Simpson Photo 4) Lego Boy This year's effort is a decidedly different affair. He actually threatened to strangle me in my sleep if I made him wear another box or papier mache creation. This year he has chosen to dress as his favourite Beatle, John Lennon circa Rubber Soul. Regrettfully Beatle boots are not pictured but be reassured that is not a wig! Happy Hallowe’en! Go here to see all of the participants on Tuesday. Regrettfully Beatle boots are not pictured but be reassured that is not a wig! Happy Hallowe’en! Go here to see all of the participants on Tuesday. 10 comments: Jack may be the coolest kid I've come across in ages. Creepy Train Conductor is by far my fave -- and he works it well in the photo! He's a dead ringer for the train conductor on my commuter train. Peace man! Excellent entries. It's so hard to choose a favourite when all of these costumes are so freakin awesome! Creepy train Conductor is brilliant (love the pose) but I think he makes an exceptionally fine Beatle - I'm just pleased that someone under the age of 25 knows who John Lennon is! I thought I had killed all of my maternal instincts, but you're really making me want to go get knocked up. I want a human doll that I can dress up every Halloween!! :) These costumes are all very creative...I love Bart. And that creepy train conductor...holy shit. Creepy is right. Those are all excellent costumes! There's something so cool about getting your kid dressed up in a homemade costume every year, isn't there? Jimmy Neutron's dog - just the sound of that makes me laugh. great costumes This is exactly why we have kids, isn't it, Sean? What a trouper Jack is! I love kids who get right into Hallowe'en! And their parents who egg them on. Well done, both of you! Cree-pee! We love the engineer! Happy Halloween! Flannery and Doc Beth - He does make a very creepy conductor. It's interesting because trains were his first real psssion so this costume was a little homage to that. Lots of fun that year! Dale - That must be some commuter train you take. Thanks for stopping by. I've visited your blog a few times and always enjoyed. Katrocket - I am grateful as well the offspring knows who John Lennon is. It's no easy task keeping him on track musically but a challenge I accept with honour. Loved the pic on your site by the way. Well done with that!. Beckeye - Thank you for the compliment. Creative costumes should be the rule. Glad you liked the Bart thing he was not to happy; I painted him yellow that year and man was he popular at the party. Bubs - Absolutely, that's why I kept him! ;-) Being a decidedly uncool kid growing up, this is an excellent way to erase past indiscretions of cool for me. Gifted Typist - Jimmy Neutron's dog is actually one of my favourite's. Most expensive too. It took about ten cans of spray paint to coat the damn thing! Barb - Thank you Barb! And yes, I relish Hallowe'en every year knowing I can come up with something to outdo the previous year! Flannery and Doc - Cree pee indeed. He freaked out every kid under three for a ten mile radius that year. WE WERE VERY PROUD!!! Thanks to all of you for stopping by and taking the time to comment. I appreciate the kind words. Sean You have turned halloweening into an art form, child. I luv it.

… in Star Wars, of course. I think there’s a lot of room to investigate the economics of Star Wars, and this is an interesting starting point. For a critic of “lawfare”, Kenneth Anderson has constructed the perfect lawfare position: The use of drones to create a situation in which only one side of a war is ever allowed to engage in war. A side of a war that relies on drones could have zero — zero! — legitimate targets. One could have a war in which one side cannot use violence at all without it being a war crime. The fellows operating the drones from Nevada are not combatants, after all — they are quite unarmed. The folks launching the drones might be, but as more and more drone functions become autonomous and as drones become cheap enough to be semi-disposable that group will shrink. The people building the drones are presumably off-limits as well. This is quite appealing when one is affiliated with that side, but I have to wonder if Anderson would be so fond of the conclusion if it were the other side that consisted only of non-combatants and civilians. What they said. Unfortunately the linked article is behind a $30 paywall, so we will merely content ourselves with speculation beyond the excerpt that Caplan provides. One is tempted to pass the time with a nice game of killswitch. UPDATE: ungated version here (.doc format)! No need to immerse ones self in a bleak communist expressionist wholly apocryphal game! The view that the human religious instinct can be harnessed and redirected toward rational thought through the promotion of contemplative or legalistic faiths is manifestly false. That instinct does not revile an irrational and unconsidered view of the world, and it never will. In line with Knapp’s post I linked earlier. When the media say “government shutdown” do not imagine that the government is shutting down. The parts of the government responsible for killing, maiming, imprisoning, and stealing remain open; it is only the bits meant to help people that stop working. I am reminded of the “Operation: Hairshirt” of Yes, Minister fame. The government responds to a budget cut by cutting only those services that serve the people; they will never cut the services that keep them in control. You won’t find a simpler description of why anarchism is morally mandatory than this. It’s a somewhat schematic argument, but it neatly frames the question that freedom asks and authority must (and in my view cannot) answer. “it’s a moral illusion we’re suffering from.” I continue to think that anarchism has difficult questions of social technology to answer (David Friedman notwithstanding, we are a long way from finishing R&D on the “machinery of freedom”). But this should be viewed as part of the long quest embarked on by the Enlightenment to bring our social means into alignment with our moral ends — the single most morally urgent task that has ever existed. Sen. Lindsey Graham (Jackass-SC), seeing his national enemies discomforted, would like to do something about that. If only we had a word for comforting enemies… And Lysander Spooner’s rejection of the notion of “treason” rather specifically excluded people who really did take oaths to the state… Similar to what his colleague Tom Knapp said here (i noted it here).. Libertarians are right to focus on reducing the total spending of government, but remember that spending is one of the least evil things that government does: at least someone gets paid when the government spends. The less costly means of enforcing compliance — the laws, the regulations, the arbitrary police actions — can do far more damage without even the fig-leaf of compensation. Cutting government by starting from the checkbook may make good coalition-building sense, but of the places to cut government it is the least liberty-enhancing, the most likely to disproportionally affect the poor and powerless, and the most likely to pull the rug from under the largest number of people knowingly or unknowingly relying on it. It’s also bad coalition-building. In a corporatist economy, a given government cut will resound throughout the economy, causing displacement and anguish in people previously unaware that they were government clients at all. Until you start cutting laws instead of just spending, you’re building up a large store of fear and resentment for only a small dividend of growth and liberty, spending political capital with no hope of attracting a new constituency. A note to the US Passport Service: When Proudhon said, “To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued,ored.” he did not mean it as advice. He was against it.

Interview with Jeffo in Brindisi Name: Jeffo Date of Interview: August 30, 2006 Area of Italy you live or will live in? Brindisi, Puglia Let us know a little about yourself? Single and never married. I'm an Aerospace Engineer that grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. After university I moved to Indianapolis where I lived for 10 years before Italy. I'm not your typical engineer as I have strange interests. I volunteered and worked at the Indianapolis Zoo in my spare time and my favorite sport is Ultimate Frisbee. Luckily I also played soccer growing up. Why did you decide to move to Italy? The main reason for me was work and I wanted an adventure. Work was getting too routine and I wanted to see the world before settling down. My mother is of Italian descent so when I saw a job within my company but based in Italy I jumped at the chance. Luck was on my side because I had the experience necessary and beat out the others trying for this position What type of process did you go through to be able to move here? I was coming over for work so I needed a work visa before I left and then Permesso di Soggiorno upon arrival. Sounded simple enough. I could not get dual citzenship even though my grandfather was Italian because some vital piece of paperwork in the trail was missing. Birth certificate or marriage certificate. I forget what it was but my mom's a librarian and when she said it couldn't be done I believed her. What problems did you run into during the initial process and how were you able to fix them ? The Italian company I was coming over to help had to do their part before I could get the work visa from the US Consulate(the letter to the Ministero del Lavoro and the Nulla Osta). Harassing them from the US seemed to go nowhere. I finally came over and harassed them in person and they gave me the paperwork needed and then I returned to the States and received my work visa with no problem. Getting the Permesso di Soggiorno was another trick and I wasted two mornings in the Questure until someone from work called a friend and then everything has been smooth sailing ever since. Knock on wood! How long have you been here? I have been here exactly 3 years when I'm writing this. What type of adjustment problems have you had? I have had all kinds of adjustment problems. It's been very hard for me to learn the language as I'm an engineer and better with numbers and math than language skills. It doesn't help that the dialects here can be far from Italian. Also at work I was an private office for a long time at the beginning, which looking back is the wrong time to working by yourself or with only one other person. Later I was working and relating to a larger group at work and everything seemed to improve. Language, friends, even social life. What do you wish someone had told you before you made the leap? Make sure you are coming here with a passion for something in common with Italians. If you like baseball, NASCAR, and country music then you aren't going to find much to talk about with Italians. If you like Italian food, Formula 1, soccer, politics and other things like this then you will have limitless conversations and a good chance of "fitting in". I had soccer as an in but more common interests would have been better. What inside secret could you pass on to others looking to move over? It's not what you know, it's who you know. That's too easy... Also it's how long you are willing to argue. I've seen times where the person that is "right" is the person willing to argue the most. Do you have any disappointments, things you thought would happen but haven't for whatever reasons ? I thought Italians would be more open. Sure they are interested in you as a foreigner and may open up a little but to really be a part of their group takes years. Most my friends have been friends for years upon years so there really is no substitute for time. As a an American, patience is not always my strong subject. Also I'm disappointed I haven't found that beautiful Italian wife that everyone said I would find when I left the US. There's still time... What has changed about you since you have been here ? Too much to even mention. But I'm still basically the same person that is shy in unfamilar places and situations. It's just now there are much fewer unfamilar situations and places. I also think I have much more compassion for people trying to get into the US and more apprentation for my home country. I can now see that every country has flaws they try not to show the world. The US just can't hide theirs because there's too much interest in what it's doing. Like a rock star with the tabloids. Do you think that you will stay forever? This is the BIG question for me. It changes all the time. I go thru periods where I can't imagine leaving what I've grown accustomed to and then there I times I can't imagine not being able to hang out with my old friends and family. Can you think of any other questions that should be added to this questionnaire? What's particularly interesting to you about your region of Italy? I've seen and heard some major differences north to south and cities verses in the country. Italy has amazing differences when you think about how big it is

Events There’s always something new and exciting going on in Sewickley. And now you need never miss out on another fun activity or in-store promotion. Click on the calendar below to view all of our events for each month—or search for a specific event by category. May 2013 Events Montessori Children’s Community Art Show: “Circle of Life” Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm Montessori Children's Community "Circle of Life" is a reflective collection of art inspired by students' studies of South America. Screen-Free Week at Penguin Bookshop: Poetry Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm Penguin Bookshop Bring a poem you love, a poem you hate, or a poem you wrote to share at our open poetry reading at Penguin Bookshop! Montessori Children’s Community Art Show: “Circle of Life” Thursday, May 2nd, 2013 9:00 am – 4:00 pm Montessori Children's Community "Circle of Life" is a reflective collection of art inspired by students' studies of South America. Meet-and-Greet for Screen-Free Week at Penguin Bookshop Thursday, May 2nd, 2013 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm Turn off your TVs, step away from your computers, and come join us at the Penguin; meet authors Kathleen Tessaro and Kathleen George. Screen-Free Week at Penguin Bookshop: Game Night Friday, May 3rd, 2013 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm Penguin Bookshop Stop by and play Boggle, Scrabble, Apples-to-Apples, and mini-trivia contests at the Penguin Bookshop in observation of Screen-Free Week. Lost & Found: Sustainable High Fashion Saturday, May 4th, 2013 Sweetwater Center for the Arts , 200 Broad Street, Sewickley, PA 15143 Lost and Found: Sustainable High Fashion showcases Southwestern Pennsylvanian fashion designers as they discover the potential of reclaimed material. The 2013 Kentucky Derby Saturday, May 4th, 2013 Sewickley, PA Come to Sewickley to enjoy the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports! Free Comic Book Day at Big Bang Comics and Collectibles Saturday, May 4th, 2013 Big Bang Comics and Collectibles Free Comic Book Day at Big Bang Comics and Collectibles Richard “Pete” Peterson, author of Willie Stargell biography at Penguin Saturday, May 4th, 2013 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm Penguin Bookshop Meet Richard "Pete" Peterson, author of the Willie Stargell biography, at the Penguin Bookshop. Low-Cost Vaccinations at Larry’s Laundromutt Sunday, May 5th, 2013 10:00 am – 3:00 pm Larry's Laundromutt , 201 Ohio River Blvd Sewickley, PA 15143 The Western Pennsylvania Humane Society is sponsoring a low-cost vaccination clinic for dogs and cats. May Mart 2013 Saturday, May 11th, 2013 9:00 am – 1:00 pm Broad Street Join us for the 49th Annual May Mart on Saturday, May 11, 2013. May Mart events at Penguin Bookshop Saturday, May 11th, 2013 10:00 am – 3:00 pm Penguin Bookshop , 420 Beaver Street To celebrate the 49th annual May Mart, the Penguin Bookshop (located at 420 Beaver Street) is hosting four incredible cookbook authors on May 11th. Mother’s Day at Vivo Sunday, May 12th, 2013 2:00 pm – 7:00 pm Viv Enjoy lunch on the patio with Mom, Grandma, and all of the other matriarchs of the family at Vivo Kitchen. Child Health Association Golf Outing Monday, May 13th, 2013 9:00 am – 7:00 pm Allegheny Country Club The Child Health Association presents their second biennial Golf Outing, a day of golf, tennis, and bridge, scheduled for May 13, 2013 at Allegheny Country Club. “The Perfume Collector” Party at the Penguin Friday, May 17th, 2013 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Penguin Bookshop , 420 Beaver Street Set in the perfume world of Paris in the '50s, there will be plenty of champagne, classic perfumes, and delicious nibbles at the Perfume Collector Party at Penguin Bookshop! Maddie On Things at Sewickley Arts Initiative Saturday, May 18th, 2013 419 Beaver Street, Sewickley Visit Maddie On Things author Theron Humphrey at Sewickley Arts Initiative on Saturday, May 18th. 4th Annual Sewickley Unleashed Saturday, May 18th, 2013 8:30 am – 3:00 pm Join us for the 4th Annual Sewickley Unleashed – a Parade for Pets and People, benefitting the Western PA Humane Society. Cancer Prevention Study Week in Sewickley Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013 Sewickley Valley YMCA This year, you can fight back against cancer by enrolling in the American Cancer Society's research study—Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3). Memorial Day Celebration Friday, May 24th, 2013 9:00 pm – 10:00 pm Broad and Beaver Streets Memorial Day Fireworks Memorial Day Saturday, May 25th, 2013 Memorial Day Activities in Sewickley Memorial Day Parade Monday, May 27th, 2013 Broad and Beaver Streets Memorial Day Parade

> teak tables wood teak furniture teak wood patio furnitu teak tables wood teak furniture teak wood patio furnitu Results 1 - 15 of about 100 for teak tables wood teak furniture teak wood patio furnitu Teak Wood Patio Furniture By: Jacque Crook | 2010-10-11 | Article Marketing Teak wood patio furniture can be bought in many different styles so it shouldn't be too hard to find something that is ideally suited to your patio or conservatory. read more Styles in Teak Wood tables By: Mc Gill | 2012-01-20 | Home Improvement Teak platforms are an essential category of any well designated house. Not only do they provide a important operate, offering as bookends to a pieces of furniture group, but they also allow lighting to be smartly placed around the space. As with all pieces of furniture, the style of Teak wood platforms changes from season to season. read more Patio Furniture In Teak Wood By: Oleg Oyfe | 2011-05-19 | Furniture Fifty years is what it takes for a teak tree to be considered fully grown. This is one of the reasons why teak is an expensive wood. In spite of this, it is a favored material when it comes to crafting good quality furniture and often preferred for patio furniture. read more Teak Furniture- Hardwood Furniture By: Vikas Shannon | 2010-09-28 | Interior design The teak furniture is made up of a hardwood called teak. It is high quality of wood with extremely long life. It is good for all outdoor and indoor furniture. This wood is water resistant and rust free. read more Selecting Outdoor Teak Furniture By: Mc Gill | 2012-02-04 | Home Improvement Outdoor teak furniture is a great way to add function to any outside space. The best thing about outdoor teak furniture is its durability. Teak wood is a tropical hardwood that comes from the rain forest. read more Teak Garden Furniture By: mike carter | 2011-01-17 | Landscaping Wood has a beauty and quality unrivalled by any other material. And Teak is an amazing wood. It has a natural resistance to borer, termites and decay. In fact, furniture made from teak is furniture for a lifetime. You will even be able to leave furniture made of this wood as an heirloom to your descendants. This makes it the perfect wood for boats or for your outdoor furniture. You can expect it to last, even out in the elements, for between 50 and 100 years. read more About Outdoor Teak Furniture and Teak Patio Furniture By: Daniallrd | 2011-07-11 | Home Improvement Good quality outdoor teak furniture should last a lifetime. Referred to as an incredibly durable wood, teak will be the ideal natural material from which to craft high quality outdoor furnishings. With a life expectancy of practically 75 years, teak is challenging wearing, functional and stylish. read more Teak Patio Table - The Best Outdoor Furniture By: Jasonava Lee | 2010-12-27 | Home improvement Patio tables are an integral part of the terrace area, these tables are available in different raw materials and teak is the most superior of all. read more Teak Furniture Styles By: james | 2011-01-02 | Home improvement Wooden garden furniture has become increasingly popular in recent years as more people want to make the most of the summer and the outdoor ambience connected to barbecues and celebrations. read more Buying Indoor Teak Furniture By: Bagoes Teak | 2010-12-17 | Arts & Entertainment wooden furniture is wonderful for any household, but if you are looking for the best quality that money can buy, indoor teak furniture is the one to go for. You can find teak items for any house and in any style. You can get chairs, tables, dressers, stools, shelves and much, much more. read more How to Clean Teak Wood By: Jennifer Akre | 2010-04-03 | Interior design Teak is one of the most weather resistant woods around. It's used in outdoor furniture as well as for boating. Since it's so resistant to water, cleaning teak wood is a snap. Here are a few tips on how to clean teak wood. read more Essential Facts about Teak wood By: Ryan Armstrong | 2011-04-21 | Home Improvement Regarded as very high quality furniture wood. Actually, teak manufacturing is actually carefully guarded and protected by government of Southeast Asian countries like Thailand as well as India. Several years ago within Thailand, teak trees was previously harvested from the rugged tropical slopes. These days, the neighborhood government regarded as this unlawful to cut down a sapling in the or read more Effortless Teak Table Cleaning Tips By: Ryan Armstrong | 2011-04-19 | Home improvement Are you currently a very pleased owner of a teak table or other teak furniture? If you are, then you''ve just about all reason to be pleased as this kind of wooden furniture is recognized as a great i... read more Teak Furniture and Its Advantages By: Mc Gill | 2012-02-16 | Home Improvement If you are to select the patio furniture, you have to make really of the qualities before paying for it. Furniture for outdoor use is made of more than a few materials such as teak wood, plastic and wrought-iron. read more Outdoor Fun with Teak Furniture By: Peter Andersen | 2011-03-27 | Furniture The large selections of outdoor furniture can give you the chances to choose the pieces of furniture that you can provide to your patio or garden. Patio chairs like benches, couches, rocking chairs, gliders and the different sizes of tables are among the pieces of furniture you can use outdoors.

Drizzle. Grey. Those two words sum up the weather this weekend. So we were very happy to be invited to a brunch at our eldest daughter and son-in-law's home on Sunday after early church. Seven of us (including the Little Miss and her parents) gathered together in person and our youngest daughter and her husband joined us from Rome via Skype for a few fun moments. Yellow daffodils shone brightly as we munched on huevos rancheros, bacon, English muffins, cinnamon buns and berry smoothies. It was the perfect way to spend a drizzly February afternoon. I hope your weekend was equally fine. Joining with Mary of the Little Red House for Mosaic Monday. Oh Yum, I want to come to your house for breakfast! Very tasty mosaic! This is a very appetizing post, Lorrie! It's nice that you were able to share brunch with your family. -Karen Wonderful set of images. Those bright yellow daffodils are just the perfect touch of spring!! and your menu sounds and looks yummy!! It does sound like the perfect afternoon! The food looks delicious! Yummie! Have a wonderful week, Markus What a perfect day! Sounds like a lovely visit and brunch with your family. I wish you a Happy week ahead. What a lovely SUnday you've had! Breakfast look delicious and the daff's are so pretty. Looks like a terrific brunch - how nice for you to share with family on a gray day. Thanks for visiting my little blog project! What a lovely morning with family! My mouth is watering! It is amazing these days that we can have a visit via skype from the other side of the world. Modern technology is a wonderful thing. You had a wonderful day. V Brunch at your daughter's house. Does it get any better than that? What a beautiful and delicious setting...I love the daffodils! That mosaic features everything so nicely that I am beginning to feel hungry. Just lovely colors and the daffodils do add so much cheer. You must have had a lovely day with yummy food. Everything just so delightful! Isn't Skype amazing so that your daughter and son-in-law could join you?!! It sounds like a beautiful day even though it was drizzly and grey... Happy Days! Brenda Your perfect Sunday made for a great Mosaic Monday! Nothing better than sharing breakfast with family (or friends) on a grey drizzle morning. A really nice mosaic. Perfect indeed! Those cinnamon buns look delish! I love huevos rancheros eggs! Your jonquils look so pretty ...I am already dreaming of spring. Hi Lorrie, brunch looks like it had too have been very yummy! Happy Valentine's Day~

Things To Do Dec 13-15 | Arts & Culture December December 13 – Chamber Christmas Drop In Sponsored by TruVista Communications. Annual business after hours for Chamber members and guests. 5:30 – 7 PM at Songbird Manor 116 N Zion St. Refreshments. RSVP to Chamber office 803 635-4242. December 14 - Drawing for Week 3 winner of Shop Fairfield First promotion. Drawings will be on Friday at 3 PM at the Chamber office. Winners will be notified by phone. Pictures of winner and the store merchant will be taken for publication in local newspapers. The winner of the first week’s drawing was Maudie Douglas who shopped at Yellow Daisy. The second week’s winner was Debra Merchant who shopped at Cato’s December 14, 15 & 16. “Another Pine Tree Christmas”. Special Christmas program presented by Pine Tree Playhouse. Friday & Saturday at 8 PM, Sunday at 3 PM. $5 per person. Call 803 635-6847 for reservations December 15 - Santa Saturday 10 AM - 12 PM. Visit with Santa, activities , gift bags, refreshments. Sponsored by the VFW Ladies Auxiliary. VFW Post 8346 74 Veterans Drive, Ridgeway (quarter mile west of Windmill Restaurant) December 15. Santa North Pole Express. Annual rides with Santa. Rides at 9:30, 11:30 AM; 1:30 & 3:30 PM. For prices, times and to order tickets call 803 712-4135. The museum is located at 110 Industrial Park Rd Winnsboro. For more information contact the Chamber of Commerce at 803 635-4242 December 15 - The Runawayjug Band appears at 145 Club. 8 PM. Doors open at 7 PM. $5 artist cover. 145 S Congress St 803 210-5809 or 803 402-5809 November 23 – December 24 - – Annual Shop Fairfield First promotion. Annual promotion by local merchants to shop in Fairfield County stores first, before going outside the county. For each sale of $25 at a participating merchant, the customer will receive a bright pink ticket. Enter in the weekly drawing of $50 cash by filling in your name and number of the ticket and put it in the basket. Drawings will be on Fridays at 3 PM at the Chamber office. Winners will be notified by phone. Pictures of winner and the store merchant will be taken for publication in local newspapers. Participating merchants Winnsboro - Abba’s Sweet Treats & Gift Boutique – 159 S Congress St – Candy, gifts - Barn Express Cafeteria – 215 N Congress St –good for gift certificates, catering. Does not apply to regular food purchases. - Carolina Cleaners – 223 S Congress St - dry cleaners & laundry - Cato’s Women’s Clothing – Midway Plaza – 721 U S Hwy 321 Bypass S – Miss, Junior and Plus size woman’s clothing, shoes, jewelry, hats - Cornwallis House Tea Company – 141 S Congress St – Teas, tea pots & accessories. Does not apply to regular food purchases - Farmer’s Furniture – 457 U S Hwy 321 Bypass S - furniture, appliances - Goody’s Department Store –Fairfield Square, - 85 U S Hwy 321 Bypass S. Men, Women, Children’s clothing, shoes, gifts. - Italian Gardens Restaurant – 56 US Hwy 321 Bypass N – Italian restaurant – good for gift certificates. Does not apply to regular food purchases. - Melting Moments – 223 ½ S Congress St. - Men & women’s accessories, jewelry, lingerie, candles - Summer Day Designs –143 S Congress St - monogramming for yellow daisy - Yellow Daisy – 143 S Congress St - women & men’s accessories, jewelry, decorative items, Clemson, USC & State of SC items. Open Mondays until Christmas. Ridgeway - Cotton Yard Market – 110 S. Palmer St – consignment shop with vendors selling antiques, collectibles, jewelry, purses, furniture, decorations and much more. Open Sundays until Christmas. - Deanne’s Creations 115B S Palmer St– crochets gift items, decorative items, Avon - Over The Top – 115A S Palmer St – women’s accessories, purses, hats, jewelry - Ridgeway Florist – 150 Dogwood Av – floral arrangements, Christmas decorations, fresh cut wreaths & trees, gifts - Thomas Store 105 S Palmer St.- tea accessories, books, teas, seasonal items and gifts Looking for a unique Christmas present ? Purchase an engraved brick in honor or memory of someone special and support FMH Foundation. Engraved bricks, which line the sidewalk in the Garden of Remembering, are available with a $50 donation to the FMH Foundation. They make special gifts to honor or remember loved ones or friends, your church, yourself or a business. Acknowledgments are sent as requested. Occasions such as Christmas, birthdays, birth of a grandchild, retirement, or a memorial to honor someone make lasting gifts. Donations will increase to $60 per brick Jan. 1. St. John's Green Team has “adopted” a section of the garden and invites other groups or individuals to “adopt' a small section of the garden to provide on-going tender care. If interested contact: Brenda Miller at 803.815.4422 or Katherine Doty at 803.815.0563. Virginia Lacy, vice president of the FMH Foundation and project chair for engraved bricks, can be contacted at contacted 803. 360-0893. Donor cards to purchase engraved bricks are available in the lobby of the hospital, Cornwallis Tea Shop, 141 S Congress St., Insurance of Fairfield, 120 S Congress St., First Citizens Banks in Winnsboro and Ridgeway and local merchants in Ridgeway. Fairfield Memorial Hospital Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 established to support the hospital to purchase needed equipment and technology.

Ben MasonComments120 this wiki Rebecca Mason (mother, deceased) Hal Mason (older brother) Matt Mason (younger brother) [[:Category:{{{Images}}}|Images]] Ben Mason is the middle child of the Mason family. Prior to the first season, he was captured by the invaders and harnessed. He is recaptured by the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment at the beginning of the series and reassumes a prominant role in the resistance. Despite having the Harness removed, Ben continues to feel its residual effects. StoryEdit Sometime after the initial invasion while Tom and his family were getting ready to leave their house, Ben was over at his friend Nick's house, it is believed he was captured by the Skitters there and later harnessed. Months later while Hal is scouting a road, he notices Ben among a group of harnessed children, later reporting this to his father.(Live and Learn) PersonalityEdit Prior to the alien invasion, it is revealed that Ben Mason was a good student; he is refered to on several occasions as having been a "math geek." At the onset of the series, the effects of the harness have turned him into a semi-mindless drone working for the skitters. The removal of the harness generally sees his return to a former self, albiet wearied from the effects of war and the death of his mother. Throughout the first season he maintains a lighter personality despite the darkness of the situation consuming the 2nd Mass. One of the major themes of the second season is Ben's personal transition into a darker and more serious character as a result of his growing anger and confusion. Ben's personality changes drastically following the disappearence of his father at the end of season 1. The lack of a father figure allows Ben to step forward and take on the role of a fighter in the resistance. By the time that Tom Mason returns to the 2nd Mass, it is clear that Ben has lost the naivety that had been afforded by his fathers previous attempts to shelter him. Additionally the mistrust and alienation that many among the 2nd Mass place in deharnessed children weighs heavily on Ben's character. This, and perhaps the growing psychological effects caused by the maturing harness, have caused him to seek solace in his own anger. This anger serves as his sole motivation for killing the enemy, and at times he has put himself and others at risk in order to satiate his desire to kill. That said, Ben cares deeply about his family and friends. A prominant theme with his character is the struggle to understand the balance in his life between anger and love. While his anger drives him to kill, he is deeply upset for instance after the death of his friend Jimmy . QuotesEdit Killing Weaver: What in hell were you two doing out there, Ben? Ben: Hunting skitters. Tom: What were you and Jimmy doing hunting skitters, Ben? Ben: They put spikes on my back, they killed mom, they killed everyone...I need a reason? Weaver: Like we don't see enough combat, you have to go looking for it? Ben: Till every last one of those things is dead...yes. (From: Season 2, Episode 3: Compass) . Anger Ben: Wanna know my secret... to make sure they can't control me? Hate. I hate what they did to me with all my heart and soul. I hate that they turned me into a freak. Tom: You're not a freak. Ben: Better hold on to your hate dad. If you can do that, it doesn't matter what they've done to you. They won't be able to change you inside. Tom: You're right. Hate is a very powerful emotion. And I hate them too. But if all you've got left is hate, then they've already changed you. It wasn't my hate that kept me going the last couple months. It was my love. For you, and for Hal, and for Matt. Ben: Got to go... (From: Season 2, Episode 2: Shall We Gather at the River). Physical ProwessEdit Prior to the harness, Ben Mason never exercised and was noted to be physically underwhelming. The harness stimulates rapid growth in his body and following its removal, Ben has extraordinary strength and endurance. He is shown doing hundreds of pushups and jumping rope for several hours. Hal notes that "Swimming across a river is nothing for Ben. Since those spikes, he can run for miles without breaking a sweat. He has ears like a jackrabbit and can see like a hawk."(Shall We Gather at the River, 10:56) He uses these abilities to become an accomplished figher for the 2nd Mass. Ben can also pick up the radio waves that are used by Skitters to communicate. He uses this ability in season 1 to help the resistance jam skitter communication and fend off an oncoming attack.: I've seen the way everyone looks at me... Hal, Matt, even you. Tom: No. Ben: Yes. Tom: No. Ben: Fine, whatever. (From: Season 2, Episode 4 - Young Bloods) Tom: There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish and prey that your mother was still alive. And it, um, sucks. It really sucks. Sometimes you think that you can't even go on. Except you don't have a choice but to go on. And the good news is that we have each other to get through a lousy situation. The bad news is that it's... Ben: It's a lousy situation. (From: Season 2, Episode 3 - Compass)." WeaponsEdit Ben Mason's weapon of choice in season 2 is a Heckler & Koch G36K Put picture from here: [1] Note: For detailed information on guns used in Falling Skies, go to IMFDB. Role In Skitter UprisingEdit Bens' role in the rebel skitter uprising is still relativly unknown however during the season Finale of Season 2 its revealed that Ben is Red Eye's goto guy not only for talking through him but having Ben make other humans understand the rebel skitters intents and purposes. Its also shown breifly that Red Eye cares for Ben much like Tom cares for Ben. This is illustrated when Hal locates where the rebel skitters are holding out near the charelston compound and Red Eye confronts Hal by blocking the way to Ben. And also during Red Eye's death where he puts his arm around Ben as he dies and communicates to Tom to keep fighting. ImagesEdit TriviaEdit - The first scripts gave Ben Mason a much smaller role in the series. - Ben Mason was noted to be a fan of the Harry Potter books pre-invasion. - Inteview with Ben Mason actor Connor Jessup about casting/filming here: - He is one of the many de-harnessed kids in the tv series

“Growing up, I was the only one around that didn’t have any grandparents. They were in Sweden and we never really talked about them.” So my father said, when I asked him for some information about his grandparents, all from Sweden. “I think you know more about it than I do, since you gave me the passenger lists.” What a contrast in searching for my elusive Swedish origins from the wealth of information I have with my early New England ancestors with their well recorded histories. My father is the last of six children, as far as I know there are no other living relatives from that generation or before. Hopefully, I could get some information on his family’s history to help fill in my family tree. So, we continued our phone conversation and I asked some specific questions. “Grampa’s father died years before he came here I think,” Dad said. That made sense. His mother’s name, Anna Larssen, was listed as the parent of Fritz Olsson on the passenger list. “What was Grampa’s father’s name,” I asked. “I don’t know, he never talked about that.” “So what about Gramma? Her father’s name was Carl. What about her mother’s name?” I asked. “You know more about it than me. I never knew what either of their parents names were.” Frustrated, I supposed that even when mentioning their parents, and it sounded like they didn’t much, they probably wouldn’t have referred to them by their given names. OK, moving along. Dad had given me me a family Bible that belonged to Grampa Olson with the name Karl Olsson in it. A relative? “Dad, did Grampa have a brother named Karl?” “Karl. Yes, he worked for the railroad in Boston. And he was also a mason. He used to come stay over night with us sometimes on the weekends. He was married once, a long time ago, I think they had a son.” It sounded kind of murky to me. I knew they didn’t talk much about things, I was gathering that the family had dissolved. Dad didn’t know the wife or child’s names. But now I knew that Grampa’s brother had immigrated, too. “Gramma’s sister was Edith,” Dad offered. “Anderson. She lived in Watertown with Uncle Carl.” That was the third “Carl” in this conversation. At least I had the name of her husband now. Dad was opening up. “They came to visit and spend the night, too. They had a daughter named Connie. And a daughter, Irma. You heard of Irma and Iva. We used to see them a lot. Iva Olson was Irma’s husband.” “Olson?” I asked. Another Olson. No relation. But I remotely recalled hearing some of these names as a child. I never realized Irma was Dad’s cousin. Or that he had cousins for that matter. But I suppose it made sense if my grandparents who immigrated had families of their own that their siblings also would. “They had a son, Lewis. He lived in Newport, RI and then Florida. The last time I saw him was at Wally’s funeral (his brother),” Dad said. I asked another question, expecting somewhat of a vague answer, but it was worth a try. “Was Edith older or younger than Gramma? Did they have any other siblings?” “About the same age, more or less. I think it was just them.” Vague. But not all was lost. As I jotted my notes down, I was recording a list of names. Relatives. Swedish relatives. My Swedish relatives. Are any of their children living? Could I possibly find them? Might they have some history to share that they learned from their parents? I do have a few cousins that I can perhaps interview and see if their parents, Dad’s older siblings, ever shared family history with them. I have talked to one of them who shared some little tidbits with me about Gramma’s homelife that she got firsthand. She also has the Olson photo album that I’m hoping to look at with her someday. “Eric (my brother) showed me the picture of Grampa on the police force that you sent tohim,” Dad continued. I’d found the photo on the Wrentham Police Force facebook page. “So that was definitely Grampa?” I asked. I was hoping it was, but no names were given. “No mistaking that. He was on the force about 37 or 38 years.” And you were a policeman too. “About 15 years. Worked 2 jobs then.” “Eric emailed me the picture of you before you went into the Navy. It’s awesome. Brandon (my son) looks like you. Your about the same age.” “The one with Gramma and Grampa. Pa’s in his police uniform in that one, too,” he said. What a great picture to have. I’ll ask him more about that time in his life another time. Gramma sure looks worried. But Dad did offer that he recently got together with some fellow veterans from his hometown for a special occasion and on Veteran’s Day they had a little ceremony on the common in front of the memorial which where his name is inscribed. I don’t know as I’ve ever had such an interesting and meaningful conversation with my father. It’s not always easy to connect. To discover the bond of shared family history. My interest in Genealogy is opening doors that I never expected. Doors to family connections from the past and in the present.

Without a doubt, Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) is one of us. His taste may not be the greatest, as he has a framed Marvel Age comic book on his wall, but he more than makes up for that with the sheer volume of his collections. At one point, he admits to having 47 G.I. Joes (we assume the classic version) in their original packaging. For some, he would seem to have a perfect life, but for one thing. He is The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Once that fact slips out, co-writer/director Judd Apatow can get his plot rolling. To be fair to those that savor structure, it's really not much of a plot, more a series of black-out sketches detailing Andy's inner life and his friends' struggle to get him in bed with a woman. But it works, and manages to be both outrageous and low-key. Building from a sketch set at a poker game, co-writer Carell carefully explores his character but also gives his co-stars plenty to work with. This is a hard film to explain, as it has a pretty positive message but doesn't shy away from just how gross guys can be when they hang out together. And they are gross, in various states of arrested development when it comes to women. Jay (Romany Malco) thinks of himself as a true playa, advising Andy that he's got to set his sights low so he can get some experience before finding the woman he really wants. Agreeing but with a different energy, Cal (Seth Rogen) coaches Andy in seeming aloof and mysterious to bookstore clerk Beth (Elizabeth Banks). It works, but not quite the way Cal had intended. Rounding out Andy's circle of friends, Paul Rudd turns his confident persona on its ear as David. The guy may have the healthiest attitude out of the three, but he's fixated on a relationship he had two years earlier. The script is smart enough to sneak in both sides of the story, too, for good effect. The 40-Year-Old Virgin is not a perfect comedy. Though the laughs keep coming, a few scenes show the seams of being tacked onto a sketch idea. Trish owns a "We Sell It On eBay For You" store. Though such things do exist and Carell and Apatow try to do something with it, the scene set in that store ends up being weird and goes nowhere. The concept works, as it provides a turning point for Andy. When Trish suggests he sell his collection so he can open a stereo store, it's not just Andy that freezes. The whole audience does. Be warned that for just a moment, this is a horror film. Apatow hasn't quite adjusted to directing for the big screen yet, either. The lighting has a flat feel more suited to television, and many scenes are framed for the boob tube. But he also has an incredible touch for capturing nuance, as he showed in series like Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. Brilliant but slightly offbeat actors like Carell, that can deliver funny but natural cadences, need directors like Apatow. And then there's the chest-waxing scene. Shot live, and quite possibly with a hapless real-life beautician (she can't decide if she's horrified or amused by the cursing Carell throws at her), it may be the single most brilliant comedy scene of the year. In a movie with a lot of winners like that, it's easy to forgive the flaws. Rating: Derek McCaw Fanboy Planet | Promote Your Page Too Amazon.com Widgets

Back with Thursday Linkage Due to the clean up to from the Great Flood of 2010, I wasn’t able to give you linkage on Tuesday and Wednesday, plus I had to postpone the recording of this week’s edition of the Sports Media Weekly Podcast. Things are slowly getting back to normal, but I’m going to be applying for disaster relief as will many Rhode Islanders. I’ll let you know how that goes, but driving to work today was quite the experience as Route 95 was shut down. Hopefully by this time next week, we can get back to operating at 100%. Let’s do some links for you. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that Augusta National will allow ESPN to air Tiger Woods’ first shot at The Masters next week, but not much after that unless he falls into the live coverage window at 4 p.m. ET. Richard says 3-D will add a new dimension to The Masters. Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable says a select few got to see a preview of next week’s 3-D production of The Masters. Alex Weprin of B&C writes that there will be more live streaming from The Masters. Also from B&C, David Tanklefsky says ESPN will be unveiling plans for its 3-D network later this month. Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek tells us that TNT will be using the star power to promote the 2010 NBA playoffs. CNBC’s Darren Rovell asks how much will Indianapolis lose by having home team Butler play in the Final Four. Darren looks at the new Nike contract signed by LeBron James. Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record says 11 NFL exhibition games will be aired nationally this summer. Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner writes that long-time Wizards/Bullets analyst Phil Chenier will be honored before Friday’s game with the Bulls. John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals get some national attention during NFL exhibition season. John writes that a local radio station is picking up Notre Dame football games this season. Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says a long term deal is in the works between WGN Radio and the Blackhawks. Ed adds that WGN-TV will be airing back-to-back specials on the White Sox and Cubs this Sunday. Jim O’Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times talks with former CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer about the expansion of the NCAA Tournament. To the Los Angeles Daily News and Tom Hoffarth who reports that the Dodgers and flagship station KABC are about to announce a one year contract extension. Tom says the Anaheim Angels’ flagship radio station has signed a deal to simulcast some 60 games on another area station to improve the team’s coverage. In the Toronto Globe and Mail, David Shoalts says NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is optimistic that he can garner big money in the next TV contract. Thanks to Steve Lepore at Puck The Media for the link. Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star is amazed that curling continues to do well in the Canadian TV ratings. In Truth & Rumours, William Houston says CBC’s biopic on Don Cherry rated well in Canada. From the Sports Media Watch, we have some various news and notes. I will say that SMW almost got me with his April Fool’s story this year. Almost. This year’s story was really good. Speaking of April Fool’s, Joe Favorito remembers some of the best fake media stories on April 1. Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball launches this year’s Autism Awareness Campaign across his Business of Sports Network as International Autism Awareness Month begins today. Please do what you can to donate to Autism Speaks to help in the treatment and prevention of autism. Maury not only has a son with autism, but I also have a friend who’s daughter has it. I’m happy to say that my niece is healthy, but it can happen to anyone so do what you can to give. Doesn’t have to be a lot. Every bit helps. That does it for the links today. You must log in to post a comment.

Imperial Empire of Snowzerland Snowzerland is an island in the Ninja Archipelago and is also an ever-expanding Imperialist empire. Due to the origins of the country's starting capita, Snowzerland has to pay its loan back to the USA and Freezeland in monthly increments. It is the capital island of the German States, which consists of Alemania, Osterreach, Lichenstien, and itself. [edit]. He also started to take loans from the USA. The USA was happy to fund a new country, even if it was in the middle of nowhere.. [edit] Government The Head of State and supreme leader is the Emperor. This is a hereditary title, the highest rank of nobility. The emperor has supreme power which he can use without any limits. Swiss Ninja holds the title emperor. The second in command is the Archduke of Snowzerland. The archduke is the second in command to the Emperor and also the Head of Government. The position is always hereditary but the Emperor. The legislature consists of 10 representatives from each city, 1 whose the duke/duchess of the city while the others are elected to meet at the headquarters in Geneva. There is no upper or lower house, just the Snowzerland. [edit] Cantons/Provinces [edit] Mainland Snowzerland Cantons [edit] Outside Provinces [edit] Former Territories - Southwest Slumolia - Liberated during the Giant Swiss-Terrain Cookie War. - Frankterre - Liberated by the USA at the beginning of the Great Snowzerland War V. - Alemania (Holyswissia) - Liberated by the USA also during the Liberation of Holyswissia campaign-It was later reannexed back into Snowzerland in 2011. - Batavia - Declared independance from Snowzerland in 2011. They decided that Snoss rule was unnecessary. [edit] Lichenstien Lichenstien is a small island east of Snowzerland Island itself. It was colonized in 2008 by the Snoss and has been a Snoss possetion ever since. Lichenstien's official language is German, and all of the first settlers of Lichenstien were eather of Snoss, Osterrean, or Alemanian origin. Because of it's small size, Lichenstien is highly dependant on Snowzerland and Osterreach for manufactured goods, textiles, and technology. Lichenstien is mainly a farming community, and it's small villages and towns also have some small specialties like woodworking and Cream Soda production as well. It is a member of the German States like the motherland. A map of Lichenstien. Click to enlarge. [edit] Military See The Royal Army of Snowzerland. If you want to see the Secret Agency of Snowzerland, see the SSS. [edit]. [edit] Relationships with Other Nations/Provinces - United States of Antarctica - Very poor. The USA is tired of SN not paying his loan back and SN wanted to conquer the USA. Their relations broke down completely in the GSWV, when the USA attempted to nuke Snowzerland. - TerraMount - EXTREMELY poor. TerraMount is sick of constant wars started by The Imperial Empire of Snowzerland. They are always in a cold war in between those wars and during those cold wars there is the occasional proxy war. - MAI - Fair. MAI has trade with Snowzerland, but stated that it is not impressed that Swiss Ninja has conquered countries, even going as far as saying THEY should conquer Snowzerland if Swiss continues! Other than this argument, MAI praises Snowzerland from its environmental record to the beauty of the mountains. -. - Valnordore - Mixed.. - Ed Island - Very poor. Tensions between Snowzerland and Ed Island have escalated in the past few years. - arminh against them. The weapons are actually for West Pengolia. - Maverick - EXTREMELY poor. Snowzerland has made several sneak attacks against little islands, leading to a bitter rivalry between the countries. Maverick is rumored to have begun development of weapons of mass destruction to stop this. - Dorkugal - Poor. Ever since Malcur ran them over, the nerds have begun to be paranoid of every military power except the USA. - New North Etana - Poor. Since Snowzerland has openly threatened Japaland at least once in the past few years, they have begun to be distrustful of the Snoss. Japaland ceded itself to NNE in 2009, fearing that the Snoss would roll over them. - Japaland - EXTREMELY poor. Swiss Ninja has openly considered taking Japaland off the map, partially because of all the rednecks, and partially because they are an unbelivably industrial nation. They also scare him, becuase that technology is mixed with conservative, pro-war views from the rednecks, a sense of unity from the Asian aspect of the country, and a work ethic better than anything else because of both cultures combined. It's a good thung that Japaland is forbidden from having a military. In the 1910s, they had better weapons than the Naughtzee. - Castilla - Very poor. Castilla claims that it was the "original" Snowzerland and both countries share a strong competitiveness. As much as Snowzerland dreams to Germanify Antarctica, Castilla wishes to Hispanify Antarctica. - Yow Kingdom - Poor. Though the 2 countries hate the USA. As King Alexander the ruler of Yow Kingdom wishes to destroy the island and be the penguin to bring down the USA. - Lisboagal- Decent. They are allies and trading partners, only because Snowzerland hates Dorkugal too. - Rusca- Bad. The Ruscans and Snoss have nukes pointed at each other in fear that one will invade the other. [edit] Culture The Culture of the Snoss is slighly different in different provinces. [edit] a rare, and is not eated. [edit] Clothes Zurich is known for its fashion, and most penguins there are very avid to the latest styles. Hovever, some areas that are more rural and have more poverty tend to wear European peasant clothes. [edit]. [edit]. [edit]. [edit] Media See Snoss Television for more Information. Most Cantons in Snowzerland have their own individual newspaper, usually called "city den it's Propaganda. [edit] Economy The Economy of Snowzerland is divided into four sections:Agriculture, Services, INdustry, and Tourism. [edit]. [edit] Services [edit]. [edit] Tourism Snowzerland focuses a lot on tourism, especially since Swiss Ninja wants his nation to look better than all the others. Public Transport like Airports, Buses, Taxies, and Trains. [edit]. [edit]. [edit]. [edit]. [edit]. [edit]. [edit]. [edit] See also

by Professor Wagstaff Wagstaff Still Alive (Barely) The first week of the McGee Survivor League went almost precisely as the Professor expected as both girls, Team Minnesota and S.F. Col’s Guys finished atop the point standings by wide margins. The only prediction that went awry was that I actually survived the first week; much to my surprise. I did, however, manage to finish in the bottom three as my own “Wide Receivers before Running Backs” draft strategy blew up in my face. Could someone in Houston please inform Andre Johnson that the season has actually started? We said good bye to Team Lunz, as our nephew and cousin, Jim, failed to get out of the starting blocks. One down, twelve to go. No Defense for the Defense It was an interesting Week 1 as far as DST’s were concerned. No sooner than four teams considered to have solid defenses lost one of their top players for a large chunk, if not all, of the season. Troy Palumalo (Steelers) and Jerod Mayo (Patriots) could each be out for as long as six weeks with knee injuries while Brian Urlacher (Bears/wrist) and Joe Blow (Jaguars/knee) have been lost for the season. Keep them in mind as you set your lineup this weekend. * * * * * Fantasy Football Stars Based on how well the Bucs ran the ball against the Cowboys last weekend, RB Brandon Jacobs should have a big night in Dallas; especially with Eli Manning still adjusting to life without Plaxico Burress… Atlanta’s RB Michael Turner should start to justify that #2 pick you spent to get him with a big game against a weak Panthers’ D Line… Speaking of weak lines, the Rams may own the worst in the league on each side of the ball. That’s why we love Skins’ RB Clinton Portis to run all over them and the Redskins’ DST to completely dominate. Fantasy Football Stiffs Could things be worse for QB Jay Cutler? His Chicago debut was marred by four INT in a loss to Green Bay, and now he faces the Super Bowl champs in the home opener. If the Steelers shut down the run, (when don’t they?), Cutler could be good for another couple of picks… If Jake Delhomme doesn’t have a solid first half against Atlanta, the Panthers’ QB may find himself on the bench. Based on their performance vs. Miami, the Falcons don’t figure to allow DeAngelo Williams a lot of freedom, putting even more pressure on Delhomme to come up big… If you hadn’t figured they’d be here based on our Stars report, we give you the Rams’ DST… A solid Vikings’ defense and the Lions propensity for falling behind make RB Kevin Smith a huge risk this week. Fantasy Football Sleepers Last year, the Cardinals allowed more TD passes than they threw and were a disaster on the road. That’s why the Professor moved QB David Garrard into his starting lineup this week… With the Jets shooting their mouths off this week, you have to figure they’ll focus a lot of their attention on New England’s Randy Moss; which should allow WR Wes Welker to have a big game… The Vikings should have no trouble throwing the ball against the Lions, who allowed 6 TD passes vs. Drew Brees in New Orleans last week. Look for TE Visanthe Shiancoe to reel in a TD from Brett Favre among his 8 REC… All of a sudden, the Ravens seem to have taken the shackles off of QB Joe Flacco, who threw for 300 YDS last Sunday. He’ll have another big game vs. San Diego… Fantasy Football Slippers- Bears’ RB Matt Forte will struggle vs. the Steelers; especially if Jay Cutler turns in another stinker… Have to be worried about Chargers’ QB Philip Rivers. He may be without LaDainian Tomlinson and two of his offensive linemen with the vaunted Ravens’ defense coming to town… I know you used a pretty high pick on Rams’ RB Stephen Jackson but it may be time to move him. The Rams look terrible, especially the O Line, and Jackson will struggle all year… Did you pick up Jets’ QB Mark Sanchez this week? Good. Now, wait at least another week to put him in your lineup as Pats’ coach Bill Bellichick will make life difficult for the rookie on Sunday.

The room was being emptied for something new. I dumped files, photographs, cameras, perfume bottles, books, CDs, everything that the draws vomited out in bags. And then I had to find space for those bags. Some are held precariously on stools, some against walls, some inside cupboards dumped over clothes. It all seems senseless because when I open those bags I won't know what to find where. I do not understand the purpose behind emptying anything when you merely change gears or move on or shift. Where is the emptiness? The room looked crowded with walls and the ceiling and the wardrobe and the forlorn desk with the PC covered like a delightful secret behind a lacy cover. I lay down on the bed and wanted to feel light. I could not. Those bags in various places haunted me. Today I needed the cheque book. I looked and looked and found it in one of those hold-alls clinging to some cable wire. I wonder what was being connected. The day arrived for the fresh layers of paint and no one turned up. No one wanted to do anything to my room. And when he arrived rather late, I said forget it. But I did not replace anything. I liked to see the painting behind the dining table…it is of a woman with a faraway look. Now she is propped against a chair getting the whiff of food under the weight of glass. I think she will leap out and hit her head against it. I could be wrong. I often am. Last night my table fan that was propped up on the CPU fell. It broke. Its blades whirred with a Jarring sound before it gave up. I tried yanking at the wire near its neck, but it only snaked out further. It was a very un-fan like thing to do. I poked my fingers into the mesh to see if it would move; it made guttural noises. It lies there now and won’t work. Heat smiles. Filling in. Nothing was emptied. 7 comments: You cannot get any thing new without you first throwing out old I have old clothes, old shoes, old books, old friends...and then the new...?? Throwing out old clothes I can understand due to the hazards of slow-motion corpulence or just wear and tear. But do be aware that if you throw out your old friends, you are unlikely to find any new ones of the same quality the older you get. I never throw out any books that I bothered to acquire in the first place -- perspectives never go out of fashion just because the world changes. Al: When did I say I throw out old friends? They are far too heavy! I was in fact responding to KB that you do not need to...the new comes as new. I agree about perceptions; it isn't only that the world changes but even the perception of the perception does. FV, was not insinuating anything about you -- apologies if it sounded like that. Apologies to you and kb for intruding. I was just saying it myself on reading what you wrote, should have made that clear. Just random thoughts. FV: "I agree about perceptions; it isn't only that the world changes but even the perception of the perception does." True. One has to know oneself well to differentiate when the world changes compared to when one's perception of the world changes due to new thought processes. Al: No problems. A matter of perception!

Skirt: Bar III Blouse: Sugarlips (Similar here & here) Earrings: Pop of Chic Sandals: LC Lauren Conrad Clutch: Old Navy (Old) Sunnies: Bleu Dame Neutrals are an integral part of every girls wardrobe due in part to the fact that they can mix and match with almost every item in your closet including each other. Colors are fun and indeed an essential, but without a few key neutral pieces, you'll continually find yourself surrounded by bright colors that lack basic styling links, which will leave your wondering why you have nothing to wear. By properly stocking your wardrobe with a few neutral pieces your styling options will instantly double. If you’re a color fiend you can think of these pieces as the perfect canvas for showing off one of your prized bright colored pieces such as a neon pink scarf or a mint green clutch. When styling your neutral ensembles I always suggest adding some contrast and dimension by incorporating tonal textures like eyelet shorts or a crochet vest. Khaki, cream, white, blush, brown, black, and grey are a few of the most popular neutrals.. Below are some of my favorite neutral pieces that are perfect for incorporating into your summer wardrobe: 1. Pleated Top 2. Sheer Maxi Skirt 3. Embroidered Scarf Absolutely love this look!! Books in my bags FACEBOOK FAN PAGE I like the idea of creating contrast by buying textured neutrals. I think crochet and lace are awesome textures to have in a neutral color as they spice up any wardrobe. Thanks for the tips! so cute sweetheart! I just love the skirt! The skirt is to die for! And I've been wearing my hair the same way! It's my favorite quick, stylized hair do! Carly Adorable! Love the skirt! Thank you for the tips, Anna, you look stunning in your neutrals! Totally gorgeous look :) Have a lovely weekend! xoxo <3 Wauw, love it. You look stunning in that dress, love the nude tones. LOVE, PurePreciousPerfection.blogspot.com nice look dear, I like ur shoes! love your outfit!! very chic :) Love the cute skirt you are wearing :) so cute kisses thechicmode.blogspot.com I absolutely love this look. Very summery & chic! Fantastic top, it's collar fabulous !! Love the look. The blouse and skirt are awesome! Love neutrals! #3 Blazer is awesome. Oh I absoloutely love the top!!! Well I love the Peter pan collars and this one is super wow!!! So pretty saw this on pinterest too! I love this - everything about your outfit is perfect! omgg i love that peplum dress but its sold outt! so upset! haha Georgi at 7wonders love your blog!new follower! You look absolutely divine....the skirt is to die for!! Rebecca Very cute outfit! Love your skirt! And what a gorgeous maxi skirt! Love, Jennifer gorgeous outfit; the skirt is really lovely x Great post, your outfit is absolutely lovely! love your outfit! love this look, it's so cute and pretty. The shoes are fab :D MEl x your outfit is gorgeus! Kisses from La Mode En Rose = ) you outfit is gorgeus! Kisses from La Mode En Rose = ) What a classy and gorgeous look! Love this outfit! So classy and girly, the skirt is gorgeous! :) x Fantastic!) Such a pretty skirt new outfit post Lovely outfit! Also loving the maxi skirt! Wish I can start getting my summer clothes out! xoxo Fashions Beauty I just love that skirt! It is so perfect for Summer! Love the satin top with it too! Great post! xx Pip I love those platform sandals! My fave summer shoe!! xx-MC This outfit is SO pretty! you have AMAZING style! i also love your photos! i was wondering what camera and lens you use? you have such great quality photos! The detail on the collar is beautiful! Gorgeous look :) Laura xo Your skirt is beyond cute! I also love all the looks you put together:) xo, Love your top! Its so pretty<3 Livingthrufashion.blogspot.com I LOVE collared shirts and studs - together, I'm obsessed. This is amazing. You look so stylish. you look absolutely stunning!!! kisses from prague I really love this outfit. I also love the collar of your shirt.You could be a fashion stylist. - amirajsfashiondiaries.blogspot.com Great tips and love neutrals on you. Unfortunatly I really have to combine them with some color because neutral make me look really white... Anna, obsessed with every details of this outfit. The heels are perfect. And I love all the pieces you pulled I love neutrals. So pretty & classic. Your outfit is beautiful! you look fabulous! i can tell there was a lot of thought put into this post. so nice to see! not to mention, you look gorgeous as always You look gorgeous, loving that cute skirt! xo, Yi-chia Always Maylee This look is amazing, you look fab! I love neutrals, everything goes great together & your outfit in your perfect harmony post is gorgeous :) x I love that peter pan collar top! I want one like that! Great post X Emily I really need a good pair of neutral heels in my wardrobe! Amazing choices like always! -Madeline Grace Just Let The Sparrows Fly you are pretty i love your outfit Gorgeous, so girly & pretty. You look amazing x Te sienta genial! Besos Oh my gosh this look is so cute! I adore that collar! the-creationofbeauty.blogspot.com Absolutely adorable outfit. I want to wear it! Why why, someone looks lovely! I think neutrals are quite essentials. Since I have red hair, I like something that complements it, with a hint of peach rather than just beige. I love your bun! Love, S You must have the most rad closet! Love the neutrals with the turquoise pop of color in the ring. I completely agree with your advice! I LOVE my neutrals....maybe a little too much in fact! haha. But I love the pieces you've shown and love adding in accent colors with jewelry like you often do :) ~Jacy I feel the same about neutrals. They are essential. Love this neutral outfit. It's perfect. Seattle Beauty Fashion Blog Love the neutral tones and your skirt is just fantastic! Arra theprincessonthebrink.blogspot.com Love the look of neutrals! Agree, colors are fabulous but neutrals are closet staples. Amy I love neutrals. Excellent advice Anna!! I always love these kind of posts Ciao!...Fashion is Art and You're a Great Artist to wear in such Gorgeous way!!! So lovely, Smart Look...Perfection! Love Your HairStyle also...Cheers!!! Ciao, Greetings from Italy That top is to die for! I love the pearls, it gives it at little extra something - so beautiful Anna! :) Love this outfit, the collar is amazing!:) XX Love that skirt! Very cute outfit Anna as always :) Adela xx Adela-stylefile.com What a great post! I love the outfit you're wearing. Perfect example of summer neutrals... the school girl blinged out collar on the blouse is gorgeous and the striped skirt is dreamy (striped caramel pulled taffy dream). Great accessories to complete the outfit. I also love the examples you give. Love the Zara clutch! Have a great Sunday! Dana Absolutely love your outfit. If I may, I'm 15, and you're already kind of and inspiration to me. I love going to your blog and well.... I just love it. Sorry if this sounds a bit stalkerish or whatever :P I just did a post on electric blue eye makeup. Feel free to check it out and comment! :) Khanak you look stunning I love your outfit!! So beautiful! The perfect outfit for summer. Great accessories. Such a grea combination,check out my new post Kisses! that shirt is adorable! N. I always love a neutral look...always classy. I also love that little old navy clutch. Too cute! amazing look that shirt <3 or-and-kw.blogspot.com You look so gorgeous Anna and I love the idea of Summer neutrals. The peter pan collar and skirt in this post are SOOO stylish. Love it xoDale love that skirt! wish it was still in my size online. your look great. Love the outfit! You are great at putting different patterns and textures together. Such an inspiration! Thank you for your stylish blog! HH i love a great neutral outfit! Your top is so pretty! LOVE your skirt and ring so much!! So pretty and such great advice :) LOvely outfit! Utterly cute!! I love the colors I'm seeing! xoxo Love this outfit. Colors are perfect! It's pretty. It's classy. It's perfect! love your top! :X That top is just too cute. Looks great on you too. That Zara clutch is beyond beautiful! Love your blog :) Beautiful outfit! Thanks for the sweet comment on my blog! Amberly D'Anna Amazing look, I love that skirt. It looks like it has really good texture, of course I don't know as I can't feel through the screen, so does it?! I love your style!!! lovely outfit!!! The blouse is gorgeous! Stunning look! Great blog you have, check mine if you like. xx Beautiful outfit! Love the colors. It's so girly. And the collar is amazing! So I read above you were w your hubby 10 years before you got married? It's so great to hear that bc I've been w my bf for over 5 years & there are no wedding bells in sight yet and all I seem to hear is when are ou getting married? It's 5 years already blah blah. So it's refreshing to see you didn't rush into anything either! Love the tiny little blue ring with this.Rx This outfit is absolutely adorable on you!!! I love the skirt.... its just so sweet!! You are so put together ALWAYS :) Thanks for visiting us at Confessions of the Glitterati and for your sweet comments :) xoxo, Ally Cute love the peplum! Thanks for checking me out, you have a great blog you've been blog loved :) (\ /) ( . .) c(”)(”) These shoes are perfect for summer! It's time to ditch the flats. Fantastic, love this post! Love your outfit! Margarida love the super cute neautral blouse with the collar. super nice post. loving the summer neutrals!! beautiful! This comment has been removed by the author. You look super cute! OMG! I love that peplum dress! nice post. Thanks for the share.... Bridesmaids gifts Should b a crime 2 look this stylish!

Pants that ride up, sleeves that hang down, waists that pinch, hems that fall short, size 8s that fit differently from label to label. Did you think it was just your body that was impossible to fit? According to Stores.org, $28 billion a year of merchandise is returned to stores because of poor fit. An informal poll on this site shows that 42% never find clothes to fit; 40% only sometimes; 14% said rarely and only 4% said always. But you really don't care about statistics and projections: you already know that it's almost impossible to find great fit. The real reason is pretty simple: there's no standardization in women's sizes. A U.S. size 4 could be an 8 or a 2 depending on the maker. There is a very basic guideline for fit based on a 60-year-old study done by the US Dept. of Commerce. Unfortunately, the 2,000 women who were measured for that study were mostly young, unmarried, white women according to Ellen Goldsberry, associate professor with The University of Arizona Division of Retailing and Consumer Studies on the university's web site. That cross-section doesn't begin to touch on the diversity of today's demographics. Also, this old data is out-of-sync with the way women have increased in size: in 1941 the average woman was 5' 2", 129 pounds. Today she is 5' 4" and weighs 144 lbs (wearing between a 12 and 14). Another reason clothes never fit is that most sizes are based on the assumption that women's bodies are hourglass in nature. (Ex: A size 8 a the Gap is a 36 bust-28 waist -36 hips.) In reality, the average woman's body is much more a pear shape (smaller on top and heavier through the hips). To make matters even more confusing, factor in the inane sizing system itself. "Missy" sizes (2-20) originally designated age, not measurements. And the sizes themselves keep fitting bigger. Unfortunately, this means that if you have always worn a size 10, you've actually grown by as much as 5" in the bust and waist over the past 30 years. The good news is that technology, such as 3D body scanners to capture accurate measurements, will improve data gathering about the population's true size. And mass customized products that allow you to tweak sizes to fit your own measurements are already an online reality.

User:Johannbg/QA/Systemd From FedoraProject Revision as of 18:28, 7 July 2010. New Kernel Command Line Parameters Read the # TODO Add link to upstream manpages or systemd option page. Quick Debugging Tips - Add systemd.log_level=debug to the kernel command line to log systemd with debug output - Add "systemd.log_target=kmsg" to the kernel command line to let systemd buffer to be written to the kernel log buffer - Run dmesg from the command line to inspect systemd output - Redirect dmesg ouput to a file for later inspection or to use as an attachment to a bug report - Run /bin/systemd --test --running-as=init from command line to test run init as systemd. Technical details - TODO Gather this stuff Communicate - Talk to other Systemd users and developers on our IRC channel - Visit Systemd Development Archives to see the collection of prior postings to the Systemd Development mailing list Please read the mailing list guidelines before communicating on the list. See also How to use IRC if the IRC links don't work, or if you need more information. Getting started To install on Fedora 14 and onwards run yum install systemd. Add selinux=0 init=/bin/systemd either to /etc/grub.conf or pass it on the kernel command line at bootup. Getting the Source The primary methods of distributing the Systemd source are source RPMs in the Fedora development tree and git. To access the current source code in in non-rpm format, you'll need to install git. yum -y install git Note that several related packages will be installed as well. After the git source code management tool has been installed, then you use anonymous git access to the Systemd repository. git clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/systemd To keep your code updated with the latest System Development. cd $systemd_directory && git pull If you have committer access to Systemd, then you will want to use the git+ssh access URL. git clone git+ssh://git.freedesktop.org/git/systemd Once you've committed changes locally, you can push them with git push. If you would just like to browse the Systemd git repository via the web, then you can use Systemd gitweb. Reporting Problems Before filing a bug, please read up on debugging, which will tell you how to fill out useful bug reports that will help us quickly solve your problem. Also take a look at Systemd bugs or try searching Bugzillafor other reports about your problem, as some bugs are often filed by several people. Systemd Team In alphabetical order, the following people are the Systemd team and are responsible for the majority of commits. - Christian Ruppert - Dave Reisner - Fabian Henze - Kay Sievers - Lennart Poettering - Maarten Lankhorst - Malcolm Studd - Marc Antoine Perennou - Michael Tremer - Pavol Rusnak - Robert Gerus - Tollef Fog Heen - Tom Gundersen

> In this section: Table 5: Summary Financial Results Total revenue increased by 38.1% to US$1.8 billion for the year ended 2011 compared to US$1.3 billion in 2010. The average realised price achieved by the Group for its pellets rose 28.4% during the period, which increased revenues by US$349.9 million. 40% of sales were on a CFR or similar basis adding US$44.7 million to revenue. Sales volumes reached a historic high at 9.9 million tonnes compared to 9.7 million tonnes in 2010, enhancing growth in margins. Reliance on the Group's two largest customers, in Central and Eastern Europe, was reduced to 43.5% of pellet sales from 55.4% of sales in 2010. Ahead of an increase in production volumes the Group increased sales to customers in China, Germany, India and Japan which accounted for 41.9% of sales volumes compared to 29.6% in 2010. Other revenue, not related to pellet sales, amounted to US$88.1 million (2010: US$5.8 million). This included revenue from third party services, such as bunker fuel sales, at the Group's barging subsidiary Helogistics (acquired in December 2010) as well as sales from gravel. Total cost of sales for the year ended 31 December 2011 increased 34.8% to US$649.5 million (2010: US$481.9 million). Cost of sales consists of the C1 cash cost of sales and other costs including depreciation. These are reviewed below: The C1 cash cost of production per tonne is defined as the cash costs of production of iron pellets from own ore, divided by production volume, from own ore, and excludes non-cash costs such as depreciation, pension costs and inventory movements, costs of purchased ore, concentrate and production cost of gravel. The C1 cash cost increased by 27.7% to US$50.7 per tonne compared to US$39.7 per tonne in 2010, principally as a result of global commodity price inflation. Of the US$11.0 per tonne increase in the C1 cash cost, commodity related price inflation accounted for 55.5% of the increase compared to 2010. In 2011, gas and electricity prices rose by 38.0% and 21.8% respectively while the cost of diesel fuel was 40.6% higher, reflecting a full year impact of the increased oil price at the end of 2010. Higher steel prices resulted in a 14.6 % increase in steel grinding media costs. In total, these factors added US$6.1 per tonne to the C1 cash cost. Personnel, repair and maintenance and other material costs increased the C1 cash cost by US$4.9 per tonne. These expenses are principally denominated in local currency. On average Ukrainian producer price inflation was approximately 19.0% in 20111. The Group produced at full capacity throughout the period, which helped to absorb the cost increases. In addition, the Business Improvement Programme('BIP') reduced the C1 cash cost by 1.8%, generating savings of $0.9 per tonne. Since the inception of the BIP in 2006, cumulative productivity gains have achieved savings of approximately US$6.6 per tonne of pellets produced, or US$56.1 million to 31 December 2011. Just over half of the C1 cash costs are denominated in Ukrainian Hryvnia. The Hryvnia remained on average broadly stable in 2011 compared to 2010 at around UAH8.0 to the US Dollar. 1 Average of January 2011 to December 2011 compared to average January 2010 to December 2010. Table 6: C1 Cash Costs Non C1 cost of sales amounted to US$190.0 million for the period (2010: US$123.3 million). Depreciation increased by 16.1% to US$28.6 million, reflecting capital investments at FPM in 2011. The remainder of non C1 cost of sales related to the purchase of concentrate for reprocessing into pellets. The Group has nameplate pelletising capacity of 12 million tonnes of pellet production per year. Ferrexpo is currently able to mine ore sufficient to produce around 9 million tonnes of pellets. To utilise the spare pelletising and process capacity efficiently, third party concentrate was purchased when available on the local market. The Group will continue to purchase third party concentrate, provided adequate margins can be achieved. During the year, 747.3 thousand tonnes of pellet equivalent third party concentrate was acquired (2010: 998.1 thousand tonnes) which generated a positive contribution. The Group's gross margin increased to 63.6% in 2011 compared to 62.8% in 2010. This reflected higher sales prices and volumes, which were partially offset by an increase in production costs. Selling and distribution expenses were US$318.0 million for the year compared to US$212.0 million in 2010. Selling and distribution costs to the Ukrainian border increased by US$10.7 million to US$138.0 million in the period (2010: US$127.3 million), equating to US$14.0 per tonne (2010: US$13.1 per tonne). These costs primarily include railway freight to the southern ports at Yuzhny and Ismail and to the western Ukrainian border as well as port charges. Rail tariffs increased on average by approximately 10.8% during the year, this was partially offset by a discount for volumes transported by the Group's own rail cars. Currently, two thirds of the sales volumes are railed using Ferrexpo's wagons receiving a 6.5% discount for these volumes. Table 7: Selling and Distribution Expenses International freight costs amounted to US$152.7 million (2010: US$74.9 million). These costs, which are also reflected as part of revenue on associated CFR1 sales, relate to the shipping of pellets by ocean vessel to customers in Asia (on a CIF2 or CFR basis), and by barge to customers in Serbia (on a DAP3 basis) and Austria (through Helogistics). In 2011, Helogistics' operations were included for the first time. The Group doubled shipments of pellets to Asia to three million tonnes on a CFR or equivalent basis principally through the loading of nine capesize vessels thus increasing costs recognised. Depreciation amounted to US$8.2 million (2010: US$1.8 million) and related to amortisation of Helogistics river vessels as well as to capital investment from the purchase of new rail cars. General and administrative expenses were US$52.0 million (2010: US$49.2 million). This was related to an increase in professional fees, including legal services reflecting increased activities and projects. Other income was US$6.9 million in 2011 (2010: US$4.5 million). The increase reflected higher operating income from the lease of premises to third parties at FPM. Other expenses increased to US$17.1 million (2010: US$5.9 million). This reflected increased spending on support for the local communities in the Poltava region, where Ferrexpo is based and is a key part of the Group's strategy. EBITDA increased by 36.8% to US$800.9 million for the year compared to US$585.3 million for 2010. This is the highest EBITDA achieved by the Group. The increase was mainly due to a higher average FOB sales price contributing US$323.4 million to EBITDA. This was partially offset by increased production costs of US$100.5 million, driven by domestic and commodity cost inflation, as discussed previously. The EBITDA margin was in line with 2010 at 44.8% (2010: 45.2%). Finance income was US$2.5 million (2010: US$1.3 million). During the year, income from interest earned increased by US$1.1 million to US$2.5 million. This was driven by higher average cash balances in 2011 of US$604.8 million compared to US$165.7 million in 2010 as well as longer-term deposits receiving more attractive interest rates. Finance expense increased to US$68.2 million (2010: US$41.6 million) which included US$28.8 million of interest cost on the Group's US$500 million Eurobond, issued in April 2011 at a coupon of 7.875%. Due to financial instability in the global banking sector, particularly in Western Europe, Ferrexpo drew in full its US$420 million revolving bank facility in October 2011. Interest on this facility is 225 basis points above LIBOR on drawn amounts. The average gross debt for the period was US$697.1 million (2010: US$346.8 million). Ferrexpo prepares and reports its financial statements in US Dollars and operating foreign exchange gains and losses reflect the revaluation of trade receivables and trade payables that are denominated in a currency other than the Group's reporting currency at the balance sheet date. During the period, the Ukrainian Hryvnia remained stable against the US Dollar at an average rate of UAH7.9579 (2010: UAH7.9547). As a result, there was no significant operating foreign exchange movements, with a loss of US$1.4 million recorded (2010: loss of US$1.1 million). Non-operating foreign exchange gains or losses result from the retranslation of financial liabilities, loans and other similar items. Non-operating foreign exchange losses for the period were US$1.9 million compared to US$3.9 million in 2010. The losses were primarily related to the revaluation of income tax payables in Swiss Francs. The average exchange rate between a US Dollar and the Swiss Franc was 0.88 in 2011 compared to 1.04 in 2010. 1 CFR is defined as delivery including cost and freight. 2 CIF is defined as delivery including cost, insurance and freight. 3 DAP is defined as delivery at place. Table 8: Summary of Group Liquidity and Debt Net cash flow from operating activities was US$502.7 million for the period, an increase of 32.4% compared to 2010 (US$379.8 million). Working capital increased by US$111.4 million reflecting higher VAT and trade receivables. As a result of high capital expenditure during the year, and a delay in respect of VAT repayments in May, June and July 2011, VAT receivables increased by US$72.1 million during the period. Higher average prices increased trade and other receivables by US$17.4 million. Total capital investment for the year was US$378.3 million, which was more than double 2010's investment of US$167.4 million. Sustaining and modernisation capital investment was US$128.0 for the Group, of which US$121.3 million was invested at FPM (2010: US$49.1 million). The remaining US$6.7 million was invested at Helogistics. In November 2010, the Board approved US$646.9 million for development projects at FPM and FYM. In 2011, the Group spent US$177.9 million in this regard (2010: development capex US$97.5 million). US$49.0 million was spent at FPM, while US$129.0 million went towards achieving first ore at FYM. The expected spend for 2012 is fully funded while the Group's low level of gearing will underpin future development spend for processing facilities at FYM. US$8.3 million was spent on the Belanovo deposit (FBM) during the period (2010: US$2.4 million). This was for drilling works and site preparation activities. In terms of logistics capital investment was US$57.8 million in 2011 (2010: US$17.7 million) which was primarily related to the acquisition of rail cars. In January 2011, Ferrexpo paid US$38.0 million for the Helogistics acquisition, which was agreed in December 2010, and disclosed in the 2010 financial statements. The Group's closing cash balance increased by US$570.7 million to US$890.1 million as of 31 December 2011, partly as a result of the net financing inflow of US$521.3 million following the placement of a US$500.0 million bond and the increase of the pre export facility from US$350.0 million to US$420.0 million. Ferrexpo's gross debt had an average maturity of 4.0 years at the 31 December 2011. The Group has minimal debt repayments of US$10.8 million and US$10.4 million in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Net debt to EBITDA as of 31 December 2011 was 0.1 times. Revenue US$ million EBITDA US$ million The Group calculates EBITDA as profit from continuing operations before tax and finance plus depreciation and amortisation and non-recurring exceptional items included in other income and other expenses, and the net of gains and losses from disposal of investments, property, plant and equipment NOPAT US$ million Net operating profit after tax

Spending the day with Accenture at their annual analyst presentation, it helped put a lot of our current predicament into perspective. We can debate, for hours, the finer points of whether outsourcing is currently helping the wounded US economy, but what is abundantly clear, as Accenture’s CEO Bill Green points out, is the need for the US economy to be competitive globally – and to be competitive as a nation, we need our businesses to be competitive. We also had the pleasure of listening to one of outsourcing’s legendary figures, Kevin Campbell, who runs Accenture’s $10bn outsourcing business. For those of you who don’t know Kevin, he was a pivotal figure behind the industry growth of HR outsourcing at Exult, before moving over to Accenture in 2005 post Hewitt’s acquisition. He is one of the industry’s most straight-talking and colorful characters, with a seemingly infinite supply of energy (evidenced by the 4.00AM emails he shoots off periodically). Kevin makes some great points that outsourcing can – and is – providing many enterprises today with many more business benefits than simply slashing administrative costs. However, you need to engage a service partner which can deliver He sums up the core benefits of outsourcing in three key areas: 1) Freeing-up cash-flow. A good F&A provider can add discipline to your collections and speed up your cash-flow, eliminate bad debt and free up a more timely cash-supply. On the flip side, quality procurement processes help you keep the cash you currently have. 2) Enabling growth. The need to enter new global markets quickly has never been as pressing as it is in today markets. Having a ready support infrastructure that can support foreign payrolls, accounting procedures, local regulations etc. can save your company months of painful work to set up shop in new markets. Moreover, service partners can also help you grow your business globally; Accenture uses the example of how they helped Unilever hire 10,000 sales staff in China, which has already contributed to 400% growth in same-store sales in the region. 3) Cost-cutting. A good outsourcing partner should be able to help you sustain cost-savings over a long period, not simply at the onset of an engagement, through ongoing quality and process improvements. Kevin points out, “Costs are like hedges – they keep growing back after you trim them” My take? it’s all about outsourcing smartly these days, and not simply acting in desperation. Too many clients I speak to are locked into outsourcing contracts that are miserable experiences they can’t escape for years. And many companies today simply don’t have these years to sort out their global delivery issues. In many situations, clients have jumped at the lowest cost option, and now live to regret their decision - we all know some in this predicament. It’s not a good time to go to your board and ask for another $20m dollars to bring a new provider into the mix, or rip up your current contract. Outsourcing clients have to think more smartly and strategically about how to create an outsourcing experience than can help drive new growth, can deliver business value to the top-line, and not just take out short-term costs from the bottom. If clients can engage outsourcing to become more competitive, it creates an entirely different paradigm than simply “shipping jobs offshore”. The difference today is that more vendors offer significant cost-savings and scale and many buyers are wising up to this. However, we still see a lot of dead-end contracts getting signed by CFOs / CIOs who only care about the short-term and are not looking 2-3 years' out. Buyers need to take a longer-term approach to outsourcing, and hopefully this downturn is forcing many to think about stabililty and longevity and less about their next career opportunity. David Posted by: David Simpson | Nov 18, 2008 at 07:30 PM

Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco This Is Not That Dream...Or Is It?4 Reviews Brendon changes the performance...for better or worse. Ryden. ******************************** “Have you ever had a dream,” I said, beginning my infamous monologue everyone knew I did before we performed Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off, the skit everyone knew I made a move on Ryan during. “Where you were running through a sunflower field,” I began walking across the stage towards Ryan. He was standing there with a look that said “bring it”. “With clouds dancing across a crystal blue sky,” as I moved towards him, he started to back up a little. Stay where you are, idiot. I thought. “Your lover's running towards you, the wind whipping through your lovely lavish locks,” Finally he stopped backing up, and I moved closer, my face inches away from his. “You reach to your lover for that first passionate kiss!” And with that, I kissed him gently but passionately, catching him by surprise. I heard a lot of screaming from our fans, and the sound of camera flashing. “Hey, Brendon! Ryan!” Jon yelled out from the other side of the stage. “Will you guys stop sucking face long enough to finish this show?” I knew Jon had a point, so I pulled away before finishing my monologue. “This is not that dream. This is hard, sweaty, crazy, angry, monstrous fucking.” After taking two seconds to catch my breath again, I began to sing. “Is it still me that makes you sweat?...” ******************************** “Let’s get these teen hearts beating faster, faster. Let’s get these teen hearts beating faster.” “Thank you so much for coming, we love you, good night.” I said, taking a bow before joining everyone else backstage. I walked into our dressing room only to be met with Ryan, an unreadable expression on his face. “Oh, err. Hey Ryan,” I stammered, hoping not to piss him off. He took a step towards me. “No! Don’t hurt me! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to--” I didn’t get a chance to finish my sentence, because he placed one of his pale hands over my mouth. “Why didn’t you just say you loved me?” he asked, removing his hands. “Because --” I began, but he interrupted me again, this time by pressing his lips against mine. “You’re damn well lucky I feel the same.” he said, smirking as he pulled away. ******************************** So...rate and review? :D

Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco > Fairy Tales Are Not Real I'm What??!1 Reviews "Damn. I must look like crap." she said to herself as she looked at the clock. It blinked the numbers 7:30 in its ritual repetitions. Great another day without sleep she complained to herself, knowing that due to her lack of sleep she was starting to grew dark circles. In the hallway she could her hunged over father making his way towards the bathroom to look for aspirin. "Serves you right bastard." she whispered. Down the hall she could hear her sister waking up in the room next door. For some reason she felt envious of her sister. She was just 16 years old, just a junior, and already she had colleges begging for her to go. "That's the only reason father doesn't touch you. Everyone would know if little miss perfect got hurt." she muttered under her breathe. Immediately she regretted her thoughts, one of them deserved to be happy, for their mothers sake. "Ali. Are you awake yet?" her sister called from the other side of her door. "Yea Mirabelle. I'll be out in a minute." she replied as she put her notebook back into her nightstand. "Ali." "Yea." "I love you sis." Aleson sat on her bed in a daze of what her sister just said. "I love you too Mira." she finally replied. "Get ready for school Mira, I'll drive you on my way to work." "Kay." With that being said, the sister bonding moment broke and back down came the reality on Aleson. While making her bed, she started thinking about the boys again. How much they have changed, how much she has changed, just how fame and publicity they have been getting. And with that she began to doubt if their friendship was still that. But leaving those thoughts aside, she walked over to the closet and began to pull random clothes out to wear. With her backpack ready, packed with her cellphone, her other notebook, a pen, her wallet, and IPod, she stood against her bedroom door with her ear against the door, trying to listen for any signs of her father. With no sounds she walked out and went out to her car to find her sister already in the passenger seat with the car on waiting for her. The drive was filled with nothing but silence. Aleson had nothing to say, and Mirabelle didn't know what to say. Neither tried to turn on the radio, or hum or even breathe loudly durning the drive. As Mirabelle got out of the car, she stood on the sidewalk and looked in. "For what its worth Ali, I love you for being my sister." and with that she shut the door and walked into the swarm of teenagers. Sighing Aleson continued her drive to work with music on this time. When she reached the parking lot, she sat in her car for five minutes letting all the options in her life, but kicked them all out. There was no way that she could pull any of them off without the money from the crappy job. She slammed the door as hard as she could in fustration to let it out. Walking past the automatic opening doors she was greeted by the paniced striken face of her co-worker Elliott. "Aleson Mr.Sperber says that he wants to see you in his office asap! And judging by his expression, it aint nothing happy." "Shit." she muttered under her breathe as she made her way to his office. Inside she could hear him in an uproar, she was about to run the other way when he spotted her. "Aleson James get your ass in here now!" he bellowed out like the beast he was. Aleson opened the door and sat on the chair in front of his desk. "Yes. Mr.Sperber?" "You are fired is what!" "I'm what?!"Aleson jumped in anger. "You have been late way too many times. Look at this," he said as he laid a file on the desk. "Ten penalty hours, and not to mention that you come to work tired and looking like hell." "It's not my fault!" Aleson replied, thinking of all the times that she was beaten senseless that she couldn't even walk through the door. "Then give me a good reason why I shouldn't fire you." Mr. Sperber challenged. Inside Aleson knew she couldn't tell him the truth. "Fine." Aleson said as she picked up her backpack and walked out, on her way out she slammed his door so hard that it cracked the glass. Looking at the floor as to not look at the co-workers she speed walked her way out of the store past the revolting doors, and slammed into someone else. The collision made her wince in pain from the bruises. "Watch where you're going." "Sorr- wait. Ali?" the person said. Aleson looked up and saw who she just snapped at and her eyes grew wide "Brendon!?" Brendon helped Aleson up and apologized, after he had a laughing fit, that was. "You are the last person in the world, I'd expect working here." he said as he helped her to her feet. "Well desperate times call for desperate measures, and this is practically the only place I could find that would hire me, for NOT taking my clothes off." He laughed again, "Well I'll take your word on that." He hugged her, she winced inside as his arms brushed against the bruises. "Umm ..so," she began to say as an excuse to let go of the hug. "When did you guys get in?" "This morning. Everyone is still asleep on the bus. You know me, early bird." This time she had to laugh. "Hey!" Brendon said laughing himself. "So.." Brendon said staring at his feet, caught in an awkward moment. "Umm.. Well I just got fired and I'm on my way to buy some breakfast or something. Wanna come along?" Aleson offered. "Yea." He followed her to her car, and all the sudden stopped. "Can I ask you one thing?" Aleson raised her eyebrows, "What?" "Can I drive?" his face looked as if he was a six year old telling Santa his Christmas list, in hopes that it would come true. Aleson laughed. "How badly do you want to drive my car?" Immediately Brendon dropped to his knees and began to crawl over to her, "So much that look at me, I'm on my knees. Please let me drive." Aleson could no longer hold it in. She began to hysterically began to laugh at her best friend. "You've been in town for only a couple of hours and already you're asking to borrow my car again." Brendon got to his feet, "Well if you're gonna laugh at me, then I'm no gonna beg." Aleson handed him the keys. "If you scratch up my car, you are really in for it!" "Yes!" Brendon said happily as he took the keys from Aleson and opened the passenger car door for her. "Why, Brendon is such a gentlemen." "I always have been Ali. You know that!" "Of course I just love to tease you about it." she said as she stuck her tongue out at him.

Rock and Roll, sent us insane, I hope someday that we will meet again “No I’ll… I mean I should… I guess.” Grey sighs clearly upset at the thought but he just doesn’t want Jo to be so angry, disappointed, and worried anymore. “Just… don’t follow.” He didn’t want her watching him feeding before, he certainly doesn’t want to have her watching him now. His cheeks burn in humiliation even saying he’s going to go do it. Grey grits his teeth and limps out of the bathroom without a backwards glance because if he hesitates he’s going to end up hiding in there still and making Jo even more worried. Jo bites her lip as Grey says he should, moving like she’s going to go with him given how reluctant and upset he seemed. Though when he says for her to stay, she lets out a small sigh herself as she moves to the doorway and no further - not sure what she’s feeling worse about about it all. Grey relaxes when she cups his cheek, leaning into her touch. “I’m sorry.” He mumbles again, looking at her sadly. “I shouldn’t have upset you.” His shoulders slump tiredly. Shaking her head, it takes a long moment before she lets her hand drop away again. “I shouldn’t have.. yeah.” Glancing up at him, Jo lets out a sigh before glancing back out to the corridor. “Did… should you try to get to healing those now, or did you want to go back to the couch? You, uh..don’t have to use the demon if you don’t, Grey..” Grey actually flinches back from her hand moving towards him because the tone in her voice is so hard and angry for a moment. “I’m sorry!” He blurts out impulsively, grimacing at the quavering sound in it. She stares at him for a second, her raised hand hovering and shaking still for a second as all the anger at his words - or the other hunter’s words through him - disappearing. Reaching out, Jo cups his cheek instead with a pained look on her face as she’s not able to look him in the eye. “I… I didn’t.. I’m sorry..” “Maybe I deserve this.” Grey whispers quietly, looking at his wrists. “Maybe I deserve this for what I’ve done. What I am.” He spent so much time listening to Gordon repeating that and that he was terrible for Jo because of it, then Jo comes back hurt and proves it. Jo clenches a hand around her own arm as his words make her twitch to reach out and either hug him or slap him and she can’t quite tell which. “You do not deserve what’s happened. You’re not what that bastard thinks you are, Grey.. you’re not that.” Grey shrugs. “You wouldn’t have half the things that are obsessed with you obsessed with you if it weren’t for me.” He look rubs his wrists slightly, making a slight face at the raw feel of them still. “I think I had a fair few of them already swanning about without you ever entering the picture, hun. You’re not a cause of things that happened to me.” Jo glances down at his hands when he pulls a face, reaching out to separate them and look them over herself. “There are..ways we can work out how to avoid this, Grey..” “Jo… you and Harry are the only ones who like me and are human.” Grey says gently to refute her saying it wasn’t most people. He looks back at her, sighing. “Anything else that likes me is either another monster or a demon. So yeah maybe not everyone thinks I’m scum, but the ones that don’t are made up of evil things. That doesn’t speak well on my part.” “Yeah well, me and Harry obviously have better taste than the rest of humanity then.” She tries for indifference, giving him a smile though it gets weaker when he just sighs back. “You say that like some monsters, demons and people who are disgusting enough they should count as something that’s not human don’t like me too. Grey.. that dickhead doesn’t know the half of what he talks about..” Grey shakes his head, pulling away with her slightly. “And then what would we do with this guy? Plus it would mean using another person or more people.” He looks away from Jo when she says killing bad things isn’t bad. “I am a bad thing according to most people.” “I don’t.. don’t know, we could work somethin’ out. Find someone that’s not a someone any more, or someone that it doesn’t matter if they’re seen out hunting. I don’t know, I’m just.. coming up with suggestions.” Jo crosses her arms when he pulls away, a twitch of her lips getting close to a pout before she shakes her head and it away. “Not according to most people. Blinded people, people who aren’t able to open their minds.”

Venture capital dealsApril 3, 2012: 9:54 AM ET Sapphire Energy Inc., a Sonoma, Calif.-based company that creates "green" gasoline by producing crude oil out of algae, has raised $144 million to build a demo plant in New Mexico. Just over $104 million is in the forms of grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Agriculture Department, while the equity tranche includes investments from Arrowpoint Partners and Monsanto Co. Sapphire Energy previously raised over $100 million from Monsanto, Arch Venture Partners, Venrock and the Wellcome Trust. Manta, a Columbus, Ohio-based online small business owner community, has raised $44 million in minority equity funding Norwest Venture Partners. Some of the proceeds were used for existing shareholder liquidity. The Minerva Project, a new online university with stringent admission policies, has raised $25 million in first-round funding from Benchmark Capital. Larry Summers will serve as chairman of the company's advisory board. Skout, a San Francisco-based mobile network for meeting new people, has raised $22 million in new VC funding from Andreessen Horowitz. Dragonplay, a Tel Aviv-based developer of free-to-play social games, has raised $14 million in Series A funding from Accel Partners. Adimab Inc., a Lebanon, N.H.-based developer of human antibodies, has raised $13.8 million in Series F funding from existing investors. The company previously raised capital from Borealis Ventures, Google Ventures, OrbiMed Advisors, Polaris Venture Partners and SV Life Sciences. Bizo, a San Francisco-based provider of business audience marketing solutions, has raised $10 million in Series B funding. Crosslink Capital led the round, and was joined by existing backers Bessemer Venture Partners and Venrock. FirstBest Systems Inc., a Bedford, Mass.-based provider of software solutions for global property and casualty insurers, has raised $10 million in new VC funding. NewSpring Capital and Verisk Analytics were joined by Brookstone Partners and return backer Flybridge Capital Partners. Pertino Inc., a Cupertino, Calif.-based cloud networking software startup, has raised $8.85 million in Series A funding from Norwest Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Aframe, a London-based cloud video production platform, has raised $7 million in Series A funding. Octopus Investments and Eden Ventures were joined by return backer Northstar Ventures. PureWave Networks Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based provider of 4G wireless base stations, has raised $5 million in Series C funding. No investor information was disclosed, but prior backers include Allegis Capital, ATA Ventures and Leapfrog Ventures. Real Valuable Corp., maker of the CoffeeTable iPad catalog shopping app, has raised $2.5 million in Series A funding from RR Donnelley (Nasdaq: RRD). GameGenetics, a Berlin-based aggregator and distributor of free-to-play online games, has raised a "seven-digit Euro figure" of Series A funding from Target Partners and High Tech Gründerfonds. Want deal news in your inbox each morning? Get Term Sheet!

Sat, May 18, 2013, 6:36 AM EDT - U.S. Markets closed Google is prime for $1000. I think investors will take it there just to see that 4 digit stock price. What a milestone! You don't even know what a crash is you retail fhead! Honestly I think the only good advice on here was given by greymattermatters. The other thing you can do is sell it all. Right now. You've made 7.5x your initial investment in 9 years. What will happen in the next 9 years if you hold? I highly doubt you will see 750% gains here. So my advice is this. Sell now, and go diversify. Go and find stocks you think might be 750% winners. Check out ONVO, TSLA, etc.... Goog 139% up in 6m. Check it with 5% deviation Sentiment: Strong Buy any thoughts, I'm thinking about taking a "cheap" shot at it tomorrow. We do not see or hear it on news at all...... y I got out the first 30 minutes of trading. It was kind of strange selling, holding onto something that long. On to my next long term pick. Make it great day and happy investing :D Sure, and I have a bridge to sell you in New York City. Dow -750 in AM ??? He should take some Associated press journalists to take that job.....lol You're really asking where the top in GOOG is. While no one knows for sure, I agree with Cuffs. This is not the top, we're still $100 or $200 away from it (i.e., 1000 or 1100) Please pay us a dividend u greedy bald headed fart Please pay us a dividend U GREEDY BALD HEADED FART I probably should have just sold have but it was so much money It went up too fast and i made almost 300.00/share so i am going to sit on the sidelines for a while and pray for a pull back down to 865 and try to jump back in may i ask you what you did? sold, hold, hedged? still thinking over? 2014 EPS 2.75$ x PE 20 = 55$ Current price 34$ VERY Under VALUE, MSFT stock price will catch up with GOOG rise............................ If you back out the $150 in cash. Does that bother any of you longs? Not me. If you believe the projections (which are a lot more reliable than Apple's for sure.) then this should go higher even after this big run up. What's it going to do retreat to a 10 PE. NO. A forward PE Of 20 might be a peak of some sort. That would put this at around 1,200. That works technically in so many ways and where I'm selling calls if we get there this year. buying opt...booyah..having a sale...or is everyone buying AApl??

Vice? But wait, there’s more. Biden then launches into a list of Democratic accomplishments—tobacco regulation, hate crime laws, insuring kids (SCHIP, I presume—you will excuse me if I don’t transcribe every word, Joe does go on a bit, you know)—none of them, as best I recall, ones that were first enacted during the Obama Administration [on this point, I stand corrected, but that raises other questions], and tries to contrast this out-of-date list with, well, for lack of any specific point, let’s call it the Republican alternative: If they take over the House and the Senate, don’t kid yourself. They’ve made it really clear. Pete Sessions said [if the GOP takes over Congress], “We’d have the exact same agenda.” And look, there is a lot at stake here, and our progressive base, you have–you should not stay home. You better get energized because the consequences are serious for the outcome of the things we care most about. And I didn’t mention half the stuff we’ve gotten done.! Joe Biden is not saying Democrats need an excited progressive base to win in November, and here is what the administration is going to do to excite them; Biden is saying Dems need an excited base—so the progressive base damn well better get excited. Period. Don’t believe that the same folks that swept into the White House on a wave of popular enthusiasm could now be pitching this piss-poor woo? Biden was given a chance to clarify. He said that Obama is a gifted politician, but he didn’t “fall out of the sky.” Instead: What he [Obama] brought out of the sky, down to earth, were really significant progressive goals that have been met. Wait, what? He brought us goals? Obama gave us the goals? Progressives haven’t been articulating goals since. . . when now? 2006? 2002? 1932? 1916? . . . 1899? OK, maybe Biden just phrased that badly–but still, Joe, what goals have been met, exactly? Sorry, I interrupted. Mr. Vice President, please continue. . . . What he [Obama] brought out of the sky, down to earth, were really significant progressive goals that have been met. More to do, more to do. And so I think it’s time for our base to say, “Hey man, take a look, this opposition is for real.” OK, again, the progressive base hasn’t been warning about the opposition? It has been the progressive blogosphere, far out in front of any Democratic Party organ, that has been telling the establishment that they had created space for the Tea Parties by aligning the White House too closely with the banksters. It was progressives that begged for a bigger stimulus, a jobs agenda, and health care reform that actually helped people and did so before the midterm elections. Jane, early on, warned folks not to take the Tea Party movement (movements?) too lightly. She, Jon, Scarecrow, David, and a host of others on FDL have all pleaded for Democrats to move more aggressively or else incur the wrath of a nervous electorate. Why, just last night, I tweeted: O’Donnell & Paladino’s GOP victories should remind prematurely giddy Dems that GOTV will be everything in November. Does that sound like the twitterings of a guy that does not think “this opposition is for real?” But that is not the narrative that Biden, his administration, or the Democratic leadership wants to tell here. Joe didn’t come out saying that progressives had the right idea, and though Dems had stumbled out of the gate, from here on it would be full speed ahead; “More to do, more to do,” doesn’t come close. Make no mistake, what Joe Biden was doing last night was blaming progressives now for Democratic losses later. Maddow, maybe out of deference, maybe out of amnesia, took Biden’s frame as a given and asked, Why hasn’t the needed progressive awakening happened organically? Joe invokes his grandpa, then reminds us that a lot of people are hurting, and that folks are angry and don’t want to make a choice. He recalls the words of Kevin White (Mayor of Boston, 1968-1984): “Don’t compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. . . .” Joe liked that quote, so he repeated it: “Don’t compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. . . .” People haven’t wanted to make that choice, they don’t want to focus yet. . . . . It’s like, “I don’t want to be bothered–I’m angry.” . . . but they’re gonna now, watch them. . . starting the beginning of October, they’re gonna focus. And the alternatives are stark between a Democratic-led House and Democratic-led Senate and a Republican-led House and Senate. . . . We are going to retain control of the House, we are going to retain control of the Senate because, when the American people focus on the alternative, it’s gonna be absolutely clear to them that there is no alternative. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, I was a consultant—of the branding and marketing variety–and Biden’s performance reminds me of some of my worst clients from those days. These guys (and gals) would sit behind the two-way mirror watching focus groups, and they would deride the respondents and curse about how their stupid target consumers were wrong—wrong!–about their product. It was the consumer who was doing a bad job of understanding the product. It was the consumer that was not paying attention to the right things. It was the consumer that had failed to understand the benefits of these clients’ brands. Those were not successful brands. And without a change in their point of view, they didn’t become successful brands. Let me put it this way: Joe Biden is your cable provider screaming that they are better than the phone company, and you know they are better than the phone company, and if you don’t know that, no matter what your experience, then it is your problem, you fucking idiot. Compelling messaging, huh? It didn’t work for my clients, and it won’t work for the Democrats. It is not enough to say, “C’mon, you know how bad the other guys are.” It is not enough to say, ”Buy my product, or else.” It is not enough to say (as Jon Stewart pointed out to DNC Chair Tim Kaine), “They suck worse.” If you want to bridge the enthusiasm gap, it is you, Joe Biden, President Obama, national Democrats, that have to provide the enthusiasm. And the reasons for all of us to be enthused. Another lesson from my consulting days: it is never good to be the “not” brand. That is, it is never good to define yourself as “not the other guys.” By doing that, you are dependent on them. By doing that, they define the space. All that is left for you to do is react to your competition. In a competitive marketplace—especially in one where you don’t have to buy, where you could just opt to stay home—you have to give people a reason to commit. You need to articulate a distinct benefit. You need to give folks a reason to vote for you; not just against them. Without demonstrable benefits—or at least the promise of them—there is no enthusiasm. The winners of the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries should understand that. But benefits were not what Vice President Biden was selling to Rachel Maddow and her presumably progressive audience on Wednesday. Biden went with fear and loathing, blame and bluster. That strategy didn’t work for my clients in boom times, and it won’t work for Democrats now. So, Joe, uh–how did you put it?—get in gear! You don’t sound very enthusiastic.

More Blogs >> It is said that 1914 saw the end of romantic war, that the nations of the world finally woke up to the horrors of combat. The century before that was the age of imperialism, where nationalism ran rampant after it was awoken by revolutionary France. Nations could do no wrong, they brought "civilization" to Africa, India, East Asia. Europe was the center of the world and nations vied amongst each other for supremacy. The British, French, Germans, Austrians, Italians and Russians had little doubt of their own moral, social and international superiority. It was manifest destiny on a grand scale, and this pride - both among the leaders and the populace - is what led to the deadly arms races which in turn exploded into the Great War. Each side was confident of victory, wars would be short and the blood would be shed on the other side. European experience, after all, was based mostly on the recent conflicts in Europe itself, like the Seven Weeks' War between Austria and Prussia, or the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. The lessons of the Crimean War - poor leadership, underestimation of firepower and fortified positions were ignored as being outdated and part of a limited conflict. Similarly, the lessons of the American Civil War were ignored as being a "colonial" matter, a primitive war in an alien environment. Thus, both sides entered World War I with the highest expectations of glory. Civilian populations cheered the soldiers on, the young men promising to come back to their girls in time for Christmas. Germany's Schlieffen plan commited most of its forces into a wheeling attack through Belgium down into France, forcing an early capitulation of France on the western front and then quickly transfering its forces back to the eastern front, where a minority of Germany's armies were to fight a delaying action along with the Austrians. Of course, we all know how that turned out. Soldiers dug in to trenches, pounded by artillery and kept down by snipers and machine guns. Old guard generals, learning nothing from successive failures, relying on lessons from wars 40 years old, sent their cavalry to die futilely in between trenches, forced men at gunpoint "over the top" to get slaughtered by withering machine gun fire from enemy trenches - and then blamed their failures on morale. The romance of war was slow to fade on the home front, but no government could disguise the horrific casualties for long. Thus, the Allies, the winners of World War I, were hesitant to fight another war. People were tired, disillusioned and terrified of another such conflict. American isolationism - difficult enough to overcome during World War I - would dominate the political scene until Pearl Harbor.

I just removed myself from klout.com. For those of you who don’t know, Klout claims to be “The Standard for Influence” for individuals in social media. Klout claims to measure your social influence by applying a proprietary algorithm to your public activity on various social networks, such as twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and google+. Unfortunately, both the idea and the execution are deeply flawed. 1. Klout doesn’t take into account offline influence Klout only measures what it measures, but those parameters are telling only a very small part of the story. Warren Buffet, for example, is a hugely influential man. He doesn’t give a monkey’s backside who he follows or doesn’t follow on twitter, or how often he tweets. As a result, his Klout score is low, a huge distortion of the Buffet’s position in real life. 2. Klout begs to be manipulated Tony Hsieh, Zappo’s CEO, tweeted it perfectly: Too many marketers concentrate on building buzz. I can tell you that my mom has zero buzz, but when she says something, I listen. One of the problems with Klout is that it rewards conformism. Tweet about what everybody else is tweeting, retweet trending topics, run with the pack and your score will most likely go up. This point was recently very effectively illustrated by Neil Kodner, who created tens of twitter bots (based on Seinfeld, The Big Lebowski, and more recently Sarah Palin), some of which have attained Klout scores as high as 74. When bots get higher influence scores than one of the richest men on the planet, you’ve got a problem. 3. Klout makes people lazy People have been failing college exams because of low Klout scores. Others have been passed over for jobs. Here’s what I think: If you’re an employer who uses a candidate’s Klout score as a metric to decide on a candidate’s employability, then you don’t deserve to be a hiring manager. People, and the skills they bring to the table, are far more multi-faceted than what a Klout score can possibly reflect. Using a Klout score to make a hiring decision is like using research as a lamp post to lean against, rather than for illumination. 4. Influence needs to be relevant Klout assigns one catch all number to an individual’s influence, but that’s not how things work. If you want to connect with Mennonites, a twitter account won’t do anything for you. Sponsoring barn dances just might, despite the fact that they come without a Klout score. 5. Klout is opt-out, rather than opt-in Klout claims to only publish publicly available information, but there’s been recent concern about publishing information that was never meant to be public. Here’s an excerpt from an article in the New York Times:.” Klout has since deactivated that functionality, but still automatically creates profiles for anybody with a twitter account, whether it has your permission or not. To check your own score just type in klout.com/yourtwitterusername. Klout has, finally and grudgingly, given in to public pressure and now allows people to opt out of their service. 6. How to opt out of Klout This might sound counter-intuitive, but to opt out of Klout, and to remove your details, you will first need to open a Klout account. Sign in with your twitter credentials, then navigate to the bottom of the privacy page where you’ll find an opt-out link. Follow the instructions and your information should be removed within a couple of hours.

I don't claim the bragging rights for this ray. It's my mate, Ben, in the picture who landed it. 58cm wingspan 2.5kg weight. Posts: 28 Date Joined: 22/09/09 Nice little eagle ray. Do you keep them or let them go? Posts: 23 Date Joined: 24/09/09 Looks like fun Where did you catch it from Posts: 1408 Date Joined: 05/03/09 good to eat Posts: 236 got it at blackwall reach. we kept it and gonna cook it with sambal chilli tmr night for supper! =D a big brown flappin......oh crap not again Posts: 1825 Date Joined: 06/10/08 any1 know how to release them (with out killing urself) Off rocks? and wat u gotta do to land them? DieHard – The Official “Ray & Shark” Chaser! Posts: 444 Date Joined: 24/12/09 why do you wanna land a stingray, so you bring it up and look at it, to much risk, trouble and for something thats fights that hard, it should be released. plus that isnt a "big" eagle ray. die hard the only safe way to land these is to gaff them, but then its probably gonna die, make a decision cut the line when its beat and youve won the fight, let it go. or only keep it if youre gonna eat it, theres better things out there Posts: 3371 Date Joined: 22/02/07 what we do, is gaff em, flip em on ther backs, get a towel, stand on the tail with the towel under your shoe, use pliers to get the hooks out, then still attached to the gaff, get down onto lower rocks, ungaff him (inverting the gaff, so it slides out-- pretty easily) into the water and hey presto. never had a stingy die on me once ive released it. they are bloody hardy creatures and 9 out of 10 times, if there correctly gaffed, they will live. i always would like my rig back, so i try as hard as i can to get it. only ever once cut the line-- it was as close to the second snell as possible, and it was in a biggg wobbygong that iw asnt sticking my hands in. theres a picutre of it kicking around somewere on here. bludgin' since 94' Oh ok so you gaff him in the wing nearest to the end? how long outta water can they live (incase of pics) no way. gaff em in the mouth! try not to keep em out for too long, 2 minutes is more than enough for pictures gee whispers ! in the mouth wouldnt that like go through the head or sumfin? or just grab the leader and lift em up lay em on there back and pull hooks out n throw em in - i spike em and eat the flaps they taste like chicken - rolled in flour mmmmm gaff em in the wing if you wanna either eat it, or leave it with potential diseases. your choice. the wound would heal in a few days ive always gaffed my stingies in the mouth. never had one die on me. the mouth makes it easier to manage when its on the rocks. gaffing it in the wing can have the possibility of the gaff ripping through the stingray. have seen it happen. im sticking to mouth gaffing as its easier and safer. wich would you prefer- mouth gaff it, flip it onto its back and be done within 5 minutes rather than wing gaffing it, having a stingray flapping around flailing its tail and barb around to the risk of it barbing someone? what are you saying that could happen by gaffing them in the mouth? hmm ur right there. So as they are next to the rocks u somehow? gaff them in the mouth then u somehow? lift them up flip them over ASAP put/wrap a towl around their barb stand on it while removing hook. then stand off towel pull tell away and somehow lif it up and place in water? then angle the gaff till it slides of its mouth X) once youve surfaced it, grab the gaff and slide it under its head, and the gaff barb will slot into the mouthand you yank it, to secure it. then you use uyour upper body strength to slide them up onto the rock on their back. you keep the gaff in its mouth as long as you can, makes for an easier release. what i do, is invert the gaff while the ray is still on thew rock, in wich it will flap, rekleasing the gaff and sliding back into the water. if it dosnt slide back, push it in with the gaff. hmm... 1 question though. will it cause the ray any harm if we remove the barb and then release? trophy u noe.. especially the big rays it shouldnt caus eit any harm, in fact it makes it safer for us anyway. just my opinion though Yes you are right Leemo i heard fisheries (personal chats) saying that u should remove barbs as it will make the next catch easier! it was also in a magz. taking the barb out can also be safer for the stingray itself. we had a medium size black ray at pinaroo point o0ne night and it barbed and killed itself. i havnt caught a stingray in a very long time and im itching to land one again. not much spare time being at school though, unfortunately. Yes damn school :/ need to get something big anything.... need to stretch my arms a bit :O Posts: 1181 Date Joined: 22/04/09 i would have thought gaffing the wing would cause much less harm than gaffing the mouth? Also just cuz it swims away doesnt mean it wont die. Little ones like that should be easy enough to handle anyway, especially with a couple of ppl. Posts: 665 Date Joined: 21/12/08 i usually wing gaff or mouth gaff all rays i have caught,does no harm at all,exept a scar or wound ,that will heal in no time due to salt water,that is a natural antiseptic any way Posts: 1686 Date Joined: 25/08/08 Don't remove their barb if your releasing them... It's their primary defence mechanism its just bloody cruel, All you need to do is be wary of it when you do catch one...just totally unnecessary to debarb them

So over dinner tonight I asked the question, "What is your favourite film?" and to keep it completely fair, I thought it only right and proper that each person should have their own entry. So I give you, Five Go Blogging's Top 5 Kids Movies. At number 1, from the smallest member of the family, the Wee One, I give you Dumbo. He has watched ooh about 10 minutes of this classic Disney film before something else (like a car or a pencil or a duplo block) distracted him. But according to the Big One (who helpfully translated for him) it is his all time (18 months of life) favourite film and he especially likes the first bit where the stork keeps dropping him through the clouds! At number 2, from the Princess, I give you Monsters Inc. Reason? Well she has a little girl crush on Boo who is her absolute heroine, right after Jessie from Toy Story (but that would be pinching the Big One's favourite film, in at number 3, Toy Story 3. Well what's not to love? Actually I'm not entirely sure because I haven't actually seen it yet. (I know, where have I been?) But I am reassured that despite a slight shedding of a very small and hardly noticable tear at the end of the film, the Big One LOVED it. At number 4 we have a tie from Misty Moo, the hound of the family. She asked me to toss a coin for her (on account of her lack of thumbs) to decide between 101 Dalmatians and The Fox and the Hound. And... drum roll please.... The Fox and the Hound won! Another classic with humour, tears and friendship. She is a big softy for a happy ending too. And finally, at number 5, I get to have my choice. Darn, it was hard to choose. But in the fashion of an X Factor judge, I was pushed to make a really tough call. Well based on todays performance in our living room, and the fact that I was bloomin' knackered and still managed to stay awake, I give you Jungle Book. "Well I'm the king of the swingers, the jungle VIP, ..." I defy anyone not to tap their foot, swing their hips and get down and sing along. Thank you Kate over at Kate Takes 5 for her Listography prompt this week. Go on over and check out the other lists. Great list! I love them all. My only school musical performance was tinging a triangle to the bear necessities, great choice! My 3 year old loves all the Toy Stories! Last week we visited family in Plymouth. There was a big screen in the city centre showing Jungle Book for free. All the grown ups sat on deck chairs & watched the film: the kids just ran about in the sunshine! The Jungle Book is on our list too! Brilliant list! Don't worry about not seeing Toy Story, I've never watched Monsters Inc - though we just bought it, so I shall be rectifying this heinous mistake shortly. xxx Love 'em all. Too many to choose from this week. Great list - such a fab idea as it gives you ideas for films to watch and jogs a few memories too! Excellent :) I keep seeing films that I'd totally forgotten about, but now I need to watch again lol. See there are just too many good kids films- how did I miss out dumbo? Having said that I really did think storks delivered babies ....... clearly NOT the case! Xx I love love love the Jungle Book, but it didn't quite make my list, I'm so glad to see it here Ha love it! Great list - especially the first choice - must have been a tough one to decide on that!

A. Non-narrative jump to today: I read Afar Magazine. Their July/August 2011 issue has a story on bicerin (bee-chay-reen), an Italian beverage with secret-recipe roots stretching back to 17th century Turin along the foothills of the Italian Alps. Its main ingredients are milk, melted chocolate, espresso and whipped cream. Cafe Al Bicerin, a Turin institution that takes its name from the drink, is where locals head after Sunday Mass to break the fast. God bless the Italians, with their Roman Catholic guilt and their natural disregard for calorie counts! Of course, I took one look at the Afar story and said, “Dude, I should totally incorporate that into a cocktail.” And what I did was, I sent it over the Alps. What the fuck does “send it over the Alps” mean? It means (says me) to douse peaks of whipped cream (“the Alps”) with a shot of yellow Chartreuse, that suave, milder-than-green-Chartreuse liqueur made by monks in the village of Voiron, along the foothills of the French Alps (“send it over”). My recipe was kismet: The thought of adding yellow Chartreuse to the bicerin stuck in my head for a few days, then I discussed it with Sean and found out he’d had the very same notion, then I Googled a map and saw that, indeed, the mother lands of Chartreuse and bicerin are a mere three hours apart, the Alps stuck in between. Something about bicerin made me less wary than usual about doing a dessert cocktail, and while my end result technically isn’t a cocktail but a spiked coffee beverage, it reads on the palate like a cocktail to me: You can detect all the parts that are in there but the impression on your senses is that of a fully integrated taste, more than the sum of its parts. (Spiked coffee beverages, on the other hand, often taste to me as just that: Coffee with a high-spirited intruder who somehow found his way in.) We contemplated a second liquor, but it just doesn’t need it. P.S. I like this one so much, I’m contributing the recipe to the first-ever gojee Virtual Potluck, an online smorgasbord of eats and drinks put together by yours truly and many of gojee’s other fine blogging contributors. Starting on Thursday, January 26, check out other potluck dishes fellow gojee contributors shared. Go to gojee.com and enter “gojeepotluck” into I Crave. You can also follow #gojeepotluck on Twitter. The Bicerin (send it over the Alps) (Adapted from Afar Magazine; its recipe for the original bicerin is an educated approximation, as Cafe Al Bicerin’s recipe is “closely guarded”) 2 ounces yellow Chartreuse 1/2 cup 2% milk 1 1/2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips 2 shots very strong coffee 1/4 cup freshly whipped cream, sweetened to taste In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk and chocolate until boiling, whisking vigorously all the while. Remove from heat, then pour mixture into a clear cappuccino mug, goblet, etc. Slowly pour in coffee. Top with whipped cream. Slowly pour Chartreuse over whipped cream. Serve with a sundae spoon (optional). Tasting Notes Afar‘s printed recipe calls for whole milk, dark chocolate and espresso. I went with what I went with (2%, semi-sweet, “strong coffee”) because I already had them in the house. Having said that, this drink was diabetic coma-inducing enough the way I made it. Proceed with whole/dark/espresso at your own risk. (Seriously, garnish with insulin injectable or something if you must go all the way.) If you don’t have yellow Chartreuse, try making this with a shot of Benedictine instead. Their smell and taste profiles are quite similar, although of course you won’t get the same, sunny brightness shining down on your Alps. Don’t use green Chartreuse; it’s too herbal in taste, and everyone will assume it’s creme de menthe and that you made some sort of caffeinated Grasshopper. I was afraid of melting chocolate in a saucepan rather than a double boiler, but with the milk this was actually not an issue at all. (I did use a nonstick saucepan, for what that’s worth.)

The most significant change to our presidential forecast model this year is that it contains an economic index, which is used to guide forecasts along with the polls. In fact, as you may have seen since we began our short daily summaries of the model’s output, new economic data often has just as much influence over the forecast as the latest poll from Ohio or Florida. I have some fairly strong views about the right way to use economic data in a forecasting model like this one. This is fundamentally a very challenging problem because there have been only 16 presidential elections since World War II, and yet there are dozens and dozens of plausible economic variables to pick from. (The Federal Reserve’s Web site, in fact, now publishes about 45,000 economic statistics.) The historical evidence is robust enough to say that economic performance almost certainly matters at least somewhat, and that poorer economic performance tends to hurt the incumbent party’s presidential candidate. Likewise, it seems clear that the trend in performance matters more than the absolute level — otherwise, Franklin D. Roosevelt would not have been re-elected easily with an unemployment rate well into the double digits (although rapidly declining) in 1936. But we just do not have anywhere near enough to data to make confident claims about exactly which economic variables are important. For that matter, most of the more obvious choices for economic variables have performed about as well as one another on the historical data anyway. Each one gets some elections right and some wrong. Let me explain some of the choices I made about the model in light of this problem. First, I wanted a composite economic index rather than picking just one or two variables. If it is hard to tell exactly which economic variables are most important to elections, it seems far better to take some kind of aggregate or average of them rather than arbitrarily picking one. As you will see later, different economic variables this year would give you a radically different outlook on how likely President Obama is to be re-elected. One of the reasons that some of the presidential forecasting models published by academics have not performed all that well is because they have not adopted this consensus approach. Instead, they will use just one or two variables. Yet rarely do they use exactly the same variable, and sometimes the choice is something fairly exotic rather than commonly-used measures like jobs growth, inflation, or gross domestic product. In some of these models, it seems evident that the modeler has searched through hundreds of different model specifications to get the best ‘fit’ on past data. When dealing with noisy data and a limited number of observations, however, that can be a problem, because it will introduce significant selection bias or overfitting. Over a small sample size, it is inevitable that some variables will have performed much better than others because of luck alone. If you calibrate the model based on the lucky variables, their luck will eventually run out and your model will not be as accurate as claimed when used to make real predictions. In addition, the American public experiences many different facets of the economy in many different ways. It’s a basic rule of sound forecasting that data subject to measurement or modeling error becomes more robust if you average or aggregate it together. Typically, this averaging or aggregation process reduces forecast error by about 20 percent. Second, I wanted to use relatively broad-based measures of economic performance rather than narrowly tailored ones.. I wanted to look at the sorts of measures that investors and economists might weigh most heavily in gauging the performance of the economy, and I wanted an index that makes good economic sense, rather than being cherry-picked to fit elections data in particular. I also wanted to pick variables that reflected different aspects of economic activity without double counting them, although there is certainly some overlap in the ground the variables that I chose cover. Third, I wanted data that is updated regularly — monthly or more often. If you did want to use just one variable, then gross domestic product might be a reasonable choice, being the broadest-based measure of economic activity in the United States. (Although G.D.P. still contains plenty of noise, like the inventories adjustment.) The problem is that G.D.P. is updated only once per quarter, and then with a significant lag. If it becomes clear in July that the nation is experiencing an economic collapse, it doesn’t make much sense to have to wait until late October (when third-quarter G.D.P. is finally reported) to have that reflected in an economic model. Fourth, and related to this goal of building a model that could make realistic forecasts in real time, I wanted to use data as it was initially reported during election years to calibrate the model, and the data as it was revised after the fact. Most economic data series are subject to revisions; the process can persist for months or even years after the fact. Sometimes, these can be very severe — turning a quarter that was originally thought to provide average growth in to a recession, or vice versa. But the magnitude of the revisions — and therefore, the reliability of a data point based on its initial print — can vary a lot from indicator to indicator. Some series are revised much more than others, and a few even have a history of biased revisions (meaning that the revisions usually tend to go in one direction). This problem gets too little attention, in my view. I will sometimes visit macroeconomic forecasting Web sites where economists and investors get into detailed debates about which variables are more lagging and leading. But usually they are arguing about revised data, all of which is lagging in the sense that it is not available to forecasters seeking to make predictions about the economy in real time. The lack of sensitivity to these data-quality issues may hinder economic planning and is one reason that economic forecasts are often much less accurate than advertised. The initially reported data, meanwhile, is also what is available to candidates and voters at the time of the election. Some econometric models score the 1992 election as a “miss,” because revised economic data shows roughly average growth during that year, when the incumbent, the elder President Bush, was defeated. However, the data was still quite poor as it was reported during 1992 itself. The initially reported data represents a closer approximation of what voters would have been weighing at the time. Fortunately, the Federal Reserve is doing a better and better job of making archived economic data available through its Alfred Web site. Not all 45,000 variables are archived, but most of the major variables have reasonably good coverage, especially from the mid-1960s onward. What I settled upon is a series of seven variables. The variables are weighed equally in the model, with one slight exception. All are relatively broad based, and are available in archived form going back to at least the election of 1968. The first four variables are among the monthly indicators that economists most commonly use to help date recessions. Nonfarm payrolls. This is the jobs figure that is commonly reported in news accounts, as in “100,000 jobs were added last month.” I prefer this figure to a calculation based on the unemployment rate, which comes from a separate survey but which is subject to larger measurement error. Personal income. Many academic election models use this variable or close cousins of it, like disposable personal income. I use the personal-income version because the archived record for it is more complete. In theory, this variable has a lot of merit, since it reflects the different income streams coming to voters. A pay increase at work will be reflected. So would things like stock dividends or rental income. In practice, however, measuring all these different income streams is challenging for the government. So this variable can fluctuate wildly from month to month and is subject to severe revisions. (These revisions, moreover, have been upwardly biased in the past, meaning that the government initially tended to underestimate income as measured in this way.) This variable can also be sensitive to changes in government policy, like stimulus payments, which voters may not react to in the same way as other types of income. Still, this variable is certainly useful as long as it is not treated as some sort of magic bullet, and it is included in our index. Industrial production. This is the granddaddy of economic variables — the government has kept track of it since 1919. Industrial production is the government’s broadest measure of activity in manufacturing and related fields like mining. It is generally timed well to the business cycle, or can sometimes slightly lead it as it can reflect businesses’ estimates of consumer demand for durable goods in the near future. It is also subject to fewer revisions than many other data series. Personal consumption expenditures This measures household consumption of all kinds and goods services, which represents about 70 percent of gross domestic product. This variable is often strongly correlated to consumer confidence. But it arguably provides for a more tangible measure of the consumer, as it reflects how they are actually behaving with their dollars. Inflation. Inflation, as measured through the Consumer Price Index, is the fifth economic variable in the model. Some of the academic models include measures of inflation and some do not. I think the case for doing so is reasonably clear. Inflation is among the most visible economic measures, and is among the most central in setting policy. It has also had a strong correlation with presidential approval ratings in the United States and has had a strong correlation with election outcomes in other countries. The relationship between the inflation rate during the election year and election outcomes in the United States has been somewhat weaker, although when inflation is high — like in 1980 or in many elections before World War II — it usually has meant trouble for the incumbent president. Having one measure of inflation, as compared to six variables that measure growth, seems like a reasonable compromise. Unlike for the other variables, higher inflation is worse for the incumbent, while lower inflation is better; the model, of course, considers this. However, our version of the variable gives a president no additional credit if the inflation rate is below 2 percent, since having a small amount of inflation is considered ideal by the Federal Reserve. A president gets no “extra credit” for deflation or near-deflation, in other words. I get a lot of e-mail and Twitter questions about whether gas prices are included in the model. This is where they fit in, since gas prices will be reflected in the Consumer Price Index. Gas prices, of course, can also have indirect effects on variables like consumption. The last two variables are forward looking. Forecasted G.D.P. The model uses the forecast of gross domestic product growth over the leading two economic quarters (that is, not counting the current quarter) as taken from the median of The Wall Street Journal’s monthly forecasting panel. Right now, these forecasts continue to point toward fairly sluggish growth. As I mentioned, I do not think it is wise to tweak your model endlessly based on fitting the past data in cases like this where the sample size is limited and the past data is very noisy. But I did look to see the relative value of current economic measures against forward looking ones. We found that the current economic measures seem to have more value — perhaps, in part, because economic forecasting is a very rough science. But the forecasts do seem to provide some value if used in moderation. Stock Market. Likewise, I found that the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, probably provides some value if used carefully. The stock market has some unique virtues as a forecasting variable. It is available almost literally instantly, so something like relatively favorable resolution to the European debt summit — which might reduce the economic downside case for the United States in the second half of the year — can be reflected in the forecast almost literally overnight. And the stock market is not subject to revisions of any kind. The downside is that sometimes the stock market shifts for reasons that have less to do with macroeconomic performance. Shifts in sentiment about Federal Reserve policy, for instance, can influence the market. And sometimes the movement in stock market prices may simply be irrational. Still, all economic variables have their problems, and our finding is that a small dose of stock market data probably provides some useful information to elections forecasters. Moreover, although the market certainly gets things wrong some of the time, changes in the stock market tend to anticipate changes in several of the other six variables.. As I mentioned, the seven variables are weighted equally, with the exception of the stock market which is weighted slightly less. Specifically, the stock market represents 10 percent of the total index, whereas the other six variables each represent 15 percent of it. Still, since the stock market is updated daily and can change quickly, it may have a relatively noticeable effect on the forecast. Why use these largely equal weights? There is support for doing so in the empirical literature on forecasting in cases where the sample size is small and the data is very noisy. The alternative would be to set the weights by regression analysis, but the data is just not robust enough to do this. You wind up with a big mess when you try to test the relative importance of seven economic variables on 10 or 15 past elections. Arbitrarily dropping variables may produce a cleaner-looking result, but they do not really prevent overfitting and are the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig. We think accounting for a larger number of variables, but weighing them about equally, is the better choice. There are a few other details that need to be resolved. The most important one is what time frame to use in evaluating the data series. One of the points that the historical record is fairly clear on is that voters have a fairly near-term focus when it comes to the economy. Almost no matter what variable you use or how you specify your model, there just is not much evidence that the economic performance of a president in his first two years in office matters much by the time you get to Election Day. (Some statistical models, in fact — although I do not personally find them all that plausible — even claim that poor economic performance during a president’s first two years in office may help him. ) With that said, one cannot get too cute about this. Economic data, as we have mentioned, is quite noisy — certainly from month to month and even from quarter to quarter. And if voters are forward looking in their outlook, they can still take some time to parse the changes in the data (as can the news media and economists). I decided to focus on economic data that looks at the performance of the economy over roughly the past half-year — although the implementation of this gets a bit more complicated to work around another thorny complication in economic modeling. Below is a chart showing the progression of real personal income over 2004 and 2005. Note that there is a big spike in one month, December 2004, which coincided with a large one-time dividend payment made by Microsoft. In addition to speaking to how personal income can be a problematic data series to begin with, this spike would also create problems for you if you were trying to measure the change in personal income at some later date. For instance, if your model was based at looking at the change in personal income over six months, it would look like something very bad had happened in June 2005, since this would be exactly six-months after the one-time spike. Then in July 2005, the index would suddenly appear to be rising at a healthy clip again. The solution is to make these comparisons on a rolling basis. Our model calculates the change in each variable at intervals ranging from one month to one year. In other words, it calculates the one-month change in the variable, the two-month change, the three-month change, and so forth, then averages these results together after normalizing them to have the same standard deviation. The result is generally similar to the six-month change, but more robust to short-term blips in the data. A slight variation is used in the procedure for the stock market. Because the stock market is not subject to measurement error, the model just uses the close of the S&P 500 from the most recent trading day. It then calculates the growth rate in the stock market by comparing this value to that on each of the past 252 trading days on a rolling basis as described above. (Why 252 trading days? That’s the average number of days that the stock market is open during a calendar year, excluding holidays, weekends, and so forth.) In addition, since all the economic measures are on different scales, they are normalized such that they have the same mean and standard deviation. For purposes of legibility, the index is then scaled such that it has the same mean and standard deviation as quarterly changes in gross domestic product. So a value in the low-to-mid 3’s represents an economy that is growing at an average rate, while readings at 0 or below are recessionary. Right now, the different components of the index read as follows. (Keep in mind that these are normalized rather than raw values. Moreover, as I mentioned, the value for inflation is inverted before being normalized, since lower inflation tends to help incumbents.) Right now, the index reads at 2.5 percent, which means that the economy looked at as a whole is clearly below-average, but not recessionary. There are some bright spots in the data, like the relatively strong rate of industrial activity, very low inflation (in part because of declining gas prices), and a stock market that signals the possibility for a more favorable flow of data in the second half of the year. On the other hand, growth in income has been very poor — consistent with recessionary conditions, in fact — and consumption has been sluggish. And if the stock market has been bullish lately, the G.D.P. forecasts put out by economists are not so much. The Wall Street Journal panel expects G.D.P. growth of 2.3 or 2.4 percent in the second half of the year, which our model translates to a figure of 1.7 percent after normalizing it. The normalized value for jobs growth (2.6 percent), interestingly, is right in the middle of these bearish and bullish indicators and almost exactly matches our economic index as a whole. This is another reason this Friday’s jobs report is especially interesting; the jobs figures have often seemed to be the “swing vote” in determining whether the economy is getting back to about average growth or slowing down yet again. With that said, part of the value of building an economic index is that it allows you to avoid getting overly fixated on any one data series, or any one data point. We think we have developed a reasonably well-balanced measure of the economy, which is fairly resistant to noisy data, and which reflects the different types of economic activity that voters will encounter. In addition, our focus on using real time rather than revised data provides for a more apples-to-apples comparison to previous years. Here is how the economic index would have looked in past elections since 1968, at a range of intervals up to 250 days before the election. .

When I ran for the Town Board last year, I was focused on becoming the only Democrat on the board. Halfway through the election when a newspaper reporter asked me what I thought about becoming the only woman on the Board, I was momentarily stumped. Here in the Ithaca area, we're a tad further along the road to enlightenment than some others places. Women's issues were not uppermost in my mind. Recently Irene Stein, from the Tompkins County Democratic Committee, invited me to participate in Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Campaign School. I felt like I'd been invited by Eleanor Roosevelt herself and I jumped at the chance. We met tonight for introductions. The training, designed by people at Emily's List, is designed to encourage pro-choice, Democratic women to run for office and win. Emily's list was started in the 1980s at which time no Democratic woman had ever been elected to the US Senate in her own right. EVER! In fact, of 1,889 people who have served in the US Senate since its inception in 1789, only 33 are women. Of 10,546 members of the House of Representatives, 203 are women. Why so few? According to a Brown University study (pdf) "women are significantly less likely than men to view themselves as qualified to run for office. In addition, women are less likely than men to receive encouragement to run for office from party leaders, elected officials, and political activists." Does it matter? Well, more than half of eligible voters in the US are women. 15% of the 109th Congress are women. Let's find out if women can make a difference. People at Emily's List and the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee are working hard to recruit qualified women and support their campaigns. If you're a woman, think about running for office. If not, donate to Emily's list and ask a woman you know to run. Seriously, find out who your local, state and national representatives are and when their terms expire. If you need help with this, email me. Find your local Democratic Committee. Go to a town board, city council, county or state legislature meeting and see what they do. It's hard work but its not rocket science. So, run! Or help someone run. Really. We need you. Get going! (Cross posted at Dryden Democrats ) 3 comments: Nice post. I hope it is inspirational to others! (Your link to dryden dems is for blogspog not blogspot - Oop!). Oops! Thanks heaven for watchful readers. I've fixed the link. I hate to say it but (there have been two occasions when I have been invited to get involved running for a local office...) I am not prepared to take the garbage that comes along with the job... I admire women who run for office and serve and I send you and each of them lots of cheers but I do not want the libel and slander or the pain for my family. I don't mean to be negative but I do know this issue has been a factor for a number of very talented women. By the way congratulations on the participation in the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Campaign School!

Posts Tagged ‘state flexibility’ Health Care News HHS Initiatives Fail to Offer States Meaningful Flexibility Last. (Read the rest on The Foundry…) Tags: cost-effective care, Medicaid, ObamaCare, repeal the law, state flexibility Health Care News Medicaid Flexibility Still Missing from Wyden-Brown On Monday Politico ran a column by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) taking issue with my critique of his proposal to accelerate the granting of waivers under Obamacare. Unfortunately, he missed a central point I was making about limitations on the waivers that could be granted. Apparently the senator was offended by this paragraph, from my New England Journal of Medicine piece on his bill: Even more problematic to proponents of state flexibility on both the left and the right is that states would not be able to fold other health programs into their waiver request. Liberal skeptics at the Physicians for a National Health Program, for instance, point out that provisions of Medicare, Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Taft–Hartley plans, and other programs could not be waived, leaving large obstacles in the path of a potential single-payer system. And on the other hand, by leaving Medicaid intact, including the required expansion of the program under the ACA, Wyden–Brown does little to comfort conservatives who envision a privatized voucher approach. (Read the rest at The Foundry…) Tags: ObamaCare, Politico, state flexibility, Wyden-Brown bill Health Care News House Hearing: Secretary Sebelius Talks Fiscal Responsibility and Obamacare Yesterday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the President’s fiscal year 2012 budget and implementation of Obamacare. The Secretary’s remarks highlighted the need for fiscal responsibility and health care reform that gives greater power to individuals and more flexibility to the states. Unfortunately, none of these goals can be achieved under Obamacare. Sebelius told the committee, “We can’t build lasting prosperity on a mountain of debt. And we can’t win the future if we pass on massive debts to our children and grandchildren. We have a responsibility to the American people to live within our means so we can invest in the future.” (Read the rest at The Foundry…) Tags: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, House Energy and Commerce Committee, ObamaCare, state flexibility White House Still Failing to Fix Medicaid Crisis. But as Heritage expert Stuart Butler warns, Wyden-Brown won’t do the trick. (Read the rest at The Foundry…) Tags: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, ObamaCare, one-size-fits-all, state flexibility, Wyden-Brown bill Obama Offers Flexibility to Implement Single Payer Faster.. Heritage Foundation Center for Policy Innovation Director Stuart Butler explained. … (Read the rest at The Foundry…) Tags: mandated benefits, ObamaCare, President Barack Obama, state flexibility Obama’s Phony Obamacare Flexibility Offer >. (Read the rest at The Foundry…) Tags: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Obamacare waivers, state flexibility, Wyden-Brown

The Heat Report: 19.03.13 CALGARY -- The road to the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs just got a little more difficult for the Abbotsford Heat. Though the Heat hold down the eighth and final playoff spot in the American Hockey League's Western Conference, Abbotsford has just a one-point edge on teams situated nine through 11. That's the good news for the top affiliate of the Calgary Flames. The bad news? Each of those three teams holds a significant games played advantage over Abbotsford. The Oklahoma City Barons, currently ninth, have played six fewer games than the Heat. The Milwaukee Admirals have played five less games to this point in the schedule while Abbotsford has played three more games than the 11th place Rockford IceHogs. The Heat didn't help their cause over the last week, either, dropping two of three contests to close out a seven-game road trip that yielded just three points after going 2-4-1. There is an opportunity to salvage some points back in Abbotsford, though. The Heat play a back-to-back set against the IceHogs on the weekend in a series that could go a long way to putting some space between themselves and the trio chasing them. BAERTSCHI FINDS SCORESHEET The Flames hoped a demotion to the Heat would help ignite Sven Baertschi's offense. After three scoreless games, the first-year pro exploded for a goal and an assist in Abbotsford's 5-4 shootout win over the San Antonio Rampage on Sunday, pushing his season totals to seven goals and 20 points in 25 games. Baertschi initially had an assist on Brett Carson's sixth goal of the season that was later given to Roman Horak. Though he's played just over a third of Abbotsford's games this season, Baertschi is sixth in team scoring. TAYLOR RECALLED With Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff expecting his second child, Daniel Taylor was recalled to join Calgary on their three-game road trip against the Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets. Kiprusoff is expected to rejoin the team in Nashville, however. Taylor earned his first career National Hockey League victory in his last stint with the Flames, stopping 29 of 31 shots against the Vancouver Canucks on March 3rd. In 31 games with the Heat this season, Taylor is 14-10-2 with a 2.96 goals against average and .924 save percentage. ROLLHEISER INKS PTO With Taylor's recall and Leland Irving undergoing minor elective surgery, the Heat signed Grant Rollheiser to a professional try-out on Sunday. Rollheiser has played 19 games this season with the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL and another six with the Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League. He was originally drafted in the sixth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Why. There’s a big gap between having one of the best teams in the AHL and having one of the best teams in the NHL, a real and spectacular gap. The former does not guarantee the latter. To cite just one example, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers had three brilliant years in the AHL in the early 2000’s (finishing first in the league in the regular season in 2001-02), and we all know how that turned out for their parent club, the New York Islanders. Tyler Dellow went on about this at some length late in January, when a few of Edmonton’s more prominent media people wrote articles on the successes of the Barons. I’ll quote his conclusion: It seems to me that the onus in proving that something matters is on those who assert that it does. There’s lots and lots of reason to think that your AHL team’s record has little to do with whether you’ll be a good team down the road or whether you’ll develop players effectively – I’ve only scratched the surface above. If people like Spector and Jones want to make the case that Tambellini should be praised for turning into the Barons into a powerhouse, it seems to me that they should explain why I should give the slightest damn as an Oilers’ fan. As far as I can tell, it’s irrelevant, or close to it. Unless, of course, you’re a hockey team desperate to draw the eye away from the flaming wreckage of another season and distract minds from questions about why you’re still employed. In that case, a good AHL team is probably incredibly relevant to you. It’s a justification for further employment that people who don’t dig into things might accept. When I read Tyler’s piece, I was generally in agreement with it. I was aware of good AHL teams with terrible NHL parent franchises, and vice versa. On the other hand, it also seemed to me that a strong AHL organization was probably something of a positive; after all, as with the NHL there’s a need to assess, recruit and then coach talent, and some of the players contributing in the AHL are bound to contribute in the NHL down the road. It would seem to make a logical sense that a team winning in the AHL employs better people in coaching and development, and that some of the players helping their team win would make the leap. So I went out to try and see, one way or the other, if I could find evidence that success at the AHL level led to success at the NHL level. To answer the question, I looked at three seasons worth of AHL data: 2005-06, 2006-07, and 2007-08. I didn’t use earlier seasons because of the lost lockout year, and I didn’t use later seasons because there hasn’t been enough time since. Goal Differential Correlations The following table shows the correlation between the success of an AHL team (measured by goal differential) and its parent NHL club (also measured by goal differential). “Same season” denotes the correlation between the AHL team and the NHL team in the same season, while “Season+1” represents the correlation between AHL success one year and NHL success the next year (e.g. 2005-06 AHL team, 2006-07 NHL team), and so on. A perfect correlation is 1.0. The most significant outlier to this pattern is the Atlanta Thrashers/Chicago Wolves affiliation; Chicago was highly successful for many years, while Atlanta no longer has an NHL team. Interestingly, the Wolves were not owned by the Thrashers but rather by a pair of Chicago-area businessmen and retained significant control over hockey operations under the Thrashers. It’s interesting to note that there appears to be a link between a good AHL organization and eventual NHL success. I say “appears” for a number of reasons; firstly, I can’t think of a definitive reason for such a strong link, and secondly I’m dealing with just three years of AHL data here. Why would such a link exist?. That’s certainly a positive sign for the Oilers organization. I agree that a good AHL team certainly doesn't hurt, and that the oilers needed their own affiliate in the AHL. I wouldn't overstate the significance of a good AHL team, however. Although I don't follow the barons closely, my sense this season has been that their success was largely driven by veteran AHL players who are relative long shots to make it in the NHL (e.g. both goaltenders and Cornet). Of course it's good to put guys like Pitlick, Pajaarvi, Lander, Teubert, and Plante in that environment for development purposes - but if your big minutes guys aren't going to be NHLers, and your AHL success is driven by AHL lifers, then I can see where Dellow is coming from. It matters JDD is the perfect reason why you need a farm team Development is the reason you instill winning. Stability also keeps players focused on development. Obviously there is a big difference if the AHL success it due to a goup of super prospects or a team of grizzled AHL vets. Is it possible to do some sort of historical correlation based on the age of 'the players driving the bus'* and then see where the barons fit? * Stolen from Lowetide without expressed written consent. Is it possible that being with a winning AHL team instills good attitudes and a desire to win whereas bad teams get used to losing? In the words of George Steinbrenner, "It only takes one thing to be a good loser, plenty of practice". Agreed. The fact that the Barons are winning is a nice bonus, but the real story is that the development system has been completely overhauled in the last few years. I think the most hopeful sign is that the joke that was the Oilers farm team through most of the 2000s seems to have been a key predictor of the past 3 yrs results. The hiring of up and coming coaches, creating a winning atmosphere and the appearance that young defenseman are improving down there, seems to indicate the organization at least has a clue. I'm assuming it does not help a young goalie get confidence if he is facing 50 shots a night so that alone makes a better AHL team important. My biggest hope is that a playoff run in the AHL will help Paarjarvi, Lander and Pitlick develop into solid NHLers in the next couple of years. In trying to see if an AHL success leads to NHL success you need to factor in a development delay. I would expect AHL success and help to the NHL team would peak about 3-5 years after the AHL peak. @Sheldon "Oilers Fan for Life!!!" It seems to be three years; with the years I looked at there was pretty minimal correlation after that time. That would be a great argument if there was any way to confirm that he would've turned out any better had he been in a system that had its own farm team. There are hundreds (well, lots anyway) of highly toughted goalies and high draft picks who played for organizations who had their own affiliates and still never panned out. In his first pro season, the Oilers did have their own their affiliate. JDD played well in the ECHL but was 6-13-2 with a .888 SV% for the Roadrunners. You could maybe say he was shafted the following year with the Bulldogs where he only got into 13 games, but Halak and Danis severely outplayed him. In Wilkes/Barre he was clearly the team's #1 despite being another team's affiliate. The following year was when the Oilers got their own affiliate (Springfield) and he was handed the #1 job. So out of 4 years, 2 of them were in another team's affiliate, and only one of them was he not the starting goalie. EVERYDAY I'M DITHERIN' A strong minor league team can't hurt, but it doesn't necessarily mean that your parent club will be a smashing success either. I'm a happier Oiler fan knowing that the team has been successful in March (despite a sub .500 season overall) than knowing that their minor league affiliate is the second best team in the AHL. If next year, Paajarvi, Lander and at least one defenceman returns to the big club and makes an impact on the roster, than I'm willing to give more credit to the development of the minor league squad directly leading to the Oilers' successes, but until then, it's almost like comparing apples to oranges. When you looked at the correlation did you examine if the AHL and NHL teams used the same play systems so the players could easily transition to the NHL with minimal new stuff to learn. Is this much of an issue even? This is an interesting article...so because the Barons are good this year, it will keep me hopeful for the Oilers for the next 3+ years! Apparently I can run on hope for a while longer...I guess Tambi WILL keep his job! @Sheldon "Oilers Fan for Life!!!" There's really no way to find that sort of information. Has anyone else heard the rumour from Elliotte Freidman that Matt Duschene is unhappy is Colorado. Just curious if one could do a swap of Sam Gagner for Matt Duschene, would you do it. Size wise there the same, Duschene is a better skater. This season Sam`s been way better, but in the past Matt eaten his lunch. Upside could be debatable. Any thoughts........ @Jonathan Willis This is awesome analysis (I've often wondered about this myself), and supports the common sense idea that winning begets winning within an organization, but it should be said that 0.35 is pretty weak. My inner geek is decidedly pleased that you have distinctly and intelligently separated two different concepts: correlation and causality. You can observe a correlation, but that does not determine cause and effect. So many people don't know the difference. I am glad there is a correlation, since I am tired of watching the Oilers suck. Many of the present Baron players credit the success they are having with the quality of the present coaching staff. Are they using the same systems as the Oilers? If so the success should translate up at least some. If he is such a great coach Would it be worth paying a higher salary to avoid some NHL team poaching him? I'm not so sure the bond between winning at the AHL level and winning at the NHL level is so great. I think a better way to see would be to find out how many legit NHLers AHL teams graduated and then look back to see how those teams fared in those seasons when the graduates played. We are so much more concerned with individual successes from AHL players than from team success that I cant tell if winning isnt connected or if I just dont care about it. Is it better for Hamilton and Pitlick to play fewer minutes in lesser roles on a winning AHL team or to get lots of ice-time and lose more often? I think it is important to note that correlation does not imply causation. Meaning that despite a weak correlation, the causation that is implied is even weaker. This value is found by squaring the correlation value and is not very pretty for any of the three rows. As a sidenote I wonder if there is any relationship between the way a non-playoff team plays in their last 15 or so meaningless games and their next season. To see if there is any basis behind this "carry the momentum forward" talk I see. Either way, I'm loving the baron's success and I'm loving the wins down the stretch. Dubnyk is finally playing his size Is there a correlation in the baseball world? You would think that a strong minor league system would be beneficial to the parent club. You want your young prospects earning TOI against AHL vets. If they don't, they become a AHL vets. Drafting is key and more important than AHL success. The 2 sports use their minor leagues differently. You don't often get freshly drafted 18 year olds on MLB rosters. They tend to make their way through the various minor league affiliates before getting their first chance as September callups in a lost season. In the NHL, your best young players generally don't play many games in the AHL before coming to the NHL fulltime. Often times it's your bottom 6ers that spend a lot of time in the AHL. Prime examples of AHL are Alzner,Carlson,Neuvirth and Johansson. Despite the year the caps are having they have been looked at to fill in key roles 1-2 years after graduating from the AHL. Did he do too bad. Starter on one NHL team, back-up on another. Seems like hes done ok. I would argue that even if he developed in a more stable envirnment, I can`t see him doing any better then what he has done if he was playing for a better organization. Every situation is kind of unique but given the lack of important games that the parent club has played over the past few years, a deep playoff run has to be a looked at as a positive for key youngsters like Lander, Paajarvi and Teubert. @Smokey I don't think Gagner gets you MD. How about Taylor Hall; damaged goods, as is with no returns? A big gamble for both sides, but I worry that Hall will have a short career unless he makes fundamental changes to his game. Matt Duchene has 27 points this year. Has played on the third line, and has been outta sorts with management. You gotta wonder if they would take Gagner back straight up. I would take a flyer on the kid, but I honestly don`t watch the Av`s more then 6 games a year. Say you could get him for a couple prospects such as MPS/Musil or Klefbaum/ Pitlick would you take a chance...I would... @Smokey I like Duchene, a real good fit here. For Gagner? absolutely. For prospects? Sure but I would hesitate to include derKlefbaum. I want to see just what we have first. Do you have the guts to send Hall away? @ Willis; there's a strong and steady movement in the direction that supports the theory. Definitely worth revisiting in years +4 and +5. My assumption is that a good AHL team provides good depth players for the big club. Maybe it's those depth guys that are the real difference between bad and good NHL teams? Not willing to do Hall for MD. Maybe for MD and Elliott on defence, but thats a pipe dream. It's not just the record that translates into winning in the show. There has to be an aura of success that demands nothing less than the very best attitudes and effort. That doesn't guarantee success (e.g. Montreal) but the alternative, a laizzez faire, selfish what's in it for me, who cares attitude is a contagious disease that is difficult to eliminate. It takes years to cure a team of complacency. Gee...that sounds familiar... I think that the correlation between a strong AHL club and the parent NHL franchise exists, it just isn't a sole determiner of NHL franchise success. I think back to the Manitoba Moose and their dominance of the AHL for years. That team also carried on it's roster some of those cuddly, loveable Canuckleheads we are all so fond of. The AHL farm team is a place where draft picks and prospects can develop a professional game against grown men and spend time seasoning. I love the fact that the Barons are outperforming the Heat this year and both are clubs that are laden with veteran presence. The difference is that the Barons have interspersed their roster with some of the Oiler's own prospects in Pitlick, Hamilton, Plante, Teubert, etc. The Heat, by contrast, are making due with only a small handful of Flames hopefuls (Irving) and draft projects (Nemisz) and have had to go so far as to sign Krys Kolanos and Hugh Jessiman to try and stock up on talent. I actually do give some credit to Tambellini for the performance of the Barons. I've been scanning around the league to see where other AHL teams are affiliated and to measure that against their NHL team's performance and for the most part the teams that are struggling to get by every year are also the ones that have poorly run AHL squads. Detroit is often held up as the model upon which this franchise is being rebuilt. Detroit has used their AHL franchise in Grand Rapids extremely well. The team may not be a perennial Calder Cup candidate, but they do well and they incubate the Red Wings prospects allowing them to mature under the NHL clubs tutelage. I have heard encouraging reports from sources like Lisa McRitchie on the Oiler's development team and think that, while I'll never point to the Barons as proof positive of this club's eventual success, it is one piece in a much larger picture that will, with luck, lead this team to another championship. Thanks for the article, Willis. As for Duchene, if Greg Sherman decides to let go of Matt Duchene for Sam Gagner and someone like Curtis Hamilton, then he is really starting to spin his wheels. Were he to do that I think he would be moving very close to the example that Dean Lombardi is setting in L.A. (patience lost and frantic, almost spastic moves to improve immediately). I'd take that deal. Perhaps it is a case of not all strong AHL clubs translate automatically into winning NHL clubs - but all strong NHL clubs require depth and development from strong and well run AHL clubs. Just another piece of the puzzle in other words, without losing sight of the fact that building a winning NHL team depends on far more than just building a championship AHL team. Your AHL team need not be a winner and i think Dellow is right that it is irrelevant how they do in the playoffs, but as an NHL team you should certainly want to see a high compete level and development from your farm... @Lexi What farm team are you talking about? Oh... you mean the one JDD was on? Follow the oilers much? Standard errors please. Statistical significance would strengthen your case. I mostly agree. The benefits of a stable farm team should be obvious, but a winning one? However, if all you look at is how many players graduate than you have to allow for the crappiness of the team they're graduating to. Things start to get really complicated and subjective at this point. The simplest way to see if AHL success matter is to do what Willis did- does a winning team at one level help a team win at another level? The answer: sorta, but it's hard to say how much or why. Farm teams are more art than science.

Florida Cruise And Travelers Magazine the best cruise & travel news, tips & reviews in Florida & around the world Cruise Spotlight Florida Spotlight USA Spotlight International Spotlight Dinner Theaters, Theaters & Restaurants Positive Reflections Travel Inspirations Your Photos Advertise With Us Media Kit Abaco Beach Resort, Bahamas Adventure Eagle Tours - Tahiti Avventure Bellisme Tours - Venice, Italy Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter Bruges, Belgium Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC, Canada Dover, England Eze, France Dutch Antilles Express Launches Non-Stop Flights Between Curacao & Orlando Flavors of San Juan Food & Culture Tours - San Juan, Puerto Rico Godfrey Tours - US Virgin Islands Hotel Bologna - Venice, Italy Nassau Bahamas Easy Walking Tour Niagara Falls Polynesian Explorer Tours - Western Samoa Red October Reykjavic, Iceland San Blas Islands, Panama Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Vancouver Island Canada Vigeland Park - Oslo, Norway Vigeland Park - Oslo, Norway . Vigeland Sculpture Park Oslo, Norway An artistic masterpiece - The human experience through nude sculpture Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo, Norway is a world famous tourist destination that is visited by tens of thousands each year. With more than 200 nude sculptures in bronze, granite and wrought iron symbolizing the emotions and experiences of human life, Vigeland Sculpture Park is a must-see in Oslo. Completed between 1939 and 1949, Vigeland Sculpture Park is filled with unique sculptures - Gustav Vigeland's lifework. Art lovers and photographers could easily spend several days here appreciating and contemplating Gustav Vigeland's view of the human experience. The Monolith is an imposing and captivating column towering 46 feet high and composed of more than 100 intertwined human bodies of all ages. Vigeland modeled the Monolith in the mid 1920s and stone carvers spent more than 10 years completing his vision. The Monolith is an incredibly intriguing piece that seems to beg for personal interpretation. The Monolith is surrounded by 36 granite statues depicting the cycles of life and human relationships. The statues sit on various levels of the stars that encompass the structure. Because there are so many viewing levels and angles available, no two views are the same. Because of the multi-level design, the ever-present, captivating Monolith of human bodies is always in the background allowing even more room for personal interpretation of the cycle of life and human relationship statues. The Fountain is Vigeland's unique view of the interaction between humanity and nature. Six men of varying ages hold a basin above them allowing a curtain of water to cascade down around them. Surrounding the Fountain, there are sculptures of humans that seem to be embedded in trees. Men, women and children of all ages are intertwined in trees in amazing poses and combinations. The Bridge features 58 bronze sculptures seated on granite parapets on the sides of an actual 100 meter long bridge. These sculptures represent and symbolize human relationships. Men, women and children in various poses seem to both symbolize and / or capture a specific moment in a human life: a mother holds her baby, a son looks admiringly up at his father, two young girls look off at some unknown object, a man cradles a baby, a man attacks another man, a woman holds the hand of a man as she rests her head on his shoulder, a man juggles his children. One of the most famous and most photographed bronze sculptures on the Bridge is Sinnataggen, the little Angry Boy . The chubby, little child is caught in mid-step and apparently in the middle of a temper tantrum. The Wheel Of Life is a symbol of eternity. It is "a garland of women, children and men holding on to each other." According to the Vigeland Park literature, the Wheel Of Life "sums up the dramatic theme of the entire park: Man's journey from cradle to grave, through happiness and grief, through fantasy, hope and wishes of eternity." You can learn more about Vigeland Sculpture Park at Watch our video of Vigeland Sculpture Park - ______________________________________________ We were the guests of Vigeland Sculpture Park in 2010 Florida Cruise & Travelers Magazine PO Box 560318 Rockledge, FL 32956 USA SunnyHarborPublishing@yahoo.com Staff Feature - copyright Sunny Harbor Publishing . Your Ad Here Cruise Spotlight Florida Spotlight USA Spotlight International Spotlight Dinner Theaters, Theaters & Restaurants Positive Reflections Travel Inspirations Your Photos Advertise With Us Media Kit FloridaCruiseAndTravelersMagazine.com by Sunny Harbor Publishing

This question came up on a thread in the Lounge yesterday, as an aside to the topic of Reclining/Not reclining seats. I'm not a smoker and it seems to me that it must be something like 20 years since the last of the international carriers banned it. I know it has been banned on all planes in Australia for ages, but I haven't done enough internal flying in other countries to know what the rule is in some of the less regulated areas. Google throws up some info from 2011 that seems to suggest few if any international carriers allow it. So I thought I'd ask the experts over here. Thanks all. Air Travel ForumsStart a new topic Change Forum Do any airlines allow smoking on board? This question came up on a thread in the Lounge yesterday, as an aside to the topic of Reclining/Not reclining seats. 10 Replies | Jump to last reply |! There are no USA carriers allowing it.As someone who works as a flight attendant, I think that due to codeshares,etc. most airlines would not allow it. Ironically, there are flight attendants who never smoked who are being diagnosed with lung cancer-those flights from decades ago were absolutely horrible to work so no surprise on whats happening! Thanks duty free. It must have been appalling to have to work in that smelly, smoky atmosphere. It was bad enough being a passenger - everything I wore or took as a carry on was saturated with the odor & it took a very thorough scrub to get it out of my hair & skin. Apart from the health benefits - I'm delighted not to travel in or arrive smelling like, a portable ashtray. Do you happen to know when the US banned it, and did they ban international & domestic at the same time? Bokara2, All it really takes is one click on google for the answer. I love the point where big tobacco says it's an intrusion on individual rights. Thanks Rastaguy, but I was really looking for info in a wider scale than just the US. I don't think any airlines allow it now but I remember in the past a lot of airlines would ban smoking except on flights to Japan. The last smoking flight I recall, was when I flew on KLM around 1996 from Hong Kong to Amsterdam. I did hear a story of a passenger in China who had a non-smoking seat and immediately after take-off the 2 passengers either side of him started to smoke, when he inquired to the hostie she said that's correct, they are in smoking seats and you're in a non-smoking seat >big tobacco says it's an intrusion on individual rights.< That's funny, I always thought smokers infringed on my individual rights to breathe clean air.......... I was one of those who was doing the happy dance when airlines (and all of the restaurants in my home state) prohibited smoking! In 2007 I took a domestic Egyptian flight from Aswan to Abu Simbel and the smoky smell was awful. I don't remember the name of the airline but I don't think it was Egypt Air. It brought back memories of the no-so-good old days when all flights were so bad. Thank God it was only a 30 minute flight. I remember as an eleven year old not being able to see down the aisle of an Avianca flight due to the smoke. It really was that bad. No wonder I have such bad asthma. And I never smoked. In Florida, you can still smoke in a bar as long as they don't serve food. Florida is years behind Europe. BAck in the day, PSA Airlines had one side of the aisle for smoking and the other for not. Really great when a guy lit up a cigar.

Hi, I will be going to Hong Kong in August with Macau being my final destination. However, I will be arriving very early in the morning...5am is when my flight arrives. I went on the turbojet website and see conflicting information on what time their first ferry is from HKIA...one section shows 08:15 and another one shows 10:00. I don't mind waiting for the 08:15 ferry, if that's even accurate. Can someone advise what would be the quickest way to get to the Macau ferry terminal other than waiting at the airport for several hours for the ferry service to start...I will be travelling with one suitcase. Thanks! Asia ForumsStart a new topic Change Forum going from HKIA to Macau Hi, 7 Replies | Jump to last reply | Fastest - Airport Express train to HK station, then walk or taxi over. The walk is about half a mile. First train 5:54a. HK$100 for the train. 24 minutes. Add 10 minutes walk or a few minutes on the taxi. Or just take taxi. About HK$300. ~35 minutes. Cheaper alternative is Cityflyer bus A11. HK$40. About 40 minutes. First bus at 6:10a. No point getting to Ferry Terminal too early, as the 15-min frequencies only start at 7a. The sailing before 7a is at 6a. BTW, first Turbojet service from HKIA to Macau is at 10:00a (which goes to Taipa over the bridge). Regular service to Macau starts at 11:00a. What you should be doing (and what I believe rkkwan is alluding to above) is taking a ferry directly from HKIA to Macau Airport. You don’t need to go into Hong Kong proper to then get a ferry to Macau. (That would be backtracking in the first place, as you will pass HKIA again on your way out to Macau). The other advantage is that you don’t have to go through Hong Kong Immigration; you will go right from the plane to the ferry. Your checked bags go automatically too, you collect them in Macau. All in all, this is usually faster and easier than trekking through HK Immigration, going into Hong Kong with your bags, and then getting a ferry from there. See But with a 5 am arrival time, it is a bit of a toos-up as to whether watiting at HKIA for 5 hours for the first ferry at 10 am is better than going into Hong Kong to get the 8:15 am ferry (which you could make, assuming no long lines at Immigration and no significant wait for your bags.) Take a look at You probably are seeing two times because the 8:15 departure is from Hong Kong Island ferry terminal, and the 10 am departure is from HKIA itself. (Actually, on the Turbojet site, I see that ferries start running at 7 am and depart every 15 minutes.) If you wait at HKIA, there are plenty of restaurants there, and day lounges where you can pay to take a shower, etc. thanks rkkwan and cicerone for your replies. After flying for about 15 hours, I think I would be quite eager to get to my destination rather than waiting around at the airport for 5 hours. I've read somewhere that there are different coloured taxis and one has to be sure to get the right one since they are desginated to stop only at certain points...is this true? Also, does the cityflyer bus go directly to the macau ferry terminal or does it make stops along the way? thanks! For taxi to the city, you need to take the red one. The Cityflyer A11 has two immediate stops before the Macau Ferry Terminal, at the transit stops before the Tsing Ma Bridge and before the Western Cross Harbor Tunnel. The very first stop after it gets to the city IS the Macau Ferry Terminal. Cannot get more convenient than that. You want a red cab, either to Hong Kong Island if you want the Macau Ferry Termnial, or to Kowloon/Tsim Sha Tsui for the China Ferry Terminal (see below). The different coloured taxis go to different areas of Hong Kong, but don’t worry; there is zero chance you will get in the wrong one. In the first place, at the airport they are assigned to different waiting areas. There are dispatchers at each area as well, and this is a further backstop against getting in the wrong cab. Finally, if by some very odd chance you got in a blue Lantau cab and told him your address on Hong Kong Island, he would just tell you to get out of the cab. He can’t take you there. This is something that the guidebooks seem to want to make into a big deal, but really it is just not possible to take the wrong cab. The drivers won’t let you. (The only place this is theoretically possible is with red cabs once you are ON Hong Kong Island or in TST, but I won’t go into that as it won’t happen to you coming from the airport.) One more way to consider going is to take the Airport Express train to the Kowloon Station (25 minutes), then hop a taxi to the China Ferry Terminal in Kowloon/Tsim Sha Tsui (3 minutes or so, just under HK$20) and take the New World First Ferry to Macau. There are ferries about every half hour starting at 7 am. I think you would be able to make a 7:30 am ferry, and with some hustle, even the 7 am. See for info. This would be marginally faster than going to the Macau Ferry Terminal on Hong Kong Island proper by taxi, and IMO better than walking with luggage from the Hong Kong Airport Express station to the Macau Ferry Pier (it’s bloody hot in August, even if the walkway is covered, and not something I would want to do with a suitcase. It could also be poring with rain and bloody hot.) Personally, as a first-timer to Hong Kong, I think it will take you quite a while to figure out the walk, as you have to up and through a mall and then out along a very long pedestrian walkway, and signage is not good. And not a whole lot of people around at 6:30 am or so. I know very little about the bus options. I am not a fan of buses when I have luggage. Otherwise the bus system here is great, although this will probably be your slowest option from the airport. If the OP can get the first Cityflyer A11 bus at 6:10a, he can get to the Macau Ferry Terminal on HK Island not later than 6:55a. Enough time to catch the 7:15a Turbojet. With its higher speed than NWFF's ferries, he'll get to Macau no more than 10 minutes later than the 7:00a NWFF. Single ride from airport, basically door-to-door. No need to transfer to taxi. And cheaper, for just HK$40.

My favorite line: "It’s your choice whether you want to let the rest of the world know we exist - it's a great opportunity for a lot of people to really start to learn about what real dining is about." Take that, chefs that use your real names! I'll resist the immediate temptation to "critique" this video, and its not-so-mysterious, sky-diving, cocktail-drinking, secret-password-giving chef/prophet mastermind - and will instead let you tell me, in your typically fair and balanced way, what you think of this. By the way, since I'm assuming this video is really some sort of desperate cry to be outed, if you know the identity of Dissident Chef and his band of merry faux-foodie hipsters, please do tell. Photo (c) Dissident Chef 52 comments: It would be a lot easier to keep a secret by not shooting a TV show about it. yeah, that's what I was thinking. It's like hey, tell everyone you know not to tell anyone. asides from being really arrogant, what exactly is your problem with this guy? i mean it sounds like a cool enough idea. The stuff he bragged about didn't look all that good to me. He's too cute ...(but not as cute as you, Chef John!) I especially liked the part where he tasted the sauce then shook the spoon off back in the pan. Great technique, got to keep that under wraps, don't want anyone else copying that! Luisa Vacaville no problem with him at all, I hope he makes millions. I like my Arch-Nemeses easy to mock, and this guy's a dream come true. I hope he starts mocking my stuff (secretly, of course) Good news - your arch nemisis may also be a neighbor: You could infiltrate his secret lair if you wanted to. . . LOL, that didn't take long! Well, looks like I need a new arch-nemesis already. Who cleans up after this guy after he cooks? His work area was a mess. To me, it's a sort of Ueber-cliche thing, for those bored of scoring seats in the latest, hottest resto. In and of itself, it's as dull as chasing that latest, hottest resto. The marketed exclusivity of it is more obnoxious than the exclusiveness of the concept. And of course, that the concept is marketed means that some mohawked genius will have to think of the next great thing, which might be: *Unpasteurized Milk Maids Gone Wild! *Foie Gras Follies! or, La Cage au Foie! *Blowfish Bordello! *Super-Secret Siam Satay: The Monkey Session! *Secret Super-Egos on Parade: Those Passive-Aggressive Bay Area Chefs *Chilaquiles, Pork Belly and Viagra: What Serious Eats Won't Show You on TV! *Cheap, Replaceable Pans: The Seamy Side of Anthony Bourdet The possibilities of viral-marketing a supposedly secret concept are really endless. Think up your own! Me, I'm thinking the CIA (the spooky people, not the cooking people) could recruit spies through a technique like our mohawked maestro used. Jeez, take it easy... I'm going to have to start defending him now. What is faux graw? and why would it be outlawed? That was a bit too much reality tv for me. I like the learning experience i get out of cooking shows. There wasn't enough information. Just little tidbits. I really think that truly and really good dining should also be the most simply and easily enjoyed. A few twists here and there to keep things interesting are welcome, but it's an entirely different story if I have to make ten phone calls to get the password to a location where I'll eat secretly...no thanks. And this makes for a better dining experience how? I'm over it. And this makes for a better dining experience how? Wow how pretentious, I would pay not to eat at this guys oh so special restaurant. Sorry if that comes across too harsh but sheesh! He needs to get over himself. Maybe I'm a niave foodie, but Why are some of these dishes "illegal" in some states--do they come from china? I also find it lame filming yourself doing 'illegal' activities, it must be some kind of nutritional defect that makes people think they are 'cool' instead of a fool. If he really wanted to introduce people to what he calls 'fine dining' or good food, then he open a bistro of his own. But the fact that he doesn't seem to have a job or credentials as a chef somewhere except in his own mind and ego makes him just another poser in my book. The real chef to admire at this website is Chef John. Whats up with 72 hrs @ 130? Sous Vide sounds interesting, very moist and tender, but isn't that holding it at the upper end of the danger zone for like 3 days? Why would the health department have a problem with that? There was one of these underground restaurants in the Seattle area, and it was so 'secret' that it was featured on Bourdain's "no reservations" a year or so ago. The legit part of the their business was an adult ed, hands on cooking school that I liked very much. They served several glasses of wine with the classes for years without a problem. Then one day the powers that be decided that could no longer happen without a permit. There is some thought that the regulators re-thought out policy on wine may be some degree of retribution for flaunting the mobile, uninspectable, unpermitted, non tax paying dining establishment. The power struggle between the regulators and the business began. And it's ended how you would expect. I never made it to the secret restaurant.(I'm just not that into molecular gastronomy, or trout flavor marshmallows.) However I learned that bacon ice-cream works for me, and I will miss the now defunct cooking school. FYI: my underground dining sources tell me he does have skills and has held "real" jobs before. I think we shall give him the benefit of the doubt regarding his cooking since we can't taste it. There is plenty of other stuff to kid him about! No permits, licensing, regulations, full time staff, overhead or fixed venue. Who knew that most asian street food hawkers were at the cutting edge of cuisine? Next time I end up cooking dinner for a bunch of friends at another friend's apartment, I'll make everyone pay a share of the groceries and call it undergound dining. Without having personally handed me a cold beer (or at least offered to do so), you'll never get to taste my terribl-uhm-unique renditions of Chef John's recipes. Thats just how we roll here in the asian underground. one of these days SWAT team will come to nail this perp - with the explosive entry through the kitchen wall. Chef, you mentioned that you know bunch of people in the law enforcement... the whole pretense about buying a super-fresh sea bass three days before the secret dinner party is most likely a baloney. I bet he likes to serve sweetbreads, dark opulent ragout, liver with fava beans and big Amarone I checked out BigAl's link above. Funny. The Chef mentions that he has an "amazing business plan." Now, I've been working for a non-profit company for the last 18 years... How the hell did his Groveling For Money file end up in the Amazing Business Plan folder? I hate when that happens... Oh sorry, I mean: It's "amazing" when that happens. Scott - Boston Somewhere between a b-list pro wrestler and some kind of annoying salesperson. Wish he would just shut up. Yeah, I hate people that grovel for money using videos... that reminds me, can you guys donate some money? Nothing new here. The Ghetto Gourmet () began doing this in the Bay Area in 2004 - even appeared on the front page of the Chron at one point. Multi-city events at its high point. Gave lesser known chefs and line cooks an opportunity to shine.? Also, I wonder if he puts a warning on the menu about the sous vide? Supposedly if it's not done in a precise manner there is a high risk of botulism, is that true? there can be, but most of those risks (like raw eggs, etc) are over-blown. After seeing the things I've seen in kitchens, it can't be that common since there would be corpses laying all over the city. What. A pretentious. Douche. pretentious?? You're the one using French!. These comments and the haters are hilarious. It looks like a lot of fun, I bet he is full of tips and tricks someone in the business would appreciate. Obviously the "hush hush" is THE advertising. I wouldn't mind following him around for a month or so. If your lucky he may let you pack his chute. Dear Anonymous I agree! I SCREAMED when he plopped the tasing spoon's leftovers back into the pan. Anonymous 2 "faux graw" is fois gras, and is produced through seriously abusing geese or ducks via force feeding. It's also amazingly delicious. I'm conflicted. Anonymous 4 Regulations require specific methods of cooking designed to prevent health risks (like "under cooking" by holding something at too low a temp so bacteria actually grow instead of being killed. This is why I can't get sous vide without bringing a lawyer along.) OK - I'm going on too long. Sorry, Chef. I'm with you. I wish the guy had done all this in a Mexican wrestler's mask. "Mexican wrestler's mask." Yes!! that would have been perfect! hmmm..... I think its genius. I mean, he seems to have found a way to have his own restaurant with out a lease/ mortgage/ health inspection..... I guess its kinda cool that its all about the food. Did they just go through a dave brubeck album for the soundtrack of this video? This video is a bit dated, since the foie gras ban was repealed in Chicago last year. A lot of restaurants ignored it anyway. Storm in a teacup stuff. Yawn. He's not doing anything amazing, just exclusive. It's a rave party for foodies. But beyond the narcissism there's an interesting question: what is "real dining?" Is "real dining" at the heart of a technique like sous vide? Is it an exclusive subculture? An attitude? I think Frank Black said it best: "every thing was fine down here what you call it here call it what you will here way down down down in this subbacultcha" I'm allowed! I'm from Quebec. Please don't think I'm gauche. are u guys still putting gravy on your fries? A 10-second Google search (+"sub culture dining" +"san francisco") nets you quick results: Looks like the Diss came out of the closet. His name is Russell Jackson: This guy may cook, but I think he spends a lot of time in front of mirrors, preening. I work in Hollywood and I see actors , usually not very good ones, full of their own fabulousness like this guy. What's next... eye liner? I think it's all a tad pretentious. If only we could all be so cultured. Maybe one day I can be a snob too. Hey Chef John, will you cook something in a bag and make a video about it please? You did the sourdough vids and they took several days too... Haha! I'm laughing out loud... CJ, this is the most fun I've had on your site! (Except for that one time I learned how to made cheese.) Keep it up! :) looks like he had a regular place in 2005. It is very interesting for me to read this article. Thanx for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to this matter. I would like to read more soon.!!!!!!

Keep Medicare Eligibility At Age 65By Jess Spar Target: House Speaker John Boehner Goal: Stop the House of Representatives from supporting the proposal to move Medicare eligibility from age 65 to 67. As anxiety over the approaching “fiscal cliff” rises, House Speaker John Boehner has proposed raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 as a potential solution. Estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, this would save over $110 billion over the next ten years, but at what cost? With the cost of healthcare at a high increase for those over the age of fifty, adding two years onto this could be a death sentence for many elderly people. Individuals in the 65-66 age range are at the cheaper end of the beneficiary range for Medicare, yet under the new policy would most likely have to seek out private insurance, which would prove a much more costly alternative. Businesses would be able to provide coverage as well, but this would also affect their profit margins, which many small businesses cannot afford. This will almost certainly lead to an increase in uninsured individuals, and potentially layoffs if the smaller businesses affected as well. John Boehner’s “quick fix” to the government’s financial issues will simply shift costs from the federal government to employers, other sectors that pay for healthcare, and individuals aged 65 and 66. Those approaching the age of retirement will now be expected to stay in the work force for two more years with two less years of benefits despite the fact they have been assured throughout their lives that they will have these benefits at 65. By signing this petition you are urging House Speaker John Boehner to consider the effects of altering the Medicare beneficiary age, and to help look for another solution to our country’s financial dilemma. PETITION LETTER: Dear Mr. Boehner, I am writing to you to urge you to consider another solution to our country’s financial problems. I understand that you have proposed changing the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67, and I am asking that you consider the negative effects this decision would have on our country’s elderly, as well as small businesses. By changing the Medicare age, you are simply shifting the financial burden from the government to employers and the elderly individuals themselves, and for many, this will not be an affordable solution. The change in Medicare eligibility will force individuals to look into more costly privatized healthcare solutions, and will increase out of pocket expenses for many small businesses that cannot afford to have this affecting their profit margin. I ask that you aid in the effort to look for other solutions to the approaching “fiscal cliff,” and leave the burden from weighing on the shoulders of the elderly. They have worked hard for many years with the assumption that they could count on our country to support their healthcare needs at the age of 65, and now you are asking that the government take away that promise for an extra two years. Affordability of health care above the age of fifty is already an issue for many individuals with lower income, and this change could potentially leave a large portion of the elderly population uninsured. Please protect our elderly citizens and reconsider your proposal for the change in Medicare eligibility. Sincerely, [Your Name Here] Photo Credit: fotopedia Facebook Comments You can be the first one to leave a comment. Signatures

and Twitter, and more! Discover all the ways you can remain engaged with Haverford. Nearly 1,000 alumni help Haverford recruit prospective students, serve as liaisons between the College and their fellow Fords as Class Volunteers, organize regional Haverford events around the globe, and mentor students and graduates on everything from careers to advanced degrees. Regional Volunteers help to plan faculty talks, alumni panels, service projects, happy hours, dinners, and other alumni activities across the country. Each year, volunteers convene at Regional Planning Meetings in Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle to set the schedule of alumni events for the year. It's not too late to get involved this year! Even if you're not in one of these areas, we welcome volunteers to plan events in their areas, and Alumni Relations and Annual Giving (ARAG) will be happy to help. Reunion Volunteers work with a committee of classmates to help to plan and execute successful class reunions during Alumni Weekend. Reunion Committee members participate in conference calls, assist with crafting a communications plan for their class, work with Alumni Relations and Annual Giving staff members to plan class events, and contact classmates to encourage attendance at Alumni Weekend and participation in the Class Gift. Admission Volunteers raise the visibility of Haverford and provide important personal contact that prospective students and their parents hope to find throughout the college search process. Responsibilities of Admission Volunteers include attending college fairs, interviewing prospective students, and contacting admitted students in the spring. Mary Maier '05, Associate Director of Admission Kathleen Abels '09, Assistant Director of Admission Learn more about volunteering for the Admission Office. CDO Volunteers create important links between Haverford's alumni community and current students seeking career advice and opportunities. As a volunteer, you can sponsor an extern at your place of employment, submit job or internship openings to be posted in Network News, assist with networking receptions in your region, return to campus to speak with students about your career path, or host a one-day site visit at your office. Contact the Career Development Office: cdo@haverford.edu As a Haverford alumnus/a, you are a member of Haverford's Alumni Association, no membership dues required. The Alumni Association Executive Committee (AAEC) acts as the executive arm of the Association providing leadership and direction regarding alumni affairs. The AAEC consists of a president, vice president, regional coordinators, and liaisons to various College offices. Learn more. Alumni Relations and Annual Giving staff members are always looking for new venues for regional alumni events. If you're willing to host an alumni or networking event at your home or workplace, please let us know. The Young Alumni Advisory Group (YAAG) supports the Alumni Relations and Annual Giving (ARAG) team and the Young Alumni Liaison to the Alumni Association Executive Committee (AAEC) in their efforts to create and sustain meaningful relationships with Haverford’s young alumni, defined as graduates of the last decade. In partnership with ARAG, the YAAG seeks to support recent graduates with programs, communications and opportunities that are uniquely tailored to strengthen the active involvement of young alumni in support of Haverford College and the Alumni Association. The Advisory Group will also support the efforts of building philanthropic relationships between young alumni and the College – specifically through the Annual Fund. Learn more.

I’m not an energy drink kind of girl – never was. I work out on an empty stomach first thing in the morning (working out with food in my belly makes me want to hurl) and always feel energized. This is what works for me and it may very well work for you too – or maybe you need some breakfast before your workout. That’s fine! As my girl Kasey says, #beTRUEtoYOU! Now, I’m going to totally contradict myself. And I’m totally okay with it. I blame the NRG Matrix team for making such a rockin’ product. For those of you that are not familiar with NRG Matrix, it is actually a raw, organic energy drink made from mushrooms. Yep, mushrooms. Don’t be deceived by the modernized packaging. This stuff is the real deal, my friends. I will totally admit that I pre-judged this product. Kasey told me to check it out and, at first glance, I thought, “Ya, ya, ya, I have energy for dayyys. I don’t need this supplement stuff.” Forgive me, NRG Matrix. I was wrong and judgmental. Tisk tisk! And, for the record, this is not a supplement. It is a whole foods-derived energy drink! What I love the most about NRG Matrix is the fact that it provides an affordable alternative to Red Bull, Monster, and all those other energy drinks that have been proven to have long-term negative effects on our bodies. NRG Matrix was created by a team of healthcare professionals and scientists seeking to create an honest, compassionate #plantPOWERed product that gives us long-lasting energy. Um, yes please. The primary ingredient in NRG Matrix is medicinal mushrooms, which contain a key ingredient called cordyceps that has been scientifically proven to enhance exercise performance. Cordyceps does this by increasing the amount of oxygen delivered to our bodies and enhancing the production of ATP, a co-enzyme in our bodies that is responsible for energy transfer. Here’s what the ingredient list looks like: - Organic Medicinal Mushrooms grown in San Marcos, California (for lasting energy) - Organic Extracts – Yerba Mate, Guarana, American Ginseng, Tumeric Root (for improved immune function) - Vitamin Blend – Vitamin C, Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 and B12, Vitamin D (derived from the Medicinal mushrooms!) - Organic Stevia, Monkfruit Impressive, huh? I love how every ingredient has a purpose. The monkfruit and stevia give NRG Matrix a delicious, mild citrus flavor. I can really attest to the product. I’ve been using it every other day for the past two weeks and have been recording my energy levels. On the days that I drink NRG Matrix during my toning routines, I definitely notice a difference in my energy levels. I literally feel like I could go for hours! When I don’t drink NRG Matrix and just drink water, after about an hour, I’m ready to call it quits. Like I said, it’s the real deal and I would absolutely recommend it to everyone! NRG Matrix is a powder that comes in a convenient pouch. I simply pour the packet into my Camelbak before filling it up with water. After a generous shake, you’re good to go! So, what do you think? Would you like some NRG Matrix? Well, if you insist.. Thanks to the kind team at NRG Matrix, they’ve agreed to gift TWO readers with a 10-pack of NRG Matrix! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me how you would incorporate NRG Matrix into your daily life. Entries will close on Saturday at 12:00 a.m. and the winners will be announced on Sunday. GOOD LUCK! *Edited to add (thanks to reader, Kirsten!): You can purchase NRG Matrix online at their website here! Per packet (i.e. per serving), they’re almost $1.00 cheaper than the price of leading energy drinks in most stores. Stay lovely, Heather

Follow RFF News on your cell phone. Text follow rff to 40404 you will receive txt messages with RFF News 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. From what I remember when the picture originally came out I don't think anyone was ever able to get the exif data off of it maybe because we never had the original photo only the copy on photobucket or something but I by no means the expert on any of this. Also there is a lady who posts on the BB board I post on and she had a good friend who was in Puerto Vallarta for a week at that same time, they never saw Jeff and Jordan but they did say that although there was little celebrations through out the week the only big parade/celebration occurred on the 12th, it was on that street (we found screen shots on google maps of the exact corner they were standing on using the restaurant sign and another store sign in the background) and they blocked traffic for the parade...the 12th was also the only day traffic was blocked and people were allowed to just stand on the side of the road. I guess it was for some celebration for Our Lady of Guadelupe or something similar in name. In episode 3, Mike and Louie received a one hour penalty for following a taxi cab driver to the Horse sense or Money sense Detour. They arrived at the mat in 7th place just ahead of Brent and Caite, but had to wait there for their penalty to run its course.This is particularly nice confirmation of what many of us have been hoping for...it is now against the rules to hire a taxi to follow, apparently. In episode 3, Mike and Louie received a one hour penalty for following a taxi cab driver to the Horse sense or Money sense Detour. QuoteIn episode 3, Mike and Louie received a one hour penalty for following a taxi cab driver to the Horse sense or Money sense Detour.How did we learn this? Leg 3 DeparturesJoe & Heidi11:55 amCarol & Brandy11:55 am Quote from: Dawne on March 05, 2010, 11:10:01 AMLeg 3 DeparturesJoe & Heidi11:55 amCarol & Brandy11:55 amDoes anyone know why the 1-minute departure rule wasn't followed this time? Quote from: J-Squeeze on March 05, 2010, 03:13:41 PMQuote from: Dawne on March 05, 2010, 11:10:01 AMLeg 3 DeparturesJoe & Heidi11:55 amCarol & Brandy11:55 amDoes anyone know why the 1-minute departure rule wasn't followed this time?Maybe the TPTB knew that 1 minute made no difference in getting to a bus that left hours later. Either credit for production difficulties, or unaired penalties or a combination. (As a for instance a 15-minute penalty and a 15-minute credit for production difficulties could offset. That leg where we were in France, we had no sleep in twenty-four hours. Actually, that baguette in France was the first thing that we had to eat and I actually didn't drink anything for twelve hours. So you're sleep deprived, you're hungry, you're water deprived, and you're just exhausted.THE DEADBOLT: Was there anything from your time on the race you wish was aired, something that we didn't see?JOE: The Hamburg leg was a crucial leg where the cops [Louie and Michael] were actually at the end of the pack and their flight, low and behold, got them there earlier even though we were supposed to arrive an hour ahead. That was a turning point. Those are the chances that happen on the race. so when we were in the long mandatory rest period after the Argentinean leg at that sheep ranch, we all spent a good 30 hours together And that was the only time we were not in a sequester mode where we could actually have meals together and have some conversations with the other teams. And yeah, we were all in very good spirits and we were trying to make the best of the situation, camping in Argentina and not having showers and things like that. It was a good time. Reality TV World: So what happened during that ticket line incident, where you were holding spots in line? Joe Wang: Oh yeah, no, no. That was not "holding a spot," if you want to call it that. We were at the bus station and Brandy and Carol went with us. And then they ended up going to another station to make sure we had the best bus route. So for us we had to stick together as a team, and so I was in the front of the line and then Brandy and Carol ended up coming back and said "This is the best bus route." So because they were researching information for us, and we'd agreed prior to getting into line, that's what ended up happening. So the cops were not understanding the situation. We weren't holding any spots, they were already in line with us but they had to go and research for us too. Joe Wang: We were trying our very best. I mean we were there for close to six hours and then it got dark and the weather changed dramatically, it started to rain. So I was giving Heidi a lot of shelter, her whole body was shivering. And if you remember, when we left we didn't have anything to eat or drink since 8:30AM. That was close to almost 12 hours. Page created in 0.257 seconds with 26 queries.

Hi all! First, sorry for my bad english! I bought a NAS a few days ago 'cause I want my pictures in safety place. I have a pc and a NAS at home and a notebook in my work. I have created a new catalog, called "master", and I imported the pictures to my NAS/Lightroom folder. I worked on some pictures then I copied my catalog file and the master Previews.lrdata folder to my NAS, 'cause I would like to working on the photos at my notebook in work. So today, I have copied my catalog file and the master Previews.lrdata folder to my notebook from the NAS, but when I open the catalog file lightroom say: "The folder could not be found." I have got the pictures (NEF) on my notebook, too, but I don't know where can I put them to LR see them. So how can I working on the same photos on two different pc (at home's pc and my notebook in work)? Thanks a lot for your helps and sorry again for my bad english! Have a nice day to all! I put my photos and Library/Previews on an external USB drive so I don’t need to copy anything, anywhere, to work on the photos on two different computers. I backup the catalog and photos to another drive overnight so if I drop the external drive I have everything. To make this painless, I assigned the same drive letter to the USB drive on both the laptop and desktop. Thanks for your quickly answer! That is an option too, what you do, but if you drop your external drive, your photos will be lost or not?!? I haven't got a lot of storage so this is why I keep my photos on my NAS (4 terrabytes in raid5). I don't want to buy a big capacity external drive too for my photos... I found a root-pixels.db and a previews.db files in the master Previews.lrdata folder. Can I overwrite the localization folder in this files??? Maybe if I make another way for the LR to fiend my photos on my notebook, it will works....or not? Hi zsenillio, Ssprengel has his photos not only on the external USB-drive, but as well copied over somewhere else for safety.. If you want to do all sorts of work on either PC/Notebook without planning ahead, i.e. Including Develop, then both machines need access to the same photos and catalog file, hence the advice to have everything on an external USB drive. Which needs to be large, obviously. I have never read about editing interference in single files of the previews folder. But you would have to do this back and forth with every switch of working machine? I would advise a different workflow, which needs more planning, if you do not want another terabyte-USB-drive as transportation vehicle between the two machines: On your master-PC think of "checking out" a portion of images to work on on the laptop: export them as catalog, name this portion accordingly. You can include the photos themselves and the previews. If your laptop should be capable to connect to your NAS, export them there, and import this check-out-catalog into your separate 2nd catalog on your laptop (which should be named differently feom the master, auxiliary-catalog or second-view). Do your work on the laptop. While you do, this bundle should be taboo on your PC. Unfortunately, as LR does not know such a checkout-concept by itself, dedicate some otherwide unused labeling feature, e.g. a colour, to mark the photos which have been included in the checkout catalog. When you are ready on your laptop, export the photos again as catalog from there, which is now a "to-get-checked-in catalog", again just an intermediate transportation vehicle. Maybe you assign another check-in colour in case you would want virtual copies. Import this into your master catalog on the PC, remove the check-out/in label colours. Delete both intermediate transportation catalogs from everywhere. So you see how easy this is to trap yourself, in case you deviate from strict discipline? Is a terabyte-usb-drive really too expensive instead? It should be usb3.0, as it may be too slow in writing speed for a catalog otherwise. Cornelia Hi Cornelia! Thanks for your help, too! At now I try another way and it looks working, but I'll know only if I arrive to home...so I downloaded the visual subst program to my notebook and I made a same named virtual drive like my NAS at my home...LR has found all my photos, so I make some differents on some of these photos and when I arrive to home, I'll copy my catalog file and Previews.Irdata folder to my desktop and I'll see that works or not! Thanks again for your answers, you are greats! p.s.: I'll post my result afternoon! My suggestion would be to use your NAS as the backup location, and use a 1TB USB3 WD Passport or similar to host your catalog and photos. I use PTReplicator overnight to copy my photos to my backup location every night. Other people use things like RoboCopy. The issue you’ll have with what you’re doing is what happens when you run out of space for photos and catalogs. My 1TB drive holds about 1 years worth of photos, and I export a copy of my older photos, a month or a quarter at a time, to another catalog file my archive storage (not the same location as my backup copy of current work) and move the photos, themselves over there, and then remove the LR catalog reference to the photos. My archive storage is a collection of 2TB drives I put into a drive dock, so I can swap between the various hard-drives when I need to look for something. Thanks a lot! I didn't found how can I set the location for the backup to my NAS...but what I did yesterday, it works...The copy's time will be very long when my catalog file will be bigger, so I have to do that what you wrote...I'll buy that 1TB WD Passport. Thanks again for all, you helped me a lot! See you later, have a nice day for everybody! 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Hi, I have a video player that I'm creating in Flash -- my video clips are on different scenes and I wanted a "menu" bar to allow the viewer to pick which scene they wanted. I found tutorials for various scrolling thumbnail menu bars and I eventually found a code which allowed me to click from scene to scene. However, now that the menu bar works, the video clips do not automatically play anymore and I'm not sure why. This is the link to my file: I only have one action script on the scene, which is the top layer that has [AS]stop();[/AS] I have two buttons on either side of the video clip: [AS]on (press) { nextScene(); play(); }[/AS] [AS] on (press) { gotoAndPlay("SI", 1); } [/AS] This is the coding for the scrolling menu bar: Frame 1: [AS]// Photoscroller 2.0 // Original Author: Barry Driessen // Upgraded by: Rob Gungor // I don't care if u use this thingy, you don't have to // give me credit for it. Just knock yourself out with it!! // // If you like it or have suggestions, just drop me an e-mail! // // **stupid people tip** // to use this scroller as is -- //copy all the frames in the timeline (by right/(control //for mac) click, copy frames) //then right click on your timeline and paste frames // //sorry if that is insulting, but when I first started this stuff, I was dumb too :-) // // Okay... First let's set some variables...... // // Xphoto = startposition of the scoll image xphoto = 258; // // Widthmovie = This variable hase to be set to the // same amount of the moviewidth widthmovie = 325; // // Scrollspeed = The scollspeed of the image (high numbers result in slow scrolls 10=average) scrollspeed = 25; // // widthphoto = the width of your scrollable image in pixels widthphoto = 2116;[/AS] Frame 2: [AS]// Setting the xmouse to 0 in the centre of the movie: xmouse = _xmouse - (widthmovie / 2); // Setting the speed: speed = (xmouse) / scrollspeed; // If the speed is negative, the speed will be made positive here: if (speed < 0) { speed = -(speed); } //new function courtesy of Rob //basically says that if the mouse isn't betwen these two y points it won't work //**stupid people tip** //make sure that you figure out the top and bottom y points of your "photo" and insert them accordingly! mouseposition = getProperty("/myself", _y); if (_ymouse < 330) { speed=0; } if (_ymouse > 390) { speed=0; } // If the mouse moves to left, the photo will scroll to the right: // (That makes sense.... Doesn't it!! ;-) if (xmouse < 258) { xphoto = xphoto + speed; } // If the mouse moves to the right, the photo will scroll to the left: if (xmouse > 258) { xphoto = xphoto - speed; } // Checking for the left end of the image: if (xphoto > 258) { xphoto = 258; } // Checking for the right end of the image: if (xphoto < -(widthphoto - widthmovie)) { xphoto = -(widthphoto - widthmovie); } // Placing the moviclip (photo) on it's new postition: setProperty("photo", _x, xphoto); [/AS] [AS]gotoAndPlay (2) // make sure this clip this in your movie when you copy it. // //**last stupid people tip** // if you copy these frames into any other frames other than 1, make sure you change the frame that it repeats (ie. if you copy these 3 action frames into 5,6,7 "gotoAndPlay (6)")-- ///ok duh-i know. :-) // // // The mouseovers are quite simple. Just open the Movieclip "MouseOver" // to see how it works... // // // Have fun!!!!! //**i realized that it's more fun when drinking beer. //-rg [/AS] Then inside the thumbnail, to make it serve as a button: [AS]on (rollOver) { button2.gotoAndPlay(2); } on (rollOut) { button2.gotoAndPlay(16); } on (release) { // You can assign an actionscript to each Button in here: _level0.gotoAndPlay("my_target1"); }[/AS] Thanks! you have a lot of coding problems. do any of your goto's work correctly? All of my go-to's work perfectly! They all go the scene that they're suppose to. It's just that the movie clips no longer play when I go to the scene. what are you calling video clips? flv's that are played in flvplayback components? You are correct. have your enabled the autoPlay property of your components? Where do I check to make sure it is enabled? go to the keyframe where you have one of your non-playing flvplayback instances, click to select the component and in the components parameter panel there is a checkbox for autoPlay. check it and retest. When I try to look at it with the component selector, it's not selecting the file and gives me the generic "Select a component instance..." message It might be because I'm not using a "flash player" component-- I just have the video clip/.flv on the stage. then don't use nextScene() or prevScene. use gotoAndPlay(). That's not the problem-- even if I push "testmovie" or "testscene" without using the controls, the movie doesn't play. However, if I delete my thumbnails menu, it plays perfectly fine. you need to remove: gotoAndPlay (2) so your video can play. you've embedded your flv into your timeline so it only plays when the timeline plays and that goto is preventing the timeline from playing. of course, if you remove that the thumbnail code won't work. bottomline: your project code is a mess and using an flv in a timeline is not what you should be doing. you should have no code attached to objects, no frame loops and no flvs embedded in a timeline. you should attach your code to a timeline, user an enterframe loop and use an flvplayback component to play your flv(s). North America Europe, Middle East and Africa Asia Pacific South America

I agree with those that disliked the characters ... but I dislike the characters in every FF game. Actually, as far as FFVIII goes, the characters rank pretty highly on my list. At least Rinoa had the balls to chew out (the Mary Sue) Squall when he was being a douchebag. Well, once. She didn't do it the other fifty times. --*--Bring Back MI:13 We need more Black Knight and Faiza Hussain! The rest of the time she acted like a capricious little child. And everyone had to go after her .. I tried to play the game three times, but the three times I couldn't continue because of a bug. I tried other CD (starting a new game), and I did not have that bug ... but another one later. How come no one is coming in here to Defend Lair? LAIR, people!!! I only know that it's pretty much the worst game that's been made for the PS3, so I expected to come in here and everyone defending it :) As for me, I really love Web of Shadows. I do not know how much people hated it, but I think it's the best HD version of Spider-Man 2 that is available. There was a lot of innovation in the game. I haven't played a lot of the other Spidey games, but I'm pretty sure the aerial web attacks was new, the chaining of hits was new and fun, the wall attacks, the parkour-like elements, wall slide and running, etc. The problems I had with the game is the voice acting and it's kind of glitch-y. Olivier Coipel - The best damned artist on the planet! Shout out to Kev Walker! You're doing a hell of a job! Find & follow me on Twitter & Instagram. Check out arfguy Behaviour-wise, Rinoa was hardly the worst of the bunch either. Every single hero is a complete douchebag for one thing. I don't want this thread to be hijacked by Final Fantasy talk though, so I'll leave it at that. --*--Bring Back MI:13 We need more Black Knight and Faiza Hussain! Yuna was whinny and clingy but got redemption through X-2 where she was a diva with kick ass short shorts and guns Celes was overall very whinny but we had Terra to fix things when she was being emo we always have a 2nd girl that picks up where the other falls short, but for Rinoa... its kinda pointless she's alone, Quistis I don't know why she gets so much love when she barely has any lines throughout the whole story, I guess its the whole hot for teacher complex? And Selphie 0___o she's more of a dude than a chick she was a "female" version of Michelangelo from TMNT!! Depending on who you talk to, Legend of Dragoon was horrible. But I loved it. Thought the cutscenes were great, enjoyed the timed attacks in battles, thought the dragoon magic was cool, and thought the game looked great. It's up on PSN now, so I'm not sure how well it holds up. Will have to go back and see. There may be a little difference between them, but they all rubbed me the same way. One thing that the developers recognized after 8 was that a gigantic realistic character running around an overhead map was very disturbing to the human eye/mind. In 7 it worked because Cloud was cartoony looking but in 8 it would slap you in the face everytime you moved around the world map, thus why from then on your characters were either cartoony on the world map or the realistic character did not move around on a world map. Bookmarks

Redbox Sued Over Multi-Day Rental Fees Sorry if this is the wrong area, I didn't know where else to put it.Check out my HDD reviews or learn more about me here. Me on IMDb.com. Ebates -- Where it pays to shop online! Wonder why the plantiff ignored this: implied contract Definition Legally enforceable agreement that arises from the conduct, assumed intentions, some relationship among the immediate parties, or due to the application of the legal principle of equity. For example, a contract is implied when a party knowingly accepts a benefit from another party in circumstances where the benefit cannot be considered a gift. Therefore, the party accepting the benefit is under a legal obligation to give fair value for the benefit received. Opposite of express contract. See also implied in fact contract and implied in law contract. Another one of those lawsuits that without interpreting the legal wordings of a contract is just common sense. What is so hard to understand in "$1 a night" and you must return the DVD before 9:00 pm? $1/per night X 25 nights after 9 pm = $25 I think that the plaintiff is the scammer. She intentionally did not return the DVDs numerous times, which is her own fault, so she can exploit the wordings in the Redbox contract. once again, the "sue happy" citizens of the world unite! having used redbox a total of...ummmmmm, twice, i had no problem understanding the deal. it's funny that the $25 "super fee" is referenced when that cutoff is just as helpful to the consumer. think about it. if they didn't cut off at $25, you could be charged a buck a day for god knows how long! i remember when i worked at the video store...remember those?...and a lost tape, that's right, would cost you $40! plus, the redbox email receipts/reminders/etc are constants in my inbox. forgetting is not an option...no matter how much you want to. Last edited by frostybru82; 10-28-2009 at 04:14 PM. Reason: thought added... people are idiots. Just return the movie on time! These are the same assholes that talk in movie theaters and text. People wanting something for nothing.Epson 1080UB, PS3 and 161" Draper Screen...pure theater bliss! movie list: But, Redbox is stupid to use the phrase "Never a late fee" - they already got one rental chain for that; I forget if it was Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. They weren't charging a late fee, but of course if you never bothered to return the disc they charged you a fee for it, and courts interpreted that as a "late fee" - and I notice this plaintiff conveniently got charged the Redbox $25 fee a couple of times for not returning a disc. The plaintiff and her attorney(s) will get something out of this one. Charging for another rental period if you don't return the disc by 9:00 PM is still a penalty for returning late, i.e. a late fee - no matter how easily understood "$1 a night" is. Last edited by Cochise; 10-28-2009 at 05:43 PM. Wouldn't you love to know who is actually behind the initiation of this lawsuit? Sony BDP-S1000ES + Toshiba HD-A35 Sony 1080p LED/LCD + Yamaha RX-V3900 + M&K Speakers & Subs evergreen contract Definition Agreement between two parties that is automatically renewed (rolled over) after each completion- or maturity period, until canceled by the either party. I think Redbox will be fine on this one. They have published literature exaplaining how Redbox works and what no late fees mean. The basically describe that you pay $1 per day, with no fees above that $1. So it is 1+1=2 for two days, not 1+1+$.50= $2.50 for two days. The plantiff was never charged a late fee. They were charged for a rental extension. Two different things... When we start talking 'legalese', I could see RedBox taking a big hit for this. You're right: rather imbecilic to use "Never a late fee" as a slogan. I mean, was "$1 a day" not clear-cut enough? The "Never a late fee" slogan is almost a deliberate attempt to mislead, or make people subconsciously overlook the fact that if they don't return it in 1 day, they are going to be paying $2 (and so on). --Regardless of how many 'email reminders', etc. they are sent. Sure, you'd have to be a monkey to really be that naive to think that it's "$1 for a day", and if you happen to return it 40 days later, you owe nothing else because you already paid your $1. But, nothing says that it couldn't be interpreted in that fashion (albeit by the mind of a complete imbecile.) Hotels charge a rate "per night". And, if you extend your stay one night, you can be pretty certain that they are going to bill you for 2 nights when you check out. But, they don't go through a silly scheme to say, "Never a late fee at our hotel!" The plaintiff is obviously a big-time scammer. But, RedBox has foolishly left themselves wide-open to it. And, at the end of the day, if a cut-rate business that puts human beings out of work (albeit at relatively low-paying jobs), and removes the ability of others to enjoy perusing a wide physical selection of videos in a store .....if that type of business becomes unsolvent and has to go belly-up due to this lawsuit (and their own stupidity) .... I won't lose sleep over it.A) An extra $1 is fair if you keep it past 24 hours. They simply need to make that clearer on the kiosk. As for the $25 failure to return fee. It is not excessive. Those machines are frequently stocked with current hot movie titles. Titles not present in the machine for renting cost them money. Rental stores have charged far more for the replacement cost than that for years. Anyone that thinks they can keep the movie indefinitely without some kind of penalty are just plain nuts. I hope Red Box prevails in both cases. They are offering a better service for less and often in under served areas that are too small for a full rental store. If you go into the way back machine. Video stores used to charge (and some still do) a different rate for a late fee, or slap on a fixed charge. For example, a locally run video store in my town charged $3 for two days to rent VHS, but you could only keep it for two days, or you were late. If you returned it on day 3 or day 4, you paid another $3 plus a $2 fixed late fee. Day 5 or 6, $6 + $2 late fee. Another example is Blockbuster. At one point they charged $5 for 2 days. After two days, you had a 7 day grace period of no late fees. After 7 days, a late fee of $1.31 for each two days was applied. Or another example, my local library is free for 7 days. After 7 days, you pay a late fee of $1 per day. Why are people so down on Kiosks? Sure, they may put a few minimum wage clerks and a mid-wage manager out of work. But making and maintaining the Kiosks employees skilled workers at better than minimum wage jobs. Further, a Kiosk that only uses 13 sq ft can supply 1700 discs (this model is used in Europe)! The same company has a design for a 5426 disc version that only takes up 30 sq ft. A typical Blockbuster is 4800 sq ft and houses around 5000-6000 movies and games. Even a small video store is 1800 sq ft. But you can replace a 4800 sq ft building (with a 12,000 sq ft parking lot) with only 30 sq ft of efficiently used space! Plant some trees and make a play park for the kids with the space you save. Hey, thats more jobs making and maintaining the park! Then on top of that, a Kiosk doesn't require extra heating and cooling. It doesn't run 200 15W lights for 16 hours a day. It doesn't need water and sewer. Doesn't need as much energy in the initial construction. It is incredibly green compared to traditional stores. It's obvious that movie stores are a tremendous waste of space and energy. Kiosks are as efficient as you can.

Combining the best in new technology with the greatest compatibility 23 July 2012, Taipei, Taiwan – Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) has announced a new series of motherboards - B75 Series. These three new PC motherboards based around Intel's B75 Express chipset support for the latest CPU technology: Intel Small Business advantage, as well as compatibility with older products and a future upgrade path. They offer an impressive range of features for home and business use, including SATA 3.0 hard drive connection at up to 6Gb/s, USB 3.0 for high speed external data transfer, plus PCI Express 3.0 and DirectX 11 for advanced graphics. There are three motherboards in the ECS B75 series: the B75H2-D, the B75H2-M2, and the B75H2-M3. The B75H2-M2 and the B75H2-M3 are compact 244mm x 200mm Micro ATX format boards, while the B75H2-D is a DTX format board. Small business advantage All three boards come with the Intel Small Business Advantage (SBA) security and productivity software, a set of tools designed to help small businesses manage their PC infrastructure to enhance productivity, protect valuable data, and cut operating costs. SBA includes security features like Software Monitor, to monitor critical security software and alert users if it is compromised; Data Backup and Restore, which can start up the PC automatically outside working hours to save power costs and avoid interrupting users; and USB Blocker to protect the PC and network from viruses, malware and spyware infections carried by USB devices. SBA Productivity features include PC Health Center, which can wake up the PC to carry out maintenance and system checks; Energy Saver, to shut down PCs after working hours, and start them up automatically each morning rather than leaving them switched on all the time; the DTX-format B75H2-D motherboard features Intel vPro technology to enable the best solutions for businesses in a managed PC environment. Unprecedented compatibility and solid power The ECS B75 series motherboards provide full support for Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge CPUs for cutting edge performance, but they still maintain compatibility with Sandy Bridge and older socket 1155 CPUs to offer an easy upgrade path. The boards' LGA1155 socket accepts new 2nd and 3rd Generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Pentium/Celeron Processors. CPUs up to 95 Watts are supported on the B75H2-M3. The new Intel B75 Express chipset at the heart of these motherboards offers integrated USB 3.0 support without external chips, bringing greater performance, expandability, and reliability. And these boards have official support for PCI Express Generation 3.0 add on card technology, to get the most out of future generations of graphics cards as well as today's most powerful models. Expandable and connectable All of the B75 series boards provide a wide range of expansion and upgrade options. As well as the PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot for graphics cards, each board includes at least 1 PCI Express 2.0 slot, and the B75H2-M3 even adds 2 standard PCI slots to support older add on cards. There's huge capacity for ultra high speed storage with the latest Serial ATA (SATA 3) 6.0Gb/s devices. Connectivity includes 4 USB 3.0 ports, 6 USB 2.0 Ports and Gigabit LAN. Integrated video output is handled by a VGA and HDMI or DVI sockets, and there's also 6 channel surround sound HD audio. For users who need to bring older applications and processes up-to-date, these also boards offer great legacy hardware and software support with features like a COM/Serial port header and line printer port (LPT) header (not available in B75H2-M2). Advanced user features For hardware performance enthusiasts, these new boards provide plenty of control to get the maximum performance out of the PC, as well as the ECS M.I.B. III software for easy and convenient overclocking. The software provides an advanced range of frequency tuning features for system performance and superior gaming capability. Lifetime reliability To ensure lifetime reliability and customer satisfaction ECS applies stringent quality control procedures to all its products. Solid long-life capacitors in the critical CPU area guard against failure, even in the most challenging conditions. ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) protection protects against component damage from static electricity in dry climates, to enhance durability and lifespan. All three ECS B75 motherboards are available now

02-24-2010 04:49 AM I set an IP, subnet mask, default gateway, DNS servers on one of my profiles. But after each reboot OS (and a hibernate), only default gateway does not applies (I can see it by "ipconfog"). So I must each time (after reboot/hibernate) disconnect this profile and connect again. And it's OK - gateway applies. Why is this happening? Some time ago (three months ago may be) it works correctly... This in trouble after changing an IP on that profile. P.S. I have an updated Vista SP2 and Thinkvantage Access Connections v.5.50 Build 6ICV16WW. 03-19-2010 02:49 AM No any assumption or may be question? I have good news and bad news: 1. After some times rebooting Access Connections can store 'default gateway' after hibernate. 2. But it still missed after each reboot. Can anybody help me? 04-22-2010 03:01 PM Hi, did you tried to update to the lates t5.6x version of Access Connection? If yes, then pleas ealso update following: Power Manager Power Management driver System interface driver Hotkey utility Wifi driver Let me know, if this worked for you, as I'm interrested if you still see the same with the latest build. Cheers 05-17-2010 06:07 AM I have the latest version of all of these products (all updates with System update are installed) and my problem didn't solved. It stays for a profile with static IP, when I reboot my OS. (For dynamic IP it works correctly) Filled fields : - IP address - Subnet mask - Default gateway 2 DNS servers (may be they are not accessible) - "Use following advanced DNS settings" - "Append these DNS suffixies" (1 record) - Connection specific DNS suffix - Register this connection's addresses in DNS - Use this connection's DNS suffix in DNS registration and - Do not use proxy 05-18-2010 01:31 AM After reboot i can see correct IP Subnetmask DNS-suffix by the function IPCONFIG. But if I'll open network connection properties, there will be filled not correct static IP 0.0.0.0 and 255.0.0.0 subnet mask. If I'll open "advanced" properties, there will be 2 IP: 0.0.0.0 and the correct. And no one Gateway. 06-08-2010 02:38 AM I have last version AC now (5.62). Problem stays. I want to add some information: Network connection properties contains wrong IP adress even it works perfectly after applying profile. There wrong IP 0.0.0.0 and real IP 172.17.1.91 in the properties. I can delete wrong IP from there, but it stays after reboot (and the gateway too). No any ideas? It's really problem with a static profiles.

Mac Pro Eight-Core 2.8GHz #1 Posted 05 February 2008 - 12:04 PM #2 Posted 05 February 2008 - 12:23 PM Now... when will it get here? I ordered Jan 18, ship date is still Feb 26. Am I waiting for the card or OSX 10.5.2? #3 Posted 05 February 2008 - 01:40 PM #4 Posted 05 February 2008 - 02:06 PM #5 Posted 05 February 2008 - 02:15 PM #6 Posted 05 February 2008 - 02:29 PM My 2.8 Octa arrived today along with 8GB of RAM to bump it to 10GB. 3 Raptors, 1 to boot from and 2 for a RAID, a server grade Seagate 1TB for backup. Chances are I'll see better results than the test above. I just don't get this bit of testing a Mac like this with paltry RAM. #7 Posted 05 February 2008 - 02:41 PM #8 Posted 05 February 2008 - 04:08 PM #9 Posted 05 February 2008 - 11:32 PM #10 Posted 06 February 2008 - 09:25 AM catstudioth said: It's never going to happen. There is no market. An iMac IS mid-range. #11 Posted 06 February 2008 - 09:48 AM #12 Posted 06 February 2008 - 12:02 PM In Denmark, there is a 2-3 weeks delivery time with the 8800 GT option, otherwise just 2-3 days. Could I buy it later on the net? Maybe even cheaper... #13 Posted 06 February 2008 - 12:37 PM The iMac is a consumer-level system designed to meet the needs of non-professional users. Only the top-of-the line iMac even comes close to matching the bottom rung Mac Pros in terms of processing power and the iMac is not expandable. Aside from adding memory and external peripherals, the iMac purchased today will be limited to the technologies it came with. That makes the iMac the bane of power users because it is in no way a mid-level professional system, but a mid- to high-end consumer system. The exception are office professionals that could use an iMac because the nature of their work does not warrant the processing power of a professional system; the classification of a system as “professional” by an OEM typically means that the system is geared toward power users and not simply professionals in the business sense of the word. As such persons can continue to use a computer as is well into its obsolescence, and often have no choice but to do so until their employer decides to upgrade the systems in their office, the price of a “professional” system, is not justifiable. In fact, the business systems offered by Wintel PC OEMs typically differ little from their consumer-level offerings. #14 Posted 06 February 2008 - 02:55 PM mdawson said: Here's the problem with your point of view. It's not a big enough market. Yup, I just said it again. Despite your opinion, and the opinions of the many posters you refer to, that's not what Apple is going to bring. Maybe you noticed that Apple's Cinema Display's are horribly out of date and over priced relative to the market as well. That's been the case for how long now ? Is Apple doing anything about it ? No, because it's not a big enough market. Major manufacturers are all beating each other up competing in that segment so why should Apple bother. Maybe you noticed that updates to computers don't happen in line with Macworld or the developers conference as they used to. Why ? Because that let the market dictate Apple sales, as it did for so many years. A slump in sales preceded the annual events as buyers held out for the latest update. Not a good business model. So now the Mac Pro and Xserve updates were unceremoniously announced a week prior to MW. MBPs will be updated in a couple of weeks, when they're ready. Maybe you also noticed that Apple is no longer Apple computer. They're much more than that and they will continue to broaden their market, not chase the one you suggest is in need of a mid-level Mac. You could say they, " Think different."

06-29-2011 09:43 AM Hi, I'm trying to read data from a transmitter via RS232 and DasyLab V9.00.01. The transmitter sends only HEX-values. I have got a conversion formula to achieve the final result from this HEX-value. Therefore I'd like to work with the pure HEX-Values in DasyLab. The HEX-String looks like this: 2C 01 81 16 F7 With the help of a format string I get the interesting HEX-values: 81 61 F7 Now I could calculate my final result, but DasyLab converts it to ASCII. So I only get: □-÷ Which is equal to "0" as output value. Is there any way to work with the HEX-Value alone and ignore the useless ASCII code? Hopefully someone can help me with that. Thanks! 06-29-2011 12:25 PM what format string are you using? ah? or b, to just read the binary value of the character? 06-29-2011 03:17 PM 06-29-2011 03:24 PM No matter which format you use, DASYLab will convert the incoming string to a floating point number. If you use the a, then it will interpret the number literally. If you use the ah, then it should take each character, and convert it. so, 2C 01 81 16 F7 should be interpreted by ah as 2 12 0 1 8 1 1 6 15 7 2ah should interpret it as 44 1 129 22 247 Once inside DASYLab, you can then operate on these numbers using the bit logic module or the formula module to do the Hex math that you need. if you need the values all at once, then set up additional channels to read each character, so that the module will have 5 or 10 outputs. The formula works better that way. You can visualize the interpreted data in the Digital Meter, by changing the display to Hex. 06-30-2011 04:15 AM Thanks for your fast response! Am I supposed to enter the format of the data at any other point than at the format string? As I sad, my format string is: 2X 3AH. Therefore I should already use the right format, at least I hope so. I tried also ah and 2ah as you suggested, but the interpretation (RS232 Monitor) is always: 2C 00 04 27 30 , - - ' 0 When I control the connection between the RS232 modul and my digital meter the value transferred is always "0". Also little HEX values can't be used because they always yield a value of "-". I'm really helpless at the moment. 06-30-2011 08:03 AM Do you want to read the entire string as a single number? To change the digital meter to display Hex, do this 06-30-2011 09:45 AM Does this work? 5 channels are set to read "b" or byte Display the value (0-255) on the list, and display the Hex value on the Digital Meter. You should then be able to use the bit logic modules and the formula module to process your decoding. 07-04-2011 06:04 AM That's exactly the solution I was looking for. Thanks very much for your help!

Hello everybody My first post! I haven't got round to doing an intro yet - been so busy lurking here and researching and getting tested and getting ready for tx. Anyway have some a/v and abx tx coming up (Vatrex and Doxy) - starting in couple of weeks. Got mercury out now and done two rounds of chelation. Am happy with what i'm doing with the DMSA, have read andy cutler a bit. Its the EDTA amounts i could do with help with. I am combining the two supps. I want to get as much done as possible before tx and so will only have time for 3 or 4 chelation rounds. (So 1 or 2 more). I want to get the very best out of my tx cos i am in the uk and so a/v and abx are very hard to get - so i doubt if there will be many more/if any. I am doing the DMSA (and adding in ALA later) for all the usual reasons, detox but also bio film break up if poss. The ETDA i am doing for more urgent and worrying reasons in that i have the second to worse degree of rouleau red bld cells - aggregated or protein linkage. I have high homocysteine at 23. Tortuous veins behind eyes (only place visable) and a pain in my left temple which scares me. With the rouleau and fibrin i am worried about a stroke. So i want to take as much as possible but be safe. 1st round - I took 10mg DMSA + one sixth of a cap ETDA (83mg). 2nd round was 20mg DMSA + 125mg (quarter cap) EDTA. I understand one can go up to 100mg eventually with the DMSA. BUT my question is what is the highest amount of EDTA one can take in a dose (doses every 4 hours) for the eventual amount? (amt to aim for) and how much should i take for my next dose? Although i realise i should stay on the same dose for 3 rounds i am prepared to risk a little because i will not have completed much chelation before tx starts and i dont think i will be well enough to do chelation during tx. My 3rd round will be a cautious inc to 25mg DMSA but i understand the ETDA is better tollerated so......? Sorry such a long post and hi again to all, love the forum and all the people trying to get better. wwxx (wishing well, kiss kiss)

Sijun Forums :: View topic - Paradise Lost Artist Spotlight - NOW LIVE Log in to check your private messages Sijun Forums Forum Index >> Digital Art Discussion View previous topic :: View next topic Author Topic : "Paradise Lost Artist Spotlight - NOW LIVE" netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:23 am Howdy All! We are pretty damn excited to say that work on our Artist Spotlight Site is finally done and we can now proudly show off some of the Concept Work, as well as the artists that have done it, to the world! As some of you may or may not know I've been heading up the Project Titled 'Paradise Lost' for a bit now and while it's been a struggle at times I think we've really hit our stride. So as a little way of thanking the Artists on board who make this project as visually amazing as it is we've put together a Spotlight Site where we showcase a new piece of Art every week that, due to NDA constraints, would normally be hidden away from the world. Through this site you can check out all members of our Creative Team as well as read Bio's and see last week's work. We will also be putting a new concept track from the Game soundtrack up which plays in the background. We are extremely proud of the work that is going into this Project and hope to bring as much recognition and attention to the artists who we are so grateful to be working with through this site! So without Further Ado: "Re-Education" is the piece for this week, there is of course a larger version on the main site. Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:37 pm Proud to present a new piece this week comically entitled 'Sleeping on the Job'. A bit graphic, although this fella's other deaths are a bit worse. The music is a little cello/violin riff we are fiddling around with that I personally like a lot. Again the link is: Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:10 am Micha, one of our amazing artists out of Belgium is in the Spotlight this week with his work on the Photospore.. We wanted a clean looking mounted energy weapon that could be setup quickly yet still provide some defense and pack a punch.. Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:56 pm I always get excited to present environmental pieces as they help portray not only the look of what we are working on but also bring across the emotions we hope to evoke during the experience. We are blessed with Paul Scott Canavan as one of our environmental artists and he did a fantastic job with this piece at narrowing in on the underlying feeling of isolation felt in one of our main areas Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:58 pm This week brings us another awesome character sketch by Joanna, her talent for getting the exact emotional response from her characters always impresses me. The Re-Educator is a sinister fellow of sorts who's job is to implant memories specific of what the government wants it's people to believe. The sarcophagus being one of our test designs for these memory implant pods Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:01 am Something perhaps a little less glamorous this week but essential non-the-less.. In order to maintain visual unity throughout our game and make it look like the entire project was conceptualized by one artist as apposed to a team of 25 located from LA all the way to Belgium we've started making a lot of items that are to be used throughout to keep things consistent. Items such as doors, cameras, lights, card readers, etc etc. So this week we have a group of lighting fixtures that we wanted to have a slightly futuristic feel to them but nothing so much over the top that it fee's star trekish and outlandishly sci-fi Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:29 am It's always fun to create stuff that can blow up the stuff that other artists are creating Or at least fill them full of holes. And that is exactly what our Concept Artist / Weapons Specialist did this week with his Energy Rifle. Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:07 pm Terry Maranda has blessed us with some great costume designs this week.. We are still tweaking them however we are all in love with the direction Terry is taking the children's clothing design. They will be used in one of the very sheltered colonies in our world that has been kept in the most pristine image of humanity while the rest of the race on the earth is struggling every day with life and death. A people who have maintained the luxuries of life while completely sacrificing their freedoms and individuality. Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:17 pm Another great piece from Timo Karhula this week, he just keeps on blowing us away with not only his amazing creativity but the quality of his presentation! The goal for this piece was to create an organic feeling building that lies in the heart of an overly high-tech society as it is meant to contrast sharply just how far they've gone to the technological side of things and how much they've sacrificed because of it Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:22 pm This week it is an absolute treat to bring you one of our nearly completed presentation pieces titled 'The Unexpected Hero'. Alex Gonzales, an absolutely marvelous artist has spent quite a bit of time now on this piece and after more discussions than I can count I think we are pretty much finished with it, although I know he will have a fair bit more work in his mind, in mine I just love where it is. Definitely a piece you don't want to miss so head over, check it out and let us know what you think!! Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:55 am We COMPLETELY revamped the site design, so as it is now 'finally finished' I wanted to show it off to you guys. The game itself is taking a much different path and we decided to hold off on the real nitty gritty earthy post-apoc part of it until the next title. So to reflect that this project will take place mainly in a cleaner, although soon to be turned into a nightmare, environment we had the new website design take on a much similar feel. There is also some slight changes to the actual spotlight image done by Alex so showing that all off too. We would all love to hear what you think Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:46 am Yet another unbelievable concept by our Polish Character Queen Joanna! The objective of this piece was to create a group of people living in an incredibly technological society which has become incredibly disconnected from nature. The main purpose of these people was to create them as organically, yet technologically as possible in order to contrast the harsh disconnect that the rest of their society suffers from Nature. As always Joanna nailed it! And I just wanted to share some of Joanna's attention to detail that just blew me away when I started to zoom in on the final concept here: Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:53 pm Roland Brown has been busy concocting some great environments for Paradise Lost and I figured it was about time that we show one, especially considering it's been months since he's been in the spotlight. For this piece we needed an apartment that was in the middle of the social pecking order.. These people aren't on the top, but not at the bottom and it was Roland's challenging job to create a mood and feel that portrayed this. Something which, as usual, he excelled at! Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:24 am Tyler Edlin is one of our new artists that we feel incredibly blessed to have on board our project. This week to contrast the apartment from last week we bring you one that is located in the 4th ring of the residential area, which represents a fairly significant drop in social status. Tyler is excellent at portraying this with coloring and lighting and we will probably grunge down this apartment even further when it gets taken to the level design stage. Check back in the next few months for some more amazing art work by Tyler and the rest of our Team!! Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 1:03 am We have a piece of 3D work this week, the first of many which we are extremely proud of. We have low-poly in-game model(shot on the left) and I've also included the high poly model(on the right) that we use to create our normal maps from.. Such an exciting time with normal mapping technology to be makign games.. It just makes these models look so stunningly beautiful. Raheel, one of our ever so talented Character Modellers has pumped out an awesome new NPC model this week! This dude is an interior security gaurd. We will end up giving him a semi-light weapon but wanted to keep his overall look somewhat fragile as he is going to be thrust in a scenario that he was definitely never meant to be thrust into. One of the interesting things in our first game is that it is almost completely void of A-typical hero's. None of these big bulky super-soldiers, but filled with ordinary people that are forced into extraordinary situations and becomes hero's in their own way. We are still fleshing the final bits out in our 3D conceptual stage so any crits would be much appreciated!! Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:51 am My humblest apologies for the lack of update last week, a daunting house move severed my connection to the online world for a week which was hell.. This week we have a piece called 'The keeper of Life' which represents the evolution of the water technicians in our culture. In a society where water is the most precious and rare commodity those charged with keeping it safe it's recycling have been placed in a revered light the same as bhuddist monks of our day. Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 10:43 am It is always a treat for our concept artists to see their creations turning into something more tangible that eventually comes to life before their eyes on the screen. Johannes Boem is giving us that pleasure this week by turning one of the lower class female children into a finished model. Well 90% finished at least, we are just putting the final touches on the skin tone, shoes and hair but everything else is ready to go and our animators are chomping at the bit to get her walking around and playing. This character is one of our background extras to fill the space and give a more human feel to our environment. Her emotional goal in the game is to make a connection with the player and make him/her more sympathetic to the plight of the underpriviledged in our game. I do want to re-iterate that besides giving props to our artists this thread is to gather critiques from you guys, so as always if you have something to say about it, something that could be changed please don't be shy, we are dying to hear from you. Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 4:33 pm My apologies about the lack of updates last week, my schedule was insane and at one point I had to put in 25 hours of straight work just to clear off my todo list that had piled up so that I could start on new jobs that needed to be done.. unfortunately the spotlight site fell on the back burner! But this we I hope to make up by giving an special treat which is one of the first studies of our mechanical enemies in the game.. These beasts were once pieces of automated mining equipment that have been retrofitted by a Rogue AI to serve a more sinister purpose. Micha did an amazing job on this guy and the version of him completely wrecked was so good I just had to make a before and after image. Enjoy Back to top umbusmemberMember #Joined: 12 Oct 2008Posts: 193Location: above? Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 7:34 am allowed to post in here? cool leaf costume, kind of original in a way. Back to top netflowmemberMember #Joined: 24 Mar 2008Posts: 53 Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 4:35 pm Of course you are allowed to post here, infact I wish more people would The leaf costume is one of my favorites.. Those characters treat nature with religious ferver and every aspect of their lives is embued with it. Another exciting day when one of our top modellers, Vicko H, turns a great character into a living breathing entity.. This fellow is an engineer mechanic that works only near the heavily radiated areas as well as other intense and hazardous environments. The colors were one thing that we had a tough time nailing down so any comments on that would be greatly appreciated Enjoy Back to top Petri.JmemberMember #Joined: 04 Dec 2003Posts: 428Location: Helsinki, Finland Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:27 am Yeah, nice work. I like the leaf idea too. But it reads Queen Joanna. In my mind, queens doesn't carry weapons, and their costumes are very aristocratic and decorated, instead of tight soldier like costumes. But that's just my impression of queen costumes. Anyway good stuff

- Group: - Member: Members - Active Posts: - 368 (0.32 per day) - Most Active In: - General Sonic Discussion (125 posts) - Joined: - 03-April 10 - Profile Views: - 214 - Last Active: Yesterday, 01:06 PM - Currently: - Offline My Information - Member Title: - The FIRST Retrosexual! - Age: - 19 years old - Birthday: - September 28, 1993 - Gender: Male - Location: - United Kingdom - Interests: - Music and Games. I'm a college student and formerly played in a rock band. Now writing my own solo material! Contact Information - MSN: minichapman@hotmail.co[email protected] - Yahoo: - Skype: minichapman Previous Fields - Project: - Being drunk. - National Flag: - uk - Wiki edits: - 1 Latest Visitors Extended Play 07 May 2013 - 15:02 Ritz 10 Apr 2013 - 09:29 gmf300 07 Apr 2013 - 15:21 Soincfunt 30 Mar 2013 - 20:41 Orengefox 22 Mar 2013 - 20:26 Topics I've Started Can't access tcrf.net 29 January 2013 - 12:52 PMRight. The title pretty much says it all. I'm using Chrome on WinVista and whenever I type in tcrf.net in to the address bar. I can access the website through other connections but not mine. I've cleared the history but I honestly wouldn't know the first step of what to do. Gamesmaster Presents: Mario Vs. Sonic 25 April 2012 - 09:31 AMThe 8th issue in the Gamesmaster Presents series. Bit too expensive for my liking at £7.99 for a magazine.. You also receive some generic Classic Sonic 3 stickers of sprites and two very large double sided posters of Mario and Sonic respectively. Was very miffed at the fact that there was no article on Sonic 4: Episode 2 though. Here's some shots of the mag in spoilers because of image sizeeverything's in spoilers now. Also my camerawork is awzums! EDIT: pictures fixed. Spoiler Softmodding a Saturn 30 November 2011 - 02:46 PMAbout 2 months ago as a birthday treat for myself, I bought a SEGA Saturn model 2 for the good price of £25. Later on I got an E-mail stating that I would need to buy basically everything else for the console, I'd already bought 4 games by that point so it cost me over £60 in the end but that's off topic and a different story altogether. ON TOPIC: I want to do the softmod treatment on my Saturn. Looking around has suggested that the chips are no longer being made. I'm basically asking on advice for what could/can I do now. Anybody? Wii RAR problems 04 March 2011 - 09:22 PMHere is my best attempt to write something whilst combatting sleep at the same time. While I love my new homebrewed wii, I decided to make the thing play backups as I have almost everything I need finished. I done some snooping as usual on the internets and found various sites with downloads. For testings sakes I used games I already have. (In my case which I shall explain include Tatsunoku Vs. Capcom, Warioware: Smooth Moves, Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics & Epic Mickey.) My first download was off of a torrent with a complete 1 Rar of Mario & Sonic. I attempted to open the file but instead was greeted with this message "The archive is an unknown format or damaged" I thought it could be a one off so I downloaded Warioware from a torrent but had the same message come up. I then chose to try an alternative method of direct download from tehparadox.com. I downloaded Epic Mickey in 11 parts, opened the file and lo and behold. No luck. I won't go into details again to save repeating myself. I used the Direct Download method for Tatsunoku Vs. Capcom with the same results. I've figured this is closer to something I'm doing wrong myself rather than a string of bad luck. I've searched through the web and have discovered similar results from other people but these are from 2009 with VERY VAGUE details. I've tried using Winrar 3.93 and 7-zip but no luck. I'm coming very close to a dead end. Ideas? Thoughts? Anything would be greatly appreciated. EDIT: If this is either the wrong place to be posting this or shouldn't even be posting this at all just say and I'll remove this. Problem with installing .Wad files 12 February 2011 - 05:17 PMIF this can be posted here. Here's the thing. I finally took the plunge and hombrewed my wii using the Jabba the Haxx exploit trick. Installed BootMii and Homebrew Channel. I followed the step-by-step guide from this page Here I've used WAD Manager 1.4, 1.5 & 1.7 and I always encounter the same problem with trying to install WAD's like the Sonic 4 proto. Everytime I try to install a WAD I always get the same error message. I thought it could've been for one game so I tried Sonic 1 as well but got the same message. I'll try my hardest to show you my problem. this is using WAD Manager 1.4 CODE[+] Available WAD files on the device: >>Sonic_The_Hedgehog.wad (11.81MB) [+] Press A button to (un)install a WAD file. Press B to select a storage device I press the A button which gives me the option to install or uninstall. Everytime attempt to install I get this page come up CODE[+] Opening "Sonic_The_Hedgehog.wad", please wait... OK! [+] Installing WAD, please wait... >>>Installing ticket... ERROR! (ret = -2011) Press any button to continue. Sadly my feeble little mind could only think of so many failed options and now I'm in a dead end. I'm using a 4.3E console using the Jabba the Haxx exploit which in turn is in a similar way to the Return of the Jodi exploit. Please guys, I know at least one of you guys must know.

Steam Users' Forums > Steam Game Discussions > M - P > Numen: Contest of Heroes > Numen for 75% off (Daily deal for June 29th, 2010) PDA View Full Version : Numen for 75% off (Daily deal for June 29th, 2010) ElfShotTheFood 06-29-2010, 10:11 AM I just might get it for that price. jim_uk 06-29-2010, 10:37 AM I've decided to give it a try, I was curious about it but not willing to risk too much money on it. noodlesoup 06-29-2010, 01:51 PM Cant even find a review for it, even tho its so cheap and im curious, ill pass :< Kerrby 06-29-2010, 04:10 PM Yeah.... not getting it. hfm 06-29-2010, 07:11 PM Yeah.... not getting it. That is pure victory what are you on? :) Sold. wingers17 06-29-2010, 07:35 PM Great Game! I was waiting for this to go on sale, and I was surprised to see it! Thank You! Redboy 06-29-2010, 08:16 PM Noooooooo I got last week ouch :( Spathy 06-29-2010, 09:33 PM Yeah, I'm not touching this. No demo and no reviews, no buy. And that video above looks horrible, even more reason not to buy. Edit: Sorry to the developer reading this forum. Release a demo and convince me otherwise, I'm not going to blind purchase games. Velvet Raven 06-29-2010, 11:06 PM Is there any on-line play with Numen? Lamento 06-29-2010, 11:21 PM The animations of the protagonists do look kind of weird. macura42 06-29-2010, 11:39 PM Numen - first impressions - PeterWheeler 06-30-2010, 12:39 AM Might grab it for the 5 Euro. Rumtruffle 06-30-2010, 01:20 AM cant go far wrong for 4quid. bought it last night. Intrinsic 06-30-2010, 02:04 AM Some of the models look great, but i already have the excellent Titan Quest and this just looks too similar. kovi_cz 06-30-2010, 02:38 AM Yeah, I'm not touching this. No demo and no reviews, no buy. And that video above looks horrible, even more reason not to buy. Well, this is an interesting subject: about demo: There will be an English demo for Numen in a matter of a few weeks and it will be the same demo that was released for the Czech version. You will play as a mage in the desert (that is in the later stage of the game) and there will be lots of enemies to kill and a few quests to complete for you. If you want to give it a try, you can download the Czech demo here: about no reviews: We naturally offered this game for a review to many gaming web sites, but with the exception of a handful of replies our offer was totally ignored. And those who replied wrote that they are not interested. It's a pity, of course, but on the other hand we can't blame them, because there are lots of games out there today and it's not possible to review them all. Nevertheless, Numen gets reviews between 6 - 7/10 on average (in Czech Republic/Slovakia/Russia and in user's reviews). about that trailer: This is an unauthorized trailer made by our Russian publisher without us knowing about that. All we could do was to sigh and try to forget about it. Those camera angles are just horrible, not to mention music that absolutely doesn't fit to the game setting, and some parts of the trailer are from builds that were two years old back then. Of course, Numen lacks that polish you expect from AAA titles, but something like that wasn't in our power. noodlesoup 06-30-2010, 05:22 AM Yeah, that trailer sabotages the game more than helping it mate. It looks like its running on about 15 fps, lacking combat animations and makes the game look pretty dull. Need a review / demo or something, I no longer buy games on blind faith :( vBulletin® v3.8.7, Copyright ©2000-2013, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

Scottish news site hit by 'DDoS attack' in run-up to elections … "unchallenged voice of Unionism" Yeah, you never hear ANYTHING in support of Scottish independence, do you? They should set up some kind of 'Scottish National Party', and have the leader of it always be on telly, or something.. Soar Ablal!!!! Pointless waste of time and effort if anyone really tried to "silence" newsnet. Calling it a "news" site is a bit of a stretch. All it is is a gang hut for discontented Scottish nationalists who are fed up spamming proper newspaper comments threads, and in that sense it does a good service to the nation. It was set up because the nats felt no serious paper gave them any positive coverage. However, Murdoch's Sun is now backing them, which probably makes them happy. The top story there is a year-long whine about how somebody once said something disobliging about Scots on Radio 4's Any Questions - check it out once it's up again if you don't believe me. Actually once it's back up again, expect the top story to be how MI5 and the BBC plotted to silence them and it's all a plot from them in London. Anyway. let's hope it's fixed soon so the paranoid spammers have somewhere to hang out together again. Conspiracy theorists That site shows the twisted logic of some nationalists - I'm just waiting for the story that gravity is a LONDON PLOT to keep Scots stuck to the ground. Are you trying to say... "Saor Alba"? If you must spout Gaidhlig in these pairts, do try to get it right, tapadh leibh awfully. That percussive sound you just heard was a million^H^H^H^Hhundred^H^H^H^Hdozen^H^H^H^Hcouple of teuchters facepalming. (I agree with your post though. Apologies if the mangling was deliberate) Slightly off topic, but... Like many people I've just received the No2AV campaign's latest missive through my front door. Now read this and see all the lies, half-truths and misinformation it contains: I've seen that; and I find it amusing that the image implies that No2AV are wrong because their leaflet uses an Ad Hominem argument, which is an Ad-Hom argument in itself... My 2p: The campaigns for 'Yes' and 'No' are both full of crap, on the whole. Crap in politics; who'd have think it. @fridaynightsmoke I think you mean "Ad Hominem Tu Quoque" rather than just "Ad-Hom", however the point is that the attack on Nick Clegg at the end is just the No campaign going beyond the bottom of the barrel because they've already scraped a hole in it... Surely another mistake Shouldn't it be "shoo-in"? Does one "sic" cover everything? Do I hear an "ibid"? Re: Surely another mistake Yes it should. Frankly I couldn't be arsed/took pity on them. They were probably quite angry when they wrote it and not thinking straight. Anyway, strictly speaking it should be 'shue-in', in reference to Elizabeth Shue's last-minute casting in Leaving Las Vegas. Minor technical correction > ...on Monday days before Scotland is due to vote in fiercely contested local elections. In fact Scots are due to vote in a fiercely contested NATIONAL election on May 5th - the local elections in Scotland have been postponed to 2012. The Welsh General Election also takes place on the same day and that's pretty fiercely contested too. Newsnet Scotland I'd rather it was there than not. Certainly, it's (slightly) more pro-SNP than neutral, but it's /still/ more objective than the venting of the disgruntled Yorkshiremen Eddie Barnes and David Maddox in The Scotsman -- a paper now vying with the Daily Record for Labour Rag of Year; a feat that takes some doing. In the absence of any truly objective reporting, all you can do is read them all - NewsNet included - and make up your own mind. AV isn't PR "country adopts proportional representation (specifically alternative vote) " hmm. I can't seem to select the FAIL icon. Soar Ablal!!!! Anonymous Coward are you Iain Gray/Ed Millibrother/Fifi/Grahamski/Gardham One by one your support will be no more and the real news will get out. Psephology Fail AV is NOT proportional representation. In fact it can be even less proportional than first past the post. Fail The correct name for the GB electroal system is plurality not FPTP, since there is no post in plurality (but there is in AV). If you want a shorthand form, why not 'MVW'; most votes wins. AV is the wrong answer to the wrong question. Modernising electoral systems is about more than changing how you elect your Isle of Wight sized area's representative. Weirdly, since Scotland spent a couple of years agreeing what it would use in 1999, there has been not a peep out of anyone that the system should be changed. We've had 2 coalitions and a minority, and its all gone pretty well. Denmark While any kind of DDoS attack, or any other malicious interference with the Internet is a serious crime, I am puzzled that Scottish nationals, commenting on Scottish politics, are doing so on a server hosted in Denmark. This raises suspicions that they are attempting to violate Scottish laws, such as limits on spending during elections - particularly as the article noted that they did this on legal advice, not because the Danish hosting company was cheaper. Rubbish No DDOS involved according to the hosting company - yet the hosting companies comment was quickly deleted and the story still stands - most likely because it was their own fault? :D Piffling trouble up North... Loving your first two posters comments. It's easy to post that Newsnet Scotland is just a gang hut for paranoid Independistas railing against the Union. Sums it all up into a neat little ball to dismiss as unimportant. It is also woefully ignorant of the what passes for the Media in Scotland. We have no independent media in Scotland other than the couthy union busting Sunday Post and the Press and Journal. Our print media is owned and operated by Trinity Mirror, Johnstone Press, Newsquest and News International. Our state broadcaster by very dint of its being is dedicated to preserving the Union. Since the SNP won the 2007 election they have been subjected to an hour-by-hour blast of relentless negativity from the media and the what passes for an opposition. Rather than take my word for it, simply do a google search on the words 'SNP' 'accused' and then try to form your own opinion, rather than opt for the clichéd response of the first two posters. The truth will out At least you don't think that "The Sun" is a newspaper then, or is their support for the SNP supposed to be unionist irony? You can do a google search on "anything and accused" or "anything and conspiracy" and get the same sort of results. Only a complete idiot thinks that googling is the same as researching. The Shetland Times is not owned by any of the above media organisations either! @Saor Abla [sic] and others Press coverage in Scotland Daily Record - Labour supporting Herald - Labour Supporting/Unionist Scotsman - Unionist BBC in Scotland. Politics reporter who is an exLabour Councillor Political Editors whose living used to be coaching Labour Politicians for media Newspapers are all very well, they are private entities. The BBC is another matter. we pay for it, but it is guilty of very biased coverage, with very few exceptions. Sally Magnusson, when the SNP got elected, her first question to Alex Salmond was "What do you say now to the frightened people of Scotland" Labour apparatchiks tend to get soft questions and no interruptions, the other three parties tend to get hammering and not allowed to finish their questions. News stories showing the Labour group leader in Holyrood (he is not the Scottish Labour Leader, that position does not exist, Labour is purely a London party) in a bad light often do not make the news (Insulting the Monenegrins, accusing them of genocide and war crimes) or are slanted (running away from 9 protestors that the Annabel Goldie, when she encountered them, talked to and left on a handshake) to make him look better than he is A common tactic is to show Iain Gray asking a question in FMQs, but not to show the answer, which often blew away the ridiculous "point" When the Labour leader of Glasgow City Council left in very odd circumstances, the BBC had a journalist (once a spin doctor for Labour) on to assure us nothing was wrong and that was the line they carried. When Iain Gray accused the SNP of wasting money on a rebranding on a Scottish inward investment body, the BBC political editor said he had seen the papers. It turned out not to be true, and we have yet to hear the BBC's man explain himself. Given this, and given the indifference of the UK national newspapers to what is going on up here, this is why Newsnet exists. In has carried articles from Greens, Communists and others and would even, I'm pretty sure, carry articles from the Labour POV on the election as it has today with Colin Fox of the SSP, as long as any assertions were backed up with real numbers, something Labour have been a bit bad on this election Danger, Will Robinson! Troll alert! Looks like someones escaped from their padded cell on the Scotsman's comment section! Freedom of Speech Also I don't understand why, in an article citing Freedom of Speech so much, why they're deleting all the comments that say it was NOT a DDoS attack and that it was their own mistake. Way to go, they've basically lost any form of credibility they may (or may not) have had. Are you being ironic? DDoS attacks are all about the signal-to-noise ratio (so to speak) of incoming requests... Much like the useless, trolling comments of people posting "you imagined it all" (etc) in the comments section. Delete them all, I say! Well, okay, keep maybe the first one but the rest are not adding to the discussion. The newsnetscotland team have been careful to say they are not 100% certain that it was a DDoS attack - so, yes, maybe snafu. But it is interesting the that Caledonian Mercury online newspaper () is now also sufferring an outage of some sort. What a run of bad luck those websites in Scotland are having tooday Just keep prosecuting these criminals The more hackers they send to prison the better. Hackers? Hackers? Where? Media bias Regarding "SNP accused" - try Googling the Scotsman (scotsman.com) for each main political party. You should find the following: - "SNP accused" : 11800 results - "Labour accused" : 1660 results - "Conservatives accused" : 217 results - "Lib dems accused" : 300 results And of course, let's not forget that the Herald editor was allegedly snorting cocaine with Stephen Purcell. To give it an IT angle, reading either of these papers alone is akin to reading Microsoft-sponsored surveys on Linux - pretty worthless on its own. What's great about this bias, though, is it allows cretins such as Iain Gray to rise to the fore, over-promoted and underqualified, and rather perversely undermine the media tactics that seek to promote him. Even with all the king's army and all the king's journalists behind him, his feckless demeanor is apparent to anyone with an IQ in double digits. This media strategy also means the SNP have to be twice as good as anyone else to survive - one false step and they're mince - which means we get better government. A win-win situation! @other Anon Coward I don't see signs of post suggesting it wasn't a DDOS being removed. I do see some ABUSIVE posts being removed, but I suspect that that is common practice for many MODS There are posts there saying that it's a bit early to call as a DDOS, or if it is, it might not be targetted at Newsnetscotland, so your argument kind of falls down there Corrections Most of them have been re-added. Had an email from their site saying their moderators are entirely separate from their editorial team, so they would appear to be lacking a little in communication. The posts were from their hosts then anyone else who was interacting with the host. Those comments have since been readded a couple of hours later on. An edit to one of the host's posts from the moderators says they will be updating the main story soon. That was over an hour ago, though. It wasn't a DDoS. Newsnet Scotland What Hanimex says. The fact that Newsnets host server reported that the site had collapsed under the weight of 'unprecedented activity' is surely cause enough for a wee bit of alarm? Yesterdays 'top story' was a fairly succinct analysis of BBC Scotland's preceived bias. Given that we have a daily dose of Reporting Labour it's no wonder Independence supporters, myself included and thought the worse. It's fairly obvious from some of the comments above that since Devolution, not too many of our Southern brethren are aware of what politics is like in Scotland. Give Newsnet a chance, it's an honest attempt to redress open bias. Call them what you want Call them hackers or crackers or DDoS attackers. As long as they go to prison for violating law, it's all good. correction Looks like it wasn't a DDOS, but a coding issue. Thank flip for that Loony dribbling CyberNat that I am, I've been on El Reg to long to not know that seeming DDOS attacks can happen for innocent reasons And before the Reg staff get too cocky, they published Ted Dziuba. No one's perfect, just sayin' Dead again Down again with a DB connection error. No DDoS occurred From their website: The Newsnet Scotland website has resumed almost normal function and the cause of the service disruption yesterday has been located. We have been able to decipher that it was not a D DOS attack as previously thought. The matter is that an adjustment to a module created in essence a shortcut which caused a high volume of cyclic activity in the server. The hosting service provider had no alternative but to shut down the site. In an attempt to resolve the problem quickly and respond to a high volume of enquiries regarding service disruption we sought advice from external advisors and understood the feedback information as confirming an attack. You will be pleased to know that we have put procedures in place to ensure that such a problem does not occur again. We regret the inconvenience caused to our readers by not being able to access our site and we would also like to thank our readers for the ongoing support seen through the numerous comments and constructive criticism on our outage article. We stand by our hosting provider's decision to remove the site from view till the problem was resolved. We regret alarming our readers and would like to reassure you the team remains committed to bringing you new fresh news content every day. Newsnet Scotland will continue to report and publish our perspective on Scottish politics and current affairs. Good News So presumably now an apology to all those organisations which were smeared by staff and commentators in saying that this was a deliberate attack by their political opponents? Thought

Posts by phil dude 5 posts • joined Wednesday 30th November 2011 13:45 GMT Re: Not what I was waiting for I'll 2nd that. The N8 is my first ever symbian phone and it just works - fantastic battery life, solid design, and has enough decent apps it can be used on the car console (sweet driving mode+maps). My N9 is lovely too (from Malayasia apparently), but battery life is not even close to the N8. Screen is wonderful, and the linux is reassuring. You can hit an icon and broadcast the phone to your desktop, social media etc.. We'll all just have to see what the Jolla/Sailfish folks can bring out... Re: Suse Studio The whole openbuild environment is extremely impressive. Especially when you want to hack/build a package without installing everything on your home machine. I too moved to Suse some time back, originally as a Redhat refugee , but mostly because we have it everywhere at work, and I have 6 desktops around the world, that all look that same...! If there becomes a way to run android apps on a normal opensuse desktop (not Vbox), I would say we had reached a nice state of being... P. Re: Whatever they do, I'm grateful Hi, My $0.02. First - for the indexing stuff ,I couldn't agree more. Just rpm -e the lot of them, and occasionally run updatedb and use GNU locate. Either that, or OpenSuse need to make some more reasonable defaults for what it searches... There are also some external factors (NVIDIA being one), where these drivers are *critical* to maintain the KDE desktop (or in my case 3D+CUDA) , but are not controlled by OpenSuse. The ftp website, for example, is always lagging behind the latest NVidia drivers, which leaves one with a "compromised" system by using the Nvidia installer rather than rpm. I have many machines with OpenSuse, because although a linuxhead, I do not want to spend unnecessary time configuring basic stuff, so perhaps this rethink will improve things? P. and the winner is.... It would seem that the NHS is big enough to have its own bespoke system - a move to a provably open source framework, would be a first step. Not paying enormous consultants for the "wintel solution of the day" is probably a first step.... but then again... I was just at SC11, and we really need faster (lower latency) networks for a whole host of tightly coupled scientific problems. This doesn't sound all bad, if it addresses

Contact Sports Desk: Call: 603-742-4455, Ext. 5512 / E-mail: sports@fosters.com Whaley/Democrat photo Ella Gourlay and the Nute volleyball team are focused on the Division III championship tonight against Winnisquam in Plymouth. PLYMOUTH — The Nute High School volleyball team figured it was probably a year away from challenging for a state title.Well, next year is this year.The No. 5 Rams (16-3) will play in tonight’s Division III championship at Plymouth State University against No. 6 Winnisquam (15-4) at 7 p.m. Nute, with one senior on the roster, advanced with playoff wins over No. 12 Trinity, No. 5 Hillsboro-Deering and, most recently, No. 1 Campbell in Wednesday’s semifinal. It beat Winnisquam twice during the regular season, both times 3-1.“I’m hoping we can keep the momentum up and carry it through,” said Nute coach Kristin Wilson, who led the Rams to a state title in 2006 as a player. “They deserve it. They work hard.”Winnisquam works hard, too. The Bears impressed with wins over No. 3 Moultonborough in the quarters in five tight games and No. 2 Farmington in the semis in four games. Senior-laden Farmington was likely the pre-tournament favorite in mid-October when the Tigers were 14-0. But they went 2-3 down the stretch, losing twice to Winnisquam.Both Nute and Winnisquam enter tonight’s final on a six-match win streak and with largely underclassmen lineups. Nute was the last team to beat the Bears on Oct. 8. Winnisquam eliminated the Rams from the 2011 tournament in the quarterfinal round.“They looked good,” Wilson said of the Bears. “It’s going to be willpower. Who can play the hardest and stay mentally up. My team can get down when they lose three or four points. They’ve got to come back strong and swinging. That’s what we’ve got to do against Winnisquam.”The Rams struggled early in their semifinal match with No. 1 and then unbeaten Campbell. They had six service errors in dropping the first game and were down 21-17 in Game 2, facing a potential 2-0 deficit.“I think in the second game a light bulb came on,” Wilson said. “They said, ‘We remember how to play volleyball.’ They started to hit. They started to swing. They started serving better.”The Rams came back to win that game 25-23 and then won the next two to take the match.Sophomore outside hitter Alisha Flanagan had a monster match with 13 kills and 14 digs. Junior setter Michelle Guindon added 30 assists and nine digs, while junior middle hitter Heidi Cloutier had nine kills, sophomore Kristina Cerniauskas added 14 digs, and junior Ella Gourlay contributed seven kills, seven digs and four of the team’s 13 aces.But the Rams can’t afford to come out slow against Winnisquam.“We need to start strong and continue to stay strong,” Guindon said. “(Wednesday) we started way down. We need to start at the top of our game and continue. Winnisquam’s a good team. We just watched them beat Farmington. That’s the best I’ve seen Winnisquam play. We just need to know it’s not going to be an easy game at all.”The Bears were led by versatile senior setter Elyssa Clairmont, who had eight kills and 35 assists. Earlier this month she crested the 1,000 assist mark for her career.Winnisquam’s primary hitters were also effective. Hannah Chapin, a 5-9 junior, had 18 kills and 10 digs, while 6-1 junior Bailey Long added 10 kills and four aces. Mo Raymond chipped in with seven kills and 12 digs.“They have a few good hitters we need to watch out for,” Gourlay added. “We just need to play our game.”This is Nute’s first trip to the final since 2009, when the Rams were making the last of five straight trips to the final. That run included three consecutive titles and a 54-match winning streak.“They are a very strong team. They have no purpose being the No. 5 seed,” Winnisquam coach Mike Livernois said. “I’ve been saying all along to anyone who would listen to me that even though Farmington had the better record, Nute was the strongest team we’ve faced all year.“They attack very well. They cover the floor very well,” added Livernois. “We are going to have to work very hard to get ahead of them. We’ll need an exceptional serving and serve receive night.”Winnisquam won the title in 2010 and lost in the semis last year to Moultonborough as the No. 1 seed.“Last year they knocked us out of the tournament,” Wilson added. “That was a big thing for us also. That’s going to be big in the final. Can Nute step up and knock Winnisquam out of the tournament? Or are they going to beat us again.”

Founders Journal News New Catalog of Founders Press Titles Download a new catalog of Founders Press titles at. New and recently added titles include Dear Timothy, edited by Tom Ascol, By His Grace and For His Glory, by Tom Nettles, and a volume from An Interpretation of the English Bible (James, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians) by B. H. Carroll. Monthly Founders eNewsletter If you are not yet receiving our monthly Founders eNewsletter, you can subscribe by completing the online subscriber form at. Founders Study Center On May 1, 2004 the Founders Study Center celebrated its full year of ministry. God has done “exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or think.” During our first year 69 students have enrolled in the Study Center from 24 states and 3 additional countries. This spring we have four courses in progress: Preaching and Preachers (Martyn Lloyd-Jones), Theology of the Reformers (Timothy George), Maintaining Your Spiritual Health (Don Whitney) and Maintaining a Healthy Church (Mark Dever). More courses are being planned for the Fall 2004 semester. Please continue to pray for the Study Center. Pray that God will continue to make it profitable in the lives and ministries of pastors and church leaders. Pray that He will give increase and bring more students. Pray that He will continue to grow and prosper the relationships between students and mentors. Pray that He will raise up faithful, experienced pastors to serve as mentors. For more information on the Founders Study Center visit study.founders.org Southern Baptist Founders Conference Don’t miss the national conference July 13-16, 2004 at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. The theme this year is The Fellowship of His Sufferings. Speakers include Josef Tson, President of the Romanian Missionary Society, Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin, Principal of the Toronto Baptist Seminary and Bible College, Ken Jones, Senior Pastor of Greater Union Baptist Church in Compton, California, Roger Ellsworth, Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Benton, Illinois and Roy Hargrave, Senior Pastor of Riverbend Church in Ormond Beach, Florida. Register early and save! If you register before June 14, 2004 the fee is $215; after June 14, 2004 this fee is $265. For more information see. Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary Groundbreaking Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (PRTS) held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new building project on March 18, 2004. The new site is located at 2965 Leonard NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525. Please pray for the seminary’s president, Dr. Joel Beeke, its faculty and students as God prospers their work for the good of His Kingdom. Learn more about PRTS at.

Straight from the dark heart of Italy Richard Whittle With the week’s international friendlies taking a large number of Serie A stars off on their travels, the coaches gathered at Coverciano on Monday for a technical meeting and to award the Panchina d'Oro (Golden Bench) for the coach of the year. The award went to Jose Mourinho, who was snubbed last time round in favour of Massimiliano Allegri - but with the Portuguese (and his ego) now safely out of the country – and a treble winner - he is at last being given some credit by his former peers in Italy. The day also offered an opportunity to swap ideas and listen to the latest musings on the game. The Italy squad were also at the Federation headquarters preparing for their match against Germany - so the coaches could keep an eye on their charges if they wished. The majority of Italy players are as pious as cardinals when on Azzurri duty, but there is always the odd one or two who will use the occasion to break with club protocol - hence Allegri dropped in on Antonio Cassano to ensure that his recent signing was sticking to his diet. There were no reports of the AC Milan coach finding empty jars of Nutella on the windowsill or chocolate wrappers hidden under the player’s mattress, but no doubt the portly Bari boy will be on the scales when he returns to Milanello on Thursday - just to be sure. The pair had a quick word or two at the café inside the complex, where the player swore that lunch had been nothing more exciting than chicken before lifting his training top and tucking in his tummy - as if that was going to fool anyone. Cassano arrived at Milan at the turn of the year looking well fed after being exiled from the Sampdoria squad for reportedly swearing in a different manner at club president Riccardo Garrone. And for someone more in love with self-indulgence than self-discipline, Cassano has found it difficult to shed the excess baggage: in fact, he has made the latter-day Ronaldinho look almost svelte in comparison. "ROOM SERVICE!" Even the much-vaunted MilanLab have not been able to put any spin on Tony’s weight-gain plan - which is no surprise considering he has revealed that when he retires he plans to get fat, really fat. There is no denying the skill and tricky are still there, but the initial thrill of seeing Cassano waddle on as a second-half substitute to set-up a goal or two has worn off somewhat amongst the Rossoneri faithful, who have now witnessed the league leaders draw their last two games in a worryingly collective wobble of their own. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has admitted he is beginning to feel the strain of being the first name on the team-sheet and the Swede certainly has not been as sharp or clinical in front of goal in the last two games; spending more time growling at his team-mates than roaring past defenders. A little R&R would no doubt not go amiss, but that seems unlikely - not with Cassano unable to last the pace and Allegri seemingly not yet having enough faith in Alexandre Pato to allow him to lead the line, despite the Brazilian netting a more than an adequate nine goals in 14 league appearances. Cassano will at least have a opportunity to sweat off a few pounds in Dortmund, scene of that never to be forgotten World Cup semi-final in 2006, where Cesare Prandelli will hand him yet another ‘last chance’ – let’s hope he still has the appetite to take it this time round. More hungry to leave his mark at international level is another descendant of the Italian Diaspora, Thiago Motta who will make his debut this evening. The Inter midfielder has felt the tug of the old country on his heart strings for some time – his great grandfather emigrated from the Veneto region for South America when he was in his early 20s – which at the time you would have to say was not a bad move. It seems that for now Prandelli has given up attempting to groom home-grown talent for the central midfield role alongside Daniele De Rossi, with Italo-Argentine Cristian Ledesma another of the ‘new Italians’ to don the Azurri jersey. It may not have gone down too well with the tifosi, but if these homecoming sons - as with Mauro Cameronesi in the past – help lift the national side out of the doldrums, then boos will soon turn to cheers. And as Cassano will almost certainly testify, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

If you are inclined to agree with Rush Limbaugh, it is possible you agree with his contention that The Dark Knight Rises is liberal propaganda smearing Mitt Romney. “Do you think it is accidental that the name of the really vicious, fire-breathing, four-eyed, whatever-it-is villain in this movie is named Bane?" Limbaugh asked on his radio show. He added, “So this evil villain in the new Batman movie is named Bane. And there's discussion out there as to whether or not this was purposeful and whether or not it will influence voters. It.” Never mind that Bane was created and introduced in 1993. Or that the third entry in director Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy basically went into production the second after The Dark Knight hit theaters in 2008 and selected Bane as its villain long before Romney was the last GOP presidential candidate standing. Limbaugh’s reaction was predictable. He and many other conservatives never pass on an opportunity to bash Hollywood and lament what they see as rampant liberalism in mainstream movies. It happens at least a few times a year. Back in February The Lorax was accused of brainwashing kids with pro-environment propaganda. The problem with these claims is that Hollywood only cares about one color, and it’s not blue. Yes, there is no shortage of liberals in the entertainment industry. But that is a matter of personal politics. Movie studios need their products to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. They are aggressively seeking the best possible return on their investments. The fact is movie studios now are part of huge corporations. Universal is controlled by Comcast. Columbia is part of the Sony family. Paramount is part of Viacom. And what are the primary objectives of corporations? Maximize shareholder value and turn a profit. Make as much money as humanly possible. Everything else is secondary. Hollywood will jump on any trend if it thinks there is money in it. Right now cheaply made “found footage” horror movies are popular. They are low risk, high reward. Another example of this is faith-based films. After the runaway success of The Passion of the Christ, numerous studios got involved in producing and distributing movies aimed at viewers of faith. Sony Pictures Entertainment has Affirm Films. Their titles include Courageous and Fireproof. Samuel Goldwyn Films occasionally releases faith-based films including this year’s October Baby. New Line, part of Warner Bros. Entertainment, released The Nativity Story. Often studios hold advanced screenings for churches to generate positive word of mouth with “spiritual” audiences even if the movie isn’t overtly faith-based. Prior to releasing Secretariat in 2010, Disney held screenings at large churches across the country. The studios saw new revenue streams with these viewers. There was demand so they made sure to meet it. The same is true for the low-budget horror movies. After Paranormal Activity, everyone jumped on the bandwagon. The studios and the people running them just see dollar signs. Warner Bros. spent $400 million to make and market The Dark Knight Rises. It needs to make far more than that to become profitable. The studio is not going to risk alienating millions of potential ticket buyers by making an overtly political film. As The Hollywood Reporter points out today, there was a lot of debate about the politics of The Dark Knight. Both conservatives and liberals found ideological messages in it and the same will probably be true of The Dark Knight Rises. Many viewers will read into it what they want to and seek to find messages that are aligned with their beliefs. However one feels about the movie and its content, the only thing the studio cares about is whether or not you buy a ticket. Bob McBride 9:56 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 I guess the barrel of burning issues has about bottomed out. James R Hoffa 10:30 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 @Mr. Doro - "The studio is not going to risk alienating millions of potential ticket buyers by making an overtly political film." So then, exactly how did Oliver Stone's so-called biopic films about JFK, Nixon, and George W Bush ever get greed lighted? And why do the studios now agree to front Michael Moore millions of dollars to produce his line of so-called documentaries? The mere existence of the Fox News and MSNBC pundits show that there is a demand for both right and left leaning political fare. And while the ratings of those two networks would suggest a far larger audience for right-wing political fare, Hollywood has consistently turned out more left-wing political fare. Need I even mention HBO Films as being a notoriously liberal production house? So, how exactly do you reconcile the discrepancy between apparent demand vs the product actually turned out by Hollywood? Paul Doro 10:33 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 Oliver Stone's films are biopics that did not cost $400 million to make and market. Michael Moore's documentaries make money. Like I said, they are in the business of making money. James R Hoffa 11:18 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 And documentaries made from the right-wing perspective on issues wouldn't make money? Wouldn't the ratings of Fox News definitely prove otherwise? So, just because Stone's biopics didn't cost hundreds of millions to produce and market, the studio was in fact willing to "risk alienating millions of potential ticket buyers by making an overtly political film?" While I agree that a company's primary purpose is to make money, it often appears that Hollywood does take on the risk of alienating audience members by making controversial and/or biased product. And in taking such risks when it comes to overtly political film making, Hollywood tends to lean to the left more often than the right. Paul Doro 11:21 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 You can't really avoid politics in a biopic about Kennedy, Nixon, or Bush can you? An exception every once in a while does not change the fact that it's still all about the money. Biopics are often chasing awards and prestige and that can lead to more money. And right-wing documentaries are made and released all the time. Just last weekend one played in Houston and did very well. James R Hoffa 11:27 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 "And right-wing documentaries are made and released all the time." Without going to the IMDb or other online resources, how many right-wing documentaries can you name that Hollywood funded a wide release of vs left-wing documentaries? Yeah, I rest my case! Paul Doro 11:28 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 The studios really don't fund documentaries James. They are often picked up for distribution after they are made. James R Hoffa 11:35 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 You're right, that's why I qualified my statement with "funded a wide release of," as documentarians typically don't fund their own wide releases - usually the studios do this. And the studios tend to take on the risk of wide distribution of left-wing perspective documentaries much more than they do right-wing perspective documentaries. Paul Doro 11:37 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 Also very few documentaries receive anything close to a wide release. And the major studios are rarely involved with documentaries. James R Hoffa 11:44 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 For theatrical releases, I agree. Moore is a very big exception though. However, every major studio has an art-house division for direct-to-video release and distribution of such fare. And one again, more left-wing product is consistently picked up than right-wing product for even the direct-to-video distribution. HBO Films is a perfect example of engaging in both the production and distribution of consistently left-wing biased product - even you must admit to this reality! Paul Doro 11:51 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 And Moore's last three films were released by Overture and Lionsgate, not one of the major studios. And only Fahrenheit 9/11 received a wide release. The art house divisions are not really for direct-to-DVD movies. They are for Oscar bait and serious stuff more than anything. I think people probably see the bias they want to see in the films HBO makes. James R Hoffa 12:08 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 "And Moore's last three films were released by Overture and Lionsgate, not one of the major studios." You don't consider Lionsgate to be a major Hollywood player? They're publicly traded on the NYSE for heaven's sake! They have more quarterly output and revenue than is generated by MGM/UA! "The art house divisions are not really for direct-to-DVD movies." Really? And how many Fox Searchlight pictures received a theatrical release? The art-house divisions are where the studios tend to put the documentary product that they pick-up, isn't it? And how is a majority of the product that is released and distributed through the art-house divisions done exactly? I'll help you out here - direct-to-video. "They are for Oscar bait and serious stuff more than anything." You mean they're not all about making money? Many of those films are funded with government tax credits and art endowment grants. "I think people probably see the bias they want to see in the films HBO makes." Yeah, because it's totally not apparent. Game Change (2012) was 100% historically accurate and provided an accurate depiction of the people portrayed in the film, right? But isn't there a problem when the actual people who are portrayed in the film come out and say that the film is little more than a politically biased hit job that totally distorts the truth of what really happened? Come on! Paul Doro 12:13 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 Almost all Fox Searchlight movies receive a theatrical release, just not a wide one. Again, the art house divisions are for awards fare and prestige films far more than they are for direct-to-DVD movies. Lionsgate is a major Hollywood player, sure, now more than they were back when they released Moore movies. They're not Paramount or Universal though. James R Hoffa 12:47 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 So Hollywood makes bank on limited non-wide theatrical engagements? If it wasn't for the tax credits and art endowment grants to make many of those films, wouldn't many of them have produced actual losses for the producers and studios distributing them? When Lionsgate merged with Trimark Pictures, their combined rental and home video distribution system became far better than anything that either Viacom (Paramount) or MCA Universal has in such regard. Keith Schmitz 6:25 am on Friday, July 20, 2012 That's because Jimmy the FOX audience aged 65+ cannot get out of their Lazy Boys, hop on their rascals and motor down to the multiplex, where they may have to tolerate being in the presence of a multicultural audience. Greg 11:42 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 Paul, If I could give you an award for this blog, I would call it The Hoover Award, because you are the biggest sucker. (I don't say that in a mean way) Rush Limbaugh, just like the movie studios, is in it for the money. He is an entertainer, he presents his opinion. If your head was not nodding so hard to Ed Schultz's babble, you would see he is just an entertainer. Bill Mahr, entertainer. Keith Olbermann, entertainer. Mark Behling, entertainer. They are all in it for the "green". Limbaugh and Belling would tell you that Obama is great for their ratings and bottom line. Schultz and Maddow may say the same thing about Walker or Romney, it's for the money. Ed does not take home an average UAW wage, these people are part of the 1%. Every one of them will use the same tax loopholes that the big corporations and CEOs use. Much of the stuff that Olbermann and Schultz spew is based less on fact than entertainment value. Get some pop corn, sit back and enjoy the show. Paul Doro 11:46 am on Thursday, July 19, 2012 Don't watch Schultz or MSNBC, or Olbermann. So is the sucker actually the one making assumptions without really knowing what they speak of? I used Limbaugh to make broader points about Hollywood and accusations of liberal propaganda in film. Of course Rush is an entertainer in it for the money. That is stating the obvious. Greg 12:07 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 "Don't watch Schultz or MSNBC, or Olbermann." Maybe you should, so you would have a more rounded view for your next blog. Otherwise "So is the sucker actually the one making assumptions without really knowing what they speak of?", is nothing more than a commentary on yourself. Paul Doro 12:14 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 How would watching more MSNBC have influenced a blog about liberal propaganda in Hollywood movies? CowDung 12:22 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 To add more fuel for the conspiracy, the film's producer, Thomas Tull is a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. We all know that Steeler chairman emeritus (Dan Rooney) was appointed by Obama as ambassador to Ireland. Obvious left wing connection if you ask me... J. B. Schmidt 12:23 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 @Paul I believe Rush would call this a media tweak and fell face first into it. Keith Schmitz 6:27 am on Friday, July 20, 2012 One would think Rush is an expert at falling face first into things, since the drug addled gas bag probably does that very thing hours after his shift on the Obesity in Broadcasting Network. Chris Larsen 1:12 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 As a conservative, I feel that Rush Limbaugh is an idiot. To me the only RUSH is the band! Bren 1:28 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 @Greg's right. Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer, one of the first of the "shock jocks." My father, a Goldwater-era Republican, doesn't listen to Rush Limbaugh. While some of these polititainment shows are interesting, they are no substitute for independent research and should serve as a starting point for that research rather than oracles. There are many Batman movies and I have seen very few of them. I'll confess I enjoy movies for entertainment value, but real life is far more exciting! James R Hoffa 2:17 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 Personally, Hoffa prefers the Tim Burton Batman films staring Michael Keaton in the headline role to the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight series of films. As far as radio pundits go, there is no comparison to the great Michael Savage! Heather Asiyanbi 4:59 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 @Hoffa. UGH - really? The Burton films? Oy. No way. The Nolan trilogy (I assume since TDKR isn't officially released yet) far surpass the Keaton franchise when it comes to writing, set design, directing, villains (Ledger's Joker is legend for good reason), and acting. Burton's set reminds me of cheesy B-movies in comparison. James R Hoffa 5:36 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 @Heather A - I think I told you my fondness for the Burton/Keaton Batman films once before, on FB, and you had the same reaction :-) How can Batman get any better than Burton directing, Keaton as Batman, Nicholson as the Joker, Michael Gough as Alfred, the best Batmobile ever to grace the screen, and a soundtrack from Prince?!?! That film inspired a ride at Six Flags for heaven's sakes, and the sequel a live stage show at the theme park! OK, I admit I love B-movies and am biased to the '80's/'90's nostalgia factor! Not to mention that I find it hard to embrace most of the new / young blood acting talent, although Bale's not bad. I also prefer Roger Corman's unreleased 1994 version of the 'Fantastic Four' to the Hollywood films! James R Hoffa 5:40 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 BTW - The Schumacher films were absolutely HORRID stinkers not worthy of the franchise!!! Heather Asiyanbi 6:20 pm on Thursday, July 19, 2012 @Hoffa - *smacks my forehead* I should have remembered your fondness for B-movies & just handed you the popcorn! BTW - we haven't had a blog in quite some time from you! Keith Schmitz 6:30 am on Friday, July 20, 2012 Hard to weight them Jimmy. Though the Nicholson/Burton pairing seemed good on paper, they were essentially cartons. The latest pack is grim and excessive. How many times can Bruce Wayne get wiped out? James R Hoffa 11:01 am on Friday, July 20, 2012 @Schmitzy - That's funny - I would have figured you for a George Clooney as Batman fan! Come on - Burton also benefited from Danny Elfman's score and original music from Prince which is far more iconic and 'Batman like' than Hans Zimmers work and any of the songs used in the Dark Knight series. Just compare these two scenes and you'll see there's no comparison: Now, let's compare the stats on Batman: The Ride vs The Dark Knight Coaster: Batman: The Ride Height 105 ft Length 2,694 ft Speed 50 mph Inversions 5 Duration 2:00 The Dark Knight Coaster: Height 45 ft Length 1,213 ft Speed 30 mph Inversions 0 Duration 2:00 See, even Six Flags recognizes that Burton and Keaton own Nolan and Bale! Case closed ;-) James R Hoffa 11:14 am on Friday, July 20, 2012 I hope that we can all agree that the worse thing to happen in the Batman universe was the Halle Berry stinker Catwoman (2004) - now there's a pos that should be erased from history by the film gods! Yes, it was even worse than the George Clooney / Schumacher film Batman & Robin (1997). Dirk Gutzmiller 9:55 am on Friday, July 20, 2012 Gee, where are all the right-wing commenters this morning? Has something happened? CowDung 10:22 am on Friday, July 20, 2012 Where are the 'right-wing commenters' all supposed to be this morning? Phil 10:32 am on Friday, July 20, 2012 The 'right-wing commentators' are all at work making money and paying taxes for all those 'liberal-takers'. Dirk Gutzmiller 11:08 am on Friday, July 20, 2012 Harry - Playing on the internet at work again? DICK STEINBERG 5:42 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012 Movies are part of the American culture but there is no federal mandate to go or not to go to the movies. that was tried once by the Harris Commission. former WI Senator Joe McCarthy was out to destroy the reputations of every person he thought was a real communist. both the censorship commissions and McCarthy failed. This is not my kind of entertainment so go see it and pay the piper. Paul Ruble 7:00 pm on Monday, July 23, 2012 I see that this author does not get sarcasm.

<ac:macro ac:<ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[ <ac:macro ac:<ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[ Zend_Image, Zend_Image_Validation, Zend_Image_Utility and Zend_Image_Thumbnail are the classes to help you to manipulate image for any purpose. Zend Framework: Zend_Image Component Proposal Table of Contents 1. Overview 2. References 3. Component Requirements, Constraints, and Acceptance Criteria <ac:macro ac:<ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[ Zend_Image, Zend_Image_Validation, Zend_Image_Utility and Zend_Image_Thumbnail are the classes to help you to manipulate image for any purpose. Zend_Image, Zend_Image_Validation, Zend_Image_Utility and Zend_Image_Thumbnail are the classes to help you to manipulate image for any purpose. - GD PHP library active. 4. Dependencies on Other Framework Components - Zend_Exception 5. Theory of Operation - Zend_Image must be instantiated. - Zend_Image_Validation must be instantiated. - Zend_Image_Utility does not need to me instantiated. - Zend_Image_Thumbnail must be instantiated. 6. Milestones / Tasks zone: Missing {zone-data:milestones} 7. Class Index - Zend_Image - Zend_Image_Validation - Zend_Image_Utility - Zend_Image_Thumbnail 8. Use Cases ... (see good use cases book) 9. Class Skeletons ]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:macro>]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:macro> Labels: None 4 Commentscomments.show.hide Aug 02, 2006 Matthew Turland <p>I'm wondering if it might not be prudent to establish a common Zend_Image API and then to allow for multiple backends. In addition to GD, ImageMagick is another frequently used backend for which someone may at some point wish to implement a core module. The API detailed here looks very good in terms of being backend-independent and it should only take the addition of a method to specify which backend to use in order to implement what I'm describing. Perhaps an interface Zend_Image_API and a method Zend_Image::setBackend(Zend_Image_API). Thoughts?</p> Aug 29, 2006 Eugene Myazin <p>autoThumbnail</p> <p>setPercentage - have not right idea. <br /> If i want resize image by one edge, how i can do it? <br /> It's needed when in template all images must have equals height (getted by percent from original size).</p> <p>Same in "setSize" <br /> usage, i know only result height, and width may be either<br /> So, method must be like: setSize(integer $width=null, integer $height=null)</p> <p>And another one question: Let me know how resizing image with crop or save original geometry? </p> <p>PS: Don't kick me for my english <ac:emoticon ac: </p> Oct 24, 2006 Allard Buijze <p>Erik,</p> <p>your proposal looks good. I'd certainly use it.</p> <p>About your Thumbnail class. It would be nice to have a method that resizes the image in one of three ways (either given as parameter, or as several methods):</p> <ul class="alternate"> <li>resize until either height or width fits within given boundary and crop the image (you'll make a center cutout, but image width and height are predictable)</li> <li>resize until both height and width fit within given boundaries (meaning that the exact size of the image is not predictable, but different for each image).</li> <li>lose original geometry and fit the image in the boundaries (thus messing up the original)</li> </ul> <p>Additionally, as Eugene mentioned, it would be nice to be able to enter either one of height and width.</p> <p>If you need any help with the implementation, let me know: <last name>@gmail.com</p> Nov 14,> <p>However, working on image-manipulation for PHP is a great thing to do. We encourage you to get involved with the ImageMagick project: <a class="external-link" href=""></a></p></ac:rich-text-body></ac:macro>

Liberty on Tap since 1984 By Nancy Thorner and Ed Ingold The administration, supported by the liberal media, denies that anyone apologized to the Islamic world for offending them. They take the narrow view that an apology expresses remorse for some offense the speaker has committed. In the rhetorical sense, however, an apology occurs when the speaker attempts to justify the wrongs anyone has committed, including someone else. Marc Antony's speech to the Romans was phrased as an apology for Caesar's faults, with surprising consequences. That's precisely the substance of apologies uttered by the State Department, which justified attacks on the interests of the United States by Islamic militants by blaming them on an obscure video clip that hardly anyone had seen up to that point. It was compounded by apologies spoken by Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama, on television in Pakistan, paid for by the US Government. Like Antony's speech, this too had surprising consequences. Much like the firemen in Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451", who poured kerosene on burning books, this Administration continues to inflame the radicals and spread the violence. We can't expect much support from the United Nations, which not too long ago appointed Muamar Gaddafi the head of the UN Council on Human Rights. We probably can't expect more than sympathy from most of Europe, where it is a crime to say many things, even to defame a public official. We certainly can't expect much of anything from nations where religion is the government, and free speech is considered blasphemy. However, if we fail to defend our nation's interests, and hold our concept of human rights up as an example to the rest of the world, we makes ourselves look weak to our friends and enemies alike, and invite further attacks. What we need is an apology worthy of a Roman warrior, which places shame on the assassins, rather than our country and its principles, and inflames the quest for justice. This nation, and especially Israel, cannot depend on President Obama to be that Roman warrior. It would upset Obama's carefully crafted, false image of himself, reinforced by the mainstream media, as one who is tough on terrorism. Remaining in power with unlimited and unchecked power is all that matters to President Obama. He will say and do anything to retain his control, knowing that the mainstream media will function as his protective gear. May that fearless Roman warrior soon show itself before it is too late and remorseful appeasement apologies lead to catastrophic consequences for Israel and this nation. Hopefully Mitt Romney is up to it! First published at Illinois Review.on Sunday, September 30, 2012. Views: 2 Comment © 2013 Created by Freedom Pub. Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service You need to be a member of Freedom Pub to add comments! Join Freedom Pub

Skip to comments.There is a tsunami of evidence that the man that sits in the White House is not who he says he is. Posted on 04/15/2012 7:14:16 AM PDT by IbJensen Pictures of Barack Obama are surfacing on a scholarly research site that show him shouting through a bull horn in front of possible members of the African Luo tribe named as his ancestors in Kenya. Other pictures without captions show Obama in African tribal attire with two other men; and with at least 10 men in western clothes. Yet another picture shows him with a group of women wearing traditionally African attire that may or may not be his relatives. Attorney Stephen Pidgeon, author of the book THE OBAMA ERROR, states that because he released his COLB (certificate of live birth) on the White House website, prima facie evidence exists to investigate Obamas birth and eligibility as proscribed by our Constitutions Article II, Section I, clause 5. Another book, THE OBAMAS-AN UNTOLD STORY OF AN AFRICAN FAMILY traces the origins of Obamas lineage through the African Luo tribe which goes back 800 years to the southern Sudan region along the Nile River. Obamas Luo line dates back to his 10th removed great grandfather Owiny. The name Obama is thought to have come from Onyango Mobam a man born with a curved back. The Luos were both hunters and gatherers but also polygamous so tracing exact lineage could be confusing says the books author Peter Firstbrook. Their many wives lived apart from their husbands who had their six front teeth knocked out as the time honored rite of passage into manhood. Obamas grandfather, Hussein Onyango, born in 1895, embraced European culture but rejected Christianity when he converted to Islam. Obamas father was born to this mans third wife Habiba Akuma in 1936, but the elder was broken by torture during the violent Mau Mau uprisings, leaving his now 92 year old fifth wife Sarah, still living , to rear the Presidents father. Kindly Sarah reared many orphans in her village and reports even quote her as saying Obama, Jr. passed through her hands when he was born. Attorney Pidgeon told radio listeners, when Illinois Senator Obama involved himself in Kenyan national affairs that is a clear violation of the Logan Act (18 U.S. C.A 953[1948]. This act makes it a crime for a citizen to involve himself or confer with or negotiate with foreign governments in opposition to the United States without clear authorization. The attorney is also troubled by Obamas sending American assets into Libya without Congressional approval! The Jay Treaty of the War of 1812 states; if you ever were a British subject, you could NEVER be a Natural Born Citizen of the U.S. This brings home the NBC issue for Pidgeon who says The Constitution is Finished. America took up arms again against Great Britain when she started impressing U.S. sailors for service in the Royal Navy. Attorney Pidgeon isnt the only one troubled by whats going on in Washington, D.C. Thousands of comments online continue to demand action to clear anomalies surrounding Obamas convoluted nativity story! Pidgeon told radio listeners that There is a tsunami of evidence that the man that sits in the White House is not who he says he is. A sad commentary is the fact that during my lifetime this nation has elected 13 presidents (Ford, of course, doesn't count (for much of anything), and only one was a winner: REAGAN. This piece of lying trash currently occupying the White Hut is the poorest excuse for a leader in world history. The Supreme Court will not take it up. End of story. Pelosi and Ried sigend the document of legitimacy. Would love to see them in Orange jumpsuits and in a cell next to all thier friends On January 20, 2009, a few hundred men, women, and children gathered under trees in the twilight at Kobama, a village on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya. Barack Obamas rise to the American presidency had captivated people around the world, but members of this gathering took a special pride in the swearing in of Americas first black president, for they were all Obamas, all the presidents direct African family. Ping for later reading. And I know you're not implying Ford was a winner, either. One conservative. One winner. I don't know what is so hard to understand. And that is where the real tragedy lies. “Pictures of Barack Obama are surfacing on a scholarly research site”........have been scrubbed. (page not found) IIRC, the SCOTUS rejected an appeal to strike 200,000 phony signatures (gathered by ACORN) from the election roles in Ohio before the 2008 election. Ironically, Zero won Ohio by around 200,000 ‘votes’. SCOTUS is complicit in this Obamanation. I read something interesting, no idea the validity of it, but it was mentioned that George Soros threatened to take down the world economy if this was ever revealed, is it possible that a cover-up took place to prevent that? Infamous tribe of mau mau. Did they rule on this, or refuse to take the case? If they gave a ruling, what was their reasoning? We need a long-term strategy to take the country back. I believe you’ve hit the nail on the head. Oh, they understand just fine. Conservatism obviously offers the best, most effective means to govern this nation. We assume politicians (of both parties) want whats best for the nation as a whole rather than whats best for themselves as politicians, bureaucrats and lawyers. We assume wrong. Its that simple. Obviously something is not right here. I do not know if all those who would need to be involved in this were complicit from the beginning or covered up after the fact so they didn’t appear as incompetent as they are. Of course, “need to be involved” is relative. At some levels below the very top of this, involved probably means simply going along, for whatever reason. We see this even down to the lowest level of conservative bloggers locally, banning any such discussion and anyone who brings the topic up. Of course, they did the same poor job of vetting this man as almost everyone did. I think the real question is one not being asked. Obama’s mother and his maternal grandfather (the “furniture salesman”) were wholly owned properties of the CIA, and there are strong indications that Obama was raised to be a deep cover Cold Warrior, possibly in the corridors of power in the Soviet Union. In other words, he is an artificial man. This explains is erased background, multiple SSNs, etc., as well as his association with leftists with impeccable credentials, who unlike all their peers who were imprisoned or killed, are still around and untouched by what they did. The US military has had several generals become US presidents, but the CIA only two, H.W. Bush, its former director, and Barack Obama, who was supposed to be a field operative, but lost his “mission purpose” at the end of the Cold War. Thus what the public needs to know, more than anything else, is what section of the CIA raised and was to control him, and was he “retired” from his purpose, or is he still regarded as performing an active role for that agency, as an elected politician? The more we learn of the CIA the more it resembles a left-wing think tank. Even if it were to come out in FULL disclosure, it wouldn’t make any difference. Those that support Obama would probably think it was a good thing and the Media would simply whitewash it as they have whitewashed everything else that has ever come out about this guy. The Supreme Court and the Republican party is filled with cowards, so they wouldn’t do anything about it. So, even if the truth were to come out that Obama was ineligible, I honestly don’t think it would matter. Liberals, those in the Media, Academics and those with that entitlement mentality don’t give a hoot about the rule of law. Hummmm... I thought they were just good little Communists, like their friend & neighbor Mr. Davis.) What you mean is "end of providing proof that one meets the eligibility requirements to become President". We now live in a nation where one is "American UNTIL proven otherwise". “The Supreme Court will not take it up. End of story.” We can force the hand of Congress by signing this petition link below: ************************************************************** ******************************************************************* PETITION URGING CONGRESS TO INVESTIGATE OBAMAS ELIGIBILITY ********************************************************************** As of this morning....34,513 others have already signed this petition. Sign now to show your support!! PS: when I signed this Petition 4 days ago there were only 18,000+ signatures. ***************************************************** Obama needs to be removed before the election & charged with Treason against The United States of America for using Forged Documents to become POTUS!!!!!! *********************************************************** Unfortunately...... just a Patriotic American who is posting information the MSM refuses to address!! Obamas Luo line dates back to his 10th removed great grandfather Owiny. The name Obama is thought to have come from Onyango Mobam a man born with a curved back. ............................................................ They changed the name a bit Barrack Obama means “a man born with a forked tongue.” WE STILL HAVE MORE TRASH TO TAKE OUT IN 2012! MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW!! Before you say My guys doing a SWELL job, check him out at If you dont like what you find, check out Exactly. Where are these pictures? Sorus took down our economy oct 2008. this was their october surprise. can’t wait for the one in 2012. Document Not Found Sorry, the requested document does not exist on this server. You are correct. Further, they are planting disinformation as they work the internet. There is no doubt this has been going on for quite some time, and certainly before he began campaigning for the Presidency. I'm also informed that in preparation for the Presidency, representatives were sent to Indonesia where all records about him were collected and destroyed or scrubbed, with appropriate fees paid. SCOTUS, front and center, time for you to commit treason once more. Comeon, you know you love doing it. A fairly recent picture. bfl I prefer the Romanian solution over to orange jumpsuits. Much cheaper too. The Obots not merely told us all that; they clearly believed it. Part of what made them so odiously obnoxious was their tiny-minded stupidity in repeating like a squadron of trained parrots ‘The COLB is all there is and all there ever will be. If birfers weren't so ignorant and racist, they too would figure out this simple fact’. Why on earth didn't we raise more Cain when they turned on a dime after the release of a supposed original LF BC????? These IQ-challenged Obots swore no such doc existed. They swore it again and again. Not one—not even one semi-intelligent semi-autonomous thinker—admitted to being one-hundred percent stupidly, gullibly, stinkingly ***wrong***. Instead, they trumpeted the brand new doc as yet more proof that Obama is legit. These Obots are too dense for words. No, they aren't smart enough to figure out they've been played. Rather, every time something happens to upset their Moonbat Talking Points, they simply hop aboard the new meme like good little trained rats (hoping for a food pellet). I even read one Obot discoursing on what it “cost” Obama to stoop so low as to release the ‘LF BC’. In this worshipper’s mind Obama is some noble, lofty figure hounded by ignorant racists. He finally capitulated, but at deep personal cost. Not even Stalin's worshippers had it over on this guy. He and his ilk are mentally ill to a freakish degree. I haven't met a really smart Obot yet. All I've met are self-lobotomized ideologues who believe whatever Obama tells them to believe. I'm sure they believe Obama’s father fought in WWII. Obama said so, right? They believe Obama’s parents met at Selma. They probably believe Obama, left to his own devices, uses proper English. The myriad examples of his sub-proper usage must somehow be concocted by wingnut racists. After all, a Harvard Man would have some mastery of at least the most basic grammatical principles...right? I can't get my mind around how stupid a person would have to be to believe Obama’s ‘LF BC’ is the real deal. I just can't do it. I can comprehend people like Soros, who know Obama is a fraud and who use it to their full advantage--while laughing at everyone else. That makes perfect sense. The flying monkeys I can't understand. It's to the point where they'd have to wake up each day and swallow a whole bottle of stupid pills, to believe Obama’s nativity tale/tales. I guess they're just so enamored of this trim, hip uber-leftist, they consider their brains a small sacrifice to make. I don't get it but Obots are real, so there must be some explanation somewhere. Hasn't he pretty much already done that? “The First Time I Heard of Barack - Tom Fife” **************************************************** THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS ARTICLE!!!! ******************************************************* This information has been hidden by the media.... I first read this in Jan. 2009 Tom Fife was a physicist with top Government Security...... He debriefed the Government with his information in the 1990’s; but, it was dismissed!! He tried to get someone to listen to him during the 2008 campaign when he realized that Obama was the same man this Russian ambassador’s wife had mentioned to him in the 1990’s. On ......election day evening...... he finally was intervied by a radio personality who allowed him to tell this story. The information was picked up by Bloggers but not the MEDIA!! IT IS TIME TO LISTEN TO TOM FIFE!! What is the penalty you ask? Look around you... We’re paying it. If the Supreme Court will not take up this issue, then certainly the Mainstreme Media will report on the story soon. Slightly off topic (but not too far), it’s always bothered me that Chief Justice Roberts messed up when administering Obama the oath of office at his inauguration, and then he was later “sworn in” privately. I can’t help thinking that was by design — you would think Justice Roberts would have known better — and wonder whether Obama truly, legally, legitimately took the oath of office. I never heard this investigated or even brought up after the fact. Obots can’t dare entertain truth or their entire fantasy world will crumble before their very eyes. I swear it takes so much more faith to believe in Obama’s lies than it does to believe in God. So they continue on. Pathetic. Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. 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in_place_editingplugin, but my form setup was just too complex for it to work. (From doing some reading up online, the plugin also has some other issues and hasn't been maintained. Because of this there are several alternative plugins out there.) But I eventually wound up finding a solution I could adapt and use. So after implementing that, simple in-place editing worked beautifully! Unfortunately, simple in-place editing isn't quite enough for my app. When a page item is updated, sometimes I need it to update another item on the page. The script.aculo.us Ajax.InPlaceEditor is only designed to update one page item--the one that was edited. I tried working around it by changing something like this (in my controller action where I handled the AJAX call): render :text => new_value To something like this: render :update do |page| page.replace_html(original_page_id_to_update, :text => new_quantity) page.replace_html(secondary_page_id_to_update, :text => new_value) end That didn't quite work. It updated the secondary_page_id_to_updateelement correctly, but instead of putting new_quantityinto original_page_id_to_update, it put in something like this: try { Element.update("original_page_id_to_update", new_quantity); Element.update("secondary_page_id_to_update", new_value); } catch (e) { alert('RJS error:\n\n' + e.toString()); alert('Element.update(\"original_page_id_to_update\", new_quantity);\nElement.update(\"secondary_page_id_to_update\", new_value);'); throw e } I was stumped on this for quite a while. Spent a lot of time scouring The Google for answers, digging into the script.aculo.us documentation for Ajax.InPlaceEditor, and examining the actual Ajax.InPlaceEditor code. What my web searches turned up was that I'm not the only person with this problem--I found several forum posts on different sites from people trying to do the same, or similar, things. Unfortunately, none of them had a solution. :( So I went for a run to take a break, then came home to take a shower and like Archimedes, I had a "Eureka!" moment. (Though his was in the bath.) I realized what was happening was that both of my replace_htmlcalls were actually working, but as part of what Ajax.InPlaceEditor does it returns the final value of the rendercall, and sticks it into the field that was edited. This is just the default behavior, as it assumes you only want to update that one field. Looking into the Ajax.InPlaceEditor code, I found this (relevant lines in bold): handleFormSubmission: function(e) { var form = this._form; var value = $F(this._controls.editor); this.prepareSubmission(); var params = this.options.callback(form, value) || ''; if (Object.isString(params)) params = params.toQueryParams(); params.editorId = this.element.id; if (this.options.htmlResponse) { var options = Object.extend({ evalScripts: true }, this.options.ajaxOptions); Object.extend(options, { parameters: params, onComplete: this._boundWrapperHandler, onFailure: this._boundFailureHandler }); new Ajax.Updater({ success: this.element }, this.url, options); } else { var options = Object.extend({ method: 'get' }, this.options.ajaxOptions); Object.extend(options, { parameters: params, onComplete: this._boundWrapperHandler, onFailure: this._boundFailureHandler }); new Ajax.Request(this.url, options); } if (e) Event.stop(e); } What was happening was that it was creating a new Ajax.Updater, which is meant to update a single element with the return value from the url it calls, which turned out to be that chunk of Javascript above when I used the render :updateblock. The Javascript was being eval'd correctly, and updating both my fields, but then Ajax.Updater was re-updating the 1st field with the result of the renderblock, which was that chunk of Javascript. (BTW, I think this Rails bug is the same thing, but they didn't see that anything was being eval'd because they only had the one field being updated, so their guess was that the eval was failing.) I tweaked the Ajax.InPlaceEditor code to replace the Ajax.Updater line with the Ajax.Request line, and suddenly everything worked! But that didn't seem like the right solution, so I looked at the logic in that block. It checks options.htmlResponse, so I tried setting :htmlResponseto falsewhere I set up the Ajax.InPlaceEditor, and voila! It worked. So hopefully this will be useful to people, and turns out to be very easy. Here's the summary: - Use a render :updateblock with as many replace_htmlcalls as you need (including one to update the in-place edit field itself). - Set :htmlResponseto falsewhen you set up your Ajax.InPlaceEditor. And that's it! 2 comments: Thank you for posting this! I was using the same updated in_pace_editor, and knew there was some way to make it stop trying to update the field, but your post was the first to solve the problem - just threw :htmlResponse => "false" into the :ajax section of the editable_content. Thanks! Great, glad it was useful!

Lingerie-Inspired Outerwear: Rachel McAdams Dolce & Gabbana dress with Christian Louboutin shoes...perfection Above: Dior red dress with built-in bra! We love it! Lingerie as outerwear has never seemed more tasteful! A sexy slip for a dress, a lacy Dior bustier top and a sheer dress with a built-in bra; our version of heaven. above: Dior lace top Rachel McAdams for Vogue by Mario Testino Rachel McAdams for Vogue by Mario Testino Actress Rachel McAdams was recently featured in Vogue as photographed by Mario Testino. These pictures are fresh, vibrant and wonderfully inspiring in their elegance. We also love how this is the most realistic interpretation of the lingerie as outerwear trend that we've seen in a while. This is a look we would proudly wear! * * * * * * * * * * * * * Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin' or Google Friend Connect Shop with us at Faire Frou Frou 43 fabulous comments: Rachel McAdams...love! The first D&G reminds me of a dress Jessica Alba first wore when she was becoming famous (a bit Chinese chipao and oh so sexy!) Christian Dior shoes... Hummmm ! So pretty slingback and open toe... Olivier fantastic editorial lov e it all!! x that's the kind of lingerie i like best! like stuff from La Perla that looks so hot! Bonjour, I love everything, especially those fabulous Dior shoes! Granted I would most likely have a headfirst tumble but I would look good doing it! Have a great week and thanks for posting so many lovely images. Love the lace Love love love the red Dolce & Gabbana dress and Dior shoes! so fantastic to see some real glamour. Red shoes is my weakness. Beautiful! Especially with the dress! The whole Dior collection for this summer was genius- Thanks for sharing! xx fantastic ... sexy and feminine clothes, I love!! greetings!;) i aboslutely ADORE this shoot with rachek mcadams!that first dress is to die for!! Love the dior lace top over a dress. How fun! I would wear this in a heartbeat. Beautiful look - and those red shoes are incredible! Love her! Love these photos - a very sexy yet real way to wear lingerie outside of the boudoir! WOW. SO pretty. I love Rachel McAdams :) Beautiful shots! Loved this spread! Also, did you see the Posh wearing a D&G floral body suit in the Glamour- divine! She's so pretty and so are her outfits! soooo gorgeous!!! she looks amazing in red!!!! copiouscouture.blogspot.com oh my i cannot get over how gorrggeouuss she is. i love rachel. and the pictures are absolutely breathe taking. This is an awesome post! I love her and I love everything she is wearing. Great layout also! aw she is so pretty :) hehehe I love the idea of lingerie inspired outerwear! Looks sleek and oh so sexy! Its so feminine and is not at all suggestive. :) Thanks for posting these. Rachel sure does pull off this trend with the greatest of ease. She's so beautiful and always looks great. Red is a great color for her. very sexy! I love that Rachel modeled it! LOVE the dior lace top! with that, i wouldn't mind wearing lingerie as an outerwear! ;) ♥ joei I swoon for those Dolce & Gabbana bodysuits (I know they weren't featured here, but the dress reminds me of them). Posh Spice is wearing one in this month's Glamour magazine. So gorgeous! Thank you for visiting me and leave so nice comments.Now I Know you and can to visite your stunnig blog. Hugs, Cecilia Those outfits are AMAZING! And what better model to have than Rachel McAdams. =) She is one gorgeous, gorgeous lady!!! xx thanks for your comment:) love your blog! followww you I adore that Dior lace top! And Dolce & Gabbana have always been the best at creating great lingerie-inspired dresses and tops. Such a flattering way to show off the female body! Fantastic. THey are bold and beautiful, just like me :D *kisses* HH love the blog, you have awesome lingerie taste!!! right in line with what He likes... want to link exchange? -He Christian Louboutin shoes, very beatiful. My heart makes bang bang, when I see Louboutin shoes Thank you I love every piece!!! gorge. xoxo mm omg rachel mcadams is soo beautiful. And I love that dior top she has on in the last pic! Thanks for you sweet comment! Every piece is so nice! Love it :D! Kiss ** I love the images you have chosen to illustrate this blog. A really beautiful interpretation of the lingerie as outerwear theme. A little more wearable than the notion of wearig your bra outside your T-shirt, also mentioned in Vogue! I love EVERYTHING about these photographs! The CL shoes are perfection, and the Dior dress and lace top are exquisite!! I want them all. I would dress like this every day of my life if I could ♥ Have a lovely weekend! xoxo, B I linked to this on my Rachel post yesterday! I want the dress I want the shoes & I want them NOW!!! Do you think my husband heard me I was shouting loud enough (hee) :) I have that issue and she looks fantastic! great post!

Donald S. Clark Office of the Secretary Federal Trade Commission 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20580 Dear Mr. Clark: Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the Federal Trade Commissions request for comments concerning competition policy and business-to-business electronic marketplaces. Ernst & Young is a global leader in providing auditing, tax and advisory services through our 77,000 people in more than 130 countries. Among those services we provide our clients with fresh perspectives on operating successfully in the new economy and a comprehensive suite of solutions to established and emerging business-to-business electronic marketplaces ("eMarkets"). Ernst & Young understands the unique issues and complexities associated with developing and maintaining eMarkets, and can offer an objective point of view on how eMarkets and their stakeholders (i.e., owners, participants, the public and regulators) can best address competition issues and related issues of trust. The potential benefits of proposed eMarkets are significant. They promise to provide the opportunity for businesses to leverage technology and make dramatic leaps in improving operational efficiency and effectiveness. While we cannot comment directly on the potential for abuse of competitive market practices, we can comment on eMarket stakeholders concerns and how to build confidence in eMarket practices. Broadly, stakeholder concerns range from inadequate systems and internal controls, insufficient security, and potential commingling of data, to concerns that eMarket owners may overtly act in an anti-competitive manner. For example, eMarket participants do not want their competitors to have access to their client lists, pricing information, customer-satisfaction levels, and purchasing trends and habits. eMarkets need to establish trust with their participants and the public stakeholders. Failure of an eMarket to be viewed as a trusted, secure and impartial marketplace could raise stakeholders concerns and result in reduced levels of participation and the ability to maintain long-term viability. To address these concerns, nascent industry self-regulatory activities are being undertaken by the eMarkets in conjunction with the eMarket owners, participants and other various stakeholders. These activities include formally publishing entity security and confidentiality policies and obtaining various "seals" of approval. It is our belief, however, that self regulation by the eMarkets would be facilitated by the adoption of a more comprehensive and robust self-regulatory framework. This framework should include the development and acceptance of standards that have been subjected to public due process and, importantly, verification of adherence to those standards by an independent, third party assurance provider. Comprehensive standards should address the concerns of the stakeholders related to the eMarkets business model and operations. Following are some of those concerns: Neutrality, Confidentiality, Security, Availability, and Transparency. Neutrality, Confidentiality, Security, Availability, and Transparency. Comprehensive standards are necessary to increase stakeholder understanding of the nature of eMarkets and to ensure consistent application of the standards and accountability by the eMarkets. For example, today, eMarkets employ varied policies for confidentiality and security of eMarket information that may not clearly articulate to stakeholders the access others have to their data. Consistent industry-wide standards would provide an avenue to remedy this confusion and provide a platform to obtain public confidence in eMarket practices. Because such standards would necessarily need to reconcile the conflicting needs of various stakeholders (i.e., balancing the need to limit the sharing of competitive information against the desire to promote information-based efficiencies), we believe that the FTC could play a role in fostering the development of these comprehensive standards. Moreover, our experience tells us that stakeholders will desire assurance that eMarket participants actions follow the comprehensive standards. We believe that significant value is realized when assurance is provided by an independent third party that actively tests to ensure that the eMarkets "do what they say they are doing." If standards are not complied with, the independent attestation report is withdrawn. In this way, trust is built by the eMarket and the positive benefits of dramatic efficiency and effectiveness are realized. We would be pleased to discuss our comments and recommendations with the members of your staff. Sincerely, Ernst & Young

Infomercial marketers Wellquest International, Inc. and Tony Hoffman Productions, Inc. (THPI) and others have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they made false and unsubstantiated claims for three products - Bloussant, sold for breast enhancement; EnerX, sold for men's virility, and D-Snore, sold to relieve snoring - in violation of the FTC Act. The defendants also have agreed to settle charges that they made misrepresentations and failed to disclose material terms in connection with third-party buying club memberships they "upsold" to consumers after the consumers agreed to purchase Wellquest's products. The proposed settlement requires the defendants to pay $3.2 million in consumer redress and to possess scientific substantiation before making certain claims about dietary supplements, foods, drugs, or cosmetics. The settlement also requires the defendants to comply with the FTC's newly amended Telemarketing Sales Rule. "Marketers must have rigorous scientific substantiation for the claims they make," said Howard Beales, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "In this case, the claims were inflated, but the science just wasn't there.". According to the complaint, the defendants' ads state that Bloussant stimulates breast cells to regenerate the growth process, thereby increasing breast size by two cups in most women. The FTC alleges that these claims are unsubstantiated. Additionally, it alleges that the defendants falsely claimed that Bloussant is clinically proven to increase bust size in the majority of women, and is clinically proven to be safe. Bloussant was heavily marketed in magazines, such as Mademoiselle, Elle, and Allure, in monthly direct mailers, and through infomercials that ran on 30 major cable stations and numerous broadcast stations, as well as on the Internet. Consumers responding to these advertisements were directed to call a toll-free telephone number, where the telemarketers often reiterated the challenged claims. Bloussant cost $220 for a two-month supply and $574 for an eight-month supply. The FTC also challenges claims made about EnerX, an herbal supplement promoted for male potency. The complaint alleges that the defendants' claims that EnerX is safe and lacking in side effects are deceptive because EnerX contains yohimbine, an ingredient known to increase blood pressure and to interact with other medications. A two-month supply of EnerX is sold for $109. EnerX was marketed through magazine and newspaper ads, commercials on approximately 50 cable television stations, direct-mail fliers, and the Internet. The FTC complaint further challenges that the defendants, including expert endorser Dr. Mark. The complaint contains two additional sets of allegations, relating to the defendants' marketing practices. It alleges that the defendants engaged in deceptive upselling practices by enrolling consumers in one or more third-party buying services without the consumers' consent. Upselling is soliciting consumers for additional products during the same telephone call after the consumers have provided credit cards to purchase the initially-offered product. According to the complaint, after consumers provided a credit card to purchase one of Wellquest's products, the telemarketer upsold the third-party buying services on a "no obligation" free trial basis. The defendants allegedly did not disclose adequately Buchfuhrer order requires Dr. Mark Buchfuhrer to possess substantiation for future claims about D-Snore or any other dietary supplement, food, drug, device, cosmetic, or any service purporting to provide health, cosmetic or physical enhancement benefits. He also must make disclosures about sleep apnea in connection with future representations made in connection with the marketing of snoring products.. Copies of the complaint)

Naturally, John is faced with the death of his father Sherlock accompanies him to his hometown for the funeral. John is forced to come to terms with death, and feelings that he’s been fighting for far too long. Because this fic utilizes several prominent tropes, including a drunken first kiss and being forced to share one bed, it reads as familiar and predictable. John’s strong emotional response to his father’s death is understandable, but slightly undermined in how the narrative voice frequently refers to both parents by first name. It creates a distance of sorts between John and his family. While Mrs Watson is written sweetly and quite well (I could see this version of his mother getting along with Mrs Hudson), Harry does not reach the same potential. As for John and Sherlock, there are moments of brilliance within their dialogue but these cannot be expected as the norm. To be succinct, the men are written from a safe, neutral foundation and never quite reach their own brilliance within this first-time narration. I was initially drawn to the concept of this fic due to the slow reveal of Mr Watson’s death in the first chapter. It is clear that something is wrong, but the details are gradually provided. I looked forward to similar scenes later in the plot, but was disappointed. From a personal preference, heavy use of descriptors and descriptions is a turn off. This fic is guilty of relying on both crutches. Additionally, I noticed minor technical and content errors, which are most likely the result of this being the author’s first piece without a beta reader. With more of a subtle storyline, as the author concludes in her notes, this fic does not satisfy my wants for a fic but might please other readers! Word Count: 23732 My Rating: C Read it here, fic by GallantGeekery. Thanks to indeliblychanged for your submission. Review by: Becka “Horrible men can watch me masturbate from across the room and suffer.” “Can horrible men try to convince you otherwise?” “Horrible men can try.” Okay so I’m absolutely in love with the back-and-forth banter between John and Sherlock here. It’s so playful and amusing and really a great reminder that sex isn’t just…sexy. It can be fun and lighthearted. The entire fic kept a smile on my face, because while it’s incredibly sexy (like whoa), it still keeps up the light tone and ugh I kind of just love this fic. It’s sweet and fluffy but still hot with a hint of mischief. And you should read it. Mature readers because porn! Beautiful, fun, adorable (yes it’s adorable shhh there are tickles) sexy times. Word Count: 3049 My Rating: A Read it here, fic by songlin On New Years Eve, Sherlock drags John out in the rain to study the fireworks. Just a short, fluffy little mini fic to counter any angst you may have gotten from other fics. And it is fluffy. Will definitely bring a giggly smile to your face and make you hug a pillow and squeal. I’d love art for the last bit, definitely. There are mentions of this being a post-reichenbach fic, but none that should put any damper on the fluff. For being a minific, I think it’s very well written and worth praise, so read it and flail. Words: 973 My Rating: B Read it here, fic by Reichenfeels Sherlock Holmes has a routine: take the Jubilee line train from Baker Street Station to Stratford Station and head to New Scotland Yard. Day in and day out, he repeats the routine and pays little mind to the masses of stories walking by him on two legs - until he meets the soldier. I’m going to literally die from all this amazing fluff. It’s the cutest thing I’ve read all day!! This was based on Paperman which if you haven’t seen get on that!! Seriously it’s the cutest thing in the world and this is a perfect Sherlockian companion. I love that there is very little, almost no, dialogue. The short is silent so it was a good nod to that. I love the phone trick Sherlock pulls too! It was a cute way to replace the paper airplanes and a great reference to ASiP! I just loved this, it was so cute! The writing is beautiful, it has strong imagery without feeling heavy. Despite the fluff I thought this stayed reasonably in character, it wasn’t a romantic love at first sight reason that Sherlock kept chasing John but the puzzle! The game and mystery of John Watson. Maybe it’s a bit more…committed than Sherlock would actually be but I thought it was done very well. Overall my face hurts from smiling so hard at this one, if you loved that short you’ll love this fic! Word Count: 4987 My Rating: A Read it here, fic by barrelrider The observations of an amnesiac murder witness force John to rethink his assumptions about Sherlock, himself, and the definition of love. Meanwhile, a murderer is still on the loose … I read this about a week or two ago so I probably can’t give you as detailed of a review as I usually do but here goes. I really really like this story! This one brings in an OC, a Jane Doe, and I am in love with her. She’s like an alternate version of Sherlock! They are both geniuses but she is better at manipulating people socially; She’s a bit softer around the edges than our favorite detective. One part I love love love is the fact that she took Mycroft up on his offer! I got such a giggle from that. What I loved most about this is Jane’s role in the development of a relationship between Sherlock and John and the way it slowly progresses. I like that this story was more about John finding out what he wanted in life and the friendships he makes rather than it totally being about a romantic relationship. Though I do admit that the way they admit their feelings was super cheesy and super adorable. I mean I really shouldn’t have liked that part as much as I did! So cheesy yet so wonderful! The writing and characterizations were very good and nothing stood out to me as being “bad”. Even though I can’t remember many little details this story overall did stick with me and the fact that I remember most of the story says a lot about how much I like it! It’s sort of funny to me that I’m telling you I can’t remember the details and Jane has amnesia in this haha. Word Count: 40,758 My Rating: A Read it here, fic by VolceVoice Fawnlock catches John dancing, John tries to get Fawnlock to dance with him, in the end Fawnlock gets what he wants. I want to kiss this story. I really like this Fawnlock because of how animal-like he is; some of the other stories I’ve read will describe him in the forest and doing literal animal things but here it’s the subtle animal characteristics that make a difference. Like the purring, rubbing himself in John’s clothes, his collection of things, belly rubs etc. With this story I knew he was a fawn not just a fawn version of Sherlock. That’s not to say this is a completely different character than Sherlock, he does have Sherlock characteristics and personality, but they are not the same person. Which, overall, I appreciated! I loved the bit of emotion from John, to see how he’s not entirely okay with being back from the war but I would love to see more. Maybe not in this story, but I would like to know how he’s coping with civilian life and Fawnlock in his life. Despite Fawnlock being the focus of this story I don’t want to lose sight of John’s feelings and thoughts. This story is so sweet and the domesticity of it makes my heart melt. I was giggling and smiling the entire time while reading it. The entire tone just really gives you that cozy, warm, sitting by a fireplace happy feeling. This story just really really made me happy. Word Count: 2,849 My Rating: A- Read it here, fic by bennyslegs No one has ever stayed with Sherlock for more than a month. At least, no human. Fortunately, John Watson isn’t about to let the little things - like biohazardous experiments and the constant threat of danger - get in the way of his friendship with a very special, very brilliant man like Sherlock Holmes. I will be the first to admit that I have an unhealthy obsession with AUs (wing!fics in particular make me squeal in delight), so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I absolutely adored this fic. I loved how the author took the time to explain some of the mythology and back-story. So many times you get a wing!fic and the reasons behind the wings aren’t very well explained, but that is not the case here. John and Sherlock also felt surprisingly in character for who/what they are in this fic. The development between them was phenomenal, and built at just the right pace for me. The visuals in this story were fantastic as well; if I thought I could do a semi-decent job, I’d spend my next day off drawing fan-art for each and every chapter, particularly chapter five… Also, the additional pieces that turn this into a series are precious as well. Sherlock surrounded by ducklings just sounds freaking adorable. All-in-all, an enjoyable AU that I would love to read more about! Word Count: 21,019 My Rating: A-/B+ Read it here, fic by Kryptaria A young John Watson mourns his father’s death, and comes across something strange in the woods behind his house. Another Fawnlock! This one is short and sweet and I love their first meeting. This time they meet as kids and they’re both so frightened, I just wanted to scoop them up and give them kisses on the cheek. This had excellent pacing for being so short, it didn’t feel rushed or like there were any spots focused on too much. It spread out very evenly. I do wish there was more though, this has so much potential to just stop here! One thing I would like to know about this one though is how Sherlock came to learn English, it’s just something that I’m curious about, but didn’t effect my reading. Overall just really heartwarming, I love how these two found each other when they needed someone the most. Word Count: 3,192 My Rating: A- Read it here, fic by lockedin221b

December 2011 2 tags Bang & Zelo - MV Making Part 2. fuckyeahbangyongguk: *Capt. 2 tags 6 tags [TS Baby] 12 Dec ~ 18 Dec Schedule)... 8 tags [TS Baby] 5 Dec ~ 11 Dec schedule [x] ><< November 2011 3 tags 2 tags I'm not any of the admins. I’m only the translator but I’ll try to keep this alive ^^ Knoke also runs fuckyeahkimhimchan so go follow if you have not^^ I’m co-admin & translator at fuckyeahbangyongguk. 2 tags 3 tags 6 tags 1 tag 6 tags [BYG & ZELO] 28 Nov ~ 4 Dec Schedule fuckyeahbangyongguk: 29 Nov - Recording: Carried By The Wind - Yongguk. 2 Dec - Digital Single Release: BYG&ZELO MV release @ 12AM KST (1 Nov midnight) [x] 6 tags October 2011 6 tags 6 tags 6 tags 5 tags One Member of TS NEW BOY Group: Luna, Hyosung, and... → fuckyeahkimhimchan: He hasn’t officially debuted yet, but Kim Him Chan is quickly becoming quite the ladies’ man! This uhlzzang from a traditional music school became one of the hosts for MTV‘s music program, “The Show“. Consequently, he’s paired up with a bevy of beautiful girl idols as his co-hosts. Kim… 9 tags September 2011 5 tags [TWITTER] 110928 Yongguk's Tweets byguk: @O_Zinsuk 얼른주무세요형 Hurry and sleep, hyung. 책 추천 고마워요 다 같이 독서합시다 Thank you for the book recommendations. Let’s all read together. 제이콜 앨범만 하루종일 플레이중인데 진짜 어린 나스같다 와 이런 느낌 오랜만 Played J. Cole’s album all day and he’s really like a younger Nas. Wow, this feeling I haven’t felt in a long while. 5 tags 110928 - Twitter - Yongguk byguk: 태도와 의식 표현과 애정 얼마만큼 자신이 갖고있는지 생각해볼때다 마이크는 멋으로 쥐는 가치가 아닌것같아 열심히 달릴께요 forreal Whenever I think about my attitude, form of expression, and affection I have, I feel like that a mic shouldn’t be held to look cool. I’ll keep running hard forreal 4 tags [TWITTER] 110928 Yongguk's Tweet byguk: 새로운것들을 느끼고싶은데 좋은 책들 좀 추천해주세요 I want to feel new things. Please recommend me good books. 5 tags 4 tags 5 tags 5 tags 5 tags 7 tags 3 tags 3 tags 3 tags 4 tags 5 tags 4 tags

Don't get drawn into the headline. By illegal gun, they don't mean a weapon that was used or intended to commit crimes, they mean an unlicensed one. Don't get drawn by the sub headline either: A MAN who shot himself in the head had an array of illegal firearms, an inquest heard.By 'array', they mean three. Both the Burnley coroner and a senior police detective expressed ‘serious concerns’ about how David Read came to be in possession of a Enfield .38 revolver, a Beretta handgun and a rifle.How on earth did this man get his hands on three unlicensed weapons? He had acquired the guns after the death of his father-in law in 1987 and kept them at home ever since.Oh. Well that answers that one. So he has kept them at home since 1987? Doesn't sound like much of a criminal to me. Mr Read, 65, was found dead at his home in Cleveland Gardens, Burnley, by his daughter Andrea on August 26 last year.An old age pensioner with old guns in his attic. Still, under our current gun terrified nanny state, that still would have been enough to send him to prison for a very long time. Maybe even the rest of his life at that age. That's if he hadn't killed himself first. The cause of death was given as a single gunshot wound to the head.If he had chosen to pipe his exhaust gasses into his car as a way out, this would never have made the papers. Det Insp Dave Groombridge, said that the fact that unlicensed firearms were present was of ‘grave concern’ to the police.If that's the case, none of these 'unknown' guns should really be much of an issue for you, but of course you want to claim ownership of all the guns for yourselves. Can't even let people keep an heirloom. But it's this next statement that extracts the proverbial urine: He added: [...] “The number of firearms held by people who may have chanced upon them during house clearances or keeping them as collectibles or heirlooms in unknown. “Such weapons may not be intended for criminal activities their mere existence renders the holder extremely vulnerable and presents a danger to the public.Guns not intended for criminal use pose a danger to the public? Does that include all the legally held firearms, or just the unlicensed ones that aren't intended for criminal use? And owning a gun makes the holder vulenrable? H.. How? Disarmed citizens are extremely vulnerable. Armed ones are not, but disarmed is exactly the way the government and police would like us to be. You keep trying to convince people that they will be vulnerable by owning a gun though, just because one old codger decided he wanted out and a gunshot to the head was the easiest way to do it. “This case has tragically highlighted the dangers inherent with illegal possession of firearmsThe danger in this case being you may want to use it to take your own life. Ohh. Let's all be scared of guns. 20 Comments:

Fuse Session - We Were Evergreen This week we had the delightful We Were Evergreen in the studios, where we discussed growing up, the core of music, and the seemingly infinite number of instruments a single band can play. Deep stuff. They even played us an acoustic set. They play Trof Fallowfield on October 4th (tickets £8). Catch it here: Interview with Pure Love A couple of weeks ago we caught up with Pure Love at the Dot to Dot festival, where we chatted about the move from hardcore to classic rock, playing Wembley and the meaning of love. Fuse FM at Parklife '12: Ghostpoet Last weekend, the self-described "lad with a lisp with some stories to tell", aka Ghostpoet, caught up with Fuse FM following a set at Parklife that went down as one of the weekend's highlights. Catch him chatting to Dan Alani about music in the North, his live show, and some exclusive info on plans for new material. Fuse FM at Parklife '12: Django Django After setting the Now Wave tent alight at Parklife, Dave and Jim from Django Django caught up with Dan Alani for a quick litte chat. Find out what they had to tell us about their festival experiences, their love of classic rock and workout regimes. Fuse. The Great Manchester Run On Sunday 20th May, the streets of Manchester were turned into a sea of runners as the 10th annual Great Manchester Run came to the city. We sent reporter Rachel Longworth along to speak to some of the runners as they crossed the finish line. Well done to everyone who took part and raised money for such a wide variety of charities! Interview with The Enemy The Enemy's third album 'Streets in the Sky' was released just a few weeks ago. Jules O'Brien caught up with the trio in Manchester ahead of their gig at the Academy to find out more about this egarly awaited comeback album. Interview: Mac Miller Fuse FM's Edward Usher caught up with American rapper Mac Miller before his gig at the HMV Ritz. They talk music, markets and all things British. Amon Tobin - ISAM Live Well that's it ladies and gentlemen. We've now reached the end of Future Everything 2012. But what a way to go out. Tonight, Fuse FMs own James Sandford attended this year's headline act. Amon Tobin is one of the most outstanding DJs out there today. When the Brazilian was working on his latest piece, ISAM, he wanted to produce something truly amazing. And something amazing is an understatement. Matthew Herbert - One Pig Once a year Manchester plays host to some of the most amazing talent in the modern world. Future Everything is a yearly festival that brings together those that take the strange and represent it in unique ways. And this year has been no different. Matthew Herbert is an electronic artist who specialises in the usage of those sounds most of us forget. On 18th May he provided just that with his performance of One Pig at the Royal Northern College of Music.

How are your New Years resolutions going? We all make them—it’s part of the New Year’s tradition. We’re determined that this fresh New Year is the perfect time to resolve to do something that will leave us “better” or “different” than last year. The problem with resolutions is that they’re usually vague and end up abandoned by February or sooner. So this year, instead of making New Year’s resolutions, try setting goals—goals that will strengthen the bonds with your grandchildren. The secret of success in fulfilling goals is more about setting them up and writing them down than willpower and determination. Sharing your goal with others, means you’re much more likely to accomplish it. As a grandparent, you may set some goals for your relationship with your grandchild, but remember you need buy-in from the parents. Remember they are indispensable when it comes to having access to your grandchild. You may even want to sit down with your family and come up with some shared goals, for example, a three-generation family vacation or a family reunion. When you write your goals, there’s a popular acronym for remembering the five essential qualities of a goal: SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Framed. Specific Nebulous wording makes goals confusing and overwhelming. Defeat sets in before you even start. Imagine that you say: “I will be a more involved grandmother.” There is no way to know if you reached this goal. But if you write, “I will send a letter to my granddaughter once a month,” or “Once a month I will learn one new song, story or game to teach my grandson,” then you will have a specific action that you must take each month and hold yourself accountable. Measurable There’s an old saying: “What gets measured gets done.” When you make your goal measurable, you’re able to see your progress. So instead of saying: “I’m going to spend more quality time with my grandson,” you could say: “I will take my grandson fishing six times this year” or “I will take my granddaughter to three new museums this year.” Goals also need to be meaningful to you. That just insures that the goal you’re setting is something you want to do and not something imposed by someone else. Ask your grandchildren if they’d like to set a goal that both of you could work on together like starting a collection. Achievable This doesn’t mean your goal is easy, but that you can have a good chance of accomplishing it, which again may mean getting buy-in from your grandchild’s parents. If your goal is to have your grandchild come for a sleepover, you’re obviously going to have to get permission from her parents. And that means establishing a trusting relationship with the parents from the very beginning. Sitting down with your adult children even before your grandchild is born and discussing your commitment as a grandparent creates a sense of trust and value in open communication that will be last a lifetime. Realistic Realistic also means that the actions associated with your goal are things that you can actually do. If your goal is to get together with your grandchildren every weekend and they’re involved in too many activities of their own, then you’ll either have to set your goal lower or find a way to observe or participate in their activities. If that’s not realistic, then think about another avenue for staying connected with your grandchildren. You could take a computer class to learn how to stay in touch through email. Focus on your strengths and interests and how you might be able to share those with your grandchildren. Time Framed Having a time limit will give your goals structure. If your goal is to establish an education fund for your grandchild, you need to figure out how much money you want to contribute and by when. Setting goals is more than deciding what you want to do. It involves figuring out what you need to do to get where you want to go and how long it will take you to get there. Here are some general suggestions when setting goals: - Get working on your goals right now while you’re motivated. - Take small steps when making changes. - Develop a ritual for reviewing and updating your goals. - Look at them once a month to check your progress. - Be flexible – expect that your plan can and will change. - Recognize partial successes at every step along the way. - Be a good listener and open to feedback about your goal. As grandparents, we can expect to be around for more than three decades, according to U.S. life expectancy. Our relationships will evolve as we all grow older. By setting some goals to strengthen your relationships now, you will build the foundation for future bonds. So get SMART! Take out some paper and pencil and write down your goals for 2009.

Session One *When you walk into a room full of new people, who are all equally unfamiliar to each other, do you not smile at the other people? Don’t you make a little contact, like, hey, I see you, person…? It looks like we’ll be in this class together. See, I do. And most people give you a little something back, a little smile or a hello. But one lady didn’t. She left me hanging, a couple of times. And when that happens I get all sniffy inside, like, are we going to have a problem? *We all go around and say our names and when our baby’s coming and where we’re having it and who’s our caregiver, and also we’re supposed to mention a non-baby-related passion of ours. Except for me and Dave, this is a room full of snowboarding gardeners. Like, to a one. *….Oh, yeah. It looks like we are going to have a problem. When we went around and talked about ourselves, I said that we were going to have the baby at home. What I did NOT say was anything remotely to the effect of, “And anyone who doesn’t is a fucking SUCKER. Home births are for champions, hospitals are for PUSSIES, pussies!” A little later, Miss No-Smile-For-You is talking about what she wants for her birth, and she looks right at me with this dirty look and says, “…Home birth is right for SOME PEOPLE but not EVERYONE is going to want to do it that way.” Aw, snap. She told me! *Break time is awkward! I can’t seem to smoothly get into a conversation with anybody except Dave. I alternate between hiding my face in the baby photos on the wall, and tentatively trying to open out my body language so as to welcome conversation. Nothing happens. First day of school sucks! *The teacher, though, is great. More about her later. *Towards the end of class, she leads us in a relaxation exercise and guided visualization. The thing is, as I’m one of the two farthest-along women in the class, getting into a comfortable position isn’t something that I can pull off very quickly. So by the time the relaxation part has started, I’m in this totally awkward whackjobber position that I just end up going with: In the red circle it says, "My shoulder is above my ear." I figure I’m going to miss the whole thing if I keep trying to get comfortable. The visualization part is great. I always thought the womb was this pitch-dark scene! Apparently not! Depending on how bright the room/the day is, there’s quite a rosy glow going on in there! Finn can see the shadow of our hands on my belly and whatnot! This detail makes me unaccountably delighted. I’ll tell you about the second class later. The second class rocked it, and was also terrifying! 11 comments: I've had a hard time in my baby class with people, I think I'm the youngest one there now the obvious youngest "graduate" this week. Everyone else seems to be best friends already. Maybe I'm not making eye contact or something, I'm just so shy! I had no idea that the baby could see our hand's shadow, thank you so much for posting that. I love it! I've always noticed that when i got to a new class ! Even with yoga, where you'd expect everyone to be zen , there is always a lady ( it's often women i must admit..) who looks at you like you're going to be able to do the hand stand and she won't and you'll make her feel like crap. But I am always smiling and it's hard not to take it personally. But people are just like that aren't they ? and by the way... i am the one who is really scared of the hand stand even after years and years of yoga. but i don't care that the others can do it well ! It's so cool to hear all this baby news and info. When it;s my turn in a few years, I'll be all prepared thanks to the tina blog ! Hugs Geez! It was like Clown Class, full of really unpleasant and judgemental clowns. What was WRONG with those people! I would LOVE to be in your class- we could whine and giggle together! I really loved our prenatal class last time, and our teacher too. It was a fun weekly date for us. Good times. :) Can't wait to hear more! RIGHT! Get her name - I'm on my way!!!! I had a crap group in my Childbirth Class too. I had a complicated pregnancy and everyone was treating me like I had some communicable disease. Only one guy (that's right, one half of one couple) would speak to us. I didn't go to my last class because I couldn't deal with a roomful of grinning pregnant ladies assuring themselves that pregnancy was FANTASTIC and that everything about pregnancy was FANTASTIC and nothing about pregnancy was anything but FANTASTIC. Ugh. I wanted to throw things at them. We went to our first birth class last Monday, number two is tonight. We started right in on the videos. Saw four births. One right up close and personal that had me cringing. I know I did it before, but it is still really overwhelming and that bulge, that INSANE bulge--eesh, it gives me shivers right now. There are four couples in our birth class. One is taking a different birth class on Sunday nights and was telling the instructor (and the rest of us) how toned her Kegel muscles were--but perhaps that wasn't as odd as our instructor's unusual explanation of Kegels...in that she told us that when doing the Kegel exercise, we should try to imagine picking up a penny and pulling it way up and then lowering it back out slowly. I couldn't figure out how you would pick it up...right this instant (after a week of strange contemplation) it occurs to me that perhaps the penny must start standing on its edge. Can't wait to hear about the second class... that woman is a stupid cunt wad. i want to smack her silly. obviously, she has serious issues if she is taking you saying you are having a home birth personally. i mean jesus. of course it's not for everybody. what a stupid thing to say. and of course you didn't mean that when you SAID it because anyone who has ever spent 2 seconds with you knows that you haven't a condescending of presumptive bone in your body, let alone your tone of voice. she's projecting all sorts of shit on you. probably because you are further along and have a large belly. there is a larger surface to project onto. well, she sucks and i hate to say this but i feel sorry for her poor baby. it would be nice if you found fun, cool people in the class to share with but the most important thing is you and dave and finn. so just focus on the teacher and do your own thing. having a baby is such a personal thing and then everybody has all of these really strong opinions about it. i think that's why there are all of these egos flashing around and feelings getting so hurt surrounding it. it's a crazy thing. i can't wait to hear about the next class. and the ICE!! oh my gosh. please wave a finn for me. xo xo Welcome to parenthood, unfortunately this gets carried right on into childrearing.....to breastfeed or not, immunize or not, co-sleep or not, pacifier or not, etc. etc. etc. etc. We try to gather all the important information and make a decision. You must be a stupid and bad parent if you did not come up with the same conclusion as I did. And the worst of it is that we women do it to each other! But that is a "whole nuther" class to take. My advice......follow your instincts, they are good!!!! and each child and set of parents are different, so what works for one child doesnt work for another. Gather your information, and listen to your instincts, not everyone elses! Even though we insist on giving you advice. omg i'm reading this during a conf call and i snorted into the phone...the penny on its side, oh my. tina, obviously the woman is jealous of you because you are cool and awesome, and also jealous of your groovy husband. Yes, what La Ketch said. Also, who knew about that rosy glow?!? What the heck? That sounds dreamy. Ah, man, thanks for the support, everybody! Things picked up dramatically at the next class, socially-wise. I'll go write about it now! But dang, you guys are great.

! "Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory"- discussion « Back to club forum From coopershawk 15-May-09, 12:36 "Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory"- discussion I am starting this thread for a discussion of this book by Macon Shibut. Several people have indicated an interest and have the book. My copy arrived today, and I will begin reading tonight. -zoe- 15-May-09, 14:23 enjoy! I don't have this book, but looking forward to read discussion.. and add a post or two johnclark 15-May-09, 20:35 It's on the way. I ordered a copy from Amazon.com a couple of days ago. Will let you know when arrives. coopershawk 15-May-09, 23:31 Zoe Since you don't have the book, I will try to identify the game that we are discussing as we go along, so you and others without the book can follow any discussion about the games and participate. The first game is: Morphy v de Riviere Paris 1863 Game #361 in this collection that can be played on line. and the first of at least two Morphy v de Riviere 1863 games in the downloadable png collection at the bottom of the page in this link. Unfortunately there is no easy way to go to the correct game in either collection. This is identifiable by the last move -- 64.c8 ironbutterfly 16-May-09, 09:32 Reading and studying "PM and the Evolution of CT" My strong preference is to work through the book systematically from the beginning. That would mean focusing our first discussion on the "Introduction" (pp.3-4) and the first chapter of "Part I: Analysis," which is "Paul Morphy and the Play of Our Time." (7-33). As James states above, the first game considered - and extensively analyzed - (9-15) is "Morphy-de Riviere." The second is "M-Lowenthal" [London, 1859], (16-25), and the third is "Lichtenhein-M" [New York 1857] (27-29). There follows a 5-pp supplement with commentaries and games of other players. So I'm suggesting we all read pp. 3-15, and discuss the ideas/concepts there and then the game analysis of M-dR. What do you all think of this general plan? Are there other suggestions for how to proceed? coopershawk 16-May-09, 15:57 A Plan Clark, That plan works for me. I think we should go slow for another day or two until some people who have ordered the book receive it. But I don't see any reason not be begin now. I will post something late tomorrow. johnclark 16-May-09, 20:24 PM and the Evolution of Chess Theory- Shibut Ironbutterfly's plan works for me. We may need to change some things as we go, but it seems very doable. I received my copy for Amazon.com today. I think I placed the order 3-4 days ago, no sales tax and no shipping costs. My copy is new and the total charge was $12.12. And I thought McDonalds was the one with deals. Listed price on the book is $16.95. I think someone cut a deal. I'm not sure how we are going to approach the actual discussion of pp 3-15, but I guess our style will evolve through the chapters. First of all, I am not a fan of Shibut's writing. Of course, I'm not a fan of Fenimore Coopers ("Last of the Mohicans"), either. Fo me, I have difficulty grasping what he's saying on first read and inevitably I comment, "what in the hell is saying." And I end up having to re-reading his paragraphs. The other criticism I have, and maybe you folks do too, is his use of abreviated notations. That drives me crazy. I like to see the little "x" for captures and the "+" for check. Anyway, I'll have to work through those issues. I wouldn't say that Shibut's intent is to bash Paul Morphy, but it is quite evident he wants to "clear up" some Morphy myths and correct the reader's perspective. Anyway that's my take on the intro. I played through Morphy v de Riviere, Paris 1863. Here's a link to the game It makes it a lot easier than manually making the moves, especially with his abbreviated notations ( I don't think anyone would have a problem with the statement that this game is clearly not a "best" for either player. I assume that it was not a blitz type game and the clock was not a factor. The game occurred during the Civil War, and to what extent that Paul's interest in the game was wanning, I don't know. But I don't think we can expect a masterpiece each time the master goes to his canvas or picks up his pen. I'm looking to see further arguements by Shibut on this. On the game, itself, I was distracted by the Morphy "reknown" and was doing exactly what Shibut warned not to do. It will take a while for me to separate the "man form the position". But I did find something interesting- On 55. Qf7+ , would not 55.Qh7+ have netted de Riviere's bishop h1 for Morphy?? Anyway, these are my initial reactions. There is no way I'm going to talk this lengthy on next posts. Looking forward to see what others have to say. jc coopershawk 17-May-09, 23:03 9. h3 This move interested me so I spent a fair amount of time with it and Shibut's variations on 9. I usually think of this as a wasted move and don't do it because it weakens the pawns in front of the location where I am likely to castle. But as Shibut says, it seems to work in this game, and it demonstrates that we can't play chess successfully by blindly following a set of theoretical tips. One of the great things about the game is the constantly shifting blend between tactical and strategic considerations. I played through the whole game once quickly, and now I am studying it more carefully. JohnClark, I think the move you are referring to is 56. Qf7+ not 55. 56.Qh7+ would win the Bishop, but it loses the pawn on g3 with check. Morphy might have considered that pawn and the tempo more important than the bishop in this circumstance. My guess is that Morphy liked his chances to win better by not giving up the initiative. I will look at it more closely when I get that far in the game. And yes, the highly abbreviated notation is more difficult than it needs to be. OFF TOPIC: John, have you read Mark Twain's essay criticizing Cooper? It is incredibly funny. johnclark 18-May-09, 14:38 56.Qf7+ It's probably true about keeping the initiative that PM opted for, but he takes a check with 58...Qe1+ *. I more inclined to think PM want to push his g pawn. Here's a probable position had PM opted for de Riviere's bishop: 56.Qh7+ Ka6 57.Qxh1 Qxb3+ 58.Kg4 I would have been very tempted to snatch balck's bishop. coopershawk 18-May-09, 20:57 Through 26. Ng1 Worked through Through 26. Ng1 tonight. A few comments. There were a couple of moves by Morphy that left me puzzled until later when a purpose became apparent. For example: 10. Nde2 I was thinking 10.Nf3. But then after seeing his move, I understood that Morphy did not want to block the advance of the f pawn on his next move. 11.f4. 21.Nge2 This move was very counterintuitive for me. I wanted to bring more pieces closer to the King for his defense, instead of moving pieces away, and exposing him to an attack that appeared to be imminent. Then later I saw that because of 21. Nge2, white was able to play 24. g3 and drive the black Queen all the way back to her first rank, taking much of the steam out of Black's attack. Be sure to go over Shibut's analysis of move 26 and the tactical manuever available if White moves 26.Nd5 and Black tries to take the pawn with Rxe6. As I read the notes, it occurs to me that Shibut is primarily critical of the prior analysis of Soltis and the venerable Reinfeld. So far, more often than not, Shibut is defending Murphy against critical comments made in their prior analysis. ironbutterfly 19-May-09, 11:54 Macon Shibut (whoever he is) and PM Well, I just finished working through the first 16 pages of Shibut's book, inc. the M-dR game. Here are some of my thoughts: 1. I never heard of Shibut before getting this book. Normally a chess writer's ranking and exploits are trumpeted in his book, but not here. So I googled him, and here's some of what I found - a NM (National Master), which means that he acheived the USCF rating of 2200, even if he later fell below it. Good for a chess player, only ok for a chess writer. He is also 2-time VA state champion and since '91 the editor of the VA Chess Newsletter. (A friend of mine who is a GM told me once - for whatever it's worth -never to bother reading the analyses of anyone below GM.) 2. Like jc, I have trouble with his style. I'm not bothered by his leaving out the x for capture, it's the fact his language and style seems antiquated. I would have guessed the book was written 75 years ago, not 15+. Definitely not smooth and easy to read, at least for me. [As an aside, Cooper's style is heavy and ponderous too, but he wrote almost 200 years ago. Twain's essay on Cooper's Literary Offences [thanks for bringing that up, cj!!] is the funniest and one of the most brilliant literary criticisms I've ever read - it's one I still read occasionally and chuckle over - but he basically misses the point: Twain is a realist analyzing a romanticist; Cooper isn't at all interested in the factual kind of truth Twain is, but what he sees as a much deeper spiritual truth. But that's probably more fit for another thread... ] 3. Interesting discussion between jc and cj about taking/not taking the B. I would probably take it myself, but am not at all sure it's the best move, since it gives the opposing Q so much room, and possiblities for perpetual, etc. I also agree with you, james, about PM's h3 causing me to think a long time about how that strengthens or weakens the position. I probably do it too often, according to master play. 4. As usual, Alekhine's comments are spot on. I particularly like "he clearly pictured to himself in each separate instance just what the given position required..." That's a concept I've been trying to understand for years, and don't really yet. coopershawk 19-May-09, 20:21 Finished game. Read to p.16 comments I enjoyed the game and annotation. I don't have a complaint about Shibut's use of language- just a difference of perspective I guess. Couple of comments as a result of Chess Master 9000's analysis. a. CM has black leading by small fractions of a pawn until 46.Bh1. At that point it gives white an advantage and that advantage is steadily increased through the rest of the game. b. CM likes Black's moves at 40 and 41. Shibut gives both moves question marks. c. CM agrees with Shibut's criticism of PM's move 26.Ng1. To my mind, this was a good complex game in which PM took advantage of small positional errors by black. Those errors cummulatively led to a win in the end game. Ironbutterfly, Your GM friend is speaking from the perspective of a player much better than us. IMO Woodpushers like all of us here can learn a lot from an NM commenting on a Morphy game. Fred Reinfeld, who taught a generation of club players was not a GM, and neither is Silman, who I think of as Reinfeld's contemporary counterpart, but both are good teachers. I would not say Mr. Shibut is comparable to either Reinfeld or Silman as a teacher, but that is not really the avowed purpose of his book, so I am not critical of him on that basis. On the subject of move 56-- after playing through the game more carefully, I think it likely that Morphy did not overlook the opportunity to capture the Bishop. I suspect that he decided on the spot that he was going to be able to queen the g pawn and didn't need to waste time taking the Bishop on h1. It's interesting that in this game black's light square bishop had control of the long diagonal, a theoretically excellent strategic position; but the bishop was ultimately irrelevant to the outcome. In my experience there is a big difference between a bishop on h1 or a8 and a bishop on g2 or b7. The reduced mobility of the bishop on h1 or a8 looks like a small thing, but in practice it seems to make a big difference. The same is true for dark squared bishop on the other diagonal of course. Comments? coopershawk 22-May-09, 20:24 pp. 16-19 Played through the Lowenthal game to the end, and then spent additional times with moves 1 through 16. I like to play the Evans Gambit occasionally, and I need work on my end game. So this is a good game for me to study. Shibut questions Morphy's moves 10 and 13. Chessmaster likes Shibut's choices better, but only by a very small margin, so small that the margin might go away or be reversed if I let the computer think about it longer. In any event this is another complex game that I am enjoying. johnclark 23-May-09, 19:53 Been tied up I haven't forgotten the thread. Will play through the second game and get a comment in. coopershawk 23-May-09, 21:08 pp 19-23 Moves 16 to 32. To me the tactical sophistication of these players is awesome. I get a different insight into the depth of their understanding when playing through the game on the computer program such as Chessmaster. Sometimes after CM thinks about a move for 60 seconds and it evaluates a move not played by Morphy or Lowenthal as then best by some small factor: BUT if you let the computer program continue to run for another 15 minutes, or maybe even an hour, CM may switch its evaluation and prefer the move actually played by Morphy or Lowenthal. Some of the middle game moves either make or defend threats that I would never see, so the motive for the move is hard to understand. That makes it a difficult game to analyze, even with help from CM and Shibut's variations. coopershawk 23-May-09, 21:10 John and others Take your time. There is no point in speeding through this material, and I am planning to go through it slowly. johnclark 03-Aug-09, 22:22 cascadejames is back! It's time to pick up game #2. I just noticed that Shibut does not include the famous "Queen Sacrifice game (Paulsen v Morphy, November 3, 1857, game 6, First American Chess Congress, New York City). coopershawk 04-Aug-09, 21:29 pp 23-33 Enjoyed this material. Especially the annotation by Reti and the author's comments. I don't have much to add to it. Went lightly through 31-33, since they are non-Morphy games. I will take the author's point that there were other good chess players with similar ideas. Ready to begin Anderssen-Morphy Paris 1858 p.34 next. johnclark 04-Aug-09, 23:02 Can we go back to Lichtenhein-Morphy, NYC 1857? Asking your indulgence, I would like to take a look at pp. 26-30. On a side note, I think this game was played at the First American Chess Congress, NYC 1857. Personally, I think the Congress was pivotal for Morphy's ascending onto the international stage. Granted, he was the favorite coming into the tournament. But his winning the tourney cast aside any doubts that he was other than a world class player. Secondly, and much more to our initial interest, pp. 26-30 sumarize Richard Reti's views on Morphy's reknowned development of his pieces with some critical comments by the author. So I was wondering if we could take a look at the game, Shibut's summary of Reti's insights and Shibut's commentary? We might want to tackle "Reti's Logic Applied to Another Game", pp. 30-33. I'll post my reation in a day or so. Thanks, jc coopershawk 05-Aug-09, 08:58 John Sure I am in no hurry. johnclark 07-Aug-09, 00:43 pp 26-30 I found pages 26-30 intriguing for both the content and his thesis. As you know, these pages, and the ones that follow deal with tempo. Shibut calls to the readers attention via Richard Reti's words Morphy's superiority over his contemporaries in his undertanding of "open positions" and the need for developing pieces without delay. Shibut uses Reti's example of The Evan's Gambit to illustrate the differences in "pre-Morphy" development and Morphy's development, which we now see as natural (p26). I thought the illustration was very clear and pertinent. Shibut then examines Lichtenhein v Morphy, New York 1857 (I think this was an actual tournament game at the First American Chess Congress as Morphy did meet Lichtenhein in the third section of the tournament) and discusses it in the perspective of development and tempo. I thought the discussion was well done. It includes a superior line to the Two Knights Defense/Max Lange Attack now found in the Scotch Gambit variation of the opening (p.27; white's 5th move). In the analysis, Shibult points out several times how Morphy never lost tempo in the development of his pieces where Lichtenhein did several times. Now all this is good and well. And then Shibult drops his thesis gavel pronouncing that development was very well known prior to Morphy and Morphy's acclaim to development and the use of tempo is a "sort of blind idealism" that the next two chapters will attempt to set aside AND will reexamin Morphy's chess vis-a-vis that of Adolph Anderssen and Wilhelm Steinitz! That's when I practically fell out of my chair. Our author is attempting to correct the Morphy idealism on the backs of Anderssen who lost 8-3 in 1858 to Morphy and Steinitz who never played Morphy, but barely beat Anderssen in 1866. So you can see my skepticism and what I will be watchful for. On content -"Rapid development in the open game". I never quite undestood open v closed games. is an excellent article on the two. Rule of thumb, open games/positions are usually 1.e4 e5 openings whose lines do not obstruct bishops. Queens pawns openings that obstruct bishop movement fall into the closed category. Now I get it. -Just because a line of play has an established name, does not mean it's the better play. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.e5 loses to 5.0-0! Excellent little paragraph. -The analysis on tempo through the first 14 moves of the game is very good. Well, these are my thoughts on these pages. What do you guys think? Am I totally off? Will go forward with Reti's Logic Applied to Another Game and the Anderssen and Pre-Morphy Chess. ironbutterfly 08-Aug-09, 12:29 Shibut's book: pp. 23-33 First, I'd like to elaborate on what jc suggests in his comments above. On p. 26 Shibut says: "our modern understanding of Morphy's style derives from what Reti wrote in Modern Ideas in Chess and Masters of the Chessboard." I haven't found my copy of MIC, but Reti spends 20 pp. in MotC arguing the point about M being "the first great player to understand the nature and characteristics of the open positions and to elaborate adequate principles for their treatment." (27) Reti analyzes six of M's game in some detail to illustrate these points. Shibut's conclusion is that: "Reti decided that Morphy's 'secret' lay in a breakthrough appreciation for rapid development in the open game." Second, don't miss the fact (I did the first time around) that the material on the Lichenhein-Morphy game [NY, 1857] on pp. 27-29 is RETI's analysis, not Shibut's! Though Shibut does, inexplicably add "in pace" to the next to last paragraph on p. 27, and omits a couple of capture signs. Third, it seems to me that Shibut is guilty of just what he accuses Reti of - generalizing. Like jc, I am skeptical of some of Shibut's judgmental conclusions: he doesn't convince me that Reti and Saidy and Heisman are mistaken in their "blind idealism" in suggesting that PM advanced and focused principles of developing open positions, for example. What more are you guys thinking about this section? coopershawk 08-Aug-09, 22:59 ?? I am not so interested in focusing on the book's author, but in any event, I have to drop off again here because of issues at work. johnclark 11-Aug-09, 08:40 Bummer! Sorry to see you go, cascadejames. You bring a lot of energy to the club. I'll plug on through the Supplement to Chapt 1 and the Anderssen chapter. Hope you return soon. Ironbutterfly: Good point on the Reti analysis! I missed it! Had it been set aside in quotation marks, I might have picked it up. And then again, I may have still needed a slap or two to see it ) coopershawk 28-Nov-09, 23:05 Anderssen-Morphy Paris 1858 10th Match Game pp 41-52 A marathon win for Anderssen, 77 moves. Part of a match. Material was nominally even at the end of the game, but Morphy resigns after a pawn promotion for Anderssen becomes inevitable. Fascinating game, Anderssen opens with 1. a3 and plays the game as a reverse Sicilian. Anderssen controls the center and the game is initially very clogged up. Morphy never seems to have enough space to operate, even into the end game. coopershawk 29-Nov-09, 20:27 Morphy-Anderssen Paris 1858 informal game pp 61-63 Kings Gambit in which black (Anderssen) attempts to defend his extra pawn on f4, and gets beatrn badly by Morphy in 19 moves. Interesting notes from Shibut, and a reference to a 1961 Bobby Fisher article titled "A bust of the King's Gambit." Both are very different games than our consultation game with the same opening, but they both shed some light. « Back to club forum GameKnot: play chess online, chess clubs, Internet chess league, monthly chess tournaments, chess teams, online chess puzzles, free online chess games database and more. • • Rules and Policies © 2000-2013 GameKnot online chess

Playing as the Medic in Mann vs. Machine is odd as it quickly becomes apparent that the standard load out for the class is less useful than the unlockable weapons. This is especially the case for the medigun. Due to the tower defense aspects of the game play, survival isn’t the priority of the game at all, but doing damage in a defensive manner. For this reason the UberCharge, while useful is worse for MvM than another medigun. Both the Kritzkreig and the Quickfix have a faster heal rate than the standard medigun, and the kritzkreig’s crits are extremely helpful against the enemy machines. This isn’t to say that you should play Medic in MvM if you don’t have a better medigun, but if you do then use it. Another strategy that you should be aware of while playing as Medic is who you should be healing. The usual, almost cliché choice of the Heavy might not be the best choice depending on the oncoming wave. In the first few waves you’ll want to heal someone who can do some damage to a lot of people quickly, so the Pyro would be a better choice. Against giants, someone doing a lot of accurate damage is best, like the Soldier or maybe the Sniper. Obviously this kind of thinking becomes more complicated. A great benefit to playing as Medic is starting out with the passive regenerative health. As this is an upgrade I would normally buy anyways, it nice having this from the beginning to save some money. When buying upgrades you’ll want to fully round out the medigun. Try and buy more upgrades rather than the more expensive better ones. All of the upgrades for the medigun have weird prices, so you’ll want to watch your math to be able to get the most before each round. Article from Gamersyndrome.com Related posts: While I agree with most of what you say, there’s just one thing I’d like to point out. The only reason you should be focus healing a Pyro is because either they’re dying, or you’re giving them overheal, not because they do damage. Pyros should never, ever, EVER, upgrade damage on their Flamethrower. The reason Pyros are useful in MvM is due to their ability to airblast and either reset or stall the bomb – therefore, they should be adding airblast force/resistances/uber canteens/speed to help them survive as long as possible. If you upgrade everything the right way, you’ll have no excess money for +damage on your flamethrower. Like my friends and I say, a Pyro can easily decide the outcome of a mission, and unlike some other classes, there really is no wiggle room in what a Pyro should be doing.

Step Pick the winner of 35 college football bowl games and rank them in order of how confident you are in each. Step You only need to make your picks once and you can compete against friends, family, and other football fans. Step Compete for your chance to win a $2,000 Best Buy gift card by making the most correct picks. Let the Bowl Mania Begin US Presswire Alabama and Notre Dame are playing for the national title, but there are plenty of other games to predict as well.. You'll always be able to access your entry from the drop-down menu under the fantasy tab on the ESPN.com front page. Play against others from around the country or create your own private group to compete against your friends. The first bowl games are Dec. 15. Will Harris reveals his Bowl Mania picks Fantasy college football analyst Will Harris states the case for the participants in all 35 bowls, picks a winner and ranks his choices by confidence. Bowl Predictions If you need more help making your picks, check out the following: • Insider Audio: Phil Steele and Will Harris discuss their picks • College Football PickCenter • Overview of all 35 bowls<!img src=""> • Schlabach: Ranking all 35 bowl games<!img src=""> • Complete 2012-13 bowl coverage<!img src=""> Join Our Bowl Mania Message Boards Have a group you'd like others to join? Do you think the right teams were selected for the right games? Let yourself be heard or just see what others have to say on the Bowl Mania message board. Challenge Mike & Mike ESPN Radio's Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg have made their selections for the college bowl season. Think you can pick better than these guys? Prove it and join the Mike & Mike group today. - Click here Dan LeBatard Is Highly Questionable Dan LeBatard and his father, Papi, appear daily on ESPN2 and address the biggest questions in the sports world. After all the discussions and debates, do you think they can pick all the bowl games correctly? Join the group and find out - Click here The Numbers Never Lie They know the stats. They know the trends. They know the matchups, but can the hosts of Numbers Never Lie confidently pick the winners of Bowl Mania? Join the group and see where you stack up against some of ESPN's most opinionated. - Click here Overall Leaderboard Invite Your Friends Import contacts from your favorite email providers and invite them to join your group and play College Bowl Mania with you! Prizes ESPN Fantasy Jobs Want to help build the games that you love to play? ESPN Fantasy Jobs » (Bristol, CT and Seattle, WA)

EA and Sony's Video Game/Music Convergence 33 Posted by CowboyNeal from the making-it-funky dept.)." Crap (Score:3, Interesting) --Stephen Re:Crap (Score:2, Informative) By "deal", you mean turning the music off, right? In fact, you may want to note that in EA's most recent sports game, there's control settings that allow you to turn off individual songs so you never hear them. Obviously this doesn't help if you dislike every single song and every single band on the game's soundtrack but, in that case, just turn the music off. I don't think this story was meant to highlight a great addition t Re:Crap (Score:2)? (Score:5, Insightful) (Score:4, Interesting) (Score:2) Though I've heavily disliked the rock/rap collaborations the X-Ecutioners have been doing these past few years ('specially the Linkin Park one-- ugh!), I'd love to hear what they did for NFL Street. Creative Shoveling and cornchips (Score:4, Interesting)? This oughta be interesting (Score:2, Funny) Re:This oughta be interesting (Score:1) thro Are You Ready? (Score:1) Re:Are You Ready? (Score:1) Sony or EA? Who really wins out? (Score:1)? (Score:2, Interesting)... (Score:5, Interesting). (Score:4, Insightful) This Panda Agrees Whole_heartedly (Score:1) m Re:This Panda Agrees Whole_heartedly (Score:2). (Score:2) w Stay away from music games (Score:1) w hmm... (Score:3, Interesting)!) The EA Model (Mainstream) v. the MS Model (Indie) (Score:2) Re:The EA Model (Mainstream) v. the MS Model (Indi (Score:2, Insightful) First off, you're right. This is a very nice feature. The PS2 doesn't come standard with a hard drive so this isn't really an option on a console other than the Xbox. Now, I don't listen to much mainstream radio and tend to mainly just l Re:The EA Model (Mainstream) v. the MS Model (Indi (Score:2) mus already happening (Score:1) But orginal or "new" music makes the game. (Score:2) Sure, I'm pointing to some old, and non-sports games...But look back on super techmo bowl, Joe Montana's football, etc. The sad theme music that Partnerships (Score:1) EA is gobbeling up all the competition, arent they the ones that closed westwood studios, and also bought maxis? I hate EA. Kris Holland [mailto]

Fall 2011 has been an incredible season for gaming. Big name titles like Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3, and Skyrim have given previously successful games like Call of Duty a run for their money. While Modern Warfare 3 shows success once again in the financial side of the gaming industry, does it have any room to compete with the much more immersive games that have released this year? And by itself, does it out-perform its predecessors and define what a Call of Duty game truly should be? The biggest disappointment I found when I opened up MW3 and popped in the disc, was its immediate similarity to MW2, the previous title in the Modern Warfare Series. The game runs on the EXACT SAME engine, with no improvements graphically or mechanically. With this said, the game quickly received criticism, being referred to as “MW2.5”, or “the new MW2 map pack.” While those statements are a bit harsh, the game doesn’t do much to defend itself from the attacks. Like Modern Warfare 2, you will load up a menu with 3 options: Special Ops, Campaign, and Multiplayer. Upon starting the campaign, you will be given a very brief relapse of what happened in the previous two games (it won’t really bring you up to speed if you haven’t played them), and you are systematically thrown back into the fight, as a U.S operative named Frost. MW3’s campaign, as you might have guessed, is a direct continuation from MW2’s plot. In this installment, Makarov, the trilogy’s main antagonist, has single-handedly started WW3. You will not be playing as Frost for much of the game, as you will be bouncing back and forth between U.S, Europe, and even Africa, as different characters. With that said, you will also find out the fate of Captain Price and Soap, now wanted men thanks to the events of Modern Warfare 2. The campaign is an explosive, fast-paced adventure that you should be familiar with if you’ve been following the series. I have found that the plot is just as satisfying as previous titles, and the ending is a good close to an exciting trilogy. While it doesn’t stack up to other stories from games I’ve experienced this year, the campaign is what I consider the best part of the MW3. The rest? Not so much. Special Ops is the only part of the game that I saw any real improvement. Special Ops features a brand new mode this time around, called Survival, which is more or less a MW replacement of Nazi Zombies. You start off with a pistol, and must survive the onslaught of endless waves of enemies, by getting money from the kills and purchasing better equipment to defend yourself. Survival mode is fairly entertaining, and you can even grab a friend to join in too. I’m not the biggest fan of endless waves, but I can definitely see that with the right type of person this mode will satisfy for hours upon end. Both Survival and the familiar mission mode of Special Ops have a global leaderboard now, that compares your scores in these modes with everyone that plays Modern Warfare 3. You can also Find Matches with other players, simply by hitting the “Find Match” button, similar to the multiplayer. Speaking of multiplayer, I hope you brought your camping gear, because MW3 offers some of the best campgrounds ever seen in the series. Seriously speaking, MW3’s multiplayer did a lot of things to fix the problems of MW2, but in the process created even more. A lot of the problem with MW2 was that the perks were very unbalanced, thus giving people extreme and cheap advantages if they make the right classes. Noob tubing, quick scoping, and scary fast commando pro players started running the scene, and it made the experience daunting, if not frustrating. MW3 killed two of those three birds, but let out an entire cage of pigeons in the process. The number 1 problem I had with the multiplayer was the quickness of death. I have NEVER experienced a multiplayer where you die so fast, and this alone creates a plethora of problems. Because you die so fast, you can almost never escape a situation if someone has you in their sights. Why is this a problem? Because people, being normal human beings, are quite prone to finding the easiest ways to go about things. Quickness of death makes it easy to camp in a corner and wait for someone to run in your sights, because they really can’t do anything about it. This ruins the experience for those who are trying to play the game like it’s supposed to be played. They added Support/Assault classes for a reason, to allow players to have an option to support their team instead of just mindless killing. But how can they go about this when they have to watch every single corner for an asshole who can’t just play the game like normal? Truth is, they can’t. Another problem is the very poor collection of maps. These maps are by far the worst batch of recycled buildings ever put out by the series, because there are way too many openings and paths that people can take. Why is that bad? Because of what I stated earlier. Too many entry ways lead to less tactics and more hoping and praying, as well as camping. Of course, it’s not just the many pathways, and illegitimate structure. The respawns certainly do not help at all. Now I haven’t played all the modes, but I think I’ve played enough of them to get the jist of the terrible respawn system. Like previous COD games, they never quite get a good respawn system, that spawns you in substantial and plausible locations that aren’t too far or too close to the enemy. However, this multiplayer seems to go a step backwards, as Black Ops was definitely a bit more fair. I can’t tell you the number of times I killed a guy, and then 10 seconds later, the same guy comes from behind me and kills me. It’s just awful, and makes me rethink playing the game. Of course, a Call of Duty multiplayer can’t be a multiplayer without the insane amount of replay value. While I extremely dislike the multiplayer, I still for some reason, found myself playing it. I couldn’t play it for more than a half hour at a time, but the addictiveness remains. MW3 has probably the longest road to capping out your level, offering 80 levels of experience, and then 15 prestieges to climb. I find this amount of leveling to be ridiculous and unnecessary, especially considering the series busts out a new game every year. Activision even announced the next Call of Duty game one day after MW3 was released. That’s real incentive to play your multiplayer brah. Many people were hoping that Modern Warfare 3 would be the game to revitalize the series as a whole, after the mediocrity of Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2. If you ask me, I think that this game puts the series in even worse of a position than before. We are only 5 days past the release of the game, and it already feels unbalanced. And let’s face it. The multiplayer is what the reputation of Call of Duty is based upon. When people think Call of Duty, they think of it’s multiplayer. Despite all these things worth mentioning, Call of Duty was a financial success. It set a record for most sales in the first 24 hours, beating the previous record holder MW2 (no surprise), by 1.8 million sales. Is this enough to call it a great game? No, not in the slightest. Call of Duty has an enormous fanbase, and their devotion resembles that of a cult. No matter how often they are pouring out $60 for a new Call of Duty game, they’ll do it almost out of a need to keep up with the series. To put it blatantly honest, the game is just a shadow compared to the many titles that have come out this year (Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 are two different styles, so I do not compare them). If you are any type of Call of Duty player, and are reading this review, you most likely already have the game, and are simply reading to reassure yourself. However, I will not be reassuring; the game is not worth the $60 price tag. I split the purchase with my brother, and still feel pretty ripped off. Call of Duty remains a party game at best, or for those who have a plethora of online friends that enjoy mediocrity. If you are thinking of picking this game up, I suggest you look towards the better games of this year, as they will give you a better experience than a game that is forced to duplicate itself every year without the slightest thought of innovation.

It’s a very long essay and shouldn’t be spoiled by using many excerpts. Besides, if you don’t read the whole thing, you miss the connections he makes to a more palatable future. In order to understand those connections you need to see his take on a previous grab for power by the elites. In the course of arriving at his optimistic prediction, he shares some gob-smackingly amazing For example, we have this to ponder, as Whiskey describes the mindset of the trans-national elites: This model, that of a trans-national elite, taking steps to control the US Presidential election, does seem to describe what Obama’s campaign really is. There are other data points. San Francisco columnist Mark Morford describes Obama as a “Lightworker”, a near-parody of the WB series “Charmed” “White Lighter” characters.. Yep, these folks really believe that Philosopher-King Obama is going to help us to evolve into more soulful beings. I can’t wait. - - - - - - - - - Whiskey compares the rise of Obama-ist transnational elites to the rise of monarchies and the consequent taking by force the wealth of which monasteries were the repositories: The Kings of Medieval Europe could not match the production of wealth that the Catholic Church’s Monasteries produced. The Kings could not produce the large amounts of educated, loyal to Rome, and absolutely required functionaries that the Church alone provided. But the Kings could create alliances to seize said Monasteries and distribute the wealth among themselves and barons, such as Henry the VIII. Or found universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, and the University of Paris, to create their own, loyal, literate functionaries. Because while the Monasteries were a huge source of wealth, they could not be defended. Defending the wealth required men under arms, something the Church was never able to produce. So, Whiskey says, did Obama perform likewise, in creating alliances to gain power, though he sees a problem arising in O’s bypass of the large populist group in America: In the same manner, the “Obama Model” of media in the tank, illegal foreign money (not reported by said in the tank media), voter fraud, and thug tactics has a weakness. By moving entirely outside the media, through building grass-roots organizations, populists can control their message and use it create wedge politics, particularly through using nationalism and populism. This would include such things as various social events, private insurance, entertainment events, and so on. Particularly as the global economic crisis makes the ability of trans-national elites to provide welfare payoffs to broad slices of the electorate very questionable… I don’t want to give away the rest of his argument. Go read it for yourselves and make your own judgment in the matter. I will leave you with this quote, though it is not his last word on the subject: …It is a simple matter to show the intimidation and thugocracy of minority-oriented governments, be it an Obama thugocracy, or that of a Sarkozy, or Gordon Brown Sharia-compliant regime, and make the case that the majority, made second-class citizens or worse in their own nation, have no other alternative but the populists… I prefer the term “Culturism” myself. As the author of the text on it says: The words “multiculturalism” and “racism” undermine important policy discussions. “Culturism” can start them again. 5 comments: " These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul." I hate to blow my own blogs horn but! I had an experience recently with a couple of Obamatons that relates to this quote. The post is called "youre life will personally change". Scary,creepy stuff. Thank you so much, Dymphna. I want to take time to express my gratitude for this site, it's European emphasis (I love Europe, Europeans, and do not wish them or their fine cultures to vanish). You have endured much abuse (I too btw have been banned from LGF for expressing my sentiments as outlined in the post). All of it undeserved. Gates of Vienna is my first read in the morning, I find the content here simply priceless -- commentary from informed people like yourself, the Baron, El Ingles, and of course, Fjordman, that I see nowhere else. I would point out that Ace of Spades is already calling for a reform of the Republican Party by grass-roots organizations, finding and putting up candidates, who are Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, and taking a populist bent. Thank you so much for the link. whiskey -- I was about to point people to the link to Ace on our blogroll to follow up on your news re his effots..only to find he isn't there. Odd, since I read him fairly often. Here's the general link to Ace's site. He will probably be putting more information out about this project, so I won't link to a specific post. Get Out the Vote Ace is doing something. Right now it's an attempt to match up resources. He says, in the current top post: State where you are, where you can go, and if you're offering or seeking transpo or lodging. No digressions. Don't make a maniac out of me. Do digressions, tips, and chitty-chat in an open thread post I'll start now. Keep this clean of static. Just to match willing canvassers and phone-bankers with rides and beds. An excellent idea. So why isn't the RNC doing something on a wide scale like this? No, never mind. It doesn't matter anymore. The Aces will have to rebuild from scratch so I'm glad they're willing to do this now. Later they will have the creds and moral muscle to rally others. Let's face it: the GOP needs rebuilding from the trunk back to the tail. It is going to take people like Ace to get the energy flowing, never mind the logistics. That is, if the Fairness Doctrine doesn't close him down before oh, say, 2010 or therabouts. If the Dems make their move on this, it will be in time to snuff the next round of campaigning two years from now. Meanwhile, for our American readers, go over and see if there is any way for you to participate in this effort. Great essay. ...finding and putting up candidates, who are Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan... More importantly, these guys will have combat experience, which I suspect will prove useful in the coming crises. Whiskey Gives Us Hope Whishkey always gives me hope! [hic!]

I don't know what else to call them...the analogy is apt in my mind. They are the intellectual construct by which I deal with the barrage of bad news from Baghdad. They work for me...I'm not sure how others do it...and I'll be honest: in the end, my fences are very, very selfish. The fences come into play when I hear or read a news report that says "another soldier killed today". I listen carefully. If the report says the tragedy took place in somewhere other than Baghdad...I am relieved...and all my fences are intact. But if that report is from Baghdad...the bad news just breached the first of my fences. And so I listen some more...I search the internet. I look for any clue. Sometimes the report will indicate the Soldier belonged to the 4th ID or the 82d Airborne. If so...my second fence remains solid. But if the report says 1st Armored Division...my second fence has been breached, my fences...my defenses...are weakening. I have other fences. Unlike most, I have the "female soldier" fence. I've noticed the press is likely to make special note if a casualty is female...or perhaps the story will refer to the soldier as "he". If I can be reasonably sure it isn't a woman, the third fence has protected me. Inside the 1st Armored Division I have the 1st Brigade, 2d Brigade and 3d Brigade fences. Inside the 1st Brigade I have five battalion fences. Not quite as useful, but handy occasionally, are the Officer/NCO/Enlisted fence, the Quartermaster versus Infantry fence and the east-or-west-of-the-Tigris fence. But the ugly little secret that we don't really talk about is that in the end, I have about 120,000 fences...in the end the fences are about protecting my Soldier. I don't want any Soldier to die. But there are varying degrees of that - and they work in the inverse sequence of the fences. First and foremost I'm concerned for my wife. Next, is for her soldiers...because she really is the sweetest woman on the planet I know how devastating it would be for her to lose one of hers. Beyond that, I pray for the 1st Brigade...because somehow I believe that every time that 1st Brigade fence is breached, it becomes just a bit weaker and doesn't protect quite as well. These are my fences...I don't have to ensure they are rational. I don't really like to look at my fences too closely. I like to pretend they are real and solid and offer true protection. But some days when I'm weak, if I look at them carefully, my fences look like the slot dividers on a huge roulette wheel. There may be thousands of slots on that wheel...but if they spin that little white ball it must come to rest somewhere. I wonder sometimes about those who don't need fences...because they have no personal stake in this war. And I wonder how that feels. I can't remember how that feels. I was a child during the Vietnam era. As I learned to pray in the Southern Baptist church I learned that every prayer must include the phrase "and Lord, please bless our Soldiers in Vietnam". I suppose I had no personal stake in that one -although I was very aware when my big brother got his draft number - and it wasn't a particularly good one. But the example set in my church led me to feel as if I had a duty to pray for those Soldiers...as if somehow God had a huge scale and the weight of the prayers had to tip the balance in the Soldiers favor. On the eve of Desert Storm I took my little brother to the airport. Ostensibly he was heading for a new unit in Germany but we had it figured out...soon after his arrival in Germany that unit would be shipping out for Iraq by way of Kuwait in a serious shooting war. I fought that war at "maximum standoff range". I was in Atlanta. He has sand in his boots, a Bronze Star medal on the wall, and demons that sometimes still call in the night. I learned a couple of days ago that my neighbor, the guy whose front door is ten feet from my own, the guy with whom I had a beer and barbecue only a few weeks ago - he was wounded on Friday. He's been medivaced from Iraq to Germany and they are talking about flying him to the US. He has severe burns and needs skin grafts. And my wife is in Baghdad. And many of my friends. A dear friend of mine whose husband just concluded his R&R leave told me that while preparing breakfast this weekend she popped the seal on a can of Poppin' Fresh biscuits. He flinched. As she told the story I got the feeling that the flinch was almost more disturbing than if he had reacted in a greater way. As if all the evil and heartache and fear symbolized by a sudden, quick sharp noise has insidiously taken up an unshakable residence deep inside his soul. So I don't know - indeed I'm not sure I ever knew how it feels not to have a personal stake in a very dangerous endeavor. Without that stake, is all this just something happening "over there"? If one has no personal stake...is that what allows some politicians to use this all as their political football, posturing for the pithy sound bites and the provocative headlines...and votes. I don't know. I don't know how it feels. Perhaps it is an exhilaration that one needs no fences of one's own. Or perhaps it feels like liberty...the sweetness of which can only be tasted in its absence. Or is it sweet? I don't know. History is being made and we are on the right side of it. Of that I am not in doubt. And I have a personal stake in that. Virtually everyone of us living here in Giessen and Friedberg, in too small apartments shopping at too small commissaries and tiny little PXs...getting together for frank discussions of our fears over lunch...opening our hearts to our neighbors to fullfill the palpable need for human contact and understanding...virtually everyone of us has a personal stake in the liberty of 25 million Iraqis...and possibly the peaceful future of the world's most troublesome region. I have a stake. I own a piece of that. And I am proud that I do. I am proud of my wife for her sense of duty to her country and to her Soldiers. I don't mean some jingoistic sort of arrogance sort of proud. I mean being a part of something that is greater than one's self. I mean having a speaking part in a role that is noble. And I wonder what it feels like to have never held the fickle hand of a noble calling. Do the concepts of duty, honor and sacrifice hold any meaning for those? I don't know. Does knowing that one will bear no cost balance with one's lack of investment? For I don't know...until the bill is delivered... the price that will be required of me for my personal stake in history. None of the stakeholders do. And so I build my fences. I build as many as I can...as strong as I can. I bolster them with prayers and scripture and bravado and probability and sometimes too many glasses of wine. I vent my anger to strangers on the Internet and my hopes to that tiny inner circle of the truest of friends. I build my fences and polish them with optimism. I hiss loudly at tresspassers who would cheapen the value of my investment. Stay away from my stake! Don't stain it with your fingerprints...I don't know what it cost me yet! My fences keep me sane.

The President of Uganda-, he has spoken out about homosexuals in It is not the first time he has spoken. In 1999, he famously ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to look for us and arrest us. It was a quite popular pronouncement, except that it did not go down well with some of his Western friends. They told him that it did not square with their idea of human rights. And he had to walk back the pronouncement. Not in With the recent gay bashing, he has not been very vocal. Nsaba-Buturo and others members of his cabinet have been doing the job. But he came out and spoke, urging lawyers… Here are his words, as quoted in the New Vision. The President further observed that African culture was under threat from Western influence. He advised lawyers to research on African jurisprudence, addressing issues that had been left out by the adopted Western legal systems. “There are some Western things that we cannot accept, for example homosexuality,” he noted. “Europeans are saying it is a right and we are saying it is a deviation. You don’t kill them, but you know it is abnormal. But the Europeans come and say it is an alternative way of life,” Museveni added. Interesting take on the issue. No. He doesn’t want us killed. It does seem like a concession, doesn’t it? I think I am a bad guy. I just don’t think I should be persecuted in anyway just because I am different. Why should my life be guided by someone else’s morality? Why should I live at the mercy of someone else, someone who admits they think me abnormal and unnatural? Strange world. And of course, I do have to listen to what they say. Doesn’t mean that I will sit back and wait for them to decide what punishment suits me in my degraded state. Heard this. At a conference about HIV, when some African activists were being asked about the persecution of gays in their countries, one government official was riled by all this emphasis on ‘rights’ for homosexuals. He stood up, and said, ‘They should be thankful. The law says we should stone them to death, but (in my country) we have not done that for years.’ Yeah, right. Suicide to trust in the benevolence of one’s enemies. Should Ssempa or Nsaba-Buturo decide the best interests of gay people in gug 5 comments: You are the most Paranoid person I have ever come across in my life Paranoia (Description):Paranoia is a thought process characterized by excessive anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs concerning a perceived threat towards oneself. Oh, just so you should know, out of curiosity, I pulled up the Internet Protocol (IP) address you use to publish this blog, so I know the company to which it is registered,the host computer/laptop and therefore I know where you work. Your anonymous cover has been blown. An IP address is like a telephone number which you use to dial to the internet.If one wants to find it, they will, and I just did. I might (havent decided yet) tip off your boss about the precious expensive internet bandwidth you waste writing this blog yet you are free to be Gay and proud without being so brush and obnoxious about it. Now you have a reason to be paranoid Ha Chris, sigh, Of course I can guess who you are...! So, besides being gay, and (the rest of the things I am), I am paranoid? Thanks, I will fix that word into my vocabulary. So, why does the paranoia of a stranger so interest you that you show off this kind of morbid fascination? So, now you know everything about me? What is that going to help you with? It is really interesting. You have never commented on this blog under this pseudonym, but in a few words you have betrayed a lot about yourself. About my anonymity, dont worry. I am not too worried...! What a pathetic, bitter person "Chris" manages to make himself appear. I think, given the violent homophobia we're seeing at the moment, gay people have good reason to fear for their livelihoods. "Chris" - get a life. Preferably doing something useful. Away from here.

Advanced Search When the third presidential debate was held in Boca Raton, Fla., city police were able to bring together video feeds from three surveillance systems to a single location, giving them a better view of what was going on across the community. The Boca Raton Police Department decided the expense of operating a physical security information management system in-house was worth it. Read more. "It's not like a Super Bowl," which draws tens of thousands of spectators, reporters and on-site TV operations centers, said James Burke, the police department’s director of support services. But with 3,000 reporters and the Secret Service in town, the added visibility eased the task of coordinating security for the Oct. 22 debate. The system, which remains a work in progress, is the result of a four-year-old initiative to tie together disparate video systems from different departments, including police, parks and traffic cameras, for the use of police analysts. "We're trying to build a physical security information management component into our communications center," Burke said. To achieve this, the department in mid-2012 implemented the VidSys PSIM platform and began bringing in video systems. The VidSys system was chosen for its ability to integrate a variety of systems into a single point immediately, as well as for its analytical features and ability to handle other forms of physical security data. Full use of the system probably is another two years off, when the new communications system now being designed goes into operation. "Right now it is reactive," he said of the department's use of the system. "And at this point it's strictly video." But plans call for eventually adding other information, such as intrusion alarms and data from gate access systems, and to begin using feeds for situational awareness and real-time analysis rather than solely as investigative tools after an incident has occurred. The VidSys system addresses a growing market for management of the increasing volumes of data being generated as physical security goes online, be it from video surveillance, alarm and access control systems, chemical and biological sensors, radar and vehicle tracking systems. "It can include any of the subsystems used by a city or agency," said VidSys CTO James Chong. The systems already in place usually are silo installations, often using proprietary protocols with no provisions for interoperability, which limits their use. To bring this data together, VidSys is agnostic to the type of data, communications protocols and hardware being used. "We have the ability, through a software development kit to allow multiple departments' systems to talk to a common standard in the PSIM platform," Chong said. PSIM is a younger sibling of security information management tools developed to bring some meaning to the growing volume of data being generated by IT security systems. Physical security traditionally has been a separate domain from information security, but as physical security systems began moving online to deliver and store data using IT systems to manage this data, and maybe even merge it with IT security data, became a viable option. "It is a fairly new technology," not as mature as SIM, Chong said. But because the concept of information management through IT no longer is new, it is being adopted more quickly than SIM was in its earlier stages, he said. Some of that adoption has come from the demands of large events, such as the NCAA 2012 final four in men's basketball in Houston and the Baltimore Grand Prix. "The event management piece is a growing part of our business," Chong said. "Some of the driver has been the sense of urgency when you have these events." But more often, adoption is driven by the need for continuing visibility rather than managing a single event, such as in Boca Raton. Although combined video feeds were part of planning for the presidential debate, the decision to implement it was made well before the debate was scheduled. VidSys' PSIM platform is Web based, residing on an application server in the user's network. Feeds coming into the server are translated to a common standard and filtering and correlation engines can analyze the data based on policies set by the customer. Setting up policies for analysis can take several weeks, Chong said. "That's a collaborative process. It rarely starts from scratch." Most customers already have policies and procedures for handling security information, and these form the basis for PSIM policy. VidSys also has templates and policy libraries to help with development. Policy development is not yet an issue for Boca Raton, where VidSys is being used simply to provide a common view for video feeds and not yet for analysis. But that common view is becoming increasingly important as the city in 2011 launched a citywide surveillance system with up to 200 cameras to monitor streets, parks and public buildings in the initial phase. Later expansion could include plans to partner with private business to bring their cameras into the system. The city is providing $538,000 to cover the cost of installation, and has a $700,000 Justice Department grant for construction of a new communications center and build-out of a wireless system carry video signals. Burke said the city already had a robust fiber ring used to backhaul video. "When the fiber wasn't available, we're using a wireless mesh network to bring it onto the fiber as soon as possible." The new communications center is expected to be operational in about two years, and is being designed to use the comprehensive video feed. A planned video wall will give real time views of the city, and will be used by dispatchers as well as crime analysts who are being trained to use the new system. "It's an evolving process," Burke said the PSIM platform. Without additional data feeds and use of the analytics capabilities, the system has made the city's surveillance resources more valuable by integrating and making them more available to the police department. "We are happy with our purchase, even without all of the bells and whistles,".

Michael Vick Threw Four Picks, But There Could Have Been MoreBREAKING NEWS, Eagles, News, Quarterbacks Monday, September 10th, 2012 This was a frightening performance by Eagles quarterback Michael Vick and it makes you question his development as a quarterback. Vick was making rookie mistakes like throwing the ball across the field, staring down receivers and making foolish and careless throws with the game on the line. #1 – The first of the interceptions occurred when he was rolling to his left and under pressure from the pass rush. He tried to complete a pass to tight end Brent Celek, who was sitting in the middle of the field. When a quarterback is rolling to one side of the field, it draws the coverage to that side. This was another case of Vick trying to play Superman, when a moment or two as Clark Kent would have been better. Browns defensive end Emmanuel Stephens beat left tackle King Dunlap inside and forced Vick to abandon the pocket. I will talk about the pathetic play of the offensive line later on. Once he was forced out of the pocket, the quarterback should have started thinking about playing Clark Kent and abandoning the play by running out of bounds or throwing the ball away. He could have looked down that sideline to see if somebody was open, but no he still insists on playing Superman all the time, so he put on his cape. I know Vick has a strong arm, but he broke a quarterback fundamental that is taught to ten-year old Pop Warner quarterbacks. Don’t throw the football across your body and across the field. Vick was attempting to throw the football back to his right by throwing it across his body without setting his feet. He got nothing on the throw. Celek could have helped him by coming back to the football, but he waited for it, “patting his glove”, which is a mistake by any receiver. You always go get the football when it’s in the air because it lessens the opportunity for the defense to cut in front of you and pick it off. Browns linebacker Craig Robertson took advantage of the situation came in from the other side to pick off the pass. It was an easy pick because Vick couldn’t get anything on the throw, so it was hanging up there and saying catch me. The quarterback is only supposed to throw the football to that side or if his arm is strong enough, he can throw the ball over the coverage deep to the other side, if he can set his feet and follow through. That kind of throw is rare. He should never throw the football across his body and across the field because he can’t get very much steam on it and it is sure to be picked off. For the most part, the quarterback needs to look downfield to the side of the field in which he is rolling and throw the ball in that direction, short or deep. A quarterback is never supposed to throw the football to the short area in the middle of the field. It’s just like the rule in basketball where you never throw a cross court pass because it gives every defensive player a chance to intercept it. #2 – On the second interception, the offensive line did a great job of protecting for their quarterback. Vick dropped deep into the pocket after faking a hand off to LeSean McCoy. He had plenty of time to see the entire field. Usually on these deep drops, Vick is looking downfield to DeSean Jackson or Jeremy Maclin. He spotted tight end Clay Harbor and decided he was going to go to him. The throw was intended for Harbor who was open for an instant, but Vick was staring at him and taking his time getting him the football. The Browns were in a zone coverage and middle linebacker D’Quell Jackson was in the middle of the field, but started moving to his right as he followed Vick’s eyes. Jackson should have picked the ball off, but it went through his hands and was picked off by Cleveland outside linebacker L.J. Fort. Cleveland safety T.J. Ward was standing right behind Harbor and draped over him when the ball arrived. The throw had no chance of making it to Harbor. #3 – On the next interception, Vick tried to hit Maclin on a crossing from the right side of the formation to the left. This was the one interception which wasn’t Vick’s fault. He put the throw on Maclin’s hands as he got to the left side of the formation. Maclin had a tough time yesterday. He was hit a number of times after making some tough catches. The young wide receiver was in and out of the lineup because of physical problems during the game. I think an earlier hit on a crossing route, influenced Maclin to peak downfield just before Vick put the ball in the air. The wideout put his hands out as the ball came his way, but his focus was totally on the football and that’s what caused him to let the ball hit off his hands and into the hands of Browns cornerback Joe Haden. I have to give Vick credit for not giving up on the play because he hustled downfield and stopped Haden from taking the ball into the end zone. #4 – On his final interception of the day, Vick dropped into the pocket and followed Jeremy Maclin from his outside alignment on the Birds right side. Number 18 was running an inside curl route versus a simple strong-zone defense. His eyes were straight down the field during the entire play. The signal caller didn’t try to look any of the defenders off by looking to his left or his right. He was tunnel vision, looking straight down the middle of the field and attempting to connect with Maclin on the curl route. Maybe he thought he was invisible because Browns middle linebacker D’Qwell Jackson broke on the football when Vick let it go and cut in front of Maclin. The lefthanded quarterback lifted his arm and left go of the throw as if there was nobody in the area. Jackson simply reached up to pick off the pass and continued down the sideline. He showed off his speed while taking the ball in for a touchdown, while doing a forward full-body flip. #5 – Or course on the last drive of the game, Fort let a Vick pass go right through his hands on a throw Vick made which was intended for Maclin. If the young linebacker had caught the football, it would have cost the Eagles the game. Short URL: To me it seemed like Vick’s head was everywhere else but in this game yesterday. Towards the end he woke up a little but he is gonna get himself hurt out there if he plays like that against the Ravens Defense. btw I give all credit to the Eagles Defense who carried this team on its back yesterday. Wonder what the feeling would be if the Browns Defender held onto that bad Pass by Vick in the End-Zone the play before he threw the winning TD Pass to Harbor.. Game and Season would have been over.. Can you imagine that Paulman. It would have been a 16-10 5 interception loss. ANd that’s what it really should have been. I was on the phone to a guy in Cleveland after they took the lead, and he was all, “ah, we’ll still find a way to lose”. If we hadn’t been playing Cleveland, we wouldn’t have won. There were several other incidences when Vick threw the ball into heavy coverage. There were at least 2 balls batted down at the line. There were 2 fumbles. I mean seriously….4 ints, 2 fumbles, 2 batted…..what does this guy have to do before he gets benched? Vinnie – you are exactly what I thought you were…a catcher! bend over and just take it type of cat….you’re a grown ass man, on the phone with a man in Cleveland? and you are known for calling Rex Grossman “sexy Rexy”…Vinnie you are a limp wrist fraud…live your life by day as husband, family man…by night, on the phone with strange men from Cleveland… The announcers kept talking about how confused vick looked! it is a constant with him. i remember when jim johnson was the dc and vick was in atlanta that i was never worried about him because JJ would confuse him with blitz schemes. nothing has changed! in his last like 10 games he has thrown 22 td’s and 20 ints- he also put the ball on the ground yesterday- I’m also ready a lot of…”oh well he was rusty….” BS. In Atlanta “He’ll be a good QB when they get real Wrs” “He’ll be a good QB when they get a real coach” “He’ll be a good QB when they improve the oline” In Philly “He’ll be a good QB when they get a real Oline” “He’ll be a good QB when Reid changes the play-calling” “He’ll be a good QB when he has a full offseason to practice” And now….its because he missed the preseason games (interesting – same anti-Foles crowd who went on and on about how Foles only played in “meaningless” pre-season games are now bemoning the fact that Vick needed those same meaningless games) “He’ll be a good QB when he gets more reps under his belt” What will be next week’s excuse? And the week after that. I originally predicted that Foles would become the starter week 12. I’m moving that up to week 6 now. He couldn’t do worse. I disagree the 3rd INT was not on Vick – yes Maclin tipped it – but watch the play again if you can 1) good protection 2) Vick had happy feet and was dancing around 3) he was sliding forward and sidearmed it it out to Maclin and it sailed 4) instead of being delivered belt high in front – the pass was high and in front.. Not at all impressed with Vick yestruday - on the OLine – nice run blocking – should have run the ball more – good pass protection in the 2nd half – sometimes the other team sends more people then you can block – QB needs to exploit that.. on the good side – Vick did throw a couple into the sidelines! no excuses, Vick made some very poor decisions and got lucky to come away with the win…Vick did rise to the occasion and lead one of those 4th qtr drives to win the game…you know the kind, that many of you say he isn’t capable of doing…well he did! I’m disappointed with the decisions but happy with the win… We def need better play from MV7 week 2… Real cmon wake up Vick blows dude. Vinnie you must of love watching yesterday’s game…all but the end when Vick helped get the Birds in the end zone for a win… Everyone is overlooking the elephant in the room….and that is the play calling…I was watching the game with my sons….my 9 year old says, why we keep getting in the shot gun? when are we going to run the ball? came to the point where my 9 year old new that the Eagles were going to pass, pass, pass….there was nothing being done to keep Cleveland off balance…but what about the penalties? how many plays were brought back because of penalties…and i’m talking about plays 15+ yards…it was awful across the board…only thing that looked good was the defense! Agreed Navy. That throw was high and wide. Realtalk….You’re being pretty favourable saying that last drive was “rising to the occasion”. Vick went 6 of 12 on the final drive. At least 3 of his throws hit Cleveland defenders (the 2nd last throw being the diciest) and could have been picked, and he fumbled once. There were at least 4 occasions on that drive (the fumble and 3 into Browns defenders) when Vick tried his best to give the ball to the Browns, but they, being the Browns, didn’t want it. I can only imagine what you’d be saying on here if it was Kolb, or any other QB who had vomited up the 4 (5) INT, 2 fumble disaster that Vick orchestrated yesterday. Would you be saying he, “made some poor decisions”? Doubtful. You’d be calling for his assasination. umm did I say Vick played great? no…what in my comments make you think I’m giving Vick accolades for his performance…Since when does “what if’s” matter? what if Vick threw and INT on the final drive? did he? what if he loss the fumble? what if, what if, what if… Did anyone question Brady when he threw 4 picks in a loss to the Bills last season? nope… Brady also has won multiple SB’s, is arguably the best in the NFL & is a walk in HOF! Not even a comparison for discussion. Put the wet down. Real out of curiosity am I a hater or racist still because I can see this guy is awful and always has been? Real I could be wrong and tell me if I am but I thought I remember you telling me you were making 100k a year and had a great job? If that is correct I want to point out that you are very fortunate to have got that job when you don’t know that shotgun is one word not two, also you dont know the difference between new and knew. If you are someone different my apologies in advance @Mhenski @Vinnie I knew your stance on Vick before the game was even played yesterday…i’m sure you both enjoyed watching Vick struggle… you guys seem to have some insight on Vick and his performance…how did you like the play calling? was it good? how about the O Line? penalties? Eagles 1-0 last time I checked….that is what’s important @Mhenski – actually I make 90K and I’m 31, you’re 45, right? make less money right? and part of my money goes to you and your family for Wick assistance right? dumb ass! you still jealous I see… …and honestly we aren’t in grammar school, so get off my nuts Who calls 56 passes in the first game of the year and our tailback just had a Allpro year…oh wait..he was actually the best back in the league according to some?Walrus.Come on bro. I saw that coming in the second after they scored.Hes tossing it too much and the Browns are gonna get a few. End of the game he engineered a 4th quarter comeback.He didnt turn the ball over. He almost threw a pick.Harbor almost didnt catch the td pass.Guess what…he did. 1-0….stop wasting your time talking about Mike like hes some inept moron incapable of not improving. Big bad oldmen Balty coming to town without a DMVP….i like our defense against that offense and my guess is Mike is more effective. There o-line is old and worn out.Get after Ray Rice.DRC on Smith…advantage Birds…Boldin on Nmandi…Birds.Ray Rice could be tough. Negadelph Thankfully I missed the game for a Christening. I had thought that Fowles would take over on injury, but I wonder if another dreadful performance by Vick will accellerate things. Vick never seems to overcome his superman tendencies. Playing Baltimore should be very difficult unless we get a great QB play. enjoyed? thats idiotic, i had no joy watching this bum struggle it pained me because he is worse than i thought and remembered. i root for the eagles and vick im just real that the guy is a total loser. regarding the coaching absolutely dreadful, whoever was calling the plays and drew up the game-plan shouldnt be coaching in the nfl. after yesterday i am 10000% convinced that reid is just as awful as vick. going into the 4th quarter shady had 11 carries and vick had 40+passing attempts and we were winning basically the whole time, that is just totally idiotic. we have one of the best rbs in the god damn game… reid, vick and marty gotta go cant win with them. i watched vick a lot yesterday and all i saw him do is lock onto one wr and force the throw on almost everyplay. i did not see him go through his reads once, all i saw was lock onto the #1 option and if he didnt throw to the #1 option he just checked down and never looked at his true #2 option on the play. this tells me is awful and will continue to be. he is fortunate the eagles have playmakers that CAN make him look decent SOME GAMES. “Did anyone question Brady when he threw 4 picks in a loss to the Bills last season? nope…” Ummm…because Brady is a multiple Superbowl MVP winning Qb and gets the benefit of the doubt. Wheras Vick is a deteriorating never-was, sub .500 in the playoffs turnover machine. and therefor does not have the luxury of the benefit of the doubt. That’s why. I did not enjoy watching Vick struggle. I found it very infuriating (though predictable). I also found it extremely annoying that Reid kept trotting out there disasterous drive after disadterous drive. The Browns scored 16 pts yesterday, and Vick was directly responsible for every one of them. (oh, and to took my own worn, I wrote this on this site 2 days before the game: “Vick is a master at keeping both teams in the game. One big run followed by one big sack. I can easily see an early sack-fumble leaging to a Cleveland 3, then a VickPick for another 3 and Birds get out of the half 10-6…… Into the second…..and its some close 17-13 into the late 3rd. Vick will pull off some escapee Savardian spin-o-rama for 30yrds…..Leads to a TD. All the Vickpologists will say, “see – he’s amazing!! He won the game!!” Forgetting that Cleveland was only competitive due to his early foibles… Remember that this Cleveland team has a new owner. Everyone and his dog (pardon the pun) knows there will be wholesale changes next year at GM and every coaching position….along with players….this is dead team walking.” Am I happy that Vick is this predictable? No. Am I gloating that I predicted exactly what would happen – you’re going to interpret it as that – but I’m not. I hate that this team will go nowhere untill we have a competent QB behind centre. Vick was once a bad QB who could compensate with his legs…now that those are fading (and fast) he’s just a bad QB. Again Vinnie/Mhenski – we know you dont like Vick and we agree that Vick played very poor for a majority of the game yesterday… any thoughts, on the play calling? could that have helped out the QB? O Line? penalties? any thoughts, or are you only concerned with Vick play… in my opinion, there are more concerns on this offense than Vick, and it all starts with the play calling ! vin well said and very articulate! This site sucks. I see comments over in the recent comment area but when I try and go to the article to read them it is limited to a few comments and not the most recent. I have stopped coming on here because it has become so frustrating. Fix this thing G!!! 52% 4ints (could have been a lot more) 2 fumbles Against Cleveland. Keep defending. yea Vinnie thats right, I forgot we (Eagles) won 10 SB’s already because we had so many competent QB’s in the past…I totally forgot…. Vick’s legs are fading? where the hell do you get that from? He still looked fast as hell to me… Congrats Vinnie on your special day. Recognizing that Vick s a terrible QB isn’t a very sepecial feat Stevo. Ignoring reality and desperately remaining lached onto his nut sack with a litany of, “Hewasjustrustymissingrepsinthepreseasonwaittillnextweekitstheplaycallingthatmakeshimterrible” excuses. Well, that’s pretty special. As for your other points Real 1 – The playcalling needs work, Shady was having success and Vick was struggling and I don’t know why they kept throwing…but on the flip side…he’s the QB. He’s supposed to be able to throw the ball. I’ll echo what Navy said earlier. If you want the Eagles’ to run the ball 40x and have Vick only throw 20x because you don’t trust him. Then why is he the QB. 2 – You will suddenly see a dramatic improvement in the oline the moment Vick is replaced. You can count on that. Pockets collapse all the time. Its the nature of 300lb men charging forward. Vick doesn’t know how to deal with this…slide to the side or forward. Its not in his nature. 3 – You will also see a reduction in holding penalties when the Oline no longer has to block for the QB who is (and we’ve already shown thiis over and over) one of the slowest making decisions in the league. There are several problems with this O that need to be worked out, that’s for sure, but QB is absolutely the most important. ERock, I am pretty excited to see the D play next week against Balt. I am really concerned with him catching screens and dump-offs. Vick is still fast. OOOOOOOH!!!! That’s going to win us a SB now, isn’t it?!?!? My Take Clearly Vick played like crap. If this happens next week he needs to be benched. However, the first half was not his fault. In fact, the jelled together there at the end of the first half with a few really nice plays. The first half issues were 1…. Penalties. Every great play was called back because of holding. Hard to get pissed at Vick when he starts every drive with 1st and 20. 2. The Oline sucked. Flat out sucked. On top of the first half woes i really dont understand why the fat man wont run. I just dont get it. Thats the fun part Vinnie….. id love to see you show me ANYTIME ive ever said anything about how amazing he is. You are arguing with an Atlanta fan from 2001 im guessing because I never ever said anything like that. @DCAR hahaha – you are a funny cat… guess what…you never know, Vick may have to use his legs which will help us win a SB…and guess what….we’ve had QB’s that stand in the pocket and we haven’t won a SB yet, so shut the hell up! Glad, you get my sarcasm. ROFL!!!! This is something we need to get straight…my only wish for this season is that the Eagles win the SB…my wish doesn’t revolve on Vick completing 30 plus TD passes, Vick rushing for over 1000 yards…my wish is for the EAGLES to win a SB…I don’t care how they do it, or how they get it done! A SB is what I want it is that simple! Exactly Real. I dont own a Vick jersey, I never will. Why? because of who he has shown himself to be as a person. But i darn well will be rooting for him every week to do what he can do. Im not going to apologize for being a fan for my team. @DCAR and in response to your Brady/Vick comment… Brady hasn’t won a SB since 2004 and he needed a little help winning possibly all 3…we all know the Patriots and the cheating, plus he had some teammates that had a little to say in regards to winning a championship….Almost 10 years ago, so get off his nuts and again shut the hell up! Real, he’s won 3, 1 as a rookie, after being drafted in the 6th round, & has been to 5 SB’s. 5!!! Last year, he led his team to the SB, with one of the worst defenses, in the NFL. WTF, are you talking about. It’s sour grapes, with the cheating excuse. Cut it out man, you make yourself look clueless. I ain’t on anybodies nuts. I love the Eagles & hate the Patriots, but I can respect a REAL, great, leader at QB, & not the dumb @$$ fraud, we currently have, making a futile attempt to do the same. here’s a fascinating thing: The only two times Sunday that Vick looked comfortable, the only two times he got into a rhythm, were at the end of the two halves. Drove the Eagles 74 yards in just 32 seconds for a touchdown in the closing seconds of the second quarter, then put together that game-winning 16-play, 91-yard drive in the closing moments of the game. Think about what happens at the end of a half. Things speed up. Everything moves faster. The plays come in quicker, the ball is spotted quicker, the huddle breaks quicker. There’s little time to think. Just call the play, drop back and fire. And that’s when Vick excelled Sunday. That’s what Vick needs to get back to all the time. Call the play, break the huddle, take the snap, drop back and fire for 60 minutes instead of four or five minutes. Find that two-minute drill rhythm early and keep it. Stop over-thinking everything Real not knowing the difference between new and knew isn’t grammar bud it’s spelling and it demonstrates your a fucking idiot just 1 of the many examples. Not knowing the difference between grammar and spelling is another definition of how much of a fucking mental midget you are too. Damn you got my nuts all in your mouth and all on your chin, bitch! so maybe you got better spelling grades than I did, maybe did better in English class…but I love how my 90K salary is pissing you off! you jealous bastard! Like I said, if we were face to face, I’d whoop your ass all through the city of brotherly, while making you say Vick is the best QB in the league! Alot of you clowns talk big shit over the internet! That being said…. Im fine if Foles comes in sooner than later. I want a ring, dont care who gives it to us. Great blog I thought id share So Rizzo had his shot to try to talk us all down off a ledge and make us appreciate getting the W over anything else, but that’s all horseshit. The Eagles’ offense didn’t simply play poorly yesterday, they straight-up made a fool out of all of us. Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg told us all off-season (and every year for the past 5 years) that they wouldn’t do this again…then went right ahead and did it! We’re like battered wives who keep getting talked into coming back home. “It’ll be different from now on baby I swear.” Then what did we do? We just put the frozen steak on our black eye and walked back into the house without calling the cops. Well win or loss I’m fucking sick of it. FIFTY-SIX CALLED PASSES my dude? FOUR (should have been FIVE) interceptions? Motherfuck you both. The simple fact that Fat Andy had the stones to call 56 passes when his All-Pro best-player-on-the-team was ripping off 10 yard chunks every time he touched the rock should be a fire-able offense. Just consider the very BASIC and COMMON-SENSE reasons why the Eagles should have run more: LeSean McCoy was averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Michael Vick is a fragile figurine made of glass and Super Bowl predictions. Michael Vick had thrown multiple interceptions already. We had the lead. Our offensive line was getting called for holding every other play. The Browns D was 30th against the run and 2nd against the pass. Joe Haden. Maclin already got injured twice in the game. LESEAN MCCOY WAS AVERAGING 5.5 YARDS PER CARRY. I can’t think of another coach in the league who would even dream of having the boulders to keep daring his quarterback to throw another pick/get assassinated by a much improved Cleveland D. It literally makes zero sense. And what did that fat fuck say was his reason for passing the ball 56 times with an injury-prone quarterback, the lead, AND a Pro-Bowl RB at his disposal: .” This dude must’ve gotten higher than any of his children ever have to say some audacious nonsense like that. Shady had one fumble, dog. One. Vick was picked off four times. What fat idiot backwards-reasoning Mormon God planet are you living on, Andy? And Mike — keep freaking out in the pocket, scrambling like a decapitated chicken, then throwing it across your body into double coverage. We all can’t get enough of that shit. I mean, who wants to see their quarterback actually READ the coverage, step up in the pocket, and make a confident throw downfield? Not us. We just love seeing you play shitty jazz when everybody else is playing classical they’re reading from sheet music. No matter what any glass-half-full jokers want to feed you this week, stay true to yourself and remember how you felt watching the game. Doesn’t matter if we’re the #1 defense and #2 offense in the league. A win isn’t always just a win. Sometimes it’s proof that your local Philly Barstool blogger knows more about what’s better for the Eagles than the own coaching staff does. I predicted the offense would be the worry for this season more than the D, but never did I think our own head coach would call plays like he threw down $100 Large on the Browns. agreed all around mhenski. exactly. The Browns may have lost yesterday, but there is no doubt that Dick Jauron is still laughing about the errors that he was able to force the Birds to make. For all of the talk about Andy & Marty game planning for months, Jauron certainly had a plan for this offense, but the stubborness of the head coach and OC to stick with the pass and leave their All-Pro running back without the ball is something they cannot continue to do if they plan on winning many more games. If Vick & Reid are back next year I wonder what will be there reasoning for optimism and or their excuse for Vicks poor play this season. Oh wait I already know it will be – Vick didnt have a preseason to prepare for the season . TEAM WORK!!!!! Makes the dream work. Rich Hoffman Philly.com has a great article and perspective of the game. WOW did i just type that. umm hmm. But dang isn’t this a team sport? Everyone wants to focus on Vick so much, and yes he had a poor day, yes, he is the QB, but what stood out to me was the way this team BATTLED through a very tough opponent seated as the underdogs. Remember the phrase ANY GIVEN SUNDAY? that means that any given sunday you can get absolutely spanked in the NFL by any team, because this is the NFL. Yeah Vick had a horribly disgusting game, but Shaddy Mcoy, DRC, and Demeco Ryans, and Ashimogua had exceptional plays that carried this team and Vick to victory. Everybody wants to see Vick fail to prove thier points, and themselves right about this QB. EVEN YOU “G” say it aint so. But next Sunday when he bangs another 400 yards on that A#$ what will the headlines be? VICK SHINES BUT!!!!!!!!! anyway take ya head out of it. This eagles TEAM showed some toughness and RESOLVE yesterday. E.A.G.L.E.S @TheONe1 – good post! the one…. make no mistake this is a team game with the qb being the absolute most important position. 2. did i read a while ago that brady threw 4 ints and vick should be given the same consideration? yeah right. 3. the o line gets too much blame. 7 holds the ball with happy feet instead of getting rid of the ball… why? because he can’t read defenses! “Michael Vick is a fragile figurine made of glass and Super Bowl predictions.” Laughed my ass off on that one “scrambling like a decapitated chicken” Fantastic. “ Watched Peyton Manning last night and wept for the beauty of seeing a true pro play the game with his Mind and Body to throw off a good defense. If we don’t get a QB that knows the position (i think foles does…he is not manning dont twist this) we are screwed and wasting guys like 10,18,25,87…. Still laughing at real talk calling out vinnies manhood, on the phone with some other man from Cleveland, reminds me of the godfather telling that sap to man up and take care of your family ,hey vinnie, great analysis of Vick but seriously man up, get off the damn phone with some queer from Cleveland, take care if business at home

How can genealogy attract more Millennials and Gen X and Yers? Is it even possible? Yes, but properly snaring them seems to require the right fishing technique. Depending on who you ask, the traditionalist says it’s all in the lure while another claims it’s the casting technique that really matters. Then there are the shoulder-shrugging types who say, “A day off, my lucky hat, and a cooler full of beer—who cares whether I catch any fish?” In the past few weeks, more than a few articles have wondered whether the genealogy field might be labeled the laissez-faire fisherman type than the industrious lure and casting trawler. High Definition Genealogy goes straight for the jugular by stating several reasons just why people younger than 45 might think this field yanks the welcome carpet out from under their feet. A recent post on Roots and Rambles goes further, observing that conference dates and times often conflict with school and work day commitments while the cost of the conference itself can be prohibitive for families on a budget. One younger enthusiast commented that at a conference, ‘The woman behind me said “Aren’t you too young to be doing genealogy?” Welcome, indeed. Thankfully, technology is helping to tear all of this down. Between Roots Television, genealogy Twitter lists, genealogy blogs, and countless articles now popping up online, the perceived age gap is finally narrowing. However, we believe the best Catch-And-Don’t-Release award goes to John Harris. Mr. Harris, a teacher in Somerset, Pennsylvania, came up with an innovative way to snare Millennials through their own tools. His “Hunting History: Discovering Your Hometown” high school class has students using GPS devices to track down old churches and specific cemetery headstone markers from coordinates given out in class. Harris says: “When you can offer something that kids can get their hands on – in their backyard – when they go through town, they see historical sites. When you can turn them on to that, word gets out that that’s pretty fun. They discover the history all on their own.” He’s on to something because not only did he win a $5,000 award from the History Channel but more importantly, this elective, twice a year class maxing out 30 students per semester, is always full. That’s sixty new history and genealogy enthusiasts caught each year. Now that’s a winning fishing technique that gets ‘em while their young. 5 Responses to Fishing for younger genealogists Pingback: Tweets that mention Fishing for younger genealogists « Beyond The Ghosts…A Cemetery Blog -- Topsy.com Excellent points! I wonder if starting a History [sort-of] Geocaching game would be a good idea. I say “sort-of” because no one would be hiding the treasure. It’s already there. Kind of a new spin on genealogy research. Do you realize how many play Geocaching? It’s like a cult. [Shrugs] Something to ponder. ~Caroline Pointer Family Stories Funny you should mention this. I’m planning on writing an article about geocaching and cemeteries sometime next week!” Pingback: Cemetery geocaching: Has treasure hunting gone too far? « Beyond The Ghosts…A Cemetery Blog

Today I did a guest lecture for CPSC 310, the software engineering class at one of the local universities that’s compulsory for the computer science degree program. I took this class when I did my degree there, and I really disliked it - it was in the process of being redesigned, I believe, and we only got through about half of the required material. At the time, it convinced me that I hated process and just wanted to keep my head down in the code. How times have changed! The curriculum has changed since I took the course, although it is still mainly focused on traditional software engineering techniques. I was quite excited this past summer when I was asked to give a guest lecture in the class on the topic of what I do at work. I’ve spoken at schools before on the topic of Agile development, but never in a software engineering class. Apparently I did a passable job, as I was asked back to lecture this term. I’ve never given the same presentation twice (although I’ll have an opportunity to do that soon), so I still have troubles with timing and fitting in all my content, but I think today’s talk went well. It was 50 minutes, less than half the length of the talk I gave this summer, so I had to cut out a lot of content. I know what I’d do next time to fix up the pacing, so hopefully I’ll get another chance to try it out. Now that I’ve given a talk or two to professional groups, I actually find student groups more of a challenge. With professional groups, I can assume a certain level of base knowledge and experience, and if someone isn’t familiar with a term they’re quick to ask for clarification. With students, I’m often dealing with people who have never developed software professionally with a team. If I was talking about programming languages, that wouldn’t be an issue, but since I talk about shipping software, team dynamics, and process, I’m always scared that I’ll leave people behind. Students can also be quite timid, so if they don’t understand something they’re not necessarily going to put up their hand. I don’t mind talking to students, and I want to get better at it, but to do that I’ll need to find a balance of easily-understood terminology and widely applicable concepts. In the meantime, I look forward to my next two presentations, both of which will be in front of professional audiences. (Once upon a time I had another blog at a similar URL, which I hardly ever updated and which was subsequently hardly ever read. I’m posting more frequently now, but I since I have a slightly higher readership I thought I’d share some of the old posts I think still stand up. The project I mentioned shipped and was a success. The title of this blog post comes from a Bad Religion song.) For those not familiar with the ideas behind Lean software (and even for those who are!), please check out Competing on the Basis of Speed, a talk given to Google by Mary Poppendieck in 2006. One of my work goals for 2010 [ and 2011! - Ed.] is to compete on the basis of speed. Specifically, I want to help my team: I think I’m already off to a good start. The aim of the project I’m currently working on is to add functionality to our product that makes it easier to integrate into customers’ existing infrastructure. The technical requirements are known to us, and we’ve finished implementing the functionality. However, we’re at a point where we’ve hit a bit of a wall - no one on the team has any experience as a consumer of this functionality (that is to say, none of us are IT administrators), and it has been difficult to get focused feedback from others within our organization who have such experience. What it comes down to is that we’ve got a feature that is technically correct (follows RFC specifications, has been load tested, etc.) but has not been tuned to customer environments. This is not an uncommon situation in software - in fact, it’s part of the reason why “Have an embedded customer representative on the team” is a practice in Extreme Programming. However, it’s not always possible to find internal “customers” (we call them Product Managers) with extensive experience with every particular area of the field. For larger projects it may make sense to train the Product Manager in the specifics of the new functionality by having them consult heavily with paying customers, but for smaller projects this is not always feasible. My current project is less than a month old and we’re code complete, and much of the time was over the Christmas holidays with our Product Manager (and most of our customers) on vacation, so consultation wasn’t much of an option. So, here we stand - a mostly finished project that can be release-ready within 2 weeks but that has not been fine-tuned to meet all customer requirements (as such requirements are unknown). What to do? The traditional approach within the company has been to do a beta, but these don’t necessarily solve all problems. Our betas are opt-in, and often contain very few members (less than .5% of our customer base). Feedback can be hard to gather as beta systems are often put into non-production situations. There is also quite a bit overhead involved in coordinating and communicating with all of the customers involved. Instead, I’m pushing towards getting this thing released to all customers as early as possible. The more people playing with it the better. The code is not buggy (we hope!), it just may be lacking some specific features or compatibility. Rather than wait around for 2 or 3 months as we do research and try to completely accurately model customer scenarios (a process that’s inevitably difficult and fraught with errors), we’ll get the code out into the field. The best case scenario is that everything we’ve done so far is adequate for the market, and there are no future requirements. This means we’ve starting recognizing value 2-3 months earlier than if we had waited and done more market research, and we haven’t sat around gold plating the project for a quarter. The most likely scenario is that our code is adequate for some, but others will need some enhancements before it will work for them. We can then prioritize these enhancements based on some sort of financial metric (renewal date of customers who need the feature, likelihood that the enhancement will bring new customers, etc.) and deliver them over the next little while. The worst case scenario is by far the least likely to happen - that would be where customers get the new feature, find that it’s not quite up to snuff, and because of this decide to overhaul their IT infrastructure and rip out all of our company’s products because of this. That’s so unlikely that it’s barely worth mentioning. Something like this is more likely in the case where we’re changing an existing feature instead of adding a new one, but even then it’s a slim slim chance, and would be the result of a decision on the customer’s part based on emotion rather than reason. If you presented a customer with the choice between the following two options: … I’m willing to bet that most customers would pick the first option. The choice would be even easier once the customer realized that the “complete” version from the second option would likely have to be followed up by a release or two afterward containing improvements that the developers / Product Management failed to identify in the first go-round. I’m excited that there seems to some buy-in to this approach so far - hopefully it pays off for us! For the past two years, I’ve been managing a software team. This role has a lot of requirements, and I think I’ve been fairly successful, but there’s one thing I used to do that I never really do any more - program. Sure, I review a lot of code, and occasionally pair with people or help problem solve, and when asked I give my opinion on architecture, but it’s been a while since I’ve sat down with some code to myself and tried to get something done. Well, I’m trying to change that. I’ve realized (through a few false starts) that I’m not going to pick up a new programming language, hop into an open source project, and start contributing. I think I have the ability to do so, but definitely not the motivation. Instead, I’m going to chip away at small improvements in my product’s code base that will hopefully make life easier for my team. For now, I’m going to stay away from changing a lot of production code - I want to ease myself back into the groove slowly, and while I’m not afraid that I’ll write a bunch of awful code and ship to customers, I don’t want to get too bogged down in our automated test rig at the moment. I’ve got two little projects going on right now. The first is to add Perl::Critic tests to all of our packages. Perl Critic is a highly configurable automated code style critic, inspired by Perl Best Practices, that can help you detect all sorts of wrongness in your code. It’s easy to add a test, and then a lot of fun (for various definitions of “fun”) chasing down all the failures and getting your code up to snuff. I’ve only added the test to one package so far, but it’s a package with over 100 files so it took me a while to clean up. Subsequent packages should be easier, and it should be self-enforcing going forwards (as all of our tests are required to pass before a build is produced). The second project is to ease our use of CPAN modules by rewriting part of our build system to use cpanminus. Our current system makes it difficult to import CPAN packages, or even upgrade the ones we have easily, so I think this could really benefit us. Replacing some of the packages we’re still using from 2002 would be most welcome, and there’s a lot of exciting stuff being developed for Perl right now that would be ncie to experiment with. So far I’ve got just been playing around a bit with cpanminus, but I’ve already managed to find a bug (I think - I’ve filed it anyway). I may write more on this once I’ve got it working. These aren’t exactly monumental bits of code I’m fiddling with, but it feels good to get back into it, and the important thing is that I’m actually motivated to do this coding. I have no desire to go back to being a full time developer, but it’s nice to keep up my technical skills.. As previously mentioned, I’ve got a talk coming up for a UBC class. This is the required software engineering class in the UBC Computer Science program, and a class I vividly remember as being a waste of my time. Fortunately, the course content has changed quite a bit since I took it - after four months in this class, I came out with a 25 page specification package and no code written. It was one of my least favourite classes, and it convinced me that I didn’t care at all about process (how things have changed!). I spoke at this class during the summer, but I plan to deliver quite a different talk this time. Part of this is time - this summer I had two hours, and two weeks from now I have half that. Time isn’t the only factor - the more fundamental difference is in the content. While the talks I’ve given to previous classes before have been rather broad overviews of Agile (and more recently Lean) concepts, this time I’m going more with what I know best. That means less theory, and more description of how my team successfully delivers software. I’ve talked to the class instructor about this and she also thinks it’s a good idea. I’m still finalizing an outline, and I need to make sure I present this at a level that’s approachable to a class of students who likely have no real (professional) software development experience. I also hope to find time to polish my slides, and make sure I’m not just reading list after list of bullet points, but I’ll have to see what time permits. Even though I work for company that has millions of end users and is one of the leaders of its industry, whenever I tell people where I work I’m met with blank stares. Why? Unlike some of our competitors, Sophos doesn’t sell directly to consumers (you won’t find us for sale at Best Buy, nor are we bundled when you buy a Dell) - we only sell to business, governments, schools, and other organizations. Thus, blank stares. Luckily, Sophos has come to my rescue and released a great free tool that’s already raised their profile among non-business users - Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac (Home Edition). Best of all, this release is free! Now, I know what some of you are thinking - why would I bother with anti-virus for my Mac? Well, Macs are not immune to malware, and they can host Windows malware that can infect friends and family. Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac is featured on Apple.com, is mentioned as a staff pick, and has been positively reviewed in several places. I’ve been running this for a while, and it’s hardly noticeable, even though I have hundreds of gigabytes of files on my Mac. The one time where I did notice it is when I downloaded a “demo” of a program (a torrent of something that I wanted to see the interface for), and it immediately detected a keylogger in one of the files. If you have a Mac, there’s no real reason not to be running this.