text stringlengths 64 731k | id stringlengths 47 47 | url stringlengths 14 3.85k | language stringclasses 1 value | language_score float64 0.65 1 | fasttext_score float64 0.02 1 | dataset stringclasses 1 value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Type 1 Diabetes: How Is It Treated?
Type 1 Diabetes: How Is It Treated?
Lee este articulo
Kids who have type 1 diabetes can help themselves stay healthy by taking these four very important steps:
1. taking insulin (say: IN-suh-lin)
2. eating a healthy diet and following a meal plan
3. checking blood sugar levels
4. being active by playing and getting exercise
What Happens in Diabetes?
Doing all four can get a little confusing because there's a lot to remember. What comes in handy when you can't keep everything straight in your head? A plan, where everything is written down for you. That's why kids and adults with diabetes each get their own diabetes treatment plan.
This plan will help you and your parents know what to do so you stay healthy, active, and feeling good. You, your parents, and members of your diabetes health care team will work together to make a treatment plan that's right for you. Doing what your plan tells you to do will keep you healthy now — and help you avoid health problems later.
Taking Insulin Shots
Taking insulin shots is an important way that people with diabetes control the amount of glucose (sugar) in their blood. The body gets glucose (say: GLOO-kose) from the food we eat. Glucose is carried through the bloodstream to all the cells in the body. Like batteries in a flashlight, glucose provides energy for the body's cells to work.
But people who have type 1 diabetes can't make a hormone called insulin. Without insulin, glucose can't get into the cells, so it stays in the blood leading to high blood glucose levels. And when you have high blood glucose levels, you might feel sick. Insulin is the only medicine that can get blood sugar levels back to a healthier range in people with type 1 diabetes.
In a person who does not have diabetes, the pancreas (say: PAN-kree-us) produces the right amount of insulin to keep blood sugar levels where they should be. But in someone with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas can't make insulin so the person needs insulin shots.
Someone with diabetes also needs to know how much insulin to take and when to take it, depending on what the person is eating or doing. Where will you find these answers? Your diabetes treatment plan, of course!
Eating Healthy
As part of their treatment plan, kids with diabetes should eat a balanced diet full of nutritious foods, like anyone who wants to be healthy. But when kids eat more of certain foods, they may have to adjust their insulin doses. Carbohydrates, such as bread and pasta, will make blood sugar levels go higher.
Some kids may use a diabetes meal plan. A meal plan can help you keep breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks on a regular schedule, which helps make it easier to control your diabetes. It may also mention the food groups you should include in your meals and suggest some portion sizes right for you.
Even though it's OK to eat fast food or sugary treats once in a while, you won't find a lot of these foods on your meal plan if you have type 1 diabetes. Everyone who eats a healthy diet should limit these foods anyway, because eating too much of them can make a person get too fat or cause other long-term health problems like heart disease. People with diabetes are already at risk for these problems.
Checking Blood Sugar Levels
Checking your blood sugar levels is the only way to see how well your insulin injections and meal plan are working. Most kids with type 1 diabetes should test blood sugar levels with a blood glucose meter. Kids with type 1 diabetes usually need to test three or four times a day. Some kids test their blood sugar levels even more often. The meter works by taking a very small blood sample. When you test, you'll feel a quick pinch.
By keeping your blood sugar levels in a healthy range, you'll feel better. You'll also be less likely to have diabetes problems later. Your diabetes health care team will let you and your parents know what your blood sugar levels should be and when you should test.
Being Active
Kids with diabetes can and should play a lot, just like other kids. Exercise will be part of a kid's diabetes management plan because it can help prevent health problems now and later in life. But blood sugar levels can change during exercise, so kids need to know how to manage that.
Your diabetes health care team can give you some advice on what to do before, during, and after exercise. They can tell you what to do if you don't feel right while you're playing. But with the right combination of eating healthy, checking your blood sugar levels, and taking insulin, you can be active and feel great!
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: July 2015
© 1995-2015 KidsHealth® All rights reserved.
Bookmark and Share
Related Resources
Related Articles
Type 1 Diabetes: What Is It? Thousands of kids all over the world have type 1 diabetes, a disease that affects how the body uses glucose.
Developments Developments
Sign up for enewsletter
Get involved Get involved
Discover ways to support Akron Children's
Join the conversation Join the conversation
See what our patient families are saying | <urn:uuid:9ea6b74f-6073-493c-b6ff-4b9129a4200c> | https://www.akronchildrens.org/cms/kidshealth/dfa774abf9f55c70/index.html | en | 0.936479 | 0.187823 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sign up ×
I noticed my attic blown in insulation is rather thin on one side. Rather than buying enough to cover the whole area, I was thinking of just pushing or brooming the blown in insulation toward the soffit to fill it to the top of the joists, and then laying some batts into the cleared space.
Is there any reason I shouldn't do that?
EDIT: Please note: Adding more blown in insulation is NOT an option and I wish people would quit mentioning it. I KNOW the differences. I want to know if there are any TECHNICAL REASONS why I don't want to do this ONLY!
share|improve this question
2 Answers 2
The recommendations for R-values in attics has increased. Since your insulation doesn't come up to the top of the framing I'm guessing where it's not low it only comes up to the top of the framing. That means even if you had the insulation to the top of 2x6 joists you'd be below the new minimum recommendation.
Blowing insulation is usually easier and cheaper than laying batts. You may even find someone to do it for you for less than the cost to buy batts.
If you're going to the trouble I think you might as well consider adding enough insulation to meet the new recommended minimum. Then just add more blown in insulation. You'll save a lot of time compared to sweeping the old and then spending all that time on your knees in an attic cutting and installing batts. Probably save money to and get a more energy efficient attic.
You can rent a blower and I think if you buy a certain number of bags some of the big box stores will include the blower rental for free.
I'm looking into blowing in insulation over my existing batts because it's going to be cheaper than adding an additional layer of rolls.
Update: You didn't indicate the size of your attic or how many square feet you have that needs added insulation.
If you only have a small area to do such that renting a blower is cost prohibitive (less than 10 bags so no free blower rental) or a PITA you can always apply the blown in insulation without a blower. It's easy to break up by hand and sprinkle it over the area then rake it smooth. You can also drop chunks of the insulation into a clean, empty trash can (maybe 5 gallon bucket if you can't get trash can up in attic) and break/fluff it up with a paddle mixer on a drill then pour it out into the area.
Either way I look at it, adding more loose fill seems to save steps, time and money.
share|improve this answer
In no way does this answer my question. – Rob Dec 15 '13 at 19:24
@Rob The last question was "Is there any reason I shouldn't do that?" I think my answer is a valid reason not to do what he suggested. It's cheaper and easier to add more blown in insulation. – OrganicLawnDIY Dec 15 '13 at 19:26
I'm asking if there's a reason why I don't want to sweep it aside and add batts, not whether I should add more insulation or a different type. – Rob Dec 15 '13 at 20:14
You don't have to add more if you don't want to but I think it's a good idea. I updated my answer to account for a smaller job. Unless you left something else out I don't see any benefit to sweeping the existing insulation off to the side and replacing it with batts. Only downsides. Is there any reason you're contemplating doing this instead of just adding more loose fill to what you have? – OrganicLawnDIY Dec 15 '13 at 20:28
OK. I guess not everyone sees spending more time, money and effort than necessary as downsides. Sorry I couldn't help more. Good luck. – OrganicLawnDIY Dec 15 '13 at 20:46
Cellulose (the typical, but not the only, blown in) is much less air-permeable than fiberglass. Some tests even show it works without a vapor barrier, though I certainly put one in anyway on my project using it. It also has an R-value that increases in the cold, and no seams.
Fibreglass batts are considerably more air-permeable, have seams, and have an R-value that reduces with cold temperatures - which is not great if insulating to reduce heating costs.
So: doing what you describe is both possible and better than doing nothing, but inferior to (and probably more expensive than) blowing in more cellulose. If you have a near-religious objection to more blown in, by all means level out the blown-in and add fibreglass batts, rather than not adding anything. If, (as seems unlikely from your comments) you'd like the best insulation job for your money, consider adding more blown in.
share|improve this answer
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:e228f74e-a398-426e-b84d-93f81661b553> | http://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/36797/can-i-sweep-blown-insulation-to-one-side-and-replace-with-fiberglass-batts | en | 0.949559 | 0.744048 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Sew A Dumpling Five Stones
A friend asked me if I know how to sew "five stones" that looked like a pyramid cos she wants to sew for her kids to play. So I quickly snip snip some fabric and did this tutorial.
Cut a fabric and fold it into half. If you can cut and fold and make a perfect square, that's better. Sew an L shape and leave a corner to be opened. Or if you're joining 2 pieces of cloth, then sew 3 sides and leave one side opened.
Flip the fabric outwards. (flip it inside out)
And fold the opening the other way round like this. Make sure that the sewing is right in the middle like this.
You can either sew half of the opening first then fill it up with seeds , or fill them up an then sew up the opening.
And you will get a five stone just like this. And after I'm done, I thought "hey it looks like a dumpling! So appropriate since its Chinese dumpling festival.
And here's the complete set of dumpling five stones.
This reminds me of my first ever project that I have sold. I used to make five stones and sell them for rm1 for a set or 30cents for single five stones when I was in standard 1. Haha yeah I keep selling and selling until my grandma find out that I have been using her rice to fill the five stones up. *lol* after that, I started making other things to sell.
****important notice******
Saga seeds are highly poisonous if its biten/opened. Please ensure kids are old enough to understand and won't put saga seeds into the mouth.
1. awesome. you can sew and sell them at sewing monster now. i saw a lady selling them at amcorp mall flea market and i bought them. very heavy and not dumpling shape :(
2. Saga seeds! The seeds of childhood. Love your five stones. You are a true blue business woman, starting from std 1. hahaha.
3. Very enterprising woman! Where you get all that energy?! :)
4. Yes! My boy came back from school today saying his kemahiran hidup teacher taught them to make this but he didn't know how and it needs to be passed up next week. I remember I read somewhere about this stuff. I googled and found your post! Thanks Sasha! | <urn:uuid:26aa85ab-4a3f-476f-bc85-58e51df5b834> | http://sashablablabla.blogspot.com/2013/06/sew-dumpling-five-stones.html | en | 0.959239 | 0.512763 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Orientation & Mobility
What is Orientation and Mobility?
When vision begins to decline, two main skills are affected: Orientation and Mobility (O&M). Orientation is the ability to make a “mental map” of where you are and where you want to go. Mobility is the act of actually getting there. For most of our lives, we apply these skills unconsciously whenever we have somewhere to go. But people with vision loss must both develop and learn to apply new orientation and mobility skills. These skills can include but are not limited to walking with a sighted (human) guide, the use of a long white cane or dog guide, support cane or walker use, and techniques for applying memory and the other senses so that you can continue to move about safely and independently. | <urn:uuid:b739fc7d-61e6-4dc7-a9b4-973bb379697b> | http://www.tx-mobility.com/orientation-mobility/ | en | 0.954103 | 0.031951 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Most Popular Songs on Spotify of 2012
If the best way to listen to music is to stream it these days, then Spotify has its finger on the pulse of what's hot and popping in music. And looking at the most popular Spotify songs of 2012, well, that must mean our collective music taste is terribly poppy and probably horrible. Here are the most popular songs on Spotify of 2012.
Most streamed tracks of 2012 (global):
1. Gotye featuring Kimbra - ‘Somebody That I Used To Know'
2. Carly Rae Jepsen - ‘Call Me Maybe'
3. Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe – ‘We Are Young'
4. Flo Rida - ‘Whistle'
5. Flo Rida featuring Sia - ‘Wild Ones'
6. Train - ‘Drive By'
7. Nicki Minaj - ‘Starships'
8. Maroon 5 featuring Wiz Khalifa - ‘Payphone'
9. David Guetta featuring Sia - ‘Titanium'
10. Loreen - ‘Euphoria'
As for most streamed artist, the male award goes to David Guetta and the female top spot goes to Rihanna. Coldplay was the most streamed band of 2012 and the biggest album was David Guetta's 'Nothing but the Beat'. All right folks, confess down below if you're guilty of streaming that damn Gotye song (or any others on the top list). [Spotify] | <urn:uuid:a1ce5215-1435-477d-b422-4e6ef5b16c06> | http://gizmodo.com/5964167/the-most-popular-songs-on-spotify-of-2012?tag=music | en | 0.887612 | 0.019327 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
YouTube Sensation Gets NFL Tryout
Havard Rugland_0YouTube has resulted in a range of arrests, singing contracts, and other recognitions for their virtual celebrity status. However, Havard Rugland may be the first to get a NFL tryout from a YouTube posting. The Norwegian posted this video showing his incredible kicking skills. It went viral and now he has had a tryout with the New York Jets.
Kicking coach and former NFLer Michael Husted worked with Rugland in San Diego. Rugland felt it went well — it had to be better than the last season for the star-crossed Jets.
The 27-year-old Rugland would like to secure an NFL contract for 2013. He would not be the first Norwegian to make the cut. One of the three kickers in the NFL Hall of Fame is Norwegian Jan Stenerud who kicked for the Chiefs, Packers and Vikings for 19 seasons. He also was a four-time Pro Bowler to boot.
Source: Daily Mail
31 thoughts on “YouTube Sensation Gets NFL Tryout
1. I met Jan Stenerud when I was a kid. He was (in retrospect) a really good person. It was my 8th birthday and we were having the party at a now long defunct restaurant where part of the deal was an artist made small individual caricatures for the party guests. When Stenerud was recognized, he came over to the table and talked to all of us kids and signed every picture (which the artist drew with football helmets). In today’s celebrity mad culture, I don’t think you’d find many if any footballers willing to spend 20-30 minutes out of their day doing something like that with a random bunch of kids he ran into while having lunch.
So that being said, best of luck to you Havard Rugland. If you are fortunate enough to get that NFL contract, you could do a lot worse than to follow the example of Mr. Stenerud on how to treat your public.
2. Nice anecdote, Gene. I moved to KC toward the end of Jan’s career. He is one of the few kickers who have gotten the accolades from football that he deserved. Placekickers and punters are considered like stepchildren by the nasty owners, GM’s, and coaches. They realize intellectually these guys can win[or lose!] games for you, but they just don’t admit that. There’s a punter for the Vikings[Jan’s last team] that has been fined for wearing a handmade patch on his uniform saying Ray Guy should be enshrined. Of course, he’s been fined. I would need to check it out but Jan may be the only sole placekicker in the Hall. Before the advent of soccer kickers the kicker was often another position player, as you probably know. My take on Jan was he is a soft spoken, nice man.
3. Those last two kicks would have done Calamity Jane credit. Any team that is not beating down his door with a contract has oatmeal mush for management brains.
And I agree that Ray Guy should be inducted. The University of Southern Mississippi has turned out some awesome players. Besides Ray Guy, Brett Favre comes to mind. There have been others as well.
4. OS, I have longed believed that teams don’t compete for great kickers is collusion. Keep them in their place. Don’t give too much credit for winning games but hang them out there to dry when they lose a game. “They’re not football players” mentality permeates the NFL. This keeps salaries down. For what they contribute, placekickers and punters don’t get paid shit.
5. Nick,
Ray Guy is the only punter ever to go as a first round draft pick. Here is a short video of John Madden advocating as to why Ray Guy ought to be in the NFL Hall of Fame.
6. The NY Jets signed Tim Tebow for publicity and didn’t use him. They are the only team in football right now that believes piblicity is better than winning. This guy might be a great kicker but their contact with him wasn’t about making the team but getting it PR. The owner Woody Johnson has all the integrity and business skills of Trump and also hit a triple when he was born on 3rd base. I should know since I’ve despaired as a fan for fifty years. An exercize in masochism.
7. Woosty,
Football is not my game. But I loved catching final scores just to see the off result which indicated that a field goal made the difference. His coordination is super-unreally high.
8. bettykath
In a punting situation, no. Once the ball is kicked it technically belongs to the receiving team and the kicking team can only spot it at the site then catch it at.
However, a kick off is actually a ‘free kick’ and as long as it goes 10 yards its anybodies ball. I doubt anyone could get down field fast enough for a TD reception but it could make for some pretty exciting ‘on-side’ kick attempts. If he can hit a guy 15-20 yards down field it could be a game changer.
The NFL would issue new rules preventing this the first time one of their premier teams lost on the play. There used to be a lot more blocked field goal attempts until the Miami Dolphins lost a play-off spot to Matt Blair’s ability to time his leap. Shula got that made illegal at the next competition committee meeting.
9. Frankly, What is a punting situation? I guess a punting situation is anytime a player kicks the ball rather than run or throw it? Exceptions being kickoff and point after and field goal. This guy did a successful 60 yard kick. So field goals rather than punts once they get to the 60 yard line.
10. bettykath:
Punting is the safest way to turn over possession of the football. You get to kick it as far away from your goal as you can before the other team receives it. I once had a coach in college who said it was the best offensive play we had since it usually averages 35 or more yards – net. I guess he forgot at the end of the play you lose the ball. He liked it so much that one time he ordered a punt on third down and 20. That was great for our morale. He’s not coaching anymore as you probably guessed. I think he’s a motivational speaker.
11. mespo, lol. I understand that you want the other team to start as far away from their goal as possible, but which team is on the field? Is the defensive team still on the field? Is the offensive team (that wasn’t able to go 10 yds in 3 plays) still on the field? If so, are the previously defensive team able to run it back? Is the offensive, now able to stop them? Or did the punter coming on the field call for a complete change of offensive team to defensive team and vice versa?
I used to watch but anything in my brain that’s that old tends to be forgotten and I don’t have tv so I can’t watch to try to figure it out.
12. bk,
Most teams use a ‘special teams’ group of players for the kicking game. The key, of course is the kicker. Kickers are either a punter (kicks the ball after dropping it) and the place kicker (kicks from a tee). There are a few multitalented people like the fellow in the video who can do both.
13. mike, yea, i know. unlikely b/c if he misses the other team takes it there. but still…… score tied, time for only one more play, a kicker who’s strong enough to do it, especially with a qb who hasn’t been connecting. It could happen. Hope I’m watching.
14. mespo, There’s a high school coach in Arkansas who has raised eyebrows w/ his game plan of using all 4 downs on offense and not punting. I love people who give the finger to conventional wisdom.
15. Jan Stenerud is the only dedicated kicker in Hall of Fame. There are two other kickers but they also played other positions. The flaw of early kickers was their physic. They couldn’t have stopped a return if their life depended on it. Rugland, a seasoned soccer-player, stand 6’2 and weighs in at 142 lb. I have the same background (Norwegian, soccer, weight and height) as Rugland and it took me 60 days to place in as a tight end on a college football team back in the 90′. I only had to learn what to do when but as many of you will recognize, tight end is a little “weird” position and therefore you don’t have to be that acknowledgeable on football to play there. There is no reason Rugland shouldn’t be a sensation as a kicker in NFL. Mind you, I have no experience on the difference between college and pro-ball but I am sure he will persevere.
16. Hi. I needed to drop you a fast observe to specific my thanks.
Ive been following your blog for a month or
so and have picked up a ton of good data and enjoyed the tactic youve structured your site.
I’m trying to run my very personal weblog however I feel its too normal and I have to give attention to quite a lot of smaller topics. Being all issues to all people is just not all that its cracked up to be
Comments are closed. | <urn:uuid:aaf32555-c1e7-4360-8078-649dab1d0ce0> | http://jonathanturley.org/2012/12/26/youtube-sensation-gets-nfl-tryout/ | en | 0.978383 | 0.018396 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Paizo Top Nav Branding
• Hello, Guest! |
• Sign In |
• My Account |
• Shopping Cart |
• Help/FAQ
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
Pathfinder Society
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game
Pathfinder Battles
Pathfinder Comics
Pathfinder Comics
On Abadar's Secret Service (Inactive)
Game Master James Martin
Male Tiefling Void Elementalist 5
Leralt gives the man a bored look.
"I seem to have forgotten, logical thought without ego is only common among the collective. It is no longer my concern. I will keep my own council, do as you wish without me."
He washed his hands of the whole thing, his budding anger cut short by his will. Let the fates claim their price, it seemed enough lives had not been lost. He thought about returning to the collective. What a twisted joke, he had more of a home among star creatures then those of his own world.
Female Gnome Bard (Detective)/ 5
Leralt and Catila may not have forgotten their animosity, but Catila's Player did! lol seems like that was a while ago now. Thanks for the reminder ; )
Raising her own eyebrow, Catila snaps back "Well good thing I wasn't asking your permission!" Then, taking a deep breath, she calms herself and tries again "Honestly Leralt! What is your problem?? It's not as if you can study all the books at the same time! While I may not possess your skill at linguistics, I am no slouch myself. And I do possess other skills that you do not. I had no intention of keeping the books from you, I merely wished to peruse them myself as well. You really are an impossible man to get along with!"
Because his player plays that 8 Chr so well ; )
She then turns to Gellius "Thank you Dr. I am sure with all of us putting our minds to the task, we shall uncover and solve whatever mysteries are to be found here in short order." while shooting another quick glare the moody wizard's way.
Male Tiefling Void Elementalist 5
Leralt does not react to yet another outburst. Speaking normally.
"My problem is I feel no need to explain my every action like a child. I was and still am a researcher, their is a method to decoding which requires as much source information as can be acquired. The less source the more difficult the task. So yes having all the books is beneficial. While I could go into details of the complexities of such work, I do not feel the need to waste that sort of time. By your own admission you are aware that my skills in translation exceed your own. Does it not make sense that I should be the one to do that work. Is it not sensible, rather then costing me double the work to check your translations. Otherwise information could be misinterpreted and corrupted."
He shakes his head.
"You do not trust my judgment or me in any sense. That is a problem on your part and a dangerous one at that. As it has already cost us."
He picks up the bag he placed all the arcane tomes in.
"No doubt that outburst has alerted Rykks'vykk and anything else in these caves. I am not going to tempt the dragonkin, I will wait outside the mouth of the cave."
He is careful to keep alert and on guard in case Rykks'vykk was faster then the first time they met as he leaves.
Hey I do not play it that hard, he is just given motives he does not have from others. Ah to know ones self is far easier then to know another. xP
As the party muses amongst itself on the dynamics of interpersonal relations, Catila spots something embedded in one of the fungal piles. It appears to be a soap bubble at first glance, but as she retreives it, she discovers a small palm sized quartz ball, filled with bubbles, cracks and imperfections. As she stares into it, the light seems to play through the cracks and bubbles and almost seems to become images. She can almost fancy she hears voices as well...
Female Gnome Bard (Detective)/ 5
Not sure where you got the idea she was yelling or otherwise louder than anyone else had been?
Opening her mouth to reply to the caustic and myopic wizard, the Detective instead closes her mouth and just shakes her head sadly. Turning away from the un-winnable argument she continues her search. Upon finding the quartz ball she leans closer, peering in deeper and listening more intently.
Male Tiefling Void Elementalist 5
When I see the ! I think high volume. Have not seen it used for anything else, more so in anger. But I am not an expert on grammar really. x3
Lena remains silent during the others' bickering slowly getting more irate and her frown deepening to match.
"Will you lot keep it down? We've a job to do here and an angry Dracolisk we don't want to piss off. Just grab what you can and we can sort it out later"
Lena helps collect and books or other clues deemed interesting.
"Catila what have you got there?"
Catila's Vision:
Catila feels a sudden drop in the pit of her stomach as she seems to fall into the vision, until it surrounds her. She seems to be in the vision, but unable to affect it, a spectator.
She sees a Pale Guardian, a young one by the look of it, holding the crystal. It seems to concentrate on the item and Catila senses that it's trying to study it or extract some information from it. Suddenly the fungus man tenses, as Catila can feel a suddenly change in the air of the cave, as if strange smells were sent on the wind. The fungus twitches, as if scenting the air, then drops the crystal into a pouch made of plant materials and leaves the room. Catila is drawn along with the fungus, as if tethered to the crystal.
The fungus passes several comb-like rooms that Catila recognizes, where others of its kind seem to have gotten the same message. Catila can see a room where scrolls and books are being studied by the fungus, where a forge is set and great chunks of iron ore are being melted down, where several humanoid bodies are laid on the floor. This intrigues her, for one of the bodies is pulsing and as she passes, she sees it rip violently open from inside, and three small fungal people, about the size of toddlers, burst forth. They immediately begin to turn and consume the corpse as she is drawn along.
The crystal draws her down, to the large cavern where the dracolisk now lairs. Only now it is an amphitheater where rows of fungal benches sit in staggered layers facing a large stage. On the stage is a hooded, masked man, wearing the same robes and mask as the men with Uriah before you were frozen in time. The man is kneeling, his hands bound and guarded by the Pale Guardians. Still, you sense a strange anticipation in the man's demeanor, even through the mask.
As the room fills with the Pale Guardians, one of the stage steps to the edge and suddenly the air changes again, as more scents are released. A few moments pass, with sudden changes in the air back and forth, as if a debate were taking place. Finally the leader Guardian turns to the two guarding the man. It makes a motion and the Guard on the man's right raises a sharp looking axe. The man lets out a rasping laugh beneath the mask. "Yes! YES! I die for the Master, so that He Who is Imprisoned will be released once more!" SNICK! The axe falls and the man's head rolls away. But something odd happens, too.
As the head is separated, he bleeds not blood, but a green fluid. It spreads, even as the Pale Guardians pull back from the corpse. The liquid begins to bubble and hiss and as the bubbles pop, a pale green dust explodes into the air. As soon as it hits the guards, their spongy fungus flesh begins to sprout with the blossoms you saw below. The flowers grow at an amazing speed, rotting the fungal men as you watch, turning them into piles of flowering goop.
In the crowd, panic ensues. The vision becomes bumpy as the crystal bearing fungus races out of the amphitheater and up the ramps, heading back to the room you found it in. But it's too late. Even as it goes, the flowers burst from its flesh and begin to decompose it rapidly. But before it stops completely, you can hear the distant sounds of liquifying fungus and something else, a voice, booming and commanding and familiar. Uriah Parker.
"Search the rooms. Find the seals. There will be seven total. Bring them to me!"
For a long time nothing happens, then a hooded, masked man enters the room. He kicks through the fungal remains in the room, but finds nothing.
A few moments pass. Suddenly you hear Parker's voice raised in anger. "What do you mean they only had six?!? Curse them! They must have given the last to someone else for safekeeping! Those damnable talking beasts! Curse them!" There is the sound of arcane syllables, then a ZAP of electricity and a scream that cuts off abruptly.
Then nothing happens. All is silent. And the crystalline vision ends.
Female Gnome Bard (Detective)/ 5
Turing to Lena, her eyes wide with wonder and fascination, Catila says quietly "I...I think I know what happened here..." amd she then continues to detail her vision as exactly she experienced it. Read the spoiler ; )
"So Parker came here and killed the Pale Guardians. That much we already knew"
Lena states arms folded
remind me, do we have the final seal?
Everyone, I have a local con this weekend that I help organize, so updates from me will be slow to non-existent until Monday. I'm not dead, just dreaming...
As soon as Catila's vision ends, the crystal shatters and dissolves into soap bubbles, which float away and pop in the moist air.
Grand Lodge
Since everyone else seems particularly interested in studying the texts, Songan spends most of his time exploring the other chambers, particularly the ones containing the weapons, bubble jars, and gems. The first order of business is to cast Detect Magic to immediately pick the valuables from the mundane.
Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30
Shortly hearing Catila's raised voice, however, Songan releases a sigh and pockets as many pocketables as he can in a few seconds (like...two rounds maybe) before makes his way through the tunnels toward the voice, only to see Catila in some sort of trance. Fighting down the initial panic, since the others don't see to be concerned, he simply waits to see what happens, hoping that the halfling will emerge from her daze soon.
When she does emerge several minutes later to tell the tale of what happened to the Pale Guardians, Songan frowns. What exactly had happened, then? Was it some curse or disease intended specifically for the Pale Guardians? He racks his brain, trying to think of something that might help explain with a little more detail the unfortunate thing that happened to the sentients inhabiting the cave.
Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25
Knowledge (History): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
Knowledge (Nature): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28
Woo! Good rolls! Also, I'm sorry that it's been so long since I last posted, everyone.
Songan's brain wracking reveals a tale he read in an old tome, of a mushroom farmer whose entire livelihood was wiped out by a disease. It started as a cough in one of his workers, but when the worker spat to relieve the build up of phlegm, the phlegm landed among the fungi and caused them all to dissolve. The man was ruined by what seemed to be no worse for the worker than a common cold. This green fluid may be some sort of virulent strain of the same disease, but if so, it certainly means that Uriah Parker has some mastery of diseases.
A deep bellowing from the former amphitheater reminds you that an angry dracolisk now claims this area, so last searches are made and objects grabbed as you race from the caves out into the light. With a backward glance and little conversation, you make it back to the settlement as dusk falls, in time to join the evening meal.
The talk around the meal is of the day's work and of the harvests to come. The People speak of a strange noise that began around noon that day, and continued for some time. They relay that it sounded like the buzzing of many wings.
The next day dawns early and bright, but with a very strange twist: Standing politely outside the gates are two... creatures. One is shaped and sized as a man, but made of metal and wearing a brilliant blue cloak. The other is much larger and seems to be made of stone. From the waist up, he resembles a man, but with six arms. Below the waist, however, is a spinning and whirring collection of metal hoops that spin to form a sphere.
You are called as soon as the guard sees them. The guardsman, a nervous looking fellow named Tolphet, tells you, "They just appeared, with the first light of day. The smaller feller, he said he was here to speak to the leaders, that the day of Awakening had arrived and they needed to speak to the 'interested parties.' I dunno what that means!"
As soon as you assemble at the gate or on the wall, the smaller of the two figures calls out.
"Greetings! We are here to oversee the re-Awakening and to determine the outcome of the binding. Please state your names and positions for the record."
Male Tiefling Void Elementalist 5
Leralt looks at the beings, casting a minor spell to detect magic.
Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (9) + 14 = 23
Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28
These two are Inevitables, guardians of law and order in the universe. The smaller of the two is a kolyarut, an enforcer of bargains and the larger is a lhaksharut, tasked with maintaining the separation of planes. You're not sure why they're both here.
In the distance, a faint buzzing can be heard, as well as a dark cloud on the horizon.
Doctor Krupt looks the two beings over with an appraising eye and arches a brow. "This little island is getting more and more crowded with every passing day. Did no one bother to raise the flag of Absalom and declare ownership when we arrived?" he asks, to no one in particular.
He steps forward and gives the two beings a short bow.
"Gellius Krupt, doctor of alchemy and town councilor."
Male Tiefling Void Elementalist 5
Leralt eyes the dark cloud. He tells Tulos to check it out from a distance, the clockwork dragon takes flight. He stepped forward if just barely. Letting the others know what they were before doing so. Open spoiler
"I think a better question is who are you and why are you here. After all a pair of Inevitables is not a common sight. Much less powerful ones like you two."
He had no illusions about their power and that his did not compare. Frankly if all these powerful beings were walking around why did they not just have at each other and leave him alone.
Got ninja'ed but no need to edit I think. xP
At Dr Krupt's words the smaller one nods and smiles pleasantly. When Leralt poses his question, the big one rumbles in a voice so low it nearly vibrates your bones.
"Many aeons ago a battle was held here. A great Power was Bound. He has been Unbound through the machinations of a man. We are here to ensure that the fallout does not harm the planes." The great one grumbles.
"And of course to ensure that the old Bargains are kept! Such things have power, you know. It's not everyday a lost Power is recovered and such events have repercussions. Of course, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, eh?" The small one speaks in an effeminate voice, winking conspiratorially.
Male Tiefling Void Elementalist 5
Leralt eyed the two. If the beast was unbound they would all be dead.
"I am Leralt, I claim no position."
With the introduction done he continues.
"What old bargains? As far as I know there are none. At least not involving me."
Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
"Inevitables. A welcome relief from all the daemons and monsters,as long as their dogmatic views don't cloud their judgement"
Lena catches sight of the cloud and watches with a worried expression as Leralt's clockwork creature buzzes off. She returns her gaze to the larger clockwork creatures before her.
"I am Lena Relani, servant of our Lord Abadar and defender of this holy colony"
"Who or what is this 'Power' of which you speak?"
Grand Lodge
"Hmph. While I am not certain law is the answer to the troubles of this plane, It is certainly a welcome relief to have beings who could be in the service of our progenitor rather than actively working against him."
"I am called Songan, a Catfolk in the service of Shelyn, brought to Abadaria to help discover the fate of the original colonists sent seeking to stop Uriah from achieving his goal of unleashing whatever ancient horror he seeks to sick upon the universe. Might this ancient bargain have something to do with the seals mentioned by Uriah in Catila's vision?"
The smaller of the two inevitables makes a clicking sound that sounds somewhat regretful. "Ah, you know much less than was expected. The Power is, of course, the missing Horseman of Pestilence, Yrsinius. Brought low upon this place nigh 10,000 years ago, and Bound by the angels to stay locked away until the seals were broken or the Ravager escaped his prison. With the seals being broken and the True Key in your posession, we expected you to be amongst the Interested Parties in the Grand Bargain the angels struck with Asmodeus and the Successor Horseman Apollyon to seal away his predecessor. Oh dear, if you are not Interested Parties, it would be best for you to flee now in terror. The other Horseman will be here shortly to witness the proceedings. I daresay this place will be quite a fright for mortals. Alas, collateral damage is to be expected when the Powers mingle. It is regretful... Very well, farewell. Since you are not Interested Parties we will leave you to your deaths. We will be retrieving the True Key at the appointed hour." The inevitables turn as if to leave.
"Wait.. we didn't say we weren't the Interested Parties"
Lena speaks before she truly appreciates the meaning of her words. Her heart races as she desperately tries to think of some way to get out of this situation, while glancing at her companions in the hopes of a bright idea presenting itself.
Want to post a reply? Sign in.
| <urn:uuid:e9c52fce-e688-4f9b-b634-4e2218a59efa> | http://paizo.com/campaigns/OnAbadarsSecretService/gameplay&page=last | en | 0.956391 | 0.122755 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Demo1.dm2, Demo2.dm2, Crusher.dm2, Massive1.dm2, Unreal timedemo, Forsaken Nuke.dem, Forsaken Biodome.dem, Mon2.dm2, etc. What is the difference between all of these benchmarks? What limitations do these benchmarks expose? Why are Crusher results always lower than demo1.dm2? How come Mon2.dm2 runs faster than a Voodoo2 on just about any AGP board? All of these questions will be answered, in detail with this article.
Please note: This is a somewhat rigorous analysis of benchmarks, and some elementary calculus is used. I have tried my best to explain the calculus parts in plain English, but I'm not a math teacher...
Fill Rate Limited Benchmarks
A fill-rate limited benchmark is a benchmark which is designed to expose the fill-rate limit of a certain video card. Fill rate limited benchmarks generally employ multi-pass rendering techniques (3D accelerator cycle chewers) and run at very high resolutions. Nearly every benchmark can be made a fill-rate limited benchmark if run at a high enough resolution. However, not all 3D accelerators will reach their peak fill-rate with a fill-rate limited benchmark. The Voodoo2 SLI, for example, will not reach a fill-rate limit with demo1.dm2 (running at 800x600 or less), while an i740 might reach it's maximum potential on a system as slow as a PII/266. It is important to remember that simply because a benchmark is fill-rate limited for one card, it does not mean that it will be fill-rate limited for another.
Some Fill Rate Limited Benchmarks
Some popular fill-rate limited benchmarks are the recently adopted Unreal timedemo test and Quake2 Demo1.dm2, provided it is run at a high enough resolution (800x600 should do for 'most everything but Voodoo2 SLI) Unreal, which uses three pass rendering is probably the biggest fill-rate hog of any game currently in the market. What does three pass rendering mean? This means that on cards which do not support any special dual-pass / clock rendering, it will take three times as long to render a pixel in Unreal, than a pixel, in, Forsaken, lets say. Obviously, Unreal is very fill-rate limited. Quake2's demo1.dm2 is also a relatively fill-rate limited benchmark. Since Quake2 uses two-pass rendering, most 3D accelerators' fill-rates are already cut in half (when compared to peak fill-rate in single pass games). Though Quake2's demo1.dm2 does not expose the fill-rate limit of most cards as clearly as Unreal timedemo, when running at a sufficiently high resolution, demo1.dm2 can be used to differentiate between the fill-rates of different 3D accelerators.
Recognizing a Fill Rate Limited Benchmark
Perhaps the most important thing which you will hopefully learn in this article is HOW to analyze benchmark results and tell whether or not they reflect the fill-rate limits of video cards, or some other bottleneck (these other bottlenecks will be discussed in the next few pages) In order to recognize fill-rate limited benchmarks, it is necessary to analyze results generated from a fill-rate limited benchmark. Our fill-rate limited benchmark results will consist of a fill-rate limited benchmark run at various CPU speeds (i.e. pumping different amounts of data to the card) Since a fill-rate limited benchmark is (you guessed it) fill-rate limited, no matter how much data is pumped to the card, once you hit the fill-rate limit, the FPS will REMAIN THE SAME.
The ideal Case
What was described above was the ideal case. In the ideal (theoretical) case, the 3D accelerator will scale linearly with CPU speed until the fill-rate limit is reached. At this point the graph, let's call it f(x), comparing FPS vs CPU Speed, will become a horizontal line, with a slope of zero. Of course, this is never really the case. Since most cards have latencies, driver issues, etc. an effective fill-rate limit is reached before the absolute fill-rate limit.
The real world situation
In "real life", As we begin to approach the absolute fill-rate limit of the accelerator, we will notice that the improvement in performance as we increase CPU speed (i.e. increase the amount of Data we feed) is decreasing. This can be summarized using a little mathematics notation by: f ' ' (x) < 0. (Where f(x) is the function of Frames per second vs CPU speed) For those of you who do not know simple calculus, f ' ' (x) is read 'f double prime of X'. What you really need to know is that f ' ' (x) [Which is the slope of the tangent line to the function of the slope of the tangent line to the function f(x)] is that it equals the acceleration at any given point on the function f(x). So what we mean by saying f ' ' (x) < 0 is that the acceleration is negative. (This means that speed (actually velocity) is decreasing) In our case, this means that the rate at which Frames/sec is increasing is decreasing. I hope I didn't lose anyone there... Anyway, below is a graph showing an results from running a fill-rate limited test (demo1.dm2) with the Riva 128ZX (@800x600, where it is fill-rate limited) with various speed Pentium IIs. (233,266,300,350 and 400mhz)
wpe1.jpg (16894 bytes)
f ' ' (x) is obviously negative, as you can see from the graph. This verifies the information above, regarding real world fill-rate limit expectations. Unreal benchmarks coming as soon as OpenGL and D3D drivers mature more... So, what happens when the results don't fit the curve shown above? This probably means that the test is not fill-rate limited, but something else instead. The next type of benchmark I will talk about is Geometry (CPU) limited benchmark.
Geometry Limited Benchmark
Log in
Don't have an account? Sign up now | <urn:uuid:6b3d48e3-85fd-4f3b-b548-cf89c8bb7edd> | http://www.anandtech.com/show/184 | en | 0.929281 | 0.698661 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Extortion used in Express Scripts database breach
The customer database of Express Scripts, a company used by employer health care services to provide prescription medicine by mail, has been breached. In a twist, the company said it learned of the breach in "a letter from an unknown person or persons trying to extort money from the company."
The company posted details on its Web site Thursday. The letter, received in October, threatened to reveal millions of customer records--including Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth, and in some cases, prescription information--on the Internet if the extortion demands were not paid. The company did not disclose what those demands were.
Graham Cluley, of security software maker Sophos, told CNET News that Express Scripts did things right. "It appears they have not paid up." He noted that's important with data theft because the criminals have the data in their possession and can keep going back to the company to get more and more money. Second, Express Scripts went to the FBI and decided to go public about the breach.
"We have identified where the data involved in this situation was stored in our systems and have instituted enhanced controls," Express Scripts said on its site.
Cluley said: "I think it's going to be old-fashioned police work that gets to the bottom of this." For example, it's possible the sender of the extortion request and the attacker used the same servers.
Usually extortion is used in connection with denial-of-service of attacks, when the criminals have nothing of value except the sheer volume of data to spew at a targeted site. A letter is sent asking for money in exchange for ending that attack.
This however is an old-school data theft. The criminals presumably have millions of customer details that can be sold on the Internet. But Cluley notes that "people's identities sell for a relatively small amount, and if you go to an auction site on the Web and try to barter on that, you might not get that much as you might potentially get by embarrassing a company."
A few weeks ago, Sophos noted a similar data breach/extortion attempt at a North American Maserati dealership. Still, Cluley said he does not think this was the beginning of a trend.
Cluley said the thieves in this case might not be connected with the established "carder" world, where personal identities are bought and sold online. "Maybe this is an accidental data leakage, something they stumbled across, maybe they're not part of the criminal community, and they're just taking their chances."
Express Scripts said it will notify affected customers in compliance with state regulations.
Featured Video
Sorry, you are not old enough to view this content.
by David Katzmaier | <urn:uuid:f615da88-3873-4a65-8498-01b10d154a14> | http://www.cnet.com/news/extortion-used-in-express-scripts-database-breach/ | en | 0.965154 | 0.052308 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Channels ▼
Developers Urged To Ready Apps for iOS 4.3 Beta
Apple has released the iOS 4.3 beta and SDK beta 3 for its iOS mobile device operating system. Available through the company's iOS Dev Center, this release sits alongside Apple's developer resources on this programming portal, which also includes getting-started videos, coding how-to's, and sample code. Each release of iOS typically brings with it a hint of features soon to be found in Apple's upcoming product releases. The new OS itself promises the ability to stream live video to Apple TV using AirPlay, as well as iAd full-screen banners and HTTP Live Streaming statistics.
Initial reports have suggested that iOS 4.3 will brings four and five finger gesture recognition to the iPad, but early video demos appear to show that this will mean more of a "swipe of the complete hand" rather than anything more complex and multiuser based — although a new "pinch to select Home Screen" option will no doubt be appealing for many users.
While Apple's AirPlay exists to stream video from an app to a widescreen TV using new Media Player APIs, latest developments with AirPlay are said to now embrace video streaming from third party applications for iOS 4.3. There is also a personal hotspot feature for attention grabbing full screen iAd banners on the iPad. Apple wants to give developers the option to provide what it calls an "immersive and interactive iAd experience," with developers themselves creaming 60% of the advertising revenue collected.
Related Reading
More Insights
Currently we allow the following HTML tags in comments:
Single tags
<br> Defines a single line break
<hr> Defines a horizontal line
Matching tags
<a> Defines an anchor
<b> Defines bold text
<big> Defines big text
<blockquote> Defines a long quotation
<caption> Defines a table caption
<cite> Defines a citation
<code> Defines computer code text
<em> Defines emphasized text
<fieldset> Defines a border around elements in a form
<h1> This is heading 1
<h2> This is heading 2
<h3> This is heading 3
<h4> This is heading 4
<h5> This is heading 5
<h6> This is heading 6
<i> Defines italic text
<p> Defines a paragraph
<pre> Defines preformatted text
<q> Defines a short quotation
<samp> Defines sample computer code text
<small> Defines small text
<span> Defines a section in a document
<s> Defines strikethrough text
<strike> Defines strikethrough text
<strong> Defines strong text
<sub> Defines subscripted text
<sup> Defines superscripted text
<u> Defines underlined text
| <urn:uuid:c5bd4619-fae1-4361-9168-6ea5f9113a6e> | http://www.drdobbs.com/mobile/developers-urged-to-ready-apps-for-ios-4/229201129 | en | 0.80757 | 0.026489 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
[Masthead] Fog/Mist ~ 55°F
High: 76°F ~ Low: 61°F
Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015
Community writing program spotlight
Friday, February 1, 2013
Unwelcome Guest
My Polish friend Ruta referred to her jeep as "a playhouse for ze animals." It was an open jeep that she kept parked out by the barn. Chickens roosted in it; goats climbed on it. She was right when she said, "Ze Jeep needs to air out a little." But I had to borrow it to get to the gallery,
After my nose stopped quivering, I settled into the rhythm of the hills, comfortably swaying to the suicide curves of the two-lane. But, as I happily rolled around the hillsides, a strange sensation was coming into my consciousness. Was my foot going to sleep or was something leaning against my ankle? The hairs on my unshaven leg flittered, as if a lightweight scarf was softly ruffling around my joint. While still in innocence, I glanced downward, only to see the most unacceptable, most intimidating, most dangerous thing I could have imagined. My body went rigid.
My mind was a strobe light, hot flashing every direction. I trembled in horror.
Looking down at my feet, I saw a flexible mass of scales, symmetrically contracting and relaxing, a giant, white splotched snake moving in smooth waves around my lower leg. It seemed to arrive from a large coil by the passenger door via a lazy river of scales, sliding in smooth, silent waves over the center hump to my right ankle. It coursed around my ankle and lower leg not once, but twice, with its thick 2-to-3- inch girth and length--who knew how long? Most of his trunk looked as if someone had thrown bleach onto a light grey-white body, painting him with an inch-wide black line running down his vertebrae as an afterthought. The pink forked tongue flicked rapidly; the eyes glistening ice. The dry skin slithered, slowly, slowly, slowly up my right leg, testing my unsolicited patience, until his head lay over my left shin.
The Jeep, with little supervision, drove drunkenly through the hills and hollows of the Ozarks back roads.
Rhythmic movement of the snake's body launched its head over my left shin, swooshing into the vacant space below the dash. My world stood still. The peristaltic motions of the snake thrust its head under the hood, the enormous body disappearing by inches straight up under the dash, leaving a thin tail dribbling over my foot. I hear the beating of my heart.
While the snake disappeared toward the heat of the motor, I was careening down the hill into a 90-degree right curve. It was a race course turn on two wheels. My body shifted backwards to brace for disaster. I dove into this life- threatening curve, concerned the snake would be sliding into the hot motor, and I would be killed in a collision careening off the road.
Coming out of the curve, my mantra became a repeated, I need a plan. I need a plan. Then the booming voice of my silver-tongued grandfather intoned, "When in doubt, do nothing."
"Do nothing!" Relief flooded over me. I was ecstatic. I had a plan. Do nothing! It seemed so reasonable. Confidence started to infiltrate the atmosphere.
As I climbed the next hill, the snake descended from the motor cavity, undulating to the driver's door, heading for the back seat when, it folded upon itself, returning to the corner of the driver's seat. With an energetic thrust, the snake shot from the seat corner up through the back of the steering wheel and stopped abruptly. My heart bounced in my chest as I hypnotically noticed how the wheel framed his pin head and searing eyes. We were practically eyeball to eyeball. The daunting deadly stare of this bleached serpent exhibited no movement of eyelids, seemingly no emotions. The Jeep drove itself. Oh God help me.
The road dove down another hill. Our eyes remained riveted. I have to turn this wheel into the curve and take my chances.
I jerked the wheel; the Jeep shivered like a junk pile in an earthquake. I was still frightened that if I braked, my knees might knock him about on this roller coaster of curves. My focus juggled between his beady eyes and the harrowing road challenges ahead.
I remembered a country hardware store several curves ahead. The coasting Jeep, with snake swaying to the steering wheel's maneuvers, finally snailed into the parking lot and stopped. With his beady black eyes still focused on my face, I threw open the door and threw myself over the lowered loop of the snake and out of the Jeep. I shouted to anyone within a hundred miles, "Help! There's a snake in my Jeep, a snake in my front seat. "Help me, help me!"
The salespeople couldn't understand a word I was screaming, so I rushed back to the Jeep. I found the snake coiled in the corner of the trunk. Rescuing a 1x4 plank nearby, I inserted it behind the coiled snake and shoved it out the back door. Thump. It landed on the pavement.
After collecting himself, he started across the parking lot. I thought our encounter was over. I was breathing again. But no! The snake stopped 20 feet away, lifted its head a foot off the asphalt, turned and locked into my eyes. Crepes, what am I supposed to be learning here?
I was glued to his eyes in the hot sun, until it hit me. "I never thought once of harming this creature and never once did it try to threaten me. We were just two animals thrown together in a dangerous place, each doing the best we could at the moment. This was a spiritual experience, and I fell into a feeling of gratitude. The Universe is a friendly, beautiful place. I surmised then that it was just an albino black snake. He lowered his head and slithered off.
Raised in a convent in Arizona until she was 13, Elizabeth Wolf worked her way through college at the University of Calif./Berkeley and the University of Arizona, collecting a Bachelor's in Science. After living in Mexico, she returned to the states and bought a farm in Ozark Mountains. She has lived in Eureka Springs for 38 years as a crafts artisan and greenhouse owner. Widowed in 1999, she started a new career in art that then awakened the related artistic expression of creative writing.
What a harrowing experience Lizzy, I probably would have wrecked and missed the lesson. I guess wrecking would have been another lesson. (smiling) Great writing, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Glad you were not injured.
My Best!
-- Posted by queenofit on Wed, Feb 6, 2013, at 9:34 AM
Respond to this story
Posting a comment requires free registration: | <urn:uuid:1c67344b-8e85-445b-b22b-cfaac698da5c> | http://www.lovelycitizen.com/story/1937092.html | en | 0.970541 | 0.018533 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Letters to the editor: U.S. District Judge Neff questions sheriff's stand on federal gun proposals
Dave Murray By Dave Murray The Grand Rapids Press
Follow on Twitter
on January 31, 2013 at 8:52 PM, updated January 31, 2013 at 8:53 PM
Lawrence Stelma.jpg Kent County Sheriff Lawrence Stelma
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- U.S. District Court Judge Janet Neff is critical of Kent County Sheriff Lawrence Stelma, who recently said that President Obama's proposed gun control laws "ignore the real issues" in dealing with gun violence.
Judge Neff surprised by Sheriff Stelma's stance on federal law
Recently Kent County Sheriff Larry Stelma, was quoted saying that he will not abide by or enforce federal law which he determines to be unconstitutional. The comment was made in the context of discussion about proposed legislation concerning gun control.
After almost 43 years in the legal profession this came as a surprise to me. I was unaware that a county law enforcement officer had or has the discretion or authority to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. That aside, when the county's chief law enforcement officer declares that he will not follow a proposed statute if enacted, the details of which are still nascent, he makes a mockery of the rule of law which he is sworn to uphold and it is a poor example indeed when he exceeds his proper role in such a blatant fashion.
I question whether there are other federal or state statutes which Mr.
Stelma deems unconstitutional or otherwise unworthy of his enforcement discretion. Perhaps he should publish a list.
United States District Judge
Grand Rapids
Pray that legislators don't follow mindlessly
The intent of many elected officials to allow assault rifles and high capacity magazines on the streets is in line with what some Republicans concluded at their recent retreat in Charlotte N.C.: that their party is the “stupid” party. Both Governor Bobby Jindal and Karl Rove made this statement.
Karl Rove added that “The Republican party can't simply be in mindless opposition to Barack Obama.” Likewise, the pro-gun crowd can’t mindlessly support the availability of these military weapons to civilians. Do they mindlessly believe this fulfills the intent of the Second Amendment? The subject legislators ARE mindfully fulfilling the sales objectives of the deep-pocketed gun manufacturers lobby, however.
Being in “mindless opposition” must be why some of the smarter conservatives are calling the GOP “stupid”, to wit, Mindless=Stupid.
We pay legislators to mindfully apply judgment and reason—and to add value in an intelligent way. Those in the NRA’s camp and their powerful support of gun manufacturers is one important reason that 20 innocent kids were slaughtered in Newtown.
Intelligent or Stupid?
Grand Rapids
Amazed that readers fail to understand why someone wants an assault rifle
I’m amazed at the quantity of readers who fail to understand why anyone would want to possess an assault style rifle. It could be militiaman protecting our freedom or simply a homeowner defending his property and family.
These are dangerous times as a natural, social or economic collapse couple appear on the horizon at any moment. This scenario is more likely to happen than ever before. Without any form of defense, looters and marauding bands of scoundrels will roam undeterred. That is when you will want equal or superior firepower.
Sandy and Katrina left many defenseless only to witness a weak response from the government. On this path of mismanagement we shall certainly become an Obama nation.
A truth in medical billing law may lower all medical costs
For myself, last year was a medically bad year with three major surgical procedures. Each required more than an overnight stay in the hospital. In addition, there were two minor surgical procedures and several months in physical therapy.
For one day's service, one person billed $1,725. My two insurance companies paid a total of $310 and my remaining portion is zero. Am I complaining? NO!
My point is without the two insurance companies, I would have owed the whole $1,725, so what happened to the $1,415 difference? Is this a tax rip-off or just medical extortion of uninsured people? Obviously, this present system is non-functional for the uninsured people. A truth in medical billing law may lower all medical costs.
The so called Obamacare law also may lower medical costs or more likely my initial over-inflated bill will become the normal standard cost. What can be done? Perhaps someday Congress will get its act together. That does seem very doubtful, doesn't it?
Reader disagrees with Press restaurant critic
Is it necessary for George Aquino to preface his food review by crowing about his "swanky" accommodations at the JW Marriott, after which he continues with a review of four chichi Miami restaurants. We get it, George. We fully grasp that you are living in the rarefied atmosphere of privilege and perks that are not relevant to the majority of the newspaper's readership.
In these dire economic times, the Press and its readers would be better served to have a food critic who focuses on such amenities as: "senior" discounts, buyone, get one offers, on-line specials, etc.
East Grand Rapids
"Detests" The Grand Rapids Press for pushing this conservative 18th century mentality
I see why Congress nothing is accomplished in the House of Representatives, Congressman like Bill Huizenga who chose to pursue their religious views and not address the problems in front of them is the reason Congress doesn't work.
Why does he even to address a situation that doesn't affect him, abortion, that is a situation that falls on a woman's shoulders. It is something that affects her body not the Congressman. His religion has nothing to do with another person he doesn't know, it’s not his business, government should stay out of the way here. The person involved has their reasons and they aren't my business or the Congressman. It's bad enough he's like Congressman Amash who votes the way he wants and doesn't care about the feeling of the people of his district.
I detest the Grand Rapids Press for pushing this conservative 18th century mentality in Western Michigan. Perhaps, this why your readership is going out the window, you keep pushing these conservatives, you lost me when you thought Sarah Palin was a legitimate vice presidential candidate. I'm still laughing.
Exempting students from MEAP test is best solution
Two articles in the Sunday Grand Rapids Press about the MEAP test were well done. Scott Baker did an excellent job of explaining this issues and how we got here, although I am not sure that I agree that exempting students from the test is the best solution. Dave Sipka is correct that assessment is important. Teachers have always assessed their students, usually using quizzes and final exams. But to be helpful, assessments must be timely. The results of the MEAP tests are not timely. Results that are not received for months are not particularly useful and raise questions about the real purpose of the test.
The questions neither writer addressed are what is the cost to taxpayers to have these tests produced, administered and scored, and what evidence is there that they are improving student outcomes?
I would argue that the significant amount of money and time being spent on MEAP tests and testing would be better used to support struggling students, train and hire teachers and make sure they have the tools to do their job. I agree with Mr. Baker that parents and other citizens should become informed and make their voices heard in Lansing. The wrong people are influencing our representatives. | <urn:uuid:6c6c3f45-8699-4ffb-ac75-fb01ad1ac270> | http://www.mlive.com/opinion/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/01/letters_to_the_editor_us_distr.html | en | 0.965628 | 0.024456 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
A Publication
of Reliable Methods
for the Preparation
of Organic Compounds
Annual Volume
Org. Synth. 1942, 22, 96
DOI: 10.15227/orgsyn.022.0096
[Benzene, azido-]
Submitted by R. O. Lindsay and C. F. H. Allen.
Checked by R. L. Shriner and J. C. Lawler.
1. Procedure
In a 1-l. three-necked flask fitted with a stirrer, a thermometer, and a dropping funnel are placed 300 ml. of water and 55.5 ml. of concentrated hydrochloric acid. The flask is surrounded by an ice-salt bath, the stirrer is started, and 33.5 g. (0.31 mole) of phenylhydrazine (Note 1) is added dropwise (5–10 minutes is required). Phenylhydrazine hydrochloride separates as fine white plates. Stirring is continued, and, after the temperature has fallen to 0°, 100 ml. of ether is added, after which a previously prepared solution of 25 g. of technical sodium nitrite in 30 ml. of water is added from the dropping funnel at such a rate that the temperature never rises above 5°. This requires 25–30 minutes.
The reaction mixture is subjected to steam distillation until about 400 ml. of distillate is obtained. The ether layer is removed from the distillate, and the aqueous layer is extracted once with 25 ml. of ether. The combined ethereal solutions are dried over 10 g. of anhydrous calcium chloride. The dried solution is placed in a 200-ml. ordinary Claisen flask arranged for vacuum distillation. The flask must be surrounded by a cylindrical wire screen, and a laminated glass screen must be interposed between the operator and the apparatus (Note 2). The flask is immersed in a water bath at 25–30°, and the ether is removed under reduced pressure. Then the temperature of the water bath is raised to 60–65°, and the product is distilled under reduced pressure. Phenyl azide boils at 49–50° at 5 mm. (Note 3). A yield of 24–25 g. (65–68%) of the pungent, pale yellow, oily azide is obtained (Note 4).
2. Notes
1. The phenylhydrazine used was the best grade supplied by the Eastman Kodak Company. With technical material, or a preparation that was appreciably discolored, the yield was much less (45–50%), and a considerable amount of tar was formed.
2. Care must be exercised during the distillation. Phenyl azide explodes when heated at ordinary pressure, and occasionally at lower pressures. The water-bath temperature should never be permitted to rise above 80° at any time.
3. Phenyl azide boils at 66–68°/21 mm. with a bath temperature of 70–75°. It is advisable to use as low a bath temperature as possible and a pressure of 5 mm. or less. The checkers have used these directions repeatedly without any explosions.
4. The product should be stored in a brown glass bottle. It will keep for a month in a cool, dark place.
3. Discussion
Phenyl azide has been prepared by the action of nitrous acid upon phenylhydrazine hydrochloride;1 of ammonia upon diazobenzene perbromide;2 and by the reaction between a diazo salt and sodium azide,3 hydroxylamine,4 or p-toluenesulfonamide.5
This preparation is referenced from:
References and Notes
1. Dimroth, Ber., 35, 1032 (1902).
2. Griess, Ann., 137, 68 (1866).
3. Nölting, Ber., 26, 86 (1893).
4. Fischer, Ann., 190, 96 (1877); Mai, Ber., 25, 372 (1892); 26, 1271 (1893); Forster and Fierz, J. Chem. Soc., 91, 855, 1350 (1907).
5. Bretschneider and Rager, Monatsh., 81, 970 (1950).
Chemical Abstracts Nomenclature (Collective Index Number);
(Registry Number)
diazobenzene perbromide
calcium chloride (10043-52-4)
hydrochloric acid (7647-01-0)
ammonia (7664-41-7)
ether (60-29-7)
sodium nitrite (7632-00-0)
nitrous acid (7782-77-6)
Phenylhydrazine (100-63-0)
hydroxylamine (7803-49-8)
sodium azide (26628-22-8)
phenylhydrazine hydrochloride (59-88-1)
Benzene, azido- (622-37-7)
p-toluenesulfonamide (70-55-3) | <urn:uuid:daf76831-849f-443d-b3c2-33cca6cb01c9> | http://www.orgsyn.org/demo.aspx?prep=cv3p0710 | en | 0.87899 | 0.052551 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Rhubarb Root
Rhubarb Roots first use can be traced as far back as 2700 B.C., at that time the Hopi Indians of China and Tibet used the root to treat colds. In addition to treating colds Rhubarb Root was also used by the Chinese to treat constipation and diarrhea.
In the 1600’s Marco Polo discovered Rhubarb Root during his travels in China, and he is responsible for the plants arrival in Europe. It became so popular in Europe that it was one of the more expensive herbs on the trading market. Its value as a medicine, on the trading market in Europe, was greater than opium. It wasn’t until the 1800’s that Rhubarb was also discovered for its food properties as well as its medicinal properties.
Rhubarb didn’t arrive in America until the late 1700’s early 1800’s. There are records of a Maine farmer acquiring the seed or the root stock from Europe. This farmer shared his knowledge of rhubarb with fellow farmers in Massachusetts where it grew in popularity and eventually showed up in produce markets.
Rhubarb Root it native to the mountains of western China. It is allowed to grow and age until its four or more years of age. Once aged the root or the rhizome is dug up in the autumn months, usually the month of October.After being harvested the root is washed thoroughly and its external fibers are removed.
Most roots are cut into pieces, depending upon their size, and they are strung out on cords for drying in the sun. If the sun cannot completely dry out a root it is often times finished by using stove heat. Once dried out the root is then pulverized into powder form and stored in a tightly closed container.
Diarrhea and Rhubarb Root
Rhubarb Root contains two major constituents which makes it extremely useful for relieving cases of diarrhea. The purgative constituents are responsible for increasing the contractions of the colon and cleansing. These constituents purge the bowel, removing the cause of the diarrhea.
The tannin constituents come through the colon after the cleansing process has been completed. These constituents act as an astringent cleansing the colon killing any of the left over infectious bacteria causing the diarrhea. “It is especially useful in cases of diarrhea, caused by an irritating body in the intestines: the cause of the irritation is removed and the after-astringent action checks the diarrhea”.
Constipation and Rhubarb Root
The purgative actions of Rhubarb Root make it effective in relieving bouts of constipation. The root stimulates the colon to contract, it is these contractions that move fecal matter through the colon.
When constipated the colon is not spontaneously contracting, therefore fecal matter sits and builds in the colon causing the constipation. It’s the purgative actions that will not only move the fecal matter but it will also tone the colon so it contracts on its own more regularly.
The colon does not become dependent on the Rhubarb Root to contract so once cleansed constipation should not return. “In large doses, Rhubarb powder acts as a simple and safe purgative, being regarded as one of the most valuable remedies we possess, effecting a brisk, healthy purge, without clogging the bowels and producing constipation, too often consequent upon the use of the more active purgatives”.
Internal Cleansing and Rhubarb Root
The combination of Rhubarb Roots purgative and astringing properties make it an extremely effective colon cleanser. The purgative actions work to increase the motility of the colon pushing fecal matter through. This helps to clean out any impacted fecal matter that may have been building up.
However, it’s difficult for the contractions of the colon to completely clean the colon. The intestines in the digestive tract are very long and winding, therefore pockets of debris may be left behind. This is where the astringent action of Rhubarb Root is important.
The astringent, tannin acid, comes after the purgative actions and does a thorough wash of the colon. Removing any left over pockets of fecal matter or infectious bacteria.
“Rhubarb Root has a purgative action for us in the treatment of constipation, but also has an astringent effect following this.It therefore has a truly cleansing action upon the gut, removing debris and then astringing with antiseptic properties as well”.
Summary of Benefits
• Rhubarb Root is an effective treatment of diarrhea.
• The purgative actions of Rhubarb Root make it effective in treating constipation.
• The combination of Rhubarb Root’s purgative and astringing action make it an effective colon cleanser. | <urn:uuid:9f7626ac-6608-49e9-bfdb-b352c4be3c29> | http://www.puristat.com/ingredients/rhubarbroot.aspx | en | 0.944485 | 0.03662 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Force of Evil
From Wikiquote
Jump to: navigation, search
Force of Evil is a 1948 film noir about an unethical lawyer who, with an older brother he wants to help, becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket.
Directed by Abraham Polonsky. Written by Ira Wolfert and Abraham Polonsky, based on Wolfert's novel Tucker's People.
Joe Morse[edit]
Leo Morse[edit]
• All that Cain did to Abel was murder him.
• What do you mean "gangsters"? It's business.
[after Joe bails his brother, Doris and the others out of jail]
Doris Lowry: You know I've got my whole life to think about now and you won't be of any help.
Joe Morse: How do you know? You know everything I touch turns to gold. It's raining out and I promised my brother to take you home.
Doris Lowry: Well, that's a lie.
Joe Morse: Well, it's not true; but I would have had he asked. You know you can't tell about your life 'til you're all through living it. Come on, I'll give you a lift. You're tired, I'm tireder. What can happen to either one of us? You tell me the story of your life and maybe I can suggest a happy ending.
Edna Tucker: You're wide open, Joe. I can see into you without looking.
Joe Morse: Don't bother; besides it's not nice to do.
Edna Tucker: More interesting than when you have a rock for a husband like mine. He's a stone, that man. Whole world are rocks and stones to him.
Joe Morse: Why tell me? Tell him.
Edna Tucker: Never tell him anything. Makes me feel unnecessary.
Joe Morse: If I make you feel necessary then I'm making a mistake.
Leo Morse: A lot you know. Real estate business... living from mortgage to mortgage... stealing credit like a thief. And the garage - that was a business! Three cents overcharge on every gallon of gas: two cents for the chauffeur and a penny for me. Penny for one thief, two cents for the other. Well, Joe's here now - I won't have to steal pennies anymore. I'll have big crooks to steal dollars for me!
Joe Morse: If you need a broken man to love, break your husband. I'm not a nickel, I don't spend my life in a telephone! If that's what you want for love, you can't use me.
Edna Tucker: You're not strong or weak enough.
Joe Morse: Wouldn't you like to celebrate on a really large scale, Miss Lowry?
Doris Lowry: What are you celebrating, Mr. Morse?
Joe Morse: A clear conscience.
Doris Lowry: Oh, whose?
Joe Morse: The money has no moral opinions.
Leo Morse: I find I have, Joe. I find I have.
About the film[edit]
External links[edit]
Wikipedia has an article about: | <urn:uuid:d837ca4d-c78d-4dcc-aeac-018ff9ebb6d8> | https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Force_of_Evil | en | 0.972902 | 0.093895 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Serving up this steaming pile of
Celebrity Gossip
Gay Politics
Gay News
and Pointless Bitchery
Since 1995
Is veterinary science really harder the m.d. program?
I read this on the Dl, I'm shocked that veterinary science is that much harder. Do you make better money, is that why?
by Anonymousreply 1602/05/2013
by Anonymousreply 102/05/2013
^R2, that's incredible do you think it's possible for one to major in veterinary science and the md program. Is there a combined program out there like that? I really appreciate you telling me that. Thanks :)
by Anonymousreply 302/05/2013
One of my roommates couldn't get into vet school so he ended up going to med school instead.
by Anonymousreply 402/05/2013
{quote] They have no clue how competitive vet school admissions are.
The reason Vet schools are so competitive compared to Medical schools (which are also super competitive, but not as much as vet schools) is because there are only 28 Veterinary schools in the U.S. There are 141 Medical Schools and 28 Osteopathy Schools in the U.S
And Veterinarians do not make more than Medical Doctors.
by Anonymousreply 602/05/2013
r3, it might be possible to be both a vet and an md, doing it at the same time would be very difficult. The courses and schools would be impossible to combine at this time.
There is no reason I can think of for one to be both an MD and DVM, but that does not make it an impossibility. The payback would after graduation would be a matter of one degree blocking or limiting the use of your other degree. I can't imagine why one would like to be both an MD and DVM. I don't think there has ever been one to date, but I haven't googled the premise.
Just remember, it is going to be more and more difficult for medical doctors to make big money as medicine becomes nationalized. It will be a long time, as in never, for veterinary medicine to become nationalized.
by Anonymousreply 702/05/2013
R7, I just found a guy with a md and a dvm:
by Anonymousreply 802/05/2013
R7, I just found another. I wonder how they did it. Did they take 2 master's?
by Anonymousreply 902/05/2013
Interesting that both of r8/9's links were to doctors involved with brain tumors.
Perhaps a company like Pfizer involved in drug trials for both human and animal drugs would pay huge money to someone qualified to oversee both trials?
by Anonymousreply 1002/05/2013
I guess if you lived in a REALLY small, remote town (with a one-room schoolhouse), you could be both the people doctor and the animal doctor.
by Anonymousreply 1102/05/2013
r7, here's another one. And like r10 said, for some reason they are all brain tumour docs.
by Anonymousreply 1202/05/2013
The insight one medical realm brings to other might be intensely informative, I honestly, just don't know anyone who has taken this route. I'm not surprised it's been done already, but...
by Anonymousreply 1302/05/2013
Veterinarian : Fireman
MD : Cop
by Anonymousreply 1402/05/2013
The reason Veterinary medicine is more difficult is because it crosses many species. However I will say this, a Veterinarian probably wouldn't have many problems also obtaining and M.D. The systems are pretty much all the same across the Mammalian species which includes monkeys, chimps, humans, dogs, cats, gerbils, mice, hamsters and the whole gamut.
by Anonymousreply 1502/05/2013
I don't know if the curriculum itself is harder or more extensive, but vet schools are much, much harder to get into than med schools.
by Anonymousreply 1602/05/2013
Need more help? Click Here.
Follow theDL catch up on what you missed
recent threads by topic delivered to your email
follow popular threads on twitter
follow us on facebook
Become a contributor - post when you want with no ads! | <urn:uuid:23a8d1d8-61f8-48d0-b5ad-80484633624b> | https://www.datalounge.com/thread/12436011-is-veterinary-science-really-harder-the-m.d.-program- | en | 0.965959 | 0.15415 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Computer and Software Support
How to reset modem
If you cannot access the internet, try resetting the cable or DSL modem. Here is the procedure. (Click on the link for further instructions)
Have a cable modem and can't connect to the internet. Do the following
1. Turn system off
2. Unplug your cable modem from the computer.
3. Unplug the power to the cable modem. This will reset the cable modem.
4. Turn the computer on (with the cable modem unplugged)
5. Turn the computer off after it gets to the desktop
6. Plug the power back in on the cable modem.
7. Plug the cable modem back in the system.
Here is information on turning off and on Cable/DSL Modems and Routers. | <urn:uuid:843226d1-62c6-4f5c-89cd-90689346d64e> | http://www.upgradenrepair.com/Internet/modemreset.htm | en | 0.836798 | 0.997562 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Conserving DataGeneral
Last Updated:
1. guttyla
guttyla Well-Known Member
If I have access to both wifi and data does the phone use wifi? Do I need to turn off data? If so, is there an app that does it automatically? With data off can I still get texts? Can I still use the phone? Thx
2. OutOfPhase
OutOfPhase Premium Member
If you have the wifi access saved for a particular wifi access point(say home or work) your phone will always choose wifi over data. I believe that texts are sent over your cell service and not data so you should still receive the text and be able to use the phone. Unless you put your phone into airplane mode (which turns off every radio on the phone) you will be fine.
guttyla likes this.
3. Thom
Thom Guides Guide
If Wi-Fi is available at your location you can access it by turning on Wi-Fi access and answering whatever the required security information that it asks.
If you are at that location and turn Wi-Fi access on it will logon and use Wi-Fi for data transfers. If you turn Wi-Fi access off it will use a tower to transfer the data. You control which is used by turning Wi-Fi on or off.
You can still use voice through the tower if you are connected to Wi-Fi.
... Thom
guttyla likes this.
4. doogald
doogald Guides Guide
Just to add, MMS messages are always sent and received over 3G/LTE, but the amount of data transferred does not count against your data plan. If you do send or receive a lot of MMS messages, you will want to keep data on, even when connected to WiFi.
guttyla and OutOfPhase like this.
5. OutOfPhase
OutOfPhase Premium Member
Thanks. I was not sure and was about to do some experimenting with my phone and the wife's.
Share This Page | <urn:uuid:e51b019a-7cbb-4daf-8168-23b84e976a7a> | http://androidforums.com/threads/conserving-data.652728/ | en | 0.946031 | 0.853585 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
New Orwell's Picnic Contest
Weird Things You Really Said Once and Actually Meant at the Time
I'll go first.
"I can't become a nun now. I've just bought a new hat!"
Spoken on the phone to a friend who was studying in Rome at the time. He was on his cell phone and was dodging the insane Rome traffic. I had just come home from a week-long retreat in a Benedictine monastery.
OK, now you.
df said...
You absolutely did say that! I remember it clear as day! Crazy girl got too much milliner's mercury in her blood.
Anonymous said...
"The pain in my knee is older than I am." I had been sleeping, and was only semi-conscious, but it made perfect sense to me at the time.
-mary ann
Christine said...
"If you are going to steal ice cream, you shouldn't hide it in your armpits."
I was caring for a person with developmental issues. She denied that she had attempted to stealice cream, but it was a hot summer day and I could see it very clearly melting down her sides and into her socks.
Sue Sims said...
My husband informed me that I had woken him by talking in my sleep. I had apparently intoned: "Then were the toes worried."
Anonymous said...
This happened just yesterday, someone phoned asking for my deceased father and I responded without thinking:
"I'm sorry he died a few years ago, can I take a message?"
Anonymous said...
"Margaret Atwood has a point." Uttered not afore nor since. | <urn:uuid:ead49a6d-dc52-4b88-97c6-c53ebd233787> | http://anglocath.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-orwells-picnic-contest.html | en | 0.990511 | 0.096486 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
46.3403 Attempt-Affirmative defense.
Cite as [A.S.C.A. § 46.3403]
(a) When the actor's conduct would otherwise constitute an attempt under 36.3401 through 46.3404, it is an affirmative defense that he abandoned his effort to commit the crime or otherwise presented its commission, under circumstances manifesting a complete and voluntary renunciation of his criminal purpose. The establishment of the defense does not, however, affect the liability of an accomplice who did not join in that abandonment or prevention. Renunciation of criminal purpose is not voluntary if it is motivated in whole or in part, by circumstances not present or apparent at the inception of the actor's course of conduct, which increase the probability of detection or apprehension or which make more difficult the accomplishment of the criminal purpose. Renunciation is not complete if it is motivated by a decision to postpone the criminal conduct until a more advantageous time or to transfer the criminal effort to another but similar objective or victim.
(b) The defendant has the burden of injecting the issue of renunciation of criminal purpose under 46.3401.
History: 1979, PL 16-43 § 2.
Research Guide: MPC 5.01(4). | <urn:uuid:c7570d39-3349-44da-bffc-ee464ab6195f> | http://asbar.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7310:46.3403-Attempt-Affirmative-defense.&catid=748&Itemid=172 | en | 0.942809 | 0.03369 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Derek Jeter pregame quotes
10/16/2004 6:03 PM ET
Q. So which is it, do you find an extra level of concentration for these postseason games of some sort or do you approach each game the same whether it's March 1 in Fort Lauderdale or tonight?
DEREK JETER: To be honest with you, I don't approach it any differently. You know, regardless of when you're playing, you try to have the same approach.
I don't think too much. I think at times people can think a little bit too much and that affects you.
But this is all I've known since I've been 21, is playing in the post-season. So it's not foreign to me, but the games obviously mean more. But my approach stays the same.
Q. How much do you pay attention to the situation with Curt Schilling or do you even pay attention to what's going on with him?
DEREK JETER: Well, you can't help but notice, obviously, because we're asked about it a lot and every time you turn on the TV you're seeing updates on his condition.
But to be honest with you, we can't worry about Curt Schilling. We have to worry about approaching Arroyo a little bit better than we have in the past. So I think you worry about those things when the time comes but you can't look that far.
Q. How does this group of the new Yankees who came in this year, Brown and Vazquez and A-Rod and Sheffield, how does it fair to some of the other ones in terms of how they have acclimated into that Yankee way?
DEREK JETER: Well, I think people have a pretty good understanding coming over here how we go about our business because of the fact that we've been together, you know, Mr. Torre has been here for, this is his ninth year. We have played against those guys. They have seen us from afar. They understand what it's like. When they get here I think they look at some of the guys that are here and how we go about our business on a daily basis. So it really has not been much of an adjustment for them I don't think.
As long as you come in here with the mindset that you're here to win, then you'll fit in just fine.
Q. Yesterday with the rain, you spent a lot of time in the relatively close confines of the visiting clubhouse here; can you talk a little bit about the charms of this ballpark?
DEREK JETER: I love it here. (Laughter.)
To be honest with you, I've said it time and time again, the atmosphere makes it fun, regardless of the kind of things that they may say, the Fenway and the Red Sox fans are diehard, you know, to say the least. (Smiling) They are pretty passionate about their team. It makes it fun. This rivalry has been fun. Since I've been here, the intensity has picked up as the teams have gotten closer in the standing, since '96, '97, last couple of years especially.
I always enjoy coming here. Sometimes the fans take it a little too serious away from the field, but it's fun. It's fun to play here.
Q. What similarities or differences do you see between Red Sox and Yankees fans?
DEREK JETER: The fans, they are both passionate, you know. Obviously we've won more than the Red Sox, so I think there might be a little -- I've got to be careful how I say this. You should have asked me this question yesterday and let me sleep on it.
The Red Sox fans seem like they are frustrated, but I think both sets of fans care about their teams. Now it's gotten to a point where it's not just during the post-season and the season, it's moved on to the off-season. Baseball is the talk for both sets of fans throughout the year which I think is good for the game. Both are great. They are very intelligent. I think they pay attention to detail. But these fans are up there with any fans. Here Red Sox fans, Yankee fans, I think they are both as good as it gets.
Q. How do these Red Sox fans treat you when you're in Boston and when you're not on the field?
DEREK JETER: Great. Yeah, it's fun.
You go places, they always have nice things to say. (Laughter.) You go out to eat, they offer to pay for your check. (Laughter.)
You know what, to be honest with you, you get them one-on-one, I think they respect us. Obviously they don't pull for us, but I think they have respect for how we go about playing the game. If you get a group of them, that's trouble. (Laughter.) It's a little bit different in the daytime, in the morning than it is at night. So I guess it depends on the circumstances.
Q. I was just struck, they just showed a picture of Andy Pettitte in the dugout, Roger Clemens is on the mound, you're here; how closely do you follow those guys? Are you rooting for them? Have you called them or talked to them? Will you go back and watch?
DEREK JETER: Without question, any time you play with someone as long as we've played together, especially Andy, I feel for him, I feel bad for him that he's had problems with his arm this year. You know, but you miss those guys. I've played with Andy since '92, that was the first time we played together. I wish him the best.
Same thing with Rocket. I've probably talked to him a little bit more than Andy, but I'm pulling for them. I hope they do extremely well. Just not if we're playing them.
You're pulling for them because we've been through a lot of things together.
Q. Would you want to play the Astros theoretically if it got to that because they were there?
DEREK JETER: Well, I don't care. As long as we get there, it means we're in the World Series, so it really doesn't make a difference. But I can't worry about who we're going to play in the next round; we have to get past Boston first.
| <urn:uuid:a7ccecee-a82f-4e99-975f-252885562063> | http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/mlb/y2004/m10/d16/c896713.jsp | en | 0.987573 | 0.029698 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Top Definition
Ladycent refers to the lower, female value of the dollar.
Based on the current gender pay gap wherein a woman earns 77 cents for every dollar a man makes--for the same work.
Used like the term "dog years" would be, except to describe monetary situations instead of time.
Hey girl, congratulations on the new job! You’re making $65,000? Wow, that’s like $80,000 in mandollars! Too bad they're paying you in ladycents.
Working in publishing is so annoying—the whole industry is paid in ladycents!
If only my bills were charged in ladycents, I’d save 23% without even having to cut back! It would be like paying no taxes at all!
My husband was appalled by their salary offer—he didn’t realize they were expecting to pay me in ladycents, but of course that’s the industry standard.
So the salary range is $45-$55K? Is that in mandollars or ladycents?
von Mysterious Artemis 22. August 2012
Täglicher Gratisnewsletter
Die Mails werden von versendet. Wir versenden keine Spammails. | <urn:uuid:d6832e23-aa36-4aa0-a3f5-f8e086d5e1aa> | http://de.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ladycents | en | 0.855059 | 0.160147 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Remember the Keith Olbermann-as-Tupac video? It was a bit of a thing a couple of weeks ago. We posted it; so did the The Big Lead and Complex and Awful Announcing. Apparently the guy behind it—Will Schleichert—worked for ESPN. He was a PA. Emphasis on the was. He was fired last week.
Here's the story of what went down with Schleichert, as we've heard it. The video was uploaded to YouTube on Nov. 14 and soon spread to other sites. The PA was called into HR shortly thereafter and asked if he had leaked it to Deadspin. (He hadn't; we'd seen the video posted elsewhere and put it on the site a day later. We had no idea the guy who'd made it worked at ESPN.)
ESPN wasn't happy because he'd used video from the network without permission and uploaded it to his personal YouTube account. This is a transgression. A "fireable" offense, in the words of one employee, who added that it was nevertheless "unnerving to see him disposed of so quickly and unceremoniously." Another ESPN source said "they'd have to cut a majority of the PA's and AP's at the company if they were to enforce that rule" since plenty of them have "a personal clip reel on Vimeo and YouTube." ESPN has a long history of dispensing punishment unevenly.
Schleichert was initially suspended and then fired right before Thanksgiving. Earlier this week, he sent a mass email to his former colleagues to say goodbye. It's, as one ESPN employee put it, a "middle finger to ESPN suits." It's unclear whom exactly he emailed, but it apparently went out to a bunch of PAs and associate producers, according to a person who received the email. Here's his farewell note:
Subject line: goodbye
From: William Schleichert
To: William Schleichert
My fellow Americans,
I recently made a video mashup of Keith Olbermann rapping the Tupac classic "Hit 'Em Up."
Deadspin said it was "brilliant."
Complex Sports (lost credibility when they) called me a "genius."
BSO claimed it "won the internet."
and ESPN told me to GTFO. The Worldwide Leader is not #BoutDatLife
I need to thank some people for making my 3 years here possible, because it was 3 years more than I deserved. So in an attempt to adhere to the formulaic goodbye email structure of your long-winded former colleagues, here are some shout-outs:
Garrett aka "G-Money"
Will "The Thrill" Robertson
whoever cut that John Beck broil
Tommy the Green Ranger
CT from The Challenge
R.L. Stine's Goosebumps
The Taco Bell $5 Buck Box
Ball So Hard University's Foreign Studies Program
The Peter Griffin Sideboob Hour
and last but not least…you. Yes, YOU, the person reading this right now. I'll never forget the time when__________(<— insert time that we interacted). It was, like, totally OMG LOL AMIRITE!?!?
I suppose there are worse things to be remembered for than the "Olbermann Rap," and "Terio Ultimate Highlight." Pour one out for me…
Schleichert and an ESPN rep both declined to comment. | <urn:uuid:ec1b8be5-97ab-44a4-bac4-4e2a2d88e17b> | http://deadspin.com/espn-fired-the-guy-who-made-that-genius-olbermann-tupac-1476363449 | en | 0.969593 | 0.027932 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Everyone is separated by zombies, united in misery on Walking Dead
That's more like it. "Inmates" was really four minisodes detailing the post-prison escape stories of Beth and Daryl, Tyreese and the Carol Corps, Maggie and Sasha and Bob, and finally Glenn, respectively. And they were all far more engaging than last week's last season premiere.
But we'll get to that in a second. First, the recap:
We begin with Daryl and Beth; specifically we begin with Beth and Daryl running for their lives, inexorably, as the show played an excerpt from Beth's first diary entry upon moving into the prison. It's a little cheesy, but it contrasts Beth's former, almost reluctant glimmer of hope to their current insecurity exceedingly well. Daryl, meanwhile, is defeated. Now, defeated for Daryl is still a default fight for survival, but Beth has to talk him into even looking for tracks in case someone else escaped. They do find some tracks, but only come across a fresh zombie kill, and Beth breaks down. But the most heartbreaking part of the segment? When it's revealed that the two are starting their fires by using Beth's diary pages. There's no mistaking what the characters have lost.
Meanwhile, Tyresse is in full babysitter mode, including both the Carol Corps girl and — wait for it — Judith. She's alive! But holy shit. You don't know what tense zombie entertainment is until you watch this segment where one guy is trying to protect two little girls and a baby from an unknowable amount of zombies. Tyreese is surprisingly parental, but every time Judith cries it's nerve-wracking, because the baby could bring death on their heads at any moment.
Of course, Lizzie, the more psychotic member of the Carol Corps, sees a pretty simple solution to this problem. When Tyreese hears a woman's scream in the distance and leaves the girls together (see Assorted Musings below for more), Judith starts crying and Lizzie just puts her hand over Judith's mouth and nose — she's not upset at Judith, and she doesn't even pay attention to the zombies approaching them (Mika, meanwhile, is freaking out). Lizzie's just having a great time smothering this baby. Tyreese hears Mika shoot at one of the zombies, but can't get away from the zombies he's found, along with some strangers, all of whom get eaten. As soon as he gets a chance, he starts running back to them, panicked, and finds — Carol.
Carol saved them! It's definitely a Carol ex Machina, but she explains that she had returned to the prison (I assume she decided Rick could go fuck himself) just to see it get destroyed, saw Tyreese and the girls run off, tried to chase them but lost them for a bit, and found them in just the nick of time, so I'll allow it. Tyreese, who still doesn't know that Carol set his gal pal on fire, is overjoyed to see her. One of the dying strangers manages to tell this semi-happy family about a community that's safe, they just have to follow the train tracks. Soon enough, they see a sign for a place called — not at all ominously — Terminus.
Okay, Maggie, Sasha and Bob time. Maggie is distraught about Glenn, Sasha is pragmatic, and Bob seemingly accepts that he could die at literally any minute and makes some peace with that. Sasha wants to set up camp, but Maggie just runs off to find the school bus she left Glenn in, forcing Sasha and Bob to follow her as opposed to splitting up. Maggie finds the bus quickly enough, stopped in the middle of a road… and full of zombies. Maggie's ready to jump on in, but Sasha and Bob point out that's stupid. Maggie knows this, but has to see if Glenn is one of them anyways, so Bob convinces her to let them open the back door and let the zombies out one at a time.
This is obviously still a dumb plan, and eventually the zombies overpower Sasha and Bob and flood out all at once, but they manage to dispatch them without too much fuss. Which is when Maggie jumps on the bus to see if Glenn — or what's left of him — is isnide. Sure enough, there's one zombie trapped under another body; Maggie pulls it off, and the zombie leaps at her, but we don't see its face, but he kind of has Glenn's hair and is wearing the same dark sort of shirt as Glenn last had on, and Maggie starts balling immediately after she knifes the zombie in the face, but then she starts laughing. Cut to commercial. And the first shot back is Glenn waking up at the prison.
Let me tell you how good this was. I was genuinely worried here that Glenn was dead. I thought it was entirely plausible that Walking Dead would kill Glenn off-screen, turn him into a Walker, and force Maggie to stab him in the head as an almost involuntary reaction to him lunging at her. That sounded just brutal and awful enough to be right up Walking Dead's alley. Now, I knew the show wouldn't kill Glenn without clearly showing he was dead, and once it cut to commercial without revealing the face of the zombie, I knew Glenn was safe. But for that insanely long take of Maggie where she's crying after the stabbing, I expected to the camera to cut to zombie-Glenn with a knife in his head at any second. Hell, even when she was laughing I thought there was a chance Maggie was just laughing hysterically at the unbelievable wretchedness of what she'd just done.
Anyways, Glenn. If you'll recall, he was barely recovered from being deathly ill when Maggie got him on the bus and ran off to find Beth. Well, clearly Glenn followed and managed to get himself to a safe place before passing out, although there are dozens of zombies who know where he is and want a bite. He returned to the prison where they all lived, first looking for Maggie, and then looking for supplies so he can set out to find Maggie. In what is possibly the smartest decision made by anyone on The Walking Dead, Glenn gets out his riot gear and puts it on.
On his way out, he spies The Governor's New Wife's Sister — who is named Tara, as I have finally looked ut up since she's clearly sticking around for a while — in a small fenced enclosure, surrounded by zombies. Glenn tries to get her to leave, but she feels responsible for following the Governor and causing all this mess and death. She even mentions "Brian" killing the old man, and that's how Glenn finds out Herschel is dead. But Glenn won't abandon Tara, mostly because he needs her if he wants any chance of finding Maggie. So he rigs a Molotov cocktail to distract the zombies, and runs off with Tara. They get to the road, where Glenn fights off several before collapsing, forcing Tara to wake up out of her stupor and beat some heads in. Which is what she's doing when a truck approaches… and a man named Abraham steps out. Comic readers will know him well.
"Inmates" was a much better episode than "After" for a variety of reasons: 1) There were four stories instead of two. None of them needed to be padded out like Carl and Michonne's were, and I think more happened in these anyways. 2) The zombie scares were actually kind of tense. We knew there was no way Carl was going to die alone during his stupid snit, so those zombie attacks were wasting time. But a few of this episode's action scenes were tense for a few different reasons — like I had no fucking clue how the Carol Corps were going to survive an attack while they were on their own. And when Maggie was playing Die Hard on the school bus I wasn't worried she was going to die, but I was worried about what she was going to find. So well done there. 3) Almost no one did anything stupid. Carl did several stupid things last week, and frankly, these characters have enough problems without their lack of common sense getting in the way. But in "Inmates," Maggie entering the school bus was a dumb decision, but one she emotionally needed to make. Tyreese leaving the girls alone wasn't great, but it was a calculated risk — no present threat in addition to the chance of saving a fellow survivor. He didn't make the call easily.
And now there's this exciting new goal, Terminus, for everyone to get to, implying how everyone will meet back up. There are new characters who are likely going to stick around for awhile and shake things up. Carol's back and hanging with Tyreese, and conflict is a-brewing! Lizzie's last name is Borden, apparently! And no one needlessly risked his or her life in order to eat a million pounds of canned pudding! Good stuff all around!
Assorted Musings:
The girl who plays Beth is not the world's best on-screen crier.
Lizzie also apparently stabs a variety of bunny rabbits to death while at camp one night — clearly not for eating, just for the killing. This does indicate that she's the one who killed the animals at the prison and then left them by the fence, as the most prevalent fan theories proposed. I had resisted this idea, because I assumed the perpetrator was trying to lure zombies to the prison fence. But tonight it dawned on me that Lizzie wasn't doing that, she was just trying to hide the evidence of her serial critter killer career, and thought the zombies would take care of it.
That bunny stuff was set up really well, by the way. Daryl and Beth pass by a log that the bunnies are sitting cozily in. Then there's a brief shot of the same log, with the bunnies still inside, which Lizzie is sitting next to. Lizzie notices something in the log area. Lizzie takes out her knife and starts make bored, dispassionate stabbing motions at this area, while no one is the wiser. It's chilling.
I call them bunnies and not rabbits because they were bunnies, goddammit. They were all so placid and adorable they might as well have been wearing little bow ties.
Seriously, I don't think Tyreese leaving the girls is as insane as it sounds; there are no apparent walkers in the vicinity, but there obviously are by the survivor. Tyreese places them back-to-back and arms them, and tells them if any walkers come to run toward him. Most importantly, the scream could be a prison survivor or just someone to help him protect two kids and a baby, which is worth the seemingly small chance the girls would be in danger (you know, if he thought the world was governed by logic instead of sadistic screenwriters). Again, a calculated risk.
Glenn's pretty badass in the episode. But more importantly, there's some fine acting from Steven Yuen. The range of emotions he goes through in the prison, from comprehension to loss to determination is great. And the way he reacts when he asks Tara if the old man was named Herschel — he sounds like a little boy, which is powerful because Herschel was obviously such a father figure to him.
SPOILER ABOUT ABRAHAM: I'm used to seeing all military personnel in zombie films be evil murderer-rapists, so I assumed that when Abraham showed up in camo we were meeting the next big bad. But about 30 seconds of Googling revealed that's not the case, which is a nice subversion of the trope. Unless the show is fucking with us, which is always a possibility.
BABY JUDITH DEATH WATCH: The other thing that stressed me out about this episode is because I honestly thought the show might have Lizzie kill Judith right there, and let me tell you why: The comic is definitely awful enough to kill a baby. The show has not done anything to make me think that it wouldn't kill a baby, other than not killing the baby… yet. I really thought the baby was dead when we saw the car seat full of blood, so I still kind of think that Judith could go at any time. Baby Judith is a huge narrative anchor that drags down the characters and the narrative while they must deal with her, which is partially why she's gone in the comic — this cannot be lost on the TV writers. About the only thing Baby Judith has going in her favor is that killing a baby would be about the most horrible thing a TV drama could depict, and AMC might not want to potentially alienate a large portion of TWD's already large audience. But the show already killed a 10-year-old girl named Sophia, so forgive me if I don't think Judith is out of the woods yet. | <urn:uuid:cdd91155-4caf-46d3-8556-bd88c2396234> | http://io9.com/1524398722/the-one-thing-im-wondering-about-why-did-they-not-hav | en | 0.982227 | 0.046571 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The terrifying history of herbal abortion medicines
As long as people have been getting pregnant, they've been looking for ways to end their pregnancies. Sometimes these ways have worked. Sometimes they haven't. We're going to take a quick look at the history of abortifacient herbs, and be very, very happy we live in the present.
One of the best parts of modern chemical birth control is the fact that it prevents pregnancy in the first place. It was not always so. Chemical birth control used to be something that people turned to after conception. And like most types of birth control before the twentieth century, it was a nasty business. It was not, however, always an illegal business - at least until four months into the pregnancy. There were always drugs, either grown in the garden or sold for other purposes, that at the least made spontaneous chemical abortions more likely. The chemicals meant to 'bring on the monthly waters' were not generally acknowledged, but they were also not illegal, either to grow or sell. Historical accounts have women regularly obtaining them, and even entire recipe books. It was only towards the 1820s that laws restricting their use went into effect, and those were poison control laws, not laws restricting abortion.
The terrifying history of herbal abortion medicines
Even when the law started cracking down, it took decades before the pills were stamped out of existence. In America, Anne Lohman, an untrained doctor's assistant, took the name Madame Restell and declared herself a "female physician." She had a Fifth Avenue clinic in mid-1800s New York where she performed abortions, and also had salesmen that crossed the country selling "Preventive Powders and Female Monthly Pills." She advertised in newspapers. She was notable for her financial success in the birth control business, but not much else. Plenty of people sold similar stuff quite openily. Adds for powders and pills could be found in the back of most women's magazines.
Restell's preventative powders were almost certainly bogus. The monthly pills, though, contained herbs that did increase the odds of abortion. When these didn't work, Restell channeled women to her abortion services. The overall package made her massively rich. It also earned her the title of "The Wickedest Woman in New York," and constant arrests and sting attempts by law enforcement services. Throughout Restell's forty year practice, the laws against giving out any birth control information or services became progressively harsher, and so when she was finally arrested by Anthony Comstock himself, she killed herself rather than face trial.
But what was she, and women like her back through history, peddling? What were any of these drugs and what did they do? One thing is certain; they didn't ensure an abortion. Even silphium, a birth control method so supposedly foolproof that it was driven to extinction by the Romans, isn't thought to be practically useful. Generally early chemical abortifacients fell into two categories - herbs that induced uterine contractions and stimulated blood flow, and herbs that outright poisoned people.
The terrifying history of herbal abortion medicines
The method used by most providers was the one that poisoned people. When the person took these the abortion was a the body's reaction to the damage it was taking. Women who couldn't get hold of anything else would dump turpentine in their tea and hope for the best. Restell, although reputedly running a safe surgical abortion clinic, was first arrested when a woman confessed to her husband that she had bought a phial of abortifacient from Restell that turned out to contain turpentine and tansy. Tansy is a flower that is a natural insect repellent. It has toxic chemicals that kill intestinal parasites, and so was used in medieval Europe as a way to kill intestinal worms. Today, its toxic properties cause it to be heavily regulated by the FDA. Ingesting it, and most guides suggested ingesting it daily for nearly a week to bring on an abortion, can cause convulsions, weakened pulse, and death.
Other such concoctions contained pennyroyal, which is a cooking herb when used fresh or dried. Pennyroyal oil, on the other hand, is toxic. Either through ignorance or as a deliberate attempt to ensure an abortion, sometimes women put the oil in their pills and either got very sick or died. Toxic abortifacients were not just harmful to women, but harmful to the fetus. If women who tried aborting this way carried to term, their children were likely to have birth defects. And even the most severe methods were nowhere near sure. The only thing any herb did was increase the odds.
Herbs that stimulated blood flow in the uterus would also, occasionally, bring on abortions. They were called emmanogogues, and the more well-known among them was parsley root, ginger, and chamomile. As most people reading this know, these are all foods, and food that are not warned against by doctors. Occasionally huge amounts of things like parsley might bring on contractions, but certainly don't do any such thing in normal amounts. Certain options, like cohosh, were used to bring on contractions, but also upped the chance of stroke, loss of blood pressure, extremely painful headaches, and pain in the arms and legs. At least these drugs didn't flat out poison people though.
Poisonings were incredibly common, both as a last-ditch method or as a way of getting to a hospital in such bad shape that the hospital itself would perform the procedure. Tragic misconceptions, however, plagued the population. Many women tried to abort with high doses of quinine. While this can be terrible for a person in high doses, it's actually relatively safe for a pregnancy. Very high doses wouldn't be at all likely to end the pregnancy, but would shut down a woman's kidneys. Women would still attempt it though, because it was some kind of over-the-counter medicine with some kind of vague reputation.
All possible abortifacients, even those given out by people who knew what they were doing and consciously tried to minimize the risks associated with them, were kept popular mostly out of desperation. With no other options, women would turn to anyone and anything that might help them. What dropped them out of circulation almost entirely has been the ability to get safe, reliable birth control both before and after conception.
Top Image: Daniel Feliciano
Tansy Image: Evelyn Simak
Via NCBI twice, The Atlantic, BBC,, Slingshot, Victorian Gothic, and Feministe. | <urn:uuid:a53f9d86-1bea-44b5-8211-8d8c16e615c0> | http://io9.com/5933494/the-terrifying-history-of-herbal-abortion-medicines?tag=history | en | 0.984195 | 0.795391 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The 'Dirt' On Soil
May 30, 2014
Credit NRCS Soil Health via flickr Creative Commons
This time of year finds a lot of people working in their gardens. Good gardeners pay attention to their soil.Just like above ground, there’s a diverse world of wildlife below ground competing for space, nutrients, and performing roles that support life on Earth.
Microscopic bacteria species by the millions; root fungi that deliver nutrients to plants; worms, ants and other insects aerating the soil and adding nutrients through their droppings and—post mortem—as their bodies decay. Minerals laid down long ago are constantly breaking down through weather and erosion.
Some gardeners don’t roto-till their soil to avoid upsetting that unseen world and the nutrients it delivers. The more nutrients in garden soil, the more nutrients in the food it produces. Gardeners take care where to walk to avoid compacting their soil. Mimicking nature, they add a top dressing of mulch to retain moisture. In the natural world, a layer of decaying leaves provides that service.
Credit KayVee.Inc via flickr Creative Commons
As for dirt, by definition that’s soil that gets displaced, dumped as fill along roadsides, perhaps. Or tracked indoors during mud season. New Hampshire’s dirt roads are accurately named. Dirt has lost its home place, the living community and long history that build soil. It’s lifeless, but given enough time soil builds up again, slowly, as leaves fall and decay and a few plants adapted to poor soils grow and decay, too.
More often than not, soil is abused: compacted, stripped, moved, eroded—treated like dirt, as the saying goes. As we tend our yards and gardens on Memorial Day, or volunteer at a local schoolyard or community garden, mulching, adding compost and other soil amendments, treading lightly, we’re doing good work.
Getting the garden ready for planting.
Credit Logan Shannon / NHPR | <urn:uuid:a6be53d9-1fc9-4d97-b5f1-dd5b1df6efe9> | http://nhpr.org/post/dirt-soil | en | 0.912551 | 0.042864 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sign up ×
My toddler was using the potty frequently when he turned about 2.5 years, then after Memorial weekend, he suddenly stopped going. He seems to hold it forever and is very stubborn. I haven't had him go to the potty since the end of May. Is there a way to retrain him to use the potty on regular basis? He is almost 3 now.
share|improve this question
possible duplicate of How can I toilet train my reluctant pre-schooler? - I think the answers there will be perfectly valid fo ryour circumstances. – Rory Alsop Jul 18 '12 at 22:37
Although, it seems like it is a duplicate. This question is about someone who is in preschool while the other is about some one who is in Kindergarten. Developmentally, it is somewhat normal and expected that a child backslide like this at the age in this question, whereas a backslide with 5 year old signifies much more serious problems (especially as the other question is about bowel movements only) and would normally be dealt with in an entirely different manner. – balanced mama Oct 29 '12 at 21:53
1 Answer 1
up vote 5 down vote accepted
It is actually relatively normal to revert a little. Try not to get upset or punish, accidents do happen and it is developmentally appropriate for him to be more interested in play time right now. They get busy and want to play and think they can hold until something more boring is going on. If he is at home with you it would be pretty easy just to have a "pit stop" every hour to hour and a half as part of your routine. Be upbeat and positive about it AND when you decide you need a pit-stop talk about that too. "Wow, I have to go potty right now. I wish I didn't have to because I like reading stories with you, but I'd better go so I don't have an accident. I'll be right back" or, "Hmm. . . before I get in the car I think I will try to go potty so that I don't have to later while we're driving. You should probably try too. Do you want to try before me or after me?"
If he is at preschool - most of the good ones work regular potty breaks into the schedule anyway.
He is likely to be reluctant, but you can reassure him that after he has tried, he can go back to playing again. Then praise him for trying when he does sit down and give it a try. If he absolutely refuses, I wouldn't force it. I liked to point out to these kids, how much MORE play time they miss out on when they have to "get cleaned up and changed" because an accident instead of just using the potty in the first place (natural consequences you know). If he still won't try, let him have the accident and then while he is getting cleaned up be really slow about getting him dressed again while you say something along the lines of, "Darn, what a bummer you have to spend all this time getting clean again. I'm sorry that happened, what a bummer you didn't try to go earlier, you could be out there playing right now. Darn". Again, the idea is not to stress that the accident was bad, but that he might have avoided it if he'd made a different decision earlier. No punishments and that is all, enough times with this message he'll eventually get it.
Once in awhile, this kind of a "revert" can be because of something that stressed or continues to stress out the child such as a move, death of a family member, divorce or even something that seems pretty innocuous to us but may not be a big deal to him like a change in baby sitters or a friend moving away. If you suspect this might be the case, talk to him about it. Ask what he thinks (he may not be able to really tell you, but ask and listen to his response anyway) be patient, allow the backsliding for a little while and make sure you are giving your little one lots of reassurances and attention. After a week or two, start what is outlined in the paragraphs above.
Either way, with your patience, understanding and caring support this too, shall pass.
share|improve this answer
You make some great points. I have noticed that he seems to just not want to do it. As you said, he is more interested in playing than using the potty. Also, I have noticed that he seems to hold it for as long as possible. I am guessing he thinks he is missing out on something. I will continue to be patient with him and let him go at his own time. Thanks again. – Saied Jul 19 '12 at 13:54
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:f70bb841-74f4-4423-8c88-2611a66db9f1> | http://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/5634/retrain-toddler-to-potty/5637 | en | 0.982175 | 0.041108 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sign up ×
I'm just curious. The man page for kill says that QUIT, aka signal # 3, is a "core" signal. It seems that all it does, for Java processes, is dump the thread information. So, is the QUIT as misnomer? Is it just that the JVM implements a singal 3 handler that dumps threads?
share|improve this question
Yeah, QUIT is a misnomer. As @Will said, Sun just decided to make signal 3 dump the threads. – Gray Aug 14 '12 at 21:20
2 Answers 2
up vote 5 down vote accepted
QUIT is arguably a misnomer for Java. But by that argument any signal name could be a misnomer if an application is allowed to change the default behaviour of the signal's handler.
In reality, the correspondence between UNIX signal names and what they actually do has always been a bit vague and tenuous. However, developers have been dealing with this "issue" for 30+ years without it being a real problem.
And yes, the Java thread stack dump behaviour is implemented by the JVM. The default UNIX / LINUX behaviour is to create a memory dump of the process, unless this is inhibited by other factors.
share|improve this answer
Yea, the JVM captures the #3 signal to dump threads. By default, for a normal unix process, it dumps core (i.e. take a memory snapshot of the process and write it to a file) and exits.
For Java, that isn't very helpful, so it does a thread dump instead.
share|improve this answer
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:581b366b-3328-4372-b3ff-71a6fccb8007> | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11960818/how-does-kill-quit-process-id-work/11961080 | en | 0.919435 | 0.969927 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The New York Times
2012-07-30 WikiLeaks: Activist or Journalist? Pulling a Yes Men on Bill Keller
On Saturday evening, what appeared to be a New York Times op-ed piece by Bill Keller supporting WikiLeaks emerged on twitter. For WL supporters, this was too good to be true, as someone who had shown much animosity toward WikiLeaks appeared to be speaking in their defense. This turned out to be a well crafted hoax. The stunning prank was believed by almost everyone as the only difference was the URL. The article borrowed words from Keller's emails and mimicked New York Times' home page. It fooled journalists and embarrassingly even the Time's tech writer Nick Bilton. It was surreal, as Keller, someone who had come to represent a 'journalism' that bends over for the US government, now appeared to stand behind WikiLeaks. This lasted for hours before it was finally debunked. Later in the day, WikiLeaks released a sequence of tweets that admitted they were involved in the production of this fake Bill Keller op-ed.
Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer | <urn:uuid:85fe121f-ba95-4b39-ad54-a8f364ef12db> | http://wlcentral.org/category/content-topics/new-york-times-0 | en | 0.975622 | 0.030791 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
bismarcksI’ve currently got Paris on the brain. I’m about to invade that city for a week of eating and drinking and wandering and thinking.
So, naturally, the first thing to pop into my head for today’s post was, “Oh, I should do something German.”
Because that’s how my mind works.
Oh, it’s not what you’re thinking. My mind has been on the Franco-Prussian War, naturally enough, since I’m currently re-reading The Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne.
Paris is a city that has been, at least historically, in perpetual turmoil. It started with the Norsemen pillaging and burning the town until they were bought off with a big chunk of land in the North (Normandy). Only to see those same Normans a couple of centuries later restyling themselves as Englishmen and setting the country afire during a little conflict known as The 100 Years War.
Then, of course, there were several plagues, internal revolts, sieges, and revolutions– 1789, 1830, and 1848 (twice in three months), World Wars I and II, and a near-revolution in 1968.
But never did the city of Paris suffer more than during what the French refer to as L’Année Terrible, 1870-1871.
The Year in Review
A sickly Emperor Napoleon III declared war on Prussia on July 19th, 1870, hoping to distract people from the problems at home in his dying Empire. It was a bad move, but one made with characteristically Gallic flair. The French were trounced, the Emperor was captured six weeks later at Sedan, and that was pretty much that.
Or so the Parisians thought. They celebrated the fall of the Empire with a lot of cheering and declared The Third Republic two days later. The war was lost, but at least it was over.
Or not. The Prussians, with the iron-willed, iron-fisted, all-around Iron Chancellor Otto von Bismarck forging policy, kept on coming. The French, Bismarck felt, needed to be taught a lesson.
So they marched on Paris.
Surrounding the city, the Prussians sought to starve Paris into capitulation. For five months, the only contact Paris had with the outside world was via hot air balloons floating up and over the enemy filled with letters and dispatches from those trapped inside. The only messages in came from an occasional carrier pigeon. Rats, horses, house pets and nearly every animal in the zoo (one exception being monkeys because, apparently, the Parisians embraced Darwinism) were consumed by the hungry Parisians in their effort to fend off starvation*. By the time the French surrendered, Germany had united over the near-dead body of France and declared itself an empire. At the palace of Versailles, of all places. Nice touch.
But that wasn’t the worst part.
As happened so often in Paris, the working class sparked a revolt, leading to a government take-over. In a nutshell, The Paris Commune was set up, socialist reforms were attempted and things went generally crazy. The Tuilleries Palace was burned to the ground, the Vendome Column toppled, even Notre Dame barely escaped destruction– it’s benches had been piled up and doused with kerosene but was saved at the last minute.
The Commune ultimately failed– stamped out by the what was left of the French government and army in the bloodiest moment of the city’s history– 20,000 Parisians were slaughtered in just one week alone. The city was shattered.
Or was it?
What has always amazed me is the resilience of Paris. Each time it is beaten down, it seems to come back a little bit stronger. After a year of alienation, isolation, the pounding and ensuing humiliation by a stronger enemy, self-destruction, and thanks to a 5 billion franc war reparation bill, crippling debt, Paris rebounded into one of the most brilliant (or at least, fondly remembered) periods of its history– La Belle Epoque, which lasted nearly 43 years. Solidly, it returned to and confirmed its status as the cultural capital of Europe, if not the world.
It’s as though Paris can historically shake off its woes with its world-famous shrug.
So why the history lesson today?
Well, I’m coming out of my own p’tit année terrible— one that strangely mimics the year Paris faced, but on a much smaller, human scale. So I’m off to see how the Parisians manage it; to do a little shrugging of my own, you might say. I will eat and wander and observe the natives in a place that is more than likely Bismarck-free both in terms of the pastry and the guy who brought Paris to its knees. Or the one who brought me to mine, for that matter.
And maybe I’m hoping for a little belle époque of my own to begin. 43 years? Yeah, I think that will do. That will do nicely.
I will be back blogging June 19th.
* On the bright side, the Parisians were never in any danger of running out of wine.
Bismarck is the Canadian/American name for the German pastry Berliner, as in John F. Kennedy’s famous declaration, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” In Berlin, however, they are referred to as Pfannkuchen.
Call it whatever you like.
Apart from the time spent allowing the yeast dough to rise, these doughnuts are relatively simple to make. And delicious– the unfilled pastry being light and airy and not especially sweet. Fill them with whatever you like, sweet or savory. Hell, toast one and use it to bookend a hamburger, while we’re eating things named after German cities.
It’s a good thing Kennedy wasn’t in Hamburg when he decided to make that speech. Or worse, Vienna.
Makes: 12 Bismarcks
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 packages of yeast
4 tablespoons of sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 egg yolks
a pinch of salt
Raspberry Jam for filling
Powdered sugar for dusting
1. In a saucepan, bring milk to a boil. Turn off heat and stir in butter and sugar. Cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle yeast over the top of the milk mixture and leave it to bloom and reanimate for about 10 to 15 minutes, until it starts to foam up.
2. Add this yeasty liquid to a large bowl in which the flour and salt have been patiently waiting. Stir and fold to combine into a sticky mess of dough. Cover with a damp, clean cloth and set in a warm place to rise for two hours.
3. With floured hands, turn dough onto a lightly-floured surface and roll to a 3/8-inch thickness. Cut into circles (I used a 3 1/2- inch cutter). Place them on a baking sheet or what-have-you and cover with the same damp cloth to rise for another 30 minutes or so.
4. Fry the Bismarcks in 350° F vegetable oil or lard for 4 minutes. I find flipping them every 30 seconds helpful for some reason. Drain on a paper towel-lined rack to cool.
5. If you are filling these pastries (and you should be or they’re not Bismarcks), if you lack a pastry syringe, cut a small opening into the side of each bun and wiggle your knife or (what I used) scissor blade around the inside to create a small pocket into which the jam might find purchase.
6. Put jam into a pastry bag with a plain tip. Place the tip into the pastry’s hole and pipe in the jam until it starts to spill out the side like some mortal flesh wound. The jam should be cold, like the blood of Bismarck himself.
Serve fresh, and not over anyone’s white carpeting.
Michael Procopio
Sponsored by
Become a KQED sponsor | <urn:uuid:992826c0-f692-4163-b652-6e50dc04ea98> | http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/2009/06/05/bismarcks-at-the-gates-of-paris/ | en | 0.954664 | 0.114491 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
BIOL182 Human Anatomy and Physiology II
Department of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics: Biology
I. Course Number and Title
BIOL182 Human Anatomy and Physiology II
II. Number of Credits
4 credits
III. Number of Instructional Minutes
4500 minutes
IV. Prerequisites
BIOL181 (C or better)
V. Other Pertinent Information
Lecture-laboratory format to include in-class and/or online presentation of content and laboratory material. Hands-on and/or virtual dissection of any or all of the following: fetal pigs, sheep hearts, sheep brains, bovine eyes, sheep kidneys and cadavers. Topics are presented in various modes which may include, but are not limited to, any or all of the following: traditional and/or online lectures, group and/or individual laboratory activities, small group discussions, computer simulations and library research.
VI. Catalog Course Description
This course, a continuation of Human Anatomy and Physiology I, studies the structure and function of the cardiovascular, lymphatic, immune, digestive, endocrine, excretory, nervous, reproductive, and respiratory systems, as well as human development and genetics.
VII. Required Course Content and Direction
1. Course Learning Goals
Students will:
1. describe the detailed structure of the human body; and explain the function and relationship of the various cells, tissues, organs, and systems of the human body.
2. employ hands-on and/or virtual laboratory skills in areas, such as microsopy, dissection, and physiology.
2. Planned Sequence of Topics and/or Learning Activities
Topics to be presented:
1. the brain
2. sensation
3. endocrine system
4. cardiovascular system
5. lymphatic and immune systems
6. respiratory system
7. urinary system
8. digestive system
9. reproductive systems
10. human development and heredity
3. Assessment Methods for Course Learning Goals
Evaluative tools, as specified by the individual instructor's syllabus, can include any or all of the following: objective examinations, laboratory exams, class participation, laboratory reports, online activities and discussion, quizzes, and projects or papers.
Review/Approval Date - 11/98; Revised 6/09; New Core 8/2015 | <urn:uuid:6923d3e0-a629-4580-a2a8-d837fcb29ddf> | http://www.bucks.edu/academics/courses/syllabus/index.php?lookup=BIOL182 | en | 0.833993 | 0.220329 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Designer genes take a leap forward after scientists make new chromosome
Human DNA has much in common with the DNA of the humble yeast cell.
Story highlights
• Scientists built a designer chromosome and inserted it into a yeast cell
• The cell survived, made use of its new genes and reproduced
• It took seven years and the help of 60 students to build "synIII"
• The breakthrough makes scientists more able to design living things
Look miles into the future and imagine a day, when geneticists can design a flawless set of human genes in a laboratory.
That future vision may never arrive, but it has taken a step closer.
Scientists have built a designer chromosome and inserted it into a cell, geneticist Jef Boeke from New York University announced this week.
The chromosome was a heavily altered version, a departure from its natural counterpart. A team of scientists from around the world made 500 changes to its genetic base.
"When you change the genome, you're gambling," said Boeke, who led the project. "One wrong change can kill the cell."
But the cell survived and made use of its new chromosome. It also reproduced, and subsequent cells carried the new chromosome forward.
Actually, make this breakthrough a second step closer to that way-out-there future.
Researchers were already able to duplicate a chromosome on a computer four years ago, build it in the lab, insert it into a cell and watch it work.
It was a huge advancement that created the first synthetic bacteria cell, scientists said then.
But, now, there's been a leap forward, Boeke said.
"Our research moves the needle in synthetic biology from theory to reality," he said.
It makes scientists more able to alter the design of living things.
Meet yeast -- your cousin
The new chromosome and the cell Boeke's scientist built it for are much more complex and are closer to those of a human being.
The kind of cell Boeke used? Brewer's yeast.
Yeast cells, human cells, plant and animal cells have in common that they are "eukaryotes" -- cells with a nucleus wrapped in membrane.
Our chromosomes, which are located in those nuclei, are made of enormously long strings of DNA.
They are wound up like twists of yarn that take on that familiar "X" shape many associate with the genes they contain. And they are called eukaryotic chromosomes.
Boeke's breakthrough represents the first report that a whole eukaryotic chromosome was constructed from scratch, NYU said.
Boeke and his team call their new designer chromosome "synIII."
Mammoth knitting task
It took seven years and the help of 60 students to build synIII with the help of computer modeling.
Each student put together about 1,000 genetic molecule pairs called "base pairs" to make strings of DNA.
They were joined together to make a genetic strand 273,871 base pairs long.
That's actually shorter than the yeast's natural chromosome, which contained 316,667 base pairs.
And that's where the design and manipulation come in. Broeke and his team took out 47,841 base pairs that were repeats of other pairs -- along with some "junk" DNA.
The new designer chromosome is a cleaned up, streamlined version of the original.
Shuffling the genetic deck
Yeast has about 6,000 genes and shares about a third of them with humans, although yeast is a much simpler beast.
That makes it easier to study. In fact, its genetics are probably better known than those of any other living thing, NYU said.
Although Boeke studies human genetics, too, he is not planning to design a set of synthetic human chromosomes.
But he would like to build all 16 required for an entire yeast cell. And he has made some progress already.
Students are figuring out how to make DNA strands 10 times as long as the ones they made the first time around. It should speed up production of subsequent chromosomes.
Boeke also wants to improve upon the yeast cells in the process, now that his team can shuffle its genes around like cards in a deck.
That might make for stronger glass of beer, but it could also have other uses: The new cells could possibly be programmed to "brew" medicines, vaccines and fuels. | <urn:uuid:7b716a97-5ecf-4825-a34a-8449f605f6ee> | http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/28/tech/innovation/genetic-breakthrough/ | en | 0.967198 | 0.048974 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
hot / reviews / videos / cblogs / qposts
Destructoid Originals
Podtoid 305: The Voice of God
Sep 13 // Kyle MacGregor
[embed]310493:60341:0[/embed] Things we talked about: 0:00:00 -- Foreshadowing 0:09:33 -- Metal Gear Solid V and inside baseball 0:29:10 -- Penny Arcade's Mad Max review tantrum 0:34:15 -- Video game movie talk 0:35:00 -- Would you rather watch Hitman: Agent 47 or Pixels? 0:36:15 -- Uwe Boll is a bad man 0:40:28 -- Peeing in the shower: OK or not OK? 0:44:20 -- Apple TV, iPhone 6S, Crossy Road multiplayer, and Beat Sports 0:49:50 -- Wearable technology 0:54:30 -- We don't talk about Rocket League 0:55:45 -- Crowdfunding gone wrong 1:04:45 -- Super Monkey Ball 1:06:30 -- PlayStation and Dreamcast anniversaries 1:08:50 -- Metal Gear Solid V again 1:13:40 -- SATPOTPAQ 1:31:12 -- Podtoid Quiz 1:40:30 -- What game would you recommend everybody play? 1:42:30 -- Steven's Twitter Recent Episodes Podtoid 304: The Phantom Pain Podtoid 303: A Good Amount of Cocaine Podtoid 302: Virtual Reality is the Future Podtoid 301: The Least Interesting Man in the World Podtoid 300: Randy Pitchford's Little Asshole Send any and all questions, tips, and Mötley Crüe mp3s to [email protected]
It's anything but Quiet
Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or download it here. Destructoid editors Kyle, Steven, Brett, and Darren are joined by pal of the show Hayden Dingman to chat about Metal Gear Solid V, the latest Apple news, Penny Arcade bullshit, and more.
Experience Points .23: Mother 3
Sep 12 // Ben Davis
Monkey business My favorite character in Mother 3 doesn't remain a party member for very long, but he uses his short amount of time to really shine. Chapter 3 introduces a cute little monkey named Salsa, who is being led around by a horrible man named Fassad. Fassad forces Salsa to perform for him with a device which electrocutes the poor monkey for disobeying. He has also kidnapped Salsa's girlfriend and threatens to harm her if Salsa doesn't do what he says. Fassad is a rather despicable man. Eventually, Fassad drags Salsa to the quiet town of Tazmily, hoping to trick the citizens into buying his "Happy Boxes" (which are basically televisions or computers) by charming them with Salsa's dance moves. He then forces Salsa to deliver the heavy electronics to each of the customers, which means he's free to walk around town without Fassad following him around for a while. Even though he's under strict orders to deliver the Happy Boxes in a timely manner, he can still pretty much do what he pleases. This is one of the most powerful moments in the game to me. A little chime plays each time Salsa picks up a Happy Box, but it's definitely not a happy chime. It's more of an apprehensive tune, which foreshadows the eventual downfall of Tazmily due to the Happy Box catalysts. And poor Salsa is the one being forced to deliver these evil boxes against his will, probably unaware of what he's about to cause. The music for this section, "Monkey's Delivery Service," is one of my favorite tracks. It almost sounds happy at first, but there's this subtle mournful tone to the music which starts to creep in once the player becomes aware of what's happening. It's quite brilliant. Chatting with the local townsfolk of Tazmily while he's supposed to be delivering boxes, Salsa will get a lot of comments about how sad he looks. Makes sense, given his current predicament and the horrible treatment he's been getting. Also, if he looks in the mirror at Lucas' house, he'll think to himself, "What does a smile look like again?" It almost broke my heart the first time I noticed this. But thankfully, Salsa is eventually redeemed, freed from Fassad's evil clutches, and reunited with his girlfriend. It's a good thing he got a happy ending, because I don't know how much more sadness I could have taken. I just wish he could have stayed with Lucas and friends for a while longer! Freaks of nature The enemies in Mother 3 are just amazing. Along with the usual wacky foes, such as living trees, walking musical instruments, and baked yams, Mother 3 also introduces chimeras into the mix. And these aren't your typical chimeras; these jumbled up monsters are all sorts of unexpected and terrifying! Some of the tamer chimeras include the Muttshroom and the Pigtunia, mixing animals and plants to horrific (possibly humorous) effect. But then things start getting crazy when Lucas and friends encounter such bizarre beasts as the Batangutan, an orangutan head with bat wings; the Ostrelephant, an elephant with ostrich legs and an ostrich head for a trunk; and the Parental Kangashark, a hammerhead shark with kangaroo legs and a pouch holding a baby Kangashark. The scariest chimera of all, however, is the Horsantula, a horrible hybrid of horse and tarantula, with eight horse legs, a tarantula torso, and a frightened-looking horse head (*shiver*). A real-life horsantula would probably make me shit my pants... that thing is truly the stuff of nightmares! And then, of course, there is the Ultimate Chimera, which appears to be some kind of demonic creature with a baby chick attached to its head. This foe is practically invincible. It actually cannot be fought in typical combat, and in fact, if it catches Lucas then it's automatically game over! The party's only hope for survival is to run for their lives and hope they're fast enough to escape. But there is a secret which temporarily leaves the Ultimate Chimera incapacitated... Snake charmer Mother 3 took the series' trademark ridiculous inventory items to a whole new level by introducing the Rope Snake, an item that actually becomes a character in the story (and one of my favorite characters at that!). Duster first purchases the Rope Snake from the ghosts in Osohe Castle to help him cross pits as a sort of adorable grappling hook device. Duster also uses the Rope Snake to try and grab hold of an escaping Pigmask airship, with Lucas, Kumatora, and Boney hitching a ride as well. At this point, Rope Snake proudly announces that he's now a major character in the story (and breaks the fourth wall in the process). But unfortunately for everyone else, he also announces that he's unable to support the weight of three people and a dog. His jaw gives out and they all fall from the sky. Later on, Rope Snake gets a second chance and tries to redeem himself by grappling onto a flying bird cage with the party in tow, but his jaw gives out again and everyone falls out of the sky for the second time. His pride shattered from letting his friends down twice, poor Rope Snake leaves the party to go hide in a hole and feel sorry for himself. I've never felt so bad for a snake before as I did for Rope Snake. I just wanted Lucas to give him a hug and tell him that they still believed in him, but instead they just let him go. It's okay, Rope Snake! You tried your hardest! Eventually, the gang meets back up with Rope Snake in New Pork City. He excitedly tells the party that he's close to becoming a behemoth of a snake and wishes them a happy new year, but it seems like Lucas and company are trying to avoid him. It's like they don't even care about their reptilian friend's feelings, the jerks! Oh well. You'll always be cool to me, Rope Snake! Mother 3: The Musical Mother 3 introduced an awesome new mechanic to the turn-based battle system where the player could keep an attack going by repeatedly pressing the button to the rhythm of the music. It's pretty difficult to get the timing just right, and it changes depending on the battle theme, but once you get the hang of it, it's extremely satisfying to pull off. A single attack can turn into a string of several more smaller attacks, stacking up the damage to quickly take down foes. I always enjoy when turn-based JRPGs add interesting mechanics like this to make the combat feel more action-oriented. Games like Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario were really good at this too, keeping players on their toes by allowing them to do extra damage or defense with a well-timed button press. Mother 3's rhythmic combat is possibly my favorite system, simply because of how fun it is to tap along to the music and watch the damage numbers steadily increase and bounce off the enemy. I like to imagine these attacks playing out with Lucas and friends circling around the enemy and bashing them to a rhythm, kind of like that scene from Shaun of the Dead where Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" suddenly starts playing on the jukebox. It's like a fully choreographed dance for every fight! I pity the fool who tries to throw his life away One of my favorite things about the Mother series are all the crazy NPCs. It's one of the few games where talking to every NPC I come across is almost always a rewarding decision. Everyone seems to have something interesting, funny, or completely random to say. Mother 3 happens to have my favorite NPC in the series. He doesn't have a name, and he can't be found wandering around on his own. Instead, he seems to appear out of nowhere whenever Lucas tries to walk on the railroad tracks leading out of Tazmily. If Lucas tries to enter the cave on the tracks, a man will shout, "Hold it!" and run on screen to grab Lucas and pull him off the tracks. He'll then go on about how dangerous that was, urging Lucas not to just throw away his life, and to forget they ever talked. After he walks away, a message pops up saying, "Your life was saved." The gravity of the conversation was so unexpected that I couldn't help but laugh. Even better, the man will continue to save Lucas' life each and every time he tries to enter the cave. He has different dialogue each time, growing more and more impatient and exasperated with Lucas until eventually he gives up trying to convince him not to throw away his life and just rescues him quietly with nothing more to say. The man also bears a striking resemblance to Mr. T, which just makes the whole scene so much more entertaining. Thanks for saving my life, Mr. T! Lucas be trippin' When Lucas and friends find themselves washed ashore on a seemingly deserted island with all of their items missing, they must go foraging for food. The only thing to be found, however, is a group of brightly-colored mushrooms. Lucas' dog Boney steps back as Lucas, Duster, and Kumatora consume the fungi for sustenance. At first, the mushrooms seem to be all right. That is, until they start to take effect and the party falls to the ground, the worlds turns bright pink and purple, and everything starts shifting and swirling. Maybe eating these strange shrooms wasn't the best idea after all... oops! Suddenly, the party springs back to life with the message, "Lucas and company felt just dandy!" But the island looks totally different now, and is strangely populated by... people you know? While running through the jungle, the party will encounter friends and family members who shouldn't be there. They're all saying really strange things, but they're just illusions. They can even be battled and destroyed, revealing that they were actually enemies shrouded in disguise. The jungle is also strangely littered with mailboxes, and these mailboxes are filled with some of the most insane things you can imagine. Among the many mailboxes Lucas comes across, some of my favorites include the following contents: "Inside the mailbox was the sound of yourself crying," "Inside the mailbox was absolutely nothing. Nothing after nothing came bursting out," "Someone looked back at you from inside the mailbox! ...Or so it seemed, but you were the one looking from the other side, too," and my personal favorite, "There's nothing in the mailbox. Except for the 1000 rat corpses." Man, those mushrooms were no joke! Eventually, the party arrives at the house of Mixolydia, the local Magypsy, who notices that they're all hopped up on shrooms and kindly knocks them back to their senses. So ends Lucas' crazy, drugged-out adventure through the psychedelic island jungle full of horrific, mind-blowing discoveries. It's just too bad they didn't run into Mixolydia before they decided to take a dip in a nice, relaxing hot spring which actually turned out to be a disgusting sewage dump... blech! The saddest man in the world Mother 3 has some awesome boss fights, but there's one optional boss that really stands out from the rest. Granted, he's not really boss material per se, but he does get the "Strong One" boss music, so I think he technically counts as a boss. I'm talking, of course, about Negative Man. Lucas finds Negative Man hunched over on all fours, alone and unmoving in the middle of a cave. If the party decides to battle him, they had better be prepared for the easiest fight of their lives! It's so easy, in fact, that I actually feel pretty bad for the guy. Negative Man very rarely attacks, and when he does, he can only manage to dish out a measly single point of damage. Mostly, he'll just be pathetic and feel sorry for himself. Instead of attacking, he'll use up his turns muttering things like, "There's just no way I can win..." or, "Just get rid of me now..." or even, "I'm nothing but a worthless protoplasm..." Meanwhile, Lucas and company just keep mercilessly beating the crap out of him until he's defeated. Poor guy... I almost want to just let him win so that he might feel a little better about himself. But let's be real, that could take ages and I don't want to wait that long. Sorry, Negative Man, but today's not your day! [embed]310276:60326:0[/embed] Open Sesame Tofu The Mother series is at its finest whenever it's trying to be funny, which is admittedly almost all the time. One of the funniest moments hands down happens in Mother 3 when Wess must open a secret door in Osohe Castle. And what better way to open a secret door than by... dancing in front of it? For a bit of background, Wess is an elderly gentleman with a rather serious disposition who spends most of his time scolding his son, Duster. The last thing I'd expect someone like Wess to do would be to let loose and start acting silly. But when the father-son duo finds themselves blocked by a grim-looking door, Wess does the unexpected. He urges Duster to turn around because he's about to do something embarrassing. And then, out of nowhere, some upbeat, goofy music begins playing and Wess starts shaking his butt and performs just about the silliest dance I can imagine, causing the door to crack a huge smile and open. It might just be my absolute favorite moment in the Mother series, just because it's Wess of all people. For an old guy, he can really shake it! Later in the game, Salsa also gets to perform the dance to open the door. It's a lot more adorable when Salsa does it, but also a lot less shocking and hilarious because he's not an old man. Video games could really do with more old folks dancing, in my opinion. Past Experience Points Level 1: .01 - .20 .21: Katamari Damacy.22: Tomb Raider
Mother 3 highlights photo
A story is a series of memories
Which Pokemon would you find in your neighborhood?
Sep 11 // Steven Hansen
Excelsior I've lived a couple different places in Excelsior, including my current digs. You'll find savvy Sneasels and Scythers scurrying through the fragrant wild fennel fenced off alongside the sloping freeway underpasses on your way up to the relative wilds of Glen Park. Murkrows dot power lines along Geneva and Mission. Ekans occasionally slither down from their dry McLaren plains into the European-named streets below. The Meowths, too, will come down and brave the streets to swipe coins, while a more timid crew stays completely up in the hills. Exeggutors wander Mission freely while Machokes are hard at work. Noe Valley Wandering Magnemites have been spotted in increasing numbers in this region. They are mostly nocturnal and drain the batteries of residents' Teslas. Eevee, of course, are prized in Noe Valley, including its fashionable evolutions brought about by precious-gem-owning old money. Except Jolteon. Fuck Jolteon. Wandering Trubbish and Garbodor, abandoned in Dolores Park by transplants and tech assholes, have been spotted wandering into outlying regions such as Noe Valley, but only the latter employs underpaid Quagsire to wash the trash Pokemon downhill into the Mission. Fort Funston San Francisco's beaches are typically cold and free of the Southern California, bathing suit clad beaches people often associate with the state. The lesser known Fort Funston, south of the creatively named Ocean Beach, is a haven for owners of dog Pokémon like Growlithe and Arcanine, which are allowed to run freely amid the wild Sandshrews and Sandiles burrowed in the beach. The dogs are free to chase Wingull up and down, sniff the occasional washed up, dead Krabby, and sometimes roll around in Sealeo corpses, covering themselves in disgusting, rotting viscera. Beware if you bring your smaller pup Pokémon as assholes nearby (the country club?) occasionally rise their Rapidashes down onto the beach, threatening the safety of all dogs in this typical haven. Plus they shit everywhere and do those prissy fucks get off their high horse to pick it up, like the responsible dog owners? Of course not.
Pokemon Go Proust photo
An on-going Pokemon map of San Francisco
Forget the open-world Pokémon console RPG with wild pocket monsters represented on-screen instead of in random encounters. Nintendo just went and leap frogged all of us by partnering with a mobile company to bring Pok&...
Apple TV photo
Apple TV
New Apple TV promises to bring gaming all the way into 2006 (Fauxclusive)
Party like Bush is still president
Sep 09
// CJ Andriessen
As predicted for nearly a decade, Tim Cook announced at Apple's September Event that the next iteration of the Apple TV will be able to play games. With a new motion-sensing controller and titles such as Guitar Hero hitting t...
The 8 best rejected Mega Man bosses
Sep 07 // Steven Hansen
"DJ Man was created specifically to administer only the freshest, hippest beats during Dr. Wily's mid-life-crisis-party-phase. Unfortunately during his first test run, the beats were too dope and the drops were too dank, rendering DJ Man only capable of harming instead of sick beatmaking. All of his tracks are certified bangers." - Myles Cox "The first real robo-births found in the Mega Man series can be traced back to Mega Man 2, which featured birds that drop eggs filled with children, and frogs that had the ability to give birth from their mouths. Apparently lacking in maternal instinct, both types of robo-parents seem quite content to send their robo-kids off to almost certain death. Perhaps that because it only takes them seconds to have a new baby, unlike humans, who take longer to make. The original idea here was to have robo-moms who fly through the air and drop their robo-placenta covered children on Mega Man en mass, like the birds from Mega Man 2, but technical limitations made it impossible for the NES to render baby graphics small enough and detailed enough to to make that work. Instead we've opted for a design based around the frogs from Mega Man 2 and the Penguin birth-bots from Mega Man 3. Robot mom heads spout rocket babies from their 'mouth' style openings. Baby rockets cry as they fly, leaving Mega Man torn between his urge to defend himself and his natural instinct to care for the children. Un-exploded rocket babies will eventually learn to walk (and kill) if Mega Man takes to long to ponder his decision. There's also a rare alt sprite for this enemy that features a giant baby head that spits up little mom rockets." -Jonathan Holmes "Here he is, Insomniman. Insomniman's too tired to really care, there are other Robot Masters who haven't been awake for three weeks who can deal with that crap... his lair is just one big kitchen in the dead of night, with Insomniman shuffling around, doing anything to keep him distracted. Once Megaman finally defeats Insomiman, he'll gain the ability to fire boiling hot coffee from his arm! Scorch the enemies, or give himself a little boost of energy when he needs it!" - Joe Parlock "The Plantman knows if the plants will growThe Plantman knows where the plants will growAnd the plants will know if the Plantman knowsThe plants will know if the Plantman knows" - Darren Nakamura "While Mega Man 3 was the first Mega Man game to feature a boss that shot organic projectiles with Snake Man, the concept of organic themed robot masters had been on and off the table at Capcom with mixed success since the production of the original game. Initially designed for the slot that eventually went to Guts Man, the tentatively titled Waste Man was envisioned as a robot that could replace humans within waste management plants. Designed without a nose, the character had soft, fleshy appendices to facilitate in large amounts of manual labour. While Waste Man's many butt-like protrusions were designed with practicality in mind, the development quickly came to love the character's unique, voluminous charm. Unfortunately, when it came to testing sprite art for the character, issues began to arise. While his head was technically feasible on the NES, the envisioned miniature projectiles he would wield, and that would be acquired by Mega Man upon boss completion, simply lacked the required level of visual detail. While Waste Man was initially shelved pending a SNES Mega Man release, it was ultimately decided that his design would be too endearing for fans to want to fight. The rights to the character have since been caught in a large legal battle, meaning we're unlikely to ever see this wonderful Robot Master come to market." - Laura Kate Dale "Dr. Wily built Particle Man to gather data on a microscopic level while easily avoiding detection. He's particularly effective at spying and infiltrating secret bases. Also, for some inexplicable reason, he really hates triangles. Particle Man fires a beam of charged particles to subdue foes, though due to his size, it's really only effective against single-celled organisms. When Mega Man acquires Particle Man's power, he gets equipped with the Particle Beam, which is much deadlier in the hands of the Blue Bomber. Unfortunately, Mega Man might be too giant for Particle Man to pose much of a threat, so the idea was scrapped. Plus, there was talk of a possible lawsuit..." - Ben Davis "CUT TILE MAN. After the mechanical Robot Masters' continual defeat, a new strategy was necessary. Every material under the sun was considered for construction, but tile ended up being the most cost-efficient. Tile Cut man uses a combination of sharp tile chunks and the mud of his fallen brothers to slow down his opponents. He's totally not just a googled image of Mega Man that I traced and cut out while remodeling a bathroom." - Zack Furniss "Child Coffin Man!" - Occams - I for one would love to see everyone draw their own version of Child Coffin Man, or any other Mega Man boss. Or just mess with the Mega Man creator some more.
Mega Man bosses photo
Completely real concept art unearthed
With the recent release of Mega Man Legacy Collection, Capcom has acknowledged that Mega Man is a character and series that exists, which, really, is just going to piss people off further, you know. The upcoming movie and sep...
Are there games you've never played but still love?
Sep 06 // Jonathan Holmes
[embed]309528:60257:0[/embed] Still, hearing friends' stories about The Phantom Pain, watching videos of it on YouTube, and reading spoilers about its story on message boards and social media this week has been a lot of fun. I'm going to guess that in-between baby care, I've spent an accumulated four hours in the past few days just thinking about the latest Metal Gear release, through either passive self-education or talking to others about it. Not a bad deal for the grand total of $0 I've spent on the game so far. Looking back on it, I've always enjoyed watching friends play Metal Gear. My first time with Metal Gear Solid 3, my favorite title in the series, was mostly spent as a spectator. It wasn't until the friend I was playing it with got stuck on a few bosses that I took over playing for us both completely. Having had it both ways, I found that playing the game was different, but no more or less fun, than just watching someone else play. That's probably because Metal Gear Solid does such an amazing job of melding movie logic and game logic together into a seamless whole, creating an action/comedy/drama that's larger than the sum of it's parts. You don't necessarily have to control the game's characters directly to enjoy that formula, In fact, it's often easier to enjoy if you aren't the one left frustrated with being spotted by an enemy that you had no way of knowing was there, or stuck fumbling with the sometimes unwieldy button layout. Where the player may be left annoyed with these moments, they can be laugh-out-loud hilarious for the friend in the passenger seat. Thanks to the Internet, I've been able to experience a lot of The Phantom Pain from that perspective, and it's left me loving the game just as much, if not more, than if I had actually played it myself. I'm sure to run through the game first hand someday (maybe after my son is able to dispose of his own poop independently), but for now I'm a happy to enjoy it as an audience member, rather than an actor. I've heard people say the same thing about EarthBound and games in the Persona series as well. People love the characters, settings, and fandoms around these games, but the act of actually playing them doesn't add up to enough fun moments per minute to justify the time sink. Of course, many fighting games today have way more fans than they do players, but as "Smash 4" world champ ZeRo told me not long ago: you probably need to have some understanding of Smash to get the most out of watching high level play. But the same probably isn't as true for Minecraft, which has millions of fans who are quick to say they like watching Let's Play groups like The Cube play the game way more than they like playing themselves. How about you? Are there games that you like watching, talking about, or thinking about more than playing them? If so, why is that?
Video Games photo
The joys of being a spectator
I'm really enjoying Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, despite the fact I've never played it, and probably won't do so for a while. My understanding is that The Phantom Pain plays a lot like a cross between its two pr...
Podtoid 304: The Phantom Pain
Sep 06 // Kyle MacGregor
[embed]309503:60256:0[/embed] Crap we talked about: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain PAX Prime Is there a difference between Magic and D&D? The Airbnb situation Shovel Knight Amiibo Cliffy B and Lawbreakers Tasty cereal mascots The snake and lizard party SATPOTPAQ Recent Episodes Podtoid 303: A Good Amount of Cocaine Podtoid 302: Virtual Reality is the Future Podtoid 301: The Least Interesting Man in the World Podtoid 300: Randy Pitchford's Little Asshole Podtoid 299: Blast Ball Send any and all questions, tips, and sexy poetry to [email protected]
Podtoid photo
What a thrill...
Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or download it here. The Podtoid gang return from Seattle to chat about Metal Gear Solid V, recount tales from PAX Prime, and decide which breakfast cereal mascots would make for the most delicious meals.
Notch Tweets photo
Notch Tweets
Markus 'Notch' Persson posts vague tweets just to fuck with media (Fauxclusive)
Because the media will publish anything
Sep 02
// CJ Andriessen
Markus “Notch” Persson opened up on Twitter this weekend, posting several tweets lamenting that life as an celebrity isn't all it's cracked up to be. The tweets became a news sensation as several high-profile webs...
Cliff Bleszinski: We want players to actually use verticality
Aug 29 // Brett Makedonski
[embed]308291:60187:0[/embed] "I don't mean to slag any other games, because those core loops of getting a lot of kills quick are what kill streaks and kill streak rewards are built on," Bleszinski said. "With us, we want to have a little bit of that dance, a little more like Halo where if someone gets the drop on you, you at least have a shot at either getting away or at least taking a dent out of them so they might die by your teammate." The hook that allows LawBreakers this freedom lies in the world-building. Because of a cataclysmic event known as "The Shattering," Earth is left with pockets of low gravity in certain areas. Conveniently enough, LawBreakers' maps are set in some of these areas, which should make for interesting and varied gameplay. Bleszinski was visibly excited about this. "We see these moments where there's this giant zero-gravity pocket where everyone's vertical and people are actually knocking each other around with rockets. One of the comments on Twitter was someone asking if rockets actually propel people. Since you have a rocket jump now, you actually have a radius. We found that with rockets not being a one-hit kill (because we don't really want them to be), even with Kitsune who's a very light character, once we have the law equivalent of her, she probably might be a couple rockets minimum. Still, it's a light character, but we want you to juggle." There's a reason he wants players to juggle. "When you introduce low gravity and the concept of juggling as well as a rocket that you can air-burst with the alt-fire, you see somebody flying through the air blind-firing propelling themselves, and you can suddenly send them over to the other side of the map by air-bursting a rocket and then follow through with your stomp move and kind of chain your moves together. We want the FPS dance to kind of come back." That FPS dance means that players stay alive longer and actually get to make use of the game's vertical axis. "It's a lot greater than your Call of Duty grind. It's a little bit faster than your Titanfall one. It's somewhere around Halo-ish is what I like to say," Bleszinski ultimately said of Spencer's original time until death inquiry. Figuring out exactly how to properly execute all that action is the tough part. LawBreakers' gameplay trailer showed a handful of different characters, each with their own abilities and traits. Bleszinski and his team are now in the position of getting all of those characters work in conjunction with one another without any of them sticking out like a sore thumb. "Perfect balance is nearly impossible to get," Bleszinski commented. "We're still working on it. Right now, in the current build that people are playing off-site, it's very asymmetrical -- two unique classes on both sides. The Law has all sorts of weapons whereas the Breakers have like area-of-effect stuff. That's been really hard to balance. One of the first things we're going to do when we get back is, you have Breacher on the Law side, we're figuring out who the Breacher equivalent is on the Breaker side. That's something that when we go back to symmetrical gameplay, I think it's going to be easier to balance. But, it'll still be slightly asymmetrical." It may not be exactly what he's shooting for, but Bleszinski made reference to a revered fighting game when talking about balanced gameplay. "I saw a graph where they're pointing out the Smash Bros. characters from the original that we've used over the years. Smash Bros. may be the most perfectly balanced game ever because they kept finding a new character and a new exploit without the game ever being patched or updated." An interesting analog, but LawBreakers won't take that approach. Bleszinski continued "Thankfully, we're going to be a living product so we can keep introducing updates, hopefully every couple weeks. Pump that shit through, have test kitchens and things like that. Basically, if we find an exploit that breaks the game, fix it. But, also recognize when there's an exploit that adds to the game. You know, rocket jumping is one of those accidents that actually is cool." Bleszinski and Boss Key can expect to find a lot of those exploits given the combination of possibilities between several unique characters and maps with variable gravity. There are a lot of factors at play. Some exploits will evolve into part of the game, some will get squashed. Those that make verticality more enjoyable and contribute to the FPS dance (as Bleszinski put it) have a better chance of surviving.
Bleszinski interview photo
Doing the FPS dance
Just this week, Cliff Bleszinski and Boss Key Productions pulled back the curtain on LawBreakers -- the free-to-play arena shooter that has been in development under the codename Project BlueStreak. It's more than just the co...
Metal Gear memories
Aug 29 // Nic Rowen
I remember the entire route through Shadow Moses. I remember the area with electrified tiles inset in the floor and steering a tiny rocket over them. I remember resenting not being able to use my guns in the nuke disposal area. The cave with all of Sniper Wolf's wolves running loose -- one of them pissed on my cardboard box. I'll sometimes forget the best way to get downtown, but the map of Shadow Moses is burned into my memory. The bosses were legendary, both for their design and the surreal conversations you'd have before, during, and afterward. One-on-one with an old west gunfighter, circling each other around a hostage in the middle of a room rigged up with C4. He showed off his fancy carnival trick-spinning and made comments that distinctly implied that he wanted to make love to his pistol, or that gun fighting was an allegory for sex to him. I don't know, he was a weird dude. There was that shaman who you'd fight twice, once in a literal tank and once while he carried around a gun the size of a small tank. He discussed ear-pulling competitions and the futility of struggling against fate. He was eaten by his own ravens. Then there was the suffocating tension and isolation of dueling a single sniper hundreds of yards away. The battle with Sniper Wolf would be eclipsed in every way six years later by Naked Snake's duel against The End, but at the time it was one of the most intense fights I'd ever experienced. I feel like there has probably been enough ink spilled on how crazy the fight with Psycho Mantis was, but holy fucking shit. How did any of that happen? It was like stepping into some alternate reality where Andy Kaufman had been a game designer and somebody cut him a blank check. Memes of plugging the controller into the second slot, or the infamous “HIDEO” error screen are well worn now. But I don't think secondary accounts can do justice to just how crazy and bizarre that fight, and the rest of Metal Gear Solid, truly was. All of that weird fourth wall breaking shit -- holding the controller to your arm for a massage, having the Colonel explain combat maneuvers to Snake directly referencing the DualShock and a bunch of video game jargon, it was something that had to be lived in the moment. It felt like Kojima was peeling back our skulls and attaching electrodes to areas of the brain that were previously entirely unstimulated. He was showing us a new way of making and thinking about games. I remember taking that instruction book with me while on a short shopping errand that Saturday afternoon in a calculated move to ensure I wouldn't have to stop thinking about Metal Gear. It had its hooks in me, and once I was in that world of spies, rogue special ops groups, and shadowy conspiracies, I never wanted to leave. We were supposed to visit our grandparents that Sunday, but stopping wasn't an option. So we took the PlayStation with us, hooking it up to an ancient TV in their dusty basement where we could continue to save the world from nuclear disaster and learn more dubious information about genetic engineering. I know, it was a scumbag move. But in our defense, we'd just finished the torture scene, found the corpse of the real DARPA chief, and escaped a jail cell using a bottle of ketchup -- neither of us were in the best head space to make positive decisions. It was a weekend I'll never forget. My brother and I tackled Shadow Moses together, experiencing the entire mission as a single unit. It was was a battle march, a do-or-die suicide mission to finish it in a single weekend. Even if it meant wearing out our welcome at our grandparents with multiple pleas of “just 15 more minutes!” as we pummeled Liquid Snake to death and tried to watch the hour-long ending without completely alienating the rest of the family. So yeah, we kept the stupid manual. Call it a battle trophy, or a war memento. My brother still has it buried in some desk drawer. Besides, we did Blockbuster and the next person to rent the game a solid. When we returned the game, we taped an index card with Meryl's codec number to the inside of the sterile white and blue plastic box. We had to crack that puzzle with brute force after we couldn't convince our mom to drive us back out just before midnight to look at the back of the CD case on the shelf. Kojima never accounted for us rental kids with his fourth wall shattering puzzle, but I forgive him. How could I not? He made some of my favorite memories. The best moments I had with Sons of Liberty all happened years after the game first hit the shelves. Nowadays, I consider Sons of Liberty to be one of the most important and subversive games of all time. When we picked it up on day one though, I thought Raiden was a turd and Kojima was playing a mean spirited prank on us. You want to talk about memories? I remember thinking “boy, I hope this is just a joke and Snake takes over again reallll soon” about a million times during the first few hours with it. That's not to say I didn't like Sons of Liberty or that it was a bad game or anything, it was just frustrating. It seemed to exist only to validate every criticism of the original. That it was a bunch of nonsense for the sake of nonsense, or that it was a nice movie with some neat game bits in between. I wanted to love it, but it didn't seem to care one way or the other for me. Subliminally, I was picking up on the entire meaning of the game. But it'd be a long time before I could fully appreciate it. Sons of Liberty isn't a game you tackle in a single weekend of obsessive dead-eye play. It's an intricate and nuanced criticism of the industry, players, and power fantasies that you revisit every few years with a scalpel and a fresh set of eyes. It's a game that was so prescient that only now, with games like Spec Ops: The Line and Hotline Miami, are other titles even attempting the same kind of criticism it levied. It's a game that I've enjoyed reading about more than I enjoyed playing. And I've enjoyed playing it a lot. It would be easy to dismiss Sons of Liberty's message as postmodern gobbledygook, or its criticisms of Raiden, and by extension the players, as overly impressionable rubes playing pretend at being a super solider as a creator taking a shot at his audience. But I remember a time in high school when I skipped Mr. Hogarth's class in the morning and couldn't afford to be caught. How the blood in my veins began to pump as I saw him looming just in front of the door of one of my afternoon classes having a conversation with Mr. Jones. How I slipped seamlessly, without consciously thinking about it into STEALTH MODE, creeping up just behind him, turning with him as he turned, like I was staying just outside of the vision cone of any of Metal Gear's hapless guards, slipping in just past him to take my seat, no alarms activated. The S3 plan worked better than Kojima could have dreamed. Even a pudgy high school nerd could have his own Solid Snake moment with the kind of training he provided us with. The Substance Edition on the Xbox was where I really came to love Sons of Liberty. The VR missions more than made up for the intractable cinematics and radio conversations of the main game, finally letting me feel like I played Sons of Liberty rather than watched it. With a few years to get over the shock of playing as Raiden and absorb the message of the game's screwy third act, I was able to enjoy the story and characters. It's one of the few games I can think of that benefited from a remaster in a way that was more meaningful than just a graphical update. But when it's all said and done, I think my favorite memory of Sons of Liberty has to be slipping on bird shit and falling to my death. I don't know why, but that's the moment that crystallized Sons of Liberty to me. Snake Eater is one of my favorite games of all time. I've completed it maybe ten or so times give or take. Certainly more times than any other game I've ever owned. The reason I played through it so many times is simple -- it kept giving me something new every time I did. I'm not sure how many people appreciate how incredibly dense and rich Snake Eater is. If you just want to mainline the game on normal mode, stick to dependable tactics, and don't care too much if you get spotted or have to drop a few extra people, it can be a fairly straightforward affair. If you want to dig deep though, if you want to get weird, that's when Snake Eater really shows you what it's really made of. I did all of the normal things. A regular playthrough where I slit every throat I saw, blundered into enemies and tripped off alarms, and was admonished by The Sorrow who seemed very cross with the number of Russians I set on fire. I did the professional thing, where I snuck in like a shadow over Groznyj Grad, with no alarms and no surprises. Then I did the goofy stuff -- theme runs where I would try and see if I could complete the game as a North Vietnamese regular (all black camo, unsilenced pistol, AK-47, grenades, and SVD only). I did runs where I would only eat fresh killed food, no Calorie Mates or insta-noodles. Runs where I tried to kill as many people indirectly as I could, to see how many I could poison with rotted food or knock off of bridges, the spirit of bad luck. Runs where I made a point of blowing up every supply shed and armory in the country. Every time I thought I exhausted the very last bit of Snake Eater, there was just a little bit more to find. A new mechanic or trick (that of course was almost totally useless and impractical, and great), or some new weird quirk of enemy behavior (did you know you can kill The Fury with a few swipes of your knife? He even has custom dialog for it), or a new radio conversation or song I had never heard before. I played Snake Eater for years, and I'll bet there are still one or two things left to find; Kojima's bag of tricks never seems to end. I still have the memory card with all of my Snake Eater saves on it, just in case I ever feel the need to get down on my belly and crawl through the weeds and marshes of Tselnoyarsk again. I had a whole library of saves, most of them right before discrete scenes or moments I knew I'd want to play again and again. The mountain infiltration right before you rendezvous with Eva and the treacherous march back down again. Dodging KGB special operation units armed with flamethrowers, mindful of the differences in elevation and the gun emplacements littering the hill. I've heard The Guns of Navarone was one of the movies that inspired Kojima when working on the series, and I like to think this area is his little homage to the cliff-side raid of the movie. I saved right before the sniper duel with The End, two different versions. One where Snake would run into his valley clad in camo greens, ready to fight a war of attrition with the legendary marksman. Another, where I assassinated the old man earlier on in the game with a single split-second crackshot (Snake Eater lets you do this because Snake Eater is a game that gives and gives every time you play it). In that version, his valley was full of Ocelot's personal entourage of soldiers to play with. Can you slip by unnoticed while being hunted by a pack of red beret-wearing hotshots? Or maybe it would be more satisfying to unzip each of their throats one by one, or to fight them all in one glorious running battle of machine gun fire and shotgun blasts (I never really used the thing unless I was goofing around). Of course, I saved just before the final showdown against The Boss. It's probably the single greatest scene in the entire series and one of the best boss encounters ever designed. Sure, taking down the Shagohod was satisfying, and sneaking up on The End and forcing him to give up his special camo and rifle made you feel like a sneaky master, but this was the real test. Fighting a person with all of the same skills and tactics you've spent the game developing and mastering, but she's better at them than you. After all, she invented them. I have less personal attachment to the other games. Guns of the Patriots I had to enjoy vicariously, reading about it and watching other people play. Same with the Metal Gear Acid games. I've spent a good chunk of the last month catching up, reading wikis about them and watching Let's Plays to fill in the gaps of my Metal Gear knowledge. I think I'm ready. I'm ready to finally close the loop on this series I've been playing my entire life. I'm ready to experience the last chapter in this decades long story of espionage, betrayal, and hiding in cardboard boxes. I can't wait to get into The Phantom Pain next week and see it for myself. I'm hoping Kojima can give me a few more memories on his way out.
Metal Gear memories photo
More than the basics of CQC
We stole the instruction manual when we rented Metal Gear Solid from Blockbuster. It's the one and only time we ever did that. Normally we were fine upstanding rental citizens who held manual-thieves in smug contempt. But in ...
The top five most British games you'll ever lay eyes on
Aug 26 // Joe Parlock
#5: Bloodborne Bloodborne was a sign of great change over at From Software. After its run of massively popular Souls games, it wanted to try something really different. It wanted to move away from the formula that made From the huge success it was, and show the world the average, day-to-day lives of people living in Birmingham. Audiences were cautious of the idea at first: bringing the Midlands to life seemed like an odd choice for a Japanese developer to tackle. Over the course of the development process, we learned just how seriously Miyazaki was taking the project: he’d binge-watched every episode of Crossroads, a task no human being should be able to survive. But it all paid off: when it finally launched, everyone instantly understood how important the game would be. From the Werewolves of Snow Hill Station to the Dog Vicar of the Bullring, Brum really does come to life in videogame form. Treading over the broken cobbles and forcing my way through the rusted gates, it was just like I was there. Some players complained about the difficulty of the game, but frankly if you haven’t been devoured by a giant spider when going to Birmingham’s Selfridges, you’ve not truly experienced the city. #4: Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture Shropshire was an absolutely inspired choice of a location for The Chinese Room’s newest storytelling game Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. The county is very rarely a setting in games, and it has a rich history thanks to its influence and contribution to the industrial revolution. Shropshire is everything you could think about Britain neatly compressed into a nice, little place full. But that’s not the true reason why it’s such a great setting for Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. The real reason is it’s the closest thing to a post-apocalypse you’ll find in the Western hemisphere! That’s right, after the AI incursion at Ironbridge in 1886, nobody has lived there! Every single human being you see in Shropshire is just a steam-powered Stepford-esque bio-machinations, who have left the county to go to ruin! Pubs and charity shops have combined into one weird amalgamation that’s not quite as good as either, and you can bet your entire family a new museum is popping up as you read this. Shropshire is an utterly bizarre, yet pretty, place. For the lens to be focused so intently on it in Rapture means we may soon finally find a way to reclaim our land from the androids. #3: Killing Floor Killing Floor might be a slightly controversial inclusion on this list, because it doesn’t paint our glorious isles in quite the best light. However, I think something us Brits have always been good at is introspection. From a National Trust café to a beach in Benidorm, we always act with the utmost class and decorum, but Killing Floor shows a darker side to our nation: British football. Killing Floor is about a world overrun by, and I quote, “bloody Millwall fans”. Set in the streets of London, you must survive against the hordes of football fans being kicked out of the pub. Killing Floor’s recreation of modern day football is so realistic, the attention to detail is simply amazing. I can smell the cheese and onion Walkers crisps and stale beer just thinking about it. In a positive light though, Killing Floor manages to be incredibly inclusive of its image of football fans. The world likes to paint the sport as a load of rowdy old geezers who can’t keep their drinks down in their moth-eaten Aston Villa t-shirts, but it simply isn’t like that in 2015. Men with chainsaws for arms and invisible women have become way more accepted in recent years! Even Spider-hybrids have found their place! Unfortunately, scary fire-shooting people have still been fighting for their place for a while now… but there’s certainly progress. Also, we have a lot of guns. That is some Britain is absolutely known for: how many great big, piss-off guns we all carry around at all times. Sometimes it’s a hassle trying to carry my shopping from Morrison’s with an AK-47 in the way, but that’s Britain for you. Killing Floor’s unblinking view of how many fully-automatic shotguns and flamethrowers even your common Londoner has is something we need to really understand about our culture. Thanks, Tripwire. #2: The Beatles: Rock Band It was twenty years ago today that Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play. They’ve been going in and out of style, but none the less they’ve been marching through the streets of Liverpool, ensuring all of Britain’s children are behaving as they should. If they are not learning the songs of their grandparents, or worshiping the great Lucy in the Sky with their Diamonds, Pepper’s mighty Walrus will take them away to a place nobody knows. This is how it has been for the past fifty years, and it is the way it shall always be. Of course, there have been attempts to destroy the great influence our Lord and Master Ringo Starr has had on us. The Oasis Movement of the '90s was the biggest threat, but problems among management meant it stood no chance against the Lonely Hearts Club Band. And this is why The Beatles: Rock Band is on our list. No one changed the face of Britain as much as Lord Starr did, and the great idea of incorporating the children’s mandatory daily reverence into a video game meant for those wealthy enough to afford the little plastic instruments, life is good. Well not good, but it’s getting better. #1: Sir, You Are Being Hunted You thought Everybody’s Gone to Rapture was our only way of fighting back against the robots? Oh heavens no, we also have Sir, You Are Being Hunted. Not only does Sir helpfully remind the British public to respect the god damn class institution that has been in place for centuries, it also provides handy-dandy training on how to survive should you find yourself in somewhere like Shropshire! Sir is a program to help remind those crawling in the shattered darkness that Britain still exists: with tweed shops, and union jacks plopped onto absolutely every item inconceivable. Digestive biscuits, far too many churches, parish halls, smokestacks, tea, tea, tea. If this doesn’t remind you of home, I don’t know what will. There’s even fox hunting! You remember fox hunting, right? That thing only rich people do because getting away with shooting poor people would be more hassle than it’s worth? Of course, in this case you’re the fox… but never mind that, developer Big Robot is still working out the kinks. Sir, You Are Being Hunted is more than a game. It’s our message unto the world that no matter what they do to us, we will survive. A nice strawberry trifle here, an 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown there, and we will all keep calm and carry on. What is left of us must carry on. Oh god we must.
Blighty photo
God save Ringo and his Robot Army
Britain, Britain, Britain! Over the years we’ve been known for a lot: tea, monocles, the Queen, imperialism, and at one point… video games. We had it all, from the Sinclair ZX Spectrum to Rockstar Games, Britain ...
New Patent photo
New Patent
Nintendo files patent for first sales-less console (Fauxclusive)
No, this is not a joke about the Wii U
Aug 24
// CJ Andriessen
The discovery of two new patents filed by gaming giant Nintendo earlier this year may give us a peek into the future of the company. The first, as reported on Saturday, is for a disc-less home console. The second patent, whic...
Sonic photo
Sonic Dreams Collection: Mascots, legacy, and audience perception
What happened to you, Sonic?
Aug 22
// Laura Kate Dale
Most of the critical discussion on Sonic Dreams Collection up until this point has been largely focused on it as an unexpectedly odd curio, and with good reason. An unusual mix of Sonic fan fiction crossed with Don't Hug Me I...
Intel unboxing photo
Intel unboxing
Watch me unbox (and break) the Intel Box Master System
Including an i7-6700K and 750 series SSD
Aug 21
// Jed Whitaker
Intel decided to send us two giant boxes full of things, including its hot new 8-bit Intel Box Master System featuring wood side paneling to unbox on video. I couldn't possibly do a straight unboxing video -- that isn't my s...
Thirsty, hungry, and crappy in ARK: Survival Evolved
Aug 18 // Nic Rowen
Ark experiences photo
Out of my Comfort Zone #01
Destructoid photo
Take a look at some recent bad asses in gaming
From Destructoid's video team
Aug 17
// Chris Carter
The Destructoid video team has whipped up a look at some recent badasses in gaming. from all walks of life. Out of everyone, I'm still looking forward to playing as Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid V. It feels like I've been waiting forever, but Phantom Pain is nearly here. Drake can definitely still be considered a bad ass, but I'm over Uncharted a bit after playing through the last game.
What if Bonk were cool?
Aug 16 // Jonathan Holmes
In the meantime, we're left to wonder what could have been had Bonk managed to stay alive into 2015. John-Charles Holmes, producer of the new Rhythm Heaven fan magazine Rhythm Zinegoku (featuring art from yours truly and former Dtoid writers Colette Bennett and Ashley Davis), has one possible answer to this question. While this might not be the evolution that many would hope to see for our top heavy caveman hero, I wouldn't be too surprised to see today's Konami take him in this direction.
Bonk photo
Would he be Zonk?
Out of all the frustrating decisions Konami's made in the past few years, its shelving of the Bonk series hurt me the most. For those who don't know, Bonk was the first "radical" console wars rival to Mario, pre-dating Sonic ...
Experience Points .22: Tomb Raider
Aug 15 // Ben Davis
T. Rex doesn't want to be fed, he wants to hunt One of my most memorable gaming moments was seeing the T. Rex in Tomb Raider for the first time. Keep in mind, this was actually the very first 3D video game world I was exposed to. So that, coupled with the fact that I was very young at the time, helped to make the T. Rex a very mind-blowing experience for me. Here's the scenario: As an eight-year-old exploring a three-dimensional cavern for the first time ever, pretty much everything in Tomb Raider seemed incredible to me. Running around, dodging traps, solving puzzles, and shooting at bats, wolves, and even frighteningly powerful bears, I was having an amazing time. Then I get to the Lost Valley, the third level in the game, and things take a surprising turn. Lara climbs up a high wall and drops down into a curiously lush jungle environment, very different from the rocky caves I was used to. A bunch of skeletons litter the ground, and there are some rather large, bird-like footprints all over the place. What could have possibly made these prints? Suddenly, the sound of something large can be heard coming directly towards Lara, and out of nowhere a huge red creature shrieks and lunges at her. It happened so fast that all I could think was, "What the heck is that thing?!" as I jumped around like crazy and desperately fired my pistols. Finally it died, and I was able to take a closer look at the corpse to find out, oh my god, it's a freaking raptor! At that point, dinosaurs were definitely the last thing I expected to see in this game. From then on, I explored the jungle area very cautiously. Soon after dispatching a couple more raptors, Lara approaches a broken bridge high above her. I was moving very slowly towards the bridge, looking up to try and see if there was anything up there, when suddenly the battle music started and the ground began to shake. I stopped dead in my tracks as an enormous T. Rex burst out of the shadows and quickly bounded towards Lara. My heart skipped a beat and I slammed the pause button and nearly fell off of the ottoman I was sitting on! A T. Rex? I have to fight a freaking T. Rex? How in the world? After mentally preparing for several seconds, I got ready to attempt to take down the dinosaur and pressed the start button to resume playing. The T. Rex immediately ran up to Lara, grabbed her in its jaws, thrashed her about, and slammed her limp body onto the ground. Welp. That sure was fast. Eventually, I figured out an effective, if rather cheap, method of killing the big dino, but that moment of seeing it for the first time will forever remain one of my fondest memories in gaming. The wrath of the gods My favorite level in Tomb Raider would easily be St. Francis' Folly. It's the first level of the Greece section, and introduces lions, gorillas, and crocodiles into the mix of enemies. But what makes this level so fun and memorable is the extremely tall, enormous room which leads to four other rooms labeled Thor, Atlas, Neptune, and Damocles. While it's admittedly strange that they included the Norse god Thor and the Roman god Neptune in this Greek ruin (they later changed the names to Hephaestus and Poseidon in Tomb Raider: Anniversary), we'll just look past that for now. These four rooms are some of the coolest areas of the game. They're all themed around the mythological figures they're named for, and they're all quite deadly. Thor's room is decked out with a ball of electricity that shoots lightning bolts onto random floor tiles which Lara must carefully avoid, as well as a gigantic hammer which falls in an attempt to crush her if she wanders beneath it. Atlas' room traps Lara in a narrow corridor with a deadly boulder, which is meant to symbolize the sky that Atlas held upon his shoulders. Neptune's room has a frighteningly deep pool of water which sucks Lara down to the bottom and won't let her back up until she finds a hidden lever. Finally, Damocles' room is rigged with a bunch of huge swords dangling from the ceiling, which fall as Lara tries to leave and even home in on her a bit in an attempt to slice her up. I always enjoyed the creativity that went into making this level. The traps based on mythological figures were a really neat idea and really well implemented, even if they mixed up some of their mythologies. It added a lot to the wonder of the game's world, and even inspired me to research some Greek and Roman gods as a young kid to try and figure out what the names meant. Levels like this are what Tomb Raider is all about. The temptation of the Sphinx This one is a little specific. It's more of a small ritual that I personally enjoy doing every time I play Tomb Raider, even though it's probably not a part of everyone else's experience with the game. But it's also possible that I'm not the only person that does this! Lara actually has two different kinds of jumps in Tomb Raider: a normal jump and a swan dive. The latter is basically just a fancy jump that's probably only meant to be performed around water. Except Lara can do a swan dive anywhere, and one of my favorite things to do is take advantage of this and have her perform swan dives in some of the most ridiculous locations. Sure, she usually breaks her neck, but at least she looks damn good doing it! When I first learned that Lara could do swan dives, I was pulling them off all over the place. I swan dived into every pool of water. I swan dived from the top of the waterfall in the Lost Valley. I even swan dived from the top of the really tall room in St. Francis' Folly (Sorry, Lara!). Then Lara made her way to Egypt, and found herself in the Sanctuary of the Scion. Eventually, she exited into a big, open room with a gigantic Sphinx statue. I took one look at the Sphinx, towering way above Lara's head, and immediately thought, "I have to do a swan dive off that Sphinx." I made that my primary goal as I navigated around the room in an attempt to climb on top of the huge statue's head. Finally, I arrived at the top. I stood there for awhile, surveying the massive, open room around me and the ground far below. Then I pulled off the most glorious swan dive imaginable as Lara silently plummeted to her death in the sand at the Sphinx's feet. It was awesome. Now, whenever I replay Tomb Raider or Tomb Raider: Anniversary, I make it a ritual to perform a swan dive off the top of the Sphinx whenever I arrive at the Sanctuary of the Scion. I wonder if anyone else does the same thing... Home sweet home One of the best parts of any Tomb Raider game is getting to explore Lara Croft's mansion. In many games in the series, including the first, the mansion acts as a tutorial level. It's completely optional to play, and even the tutorial sections of the mansion are optional as well. When Lara enters certain rooms, including a gym, a room with a tumbling mat, a room full of boxes, and a swimming pool, she'll announce to the player all the different moves she can perform and which controls to use. The player can either follow her advice or choose to just keep moving and ignore her if they want, and continue to explore freely. It's actually one of the best ways to include a non-intrusive tutorial that I can think of. Unfortunately, there's not too much to do in the first game's mansion other than tutorials. The second game introduces a bunch of neat little secrets to discover, hidden rooms to find, and a crazy old butler to mess around with and lock in the freezer (he's a hoot), all staples of Lara Croft's awesome home. It's still pretty neat to run around the mansion in the original game though too. Goldfinger This may sound weird, but one of my favorite parts of Tomb Raider is actually one of the death animations. The Tomb Raider series is known for having some pretty gruesome deaths. Even in the first game, I sometimes felt really bad about dying because of Lara's death animations and sound effects. Seeing her thrash about while drowning, hearing the horrible popping and squelching sounds when she falls onto spikes, and watching her get torn apart and tossed around by the T. Rex and the final boss... man, Lara had a rough time. But there's one death animation that had me literally laugh out loud due to how absurd it is. When Lara travels to Greece, she eventually finds herself in an area called Palace Midas. There's a puzzle in this level wherein Lara must collect a few gold bars, except the only things to be found nearby are lead bars. Perhaps there is some way to turn the lead into gold? Those who are familiar with the story of King Midas know that he was said to have the power to turn anything into gold merely by touching it. And wouldn't you know it, there just so happens to be a giant statue of King Midas in the palace, with one of his hands severed and lying on the ground. Obviously, the key to solving the puzzle is to place the lead bars onto the statue's broken hand, which then turns them to gold. But... does the hand turn other things to gold as well? Lara's curiosity gets the better of her as she jumps up onto the hand and, lo and behold, her body parts slowly transform into solid gold as she dies a horrible, yet totally glamorous death. I believe the first time I witnessed this death animation it was completely by accident. I walked into the room, saw the hand lying there, and thought, "I should jump on that hand!" The death that followed took me completely by surprise, but as I sat there looking dumbfounded at the continue screen, I slowly started to piece together what had happened. "Oh! King Midas, duh!" Afterwards, I had a really good laugh, and then promptly went back to the statue room to watch the death animation all over again. Horror in hiding Tomb Raider is one of those games where nobody seems to realize how terrifying and bizarre it is until they actually play it all the way through. It's kind of like Ecco the Dolphin in this regard. For the majority of the game, the locations and enemies remain relatively normal. Lara makes her way through caves and ruins, fighting against the sorts of enemies you might expect to find there, such as bats, wolves, bears, lions, and crocodiles. Occasionally, she'll also encounter some unexpected things such as dinosaurs, but even those aren't too disturbing. But everything changes once Lara reaches the end of the Tomb of Tihocan. The entrance to the tomb is decorated with two statues of centaurs. They don't actually do anything other than look intimidating, so she leaves to navigate the area to find a lever to open the door of the tomb. But as she begins to enter the tomb, the two statues unexpectedly spring to life and attack. And not only do they do that, but their stony exteriors crack open to reveal a truly grotesque sight of what looks like a skinless creature with muscle and bone clearly exposed to the elements. It's horrible, and the first time I played this level it scared the crap out of me! But the horror doesn't stop there. After the Tomb of Tihocan, Lara makes her way into Egypt, and of course the place is crawling with mummies. But these aren't ordinary mummies. You might expect mummies to be slow, lumbering, yet powerful monsters, but the mummies in Tomb Raider are anything but slow! These things freaking run and jump all over the place, making an awful shrieking sound the entire time as they're thrashing at Lara. Their movements are so sudden that they somehow manage to startle me every single time I encounter one. Finally, Lara discovers the lost civilization of Atlantis, which is not nearly as wondrous as you might expect. It's actually pretty nightmarish. The place is crawling with creatures like the centaurs from before, with exposed muscle and bone. Not only that, but the walls, floors, and ceilings are all pulsating and throbbing like the entire place is alive, as if Lara is walking through some massive creature's body. It's extremely unsettling, and very far off from the relatively normal caves that began the whole adventure. And then there's the final boss... I'm fairly sure nobody expected to find something so grossly horrifying from a game like Tomb Raider, but I love how unpredictable it is. Past Experience Points Level 1: .01 - .20 .21: Katamari Damacy
Tomb Raider photo
I'm sorry, I only play for sport
Destructoid's eight great games from gamescom 2015
Aug 14 // Steven Hansen
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain I didn't see shit with respect to The Phantom Pain at gamescom because I already played the damn thing for 14 hours months ago and there wasn't going to be anything too new compared to E3. Just more cut trailers and word that you can Looney Tunes-style kidnap soldiers from other players' bases. Bless this game. Roughly two more weeks. (-Steven) Rise of the Tomb Raider Lara Croft's up to her usual shenanigans in Rise of the Tomb Raider. You know the drill by now: traverse dangerous terrain, avoid deadly traps, brutally murder everyone she encounters. Somehow, it doesn't feel old yet. Actually, it's still pretty damn fantastic. Rise of the Tomb Raider steadily throws challenge after challenge at the player, usually with impeccable style. It's the slow-motion "act quick or Lara's definitely dead" moments that stick with you, but don't underestimate the times when you stand still for a minute and try to pick apart the next puzzle. This game leans heavily on the framework established in 2013's Tomb Raider, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's a bad thing. More of that is perfectly welcome. In our gamescom showing, Lara traded her flairs for glowsticks but the rest of the flashy demo proved that this girl definitely still has flair. (-Brett) Dark Souls 3 There is fear of Souls fatigue and completely sane fear this Dark Souls 3 is easy garbage for casuals, but From Software's tough-but-fair macabre fantasy world remains alluring all the same. I have high hopes for new settings and genres, but once more into a bonfire and flask-filled world of nightmare creatures isn't a bad way to spend some time. (-Steven) Scalebound While Scalebound looks like Platinum's most mainstream-appealing game yet, what with it being an open-world RPG with a vaguely fantasy setting, I'm confident in Hideki Kamiya's ability to bring the weird and inject some life into this Dragonheart successor. Even if it doesn't get too off the rails, it is a completely gorgeous game, with action principles that extend beyond Platinum's typical style (though terms like "open world" and "weapon degradation" do spook the "I like shorter games" side of me). But I'm still pretty sure at some point we're going to be riding that dragon real-time through the completely modern city streets of Drew's world. (-Steven) Hellblade As early a showing as it was, Hellblade has all the right ideas. It's all going to come down to execution. Taking the parlor trick that is hallucination sequences in games and making them "real," because the game takes place in Senua's point of view and her vivid visions are her reality, is a great way of blending theme and form. It gives you a good excuse for a moody third-person action game, too. If Ninja Theory can continue to do Enslaved and Heavenly Sword style stuff on a smaller scale, that will be a win against the homogenization of the industry. (-Steven) We Happy Few First comes credit for cutting this brilliant, unsettling trailer. Then comes credit to me for finally figuring out what the hell this game is. Basically it is an open-world survival sim not unlike Sir, You Are Being Hunted. Everyone is on their happy pills, keeping them in line; you are not on your happy pills and want to make your way off crazy person island. The world is randomly generated each time, but there are five distinct areas to get through, story characters to encounter en route to freedom, and so on. And those faces are still intimidating. (-Steven) Mirror's Edge Catalyst I generally wouldn't feel comfortable making this sort of bold statement after seeing a game in preview form, but here goes: No one who loved Mirror's Edge will be disappointed by the gameplay in Mirror's Edge Catalyst. With some hands-off and hands-on time under my belt, at least that much seems very obvious. The reason is that Catalyst's open-world free-running feels absolutely fantastic. An EA DICE representative gave a tightly-rehearsed presentation and said the word "fluid" about fifty times, and with good reason too. The developer put seamless movement at the forefront when creating this game, and it shows. Everything is fluid. Running across the City of Glass is a treat, not a chore -- that's exactly how Mirror's Edge should be. (-Brett) Kingdom This way my surprise game out of gamescom and I am in love. It takes the complexity of sprawling empire-building games like Civilization and distills them down to one button press. As King or Queen on your high horse, you gallop left or right to expand your kingdom. You do this by dropping coins from your purse. Drop a coin in front of a wandering vagrant and they become a loyal subject. Drop two coins in front of the arrow shop and it will produce a bow that an unemployed subject can pick up to become an archer, who then hunts to add funds back to the national treasury and defends the kingdom during the night cycle as horrible monsters attack. Resource management, strategy, expansion all simplified, easily readable, and supported by a lovely art style and fanastic music. Can't wait to play it again. (-Steven)
Best games of gamescom photo
All the winners, in no particular order
Another year, another gamescom. The show wrapped up last weekend and both Brett and I are safely home in the United States of America, clutching out guns and dystopian healthcare, but we've loosed out iron grip just long enou...
Don't speak photo
Don't speak
Nintendo will now duct tape employee mouths shut before they go home for the day (Fauxclusive)
This or they start cutting out tongues
Aug 14
// CJ Andriessen
Following the dismissal of Nintendo Treehouse employee Chris Pranger over comments he made in a Part-Time Gamers podcast, Nintendo of America told employees that beginning next week the company will start physically taping ...
Pro Game Journo photo
Pro Game Journo
Video games journalist is total big shot at high school reunion (Fauxclusive)
Because it's the best job in the world!
Aug 13
// CJ Andriessen
Students attending the Monroe High School Class of 2005 10-Year Reunion say the most memorable aspect of the night was neither the catering by In-N-Out Burger nor the Wolfmother cover band. No, these students say the thing ...
I used to love Konami
Aug 12 // Jonathan Holmes
There aren't many video game characters from 1987 who are still relevant today. I've selected a few for your perusal below. See if you can pick out which one is not like the others. I've added a generic chart of realistic human proportions to help you guess the answer. While not quite "realistic," Castlevania's Simon Belmont is far and away the design who comes closest to following actual human proportions. He doesn't rely on bright colors, baby proportions, expressive facial features, and other tools borrowed from the language of traditional hand drawn cartoons to win over the crowd. He's an earnest attempt to harness the style of a classic action film hero and apply it to a video game. Most of Konami's games back in the late 1980s went for this style. While other publishers tried to tickle players with clownish antics, Konami titles like Gradius, Rush 'N Attack, Castlevania, The Adventures of Bayou Billy, Contra, and Metal Gear rejected cuteness in favor of a feel that payed tribute to Hollywood action films of the day, though they often walked dangerously close towards the line between tribute and theft. It was common practice for Konami to "borrow" the visage of big name actors for the games. Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Boris Karloff, Sean Connery, Kurt Russel and Mel Gibson are just a few of examples of big names who bear a strong resemblance to classic Konami characters. That kind of thing is pretty common in our modern world of games, with actual Hollywood actors (like TV heartthrob Norman Reedus) regularly lending their names, faces, and voices to AAA titles, but back in the 8-bit era, only Konami had the balls to consistently leap over tech limitations in an effort to deliver something more like an R-rated film. If the ESRB had existed back in the '80s, chances are a few of Konami's games would have flirted with an M rating. While Konami may have worked to divorce itself from the cartoon mascots of '80s gaming, it did not work to avoid video game logic. Castlevania payed tribute to the dark, intimidating worlds depicted in classic Universal monster films, but it also hid meat behind walls and implanted Valentine's hearts inside of candles. Metal Gear combined James Bond's spy action with Rambo's lone soldier in a politically unstable world, but underneath that macho exterior, it's basically Pac-Man with guns. It's a game where characters may discuss the seriousness of World War III in one scene, only to have a large exclamation mark pop up above their heads in the next. That's a tradition that the series has never let go of, and has gone on to be one of its defining characteristics. Playing off the tension between film and video game logic lived on in the Konami brand for over 30 years. The Silent Hill series centers around entering worlds that defy conventional reality, where subconscious thoughts and feelings fuse with the horrific and supernatural to create an environment that's emotionally real but physically impossible. At their heart, that's what most video games are -- worlds that feel real even though we know that they are not. Konami used to dart between realism and surrealism, symbolism and literalism, unplayable cinema and interactive gameplay, to create something larger than the sum of its parts. That interplay is the natural evolution of its old 1980s practice of depicting real life Hollywood icons with stripped down, iconographic sprites. It's something we see so often in modern games that we may take it for granted, but if it weren't for Konami working to pave the way, who knows where we'd be now. I sincerely hope that Konami returns to this kind of game design, or any kind of game design that doesn't involve sexy Pachinko machines.
Konami photo
I also used to love Mel Gibson
There aren't a lot of good things to say about Konami these days. Its missteps over the past few years have been frequent and severe, including: the embarrassingly poor Silent Hill HD Collection; the cancellation of Silent Hi...
Which video games did you grow up with?
Aug 09 // Ben Davis
We had a ton of other NES cartridges, too. Of course, we had the other two Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, plus some other neat games like Clash at Demonhead, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, 1943: The Battle of Midway, Marble Madness, and Excitebike, as well as some weirder ones like Fester's Quest, T&C Surf Designs, and Winter Games. I dabbled in all of these games, usually with my sister and brother -- who was way better than me at the time, so I watched him beat more than a few of them. As for the other consoles, we only owned a few titles for each, and typically rented more. Our SNES collection included Super Mario World, Mario Paint, A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy II (well, IV), and Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge. I liked all of these, but I probably played Final Fantasy II and Mario Paint the most (I loved that fly swatter mini-game!). I was terrible at Final Fantasy, though. I always got stuck on the octopus boss or the Antlion. I know I never saw anything past that point. But I kept trying to get better, because I really wanted to see more of that world. The Sega Genesis didn't get much love. I know we had a few Sonic the Hedgehog games and Ecco: The Tides of Time, but I can't remember anything else. Ecco was actually one of my favorite games at the time, because I was obsessed with marine biology as a kid (and still am!), but I was so bad at it that I just watched my brother play it instead. Whenever I played, I mostly just swam around and did flips and stuff. We also had some neat PC games. I remember playing Myst, SimTown, Lemmings, Magic Carpet, and Lode Runner: The Legend Returns on our old Windows 95 computer. I always thought Myst was really interesting visually, but I could never solve the puzzles by myself, of course. I spent most of my time with SimTown and Lode Runner. I even messed around with the level editor in Lode Runner a bit and tried to make my own maps. I'm sure all of the games from my childhood helped shape me into the gamer I am today and had major influences on my tastes. I always seemed to prefer the weird stuff, like Super Mario Bros. 2, Blaster Master, and Ecco. I loved platformers most, but also enjoyed RPGs and creative games like Mario Paint and SimTown. Of course, my tastes have since grown to include many other genres and types of games, but the ones I grew up with were the foundation of my hobby and I'll never forget them. How about you? Which games did you have growing up? What did you play the most and why?
Community discussion photo
Time for a nostalgia trip
Everyone remembers their first video game, right? I often think back on the games my family owned growing up and realize how much of an impact they had on my life. Without them, I might not be here today talking about video g...
Experience Points .21: Katamari Damacy
Aug 08 // Ben Davis
Royal Rainbow! The King of All Cosmos might actually be my favorite video game character of all time. It's weird though, because honestly, he's kind of an asshole. He "accidentally" destroys all the stars in the galaxy, and then has the nerve to make his son do all the work creating new ones. He's also incredibly snarky and super critical of the Prince's work. Really, dad? You're gonna force me to fix your mistakes and then tell me I'm not doing it well enough? I'm really feeling the love here... But even after all the abuse, I just can't help but admire the King of All Cosmos. I mean, just look at him! He's fit, handsome, has a quirky fashion sense, well-groomed facial hair, and a shockingly noticeable bulge (oh myyy). And did I mention he literally vomits rainbows? He is the very definition of fabulous. The King's dialogue is one of the most entertaining aspects of Katamari. Hearing him put down the Prince in such a nonchalant way is pretty funny. Plus he's got a witty sense of humor and a really strange way of viewing the world. It's fun to see what he thinks of humans and their way of life as he tries to understand why they do the things they do. He talks a lot (and I mean a lot!), but I never got tired of hearing his weird and wonderful thoughts or the strange record-scratching sound he makes. The King of All Cosmos may be a horrible father and a huge asshole, but he's just such a lovable asshole. I mean, it's hard to be mad at a man that has rainbows bursting out of every orifice! [embed]297398:59858:0[/embed] Na naaa na na na na naa naa naa na naa naa na na na~ It's almost impossible to talk about Katamari and not mention the soundtrack. It's one of the most unique video game soundtracks I've ever heard, filled with relentlessly happy songs and catchy melodies. If I ever want to smile, I simply have to put on some Katamari music. It cheers me up instantly. The vocal tracks are the best. Some of my favorites from the first game include "Lonely Rolling Star," "Katamaritaino," "A Crimson Rose and a Gin Tonic," and "Katamari Mambo" (I especially enjoy the male singer in that last one; he sounds so crazy!). Then there's "Cherry Blossom Color Season" with some adorable child vocals, "Que Sera Sera" with its notable English vocals ("I want to wad you up into my life!"), and "Katamari on the Rocks" which gets stuck in my head for days whenever I play the game. And I can't forget to mention "The Wonderful Star's Walk is Wonderful," which may not be a vocal track, but it's my personal favorite. I could honestly gush about every song on the soundtrack; the whole thing is fantastic! I had to give special mention to the title screen music, though. It's the very first thing the player hears upon turning on the game, and it's fantastic. It's basically just a guy singing a simple melody, but it's an instantly classic tune. It's calming, cheerful, quirky, and immediately recognizable. All you have to do is sing the first two notes ("Na naaa...") and it's already in my head! For the people The basic premise of Katamari is to roll junk up into a ball. It's a very simple idea, but it's crazy just how fun it is. It starts the player off as a tiny little ball rolling up thumbtacks and candies, growing larger and picking up progressively bigger objects like trash cans and bicycles, and eventually becoming huge enough to roll up entire buildings and even the very island they're standing on. It's such a wonderful feeling to see the Katamari growing larger and more powerful by the second and rolling up everything in its way. But I always find that the most fun comes from rolling up people. The behavior of the humans in Katamari games is hilarious. When the Katamari is still really small, they sort of just go about their business normally, most of the time not even giving a second glance to the weird ball of junk rolling around them. But once it's big enough, people will notice it and run away in terror, flailing their arms wildly. Even when they get rolled up themselves, they keep flailing their arms and legs in a comically energetic manner, like insects that are stuck on their backs. They also make funny noises upon being picked up. Usually it's a goofy shouting or laughing sound, but many of them make other strange noises. The biker punks' cries are especially odd. This video has a good sampling of the many sounds the people make. It may seem cruel to enjoy rolling people up into a ball of random objects, potentially crushing them as things like cars and buildings are added into the mix, or impaling them on fence posts and street signs, or burning them on campfires, or drowning them as the Katamari rolls through the ocean. And all the while they await their fate of being turned into a flaming hot star in a newly reformed galaxy. But, you know, they'll probably be okay... right? I hope? I'm sure they're fine... My cousin Dipp The Prince's many cousins are a bizarre bunch of individuals. They can be found hidden in each level, and can later be selected for use in the multiplayer mini-game. Over the course of the series, more and more cousins were added to the mix, and they became playable characters for the main game as well. Even though they're essentially just costume swaps of the Prince (they don't have special abilities or anything), I just love collecting all the little guys. Whenever I find a cousin as I'm rolling around one of the levels, I absolutely have to roll them up. If they're too big, I make it my goal to grow large enough to grab them before the timer runs out. The cousins also have some of the craziest designs in the game. They're all very colorful with differently-shaped heads. There's Ichigo who looks like a strawberry, Marny who's shaped like a tennis ball, Nickel who's a robot, Lalala who is always naked, Miso who literally has a bowl of soup for a head (filled with actual soup in later games), and many more. My two favorite cousins are Dipp and Odeko. Dipp's body is covered with brightly-colored, flashing polka dots so he looks like a disco ball or something, and Odeko has an unreasonably tall head which grows taller in the later games and makes certain items like the headphones look really funny. I almost always play as those two. Throughout the Katamari series, the cousins seem to get weirder and weirder. The original 23 from the first game have all had their features altered and intensified, while newer, crazier cousins are introduced as well. I really like them though. They're like a strange, dysfunctional, rainbow-colored family. I bet they have the greatest reunions! Must find all of the things! Katamari Damacy is one of those games where I have to collect everything. I feel like I haven't truly finished the game until I've rolled up every last object I can find. This mentality is mainly due to the very detailed collection screen, which lists every object by category, location, and size, as well as a separate list for rare objects with special names. Each list provides a percentage of items that have been collected, which of course made the completionist gamer in me want to fill out each list for 100% completion. Katamari also took one step further with its collection screen by adding funny little descriptions for each object in the game. The descriptions appear to be written from the perspective of the King of All Cosmos, since they often use the royal We, which the King enjoys using to refer to himself. Since the majority of the objects are human items, the King sort of has to guess at what they're used for through observation, so a lot of the descriptions are humorous. Some of my favorite descriptions include the peach ("A butt-shaped fruit that is more tasty than butts."), the chopsticks ("Why are these called chopsticks? And why are they so difficult to use?"), the toothbrush ("A stick to put in your mouth. There's got to be a purpose..."), the nail clipper ("Used to clip human claws. We wonder if it hurts."), the handcuffs ("If you do something really bad these may be used on you! Or if you are good..."), and the dung beetle ("Rolls cow dung and makes it bigger. We feel a little rivalry here."). The collection screens are always a joy to read through. Every time I find new items, I go directly to the collection to read what the King has to say about it. In fact, there's actually a Twitter account specifically dedicated to cataloging every single Katamari item with their descriptions! And now for something completely different It's not often I praise a game for its cutscenes, but Katamari's cutscenes are simply glorious. The game's intro is just about the happiest, craziest thing I've ever watched, and it sets the mood perfectly. It has rainbows bursting everywhere, animals dancing and singing, the King flying around and looking all regal, the Prince doing a happy little dance, and really catchy, upbeat music. It might just be my favorite opening scene of all time, simply because of how wacky and cheerful it is. Those ducks get me every time! And then there are the other cutscenes which focus on the human Hoshino family as they live their daily lives while Katamari are being rolled in the background. These scenes are particularly awkward. The Hoshinos are all square and boxy, move very slowly, and speak in slow, unenthusiastic voices, but something about their boring demeanor clashes with the wackiness of the game in a hilarious way. The cutscenes always had me laughing in a "what did I just watch?" kind of way, and I kept looking forward to seeing more of them. Oh, and the little girl also has her own cutscenes after each constellation level is completed. She gets a peculiar sensation and proclaims, "Oh! I feel it. I feel the cosmos!" before swirling out of control into the cosmos herself. I love those scenes so much. Past Experience Points .01: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.02: Shadow of the Colossus.03: EarthBound.04: Catherine.05: Demon's Souls.06: No More Heroes.07: Paper Mario.08: Persona 4.09: Final Fantasy IX.10: Mega Man Legends.11: Rayman Origins.12: Metal Slug 3.13: Animal Crossing.14: Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King.15: Super Mario Sunshine.16: Final Fantasy VII.17: Nier.18: Chrono Trigger.19: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.20: Red Dead Redemption
Katamari Damacy photo
Oh! I feel it. I feel the cosmos!
The 90s are bad photo
The 90s are bad
Rude old PC ad suggests all men are casual console babies
The 90s are bad
Aug 08
// Steven Hansen
Can you believe this 3Dfx ad from the 90s recently unearthed online by Felipe Pepe? In the era of "attitude" (or just 'tude), 3Dfx had the gall to suggest all men, the fairer sex not graced with breasts, are all casual consol...
Podtoid 302: Virtual Reality is the Future
Aug 08 // Kyle MacGregor
[embed]297458:59878:0[/embed] What We Discussed Gamescom (Star Wars, Tomb Raider, Assassin's Creed, MMOs) Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest Oculus VR inventor Palmer Luckey's unfortunate TIME cover Dark Souls Darren is playing some dumb mobile game Penny Arcade Expo Gardevoir Rocket League Inside baseball and actual baseball Recent Episodes Podtoid 301: The Least Interesting Man in the World Podtoid 300: Randy Pitchford's Little Asshole Podtoid 299: Blast Ball Podtoid 298: Tales of E3 and Batman: Arkham Knight Podtoid 297: E3 2015 Predictions, Tips & Tricks Send any and all questions, tips, and Steven Hansen fan art to [email protected]
Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or download it here. No Brett or Steven this week, as the beastie boys are still off gallivanting around Cologne, Germany for gamescom. But we did manage to bring back PCWorld's illustrious Hayden Dingman to discuss the hottest, sweatiest, smelliest news in the world of video games for your listening pleasure.
Here's what the first ever Super Smash Con looks like
Aug 07 // Chris Carter
Super Smash Con photo
I'd say it's a success
Lighthouses photo
Today is National Lighthouse Day, go play To the Moon
Everything's Alright
Aug 07
// Darren Nakamura
We have a lot of silly "holidays" in the United States, when we don't actually take off work but instead just take a few minutes to think about a thing we maybe don't often think about. Today is National Lighthouse Day, so le...
What games are you never ever ever getting back together with?
Aug 05 // Jed Whitaker
You've got what I need photo
Never say never
My completely inaccurate Rising Thunder tier list
Aug 05 // Nic Rowen
Crow Crow is like a mini-Evangelion mech with a chakram, which I'd normally consider a strong look. But, when compared to the rest of the much goofier and lighthearted Rising Thunder cast, he just looks like he's trying too hard to be edgy -- like Hot Topic opened a mech garage. I can't wait for the DLC to give him a wallet chain and a checker pattern. Crow also looks like he'll be annoying as hell to fight against. Rising Thunder may be the first fighting game to actually do invisibility right (because it's online only, the Crow player will be able to see an outline of their character on their screen while the opponent will see nothing) and that will be sure to attract the trollish kind of player who likes to mess with people. I can already see the YouTube clip reels of time-out victories where a Crow player gets a life lead and dances around invisible for the rest of the match on the horizon. His spinning disk can be delayed to float in the air for a long time, which is the kind of thing that is always a pain to deal with. Any character that can force an opponent to defend while still being able to move and attack themselves seem to do well, so I wouldn't be surprised if Crow actually turned out to be one of the better characters in Rising Thunder. For the purposes of this list however, his high school-ish gothy design and my prediction that I'm going to hate fighting him will land Crow squarely at the bottom of this list. What, you thought this was going to be useful? Edge So, we can all agree that Edge is basically Zero with the serial numbers filed off, right? I mean, red armor, green energy sword, slim build. Heck, he's even got a freaking pony tail! It would be scandalous if Capcom hadn't already abandoned the maverick hunter. Someone might as well rescue him from the scrapyard and put him to work. The in-game description labels Edge as a rush-down character with a high skill difficulty. Given how Zero played in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the resemblance isn't purely coincidental. Edge looks like the kind of character who is designed to reward dedication and practice by becoming a sheer nightmare in the right hands. The kind of character I can never quite seem to grok but can look forward to being bodied by, over and over. Joy. Oh well. Here's hoping he doesn't have any lightning loop nonsense at least. Dauntless I want to like Dauntless more than I do. She has all the right pieces, a goofy expressive face, extra large hands for Rock'Em-Sock'Em style fisticuffs, and a pleasingly robot-ish squared off design. But something just doesn't click. There is nothing wrong with her, but she's just a little too bland to really crack the top half of the list. Sorry, Dauntless, it's the curse of being the mascot character. Too inoffensive to hate, too milquetoast to love. Speaking of Rock'Em-Sock'Em, that's a cross marketing opportunity if I've ever seen one. Someone should get on that Kickstarter fast. Talos Talos is the big dumb grappler character of Rising Thunder and he knows it. He's got a silly accent, a boisterous attitude, a dumb haircut, and incredibly overdone command grab specials; everything you need to make Zangief, the patron saint of grapplers, proud. Talos goes one step further by joining the ranks of some of my other favorite big dumb characters like Iron Tager and Lex Luthor by having an electromagnetic suction mechanic to pull opponents in close for that real soviet damage. Come here and give daddy a hug. Also, his forward dash makes him pivot on his arms like a gorilla. Perfection. Vlad I can't tell if Vlad is going to be the Dan of Rising Thunder, or the Akuma. All I know is that he's going to be a fan favorite and I'm no exception. He's so damn cute and silly that I almost don't want to love him, but I do, I do. How could I not? He's like if the Iron Giant had a goofy Russian step-brother. While all the other fighters of Rising Thunder are cutting-edge robots ripped from futuristic anime series and discarded Jagger design documents, Vlad is like a tin robot stumbling out of the 1950s, with all the adorable goofiness and Cold War tension that implies. He's got a jetpack, a tiny flag antenna, and he windmills his arms and torso about like a madman. He even fires a tiny elbow rocket! Vlad has everything I'm looking for in a robot. But I suspect Vlad harbors a darker secret underneath all that silly charm. Inside that metal chest beats the heart of a real terror, the kind of character everyone writes off as a joke until he shows up in a tournament one day and cleans house. It's that jetpack, and all the fly-canceling shenanigans it could allow. I bet we'll see someone break the game with it sooner or later, and then no one will be laughing anymore. Chel Chel makes the top of my list by virtue of sheer adorability. She's a little ball of energy with a whole lot of personality for a robot. A big plume of pink hair, a charming accent, and cute little rocket boosters on her hands for when she does a forward dash. Robot girls just want to have fun! In a weird coincidence, Chel is the one place where my dumb personal tier list happens to overlap with reality. As it stands in the alpha, Chel is one of, if not the, strongest character. Her keep-away fireballs and one-button uppercut lead to a simple, but brutally effective game plan that is easy to implement and difficult to work around. That Shoto archetype set the standard for a reason. Given how upset people seem to be at Chel right now, I'd expect to see some balance changes that will make her a little less of a cruise-control character. So I guess now is the time to scumbag it up and establish that character loyalty cred while sneakily enjoying a top-tier character. Rising Thunder is still in the earliest of early days, so any talk of actual tier lists is super dumb and I'm sure everything will change twenty times before the game is launched for real. There are still characters to be revealed, mechanics to iron out, and decisions to be made. As it stands though, Rising Thunder is remarkably fun to play, even if it represents a dramatic shift from traditional fighting game models. Has anyone else been playing the alpha or watching some streams of it? Picked out a favorite already or have a particularly despised foe? I'd be interested to hear what other people think of the game so far!
Rising Thunder tier list photo
From rust bucket to top-bot
Rising Thunder is an experiment I'm not quite sure about yet. On one hand, it seems to be custom made for me: an aging fighting game fan with a well-documented obsession with robots and a pair of cinder-block mittens for hand...
| <urn:uuid:1eead2a5-6eb7-4aa9-af27-263428fe35a0> | http://www.destructoid.com/?t=Destructoid%20Originals&start=11 | en | 0.964927 | 0.060364 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
www.digitalmars.com C & C++ DMDScript
digitalmars.D - V2 Initializing char[] variables
So I can't use
char[] da = "abc"
any more because "abc" is immutable. Presumably I do
char[] da = "abc".dup;
Since the compiler knows I can't do this would it do any harm to attribute a
different meaning to da = "abc"; and have the dup implied? One less thing to
fix in existing code.
On todays popular subject, I'd just like to note that it took me maybe half an
hour to convert around 3000 lines of my odbcd code to V2, mainly by just
substituting 'string' for 'char[]'. Quite painless really.
Jul 06 2007 | <urn:uuid:3d5e6557-a053-4d60-8a6f-50276bd6238d> | http://www.digitalmars.com/d/archives/digitalmars/D/V2_Initializing_char_variables_55338.html | en | 0.888838 | 0.668634 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Lesson 16.3: Science Connection
The Sun and Its Planets
Earth is a planet. It moves around the sun. Other planets move around the sun too.
Mercury is the planet closest to the sun. Venus is next. Then comes Earth. After Earth are Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Pluto is farthest from the sun.
sun and planets in our solar system
• Begin | <urn:uuid:f703c991-87ab-48a6-9f8d-1737393bf606> | http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmm/wr/1/wr1_06_16_3.html | en | 0.848201 | 0.896061 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Elkhart's Nathan Palmer signed with the Denver Broncos as a late-season free agent pickup. (Photo Supplied)
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Nathan Palmer (89) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown against the San Diego Chargers during the third quarter of an NFL preseason football game in San Francisco, Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) (AP)
Northern Illinois Huskies player and Elkhart native Nathan Palmer is on the Miami Dolphins practice squad. (Photo Supplied) (PHOTO SUPPLIED)
Indianapolis Colts' Nathan Palmer runs a drill during practice Wednesday, May 22, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings) ¬ (AP)
5 questions with Nathan Palmer: Broncos Super Bowl appearance to Miami locker room troubles
Posted on April 17, 2014 at 4:53 p.m.
ELKHART — It's been a hectic two seasons of pro football for Nathan Palmer.
Since becoming an undrafted free agent signee by San Francisco in 2012, the Elkhart native has earned practice squad roster spots in Indianapolis, Miami and Denver. Palmer hopes to keep his slot as the Broncos gather Monday, April 21, for the beginning of the team's OTA — organized team activity.
The fun, return-home-and-relax time is over and the real job begins. The NFL Draft is set for May 8-10 and Denver's mandatory mini-camp will run June 10-12. The former Elkhart Central and Northern Illinois University standout knows he has work to do.
Palmer offered his take on the 2013 season and his hopes for 2014 — from the Richie Incognito-Jonathan Martin bullying drama in the Dolphins' locker room to Denver's humbling Super Bowl loss in New York.
How frustrating was your time in Miami?
"It wasn't my favorite place to be. Player wise, they were great guys. I just don't think they were on the same page. There are a lot of things they did down there, being on the practice squad, that was a new experience for me compared to other places. I was on the practice squad when I started off at San Fran and that was a great place to be on a practice squad. In Miami, that was the first time I sat in the stands and I felt like I wasn't a part of the team. There were a lot of things that happened down there ... it just wasn't a good fit for me at the time. I was struggling coming back from injury, I was already frustrated with the season. There was a lot of stuff that kept piling on. Great city. Love the city, love the people. It was kind of hard to get fans out to the games."
Did the Dolphins-Incognito-Martin bullying scene go too far?
"I saw it, but I didn't think it was as bad. I don't want to take a side because bullying is such a serious thing. I believe if you're over 300 pounds and you're 6-3, you should never be bullied. I will not lie. It all goes back to a fraternity. There are things that go on in the fraternity that people don't agree with. Maybe it was just how I was raised, but somebody will only do as much as you allow them to. Me being a little guy, I'm not going to let a big guy ... I don't care if he's big, short, small, same size as me, if you say something my mom or sister or my family that I don't want to be said, I'll let you know."
Did Jonathan Martin break the NFL "code" with his actions/reactions?
"Yes. Anybody that knows anything about football knows the O-line is the closest knit group. Anytime you can't talk in the O-line, something is wrong. Those are the guys, they will fight any other team, they will fight any teammate together. Come out to any football practice ... college, high school ... the O-line sticks together. You might see one wide receiver get in a fight with somebody and none of the other wide receivers will join in. If an O-lineman gets in a fight, they all are in. No question. And to be honest, that's when you see problems, that's why sacks happen because they weren't close. If you looked at the text messages that go back between me and Ricky Jean (Francois) or TY (T.Y. Hilton of the Colts) you wouldn't think we were friends sometimes. It goes back to a thousand text messages between two males, grown males that have families ... That's no enemy. I respect the situation, I see the sensitivity in the situation, but I just can't respect a guy like that in the locker room."
What's the prospect for staying with Denver?
"I got a chance to get a spot. As long as I stay healthy and do what I need to do. That's been the whole thing, to get Peyton (Manning) to believe in me and to be comfortable with him being out there. I've got to work on the same things from college ... catching the ball consistently. I think I did a lot better this year and people tell me I look a lot better, the best they've seen. It's getting Peyton to be like, 'OK, I can throw the ball anywhere to this guy and he'll make that grab. I'll throw it into double-coverage and he's going to go in there and get it. That's the kind of confidence he has to have in me. With me, I have to expand my catch radius. Like Demaryius Thomas, you throw it three feet in the air and he's going to go get it or you could throw it almost down to the turf and he's going to go down and get it. That's something I struggled with."
You weren't on the Broncos long, but how tough was the Super Bowl loss?
"Anytime you watch is hard. I'm the kind of guy where I've always wanted to help. You see how hard they all worked leading up to the Super Bowl and you see the result we put out there. It was very disappointing. For guys like Champ (Bailey), he's not coming back. Guys like Dominque Rogers-Cromartie, Peyton Manning, guys I grew up watching, you never want to see them not be able to win the big game. I asked myself, 'What could I have done better to help?' I definitely shed a tear after that game." | <urn:uuid:4e9aca37-dea3-4b5f-b184-e9d7ebe82a16> | http://www.elkharttruth.com/sports/Side-Lines/2014/04/17/5-questions-with-Nathan-Palmer-Broncos-Super-Bowl-appearance-to-Miami-locker-room-drama.print | en | 0.982309 | 0.019349 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Next: , Previous: , Up: Narrowing & Widening [Contents][Index]
6.2 what-line
The what-line command tells you the number of the line in which the cursor is located. The function illustrates the use of the save-restriction and save-excursion commands. Here is the original text of the function:
(defun what-line ()
"Print the current line number (in the buffer) of point."
(message "Line %d"
(1+ (count-lines 1 (point)))))))
(In recent versions of GNU Emacs, the what-line function has been expanded to tell you your line number in a narrowed buffer as well as your line number in a widened buffer. The recent version is more complex than the version shown here. If you feel adventurous, you might want to look at it after figuring out how this version works. You will probably need to use C-h f (describe-function). The newer version uses a conditional to determine whether the buffer has been narrowed.
(Also, it uses line-number-at-pos, which among other simple expressions, such as (goto-char (point-min)), moves point to the beginning of the current line with (forward-line 0) rather than beginning-of-line.)
The what-line function as shown here has a documentation line and is interactive, as you would expect. The next two lines use the functions save-restriction and widen.
The save-restriction special form notes whatever narrowing is in effect, if any, in the current buffer and restores that narrowing after the code in the body of the save-restriction has been evaluated.
The save-restriction special form is followed by widen. This function undoes any narrowing the current buffer may have had when what-line was called. (The narrowing that was there is the narrowing that save-restriction remembers.) This widening makes it possible for the line counting commands to count from the beginning of the buffer. Otherwise, they would have been limited to counting within the accessible region. Any original narrowing is restored just before the completion of the function by the save-restriction special form.
The call to widen is followed by save-excursion, which saves the location of the cursor (i.e., of point) and of the mark, and restores them after the code in the body of the save-excursion uses the beginning-of-line function to move point.
(Note that the (widen) expression comes between the save-restriction and save-excursion special forms. When you write the two save- … expressions in sequence, write save-excursion outermost.)
The last two lines of the what-line function are functions to count the number of lines in the buffer and then print the number in the echo area.
(message "Line %d"
The message function prints a one-line message at the bottom of the Emacs screen. The first argument is inside of quotation marks and is printed as a string of characters. However, it may contain a ‘%d’ expression to print a following argument. ‘%d’ prints the argument as a decimal, so the message will say something such as ‘Line 243’.
The number that is printed in place of the ‘%d’ is computed by the last line of the function:
What this does is count the lines from the first position of the buffer, indicated by the 1, up to (point), and then add one to that number. (The 1+ function adds one to its argument.) We add one to it because line 2 has only one line before it, and count-lines counts only the lines before the current line.
After count-lines has done its job, and the message has been printed in the echo area, the save-excursion restores point and mark to their original positions; and save-restriction restores the original narrowing, if any.
| <urn:uuid:c85cfa7e-0a90-4deb-b085-ac7d3974e8a6> | http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/eintr/what_002dline.html | en | 0.928534 | 0.104725 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Fast-Loading Search, Reviews, News and More
Advertise Charity Contact Home News Reviews Sitemap
This relatively compact film camera uses regular 35mm rolls of film. The Minolta Freedom 200 is black, aside from the white lettering and a red shutter button.
Its features include a "Quartz Date" function, a neck strap, and a flash. The built-in flash is rectangular and positioned vertically, unlike most such flashes.
The Minolta Freedom 200's lens and viewfinder are located near the middle of the camera. Letters on the front read "AF", meaning that it has an autofocus function.
This Minolta has more features than the average point and shoot camera. It's not rare, though it remains less common than a number of other mass-produced 35mm cameras.
Warning: Many cameras are damaged or destroyed by battery corrosion; always remember to take batteries out before storing the camera long-term.
(C) 2010 Best Viewed at 640x480 or 800x600 Resolution | <urn:uuid:5b13c34c-f80d-4df4-b00e-fd08250d701b> | http://www.lesswaiting.com/minolta-freedom-200.shtml | en | 0.919292 | 0.022746 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
[Metroactive Stage]
[ Stage Index | Silicon Valley | Metroactive Home | Archives ]
Photograph by Robert Shonler
Rodent Royalty: Willie Anderson plays the Mouse King in Dennis Nahat's take on 'The Nutcracker.'
Opening Up 'The Nut'
Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley works wonders with the seasonal classic
By Marianne Messina
DON'T FEEL BAD if you've seen The Nutcracker many times already and still don't know the story line. By the time E.T.A. Hoffman's popular tale made it to Russia for its ballet incarnation in 1892, Hoffman would barely have recognized it himself. Moreover, few of the story elements have remained consistent throughout the ballet's century-plus of productions. For Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley's Nutcracker, artistic director Dennis Nahat has dispensed with the candy coating (the Sugar Plum Fairy and the idea of representing countries as consumables) and brought back international potentates.
As for the sketchy, oft-mutated story, Nahat is careful to lay out his version clearly by giving Godfather Drosselmeyer a talking part, delivered from the proscenium before the curtain goes up. Nahat as Drosselmeyer, tells the audience, in confidential manner, that the legitimate Prince of Muscovy is opposed by the "wicked King of Mice," who "gave him a nasty bite. What happened? He turned into a Nutcracker--stiff like wood." And now the prince needs the love of a young girl to break the spell.
This production seems more coherent than many, with the second act trimmed of extraneous characters like Mother Ginger. And having the prince (Stephane Dalle, part of a large rotating cast of principals) reunite with his parents, Tsar Nikolai (Ivan Bielik) and Tsarina Tatianna (Alexsandra Meijer), adds a touch of closure. In place of the Sugar Plum, it's the tsarina who dances to Tchaikovsky's celestial music, and it's the royal Russian couple who dance the grand pas de deux.
Since The Nutcracker is about color and spectacle as much as dance, San Jose's production does not spare the color palette. In Act 1, the fashion of upper-class Victorians comes in crisp greens and vivid blues, while the lush palette of burgundy to mauve to rose in the Tannenbaum home is woven into successive scenes to form a neat internal symbolism. The conspicuous purple of Godfather Drosselmeyer's vest is next seen on the usurping Mouse King's sash and again in swashes of purple in the live mice's coat tails.
In terms of spectacle, there are explosions, fog, snow, breathtaking set changes and more sparkle one might find at a rave (every nobleman in the waltz scenes wears a diamond broach). The puppet mice that infest at midnight are creepy, and their comical exit relies on state-of-the-art stage-mouse technology: the costumed radio-controlled car.
For adults, The Nutcracker can be both splendid and somber. And even if for those who know nothing about ballet, the right performance by a dancer, be it precise, powerful or heartfelt, can hit the subconscious and send the mind's eye in both directions. This show had its share of right performances: The tortured death pose of the Mouse King (Willie Anderson), his frozen twiglike claws grasping at air, comical and macabre at once; Karen Gabay's exuberant toe work as the gleeful Maria; the flawless timing and execution of pink-clad ballerinas combined with Nahat's clever choreography to create flowers opening one after another like a sort of time-lapse series--you can see them bloom, even without knowing that the dance is called "Waltz of the Flowers." And as Tsarina Tatiana, Meijer made an exit that was so bittersweet in its delicate control, you couldn't help flashing all at once on the days when the ideal woman was as controlled and fragile as a china doll--and on the fate of the Russian nobility, decimated just a generation after they were so gaily celebrated in The Nutcracker's waltz, and on the precarious balance between beloved tradition and hopeful change.
The Nutcracker, a Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley production, plays Dec. 16 at 4pm, Dec. 18-19 at 7:30pm, Dec. 20-22 at 1:30pm and 7:30pm, Dec. 23 at 4pm, Dec. 26 at 7:30pm, Dec. 27 at 1:30 and 7:30pm and Dec. 28 at 1:30pm at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose. Tickets are $22-$68. (408.288.2800)
[ Silicon Valley | Metroactive Home | Archives ]
Foreclosures - Real Estate Investing
San Jose.com Real Estate | <urn:uuid:ee6f4c27-f3b3-4688-84af-2a546e22ee07> | http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/12.18.03/nutcracker-0351.html | en | 0.931188 | 0.020774 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Pick The Best Day Of The Week For Your Motion Hearing
Do yourself a favor. Don’t set your big state court motion for hearing on a Friday. It’s not that judges are itching to get out the door (though that may be true). Fridays are always the heaviest motion day of the week in state court. The calendars are jammed with summary judgement motions because the code requires them to be heard no later than 30 days before trial (which ends up being a Friday).
Try Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday for your motion. On summary judgment, these days also give you up to two extra days to prepare your reply brief. That’s because you have to file your reply brief five calendar days before the hearing. If the hearing is on a Thursday or Friday, the fifth day before hearing falls on Saturday or Sunday (when the court is closed), meaning you have to get it on file by Friday. That short-changes you by one or two days. The same calendar math does not work for other motions, but Friday is still a bad day over-all.
government,politics news,politics news,politics
• Advertisement
Speak Your Mind
Tell us what you're thinking...
Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes | <urn:uuid:e3e20e53-c84e-4a8a-b716-7667a0d323c2> | http://www.newdorf.com/picking_motion_hearing_days | en | 0.931132 | 0.025287 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Silent and stealthy they float
Jan 1, 2003
From Ocean Navigator #62
July/August 1994
SILENT AND STEALTHY, DO THEY FLOAT just below the surface, waiting to punch a hole in the bottom of an unlucky vessel? Are there really containers drifting on the ocean?
The answer is yes and no. Containers do fall overboard. But many of them sink fairly quickly and the chances are actually quite slim of a vessel finding itself on the same spot of ocean with one of those containers.
"It just doesn't happen very often, but it still happens more than it should," said Sam Bhalla, a cargo surveyor in New Jersey. "When a container is lost overboard on a large vessel, usually bad weather or faulty lashings are to blame. Everyone is aware of the problem, and no one wants it to happen to them."
Of course, most modern ships would be unable to recover lost containers from over the side, so these errant steel boxes may spend a number of hours, days or even weeks floating partially or completely submerged. Some even end up spilling their contents onto shorelines, much to the delight or dismay (depending on the box's contents) of local inhabitants.
Steve McGowan, a licensed delivery skipper, reports that he saw two containers floating on recent voyages between the East Coast and Bermuda. "I saw one in calm weather about 200 miles east of Charleston. It was floating with probably an inch showing above the surface. We spotted it and circled it, but there was nothing we could do, so we went on," he said.
"The other one I saw was in rough weather," said McGowan. "We had heard nothing about it over the radio, and the fellow on watch spotted it floating with only one corner showing." But, McGowan does not feel that the chances of hitting a container are very large. "I don't think it is a big problem. It just demonstrates the necessity of a good watch. We used to be particularly aware of it after a big storm."
More recently, the skipper of the American yacht Heather Maria, which sank in a storm off the Australian coast in April, said he believes he hit a shipping container hours before the sinking.
Patrick Waddick, 66, of San Diego, said he heard a "loud thump" the night before his vessel sank about 300 miles off Brisbane. Shortly after dawn he dove over the side and found a "wedge shaped" hole in the hull, just as one would expect from the edge of a shipping container.
In the past several months, several container losses have come into the public eye.
· In mid-February, 21 containers were swept from the Bahamian-registered Marine Trader. Four contained chemicals, one was loaded with crockery and the other 16 were empty. German salvors collected six of the empty containers floating in the North Sea, but the rest sank.
·The Military Sealift Command container vessel Giovanna lost 10 containers and reported them floating in the North Atlantic off the southwest tip of Ireland in late March.
·Ten containers fell overboard from the vessel Kamina in early April, three of which collectively contained 54 tons of cyanide. Those containers immediately sank, off the coast of Chile.
· On May 3rd, the 21,475-gross-ton container vessel Thompson Lykes lost three 40-foot containers in heavy seas at 46° 18' N, 19° 12' W. The containers were reported to be possibly afloat and adrift.
Last October, a barge carrying 170 containers through Buzzards Bay, Mass., lost 34 of them to heavy seas and high winds. The accident became something of a joke to local residents who happily combed the beaches collecting sneakers and rubber ducks.
Containers can and do fall overboard when even the most modern vessels are involved in collisions. For example, the huge containership President Washington, operated by American President Lines, was involved in a collision off the Korean coast in May. Early reports indicated that as many as 30 containers were knocked into the water. Some containers were also projected onto the deck of the other ship, a South Korean-flagged container vessel. Since neither vessel was capable of recovering those containers, and both were fully involved in damage control efforts, the 20-foot steel boxes were most likely left to their fate. That accident, which occurred on May 2nd, took place about seven miles outside the port of Pusan, South Korea. As many as a dozen of the world's several thousand container-carrying vessels are involved in collisions and groundings each year, according to international maritime reports.
"All in all, containers overboard do not pose a serious threat, because few are lost and those seldom float for long," said Thomas McLean, a surveyor in Vancouver. "We do not see ships come in without them much anymore, and those that do are often general cargo ships. They used to stick a bunch of containers on a hatch and chain them down. That just isn't done in this day and age. Face it, if you don't have a strong lashing system, you won't get many customers."
Matson Navigation Company of San Francisco, a leader in the intermodal shipping business, reports that they have not had a container loss in quite a few years. "And even then it was absolutely horrendous weather," said Lynn Korwatch, a licensed operations manager for the company. "Since then we have undergone major changes in our lashing program."
Gary North, director of operations for Matson, added that modern lashing systems have dramatically reduced the incidence of container losses. "With the old wire lashing system we used to have problems," he said, "but new developments have almost made it a thing of the past."
One of Matson's container incidents from the 1980s involved a group of eight refrigerated containers that went overboard near the Columbia River in heavy swell conditions. Most of those containers found their way ashore within 24 hours and broke open on landing, spilling their cargoes of Christmas trees and apples.
The American Bureau of Shipping, responding to this problemwhich has been voiced in many arenashas produced a Guide for Certification of Container Securing Systems. This manual sets out guidelines that every container-carrying ship must meet in order to be properly "classed" by ABS. "Some people probably got together and said, 'Hey, we need uniform requirements for this,'" said Thomas Tucker in ABS's New York regional office. "Everyone is aware that shipping containers are lost in heavy weather, but, at the same time, if it were getting out of hand, I'm sure someone would call it to our attention."
Another recognized intermodal transportation corporation reports that their ships have more problems with containers breaking free on deck than losing them overboard. "When a ship hits a big wave, the water is forced upwards, and it often strikes the bottom of a stack of containers," said the company's manager. "If the framing becomes damaged by the excessive force, the whole stack is in jeopardy. They usually get caught in the spider web of lashings so that our crews have time to go out there and improvise, but every once in a while one will go overboard." He added that most of the losses he has encountered have been off smaller general cargo ships, which may carry up to 50 containers lashed to hatch covers or to the deck.
Everyone agrees that container losses are directly correlated to encounters with storms at sea. The sharp rolling and pitching motions of a ship in a storm can place immense pressures on container lashing systems, especially those of the old wire rope and chain style. Modern containerships make use of rigid, fixed lashing structures as opposed to old-style lash-ups of chain and wire.
Perhaps the most publicized case of container loss in recent history involved the loss of 21 containers, four of which contained toxic materials, off New Jersey during heavy winter weather in 1992.
The Panamanian-flagged Santa Clara I, a break-bulk freighter designed to carry 40-foot containers on its hatches, foundered in heavy weather and lost many containers, some containing the poisonous chemical arsenic trioxide, an insecticide and herbicide. A Coast Guard investigation following the incident determined the cause of the accident to be insufficient lashing methods and poor seamanship.
Coast Guard investigators concluded that Santa Clara I, motivated somewhat by a desire to get offshore before an approaching winter gale, did not set up its lashing system until after it left its loading dock, and then hurried the procedure while underway and using its own crew. The captain later explained to officials that those lashing procedures were standard on his vessel.
Container vessels are less susceptible to these types of losses than break bulk or other general cargo ships by virtue of the fact that they were designed to carry only containers.
"The smaller ships are slower and not really set up to withstand the pressures of rolling with containers," said Terrance Noddle, a surveyor in Jacksonville, Fla. "Modern containerships are large and move at high speeds. Often container-ships have the advantage of being able to avoid the nasty weather."
While some of the containers swept off the decks of the Santa Clara I probably turned up on beaches along the New Jersey coast, most are believed to have sunk. Although nobody hangs around to see what happens after a container is lost, Noddle speculates they do not float for more than a day or two. "A lot depends on the cargo. The empty ones probably float for a while and the heavy ones can sink within a matter of hours. And those loaded with buoyant material like lumber, who knows?" Noddle added that he would be surprised if there were more than four or five instances of container loss in the whole Western Hemisphere in any given year.
Containers vary in size, shape and integrity. Gary North of Matson puts the value of a dry box at $4,000 to $5,000, while refrigerated containers could cost as much as $30,000. A typical container might carry material valued at $50,000 to $1 million or even more, depending on type of cargo. While most containers are airtight, some have vent holes or similar openings.
Edit Module | <urn:uuid:f60fe4d5-6ba7-400d-994b-87eebf7c115b> | http://www.oceannavigator.com/January-February-2003/Silent-and-stealthy-they-float/ | en | 0.96873 | 0.043539 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Permalink for comment 488434
Human mess
by zima on Sun 4th Sep 2011 17:27 UTC
Member since:
You know, I would argue it's not the only route such influences propagate. The relationships are vastly more complex. Ultimately, systems of governance are also a reflection of their societies... at the least, that's where the people forming the govs come from (from where else?)
And however the "average interviewed passersby" would publicly despise corruption, etc. - given the chance, they would gladly cut out a slice of the cake for themselves, more likely that not. Consider a hypothetical family which openly despises "gov spending waste" ...but with one of its members being, say, an engineer or blue-collar worker involved in some publicly founded project - that particular work will be of course essential, and the price fair. Or a soldier in the family - whatever the exposed systematic abuses or shady reasons for operations, that one man will be always honourable (if the exposed stuff is not simply ignored - it's frightening how large percentages of the troops in Iraq still thought quite recently that the place had anything to do with 9/11...)
I was living some time in one dorm room with somebody from a so called developing country, which at the time was undergoing quite a turmoil (with constant reports in world news TV channels) - supposedly partly because of the widespread corruption; my room mate openly declaring to despise it, blaming it for the poor state of affair in his country.
And there he was, in a far & comfortable place with relatively very high prices of living (funded mostly via how one of his family members was a public official at his place), "studying" (a non-course mostly useless to him in the future, for the paper, cheating whenever he could). With a nice job at one public office essentially awaiting for him, at return.
Oh, did I mention that he also hated corruption?
Many blame govs for recent financial turmoils. Those happened in places where quite a few people are also unable to keep balanced personal budgets, and with staggering rates of living on a debt.
Reply Score: 2 | <urn:uuid:75d4d1ed-46d9-46c4-896c-219e7e2eab6f> | http://www.osnews.com/permalink?488434 | en | 0.970228 | 0.020448 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Young girl's medical battles unite family
-A A +A
By Janet Robb
TELL CITY - In the months leading up to the birth of her second child, Holly Paauwe knew something wasn't right. She just wasn't sure what it was.
As far as she and her husband, Jon, knew nothing was wrong since tests regularly run during pregnancies came back normal. So when Holly went into labor with their daughter, Avery, July 17, 2005, the nurses told her everything was OK. But after Avery was born, something was obviously wrong.
Renew Current or Past Subscription / Register for Online Subscription
Newspaper Acct. ID:
Street Address:
(exactly as it appears on the label)
New Subscription/30 Day Free Trial Account
ZIP Code:
Create a limited access account.
| <urn:uuid:6a76cd32-efbe-4482-b854-93966fc9d021> | http://www.perrycountynews.com/content/young-girls-medical-battles-unite-family?quicktabs_2=0 | en | 0.947604 | 0.106626 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Enter your email address to receive our daily LGBT news roundup
You're free to unsubscribe at any time.
Video: Presidential hopeful accepts “decision” to be gay, but “disagrees vehemently” on equality
Post your comment
Comments on this article are now closed.
Reader comments
1. an american dick-head…sorry, politcian at his best! not!!! so much non-sense! is there one candidate hopeful that supports gay marriage?
1. Yes, Ron Paul.
Although his personal viewpoint is against it he believes that government has no place in the marriage business and that marriage issues should be left up to the state not the Federal government.
1. David Myers 25 Aug 2011, 12:49am
That’s not supporting gay marriage. That’s just leaving it up to the (presumed) bigotry of the states, instead of the federal government. State’s rights has always been the cheap excuse to oppose federal human rights legislation, dating back first to slavery, then to Jim Crow laws, and finally to civil rights legislation. It is a tactic, not a principle. Completely akin to the bigot’s use of code words to appeal to their bigot sympathizers, but also to maintain that they are not racists.
2. “I have friends who are gay” For some reason I don’t believe that only the most self hating gay person would hang around with him.
1. It’s the same excuse used by people with racist veiws, “Oh i have gay friends”
No you don’t you liar because you’re scum
1. Yes, just like “Some of my best friends are black/Jewish/Asian (I just wouldn’t want my children to marry them)”.
2. I wouldnt be friends with him. Would any gay really be friends with a homophobe?
1. David Myers 25 Aug 2011, 12:58am
Well, the GOProud organization, which makes Log Cabin Republicans look good, has recently appointed Ann Coulter to their advisory board and indicated support for GOP candidate Michelle Bachmann. One might question if they really are gay or lesbian, but they maintain that they are.
3. What a douche
4. Santorum has said in the past that he would re-instate the anti-sodomy laws that made homosexuality illegal. He is the worst kind of christofascist wingnut and his behaviour towards us is no different – NO different – than the actions of anti-semites and white supremacists. And if you want a lovely Santorum story, consider this. Some years ago his wife suffered a stillbirth – Santorum and wife wrapped the corpse of the dead 20 week old foetus up in a blanket, took it home and had their other kids (including a six year old) kiss it and hug it and had a little family get together. Tragic event? Certainly. Appropriate and non-creepy behaviour…er….no. The guy is batcr@p insane and no one is ever going to vote for him, even his own state binned him as senator.
1. People react to grief differently my friend when his father died in his sleep got into bed and hugged him.
He is scum of the earth though.
5. Don’t you just love these backward American types? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal … but some are, and should remain, more equal than others.”
6. Dr Robin Guthrie 23 Aug 2011, 4:21pm
More and more of these right wing religious nutters are publicly softening their anti gay stance as it is not as popular as it once was, however you can guarantee that to be gay in the US will become much much worse if they ever get into power and of course it will give their evangelising loons more impetus to export their hate as the ADF are currently attempting with the ECHR.
7. And of course, for anyone who doesn’t know (and this is a “not safe for work” experiment) just google “Santorum”. Then laugh. A couple of days ago he was whining that we had to respect him – yeah, exactly the same I would respect the Grand High Wizard of the KKK trying to stand for president. Total lackwit.
1. I did actually google that at work :-S haha
8. douglas in canada 23 Aug 2011, 4:28pm
Most americans continue to forget that their country was founded AWAY from religious opinion and thought. It was very intentionally set up as a secular state.
Anytime I hear or read someone commenting about “god’s way is best”, I want to puke. Americans, please get back to your roots, and ditch the religious stuff when it comes to running your country.
1. David Myers 25 Aug 2011, 1:01am
“Amen!” ;-)
9. Paul UK in Toronto 23 Aug 2011, 4:33pm
I respect his decision to be white, but I disagree with him vehemently on racial equality, as I feel it is not in the best interests of society. We can have a public policy difference on this without hating anybody. I respect his right to choose to be white, but he also must respect me for hating the whites, without actually using the word hate.
10. Bizarre.
Presumable Santorum tells his gay “friends” that since marriage obviously isn’t for them, then they may as well screw around with whom the hell they like.
Their relationships, or lack of them are totally unimportant after all…
Whacky people these Republican politicians – but dangerous…
1. David Myers 25 Aug 2011, 1:02am
The are prepubescent fascists (just learning to crawl) and must be stopped before they spread.
11. Mary Trinner 23 Aug 2011, 4:48pm
I am from the US, I apologize to the world that the GOP is having Freddy Kruger, Mommy Dearest and Pee Wee Herman running as potential candidates. You have my sincerest apology.
1. David Myers 25 Aug 2011, 1:11am
I am a dual US/Canadian citizen and I understand exactly how you feel. I too, am often ashamed of the idiocy and bigotry of the American right. If they ever come to full power they could outdo the fascists of WWII Germany.
12. people shouldnt take it personally that you oppose their equality…. ?
13. Another nut job running for president is it a qualification? Is it in the job description ?
14. Republican = Mentally Sick
15. Johnny33308 23 Aug 2011, 5:18pm
Respect should never ever under any circumstances be offered for Bigotry, Hatred, Intolerance, Ignorance, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia or any other such evil beliefs or ‘ideals’. There in nothing ‘respectable’ about such ignorant beliefs. Such beliefs show how ‘religion’ is used for blatant unrestrained discrimination here in America-“land of the free”. Now you will see it in action in the ECHR unless you all act immediately.
16. Nawal Husnoo 23 Aug 2011, 5:51pm
The argument from “choice” is invalid. This argument has been addressed in The Gay Agenda [Gay Agenda, 4:23]. (http://www.gayagendabook.com/gayagenda.html#4_23)
The argument that one needs to respect bigotry is invalid. This argument has been addressed in The Gay Agenda [Gay Agenda, 4:33]. (http://www.gayagendabook.com/gayagenda.html#4_33)
He doesn’t have “friends” that are gay. They are victims of Stockholm Syndrome. This argument has been addressed in The Gay Agenda [Gay Agenda, 4:35]. (http://www.gayagendabook.com/gayagenda.html#4_35)
1. @Nawai Husnoo
Thanks for this link, very interesting.
With regards the usual opt out clause, “Some of my best friends are Gay”. I did not realise that was being referred to as the Stockholm syndrome
1. Nawal Husnoo 24 Aug 2011, 1:27pm
Hey, thanks! I should point out, I’m the author of The Gay Agenda. It is a comprehensive rebuttal of all the homophobic arguments.
I don’t know of anyone else using the term Stockholm Syndrome for the “gay friends” of homophobes, but I do find the definition applies, in the same way some slaves used to think that their owners were particularly lovely for not abusing them as much as they could.
1. Nicely put! Could certainly help to explain GoProud’s disgusting & shameful opinions and activities. Frothy Mix Santorum has no chance, and remains the most fringe of all candidates. Meanwhile, Fred Karger’s turn-down by the republican party to be allowed to attend its convention in L.A., was also loudly supported by GoProud.
1. Nawal Husnoo 24 Aug 2011, 2:59pm
Please join the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/gay.agenda.book to show your support :)
17. No you cannot respect any candidate who turns a blind eye to the evils of the hetersexua community and wicked crimes of humanity they commit every single hour not day, against women , children , and our nation, there are womens shelters and abuse centers, there are rapes murders that cannot even be counted hourly against women and children, that the numbers cannot even be counted there are so many, the hetersexua divorce rate is staggering because of evil men, and yet you creeps have the nerve talk about the gay community which is the safest, and more familiey oreiented , they received the award in march for being the most humane, so what does this say for your biggoted defamating official bigots, who has been caught in hotels with underage boys even as last week, we dont want you as an official, we need people who care about everyone, and tries to stop any one from harming other human rights and peace and saftey and happiness, as long as they are not harming others, like hetersexuals
18. People like this rule the planet. WTF?
19. Paddyswurds 23 Aug 2011, 11:26pm
Just what is it with these American crazies. The candidates running for President get scarier by the day, especially the Republicans. I used to regard Anericans with admiration when I lived in Boston for 12 years, but the last 30 years seems to have been retrograde and the whole country is in the grip of these hate filled Abrahamic fantasy cults which seem to have a very negative effect on the whole nation. They have lost all sense of reason. Is the USA headed in the same direction as the great Roman Empire. where the crazies took over and ruined the Empire until it totally colapsed. This is the future folks and y’all should be prepared.
20. Edwin in Colorado 24 Aug 2011, 4:13am
The Republicans running this year are all a bunch of Douche’s. A bunch of liar’s about every time they open their mouths.
21. No, Mr. Santorum, I’m afraid you can’t get out of it that way. You think we are second class citizens. You think we should not be allowed to get married. You think that schools should not teach about the normality of our sexual orientation. You believe that a ridiculous two-thousand year old book of homophobic nonsense is a good guide to public policy making, and that those idiots who promote its vileness should be given preferential treatment.
I’m afraid that means you hate us Mr. Santorum. You can say you don’t, but if you stand for those things then clearly you do. You deserve no respect from this or any other quarter committed to social equality for all – you’re a hateful, backward bigot and anyone who votes for you is similarly hateful and bigoted.
1. A sure-fire cure for homophobia is a daily glass of Ribena mixed with olive oil
Many homophobes have been cured by taking just a small glass of this mixture every day for a week and then whenever the homophobic feelings start to return and they feel they want to lash out at homosexuals.
1. :) good one
22. He says…”as God has laid out in the Bible”. Such an ignorant man. He must read a different Bible to me
23. David Myers 25 Aug 2011, 12:45am
What an idiot. He doesn’t accept gays or lesbians at all, in spite of his half as#ed attempt to pander to them. Santorum has always been a dick-head (no need to appologise Daniel). Just another born again tea partier idiot, jumping on the bandwagon.
| <urn:uuid:58a593ac-5800-4916-8eb3-d5e6785f7534> | http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/08/23/video-presidential-hopeful-accepts-decision-to-be-gay-but-disagrees-vehemently-on-equality/comments/ | en | 0.959519 | 0.023544 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
basketweave stitch by Jill Wright
Welcome! You are browsing as a guest
basketweave stitch
You’ll need to know these stitches: chain, double crochet, and front and back post stitches. (See green print in row 5 for ‘front post’ and green print in row 2 for ‘back post’ stitches.)
Stitch multiple: 8 | <urn:uuid:b78be2ac-6e1f-4079-b8b9-7f14298ea72d> | http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/basketweave-stitch-2 | en | 0.917227 | 0.018731 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Twitter Facebook YouTube
Password Forgot Password
Advanced Search Options
Search Stores By Set
Football: Rookies 2000-2009
Item Title: 2 Jamal Charles ROOKIES!!!! Topps and Upper Deck NM
Current Bid: $0.00
Sportlots Auctions Q&A
• Why is Sportlots a better way to run online auctions?
• What are 1,2,3 Sold Auctions?
• How does the Max bid feature work?
• Is postage reduced when I win multiple lots?
• What do I do after I win an item?
• How do I sell on Sportlots?
• Seller: TNewFan1(47) View seller's other items
USA:$1.65Mult items: $0.99 More Info?
CAN:$5.00Mult items: $5.00
Status: IN ORDER
Item Desc: 2 Jamal Charles ROOKIES!!!! Topps and Upper Deck NM
Item Picture:
| <urn:uuid:d116cba2-23a5-42c7-bae1-c9d12a81f25d> | http://www.sportlots.com/auction/aucbin/itemdet.tpl?lotnbr=10115338 | en | 0.738689 | 0.034337 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Ddone instead of finished to indicate the completion of a task. For example, at dinnertime my children would announce
Are the dishes Done or Finished?
"I'm done" and ask to be excused. My aunts insist that "I'm finished" is the appropriate phrase. Is this just a matter of taste? Is finished preferred only in the context of eating a meal? Aren't done and finished grammatically equivalent? Can I never be done with the dishes? Please help!
Elizabeth Markiewicz
Theodore M. Bernstein, in his , published in 1965, asserted that the headline "Ecuador Rail Line Done" illustrated "an improper, casual use of done," and at the time, his point of view was not unusual. But a slim majority of the usage panel for the first edition of The American Heritage Dictionary, which appeared four years later, did not object to the word even in an official-sounding context, and the current edition of the dictionary simply presents "finished" as one of the meanings of done, treating the matter as settled. The Boy Scouts, certainly, draw no distinction between done and finished: their lyrics for "Taps" begin, "Day is done, gone the sun" -- and perhaps they are paraphrasing Shakespeare, who wrote, "The bright day is done, / And we are for the dark." Nowadays the distinction between the two words is observed more by aunts and grandmothers than by grammarians.
Aly sounds wrong. Am I right?
Dale Harber
Yes, you are. If the intention really were to indicate which report this one is in a sequence, a corporation that is, say, ten years old should be issuing its "Fortieth Quarterly Report." But the idea is that the report covers the first quarter of the year. One says that just the way one says weather report, book report, and traffic report:
Fbode. They say that something "bodes ill," as in "A poor showing in the Alps bodes ill for a Tour de France victory," using bode (correctly, I believe) as a transitive verb with the noun object ill;
A poor showing in the Alps
yet when things are looking up, these same pundits state that an event bodes well, as in "The many favorable reviews bode well for the film's Oscar chances." If something is said to bode ill, shouldn't a reversal of fortune lead us to say it bodes good?
William E. Kennedy
Although your logic and your knowledge of the way parts of speech function are impeccable, speakers and writers since Dryden, in 1700, have used bodes well. Well, an ancient word, can be grammatically slippery: for example, how would you parse "Leave well enough alone"? All this, I admit, could just as well be used to explain why bodes well is considered a forgivable mistake. It is, however, considered correct. As scrupulous dictionaries indicate, an exception has been made for well to the otherwise reliable rule that bode (roughly speaking, a synonym for foretell) is transitive and therefore must lead into a noun.
Am I correct in deploring the use of a modifier or qualifier preceding the word unique, which is heard every day on radio? The common expression is very unique.
Gus Calgren
has traditionally belonged to the group of adjectives called absolute or incomparable -- meaning that the quality the word refers to must, logically, be either fully present or altogether absent, with no gradations possible in between.
Unique child
One can't, for example, be just a little bit bankrupt, or a little bit anonymous or pregnant or dead. Quite a few people, though, seem not to have gotten the news that unique numbers among this rarefied company. And so someone reading or hearing unique can no longer assume that it was intended to mean "one of a kind"; maybe the writer or speaker just meant "unusual." This is too bad, because extraordinary and exceptional and rare and curious and unwonted and strange and peculiar and abnormal, and other words as well, in their various ways all mean "unusual," but unique, in its true meaning and in the contexts natural to it, is very nearly unique.
Have you recently had a language dispute that you would like this column to resolve? Write to Word Court in care of The Atlantic Monthly, 77 North Washington Street, Boston, MA 02114, or send E-mail to MsGrammar@TheAtlantic.com. All letters become the property of Word Court.
Illustrations by Regan Dunnick
The Atlantic Monthly; January 1997; Word Court; Volume 279, No. 1; page 100. | <urn:uuid:a32fe570-b379-4179-a242-a18e7abb978b> | http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1997/01/word-court/376770/ | en | 0.963884 | 0.114552 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Irish drop 3 doctors from probe into woman's death
• AP foreign,
Associated Press= DUBLIN (AP) — The Irish government removed three doctors Tuesday from its investigation into the death of an ailing woman who was denied an abortion in an Irish hospital, a case that has exposed Ireland to worldwide criticism.
Prime Minister Enda Kenny told lawmakers he hoped the move — barely 24 hours after Ireland unveiled the seven-member panel — would allow the woman's widower to support the probe into why Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian dentist, died Oct. 28 while hospitalized in Galway.
Kenny's U-turn came hours after her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, said he would refuse to talk to the investigators and would not consent to their viewing his wife's medical records because three of the Galway hospital's senior doctors had been appointed as investigators.
Kenny said that the three doctors would be replaced by other officials "who have no connection at all with University Hospital Galway. In that sense the investigation will be completely and utterly independent."
His wife was 17 weeks pregnant with what would have been their first child when she was admitted to Galway's hospital Oct. 21 suffering from severe pain. Doctors quickly established she was miscarrying, with her cervix already dilated and amniotic fluid leaking.
But for three days, the husband said, doctors refused their requests for a termination because the 17-week-old fetus still had a heartbeat.
Praveen Halappanavar said one of the doctors insisted they couldn't remove a living fetus because Ireland "is a Catholic country." He said five hospital officials and a family friend witnessed this Oct. 24 comment at his wife's bedside.
After the fetus died Oct. 25, its remains were surgically removed, but Savita Halappanavar's health rapidly faded as internal infections spread and her internal organs gradually failed. A coroner determined she died from blood poisoning and e.coli bacteria potentially contracted at the hospital.
Arulkumaran, a native Sri Lankan who practices and teaches at St. George's Hospital in London, is one of the world's leading authorities on fetal monitoring and maternal health.
The case has highlighted Ireland's failure to legislate in line with a two-decade-old Supreme Court judgment that women should receive abortions in cases where the pregnancy places their lives at risk. The court found this should be the only exception to Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion.
The European Court of Human Rights two years ago ruled that Ireland was placing pregnant women in jeopardy by not providing a clear law defining when life-saving abortions can be performed. Ireland has yet to reply substantively to that judgment.
The government insists it should not present any abortion legislation until after the Halappanavar investigation is completed in February. It vowed to block an opposition bill unveiled Tuesday seeking the parliament's immediate approval of the 1992 Supreme Court judgment.
On the Guardian today
Today's best video | <urn:uuid:4e711c1d-b194-4fad-9223-2bc1f093fceb> | http://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/10540505/print | en | 0.981432 | 0.018602 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
©2015 VICE Media LLC
The VICE Channels
I'm on the Fence About This Breast Milk Baby Doll
January 17, 2013
By Kelly McClure
Music Editor
Around mid-December I fell into a frenzy of emailing pretty much any manufacturer of any product I could think of, in hopes of having free shit sent to me. I received so many wonderful, and so many useless pieces of bric-a-brac, that I forgot all about my request to own an African American breastfeeding doll, until it arrived at my place of business in a huge box that actually had the words "breast milk" right on it.
The Breast Milk Baby is apparently the world's first breastfeeding baby doll, and is intended to teach children about the merits of breastfeeding. When it first came out, it caused quite a stink, and after holding its hollow plastic noggin to my fake, magnetized booby for a few minutes, I'd have to say that I'm not okay with it either.
The Breast Milk Baby comes in unfortunate looking white girl, unfortunate looking white boy, happy Asian girl, happy Asian boy, calm and collected African American boy, and calm and collected African American girl. I chose the African American boy because all the other dolls (aside from his sister, but ew, who wants a little girl) looked like they were experiencing an inner insanity of some sort.
I took the box containing my new boob sucker home, and it sat unopened on my living room floor until last night, when my gf and I came home from seeing the ACTION PACKED Gangster Squad, and decided to crack it open. I'm thinking that seeing Ryan Gosling shoot people just made us feel like pretending to lactate.
The box and inclosed instruction booklet is written in gibberish, but we gathered that after putting three AAA batteries in the thing, you then strapped on this weird felt bib with magnetized stars where nipples would be, and then held the baby up to one of them to feed. There are ribbons tied to the nipple bib, one pink, and one blue, and they look like they're for something, but we don't know what. Also, calm and collected African baby, who we re-named Elvis, had this funny little tassle near his crotch area that I couldn't help but wonder was intended to very safely imply "penis."
Here's a list of the thoughts that came into our heads while breastfeeding this baby, in order:
1) This feels illegal.
2) It's vibrating, I bet kids try to diddle themselves with this.
3) Holy shit, do babies really eat for this long?
4) I'm bored.
5) Imagine doing heroin and then nursing a kid. People do that. Pieces of trash.
Elvis nursed and nursed forever, and when we would pull it away from our star nipples, it would cry until we burped it, which we couldn't figure out how to do at first, but then I accidentally figured it out by pounding the shit out of its back. It ramps up to a burp by making a series of squeaks, and then unleashed a Homer SImpson-esque belch that, for me, was the best part of the experience.
We played with Elvis for roughly 20 minutes total, and then put it in my reading chair. It's still there right now. God knows what it's doing. Being gross probably.
I don't think little kids should have to worry about breastfeeding. There's plenty of time to think about that, and how it's done. I'd like to never have to think of it at all, ever again, ever.
Top Stories | <urn:uuid:2e388c9f-8c9e-46b4-8813-0db6fb121fae> | http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/im-on-the-fence-about-this-breastmilk-baby-doll | en | 0.974862 | 0.031259 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Edit Article
It is often much easier to get something than to hold onto it. As everyone knows, the same goes for relationships. Want to keep your lady in your life? Here are some ways that you can stay close and happy together.
1. 1
Call her at least once a day, just to talk, say hi, or get to know each other better. No one ever wants to be forgotten throughout the day. If for some reason, you can't call her, at least send a text message or email telling her that you care.
2. 2
Listen to her attentively when she talks. There is an art to deep listening. It's more than just hearing her voice. You have to know what she is saying and understand that she is trusting you with what she says.
3. 3
Take note of her likes and dislikes. You want to make her happy, and giving her her favorite flowers is a lot better than her least favorite candy. Keep in mind what she enjoys.
4. 4
Compliment her honestly as often as possible. If it's not sincere, it's not worth anything. Women appreciate it if you comment positively on their appearance from time to time.
5. 5
Buy her flowers sometimes. It doesn't have to be all the time, and it doesn't always have to be two dozen roses. While red roses are popular, they are also very clichéd. Try to be original. Remember, it is the thought that counts. A casual bouquet of flowers picked from a park or lawn on the way to her house lets her know that you are thinking about her. Try some bright colors, such as yellow, orange, and pink. Peonies are usually favorites.
6. 6
Take her to dinner. You don't always have to take her to a 5 star restaurant. Just go out to a place where you are both comfortable. Also, remember to cover the bill, but if she insists upon paying, let her pay the tip.
7. 7
Be affectionate but not aggressive. You don't want to come off the wrong way.
8. 8
Make sure she is comfortable. Her needs should always come before your own.
9. 9
Do some things you like to do (baseball game, biking, etc.), and do some things she likes to do (see a movie, go shopping on occasion). You want to attain a happy medium between the two.
10. 10
Buy her things that are meaningful and that she will enjoy. The gift does not have to be very expensive, as it is the thought that counts, but do try to steer clear of places such as Wal-Mart. You get the idea.
11. 11
Be sure to spend quality time together. Schedule outings together like going to a movie, out to dinner, or just going to each others' houses to spend time together.
• Escort her to family and friends' functions such as picnics, weddings, holiday parties, etc. You may not want to go, but it is the respectful thing to do. She will appreciate you more if you go with her, and it shows you care about what is important to her.
• If you love her, tell her. You don't want to wait.
• Trust and respect are foundations of a good relationship.
• Be nice to her pets, relatives, friends, etc. Impress her parents, but don't overdo it. Honesty is the best policy.
• Avoid making her do things that are dangerous or disgusting.
• Try to avoid making promises you already know you cannot keep.
Article Info
Categories: Long Term Dating
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 13,802 times.
Did this article help you?
Yes No
an Author!
Write an Article | <urn:uuid:d170fbb8-8dc2-4dfb-aa4b-28f8f2b7c09a> | http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-Your-Lady | en | 0.979891 | 0.02192 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
I've been playing with G.tec's intendiX -- a commercially available system that uses brain waves to help you spell words on a computer.
The system consists of an EEG cap, a USB signal processor and amplifier, and a laptop running the indendiX software. The cap has eight EEG electrodes, most of which are centred on your occipital lobe -- the visual processing centre at the back of your brain.
Once you've put on the cap and attached the chest strap to pull it firmly down onto your head, you squirt conductive gel into each electrode to improve signal transmission. There's also an ear clip that acts as a reference point -- the software compares the signal from the EEGs with the baseline figure from the ear clip to compensate for background noise.
The first step is calibration. The software displays a grid of letters, and you select the letters you want to try to spell. You concentrate on the letter you want, and the software flashes horizontal and vertical lines across the grid. When your letter is highlighted there is a recognition spike in your occipital lobe -- the P300 wave that the kit detects. Telling the equipment which letter you wish to spell in advance helps the software distinguish between genuine P300 waves and background noise.
After 10 minutes of calibration it was time to spell for real! It's like Sesame Street, only instead of a giant yellow bird, it's a brain reading device.
The process is the same as calibration, but you don’t select a word in advance. We tried to spell 'wired'. It came out as 'sired' -- an impressive first attempt. Our test room has large amounts of background noise thanks to air conditioning and several wireless networks in the vicinity, so was almost a worst-case scenario for interference.
Spelling words this way is a laborious process, but the system is adaptable -- instead of a grid of letters you could have a menu or a set of locations in a house; select the kitchen to have an electric wheelchair move there automatically.
Want to give it a go? The intendiX kit costs £8,500 from OpenVivo.
Latest on wired.co.uk | <urn:uuid:bd485abd-9142-4076-a638-8a71a2174d38> | http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-04/16/tested-the-gtec-intendix-at-home-mind-reading-kit | en | 0.922102 | 0.068208 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Bézout's theorem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about Bézout's theorem in algebraic geometry. For Bézout's theorem in arithmetic, see Bézout's identity.
Not to be confused with Little Bézout's theorem.
Bézout's theorem is a statement in algebraic geometry concerning the number of common points, or intersection points, of two plane algebraic curves. The theorem claims that the number of common points of two such curves X and Y is equal to the product of their degrees. This statement must be qualified in several important ways, by considering points at infinity, allowing complex coordinates (or more generally, coordinates from the algebraic closure of the ground field), assigning an appropriate multiplicity to each intersection point, and excluding a degenerate case when X and Y have a common component. A simpler special case is when one does not care about multiplicities and X and Y are two algebraic curves in the Euclidean plane whose implicit equations are polynomials of degrees m and n without any non-constant common factor; then the number of intersection points does not exceed mn.
Bézout's theorem refers also to the generalization to higher dimensions: Let there be n homogeneous polynomials in n+1 variables, of degrees d_1, \ldots, d_n, that define n hypersurfaces in the projective space of dimension n. If the number of intersection points of the hypersurfaces is finite over an algebraic closure of the ground field, then this number is d_1 \cdots d_n, if the points are counted with their multiplicity. As in the case of two variables, in the case of affine hypersurfaces, and when not counting multiplicities nor non-real points, this theorem provides only an upper bound of the number of points, which is often reached. This is often referred to as Bézout's bound.
Bézout's theorem is fundamental in computer algebra and effective algebraic geometry, by showing that most problems have a computational complexity that is at least exponential in the number of variables. It follows that in these areas, the best complexity that may be hoped for will occur in algorithms have a complexity which is polynomial in Bézout's bound.
Rigorous statement[edit]
Suppose that X and Y are two plane projective curves defined over a field F that do not have a common component (this condition means that X and Y are defined by polynomials, whose polynomial greatest common divisor is a constant; in particular, it holds for a pair of "generic" curves). Then the total number of intersection points of X and Y with coordinates in an algebraically closed field E which contains F, counted with their multiplicities, is equal to the product of the degrees of X and Y.
The generalization in higher dimension may be stated as:
Let n projective hypersurfaces be given in a projective space of dimension n over an algebraic closed field, which are defined by n homogeneous polynomials in n + 1 variables, of degrees d_1, \ldots,d_n. Then either the number of intersection points is infinite, or the number of intersection points, counted with multiplicity, is equal to the product d_1 \cdots d_n. If the hypersurfaces are irreducible and in relative general position, then there are d_1 \cdots d_n intersection points, all with multiplicity 1.
There are various proofs of this theorem. In particular, it may be deduced by applying iteratively the following generalization: if V is a projective algebraic set of dimension \delta and degree d_1, and H is a hypersurface (defined by a polynomial) of degree d_2, that does not contain any irreducible component of V, then the intersection of V and H has dimension \delta-1 and degree d_1d_2. For a (sketched) proof using the Hilbert series see Hilbert series and Hilbert polynomial#Degree of a projective variety and Bézout's theorem.
Intersection multiplicity[edit]
Further information: Intersection number
The most delicate part of Bézout's theorem and its generalization to the case of k algebraic hypersurfaces in k-dimensional projective space is the procedure of assigning the proper intersection multiplicities. If P is a common point of two plane algebraic curves X and Y that is a non-singular point of both of them and, moreover, the tangent lines to X and Y at P are distinct then the intersection multiplicity is one. This corresponds to the case of "transversal intersection". If the curves X and Y have a common tangent at P then the multiplicity is at least two. See intersection number for the definition in general.
• Two distinct non-parallel lines always meet in exactly one point. Two parallel lines intersect at a unique point that lies at infinity. To see how this works algebraically, in projective space, the lines x+2y=3 and x+2y=5 are represented by the homogeneous equations x+2y-3z=0 and x+2y-5z=0. Solving, we get x= -2y and z=0, corresponding to the point (-2:1:0) in homogeneous coordinates. As the z-coordinate is 0, this point lies on the line at infinity.
• The special case where one of the curves is a line can be derived from the fundamental theorem of algebra. In this case the theorem states that an algebraic curve of degree n intersects a given line in n points, counting the multiplicities. For example, the parabola defined by y - x2 = 0 has degree 2; the line yax = 0 has degree 1, and they meet in exactly two points when a ≠ 0 and touch at the origin (intersect with multiplicity two) when a = 0.
• Two conic sections generally intersect in four points, some of which may coincide. To properly account for all intersection points, it may be necessary to allow complex coordinates and include the points on the infinite line in the projective plane. For example:
• Two circles never intersect in more than two points in the plane, while Bézout's theorem predicts four. The discrepancy comes from the fact that every circle passes through the same two complex points on the line at infinity. Writing the circle
in homogeneous coordinates, we get
(x-az)^2+(y-bz)^2 - r^2z^2 = 0,
from which it is clear that the two points (1:i:0) and (1:-i:0) lie on every circle. When two circles don't meet at all in the real plane, the two other intersections have non-zero imaginary parts, or if they are concentric then they meet at exactly the two points on the line at infinity with an intersection multiplicity of two.
• Any conic should meet the line at infinity at two points according to the theorem. A hyperbola meets it at two real points corresponding to the two directions of the asymptotes. An ellipse meets it at two complex points which are conjugate to one another---in the case of a circle, the points (1:i:0) and (1:-i:0). A parabola meets it at only one point, but it is a point of tangency and therefore counts twice.
• The following pictures show examples in which the circle x2+y2-1=0 meets another ellipse in fewer intersection points because at least one of them has multiplicity greater than 1:
x^2+4y^2-1=0:\ \hbox{two intersections of multiplicity 2}
5x^2+6xy+5y^2+6y-5=0:\ \hbox{an intersection of multiplicity 3}
4x^2+y^2+6x+2=0:\ \hbox{an intersection of multiplicity 4}
Sketch of proof[edit]
Write the equations for X and Y in homogeneous coordinates as
a_0z^m + a_1z^{m-1} + \dots + a_{m-1}z + a_m = 0
b_0z^n + b_1z^{n-1} + \dots + b_{n-1}z + b_n = 0
where ai and bi are homogeneous polynomials of degree i in x and y. The points of intersection of X and Y correspond to the solutions of the system of equations. Form the Sylvester matrix; in the case m=4, n=3 this is
a_0 & a_1 & a_2 & a_3 & a_4 & 0 & 0 \\
0 & a_0 & a_1 & a_2 & a_3 & a_4 & 0 \\
0 & 0 & a_0 & a_1 & a_2 & a_3 & a_4 \\
b_0 & b_1 & b_2 & b_3 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
0 & b_0 & b_1 & b_2 & b_3 & 0 & 0 \\
0 & 0 & b_0 & b_1 & b_2 & b_3 & 0 \\
0 & 0 & 0 & b_0 & b_1 & b_2 & b_3 \\
The determinant |S| of S, which is also called the resultant of the two polynomials, is 0 exactly when the two equations have a common solution in z. The terms of |S|, for example (a0)n(bn)m, all have degree mn, so |S| is a homogeneous polynomial of degree mn in x and y (recall that ai and bi are themselves polynomials). By the fundamental theorem of algebra, this can be factored into mn linear factors so there are mn solutions to the system of equations. The linear factors correspond to the lines that join the origin to the points of intersection of the curves.[2]
See also[edit]
1. ^ Kirwan, Frances (1992). Complex Algebraic Curves. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-42353-8.
2. ^ Follows Plane Algebraic Curves by Harold Hilton (Oxford 1920) p. 10
External links[edit] | <urn:uuid:bbf6f37e-f110-4575-a93e-ddf39b4386a6> | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9zout%27s_theorem | en | 0.919125 | 0.281599 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
From FamilySearch Wiki
The database did not find the text of a page that it should have found, named "Kearns, Utah LDS Wards and Branches" (Diff: , 1180346).
| <urn:uuid:66ccf440-0ae4-4935-b55c-d3665ecb23b9> | https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/index.php?title=Kearns,_Utah_LDS_Wards_and_Branches&diff=prev&oldid=1180346 | en | 0.974645 | 0.932319 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
You may also like
problem icon
problem icon
problem icon
Multilink Cubes
You could try keeping the second and third body parts in one place to begin with. How many different places are there for the fourth part?
What happens if you still keep the second part in the same place and investigate different arrangements of the third and fourth now?
You might find this 100 square useful. | <urn:uuid:8c883233-f7c8-4534-b098-484f42f1426a> | https://nrich.maths.org/40/clue | en | 0.901459 | 0.888211 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Panzanella salad and butter cake recipe
Panzanella Salad
3 tablespoons good olive oil 1 small French bread or Focaccia, cut into cubes (6 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 cup heirloom tomatoes cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 red onion, cut in 1/2 and thinly sliced 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced 1/2-inch thick
20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 ear of corn removed from cob
For the vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.
1. For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together.
1. In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and corn. Add the warm bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper.
1. Serve immediately or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.
Butter Cake with Macerated Berries and Mascarpone
1 pint fresh berries 10 fresh mint leaves
1 1/2 cups dry rose wine 2 tablespoons honey
Juice of 1 orange 1 pint mascarpone
2 grinds black pepper 1 slice butter cake
1. Place the berries in a medium bowl and tear in the mint.
1. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the wine, honey and orange juice. Bring just to a simmer, and then pour over the berries. Let the berries macerate for about 2 minutes.
1. In a small bowl, add the mascarpone, black pepper and 2 tablespoons of the macerating liquid from the berries. Stir to combine.
1. Slice the cake and serve with a spoonful of the berries and a dollop of the mascarpone mixture. | <urn:uuid:794cae7d-1e11-4c3c-a598-60704d3a332c> | http://kfor.com/2014/05/19/panzanella-salad-and-butter-cake-recipe/ | en | 0.738687 | 0.048961 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space
Monday, February 04, 2013
Burying the lead: economic value of each new household added to a commercial district-neighborhood-city
The previous entry discussing historic preservation called out one of the slides from the presentation to Main Street Iowa about the economic impact of adding housing to "downtown" commercial districts. Typically this is space that is converted to residential, located above ground floor retail, or conversion of office buildings, etc.
-- Upper Story Housing Case Studies: Creative Solutions and Lessons Learned, Main Street Iowa
-- Upstairs Downtown program, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
-- "Downtown is looking up!," Middletown Eye
-- TIF Upper Story Housing Program, Rock Island, Illinois
-- Philadelphia 10-Year Property Tax Abatement program on new and conversion residential projects, study by EcoConsult
-- Upper Story Redevelopment Strategies for Downtown Revitalization, City of Cumberland, Maryland
I made the point that this type of economic impact is important generally, regardless of if it's an "upper story" housing development. Just adding more households (with money) is a good thing.
And so this research finding is extendable to other settings involving the addition of new housing to neighborhoods and commercial districts, whether it is "upper story" housing in existing buildings or new apartments or condominiums.
Economic value of the addition of housing to neighborhoods and commercial districts
Economic value of upper story housing in commercial districts, Iowa
This is in fact what is happening with the population influx that DC is experiencing now. Although the new households in DC and other large cities likely have much higher income than the households studied in Iowa, which means that there is even greater economic impact.
New residents spend new money, money that wasn't being spent in the local economy before, and more residents spend more money than fewer residents and some of it (more if there are more places to spend it that are local) is spent locally.
New spending allows for the revitalization of neighborhood commercial districts, places like 11th Street NW in Columbia Heights or Barracks Row on 8th Street SE in Capitol Hill or Upshur Street and Georgia Avenue in the area served by the Petworth Metro Station (which has been stoked by the addition of multiunit housing to the area), or 14th Street between Thomas Circle and U Street (in response to the Whole Foods Supermarket and the addition of a goodly amount of multiunit housing), etc.
And it is just in the last couple of years where these changes have become truly visible, having reached a kind of "critical mass" or "tipping point," coincident with escalation in the number of people moving into the city (about 1,000 people per month over the last two years).
Labels: , , , , ,
At 9:01 PM, Anonymous charlie said...
I don't know Richard -- might be overstating the case.
You can see about half the "impact" is rent + car. Is that going to be "local spending?" I mean we can try to quantify it -- what percentage of my Archstone rent is local vs. national spending, but you'd go crazy trying to figure it out.
And as for the rest, ordering something on amazon isn't local at all.
And in terms of DC proper, it is the ability of the city to capture income tax streams and also the lack of cooking abiity of new residents (highest restaurant spend in the country still?) which is leveraging their arrival.
Goes back to something I said last week, in terms of assuming growth is good. The id of the voice machine speaking again? No question that growth can paper over a lot of flaws.
Not sure if you've seen this:
Which also suggests there is growth in DC but also distribution within the city.
At 5:13 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...
I didn't catch that article but I am not surprised. DC isn't that big in terms of population for one thing.
And office workers not living in the city have a very narrow slice of retail that they are "shopping" when they are working. E.g., convenience retail (CVS...) and quick service food.
So just because you have hundreds of thousands of workers here during the day doesn't mean that they will spend much other than on some meals, especially given that these days people have limited time for lunch (that is, no time to explore).
Plus a lot of office workers don't even know what's around and available. They just know what's between the Metro exit and their office entrance. (If they drive, they are even less familiar, since they park directly in their building.)
That being said, I've always thought that Connecticut Ave. and K Street is the potential 100% intersection for retail in DC--not unlike Union Square and then Market Street in San Francisco.
But to get to that point, the buildings would have to be significantly reconfigured at the lower levels.
This kind of concept is far beyond what the GTBID is capable of visioning, and would be damn hard to do in any case.
At 5:16 AM, Blogger Richard Layman said...
oh, and true about the car. I thought about that. We need a more specific center city study. E.g., less on a car, some on transportation.
And as always, you make good points about purchasing meals out of home having such a disproportionate impact. (I've come to think of "commercial" districts as more about eatertainment than anything else, especially retail.)
But yes, too, I've made points similar to the Archstone point you make for years. E.g., with hotels, most of the spend goes out of the city. That's also true for spend on retail, office, and housing that ultimately isn't locally owned.
Decades ago a professor I had did a kind of inputs-outputs analysis for Greater Ann Arbor. Those are tough studies to do.
Post a Comment
<< Home | <urn:uuid:d2100df8-b8c8-4793-a54f-dfdeb6ee4fcb> | http://urbanplacesandspaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/burying-lead-economic-value-of-each-new.html | en | 0.963057 | 0.022318 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Should a preacher be paid through accounts payable or payroll, and how are his taxes handled?
"Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel" (I Corinthians 9:14).
Paul argued in I Corinthians 9 that those who preach the gospel have the right to be paid. There is nothing in the Scriptures that specifies what accounting practice needs to used to make those payments. A congregation may select whichever means works best for their situation.
The Scriptures do affirm that governments have the right to collect taxes and that Christians are to pay their taxes. "Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor" (Romans 13:5-7). How those taxes are collected is up to the government. | <urn:uuid:d2e90ef4-1f26-444c-817d-e5379071700c> | http://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVanswers/2011/05-31b.html | en | 0.968504 | 0.077949 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Rotisserie Grilling Sample: Charcoal vs Gas
It’s I wrote a Cookbook week on DadCooksDinner!
To whet your whistle, here’s a sample section from Rotisserie Grilling. I let my inner food geek run wild, and explore the science of rotisserie. Enjoy!
—Start Excerpt—
Sidebar: Charcoal vs. Gas
The cheapest charcoal grill browns meat better than most gas grills. Why?
Warning! Science content ahead. If you want to skip it, the summary is: Meat browns as meat juices are exposed to heat and evaporate. Dry heat browns better than wet heat because the extra water has to evaporate before the meat will start to brown. Burning charcoal is dry heat. Burning gas releases water, making wet heat. Therefore, charcoal browns meat better than gas.
Starting science content. My wife, the high school chemistry teacher, made sure I have the science correct. She says you better not skip ahead. There will be a quiz.
Why is dry heat better than wet heat? The Maillard reaction.
The Maillard reaction occurs when sugars and amino acids are exposed to heat in a dry environment; the result is browning and the release of water. “The result is browning” is shorthand for complex chemical interactions that scientists are still figuring out. The sugars caramelize, interact with the amino acids, and produce all sorts of flavor compounds. Those flavor compounds are what make the browned crust on a roast so delicious.
Meat is full of protein fibers and meat juices. When meat is cooked, the heat tightens the muscle fibers, and they squeeze juices out of the meat. The meat juices are full of sugars and amino acids, and when they reach the surface of the meat, they are exposed to heat. That starts the Maillard reaction. As the juices brown, they release more water. That extra water slows down the Maillard reaction until it evaporates, and browning starts again.
Water prevents browning. Meat needs to be cooked at 350°F or higher to evaporate the water fast enough to keep the browning reaction going, and higher temperatures are better. Boiled meat is gray, without any browning at all, because it is covered with water. This is why recipes recommend patting food dry before cooking; any extra water slows down browning until it evaporates.
Now we get to charcoal versus gas. (Finally!)
Charcoal is wood heated in an oxygen free environment. When all the water in the wood has evaporated, you are left with carbon. When carbon is burned, it produces heat, carbon dioxide, and a little carbon monoxide. That’s our dry heat – no water.
Gas is either propane or methane (also known as natural gas). When gas is burned, it produces heat, carbon dioxide, and water. That water is the problem – it needs to be evaporated by the heat of the grill before the Maillard reaction will start.
Now for the good news: a rotisserie helps browning, whether you use gas or charcoal. Escaping juices roll around the surface of the meat, spreading the sugars and amino acids so the Maillard reaction can do its thing. Yes, a charcoal grill with a rotisserie browns better than a gas grill with a rotisserie. But, a gas grill with a rotisserie browns about as well as a charcoal grill without a rotisserie. If you have a gas grill, don’t give up – the rotisserie will still help.
End Science content. You can keep reading now.
If you want a gas grill that browns as well as a charcoal grill, you need more heat, to help evaporate the extra water. This means more burners, especially infrared burners, which do a great job of generating heat. But that makes the grill more expensive. It’s tough to beat a cheap kettle grill filled with charcoal.
Don’t get me wrong; I use both charcoal and gas grills. In a perfect world, I would use charcoal all the time. However…gas grills are so convenient. They’re easy to light and provide constant, even heat as long as you don’t run out of gas. There are no worries about charcoal burning down and cooling off; there’s no need to add extra coals every hour. In the middle of February, when every trip to the grill involves shoveling snow, I love that extra convenience.
—End of excerpt—
The book:
Rotisserie Grilling by Mike Vrobel
Leave a Comment
| <urn:uuid:4a651959-74ca-495c-86df-2747db3bc101> | http://dadcooksdinner.com/2012/05/rotisserie-grilling-sample-charcoal-vs-gas.html/ | en | 0.914198 | 0.149965 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Bookmark and Share
Historic Oil
Serving customers for over 100 years.
The History of Petro
Over 100 years of industry leadership
This History of Petro
The oil heating industry began with Petro, when M.A. Fessler invented the oil burner to take advantage of the crude oil that was seeping out of the CA ground in 1903. To capitalize on his invention, Fessler started the Fess System Company, which eventually became Petro. Fessler perfected his invention over the next several years, and in 1915 the company moved east, installing the first oil burner in Boston. The company then began to grow rapidly and by 1916 was entering into its first contracts to purchase fuel oil. By 1917, there were contracts to purchase over 210,000 gallons!
In 1920, the first Petro oil burner factory opened in Stamford, CT, managed by M.A. Fessler, who remained with Petro until his retirement in 1927.
During this time, the Oil Trade Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, January, 1920, pg. 64, reported the following about the company:
"The Fess Rotary Oil Co. has been reorganized into the Petroleum Heat & Power Co., and is about to undertake in New York and other Eastern cities delivery of fuel oil by tank truck service. The company's business is to convert coalburning plants to oilburning, and it is prepared to substitute fuel oil for coal in all buildings except small private houses."
In 1922, The Oil Weekly, Vol. 27, No. 3, 14 Oct. 1922, pg. 78, also wrote the following about the company:
"…quite a number of larger buildings have arranged for the installation of the oil burning equipment furnished by the Petroleum Heat and Power Company of 511 Fifth Avenue, New York, Boston and Providence with factory at Stamford, Connecticut. A very notable example of this is found in the Metropolitan Life Insurance Building, where their oil burning system is now being installed."
In 1929, the company expanded, relocating Petro's headquarters to 1775 Broadway in NYC, where the company operated an oil terminal on the East River -- the only oil terminal on the island of Manhattan.
During this period, Petro was the leader in promoting the conversion of coal heated homes to oil with a noted advertising campaign: "Petro adds a floor to your home." This campaign gained traction as it spoke to the benefits homeowners would gain when they got rid of the ugly coal bin and converted the space into an extra living space.
Petro was also a leader in the conversion of commercial buildings from coal to oil during this time. Some of the more well known buildings that used Petro equipment and services are the Municipal Building, the Metropolitan Life and Equitable Life Insurance buildings and the Ritz Carlton Hotel in New York City; Harvard University, the City Hall Annex, Symphony Hall and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston; and the Hotel Biltmore, Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
After the Second World War, Petro lost its oil terminal on the East River in New York City when the owner of the land, John D. Rockefeller, gave the property to the United Nations. This location is now the site of the UN Headquarters building. Petro then moved its operations to Greenpoint, Brooklyn and is now headquartered in Stamford, CT.
In the late 1950's and early 1960's, the company was split and the various divisions were acquired by new owners. The New York division became the core of the present day Petro. During the 1960's, Petro was sold to Signal Oil and Gas, and eventually was acquired by a division of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco. By 1978, Petro was selling approximately 100 million gallons of home heating oil a year.
In 1979, the Sevin family purchased Petro from R. J. Reynolds and began restructuring. Then, in December 1986, the Sevins made the first public stock offering. Petro became a publicly traded company for the first time and was traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol "HEAT".
Since 1979, the company has steadily grown, primarily through its acquisition programs. By the end of 1999, Petro had acquired more than 180 home heating oil companies, making it the largest home heating oil company in the country.
During 1996, Petro consolidated its five locations on Long Island into three depots and created a regional customer service and management center in Port Washington, NY to service all of Long Island and NYC. In 1997, Petro combined the three NYC branches into one location in Maspeth, Queens to service all of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx; creating the largest home heating oil depot in the country. Additionally, during 1997, the entire Mid-Atlantic region (NJ, PA, MD, Washington DC and VA) adopted the "Petro" name, logo and company colors.
In March of 1999, Petro merged with its sister company, Star Gas, a publicly traded master limited partnership.
Today "Petro Home Heating & Air Conditioning" provides a range of home services to customers, including heating oil, propane, air conditioning, plumbing, chimney and home security. Petro also provides energy solutions to commercial customers throughout the company footprint. Based in Stamford, CT, it is the largest residential home heating oil provider in the U.S. with over 200,000 customers. Petro services customers throughout the northeastern seaboard in the following states: CT, DC, MD, NJ, NY, PA, RI, and VA.
Find out more information about Petro's heritage at the following links: ›
Petro on
When is it time to call a plumber?
"I'll never go with anyone else. They came right out. My husband wanted to tip them but they wouldn't take anything. Not one dime. I'll never go with anyone else but them. These were the nicest guys in the world!"
Carla Ullman | <urn:uuid:35314066-a3fd-443a-89bb-0cbcad426d17> | http://petro.com/why-petro/the-history-of-petro | en | 0.970691 | 0.020393 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Dough You Love Me: A Laminated Pastry Dough FAQ and a Daring Bakers Challenge
Danish Pastry Time
It's late June, and high time for another Daring Bakers Challenge. This month's challenge? A Danish Braid. What, never heard of Danish Braid? Well, neither had we, but let us tell you, it's one doozy of a recipe (check it out here), prominently featuring laminated dough--a component which can strike fear into the hearts of even accomplished bakers. OK, to be fair though, perhaps it's not so much difficult as it is time consuming and trying on one's patience, what with its multiple between-step chillings and wait periods. However, rather than using these lag times to say, watch Law & Order or to read In Touch Weekly we instead took it upon ourselves to become better acquainted with the world of laminated doughs--here's a bit of what we learned:
You say that Danish Dough is a laminated dough. What precisely does that mean?
According to, "Laminated Dough" is made by encasing butter in dough, and taking it through a series of folds, rolling and turns to produce layers of butter in between sheets of dough. The leavening in these doughs is mainly derived from the steam generated by the moisture from the butter--the laminated fat traps water vapor and carbon dioxide formed during baking, and as steam expands in the oven, it lifts and separates the individual layers.
One of the more famous types of laminated dough is Puff Pastry (which makes mille-fueilles), which rises solely on the steam and has a bit more butter; however, Danish dough, its close laminated cousin, gets an added lift (literally) from yeast.
Additionally, as smart and cute Cakespy reader E-Dizzle clarifies:
There are three basic laminated doughs: Puff pastry has no yeast, and is used to make yummy things like palmiers, cheese twists and any sort of super-flaky tart or crust. The dough itself isn't sweet, so it can be used for sweet or savory pastries.
Croissant dough and danish dough are very similar, both containing yeast. But croissant doughs are considered very "lean" (crazy, I know) because the detrempe (which I just call "the doughy bit") has only flour, salt, water and yeast. Danish dough, however, is considered "rich" because it contains eggs and dairy, and sometimes sugar.
In the recipe, there's a term called "détrempe". What is that?
We think we figured it out though: détrempe refers to the dough part of the pastry, before the second part, the "beurrage"--the butter part--is added, which is what "laminates" it (in shiny buttery deliciousness).
Croissants at Belle Epicurean at their stand in the University MarketHello, Carbohydrates! layman's terms, what is the difference between Danish Dough and Puff Pastry (two of the laminated doughs cited above)?
Puff Pastry has more butter and no yeast--the resulting pastry is flaky and melt-in-your-mouth buttery. Danish dough contains yeast, which we find gives it a slightly chewier and less flaky texture.
Carbohydrates!If they were to have a faceoff, which would win--puff pastry or danish dough?
Really, would you ask us to choose between a flaky puff pastry or a delicious Danish? Apples and oranges, we tell you. Surely here's enough room in the world for all sorts of dough. Vive le carbohydrate!
What are some examples of pastries made with Danish Dough?
Well, the Danish, naturally--but pinwheels, envelopes and turnovers are frequently made using this type of dough. Also, though not always, a lot of kolache recipes call for a Danish-y dough.
Kolaches, Great Harvest Bread, Ballard, SeattleWhoa, sidebar: what's a kolache?
According to Wikipedia, Kolache (also spelled kolace, kolach, or kolacky, from the Czech and Slovak plural koláče) are a type of pastry consisting of fillings ranging from fruits to cheeses inside a bread roll. Originally only a sweet dessert from Central Europe, they have become popular in parts of the United States (strangely, they seem to have a big concentration in the American midwest, with kolache havens occurring in Oklahoma and Texas, which both boast annual Kolache festivals; however, Montgomery MN cites itself as the "Kolacky Capital of the World". Fighting words, anyone?). A picture of a kolache we found in Seattle at the Great Harvest Bread Company's Ballard location, is pictured left.
Can puff pastry and Danish Dough be used interchangeably?Columbia City Bakery Fruit and Cream Danish
We can't say for sure since we haven't tried, and really there would be nothing wrong with the flavor combinations per se--in fact, we've even seen Danish that has had the distinct look of puff pastry (see left, photo of a cream-and-fruit Danish from the Columbia City Bakery in Seattle). Will we be making this leap in the future though? Don't look out for it--our fear of ruining a delicious recipe is too great. Though perhaps this just means we're pastry prudes who badly need to take a walk on the wild side.
Why does it take so long to make my own dough?
Well, they say that Rome wasn't built in a day, and similarly, good Danish Dough must not be rushed. While the waiting periods (a half hour here to chill, another half hour there) may seem fussy, we advise that you wait it out--the taste of your baked goods will reward you at the end. And plus, all of those waiting periods leave you so much time to find cool stuff on the internet or even to drop by the nearest bakery to pick up an appetizer sweet.
Why are so many laminated doughs braided, slit or otherwise disfigured on top?
Though this can add visual appeal, it is mainly to let excess steam out while baking.
...speaking of which, shouldn't you be checking on your Danish braid about now?
#$%! Be right back.
Pastry Time!
(Several moments pass; we return to our questioning, with the slightest bit of sugary glaze and fruit filling still clinging around the corners of our mouths--see left).
It's clear your mind is on other things now. So...where can I learn more about laminated doughs?
Well, we recently saw a great show by Alton Brown explaining all about Puff Pastry (and boy is he cute!), or you could also turn to, a site operated by Pepperidge Farms which has recipes, forums and information on laminated doughs; for more information on all things laminated dough (both Puff Pastry and Danish Dough), also visit!
Postscript: The chewing resumes, the light dims, and yes--our spies realize that really and truly, homemade Danish Dough--especially when filled with fresh preserves (we chose cherry)--is a thing of beauty. | <urn:uuid:64703234-17d8-4004-a98e-2f7909a65d91> | http://www.cakespy.com/blog/2008/6/29/dough-you-love-me-a-laminated-pastry-dough-faq-and-a-daring.html | en | 0.957424 | 0.215844 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Related Categories
* Try using fewer or less specific keywords.
* Double-check your spelling.
* For specific product results, search within a category.
Fungus and disease can quickly spread through even the healthiest of lush gardens. Control fungus and other plant diseases before they start with environmentally safe organic fungus control and organic disease control.
| <urn:uuid:bb3b6f25-02e8-449c-a165-598c209fd3c1> | http://www.garden.com/search.aspx?path=cGARDENp2119&page=1&hits=96&sort=bestselling&facets=gardenglobalbrand_fct%253aBonide | en | 0.896202 | 0.721358 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
various artists,
The Rough Guide to Bellydance
(World Music Network, 2002)
There are two things that need to be made clear at the beginning. First of all, there is actually no such thing as "bellydance." In the Middle East it is called either raqs sharki (Eastern dance) or raqs baladi (folk or popular dance). It is probably the word "baladi" that was misunderstood and rendered as "belly," an obvious reference to the characteristic gyrating movements of abdomen and hips in oriental dance styles. Secondly, there is also no bellydance music as such; some Middle Eastern music is just more suitable for dancing.
The title of the compilation CD under review must therefore be considered as more of a catch phrase than an accurate description of the featured music. That being said, however, the people involved in producing The Rough Guide to Bellydance have done an outstanding job with this selection of Middle Eastern music. The album contains a sleeve with highly informative notes by Algerian-born "renaissance woman" Amel Tafsout: anthropologist, language teacher, dancer, choreographer and professional storyteller, currently writing a doctoral dissertation on Sufism and the healing qualities of dance. The CD's 15 tracks bring together musicians from Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon, some of whom are now resident in America or Europe.
The album contains three tracks by Jalilah (stage name of Lorraine Zamora Chamas), the driving force behind the Piranha label -- a prominent promoter of Eastern dance music. For the samples on this CD she has worked together with conductors like Ihsan al-Mounzer and Mokhtar al-Said. The opening number is a composition by unarguably the greatest composer of 20th-century Arabic music, Muhammad Abdel Wahab (1907-1991). It was written as a tribute to moviestar/dancer Tahia Carioca (or Abla Muhammad Karim 1915-1999). For many years Tahia was famous on Cairo's nightclub circuit and a much sought-after performer in Egyptian movies. Fusing western and oriental dancing styles she stood for a unique personal performance.
Underscoring the fact that there is no "specific" bellydance music is the cover of "Enta Omri." This is another classic by Mohammad Abdel Wahab, which he originally composed for the grande dame of Egyptian music, the legendary Umm Kulthum (1904(?)-1975), the "Star of the Middle East."
Ahmad Fouad Hasan's arrangement of "Dimashq" is the next impression of that typical Middle Eastern show music, which became famous in the 1940s and was performed by large orchestras. The track celebrates the reputation of Damascus as a center of culture. This Syrian city was the capital of the Arab-Islamic empire during the Umayyad Dynasty (661-750), generally considered the "Golden Age" of the classical Arabic arts. Incidentally, Ahmed Fouad Hasan, an Egyptian musician, composer, conductor and producer of stage shows, was instrumental in launching the career of Nagua Fouad, the most popular bellydancer of the 1970s and '80s (they were even married for six years).
"Aament Bellah" is at the other end of the spectrum. This 12-minute composition features Mahmoud Fadl, a drummer of Nubian extraction. The Nubians are an ethnic group living in the border area between Egypt and Sudan; in their music, Africa and the Arab world meet. This is a sample of a more basic, simpler, even stern type of music, devoid of the "baroque dedadence" of great city orchestra music. It is music for on the banks of the Nile rather than the seraglio, primordial and sacred (the title translates as "under the protection of God"). On this CD Fadl plays also another Mohammad Abdel Wahab cover. Tango-like "Ana Wehabibi" is again signature Abdel Wahab, a merger between western-inspired harmony and Middle Eastern instrumentation rendered with great panache.
My personal favorite of this album is a Turkish number by the ensemble Kemani Cemal Cinarli. Titled "Kirkpinar Ciftetelli," it draws its inspiration from the musical scene in Istanbul's Sulukule district. This neighborhood in the old Ottoman capital was known for its Gypsies and bellydancing. On this particular track the two seem to have merged and the result is a melancholic, plaintive sound with an intricate eight-beat rhythm.
The Rough Guide to Bellydance further features Lebanese-Armenian Setrak Sarkissian on tabla, Lebanese buzuq player Mohamed Matar, two pieces by the Egyptian percussionist Reda Darwish, daringly innovative compositions of Armando El Mafuf and Rabih Abou-Khalil, and a subdued spiritual performance by Turkish flutist Omar Faruk Tekbilek.
- Rambles
written by Carool Kersten
published 8 March 2003
Buy it from | <urn:uuid:957d6370-e6d4-4d01-853e-fd1b34bc3c9f> | http://www.rambles.net/rough_bellydance02.html | en | 0.953652 | 0.041965 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
jump to navigation
Would We Be Better Off If John McCain Were President? August 1, 2011
Posted by rogerhollander in Barack Obama, John McCain.
add a comment
Roger’s note: for those of us who vote the “lesser of evils,” here is a cogent and fascinating argument. Should it be McCain and not Obama who is selling out wholesale to the military-industrial complex, warring incessantly abroad and helping the rich get richer and the poor poorer at home, not only would the hypocritical Democratic Party be taking up indignant opposition, but, more importantly, there would be massive protests in the street (which is the only effective antidote to Imperial America).
AlterNet /Fred Branfman
Presidents serve the institutional interests of the
corporations behind them. A President McCain may have at least triggered a true
progressive fight.
July 17, 2011 |
Beth Rankin / Flickr Creative Commons
Photo Credit: Beth Rankin / Flickr
The following piece first appeared on Truthdig.
Democrats were united on one issue in the 2008 presidential election: the
absolute disaster that a John McCain victory would have produced.
And they were right. McCain as president would clearly have produced a long
string of catastrophes: He would probably have approved a failed troop surge in
Afghanistan, engaged in worldwide extrajudicial assassination, destabilized nuclear-armed
Pakistan, failed to bring Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to the negotiating table, expanded prosecution of whistle-blowers, sought to
expand executive branch power, failed to close Guantanamo, failed to act on climate change, pushed both nuclear energy and opened new
areas to domestic oil drilling, failed to reform the financial sector enough to prevent another financial catastrophe, supported an extension of the
Bush tax cuts for the rich, presided over a growing divide between rich and poor, and failed to lower the jobless rate.
Nothing reveals the true state of American politics today more than the fact
that Democratic President Barack Obama has undertaken all of these actions, and
even more significantly, left the Democratic Party far weaker than it would have
been had McCain been elected. Few issues are more important than seeing behind
the screen of a myth-making mass media, and understanding what this demonstrates
about how power in America really works—and what needs to be done to change
First and foremost, McCain would have undoubtedly selected as treasury
secretary an individual nominated by Wall Street—which has a stranglehold on the
economy due to its enjoying 30 to 40 percent of all corporate profits. If he
didn’t select Tim Geithner, a reliable servant of financial interests whose
nomination might have allowed McCain to trumpet his “maverick” credentials,
whoever he did select would clearly have also moved to bail out the financial
institutions and allow them to water down needed financial reforms.
Ditto for the head of his National Economic Council. Although appointing
Larry Summers might have been a bit of a stretch, despite his yeoman work in destroying financial regulation—thus enriching
his old boss Robert Rubin and helping cause the Crash of 2008—McCain could
easily have found a Jack Kemp-like Republican “supply-sider” who would have
duplicated Summers’ signal achievement of expanding the deficit to the highest
levels since 1950 (though perhaps with a slightly higher percentage of tax cuts
than the Obama stimulus). The economy would have continued to sputter along,
with growth rates and joblessness levels little different from today’s, and
possibly even worse.
But McCain’s election would have produced a major political difference: It
would have increased Democratic clout in the House and Senate. First off, there
would have been no Tea Party, no “don’t raise the debt limit unless we gut the
poor,” no “death panel” myth, no “Obama Youth” nonsense. Although there would
have been plenty of criticism from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, the fact remains
that McCain, a Republican war hero, would never have excited the Tea Party
animus as did the “Secret-Muslim Kenyan-Born Big-Government Fascist White-Hating
Antichrist” Obama. Glenn Beck would have remained a crazed nonentity and been
dropped far sooner by Fox News than he was. And Vice President Sarah Palin,
despised by both McCain and his tough White House staff, would have been
deprived of any real power and likely tightly muzzled against criticizing
McCain’s relatively centrist (compared to her positions) policies.
Voters would almost certainly have increased Democratic control of the House
and Senate in 2010, since the Republicans would have been seen as responsible
for the weak U.S. economy. Democrats might even have achieved the long-desired
60 percent majority needed to kill the filibuster in one or both houses.
Democratic control of the House and Senate fostered by disastrous Republican
policies would have severely limited McCain’s ability (as occurred with George
W. Bush) to weaken Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance
and other programs that aid those most in need. (Yes, domestic spending might
have been cut less if McCain had won.)
Had McCain proposed “health insurance reform,” because health insurers saw a
golden opportunity to increase their customer base and profits while retaining
their control, the Democrats would at least have passed a “public option” as
their price for support. And possible Health and Human Services Secretary Newt
Gingrich—placed in that position in a clever move to keep him away from economic
or foreign policy—might have even accelerated needed improvements in
computerizing patient records and other high-tech measures needed to cut health
care costs, actions that he touted in his book on the subject.
In foreign and military policy, McCain would surely have approved Gen. David
Petraeus’ “Afghanistan surge,” possibly increasing the number of U.S. troops
there by 40,000 instead of 33,500. But Gen. Stanley McChrystal would probably
have remained at the helm in Afghanistan, since he and his aides would never
have disparaged McCain to Rolling Stone. McChrystal
might have continued a “counterinsurgency” strategy, observing relatively strict
rules of engagement, unlike his successor, Petraeus, who tore up those rules and
has instead unleashed a brutal cycle of “counterterror” violence in southern
Afghanistan. (Yes, far fewer Afghan civilians might have died had McCain
McCain, like Obama, would probably have destabilized nuclear-armed Pakistan
and strengthened militant forces there by expanding drone strikes and pushing
the Pakistani military to launch disastrous offensives into tribal areas. And he
would have given as much support as has Obama to Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu’s opposition to a peace deal because he believes that present policies
of strangling Gaza, annexing East Jerusalem, expanding West Bank settlements and
walling off Palestinians are succeeding. (It is possible that a McCain secretary
of state might not have incited violence against unarmed American citizens—as
did Hillary Clinton when she stated that Israelis, who
killed nine unarmed members of the 2010 Gaza flotilla, “have the right to defend
themselves” against letter-carrying 2011 Gaza flotilla members.)
While McCain would have wanted to keep 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan
until 2014, he might have been forced to reduce their numbers, as has Obama. For
McCain would have faced a strengthened and emboldened Democratic Congress, which
might have seen electoral gold in responding to polls indicating the public had
turned against the Afghanistan War—as well as a far stronger peace movement
united against Republicans instead of divided as it now is between the desires
for peace and seeing an Obama win in 2012.
Most significantly, if McCain had won, not only would Democrats be looking at
a Democratic landslide in the 2012 presidential race, but the newly elected
Democratic president in 2013 might enjoy both a 60 percent or higher majority in
both houses and a clear public understanding that it was Republican policies
that had sunk the economy. He or she might thus be far better positioned to
enact substantive reforms than was Obama in 2008, or will Obama even if he is
re-elected in 2012.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office in March 1933 after a 42-month
Depression blamed entirely on the Republicans. Although he had campaigned as a
moderate, objective conditions both convinced him of the need for fundamental
change—creating a safety net including Social Security, strict financial
regulation, programs to create jobs, etc.—and gave him the congressional
pluralities he needed to achieve them. A Democratic president taking office in
2013 after 12 years of disastrous Republican economic misrule might well have
been likewise pushed and enabled by objective events to create substantive
Furious debate rages among Obama’s Democratic critics today on why he has
largely governed on the big issues as John McCain would have done. Some believe
he retains his principles but has been forced to compromise by political
realities. Others are convinced he was a manipulative politico who lacked any
real convictions in the first place.
But there is a far more likely—and disturbing—possibility. Based on those who
knew him and his books, there is little reason to doubt that the
pre-presidential Obama was a college professor-type who shared the belief system
of his liberalish set: that ending climate change and reducing nuclear weapons
were worthy goals, that it was important to “reset” U.S. policy toward the
Muslim world, that torture and assassination were bad things, that
Canadian-style single-payer health insurance made sense, that whistle-blowing
and freedom of the press should be protected, Congress should have a say in
whether the executive puts the nation into war, and that government should
support community development and empowering poor communities.
Upon taking office, however, Obama—whatever his belief system at that
point—found that he was unable to accomplish these goals for one basic reason:
The president of the United States is far less powerful than media myth
portrays. Domestic power really is in the hands of economic elites and their
lobbyists, and foreign policy really is controlled by U.S. executive branch
national security managers and a “military-industrial complex.” If a president
supports their interests, as did Bush in invading Iraq, he or she can do a lot
of damage. But, absent a crisis, a president who opposes these elites—as Obama
discovered when he tried in the fall of 2009 to get the military to offer him an
alternative to an Afghanistan troop surge—is relatively powerless.
Whether a Ronald Reagan expanding government and running large deficits in
the 1980s despite his stated belief that government was the problem, or a Bill
Clinton imposing a neoliberal regime impoverishing hundreds of millions in the
Third World in the 1990s despite his rhetorical support for helping the poor,
anyone who becomes president has little choice but to serve the institutional
interests of a profoundly amoral and violent executive branch and the
corporations behind them.
The U.S. executive branch functions to promote its version of U.S. economic
and geopolitical interests abroad—including engaging in massive violence which
has killed, wounded or made homeless more than 21 million people in Indochina
and Iraq combined. And it functions at home to maximize the interests of the
corporations and individuals who fund political campaigns—today supported by a
U.S. Supreme Court whose politicized decision to expand corporations’ control
over elections has made a mockery of the very notion of “checks and balances.”
The executive branch’s power extends to the mass media, most of whose
journalists are dependent on executive information leaks and paychecks from
increasingly concentrated media corporations. They thus serve executive power
far more than they challenge it.
No one more demonstrates what happens to a human being who joins the
executive branch than Hillary Clinton, a former peace movement supporter whose
1969 Wellesley commencement address stated that “our prevailing, acquisitive, and
competitive corporate life is not the way of life for us. We’re searching for
more immediate, ecstatic and penetrating modes of living”; praised “a lot of the
New Left [that] harkens back to a lot of the old virtues”; and decried “the
hollow men of anger and bitterness, the bountiful ladies of righteous
degradation, all must be left to a bygone age.” Clinton the individual served on
the board of the Children’s Defense Fund, promoted helping the poor at home and
Third World women abroad and at one point was even often compared to Eleanor
Although her transformation began once she decided to try to become
president, it became most visible after she joined the executive branch as
secretary of state. The former peace advocate has now become a major advocate
for war-making, a scourge of whistle-blowers and a facilitator of Israeli
But while rich and powerful elites have always ruled in America, their power
has periodically been successfully challenged at times of national crisis: the
Civil War, the Progressive era, the Depression. America is clearly headed for
such a moment in the coming decade, as its economy continues to decline due to a
parasitic Wall Street, mounting debt, strong economic competitors, overspending
on the military, waste in the private health care sector and elites declaring
class war against a majority of Americans.
Naomi Klein has written penetratingly of Disaster Capitalism, which
occurs when financial and corporate elites benefit from the economic crises they
cause. But the reverse has also often proved true: a kind of “Disaster
Progressivism” often occurs when self-interested elites cause so much suffering
that policies favoring democracy and the majority become possible.
The United States will clearly face such a crisis in the coming decade. It is
understandable that many Americans will want to focus on re-electing Obama in
2012. Although Democrats and the country would have been better off if McCain
had won in 2008, this is not necessarily true if a Republican wins in
2012—especially if the GOP nominates Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann.
But however important the 2012 election, far more energy needs to be devoted
to building mass organizations that challenge elite power and develop the kinds
of policies—including massive investment in a “clean energy economic
revolution,” a carbon tax and other tough measures to stave off climate change,
regulating and breaking up the financial sector, cost-effective entitlements
like single-payer health insurance, and public financing of primary and general
elections—which alone can save America and its democracy in the painful decade
to come.
Fred Branfman’s writing has been published in
the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Republic, and other
publications. He is the author of several books on the Indochina War.
Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.
Join 268 other followers | <urn:uuid:7150eb76-9d3a-4204-8d8c-d3498ec2443f> | https://rogerhollander.wordpress.com/tag/domestic-policy/ | en | 0.959747 | 0.024109 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
How to build a strong startup community
In startup land, communities are the hot new thing. We're starting to see more community builders, managers and architects being hired at earlier stages in a startup's growth. They are realizing that, before growth hacking and social media marketing, the most important thing your company needs is people. More specifically, people who care about your mission and believe in your team while you're still in startup diapers.
There are countless stories of startups finding the road to massive growth by first starting with smaller communities. Craigslist started as an event email list. Instagram started by inviting highly influential people to use their product. Facebook made their product available in one college first, and only after that community became captivated did they expand to others.
Build the community around the mission
Be very clear about the problem you're setting out to solve. What's your mission? Whats your why? Build your community around that, not around your product or brand. Your product will change, so focus on the problem.
Start with one person
Startups are in a rush to grow, grow, grow. But even the billion-dollar companies we look up to today started with one person who decided to support a brand-new company with nothing more to show than a passion for solving a problem.
The good news is that you don't even need a product yet. Since you're building your community around a mission, you can start building your community from day one. Find someone who has the problem you're trying to solve and buy them coffee. Learn as much as you can about who they are and how you can help them.
Make every member feel special
You, the big important CEO or founder, already spoke to them on the phone or met them for coffee so they probably feel pretty special.
Keep building on that. They should feel special because they are special. You want every member to feel like they have a privilege that others don't have. And your first few members are extra special because they get to be the first members of something that will one day be huge.
By keeping your early community invite only or exclusive in some manner, your members will feel a sense of belonging that's vital for a healthy community.
Build the community for them, not you
The biggest mistake startups make when they start building a community is they make it all about them. They're constantly asking for help, tweets and feedback. In doing so, they forget that these people are already investing their most valuable asset: their time.
Since you have spoken with these people, you should have a good idea of who they are and their problems. Your community should work to solve those problems for them, even before your product does. A community's primary goal is to bring value to the members so that they are rewarded for their time and energy contribution.
Create a conversation platform
I'm a big fan of Facebook Groups for new communities. Since everyone is already there, they're familiar with the interface and it's super simple for you to set up. You can also host events to build relationships among members. You don't have to get all fancy — just organize a dinner or a happy hour and then go from there.
Make sure every member feels heard
It's very important that members know someone is listening, even if it's just you. Always respond to every message or comment. If you see messages where another member might have a good response, ping those members and encourage them to respond.
There will be awkward silences in a brand-new community. It's inevitable. But stay strong and keep on engaging with a big shiny smile. Once you get the wheels turning, the community will start to take on your energy and build its own momentum.
Grow steadily
Now that you've got your community rolling, it's important to keep it growing by bringing in more people steadily to keep the energy high. Keep bringing in people gradually. Be patient. Before you know it, you'll have a large thriving community that will serve as the foundation of your company, product and customer base for years to come.
David Spinks is the cofounder of Feast: Helping busy people build a habit of cooking at home; he also founded CMX Summit and TheCommunityManager.
The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invitation-only organization comprised of young entrepreneurs worldwide. YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a virtual mentorship program that offers advice on starting and sustaining new businesses.
Weekly newsletter
Connect with us
Upcoming events | <urn:uuid:a6ba8f55-9e86-41bf-abb2-0cc91864fb1f> | http://bluesky.chicagotribune.com/hub/chi-yec-how-to-build-a-strong-startup-community-bsi-hub,0,0.story | en | 0.975772 | 0.040207 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Middlebrow Atheism. Part 3
Continuing my series on naive atheism:
Video Item 06: The Wmap satellite data is consistent with inflation. Inflation implies an infinite number of pocket universes are created in an eternal process. If lots of universes are created each with different "constant" values, one of them is bound to have the right values for life. The collisions of other “bubble” universes with our own universe might show up on Wmap data making it a testable theory. Alternatively the constants (like “alpha”) could vary randomly across a large universe and eventually hit the required fine tuning values.
My Comment: The idea here is that the universe (or multiverse) is far larger in space and/or time than the observed universe; in fact so large that the universe will have available to it enough trials to make inevitable the appearance of the right fine tuning values in at least one sub-universe. The essential feature of this argument is that the fine tuning values are the result of random selection over a much larger universe than can be seen by Earth based observers. The essence of this idea can, in fact, be taken much further: Why should the values of the constants remain constant within our sub-universal region? In fact why should even the form of the laws of physics remain uniform within one sub-universal domain? If we are going to moot the idea of a super-universe that is immensely large compared to our own tiny universe we don’t actually require any laws at all: Viz: Why not resort to that classic notion of a universe simply running at maximum disorder all of the time? If so then this will mean, of course, that any selected outcome, given enough time and/or space, will make an appearance. In this context the postulated high disorder implies no configurations have a probability weighted above random expectations.
Assuming that our universe is a (very) small and unrepresentative domain in a maximally disordered super-universe the question remains as to why it should make any difference theologically speaking. The difference seems to stem from the underlying theological expectation that any God worth His salt would not create a universe where probability is spread so thinly over the space of possibilities that configurations we consider to be anthropologically significant and meaningful have no special weighting. This theology expects a God created universe to be weighted in favour of life, and this is regarded as the signature of Divine contrivance. This, I think, is the implicit theological assumptions shared by both sides.
But having said that, on further reflection it turns out that it is very unlikely that our particular universe is just a very small part of a super-universe where complete disorder reigns. You see, if our universe, with its remarkable laws and constants was one of these unrepresentative patterns in a sea of maximum disorder, then that would mean the laws physics are, in fact, an “illusion of chance”. Our sub-universe, being a highly unrepresentative ordered pattern, would mean that probability would not favour its persistence and therefore the longer it hangs around the more likely it is that our universe is not just a highly improbable fluke, but intrinsically constrained to be patterned in an ordered way. It follows then that the visible universe, whatever those fine tuning variables are doing elsewhere, is still showing an unwarranted level of order; whatever way you spin it, it’s a mysterious free lunch. Thus the cosmos presents us with two non-trivial problems. 1) Why should there be any patterned substrate at all – that is “why is there something rather than nothing”? and 2) Why is our sub-universe so persistently ordered? In short we are faced with a non-trivial Grand Logical Hiatus that is with us day by day, moment by moment, place by place. So the Wmap data, whatever it shows, takes us back to square one.
No comments: | <urn:uuid:1027f11c-da95-43c5-8f2d-57ee8023f61f> | http://quantumnonlinearity.blogspot.com/2011/03/middlebrow-atheism-part-3.html | en | 0.942189 | 0.920969 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Customer Data May be Too Risky to Keep
By Dan Gillmor | Posted 09-05-2005 Print Email
With data security an oxymoron at many companies, it's time to rethink who controls customer data in the first place.
Companies keep finding ways to misplace consumers' personal data. Courier services lose tapes on their way to long-term storage facilities; malevolent social engineers con their way into access; laptop computers holding multiple databases are stolen.
We hear a lot about these kinds of things now because a new California law requires companies to disclose to consumers when their data has been compromised. It should be obvious, though, that data loss has been happening for some time, because the level of security in these cases seems to have been, at best, pervasively inadequate.
All of which makes me wonder: Why are companies keeping our data at all? Wouldn't they—and we—be better off in the long run if data wasn't collected and stored in the first place?
This sounds counterintuitive, and it certainly goes against today's common business practices. It's basically been an article of faith that gathering, storing and massaging ever more data is a good thing. Information can be power. It helps determine risk and reward. It helps a company know its various constituents better, including customers and suppliers. And it's worth money.
The current model fails in two areas. One, as noted, is with shamefully lax security. The other is the perverse notion that our personal lives are a commodity to be bought, sold and traded without serious regard for privacy or the consequences of sloppy handling. This doesn't even take into account the common problem of data that is outright false.
It is distressing that most personal information—such as what we spend and where we spend it, not to mention the ultimate skeleton key for identity thieves, our Social Security numbers—can be bartered at all. And when information is compromised or incorrect, consumers are largely responsible for cleaning up the chaos that results.
The data collection system is, at long last, beginning to fray at the edges. Consumers are growing more worried and angry over what they're learning about shoddy storage and trading practices. A recent survey by Harris Interactive found an increase in identity theft and a decrease in consumer confidence that negatively affected purchasing decisions.
The worst practices are drawing the attention of trial lawyers who, in the absence of more serious government enforcement, are prosecuting the promise-breakers.
But the California law may be a canary in the coal mine for keepers of data, because it signals the possible reappearance of legislators into an arena they've tried hard to avoid—a natural tendency, given the prodigious amounts of campaign contributions legislators have collected from the data collectors and sellers.
It's in this context that we should be asking whether the rewards of holding on to consumer data are worth the trouble—and whether it's possible to create an infrastructure that gives consumers much more control over their information from the outset.
Eric Norlin, a vice president at Ping Identity Corp., and a longtime writer on these matters, advocates "federated identity"—a decentralized system that would have the effect of giving consumers just this sort of granular control. "This is about customers being able to make their identities portable," he says, "to allow individuals to present the ID they choose to present to the service provider."
For example, if I were buying a plane ticket, I could give the airline permission to charge a certain amount of money to my credit card. But the airline wouldn't need access to the actual credit card number if I'd simultaneously given the card issuer enough information about the transaction to make the transfer. The bank or other card issuer would need my permission to pay the airline, but the entire transaction could take place in a seamless mesh of business logic, using advanced Web services, that lends parts of my identity to those who need it on a temporary basis.
This leaves a single potential point of failure (for this transaction, at any rate) from an identity-theft standpoint: the bank. Even though banks can, and sometimes do, get careless with data, a financial institution that builds and maintains an excellent record for data security will win more business. Competition for customers would bring more business to providers that are the most careful.
For such a system to have any chance of working, a variety of technologies is required. Ultimately, consumers and merchants must trust that the parties they're dealing with on either side of the transaction are indeed who they're supposed to be. Also, data cannot be easy to compromise. So encryption as well as the ability to digitally "sign" what we send around are crucial.
A viable public-key encryption infrastructure meets these requirements, and the technology's inventor is Whitfield Diffie, Sun Microsystems' chief security officer. He questions whether institutions would ever buy into an identity system where the data resided solely with consumers, but says there's no fundamental technical barrier.
Still, the practical difficulties are not trivial. Mortgage lenders may lose some of their ability to uncover information borrowers may have failed to disclose, and that would mean greater lending risk. One way around the problem might be harsher contract sanctions for failing to give lenders correct information when asked, plus a higher interest rate for more limited kinds of disclosure. In such transactions, people will have to make visible more verified data about themselves than in deals, such as a simple purchase, where the stakes are lower.
Another real-world barrier, Diffie notes, is the lack of a ubiquitous key infrastructure. The old AT&T could have created that, given its one-time dominance of communications. Federal agencies such as the National Security Agency had the wherewithal to do it, but the NSA damaged its credibility with the public by trying to exert improper control over encryption. Federated identity advocates are painstakingly building an infrastructure today that they hope will solve the problems of tomorrow.
One drawback with user-controlled data has nothing to do with business, and that is the government's wish to spy on us. Law enforcement might find its job complicated by an identity system that decentralized control and collection of information.
Even so, there is enormous logic and value to society in returning people's personal lives to their own control. The credibility of future electronically based commerce may depend on consumers' trust in the system. They are losing faith already, and a data Chernobyl is in no one's interest.
The way we're going, however, such a meltdown might be hard to avoid. It would be wise to plan now for the aftermath, wiser still if companies would consider—just consider—the possibility that data retention itself could be the heart of the problem, and seriously analyze the alternatives. That alone would move the ball ahead.
Corporate America has an unfortunate addiction to centralized data that it doesn't need. Sometimes, losing control is an advantage.
This is my first column for CIO Insight. We're calling it "EdgeWise" to reflect the growing decentralization of today's information economy. The insights and endeavors that people (and their machines) at the edges of networks feed back to the center, and to each other, are already enormous—and they're expanding. We see this phenomenon in open-source software projects. We see it in Weblogs. We see it in grid computing and mass parallel processing.
You know more than I do. I hope you'll tell me things that you know and I don't and that CIOs need to know. Let's make this space a conversation, not a lecture.
Submit a Comment
Loading Comments... | <urn:uuid:dd782d90-f2d3-4002-9dd7-cd4dddc2b113> | http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Past-Opinions/Customer-Data-May-be-Too-Risky-to-Keep | en | 0.954368 | 0.056168 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
My ex boyfriend (who dumped me) keeps trying to talk to me and now wants to meet up?
So it's been about a year since I met my ex. It's been 5 or 6 months since he broke up with me. He broke up with me saying I deserved a better guy than he was who could commit to me. Anyway, I keep bumping into my ex when I'm out and he always offers to buy me shots. I always turn him down. Number... Show More
Most Helpful Guy
• It may not be that simple. Maybe he lost something, and didn't realize how great you were until it was too late. But look I am a guy who was a huge player and there are only three reasons he would have ended things with you using that lame ass line, "you deserve someone better than me blah, blah, I'm a dumb-ass blah..."
The first is he no longer found you attractive. Not saying that you are unattractive. You could be the hottest god damn girl on the freakin planet, but guys get bored. If you have almost all the gold in the word, your furniture is made of gold, your damn palace is made of gold and your toilet paper is gold trimmed, you are gonna get god damned sick of gold and trade it in for platinum.
The second is that you two weren't as physical as you used to be. Now I don't care if the sex was fire when it happened, if it happened. When it becomes too "rare", we look elsewhere. Everyone needs to be in a relationship with physical attraction and interaction. Or else one of the two in that relationship will go crazy.
The third and final reason is he was ready to see someone else or there already was someone else. We men use the line "we aren't good enough" because we want you to feel partially guilty. Like we tried everything in our power to make it work and we "see that you are a better person than I could ever be, and you need someone more like you"
Fuck that. Idiot. Don't lower yourself back into that pit with that dog of a retard. He had his chance and you've moved on (I hope). BUT! If you wanna f*** with him, I have some great head games for you! | <urn:uuid:3e78cb8d-62d6-4b10-a0eb-3b74b99b18ae> | http://www.girlsaskguys.com/break-up-divorce/q335939-my-ex-boyfriend-who-dumped-me-keeps-trying-to | en | 0.990638 | 0.191056 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
LETTER: Roadside trash is an insult to all of us
bethlehem south side cleanup View full size Volunteers clean up litter in South Side Bethlehem.
As the winter snows recede along the roadside and I look for the first signs of the earth's rejuvenation, what do I see? Garbage.
As I drive through the Slate Belt and surrounding areas, I am appalled at the trash that lines the curbs and roads. What is wrong with people? Where has respect gone — for the earth, for the environment and for this beautiful area we call home? It is bad enough that we live in world of ever more disposable products, but why must we treat the ground as if it were a garbage receptacle?
Most of the trash along the roadsides is recyclable, yet beer and water bottles and soda cans abound, plastic bags flap in the breeze, caught on tree branches and half submerged in the melting snow.
It is a sad commentary on the ever- declining respect for the environment. Here are a couple of tips for the litterbugs: Keep two (recyclable) plastic grocery bags in your car and put your trash in one and your recyclables in the other. Then take it home and dispose of it properly. The earth will thank you for it and so will I. | <urn:uuid:e6e7321d-aa7b-44a7-9187-53d257891bd1> | http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/03/letter_roadside_trash_an_insul.html | en | 0.946278 | 0.032533 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Wednesday :: Jul 6, 2011
Obama's Earned This One
by Deacon Blues
I'd like to blame the GOP for the crisis that is upon us with the debt ceiling, but let's also understand the role Barack Obama plays in this mess. Sure, the GOP is irresponsible yet knows exactly what it is doing when it threatens to not pass an increase. The problem is twofold for Obama: his negotiating record instructs the GOP to hold out for everything they want, and he fails to understand the GOP is actually serious about not passing an increase.
On the first point, David Frum on last night's "The Last Word" validly pointed the finger at Obama for showing weakness in his past negotiations. Frum maintains correctly that because Obama seems to start out in the middle and then caves towards the GOP's position, there is no reason for Boehner and McConnell at this point to not think they can squeeze Obama a little longer. Why cut a deal now and leave something on the table, only to get primaried by a Tea Party extremist back home for doing so? Their belief is only confirmed with the news yesterday that Obama is ready to offer up Medicare and Medicaid cuts if the GOP will agree to a large deal pegged at 90% cuts and 10% revenue increaes.
Why in the hell is Obama even willing to offer up a 90/10 deal in the first place? It wasn't Medicare and Medicaid that got us into the debt problem we face, it was the Bush tax cuts and the two wars Bush failed to pay for. Yet Obama is willing now to agree to a 90/10 deal, even though the public supports tax increases on the wealthy and doesn't want cuts in the safety net. It was only weeks ago that the Democrats stole a GOP congressional district in New York on the Medicare issue, and yet Obama has already tossed away that advantage.
On the second point, Obama lost the debate and narrative on this months ago, just like he lost the message on health care reform. Polls show the public thinks there will be no consequences from not passing a debt limit increase, which represents a White House failure to educate the public, and a missed opportunity to make it clear to the GOP they'll get blamed for this. Jim DeMint gave it away this morning, as Michelle Bachmann did last week when both said the country would not go into default, but rather simply pay the interest we owe and gut government spending to keep us under the current debt ceiling. A large part of the GOP actually believes Obama will do everything possible to avoid default, and can therefore be pushed to keep paying bondholders and slash spending, which gives the GOP what it wants anyway. Yet Obama hasn't once told the GOP that he won't do this, nor has he set the narrative and drawn a line in the sand with the GOP way back at the outset of this debacle that a default and the resulting banana-republic interest rate chaos and missed Social Security and Medicare payments will be laid at each GOP incumbent's feet in next year's election. Yet this late in the game, McConnell can say with a straight face that it has to be all cuts because he can't get the votes if anyone has to pay more in taxes. Obama has consistently misread the GOP and failed to understand the malignant forces he is up against.
As a result, we are left with the spectacle of a president wanting congressional Republicans to talk with him, only to see them refuse unless he follows his previous pattern and caves to them in advance. Because he has no real principles except to get reelected and get his face on Mount Rushmore some day, and because the GOP already has pushed him to 90/10, why would Boehner and McConnell do anything different, especially when many in their ranks are so uncaring about the consequences of a default?
Lastly, when the president's feeble lackeys were crowing about their tax deal with the GOP after the midterms, after the White House made a point of bypassing congressional Democrats, they could have also nailed down the debt ceiling deal at that time. They didn't, and now have no one to blame but themselves for what is happening now.
Deacon Blues :: 8:59 AM :: Comments (4) :: TrackBack (0) :: Spotlight :: Digg It! | <urn:uuid:a96de7d7-a64c-4aaa-8eca-691fc650a2b0> | http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/020000.php | en | 0.971812 | 0.099576 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with marketing Questions tagged with 'marketing' at Ask MetaFilter. Tue, 29 Sep 2015 13:39:38 -0800 Tue, 29 Sep 2015 13:39:38 -0800 en-us 60 How to make next steps in IT marketing/communications I've been working as a freelance copywriter/white paper writer mainly for IT companies but am looking to make the next step in education or job. I've been working for several years as a freelance marketing copywriter/white paper writer on technical subjects, mainly for IT or IT related companies. In the past year or so I have been starting to think about moving forward. I like what I do and make enough money (not a lot, but enough to live comfortably and save), but making more money, learning more, having more stability etc. would be nice. Also, currently 27 years old.<br> <br> Although I have a personal interest in infosec and other IT related topics, I don't have any formal education or training related to this. I am able to write about these topics reasonably well (particularly after interviewing subject matter experts) but would love to feel like I really understood the big picture better as well as the technical details. <br> <br> I am also interested in keeping my career moving forward, maybe even moving into a position with more responsibility . Perhaps a marketing exec in one of these companies, that's the part I'm a little unsure of.<br> <br> Also, I like freelancing quite a bit. I want to explore all my options (including 9-5 in-office perm jobs), but it would be a plus if the career path had potential to some day lead to freelance consulting or perhaps my own business. I'm mainly interested in building my skills and resume at this stage though.<br> <strong><br> So my question is really two parts:</strong> <br> <br> 1. What kind of job would make use of my current skills and experience (writing/marketing) but perhaps incorporate more technical knowledge, more money, and/or more responsibility? (maybe in infosec?)<br> <br> 2. What steps should I take to move towards this hypothetical job (training, intermediary jobs, etc)? <br> <br> Thanks in advance!!! <br> <br> P.S. Also generally interested in getting better at my current work (sounding more knowledgeable, understanding more concepts),2015:site.286438 Tue, 29 Sep 2015 13:39:38 -0800 mosschief reviews on Amazon in exchange for free/discounted products Product reviews on Amazon reviews have been very helpful in choosing and researching options for everything from fish oil supplements for dogs to baby swaddles to windshield wiper blades. It's always been fairly easy to tell obviously fake reviews and mentally discount those from the bigger picture, or see the extreme highs and extreme lows offering a certain kind of perspective that may or may not apply to my own decisions. The Vine program was a bit annoying at first, but since the reviewers were generally chosen for writing helpful reports, their reviews were often quite helpful and contained information missing from the product descriptions. But recently it seems like there are SO many reviews by non-Vine folks who include a variation on the line, "I received this product at a discount in exchange for my writing a honest review." It is obvious why the manufacturers or distributors want to get more reviews, but does Amazon condone this kind of review? Why have they suddenly been popping up even more? How are people offered products in exchange for the reviews? Does the customer make a purchase on Amazon, then get contacted for a partial or full refund by the seller? Or does this selection process happen on a site that is NOT Amazon? <br> <br> Other than down-voting them as not helpful (when they're not, which is very frequently the case) is there anything I can do to signal that the review was underwritten by free or discounted products? It is really annoying to find dozens of semi-sponsored reviews in the otherwise useful results. <br> <br> Has this been happening more frequently in the past few months or is that just confirmation bias? If it has ramped up recently, do you know why? What is Amazon's take on this practice? More generally, is this trend annoying to folks other than myself?,2015:site.286063 Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:04:54 -0800 barnone F******n, why not is it not in every 5 gallon bucket of paint already? I'm a construction professional. I'm not a painter, but I frequently paint my own properties. Here's my question: there is an additive that makes every paint way, way better by eliminating brush or roller marks. I already pay good money for awesome paint because I know how much better it is than anything sold at big box stores. Why isn't paint sold with the miracle additive already in it? All the painters I work with know about it and think it's the best thing ever –– to be fair, only genuinely high-end clientele would notice, but that's my target group. (I won't disclose the name of the product because this is not an advertisement, I genuinely don't understand paint marketing vs. paint chemistry vs. paint marketing.),2015:site.285992 Sun, 20 Sep 2015 01:35:09 -0800 halogen Marketing and advertising PRO's - how would you market my company? Help! How would you market a company to corporate groups, bachelor, bachelorette and birthday parties? Basically, I am trying to market my company, which is a fun and unusual sports type game, to people for a private event instead of focusing on selling individual tickets. <br> <br> Primarily, we would love to focus on corporations that do team building events, but I am wondering if I need to just identify a bunch of companies and pitch them (if so, who would I pitch to - like what job title / department would handle such things? And should I go in person with brochures, on the phone or via email?)<br> <br> I also want to focus on universities, bachelor / bachelorette / birthday / reunions... where do people looking for something to do for such events turn to? Do i need to buy ad space on google? try to use social media websites? are there lists that promote these types of things.<br> <br> Please lend me your marketing ideas. Thanks!,2015:site.285054 Sun, 30 Aug 2015 09:13:35 -0800 soooo How to become a brand management (semi-)expert in 48 hours? Hi MeFi, I need to quickly get up to speed with both the basics and the latest trends in marketing brand management. Can you recommend some resources I can dig into over the weekend? My goal is to know and be able to intelligently reference terms, concepts and especially relevant thought leaders in this area. Thank you so much in advance for your suggestions!,2015:site.284973 Fri, 28 Aug 2015 05:12:13 -0800 ladybird Is getting people to sign up for an email list worth the hassle? I run a small monthly arts event. We do publicity with posters and online through social media (no budget for buying ads) and also have an sponsorship with a local radio station to promote us online and on-air. When I say "we" I mean "me" because I'm the only one who handles all that. We have a website, Twitter, Facebook that I keep updated. But a few people have told me I should collect attendees' email addresses and keep a list and send out notifications that way. I honestly don't want to. I don't like spamming people, and I end up deleting most of the notifications <em>I</em> get. But maybe I'm not like other people; maybe everyone else is craving email notifications and would come to events more often if they got them. What says the Ask hivemind? Do you like using them?,2015:site.283205 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 19:19:23 -0800 emjaybee Resources for a mock-up marketing production schedule Made it to 1st stage of interviews at a mid-size contemporary art gallery. Need resources for my screening test. Please help me land this exciting job opportunity! I landed an interview with a mid-size gallery for a marketing and communications position. As part of the screening process they are asking me to compile a marketing production schedule for an imaginary exhibition. This production schedule has to include: a seasonal program guide, invitation, and seasonal advertising campaign. I have a basic understanding of what needs to be done, but could use some help. <br> <br> (I have communications & marketing experience, but in a separate sector, and for a much smaller organization)<br> <br> I am very excited for this opportunity and will work my butt off to create a compelling schedule demo, so any tips, tricks, books, articles, or links is greatly appreciated.<br> <br> Thanks, Mefites!,2015:site.283126 Sun, 19 Jul 2015 11:29:22 -0800 hollypolly How to pick a topic for a blog? I'm hoping to someday change careers into a more writing-focused field. The advice for this is always "start a blog and join Twitter." I would like to do both of these things, but I have so many interests, and such difficulty thinking about how any of them would translate into a blog, that I'm stuck at the screening phase. How to pick one? I'll just list off the topics I have at least a passing interest in: crafting, comics, animals, the environment, healthy eating, gardening, frugal living, and bizarre topics such as the paranormal and unsolved mysteries (I'm a huge fan of <a href="">Mysterious Universe</a>). <br> <br> The problem is, although I have an interest in all of these topics, I'm far from being an expert in any of them. For instance, although I like healthy eating, I'm a disaster in the kitchen and a blog on that subject would be a joke. I'm a frugality nut whose actions seldom match her aspirations. I like gardening but have not had the time or energy this year to plant one. I love art, comics and crafts but am definitely not part of the arts scene in my city or even online. <br> <br> I'm sure that with a little research I could write convincingly about animal or environmental issues, but how on earth would I focus such a blog? These subject areas are so vast, and no one area of them stands out as being my one true passion that I could focus on over the long haul. Plus, I have absolutely no credentials or authority in either of these fields, other than just being someone who cares about them.<br> <br> The paranormal/spooky stuff: I really dig this because I think it's fun. However, I don't know that it's the most professional thing to be blogging about if my goal is to impress potential employers. <br> <br> Which leads to my next question: I should be avoiding controversy with any of these, right? My dream job would be to work or write for an environmental or animal org, but there are precious few of those in my city and they're mostly staffed by volunteers. So if I were to blog stridently about either of these issues, might that turn off potential employers in other fields? (Of course, there's the argument that I wouldn't want to work for someone whose views differed so much from mine.)<br> <br> I see that many writers blog about either writing itself, or marketing and branding oneself or one's business. Is that the route to go? I fear that I would be mainly recycling the stuff that I read about on others' blogs. <br> <br> I'm feeling pretty naive at this point. Am I missing something? Would I be better served by just trying to publish one-off articles on these subjects in existing publications?,2015:site.283089 Sat, 18 Jul 2015 09:09:12 -0800 whistle pig help me with a clever slogan for these pregnancy tests! I am a licensed midwife who will have an opportunity to market my practice at a table at a community event. I ordered whole bunch of individually packaged hcg pregnancy tests. I am going to put a sticker on each one with my website/phone number & maybe something else clever? Any ideas? Also, any other clever marketing ideas for a midwifery practice welcome.,2015:site.282837 Sun, 12 Jul 2015 22:09:46 -0800 Anonymous Name that super-specialized job title for the engineer-turned-marketer Severalish months ago I read an article that described a new kind of professional: the engineer-turned-marketer. This new breed excels as a marketer or growth hacker because s/he is also part data scientist / software engineer / systems architect / etc. and can use this background to thrive in environments that call for technical expertise. <strong>The author used a trendy word or portmanteau to describe the job title.</strong> My recall is really shoddy here overall, but I believe I saw it on a well-known online publication with tech leanings (Inc? Fortune? Recode? TechCrunch? Ars Technica?). <br> <br> In practice, I don't think the job title has caught on and it might even be so silly that it never will catch on outside of startup land, but I'm trying to make a point and can't seem to find the article again. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?,2015:site.282659 Wed, 08 Jul 2015 18:42:37 -0800 doctordrey How do I get tour buses to stop at my restaurant? We opened a restaurant about a year ago and we have a huge parking area located along a busy tourist highway. I'd like to get tour buses to take advantage of the parking (and, of course, get their business) but don't know where to start. Anyone have experience in this area?,2015:site.282046 Thu, 25 Jun 2015 09:09:24 -0800 klinefelter Market Research Question on Meditation & Mindfulness Mindfulness is trending, and I am opening a meditation studio. I am looking to find out my target audience in order to lock a location. I am seeking a profile on people who meditate. Are they typically baby boomers? Women around 30 years old? Etc. This will also allow me to plan programs, curriculum, and advertising. If anyone knows where I can find information like this (or something close) please let me know. Thank you!,2015:site.279700 Tue, 05 May 2015 09:32:39 -0800 LLF246 Pardot? More like ParNot. I am in marketing, and we've had Pardot and Salesforce for about a year. We're starting to do some lead nurture email campaigns using Pardot. We have many prospects in Pardot who aren't yet MQLs, so they are not yet in Salesforce. If one of these prospects contacts Sales by email or phone, Sales has no information on them. How do we bridge the gap? Our new Director of Marketing is really ramping up our lead nurturing efforts. We've had Pardot for a year, but we weren't really using it to its full extent. This is my first experience with marketing automation, period; she's very experience but has never used Pardot. <br> <br> Marketo apparently has something called Insights, which allows a window into Marketo via Salesforce. Is there something similar for Pardot? Our Pardot Advocate had no advice for us. We can't be the only company with this problem. Any ideas?,2015:site.279663 Mon, 04 May 2015 15:16:38 -0800 radioamy Whose physical address do we use for Can-Spam compliance? We send emails on behalf of other clients. Who physical address do we need to use for CAN-SPAM compliance? Us (the agency) or the organization we are doing work for? Or both? May matter:<br> <br> 1) Some clients also use our email software to send some of their own "newsletter" type emails vs. our more marketing emails that we send.<br> <br> 2) Other clients have no access to the email system and anything that is sent for them we send.<br> <br> If you have an answer pointing to an "official" source would be very helpful. <br> <br> My guess is only the clients info need be present, but no one seems to believe me (and I may be wrong).,2015:site.279457 Thu, 30 Apr 2015 07:06:51 -0800 IzzeYum Name-my-bakery-filter Roadblocked on names for my bakery endeavor. Do you like cookies, and naming things that aren't pets? Come on in. I want a name that suggests modern, clean execution and quality. Nothing too flowery. Nothing that suggests elaborate wedding cakes or intense decorating. I make things like cupcakes, cookies, and bars. I feel like I strike a nice divide between Smitten Kitchen and Cook's Illustrated/Test Kitchen vibe. Pretty things, delicious things, well-executed things.<br> <br> I would like to incorporate the idea that I make uncompromisingly rich items - lots of butter, luxurious indulgence. Nothing healthy here. Could also play with the idea that I am very exacting in my methods - every batch should be identical in deliciousness and appearance.<br> <br> I can get on board with some wordplay, but don't want to veer into silly territory.<br> <br> Some names I do like that are already taken: Butter Lane, Confectionate, The Vanilla Bean. I like the sound/feel of 'The Spanked Mint' but that would imply I use a lot of mint, or make cocktail-inspired baked goods, which I do not. I am considering 'Butter Perfection' (perfectionism/exactness, butter-heavy) but I don't know if the wordplay on 'utter perfection' gets lost or if it's any good on its own. I definitely also like the format 'The (adjective)(noun).<br> <br> Help? There may be a box of goodies sent to any name I glom on to!,2015:site.279067 Wed, 22 Apr 2015 08:47:49 -0800 rachaelfaith Short story ID: marketer helps niche group hide from marketers Trying to identify a short story in which someone whose job is to identify emerging groups of people with specialized interests and target them as niche markets turns those skills to helping some group hide their purchases and whatnot to evade that kind of targeting. Maybe the group being helped contained some relatives of the marketer? I'm pretty sure I read it within the past 15 years, and it's possible it was in one of those annual collections of SF short stories (like Dozois's series).,2015:site.278561 Sat, 11 Apr 2015 10:54:46 -0800 stebulus How do VC firms support marketing for the startups they invest in? How do venture capitalist firms support marketing and communications for the startups they invest in? Is there an established model, or does it vary by firm? Is it direct support, or coaching? Looking for examples, first-hand experience, insider knowledge. I'm interested in what VC firms do to support marketing and communications at the startups they're invested in, if anything. Do they offer strategic counsel, parachute staff in, do training/ capacity building/ coaching?<br> <br> If VCs are providing this support, how is the position staffed? Is it a separate role within the VC firm, or is it handled by a marketing/ communications team that also does investor-to-investor and other types of communications work for the VC firm? <br> <br> I'm looking for online articles, blogs, Twitter handles that might offer some insight to this type of support or first-hand accounts on either the VC or startup end of what marketing and communications support looked like in your experience.<br> <br> Bonus points if you can give me a general sense of the compensation of the VC staff providing marketing and communications support.,2015:site.278313 Mon, 06 Apr 2015 05:56:57 -0800 Anonymous Should I move from private sector to public sector for work/life balance Hi MetaFilter, Putting it out for the group to help me weigh the pro's and con's of a career move. I am 44 years old, marketing professional with 10 years experience in health care marketing communication. I recently got my MBA last year and got recruited to go to another large Chicago health care system. The new job pays more and is OK but we are going through a reorg and merger and my position will change going forward. My current boss is leaving the organization and said that he is putting me forward for a better position with more responsibility going into the reorg but it is hard to trust that this will happen since that is all going to be in flux. About a month ago I applied for a federal marketing communication project manager position with the General Services Administration at the Federal Acquisition Service and this past Friday I was offered the job as a GS-13 Step One and they want my answer on Monday. I will be giving up my bonus $5K and the pay is similar to what I make now, plus all the federal benefits. In addition the GSA values work life balance and they would let me work from home up to 3 days a week. My Mom has alz and lives in the southeast in a nursing facility so I am interested in having enough time to move her to Chicago and have the work/life balance that the private sector cannot offer. <br><br> I am afraid that I will be bored by the position. It is B2B marketing and I have always done B2C marketing. Also I know there is red tape and incompetent folks everywhere but things I read about the federal gov really scare me. The top leadership folks I interviewed with impressed me, they were young and bright and not really the 'federal worker' I was expecting. I did not really get to meet any of the peers but since they have a lot of work from home, not sure that was possible. The reason I have been successful up to this point is that my ADHD mind is always moving, I am innovative and a fast thinker and I can think well on my feet and health care is always changing fast. I asked them what a typical day would look like and the Director told me that "every day is different" which gave me hope. I am not sure someone like me can do well in a federal bureaucracy but hell, I would like to have a life and I would like to have more time to devote to the things that matter. Maybe I could get an ADHD coach to keep me focused and try and make it work. <br> <br> Any advice from others who have made a similar switch? Thanks in advance!,2015:site.278262 Sat, 04 Apr 2015 09:49:49 -0800 washateria Current best practices for updating social media sites simultaneously? Back when I used to have a blog, my Twitter account would automatically tweet links to my new posts. Meanwhile, my tweets were automatically posted as Facebook statuses. But that was 5+ years ago and I have no idea what the done thing is these days. <strong>BACKGROUND:</strong><br> <br> I'm in the process of setting up internet presences for a tire shop, a restaurant, and a local band. I'm fine with setting up the domain, hosting, and basic Wordpress sites, but I need some ideas, advice, and inspiration for how to best use the current plethora of social media networks.<br> <br> Each main website will run on Wordpress. The content will be a mix of infrequently updated static pages (e.g., About, Contact, services, menus, discography, etc.) and bloggy date-stamped updates about specials, upcoming shows, etc. I plan to update the blog roughly once a week.<br> <br> I'd also like to post timely photos to social media at least a couple times per month. For example, pics of last night's show (for the band), pics of the food or recent parties (for the restaurant), and pics of our employees volunteering at fundraisers we support or chronicles of the adventures of the various garage cats (for the tire shop). The intent of these photo posts would be to show off each organization's "personality" and be a fun complement to the more business-focused content of the main sites.<br> <br> I'm leaning towards publishing identical content on each of our social media accounts, e.g. simultaneously posting the same picture and caption to Facebook, Twitter, etc. That way people who want to follow us on social media just have to follow us on their preferred network.<br> <br> I also want to automatically broadcast links to new Wordpress posts as tweets, statuses, etc. across all of our social media accounts.<br> <br> I'm still undecided on whether I want any of the content from our social media accounts to show up on our main site. If I do decide to incorporate some of our social media content on our main site, I don't want to inadvertently set up an endless loop of automatic posts. <br> <br> <br> <strong>QUESTIONS:</strong><br> <br> 1. What do you think of my plan to post the business-focused content on the main websites and the fun photo posts on the social media sites? My thinking is that our main website should primarily be a useful reference whereas our social media accounts should primarily be about branding and building friendly relationships. If you were a potential customer or fan, would you find that division helpful? <br> <br> 2. Which social media networks do you think would be best to be on for a) the tire shop, b) the restaurant, and c) the band? Why? <br> - Facebook<br> - Twitter<br> - Instagram<br> - Tumblr<br> - Google+<br> - Pinterest<br> - Ello<br> - is there a new hotness?<br> <br> 3. Is it worth the extra time investment to post different, customized content to each social media network (so if you followed us on multiple networks, you wouldn't see repeats) or is posting duplicate content to each network (so you only have to follow us on your preferred network) a generally accepted practice these days? If you think we should customize our content to each network, what types of posts do you think work best for each network?<br> <br> 4. Should we incorporate any of our "fun" social media content into our main websites, or keep the main websites strictly business-focused and just provide "Follow us on [icons]" link to our Facebook, Twitter, etc.? If you think we should incorporate our social media content into our main site, should we do so as blog posts that show up in the same feed as our other posts or should we have it off on the sidebar in a widget or...?<br> <br> 5. Given your answers to the above, how should I implement the technical end of things? Are there any good third-party apps or services that automatically duplicate content across all social media networks? How do I avoid inadvertently creating an endless loop (e.g. automatically tweeting the URLs of new blog posts while automatically reposting tweets as blog posts)? Any other technical advice on optimal setups?<br> <br> 6. Do you see any blind spots in my approach? What questions(s) should I have asked that I didn't, and what are your answers to those questions?<br> <br> <br> Please advise, thanks!,2015:site.277496 Thu, 19 Mar 2015 05:44:24 -0800 Jacqueline Thems are fighting words! (Takes him a while to boot up) In the early 1990s I saw a bizarre marketing video for OS/2. It was a cartoon of about 20 min. It featured anthropomorphic computers with screens for faces walking around a Wild West town. The DOS Brothers (which include DOS and WIN) overrun the town's sheriff, OS/2 V1.0. Then the new marshal, OS/2 V2.0 comes into town and cleans things up. Is there somewhere I could see a copy of this video or are there even any records that it existed? One of the few other details I remember is the song played when the marshal was taking care of business. Its lyrics included:<br> <br> <blockquote>OS/2 V2.0!<br> Runs all DOS apps and Windows!<br> 32-bit development!<br> ___ ___ 100 percent!<br> </blockquote><br> <br> I don't remember what was in the blanks. And after almost 25 years I may have slightly misremembered some of the other details too.,2015:site.277301 Sun, 15 Mar 2015 11:44:38 -0800 grouse How do I create a B2B marketing strategy? I want to CRUSH IT as a one man marketing team... but I'm inexperienced and don't know where to begin. This is the B2B version of <a href="">this question</a>.<br> <br> I studied media production in college and in some roundabout way, now find myself as the sole marketer at a startup. My lack of a "traditional" marketing experience/education is giving me extreme bouts of self-doubt.<br> <br> I've been tasked with creating a marketing strategy that is heavy on inbound/content marketing. We're a B2B service. My goal is to generate new (hopefully qualified) leads for the sales team. The target is HR professionals at medium and large companies. We signed up with HubSpot but want to use our own tools with it (Wordpress, Mailchimp, and Salesforce) for more custom control of design and UX.<br> <br> Luckily, my CEO believes in me and is confident that I'm smart enough to "figure it out and learn as you go" but my fear of failure is paralyzing. I don't want to disappoint my CEO, the rest of the team, or our investors. I feel like I'm in WAY over my head. Where do I start?<br> <br> Finding <a href="">this</a> was a helpful example - I'd love to see more examples of strategy/process. How do people project manage their content marketing? My coworkers use Trello for their projects and I'd like to do the same.<br> <br> More specifically on learning content marketing: HubSpot's materials are great but the consensus on my team is that "download our ebook!!!!" is tacky, and writing content for SEO keywords seems shady. I'm not completely against the idea, but I'm having a hard time coming up with good keywords since Google now hides organic search terms.<br> <br> Lastly: I've been given a <em>tiny</em> budget ($25/day) to experiment with AdWords. Google's training materials look solid but is there anything you wish you had known for your first AdWords campaign? Thanks in advance for reading through my special snowflake fears and hopes.,2015:site.277234 Fri, 13 Mar 2015 18:21:01 -0800 Anonymous Business marketing on a shoestring budget. Our company once had a full fledged marketing department but after years of downsizing we're on our own. Some of my coworkers want to build brand awareness ahead of projects that will be rolling out in the new year. They have the green light from higher ups but no one knows what to do and where to start. How can self motivated individuals learn a crash course in business marketing? We had a marketing department which was outsourced to outside contractors. When that was too expensive a guy in one of our satellite offices took over. He focused on print ads and the company website. As far as I know we're not on social media or have a blog. A supervisor wants to write a PR piece for something his division is releasing soon. This had the ball rolling for others that want to do the same. Are there resources online for beginners? They would need a step by step actionable plan. Where should they start? What else needs to be done down the line?,2014:site.273226 Fri, 19 Dec 2014 05:20:26 -0800 adapt My company used my design without my consent. What do I do? My parent company is implementing a rebrand based on a design I made for a project I worked on years ago, all without my knowledge. They have acknowledged this, and it seems like they are oblivious that this is a problem for me. I have made my feelings known to my boss, and am waiting for further developments. I don't know what to do next. Do I have any rights? What are my options? Backstory follows. I work for a subsidiary company. A few years ago, I created a design for a rebranding project that was ultimately abandoned. A few months ago, I was introduced to the head of marketing for the parent company, and to give him an idea of what I do, I showed him the design, among other work. <br> <br> Yesterday, I was in a meeting where the parent company introduced the implementation of a new branding strategy. The head of marketing used my design to go to another designer and made that the base of the rebrand, all without my knowledge (I don’t know if the other designer was aware that I created the original design). In the meeting, he literally told me he used the concept of my design for this rebrand, and thanked me. I was very uncomfortable about this, but didn’t speak up. I really felt like I couldn’t right there and then, with several other members present.<br> <br> To compound matters, I showed my original design to people who hadn’t seen it (marketing people in my subsidiary, and one marketing person from the parent company), and they said they preferred my design. They talked of implementing the superior elements of my design in the rebrand. They asked me for the Powerpoint presentation I showed them (not the original Illustrator files) and I sent it.<br> <br> After the meeting, I confronted the marketing manager for my company, and told him that I felt very uncomfortable. I said that this rebranding was my design. He said he understood, and we left it at that for the now. <br> <br> I feel the head of marketing was truly thoughtless as to how I’d feel about this, rather than being malicious. I don’t want to be very negative and place myself in opposition to the company and the people here. I plan to talk to the head of marketing with my marketing manager in the room to get a more detailed explanation. <br> <br> I am unsure of what to do now. At the least, I want the credit for the rebrand design. <br> Am I entitled to monetary compensation? Does the company have to stop using that design if I assert my rights? Do I even have any rights? What are my options?<br> <br> FWIW, I work in Japan for a Japanese company. I am technically a contract worker, not seishain, which can literally be translated as “real employee.”,2014:site.272718 Mon, 08 Dec 2014 15:48:58 -0800 brappi There's marketing consultant in my career coach! Finally able to describe what I do in a way; now I need to sell it. What person do I hire in order to create a message that makes sense to people who hire people with weird yet valuable talent? I have a talent; it is weird and it works. It is in bringing engineering projects together. There isn't a name I know for this but what it involves is managing interfaces, not designs. It is as though I get the <a href="">negative space</a> in a project and deal with that, not the work breakdown structure. It is more design-oriented than a systems engineer, yet there are elements of both in it. This description doesn't work with people with the ability to hire talent, so I am limited now to working with organizations in which I have been an employee and which know my work. <br> <br> Therefore I need some kind of marketing approach to articulate what I do. The person to define this approach is not exactly a career coach yet as far as I can see, it isn't a marketing consultant either. The person I want to hire can take this approach to engineering, create my elevator pitch and my description of services, and make it somehow compelling. <br> <br> Can you name the unicorn?,2014:site.271914 Fri, 21 Nov 2014 19:38:58 -0800 jet_silver How do I explain sample size in layman's terms? How do I explain the principles of minimum detectable effect, statistical power, and statistical significance to a client? My client's business has 100k monthly visitors and a 1% conversion rate on their home page. After using Optimizely to test a new home page, they're ready to call it quits after 2k visitors, saying they usually "spot problems in the funnel in less than 1k visits."<br> <br> How do I explain the principles of minimum detectable effect, statistical power, sample size, and statistical significance (like Optimizely's<a href=""> A/B Test Sample Size Calculator</a>) in layman's terms?,2014:site.271414 Wed, 12 Nov 2014 08:54:14 -0800 Avenger50 | <urn:uuid:cac0214d-817e-41ef-9d8e-94565e94e245> | http://ask.metafilter.com/tags/marketing/rss | en | 0.959395 | 0.062141 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sign up ×
The same goes for data stored in the Ubuntu One cloud?
share|improve this question
5 Answers 5
According to the US, if a company is registered in the US, all data they hold anywhere in the world is fair game. So this includes all servers used by Microsoft, Amazon and Google anywhere in the world according to the US. And in the last few days there has been another example of this:
"Google is the next major company to admit Patriot Act issues, as it admits to handing over data held in a European datacenter back to U.S. intelligence." ZDNET, August 11, 2011
I am not a lawyer and not related to Ubuntu One/Canonical and not a lot of users here are legal experts with knowledge about this situation so an answer to your question will all be conjecture. And it also depends on how stubborn the EU is about enforcing own law and opposing the US Patriot Act.
Ubuntu One Terms of Services
This agreement is governed by the laws of England and any dispute will be heard by the courts in England. Failure by Canonical to enforce any right or provision of this agreement shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any part of this agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the partie's original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect. The terms of this agreement do not affect your statutory rights.
Ubuntu One is based in the UK so the company is subject to the EU laws and the European Data Protection Directive. So the answer to your question should be no Ubuntu one is not affected by this if you store the data on a EU server
If you want to make sure before you start using Ubuntu One that your data will not be handed over to the US you can contact them yourself and get an official responce (from Ubuntu privacy policy):
Please submit any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, or about our use of your personally identifiable information to our account assistance form at /help/contact/ or by postal mail at the following address: Canonical Group Ltd, 27th Floor Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, England, SW1Q 4QP.
Any data stored on a cloud worth protecting should be encrypted. Might not stop the US from getting it and also might not stop the US from decrypting it but it should be made as problematic as possible ;-)
share|improve this answer
It is never safe to assume that anything you place in a public cloud is kept private, even if the service provider has the best of intentions. You should always err on the side of caution. Canonical might be based in the UK and therefore not affected by the US laws, but does anything prevent them from using another cloud as an extension of their own service? Because if they did that and the other cloud is US based, then it'd still be subject to US law.
If you use the cloud for personal stuff, then you must make sure to encrypt it. You must not make assumptions when it comes to privacy. And even Canonical is not immune to disloyal employees.
share|improve this answer
Canonical does have an office in the US. What does that mean? – SPRBRN Jun 14 '13 at 15:20
Yes, no matter the current laws or terms of service you need to think carefully about what you store this way. Laws and TOS can be changed quickly and easily. Companies can come under a lot of pressure to hand over information, and they will hang you out to dry as soon as look at you if it might affect their bottom line to withold or protect information. Regardless of protection laws.
As example, witness the big credit card companies illegally blocking payments to Wikileaks - it seems the law is actually only for you and me to adhere to.
share|improve this answer
UbuntuOne relys on Amazon S3 as backend, therefore the data is eventually stored in the US and can of course be subjected to Patriot Act law enforcement!
share|improve this answer
Data may not end up in the US, assuming Ubuntu One have specified the EU.
Quote from Amazon website re S3. "Objects stored in a Region never leave the Region unless you transfer them out. For example, objects stored in the EU (Ireland) Region never leave the EU. "
share|improve this answer
But Amazon is a US company, and thus all data all over the world is available to the NSA, including Ireland. Furthermore, Ubuntu has an office in Boston, does that make a difference? – SPRBRN Jun 14 '13 at 15:19
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:a8c0f13c-4f10-43e0-a24d-762faac98bb1> | http://askubuntu.com/questions/58821/how-safe-is-eu-based-ubuntu-one-cloud-data | en | 0.93902 | 0.619263 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Quite a few things so far. It's not just because it's a different GUI from what I'm used to either.
Too flat, ugly. The screen is now full of nice looking 3D icons from the developers mixed with the Fisher-Price look Apple has given their icons. It looks like something for a kid's toy.
Hate the white type. Making it bold helped but I had to change my Wallpaper to something dark to be able to read everything.
Lack of a noticeable division line between items, especially in Calendar. The wasted space at the top when in portrait, and especially landscape view, a lot of wasted white space, it lists the days of the week, cutting off a lot of viewable screen space. Maybe I'm missing something but where is weekly view now showing the whole week rather than having to scroll sideways, like it is here?
In Safari I like how it now goes full screen when you start to scroll down, but you used to be able to pull down and get the address bar, then touch the bottom of the address bar and it would scroll the top, not any more, you have to manually scroll all the way.
The home screen is still just a bunch of icons instead of useful data. The Android OS shows things like weather, stocks, news feeds along with app icons if you wish.
My overall opinion so far, meh. Flat and fugly Fisher-Price look. | <urn:uuid:fd538598-573a-419c-995d-e04127741f10> | http://forums.applecentral.com/ubbthreads.php/posts/602795 | en | 0.946774 | 0.280078 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Chess Story (previously published as The Royal Game), by Stefan Zweig, is a great novella, with all the elegance I'm told the game itself possesses.
Chess fascinates me, but on some level, I feel I don't really know how to play. That is, I know all the moves, but I can't make the pieces dance the way I think they ought to. I played the very occasional game when I was growing up, with a cousin at the cottage, on game day at school. I sought out a few more games as an adult; my boyfriend du jour (well, three I can think of off the top of my head) would say he played, so we would, every other night for a week or two, and I was pathetic really, but eventually I'd beat him, and we'd never play again, and then we'd break up. I'd say these most satisfactory wins had more to with pig-headedness, somehow magically staring the board into submission, than with any kind of mastery of skill or insight.
(I can't possibly be very good; I still find it challenging to play.)
These days the kid is in chess club, so I'm learning terms and notation, and rules I never knew existed. I guess I'm also trying harder to see the art and philosophy of it, to know its mindset, to help her find a way in. I know that the possibilities on the board at any given time are finite. Certainly I cannot calculate them all, nor is there a need to — so many of them amount to being meaningless or inconsequential (it's not quite the same thing, is it?) that the relevant possibilities are significantly reduced. Still, I can only "think ahead" so far, and I'm in awe of the "instinct" some people seem to have for it.
Anyway. The book. The story is essentially a meeting of two players, two different types of player who come to the game via very unique histories. It's also very clear that psychology is a major element of the game — the very particular game that's the main event here, but also of their individual game styles.
One player is world chess champion. Of humble upbringing, he came to the game quite by accident as a teenager, and rather astounded everyone with his skill, because he was otherwise generally thought to be something of an idiot. He is criticized by some for his limitation of not being able to play "blind" — he has to have a board physically in front of him — and this betrays a lack of imaginative power. But it's a power game, isn't it? He bullies his way through, controlling the conditions, intimidating his opponent.
The other player also came upon chess quite accidentally. In confined circumstances a chess manual comes into his possession, and he spends his days, for months on end, poring over it. He has never played on a board, only in his mind.
I don't doubt, given the reference to the politics of Nazism, that there is some allegory here also, for the struggle between classes, or whatever else these two characters might represent, but that interests me less.
Right, so: 84 pages, absolutely gripping.
I first heard about this book from Richard: Thanks! I may search out some more Stefan Zweig. I admit I got a bit tired of hearing about The Post-Office Girl, and I still can't get excited about it, but I hear Beware of Pity is devastatingly good. Also, the recent screed against Zweig in the London Review of Books makes me want to read him more.
(According to Wikipedia, Chess Story inspired the 1960 Gerd Oswald film Brainwashed (Die Schachnovelle), as well as the 1980 Czechoslovakian film The Royal Game, neither of which seem to be readily available, but I'll keep an eye open for them.)
If this sort of book interests you, might I also suggest The Master of Go, by Yasunari Kawabata, which relates a real-life match of Go ("If chess is a battle, Go is a war."), pitting the upstart modern world against the traditional old guard.
At this point, my rambling here is almost as long as Chess Story itself. (Oh, I hope I haven't said too much and spoiled it for anyone.) Go read it.
Richard said...
Loved your post, Isabella, and now the pressure's off knowing that Zweig delivered the goods for you! Thanks for the links--I plan on looking into them tomorrow (starting with the screed, of course).
Bybee said...
It sounds great. Thanks, Isabella!
Stefanie said...
I've been wanting to read this one for ages. I must get myself ac opy. I play chess like you do. I enjoy it now and then but it is hard work and when I play against my husband who really does know how to play, I always lose so it's never all that much fun. At least against a computer set on "easy" I have a chance! :)
Melwyk said...
I do so want to read this (and also partly because of the article you reference which patronizes Zweig so thoroughly) but also because I really loved The Post-Office Girl I am sorry you got sick of hearing about it! Hope that doesn't keep you from it forever ;) | <urn:uuid:381d2a97-d56c-4b71-bf8e-aa10d7482f4e> | http://magnificentoctopus.blogspot.com/2010/03/chess.html | en | 0.98329 | 0.022568 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
ITIL’s dead elephant: CMDB can't be done
This article has been podcast
The IT Skeptic Looks at CMDB - cover Get the book:
The IT Skeptic Looks at CMDB
Available as a digital download for $7.95 or as a traditional book for $9.95+p&p, this book asks the hard questions about CMDB, summarises why it is generally not a good idea, and looks at the alternatives.
My thinking on this has evolved over time. Don't stop with this old post (2006).
See also numerous other posts on CMDB
Other posts on this blog you may also be interested in:
Read all on CMDB from this blog
Let us look at what is required of a CMDB:
“Configuration Management provides the foundation for successful IT Service Management and underpins every other process. The fundamental deliverable is the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), comprising one or more integrated databases detailing all of the organisation’s IT infrastructure components and other important associated assets. It is these assets that deliver IT services and they are known as Configuration Items (CIs). What set a CMDB apart from an ordinary asset register are the relationships, or links, that define how each CI is interconnected and interdependent with its neighbours.” [Ref 1]
“Detailing all of the organisation’s IT infrastructure components and other important associated assets”. I worked with a bank whose network and systems management environment managed 70,000 objects. That figure included no software (in-house or packages, applications or operating systems) and few logical objects like processes or services or owners. And they were not that big a bank. So I would say that a large organisation could well have a hundred thousand objects in a CMDB. Any organisation that doesn’t have thousands of objects to manage isn’t trying.
We hear that it is just a matter of getting the granularity right, and not including too much. On the other hand, the best working definition of what should go in is “whatever is managed by Change Management”. So ask yourself what isn’t. Should every PC be under Change Management control? Of course. What about the operating system on those PCs? Other software? If not, then you won’t be doing Release Management. What about the peripherals (keyboard, mouse etc)? No? You aren’t subject to occupational safety and health regulations? If someone suffers RSI and needs a trackball not a mouse, where will you track that if not in the CMDB?
So we will have between 1000 and 100,000 objects in our CMDB.
How will you populate the CMDB initially? The vendors’ silver bullet solution is auto-discovery. It can find out something about many things, but not everything about all things. It won’t help with disconnected devices, or financial information, or physical location. Ask how they go with finding UPS, PABX, factory machinery, or building security and cooling systems.
I worked on a project once that built a new retail system for an oil company in a moderate sized country. They had to populate 50,000 entities (tanks, trucks, warehouses, shops…). It took a team of – as I recall – three people for two years to capture and load the data. Another rule of thumb I use in Configuration Management is that any manually collected data is out of date before it is entered.
Maybe half the objects can be auto-discovered initially, but only half the data about them will be discovered. Warranty, contractual and other data still needs to be manually loaded. So expect between a few person-months and a few person-years to load the initial data.
How will you keep it current and accurate? By good tight Change Management which ensures the CMDB is updated whenever anything changes. How will you know if an error is made or someone subverts the process? The vendors’ silver bullet solution is … auto-discovery and comparison with the CMDB. See above for the limits of scope. Most tools don’t do this out-of-the-box: you will need to develop audit jobs to scan and report on discrepancies. And some manual report and review processes to pick up stuff the automated tools miss.
So expect a significant development effort to build quality control processes and tools.
Let us turn our attention now to “the relationships, or links, that define how each CI is interconnected and interdependent with its neighbours.” A single parent child relationship isn’t going to cut it here. We have relationships such as “is physically networked to”, “is responsible for”, “depends on”, “depends on but only at the end of the month”, “depends on to meet a gold SLA but can manage without it for silver”… Not to mention dealing with redundancy. Say we have seven web servers, equipped with load balancing and automatic failover. If one fails, what will be the impact on the SLAs? How many can we take out for maintenance without degrading performance?
What are the permutations between half a dozen relationships, with embedded business rules, and thousands – or hundreds of thousands - of objects? Capture those and keep them current! Maybe double your estimates.
But we are not done yet. Let us crank up the complexity by another order of magnitude: “comprising one or more integrated databases”. The probability of it being one integrated database is virtually nil. No vendor has technology that can manage the whole environment from .NET objects to telephones, so all CMDBs will be a federation of multiple vendor repositories.
The problem is that many organizations have multiple discovery tools to glean information from the same components. A federated CMDB must prevent data duplication, as well as be able to understand that different pieces of data gathered by different tools--an IP address, patch level, a host name--all belong to the same component. This process is called reconciliation, and experts say it's critical to a successful CMDB. They also say most reconciliation engines are proprietary. [Ref 2]
There is as yet no standard for their integration so all interfaces will be custom built. [For you geeks out there: ask how many integration interfaces support two-phase commit protocol to ensure transactional integrity when changes are made].
The CMDB is in its infancy. There are no standard definitions of what information goes into a CMDB, no schema for structuring that information, and no standards for integrating data from disparate vendors…. While the CMDB promises a host of benefits for the enterprise, it's also horrendously complex, lacks implementable standards, and is rife with proprietary exploitation. At present, there's no standard schema for the data that's supposed to reside in the CMDB… any CMDB implementation that aims to import and utilize data sources from disparate vendor tools will require manual integration. [Ref 2]
Vendors have rushed to fill that definition vacuum with their own implementations. For instance, Computer Associates created a data schema that's consistent across its own product line. This data schema populates the company's version of a CMDB. HP has been shipping a CMDB with its Service Desk that uses Web services to pull application information across HP's product portfolio. BMC Software's Atrium CMDB is shipped as a component of, or can be integrated with, eight BMC applications, including the IT Discovery Suite and the Remedy IT Service Management Suite.
However, all these CMDBs are essentially proprietary extensions to the vendors' own product suites. "There's no standard in the industry for how a vendor should build the data model inside the CMDB," says Colville. "There's a huge propensity to lock into one vendor for all of this." [Ref 4]
Some organisations will further multiply complexity by implementing a stand-alone “universal” CMDB which is synchronised with the other vendor repositories.
If you want something that meets the ideal DCMDB specification you are going to have to build it:
Every vendor claims to have a configuration management database (CMDB) or a CMDB strategy. Yet they are merely playing off Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) hype in this area and don't really have all the necessary functionality required for a true CMDB: reconciliation, federation, mapping and visualization, and synchronization. Rather, many are taking their domain-specific configuration repositories (such as for desktop or server configuration management, asset management, or help desk), adding one of these functions and calling it a CMDB. [Ref 3]
While the [sic] ITIL describes the processes associated with a CMDB, it says nothing about just how a CMDB gets built, how various tools are meant to feed data into the CMDB, how data should be structured inside the CMDB, and how various applications are meant to use that data. … "Customers are just trying to get a handle on what a CMDB can do," says BMC's Emerson … Enterprises that attempt to roll out a CMDB as a silver bullet for all their network management ills are likely to be disappointed. The difficulty of interoperability and the lack of standards mean a fully realized CMDB may be years away. [Ref 2]
My concern is that the convergence of architecture and process - and frankly often inflated vendor marketing - that now seems to be driving CMDB interest is complex and confusing. And CMDB technologies and standards are also very "early in the game." I am concerned that too many IT expectations are moving towards the notion of the CMDB as something that IT can simply buy to fix its woes. And this, of course, is both dangerous and false. While I am a big CMDB believer, I view it, like ITIL, as an enabler for more efficiency, improved compliance, better governance, etc. But it is not really a "thing." It is the beginning of a journey… [Ref 4]
So stack another development effort on to your estimates, to build the integration interfaces. Since these do not support two-phase commit, transactional integrity cannot be assured, so you will also need consistency reports, and repair policy and processes (mostly manual).
And now the sting: after all that I don’t believe CMDB is going to make that much difference to your ITIL processes. You sure won’t be able to automate any but the most basic impact analysis (the sort of thing vendors demo). The most sophisticated modelling tools on the market struggle to predict performance degradations, yet most SLAs put at least as much importance on performance as availability. They even struggle to predict availability whenever IP networks are involved, especially if the internet enters the equation (though complex intranets are challenging enough).
So after all that time and money a human is still going to have to look at a proposed change and make a judgement call; better informed than before, for sure, but still operating on imperfect information. Perhaps that money would have been better spent on a few nicer reports and exploratory tools, and another change management person, and a golf course for the staff.
In the past, companies wasted fortunes and diverted key resources for years trying to have one common relational database, and/or one common enterprise data model, and/or one repository of meta-data. They are doing it again trying to have one common repository of identity, or one repository of objects or Web Services. The sooner technologists and vendors stop peddling this kind of magic-fix crud the better off we will all be.
ITIL is about fixing the people and the processes, and only then implementing pragmatic tools to help them. How such an idealistic, bloated, infeasible, technology-will-solve-all-our-problems concept as CMDB got in there is beyond me.
CMDB is the only major example of ITIL describing what-should-be rather than what-is-and-how-to-manage-it, and it fails the test of common sense.
If you found this post useful, and you are a Facebook user, please Like the IT Skeptic on facebook
CMDB Federated or non-Federated
Interesting point of view on the Remedy CMDB comparing it to how ITIL talks about it. The biggest rock in the road that I have found is; should it be federated, or not? I've always positioned myself on the federated side of the fence, and looked at various other tools instead of just depending on Auto Discovery to pull the whole picture together. However, I had a nice discussion with an old school Configuration Manager the other day that believes that the CMDB should be just a repository of data that would only change by going through the Change process. I feel that this is a dangerous position to hold since you are depending on every minor/standard change will actually be submitted into the system and update the baseline. And, it would be detrimental to the repository the moment someone goes around the system. However, I have to also ask myself should Remedy be a real time monitoring tool? I've conceded that the answer is No!, but using external interfaces into equipment to retrieve current data when needed is better than looking at the old data that is stored. The compromise is that there are a bunch of other tools available that can monitor real world changes, and some of them can actually auto generate TTs when needed. The Incident Module seems to be the primary module that kicks off a lot of our action in the back shops, but overall the inter-relationship of any of the inputs to the many different processes should affect multiple stones to roll. And, it shouldn't matter if it's an auto input, or a manual input, the more data available to the user, the better decisions can be made.
non-discoverable CMDB
Hi Lonnie (Kiwi Lonnie?)
Configuration data (let's avoid "CMDB" for now as a particular instance of Configuration data) is often updated automatically because it is integral to some underlying system, e.g network or server monitoring. That's all good.
There is a bunch of CMDB or Asset data that can't be captured by anything but the Change process because it is not technical data: who owns this? what business services are impacted? what's the SLA on this new equipment?
In theory your change process should be able to capture all configuration data. In practice as you say subversion spoils that. Auto-discovery can either capture configuration data realtime or audit the data after the fact to find inconsistencies. I think that's a design decision based on the tools.
Neither way will ever discover all CMDB data, and you are reliant on Change process to capture all the non-technical data.
And that non-discoverable data is the most important in a CMDB. Configuration data is used for all sorts of things such as asset management and lookup data for a wide range of practices and tools, but CMDB data in particular is there to do impact analysis on services of incidents and changes. CMDB is all about decomposition of services. And you don't populate that stuff anywhere but from a human filing a Change.
Change process is insufficient for CMDB maintenance.
In the CMDB implementations I've been involved with, the Change process has proved itself insufficient for CMDB maintenance. We found that we needed a dedicated Application Registration process to identify and track these important CIs, which often needed to be in the CMDB well before any formal RFC. (RFCs were seen relatively late in the game in these shops, a not uncommon approach.) Linking servers to those applications was best handled via the provisioning service request, which would be linked to a Change but was not the same as the Change.
The trouble from a pragmatic process point of view was that most Change requests did not require any CMDB changes, so you couldn't enforce a business rule requiring CMDB update, and people participating in the Change process (which had too many checkboxes as it was) would get used to just skipping that question.
Charles T. Betz
all part
Clearly you had multiple tools for the Change processpractice, one of which was called the Application Registration tool. But I submit it was all part of the Change practice, just as i think autodiscovery tools are part of automating the Change practice too. Just because a form (or repository) has the label "Change" on it and another has "Application" doesn't mean they aren't all part of the Change practice.
What will the future hold?
Many decade ago when personal computers first became available, as in Apple ][ an S-100 machines - aka before the IBM PC - I dreamt of putting my collection of books into a database: title, author, publisher, synopsis, comments. However it was a duanting task, so may books! I'd have to give up reading them to get the job done!
But now there's Amazon and databases I can refer to ... only so many of my books are from pre ISBN days ... old 'pulp' magazines and ancient first editions.
Perhaps one day all IT assets will come with RFID tags and to to build an CMDB you will just have to point your RFID scanner wand at them. Imagine that, crawling under desks and lifting ceiling tiles to get line-of-sight on some piece of equipment, consulting the old purchase records ... And of course there will be non-compliant vendors and devices that aren't in the reference database.
Do you really think that vendors and manufacturers will suddenly make life easy for us?
A list is just a list
Anton, you are falling into that same old trap! An asset database is not a CMDB. No barcode can tell you what Service this asset is going to support, or how it affects service levels. Nor can it tell you who it's business owner is or what continuity plan or availability plan it participates in. A CMDB is all about the configuration i.e. the inter-relationships between CIs. A list is just a list, no matter how high tech.
Feeling Somewhat Listless
As a mere novice with only 21 years experience working for numerous organisations - from multinationals to two-man bands - I can honestly say I have only ever seen asset registers.
I have been promised CMDB's but on closer inspection, they have invariably been asset registers.
I see (well I don't actually) Monsters
As a wise man once said to me “A CMDB is like the Lock Ness Monster……. Often spoken about but never seen….”
colossal squid
More like a colossal squid: rarely scene and a bad idea when they are
I would like to dd one more point if you think updating CMDB is a pain then your problem is with iscovery tools and not with CMDB. I think ITILv3 separates Discovery from CMDB (I may be wrong, But I will check and confirm).
If you think discovery eases the pain of maintaining CMDB then you don't understand CMDB.
Autodiscovery doesn't tell us what we need to know. Get it straight: CMDB can not be auto-discovered
Most tools cannot auto-discover the software layer and the inter-relationships of software components across nodes. Web Services is making this almost impossible because it is so loosely coupled.
No tools can auto-discover the logical functions. And no tools can automatically relate those functions to processes. And no tools can automatically relate those processes to ITIL services. And no tools can automatically relate those services to business units and stakeholders. And no tools can autodiscover and relate SLAs or UCs or....
But more importantly, using discovery to update CMDB is a violation of basic change control. All changes to config data should come to us from the change management process. The whole point of change management is to know about and approve them beforehand, not to run around after the cowboys to desperately try to work out what they are doing to the environment by discovering it every day. Service Transition avoids offending powerful vendors by quietly saying this. See page 69, section "These tools can be used to populate a CMDB, and subsequently to compare the actual live configuration with the information and records stored in the CMS" NOT to directly update the content. Or on page 195, section 7.3 "All changes should be recorded on the CMS by the time the change is implemented... Automating the initial discovery and configuration audits [not anything else]...."
Discovery is only useful on the edge of configuration. Auto-discovery is very useful where initial data is rubbish: it is good for helping get a baseline set of CIs. If your Change processes are any good then you don't need it after that, though you can use it to audit data quality and detect non-compliance. Don't fall for this vendor silver-bullet crap.
I wish I could say I have only had this conversation a few thousand times. My argument though is slightly different but augments what you say. Discovery doesn't discover some of the most important attributes in the CMS ~ namely those attributes that simply are not discoverable.. (ie. Where it is physically located, who supports it, who administers it, who can change it, etc.). While discoverable information is 'sometimes' used for incident, change, problem and other processes, these other attributes are almost always used.
Even fingerprinting doesn't work
For the past couple years I have had the following conversation with eager discovery tool vendors:
V: Our tool autopopulates your CMDB!
Me: What about our custom apps?
V: Well, you have to create fingerprints for them. Then you're golden.
Me: Tell me more.
V: Your custom app is CTBCustApp.exe; that's the name of the binary & the process in the process table. It runs on port 12784. Just configure the discovery tool and it will discover that app wherever it is running!
Me: OK. Of course, that executable is only one of a number of components of that app... we have a database too.
V: Our software discovers that
Me: Well, the software talks to 5 databases. But only one database server is "owned" by the app. We need to understand that for chargeback.
V: Hm.
Me: Also we've got a batch server, I suppose we could fingerprint those processes but they only run periodically.
V: Hm.
Me: And here's the biggie, this other business unit saw the app and loved it, but they didn't want to partner with us on the service. So we gave them the code and they have their own instance. Same file, process, and port. But different customer, SLA, & hosting infrastructure. Sounds to me like all their stuff will start showing up under my app...
V: Hm.
And so it goes. The discovery vendors pretty much leave my office with their tails between their legs. Haven't heard a compelling story yet.
Except in the case of software asset management. There, discovery is helpful. But that's asset management, not configuration management.
Charles T. Betz
not reality
Right on Charles! Discovery, BPM, CMDB, impact analysis, traffic analysis, neural networks.... they all work beautifully on Powerpoint. As I said previously "If it runs on a single PC in a vendor demo it is not reality".
How about four services delivered by load balancing across seven web servers? What constitutes "broken"?
What about Web Services deployed using UDDI, across a middleware bus?
What about Cloud storage? or cloud CPU processing?
Great post thanks! You should talk to my EA friend Alan Mayo who did exactly the same to me when I as a vendor and started this whole IT Skeptic thing (yes it's Alan's fault).
vendor spam
Dear Alex G
No you can't post a comment like that here. No matter how passionate you are about your product, dumping your sales spiel here is regarded as spam. This is not the forum for discussing the merits of specific products especially when you work for them.
If you want to discuss design principles without selling then feel free to try again
I think there is a misunderstanding. I feel CMDB can be very useful (in monetery terms has very good ROI) if implemented properly. The only point we have to unstand is that CMDB targets at avoiding loss and not making profit and also that it does not make sense in isolation.
point of view
That's your view, I have mine: The value of CMDB seldom exceeds the cost of doing it
1) it is a hugely complex undertaking to design, build, populate and maintain - underestimate any one of those aspects at your peril. It is just too big and complex for many smaller organisations. Do it with humans.
2) even when it is technically achievable, it is at great cost to design, build, populate and maintain, almost always a cost that exceeds the value returned.
3) even in the rare instances where value exceeds costs, could we have achieved the same value for much less cost by improving configuration process and basic tools within a dedicated and trained configuration data team of people?
4) and in the now tiny number of cases where THAT still came out for CMDB, was that the best use of that probably seven-figure sum of money? There was no more pressing project that could have used these limited funds? or perhaps in the small number of organisations that have CMDBs, funds are not limited?
there is a good chance you think this because you are ascribing value to a CMDB that is not from the CMDB. See More discussion of CMDB: not the best use of funds:
ITIL very clearly (well OK fairly clearly) defines what a CMDB is. In ITIL V3 it is in section 7.3 of Service Transition (most of p195 for paper-based folks).
Confusion arises when "CMDB" is used colloquially to mean "data to support Configuration Management and/or other processes"...
almost all the ROI ascribed to CMDB is ROI of the discrete technology parts of CMDB: asset management, license management, network discovery... these are all management of the discrete CIs not their relationships...
The only ROI that comes from a CMDB as distinct from one of its parts - i.e. the only value from integration/federation and service relationships - is the value of better impact analysis for incident and change. The cost of getting there, of getting past having distinct asset management etc, is huge and the cost of maintaining it is nearly as huge.
Or perhaps you confuse tool with process. See Those who would promote CMDB should promote CMDB
I'm all for configuration process (in the sloppy ITIL use of the word "process") which is why I proposed On Demand CMDB - if we fix the process we probably don't need any new tool.
CMDB Succes!
Honored Skeptic,
I was blessed to be the project manager for a project at a rather large enterprise to create the first CMDB as part of their migration of ITIL processes. The project was a glowing success. I believe that the tool did all you described in your opening comments and then some. Our project architect knew exactly what it would take to make the tool robust and effective to meet the definition of what the CMDB should do by definition. Through some very ingenious and creative interface/database development, it amazingly did all that we'd planned for. The process of federating the data and implementing the interfaces was actually submitted for a patent. I always look fondly back on that project even today with excitement and amazement on what the project team actually accomplished. I knew then that the tool was a very unique event and fully appreciated how lucky I was to see something so remarkable actually come to fruition.
As project manager you must have some visibility over what such an effort cost and what were the returns on the investment?
And I'm curious as to how they maintain relationships between CIs and Services in a large organisation. Can you give us some hint as to how that works? e.g. Does a configuration manager maintain the links? Or is it required as part of an RFC for someone else to update the information?
do you stay in touch?
How is TCO?
Is the company maintaining the investment to keep all the federation interfaces working in a changing world?
Are processes functioning to maintain the validity of the data?
How reliable is impact assessment proving to be?
lots of questions sorry, but it is an old British military trick to declare victory in the face of defeat, so one must look closely at what is described as "successful". All I'm hearing from your comment is that the technology worked for its own sake.
The questions we should all ask of any project are broadly:
Was it really a CMDB or just some configuration data? (at a business level this doesn't matter but for this debate it does)
Did it work? Did it meet a need?
Did it provide ROI? Or VOI?
Was it the best use of the available funds at the time?
RE: Congratulations
The project was approx $750K USD. Very expensive, but this was a very large organization of well over 2000 servers. The intranet web-based graphical interface allowed one to drill down from the macro level of the entire network to individual server clusters to identify problems early (red symbols) and do root cause analysis on outages when they occurred.
It was a true confinguration managmenet DB as each of the CIs were tied to a business process as an attribute of the CI record. As one could drill down into the details of the network to determine a root cause of any problem, one could also be immediately aware of which business process were impacted by an outage because you could drill back up to an operational level of the business process affected. Relationships to other CIs were also identified attributes in the DB so logical and physical relationships were maintained and displayed in the graphical interface. These record attributes were initially created in the DB by the project team both in an automated fashion and manually. The data was meticulously maintained through very disciplined change management. The organization had an aggressive change managment scheme with weekly CCBs and fully documented changes. Nothing would move in the environment without being documented and then approved by the CCB. Further, every outage was investigated and reported at a daily conference call at the beginning of each business day which could mean some very serious consequences for the lackluster analyst who stepped out of process to cause the incident by an unauthorized change. Thus a very controlled environment which futher fed into discipline surrounding the CMDB content.
For ROI, I have to report sadly I left before any real ROI was measured. The final 2 sectors of the business were being migrated into the federation upon my departure. So it was a work in progress the last I was involved. However, I witnessed some remarkable funtionality in the 3 business sectors which were operational. So it did work and worked well to the specifications of what one would expect of the tool.
The tool was absolutely worth the investment as it became the bedrock for all of the ITSM processes implemented across the enterprise. It was in use daily by every service managment process owner and much of the IT staff when I departed the company. It was quite satisfying to see how quickly it was adopted into normal management practices of the infrastructure.
I offered my experience to provide an example of what is possible. Granted, from all of the other conversations I've seen on this subject most CMDB experience has been quite negative. I was very fortunate and still reflect on how unique that opportunity was in my journey through this thing called ITIL.
this rare phenomenon
I don't think your experience was utterly unique :) We get other occasional reports of this rare phenomenon called a successful full CMDB. It is out there.
but it only occurs under special circumstances:
Complex. 2000 servers isn't that huge any more (I'm assuming you mean physical servers. 2000 virtual is becoming alarmingly common). Well it is in New Zealand but i do get out occasionally. But 2000 sure isn't trivial either. A site needs to be complex enough that it warrants automation of configuration mapping.
Critical. You don't explicitly say how critical this system was but the rigorous change implies it. Even with 2000 servers, a couple of trained knowledgeable configuration staff with a normal auto-discovered and auto-inventoried network, a service catalogue, MS-Excel, and a telephone could work out the service impact of anything pretty quickly for a lot less capital invest or TCO than this thing. if "pretty quickly" isn't going to cut it then the tool becomes more atrractive
Wealthy. $750k on an internal piece of kit is hefty. To win over competing projects there needs to be a bit of spare cash in the system
I'm still a bit suspicious - sorry - of mapping to "business process". This is a slippery term sometimes used by geeks to mean an application which is as near as they get to understanding the business. An app is not a service. in fact even a correctly-defined business process is not a service, although it is getting much closer. Manually mapping up to an application CI is much much easier than manually mapping up to a busines process... or a service.
To manage 2000 servers, here must have been several hundred thousand CIs in the overall CMDB?
RE: This rare phenomenon
The mapping of CIs to business process was absolutely done right. In each case of the 3 business areas which were completed when I left, we engaged senior business analysts (business geeks) in each sector who knew their systems and could identify how these systems were supported. It was a rigorous process, but the only way to get it done right. And yes, there were several hundred thousand CIs in the federated tool.
As far as criticality? I'd say this federated database became the most critical piece of gear in the enterprise. Even the CIO would consult it on occasion to see what was "going on in the world". It quickly became the "authority source" for outage information when and if it orccurred and was frequently cited at those horrific morning calls.
It's not a big fish story, I promise you. I am as excited today as I was then just for the experience of having worked on that (what I believe) history making project.
product testimonials unwelcome
I fancy myself as a reasonably good communicator, but then folk post stuff to prove I'm not. I've just removed a comment from here.
I thought it would be abundantly clear that this blog is not the place to post plugs for specific products, whether you work for the vendor or not.
Worse though, I had hoped I had communicated that WHETHER CMDB IS A GOOD IDEA OR NOT IS NOT FIXED BY FREAKING TECHNOLOGY
This post may be of interest to those following the CMDB discussion.
Charles T. Betz
It´s right, there is no
It´s right, there is no standard for a CMDB, yet. That might change in the future though, as some vendors (HP, IBM, BMC Software and Fujitsu Limited, as well as CA) seem to work together to get a standard running, see for more info.
You need to wander this site a bit more
You need to wander this site a bit more - I've blogged on the Federation quite a bit
P.S. After Google translating, your link looks to me to be spam and has been removed. Contact me if this was unfair. Link-droppers are getting very sophisticated. if you are the same "Opico" on twitter then you appear to be in the SEO industry. If so **** off my site please. If not, then welcome of course.
The CMDB as a dead elepthant, it cannot be done ... NOT
[This comment has been reposted as its own thread, but I think I'll leave it here too since this posting gets so much traffic and it deserves to be seen here]
It never ceases to surprises me as an IT veteran how little people change while the technology evolves around us. In part I agree with some of the statements made here, but a lot I just do not.
It was about 15 years ago when I was talking to the logistics director of a retail company in Europe about implementing the ERP system they bought. Their 6 warehouses he managed were going to be rolled out and upgraded into the system. He assured me it was impossible, and he used more or less the same arguments that are used here. They had over 100000 items (counting seasonal goods), high and low turnover, emergency orders, people already too busy (and dumb) etc etc. In short: could not be done.
Now we in IT are used to end users saying their business is unique, not like anything else, impossible to capture blah, blah, blah. We tend to learn to ignore most of the chatter because at the need of the day we are able to address almost all issues. Users lean towards the logical fallacy that is well known, The Argument from Personal Incredulity, ie I cannot explain or understand this, therefore it cannot be true, or in our cases, be done.
To cut a long story short, 2 years later the system was in, running these warehouses very efficiently, the system was ordering goods and they were saving money. O yeah, before I forget, the logistics director was replaced 6 months into the project.
Lets move it up a notch. How about a car manufacturing plant, multiple product lines, and the whole thing run in JIT logistics? For those not at home in this field, JIT stands for “just in time”, ie the car manufacturer does not have any stock, he receives daily the parts required to achieve what is planned to be produced for that day. Think about it, for example the car seat required for that day. The exact number of seats for all cars, in the correct color and upholstery option are delivered daily to the plant or even in multiple deliveries during the day. This seat is only one of maybe hundreds of thousands of items, with a production line that does NOT stop for almost anything. But yet, they manage to make it work.
Apparently we as IT have cracked some very tough nuts in the past. Through the use of a good architecture, good software and changes to the underlying business processes we are successful in supporting our IT customers.
After reading this article I could not help but think that I had taken a time machine back 20 years. A CMDB has a low number of items, low turnover and probably no transaction data attached to it .. when compared to the business we support daily. It then stuns me when people say: can't be done. My current role that has changed from 20 years managing on the business IT side to managing implementations in the IT arena, the likes of CMDB's and other tools. I am confronted daily with the arguments (fallacies) I stated previously, and I use the same examples I user here (and more) to break those doors down. Basic number comparisons tend to humble the IT department when they see what challenges the business end is faced with, and that we as IT have resolved!!
Hard to initially populate?
Once more, look at how businesses do this. In my example of the 6 warehouses they had to come in on a Sunday, count everything in one day, enter that data and have everything ready for the Monday morning business. Easy? Heck no, but doable and done hundreds of time across the globe where stock levels have to be accounted for in a new system. In IT, where large numbers of stock (configuration) items can be reached automatically, where item turnover is measured in years, where we have low numbers of items (compared to the business), no transactions and no business pressure to fit in one day (or week or month), and this is not a doable action?
Also, a typical ERP implementation needs to take on existing data, a data load of 1 million+ records from 30+ entities is not that untypical. In IT we have maybe 30k, from about 3 different entities. The effort is truly trivial. We were implementing a help desk and one of the “issues” the management raised was the difficulty of the data load, ie taking on and converting data from the existing system. We went to the business, got the numbers from a recent data load for the ERP implementation they had completed two years back. They were stunned and rather shame faced when we put those numbers up on a slide.
Hard to sync and keep up to date?
I have been asked this question by C-level types a number of times. I turn around and ask them what their (IT) supply chain looks like. The look I usually get back is once of amazement and confusion. It never dawned on them to not only document and stream line the supply chain of the business, but also their own!! Businesses manage to sync their supply chain, track every item they have to infinite detail ... and the IT department cannot? There is no fundamental difference: there is a need, a purchasing process, goods received, warehousing and life cycle management. No rocket science here, just basic process definition and alignment.
Before I go on ... yes, in this process there will be manual effort involved. For some reason IT always thinks that they can only reach maturity through automated process. Crap (if you forgive my English). If it is good enough for the business then it is good enough for us. The CI is created when ordered, not when installed, it is activated when it is received at the goods in department, not when it arrives at the desk to some technician, etc, etc. We need to stop thinking like silly techies and learn from the businesses (that use solutions we as IT provide and support, oh the irony here).
We also sell tools to support data warehouses. I have been to major international banks that run data warehouses feeding off of 15 different data marts (all with unique data sources), containing tera bytes of data. These are kept up to date daily, where data lineage, reconciliation, consolidation, data redundancy checking etc etc is all done to deliver a data warehouses that supplies data to comply with some of the most strict laws on the plant, ie reporting in the banking sector. For those not familiar in this area I suggest taking a glance at the BASEL II regulatory requirements. If banks do not comply they loose their credit ratings, and we all know what that means. They keep this all up to date using solid tools we in IT provide (ETL tools, meta data repositories etc etc ... the irony starts dripping off at this point)
Now, here we sit with our piddling little CMDB, carrying maybe 200k records, most likely no transactional data, just “is” data, with turnover measured in years ... and it we cannot keep this up to date? If we were a business we would not survive for more than a week, and to honest, I would be ashamed to even make a statement like that.
No standard model?
Show one standard ERP model, and this will make sense to me. Our IT model is infinitely simpler than what businesses have implemented thousands of times. I actually had to read that statement a number of times to grasp what was being said. Huh? I strongly suggest counting the number of entities and attributes in ORACLE's or SAP's ERP model. Then please explain why this DOES work and any model we can come up with cannot.
Does a CMDB make sense?
This is all so reminiscent of the discussion in the 1980's about ERP packages. Would they bring the benefit they projected? Were they mature enough? They we are all sooooo complicated to implement. We are now 20 years on, and you would struggle to find any business that does not have some type of ERP system implemented. Not because of the hype, but because of the solid business benefits they all have achieved, after going through the pain first of course ... and the help of some very innovative IT folks!!
Sorry about the rather long rant here, there are a lot more example of here that are sorely based on the logical fallacy I mentioned previously. My basic message to all you IT operational types out there: Do not be so parochial, step over to the business side and talk to them. Look at the issues that have faced them over the years and how the resolved them. Document what you feel is important to your CMDB implementation and then talk to the business for advice on how to proceed. If you have a logistics director or other person in the know ask him to present supply chain basics to you to understand how this works. Find a good business analyst to help you document what needs to be done. Find an architect (preferably one that helped with your data-warehouse initiatives) to help you define your infrastructure to keep your CMDB up to date and tip top. Finally, work with your supplier like your business did 20 years ago when they were starting with ERP in getting the functionality you need into your CMDB of choice. In short, step out of that damned box, stop moaning like silly end users and get the job done!!
Mark Lutchen makes a set of similar points in his excellent book Managing IT as a Business.
I especially find it amusing when people claim that "ERP has failed, so don't try a CMDB." A look at SAP's & Oracle's financials paints a different picture.
The only quibble I would have is that the data architecture is not simple. It's actually more complex because every IT service is its own bill of materials, with dependencies on other services, making for one big hairball. Bill of materials problems can be solved, but this one is an order of magnitude larger - a BOM of BOMs, all continually changing (where product BOMS are relatively more static). I'd appreciate anyone who can contribute some pointers to the best theory/analysis for bills of materials management.
The logical/physical boundary is also tricky. We don't have good practices as an industry for understanding/representing when bits become software become applications become services supporting business processes (or is it capabilities?). Lots of debate here. Virtualization is making it even more fun.
The number of logical entities required by a comprehensive IT solution, when and if fully implemented on an ERP framework, would probably be comparable to supply chain, HR, etc, and no system yet incorporates all of them.
There is transactional data as well: events, incidents, changes, problems, releases, service requests, projects, and more, all of which can be attached to elements in the BOM. Event management in particular can present capacity challenges; it's a massive firehose.
One disservice ITIL has done (continuing into V3) is to confuse CMDB with data warehousing. The IT data warehouse is actually a separate beast from the CMDB.
Now, our friend Skeptic is doing us a service by challenging the ROI on CMDB, and this is only helping sharpen the debate. But even he has grudgingly admitted from time to time that the largest organizations (where you and I seem to be working) *may* have a case for CMDB.
The trouble of course with saying that "CMDB can't be done" categorically is that it is falsifiable. Kind of like saying "there are no black swans." Even one successful CMDB disproves the assertion.
See here for an early version of the conceptual IT data architecture in my book. Yes, it's a teaser... some key improvements in the book.
Charles T. Betz
Hi Charles
Thanks for pointing out that book; I will take a look.
As for the BOM, I agree, but that is at the end of the process and long way down the road. I tend to look at the CMDB like we did the ERP systems; a CMDB is built up around a certain number of modules, which will then allow us to build up a full system. In fact, you can step off that elevator at any point and still have a ROI, something of course impossible with ERP. Discreetly building up your CMDB resolves issues slowly but surely, you are eating that elephant one bite at a time.
Each CMDB phase also requires a unique team to address that specific business layer. We were involved in a CMDB and asset discovery project at a large bank. The decision WHAT was to be discovered and populated into the CMDB was left to a techie from operations that was responsible for the installation and running the production CMDB. This as opposed to the “business” end of the CMDB making those decisions. This lead to decisions that things like firmware level of boot proms in desktops need to be detected and populated. No one questioned if they had ever needed this information before and what risk they were running if they did not have this information, the techie decided it was a “requirement” for reasons only know to him. One of the biggest mistakes made in CMDB is probably populating it with too many detailed CI's.
Services dependency mapping starts with data transactions, the applications supporting these transactions and finally the hardware supporting the user, the applications and the data (and all its middleware). Yes, you can do this but note that you need all the other bits in there first, where each CI type has its own distinct ROI, its own project approach and unique set of business users. See the forest from the trees, build up your CMDB logically involving the right people and the right time and there is then no reason why you cannot get to where you want to be.
Viewing each CMDB maturity level as a separate project also addresses (in part) your logical and physical boundary, each have their own place and follow what the end user requires at that point.
The transactions reside not in the CMDB but with the service desk systems. This is a related system but does not touch the CMDB as such (other than master data population).
As for ROI, there are lots of ways to calculate this. We strongly suggest using an incremental implementation strategy linked to measurable ROI. Projects that only promise ROI two years down the road rarely survive or even get approved nowadays. If such a project hits an over run (which never do?) then there is nothing on the balance sheets yet to move this through. If you chop up the implementation into logical business areas, using a unique project team for each and have the business define the ROI then you will go a long ways to getting a CMDB up and running successfully. There is a lot of documentation out there (white papers and such) that can help you define and calculate your ROI. I am sure your supplier can be very helpful as well.
budgies are better
I'm not saying "there are no black swans". I'm saying you can't keep one in the 'burbs. If you own a ranchero with a few hundred acres, go ahead. For the rest of us, budgies are better.
IT can be done without CMDB
Management of infrastructure can be done without a cmdb. Just refer to the General Motors presentation given at the itSMF USA 06 National Conference. They have:
7000 Servers
20,000 Engineering Workstations
140,000 PCs
2500 WAN Links
12500 LAN Switches
8200 Changes per month
17+ Service Providers
15+ Major HW providers
50+ Major SW Providers
located in a global environment.
They don't have a CMDB.
They manage the environment through various consoles, that provide the visability needed.
Also, I am not one of these people who subscribe to the ITIL text as gospel. ITIL is ment for 'fit for YOUR purpose'. Sometimes all a org needs is incident and change magement to stabilize an environment.
ITIL is a best practice - it is NOT a standard .... and furthermore, standards are still ment to be applied per organization.
Actually, GM has a CMDB
I now have it from two independent sources with firsthand knowledge that in fact GM does have an enterprise CMDB, and uses it intensely to manage their heavily outsourced IT operations. Custom built thing, relatively simple in structure, but large in scale.
Charles T. Betz
Public statement about IT management controls!
Grump mode on
Saw this feedback and thought "is this presentation about the same company I know". No.. it must be another General Motors. Or maybe it exists in a different time dimension.
I don't disagree in that you can manage infrastructure without a CMDB - but it does depends on what you mean by manage. Also a bunch of infrastructure databases linked through integration could be called by some a federated CMDB. From personal experience of developing and implementing CMDB add-ons to service desks and evaluating the reality - I get really annoyed when I hear success stories that are interpretations fit for public consumption.
A few words about real life implementations of CMDBs
a. People manage despite lack of data, lack of process, lack of clear roles etc. - they still do their best with or without a CMDB. It takes a marketeer to say that grey is actually the brilliant white we have been looking for. With a reasonable CMDB implementation things are slightly whiter.
b. It is rare for public presentations to reveal the real management issues, politics, viewpoints as it is not allowed by the company lawyer, or managers who might feel exposed. The truth behind the real numbers of incidents or the root causes would never be revealed if we didn't have a service desk to count and categorise them. We still have to educate teams to actually fill in an incident report or our MI is rubbish. Likewise, communications about the true state of control is often "managed" by the managers - you need some pesky auditors or regulators to upset the status quo. If you audit CMDBs it is so easy to point out gaps and holes in change processes, that no one really knew before.
c. The CMDB concept is a good one as it is common sense to centralise knowledge of service construction and use that data by multiple teams and processes. Its just that many are badly implemented because a CMDB combines strategy, tactical, people and technical issues. Many management teams don't engage fully and many techies go off on a tangent developing a perfect concept but not delivering a tool to be used by many.
d. Even when you have a CMDB that is well thought out, implemented with supporting update processes - it doesn't mean it will be used because you still have to work at getting people to use it.
I ran an event in the UK a few days ago looking at data centre management and the areas of cross over with service management. The presentations are downloadable and include the real life experience of people who do deliver in this area. web address is if anyone is interested.
Next time we have examples of why you don't need a CMDB, could they be better ones...
Grump mode off
Hi everyone, the General Motors examples shows that you can manage large environments. Hurray!
the majority of the world's IT shops don't have a CMDB
Sure Dave. Given that the majority of the world's IT shops don't have a CMDB we have a plentiful supply of examples to choose better ones from.
OK, so I admit it is late and I also admit to having had a wee dram midweek however I’m currently resting between roles and there’s no law against it. When I read ‘Cotswold Dave’ I mistakenly saw ‘codswallop’, great nom de plume I thought until I read it correctly and as one imaginary joke evaporated the real funny side emerged. Attempting to do CMDB by the book is truly codswallop.
I admire the theory and yearn to be able to not only implement but keep going for more than a week a fully functioning CMDB. It’s almost the ‘holy grail’ of service management. I guess the ‘keep it going’ bit is the real issue, the inertia of the day to day reality kicks in and inevitably things grind to a halt. People, (expletive) people let the whole thing down. As is often said; ‘if it wasn’t for people our processes would work wonderfully’ and that for me at least, is the main issue, processes don’t fail only getting people to follow them fails.
The world of process has gone charging off on the misguided view that all that needs to happen is for people to follow process and they’ll work. Can’t argue with that other than people don’t follow process. We’re pre-programmed not to follow rules. Anyone out there who has kids will know that you don’t need to teach them to be naughty; you only need to teach them how to be good. Being naughty comes naturally to them and so must be instinctive. We all hate rules and where we can get away with not following them then we will.
OK, so I’ve drifted a little, this isn’t about CMDB it is about the basis of human nature not to want to follow rules, the dilemma is that in working in Service Management we expect that people will of their own accord follow rules and so the dichotomy is discovered. ITIL 3 has gone off into the life cycle of a service and along with most things has not paid sufficient attention to people, if we got the psychology correct then the need for process and rules would diminish and perhaps then we’d get a CMDB to work.
Why does the World Wide Web work?
If it is the basis of human nature not to want to follow rules, why does the Web work? This incredibly rich collaborative environment?
I'd suggest it is because of a minimal number of non-optional constraints, coupled with an obvious value proposition.
I'd also suggest that a CMDB capability can succeed using the same design philosophy.
It's not about the process. It's about the benefits that become obvious through following the process, and the pain of not doing so - not in terms of process police, but in terms of real consequences like outages being laid at your door due to you not updating your CMDB records.
See for a discussion of applying psychological principles to CMDB maintenance.
Charles T. Betz
Amen brother!
Amen brother!
Look at any survey on the uptake of ITIL: lots of sites haven't done Config Management. CMDB is nice to have but business goes on without it.
P.S. I can't find that presentation on the web. Is it published?
You guys have all been fooled
I have stood up at many industry conferences and said that the general IT community has been fooled by the vendors and industry analysts about the CMDB. The reason I say this is that they have led everyone to believe it is all about a peice of technology. In no other part of ITIL has the race to provide a peice of technology been so bitterly fought by the vendors and ably supported by the analysts.
It is not about the technology it is about the process and most organisations just forcus on the technology, blindly discovering CI's and federating data sources until they have stuck every bit of possible information in a big stinking database and then the wonder what they should do with it.
I also think people forget the purpose of the CMDB (because thats what the vendors and analysts want so they can sell stuff). It should not be there to hold everything so resist the urge to increase its scope when you do not have a handle on the Config process itself.
Oh, and do not get me started on ISO20000 when it comes to being fooled. Ask yourself how you can distil all the requirements around Change Management into little over a page and the certify against that. Well this is what they did for AS8018 and I think it is the same for ISO20000.
Love your work,
ITIL Master
The last lesson of a Master is simplicity
Thankyou Master (with distinction). May your aim be true and your holidays sabai
The Human Element
In building a CMDB Config Management is very much in the hands of other parts of the business when obtain the required information, for example HR for contact data. When analysing the available data to check its suitability for CMDB it is often the case that it is simply not up to it. How often do you find multiple records for the same person perhaps brought about by them changing departments, perhaps there is a record in SAP but not in Exchange. When attempting to reconcile this data which record do you take as true?
When you look beyond the data you run into process (or in many cases the lack of it). So (sorry to pick on HR but the reference just flows) HR has a record of staff but takes this information from managers who either don’t have or choose not to follow a starters and leavers process. It’s a great idea to go back to the source of the data but that in itself can be blurred. The data might be ‘owned’ by one department but subject to change by another and inevitably no one takes responsibility. What this does is to expose other departments for their ill-disciplined approach to process and data management, in short a lack of effective governance. In focusing on these areas there is the inevitable backlash in that you are seen to be bringing other people’s failings to light and guess what? they refuse to cooperate. As responsibilities often lie across multiple departments there is little or no chance of escalation to demand cooperation. It seems the larger the organisation the greater the problems.
Like most things in live success or failure is down to the human element in the process chain. CMDB is a fantastic idea that would make everyone’s working day that much simpler but it’s people who inevitably let it down. So, done ITIL, done ISO 20K, getting up to speed on V3 but haven’t seen anything yet about dealing with the nut between the chair and the screen. Short of sacking people their doesn’t seem to be much of a way round it and even if we did sack people would this be picked up by the leavers process, passed into HR then into SAP then into god knows where before finding its corrupted way into the CMDB. ‘Send three and four pence, we’re going to a dance’.
a geek's fanatasy
Oh so true! Thankyou for that contribution, and welcome.
The whole idea of CMDB is a geek's fanatasy, an idealist's nonsense
There is a difference between skepticism and cynicism
"The whole idea of a system as large as SAP is a geek's fantasy, an idealist's nonsense."
Oh -wait a minute - what was their stock price again?
Some of these comments are crossing the line and don't seem very well informed.
Re: -- It's true that the history of first generation repositories and CASE (e.g. AD/Cycle) should be considered in evaluating CMDBs, but that history was (and is) not one of unmitigated failure. Factors contributing to how it all played out included things like the emergence of distributed computing, not flaws in the inherent vision. Metadata repositories remain an active market segment.
The idea that no data repository can be up to date because it relies on people to enter the data is simply misguided. It is true that human change management is often overlooked in implementing large new systems, and is usually a major failure factor (e.g. in ERP systems). But there have been enough successes that we know how to implement large, shared-data systems:
- build out a true conceptual and logical data architecture, starting with the user's universe of discourse
- understand the relationship between process and data - what processes are producing and consuming which data
- through the discipline of usability engineering, make the data entry process as painless and intuitive as possible
- close the loop on processes so that people's operational job success depends on accurate data - see
- develop data quality measurements (google Larry English) and correctly structure incentives for data quality
- tie the operational data to business performance management via metrics supported by a robust BI infrastructure - when those metrics are the basis of executive bonuses, data quality becomes of interest to them.
The particular pain point with CMDBs is the horrible concept of "configuration item." It's too general to map it to a process, other than the equally horrible concept of a generalized "change management" process. Neither can be operationalized as such.
You need a much more granular, subtyped concept of CI, and much more granular workflow understanding (e.g. "provision server," "release application," "build database") before you can apply the principles above; see
The other problem is products that are muddling enterprise and element configuration management together. That is a nonstarter and I think is close to the essential point Skeptic has been trying to make. See, and
Enough for now, I'm going on vacation.
Charles T. Betz
Hi Charles,
This wasn’t a pop at SAP merely using a few names of data repositories that can be sources into CMDB. In fact this blog is specifically about CMDB and the Skeptic’s point about idealistic nonsense was aimed at CMDB not SAP (I’m sure the Skepic can and probably will respond himself but I’m guessing he’s still chewing over his cornflakes in the southern hemisphere). Personally I’ve seen some horrendous data coming out of places like SAP and Active Directory and Exchange and and and …….. Mostly when you get to look into it there is often a human element that has either mistyped or failed altogether to put data in. I myself failed to use a leaving process once and as a result the leaver not only stayed in the CMDB and SAP and AD but carried on being paid for a couple of months, so a true example of human failure. We’ve said for years that computers are only as good as the people who program them, cars only go in the right direction if someone sensible is steering them and leavers processes only work if someone actually bothers to press the right buttons. There’s nothing misguided about real life experience!
I get it...
I understand exactly what's being said. I'm a chief enterprise architect for IT Service Management in a US Fortune 50 company with a $2bn IT budget; my #1 priority right now is implementing an enterprise class CMDB. I've also implemented quite a bit of ERP. The similarities are striking to say the least.
Point is that being skeptical of CMDB because it is too big, monolithic, ambitious, vulnerable to human frailty, etc. overlooks that ERP systems ten and twenty times the size and complexity *do* work. They also fail spectacularly. But there *are* successes. The CMDB problem is no different. If SAP can succeed, so can a CMDB (in fact, the next generation IT systems are going to be supersets of CMDB, integrating CMDB plus service level management plus portfolio management. With that, we truly have "ERP for IT" 1.0 at least.)
The trouble with the conversations here is that participation is primarily technical. We are not getting any input from business process and data analysts who are the keys to solving large scale systems implementation problems, whether in IT, finance, HR, supply chain, or wherever.
Charles T. Betz
Any project needs a business justification
Any project needs a business justification. You and I have debated this point before. I don't say CMDB can't be done in the physical sense; I say it can't be done within reasonable and justifiable expenditure of money and resources. Anything is possible. We can put a man on the moon but I wouldn't advise any company do it as an advertising stunt.
Whether SAP is a justifiable project is in itself a fascinating debate - we've all seen SAP bring companies to the brink of ruin ... or over it. I never saw an SAP project run to business case projections.
But I can accept that there are organisations big enough, diverse enough and screwed enough that SAP might just return on the investment.
But to say it justifies CMDB is like saying that because DHL own their own jumbos, Mana Transport (the ten-truck company down the road from me) should buy one too. No that's not right. It's like saying that because DHL use jumbos to move product, DHL should also use them to get the milk for the cafeteria. Just because a mega-gazillion software behemoth works for the ERP of a total organisation does not mean that something like it is a sensible use of funds just to manage the objects in the IT environment.
So what happens is ITIL convinces people they need a jumbo but they only have budget for a billy-cart. Then they get up on the roof and ....
I'm not a Chief Architect in a Fortune 50. I'm just a solutions architect who talked to and crawled over hundreds of organisations in banking, insurance, telecoms, airlines, government, retail, manufacturing and more, looking at their requirements and what was a justifiable solution for them.
Any project needs a business justification
I love ITIL as it keeps me in a fairly well paid job. The opportunity to pontificate the finer points doesn't massage my ego, but it is certainly relatively straight forward and makes for good fun. However, what I do find is business taking it very seriously and getting very wound up about not implementing it in its entirity. It's as though everyone is aware of, but conveniently forgets, the "adopt and adapt" mantra. As the band the Smal Faces sang "it's all or nothing."
Bottom line for me is that ITIL is like Communicsm/Socialism - it is the greatest thing on the planet on paper and makes perfect sense. BUT!!! As Liteheaded has stated, start involving people in it and the whole thing inevitably becomes corrupt - because people are corrupt, want power and influence, and don't want a service to work as basking in reflected glory isn't half as fun as, or full of kudos as, being Red Adair.
Tablets of Stone
So, what have we learnt from this blog? Some say that CMDB is easy whilst some say it is impossible. Some say that the toolsets of the world can resolve every issue whilst others say that it only takes a malcontent to bugger the whole thing up. What we have truly learnt is that Karl Marx tested his ideas for service management under the code name communism before attempting world domination not by revolution but by process. In saying that there needs to be some investigation into Moses’ influence on ISO 20000, where did all that ‘thou shall’ come from?
Configuration Management is important
Hi Skeptic,
I read your strong statement against configuration management, whereas I would state that configuration management is the single most important thing that any project needs, and could be almost the only process that a project needs. I have real practical experience with resurrecting huge projects that have failed, so I don't start from an academically clean slate.
I would be interested in investigating whether we actually disagree, or you're using some definition of 'configuration management' from the ITIL standards. I don't know ITIL, nor do I wish to know. I don't know about a lot of other standards too, and I'm very pleased about that. My ignorance would not be noteworthy other than my status as a professional in the field that these standards are supposed to be about.
My definition of configuration management diverges at this point: "What set a CMDB apart from an ordinary asset register are the relationships, or links, that define how each CI is interconnected and interdependent with its neighbours". I would claim that it is versioning and change management of the items in the database.
I also don't care a great deal about pre-loading the database, as it is sufficient to load data in when it is used. If it's not in CM, it can be used but needs to be registered in CM. This: “the relationships, or links, that define how each CI is interconnected and interdependent with its neighbours" is bullshit. All we want is a copy of the data, to have a time and date on it.
For me, configuration management is a capture of data to answer "how, where, what" with documents in CM answering "why". Data could be on the back of an envelope, it could be a PDF of an equipment order to know how to order another one. The intent and purpose of CM is to record how to repeat the project, so that it would be possible to say "do it again".
So if we disagree, I can only offer the reality of actual projects that recovered when all other processes were stripped and CM was applied.
Multiple definitions of configuration management
There are at least three definitions of configuration management:
- project configuration management (including document management, software config, source control, and all that)
- element configuration management (the management of "configurations," baselining them, controlling drift)
- enterprise configuration management (mostly what ITIL is talking about, including management of inventories and their dependencies)
I use these definitions to set ITSM direction for my organization, a US fortune 50 firm with a $1.3 bn IT budget. Much of the pain around config relates to people confusing these three very different practices. You are pretty clearly focusing on project configuration management. Skeptic has never come out against project configuration management - what he is critiquing is the monolithic enterprise CMDB concept, an idea I also find problematic.
Also, see
Charles T. Betz
mapping the models
Hi Charles
can you see a mapping from the three aspects of CMDB model to the four views of change model? I'm not sure if they interconnect or not...
Four views?
Four views of change?
Charles T. Betz
I guess a Skeptic's site shouldn't expect clairvoyance
Sorry I am developing a major new initiative for the IT Skeptic, and my brains are fried. this shows how tired i am: I am refering to the four-views model that I haven't actually posted yet :-) I guess a Skeptic's site shouldn't expect clairvoyance. It is now posted
it isn't a CMDB
Hi Steve, and welcome.
We disagree only because of terminology.
A big part of configuration management is versioning and change management of the items in the database. A big part of CMDB is versioning and change management of the items in the database.
If there isn't also the relationships that define how each CI is interconnected and interdependent with its neighbours, it is confirguration management but it isn't a CMDB.
P.S. if you are who I think you are then you are currently studying ITIL ;-)
Silver Bullets
Your article makes many interesting points. My rule of thumb is that there are no silver bullets and no perfect solutions, hard as we may try. I hate to use the words "Best Practices" because it implies that better practices are not being considered. So I think it is generally good to be skeptical of "conventional wisdom", since it is most often an oxymoron.
The OGC books describe practices that were observed in successful IT organizations. The ITIL documentation reflects the fact that some organizations have been able to manage their configurations successfully with the help of a CMDB.
What an organization will need to invest in a CMDB itself is a given: the increasing need for a successful CMDB is met by the increasing effort to achieve it. The more I need it, the more difficult it becomes.
The return on investment for a CMDB is threefold: (1) as a means for impact assessment for changes and incidents, (2) as a source of lifecycle information for IT resources, and (3) as a common reference point for resources and documentation among various processes.
The situation you describe is typical of many organizations: the IT configuration is unmanageable. A manageable configuration is not achieved by a CMDB in isolation. This means that the first problem is to achieve a manageable configuration, then populate the CMDB with it.
For example, you could be offering desktop users a choice between a "standard configuration" or an "ergonomic configuration", rather than managing individual pointing devices. If a better ergonomic pointing device is found or required, a new version of the ergonomic configuration is created. Release Management rolls out the configuration in phases, or as needed, or only for new deployments.
How would we get to this point? First, the services must be identified that meet the business needs (e.g. standard, ergonomic, high-availability application service, etc.). Then the configurations are planned by the Capacity, Availability and Continuity processes. Then the requests for change are submitted, evaluated and approved. Then the Release is planned, tested and deployed. Then the new configuration and its instances are documented in the CMDB.
I would not allow unmanaged or unmanageable configurations in the CMDB, because there would be no benefit. You need a CMDB available for configuration management, but let the configurations be managed as a prerequisite. Otherwise, you're only documenting chaos without yielding sufficient benefit from Service Management in general.
This way, a Configuration Item is an Item in a Configuration. The Configuration itself becomes an organizing principle for disciplined IT practice. Anyone involved in Service Management will need to convince customers, users, and IT staff that such discipline is in their best interest in terms of timeframes, quality, and cost.
To implement Configuration Management this way, Service Level and Release Management need to be brought into the foreground more than one normally hears about. Being skeptical of conventional wisdom myself, I tend to look at Service Level, Release, and Configuration Management as the first processes to implement. Then you want to improve their support with the remaining Service Support processes. Finally, the remaining Service Delivery processes improve the service and configuration planning.
...or I could be completely off base!
Thanks for your article and the thinking it inspires.
the first problem is to achieve a manageable configuration
Very intersting concept "the first problem is to achieve a manageable configuration, then populate the CMDB with it." But I suspect you are doing what everyone else does to achieve a successful CMDB: redefining what the CMDB is. And I don't allow that on this blog :-) If it is not what ITIL says a CMDB is then it is not a CMDB.
I also think your "look at Service Level, Release, and Configuration Management as the first processes to implement" is something akin to the holistic service mangement discussed in the latest blog entry; mor eof a top down start-with-the-service approach than the traditional bottom up first-start-with-the-foundations-then-work-up-to-the-service
Find it hard to disagree with your CMDB points. I've worked in service and systems management positions for a number of years now and although I find ITIL to be a common sense approach, the CMDB rhetoric and "cornerstone" status of any successful implementation has and will continue to be complete bollocks.
It's more interesting to look at why anyone would want a CMDB and to see if something else with less ambition would achieve a much better bang for buck - ie something which isn't an ITIL CMDB.
So why do people hanker after the CMDB? Because they want to be less reactive usually. They recognise that they introduce problems via poorly managed changes, they recognise that a lack of information about relationships and dependencies affect their ability to improve efficiency and service performance, and they hope that if they had something which described their assets and components in more detail - not just as assets but the relationships between the assets and their parts in service delivery, that it will somehow make them into a proactive efficient unit. (I know I'm conveniently ignoring some of the other reasons why the ITIL CMDB seems like a good idea - I'm just giving my opinion on what it is I've seen people want to achieve.)
Well the tool itself isn't going to do anything. Service/Help desk tools which include CMDB type functionality don't actually make you provide better support or change management. Sure, if you get your service mappings right and assign the right components to the right services, then when your systems monitoring or whatever you have pops up and says hey I have a problem on this device, then you can say hey maybe that is impacting this service or these services - but it's still only a maybe, and I've seen plenty of times where small problems mapped to supposedly more important services that aren't actually a problem, get more resources and take time away from something which has a much greater business impactg and revenue effect, but for whatever reason wasn't given a high priority in the service mapping rules file..
The best way of achieving some of the intended benefits of a CMDB is not via the CMDB, but by effective service management, which includes as a pre-requisite accurate testing of the services you provide from a service perspective - not trying to infer status and health info of services from low-level component data. There is a particularly good product out there which has capable but not overly ambitious discovery techniques, but which still relies on knowledge to give it real value and doesn't mind saying so. That product builds a service model which describes for everyone how different services are provided, whether they use discrete or shared components, and it also actively tests both the top level services and all the components, so you see instantly not just the service perspective, but if you have risk or degradation and where exactly it is. That goes across the network and all different apps and platforms. It's a form of visual CMDB if you like, but it's not got the anal qualities of a CMDB but instead has real world value and much less overhead to administer. So from one sensible approach, you have great information to share across your different IT disciplines about how services are delivered, you have effective and intelligent service monitoring, you have capacity planning capabilities and trend analysis, you can see and assess the effects of change or analyse risk of intended change, and you have a much more proactive stance of support who do occasionally see potential problems before they impact service users.
I'm not going to name the product as it would seem a shameless plug but my final point would be that many of the problems of ITIL are people problems. The ITIL CMDB and other best practice fundamentalism has turned into a gravy train for some, allowing them to milk contracts and fleece enterprises for large amounts of money when the return on investment is so low compared against the cost of implementation. To me that is a people problem, and signifies that many of us need to look more at our business values rather than thinking what we achieve in terms of IT has some sort of intrinsic value simply because it is IT.
Glad to have found this blog, it's a little like hearing an echo.
they should have stuck to process
Oh thankyou for such a sensible summation. You say in a different way what is my favourite mantra: technology doesn't fix process (or people problems). it is the only time in ITIL (I think) where they introduce a technology as a fundamental part of the definition as compared to a useful accessory. they should have stuck to process.
achieving a managable configuration
Achieving a standard configuration is a bit of a difficult task because the moment you get towards achieving this, as models of CI's become unavailable and you will need to change. Across a wide variety of products, it is an unenviable task. A CMDB is however an achievable target, that is if your willing to do some hard yards on the technical tools. I have built a platform utilising open source tools that provides for a huge percentage of the areas people find the most difficult, ie: Service Level and availability reporting, software compliance, Desktop Asset management, etc. Check out, there is also a demo and detailed build instructions. I understand from an ITIL point of view the processes of Release management and Problem resolution are still not covered but for most organisations there are existing tool sets. The primary focus has been on the principle of "Make it Open Source" and the rest can be developed.
BTW I think your BLOG is great
Not Ready for the CMDB
In my experience most organizations are not culturally ready to tackle a CMDB even though it is in my view it is something that is inevitable.
Most IT organizations are at the very early stages of an evolution from technology-focused to service-focused. The challenge before us is how to convince both the IT techies and the business customer that IT does not simply manage hardware and software.
The evolution of a service mentality starts with the awareness that a customer facing service can not be understood to be collections of like technology segregated by domain, platform, or protocol. And that it is the rudimentary responsibility of IT to understand how any given IT component enables or disables a business process. Until this is known it is difficult to claim that IT is aligned to business goals.
The primary reason why an organization has multiple redundant solutions for managing data about their environement is a result of history, internal politics and IT procurement practices focused on the domain an not the enterprise. Based on a traditional technology management view each IT domain is managed as a unique function and procures tools for its own needs. From this perspective each group has separate data sources to manage their own CIs in protective isolation.
However what do you do when you realize that managing each domain in mythical isolation prohibits you from understanding the relationship of dependency between them? It is only when an organization begins to move to service orientation that this question becomes a burning issue.
In many IT organizations maturity around Configuration Management and Processes in general follows a similar pattern.
Level 1 – IT is Project and Portfolio Focused but Operationally Challenged.
Good processes and controls exist to evaluate, control and execute projects in order to ensure on time, on scope and on budget delivery of initiatives. However, once those projects arrive in production the controls evaporate. In this model little to no concern is given to the processes which need to receive and support the project deliverable once it is live. For this organization Configuration Management makes sense while the project is being developed but not a concern once the project is closed since the attention of management is now focused on the next big initiative.
Level 2 – IT Realizes that Availability and Reliability of Technology is Tied to Business Success
At this point focus is shared between project execution and the management of an IT operational environment. IT will begin to fund monitoring tools, develop rudimentary IT Inventory lists of assets and work on basic support processes such as a Service Desk and Change Management.
Level 3 – IT Realizes that Technology Components Don’t Live in Mythical Isolation
It is only when an IT organization realizes that availability and reliability have to be looked at from and end to end solution or in ITIL words a service view that the need for a CMDB begins to become an issue. It is also at this point that the organization is even ready to support the development and implementation of processes that are required to keep a central source of data up to date.
My Thoughts
Recently Posted a series on the different uses of the term "CMDB Federation"
IT procurement practices focused on the domain
"...IT procurement practices focused on the domain an not the enterprise. Based on a traditional technology management view each IT domain is managed as a unique function and procures tools for its own needs". Oh yes! powerful point, thankyou.
Interesting quote from an "official" ITIL book
OK so it has been superceded by a new book, and it is only a Complementary guidance, not the core set, but look what I found in the previous ITIL in Small IT Units book:
In many small units, taking the full ITIL approach to configuration management will not be worthwhile – the overheads of establishing and maintaining the configuration links will be too great. However, it is still essential to record assets accurately in some way.
When change requests are received, a small unit may well be able to assess them without using a designated change manager, by setting up and documenting appropriate consultation processes instead.
Now the number of managed objects may not increase linearly with increasing company size but it must be close. All you mathematicians out there; how does the number of permutations of those objects (an approximation for the number of multiple relationships between them) increase with increasing number? By a factorial! yes very good. For you poor non-mathematicians, it looks like an exponential i.e. it rockets up.
So if the (old) ITIL guidance acknowledges that a small IT unit will struggle to maintain a CMDB, how the frederick is a big IT unit going to cope??!?!!!?
I wonder if the new book says something similar???
Some Flaws With ITIL That Show Up in the Definition of a CMDB
I'm new to your site. First, let me say that I was pointed to this post by a colleage who spoke very highly of the content, here. I want to say that after reading many of the posts, myself, I have to agree with much of what you say.
Second, specifically to do with this thread, your post on CMDBs not being achievable (based on the constraints you mentioned) is "very" accurate. It's probably one of the most realistic looks at the implementation of a CMDB that I've seen in a long time. (If you're interested, I have a white paper I wrote last year that breaks down Configuration Management into his most primitive and common requirements, that span all areas of a business. You'll find that it matches your requirements, almost exactly.) I have shared your views on this topic for a number of reasons. I'll get to the details, down below, but first I'll say that my view comes from having managed many different organizations within small, medium, and large IT organizations in many different vertical industries. I believe that I came to the same conclusions you did, even if it was through a different path.
Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I own and run a company that delivers ITIL related solutions and that we use "your" criteria for a CMDB as the foundation for our offering. I'm not trying to market our solution and I make no claims to our solutions being perfect (although I am biased and I do believe it's a better solution!) We do not believe in building and integrating a separate CMDB. We believe that a CMDB is a "side effect" of properly having all of your data connected, together. I stress the word "properly", as it ties back to your criteria: Reconciliation, Mapping and Visualization, and Synchronization. In short, we view a CMDB to be composed of 3 basic things: 1) An inventory of anything and everything, 2) Relevant descriptive data about each and every entry into each and every inventory, and 3) The ability to truly map and manage the details of each and every relationship. BTW, your description of the complexity of relationships was right on the money.
Anyhow, to support why the ITIL direction for a CMDB is flawed, I'd like to point out some flaws and/or limitations with ITIL, itself, that ultimately cause the definition of a CMDB to be inadequate. In other words, since ITIL has these issues, they trickle into the definition of the CMDB.
First, ITIL is only intended to cover IT Infrastructure "Support". It is weak on all the other areas of IT and general business management. Examples include but are not limited to:
- Up front design and development for Infrastructure
- Up front design and development for Software
- Non-IT Product Management and Development
- Manufacturing
- Business Finance
- Sales
- Marketing
- Etc.
Second, another "critical" flaw, in my opinion, is that ITIL only covers the Production environment and doesn't cover any of the other environments, such as Development, Systems Integration Testing, Performance & Stress Testing, User Acceptance Testing, etc. For example, if you're a QA tester and your test systems go down in your QA environment, to the point where your entire organization is down, you now have a Critical Incident and an Outage in your QA environment. ITIL does not properly address such issues. Any experienced manager will tell you that there is a huge quantity of relevant data/information that is generated and needs to be managed in each and every one of these environments before you can ever even conceive of managing your Production environment, properly. The data/information generated in any one up front environment is, itself, a dependency for the next environment in your product development and management pipeline. A good CMDB will cover each and every environment.
Third, a big issue with ITIL is that it conflicts with other so called best practice specifications, such as RUP, SDLC, AGILE, MSF, MOF, PMI, CobiT, etc. While each tries to cover different areas of IT, you'll see that they bleed across each other, many times in a conflicting manner. If you try to implement ITIL in an organization that already has one or more of these, you will instantly introduce conflict between stakeholders.
I can go into much more but these three should be enough to make the point.
As you can see from the above, ITIL's "scope" is only a very small piece of a very big picture. The bigger picture is managing the whole enterprise, itself, not just IT. Most stakeholders, especially in medium to larger companies, can't see the bigger picture unless they've been fortunate enough to move up through the ranks and manage large, multi-purpose, multi-regional organizations. This is why ITIL is instantly appealing to larger organizations than it is to smaller ones. In a small company you have a higher probability of wearing many hats/roles and, therefore, a higher probability of seeing a bigger picture and possible conflicts. Unfortunately, in a small company, you won't have access to "scale" issues that only come with bigger enterprises (Another issue, altogether).
Anyhow, a CMDB is something different to each and every stakeholder that exists in different parts of the enterprise. Think about this, if you ask a Software Engineer or Developer what their view of a CMDB is, it will be very different than the ITIL definition of it. If you ask a PMO resource what their view of a CMDB is, they will throw Project information into it. If you ask a non-IT Product Manager what a CMDB is to him/her, again, you will get a different description. If you ask a competent CIO/CTO what he/she thinks a CMDB is you'll probably get the closest thing to a realistic answer, as they are forced to deal with the bigger picture, each and every day. To these C-Level executives, an Asset is anything and everything they own and/or need to run their business.
The bigger picture issue is probably why your skeptism exists. You see a bigger picture based on experience and common sense. However, you also see the "intent" of ITIL, which is good. Its intent is to improve "IT". Not a bad premise and I think we all agree with this basic principle. But, because of its flaws and limitations, we all have room for skeptism.
Something non-IT infrastructure people should think about: "Assets" mean different things to different people. To a CxO, an Asset is anything and everything he/she owns, within the enterprise. Also an Asset does not have to be infrastructure related. If you're a financial company and you offer Mutual Funds, these are Assets you proactively manage. If you're an insurance company and you offer Term Insurance products, these are Assets you proactively manage. Non-IT Product Managers care about managing their Assests and the details around them just as much as any IT person. Now, to support your statement about large quantities of assets, if you total up anything and everything that you need to "track and manage", within your enterprise, the list is huge and your CMDB will fall short of taking all of this into account.
So, if you want to build a CMDB and you use "ITIL" as a guideline for specifying it, I agree, you will fall very short of where you need to be and do so burning a huge quantity of money, energy, and time. You will have very little to show for your efforts. However, if you use the basic principles of Knowledge Management as the requirements for your CMDB, you will at least be on the right track... until you realize what it costs to do so. These statements go back to your very first line, which states "CMDB can't be done... not with a justifiable return on investment of doing it". I believe it can be done and I'm betting my business on it. I just don't believe it can be done, properly, by an organization whose job it is to focus on a vertical industry that has nothing to do with CMDBs. It's worth my investment because I'm in the business of specializing in it. It's not worth your investment if you're in the business of anything other than providing a CMDB.
I throw this out to your community as food for thought: ITIL, by itself, is a very limited view of what is right or wrong. Its intent is correct but by itself it will conflict with best practices that come from other very solid and proven principles derived from drivers such as SDLC, RUP, MSF, MOF, PMI, CobiT, etc. You need to use your experience and common sense to come up with an answer that combines them all. Your enterprise can't exist with IT Infrastructure, by itself. You need Sales. You need Marketing. You need Development. You need Manufacturing. Etc.
It comes down to common sense, which, if you think about it, will probably tell you that there's good in all of those best practice specifications. The issue now becomes... "Who has the time to read, dissect, and understand all of them?" My poor wife and children had to deal with me taking the time to do so and I'm nowhere near being done!
Anyhow, I hope this information helps. I look forward to more of your posts.
Frank Guerino
Chairman & CEO
Sigh, yet another person agreeing with the Skeptic :-D
Boy it's hard work provoking disagreement on this blog!!
Thankyou Frank. We have conversed in the past on other forums with my other identities. I respect your experience and knowledge in this area so I appreciate your support. You may not agree with my upcoming "Living without CMDB" post :-)
The whole "ITIL is too narrow" theme is one I will add to my list for future exploration. I think this is highlighted by ISO20000. Have you looked at that closely and if so how does it stack up in covering dev, UA, QA and other non-prod environemnts?
ISO20000 Coverage
Hello Skeptic,
I honestly haven't had the opportunity to go through ISO20000 in detail, yet, although it's been on my list of To-Dos for quite a while, now. I seem to keep creating too much higher priority work for myself.
However, what little I have been exposed to tells me that it does not cover all other environments. Everything I have been exposed to tells me that it simply mirrors ITIL to do nothing more than make ITIL an international standard, rather than just a British best practice specification. However, I could be wrong about this and recommend everyone take the time to read it for themselves.
NOTE: Something I find of interest is that ITIL is not a standard nor anything close to one. It is a series of best practices. ISO making ITIL a standard seems very weak to me, as there is nothing in ITIL that clearly defines detailed standardization. The closest I believe it can come to standardization is in its definition of terms, which are still very debatable. For example: If Asset Management is the management of your entire inventory of assets, then isn't Service Management the management of your entire inventory of services? Service Management seems to have a very weak and vague definition associated with it.
Anyhow, I look forward to your future posts.
Frank Guerino
Chairman & CEO
all you itSMF folk, get reading ISO20000
Thanks Frank. I'm a tiny bit further ahead with ISO20000 than you then. I haven't read or studied it yet either but I do know it (a) goes further than ITIL by covering many other disciplines (b) is NOT 100% compliant with ITIL in the disciplines they have in common. i.e. contrary to popular opinion, ISO20000 is not ITIL made into a standard - it is just the nearest thing to that.
I'll give you a prediction from my alter ego, the ITIL Swami: since itSMF failed in their bid to get deeper control of ITIL with the CAR tender, branching out into ISO20000 makes a lot of sense for them. i.e. ISO20000 will become as prominent in itSMF activities as ITIL is now. This would fit well with the original premise that itSMF is an ITSM organisation, not exclusively an ITIL one (it has never been that exactly, but sometimes one would wonder). So all you itSMF folk, get reading.
The CMDB is a GIS problem not an RDBMS problem. Mapping the infrastructure, the databases, the applications, the wires, the firewalls, the routers, the switches isn't impossible. We are just forced to use the wrong tools by the vendors that lack vision.
Change mangement is a spatial-temporal problem. Where is the change going to be made? When is the change going to be made?
You would even get further than the current offerings if you used MS Project with it's predecessor-successor mechanism, which just doesn't go nicely into an RDBMS.
I've doen ITIL. Nobody liked it. Nobody noticed that they were not getting called in over the weekend. But, the oncalls were doing less work over the weekends. The changes were made over those weekends. Less outages drove down the oncall impacts. But, nobody liked it.
People would refuse to close their change logs, refuse to take responsibility for process improvement, and tell me how production was more important, which was just a way of saying I'm dealing with reactive situations so much that I'll never get proactive.
ITIL is possible. But, not with the attitudes. Doing it has nothing to do with tools or effort. It has everything to do with people's attitudes towards it. Those attitudes are even manageable, if managment tried.
ITIL is possible. CMDB isn't
Hi David and welcome,
Glad you found us.
GIS is an interesting spin on CMDB, but I don't think it can be done with any technology. If the whole thing could be automated then the problem might go away with enough hardware, but we are so far away from having that kind of intelligence in the tools that I wull be happy if I see it in my lifetime. The relationships are often conceptual and sometimes subjective: only humans can infer them. And any IT shop big enough to cost-justify someone maintaining those relationships is too complex for them to maintain it. Or if they did manage, the cost would not justify the return. That resource would have been better deployed fixing problems or processing changes or answering calls or a hundred other tasks than maintaining an anal book-of-all-things.
I suggest that people's attitude to ITIL changes when:
- the results are visible
- there is glory in the results
- their KPIs reward those results
If the management and the wider organisation are not thanking and rewarding them for what ITIL achieves then ITIL represents a burden and an imposition.
And hey, guess why management and the wider organisation don't react positively in so many instances? Because ITIL did not return the business benefit they most needed.
I'll address that in a future blog.
The butterfly effect
Everything is related to everything, and in this world, made smaller by the Internet this is what you get.
Today published article:
What a load of crap
Thanks for the link Antonio - I hadn't seen that.
I have commneted in a new blog post
Don't agree, at least 100%
You know what, Mr. Skeptic? A friend of mine told me some time ago that I am a secondary person. With the term "secondary" he wanted to express that I don't use to follow primary instints and I use to think about what I want to say, so I'm not good for quick discussions.
I've been thinking, and I wanted to express my opinions about your (incomplete) posting (i mean incomplete because I'm waiting for the next one: how to survive without a CMDB) :-)
1.- About the point that it is impossible to track all the CIs: my opinion is that information starts in the beginning with that thing that you call "the asset list", when we place the order the CI appears. Then the configuration management PROCESS starts: as soon as the new object arrives to the company it is processed (and the information is modified), and as soon as the CI is installed we hace 50% chances that it will be detected by our discovery tools and updated (a very common mistake is to let those discovery tools *create* the CI, and it should be allowed for automatic creation of new CIs). This update can be, for example, add the relationships that the tool can discover.
2.- About the number of CIs: yes, we can have tons of Cis. I think that a good and strong Release Management can help us a lot.
3.- About Relationships and its need. I think that all will depend on the maturity level of the company. At least, 90% of companies where I have done ITIL work they were not mature enough to have the imperious need for Impact Analysis derived from CMDB and relations between CIs. May be this is not the final focus. You can a good maintenance contract management, good support, good "going live" preparation, etc. And, of course, you don't have to maintain the same CMDB detail level and relationship level for all the areas in your CMDB. I mean that you can have detailed relationships in those areas where the ROI is better.
4.- And lastly... a company with 100.000 objects in the CMDB is a big company... I bet that they will have 100.000.000 movements in their annual accounting system. And they *can* manage the acounting. How? With something that accountants have, but IT people use to leak: DISCIPLINE. My company is a small one, but I really flip out when I see how the girls at the accounting department work.
Of course, it is a really hard way and many times (if not used properly) it doesn't pay the money. That's why in some cases I agree with you.
I'm with you on all of that
I'm with you on all of that Antonio. What you say is true and it works. My point is just that it is not the idealised CMDB. What you are talking about is the practical solution. What the ITIL books define as CMDB is not.
What is ITIL core?
Well.. what is ITIL? A set or a compendium of Best Practices... the practical way, isn't it? so may be the problem is only in hte words, how is the book written instead of in the sense of the words.
Best Practice is a sacred cow
Agreed. Which causes two issues:
1) some people take it as literal truth instead of subject to interpretation/adoption (see "ITIL as a cult")
2) Best Practice is a sacred cow. Everyone thinks they have to do best practice all the time. SO ITIl documents best practice but people don't question whether they need it, whether it offers a competitive advantage to go to the cost and effort of adopting it, they just do it because it is [cue soaring music] Best Practice. See these guys at CoPr for a jaundiced view of best practice.
Sacred Cow
... that's the problem with fundamental religions... don't interprete the words, just read and follow the Sacred Word.
I agree on this with you, and remember this thread when the first books of the refreshed set appear. The religion basis will be modified in many ways and the Internet will be full of comments on this topics.
Great points.
I have had similar concerns and written about these here. It's clear there are pragmatic wins for managing change, but the one ring to rule them all hype gets in the way. Here's post on the relationship between service catalogs (my blog) and the CMDB.
The achilles heel is not just the sheer amount of stuff to be discovered but the fact that some aspect of those relationships are always changing. For example, in the U.S. SOX compliance has required that IT understand and track the relationship between application access, people's roles and financial results in a new way -- none of that is in the CMDB today and nor is it discoverable.
My blog:
Thanks Rodrigo. We are on
Thanks Rodrigo. We are on the same wavelength: "At best, a discovery tool will only discover 50% of what you have in your infrastructure. The rest has to come from logical definition".
I also liked what you said elsewhere in your blog: "The customer issue is not about ITIL and doing process for the sake of process. You have to find what business issues is senior management concerned with, and how implementing ITIL can help. Implementing ITIL for the sake of ITIL doesn't work. You have do the complete work of tying into a specific set of pains, issues, and value"
So when is the effort of a CMDB justified by the return, by the business issues? Can it be done? How many have you seen actually done?
ITIL - IT Infrastructure Library
Whilst I understand that compiling the CMDB is a mammoth task there are two things that this post immediately made me think of:
1. ITIL is IT Infrastructure. One of your examples mentions "(tanks, trucks, warehouses, shops…)". Where does a truck fit into IT as far as the CMDB is concerned?
2. I have only done ITIL Foundation recently (I found out today that I passed the foundation exam). One of the things that the course trainer kept mentioning is that ITIL is not mandatory. It's a set of guidelines that an organisation can "adapt and adopt" to suit their needs.
Last year, over four months or we did a complete audit of every IT asset in our organisation. We captured something like 40,000 assets and recorded all that information in our CMDB and immediately we are seeing benefits with licencing, move management, change management, and problem control to name just a few.
Yes, it took an organisation of 35 people over four sites, four months alongside "business as usual" to complete, but as far as the IT organisation is concerned it was time well spent.
OK... Let me check my math.
35 People in 4 Months. Let's assume a conservative US IT pay of $20/hr. Assuming no overtime, or software cost, we are looking at a $448,000 investment. (Or, $11.20 per tracked item.)
I cannot speak to the industry you are in, however in my world this is quite expensive and would take a very long time to see a solid ROI.
Hi Collin Thanks for
Hi Collin
Thanks for commenting and welcome to the ITIL community. Your comnent raises some interesting issues:
My example of the oil company with tanks, trucks etc was not an example of ITIL - I didn't make that clear. It was just an example of the complexity of doing the kind of audit that your company did.
That said, ITIL is about managing the delivery of a service, so everything that the service depends on to get delivered should be under ITIL control. That means people, power supplies, building systems etc as well as IT. If the cooling goes off and the server room melts down, that will impact SLAs :-D
Did your company's audit also record the relationships and interdependencies between the assets? If not, it isn't a CMDB in ITIL terms, it is an asset database. The main function of a CMDB is to support impact analysis: impact of a change and impact of an outage. If tyhere are no relationships to "walk" to map the objects to dependant services, there is no analysis.
Also, if the assets you audited are not under good Change Management, then the configuration information is out of dtae before the person gets back top record it in the system. That's how it was then but how is it now? If that question can't be reliably answered then it is an interesting audit for the bean counters but not for service management.
Using software discovery we
Using software discovery we collected information about all the software installed over the four months of the audit.
We have hardware and software relationships for all our assets, this is our method of licence control. Unfortunately the CMDB does not yet include (as you mention) buildings or services (such AC) within the building. Our network is controlled by an outside agency so we don't have that. CMDB and the ITIL process has still helped us enormously and I believe that management are looking to adopt further after the summer. I say "management" as I am only the grunt on the ground doing the job!
As for Change Management, if it was any tighter then the users would NEVER get anything! We (the grunts) have to fight on behalf of the user to justify their requests otherwise the request is refused. That REALLY gets on my nerves to be honest, but that's a different matter entirely.
Thanks for making me welcome, I will certainly be back regularly and when I have more than five minutes to spare I will be going back to read some of the older posts.
Sounds like your
Sounds like your organisation is well set up and has the chance to achieve a CMDB. Do you also relate the assets (hard and soft)to processes and services and owners and SLAs? That's the hard bit.
I do admit elsewhere that a CMDB is conceptually do-able with enough people resource to load and maintain it. My contention is that "enough" requires unjustifiable investment, bordering on silly.
re Change Management: it needs to be tight to protect the CMDB data. But that means tight in how the process is conducted and most of all ensuring that the process cannot be subverted. It doesn't mean it has to be tight in what is approved: that's nothing to do with ITIL. In other words, you can approve every single change proposed if you want to, so long as the process guarantees the change will be reflected in the CMDB data, and guarantees no changes can happen without approval or without going through the process.
CMDB standards
Vendor standard CMDB
thanks Holger
I did mean to comment on this effort but somewhere I forgot. It will be most interesting to see where they get to and by when. CA for one have just sunk a fortune in re-engineering everything to their own CMDB structure. they won't be keen to repeat that investment. Nor will others.
The talk is of "federation"; i.e. an inter-operability standard: probably just a Web Services XML definition to share CMDB data (and about time). You won't be running Tivoli tools against an OpenView CMDB any time soon.
A federated CMDB will help a little in getting a consolidated view. You will set up One CMDB to Rule Them All, but nothing these vendors come up with will help the relationship-maintenance problem I refer to in a comment below.
More on this topic here
More on this topic here
Hitting strong in our face
Wow skeptic! This time you hitted hard and it hurts!
You are right in the fact that this is really difficult to get up and running. I think that a medium CMDB is a need and it is quite feasible, but only if you forget the auto-discovery and the manual entries to the database. I always recomend to go straight to the source: ¿Where it all start? In the ordering system. Whenever you buy it, you insert it into the CMDB and by discipline (important thing here!) whenever you throw it, you deactivate it in the CMDB.
It's not an easy thing, but I'm wishing to read on how to govern it without a CMDB.
Yes but asset register is not a CMDB
Hi Antonio
What you say is true: tighten up acquisition processes and you ought to have a good list of assets in the environment, but:
- all the stuff already out there
- in-house developed code
- database instances
- logical entities like services and owners
- configuration (in the sense of "setting") info: eg web server config, routers etc etc
- stuff that sneaks in anyway: eg rogue project servers and personal wireless hubs
- purchase clerks don't know anything about the relationshiops, which are what differentiates the CMDB from existing asset databases
- relationships and dependencies change over time
In short, an asset purchase register is not a CMDB.
A better place to tighten up the tracking is in Change Management. If every change process includes a step to update the CMDB (where has it moved to? what was installed on it? what services depend on it now? what does it relate to now? ...) then in theory every CI should be properly tracked, and Change Management and Config Management staff ought to know the relationships better than anyone, and care about getting them right. By definition, if Change doesn't control it, Config isn't interested in it.
But even then, that still doesn't address:
- all the stuff out there already
- subversion of Change process (nobody can say it doesn't happen, deliberately or inadvertently)
Syndicate content | <urn:uuid:f62eb1e3-d1c2-4f5a-98bb-00c42c8d6e38> | http://www.itskeptic.org/itil-cmdb-skeptic | en | 0.961132 | 0.030638 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Unplan Your Life
Body+Soul, 2008
Our schedules these days leave little to the imagination. Countless datebooks tell the story of lives overflowing with commitments, all carefully slated so that nothing falls between the cracks. Given the challenges of juggling various responsibilities, it's sanity-promoting -- even necessary -- to map out each day.
But there's a downside to the almighty agenda. Although patterned thought and behavior keep things running smoothly, routine also has a dark side: rigidity. Some research has found that people who don't make room for enjoyable, "non-instrumental" activity (reading for pleasure, chatting with a friend) may experience more stress -- and that, in turn, can contribute to problems like depression, anxiety, weakened immunity, and heart disease. Even the simple act of doing something novel or unexpected from exploring a new social situation to a different work out, can trigger neurogenesis -- the creation of new neurons in the brain -- which has been linked to learning and mood.
Although you probably can't just toss your calendar out the window, you can make room for the wide-open, could-be moments that an airtight agenda might otherwise preclude. After all, the memories you cherish won't be of the meeting that started on time or the errands you ran. More likely, you'll cherish the thing you didn't expect: the surprise visit, the wonderful coincidence, the brilliant idea that popped up seemingly out of nowhere.
Here, a few fresh ideas for introducing more spontaneity into your life.
1. Pencil It In
Plans undoubtedly serve a practical purpose, but often we gravitate toward them simply out of security. By mapping out a schedule, we may be doing little more than alleviating the anxiety of not having one. If trashing your agenda in the name of spontaneity feels too terrifying, though, find a middle ground. See your schedule as a sketch of what you might like to do -- but utterly dispensable should situations change.
For instance, it would be nice to meet your sister for lunch at 11:30 and then hit that new exhibit at the museum by 1. But if lunch runs long and you're having fun, forget the museum and linger over dessert instead. The lighter on your feet you stay with your approach to planning, the better you can go with the flow as the day evolves -- without stressing out.
Inveterate planner Aimée Samuelson learned the virtues of the loose agenda from an unexpected source: her four-year-old son, Sebastian. "Almost any parent will tell you that penciled-in plans are the only ones to have," she says. And sometimes they can yield some special surprises. When Sebastian fell asleep in the car one afternoon, Samuelson and her husband decided to just keep driving and let him sleep, rather than go home and risk waking him up. An hour later, they found themselves in Manchester, Massachusetts. "And that's how we found Singing Beach," she recalls. "It was cold out, so we just parked overlooking the beach and watched the sunset. We never would have found it if we'd followed our original plans, and now it's our favorite spot!"
2. Tweak a Habit
In a world of extreme makeovers, it's easy to assume that the bigger the change, the better. In fact, the opposite may be true. "People think they have to make a dramatic change," says Rabbi Sherre Hirsch, author of "We Plan, God Laughs." "But far more subtle ones make a big difference."
Rather than quitting your job and moving clear across the country just to try something new, start with a few little things and see what happens. One way to create bite-size opportunities that encourage this process is to tweak a regular habit. Instead of taking a drastic leap from brunette to bleached blonde, for instance, try parting your hair on the other side.
If you habitually wear your watch on your left wrist, switch it over to the right. Usually hit the same place every day for a latte? Try somewhere (or something) different. You might even change your regular running route and explore a different part of the neighborhood.
3. Rejigger Your To-Do List
It's a gorgeous, sunny day -- perfect for taking a kayak out on the river or going on a day-long hike. But you've told yourself all week that today you'd go underwear shopping and pick up sheets for the guest room (and that screen door could use fixing). It's common to confuse premade plans with priorities, says Hirsch.
"We get so stuck in what should happen, whether it’s this moment or our whole lives, that we stop hearing what we authentically want to do. Instead, we put things we think we should do on a to-do list, and then beat ourselves up when they don't get done." That premade schedule may make you feel responsible and organized, it's not necessarily serving your best interests (especially if you put off kayaking until the next weekend, when it rains nonstop).
To keep your errand-oriented plan from taking over your life, remember that although you have obligations to your family and work, you also have a very real obligation to yourself. (And if the screen door has been busted for six weeks, another day won't matter.) Think of it this way: Will you feel better knowing that you finally bought business envelopes and swept the basement as planned, or that you ditched the agenda and instead met up with a friend to eat strawberries at the farmers' market? Once you begin seeing your time in these terms, you'll find ways to shift your to-dos around and take advantage of what crops up.
4. Say Yes
Packed schedules naturally discourage spontaneity: When you get an impromptu dinner invite or a chance to try rock climbing, the answer is usually no -- you're already booked. But even when the calendar is clear, it's easy to fall into the habit of dodging experiences that veer from routine.
"We often say no out of habit and fear. It keeps us from having to take a risk," says Patricia Ryan Madson, author of "Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up." "But once we see how fun it is to say yes to things, a world of possibilities opens up." As head of the acting program at Standford University, Madson saw this transformation in her improv students, who learned to react to each other's spur-of-the-moment ideas. "While many of them are nervous and shy at first, by the end, they're smiling, laughing, speaking louder," says Madson. "The classroom just lights up."
Just for fun, try saying yes to the next halfway decent invitation that comes your way -- even if it interrupts your plans ("But I always do laundry on Saturday mornings!").
If you're on a roll, you might even practice saying yes to everything for a whole day, or even a week. Want to see a movie? Sure. Care to stay at my lake house for the weekend? Yes! Open yourself up, and soon you'll be meeting new people, developing friendships, and experiencing different things.
5. Wing It
When Boston-based editor Donna Garlough and her husband, Dave, decided to honeymoon in Greece, they knew three things: when they'd fly in, when they'd fly out, and where they'd stay the first several nights. The rest of their trip was an open book, full of discoveries and day-of decisions. As it turns out, a minimalist approach was just what they needed. "After spending a year agonizing over wedding details, we needed a break. So we said, why plan? Let's just see where our hearts and stomachs take us," says Garlough. "If we'd planned every minute, we wouldn't have had that fantastic serendipity."
Although you may have some serious reservations about going anywhere sans reservations, you can experiment with winging things here and there. Say you have a free day in a new city (or your own). Although you could plan it to the hilt (flower show at 9 a.m., shopping at 1:15 p.m.), what would happen if you didn't map it out in advance? You'd discover as you go, free to pop into an unexpected bookshop or the delightful little bistro you otherwise might have missed if you'd had your nose buried in the "Let's Go" guidebook.
Renowned creativity expert Julia Cameron, author of the book-turned-movement "The Artist's Way," offers this tool as a way to unplug from routine. "Once a week, do something adventurous, something that challenges and pleases you," she says, whether it's a trip to a quirky boutique or to the aquarium. These mini-excursions invite the unexpected, putting you in the path of something potentially life changing. For Cameron, a trip to a travel bookstore led her to a book about Magellan -- which in turn inspired her to write an entire musical about the famed explorer. "It's amazing how this kind of activity can shake things loose," she notes. "It gives you a heightened sense of possibility and potential -- and inspires a fresh connection to your world."
Be the first to comment! | <urn:uuid:f5798458-fb0e-420a-ab11-75154ffaf106> | http://www.marthastewart.com/270312/unplan-your-life | en | 0.957508 | 0.103676 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Hold Your Nose Until This Evening
Pollen count highest in 12 years for the first week of April
View Comments ()
Sneezing your head off. Runny nose. Itchy eyes. Pollen. It's back.
We all know how famous Washington is for its allergies. If you think it's extra bad right now, you are right. The pollen count Wednesday is triple that of Tuesday. A whopping 4000 grams per cubic meter. That puts it in the extremely high range. If you are like lots of us, you can say, "I knew that," because you are miserably aware of how bad your allergies are today.
All the warm weather and sunshine is causing the pollen explosion. It's mainly due to trees. And we're not talking flowering trees, like the cherry blossoms. No, take a look at those innocent looking oak and pine trees. They are the monsters causing all those problems. Take that greenish yellow haze on your car. Look around. See any cherry blossoms? Not unless you are down by the Tidal Basin. And you can't blame those daffodills. Although everything flgures into the mix.
There are things you can do to lower your exposure to pollen if you are an allergy sufferer. And if you are reading this, you probably are. Dr. Stanley Fineman, of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, said, "Leave your shoes by the door. Don't track pollen through the house. And wash your hair before you go to bed, because pollen can get caught in your hair. And you don't want to be sleeping with it."
Or you can just hold your nose until Thursday evening. A front is coming in that should make things better, even if only temporarily. Doctors say if you are on prescription or over-the-counter allergy medication, stay on it. If you start thinking you don't need it anymore -- think again! | <urn:uuid:f927d2a5-126b-43a9-afce-791ec8a39088> | http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Hold-Your-Nose-Until-Tomorrow-90130282.html | en | 0.931721 | 0.072893 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Home Intruder Fears Owner Has Gun -- Calls 9-1-1
I wish every would-be criminal had the same fear that 25 year old Timothy Chapek had.
He broke into a home in Portland, Oregon. When the female home owner arrived home, she discovered someone was in her bathroom taking a shower. She called through the door for the person to identify themselves and the intruder told her is name was Timothy Chapek.
Before the homeowner could call 9-1-1, Chapek called and told the dispatcher that he had broken into a home and now feared that the home owner might have a gun. The home owner told him that she was going to call police and Chapek told her he already had and that he was still talking to them at the moment.
Listen to the 9-1-1 calls and what happened and tell me if you could keep a straight face. I couldn’t help but bust out laughing.
Yes, it seems that Chapek has some mental issues, but then again, I believe that everyone who chooses to commit crimes against others have mental and spiritual issues. I pray that Chapek gets the proper mental help he needs and that the homeowner gets herself a gun in case the next home intruder isn’t as fearful or mentally disturbed as Chapek was.
The only other thing I can say about Timothey Chapek is that he isn’t a dirty crook, after being caught taking a shower. | <urn:uuid:429db05f-65ff-4b0e-8d06-a0ca2cd812de> | http://politicaloutcast.com/2013/04/home-intruder-fears-owner-has-gun-calls-911/ | en | 0.98527 | 0.100973 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Rebuilt Title:
All You Want to Know about Rebuilt Title and Vehicle Branding.
A car with a Rebuilt Title can be a good buy only if you know what exactly happend to it in the past and what kind of damage it received. That is why it is critically important to check vehicle history by VIN number.
Enter Your VIN:
(car, motorcycle, truck, RV, motorhome, ATV)
Can I get a warranty on a rebuilt title car (motorcycle, truck or RV)?
In most cases, getting a salvage title (even with the following conversion into a rebuilt title) voids both the factory warranty and the warranties issued by after-market warranty companies because the vehicle is damaged to such an extent that it becomes inoperable, and this is definitely an alternation or modification of the major components - common grounds for voiding a warranty. In most cases, you will be refused in extended warranty. However, there may be exceptions for rebuilt vehicles - let’s take a closer look.
When You Cannot Get Warranty for a Rebuilt Vehicle
Generally, a warranty if voided whenever a modification or alteration is done to vehicle, which includes but not limited to the body, chassis, engine or other major components after final assembly at the manufacturer’s facility. A crash, severe damage due to various reasons, like flood, fire, vandalism - all these are the types of alterations and intrusions done to the major parts like the drive-train, engine, transmission, chassis, frame, alternator - all that make the vehicle’s operable condition different from what is was at leaving the factory and the warranty will most likely be no longer valid for such vehicles. How can a warranty company know what effect the previous accident or another damage could have on the mechanicals of the vehicle?
But in reality, does it make sense to buy a vehicle with that sort of damage at all? Vehicles still having a warranty that were water damaged, front ended or badly damaged in some other way are not good buys by definition. As a rule, these are newer vehicles with the highest market value. The newer the car, the worse the damage should be to total it out because vehicles are totaled when repair costs around %70 of the market value. Estimated repair costs are a more or less fixed value which does not much depend on the age of the vehicle but mostly on the amount of work involved (don’t mix with actual repair costs for the dealers, especially when the car is just patched up, anyhow). The value of the vehicle is highest for newer cars. The worse the damage, the more the chance that repairs were not done properly and the car will give you a lot of headache in future.
When You Can Get Warranty for a Rebuilt Vehicle
You need to contact manufacturers or warranty companies for precise actual information on warranties for rebuilt salvage vehicles. For some companies, any rebuilt title is a big red flag, without any alternatives. Some will look at the reason why the vehicle got a salvage/rebuilt title and may void only the warranty on that specific damage, leaving you the rest of it. Provide your car history in detail and if they still let you have the warranty ask for which parts and works it will be voided for your car.
For example, Ford and General Motors are very specific about rebuilt vehicles directly stating that all rebuilt vehicles are out of warranty. General Motors went even further by prohibiting to even to cover such vehicles after repairing. According to customer reports, Mazda also voids the warranty even is the car is totaled due to hail damage), has no mileage (less than 50) and wasn’t even sold yet - not just for cosmetic repairs but even for. In the same case with hail damage, Subaru will void just rust perforation warranty and you can still have the warranty for the rest of the car. In fact, hail damaged cars or those totaled out because of other cosmetic issues are among the best buys for used vehicle shoppers. They may look a bit ugly but such rebuilt cars are safe, function perfectly and you may entrust them your and you family’s lives with no worry.
In addition, reputable dealerships that repair totaled vehicles can also give warranties - at least on their part of work. That’s better than nothing at all.
Don't run rusks. Run VIN check - discover what you weren't told about that rebuilt vehicle!
Enter Your VIN: | <urn:uuid:92800c5b-5c28-4602-be87-72bdf3286b38> | http://rebuilttitle.org/warranty-rebuilt-title.html | en | 0.961014 | 0.08684 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter
Forgot your password?
PC Games (Games)
Valve Releases Updated Alien Swarm For Free With Code Base 164
baronvoncarson tips news that today Valve released an updated version of Alien Swarm, a popular Unreal Tournament 2004 total conversion mod. The creators of the mod were hired by Valve, and they've helped turn it into a stand-alone game running on the Source engine. Valve is also releasing the code base for Alien Swarm and an SDK. The game is available for free on Steam.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Sarlacc Enforcer Class Unveiled 27
Today BioWare unveiled the most impressive new class yet seen for their upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Sarlacc Enforcers are "paragons of patience and planning, always waiting for the right moment to pounce on their quarry – even if it takes one thousand years." Gamespot had an interview with the game's developers to get a clear picture on how such a unique and innovative class was designed. Quoting: "Well, this is a stealth class, so the soloing experience of the Sarlacc enforcer is going to be a little slow. [This character] spends a lot of time slowly sneaking into position before unleashing potent close-ranged attacks, such as 'devour.' But once exposed, the enforcer heavily relies on companion characters to lure enemies close, so he/it can unleash his/its close-ranged attacks. However, the enforcer shines in a group, especially when paired with a Jedi consular that can knock enemies toward him. At this point, the Sarlacc enforcer can use his/its powerful suite of damage-over-time abilities, like 'digest' and 'regurgitate.'"
Why the First Cowboy To Draw Always Gets Shot 398
Whatever Happened To Second Life? 209
Barence writes "It's desolate, dirty, and sex is outcast to a separate island. In this article, PC Pro's Barry Collins returns to Second Life to find out what went wrong, and why it's raking in more cash than ever before. It's a follow-up to a feature written three years ago, in which Collins spent a week living inside Second Life to see what the huge fuss at the time was all about. The difference three years can make is eye-opening."
The Almighty Buck
It's not hard to admit errors that are [only] cosmetically wrong. -- J.K. Galbraith | <urn:uuid:083d1dec-bed6-4d0d-aa29-37b4eef993ef> | http://slashdot.org/~LordDracula | en | 0.941194 | 0.024052 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
ARID/BRIGHT DNA binding domain
SMART accession number:SM01014
Description: Members of the recently discovered ARID (AT-rich interaction domain) family of DNA-binding proteins are found in fungi and invertebrate and vertebrate metazoans. ARID-encoding genes are involved in a variety of biological processes including embryonic development, cell lineage gene regulation and cell cycle control. Although the specific roles of this domain and of ARID-containing proteins in transcriptional regulation are yet to be elucidated, they include both positive and negative transcriptional regulation and a likely involvement in the modification of chromatin structure (PUBMED:10838570). The basic structure of the ARID domain domain appears to be a series of six alpha-helices separated by beta-strands, loops, or turns, but the structured region may extend to an additional helix at either or both ends of the basic six. Based on primary sequence homology, they can be partitioned into three structural classes: Minimal ARID proteins that consist of a core domain formed by six alpha helices; ARID proteins that supplement the core domain with an N-terminal alpha-helix; and Extended-ARID proteins, which contain the core domain and additional alpha-helices at their N- and C-termini.
Family alignment:
View or
There are 3255 ARID domains in 3249 proteins in SMART's nrdb database.
Click on the following links for more information. | <urn:uuid:7c8e493e-1afd-41a0-988d-03372fc19bd3> | http://smart.embl-heidelberg.de/smart/do_annotation.pl?ACC=SM01014&BLAST=DUMMY | en | 0.907957 | 0.147667 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Enough is enough: Time to get serious on immigration
Mike Gallagher
11/16/2006 11:36:36 AM - Mike Gallagher
Nothing demonstrates the absurdity of the illegal immigration crisis we face in the United States better than the story of a single mother from Mexico and her 7-year-old son, a little boy named Saul Arellano, who has been turned into a pawn by activists who desperately want to reward lawbreakers who have barged into our country under the guise of "seeking a better life" for themselves.
In 1997, Elvira Arellano attempted to sneak across the border from Mexico and gain entry into the United States. She was turned away.
A few days later, she again broke the law and sneaked in, this time successfully. A few years later, she was arrested in Chicago and convicted of using a false Social Security number. She was given three years' probation and then ordered to appear at the immigration office in Chicago.
Instead of abiding by the laws of the land, she sought — and received — "sanctuary" at a storefront Methodist church in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in Chicago. As if this soap opera wasn't dramatic enough, she gave birth in 1999 to a boy named Saul.
So that's how Elvira and her son came to live in a second-floor bedroom at the church, complete with Saul's toys and pet dog, Daisy, to keep them happy. After all, who wants to watch the image of immigration officials knocking down the door of a Methodist church in order to deport these folks on the evening news?
But Elvira Arellano wasn't content with just being holed up in the church. It was time to pull out all the stops and send her 7-year-old child to Mexico to appear before the country's congress so he could tell his tragic tale.
Saulito ("Little Saul") delighted the 500-member Chamber of Deputies in Mexico. Clutching a disposable camera, the little tyke read his lines perfectly.
"I want [Mexico's congress] to tell President Bush to end the deportations so that my mother and the families can stay together in the United States," he said.
Quite a vocabulary for a 7-year-old. Mexico's congress certainly didn't need much convincing to vote unanimously to ask the U.S. government not to deport his mother.
Isn't that a gracious thing for the Mexican congress to do? It isn't often we get the chance for a country like Mexico to tell us what to do when it comes to the issue of illegal immigration.
Obviously, Mexico's own government isn't too fond of wanting people like Elvira and Saul Arellano to stay in their own country, so they need to tell us to waive any applicable laws and accept them into the United States, whether we like it or not.
Well, many of us don't like it. We're getting tired of Mexico's arrogance. We're fed up with the game that's played in referring to illegals as "undocumented" immigrants — as if somehow a woman who was convicted of stealing someone else's Social Security number just somehow misplaced her papers.
I suppose I'm swimming upstream here, but I don't believe the midterm election victory for Democrats was because of the war on terror or even a few congressional scandals.
Every day on my radio show, I hear from callers from all walks of life from all over America who are positively outraged at the way our country has allowed illegal immigrants to walk all over our laws and siphon free health care, jobs and education like someone sucking on a hose and stealing gasoline from a car.
If Elvira Arellano wants to raise her child, there is a huge country waiting for her where she could do it. It's called Mexico. And if she decides she doesn't like Mexico and prefers to live here in the United States, she has a couple of viable options. She can either immigrate here legally, like millions have done, or she can accept the fact that she is a resident of Mexico and that's that.
I spoke to the pastor of the church that is providing Elvira with sanctuary on my radio show this week, a man named the Rev. Walter Coleman. Coleman feels passionately that illegals should be granted legal status and that we just should just "leave these poor people alone." He also admitted to me that it was his church that had paid the transportation costs for little Saul to travel to Mexico to pull off the publicity stunt.
Imagine how many starving people could have been fed with the cost of Saulito's airplane ticket.
Just like Elian Gonzales was scooped up and sent packing to Cuba, U.S. officials should march into the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago and send Elvira and Saul Arellano back to Mexico. <>
Under U.S. law, there is no right to sanctuary in a U.S. church. And after the officials deport the Arellanos, they should arrest Coleman and charge him with harboring a fugitive.
It's time to stop the bleeding, secure the borders, and start getting tough on illegal immigration.
Let's start with a storefront church in Chicago. | <urn:uuid:24fd00bb-1533-4947-b1f3-06b0b7006038> | http://townhall.com/columnists/mikegallagher/2006/11/16/enough_is_enough_time_to_get_serious_on_immigration/print | en | 0.977457 | 0.060936 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon.com took a hit Friday after its revenue forecast caught investors off guard.
THE SPARK: Amazon's first-quarter earnings were stronger than expected and revenue was in the ball park. For the current quarter, however, the company projected revenue of $14.5 billion to $16.2 billion. The midpoint of the range is lower than the $15.92 billion that analysts' estimates, according to FactSet.
Canaccord analyst Michael Graham said Amazon's first-quarter results were "marked by solid growth, especially in North America, while International growth stalled" even after adjusting for currency fluctuations. He added that with Amazon's heavy investments leading to prolonged low profit margins, the company's stock "may stall for a bit" in the face of decelerating revenue growth.
While analysts are accustomed to conservative outlooks from the world's largest online retailer, Graham described it as slightly more bearish than the usual low end.
BACKGROUND: The company has been investing heavily in enhancing its distribution network, its shopping website and its Kindle business as part of a long-term growth plan. Because of that, and deep discounts it offers customers, Amazon's profit margins have been thin.
SHARE ACTION: Shares of Amazon.com Inc., based in Seattle, fell $19.53, or 7.1 percent, to $255.17 in midday trading. The stock has traded in the 52-week range of $206.37 and $284.72. | <urn:uuid:d9909117-cc51-49de-92c1-b369c5b14ca7> | http://townhall.com/news/business/2013/04/26/amazon-shares-fall-after-1q-results-n1579787 | en | 0.961498 | 0.019425 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Abū Ḥanīfah
Muslim jurist and theologian
Abū ḤanīfahMuslim jurist and theologian
Also known as
• Abū Ḥanīfah an-Nuʿmān ibn Thābit
• Imām Abū Ḥanīfah
Kūfah, Iraq
Baghdad, Iraq
Abū Ḥanīfah, in full Abū Ḥanīfah An-nuʿmān Ibn Thābit (born 699, Kūfah, Iraq—died 767Baghdad), Muslim jurist and theologian whose systematization of Islāmic legal doctrine was acknowledged as one of the four canonical schools of Islāmic law. The school of Abū Ḥanīfah acquired such prestige that its doctrines were applied by a majority of Muslim dynasties. Even today it is widely followed in India, Pakistan, Turkey, Central Asia, and Arab countries.
Abū Ḥanīfah was born in Kūfah, an intellectual centre of Iraq, and belonged to the mawālī, the non-Arab Muslims, who pioneered intellectual activity in Islāmic lands. The son of a merchant, young Abū Ḥanīfah took up the silk trade for a living and eventually became moderately wealthy. In early youth he was attracted to theological debates, but later, disenchanted with theology, he turned to law and for about 18 years was a disciple of Ḥammād (d. 738), then the most noted Iraqi jurist. After Ḥammād’s death, Abū Ḥanīfah became his successor. He also learned from several other scholars, notably the Meccan traditionist ʿAṭāʾ (d. c. 732) and the founder of the Shīʿite law, Jaʿfar aṣ-Ṣādiq (d. 765). Abū Ḥanīfah’s mind was also matured by extensive travels and by exposure to the heterogeneous, advanced society of Iraq.
By Abū Ḥanīfah’s time a vast body of legal doctrines had accumulated as a result of the endeavour to apply Islāmic norms to legal problems. The disagreements in these doctrines had rendered necessary the development of a uniform code. Abū Ḥanīfah responded by scrutinizing the current doctrines in collaboration with his students, several of them outstanding scholars. He had each legal problem discussed before formulating any doctrines. Before Abū Ḥanīfah’s time, doctrines had been formulated mainly in response to actual problems, whereas he attempted to solve problems that might arise in the future. By the introduction of this method, the area of law was considerably enlarged. Because of this enlargement of the bounds of law and because of Abū Ḥanīfah’s somewhat rationalist orientation and his reserve about traditions that were not highly authenticated, his school was sometimes erroneously denounced as the school of raʾy (independent opinion), as opposed to that of Ḥadīth (authoritative tradition).
Being a speculative jurist, Abū Ḥanīfah brought about systematic consistency in legal doctrines. In his doctrines, emphasis shifts from material to systematic considerations. Again and again he disregarded established practices and considerations of judicial and administrative convenience in favour of systematic and technical legal considerations. His legal acumen and juristic strictness were such that Abū Ḥanīfah reached the highest level of legal thought achieved up to his time. Compared with his contemporaries, the Kufan Ibn Abī Laylā (d. 765), the Syrian Awzāʿī (d. 774), and the Medinese Mālik (d. 795), his doctrines are more carefully formulated and consistent and his technical legal thought more highly developed and refined.
Although theology was not Abū Ḥanīfah’s primary concern, he did take distinct positions on several theological questions, stimulating the development of the Māturīdīyah school, a champion of orthodoxy.
Because of his temperament and academic preoccupation, Abū Ḥanīfah took no direct part in court politics or power struggles, despite his obvious antipathy toward the Umayyads and ʿAbbāsids, the ruling dynasties of the time. His sympathies lay with the ʿAlids (the successors of ʿAlī, later revered by Shīʿites), whose revolts he openly supported with words and money. This fact partly explains why Abū Ḥanīfah steadfastly refused a judgeship and also why he suffered severe persecution under both dynasties.
What made you want to look up Abū Ḥanīfah?
(Please limit to 900 characters)
MLA style:
"Abu Hanifah". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
APA style:
Abu Hanifah. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/biography/Abu-Hanifah
Harvard style:
Abu Hanifah. 2015. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 05 October, 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/biography/Abu-Hanifah
Chicago Manual of Style:
Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. "Abu Hanifah", accessed October 05, 2015, http://www.britannica.com/biography/Abu-Hanifah.
Editing Tools:
We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles.
Abū Ḥanīfah
• MLA
• APA
• Harvard
• Chicago
You have successfully emailed this.
Error when sending the email. Try again later.
Or click Continue to submit anonymously: | <urn:uuid:eef838dc-bf1a-4684-9cc3-4fab84032a10> | http://www.britannica.com/biography/Abu-Hanifah | en | 0.939718 | 0.021312 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Let ranches equal water
Dear HCN,
I want to offer what I hope people will perceive to be a constructive alternative to the controversial Animas-La Plata dam project. The solution is simple: Purchase ranches in southwest Colorado and give them to the two Ute tribes and their members (HCN, 11/11/96).
Most ranches come with significant, high-priority water rights. The goal should be to acquire ranches with water rights equal in volume to the rights conferred to the tribes under existing law. Most of the rights would be somewhat junior to the Utes' 1854 rights, but would be senior to almost all other users of the rivers. Legal action could change those rights to 1854.
Because the rights would be purchased in the open market system, the prior appropriation system would remain intact. This could reduce some of the resentment which existing water users feel about federal reserved water rights. Colorado is noted for its relatively free, open market for water rights, and this program would take advantage of that situation.
The current estimated cost of the project is around $800 million. For $100 million-$200 million, a large amount of ranchland could be purchased, and many of these lands would be more green than the deserts now owned by the Ute tribes - lands more like the Ute territory prior to the invasion of white people. This also could put the Utes directly into the agriculture business, which was the original goal of the reservations.
An incidental benefit from this move would be to preserve ranching and open spaces in La Plata and Montezuma counties. Most ranches there are now threatened by the housing subdivision alternative. With a couple hundred million dollars at hand, a lot of debt-free, prosperous ranching could be created that also pays property taxes.
Of course, the Utes themselves might later go into the housing subdivision business. That would be their privilege, just as it is now the ranchers'. Some folks may see a significant drawback to this idea: the prospect of a large amount of land changing from white ownership to Native American. But so what?
Gary Sprung
Crested Butte, Colorado | <urn:uuid:01d6bc73-f56c-450a-8bff-176350a3e882> | http://www.hcn.org/issues/100/3126 | en | 0.963991 | 0.073786 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Anthony Strano Headshot
The Call of Silence
Posted: Updated:
It is early April, early morning and the curling mist fills the valley below Assisi. The only things I hear are the birds and the bells which chirrup and chime in turn. Otherwise a silence embraces the dawn lit city. A silence that has existed, I am sure, in Assisi during the time of Francis and Clare.
As I gaze outside my room there are two tall pine trees totally occupied with Francis' chattering sisters, to whom he once said: "little sisters, if you have now had your say, it is time that I should also be heard.' It is said after these words they became silent and listened to him. However at the moment the birds are still chattering away obviously happy to feel the sun's topaz light aureole their tiny heads and glow,like golden hosts, onto their open melodious tongues. For a moment it looks like a new painting by the great master Giotto, who is well known in this city.
Beyond our sisters' voices there is a vast calm, an infinite feeling of quietness. Just to be here, away from the mind's rampart scurrying and scampering is heaven. The mind has been trained to be relentless for facts, believing that intellectual acrobatics and a plethora of facts define truth. In fact I find the opposite. Too much thinking, too much talking, takes us very far from the truth of things but even more so, from our inner peace. Prove, catalogue, plan, classify, validate, theorize, analyze, scrutinize, judge, demonstrate, interpret....."STOP!" I have often screeched. How about a break?
Everyone has an opinion about everything. Now, with all these crises everywhere, an ocean of opinions on the whats, the whys, the hows have created a flood of repetitive facts. Read any newspaper, watch any television program, browse the internet. The flood rises as everyone claims justice, blaming real or imagined culprits and it just goes on and on , higher and higher.
It seems that in the 21st century we have precipitated ourselves into an abyss of extremes. Over informed and over opinioned, people often do not halt the consumption of information. It's healthier to find a middle way: to know when to think and when not to, when to speak and when to keep quiet, when to step in and when to step out, when to make things happen and when to allow things to happen, when to be extrovert and when to be introvert. The realities of life can be found also through a complementary silence in one's self. When we cool down, when we can listen, when we can tune into the other then we can speak from a space of insight otherwise it is just a cacophony of emotive, often prejudiced ramblings.
So I came to Assisi just to stop: to be quiet, to contemplate the flow of things. I remember Plato's words: "I am trying to think, don't confuse me with facts." True reflection does need a distance from the barrage of facts!
Even the great thinkers like Plato needed to take time out. Silence, the slowing down of one's self, creates a space of quietness within, which in turns creates clarity of understanding. Silence refreshes and rejuvenates the mind, whose habitual appetite for noise, news and diversion has created an addiction to everything external. We are the creators of our stress, our crises and breakdowns because we have forgotten to stop, reflect and renew. We clearly understand the obvious need to recharge our mobiles but what about our minds? To experience inner quietness is as important as expressing ourselves. Without recharging ourselves we cannot function, we cannot communicate with life. Actually this inner calm gives perspective and a balanced perception to the myriad details and negative things we are daily bombarded with. Inner silence filters everything that comes to us from the outside.
Creating a space for silence is crucial for meaningful living. Taking time out to be silent is a necessity. To stop, to step back and be still gives fresh oxygen to the mind. It is like a car. We buy a car because we wish to move. To go from one place to another but we would never buy a car that did not have a brake because no matter how far or well the car moves it must also be able to stop. Our life is for expression and interaction but we also have to stop from time to time and reflect on our motives, our judgments, our movements. To stop means to observe and see where the traffic in my heart and mind are going, otherwise habit obliterates the truth of things and my clarity and peace disappear. So Assisi was a place where I could brake and stop as I had often done on a mountain top in India.
Enjoying the tranquil hills of Umbria I could forget the clamor, clatter, push and rush of the cities I usually find myself in and experience the serenity and beauty of nature, which activated my own inner tranquility.
Francis created his spiritual gentle revolution by first getting close to nature and tuning in to her serenity and principles. He provided an alternative to a legalistic, theologically congested church which had forgotten the simplicity of its own original spirit. His experience of the Divine had reminded him of a Universal Benevolence, which he felt was reflected in the interconnectedness of life not only of humanity but also of humanity with animals, nature and her elements. It became his task to remind others of this divine love and intrinsic interconnectedness. No wonder he is regarded as the Green Saint,the patron of animals and the environment.
At his hermitage just outside Assisi I saw a bronze statue of him lying on the ground and two companion monks with their circled fingers held up to the sky measuring something. It is said that Francis loved to gaze up at the bright Polar Star and his companions were trying to measure certain aspects of that star. The earth and sky were also his companions.
Francis learned to be realistic as well as spiritual for he stated: "Start by doing what is necessary, and then do what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
To make the impossible possible is a sign of real spirituality, to achieve what others cannot dream of. What others may call crazy or unrealistic but is accomplished by an individual step by step is a kind of sanctity: an integrity of spirit
Francis once said:
"Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society."
"Sanctify" is not just a religious term he is using but it is his deeply felt sense of wholeness and oneness with nature and humanity and unlimited trust in the Divine. To achieve this sanctity he realized that he and his spiritual companions had to absolutely let go of selfish possessiveness and the greed of being. The respect we give to that interconnectedness of life and to life's resources is an answer to the wars and crisis we see around us today and what he himself had experienced in medieval Italy. He was so shocked by war's brutality and violence that he broke down and had to reposition himself, his purpose and his code of being. This breakdown is vividly represented outside the Basilica of St Francis where a statue of him on a horse captures his sense of utter desolation and disillusionment as both horse and man limp back from the war.
So in his hermitage away from his task of rejuvenating Christianity, traveling over Italy and to countries such as Egypt, Corfu, Syria , aligning himself with the poor and sick, Francis found the time to gaze at the stars, mountain, flowers ,water and trees. He also spent time talking to the animals and to his brother sun and sister moon. Giotto captures all of this in the paintings which decorate the basilica of Francis where we spent Good Thursday early morning in meditation. A small group of us, who had especially come for a two day dialogue, shared a collective silence for about one hour. Two days earlier a small group of Buddhists, nuns, yogis, Platonists, Christian meditators had actually come together to discuss the creative and healing power of contemplation as a contribution to today's crises.
Certainly our group felt that inner silence was a crucial start for newness in thought and action. Greece came up as an example of crisis and our Platonist friend from Germany perceptively stated that the crises has first started in Greece because that is the heart of western culture and all western culture , to a smaller or greater degree is suffering from the same malaise. So Greece as the parent receives the first blow of the Western collapse. He went on to say that where the crisis is also exists the solution. The roots of heritage hold the antidote to the poison.
The American coordinator of our Contemplative Alliance stated that now it appears to be the time that spiritual principles need to be valued and applied for social transformation. Thought, word and understanding are necessary but also action. So thinkers do not just keep on thinking, speakers do not just keep on speaking, analysts do not just keep on analyzing but also act. Action that can be effective when a contemplative empowering has happened individually and collectively to change the anachronistic routes of thoughts and behavior. Without that inner transformation then the same consciousness keeps repeating the same mistakes. The wheel keeps turning in on itself and there is no exit. All innovation began and was sustained by a transformation in consciousness. To act from a space of transformative silence facilitates the application of spiritual principles into social living. Otherwise either we rehash decrepit formulas or become too complacent. As Plato said:
| <urn:uuid:038e706c-e593-4438-880d-dffa3ad1f019> | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-strano/the-call-of-silence_b_1414299.html | en | 0.96814 | 0.052537 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Lolo Jones
The most heavily hyped U.S. athlete of the Games, thanks to her looks and the story of her difficult childhood, was a media darling. But by the time she raced in the 100-meter hurdles, a backlash had begun. Then she just missed a medal by finishing fourth behind two lesser-known American teammates. "I just feel like a big disappointment," Jones said.
Liu Xiang
The Chinese hurdler is the biggest athlete in the world's biggest country. But for the second consecutive Games, the 2004 110-meter hurdles gold medalist couldn't complete a race. This time, he crashed into the first hurdle, went down with an Achilles injury and could only hop the length of the track to the finish line.
Jordyn Wieber
It was a mixed London experience for Wieber. She won gold as part of the Fierce Five gymnastics team. But Wieber, the defending world all-around champion, didn't qualify for the event at the Games when she finished behind teammates Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman. (Olympic rules allow for only two competitors from each country.) Later, her coach revealed that Wieber wasn't at full strength because she was dealing with a painful leg injury. Wieber, to her credit, refused to use it as an excuse.
The Australian Swim Team
How serious do the Aussies take swimming? After the former powerhouse program did not win a single individual gold in the pool for the first time since 1976, the Australian swim federation announced it was conducting a review. "It is clear the world has lifted the bar when it comes to swimming, and so must we," federation president David Urquhart said.
The U.S. Boxing Team
The American men won 108 medals between 1904 and 2004. In Beijing, they were held to a single bronze medal. In London? The men were shutout. We knew that mixed-martial arts has sapped interest away from professional boxing in the U.S. Maybe it's also put American amateur boxing on life support. | <urn:uuid:55ea6fef-91fe-4362-b1d2-00b087588cc2> | http://www.insidebayarea.com/olympics/ci_21296148?source=pkg | en | 0.98378 | 0.033851 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Editorial: Alex Crain attorneys fight courtroom cameras
Attorneys for Alex Crain, 14, accused of killing his parents at their home in Golden Gate Estates, are asking that cameras be kept out of his future court proceedings. They say he is emotionally fragile and the presence of still and video cameras would somehow deny his right to a fair trial.
We have heard such arguments before and will continue to resist them in the interest of the public's right to know the goings-on in public courtrooms.
The days of cameras being big, bulky, noisy and distracting in the courtroom are long gone.
We believe unrestricted news coverage best serves society. Cameras — managed by each media outlet or in a pool or sharing arrangement — offer an accurate accounting of the proceedings and, if anything, can prevent unfairness not promote it.
Unedited. Unfiltered.
Everybody gets to see everything and make up their own minds.
That is what cameras in the courtroom are all about.
Naples Daily News polls | <urn:uuid:e167592c-51d2-4837-91bb-f5bdc869d69e> | http://www.naplesnews.com/opinion/editorial-alex-crain-attorneys-fight-courtroom-cam | en | 0.952667 | 0.020744 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Rebecca Kamm
Rebecca Kamm: Valentine's customs from the past
Do you value old-fashioned romance?Photo / Thinkstock
Do you value old-fashioned romance?Photo / Thinkstock
Once upon a time, I was 14 years old at my friend's birthday party. Cookies and Cream ice cream had just arrived in New Zealand, and it was generally a very nice time having bowls of that with no real thoughts of boys or boyfriends to muddy the fun.
Suddenly, however, news spread that one of the guests was having quite a dramatic weep in the garden on the trampoline. 'What's the matter with her?' I asked one of the other girls (possibly a bit unkindly). 'Oh,' was the reply, 'it's because romance and love will never be like it was in the olden days, ever again. It really gets her down'.
HA! At the time I found that highly amusing. Beyond the occasional (and wildly adult-seeming) 7th former who caught my eye, boys hadn't really featured for me yet. What did I care if they arrived in horse and cart with love notes, or three hours' late, stoned and barely able to speak? (Actually, one of my very first dates was like that, and I can now say with some authority that horse and cart would have been the better option.)
Anyway: 16 years after that girl cried on the trampoline, as I researched olden-day Valentine's customs and nearly died several times of cute, I suddenly realised: Trampoline Weeper had a point! I don't know how she already knew, but there was a degree of innocence and propriety back then - 'then' being pre-iPhone times, obv - that will never return.
But if only it would! Old-fashioned-people's romantic traditions were so adorable I can hardly bear it, like when a puppy is So. Bloody. CUTE you get that urge to squeeze it with all your might or throttle its little neck or something. (This.)
So. In celebration of how things were (and completely ignoring the fact every era comes with its own pitfalls and stresses, etc), here are some very sweet Valentine's Day things from years and years ago that make me love all the old-fashioned people like they are my own:
Draw the Name!
By the early 1700s, "drawing names" was one way people came to merge mouths. Sort of like Keys in a Bowl, except way less evocative of sex-starved suburban parents with white socks and mustaches. It took place on Valentine's Day eve, as explained by Author Henry Bourne in his posh 1725 book Antiquities of the Common People:
It is a ceremony, never omitted among the Vulgar, to draw Lots which they Term Valentines, on the Eve before Valentine-day. The names of a select number of one sex, are by an equal number of the other put into some vessel; and after that, every one draws a name, called their Valentine, and is also looked upon as a good omen of their being man and wife afterwards.
I like to think they all sat in a rose garden and blushed as they picked the name they'd crushed on forever, but probably it was like spin the bottle back in form 2 when you always got that boy in your class who smelt funny and ate his scabs.
Similarly, whichever lady the man got on his bit of paper, he had to take her around for a year and buy her gifts whether they liked each other or not. Bad luck! But lovely and polite, which is the point here.
Wear a heart on the sleeve!
If you were a 18th century lady, you might discover a man was mooney-eyed over you on Valentine's Day because suddenly, pinned to his sleeve, would appear a paper heart with your name on it. How convenient is that?!
Never mind that if a boy did that today you'd probably pass him off as some earnest hipster with a Frankie magazine subscription - back in the day it was completely legit, and led to the expression "To wear one's heart on one's sleeve." Good.
Write a sweet thing!
In the mid 1800s, Valentine's cards came to be. Usually they were made of satin and lace and ornamented with flowers, ribbons, and images of fat cupids or birds. Here is a ditty from one that was printed in 1900:
If I've dreamed a dream from fairyland,
Be sure you have your part in it.
I pledge my word, I give my hand
With more than half my heart in it.
YES! Whoever you were, let us go and hang out in fairyland, that sounds charming.
Admittedly, others were a little presumptuous: Weddings now are all the go, Will you marry me or no? (1850.) And: Oh! Goody your [sic] going to give me your heart. (1920.)
The earliest recorded Valentine's verse was actually written by a Frenchman (of course it was) called Charles, Duke of Orleans, and the card sits in the British Museum.
He wrote it to his wife in the 1400s when he was locked up in the Tower of London for some reason and it says, in part: Je suis desja d'amour tanné
ma tres doulce Valentinée
. Which translates as I am already sick of love, My very gentle valentine. (As in, lovesick. You thought 'Tired of love', didn't you. That's because you're from 2013.)
But it wasn't all nice...
It should be said there was also a dark undercurrent to Valentine's Day in the mid-1800s. An anti-Valentine's Day movement took root, manifesting in alternative and "comic" cards with messages that insulted and mocked outcasts like gays, unwed women and early feminists.
As detailed by author Leigh Eric Schmidt in his very interesting book Consumer Rites: The Buying & Selling of American Holidays, here is one such message, from 1850:
You ugly, cross, and wrinkled shrew,
You advocate of woman's rights,
No man on earth would live with you
For fear of endless fights
And another one, with the express aim of making ladies who hadn't found anyone yet feel like complete failures at life:
Oh what a very sorry sight it is,
to see an aged lady still a Miss,
to know that single she must live and work,
and in the end be toasted on a fork.
And for mouthy ladies in the public domain, who never shut up:
I send you this, as a warning, in time
To unscrew your long tongue, if you'd have a Valentine
Happy Valentine's Day everybody!
Follow Rebecca Kamm on Twitter
Get the news delivered straight to your inbox
Have your say
1200 characters left
View commenting guidelines.
Sort by
• Oldest
© Copyright 2015, NZME. Publishing Limited
Assembled by: (static) on production apcf05 at 06 Oct 2015 15:04:24 Processing Time: 559ms | <urn:uuid:332a5863-3dea-408a-96d4-47ff8fe3a21e> | http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10865158 | en | 0.977514 | 0.021125 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Vial Stoppers That Won't Stop Clumping
Sep 21, 2011
By Pharmaceutical Technology Editors
Untitled Document
Q: In our manufacturing process, we are running into issues with our vial stoppers clumping in the feeder bowl. How can we ensure that the stoppers go through smoothly without clumping up?
A: Clumping can result from various issues. The design of lyophilization stoppers can lead to twinning, a condition where the closures’ legs interlock and remain that way during processing. Autoclaving in an inappropriate container or in a container that holds closures too tightly may also result in twinning. Inconsistent siliconization and overprocessing can lead to clumping. If stoppers are autoclaved or dried too long, excessive heat may break down the elastomer. The result is a bowl full of tacky stoppers.
When clumping occurs, manufacturers must first examine the type of stopper they use. It may be time to move to a newer product, such as ready-to-use or ready-to-sterilize stoppers. Suppliers of these components use validated processes to prepare pharmaceutical closures that help manufacturers streamline operations by eliminating component-preparation steps, such as washing, sterilization, and siliconization. When the packaging manufacturer performs this preparation, it can help ensure that closures are consistent. Products with barrier films or coatings may also ensure smooth processing by reducing clumping. Films and coatings also help prevent stoppered vials from sticking to the shelves of lyophilization chambers. Purchasing new stoppers will not fix the current problem, but may help to prevent future issues.
Manufacturers may need to review and adjust their processes, including washing, sterilization, and siliconization, to avoid overprocessing. If stoppers are sticky after autoclaving, reassess the autoclave conditions and validate the process at milder conditions. A process lasting no more than one hour with 121 °C steam heat (or no more than 8 h with 105 °C dry heat) should ensure that the product is not harmed by excessive heat. If the problem stems from the process flow, manufacturers should contact a technical support representative.
—Gene Polini, principal technical account specialist at West Pharmaceutical Services
If you have a problem with your equipment or process, an industry expert may have the solution. Please send your question to Erik Greb, editor of Equipment and Processing Report, and we may be able to provide an answer in a future issue. All questions will remain anonymous. | <urn:uuid:b100ab9e-504d-4055-9121-156337b56f3e> | http://www.pharmtech.com/vial-stoppers-wont-stop-clumping | en | 0.921684 | 0.029107 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Fifty shades of healthy sex
This letter is in response to the “Edgy Mama” piece about the book Fifty Shades of Grey [“Fifty Shades of Abuse,” Sept. 12 Xpress]. I absolutely agree with her assertion that the writing is not great (nor even good), and the premise of a young virgin becoming overwhelmingly sexual during her first sexual rodeo is complete fantasy. However, I want to address the topic of power and sexuality that is presented in the book and in the article.
Much of our American culture and, indeed, our evolution is based upon who has power, who gives power and how that power is negotiated. In unhealthy power relationships, there is no negotiation. One person assumes control and the other person cedes it based on fear of the consequences. Yet, in healthy sexual relationships, power can become another mode of play, conversation and intimacy. Some healthy sexual relationships do not use power games as an erotic accessory but, in my experience, most of us have some sort of erotic stimulus associated with power.
Healthy power negotiation involves a clear and ongoing discussion between partners of who likes what sexual (and sometimes non-sexual) activities, how does each person get their needs and desires met, what are the boundaries and how do the people involved agree to cease if boundaries are crossed. Abuse happens when there is disrespect, intentional boundary violations and lack of care about how the other person is feeling about the experience.
I, too, want my children to understand what healthy relationships look like. Yet, as a professional sex educator and sex coach, I know that healthy relationships can look different from the inside (which is the place where it really matters) than they appear to the casual outside observer. If anyone has feelings of disempowerment that are not being addressed in their relationship, that can lead to abuse. But consensual power — playing including physical discipline, costuming, performing of tasks, and sexual engagement — is not abuse.
In healthy BDSM relationships, the lines of communication and negotiation are always open because the partners care about each other and themselves enough to be open and honest about their needs and desires, even if it's not an easy talk to have.
— DiAnna Ritola
About Webmaster
Mountain Xpress Webmaster Follow me @MXWebTeam
Leave a Reply
| <urn:uuid:ddecd925-8ec6-469b-a289-276c5499ec92> | https://mountainx.com/opinion/letters/092612fifty-shades-of-healthy-sex/ | en | 0.962559 | 0.095123 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Simulate Your Coffee Shop Dreams In Coffee World
Coffee World by SMLSD icon
Coffee World (Free) by SMLSD is a free game for the iPhone where you manage your own coffee shop.
Speaking as someone who has a wholly addictive personality — and who played Office Heroes nonstop for an entire summer without really knowing why — I can personally vouch that these types of games like to suck you in. Before you know it, you're excusing yourself from a conversation so that you can make more money at your store or buy new merchandise or hire new employees.
Then you realize you have a problem: you're not actually employed in real life. You don't own your own game development company, you don't have your own office, and you aren't single-handedly living your dream of running a coffee shop (please note this is not actually my dream). And the novelty has worn off.
Coffee World by SMLSD screenshot
In Coffee World, you don't actually have a character that physically does anything. Instead, it all plays out for you automatically like some sort of omniscient coffee god is dealing with the paperwork itself.
To begin, you touch "Start Day" on your screen. A stream of text now tells you exactly what happens that day, and how much money you make or lose with each of these happenings or mishaps. You will then end the day and, once you have enough money, you can start to invest in training, new machines, new coffee blends, and other things to help your coffee shop become successful.
You can enter the staff only room to train your employees with skills that will increase the quality of service your customers receive. This, in turn, will make you more money so it is worth the initial training fee. In the manger's office, you can train yourself to improve recipes, machine quality, and see how effective your advertising will be.
As the owner, you can also purchase new coffees that will benefit you financially. You can also do research and advertise.
Coffee World by SMLSD screenshot
Although it works perfectly and seems to be exactly what it says it is, it couldn't keep my attention. My problem with the game is that it's supposed to be a fun simulation game, but there is no real decision-making involved. Or, at least, very little. I wanted some sort of character interaction, but I suppose that is not what this game is all about. Instead, it's a game of money and time management.
Personally, I think there are too many games like this in the App Store and this one wasn't anything extraordinary. At least with games like Game Dev Story, you have more of a say in how things go. There just isn't enough interaction in this game to hold my attention for very long, but that is just my personal taste.
It's currently on sale for free in the App Store and it does have Game Center support. It doesn't hurt to try it out at that price.
Mentioned Apps
Related Articles
Simulate Your Coffee Shop Dreams In Coffee World
Simulate Your Coffee Shop Dreams In Coffee World | <urn:uuid:31f7e59d-addc-464d-9b1f-58cabf22f6ad> | http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/06/quickadvice-coffeeworld | en | 0.968973 | 0.084846 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Onus is on RBI to find ‘fit and proper’ bank licencees
February 26, 2013, 11:36 am IST in Myth-n-Reality | Companies | ET
A central bank whose credentials are beyond doubt can alone ensure integrity of the banking sector
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clearly ceded space to the finance ministry in its final norms for new bank licences. Despite reservations voiced by the Bank itself in the past and seconded by experts such as Nobel-prize winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, the Bank has opted not to exclude corporates, especially those involved in real estate and the brokerage business.
It has, instead, tried to protect the integrity of the banking sector by devising a fairly complex capital structure for the non-operative financial holding company that will ‘hold’ the bank. The idea is to ring-fence the bank from other activities carried on under the NOFHC umbrella and limit the scope for unscrupulous elements to use bank funds for lending to related parties.
Prima facie the safeguards look sound and provided the bank is proactive in its oversight there is no reason to fear the new norms will open the floodgates to less desirable elements.
The ultimate safeguard, however, is the RBI’s ability to take an unbiased and independent view on who is ‘fit and proper’ to promote a bank. As long as that is not compromised we need not fear. Now more than at any other time, the RBI must strive to guard its relatively clean image. Given the pulls and pressures, it is not going to be an easy task.
DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.
Mythili Bhusnurmath Mythili Bhusnurmath
Mythili is consulting editor, The Economic Times.
From around the web
More from The Economic Times
Recommended By Colombia
Comments on this post are closed now | <urn:uuid:f8c71208-7421-435e-85f1-c2c7ffa487b0> | http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/Myth-n-Reality/onus-is-on-rbi-to-find-fit-and-proper-bank-licencees1/?adcode=50 | en | 0.937739 | 0.034627 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sign up ×
Babylon: When you have the second stage of the wonder that allows you to buy your last 2 cards in the age instead of discarding, does this count as 1 turn or as 2 separate turns? Here's why I ask... I needed to buy glass from my neighbor. Each card needed me to buy a glass, and he only had 1 glass. If the cards count as 1 turn, I could only buy 1, and would have to discard the other card to collect 3 coins. If the cards were 2 turns, then I would buy the glass twice in 2 separate transactions. After 15 minutes debate, our group voted that it was 2 turns. But we would like to know what other people think.
share|improve this question
marked as duplicate by SocioMatt, Johno, Gregor, Colin D, Paul Marshall Apr 5 '13 at 15:51
Same question:… – unor Nov 19 '12 at 15:54
1 Answer 1
The designer, Antoine Bauza, has responded to this question on BGG, it is as if the Babylon player had two turns. You get to produce resources twice, buy twice from your neighbor, and even receive production from your newly built/discarded 6th card.
Q: When playing both cards in round 6 to build two buildings: Can you use one resource twice for each of the buildings?
A: Yes, it's two different cards, like two different turns... The first could help you to play the second (discard the 6th for money and use the money to play the 7th for example...)
This can also be somewhat surmised from the rules, since you need to have that stage of the wonder built to "use it." (page 9)
Clarification: - during the sixth turn, the player can therefore play both cards they have in hand. If the second stage of the Wonder is not built, the Babylon player can then build it on their sixth turn and then play the seventh card instead of discarding it.
share|improve this answer
I can't find the quoted question/answer on the linked page. Did you link to a different page? – unor Nov 19 '12 at 15:44
| <urn:uuid:b13c50d0-3881-4c9d-8375-37f8e0def4ca> | http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/8039/how-does-babylonss-second-stage-wonder-work-for-building-discarding-your-last-t?answertab=oldest | en | 0.973854 | 0.234686 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Surge Columbus
Surge Columbus is a collaborative of museums, libraries, and media organizations in Columbus, Ohio empowering teens to discover and pursue their learning interests outside of school by connecting them with mentors, digital and cultural resources, and each other.
The project seeks:
• to help create more welcoming, open, accessible, and connected learning opportunities for Columbus teens.
• to re-imagine learning to help Columbus teens become creative citizens who can think on their feet in order to actively participate in civil discourse and compete in the global economy, and to develop their 21st century learning skills.
• to form a “learning ecology†for teens that will have a significant impact on shaping the learning potential of Columbus teens.
• to help teens develop their skills in critical thinking, civic engagement, media literacy, media production, and creative expression.
We are:
The Columbus Metropolitan Library
WOSU Public Media
The Columbus Museum of Art
The Wexner Center for the Arts | <urn:uuid:6fe605c2-5df0-45ae-a2f7-1809634b8d65> | http://wosu.org/2012/education/surge/ | en | 0.926838 | 0.031808 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Ultimate Fighter Season 8: Episode 12
The night’s second episode starts with highlights from Soszynski’s surprise submission win over Kingsbury; Magalhaes’ quick and masterful submission of Bruchez; Efrain’s win over Nelson (as well Junie’s extreme reaction); and finally Junie’s lackluster and unimpressive win over Delgado. This show’s semifinal fights will feature Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Vinny Magalhaes and Junie Browning vs. Efrain Escudero. However, the previews imply that Junie might not even make it to the ring….
Soszynski talks about fighting Vinny — who is not only his teammate on the show, but back at his training home in Temecula. His game plan is to break Vinny down. Krzysztof refers to his fists as his wife and his son, which he plans on putting right through Vinny’s face. Vinny however is not nervous, though he thinks Krstyof probably is. He adds that he doesn’t care if he has to hurt Krzysztof, he just wants to win.
(they are getting to this awfully fast, which tells me it could be a long fight)
They come out and begin with a lot of dancing and feeling each other out. Soszynski gets in a solid leg kick, while Magalhaes gets in a couple solid jabs. A good head kick from Magalhaes. They continue dancing. Finally Magalhaes attacks, gets Soszynski’s back against the cage, swings his legs up around his waist and gets Soszynski down on the ground in his guard with his legs wrapped around him almost in a triangle. It’s not locked in, but Magalhaes is punishing Soszynski with shots to his head. Soszynski is struggling, but manages to pull himself out of the triangle. Soszynski backs away and allows Magalhaes to stand. They go back to a lot of inaction on their feet. This changed up with a HUGE body kick from Magalhaes. Good leg kick from Soszynski, which is followed by another; two more; and another; and another. They’re both circling. Magalhaes lands a leg kick, and Soszynski returns with three. Magalhaes attacks, but falls. Some good exchanges and Magalhaes ends up on his back. Soszynski tries to take advantage, but Magalhaes stands and they clinch. Magalhaes swings his hips up and gets Soszynski in his guard. He grabs onto Soszynski’s arm and pulls it taut. He rolls to lock it in and Soszynski quickly taps.
Winner: Vinny Magalhaes via Submission (armbar)
After the fight, Dana claims he was impressed by both their game plans. The whole fight impressed him: Soszynski’s brutal leg kicks, that Magalhaes was constantly pulling guard. Both plans worked, but Soszynski slipped.
Magalhaes refers to it as the biggest win of his life. Although Soszynski is disappointed, he will take the loss and move on. He has learned that he needs to work on his Jiu Jitsu and looks forward to fighting again.
This means that the Light Heavyweight finale will be between Ryan Bader and Vinny Magalhaes.
Later, Junie is training for his fight. He feels like his timing is off, that he’s gotten worse since he’s been on the show because he hasn’t had the mat time he usually gets back home. He’s visibly frustrated and complains that he doesn’t even want to fight. He tells as much to Mir, and Mir tells him no problem. Mir’s not going to force him to fight. All the rest of the team give it the ok, that he’s out and Shane’s in. Mir says he’s a head case and obviously not mentally ready for it.
Back at the house, a few of the guys are outside talking about the final fight between Bader and Vinny (Junie claiming that Bader will lose on the ground). Primm is the only one from the red team, so he feels he must defend them. Junie claims that even if he loses in the house, he guarantees that he will be the most successful fighter from the show. Primm tells him to prove it. This prompts Junie to throw a glass coffee mug straight at his head (which shatters) and proceeds to attack him. The other two guys there have to literally pull Junie off of him. They get Junie into the house, and when Primm comes in, he’s smart enough to go outside. He clearly realizes he has f**ked up big time.
That same night, the guys are discussing Junie’s actions. They all believe it’ll be hard for Dana to let Junie stay once they see the footage, especially considering this is the second time he’s done something like this. Dana comes into the house after getting the phone call. He gets Junie alone and comes right out and asks him what the f**k is wrong with him. He tells him he can’t figure out if he’s “retarded, bi-polar, or is afraid of failing”. He asks why he told Mir that he didn’t want to fight. Junie claims he was just pissed and feeling the pressure, because he doesn’t want to lose. Dana agrees — claims he would rather find a way out than lose. Junie says he never pulls this kind of stuff at home. But Dana warns him, if he thinks the house is hard, it’s only worse in the UFC. Technically, he should’ve been kicked off the show three times already. He asks Junie what he thinks he should do. Dana tells him that he’s a great reality star because he acts like an idiot, but the question is, is he a good fighter? Dana doesn’t know how he can reward a guy who acts this way. His decision is that he’s going to talk to the other fighters to get their take. He doesn’t want the other guys to feel like he’s showing Junie favoritism.
When he has them all outside, he admits that Junie is a nut job and that Junie should’ve been kicked off a long time ago. But he also tells them that this is what Junie wants because he can’t handle the pressure and he is afraid to lose on national television. Junie has two choices: he can either go home and claim that he would’ve won the show, but he got kicked off because he was the “baddest” one there OR he can stay on the show so Efrain can “beat his ass”. (And this is where we hear the famed Survivor comparison where Dana slips and tells them they can’t vote him off, they have to “beat him off” — which makes all the guys laugh). He tells them it’s up to them — and they wholeheartedly decide to keep him.
He goes back downstairs and tells Junie what the guys decided, asking Junie if he wants to stay — to which Junie responds “hell yeah”. Dana tells him he better get his s**t together. This is Junie’s chance to prove himself — whether or not he’s the tough guy he claims to be. Dana is hoping he’ll even grow up a little bit. Junie says he feels lucky for the second chance and thanks them all.
In the van, Junie says that if he loses to Efrain, he’s not going to fight anymore. He says if he can’t beat him, he can’t beat anyone in the UFC. He feels that Efrain doesn’t have the tools in his toolbox, thereby making him confident that he can win. Escudero is also confident. Efrain just wants to beat Junie because he’s been talking s**t and getting under his skin since day one. He thinks Junie should keep his mouth shut because he doesn’t think he can back it up.
Both look calm and ready. Browning enters the cage and literally sits down in the corner. At the start of the fight, they touch gloves, and Junie makes like he’s stretching. They exchange some jabs. Browning comes at Escudero with a leg kick. Escudero returns but misses. Both try leg kicks, but nothing happens. Good kicks from Escudero followed by a HUGE body shot from Browning. Browning swings and misses, so Escudero takes him down. He gets his arms around Browning’s neck, but can’t get a submission out of it. They roll over and Escudero stands, trying to keep Browning down. Browning gets up and Escudero taunts him to come forward. They exchange a few jabs and leg kicks. Escudero lands a good jab to his face. They clinch and Escudero is in control. He gets good shots in on Browning’s ribs. Browning is going for the take down, but Escudero is keeping control and continues to elbow his head. Browning lands a couple rib shots. But Escudero lands some good knees. There is a continued exchange of knees and jabs in the clinch. They are back in the center, exchanging shots. Browning lands a good body kick which Escudero follows with two good leg kicks. Browning goes for a flying knee that fails. Then Browning attempts a high head kick and misses, so Escudero retaliates with a straight jab to the face. Escudero keeps faking the shoot. Browning goes for shots that keep getting blocked. Escudero lands a good leg kick. Both keep landing jabs and leg kicks and the round ends on their feet.
(In the corner, Mir is telling Junie that his stand up sucks — I love it!)
The round starts with a jab exchange. Both seem lucid and aggressive. Browning attempts a spinning back fist that doesn’t land. More jab exchanges. Browning shoots and gets Escudero against the cage in the clinch but can’t get him down. Both are still swinging hard. HUGE right from Browning lands on Escudero’s cheek. Escudero comes back with two of his own. (If I hear Mir yell three strikes one more time, I’m gonna hit HIM!). Good leg kicks from Escudero. Escudero then shoots and gets Browning on his back. He is in half guard, and Browning tries to get his arms around Escudero, but can’t do much. Escudero continuously punches and elbows the ribs, kidneys and legs. Escudero tries turning to side control and gets it as Browning rolls over. As Browning rolls, it looks like Escudero gets his neck trapped in an awkward choke. Escudero pushes a little further and Browning taps.
Winner: Efrain Escudero via submission (choke)
Escudero celebrates with a mid-cage back flip, while an extremely irate Junie storms out of the cage into the locker room, where he “gingerly” slams the door.
After the fight, a lot gets said. Dana shakes his head at the fact that Junie walks out and into the cage, and sits in the corner, as if he was better than Efrain. Dana calls the first round scrappy, noting that it was very back and forth. Nog says that Junie’s striking is better than Efrain’s so it was dangerous for Efrain to keep it on their feet, but it worked out ok. Mir says that Junie stopped listening to them altogether, and wasn’t doing anything that was asked of him. Never was the game plan to shoot on Efrain. As he’s not a cheerleader, Mir decides that if Junie wasn’t going to listen to him, he was going to just sit down and enjoy the show — and that’s what he did. Mir says Junie knew the choke was coming, knew how to get out of it, but feels that Junie quit. He even adds that he was kind of glad to see Junie lose. Dana feels that justice was served.
Junie, outside, doesn’t feel like Efrain is better than he thought, just that he himself is not as good as he thought. He thinks maybe he’s in the wrong sport. All the other guys come outside to talk to him, and Junie just makes excuses that his training wasn’t as good as back home. The coaches yell at him for not listening and making excuses. Junie says that this was a waste of his time, that fighting is obviously not for him.
Now the semis are over, it’s time for Mir to pay up on the bet. If Nog’s guys won in the semis, Mir would have to shave his “supermodel hair”. So Nog goes ahead and shaves Mir’s head. Both coaches discuss their experiences with the teams, which were good for the most part.
So, that sets the stage for the finale. On Dec. 13th, live on Spike we’ll have:
Light Heavyweight fight: Jiu Jitsu World Champion Vinny Magalhaes will take on All-American Wrestler Ryan Bader
Lightweight fight: Wrestling phenom Efrain Escudero will square off against the world’s toughest nurse Philippe Nover
Then on Dec 27th, coaches Nogueira and Mir will settle their battle in the cage. I for one, am looking forward to all the fights on both nights. Although the finalists aren’t all who I expected them to be, I will be sure to watch and see if I’m right about the winners. | <urn:uuid:7b4a1737-5e8d-4bc6-bd38-e7b41517ac20> | http://cagetoday.com/the-ultimate-fighter-season-8-episode-12/ | en | 0.973945 | 0.021906 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Cape Gazette
Ask The Trainer
How do I strengthen my core to avoid injury?
By Chris Antonio | Aug 17, 2013
Q: A few years ago I injured my back, and it has never been completely healed to where I am pain free or can do the same things I used to do without getting hurt. I was told that I had to work on my core strength to ensure that I don’t get hurt again. I have since added three different abdominal exercises that I’ll do three times a week as part of my workout. There is no doubt I feel much better, but I still have problems daily. Is there anything else I can do to build strength in my core to help keep my injury in check?
A: First of all, let’s clear something up right off the bat - your core is much more than just your abs. It includes several other muscles in your lower back, hips, obliques, hamstrings and even your backside. Failure to strengthen these areas can result in muscle imbalance and core weakness, setting you up for serious injuries. To improve your situation, you must strengthen all of the muscles mentioned.
To accomplish this goal, simply plug the following exercises into your workouts. Remember, you must do equal work for the muscles in the front and back of the body or you will never achieve the muscular balance necessary to strengthen your core.
Bird dogs for lower back strength
Bird dogs are an effective and safe way to strengthen the lower back, and they can be done just about anywhere. All you need is a little floor space and you’re in business. To get started, simply get on all fours with your hands and knees at shoulders' width and extend your right arm and left leg like a pointing bird dog away from your body. Once you are fully extended, pause for a split second and descend back to the starting position. Don’t allow your body to lean to one side, and you’ll get a great lower back workout. When you finish, repeat with the other arm and leg.
Bicycle crunches for abdominal strength
If done correctly, bicycle crunches are an excellent abdominal exercise for both strength and definition. To perform a bicycle crunch, lie on your back with your hands behind your head, bring your knees up to a 90-degree angle and begin pedaling your legs until they are fully extended while trying to touch opposite elbow to opposite knee. The secret to this exercise is making sure your back is at least an inch off the ground and you’re bringing your elbows to your knees as well as your knees to your elbows.
Side planks for hip and oblique strength
Side planks are one of my favorite core exercises because they hit areas of the body that are hard to isolate, such as the hips and obliques - muscles on the side of the abdomen. To perform a twisting side plank, get in a push-up position with your hands and toes planted firmly on the floor. Slowly lift one arm and twist your feet away from the floor until your entire body is sideways and your hand is pointing toward the ceiling. Pause for a split second, holding your hips straight and parallel to the floor, and then return to the starting position. Complete the desired amount of reps and switch sides, repeating with the opposite arm.
Stability ball leg curls for hamstrings and butt strength
This exercise is a great addition to any program because it effectively targets the butt and hamstrings while requiring balance and stability. To get started, lie on the floor with your heels placed shoulders' width apart on the middle of a stability ball. With your arms at your sides slowly press your heels down into the ball while lifting your hips off the ground. Use your hands to stabilize your body and curl the ball toward your butt. When you have reached full contraction, extend your legs to the starting position and repeat until you’ve achieved an intense burn in your butt and hamstrings.
To strengthen your core, try adding the above exercises to your workout routine, and remember, developing a strong core requires much more than doing a couple sets of abdominal exercises.
Comments (0)
If you wish to comment, please login.
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. | <urn:uuid:3dbe15ae-d2f7-440e-9897-dfae310c4327> | http://capegazette.villagesoup.com/p/how-do-i-strengthen-my-core-to-avoid-injury/1044108 | en | 0.942046 | 0.036015 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sign up ×
Camellia sinensis var. assamica is the tea variety that is associated with Assam, as the name attests.
I have also seen allusions and suggestions that this is the same as the "Da Ye" (large leaf) variety that is used in Yunnan for pu-erh and some red/black teas. Some tea merchants certainly describe their Yunnan teas as being from assamica plants, and the Assam jungles are not too far from Yunnan so this seems credible.
Is there a reliable source that confirms that the assamica variety is the same as the variety from which pu-erh tea is made? Or is the reality more complex, with most commercially grown pu-erh tea being a hybrid of var. assamica and other varieties?
Wikipedia pages about tea are currently poorly referenced and I tend to disregard most of the claims on the pages related to tea. I am looking for references to scholarly books, pointers to trade literature, credible news sites, or quotes from acknowledged experts.
(Note that I am not interested in growing tea plants, this is purely a question about provenance of the foodstuff.)
share|improve this question
It's probably worth pointing out classifying and differentiating between plant cultivars can be very murky territory. If two cultivars are exactly the same it's easy enough to answer, but sometimes they're different but no one has bothered to "officially" notice and give one a new name. – Jefromi Sep 10 '13 at 16:49
2 Answers 2
up vote 2 down vote accepted
I find nothing to indicate it's a different cultivar, and several sources saying that it's var. assamica. My favorite couple:
This doesn't rule out the possibility that there are subdivisions of assamica, leading to some tiny differences between the plants. But I can find no evidence of such subdivisions. Further, given the degree to which things vary simply based on the region they were grown in (due to climate and soil) and the effects of the subsequent processing, even if there are actual differences in the plants (beyond those caused by their environment), they're unlikely to be meaningful in terms of the tea you ultimately drink.
One caveat: this is all about what's most common. But people drink all kinds of things as tea, so it's possible that you'll find tea that was made from a different cultivar with the same processing as pu-erh, and it may well be labelled as pu-erh.
share|improve this answer
Interesting, that toxicology paper claims no ill effects on rats of being fed pu-erh extract of 2.5g per kg of body mass. That's a lot of tea! – András Salamon Sep 10 '13 at 20:56
For completeness, here are some further references in addition to Jefromi's excellent pointers:
• from a paper in the Pakistani Journal of Botany 43(1), pp. 281–291, 2011 (PDF): "C. sinensis var. assamica is the main taxa for commercial cultivation in Yunnan... Yunnan ‘Pu’er’ Tea [is] made from fresh shoot of C. sinensis var. assamica", referencing several sources published in Yunnan; the authors study how the DNA of 181 var. assamica plants from all over Yunnan are related;
• from eFloras (Flora of China): "Camellia sinensis var. assamica is the source of Puer (普洱) tea which is a black (fermented) tea from Yunnan."
and one inconclusive reference:
• from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew website: "Camellia sinensis var. sinensis is probably native to western Yunnan, while C. sinensis var. assamica is native to the warmer parts of Assam (India), Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and southern China."
share|improve this answer
That first one is a great find! The "what's native" reference is indeed inconclusive - I've read elsewhere that the cultivation has been so extensive that it's now hard to tell what was native in some places. – Jefromi Sep 10 '13 at 21:52
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:a747207f-3375-4bb2-9674-4cd7f6693d7a> | http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/36676/camellia-sinensis-var-assamica-in-yunnan | en | 0.946628 | 0.161272 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
GT Featured
Insanely Bad HULK Rip-off Film
Here's a trailer for a film called The Amazing Bulk, which is a hilariously bad rip-off of Marvel's The Incredible Hulk. This is easily one of the most epically cheap movies ever made. I wish I could say at least they tried, but good hell, this is just beyond terrible. I have no idea what the motivation was behind this, and why any of these people would waste their time on making it. It was created by Tomcat Films, the footage you are about to watch my offend you.
Here's the Synopsis:
Watch the god awful trailer below, and share your thoughts below.
Newest GeekTyrant Posts | <urn:uuid:4a5ada43-98a5-4fc7-b586-4e18a71da3d8> | http://geektyrant.com/news/2012/1/16/insanely-bad-hulk-rip-off-film.html | en | 0.966113 | 0.076367 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Monthly Archives: October 2012
The Three Species of Arizona Cockroaches
Blatella germanica
German Cockroach
These cockroaches are notorious worldwide. When they invade, they set up housekeeping, living, feeding and breeding under the same roof with you. They like the kitchen and bathroom, where they can eat, drink and be merry at will.
They are pale brown and only about ½” to ¾” long. These little pests have oodles of off-spring. One female will lay over 2,000 eggs in a single year.
The american cockroach, Periplaneta americana....
American Cockroach
These cockroaches are reddish brown and up to 2” long. These guys are bigger and uglier then the Germans, but not quite the nuisance.
Americans just visit your home, stopping to grab something to eat. They then leave to live and breed someplace else.
They love warm, moist areas and live in sewers, basements, storage rooms and garbage areas. American roaches can go three months without food and a full month without water.
Turkestan Cockroach
Turkestan cockroaches are shorter and a little darker than the American roach. The Turkestans prefer to live outdoors rather than in buildings and sewers. You will find then in leaf litter, flower beds, under rocks and sprinkler control or water meter boxes.
These critters pose less of a health hazard than American or German cockroaches and have one major characteristic most people find offensive. They fly!
Phoenix Roach Control
The city of Phoenix will paint the inside of some 8,000 manholes with a latex based pesticide every two years. This greatly helps in controlling the cockroach populations. However, the City is only responsible for the public sewers. It’s us, the citizens of Phoenix, who are responsible for keeping cockroaches out of our homes and properties.
If you are a Phoenix resident, and are having a problem with cockroaches in and around your property, contact a local pest control professional today!
Bulwark Exterminating
10401 N 91st Ave
Peoria, AZ 85345
(623) 572-3016
Bulwark Exterminating
1228 East Broadway Road
Mesa, AZ 85204
(480) 969-7474
Beekeeper Total Bee Control Inc
1202 East Maryland Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85014
(602) 274-0400
Critter Control
Phoenix, AZ 85001
(602) 569-2360
The Maricopa Harvester Ant: The Most Venomous Insect in the World
The head of an ant seen very close up.
The Maricopa Harvester Ant
Maricopa harvester ants are commonly found in most parts of Arizona, including Phoenix. It is perhaps most recognized as holding the record for having the most venomous sting of all insects. The ant is about three centimeters long, and it spends its entire life in the desert areas. Maricopa harvester ants have two pairs of membranous wings, yet they will not have them for the greater part of their life. They build gigantic nests that can measure more than 30 feet in diameter and reach heights of six feet. However, these massive nests are only common if natural forces do not destroy them, or if the nest is not invaded by other ant species.
Maricopa harvester ants range in color from bright red to dark brown. They range in size from one centimeter to three centimeters, depending on their age. Like most insects, they have three body segments; the head, the abdomen, and the thorax. While most of the ants people see are wingless, Maricopa harvester ants due in fact possess wings. The male ants will lose their wings and die after they mate, while the females will just lose their wings. A feature that also separates this species of ant from others is that they possess a stinger that is similar to that of a bee. They use their stingers as a defense against invading creatures, and to capture their prey.
Like all other harvester ants, the Maricopa harvester ant is a forager. They are sent from their nests to gather seeds and dead insects and bring them back to their nest to share with the colony. Maricopa harvester ants will forage up to 33 feet away from the nest in order to make sure that they bring back enough food for the entire colony.
Maricopa harvester ants contain the most toxic venom of all insects. The venom is a mixture of amino acids, peptides, and proteins. The ant injects its venom after it attaches to their victim by clinging on to them with their pinchers. After it has attached, it will position itself so its stinger is facing towards the victim. The ant will then sting as many times as it can before it is dislodged or killed.
Ant Control
As Phoenix residents, we are often more focused on keeping the deadly Arizona Bark Scorpions out of our homes. The truth is that Maricopa harvester ants can be just as deadly as scorpions if left untreated. If you are having ant problems of any kind, it’s pest that you contact a Phoenix pest control professional to help eliminate the ants before they find you or your family.
Bulwark Exterminating
10401 N 91st Ave
Peoria, AZ 85345
(623) 572-3016
Bulwark Exterminating
1228 East Broadway Road
Mesa, AZ 85204
(480) 969-7474
Orkin Pest & Termite Control
3830 West Indian School Road
Phoenix, AZ 85019
(866) 713-9979 | <urn:uuid:a5797c7a-19a9-410e-bc6e-a6dd27f0a290> | http://pestcontrolphoenixaz.net/Pest-Control/2012/10/ | en | 0.939272 | 0.0236 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Forgot your password?
Comment Could this be related... (Score 1) 269
...to the "strobe-light" effect I sometimes see late at night when I'm trying to fall asleep? Close my eyes, and I see fluctuating "flashes" behind my eyelids for a few seconds that don't seem to be coming from any lights in the environment. Maybe some sporadic electromagnetic or other RF interference?
Looking Back at 1984 Report On "Radical Computing" 183
An anonymous reader writes "The Department of Defense has just released a long restricted report (PDF) by the JASON group entitled Radical Computing. This 1984 study outlines a number of alternate computing methods that could 'result in a radical improvement in computing.' The study attempts to explain the paradox of how the Russian lag in developing VLSI chips curiously did not critically hinder their accomplishments in space missions, ICBMs and chess computation. The authors speculate that the Russians might have achieved breakthroughs in alternative computing methods such as residue arithmetic and symbolic computing. (More cynical types assume the Russians bought or stole US chips from the French or other too-helpful go-betweens.)"
| <urn:uuid:4f9a4a5c-74f4-496a-a0ae-a1685f61ecfa> | http://slashdot.org/~DeusExMach | en | 0.9267 | 0.032012 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |