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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mediation faces test in Cook County
Alternative may cut courts' load
May 17, 2004|By Ameet Sachdev, Tribune staff reporter.
Andy Andrikos had not talked to his business partner in a year.
They were tied up in a messy court battle over how to dissolve their physical therapy business. Andrikos had already spent about $50,000 in attorneys fees and other legal costs, and there was no solution in sight.
His attorney suggested mediation. After two meetings earlier this year, Andrikos and his partner came to a peaceful settlement and celebrated by going out for a beer.
"Afterwards, I went to the mediator and kissed her hand," said Andrikos, a 53-year-old Highland Park resident. "Usually I'm not an emotional kind of guy. Just ask my wife."
Mediation has slowly gained traction in Illinois as another way to resolve legal disputes, but it now faces its biggest test.
Last month the Circuit Court of Cook County, the largest court system in the state, began a mediation program for civil lawsuits seeking monetary damages of more than $30,000.
Potentially thousands of cases, from personal-injury claims to product liability lawsuits, could be diverted to mediation instead of being contested in court. If a majority of cases are settled this way, mediation could become mainstream in the Chicago legal environment, saving individuals and businesses the time and costs of trials.
Moreover, it could bring relief to a court system oversaturated with cases.
Lawyers on both sides of the aisle are cautiously optimistic.
"We want to see how it works," said Kevin Conway, a plaintiffs lawyer and incoming president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. "It may take a year or two to find out."
Said Michael Conway, who defends businesses in legal disputes, "My sense from people practicing is that there isn't overwhelming demand for mediation. But clients are always better off exploring settlement before they devote a lot of resources to litigation."
Cook County became the 10th circuit in the state to adopt court-sponsored mediation, following neighboring counties such as Will, DuPage, Lake and Kane. In the early 1990s the Illinois Supreme Court gave its OK for local courts to set up programs where a third party, known as a neutral or mediator, works with parties to resolve their conflicts.
Before that, private mediators, usually retired judges or lawyers in private practice, or not-for-profit institutions, such as Chicago's Center for Conflict Resolution, worked behind the scenes to settle issues from neighbor disputes to workplace conflicts.
Still, mediation has been slow to catch on in Illinois. The Center for Conflict Resolution mediates about 2,000 cases a year for free--as it did with Andrikos' case.
By comparison, more than 2.4 million suits are filed annually in Cook County courts.
Some lawyers and judges do not trust mediation.
The mistrust was famously summed up in 1996 by Illinois Supreme Court Justice Moses W. Harrison II, who said alternative dispute resolution methods, such as arbitration and mediation in civil matters, "threaten to destroy the very system that is the very basis of our profession."
He went on: "I know that we need some means to dispose of cases, but I don't believe that sitting around trying to talk things over is an adequate substitute for formal proceedings governed by rules of evidence and presided over by an experienced judge."
Yet court-sponsored mediation works more often than not. Since 1993, of the nearly 2,000 mediated cases in five counties--Will, DuPage, Lake, Kane and Winnebago--about 60 percent were settled, according to the Center for Analysis of Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems.
"Parties are more satisfied when they reach their own outcome," said Susan Kozacik Rodgers, executive director of the Center for Conflict Resolution. "Mediation can also preserve an ongoing relationship."
And the cost savings can be large. Andrikos said a trial would have cost him an additional $100,000.
In Cook County, litigants typically pay mediators $250 an hour. Sessions typically last a day or two but sometimes can extend much longer.
The mediator can be chosen by a judge or selected by the parties.
While it remains to be seen how effective court-sponsored mediation will be in Cook County, the program has stirred interest in the process. The Center for Conflict Resolution, which also trains mediators, has received numerous calls from lawyers looking to become mediators, Rodgers said.
Initially the court is referring cases that are seeking large damage awards or are likely to involve several witnesses and lengthy trials, said Circuit Judge Allen S. Goldberg, who led a 60-member committee that spent more than nine months drafting rules governing mediation.
"We aren't looking to replace jury trials or judges presiding over settlement conferences," he said. "This is just another tool we have to resolve disputes." | <urn:uuid:31356b87-7021-4aed-a166-ccb065151f3d> | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-05-17/business/0405160565_1_mediation-illinois-supreme-court-disputes | en | 0.974283 | 0.018271 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sign up ×
I am having difficulty understanding this question:
Graph the subspace spanned by the vectors $i = (3,-2,-1)^T$, $j = (-2,0,-1)^T$.
You don't have to graph it, but the answer for this problem is $z = (-3/5)x - (6/5)y$. I don't understand how to come up with that answer. I tried setting $i=-j$ but to no avail. Also, sorry for writing $i,j$ with $^T$, I do not know how to format it to make it look like a column vector.
share|cite|improve this question
Are you sure that's the right answer? The points $(3,-2,-1)$ and $(-2,0,-1)$ don't seem to be on that plane. – yunone Sep 22 '12 at 7:27
1 Answer 1
up vote 2 down vote accepted
I think something is not quite right here.
Since we are in $\mathbb{R}^3$ we can find the normal to the plane spanned by $i, j$ by $i \times j = (2,5,-4)^T$, hence the equation of the plane is $\langle (x,y,z)^T, i \times j \rangle = 2x+5y-4z =0$, which gives $z = \frac{1}{2} x + \frac{5}{4} y$.
Here is another approach that does not use the cross product:
Suppose $(x,y,z) = a i + b j = (3a-2b, -2a, -(a+b))$. Then, from $y$ we have $a = -\frac{y}{2}$, and from $x$ we have $b = -\frac{3}{4} y -\frac{1}{2} x$. Then $z = -(a+b) = \frac{1}{2} x + \frac{5}{4} y$.
share|cite|improve this answer
How did you get z=1/2x + 5/4y and (2,5,-4)^T ? We haven't been taught the cross product yet. – diimension Sep 22 '12 at 21:53
I added another approach. – copper.hat Sep 22 '12 at 22:00
I understand now because of your help, thank you very much copper!! – diimension Sep 22 '12 at 23:15
You are very welcome, glad to be of help. – copper.hat Sep 23 '12 at 0:30
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:4172935e-02a4-465a-bc3a-5508bb43e13d> | http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/200599/subspace-spanned-by-the-vectors | en | 0.896522 | 0.977606 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Saturday, August 08, 2009
50/50 Grind in Eagle Rock
Fab Five Freddy changed my world. I was in middle school in suburban central Connecticut, and then there was this show, Yo MTV Raps. It was more than just a show: it was The City, it was a wildly new musical form, it was a new language: it was a way out.
The a la carte identity options for suburban kids are well rehearsed (a nod here to John Hughes, R.I.P., even though he didn't quite know how to deal with certain outsiders [i.e., Asians, Blacks, etc.]): skater, goth, jock, prep, art/drama, church, math club, hacker, debate society, homeschool, delinquent/drug dealing, etc.
For a Bengali kid in leafy Connecticut, unable to accept being the perfect obedient, religious, traditional Bengali son, and unable to accept trying to pass as a white boy with a deep tan, wearing boat shoes and two collars, the world of hip hop felt like a welcoming home. The shoes, the music, basketball -- the shared sense of a struggle against something (often vague and amorphous), of being misunderstood, etc. -- it was something I could connect to, as a dorky misfit with a serious chip on my shoulder. I went out on the court in our town basketball league rocking Kareem racquetball goggles with "Run's House" blasting in my mind.
Recognizing how ridiculous and silly this all was (see, e.g., me pulling into prep school for classes on a Saturday morning at 7 in my dad's old 1984 Eldorado, blasting FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET, dressed in a suit for a J.V. basketball away-game against Choate), I have never lost my deep attachment to hip hop. I suspect that many other of my fellow native suburbanites, growing up in Long (Strong) Island, Jersey, Upstate, Maryland, Florida, the South, etc., regardless of race or whatever, had similar experiences, and share my abiding connection to hip hop culture.
All of this embarrassing exposition is here simply to explain why I think 50/50 Grind is going to make it. It might seem like a bizarre move to open a hip hop shoe and apparel shop in Eagle Rock, but I think it makes perfect sense. This neighborhood is full of former suburbanites like myself who religiously watched Yo MTV Raps in our cul de sac neighborhoods, in between prepping for the SAT and reading THE ILIAD, dreaming of escaping the tedium of suburbia, maybe later buying turntables in college and trying to DJ, trying to freestyle in our basements or in a friend's apartment. A lot of these people are now accountants, lawyers, middle management, gastroenterologists. But we are still grateful to hip hop, and we want to show it.
50/50 Grind (Natasha at 50/50 explained to me that "50/50" refers to the 50/50 partnership she shares with her husband, Robert McKay, and "Grind" refers to the grind of chasing the almighty dollar -- they were apparently unaware of the skateboarding maneuver of the same name, though, confusingly, they display skateboard decks under their front counter) has a decent selection of certified fresh sneakers (New Balance, Nike, Adidas, Puma [the presence of the New Balance kicks just shows that 50/50 is aware of the make-up of their clientele; CaCao Mexicatessen displays the same awareness with its sign about potential allergens]), a good selection of "hip hop" themed t-shirts (though a lot of the women's t-shirts I saw had no apparent hip hop connection and could have been sold at Regeneration), some hats, and some art. Anything you buy here will probably make you a little more legit. (We can discuss the problematics of this kind of cultural appropriation some other time.) Some of the t-shirts are sort of expensive, but there's always a sale rack in the middle of the store with t-shirts at 50% off. The shoes seem to be pretty reasonably priced. The husband and wife team that run the place are very helpful and willing to tell you all about their merchandise and their store.
This place is, in my mind, a critical ingredient in the rich and hearty tossed salad that is Eagle Rock. (50/50 might be that Bacos in that salad, or maybe the fat beets -- *sorry*.) You'd have to give me a thousand Heather's Stores for one 50/50 Grind. 50/50 is giving you a chance to connect again to that vibrant, rich culture that sustained you through your angst-filled youth. You know you were listening to "It Ain't Hard to Tell" before squash matches at Brown, your AP Econ exam, or the GMAT. Now it's time for you to show some love back.
You deserve some new kicks, and a fresh t-shirt. 50/50 Grind has what you need. Visit today.
No comments: | <urn:uuid:107579d3-f9ab-4964-902d-46aee3078b1b> | http://octopusg.blogspot.com/2009/08/5050-grind-in-eagle-rock.html | en | 0.96689 | 0.024023 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Training >> Browse Articles >> Investigations
Juvenile Sexual Offenders: Continuous Research Needed
By Thomas G. Tittle / PATC
The point being, awareness is the best friend of the law enforcement officer. Awareness may come in the form of “gut feeling,” heavy suspicion, or “something isn’t right” combined with their assessment of the situation at hand.
These insights come from investigative experience and personally dealing with worst-=case scenarios during the peak of an explosive situation.
More disturbing is the thought that a juvenile sexual offender reaches adulthood and is never caught or his sexual deviance put in check, what victim numbers they could generate.
Statistically, with a continuous targeting of juveniles, the estimates vary, but some believe it to be more than 100 contacts before an offender is caught (not necessarily arrested) and more than 300 during their lifetime. Recognition of select behaviors enables law enforcement to be more in tune with the investigation of a sexual offense. The following is a review of 29 juvenile (accused, arrested and adjudicated as) sex offenders who have been surveyed on specific areas.
They go to “group” regularly and acknowledge their guilt. From their responses, several conclusions can be made. Some aspects of their behavior remain a mystery. The names, geographical locations of incidents or other identifiers are withheld for obvious reasons.
Where answers do not total 29, the responses were not given on the survey. In some cases, the cumulative answer may go beyond 29. In this event, the respondent had multiple answers/victims.
A survey of 29 juvenile boys arrested and convicted/adjudicated, ranging from age 10 to 17 when they committed their crimes, is reviewed. The boys racial background is revealed as 6 black, 17 white, two bi-racial and two Hispanic.
The questions totaled 34 and were short answer. Information was solicited about the offenders as well as their victim(s). Upon reviewing the findings, listed below are some answers accompanied with insight or analysis.
Regarding the offender’s age, most incidents occurred at age 15 with a 14 as a close second. In 25 of the incidents, the victim was younger than the offender. In two of the cases they were the same age, and two had older victims.
In cases where the offender was older, the average difference in age between the offender and their victim was 6.24 years. The largest in difference was 12 years.
Females were the primary targets with 22 and male contacts at nine. *Some perpetrators targeted both male and female.
The above is not revelation. Many studies sustain that the perpetrator is almost always older than the victim is and that there are more female than male victims.
Without exception, all knew their victims. Seventeen admit their victim was a friend, neighbor or someone they were babysitting. Eleven stated they were related to their victim.
Make no mistake that a stranger contact can occur, but in the majority of cases, victims know their assailant. Keeping it a secret is the key to success for the offender. The victim may not recognize the incident as wrong, or could be intimidated and fail to acknowledge the incident.
Overwhelmingly, the victim or perpetrator’s residence was the primary location of the crime. Twenty one responses confirmed this. Other areas mentioned were: school bus, hallway, walking home and school (3).
Select questions were asked about animals and living creatures and if the offender had ever hurt one. Sixteen responded they had, with three stating they had burned a living creature.
Six responders stated they had an attraction to fire. Responses ranged from one actually starting only one fire to another stating he had set 53.
Seven acknowledged they had experienced bedwetting incidents beyond the normal age. Averaging out their responses, the age they appear to have in common is 9.85 years. The ages ranged from age 7 to 13. However, not one states they currently have this problem.
To ask someone if they stole, hurt or assaulted another is easier for them to acknowledge than, “I wet my pants when I get excited.” For someone to admit this behavior may be worse than the offense itself (peer pressure, ridicule).
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a common question everyone is asked at one time or another. This, too, was inserted in the survey. Many responses included a high-risk behavior, such as: pilot (2), cop (3), astronaut, Marine, pro basketball, pro baseball (3) and the one with the most responses, pro football (4).
PoliceLink School Finder
| <urn:uuid:44f732d6-9cd5-4860-b4b6-4ef6c15ee9bf> | http://policelink.monster.com/training/articles/67608-juvenile-sexual-offenders-continuous-research-needed?page=2 | en | 0.970742 | 0.079077 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Managing Social Content to Maximize Value and Minimize Risk
The use of social business applications can lead to improved collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation across your organization. It also creates a new set of content management challenges. How can you incorporate knowledge and information generated in interactions into business processes and put it to work for the larger organization? How can you quickly and cost-effectively find information needed for legal or regulatory proceedings? The social content management strategy you put in place can make all the difference in the ultimate long-term value you receive and risks you face from social solutions. In this AIIM white paper, you will learn about the roles of content publishing systems and content management systems in social business strategies and steps you can take to help ensure that your social business efforts are as successful as possible.
Sponsor: IBM | <urn:uuid:878f32e6-9419-4097-8d58-80f385c3b9a3> | http://resources.computerworld.com/ccd/assets/50639/detail | en | 0.920864 | 0.177378 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
One in three motorists who kill and maim do no jail time
Driving dangerously, drunk or under the influence of drugs does not guarantee a prison term
by Sarah Barth November 3, 2012
A third of drivers who kill or maim on the roads escape prison, with a large number just carrying out community punishments.
In a study of 405 drivers who were convicted of dangerous driving, driving under the influence of alchohol or drugs, or driving a stolen car, al of which resulted in death or serious injury for another person, only one in three did any jail time at all.
Out of the 255 motorists who went to prison, 21 were given less than six months and 104 were jailed for under two years. Just 37 - around one in seven - got sentences of over five years, according to the Telegraph.
Although the maximum sentence for dangerous driving was lengthened from 10 years to 14 years in 2004, no driver has ever been given the highest tariff.
According to the Telegraph:
For the most serious offences - driving with a "deliberate decision or flagrant disregard" for the rules of the road - the starting point for judges when choosing a sentence is eight years. It can be longer if more than one person was killed, if the driver had previous offences and if they were driving while disqualified or in a stolen vehicle.
However, if the driving was creating only a "significant" danger - the lowest level of seriousness, the starting point for sentencing judges is three years and the maximum term is five. The sentence is shortened if the driver was also injured, the victim was a friend or they were "unwittingly" on drink or drugs.
Under rules applied to all criminals, a driver who pleads guilty before trial will see their sentence automatically reduced by a third, and most will be released on licence after serving half their sentence – meaning their period in jail could be a matter of months.
Stephen Barclay, the Tory MP for North East Cambridgeshire, is campaigning for tougher sentences following the death of one of his constituents. He has set up a website,
Of course, the problem as identified by many cycle campaigners, is that very few drivers who hit cyclists are charged as dangerous drivers.
This is because it is easier to secure a conviction for careless driving, although the maximum jail term for that charge is only five years.
Tougher sentences tend to be imposed only where there are other aggravating factors, such as the motorist involved driving without insurance or while disqualified, or if the vehicle involved in the incident has been stolen.
According to British Cycling, the sentencing in cases where a cyclist has lost their life or been seriously injured “frequently undermine confidence in the justice system and send the wrong message about how we as a society value life and the right of people to travel safely,” although it points out that “the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the courts believe they are correctly following the priorities, guidelines and laws that are currently in place.”
British Cycling is now asking for a review of the entire system surrounding how such incidents are investigated and how their prosecution is handled.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Within the limits set by Parliament, it is for independent judges to decide on the appropriate sentence for an offender. In doing so they will take into account all details of the offence including any aggravating or mitigating circumstances and sentencing guidelines.
| <urn:uuid:6caba906-936b-4235-a763-f3069748d270> | http://road.cc/content/news/69919-one-three-motorists-who-kill-and-maim-do-no-jail-time?quicktabs_4=1&quicktabs_2=0 | en | 0.977863 | 0.15643 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
My friend Bill showed me his managed investment account the other day. “While the S&P 500 is up 14 percent for the year, my account is only up 8 percent,” he moaned.
When I looked at his account, I saw the main reason. Like most investment advisers, Bill’s put 50 percent of his funds into bonds, and the other 50 percent into stocks and funds. The bonds had not gone up in value at all, and were producing about a 3 percent yield at best. So only 50 percent of the account was really in the market, and that 50 percent had actually outperformed the market a bit.
So why does anyone invest in bonds if they don’t perform as well as stocks and funds? That’s a debate that has been going on for a number of years. The rationale is that no one should put all their eggs into the market basket. If the market takes a real dive, you won’t lose all your eggs.
In the good old days that was a pretty good idea because bonds were paying a return greater than inflation. Today it is more questionable. During the past few years bonds have been paying very low returns, and while that might be in line with what the government says is the inflation rate, it doesn’t feel that way in the pocketbook. Investing in bonds over the last few years has not been very profitable.
And yet I do it. But I’m very careful about how I do it. Here’s the potential problem. When interest rates are as low as they are now, the only projected future for them would be to go up. But as interest rates go up, the value of bonds goes down. That’s because nobody wants your stinking 2 percent bonds if they can buy bonds just issued that are paying 3 percent. So your old 2 percent bonds become worth about $70 for every $100 dollars you paid for them.
Of course the saving grace for bonds is that unless the issuer goes out of business (another issue to discuss) upon maturity you will get back the amount you put in. If you think of bonds as a holding tank for some of your investment dollars, it’s a pretty good idea. But the trick when interest rates are low is to only buy short-term bonds, say two to three years in duration. Then you know that you will get your money back in a reasonably short period of time, and the value of the bonds will not go down so much because the money is not tied up for very long.
Another consideration is the financial credibility of the issuer. The best issuer, of course, is the U.S. government. But they pay the least return since everyone knows that it is a safe investment — 100 percent guaranteed. If the U.S. government goes out of business, your money is no good anyway, so you might as well have bonds. Even confederate bonds from the Civil War now have historical value.
As you move away from the most secure, you go to corporate bonds, and you can move from really solid companies to less solid, inappropriately called “junk bonds.” In fact, many are not junk, just not as safe as the best AAA companies. The junk bonds can pay much higher interest rates than government bonds or AAA company bonds.
Many investment advisers recommend only U.S. bonds because they don’t think the increased interest rate warrants the risk. I feel just the opposite. I think that if you buy a short-term junk bond fund, or a group of bonds in diverse industries, so that your risk is diversified, the larger dividend is well worth the risk.
Then there are some alternative bond investments, such as municipal bonds, which are generally tax free and pay an even lower interest rate (but since the return is tax free, the net after-tax result is typically about the same) and BND, the stock market exchange-traded fund for bond funds. That’s been moving down steadily in the recent past.
How to select a municipal bond is worth an article by itself.
One last point: the big advantage of bonds is that on maturity you get your money back. Remember, that’s not really true when you buy a bond fund. So, while bond funds are an easy way to diversify, they eliminate that one big element.
I did it again. I thought that as soon as someone in the Middle East did a no-no and we were faced with hawks calling for another invasion, gold would skyrocket. But it didn’t happen. There was a possibility that the U.S. would bomb Syria, but the gold buyers didn’t seem to care, and they keep selling instead of buying. Isn’t market prediction a wonderful science?
Print Friendly | <urn:uuid:622afa54-ca0f-4313-9acc-a93320f9b374> | http://smdp.com/dont-bond-with-your-bonds-buy-short-term/127283 | en | 0.97539 | 0.083674 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Sex Machine 1
By Admin Robert | Published 03/28/2013 | Slut wife stories | Unrated
The Sex Machine
Author: Sch
My eyes sprang open, I groaned and looked at the clock. It
was three in the morning and there was Larry standing next to our
bed. I was annoyed, we had not been having a very good
relationship lately, and like all wives I suspected another
woman. Larry liked money and believed he had married it when he
married me. He was wrong, he should have married my father. My
father hated his guts and cut me off. My marriage went downhill
after that day. Like I said, Larry liked money.
Now he looked so anxious that it was almost comical, the way
he pinched his legs together like he needed to take a piss.
Larry wanted me to see his latest invention and would not take no
for an answer. Larry had his moments, I had to admit. As it
turned out this was a turning point, this day was the beginning
and the end, as you will see in a minute.
Larry was basically a lazy asshole, but he was also a
mechanical genius in his own way. He could find more ways to fix
things, or more ways to use things, than anybody I ever knew.
Larry could take an ordinary electrical sander and use it to mix
paint, scramble an egg while it was still in the shell, separate
oil from water, and give me a good orgasm. Unfortunately, Larry
could not use an electric sander to sand. This led to a lot of
disappointment and unemployment. It also led to me trying to
figure out how to feed us, with no money. Who am I? I'm
Colleen, his wife.
The grocery problem is why there is a story to tell. Larry
came up with a new invention, and as usual he wanted to test it
on me first. He dreamed of selling his invention for millions.
He dreamed that way a lot, but he is about 999,999,99 dollars
Don't mind me, I'm pissed because half the things that make
life worth living, are gone, or so it seems. I haven't seen my
vibrator or hair dryer in over a week. Ok, on with the story.
"Colleen, you've got to try this," Larry insisted, full of
enthusiasm and disregarding the fact that the clock said 3:00
o'clock in the morning.
"Whatever it is, it can wait," I complained and rolled back
over. I rolled over so he was facing my back. I knew he
wouldn't go away, he never did. I was hoping my firm, softly
scented ass would distract him. He always liked the little blue
teddy I was wearing. I would have woken up for sex, hell what
women wouldn't? It worked somewhat, he sat on the bed beside me
and ran his hand over my bare leg, then massaged my firm ass for
a moment.
"Colleen, please," he pleaded. I had almost fallen asleep
again, his pleading voice annoyed the shit out of me.
"What, Larry, what is so fucking important that I have to get
up at 3 in the morning to see it?" I yelled, mad enough to start
hitting him with any heavy, handy object I could lay my hands on.
"I... I can't tell you, you have to experience it for
yourself. I promise it's the most fantastic thing you have ever
"Shit, it better be or you'll be talking to my lawyer. I've
had enough of this early morning shit to last a lifetime."
"I do my best work at night," he whined.
"And we starve because of it," I growled as I threw on my
bath robe.
"Come on," he pulled my hand and I was jerked along behind
him. In a moment I was startled by the cold of outside, sneaking
up under my knee length bathrobe.
"What the hell, Larry?"
"It's in the garage."
"You could have warned me. I could have dressed warmer."
"It doesn't matter, everything has to come off anyway," he
said, still tugging on my hand. Before I could object I found
myself in the garage. The car had long since refused to fit in
the crowded garage, but there had been an open area in the middle
of all the junk, where more junk could be put. Now even that was
full. The garage was packed with stuff from wall to wall. The
center of the floor was now filled with a metal corrugated
coffin, of some sort.
"Oh, you've invented a coffin," I said sarcastically.
"Huh? No, it's something better, you'll see," Larry said as
he tried to strip me. He flipped a switch on the side of the
coffin. I heard a familiar sound and shook off his hands as he
tried to strip me. I followed the source of the sound until I
found my hair dryer mounted on the bottom of the coffin. There
were also several motors, tubes, wires, and a sander under there.
"Larry, you fucking asshole. You know I've been looking for
that hair dryer for over a week. Why didn't you tell me you had
"I wanted to surprise you," he said lamely as he undid the
tie on my teddy and pulled it open. My firm ample breasts felt
the cooler air and the nipples hardened immediately. Larry
either didn't see, or didn't care. In a moment I stood totally
naked and completely furious. I was making divorce plans in my
head as I stood there naked and shivering in our garage.
Larry yanked open the coffin... ok it was probably a missile
storage box, he picked up stuff like that at the government
auctions, but it looked like a coffin. Anyway, Larry yanked open
the lid of the coffin and I found the top and bottom lined with
the heavy rubber used to line ponds. The outline inside was the
shape of a human body, it was a woman's body, but I had not been
the model. I reminded myself to ask him who the model had been,
once I got over the shock of the moment.
I moved closer to the coffin, curious despite myself. I
almost jerked away and ran, but I was intrigued by what I saw
inside. It looked like I had found my butt plug vibrator. The
top of the lid had a hole where my pussy would be. I found the
tip of my vibrator inside the dark hole.
Larry pulled out the huge bottle of cooking oil I had been
searching for and with a large paintbrush he began painting the
interior of the coffin. Every womanly curve of the interior was
soon oily, especially the butt plug and dildo. Larry went around
to the lid, unsnapped an area near the head, and pulled the
rubber head off the woman's image. IF I got inside, my face
would be out in the open now. Without asking, Larry tried to
push me into the coffin. I reluctantly neared it and climbed the
"When you get inside, slide your ass over the butt plug," he
said enthusiastically. I noticed that he had a raging hard-on.
If I had a prick I would have had a raging hard-on too.
With a great deal of work I got inside of the slippery rubber
image without killing myself. I slowly eased my ass down over
the butt plug and sighed in satisfaction when it slid up inside
me. The hair dryer had warmed the rubber and the butt plug. I
suddenly realized what the hair dryer was for, but I still didn't
forgive him for taking it.
"Now I'll close the lid," Larry said as he lowered the lid
over my body. The upper impression had slightly larger breasts
than I did. I started reviewing possible candidates in my head.
My eyes bugged out when I felt something trying to push it's way
inside my pussy.
"Relax," Larry said belatedly. "It will slide up inside you.
Tell me when it's in far enough and I'll stop," he said. I
looked down and saw his hands on a small lever near my right arm.
If he had cut a slot in the side I could have operated it myself.
It was the lever off the lazy boy chair, something else that had
been missing for a while.
"I had to admit, Larry had a fantastic invention. The oily
rubber lining felt wonderful on my body. The butt plug and dildo
would feel wonderful too, then he turned them on.
"Ready?" he asked with a smile.
"Sure, let her rip," I said in a bored voice the belayed my
"Ok, I'll start it on the lowest setting," he said
enthusiastically. I waited a minute and all hell broke lose.
The butt plug and dildo came to life, as I had expected, but much
more was happening too. I was feeling vibrations in all the
sensitive areas of my body, especially on my neck, near my ribs,
on my ass, and in the pelvic region. But that was just four of
many. My nipples were being stimulated by both vibration and
something that seemed to be going back and forth, strumming my
nipples like a finger waving back and forth. It was incredible!
"Faster?" Larry asked mischievously,
"Oh yeah," I said in a dreamy voice.
He looked a little surprised, but he kicked it up a notch. I
melted inside his invention as I felt even more areas being
stimulated by vibrations. The dildo vibrated inside my wet
pussy, trying to match it's rhythm with that being produced by
the butt plug and other vibrations around my body. They made a
humming tune as they aroused a hundred sleeping areas of my body,
places that had never been stimulated before. As far as I knew
Larry only knew of two sensitive areas on a woman's body, other
than the tits and pussy, those were the neck and the crease in my
thigh. But the less obvious areas were being stimulate too, like
the lower sides of my body, the inner thighs, and the area under
my tits that loved to be licked and kissed. It seemed like every
erotic point on my body was being stimulated, and Larry was too
stupid to know where they were. He'd had lots of help setting up
that machine, and not just on the impression inside the machine.
It could have been seconds, or hours, but I began feeling an
incredible warmth in my ass and pussy. As the warmth built my
eyes opened in horror, wondering if Larry was smart enough to
turn off the machine when my body grew sensitive. Too late, my
orgasm struck. I opened my mouth wide in a silent scream and
tried to hump my pussy against the vibrator. But the butt plug
and confinement inside the coffin stopped me. I wanted to mash
my tits in my hands, but I couldn't reach them. Over and over I
let out screaming gasps, afraid the neighbors would hear if I
didn't control myself.
"Turn... turn it off!" I gasped. Larry reached down and
turned a dial, slowly lowering it to zero. I lay gasping for
breath, not believing what I had just felt. When he pushed the
lever and the dildo slid out of me, I pushed up the lid and sat
up, with Larry's hand behind my back for support. With an
effort, I climbed out and almost fell on my face when the oil on
my feet slid on the cement floor. Larry grabbed me and held me
up. I looked at the satisfied smile on his face and for some
reason I hated him. Maybe it was the fact that he could
manipulate me like that, or maybe it was knowing that he had been
out in the garage with some naked woman, working on this project
while I bagged groceries so we could survive.
"You need to make the controls so I can reach them from
inside," I said breathlessly.
"I'm already working on that, it's a simple change," he said
with an assurance that he had not shown for years.
"So how did you like it?" he asked needlessly.
"Oh, it's ok," I said blandly.
With a disappointed look, Larry locked in the rest of the lid
and started the automatic wash cycle in the coffin. I smiled
when my back was turned and began making plans for my next sexual
adventure in the machine. I also walked out of the garage making
future plans in my head.
You may wonder why this fantastic machine is not on the
market, after all it's been over a year since Larry invented it.
There's not much doubt that every woman would like one. Well,
that's my fault. You see it will never come out on the market, I
was given the device in my divorce decree.
Instead of going to work the next morning I went down to the
local coffee shop and had coffee, then I circled around and
parked a block from home. When I arrived at the garage what to
my wondering eyes should appear? Peggy, the next door neighbor
bitch dressed in a bathrobe. Larry greeted her eagerly with a
kiss and hurried her inside. My last thought, before I turned
around and called my lawyer, was that Peggy's tits didn't look
much bigger than mine, but her ass certainly did.
All stories
How would you rate the quality of this Story?
1 2 3 4 5
Poor Excellent
Enter the security code shown below:
Add comment
Admin Robert
Porn links | <urn:uuid:0b56b374-838e-4265-b71e-59df8873c6a1> | http://www.apornstories.com/stories/130/1/The-Sex-Machine.html | en | 0.98547 | 0.064081 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
18 Ways To Get Arrested In Russia For Being Gay Or Gay Adjacent
Russia, you in danger, gurl. Update:Vitaly Milonov, the man who wrote Russia’s anti-gay law, is now attempting to charge Lady Gaga and Madonna (12 and 13 on this list) with “promoting sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism among minors.”
“Have you told heterosexuals to become homosexuals?” “Do you think LGBT people are better than straight people?”
These are questions Kris van der Veen, a Dutch activist and filmmaker, was asked by Russian police after he and three other people were arrested in Murmansk, Russia while interviewing people for a documentary about LGBT issues. The police who interrogated van der Veen for almost ten hours wanted to know “if he was a gay spy of some sort, sent from the Netherlands to corrupt Russian youth.”
The questions reveal how disturbing and vaguely worded the law is. Take a look at the most important part of the law, the part that’s supposed to define gay propaganda:
Promotion of non-traditional sexual relations among minors, expressed in the dissemination of information aimed at the formation of non-traditional sexual facilities, attractiveness of non-traditional sexual relations, a distorted picture of the social equivalence of traditional and non-traditional sexual relations, or the imposition of information about non-traditional sexual relations, causing interest in relationships…
In plain English, the new law says there are four kinds of “gay propaganda” that can get you in trouble while you’re in Russia:
1. Encouraging minors to form LGBT groups.
2. Making LGBT relationships and lifestyles look “attractive” to minors.
3. Giving minors the “distorted” impression that LGBT relationships are as normal as traditional heterosexual relationships.
4. Forcing pro-LGBT information on minors.
In short, doing anything that portrays LGBT life in a positive way near anyone under the age of eighteen is illegal in Russia. Vladimir Putin has assured reporters that this law is “not about imposing some sort of sanctions on homosexuality,” but yeah: that’s exactly what law does.
Here are a few of the things that’ll get you arrested in Russia:
1. Wearing this shirt.
(I’ve already placed an order for this shirt.)
2. Or one of these pins when you’re walking around Sochi.
3. All of y’all are going to jail.
4. Marching at a Pride parade while holding a rainbow flag.
Olga Maltseva / Getty Images
5. Holding a rainbow flag in Moscow’s Red Square.
6. Being Tilda Swinton and holding a rainbow flag in front of the Kremlin.
(I, for one, think the Kremlin is a very gay looking building and should be arrested.)
7. Sharing this post about Tilda Swinton holding a rainbow flag in front of the Kremlin with a teenager.
8. Reading this article about Russia’s anti-gay law is illegal if you’re under the age of 18 in Russia.
Ria Novosti, a Russian news site, includes this warning on all articles related to LGBT issues.
9. Don’t even think about telling gay teens in Russia “it gets better.”
(No, seriously. Thinking about it is probably illegal.)
10. Holding hands while wearing a rainbow bracelet will probably get you arrested too.
Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters
11. Ironically, since Stolichnaya has emphasized its support of the LGBT community, one could make the argument that if you’re drinking it in public in Russia, you’re promoting the gay lifestyle.
12. Let’s just assume Lady Gaga would be arrested just for showing up again.
13. The same goes for Madonna and her #SecretProject.
14. Kissing in public will most certainly get you in trouble.
15. Getting a whole bunch of gay people together to kiss in public will likely get you arrested (and possibly attacked.)
16. Dancing to the Spice Girls in HIGH HEELS in PUBLIC?! Oh, gurl. You’re so arrested.
(You keep all that fierceness in France where it belongs!)
17. The same goes for any gay flash mob to “Single Ladies.”
This performance was part of a really elaborate (and adorable) gay marriage proposal. Needless to say, such loveliness won’t fly in the Mother Country.
18. Drag queens? Sashay away to jail.
Check out more articles on!
Contact Saeed Jones at
Your Reaction?
More News
More News
Now Buzzing | <urn:uuid:c3e3b099-abfc-4628-a7e4-c0ba53b37180> | http://www.buzzfeed.com/saeedjones/18-ways-to-get-arrested-in-russia-for-being-gay-or-gay-adjac | en | 0.911285 | 0.022341 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
How do I remove and replace a laptop key or keycap?
Note: This document is also meant for general reference and may not apply to your laptop. If you have a desktop computer, see removing keys from a desktop keyboard steps.
Notice: Before removing any of the keyboard's keys, make sure the computer is turned off, or at the very least locked so nothing is mistakenly typed as it could cause other problems.
Removing keycap
1. Laptop keyboard key retainerTo remove the keycap from a keyboard place your finger nail, small flat-head screwdriver, or knife under a corner of the key and gently pry the keycap up and away from the laptop.
2. In many situations, the key only snaps out partially. If the keycap is still attached to the laptop use your fingers to remove the keycap completely.
3. Once removed you should see the key retainer (scissor-switch) still attached to the laptop with the pad in the middle. If needed, this too can be removed from the laptop by placing the flat head of a screwdriver or a knife's edge under a corner and gently twisting until it pops off.
Replacing the keycap
Tip: If you need a new keyboard key for you laptop, has a great selection.
1. With the key removed, carefully observe the metal hooks on the keyboard where the old key used to be.
2. Orient the plastic hinge (new or old) so that the holes line up with the metal hooks.
3. Insert the smaller plastic piece, usually referred to as a cup, evenly into the center of the retainer.
4. Replace the keycap and press evenly on all four sides.
Additional information | <urn:uuid:949d3df8-24f7-46a7-ba0e-08c8d55df328> | http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001244.htm | en | 0.908343 | 0.806297 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Filipinos swap guns for rakes
US-funded seaweed farms offer a model of economic revival for militant regions.
They used to call him the Singing Commander for the guitar he'd exchange for his M-16 after a hard day on patrol in the jungles of the southern Philippines. But Haji Abdullah Usman says "Seaweed King" better suits him now.
His transformation from Muslim rebel commander to manager of a thriving seaweed cooperative may point the way forward for the softer side of the Bush administration's war on terror: The effort to use aid to bring peace and order to the places that are currently breeding grounds for extremism.
Mr. Usman says that when he led his men out of the jungle following the Moro National Liberation Front's (MNLF) 1996 peace agreement with the Philippines, it was a joyous moment, but also a terrifying one: What, he wondered, are my men and I going to do now? The MNLF's 40,000-member army had been fighting since 1972 to create an independent state on Mindanao, the island home of most of the country's Muslim minority.
As an MNLF leader, he had received an education at Libya's Al-Fatah University in the mid-1970s. But thousands of his comrades had been fighting in the jungles of Mindanao since they were teenagers.
Their skills were confined to warfare, and Usman worried they might be driven to banditry if peace didn't provide them with tangible returns. He watched them grow restless as the status and relevance they once felt as warriors diminished.
"We came out of the jungle because we wanted our children to go to school, get married, have the lives that we didn't. But none of that happens without jobs." In 1998 the jobs came, thanks to grants and technical assistance from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
US officials say they recognized that the 1996 peace agreement signed between the Philippines government and the MNLF wouldn't hold unless the former fighters found an economic stake in keeping the peace. After all, it was a peace agreement, not a surrender, and most of the MNLF fighters retained their weapons. "Heavily armed and unemployed is never a good combination,'' says one US official.
The USAID grants, now called the Livelihood Enhancement and Peace Program (LEAP), helped Usman and 800 of his fighters learn the seaweed trade. Today, the Taluk Sangay Seaweed Cooperative is flourishing in the gentle waters of the Sulu Sea off Mindanao's southern coast.
The cooperative sells seaweed to Japanese processors, who turn it into additives for items such as candy bars and ice cream.
Alih Amsani, a rebel-turned-seaweed farmer with a wisp of a mustache, breaks into a gap-toothed smile when asked about the benefits of working rather than fighting.
He points to his two children, a 12-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old son, both of whom go to school - something he never had a chance to do. "Before we had to carry guns in the jungle, no money, and never knowing where we'd be. Now I'm making a living and own a house,'' he says, pointing out that he now makes about $2,000 a year. That's enough to buy his most prized possession - a 5.5 horsepower Honda outboard motor that he stores in his kitchen when he is not using it to check on his seaweed.
Poverty is far from the sole cause of extremism. But the absence of economic alternatives in places like the Southern Philippines, say experts, creates lawlessness and hopelessness - fertile conditions for terrorism.
Not only did the MNLF have 40,000 men under arms and hundreds of thousands of sympathizers, but the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is still fighting for an independent state, has more than 10,000 soldiers. The MILF, currently in a shaky ceasefire, is scheduled to meet with the Philippines government for a fourth round of talks later this month or in early April in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Terrorism experts say Al Qaeda operatives have successfully recruited some members of the MILF. US special forces are currently on nearby Basilan island hunting the Abu Sayyaf, a small Muslim extremist group with historic ties to Al Qaeda, that also sprouted among the Muslim population of the region.
All of these armed groups, in need of financial assistance and operating outside the bounds of the law, create attractive conditions for terrorists to operate, terrorism experts say. In December 2000, an Al Qaeda operative worked with factions of the MILF to blow up a train station in Manila, killing 22.
Those ties convinced the US to also give $100 million in military aid to the Philippines. Experts here say wiping out the Abu Sayyaf, which has about 200 members, will be relatively easy. They say the hard part will be changing the economic and social conditions that created the Abu Sayyaf in the first place.
"The more prosperous an area in Mindanao, the fewer law-and order-problems we find. That's not a coincidence,'' says Ronaldo Ypil, a manager for LEAP, which is overseeing the work with the former MNLF members fighters. "The key to peace is economic development."
Since 1998, more than 15,000 ex-MNLF rebels have found a place in the peacetime economy with US assistance. They become seaweed farmers if they live on the coast, or rice and corn farmers if they live further inland. Some are fishermen.
"We really have to thank the US government for bringing us a chance for peace and development,'' says Usman, with the briny smell of drying seaweed on the back porch wafting into his living room. "But we're also very confused. Why are the US soldiers coming here? The problems can't be solved by bringing more forces and weapons to the field."
There is still a great deal of distrust here. Though the MNLF has a peace agreement with the government, Usman and his men still consider themselves members of the organization - and say they have arms stored in case the relationship breaks down.
"To this day I am MNLF. They should be careful,'' he says.
Disarming the farmers, most of whom retained their guns after the 1996 peace deal, is the next step. "Slowly we are trying to convince them to adopt a more civilian style. Over time, it's working'' says Ypil.
USAID is expecting that its budget for Mindanao will be increased in the coming year. US officials say $5 million more will be provided to help 3,000 other former rebels. They may also expand the program to members of the MILF, if that rebel group reaches a peace agreement with the government.
At Taluk Sangay, the LEAP program spent an average of $400 dollars per rebel to prepare them for seaweed farming. They provided them with seedlings, the monofilament line the seaweed grows on, and bamboo platforms from which they float the lines.
The farmers can achieve six harvests a year. Most days they pull up their lines to hand-clean sand and debris from the seaweed. Post harvest, the seaweed is dried for a week in the sun, fading from a brilliant green to bone white.
Share this story:
Save for later
Saved ( of items)
This item has been saved to read later from any device.
View Saved Items
Failed to save
You reached the limit of 20 saved items.
Please visit following link to manage you saved items.
View Saved Items
Failed to save
You have already saved this item.
View Saved Items | <urn:uuid:49286014-6119-48db-9812-5d2feed84ff6> | http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0305/p01s04-woap.html | en | 0.969316 | 0.052165 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Eat Right 4 Your Type®
A database of blood group correlations to common diseases
Total number of records: 145 Matching records: 1
Emphysema (COPD)
Description:ABH non-secretors have a higher incidence of emphysema and COPD.Nonsecretors had significantly lower mean values of forced expiratory volume in one second as a percentage of forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC%) and a significantly larger proportion of them had aberrant values, defined as FEV1/FVC% less than 68. These differences remained when mean values or rates of aberrancy were adjusted for other factors reported to alter risk of airway obstruction. In view of the known COPD-peptic ulcer and nonsecretor-duodenal ulcer associations, these findings suggest that the ability to secrete ABH antigens into secretions of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract may have a protective effect on epithelialized organs in general, or on the lung and portions of the gut specifically. (1)
For example, ABO type, familial component, coffee drinking and diet soda intake were related to marked differences in lung function in cigarette smokers, but had little impact in never smokers. Thus, interactions of factors must be considered when assessing risk of pulmonary dysfunction. In the longitudinal evaluation, 11 factors found to be significant on cross sectional study plus 4 tests of lung function (closing capacity, diffusing capacity, slope of Phase III, and flow volume curves) were examined for correlations with loss of forced expiratory volume. Consistently greater declines of lung function were noted in males, older subjects, smokers, whites, and individuals carrying the type A blood group allele. (2)
At higher pack-year levels, those individuals with the A antigen or the family history, but especially those with both factors had a much lower mean FEV1/FVC % and a much higher prevalence of AO than expected based on a simple additive model. On the other hand, there was no interaction between smoking and PiZ allele, or smoking and ABH secretor status. (3)
References:1. Cohen BH, Bias WB, Chase GA, Diamond EL, Graves CG, Levy DA, Menkes H, Meyer MB, Permutt S, Tockman MS. Is ABH nonsecretor status a risk factor for obstructive lung disease? Am J Epidemiol. 1980 Mar;111(3):285-91.
2.Menkes HA, Cohen BH, Beaty TH, Newill CA, Khoury MJ. Risk factors, pulmonary function, and mortality. Prog Clin Biol Res. 1984;147:501-21
3.Khoury MJ, Beaty TH, Newill CA, Bryant S, Cohen BH. Genetic-environmental interactions in chronic airways obstruction. Int J Epidemiol. 1986 Mar;15(1):65-72.
List All Diseases in Database
2015-10-6: Current Date 15:12:32 GMT: Current Time
By Peter D'Adamo. Copyright 2001-2015.
Need Help?
Personalized Living
Archive | Signup | Blog
Become a Patient
| <urn:uuid:25bbc348-74a1-4c81-8081-b9b2043dc6c5> | http://www.dadamo.com/btdisease/PathType-read.pl?ID=85 | en | 0.892465 | 0.022395 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Size: 7.5 ounces
Item 9275
0 Reviews
Write a Review
Price: $16.99
The story of Stichelton is one of returning to the roots of British cheese making, but still ending up with something modern and unique. English Blue Stilton is a name controlled cheese, and it must be made with pasteurized milk by law. But as cheesemaker Joe Schneider and Randolph Hodgson of Neal's Yard Dairy began talking about making a raw milk Stilton, they soon stopped talking and began to take action. Stichelton is a true farmhouse cheese – made on the farm, with the cows and milking taking place just a few room away. Using traditional rennet and a long, slow ripening time, the milk is transformed into a soft, gentle curd, retaining all the flavor and nutrition of the pure, raw milk.
Stichelton is a cheese that best resembles a Stilton from the pre-industrial era. A huge amount of work is done by hand; even the sides of the wheels are gently smoothed down with the use of a butter knife. Only 30 wheels of Stichelton are made a day, with variations in tastes and flavor ebbing and flowing with the seasons and the cows' feeding habits. This is a cheese that is inherently connected to the land, with a flavor that is both intense, smooth, and tantalizing. Made after a Stilton recipe, this cheese is obviously a natural partner for dessert with port and pears, or served with good crusty bread and toasted walnuts. Funnily enough, since the cheese could legally not be called "Stilton," they took the name "Stichelton" from the old name of the town of Stilton, as it was recorded in the twelfth century Lincoln Rolls of the Lincoln Cathedral. So in nearly every way, this cheese is both an exciting new creation and a traditional return to form for British blue cheeses.
• Made from unpasteurized cow's milk.
• Photo depicts whole 15 lb. form of cheese.
• We cut and wrap this item by hand. | <urn:uuid:17d608ff-fefc-4d51-89f6-2b02cc2568b9> | http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe/snapshot.aspx?prod=9275&cf=usp_ListProducts_Sel&cprod= | en | 0.966234 | 0.034131 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Shining the Light
Donate Now
Who's On The Air?
Who's On Air | Corry Reynolds
Corry Reynolds
Brett Ritchey
Brett Ritchey
so i'm watching Return to Oz now and i'm about half way through it. the movie used to scare me big time when i was a kid. how in the world could the wonderful world of Oz have turned into a place where the Munchkins are gone, the yellow brick road is destroyed along with the emerald city and evil is all over the place. it was always quite the contrast from the 'lollipop guild' and singing munchkins to the 'wheelers' and the many heads of the princess.
but really on further viewings, was the first land of Oz as magical as i thought it was. two wicked witches basically running the world with a cowardly wizard hiding behind smoke and mirrors, crazy flying monkeys that steal you away and a bunch of line stomping blue faced guys chanting monk songs!? not everything was a bed of roses for that time in the land of Oz either.
Oz intrigues me though, and i'll be sure to watch the rest of it soon. fantasy worlds like that often can have fascinating parallels with our world as well as our spiritual lives and struggles.
Bookmark and Share
type the text above in the box below
J103 Trailer
J103 Newsletter Signup
Privacy by SafeSubscribe J103 RSS Feed | <urn:uuid:32ec976c-003b-4d6c-9661-5231e1174f66> | http://www.j103.com/blog/brett-richeys-blog/2009/10/oz | en | 0.937166 | 0.042187 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Thinking ahead..
(28 Posts)
Teacherandmum Tue 04-Jun-13 14:39:55
Hi all,
Has anyone boycotted testing at their child's school?
Any other words of wisdom?
Thank you!
exoticfruits Wed 05-Jun-13 00:37:31
I would wait until you have the child and see what sort you have!
Starting later isn't a problem- they start later in other countries.
I can't see how you boycott tests is yr2 because it isn't a set day. If you are talking about year 6 it is a long way off and things may well have changed - again you don't know what sort of DC you will have.
They have minds of their own!
exoticfruits Wed 05-Jun-13 00:42:28
I was a teacher and I really thought that a DC was a blank sheet- I couldn't have been more wrong - they have strong personalities and ideas from the start!
exoticfruits Wed 05-Jun-13 00:43:14
It was my biggest shock as a parent.
LucyBucy Thu 06-Jun-13 12:38:03
Hi, I would agree with exoticfruits to wait until you see what 'sort' of child you have! Also, you really don't know what sort of parent you're going to be until you actually have a child: I have amazed myself at how many thoughts/feelings/principles have gone out of the window since having my 2!
If you have a child like mine that doesn't cope with change well, then HE would be useful to avoid school upheaval during Reception/Year 1. On the other hand, your child might relish school life and change.
Either way, it's good to bear HE in mind when you're making education decisions in the future.
musicposy Sat 08-Jun-13 13:53:45
You can't boycott testing if they're in school. If they are in Y2 they will do Y2 SATs and you don't have any say in that. Of course, you could always home educate for that term! But SATs in Y2 are no big deal nowadays - it's only really a teacher assessment, and it's all such a long way off anything could happen.
DD1 did both Y2 and Y6 SATs as she was in school then. DD2 only did Y2 SATs as she was out of school by Y6. They are unbelievably irrelevant. Nobody ever asks or cares what you got, even if you go back into school at a later date.
It's good to be thinking about all your options, though. I know people who knew they would never send their children to school who ended up doing so as the children demanded it! Then there are lots like us who started in school and would never return. I think a lot of childhood is not set in stone; you do the best for your child at that particular point in time. Every child is different, even within the same family. The key is to always be on their side, listening to what they want and doing what feels best for them. smile
exoticfruits Sat 08-Jun-13 21:37:24
Very true, musicposy, which is why you need to wait for the actual child at the time - you can't plan it for the hypothetical one- although there is no harm in thinking of the possible options.
Saracen Sat 08-Jun-13 23:46:50
Wellll... It probably is true that certain children are more inclined toward school than home education, and vice versa.
But I think too much is being made of the notion that you have to wait and see what sort of child you have, as if it were all down to chance and parental preference were fairly irrelevant.
There are a lot of different schools, and it seems likely to me that for nearly any given child there is a school in existence where that child could be happy. There might not be any such school near where he lives, or he might not be able to get a place there, or his parents might not be able to afford it. But if his parents were very keen on sending him to school and were prepared to go to great lengths such as moving house, chances are that they could accommodate him.
By the same token, there are all sorts of different ways to home educate and environments in which to do it. For this reason, I think there are very few children who cannot enjoy home education. Parents who believe in home education can usually find a way to make it a happy experience for their children if they are willing and able to think hard about their child's needs and work at accommodating them. Discussions about how to improve a particular child's experience of HE are frequent in my circle.
So I don't see why home education (or school) shouldn't be Plan A for a given parent or couple. If it doesn't seem to be working, there are things one can try in order to fix the situation. In the end, it may be that the parent does have to resort to Plan B and use an education system which she doesn't really like, having concluded that Plan A is unworkable after all. But I think it is unduly negative to suggest that Teacherandmum shouldn't plan to home educate in the first instance.
Apologies in advance for banging on about this again, but one of my children is the very stereotype of a child who would be suited to school. From an early age she was outgoing and confident. She loved to be around people. She was compliant, bright and interested in academics, and was autumn-born. She was as "ready" for school as any other child in her year group. I think that if anybody would do well at school and enjoy it, she would.
So why didn't I send her? Well, there are just a lot of things I dislike about the school system. And I thought that with the right environment, home education could suit her even better than school, that she would be happier out of school than in. With some luck and some effort on my part (primarily through focusing on her strong social needs), she has had that environment. She has loved home education. Eventually I did encourage her to satisfy her curiosity by trying school when the time was right, after which she chose to return to home education. It's still not impossible she might end up in school later on, but at this stage I have every reason to expect HE can be adapted to meet her changing needs.
This is why I don't really go along with the idea that home education is OK for children like my younger daughter who doesn't fit the school mould, but is wrong for children like my older daughter who could fit into school without too much effort. Even before you've met your child, there's nothing wrong with planning to home educate just because it feels right to you.
exoticfruits Sun 09-Jun-13 07:56:28
Nothing wrong with planning it but you might have a DC like me who couldn't wait to go to school and count it as one of the happiest parts of my childhood. I think that you need to support the DC that you get and not mould to the one you want. They can be very different within the same family- I think that my brother would have absolutely loved to be HEd.
exoticfruits Sun 09-Jun-13 07:58:09
I can't say that I am, or was, very interested in my mother's views on education or her own experiences of school- it was mine that counted.
exoticfruits Sun 09-Jun-13 08:01:10
Certainly in teacherandmums circumstances it would be sensible to have HE as the default position and see how it pans out- 4/5 yrs is very young to start school.
Saracen Sun 09-Jun-13 13:09:02
True, but it's a rare child who already has well-informed and mature views about school when very young. They haven't experienced a range of different types of schools, or a variety of approaches to home education.
As I say, there's a good chance that if your mum had been determined to do so, she could have provided you with a home ed environment which gave you pretty much all the things which you loved about school.
The fact that you loved school doesn't mean you couldn't have loved home education just as much or even more. After a child who'd been unhappy at school starts home ed, it is fairly common for his siblings to choose the same course within a year, even if they had been happy previously at school.
I do think all children should ultimately have the power to decide how to be educated, but they aren't necessarily in a position to do that when they are very young. The OP isn't talking about removing a happy teenager from school against his will, but about how she thinks she might start off a young child's education. It seems to me that her views on education are very relevant to the decision.
musicposy Sun 09-Jun-13 13:27:32
I certainly think you can have home education as your Plan A, just as most people have school. I know lots of people who have done that and their children have been happily home educated for their whole lives. Iknow others who have really wanted to go to school. Some tried it and quickly realised they weren't missing much! Others have stayed put.
I was only saying that, particularly as your children get older, they will have their own opinions on the matter. I adored secondary school, loved every minute of it. DD1 went to the very same school and hated it, which took me a while to take on board - I found it hard to understand. But she is not me so I listened and took her out. If I had more children now, home ed would definitely be my Plan A. But I'd be prepared to be flexible.
NeoMaxiZoomDweebie Sun 09-Jun-13 13:35:13
I did suspect something about the EYFS and their budget as my DD in reception was a little slow to pick up phonics and the staff were ON me like a ton of bricks.
I was confused as DD was at the time FOUR years old, bright articulate, interested...she'd just not picked up all the sounds but they were talking about IEPs and all kinds.
IN my older DDs private school which she had attended at the same age, I wasn't even involved in her learning to read other than reading with her at night...she just learned to read in the old fashioned way and could read well at 5.
My younger DD is now 5 and thanks to heavy handed intervention on my part, she can now read right in time according to her teacher. hmm She needed to be able to "tick" the boxes apparently.
exoticfruits Sun 09-Jun-13 19:46:01
I can't think that I would have loved HE- I would have been stuck with younger siblings all the time, missed the sheer excitement of school and seeing the same DCs every day. I can still remember crying when my mother wouldn't let me go because I had a raging temperature. You do also need to listen to the DC- if they can't wait to start you can be sure that they want to try it. They are all different. I need to be taught. Even at my age if I want to learn something I want a class, I want a teacher, I want other people learning the same thing at the same time and it simply doesn't work for me if someone 'felicitates' my learning. One size doesn't fit all which is why you need to wait and see.
I am very different from my mother- she couldn't understand why I hated team games!
As a very shy, bookish, unsporty DC, school was the best place for me.
Saracen Mon 10-Jun-13 08:03:37
OK exotic, I'm glad you had such a great time at school!
I love your turn of phrase "felicitating" learning, which I hadn't heard before! That's great. I'll have to use it.
exoticfruits Mon 10-Jun-13 09:19:11
You will find it on HE threads- I don't know how you have missed it!
My only point is - wait and see what the DC is like.
Saracen Mon 10-Jun-13 10:16:43
Oh, I thought you were making a joke and I liked it!
You're thinking of "facilitate" which means to make easier or assist. "Felicitate" is to congratulate or make happy, which is why I thought it was a clever and apt phrase which pokes a bit of fun at "facilitating learning."
Well, it still is, even if you were being clever by accident on this occasion. wink
exoticfruits Mon 10-Jun-13 21:11:28
Sorry- the truth is very mundane- my iPad has a mind of it's own- sometimes I notice and correct, but I dare say that a lot gets through completely unnoticed. A pity my best lines are accidental! ( accidental came out as 'vice tail' - but it was odd enough to notice).
LucyBucy Tue 11-Jun-13 13:17:50
I just wanted to say that being a parent changes you - I know I had lots of ideas about how I would be as a parent which all went out of the window once my first was born. I really thought - just assumed... maybe naively - I would just carry on with my life as it was, go back to work etc, but hadn't understood how my attitudes towards parenting would change, I became a co-sleeping, baby-led weaner who is about to start homeschooling! I think anyone who knew me a few years ago would be quite surprised by the route I've taken.
On the other hand, my cousin who was much more 'into' children than I ever was before I had them, couldn't wait to go back to work after maternity leave.
If I could re-wind the clock a few years I wouldn't have bothered with schooling in the first place but it just wasn't on my radar. But on the other hand, maybe its a good thing I now know it's not the place for us right now.
Keep an open mind and explore all options smile
exoticfruits Tue 11-Jun-13 18:59:11
I absolutely cringe at my ideas of parents and parenting before I had children! I worked with them everyday and thought I 'knew' what it would be like to have my own- it was a huge learning curve.
Saracen Wed 12-Jun-13 05:19:20
Parenting is a huge learning curve, but the ideas and plans and philosophies of future parents still deserve respect. It's true that the OP's opinions and situation may veer away from HE, but they may not.
I'm imagining what it would have been like for me if, before my children were born, I had mentioned on a breastfeeding forum that I planned to breastfeed them until they wanted to stop and had asked for information and advice about that. If people had responded to my queries by telling me I ought to just wait and see and make no plans to breastfeed, because my children might prefer formula, I wouldn't have found that helpful. A passing comment about BF being difficult for some people and things not always working out according to plan would have been OK, but more than that would have been misplaced, certainly on a breastfeeding forum.
Rozna is not proposing to enter into a 20-year contract to home educate. She's just considering the option.
exoticfruits Wed 12-Jun-13 07:30:49
I can't think that I said that ideas, plans and philosophies didn't deserve respect - or that they were wrong- or she shouldn't do them. In fact I specifically said that it may well be the best option, in her situation.
My one point is that you need to wait and see what child you have, rather than the hypothetical one. OP is a primary teacher, like me, and we are in a prime position for having theories because we see the results of people's parenting philosophies every day- however - what you can't know in advance is how different it is in practice!
The breast feeding is a case in point. I was set on doing it and assumed that the baby and I would both do it naturally but neither of us had a clue! If it hadn't been for the time and help of hospital staff we would never have mastered it. It would have been helpful to have been told that it can be difficult and in my case it would have been helpful to have been told about mastitis.
The same with childbirth- people write elaborate birth plans and have such set ideas of what they want and then feel they have failed if they have medical intervention. It is much better to point out that there is no harm in a plan but they may not achieve it- and they have not 'failed'.
SDeuchars Wed 12-Jun-13 07:54:26
I know we are getting away from the OP's original questions (and she hasn't returned - hope we haven't scared her off) ...
I agree with Saracen about it not being particularly useful to wait and see what the child is like WRT school. Initially, a 4yo does not have an opinion about school or HE - but may need expectations managing if friends are going off and family expects it to happen. An older child may have an opinion and may want to try school - and then may or may not decide to stay.
TBH, exoticfruits, I don't think you are in a position to say you would have hated HE - you didn't have the option.
I would have been stuck with younger siblings all the time - not if that's not how your parents organised things
missed the sheer excitement of school and seeing the same DCs every day - possibly...
I can still remember crying when my mother wouldn't let me go because I had a raging temperature. - but that was because you were already in school and had certain expectations. If you had been HE, there would have been no school to cry about.
Even at my age if I want to learn something I want a class, I want a teacher, I want other people learning the same thing at the same time - I'm not sure that what holds for adult learning also applies to children's learning, especially in R and Y1 where they are not learning specific skills (as you would if you took up, e.g. Mandarin). It's also different because you would not spend 6 hours a day, 5 days a week in the class, doing mostly stuff that you could do at home - and sometimes better (with fewer distractions, able to spend as long as you want on something, etc.). The adult with care of a 4-5yo is usually in a position to pass on most, if not all, the skills the child needs where you (presumably) do not have a Mandarin speaker at home.
exoticfruits Wed 12-Jun-13 08:09:00
I knew about school and I couldn't wait to go- why would you then tell me that it wasn't going to be for me - that I would have to watch all the neighbours children setting off in the morning but I had to stay at home?
Join the discussion
Join the discussion
Register now | <urn:uuid:a250fe09-dfa4-42bf-bc18-cc67fcddda6b> | http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/home_ed/1771778-Thinking-ahead?pg=1 | en | 0.98974 | 0.098949 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Marijuana news: U.S. House vote blocking feds from meddling in state medical pot laws surprises even advocates (video)
An amendment barring the U.S. Department of Justice from interfering with state medical marijuana laws got a surprising boost from GOP lawmakers.
Though many Republican lawmakers remain opposed to marijuana reform, others view the federal war on drugs as overreach "and a violation of the rights of more than two dozen states that have legalized cannabis or specific components of it for medical use," the Los Angeles Times reports. The U.S. House narrowly passed the amendment Friday; it now heads to the Democratic Senate.
Writes LA Times reporter Evan Halper:
Most GOP stalwarts, of course, continue to rail against liberalization of the laws. Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, a physician, declared during floor debate that medical marijuana is a sham. Real medicine, he said, "is not two joints a day, not a brownie here, a biscuit there. That is not modern medicine."
But in a sign of how the times are changing, he found himself challenged by a colleague from his own caucus who is also a doctor. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) spoke passionately in favor of the bill. "It has very valid medical uses under direction of a doctor," he said. "It is actually less dangerous than some narcotics prescribed by doctors all over the country." Georgia is among the many states experimenting with medical marijuana. A state program there allows its limited use to treat children with severe epileptic seizures.
Here's a clip of Republican U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher's closing remarks on the debate early Friday:
In a piece for The Huffington Post, Ryan J. Reilly writes that the narrow vote for the amendment surprised even marijuana advocates, including Tom Angell, chairman of the Marijuana Majority.
"While I always knew it would happen sooner than most political observers thought, it's still hard to believe this just happened," Angell told Reilly.
The Marijuana Policy Project's Dan Riffle said he thought the amendment had a chance of passing.
"When I saw the vote total, I was shocked -- not so much that it passed, but by the margin," Riffle told the Huffington Post.. "I figured we might get lucky and pass it by 5-10 votes, but never thought a 30 vote margin was a possibility."
Oregonian senior political reporter Jeff Mapes noted in a story on Friday that Oregon's U.S. Rep. Greg Walden was among the Republicans who supported the amendment. (Mapes reports that Oregon's delegation, which includes U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a sponsor of the amendment and an outspoken proponent of marijuana reform, voted for the measure.)
The unanimous vote appeared to be a recognition of how deeply entrenched medical marijuana is in Oregon. The state was one of the first to approve medical marijuana, in a 1998 ballot measure. Last year, the Legislature passed a law allowing regulated dispensaries to open (although several localities have sought to prohibit them).
Medical marijuana was approved the same year in Washington state, but three of the state's Republican representatives voted against the House amendment. They are Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who represents southwest Washington, and Reps. Dave Reichert and Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
-- Noelle Crombie | <urn:uuid:7b772036-0edc-45b6-a2ea-7fcd55349367> | http://www.oregonlive.com/marijuana/index.ssf/2014/05/marijuana_news_us_house_vote_b.html | en | 0.964605 | 0.047708 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Why Gluten-Free Foods Aren't Always Gluten-Free
After a decade of trying, the FDA still doesn't have a clear definition of the gluten-free food label. Which means gluten-free food sometimes isn't.
May 9, 2011
The label may say "gluten-free," but that doesn't mean it is.
RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—People suffering from celiac disease and other forms of gluten intolerance are fed up with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). So last Wednesday, they took to the streets of Washington with the world's largest gluten-free cake demanding that the agency stop dragging its feet on defining what it means for a food to be truly gluten free.
The Gluten-Free Labeling Summit, where the big cake was headed, convened food-industry representatives and researchers from leading health institutions together with FDA representatives and members of Congress. At issue was the fact that, despite a mandate from Congress in 2003, the FDA has yet to come up with laws regulating the use of the label "gluten free" on foods. "We don't understand why this is taking so long, when the European Union and countries that are arguably less developed in terms of their food regulations already have effective gluten-free labeling laws," says Jules Shepard, owner of a gluten-free baking company and cofounder of the advocacy group 1in133.org (that's the suspected prevalence of celiac disease, a form of gluten intolerance, in the population), which organized the summit.
THE DETAILS: Like other claims on some food labels—"natural," "antibiotic-free," and "free-range"—"gluten-free" doesn't really mean anything, even though, according to law, the FDA was supposed to come up with a definition as far back as 2006, and with standards for gluten-free labeling by 2008. So consumers have no way of knowing whether a "gluten-free" product truly contains no gluten. Some gluten-free products may indeed be free of wheat gluten, but not of rye or barley gluten, says Pam King, director of operations and development at the Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland. "And honestly, there is no such thing as zero gluten because of cross-contamination," she adds. Her group, along with the others who sponsored the summit, is pushing for a limit of 20 parts per million of all types of gluten in products labeled gluten free. That's the limit used in international gluten-free labeling laws. and a level that most physicians agree is tolerable for people who can't tolerate gluten.
WHAT IT MEANS: The lack of concrete labeling laws could put an ever-increasing number of Americans at risk. A recent study suggests that as many as 18 million Americans suffer from gluten sensitivity, a condition in which people react negatively to wheat, rye, or barley gluten but never test positive for the more serious celiac disease. It's estimated that about 3 million total suffer from celiac, an autoimmune disorder that results in diarrhea, fatigue, nerve damage, rashes, or anemia (among other symptoms) after eating gluten from those same food sources. A separate condition, wheat allergy, is affecting a growing number of children. Although exact statistics on the prevalence of allergy to wheat aren't available, wheat is considered one of the eight allergenic foods, alongside dairy, eggs, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soybeans, and peanuts, that account for 90 percent of food allergies in this country.
Those numbers don't account for the millions of other people who go on gluten-free diets for medical reasons not directly related to celiac or gluten sensitivity, says Shepard. "You have parents of children with autism spectrum disorder who find relief for their children on gluten-free/casein-free diets," she says. "You also have people with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and other inflammatory diseases who are told to go on an anti-inflammatory diet to help manage their symptoms." Eliminating gluten is one way to help manage inflammatory symptoms.
It isn't clear why so many people react negatively to gluten nowadays, but Shepard and other celiac researchers point to our heavily industrialized food system and reliance on processed foods that commonly contain gluten. "We can't ignore that there's an environmental component," she says. "We've bred these strains of wheat to be pest resistant and to be more prolific, so it's easy to think that we have increased the gluten content. We need to evaluate what we're doing to our food."
Still, she's encouraged by what took place at the summit. Before the meeting, the FDA's primary excuse, Shepard says, was that instituting gluten-free regulations would be complicated, owing to all the processes that would need to be in place to prevent cross-contamination. "But they seemed to be unaware of the implications of their inaction," she says, adding that FDA representatives were very receptive to her and other consumers in attendance who testified to being afraid to eat out or even, in some cases, to go shopping because their foods couldn't be guaranteed gluten free. "We're moving forward."
Until the FDA defines what it means for a food to be truly "gluten free," here are a few things you should know:
• Buy certified. There are currently two organizations that certify food to be free of wheat, barley, and rye gluten at levels less than 10 parts per million. One is the Gluten-Free Certification Organization and the other is the Celiac Sprue Association (celiac sprue is another name for celiac disease). Because gluten can lurk behind vague labels like "artificial flavoring," it's helpful to buy certified products if you're really trying to avoid gluten in your diet.
• Watch out for hidden sources. Gluten is also used in nonfood products, such as pharmaceuticals, vitamins, and alcohol. If you aren't sure about a product, call the manufacturer and ask if the product contains any of these "unsafe" ingredients.
• Learn whether you are in fact gluten sensitive. It can be hard to know if you should try a gluten-free diet. It's become trendy in some circles simply because people, gluten intolerant or not, believe it makes them feel better. But if you think you really are suffering from some sort of gluten sensitivity, read our story Hold the Wheat: Some People Really Are Gluten Sensitive, Doctors Say. If you want to voice your opinion on the topic of gluten-free labeling, sign 1in133.org's petition and letter to the FDA expressing concern over the lack of uniform standards for gluten-free foods. | <urn:uuid:d316209f-4aba-4a04-9058-418b0c35fbf3> | http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/food/gluten-free-food | en | 0.96597 | 0.128382 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
How John Cassavetes' Shadows changed American movies forever.
How John Cassavetes' Shadows changed American movies forever.
Deleted scenes, commentary, and more.
Nov. 11 2009 7:11 AM
John Cassavetes' startling directorial debut changed American movies forever.
If American independent cinema could be said to have a birthday, Nov. 11 is as good a date to celebrate as any. On that night 50 years ago, John Cassavetes, an actor then best known for his TV roles, unveiled for a downtown New York audience his directing debut, Shadows. Cassavetes had financed the production with his paychecks from Hollywood and made the film with a cast and crew of novice actors from his drama workshop. The finished product betrayed their inexperience: mismatched cuts, shots out of focus, audio out of sync. But it was also unlike anything audiences had seen before: a raw, kinetic, jazz-scored dispatch from bohemian New York that was frank about sex, progressive on race, and intoxicated with youth. The film radiated a sense of urgency, even desperation—it felt like something Cassavetes just had to get out of his system.
Beyond any of its singular qualities—its searing immediacy, its disarming realness—Shadows' very existence is its biggest legacy. Wearing its DIY ethos proudly, the movie hacked a path that artists suspicious of Hollywood (that is, if they could get in the door at all) would later follow. After its New York debut, the movie won acclaim on the international circuit, drawing crowds in London and Paris and winning a critics' award at the 1960 Venice Film Festival. It was eventually released commercially in the United States in 1961, with the New York Times' Bosley Crowther calling it "unfinished" but "fitfully dynamic, endowed with a raw but vibrant strength, conveying an illusion of being a record of real people, and it is incontestably sincere."
Cassavetes' movie not only anticipated Mean Streets, Stranger Than Paradise, She's Gotta Have It, and Slacker, among countless others—it helped will them into being. As Martin Scorsese noted, after Shadows, there were "no more excuses" for aspiring filmmakers: "If he could do it, so could we!" And yet 50 years after its release, Shadows is a forgotten movie, revered by cultists, critics, and historians but neglected by a culture on which it has had a profound influence.
The movie immerses you in its world from the get-go. The opening credits scroll over a raucous rave-up in a cramped apartment, with revelers—white and black—boozing and singing along to an impromptu jam. Without a word of dialogue the demimonde is established—this is not Don Draper's Manhattan. Shadows centers on three siblings: Benny (Ben Carruthers), a brooding beatnik and unemployed trumpet player; Lelia (Lelia Goldoni), the innocent little sister who puts up a worldly front; and Hughie (Hugh Hurd), the oldest and a struggling jazz musician. The three are African-American, but only Hughie looks it—both Benny and Lelia are light-skinned enough to pass for white.
Although it might eschew a conventional plot, Shadows is hardly uninterested in storytelling. Narrative springs organically from character and circumstance. When we first meet Hughie, he and his friend and manager, Rupert (Rupert Crosse), are negotiating a deal for his next gig, a demeaning spot opening for a tone-deaf chorus line:
Meanwhile, Lelia meets smooth-talking Tony (Tony Ray) at a party, leading to her first sexual encounter. Considering that this was the year of Pillow Talk and A Summer Place, their post-coitus exchange is startlingly frank:
The trauma of her first time notwithstanding, Lelia falls for Tony. But when Tony meets Hughie—and realizes that he is, in fact, dating a black girl—the shock is too much, and Tony flees in confusion.
Slate Plus
Political Gabfest | <urn:uuid:0f2f05c4-b773-450b-bdba-52a164d69d14> | http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/dvdextras/2009/11/shadows.html | en | 0.958098 | 0.168702 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sunday, November 25, 2012
The Visible Darkness of the Unyielding Night
Dog Poet Transmitting.......
May your noses always be cold and wet.
End Transmission.......
'Jews from Outer Space'
Jews from Outer Space by Les Visible and The Critical List
The radio show is now up!!
Anonymous said...
I saw the little vignette of the riot at Wal Mart. I am ashamed of myself for being the same species as those 28 Days Later rejects. One of the comments said that we all will soon see the face of the Devil and I believe him.
You are my favorite blogger and a exceptional literary talent. Keep up the good fight.
Anaughty Mouser said...
Hi Les Visible. Took a week of internet free living to see if my perspective on the world changed. It didn't. Find myself in an existential crisis wondering what is the meaning of life.
Your post on Tuesday last was one of your absolute best in years.
During my sabatical I watched TV. The past three years I had watched less than 6 hours total. During the past week I averaged 12 hours a day.
I suspect TV is a diversion for those not awake and that the internet is a diversion for those who are. Do we not just talk about the truth and chase our tails around in a circle? How are we really different from the TV consumers?
What is the meaning of life?
All that aside, your writings ring true with me as do many of your colleages and commenters. Please continue.
Anonymous said...
was I in the house when the house burned down...
who was that guy with the thorny crown..
somewheah there's a flaw in the system...
de demons done been let loose
zombies on the lawn stumbling around...
groping at noonday
Job Bob Says "HIGH" NOOR !!
as is so often overlooked,
all the kings horses, and all the kings men
couldn't put humpty dumpty back together again...
That Mr. A, he's a real badass
and he ain't wearin' no green beret
oh yeah...
Money : The Greatest Hoax on Earth Merrill M. Jenkins
what's in your wallet
Anonymous said...
"The Devil Went Down To Gaza"
(A musical parody, based on the song, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", by Charlie Daniels and Joel "Taz" DiGregorio, made popular by the Charlie Daniels Band.)
The Devil went down to Gaza
He was lookin' for some Jews to trick
He was in a bind, 'cause he was way behind
And he was willin' to do it quick
When he came across a soldier
Firin' rockets and a-firin' 'em hot
And the Devil jumped up on a body bag
And said, "Boy, let me tell you what"
"I guess you didnt know it
But I'm a rocket shooter, too
And if you care to take a dare
I'll just make a bet with you"
"Now you shoot a pretty good rocket, boy
But give the Devil his due
I'll bet a rocket of gold against your soul
'cause I think I'm better than you"
The soldier said, "My name's Shlomo
And it might be a sin
But I'll take your bet and you're gonna regret
'cause I'm the best there's ever been"
Shlomo you bring the phosphorus
And shoot your rockets hard
'cause hell's broke loose in Gaza
And the Devil deals the cards
And if you win, you get this shiny rocket made of gold
But if you lose, the Devil still gets your soul...
The Devil brought his rockets in
And he said, "I'll start this show"
And fire flew from his fingertips -
The uranium started to glow
And then he launched his rockets
And they made an evil hiss
And a band of F-16's joined in
And it sounded something like this...
(Musical interlude.)
When the Devil finished Shlomo said
"Well you're pretty good old son
But just sit down in that chair right there
Let me show you how it's done..."
Then he fired on the mountains - "Run, goys, run!"
The Devil's in the House of the Rothschild Sons
Dead Palestinians cloggin' up the street
The bodies are left, so the rest will have meat...
The Devil bowed his head
As he pretended he'd been beat
And he laid that golden rocket
On the ground at Shlomo's feet
Shlomo said, "Devil, just come on back
If you ever wanna try again
I'm the best there's ever been"
The Devil's in the House of the Rothschild Sons
Dead Palestinians cloggin' up the street
Anonymous said...
I have been reading your work for a long time. Everything you say say resonates in a big way. No where else can I find truth being spoken to the degree in which you tell it.
Hopefully the present conditions will come to an end soon because it is really getting unbearable. Reggie
Anonymous said...
Fear Not..
The Crack of Doom...
Is coming soon (-___0)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...ha!
UselessEater U.K
Anonymous said...
I suppose through our undefined nature,
Being cut off from the natural position of unconditional love for all things material and spiritual,,,
As a species we cannot help but absorb that perversion,,That deluge ,,,,
Ie mass consumerism,and the willingness to do anything for a cheap tv ,,,also,these really bad pervs paedofiles,,,The wanting to mess with the plant and animal life to somehow make it better,you know monsanto and everyone,,,
The stealing from your brother and sister,,,
So on and so on,,,,societal evil playing out at its worse,,,
When we realise what we have done individualy
Basically messed with our natural state,,and had a taste of our true state,,,we are constantly on a journey back to that original point the very tip of our self,,which plays out differently in everyone,,,
That's what's happened to me anyway,,,
Mark said...
Dawn of the Dead
You're right, no words are needed, as the Walmart videos tell you everything you need to know about what comes next.
The last time I played the markets was during the months which preceded 9/11. I had purchased some silver call options because the destroyers had once again backed themselves into a corner. The destruction of the two towers had nothing to do with pissed muslims, and everything to do with the need for a massive gold heist. Voila! The buildings went down, the markets were closed, and when they opened again, my options had expired worthless.
The link below is the new spin DJ'ed by the gatekeeper "experts" in the precious metals markets. In three or four years, they croak, the metals will be worth a lot more, so calm down, everyone, there's nothing to see here. As though we had three or four years left to follow the bouncing ball...
Anonymous said...
Why can't we sit around a hippie utopia in robes and Jersualem cruisers passing the bong? Rhetorical questions are fun eh?
Anonymous said...
Just thinking,,
Maybe karma breeds karma,,
Dharma breeds dharma....?
Anonymous said...
I just realized the symbolic significance of hordes of zombies eating peoples remaining brains-so obvious I missed it all these years.(always had a serious distaste for lynch mobs)
Visible said...
Don't come here and try that tired game of saying one thing and meaning another. It won't fly here and no one wants to hear and you're full of it besides. We're not stupid here, keep it in mind.
Robin Redbreast said...
Great post - followed some of the links - guessed what they were before they came up - just wish more of the general public were following you too
It's all happening :)
niijii said...
Thank you Visible,
I figure a deal is only a deal if you need it. That's why I come here but haven't been to town since the first part of November.
Mouser, hope that you took in The Dust Bowl on PBS during your vacuum tube adventure. :)
George, nice parody! Devil Went Down To Jamaica was my favorite but unfortunately I can now more relate to yours. :(
Been missing the gardener's astro stuff, not that I really understand it, just that I think of her as my left sinus weeps. :(
Best to all.
Anonymous said...
Anonymous said...
Yes… this is as graphic as it gets when addressing the “Question.” I, too, have pondered the “solution” to this question as have so many millions in the past and present. Because I am a believer in “natural law” as being “God’s Law”… I see them as a pathogen in the body of earth’s humanity… ALL humanity. No other group, whether it be a race, religion or nation… has as its creed the abolition or subjugation of the “other” races, religions or nations of the earth. Only they hold such satanic views… and the essence of their hellacious beliefs has lead them to the present moment, where we are all held captive to their fatal embrace. The “solution”… not the “final” solution.. but the “ONLY” solution… is the elimination of this pathogen from the body. When our own bodies become infected with a bacterium or virus which has no hope of “assimilating” with the host cells, it promptly sends leucocytes to evict the deadly presence forthwith. The body does not consign these cancerous entities to say, the little finger of the left hand (i.e. Madagascar) for storage. No, it ELIMINATES them.
I wish all of this were not so. But, it is they themselves, who proudly assert their vehement repulsion to the very idea of melding with the rest of humanity. They have proven themselves the eternal usurers, pornographers, liars, and corrupters of all that is righteous – throughout recorded history. They have dug their own graves. But, alas, they have had the time to enlarge that grave to engulf what will probably be 90+% of the rest of humanity.
Again, I pray that I am wrong… but because there is no hope in changing their psyche… there is logically no other solution to this unprecedented crisis than the abolition of them from this world.
Visible said...
Let me make something perfectly clear to you. You are permanently banned from here and you last comment was all the proof I need to know that I was right in doing this. You are not now and you never will be again, welcome here, ever, ever. Got it? Good.
preacher said...
A grand bargain is a grand betrayal: The forgotten, lonely world of facts
Anonymous said...
The process of the destruction of lies hurts
But the learning of truth makes us happy,,
That's what I find amyway
Anonymous said...
" They hated Rome because Rome had a debt-free money system. They hated Hitler because he showed what could be done with a banking system that didn’t rely on having any Jews stealing the National Wealth. Within their demonic Babylonian Talmud (which they claim is the heart and soul of Judaism) the Jews have a law that if “anyone causes a Jew to lose money, he must be killed.” The god of the Jews is money. Every US President who has been assassinated, was opposed to the Jewish debt-money system. Oy! Such a coincidence! The National Debt is nothing more than what the government owes the Jew bankers for borrowing our own money from them at interest. So, abolish the FED and you pull the plug on the Jews."
preacher said...
I didn't know this about Kafka and hope you all will find this article interesting too:
Devouring Jackals
preacher said...
@UsefullEater UK
Thanx for the song!
Anonymous said...
"..... no efforts of significance are working to counteract this demonic garbage."That's what keeps depressing me.In a tussle with a local politician I've only convinced one person whose directly involved(verbally) that there is no such thing as law only rules made by our rulers.In court 4 others experienced it ,but that was weeks ago and now though they acknowledge the truth of it they don't act on it.They are "back in the matrix".It's like treading water 24/7 for years.
What you do is really important. I'm sure you know that but I can't thank you enough.Thank you so much and do please continue.
Bryan in uk
Anonymous said...
In my resting place
Consuming the universe
Absorbing everything
I become a child
So small
I fit on the tiny leaf
Of the Banyon Tree
Floating in the void
Upward roots
Branches downward
Visible said...
You liked that Useless Eater? That was from my first album. Glad you liked it.
Visible said...
Radio show should be up any time shortly. Man, I have to work like a dog around here (not that dog's work- grin). Anyway- show on at 7:30 Central and after that it will be there for streaming or download; much love.
Visible said...
Boy the liars are showing up tonight. I just had to bounce another comment. What a load of shit I have to hear sometimes. Love them? Garbage, total garbage. That's how it is- fool.
boojum said... toot toot!
Visible said...
Question at your leisure, loser. Keep questioning, it makes me feel really good about certain lacks of capacity. Keep trying. Trust me, keep trying.
David V said...
All of this nastiness is happening, for sure, and it's getting worse. But I suspect that much of it has happened throughout history. What has changed is that, possibly for the first time ever, it's being exposed virtually as fast as it happens. We no longer have to be taken for dupes and fools...although most prefer to continue in that vein. I guess that's the bit about the apocalypse and the strong delusion. God is not willing that anyone should die. No one has to be deceived, unless they choose it.
Anonymous said...
pierre said...
now reading Communism a Jewish Talmudic concept
plenty of meaty bits in here (unfortunately some white supremecist content too), including a listing of child blood sacrifices (♫memories are mad eof this♫). now I know where they got the ideas for the vampire movies.
seems it ok, as the Talmud tells us, to rape a 3 year old, minor (no pun intended) conditions apply.
came across this Bill Hicks interview I hadn't seen before, seems none can say the "J" word, so we have to talk like an underground movement.
and what's the word for the millenialism that preaches a truth coming out rather than the destruction which is consequent to a great reckoning? reveleation in a narrow sense of the word? we need our labels.
Anonymous said...
via Homer..
My dog worked like a dog!
His dharma was to simultaneously cater to yet still avoid the loup garou. No small feat.
Especially on those long moonlit nights..
He looked very much like the big bad wolf (scarier), and he once saved my life from a mere three inches away.
A heroic effort, which I will always remember.
He never once asked for a raise or a day off but would sometimes disappear for a week or two.
I'd act like I didn't notice..
Aunt Franny said...
Anonymous said...
Sunday, November 25, 2012 9:21:00 PM
Yes. Exactly. It is very important that we become DIS-illusioned.
Love and peace,
Aunt Franny
John Rambo said...
You call FOX News the "worst of the media". In regards to mainstream corporate owned media, I'd say FOX is the best out of them all, even though they are ALL just corporate shills.
For example, FOX just published this yesterday and is the ONLY mainstream media outlet to finally break the topic of how feminism has destroyed the institution of marriage in the Western world:
Now, I could care less. Men are more than happy to just stay free and unmarried. It's women who require marriage, not men.
Also note that the article was written by a woman. Interesting how women are finally waking up and realizing that if they continue their policy of misandry, of hatred towards men, it is going to ruin THEIR OWN LIVES much more than it ruins the men's lives.
Bet the big smart independent intelligent feminists never thought of that one, eh?
Anonymous said...
The ploy to shove feminism down the throats of today's "modern woman" began a long, long time ago, in a Puppet Master think tank, somewhere. Its roots are intimately intertwined with the roots of communism, and whenever I see a "modern woman" today, wearing the standard-issue blue jeans along with the tight top with spaghetti straps, I think, "Communist party uniform". (Note: You can see this uniform everywhere; watch TV, especially the commercials, and this uniform is evident over and over again.)
Taylor Caldwell (who was a celebrated author, and a female, FYI) wrote a brilliant piece on the subject, back in the early 1970's. Here a link to it -
Visible said...
You sure are an angry guy John. Nothing is going to be gained by that and it certainly won't change the conditions you get so torqued off by. In fact, it will provoke more and more examples of this flawed perspective. Meanwhile all that "Hail Satan"! "Hail Lucifer"! is just juvenile and you're smart enough to know that.
There's plenty of good women out there and 90% of seeing that is in how you treat them.
Visible said...
I think there is no question that Savile was high up in the Satanic ranks. It's a dead giveaway when a person gets away with certain things and runs into no opposition.
Visible said...
When I see a woman in blue jeans I have an entirely different reaction (grin). So, I see there's an agenda afoot here. Wouldn't you guys be more comfortable over at Henry Makow's site. He doesn't like women either and wants to put them in their place, wherever that is.
Visible said...
It really amuses me how guys get all worked up about women not being pliable and submissive to them. I never run into the negative aspects of feminism because my mindset doesn't set up those contacts. There's no cosmic necessity for me to encounter that kind of thing. Those kind of women just move on past me to those who require that kind of thing to reinforce their belief system. Just about everything works this way.
Anonymous said...
The article was written by Taylor Caldwell (a female), it has nothing to do with Henry Makow (other than the fact Makow posted it on his site). Senor Visible, you have a habit of casting stones when nobody was throwing any to begin with...but that's charming, in my eyes; it proves you are all too human, like the rest of us.
the gardener said...
dear niiji ~off the top of my head, Mercury-the planet of communications goes direct today Monday November 26 after 21 days of backpedaling through the degrees. Starting at 3 Sag it is now back into Scorpio... always interesting to see any planetary moves or changes of signs prior to a New or Full Moon-this month's full moon is on WEDNESDAY the 28th of November. Sag Sun with Moon opposite in Gemini... also an eclipse which come in energy pairs.
Coupled with the several CMEs this week-earthbound and our fragile thin magnetosphere - these astro energies have sapped my endurance yet strengthened my resolve... upsy dazy energies. Lots of heavy company in my house since Oct 1 has resulted in my finding new sleeping arrangements with discomfort just enough along with the N/S body alignment a big change from the W/S alignment my body achieves in its bed have resulted in my having some very extreme dream times for a while now.
I've had one massive miracle come down upon me on October 22... easy to get diverted away from that one by the petty tyrannical bullshit coming and going everyday in every way. I keep my focus on that miracle though. I know there will be more where that one came from.
Just know everyone that there are many who would kill you, get you dead financially or physically and/or both just to have what you've got right now. Escalating the zombie fraud, thefts and legal world nightmares.
I had a repulsive compulsion to sleuth a bit on facebook, checking out the several factions who've made hay of my sun shine. They've been headed back to the primordial black slime they crawled out of for their last chance to redeem their souls... instead all the human delights of this realm beckoned them and being possessed they took the easy way out instead of the hard way which becomes the easy way in the long run.
Interestingly enough I've had several conversations provoked by others about the '3 days of darkness' premise of the days of the big change. 'hustle yourself into the bowels of your home. Cover windows and do not look out of them. If anyone comes to your door do not open it for them-anyone"...
Had a few power outages this week which just seldom to never happens. Preparatory times? These caused many 'end times' discussions too. So many praying 'hurry up God'...
the gardener
PS-one astrologer I love to appreciate is Lynda Hill who works with Sabian Symbols... she's got an oracle site off of her main site which comes in handy for creative inspiration with problems at hand. here's her Full Moon forecast she just finished. She's on facebook and is quite the well rounded good.
She makes a nice counterweight to Vis' works in my opinion.
insiam said...
Anyone that believes or support AJ is obviously an idiot or complicit in someway. the following short (1 min) clip should seal it for even the most ignorant of brain dead moronic sheeple ...
Alex jones says iran wants to wipe israel off the map:
So Vis, something bothers me and i know you addressed my 'bother' before. But i don't understand how anyone could hold a person in esteem when they deliberately and openly promote AJ.
Hope you don't mind me speaking freely, but i have had several exchanges with a certain purveyor of silver coins and advice for money, and i personally regard him as a repulsive glutton like despicable character. Yet i see him displaying himself where i least expected him to be.
I am genuinely confused Vis
Dodgy One said...
Direct to you from WRH ladies and gentlemen of the cosmos the truth seekers have in an instant tipped the balance with this pivital blow to the whores of zionazism the anti-christ state of isreallyhell on earth is tended a mortal blow from the one and only (ta da) Pink Floyd - Song for Palestine.
Now come on all you big strong tellers of truth get this one mega viral for blow to the forces of darkness.
Anonymous said...
Isn't feminism a phantom created by the scribes and their MSM?
Who is feminist flogged? I was. I once watched a girl messing around trying to climb a shopping cart, she tipped it over, fell down and banged her head on the hard floor and the cart fell on her. All I would have had to do was put my arms out there and pull her out of that mess. But OH NO! I can't touch a girl! The look her mom gave me made me feel lower than worm shit. OK, I repented, I'll never do such a cowardly thing again, but I sure gave it all a serious think. It's feminist flogged to be scared of talking to them too.
Feminist flogged bozos presume girls to be sluts in everything they say. Illegal, legal, jailbait, 15 will get you 20, I can't talk to you you're too young (to fuck), If you're not worth a fuck you're not worth a shit either... just everything they say presumes girls to be sluts! Are these the guys who think girls are so sexy that there just has to be a girl diddler hiding behind every bush to grab one? They're afraid to ever talk to one, so their imaginations are pretty free, throw in a "wrong ... So very very WRONG" and you just have the makins for some awfully sexy little girls! When AOL came around, I made it my policy to talk to the young girls if they started the im. I was ready and willing to defend that policy to anyone who wanted to call me a pervert and that made me more popular with the young girls. You do NOT want 5 messages going on at the same time with 5 of those chatty Kathys!
I never presumed them to be sluts with words like that. Those girls are the new generation of women now, about 20, and they are none too pleased with the abuse they suffered at the hands of feminist flogged bozos. If you approach one of these women, you might just hear all about it. "Oh, I'm a legal slut now, and you want to talk to me??? Write this down: Pussies don't get this!" The bolder ones are out to diss, spurn, and humiliate and embarrass you, just like you did to them. How did presuming them to be sluts become the standard accepted treatment of them?
Women are feminist flogged too. If a wman dresses any better than something like a frumpy tomboy, she gets the stinkeye from other women. Do you ever see the women in "Alfred Hitchcock hour"? Would you throw your coat over a mud puddle for them, a young girl or Madonna wielding tits and ass like a club, jumping up and down demanding what femininity naturally COMMANDS.
It's like that spooky monkey experiment. They put 5 monkeys in a cage with a staircase going up to a banana. If a monkey went up the stairs and got the banana, the others would get sprayed with water. After a while, the monkeys wouldn't let a monkey go up those stairs. Gradually, they replaced every monkey, but that policy continued.
Sometimes it looks we're just what they say we are.
Ray Zerwitt
Dave Klausler said...
Visible said:
Visible said...
It has nothing to do with Henry Makow except that it was posted on his site?
I didn't even know that cause I don't go there but ring one up for me intuitively.
Visible said...
A new Smoking Mirrors is up now-
Stop Me, Before I write about The Same Thing Again.
Visible said...
insiam, say what you got to say. I don't have time for trying to figure you out. It appears on the surface that you are offended by my association with someone but I'm not going to bother going to look for it. Apparently I work for you and owe you jot and tittle explanations for every breath I take and should I fail in the least regard then I should probably be put to death. Given that I work for you and owe you clear and precise explanations for everything and given that I'm not even valuable to receive any leeway or regard commensurate with any service I might provide, i suggest you just kill me.
preacher said...
@Pierre 1:56 Am
Thanks for that Bill Hicks interview; great!
Letterman apologized after Bill's death and aired the banned show with his mother present:
Anonymous said...
pierre said...
yes preacher, thanks for that, Letterman (real name?) poses the questions, is empty, has no content to add. and as goebells? said , it doesnt matter if the truth gets out eventually, as long as the BS rolls on. hicks mum is a dear.
wv hemplove 222? wtf?
insiam said...
wow - heavy man. sorry if i offended you by touching a raw nerve.
my points in the simplest terms are. (as i pointed out before)
1 you have a banner for and he heavily promotes alex Jones - yet you heavily criticize and expose jones as a fraud. Call me as you will but i find that at odds.
2 your next banner is for a purveyor of pieces of silver and false financial advice. Mr drockton.
i find that also at odds with your message. so if i cant say what i think then it is time i moved along.
next ..........
PS if i somehow got it all wrong then please accept my apology.
Cassandra of Troy said...
Gardener, I'm sure you'll appreciate this post from an astrologer, but everyone here may appreciate her brave truth-telling about Israel's latest killing spree.
Full post at:
Anonymous said...
I have read something that, even if not true, made me understand why the world and the people are that way.
I resume: this planet is a prison planet. Souls come from all over the galaxy. Because souls are indestructible, we are trapped in a system that wipe our past lives memory, and recycles us perpetually in a body. We are here without a clue of where we come from and what we are. Immortals souls, with unlimited creative energy.
Read the Alien interview:
Anonymous said...
“My dear brahmana, what you are reading?”
Srila Prabhupada..
Still, He has accepted a menial service of His devotee.’ This gives me so much pleasure that I cry.” Caitanya Mahaprabhu embraced him, “Your Bhagavad-gita reading is perfect. You have taken the essence.” So this is the thing. If you simply remember Krsna is teaching Arjuna and Arjuna is hearing, if you simply remember the picture, that is sufficient. Even if you think that you cannot read. Because after all we have to become Krsna conscious. We haven’t got to become a learned man to argue with another learned man. If it is possible we can do that, but that does not make any difference if I cannot argue with others or if I cannot teach very nicely Bhagavad-gita to others. Simply if I remember this picture, that is perfection. Because we have to become Krsna conscious. We have to simply think of Krsna. You think in any way. That is your perfection. Smartavyah satatam visnuh. This is the injunction. You have to think of Visnu always. This is samadhi; this is meditation; this is yoga siddhi, perfection of yoga.
Visible said...
insiam; this may come as a surprise to you but I suspect not, I suspect this is intentional on your part. If you gave a shit about me, which apparently you do not, you would have emailed me about this and sincerely inquired. You didn't do this.
For some reason, you seem to think that I keep up with all the people I link. For some reason, you, in your vast wisdom of things, thinks that I am engrossed in this minutiae. The truth is that I haven't read anything from Jim's site in several years. He is linked on my blogs because he came to visit me in Italy 4 or 5 years ago and I had a great time with him. I found him to be an honest and truly entertaining fellow and we had a great time. Other than that, I know nothing about him.
I don't doubt you have skeletons in your closet but you would rather see the mote in someone's eye than the beam in your own.
You're a hypocrite and you are self-righteous. That's a terrible combination. Your effort was to injure and diminish me, while I am completely unaware of Jim's affection for Alex Jones.
Instead of being a friend, you chose, in your smug and self adulating way to try to make me look bad in a public way. Why you did this, I have no idea. I'll bet you can find something wrong with all kinds of people that I have linked to but the God's honest truth is that I didn't know anything about this until you brought it up.
I hope you're happy with yourself and that you feel like you did something useful here. What you have done, as far as I am concerned is to prove you are no friend of mine, not any way.
Please, pat yourself on the back for exposing me about something I knew nothing about. Please, go to Twitter and proclaim it Sherlock. In the meantime, don't trouble me again. I've lost all respect for you. Once again, someone I defended stabs me in the back. Thanks pilgrim.
Anonymous said...
insiam @ 10:33:00
Insiam, it is clear to us what you are doing. Word of advice: You ain't smart enough. Your "points" or rather, questions, are nothing of the sort at all; they are to discredit Vis by "pointing out" fake(!) inconsistencies. I'm not going into how and why; all (or most?) readers here are perfectly cognizant of your phony and fake 'pointers', but suffice to say, that one man's acceptance of (or listening to) another man's utterances, will not invalidate his writings and ideas.
You should stick to write children's books, and just go and play in the sand.
Visible said...
In Siam; I am really sorry that you are so angry that you can't see straight. Here is what I suggest. You should write Jim Corr and establish for yourself what is true. He visited me once about 5 years ago and we had a wonderful time talking for several days in Italy.
Then, a couple of years ago, he called me on the phone here and said, "I really needed to talk to you". So we talked for about 20 minutes and that is all the contact I have had with him.
He has never mentioned Alex Jones to me and before God, I had no idea what his position on Alex Jones was. I suggest you ask him and he will affirm all I have said. Then you can tell him what you think of Alex Jones too.
I can see from the nasty things you just said to me that your intention was just to hurt me. You have no interest in the truth, just in injury or you would have handled it differently. I am not responsible for everything that other people think. My position on Alex Jones is well known and that speaks for me. I don't shit can people just because they hold different views than I. I also can hardly do anything about what I had no knowledge of in the first place. Like I said, go ask him. Before you call me a liar and a fraud, go and establish the truth of it. This you cannot do.
That other fellow who sells the gold came to me and wanted to exchange links some years ago. He seemed okay and it was a long time ago so I did that. I haven't been to his site in years either. I'm not a witch-hunter or a witch burner. You are and you hold serious resentments and you're all messed up inside. I don't know what I can do for you.
You're coming or going doesn't change anything here and no one is probably even going to notice. I am truly sorry that you are all angry and pissed off but I don't even know what you want me to do. You never said. You just wanted to yell at me and insult me for someone's else's position on something that I didn't even know anything about. You're very unstable. I hope things get better for you.
I do consider Jim a friend but how he views me I have no idea. You would think if he was a really good friend that we would have more contact, wouldn't you? Go talk to him and get your mind clear, don't make wild accusations just cause your feelings got hurt. You lashed out at me and I gave you some of your own medicine, that's all.
Your little act of sarcasm about poets was a small signal of your losing it. I tried to handle that with what little finesse I possess. Now you've gone even further around the bend. You might want to think about that.
Visible said...
A new Visible Origami-
What's it all About, Visible?
Citizen Elle said...
Visible, thanks again for your relentless efforts .. link on! (especially appreciate the glamour pdf– had missed that one by AB)
A naughty mouser & reggie – thanks, so with you in your sentiments
Goy George – LOL OMG nice choice for this musical revamp! & a weird synchronicity, too
Niijii, I was also noting the absence of the gardener lately while reading this post but notice her site seems busier than ever
Anonymous said...
I see in the AOL news today that a hugely obese woman found a nasty object in her McDonald's breakfast. To her I would ask : Did it look like ... a McDonald's breakfast?
Ray Zerwitt
Anonymous said...
How does the theory of relativity base itself on the speed of light being constant and everything else is relative and conclude that the speed of light is not constant, because it can't escape a black hole, but everything else is still relative? Even out village idiot ancestors, walking around in circles saying the world is flat, could poke holes in this.
Anonymous said...
via Homer..
Why is my sick disturbed speed of mind so much faster than your stinking speed of light?!
Latest Comments at: | <urn:uuid:483c0c8c-e731-4402-8688-91a2879106fc> | http://www.smoking-mirrors.com/2012/11/the-visible-darkness-of-unyielding-night.html | en | 0.971131 | 0.025375 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sam Torrance
Sam Torrance, 50, was born in North Ayrshire, the son of a golf coach. He became a professional golfer in 1970. As a player in the 1985 Ryder Cup, he holed the putt that won the cup for Europe for the first time in 28 years. Last year he was captain when Europe regained the cup. He is married to former actor Suzanne Danielle, has three children and lives in Surrey.
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Group cuddle.
What is your greatest fear? Snakes.
With which historical figure do you most identify? William Wallace - he stood for what he believed was right.
Which living person do you most admire? Jack Nicklaus.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I gamble too much.
What is the trait you most deplore in others? Rudeness.
What vehicles do you own? BMW X5, Mercedes SL500, Toyota truck.
What is your greatest extravagance? Too many cars.
What makes you depressed? Falling out with anyone.
What do you most dislike about your appearance? Unwanted fat.
What is your most unappealing habit? Smoking.
What is your favourite word? 'Daddy.'
How did you vote in the last election? I didn't - nobody convinced me.
How will you vote in the next election? I'm still waiting to be convinced.
Have you ever said 'I love you' and not meant it? Not for 17 years.
What is your greatest regret? Not winning the Open.
How do you relax? Sex.
How often do you have sex? When I need to relax.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life? A swimming pool.
What keeps you awake at night? Sobriety.
How would you like to die? Last.
Do you believe in life after death? No.
How would you like to be remembered? Lucky bastard.
What is the most important lesson life has taught you? Carpe diem.
Sam: The Autobiography of Sam Torrance is published by BBC Books, price £18.99 | <urn:uuid:beece3b5-adcd-4b51-bee1-3e25483200c1> | http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2003/sep/27/golf.features | en | 0.967843 | 0.582223 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
You're viewing YouTube in English (US).
Switch to another language: | View all
You're viewing YouTube in English.
Switch to another language: | View all
B-52 Bomber Crash Fairchild Air Force Base
Rating is available when the video has been rented.
Uploaded on Sep 9, 2009
The B-52 Crash at Fairchild Air Force Base occurred on 24 June 1994, killing all four crew members in the B-52 Stratofortress, named Czar 52, during an airshow practice flight. In the crash, Bud Holland, who was the command pilot based at Fairchild Air Force Base, flew the aircraft beyond its operational limits and lost control. The object flying off, near aircraft tail, is the hatch cover due to the co-pilot's attempt to eject from the aircraft. He was unable to eject before the aircraft hit the ground.
The accident investigation concluded that the chain of events leading to the crash was primarily attributable to Holland's personality and behavior. Today, the crash is used in the Air Force as a case study in teaching air crew resource management.
The crash is often used by the US armed forces during aviation safety training as an example of the importance of compliance with safety regulations and correcting the behavior of anyone who violates safety procedures.
Up next
to add this to Watch Later
Add to
Loading playlists... | <urn:uuid:3daf5bc2-e506-4562-94da-4066551f9532> | https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=CO&v=r2OIxo00UeM&hl=es-419&feature=related | en | 0.946263 | 0.142634 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm in the process of automate one of my apps.
First I tap on a tabBar =>ok
Tap on a 'Add' button of a navigation bar => ok
Fill some data of my textFields of my tableView => ok
Tap on some cell and open a new ViewController => ok
Tap on a 'Add' button in this new controller => nothing happens ...
The button is the same as the first view: UIBarButtonSystemItemAdd
So, now I want to show all the buttons that automation can find, and iterate and get their names, just to check that all is going well, but I can't find the name of the buttons, see:
var arr = UIATarget.localTarget().frontMostApp().navigationBar().buttons();
var value = arr[i];
And I'm tapping both buttons the same way:
UIATarget.localTarget().frontMostApp() .navigationBar().buttons()["Add"].tap();
Ok, the button tap has been solved using a delay of 1
But I can't get the button names in the loop, but at least I can continue auomating my app
share|improve this question
1 Answer 1
up vote 0 down vote accepted
To see what elements your screen has at a certain moment, put
in your script. It will show all elements with their accessibility properties (name and value) in your app's current state.
If your buttons has not names, you have to set accessibility properties in your XCode project for these buttons, see there.
share|improve this answer
thanks for your time to answer an old post :-) – mongeta May 7 '11 at 15:05
spent a week with instruments, got some insight and found many unanswered questions on SO :) – jki May 7 '11 at 16:29
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:399a2d03-5f99-4dc2-b874-38f6d43e5362> | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3975367/instruments-automation-iterate-for-all-buttons | en | 0.85162 | 0.069768 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have a forum using phpBB. Now i would like to do something like this from source code:
login("user", "password")
How to do this in phpBB?
share|improve this question
3 Answers 3
up vote 7 down vote accepted
You will need a script that integrates with the phpBB framework. Something like this should work.
define('IN_PHPBB', true);
// Start session management
Then, look at the $auth->login() function (an example use is in the login_box() function in /includes/functions.php). A simplistic yet incomplete example is:
$result = $auth->login($username, $password); // There are more params but they're optional
// Logged in
// Something went wrong
share|improve this answer
First you need to bootstrap for phpBB:
define('IN_PHPBB', true);
$phpbb_root_path = (defined('PHPBB_ROOT_PATH')) ? PHPBB_ROOT_PATH : './phpBB/';
You'll have to replace the ./phpBB/ part with the relative path to the forum.
To make the user logged in, you have to do:
$result = $user->session_create($user_id, $admin, $autologin, $viewonline);
$admin should probably be false, $autologin and $viewonline depend on what you want.
NOTE: Calling session_create will set the session cookie for the user, so make sure you only call that when the current request is actually serving that user.
share|improve this answer
This doesn't answer the OP's question, as your solution is not accepting the user's username/password to log them in, but forcing a login of a specfic $user_id. – nickb Nov 10 '11 at 14:13
Fair enough, I did go a bit too far into the details. I'll leave my answer here anyway, since I put some effort into it. Might help someone someday. – igorw Nov 10 '11 at 14:39
I agree, it is useful if you already have their ID. – nickb Nov 10 '11 at 19:09
I know that's quite late, but thanks a lot for taking the decision to leave the answer, because that's the only place I've found a solution to how to login users using only the user ID and not the password. – TheNavigator Feb 5 '14 at 9:25
In your PHP script that's crawling through HTML will need to :
• POST data like if it was filling in the form
• Get the answer from the server ; probably extract the session's cookies
• Send those cookies for subsequent requests
You might be interested in using some already-existing library to facilitate that.
For instance, you can take a look at Zend_Http_Client (see also ; the part about Sending Multiple Requests With the Same Client will probably interest you ;-) )
You might also want to take a look at some other questions/answers, like :
share|improve this answer
Not really sure how this has to do with phpBB? – nickb Nov 10 '11 at 14:02
The question was: "How to programmatically log in into phpBB forum?". This is a good general answer explaining that. – budwiser Nov 10 '11 at 14:40
@budwiser - The question was how to login to phpBB, not how to generally log into any remote web application. So, it's not well-suited for phpBB, especially when there's an API available and this answer is talking about crawling HTML and remote authentication. (The OP's question clearly states the need for a local authentication solution) – nickb Nov 10 '11 at 19:17
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:ad928ddf-93ff-45be-80f9-b93c270bc174> | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8080364/how-to-programmatically-log-in-into-phpbb-forum/8080648 | en | 0.862443 | 0.085025 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
I defined a custom Open Graph action (e.g. "drive") and a custom object ("car") with custom properties ("color", "make"), then added the meta tags to the object page and verified with the Object debugger. I also published few actions in my timeline. When I use the action API to view the "drive" actions ("/me/[name_space]:drive") I see all the actions and the Objects with their default properties (ids, titles..) but no custom properties. How can I retrieve the Objects with all their custom properties?
share|improve this question
1 Answer 1
up vote 1 down vote accepted
It is probably too late, but I encountered with the same problem today.
It seems that the custom action /me/[name_space]:drive only provides the standard properties, but I found that if you also include the object type you can retrieve it with the custom ones:
GET https://graph.facebook.com/me/recipebox:cook/recipes
or in your example:
GET https://graph.facebook.com/me/[name_space]:drive/car
share|improve this answer
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:fc1a5c66-b170-40c5-8267-dd9a336a4f03> | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9826146/how-do-i-retrieve-custom-properties-of-a-custom-open-graph-object/10127763 | en | 0.884798 | 0.025892 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Atheist Nexus Logo
Not patiently waiting.
Views: 867
Replies to This Discussion
Cirkus where are you from? I'm 55 years old and have never met a black female that admits to being an atheist. I only know them from online forums. You sure have an enlightened family.
cirkus-frk, I have to say that black women like you are NOT plentiful.
I knocked on hundreds of doors during my Jehovah’s Witness cult days and on rare occasions an atheist/agnostic would open the door, but don’t recall ever meeting an atheist/agnostic woman behind those doors.
As hard as I tried to meet a black man when I was single, I kept hitting a brick wall because of my then agnosticism, or because I was too dark skinned and didn’t straighten my hair. However, it was so very easy for me to meet white men who were atheist/agnostic, thus my 1st husband was white, as is my current husband. Today I'd give almost anything to find a black atheist/agnostic woman in my area for friendship, and as outgoing as I am I’ve never met one in the U.S. Also, my son, who is black and atheist, really wanted to be in a relationship with a black freethinking women; he tried to find one for years before giving up. He ended up marrying a non-religious, open minded white women. So yeah, “we” are out there but there are so few of us.
I could never see myself in an intimate relationship with anyone who believed in god/gods.
Love is love and race should not matter. I won't fault you as long as you don't fault me for not discriminating when it comes to color. I have dated outside the race both theists and fellow nontheists and had a damn good time. So if it don't hurt you, it won't hurt me, lol!
What's the name of the Facebook group for single black atheists looking for a mate? I'd be happy to pass that info. around.
The only one I can find is:
Single Black Atheists Dating Pool!/group.php?gid=1...
Atheists populate some dating sites. OKCupid is a particular haven.
There's also Atheist Passions, which is also free.
lol. I always loved Oscar the grouch! Thanx for the tips.
You're welcome!
Hi. I would just like to say that I don't blame u for dating outside ur race. I have done it as well. It's just as hard to find black atheist men as women. Church is a huge problem in our community. That's putting it mildly. Anyway, I just wanted u to know that a sista exists who is not "God fearing" just like u. I'm also very proud of that fact. lol
Hey Jessica I know that you are joking but I see a bunch of black women using the phrase "God fearing" and it gives me the chills LOL!
Hey Jerome. I said I'm NOT God fearing. lol. I hate it when they say that. They claim it means respect. So why not say respect. Another thing I hate is when you ask "How are u? and they say that they are "FAVORED". What the hell is that supposed to mean? Just the latest catch phrase, I guess.
Support Atheist Nexus
Donate Today
Help Nexus When You Buy From Amazon
Nexus on Social Media:
Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service | <urn:uuid:7d9b0aa7-baed-4b35-8a32-fc04de46dbe2> | http://www.atheistnexus.org/group/blackfreethought/forum/topics/can-atheist-brothas-be-faulted?commentId=2182797%3AComment%3A895985&groupId=2182797%3AGroup%3A216875 | en | 0.967426 | 0.039618 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Consumers benefit again
Comments Threshold
Is the Consumer Really Winning?
By AntiTomZandmasher2 on 8/15/2006 11:37:50 PM , Rating: 2
Sure, hard drive prices will drop, but will they go to ~$20 or so? Prices have been fairly constant; capacity and speed have gone up. Why can't I get a recently manufactured (not resold) 100 GB drive for super cheap? Planned obsolescence and corporate profit margins make me sad. In the end, I'll end up paying around the same if I want to get a new machine.
By mindless1 on 8/16/2006 2:38:21 AM , Rating: 2
You can't get one for super cheap because:
1) You're paying for research, manufacturing, maintenance, shipping, advertising, warranty coverage, etc. The least of the costs is actually a 2nd/3rd platter, another arm and pair of read heads. Single platter drives are by far the best value except when there are other goals like system data density.
2) There's still profit margin, stores have to be mindful of handling and dedicate the space.
3) Price per GB can't drop too much because capacity goes up due to platter density increases. The cost of a single-side one platter drive hasn't fluctuated so much, you're only considering capacity without the platter context and you can't buy a drive with only 1/3rd a platter or 67% of one head in it. There's still the PCB, housing, bearings and motor and all aforementioned overheads still.
Related Articles
| <urn:uuid:15e1862a-c738-4ecd-9927-e78049233dac> | http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3731&commentid=55832&threshhold=1&red=2215 | en | 0.957216 | 0.847141 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Relay for Life
Day Trips from the Lehigh Valley
Day Trips from the Lehigh Valley
DAY TRIPPIN' •Neil Diamond Tribute, buffet, Dec. 31. $53. Sears Retirees, 610-434-7750. •New York, time on your own, Dec. 6. $28. Lehigh Valley Dental Hygienists Association, Millie, 610-867-6630. •Pa. Christmas Craft Show, Harrisburg, Dec. 4. $30. Northampton AARP, Sharon, 610-262-9182. •Costumes of Downton Abbey and Yuletide Tour, Winterthur Museum, Dec. 14. $60. Lower Macungie Library, 610-966-6864. •"It's A Wonderful Life," Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre, lunch, Dec. 10. $70. St. John Fisher Seniors, Bill, 610-264-0920. •Christmas Show, American Music Theatre, lunch at Shady Maple, Nov. 5. $95. Center orchestra seats. East Hills... | <urn:uuid:a0566915-a5dc-4c6b-b0c6-68551fec0337> | http://www.mcall.com/topic/health/diseases-illnesses/cancer/relay-for-life-EVPHL000019-topic.html | en | 0.726447 | 0.034304 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Not No One
It takes one to not know one.
Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) election has been shown to be "a joke," the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said Thursday.
Coming from a guy who has cornered the market on being a joke, this is an intriguing accusation!
How shaken are Dems over Scott that they're reduced to this sort of pettiness? He's a bad person for wanting to assume the office to which he was elected?
"Brown's whole candidacy was shown to be a joke today when he was sworn in early in order to cast his first vote as an objection to Obama's appointment to the NLRB," Kennedy said Thursday. Kennedy was referencing some Democrats' thoughts that Brown tried to bump up his swearing-in in order to give Republicans 41 votes, enough to filibuster the nomination of Craig Becker, a controversial nominee to join the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Democrats twice changed Massachusetts election laws - the holy grail of democratic government - to maliciously gain control over the senate succession process. Senator Paul Kirk, a Kennedy crony, was put into the seat by the Obama/Kennedy machine following Teddy's death in order that Obama would have that precious 60th vote to force through health care.
Everyone who believes in representative government should have been eager to get Scott sworn in as quickly as possible in order to get the fraud Kirk removed.
Kirk's job was to be in the tank for health care. His appointment was made possible by Democrats in Massachusetts who were in the tank for socialized medicine. Patrick, who has spent most of his adult life tanked, is in congress because of his family name. His father got to the U.S. Senate through the manipulations of President Kennedy. President Kennedy got to the White House because his father bought him the office.
A poll released Thursday night by WPRI-TV (Channel 12) showed 62 percent of voters statewide gave the eight-term congressman an unfavorable job rating. Just 35 percent of respondents in Kennedy’s district said they would vote to reelect him. Meanwhile, 31 percent said they would consider a different candidate and 28 percent said they would vote to replace him if the election were held today. The poll was conducted between Jan. 27 and Jan. 31 and had a margin of error of at least 3.8 percentage points.
It takes a joke like Patrick to know a joke when he doesn't see one. | <urn:uuid:2a72c7db-6dd9-4645-9f98-9b8c280ce331> | http://www.wrko.com/blog/todd/not-no-one | en | 0.990297 | 0.03528 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Ancient Egyptian Clothing
Although we now associate fine cotton with Egypt, the ancient Egyptians did not cultivate that crop (although they did trade it with the Romans). Instead, they used linen (mnkht), made from the stem of the flax plant. Cloth was generally woven by women, who could sell whatever excess cloth they could make. Weaving was a highly valued skill associated with the ancient goddess Neith, and a skilled weaver could even be paid in gold. By the New Kingdom the Egyptians had developed vertical looms which required more physical strength, and so many men also became weavers. Silk first came to Egypt during the Ptolemaic Period and was a favourite of the famous Cleopatra.
a scene from the tomb of Thuthmosis III depicting common egyptian clothing
During the Old Kingdom men and women largely wore simple white garments. Daily dress was a simple rectangular piece of linen wrapped around the body and tucked in at the waste, but many poorer men and manual workers worked naked. Wealthy men wore a short kilt which was sometimes pleated and a shoulder cape. By the Middle Kingdom, men´s kilts had become longer and more complex and ornamental pendants were often attached to elaborate belts. The double kilt was introduced (a triangular loincloth was worn under a more standard kilt) and many men also wore a sleevless shirt held in place with a belt. Both men and women used linen (and occassionally woollen shawls) and cloaks to deal with the chill of night time.
Nefertari (wife of Ramesses II) wearing a typical white dress and holding the hieroglyphic sign representing linen (mnkht)
Ancient Egyptian Women often wore the plain white gown or sheath dress commonly depicted in ancient Egyptian art. The gown hugged the body from the ankles to just underneath the breasts, and was held up by one or two decorative shoulder straps. This dress is generally depicted as being skin-tight, but may well have been looser in reality as this would have been very restrictive. Though white was by far the most predominant colour, coloured threads were sometimes woven into cloth to make stripes.
Woman with ducks copywright 2005 Daniel Speck
Women and men also wore a robe that Herodotus called the "kalasaris". This garment was essentially a rectangle with a hole in the center (through which the wearer placed his or her head) folded in half and sewn together. It could be draped over one or both shoulders or worn with one or two shoulder straps. Some had sleeves while others did not. The garment could start at the neck, or below the breast, but generally included a long skirt which touched the ankles. They were usually worn with a belt which held together the folds of cloth (as worn by Nefertari in the image above).
male servant copywright 2005 Daniel Speck
A man's status was confirmed by how elaborate his kilt was, and how fine the linen used to make it. The kilts of the rich nobles and Pharaohs are often very intricately pleated, and must have been difficult to care for.
Some women, such as dancing girls and servants, went naked other than their jewellery. Sometimes they wore delicately beaded pieces which left very little to the imagination. Children also tended to go naked.
Ramses the scribe, from the reign of Ramesses II copyright Guilliame Blanchard
Kings and queens and gods are often depicted in colourfully embroidered linen. The ancient Egyptians also added beading to their clothes, and dyed leather to create colourful shoes and belts. Nets of beads were sometimes worn over women´s dresses and beadwork was used to decorates men´s kilts. However, most of the clothing that has been recovered from tombs resembles the long sleeved "galabiyya" favoured by modern Egyptians, rather than the tight fitting or pleated robes shown in paintings and reliefs.
The pharaoh wore a different type of kilt for official duties. This was a half-pleated kilt wound counter-clockwise around the body with a pleated section drawn to the front. The finest "royal linen" was almost diaphanous, and much softer and whiter than other linen. Members of the Royal Family also wore a number of different headdresses and crowns.
copyright J Hill 2010
Return to Top
Ancient Egypt Online
| <urn:uuid:4f0d7dda-36b6-4bb8-8242-9d441a48935e> | http://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/clothing.html | en | 0.978593 | 0.12393 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Why we must freeze the debt limit
By: Jagadeesh Gokhale
April 19, 2011 04:37 AM EDT
How valid are these concerns? Not very.
In contrast, the current prospect of a technical default, from failing to increase the debt limit, would not be due to any real national insolvency. Given today’s low interest rates, the federal government could easily raise the resources needed to meet today’s contractual government obligations.
The correct description for the technical default from Congress’ failure to increase the debt limit, therefore, should be “a temporary suspension of fiscal operations to promote a more prudent fiscal course.”
A failure to increase the debt limit now would just create an ersatz “crisis.” For too long, analysts and politicians have balked at the massive political impediments to reforming the federal budget — especially entitlement programs.
Many now concede, actually, that no prudential reforms are likely unless there is an imminent “crisis.” On the other hand, political liberals argue that there is no real “crisis” — and so no need for real reforms.
Well, here’s the opportunity for a “crisis” that “should not be wasted.” It would be a real crisis for those urging caution — given what they believe. And it would be an ersatz crisis for others — who believe in the salutary effects of crises on fiscal policies.
Given its purpose is to avoid a real future crisis, by bringing to heel run-away spending on entitlements and other wasteful government programs, here’s an opportunity for experiment: Would a debt-limit “crisis” beget better fiscal policies?
How might investors really view this ersatz U.S. debt crisis? If some lawmakers’ refusal to vote for increasing the debt limit without also passing prudential fiscal policies resulted in a technical U.S. default, it would demonstrate their significant political strength.
Might that not actually induce investors to buy long-term U.S. debt — reducing long-term interest rates and improving the U.S. investment climate?
Indeed, investors should be fearful of the opposite: an increase in the debt limit without a serious challenge from reform-minded lawmakers. This only signals business as usual for U.S. fiscal affairs.
| <urn:uuid:9d68d2e5-35cf-48a0-99ba-719dea16ae51> | http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=71B48C52-8597-44C0-A497-0BE89F16CD5B | en | 0.928154 | 0.069188 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Report: Solange Hit Jay Z for Trying to Go to Rihanna's Party Alone
A source (not 50 Cent) tells the New York Daily News that Solange Knowles' infamous elevator attack on brother-in-law Jay Z happened after Jay made plans to head to Rihanna's Met Ball after-party without bringing Beyoncé.
The tension between the two started earlier in the night, when a group of Solange's "non-famous" friends reportedly crashed the gala and started dropping Jay Z's name.
"They were pretending they were guests of his and not hers. Management went to Julius (Beyonce's bodyguard) and said there's a problem," the source said.
Shortly afterward, Jay Z apparently confronted Solange and told her "don't use my name."
At that point, Solange decided she wanted to leave, another source told the Daily News, and Jay Z decided to take off for Rihanna's party on his own, calling ahead to say he wouldn't need extra security.
Solange reportedly lost it. Here's the second source's account of the conversation that took place in the elevator video:
"You're one to talk," Jay replied.
That's when the punching, kicking, and purse-swinging started.
Jay Z, Beyoncé, and Solange have yet to comment on what happened that night, but the sisters have been subtly throwing shade at each other on Instagram since then.
[Photo: AP Images] | <urn:uuid:e2321295-5b77-4909-b1e7-fb18f4f46282> | http://gawker.com/report-solange-hit-jay-z-after-he-ditched-beyonce-for-1575816539?utm_source=recirculation&utm_medium=recirculation&utm_campaign=tuesdayPM | en | 0.973617 | 0.026292 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Jason and Kimberley Graham-Nye could have named their product the Eco-Diaper. After all, one of their chief motivations for selling a ''flushable diaper system'' is to offer an alternative to disposable diapers, which contribute to landfills and take years to biodegrade. But instead they went with the name gDiapers, which doesn't mean anything.
Well, they would put it differently: they say that the ''g'' could stand for ''green,'' but it could also mean ''groovy.'' The point is to leave things vague enough that a consumer might be drawn in by gDiapers' fashionably bright colors, comfort or perhaps just the novelty factor, and then learn that, ''P.S., they save the planet,'' Jason suggests. While saving the planet seems like sort of too big a deal to reduce to a postscript, the Graham-Nyes figure too much emphasis on the ecofactor would restrict their product's appeal to what they call ''dark green'' consumers. GDiapers were introduced in the U.S. just six months ago in a handful of green-friendly stores like the New Seasons Market in Portland, Ore., but after a successful test run at Whole Foods outlets on the West Coast, that chain will soon distribute the product nationally.
GDiapers are positioned as a third option for parents facing the familiar cloth-or-disposable choice. A $25 starter set comes with two pairs of washable ''pants'' (in ''groovy'' red, orange, blue or green) and 10 removable liners; when a liner is soiled, it's flushed down the toilet. A refill pack of 32 flushable liners costs $14, roughly the same as 40 Huggies. The Graham-Nyes did not invent the product: they found it at a baby-products expo in Australia, where it has been on the market since 1991 under the name Baby Weenees Eco Nappy Products. They loved the product and felt strongly that it could be successful in other parts of the world -- provided it was given a different image, with more broad appeal. So they bought the rights to market and sell it outside of Australia and New Zealand.
Although greenness seems trendier than ever, its limitations as a selling point are the subject of a recent article in the journal Environment, titled ''Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia.'' The authors (Jacquelyn Ottman, Edwin Stafford and Cathy Hartman) argue that many ecofriendly products fail precisely because the companies that make them put too much emphasis on the whole save-the-planet thing. To reach the mainstream, they say, such products need the attributes any product needs: cost effectiveness, convenience, status and so on. The article's marquee example is a light bulb that flopped when it was positioned as Earth-friendly but took off when it was reintroduced as a money-saver. In an interview, Stafford and Hartman pointed to the Prius, which enjoys a whopping price premium for reasons that probably have as much to do with status as with saving the planet.
Status is now the most familiar selling tactic for many greenish products, and it is clearly the factor that the Graham-Nyes hope to introduce into the convenience-versus-ethics predicament of the diaper buyer; in fact, they specifically say they want to be ''the Toyota Prius of diapers.'' GDiapers are more work than disposables, and while the company says the product complies with various official guidelines that make them safely flushable, there's also a bit on their site about how to handle the ''icky'' toilet-clog possibility. Still, for parents who find cloth diapers an unacceptable hassle, they provide a new way to obtain the status (or smugness) of avoiding disposables.
The Graham-Nyes have encouraged gDiapers zealots to spread the word about the product through a ''Pioneers'' program. And from these core, early consumers they have picked up a fresh perspective. Dads, it turns out, have a ''different response'' to gDiapers, Jason says. ''What they love is that there's no garbage.'' Soiled disposable diapers are often stuffed into a device that crushes them down by the score, where they sit until they're eventually hauled out with the trash. Stafford, a marketing professor and a father himself, says he can imagine bragging to other parents about finding a way to avoid disposables on garbage night. ''The nonsmell factor'' doesn't sound sexy, he says, but it's definitely a concept that even the most eco-indifferent parent can understand. And those, of course, are the parents the Graham-Nyes want most of all.
Drawing (Drawing by Leif Parsons) | <urn:uuid:1458f995-6585-4224-89d8-19789be63e1f> | http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C06EFD61F30F930A15754C0A9609C8B63 | en | 0.959351 | 0.089306 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Mirrors And Reflections
Question submitted by Anonymous (05 July 2000)
Return to The Archives
I've been trying to implement a mirror system in my OpenGL engine, but I'm having trouble. I don't want to just use the negative (scaled) of the scene and redraw it, because I want to have arbitrarily oriented mirrors. How can this be done?
Actually, it is quite simple. You need a few things to get started. First, you'll need some construction paper, a pencil, a piece of string, and a small rodent.
Next, determine the point at which your camera's vector intersects the mirror's plane (this point may not be within the mirror polygon) - a ray/plane intersection will do the trick (we'll call this point B).
Now you'll need to reflect the camera's location across the mirror's plane. To do this, you'll need your ray/plane intersection code again. Start off by inverting the plane's normal and use that as the vector for the ray. The origin for the ray is the camera's location. This will create a ray that points directly at the plane from the camera. Find the intersection of this ray with the mirror's plane. This is the closest point to the camera on the mirror's plane. From this, we create a vector from the camera's location to the resulting intersection point. This vector represents the same vector that was used in the last ray/plane intersection, but this time its length is the closest distance to the plane from the camera. Now double the length of the vector. If you add this vector to your camera's location, you'll have the camera's location reflected across the mirror's plane (this is point A.) Subtracting B from A, you get the vector V.
Your new camera will be centered on point A, using the "look-at vector" of V. To render the reflected scene through the mirror, you'll need to clip everything to the mirror's polygon and to the mirror's plane (i.e. not rendering anything behind the mirror.) When rendering, you'll also need to render the scene backwards (left-right) to account for the reflection of the mirror.
Finally, poke the pencil through the construction paper, throw the string away, and get that rodent out of the microwave!
Response provided by Paul Nettle
Please read our Terms, Conditions, and Privacy information. | <urn:uuid:0282eae8-6f56-47da-8ed8-926728fb782a> | http://www.flipcode.com/archives/Mirrors_And_Reflections.shtml | en | 0.933647 | 0.809142 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Marcedes Lewis
Charting Connor Barwin's 11.5 sacks in 2011
In 2011, new Eagles OLB Connor Barwin had 11.5 sacks for the Texans. In 2012, he had 3. The dip in production can be explained any number of different ways. For example, did the Texans ask him to play differently?... | <urn:uuid:6e8b2ef0-123c-4782-a3f2-01e080f6f368> | http://www.mcall.com/topic/sports/football/marcedes-lewis-PESPT000009001-topic.html | en | 0.917844 | 0.871117 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
HTC starts locking down its Android phones from now on?
Posted: , by Nick T.
HTC starts locking down its Android phones from now on?
When a manufacturer wants to prevent its smartphones from being tampered with, it usually adds some sort of a software solution to the problem, which prevents fundamental modifications to a device's operating system. Manufacturers like Samsung and Motorola have already become infamous for implementing such restrictions against rooting of their Android devices and now it seems very likely for HTC to be already following their footsteps.
Usually known as developer-friendly manufacturer, HTC may have committed to adding signature checks to at least some of its Android smartphones from now on, starting with the HTC ThunderBolt. Such checks prevent a custom ROM from being loaded on a device as it would not contain the manufacturer's proprietary signature key, which would act as a “stamp” verifying the legitimate origin of the software. Rooting upcoming HTC Android devices may also prove impossible at first, or at least until a workaround to the limitation is discovered.
When asked about the motives behind its decision to turn its back on developers by locking its Android smartphones, HTC responded that it was only serving in interest of wireless carriers. However, not everybody seems to have bought into this excuse. The same signature checks have been reported to exist on the HTC Incredible S, which is available as an unlocked GSM device, meaning that there was no carrier to have anything against the alteration of the smartphone's software.
At the end of the day, HTC may be merely trying to save itself the trouble of assisting in servicing smartphones, which have been bricked as a result of an unsuccessful modification. Whatever the true reason behind the manufacturer's move may be, we suppose that it will not take that long before a devoted hacker cracks the restriction and brings back the joy of tinkering to HTC devices.
source: Android Police via Gadgetsteria
• Options
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 10:42
1. Sniggly (Posts: 7230; Member since: 05 Dec 2009)
"Motorola and Samsung have become infamous"
Infamous? What? Oh Phonearena, your hyperbole never fails to amuse me.
On HTC's practices: I can see the logic in making it harder to root their phones. It probably is a pain in the ass to provide support to bricked phones from rooting attempts.
But I won't worry until they start trying to sue rooters and claim they broke the law. Because after all, no manufacturer would EVER- oh wait, now I remember. Apple. Lol.
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 17:20
16. clevername (Posts: 1435; Member since: 11 Jul 2008)
Apple never really tried to sue an individual hacker, just get the process outlawed...now Sony on the other hand...
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 18:02
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 18:06
18. Dude (unregistered)
Sony is made of pure, unadulterated stupid, but Apple did try to claim jailbreakers were breaking the law.
posted on 27 Mar 2011, 22:34
34. remixfa (Posts: 14253; Member since: 19 Dec 2008)
wait wait wait wait...
how is Samsung infamous for locking down their phones? Last i checked, their bread n butter, the Galaxy S, is among the easiest to root. Hell it has a "one click root" availible for it on the marketplace.
Phone arena, maybe you should hire me as an editor. It couldnt hurt. At least it would help balance the "pro apple"ness of the website and add a little fact checking. Just saying. :)
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 11:04
2. Confuse (unregistered)
How many people that bricks their phone because of rooting?
Is that number high enough for the manufacturer to justify locking?
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 13:16
It usually costs more to lock the phones. First HTC must make and test an unlocked/developer version of their Android OS for their phones, then they have to lock it and test that version. Their costs for tech support has to be low, after all, most customers call their carrier reps for tech support first.
I'm more inclined to believe they are doing it to appease the carriers desire to charge for the mobile hotspot.
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 18:51 1
21. corps1089 (Posts: 492; Member since: 20 Jan 2010)
It is no coincidence that Google starts withholding code for Gingerbread and then HTC suddenly and quietly announces that they may be locking down some phones...
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 13:32
So rooting allows you to tether for free or are there other advantages?
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 18:49 1
20. corps1089 (Posts: 492; Member since: 20 Jan 2010)
it allows full access to the entire device for any purpose that you can think of, or that others thought of and have made available. Specifically it eliminates protections that carriers/manufacturers built in at the basest level allowing you to do as you like [and can make you more susceptible to vulnerabilities].
Some phones have radios that are not used since the carrier limits them and do not want you to use the phoine they subsidized on a different carrier's network.
Some phones are not allowed by carriers to perform certain functions with certain radios like video chat over CDMA or GSM versus permitted video chat on Wi-Fi.
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 13:44
NO!!!!!!!!!! Y?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!? :'(
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 13:50 1
This is bad news for android users. The only thing that makes android devices appealing is its openness. If they take that away, their selling point is gone.
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 15:21 1
10. Sniggly (Posts: 7230; Member since: 05 Dec 2009)
The ability to root isn't what attracts me to android because I don't trust my tech skills enough to successfully root my phone. There are a bunch of other reasons why people like android, like the customizable nature of the software, the range of available devices, the depth of the experience, flash in the browser, integration with Gmail, easy to use music player...
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 15:49 2
11. agentoj (Posts: 104; Member since: 29 Oct 2009)
The ability to root IS what attracts most people. Once you start suffering form shit battery life you will want to flash a different rom with a different kernel.
My Evo unrooted= about 10hrs battery life with casual usage
My Evo rooted= 22hrs of casual usage
See the difference? My evo is faster and more efficient, without being able to tweak my phone I would hate it.
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 15:58 1
I didn't say that rooting didn't attract anyone, just that it isn't what's most attractive to most customers. MOST customers don't know what the hell rooting is and couldn't care less. And if as a salesman you were to try explaining rooting to them they would just get confused.
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 16:22 1
15. agentoj (Posts: 104; Member since: 29 Oct 2009)
As a salesman I wouldn't tell them about rooting a phone either, and yes a lot of people don't care for rooting because they are too lazy or don't know about rooting period.
As a side note, the biggest problem I see with android is the sub-par battery life, which rooting remedies (for the most part).
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 08:27
Unrooted - 10 hrs battery life
rooted - 22.....
I believe you mean with your phone 'tweaked' you get more battery life.....
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 14:55
30. agentoj (Posts: 104; Member since: 29 Oct 2009)
...Need root in order to tweak. So I mean what I said.
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 19:11
31. networkdood (Posts: 6329; Member since: 31 Mar 2010)
....and you says what you mean ~ POPEYE
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 01:33
23. Kjayhawk (Posts: 292; Member since: 07 Oct 2010)
you can still root and your definition of openness isn't what attracts android users its usually the market and its use on a variety of platforms most users do not know much about androids "Openness"
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 14:01 1
7. Kakarotto (Posts: 187; Member since: 07 Dec 2010)
That sucks. Sammy, here we go!
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 14:07
Samsung phones are easy to root....
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 15:13
9. stick0 (Posts: 3; Member since: 26 Feb 2011)
Requires Signature? will it have installation problem like it does on simbian?
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 15:50
12. gg (unregistered)
don't waste your time with sammy, unless you want to leave it up to the custom devs to make a perfict phone, not happening. I don't see what the big deal is, htc makes great phones and software. plus sense when has locking a device down stopped people from rooting/unlocking their devices. and on another point why does me adjust the software void my hardware. This isn't true with any other electrons yet ever sense the iphone decided to do it every other mobile phone manuf. had to do this. its crap if i want to load a bunch of crap on my mobile computer i should be able to. I payed the hundreds of dollars for it. Just like my laptop that I payed hudred of dollars for i can install anything I want onto it I pay to have it fixed or I pay the money for warranty, which I do for my cell also. So my point it should matter what we do with our phones software. plus don't root if you don't know how to hard reset!
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 19:13
32. networkdood (Posts: 6329; Member since: 31 Mar 2010)
Sammy phones are easy to root - well, ok, at least the captivate is...and it is worth it....at your own risk....
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 16:19
14. dumey (unregistered)
What is rooting
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 18:42 1
I think its when you dunk your phone in rootbeer, it then turns into a brick so you stand on it to see what is going on at the big boy table.
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 19:51
22. p0rkguy (Posts: 684; Member since: 23 Nov 2010)
HTC is only doing this because of the idiots that end up bricking their phones and want a full refund or a new device for free.
Literally every developer will post a disclaimer to avoid any problems, chances are if the retard didn't read the instructions then he didn't read the disclaimer.
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 01:37
24. MorePhonesThanNeeded (unregistered)
Some people don't get it, software on the phone does not belong to you. The OS is protected material, and you modifying it is a violation of your agreement when you turned it on and started using it. The hardware is yours, but if you mess with the software and that messes up the hardware by circumstance that is your fault. HTC, Motorola, Samsung nor any other manufacturer doesn't have to give you a damn thing. Get over yourself, you jail break, root or otherwise do things to your phone that is specifically forbidden by the manufacturer and something happens to the phone, tough luck.
If you were to sell an item and you have stipulations specifically saying that if you break these rules, then you cannot be held responsible for what occurs after that with the item. Would you think it's fair that someone breaks the rules then the item breaks then they want you to send them a new item to replace the one they broke by doing things that you specifically warned against doing to the item? Must be living in the U.S. if you think it ok for the manufacturer to allow you free reign with their software...no one wants to pay for someone else screw up.
I have a Droid X and there are some things on it that I wished Verizon didn't have locked on the phone, crap which I don't need. But the phone itself runs flawlessly, without much hiccups at all. Why Verizon thinks it's necessary to have locked programs that you can't delete on a phone is beyond me, but stupid stuff that annoyingly start for no reason City ID can go screw itself as can VZ Navigator, who on earth uses that? No matter how annoying these things are, my phone will never get rooted. I get a full day usage out of it, sometimes I can go a day and a half with moderate usage, usually internet and loads of texting.
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 14:28
29. snowgator (Posts: 3346; Member since: 19 Jan 2011)
Actually agree with everything you wrote except that little cheap shot. It may come as a huge shock to you, but I am willing to put a couple of dollars, yen, euros, pesos or what ever that someone down the block from you is trying to do something slightly dishonost with their software agreement right now, so drop the "spoiled American" stuff.
Overall, you are correct, though. The phone is ours, the software and service is the property of those companies we enter into a month by month agreement with. I wouldn't try to mess with my service, but I sure understand the appeal of it. I will stop short of calling it criminal, but less then honest.
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 08:35
I get free telenav, ability to download from websites and 3rd party markets (AMAZON app market = free ANGRY BIRDS Rio :-), wi-fi tether, NFL Mobile...etc....all because I can root my phone (SAMSUNG CAPTIVATE).
You are correct that when you root your phone, you are taking a risk.
Of course, you have to know how to undo what was done. Buy a JIG when your phone will not turn on. Use ODIN one-click to restore to factory, before sending to it back to warranty. Anyone wanting to root can go to xda-developers.com for more info.
It is just a phone, and I just wish companies would do more with them, but they and carriers also want to make money - money that I do not want to spend.
If HTC is locking their phones down, someone will find a way around it. Android/Linux is open source, so maybe if companies are that paranoid then they should think about making an iOS, Windows 7 phone.
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 10:18
27. ghost (unregistered)
for older phone such as desire, will the signature being apply on official update?
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 11:25
28. jskrenes (Posts: 209; Member since: 11 Dec 2008)
There's a philosophical and practical issue with Google creating an "open" platform, and that is who decides how open it should be? Does the manufacturer, in order to protect their hardware (what manufacturer wants to do an array of warranty replacements because people either bricked their phones or fried their processor because they overclocked it?), does the carrier, in order to control usage (and since carriers are often the first line of defense when it comes to tech support), should software developers have a say (Netflix, for instance, hasn't been able to deploy an Android app because movie studios are concerned about piracy on an open platform), or should devices be completely open for customers to decide what to do with?
The Netflix issue begs an interesting question: if developing an open platform means that content distributors will back away, thus leaving customers with fewer app choices, do we really have an open system?
posted on 26 Mar 2011, 19:14
No matter what carriers and manufacturers do, someone will always be able to root any Android phone....
posted on 28 Mar 2011, 15:49
35. fairly_mismatched (unregistered)
With in-app payments looming and NFC technology being implemented this kind of extra security measure is only to be expected.
Want to comment? Please login or register.
Latest stories | <urn:uuid:f2c95349-ebe3-4509-9250-8e7471004abd> | http://www.phonearena.com/news/HTC-starts-locking-down-its-Android-phones-from-now-on_id17691 | en | 0.948902 | 0.034115 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
New for Spring: Cotton Lawn Ultra!
shopping cart
Designs by whimzwhirled
Janiece Senn
St. Louis Mo USA
Shop Tags
fashion, home decor, quilts, upholstery, contemporary, abstract, modern, geometric, fantasy, stripes, costume, nature, pop art, vintage, humor, shapes, grunge, black, dots, cartoon, large scale repeats, comics, white, stylized, halloween, flowers, children, black and white, animals, cartoons, red, swirls, lines, steampunk, love, monsters, gothic, green, whimsical, wings, pink, science fiction, pillow, colorful, craft, romance, space, gold, blue, patterns, collage, funny, whimzwhirled, aliens, yellow, comic, tribal, chocolate, photographic, paisley, graffiti, plants, mosaic, snakes, fun, peace, holiday, ethnic, harlequin, pillows, autumn, home, skulls, architecture, border, hearts, psychedelic, gray, coordinate, spring, dance, checks, burlesque, damask, earth, birds, victorian, large scale, cheater quilts, construction, texture, frogs, art, organic, fire, photograph, ice cream, circus, strawberry, alien, decor, applique, day of the dead, dim sum, butterfly, stars, ornament, fall, family, landscape, bright, silver, purple, shabby chic, words, wallpaper, cute, waves, doodle, sky, biology, dragons, history, myth, op art, music, arrows, grey, moon, sweets, science, sea, rainbow, roses, retro, floral, teal, contest, creatures, beauty, life, garden, urban, games, quilt, celtic, goddess, christmas, cheater quilt, coral, clouds, bugs, insects, orange, trees, women, squares, summer, gears, winter, girls, carnival, hair, ocean, art nouveau, tattoo, letters, ditzy, corset, fish, food, kitchen, leaves, asian, pattern, large, night, doodles, marijuana, friends, building, wood, city, robots, mask, chinese, jungle, maze, flying, geek, robot, kids, painting, sun, bubbles, nouveau, brown, magic, party, solid, dia de los muertos, historical, and, valentine, rococo, plaid, fairy, bold, stone, mushrooms, astrology, metal, cats, circles, water, graphic, zodiac, heart, small, collection, bamboo, mustard, sunshine, spooky, flight, smile, pot, monster, dragon, lace, books, butterflies, alice in wonderland, ballet, rock, grid, native american, babies, valentines day, weave, colors, reef, fabric, rocks, critters, wind, skull, sewing, fruit, travel, paper, tropical, snake, time, ghost, poppies, daisies, 50s, wild, wave, grass, tangerine, politics, pop, quilting, tan, fairies, cubes, digital, artist, machine, vintage inspired, weed, dog, rabbit, mod, dolls, candy, school, antique, mardi gras, zombies, pastel, castle, ice, witch, jester, oriental, native, play, greens, sexy, dark, scary, light, vacation, sea life, design, photography, golden, soft, pebbles, art deco, frog, sea creatures, dragonfly, eyes, koi, valentines, sci fi, photo, lavender, lotus, street art, literature, paint, scissors, valentine s day, buddha, buildings, spiritual, beetles, crazy, recycle, rain, medieval, child, boys, daisy, snow, camouflage, bird, woman, cut and sew, curtains, wonderland, swirl, buttons, ditsy, world, lilies, raven, queen, rooster, sketch, marble, planet, baroque, men, princess, small scale, plum, checkerboard, numbers, money, ornate, beads, cat, book, fractal, silhouette, poetry, dogs, animal, color, clown, library, bones, beetle, picnic, horror, cannabis, hero, clothing, seeds, irish, iris, woods, brick, maps, shakespeare, the, elegant, silly, storm, print, creature, patch, toile, map, watercolor, zombie, deco, vines, tiny, greek, crow, bug, anatomy, writing, dress, scales, groovy, recipe, cherries, tattoos, hot, ladies, primary, pets, black cat, orchids, crows, nightmare, god, cakes, jazz, cells, death, sleep, myths, sugar skull, kiss, doll, baby, japanese, forest, beach, african, desert, branches, fishing, easter, jellyfish, polka dots, game, diamonds, house, lattice, umbrella, trellis, alice, hand drawn, tile, panel, chicken, zig zag, technology, puppy, embroidery, flag, eggs, neon, lily, toile de jouy, creepy, stained glass, wine, napkins, faces, star, cream, ants, peach, folklore, dna, traditional, old, sugar skulls, haeckel, rainbows, foliage, magenta, planes, grapes, pigs, box, cricket, bridge, owl, fabric8, tree, alphabet, rose, skirt, cheater, fireworks, girl, stars and stripes, math, text, monkey, leaf, border print, cut & sew, aztec, lion, vegetables, mint, shells, windows, cityscape, clock, skeleton, glass, chevrons, mythology, hot air balloon, cooking, horses, sports, brain, leopard, bunnies, girly, calligraphy, ornaments, shabby, bikes, sunset, teeth, egyptian, sewing notions, insect, fairytale, western, tools, patriotic, portrait, bluebird, transportation, blue and white, ink, rabbits, royal, dream, spaceship, metallic, television, haunted, pen and ink, dancers, purse, piano, peacocks, chic, egypt, highways, dove, eye, thread, playful, handwriting, folk art, prehistoric, font, devil, confetti, kisses, pond, rockets, optical, phoenix, style, sunflowers, all, ancient, monarch, quotes, zen, intricate, elements, twigs, unique, pencils, nautical, boy, toy, bunny, apron, ikat, southwest, tiki, matisse, extinct, cars, puzzle, australia, goth, car, bag, pirate, octopus, boats, blossoms, cocktail, leprechaun, ladybug, drawing, daffodils, cut&sew, snowflakes, sailing, typewriter, happy, motorcycles, sunflower, nerd, farm, dresses, typography, fairy tale, vintage print, gardening, rocket, chickens, berries, crest, cocktails, fairy tales, surreal, firefly, palette restricted, pie, glasses, school supplies, hat, spiral, great barrier reef, tiger, ships, family crest, natural, murder mystery, geometry, crown, man, apples, africa, video games, circle, pretty, farming, history of jazz, mandala, pagan, gadgets, storms, fireflies, pin up, scientist, bats, scarf, gaming, china, herb, lizard, fly, blood, story, moth, fresh, road, toys, motorcycle, urban threads, roosters, mirror, drops, recipes, sand, goddesses, underwater, lips, cool, goat, newspaper, silk, kitties, dinosaurs, weather, cubist, jewels, cranes, new year, scribble, drinks, hunting, tags, word, rust, classic, scribbles, hot pink, table, nude, snowman, letter, line, holly, gemstone, plush toy, grasshopper, supplies, resolution, gems, baseball, seed, dead, cinderella, mountains, steam punk, town, marbles, wizard, portal, shadow, geology, hare, canada, labyrinth, poster, cherry blossoms, flags, constellations, corsets, astronomy, comic book,
• ancient designs
Phoenix Rising throw pillow
Phoenix Rising
Queen Of The Nile
Privacy Terms of Service
© 2008-2015 Spoonflower Inc | <urn:uuid:0f1829e3-7ed0-49b3-8625-6b38ecea7c2a> | http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/whimzwhirled?shop_selection=tag&sub_action=shop&tag=ancient | en | 0.782807 | 0.389114 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
News tagged with insects
Related topics: species , genes , plants , animals , brain
Survivor fights cancer with insects
(Medical Xpress) -- Rob Denell thought he was done with cancer after his wife beat the disease. No more chemotherapy by his wife's side. No more long drives to hospitals. He was about to say goodbye to cancer.
Nov 01, 2011
popularity 0 comments 0
Bedbugs: Easy to attract, hard to eliminate
Feb 09, 2013
popularity 0 comments 1
Insects (Class Insecta) are arthropods, having a hard exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax, and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet and include approximately 30 gladiator and icebug, 35 Zoraptera, 150 snakefly, 200 silverfish, 300 alderfly, 300 webspinner, 350 jumping bristletail, 550 scorpionfly, 600 Strepsiptera, 1,200 caddisfly, 1,700 stonefly, 1,800 earwig, 2,000 flea, 2,200 mantis, 2,500 mayfly, 3,000 louse, 3,000 walking stick, 4,000 cockroach, 4,000 lacewing, 4,000 termite, 5,000 dragonfly, 5,000 thrips, 5,500 booklouse, 20,000 cricket, grasshopper, and locust, 82,000 true bug, 110,000 ant, bee, sawfly, and wasp, 120,000 true fly, 170,000 butterfly and moth, and 360,000 beetle species described to date. The number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million, with over a million species already described. Insects represent more than half of all known living organisms and potentially represent over 90% of the differing life forms on Earth. Insects may be found in nearly all environments, although only a small number of species occur in the oceans, a habitat dominated by another arthropod group, the crustaceans.
Adult modern insects range in size from a 0.139 mm (0.00547 in) fairyfly (Dicopomorpha echmepterygis) to a 56.7-centimetre (22.3 in) long stick insect (Phobaeticus chani). The heaviest documented present-day insect was 70 g (2½ oz) Giant Weta, though the Goliath beetles Goliathus goliatus, Goliathus regius and Cerambycid beetles such as Titanus giganteus hold the title for some of the largest species in general.
The largest known extinct insect is a kind of dragonfly, Meganeura.
This text uses material from Wikipedia licensed under CC BY-SA | <urn:uuid:1855f5de-83e0-4067-8c66-8a32e997841f> | http://medicalxpress.com/tags/insects/sort/popular/all/ | en | 0.896727 | 0.062164 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Contingency Fee Representation Lawyers In Elizabethtown Pennsylvania
Elizabethtown is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 21 miles (34 km) southeast of Harrisburg. Small factories existed at the turn of the century when the population in 1900 was 1,861. There was a slight increase in the next decade, with 1,970 people living in Elizabethtown in 1910. As of the 2000 census, the population of the borough is 11,887. Elizabethtown is commonly referred to in south-central Pennsylvania as "E-Town. " This nickname is also used for the local college and high school.
What is contingency fee representation?
Answers to contingency fee representation issues in Pennsylvania
| <urn:uuid:4a61f0b1-4fae-4999-8b4a-9725db68a78b> | http://openjurist.org/law/contingency-fee-representation/pennsylvania/elizabethtown | en | 0.952373 | 0.348005 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
1995 Chevrolet Blazer Q&A
1995 Chevrolet Blazer Question: over heating and dripping alittle water down bottom hose
already changed water pump,thermastat,bottom hose,and rad. cap and its still doing it what could it be? -
Answer 1
Could be intake manifold gasket leaking. -
Answer 2
miles is correct, have it pressure tested and get an est for repairs - | <urn:uuid:309a6ba4-da6c-462f-bb26-26fad231f2e8> | http://repairpal.com/over-heating-and-dripping-alittle-water-down-bottom-hose-228 | en | 0.849459 | 0.976069 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Letter: Final Disposition Much Too Costly
As the government goes into more decline and finances get tighter, I would like to know where and how I can donate my deceased body to be used for medical research or whatever purpose desired.
Most with low income cannot afford the luxury of a big one-day expense of a funeral or cremation.
Sammie Kennemer
Fort Smith | <urn:uuid:1456661b-390b-4fb6-bf70-7799a8eb8754> | http://swtimes.com/sections/opinion/how-you-see-it/letter-final-disposition-much-too-costly.html | en | 0.908191 | 0.261417 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Wearing contact lenses for more than a few hours at a time with or without a monitor in front of me tends to aggravate my eyes. So I tend to wear my glasses and still over time my eyes get bloodshot and tired after a couple hours. Upon putting the pair of Gunnar RX (prescription) on I was happy to see that they were indeed my matching prescription, and I basically needed to test these for an extended period of time to see how well they would work.
After wearing these Gunnars (RX) for several weeks now, I can confirm that they definitely work. Before, I would get bloodshot eyes and once in a while and experience discomfort. I would also wake up sometimes without fully recovered eyes – they were still slightly bloodshot, particularly on little sleep. This combined with sensitive eyes and using contacts during the day tended to make my eyes dry, itchy, and bloodshot in general most of the time. All of this is gone now. I see clearly for long periods of time with extreme comfort.
I would highly recommend Gunnars for anyone who spends considerable time on the computer and/or has sensitive eyes. It has made a huge difference for me. | <urn:uuid:1a05adef-0079-4adb-9d91-32790953c9a6> | http://www.gunnars.com/tim-eg-dahang-fogarty/ | en | 0.977449 | 0.036471 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Harvard Public Health Review Winter 2007
Review home
next story
Previous story- The America Next Door
HSPH home page
Leaders worth folowing: HSPH celebrates distinguished faculty and alumni
picture of the sun
Known as the “sunshine vitamin,” vitamin D is made by skin exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays. However, people who live in northern climates or spend little time out of doors year round don’t make enough.
picture of a fish
Dietary sources of vitamin D include fatty fish and fortified milk, but it is very difficult to meet daily requirements through diet alone.
picture of a jar of vitamins
Supplements of at least 800 IU per day can help ensure that people receive sufficient amounts of vitamin D.
illustrations: Ryan Snook
While vitamin D’s role in strengthening bones is well established, its links to cancer and immune-system malfunctions have only recently emerged. At the Harvard School of Public Health, nutrition experts say large segments of the population don’t get enough vitamin D and are urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to raise the daily recommended dose, from 400 international units to 800. For an update on what’s known so far about this important nutrient, the Harvard Public Health Review spoke with HSPH Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology Edward Giovannucci.
Q: What are the documented benefits of vitamin D?
A: Vitamin D’s best-known role is in building strong bones. We’ve seen plenty of advertising urging people to take calcium to strengthen bones, but people also need to know that calcium can’t do the job well if they’re low on vitamin D. The two micronutrients work synergistically, and a deficiency in either can lead to osteoporosis and associated bone fractures.
Q: What other benefits of vitamin D are researchers starting to uncover?
A: A growing number of human metabolic, epidemiologic, and animal studies suggest important new roles for vitamin D. Certain cancers and immune dysfunction are strongly associated with vitamin D deficiency.
In March, several HSPH and Harvard Medical School colleagues with the Physicians’ Health Study and I found a connection between prostate cancer and low blood levels of vitamin D (specifically, of proteins produced as vitamin D is metabolized). Men also unlucky enough to have certain variant genes involved in vitamin D processing were 2.5 times as likely to develop aggressive, deadly prostate cancers. Moreover, more than two-thirds of the nearly 15,000 men in this study were significantly deficient in the vitamin.
My own research with the large, long-term Health Professionals and Nurses’ Health studies found that populations with adequate vitamin D levels have about half the risk of colon cancer as people who don’t get enough. Other cancers have been linked to lower vitamin D levels, too, particularly those of the digestive tract.
Vitamin D deficiency also translates into a weakening of the immune system and an increased risk of so-called autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes. A recent study led by Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition Alberto Ascherio found that the higher the vitamin D levels one has, the lower the risk of multiple sclerosis. Last year, HSPH Dean Barry Bloom and collaborators showed that the immune system’s response to some infections is critically dependent on vitamin D.
Their study seems to help explain why people have historically seen sunshine (a major source of vitamin D) as a useful therapy for patients with tuberculosis infections.
Q: How much vitamin D do people need daily?
A: The current daily recommended allowance varies with age from 200 to 600 international units (IU), a standard set by the Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences in 1997. Randomized trials have since found that individuals receiving 800 IU per day had a lower risk of osteoporosis fractures, while 400 IU per day did not show this benefit. Most experts now believe 1,000 to 2,000 IU per day from all sources—sun, diet, supplements—may be what we need for optimum health.
The body is smart: It makes no more vitamin D than it needs. But a total intake greater than 2,000 IU per day has generally not been recommended. This upper limit, imposed for safety’s sake, is probably very conservative. Recent evidence suggests that even doses upwards of 10,000 IU a day aren’t toxic, though such high intakes are not recommended.
Q: What are the best sources of vitamin D?
A: The sun is the most potent source. When the sun’s ultraviolet rays hit the skin, the skin makes the vitamin, which is rapidly absorbed in the blood and can be stored for several months, mostly in the blood and fat tissue. This is why it’s hard to figure out how much supplemental vitamin D people might need.
If you spend a fair amount of time outdoors, you probably don’t need a vitamin D supplement. A light-skinned person living in Boston who takes walks in the summer with the face, neck, and arms exposed for 15 minutes gets enough. A 30-minute, full-body exposure to summer sun at noon without any sunscreen protection triggers the release of about 20,000 IU into the bloodstream. Most of that is stored. Someone dark-skinned would, with the same exposure, generate about half or less as much vitamin D.
For people who rarely get sun exposure or who live in the north, where the body can’t make vitamin D in the late autumn and winter months, even 800 IU per day during these months may be too low. Dark-skinned individuals, whom research suggests are more prone to colon cancer than whites, should probably take vitamin D supplements, considering that their colon cancer risk may be related to insufficient vitamin D.
Evidence shows modest exposure to sun can have long-term benefits. However, I don’t recommend excessive sun exposure because of the well-known risk of skin cancer.
Q: What are other good sources?
A: It’s hard to get vitamin D from diet. That’s why supplements are often a good idea. In the United States, some foods are fortified with vitamin D, such as milk. A glass is supposed to contain about 100 IU but in reality may contain as little as 50 IU on average. To get 800 IU from milk, one would have to drink at least 8 glasses of milk a day.
Fatty fish is the only natural source of vitamin D. A 3.5 oz serving of cooked salmon, for example, has 360 IU; 3 oz. of canned tuna has 200; and 13.4 oz. of canned sardines has 250.
Q: Who might benefit most from supplements?
A: Most people will benefit. The elderly; dark-skinned individuals; obese individuals, in whom fat cells extract vitamin D from blood and hoard it; and those who avoid the sun are all at risk for a less-than-adequate intake or a deficiency. People living in northern latitudes—for Americans, that means north of an imaginary line connecting San Francisco to Philadelphia—only make vitamin D from March through September. Although vitamin D stored from summer sun exposure lasts for some months, most of these individuals will be deficient by late winter.
Q: What’s the bottom line?
A: I suggest taking supplements of no more than 2,000 IU per day of vitamin D without specific medical reasons until researchers have more definitive data on the benefits and risks. Look for supplements that contain vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), which is three to four times more potent than vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol).
Throughout human evolution, people were naturally and continually exposed to the sun. But today, many of us spend most of our day indoors. Researchers are not recommending massive doses of vitamin D. Instead, we’re saying that many people are vitamin D deficient—and therefore at higher risk for everything from bone fractures and certain cancers to immune-system-related disorders.
Review home
next story
Previous story- The America Next Door
HSPH home page
top of page
Copyright 2007, President and Fellows of Harvard College | <urn:uuid:206754c2-233e-4c0e-9dac-b5e8264bed10> | http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/review/spring07/spr07vitaminD.html | en | 0.934329 | 0.094526 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
1 Reply Latest reply: Nov 15, 2012 9:39 AM by .:}x-=V!P=-x{:. RSS
Clicktag brain fart or idea?
Ida Engmark Community Member
Hey All,
I was looking over the specs for navigateToURL unless I'm missing something the default action is to open in a new window (ref)
"If you do not specify a value for this parameter, a new empty window is created. In the stand-alone player, you can either specify a new ("_blank") window or a named window. The other values don't apply."
Has anyone tried if emmitting the _blank parameter in clickTAG for adservices can fix the issue that some browsers have with pop-up blockers?
I don't have any banners currently in the making, so no real option to test myself. But why exactly do we have to specify "_blank" if this is in fact the default behaviour for the navigateToURLmethod? It may as the title states just be a brain fart on my side and me missing the obvious answer, so if any would care to enlighten me, that would be grand | <urn:uuid:ef2f40bc-18d1-411e-8194-e189ea37fc6e> | https://forums.adobe.com/thread/924786?tstart=0 | en | 0.859314 | 0.130254 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Harry Potter fans create magic at LeakyCon
Largest convention for Harry Potter fans a melting pot of personalities
August 12, 2012|Christopher Borrelli
LeakyCon 2012, summer camp for wizards and mudbloods, the largest Harry Potter fan convention in North America, having occupied the Chicago Hilton for four days, wrapped Sunday. Indeed, it wrapped tearfully, as only a quasi summer camp would wrap. If you weren't there, you're either not a 15-year old girl or cannot possibly understand Harry Potter or be that big of a Harry Potter fan. Please reconsider switching fandoms, loser. All 4,000 or so registrations for the convention — sold through Leaky Cauldron, the popular fan site from which LeakyCon gets its name (all the better to ward off the Dark Lawyers of Copyright Infringement) — were snapped up in a blink, purchased by Chicagoans, Midwesterners, Europeans, Australians, muggle parents.
Muggle Katherine Carter, there with her 13-year-old, Jacqueline, has never read the Potter books and only seen "like five minutes" of the films; still, she flew in from Australia, "because my daughter talked me into it."
Muggle Katherine was a rarity.
Courtney Brother, 17, said: "I came to meet people who like Harry, basically." To which her friend Jenna Sullivan, said: "Yeah, but really like Harry, right?" To which their friend Tony Rossi added: "Like, REALLY like."
Precocious Aidan West of Connecticut — his Adam's apple quite British, his thick, plastic, oval eyeglasses quite Potter — explained the allure to a geriatric newspaper reporter this way: "LeakyCon is for a different level of fan. I wonder, might you be from that 'Star Wars' generation, perhaps? This is 'Star Wars' for young people, OK?"
As with any summer camp, there were uniforms — campers in gray Hogwarts sweaters, school ties, pleated skirts, black wizard robes, scarfs and matching quidditch uniforms. There were cliques: The Potter Puppet Pals passed by, superpopular. There were StarKids and Nerd Fighters. Oh, and (actual) Dalton Academy Warblers from"Glee"! (LeakyCon, though Potter-centric, does offer olive branches to tangentially related fandoms.) There were sports — for the record, the big quidditch finale, between Puddlemere United and the Appleby Arrows, was decided Saturday afternoon, with the Puddles trouncing the Apples 40-20. ("Intense," Emily Harley, Puddlemere captain, proclaimed afterward.) There was morning yoga; Evanna Lynch, who played spacey Luna Lovegood in the Potter films, even led a class Friday.
There were pranks. (OK, who left the napkin taped to the elevator on Friday reading "The dark lord will rise here tonight at 9"? Not funny, people!) There were slumber parties. (Two Hilton employees could be heard saying: "They plan to sleep here?" "No, they just want to see how many people they can stuff into pajamas.")
And by day, there were classes, lots of classes — some serious, some not: Zev Burrows, book critic from Time magazine (and part-time fantasy author) could be heard during a session on vampire dating suggesting a makeover to a teenage girl experiencing mixed feelings ("My problem is I'm 16 and my boyfriend is 107!"). There was a grand debate, argued often in character, on whether Slytherin Hall, the sketchiest of Hogwarts' four houses, should be booted out ("This is not the fault of Slytherin Hall. This is a failure of the culture of Hogwarts!").
Despite the sunshine, these classes, in the drab bowels of the hotel, had an unmistakable air of comparative literature courses. "The Ethics of Severus Snape," a seminar on Harry's occasional antagonist, was standing-room-only at 10 a.m. Saturday. Moderator Nancee Lee-Allen, an activist for teen causes, was saying: "Harry is sitting there and all he wants to do is learn, and this guy is mocking him for being famous." A moment later, Nigel Taylor, a doppelganger for actor Alan Rickman, dressed in the black robes and long, ink-black hair of Rickman's Snape, arrived drinking a can of Coke, looking for a seat. The class cheered. He said: "I heard there was this panel, so …"
There was evidence of minor fissures in this unity: During a Hogwarts Radio podcast, a fan said: "I'm back to basics. I'm get-off-my-lawn-you-kids. I want us to get back to the books. I'm definitely on my rocker about this: 'I remember in 2008 when we were still reading the books!'"
There were hints that, a year after the Harry Potter films concluded, the fandom was not entirely sure what its constituency would be. Arianna Scotti, 14, from Sleepy Hollow, attended LeakyCon last year in Orlando: "I knew the fandom would continue because we've been through so much." But Lynch said she remembers thinking in Orlando, "This is happening now, just enjoy it." Still, Chicago "seems just as huge." Even Melissa Anelli, the 32-year-old from Brooklyn who runs Leaky Cauldron, said: "(The end of the series) was a hard crash for us, so we never expected this." | <urn:uuid:8c5e2d14-9899-4cb6-8f18-1755b01fb913> | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-12/entertainment/ct-ent-0813-leaky-con-20120812_1_leakycon-quidditch-hogwarts | en | 0.963814 | 0.04091 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
I'm a 35 yr old single male with no ties to anyone, totally alone and miserable. I need friends but I'm too untalkative and I can't change..
March 25, 2009 6:27 PM Subscribe
I'm in a real tough spot. I'll just give a rundown of the current situation. I'm 35.. I look a lot younger though. I make a good buddy.. like the steve buscemi character in big lebowski.
I known a few guys who were like the dude. Actually, more like john goodman's character. Older, big fat guys who still check out hot 21 year olds, who are perpetual losers, but lovable guys. I got a friend like that..not a loser though.. but you know, kinda a manly man kind of guy. Big, chunky balding, has a med. marijuana card, that kind of guy..
I'm like this short, youngish looking.. minority.. totally random. I usually make odd-couple friendships. Like those old cartoons.. the big dog, and the little dog hopping around him. I'm the little dog, only quiet. I usually pair up with the talkative big dog who talks a wee bit too much to repel everyone around him, so he turns to me and because I don't talk much, I pay attention.
So I wind up in that tough spot because I too become sort of annoyed, but then he's the only friend I got. I got no confidence to be friends with the people I think I really should be with.
I'm just not talkative, and I can't help it. That's how I am. I never thought early on.. hmm, I should talk more. No, I just do my thing.. I had friends before.. I'm fine how I am.
When I try to force myself to be more talkative in that way you need to be to make friends, it just doesn't go good. I become unfunny.. or just awkward. I relate more to guys like robert deniro who become really awkward when interacting with really normal social kind of people.. and sometimes you think they're better off as quiet..
It's hard. I don't got any friends anymore and finding new ones is.. not only difficult, but it's making me sink further into this isolation, depression, you name it.
What can I do??? What??
I'm also bad at making small talk and being talkative in general. The easiest way for me to make friends is to get involved in a cause or volunteer. That way when I talk to people it's about the job at hand and it breaks through the initial getting-to-know-you awkwardness. Having contact with other people, even if it is just quietly working together to get a project done, might also lessen your dependence on your one big dog friend.
Good luck.
posted by christinetheslp at 6:35 PM on March 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
I can't change.
I beg to differ.
I suggest "Feeling Good" by Dr. David Burns. Therapy in a book and you can do it alone. Apply yourself to the exercises in it.
posted by Ironmouth at 6:39 PM on March 25, 2009
Volunteering (as christinetheslp already suggested), joining a basketball or volleyball or dodgeball or kickball or whatever league, joining a sailing or rowing or skiing or bicycling club, doing tech crew for the local theater club...
Making friends through goal-directed activities is a lot easier for shy/taciturn folks than is just sitting around shooting the breeze.
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:46 PM on March 25, 2009
This is all about self-esteem. Get therapy.
posted by mpls2 at 6:48 PM on March 25, 2009
I am not sure you need to change to make friends. Talkative people do not have a monopoly on friendship. I agree with chsristinetheslp that you should join a group of some sort that puts you in contact with people who have at least one common interest and who are there for the group and not under pressure to become friends. It will happen. I do think you should learn to accept yourself for who you are which sounds like a really decent guy.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:50 PM on March 25, 2009
Yeah, this is about self esteem. You can't go through life thinking of yourself as a hoppy dog. Go tell a therapist all of this, and a good one will guide you to the right activities.
posted by sweetkid at 6:52 PM on March 25, 2009
Volunteer with several organizations. Then start asking questions about the organizations and their mission, outlook, problems etc. Don't be too prying, but if an employee or long time volunteer brings and issue up in front of you, ask a simple question about it. Bam! You're asking questions about an organization or mission that the people you're talking to believe in strongly. A great way to start conversations as long as you're not confrontational.
As an outlier, the worst thing that happens is you ask a non-profit's director why they suck at what they do. That will burn bridges but you don't work for them and you can learn and not ask those same kind of questions at other places. But on the plus side you've still given that organization good work hours.
You will learn and adapt faster than you think.
posted by Science! at 7:05 PM on March 25, 2009
Are you living in a movie?
Robert Deniro is an actor, as are John Goodman and Steve Buscemi. These are actors who are acting out roles. This is not real life.
The key to most things that don't come naturally to people is practice.
As suggested earlier, join clubs. Obviously toastmasters isn't for you yet, so I suggest clubs where talking isn't really on the agenda, such as chess or bushwalking. The beauty of this approach is that it supplies the participants with a shared experience, which then becomes the basis of conversation - and the more this happens the more comfortable you will feel comfortable with conversing.
posted by mattoxic at 7:25 PM on March 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
I noticed just one sentence with your activities and lifestyle, and about 20 describing self-image, so I am redirecting the spotlight to your activities and lifestyle.
Being a 35 yo single male is part of the problem, I think. I've noticed at that age, unless you're around a large circle of other single similar age people (like presumably what's common in vibrant inner cities like Manhattan), it's extremely difficult to make new friendships. Most of us are still carrying forward mostly high school and college friendships. Being 30s-40s and single puts you between 30s-40s married people and 20s single people. That's between a rock and a hard place. So I don't think this is a problem completely specific to you.
I think you should do whatever it takes to force yourself OUT of the house and into activities. I would scour meetup and other venues like that for slightly geeky/green/alternate activities, that said because they presumably have less involvement from conservative, traditional folks who tend to be solidly married and with kids -- that said because it's much harder to make/maintain friends across the marital status divide.
Nothing is going to happen overnight, but you have to force yourself to stay involved socially and busy with group activities. The rest of it you can control, which I suspect is mostly just not worrying so much about things and going with the flow. If you fixate on trying to get friends and worrying about the social ladder rather than get in the mindset of enjoying being around people and just enjoying new experiences, it will work against you.
posted by crapmatic at 7:28 PM on March 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
What are you interested in? Start there. If you are into juggling, I am sure you can wax poetic about juggling. I hate small talk, but get me started on medieval weaponry, and I can go for hours. Find people who share those interests. The internet is your friend. There are groups of people who share your interests. Those interests are the seeds to nurturing friendships. If you are not a people person, then embrace it. Sounds like you might be into movies. Run with that as a starting point. Don't be afraid to acknowledge your awkwardness as a conversation piece.
posted by kaizen at 7:29 PM on March 25, 2009
'Friend' is not something you have, 'friend' is something you do. I think it's mistaken to look at it as acquiring friends in the way you acquire possessions. If you behave as a friend and do the things that friends do for other people, they will become your friends.
Garrulousness isn't required.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:47 PM on March 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
I know this sounds weird... but join a roleplaying game club/group. Find a local hobby-shop and then look for a bulletin board.
All they (we) do is banter, talk, chat and make nerdy jokes all the time.
I dunno - I generally suck at "small talk", but give me a good geek, tech or nerdly topic and I'm off to the races. Therefore, I hang with geeky, nerdy or tech-type people.
Find a group of people who share a common interest.
posted by jkaczor at 8:09 PM on March 25, 2009 [2 favorites]
You are over analyzing everything, it is annoying to be around people like that. Just smoke some of your friends medical pot and relax.
posted by BobbyDigital at 8:13 PM on March 25, 2009
You sound like you've decided upon a pattern, and you're going to confirmation-bias yourself into it because it's a sort of identity for you.
On one hand, you're being too hard on yourself. On the other, you're making this all about you. Volunteer, join groups, do something. You just may have other roles to play, eh?
posted by desuetude at 8:24 PM on March 25, 2009
Is there anything you feel you especially enjoy or are good at? I ask because I've felt myself to be in pretty much the exact same position before, and the single biggest thing that helped was stumbling into a situation where I actually did know a little something and actually could hold my own. Specifically, I ended up in a new job where some of my coworkers staged a weekly, informal "Board Games Night;" before I started to attend these things I felt like the most inferior, unnoticed, awkward 'yappy little dog' in a yard full of big dogs that you could possibly imagine - to me the other people in the group were in another league when it came to social status. I really had to FORCE myself to go to those Board Games Nights - I can remember so many times, early on, where I'd ring the doorbell and then have to clench every muscle in my body to keep from running back home before anybody answered ... but I really LIKE board games, so I kept on going and eventually got to the point where I could focus more on the game than on telling myself how 'inadequate' I was compared to the others. And from there, suddenly I was more than "that quiet, awkward girl at the corner desk at work," suddenly I was also "that person who made a really good move in that game last night," or even "that person who blew the lead like crazy, but was a good sport about it" - and in turn, suddenly to ME those people went from being "those big dogs I'm too intimidated to talk to" to "that woman who got insanely worked up over the interpretation of a rule on a blasted board game," or "that bastard who tried to pull a fast one and move his piece when he thought we weren't looking" - it helped give me and them more 'dimensions,' somehow; it made us all the more human to one another ...
Looking back on that, what I realize is that whenever I dwell on my inadequacies I only amplify them, both to me and to others, and in turn I amplify others' superiority in my own mind. Finding some activity where you can contribute a little - or at least get so involved that for a few brief moments you forget to focus on castigating yourself - can really make a world of difference.
Heck, if it helps, maybe you could remind yourself that feeling inadequate is very human and not just something you do - watch carefully and you might see that many people are so focused on themselves that they either don't notice you being awkward, or else give you the benefit of the doubt by assuming the fault lies with them(!) Seems to me that nearly everybody has an internal critic of their own telling them that THEY are the one who doesn't belong and that YOU are the one who realizes this and are acting accordingly ... it's easy to forget, but even those "big dogs" probably see themselves as "the yappy little dog" at times ... somehow it helps me to remember that.
posted by DingoMutt at 8:29 PM on March 25, 2009 [3 favorites]
The way you described your situation was actually quite creative, and entertaining. Sounds like you have a great imagination - so don't worry about being a bore. Doesn't matter that you're quiet. I'm the quiet dog as well, but every once in a while I bust out with a wickedly subversive and funny comment. Quiet dogs have their place.
Most people will tell you just "relax", but it's not like you can turn "relaxedness" on an off like a switch. So, I'd just recommend that you throw yourself into situations. What are you interested in? Do that. With others. If you're uncomfortable, that's fine. In fact, that's preferred. If you feel like you live in a movie, then ham it up. Become a character... give yourself little missions. "Today I will infiltrate a book club" "Today I will talk to a stranger on a bus" The more you put yourself into unexpected and uncomfortable situations, the sooner they become comfortable, and familiar (which has its own set of problems, but you can deal with them later.)
posted by baxter_ilion at 8:39 PM on March 25, 2009
I'm kinda like you in that I'm a pretty quiet minority that looks a lot younger. I'm about to grad from college but get carded like a champ for cigarettes and probably will continue to be carded for years.
I second volunteering, but also agree that you might be overanalyzing a little bit. You're right that it's perfectly fine to be on the quiet side. It's good that there are quiet people to balance out all the loud ones out there. I don't like to make small talk with people I just meet a lot either because it usually just feels kind of fake. But once I get to know people that I actually like, I'm a lot more open. Nothing wrong with that.
On the bright side, while things don't look great right now, your problem is definitely solvable with some effort. Don't worry about it too much and take your time. When you meet people don't feel like you have to impress everyone or that they are all judging you, just try to be confident and satisfied that you are a good person and say what comes naturally.
If I were you I would get a golden retriever puppy or a kitten. Also, Dale Carnegie's "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" is a fun read.
posted by some idealist at 8:46 PM on March 25, 2009
You know what the therapist is going to tell you? He's going to parse you through his filters, find one that seems to fit as a label, run his/her particular brand of help therapy, collect his fee and see you next week/month. Okay, if you have been traumatized about something, by all means see a therapist.
You can't get to what you want by complaining about what you don't want. The more you think about what a loser you are, how depressed you are, the more you focus your energy on those very things.
Think of your subconscious like a big ocean liner. It has one hell of a lot of kinetic energy going forward in one direction and takes a while to turn anywhere else. At the moment, you're stoking your liner's engine with lots of negative thoughts about what you can't do, what you can't have, what you don't like about yourself. That's going to take some doing to turn around to a new direction.
The good part is that you can start right away. The 'muscles' you need to be social are unused. They've gone flabby or inert. You can start exercising them by imagining yourself in social situations. Your body/subconscious can't really tell the difference between imagined behavior and the real deal. So imagine your perfect outcome with people. Do it at least twice a day, when you wake up and before you go to sleep. Get a perfect picture in your head and live it as if it were really happening to you.
Practice positive speech. It's not something that will just happen. You have to consciously state the positive in your mind instead of the negative and you have to keep doing it. And remember it's going to take awhile to turn that ship around. You have to be consistent and determined to get results.
There's a little more to it than this. It's good to have a role model for making these types of changes. You can find this kind of information all around if you look for it. And, anything you do that you are new at is awkward at first. First you crawl, then walk, then run. Reward yourself mentally. Be okay with having to learn and make mistakes.
Good luck. I know you are going to find new good friends and have a stellar social life.
posted by diode at 8:54 PM on March 25, 2009 [3 favorites]
You sound like you're in a bit of a rut. I hope things turn around for you soon. However, do you always have these feelings or are they fleeting? Therapy's all fine and good but it can cost a lot of money and you aren't guaranteed to find the right therapist on the first go around.
Are you good at anything? Have any interests or passions? Know lots of stuff about something in particular?
Depending on where you live, there may or may not be clubs or organizations that you're interested in for you to get involved with.
However, have you considered hanging out at a bar/tavern with trivia night? You don't have to be social or garrulous unless you want to be. Watching other people can be fun, and if a topic comes up where you're good at - hey! Why not speak up and answer it?
Alternatively, in Canada, there is the Canadian Legion - you don't have to be a veteran to join, and I've heard anecdotes of girls who like to go to bars to read/study/quitey-hang-out but don't want to be hit on or whatever who join Legions.
Bonus - lots of interesting older people who have tons of interesting stories to tell. Legions also host events (swing dancing, trivia nights, lot of other stuff). Again, not all members of Legions are old vets; there's a reasonable contingent of people of all other ages (and both genders).
jkaczor makes a good point; gamers tend not to be very exclusive. Also, pretending to be someone else can be good practice for... pretending to be someone else. It's also a situation where you can work out your own feelings/problems cathartically from a different point of view (subconciously, or whatever).
Are you into team sports at all? Beer league baseball, softball, ice hockey, dodgeball (srsly), volleyball, ultimate are also possibilities that you can explore. There are even distinctions between beer leagues; there are ones where it's ultra competitive (for beer leagues) to those that are 'just for fun' and those in-between. From subbing and hanging out at my friends' sports leagues, the range in age, ability, and sociality is vast. Vast.
Good luck! You sound like to want some (positive) change in your life and for most people, most of the time, it takes action to get those (positive) changes.
posted by porpoise at 8:55 PM on March 25, 2009
1) What are you good at, or interested in?
2) Ask yourself what you like *about* 1).
3) Repeat 2); come up with a longer, more detailed answer this time.
4) Repeat 2); toss in some analogies now-- and, since you seem into this-- movie references.
5) Go to meetup.com, and look up your various interests.
6) Attend the meetings based around these interests, and recite your various answers to 2).
Don't be surprised if comparatively quiet Steve Buscemi types start hanging around as your pals, and don't be too offended when they seem somewhat amused at your newfound tendency to start flirting with the youngest women in the group.
posted by darth_tedious at 8:55 PM on March 25, 2009
Go to the gym or learn a martial art, then punch loneliness in the dick.
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 9:22 PM on March 25, 2009
You've GOT to stop putting labels and boxes on yourself. You are not living in a cartoon or a Coen bros movie. You are not a weirdo sidekick.
The only people you "should" be with are people that you find interesting and appealing and who like you. These really should be the only criteria. People who make you nervous or feel lousy are not friends - unless everyone makes you feel like that. Then you are doing something wrong.
You should realize that most everyone is nervous socially and hoping to make a good impression and wanting to be liked.
posted by CunningLinguist at 9:25 PM on March 25, 2009
Get a hobby. Get two, actually. And listen to the great advice in this thread so far.
posted by gnutron at 10:38 PM on March 25, 2009
While I absolutely second all the suggestions to develop your interests and pursue activities that provide plenty of opportunity for social interaction, I would also encourage you to do some reading on the topic. If you feel you're simply not a talkative person, then you may be surprised to learn something about the particular mechanics of conversation-making - - thus demystifying what it is that socializing, and small talk specifically, actually entail. I'd recommend such books as The Art of Conversation by Catherine Blyth, How to be a People Magnet by Leil Lowndes, and How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends by Don Gabor. Books which break conversation down into manageable & comprehensible components may mean the difference between you being insecure and you being bold and confident in your dealings with people. Also, did anyone yet mention the importance of smiling or expressing a genuine interest in other people? Check out some of these books and I promise that things will start becoming a whole lot clearer.
posted by afabulousbeing at 12:36 AM on March 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
It was in the book Eat, Pray, Love that had this great quote: *You gotta stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone oughtta be.*
Read the book. It's written by a woman - but you know - women do tend to have a whole lot of wisdom. Give it a read. It's going to change your way of thinking.
posted by watercarrier at 3:14 AM on March 26, 2009
I've been reading through all the above suggestions, and I am so impressed at how good most of them are. i would agree to try to start finding groups of people that you share a particular interest with -- and it doesn't have to be cool or hip, it just has to be interesting to you. If you like pickup-basketball-in-the-park, great, but I suspect if you did you wouldn't be in this dilemma. Maybe your interest is balsa-wood gliders, or collecting 19th century newspapers, or making miles of paper-chains to drape around your room. Whatever. The point it is it should be something *you* like, so you'll be comfortable around other people who are into it. And like someone else said above, the internet is your friend. Name an interest, no matter how obscure, you can find a community of other enthusiasts online, and then go from there.
The one thing I would also add to this plan is that it would seem to me that if you're not a talkative person by nature, the problem would be amplified if you're hanging around with just one person all the time . Because then it has to be either someone who just loves to talk and dominate the conversation and doesn't care that you don't talk (because it just gives *him* more time and space to talk) -- and you could see how this could easily be attractive to real egotistical types who turn out to be not so nice in the end -- OR, you find someone else who is just like you, and then you both wind up being silent all the time, and not really sharing anything, and then that's not really a solution either.
So what I think makes seeking out groups especially a good idea for you is that you can hang out with a bunch of likeminded people while really reducing the pressure to talk much. It's ok to be "the quiet one" in a group. You can have fun while not talking much, especially if there are a few other people around powering the conversational engine around. You can still laugh at their jokes (if they're funny ;o) and contribute to the good times without having to talk much yourself.
And then, like others, I think that over time, as you got more comfortable and friendly with folks, you would just naturally wind up contributing more conversation, even if you never became the big talker of the group.
good luck with it!
posted by leticia at 4:20 AM on March 26, 2009
Find a social activity that you enjoy. For some reason, bowling comes to mind.
posted by GPF at 6:37 AM on March 26, 2009
Put an ad on Craigslist looking for friends/platonic relationships/activity partners. State what you said here, including what kind of activities you'd like to engage in. Specify that you are not gay and not looking to meet any who is. Unfortunately that last one is important, as otherwise many gay men WILL start writing to you, trying to start something that is decidedly not platonic.
posted by eas98 at 7:23 AM on March 26, 2009
You're going to need to practice small talk to become comfortable with it and stop being so awkward. I found that starting out making a point of talking to strangers in your everyday life really helps. For instance, when you're at the store say something to the person in line behind you. Older people are good to practice small talk with and are more likely to answer back and keep up the conversation. It will eventually become easier for you and should help addressing some of the other issues you mention.
posted by Bunglegirl at 7:39 AM on March 26, 2009
I agree with the above that therapy would be helpful.
But besides that, let me tell some things that I have done recently to feel less lonely.
I am different than you because I am pretty talkative, but I did find myself with fewer friends last fall because I had been working so hard I hadn't had time for making new friends, and many of my old friends had moved away.
I tend to feel some social anxiety about making friends. I am okay at making small talk with new people, but when it comes to turning that into a friendship where you do stuff together, I get insecure. But I convinced myself to really put myself out there, be open to friendship even when it felt scary.
Some things that have helped me making friends recently:
1. I live in a cooperative house with 13 other people. Not only have I built friendships with many of them, but also with many of their friends. It's a good place for the non-talkative because you have enough time with other people to get comfortable with them and get to know them, even without small talk.
2. I went to burning man. Everyone there is unbelievably friendly.
3. I took the dog for a walk in the park. Other dog owners will always talk to you.
4. I volunteer at a school and talk to the other adults there.
5. I went to a dance class at a local church, a very friendly group.
There are also:
6. Metafilter meetups.
At first, these attempts to reach out to others may not work - you might still feel awkward and have trouble talking. But don't give up, keep at it, it will get easier.
posted by mai at 9:53 AM on March 26, 2009
Get out of your comfort zone now and make a list of actionable things that can improve your current situation. Act on the list today until you see good results.
You don't have to who you are but you need to change your approach. If you're not happy, do something. Make yourself interesting and your life will be less miserable.
posted by mchow at 10:02 PM on March 26, 2009
« Older What would happen if the Unite... | Any good libraries for transco... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments. | <urn:uuid:c65b7b86-fa43-4b9d-8492-122164956ca6> | http://ask.metafilter.com/117758/Im-a-35-yr-old-single-male-with-no-ties-to-anyone-totally-alone-and-miserable-I-need-friends-but-Im-too-untalkative-and-I-cant-change | en | 0.977515 | 0.018142 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Massachusetts: The Why of social media
Thursday - 7/8/2010, 3:53pm EDT
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is heavily involved with social media. They tweet, blog, friend and follow. They have 10 blogs that received over 58,000 hits in the month of May. They have 26 agencies on Twitter, 10 agencies on YouTube and 7 on Flickr. They have toolkits that help agencies jump right in and get started.
Still, some ask why are they focusing on social media. The short answer: because it works.
Some of their biggest social media successes are in the area of emergency messaging. During the catastrophic flooding in March, the Commonwealth Conversations: Transportation blog received over 79,000 hits.That is five times their normal traffic! Citizens were turning to social media - the DOT blog and Twitter - to learn about road and transportation outages. MassDOT created an integrated communications strategy by sending tweets about blog updates - and even more tweets about conditions as they changed.
| <urn:uuid:eb5da9e3-8fda-46c9-b0c8-a0fd12c72332> | http://www.federalnewsradio.com/148/1998301/Massachusetts-The-Why-of-social-media | en | 0.953191 | 0.530003 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
FREE e-Newsletter
Important News - Hot Topics
Get them Now!
Bob Parker
Bob Parker
Jose Medina
Jose Medina
Why High-Risk Encounters Require SWAT
SWAT officers should develop rapport within their agency to better serve the officers who may call on their services.
February 25, 2011 | by Robert O'Brien - Also by this author
Suspect searches consistently rank among the most dangerous, deadliest LE assignments. Recognizing this, SWAT is often utilized to conduct known high-risk, dangerous searches.
In his feature article, "Duty Dangers: Into the Hearts of Darkness," Dean Scoville nailed it, "Most tactical teams have the weaponry, shields, and sophisticated surveillance tools such as pole cameras to mitigate the hazards of such a search."
NTOA trainer Don Alwes puts it another way. "It comes back to the three Ts — time, tactics, and troops."
SWAT can't be everywhere, or handle everything. Every LE agency needs to determine the criteria for utilizing SWAT. Policies vary greatly among LE agencies. For example, some departments mandate SWAT for felony and drug searches. Others only call SWAT for the highest-risk searches. The majority of department's policies strike a middle ground.
Other factors for SWAT utilization include violent crime rate, size of LE agency, and the availability of a full- or part-time team. There's another seldom discussed factor that often determines SWAT requests. The reputation and rapport between patrol, detectives, and SWAT.
Simply put, some SWAT teams have poor reputations in their departments. These teams are usually viewed as arrogant, unapproachable, elitist, too slow to respond, and seldom requested. In contrast, teams with good reputations are respected, considered approachable, non-elitist, respond rapidly, and stay busy.
A SWAT unit's reputation is earned through experience. SWAT exists to protect and serve citizens and fellow officers. It's critical that every SWAT team has a good reputation. Any team that doesn't, needs to do whatever it takes to fix that immediately.
SWAT's reputation in its own agency is sometimes overlooked. However, there's no higher sign of respect for any SWAT team than to be respected by their fellow officers. That reputation needs to be mutual. Because we're all in this together.
There's an old saying from SWAT's early years, "When citizens are in trouble, they call the police. When police are in trouble, they call SWAT."
Just as citizens need to feel they can call police when they're in trouble or need help; police need to feel the same about counting on their SWAT teams when they're in trouble or need help. There should never be any bad blood or friction between SWAT and the rest of their agency. If any exists, it needs to be nipped in the bud immediately.
Whether we realize it or not, every SWAT officer is an ambassador for our teams, and also the entire SWAT profession. Just as LE agencies/departments have reputations, so do SWAT teams. A team's reputation begins in a team's own agency/department.
SWAT teams need to also develop a good rapport with other SWAT teams, especially those in their region.
Why is it so important for SWAT teams to have a good rapport with the rest of LE? For the very same reason SWAT was created in the 1960s, and continues to exist today, more than 40 years later. It's to save lives — citizens and police alike.
So much in LE involves judgment calls that are often made under the pressure of time and circumstances. Suspect and drug searches are prime examples. Searches that range from high to unknown risk — most falling somewhere in between — all having the potential to become high risk.
This gray area is where judgment calls are usually made, whether before the fact or at the last minute on the street. I'm a believer in calling and talking with SWAT when an assignment might be something better suited for them. You'll never know unless you ask. This is where a team's reputation comes into play.
And that's the point. SWAT has the duty and obligation not only to citizens, but also to their fellow officers.
Duty Dangers: Into the Hearts of Darkness
Slain Florida Officers Ambushed by Gunman Hiding In Attic
Miami-Dade's Top Cop: Slain Officers Used Sound Tactics
Tags: St. Petersburg (Fla.) PD, Miami-Dade PD, SWAT Tactics, Searching for Suspects, Warrant Service
Be the first to comment on this story
Other Recent Blog Posts
Bait Devices Help Law Enforcement Crack Down on Cellphone, Tablet Theft
PTSD: Breaking the Silence
First Name:
Last Name:
Zip Code:
E-mail Address:
Police Magazine | <urn:uuid:fa52dfe3-b419-4fda-8286-d701e546dedf> | http://www.policemag.com/blog/swat/story/2011/02/high-risk-suspect-searches.aspx | en | 0.939901 | 0.208229 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Filmmaker Gary Hustwit on Urban Development and City Design
The number of streetlamps lighting a neighborhood; the placement of a bike lane; the creation -- or razing -- of a park: Each element of the physical environment can be traced to a decision made somewhere, by someone. In a trilogy of documentaries over the past six years, Gary Hustwit turns the lens on the design industry, translating insider wonkiness into delightfully digestible media by examining the people who dream up and produce the settings for everyday life. He did it first with typography (Helvetica, 2007), and then with industrial design (Objectified, 2009). His final installment, Urbanized, takes on city design -- an ambitious topic with global implications in a rapidly urbanizing world. In line with its predecessors, the film stylishly intertwines stories of human interest with a basic 101 in urban planning at a pace that's accessible, enjoyable, and provocative.
Hustwit is an independent media trailblazer. Through the late '80s and '90s he employed his largely self-taught skills in the music and publishing industries, focusing on artists and writers who flew under the mainstream radar. In 2001 he founded indie DVD label Plexifilm, which produces and distributes films and digital media -- mainly music-related -- from offices in New York and London. He made his directorial debut with Helvetica, which won knowledgeable and novice fans alike with witty candid interviews, compelling imagery, and a soundtrack worthy of standalone purchase. Urbanized follows suit, communicating so effectively that urbanism luminaries have described the film as a much-needed tool for taking their message to the masses.
Urbanized, which will be available on iTunes in mid-December, involves the spaces we live in; perhaps the most democratic medium the trilogy addresses. Talking with me in London following the film's U.K. debut, Hustwit described the series as "totally punk rock," and disclosed how his grassroots sensibility informs both his filmmaking and his politics.
Do audiences in different cities react to Urbanized in different ways?
People tend to have the same reactions when they're watching the film; they laugh at the same things. But in North American cities, mobility seemed to be much more of a focus in the Q&A sessions. People complained about how poor the bike infrastructure was; how, in the case of Toronto, for example, the current mayor is even taking out bike lanes that the previous mayor had installed because he claims they're causing more traffic. I think audiences sort of get angry that their local city planners aren't adopting ideas from other parts of the world that might work in their cities.
Have you ever had a viewer argue with the generally positive presentation of cities in the film?
Nobody likes being told that the way they're living is not the most efficient way. I think people do have freedom of choice in where they want to live and how they want to live. But when those decisions are impacting the rest of us, that's when something has got to change. That can mean the government getting involved -- I noticed recently that the Supreme Court upheld the sprawl tax that California had put on new developers -- and I think that's the kind of direction that we're going to go. A lot of times, there's no reason for these suburban developments other than that a developer just wants to make money. The city doesn't exist for real estate developers to make money off of it ... that's not its primary function. So it really has to fall to government to rein development in, and make sure that the shaping of the city benefits all citizens equally.
Did you meet any good real estate developers while you were making this movie?
Yeah, I did. Richard Baron in St. Louis is one; he does a lot of work trying to redevelop blighted urban neighborhoods in truly mixed-use, mixed-income format. All real estate developers are not evil. I think there are developers who are doing great residential and commercial development, but they're in the minority. I think most real estate developers are in it strictly to make a profit. That's where you see the issues, just endless strip malls and isolated residential communities.
What kind of an urban environment did you grow up in?
I grew up in the suburbs in Southern California. Very conservative, upper middle class. It was something for me to rebel against, basically. When I was in high school, we were in a gated community, Newport Beach in San Diego. Just the most ridiculous kind of urban form you can imagine.
Did you know you were embarking on a film trilogy when you made Helvetica?
No, absolutely not. People also often ask me about the scaling of the films -- about starting out small with fonts, then scaling up to objects, and finally up to cities. I don't see it that way. I see three areas of design that equally affect our lives. We look at so many words every day, thousands of words and corporate logos and all these advertisements, everything. Typography surrounds us, and we can't help but take in these messages. There are so many ways that design affects our lives that we don't even think about, that I don't want to categorize it as the bigger one and the smaller one.
It's funny, when I watch Helvetica, it looks like Urbanized. It's cities. Even in Helvetica it's not just about showing a logo, it's about something going on around it. It's people, it's buses going by ... all those elements in daily life are in both of the other films too.
What makes you want to inform people about the design behind everyday life?
I think the content of the films is very much linked to my realization of these things and to noticing things in my environment more -- the work and the creativity and the decisions. I'm always noticing the decisions, and trying to figure out why somebody chose this way over that way.
Did you learn to do that in publishing?
I don't think so. Where it really came out of is probably punk rock, which at its core is really a philosophy of being questioning. Questioning authority, questioning the status quo, and creating the world that you want to be in. Not waiting for someone else's permission, or for someone else to do it for you. I think even the films themselves are totally punk rock. I didn't go to a producer, I didn't go to a television network and try to get funding for them, I didn't go in front of a bunch of investors and try to convince them that making a documentary about a font was a bankable idea. It was just a film I wanted to see. That's what it's always been for me, and it's a great experience. I enjoy learning processes for doing things, whether it's how to release a record, or how to tour the country with a band. It's fun to attack those projects.
As an outsider to the design industry, what do you think you bring to the direction of the documentaries?
I think I'm bringing a type of objectivity. Who doesn't like who in the architecture world, those are things I don't really care about. I get a lot of different opinions and see a lot of different projects and try to make sense of this question myself -- who shapes our cities, and how does that affect our lives, and what's our role? There's a limit to my knowledge, and I think that's a good thing. I'm really curious. Hopefully I can hold a conversation with all these people about what they do, and how what they do affects me as a citizen ... and the result is the film.
If you already know all the answers and you're just telling them in a film, that seems like the most boring thing to me. I like not knowing, and bringing an audience along on that discovery with me.
You're about to become a father, and your child will grow up in a world that's changing rapidly through urbanization. Did making the film change your thinking about how you're going to raise your child?
Children are the basis of so many of our decisions about where to live. People want better schools, and an environment where kids can play. But that's all a state of mind. You can have that in any environment as long as you make it a priority. The one thing that has come out of making the film is that I think now about how often people just kind of accept that that's the way it is -- suburbs have better schools and more room, so we need to go there.
You know, you make your own environment. You don't have to accept the way things are in your neighborhood or in a city; you can change things. And you can have a large impact. Don't just let the conditions dictate your response. If you think the schools in another district are better, or there's no place for your kid to play ... make the schools in your neighborhood better. Get a park made. This ideal neighborhood that people think they can find by moving somewhere else, you can make yourself. You can make those things happen where you are now. It just takes work, and it takes organizing. If you don't do that, if you don't get involved, other people will make the decisions for you -- wherever you are. In the suburbs, in the city, it doesn't matter.
Image: Gary Hustwit/Jessica Edwards.
Presented by
Join the Discussion
blog comments powered by Disqus
The Horrors of Rat Hole Mining
What's Your Favorite Slang Word?
Cryotherapy's Dubious Appeal
James Hamblin tries a questionable medical treatment.
Confessions of Moms Around the World
How Do Trees Know When It's Spring?
The science behind beautiful seasonal blooming
More in Global
Just In | <urn:uuid:a766b1ee-c7af-47d0-b886-264337965667> | http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/11/filmmaker-gary-hustwit-on-urban-development-and-city-design/248600/ | en | 0.973621 | 0.109135 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Aim higher, reach farther.
The Grating 'Gatsby'
Watch a clip from the film "The Great Gatsby." Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, a Midwestern war veteran (Tobey Maguire) finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbor (Leonardo DiCaprio). (Photo/Video: Warner Bros)
Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" is a tale told idiotically, full of noise and furor, signifying next to nothing.
The production is not insipid, let's give it that. An exercise in absurdist excess, this fourth screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, means to dramatize the excesses of the Jazz Age, with hints of Weimar decadence thrown in for bad measure. But that's a banality by this late date, and it's as far as Mr. Luhrmann goes in making sense of the book. The film's only governing principle is maximalism—everything has been made as big as possible, apart from conversational interludes, when big feelings are displayed, like bullet points, by actors striking static poses.
ALL THAT BAZ: Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan in 'The Great Gatsby. ENLARGE
ALL THAT BAZ: Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan in 'The Great Gatsby. Warner Bros. Pictures
For a while the sheer scale of the thing keeps you engaged, if not agog. (I watched through 3-D glasses that weren't worth the bother.) Gatsby's mansion is a cross between Neuschwanstein Castle and what San Simeon might have been if Hearst had been more gregarious; partygoers swarm like cicadas, and make as much of a racket. A road trip between Long Island and Manhattan takes on the thunderous intensity of a Grand Prix; the mere arrival of Gatsby's gorgeous yellow Duesenberg in Nick Carraway's driveway is enough to set teacups rattling on a kitchen shelf. (Nick, the novel's narrator and aspiring writer, is played by Tobey Maguire.) Fitzgerald's valley of ashes, a desolate strip half way between West Egg and New York City, has become an expressionist Hades where doomed workers slave away on giant slag heaps. (That's as close as the movie comes to the author's complex attitude toward American capitalism.)
The artistic elephantiasis takes many forms. When young James Gatz, who hasn't yet transformed himself into Jay Gatsby, first encounters his benefactor-to-be, Dan Cody, he doesn't just row a borrowed rowboat out to Cody's yacht on Lake Superior, as in the book; Gatz saves Cody and his vessel from incipient calamity during a storm of sufficient ferocity to scuttle the Titanic. And when the camera first catches sight of the fully formed Gatsby, presiding like a god over one of his parties, fireworks fill the summer sky behind him and a symphony orchestra summons up the majestic strains of "Rhapsody in Blue."
Related Video
Watch interviews and behind the scenes footage from the filming of "The Great Gatsby," with director Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan. (Photo: Warner Bros)
It's a moment that makes you smile, even if you recall that Woody Allen used Gershwin's anthem, and fireworks, to far greater effect in the preface of "Manhattan." There's something touching—again, for a while—in the filmmaker's desire to please, in his fevered efforts to define a time in American history by the way it looks. (He's so eager to cram in pieces of period detail that one camera pullback reveals high-steel workers constructing a skyscraper, even though it's the middle of the night.) But many of the borrowings—from Busby Berkeley, from "The Crowd," from "Citizen Kane"—begin to ring hollow, especially because Mr. Luhrmann borrows, well beyond the point of self-parody, from the same bag of tricks he opened up more than a decade ago in "Moulin Rouge!"
The problem isn't those tricks per se. When the camera swoops and darts ecstatically, or in this case plummets into Manhattan's stone canyons, the effect can be impressive, never mind that Spider-Man has claimed such aerobatics for his own. One fleeting but striking image is that of an apartment building, with each window expanding or contracting, like a window on the screen of a giant computer, as it frames a half-seen life.
Nor is the music problematic, notwithstanding the film's much-hyped use of hip-hop, or the presence of the rapper Jay-Z as one of the producers. In fact, the hip-hop is used judiciously; it kicks in mainly during party scenes, when there's monstrous pounding from other sources, and it's no more intrusive than all the other efforts to heighten the story's reality. (The screenplay is credited to Mr. Luhrmann and Craig Pearce.Catherine Martin designed the lustrous production and the stunning costumes. Simon Duggan did the cinematography, which seemed of variable quality at the studio screening I attended.)
Revelers in 'The Great Gatsby.' ENLARGE
Revelers in 'The Great Gatsby.' Warner Bros. Pictures
What's intractably wrong with the film is that there's no reality to heighten; it's a spectacle in search of a soul. For all of its glittery fragmentation, "Moulin Rouge!" came around to moments of genuine passion. None of these new trappings means a thing because the people who populate them are stylish sticks, unsinged by the spark of life.
That's almost surely not the fault of the actors, for the director turns them into lifelike props. Mr. DiCaprio, who's no more comfortable with the phrase "old sport" than Robert Redford was in the previous version, is elaborately sincere when he isn't frowning like Jack Nicholson; being charming like, well, Leonardo DiCaprio, or being mysterious, except that people who are genuinely mysterious don't look mysterious. Carey Mulligan's Daisy is either languorous or amorous, not a lot in between. Mr. Maguire's Nick is cheerlessly impressionable. Joel Edgerton's Tom is charmlessly brutish. Elizabeth Debicki's Jordan Baker is a flouncing cipher. And Mr. Luhrmann uses Amitabh Bachchan, a legendary star in his native India, to make the Jewish gangster Meyer Wolfshiem a leering Fagin.
Given the lifelessness of the enterprise, there's little point in belaboring its failure to convey the novel's themes, let alone the emotional and social resonance of what has come to be considered a masterpiece of world literature. Although the hero created himself out of the whole cloth of romantic yearning, we see almost nothing of that self-creation, only the conflicted result. Although the Nick of the novel arrives at a new and tragic understanding of the American Dream, the Nick on screen can't be more than an earnest observer, since any vestige of the story's tragic sense has been replaced by melodramatic sadness.
This dreadful film even derogates the artistry of Fitzgerald, who wrote "The Great Gatsby" while living on Long Island and in Europe. In a deviation from the book that amounts to a calumny against literary history, Nick, the author's surrogate, is discovered in a psychiatric hospital where, as an aging alcoholic, he struggles to comprehend the vanished figure at the center of the long-ago story, and finally completes his treatment by writing the novel. It's literature as therapy, and Gatsby as Rosebud.
'Something in the Air'
Watch a clip from the film "Something in the Air." In the months after the heady weeks of May '68, a group of young Europeans search for a way to continue the revolution believed to be just beginning. (Photo/Video: Sundance Selects)
As a longtime admirer of Olivier Assayas, I've heaped praise on his previous two films: "Summer Hours," a richly textured drama that examines the emotional content of material possessions, and "Carlos," which isn't a single film, but an epic achievement, starring Edgar Ramírez, in the form of a 5½-hour miniseries about the international terrorist of the 1970s and early 1980s.
Lola Créton and Clement Metayer in 'Something in the Air.' ENLARGE
Lola Créton and Clement Metayer in 'Something in the Air.' Sundance Selects
"Something in the Air" is a fictionalized reminiscence of the writer-director's youthful involvement in radical politics—high-school revolutionaries seized by the drama of their day and graduating from distributing mimeographed pamphlets to throwing Molotov cocktails. Too bad it isn't more engaging—and dramatic—than it is, but this new film, in French with English subtitles, is still worth seeing for what it says of the turbulent state of France in the early 1970s, when Mr. Assayas was a high-school student in Paris, and of the zigzag pursuit—of painting, beautiful girls and independence from a demanding father—that finally culminated in his becoming the filmmaker he was meant to be.
DVD Focus
'Django Unchained' ENLARGE
'Django Unchained'
'Django Unchained' (2012)
Leonardo DiCaprio is deliciously expansive as Calvin Candie, a pretentious fool of a plantation owner, in a Quentin Tarantino film that is wildly extravagant, ferociously violent, ludicrously lurid and outrageously entertaining, yet also, remarkably, very much about the pernicious lunacy of racism and, yes, slavery's singular horrors. This reminds us of at least two things relevant to "The Great Gatsby"—that Mr. DiCaprio is a fine actor when he's given substantial material, and that stylistic extravagance, far from being the hollow thing it is in Baz Luhrmann's hands, can be an effective adjunct to artistry.
Carey Mulligan in 'An Education' ENLARGE
Carey Mulligan in 'An Education' Sony Pictures Classics/courtesy Everett Collection
'An Education' (2009)
Here's another reminder—that Carey Mulligan, who is so inexpressively decorative as Gatsby's Daisy, has done superb work in recent years, most notably in this tale of an English schoolgirl's hard-won wisdom. The time is 1961, a year before the outbreak of Beatlemania, in a London that Ms. Mulligan's Jenny, at the age of 16, finds sedate if not downright sedative. Peter Sarsgaard is David, the ostensible sophisticate who awakens her, and seduces her. Lone Scherfig directed from Nick Hornby's screenplay, which took its inspiration, in the fullest sense of the word, from a short memoir by Lynn Barber.
'Irma Vep' ENLARGE
'Irma Vep'
'Irma Vep' (1996)
Olivier Assayas wrote and directed this delightful French-language film about the perils of filmmaking and, not incidentally, vampires. The matchless Maggie Cheung plays a version of herself—a Hong Kong martial-arts star named Maggie who speaks no French. Jean-Pierre Léaud (the star of so many classic New Wave films by François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard) is René Vidal, a New Wave director who wants to keep from being completely washed up by remaking the silent serial "Les Vampires" with Maggie as his leading lady. Nathalie Richard is Zoë, a wardrobe mistress with a special feeling for Maggie's body.
Show More Archives
Popular on WSJ
Editors’ Picks | <urn:uuid:779ab5e1-5393-491f-83d5-470aa2fd6560> | http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324244304578472832378366420 | en | 0.940196 | 0.127734 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Comrade! The Capitalism is dead
Workers of the World, unite!
Singing the same hippie songs again
I know we can spread the revolutionary light!
Because fight for the little one
It's easier from a Mansion in LA
Meeting with Chavez tonight
And attending to the awards the next day
Drinking champagne in Paris
Dreaming about the fall of the current Order
Bitching about the American Dream
While I make out with my Swedish Lover
Oh it's so easy to wear Guevara's shirts
Singing out of key trying to save the world
I share the style of the Cuban or the Vietnamese
With the difference I make millions for bad rock songs
Reading Marx and Engels with Lenin posters in my wall
That's the Revolutionary way
I know the old system is about to fall
But please, recording industry, don't forget to send me a check
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you enjoyed my little..."satire" XD...Send me your reviews, thank you very much. | <urn:uuid:26fae8a0-4fc0-4891-86e5-929344ea4fdf> | https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2756200/1/Comrade | en | 0.869446 | 0.040741 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Fort Lewis College orchard
Assumed Practices
A. Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct
1. statements of mission, vision, and values
2. full descriptions of the requirements for its programs, including all pre-requisite courses
3. requirements for admission both to the institution and to particular programs or majors
7. a full list of its instructors and their academic credentials
8. its relationship with any parent organization (corporation, hospital, or church, or other entity that owns the institution) and any external providers of its instruction.
6. The institution assures that all data it makes public are accurate and complete, including those reporting on student achievement of learning and student persistence, retention, and completion.
1. An institution offering programs that require specialized accreditation or recognition by a state licensing board or other entity in order for its students to be certified or to sit for the licensing examination in states where its students reside either has the appropriate accreditation and recognition or discloses publicly and clearly the consequences to the students of the lack thereof. The institution makes clear to students the distinction between regional and specialized or program accreditation and the relationships between licensure and the various types of accreditation.
2. An institution offering programs eligible for specialized accreditation at multiple locations discloses the accreditation status and recognition of the program by state licensing boards at each location.
3. An institution that advertises a program as preparation for a licensure, certification, or other qualifying examination publicly discloses its pass rate on that examination, unless such information is not available to the institution.
8. The governing board and its executive committee, if it has one, include some “public” members. Public members have no significant administrative position or any ownership interest in any of the following: the institution itself; a company that does substantial business with the institution; a company or organization with which the institution has a substantial partnership; a parent, ultimate parent, affiliate, or subsidiary corporation; an investment group or firm substantially involved with one of the above organizations. All publicly-elected members or members appointed by publicly-elected individuals or bodies (governors, elected legislative bodies) are public members.1
B. Teaching and Learning: Quality, Resources, and Support
1. Programs, Courses, and Credits
3. The institution’s policy and practice assure that at least 50% of courses applied to a graduate program are courses designed for graduate work, rather than undergraduate courses credited toward a graduate degree. (Cf. Criterion 3.A.1 and 2.)
4. (An institution may allow well-prepared advanced students to substitute its graduate courses for required or elective courses in an undergraduate degree program and then subsequently count those same courses as fulfilling graduate requirements in a related graduate program that the institution offers. In “4+1” or “2+3” programs, at least 50% of the credits allocated for the master’s degree – usually 15 of 30 – must be for courses designed for graduate work.)
7. The institution has a process for ensuring that all courses transferred and applied toward degree requirements demonstrate equivalence with its own courses required for that degree or are of equivalent rigor.
9. The institution maintains a minimum requirement for general education for all of its undergraduate programs whether through a traditional practice of distributed curricula (15 semester credits for AAS degrees, 24 for AS or AA degrees, and 30 for bachelor’s degrees) or through integrated, embedded, interdisciplinary, or other accepted models that demonstrate a minimum requirement equivalent to the distributed model. Any variation is explained and justified.
2. Faculty Roles and Qualifications
3. Faculty participate substantially in:
3. establishment of the academic qualifications for instructional personnel;
3. Support Services
2. The institution maintains timely and accurate transcript and records services.
C. Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement
1. Instructors (excluding for this requirement teaching assistants enrolled in a graduate program and supervised by faculty) have the authority for the assignment of grades. (This requirement allows for collective responsibility, as when a faculty committee has the authority to override a grade on appeal.)
3. The institution has formal and current written agreements for managing any internships and clinical placements included in its programs.
5. Instructors communicate course requirements to students in writing and in a timely manner.
D. Resources, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness
5. The institution undergoes an external audit by a certified public accountant or a public audit agency that reports financial statements on the institution separately from any other related entity or parent corporation. For private institutions the audit is annual; for public institutions it is at least every two years.2
6. The institution’s administrative structure includes a chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and chief academic officer (titles may vary) with appropriate credentials and experience and sufficient focus on the institution to ensure appropriate leadership and oversight. (An institution may outsource its financial functions but must have the capacity to assure the effectiveness of that arrangement.)
| <urn:uuid:e81a213c-1bb7-40ca-ad71-89b0e4c7755b> | https://www.fortlewis.edu/accreditation/AccreditationRequirements/AssumedPractices.aspx | en | 0.942635 | 0.127312 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
HANKS GuestBook
Search billions of records on Ancestry.com
Home | | Hanks Civil Registration | | Hanks LDS Resources | View Guest Book |
Hanks Guestbook
Are you researching a Hanks family or person ?
Who is your Hanks ancestor in England? Which parish ?
How did you find this site: FamilySearch, Google, RootsWeb, Other?
What did you find the most interesting on this website?
Hanks family or person you are researching ?
Where did the family live?
Thank you for your input!
Home | | Hanks Pedigrees | Hanks People | Hanks Wills | View Guest Book | | <urn:uuid:57b83a5f-3247-400d-8a43-5ee0edc3934e> | http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hanks/guestbook.html | en | 0.768153 | 0.02834 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
BugTraq is the computer security industry's MailingList. If there is a vulnerability in almost anything, you'll hear about it here first.
Start at; or if you're a MicrosoftWindows SystemAdministrator, NTBugTraq can be found at
lib/main.php:839: Notice: PageInfo: Unknown action | <urn:uuid:dd7ba07e-f7ee-45e2-be90-f93cbd359a4e> | http://wiki.wlug.org.nz/BugTraq?action=PageInfo | en | 0.823978 | 0.294942 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Welcome Visitor: Login to the siteJoin the site
Money for Free
Short story By: Neeky78
Homework for a writing course. A few quite limiting guidelines were given for this, but I was pleased with the eventual outcome!
Submitted:Apr 26, 2009 Reads: 123 Comments: 2 Likes: 2
Short story building tension and suspense including dialogue between antagonist and support person (dialogue highlighted in colours).
Homework due Week 6 - 16.03.09
Word Count: 2550 approx.
Money for Free
The $50 notes David was handing out on George Street, were bank crisp as they slipped from the bound stacks and into the fingers of their new owners. At the start of the hour, the money had been warily accepted and a few had, surprisingly, rejected the offer completely. Suspicious they said. Now in the closing stages however, suspicion had been trampled on as the smooth notes were greedily grabbed then crushed in protective fists.
David paused for a moment and checked the clock face that bore down on him from the tower above. Seven more as thick as the wad he was trying to dispense now were still in the lockable case and there were only 23 minutes to go. Chris followed David's gaze and when he too registered the dwindling time, began canvassing more earnestly to the growing crowd. David's family had always been eccentric and this recent stunt undoubtedly qualified as insane. But Chris was a loyal friend despite his reservations that David would once again be left disappointed by the old man.
Within the market-booth, both men felt the flimsy walls buckling under the pressure of the demanding crowd. Their pleas for only one note per person were drowned out by the intense shouts for attention.
"Hey, over here!"
"C'mon man"
The eclectic group included men in suits who used their briefcases to push the elderly out of their way and mothers that rammed prams hard against the knee socks of private school boys. Even the offensive smell of the down-and-out hadn't deterred the money-grabbers who didn't care what the reason was for two desperate looking middle-aged men giving away money. They only cared that they would be one of the ones to receive it before it ran out.
David's free hand shook as it once again wiped the drips of tension from his forehead and under his fleshy chin. His brain stumbled through calculations he had obsessed over in the last three-quarters of an hour.
OK, you have 33 done...so 7 times 100...700 notes...divided by 23...
"Breathe David," Chris reassured him, "We're going to make it if you just keep on handing them out". Chris had to work on controlling his own breathing as word spread through the crowd that the money was running out. The mob's power seemed to swell and press the booth so that the men were all but buried under the slackening canvas.
"I've been here for five minutes mate and you've passed me every time. Give me my fifty bucks before I punch your face in."
The voice belonged to a skinned head covered in several intimidating tattoos of satanic characters. David quickly shoved him a note and watched as the man and his body art retreated into the surrounding viscous blob.
More voices swore at the men.David's shirt strangled his neck as someone at his back held on for balance. His fear was two-fold as he twisted to check the time against his remaining money and then faced the increasingly enraged crowd who sensed they were going to be the ones to miss out. One last handout and he was finished.
"That's it Chris! I'm done." David's voice both shook with the relief of finishing and cracked with the fear of what was to come.
What was to come? Unless he and Chris untangled themselves from the booth and made it through the mass of angry people to the bank again, he would never know. Chris would probably say David didn't need to know and his father would certainly say he shouldn't want to know. But he did. He needed and wanted to know exactly what he had meant to Sir William J. Holling (the 3rd). If he had to participate in some convoluted game to find out, it was worth it.Twenty-five years of working his way up in the company and trying to please his cantankerous grandfather had so far only netted him an ulcer and a large alimony bill to pay to his neglected ex-wife Gloria. Now the man was dead, David wanted more.
He doubted that Gloria would attend the withered tycoon's funeral unless David allowed her to be accompanied by a rousing brass band that trumpeted her joy.When introducing his granddaughter-in-law to people, Sir William J. Holling (the 3rd) made sure his opinion of her was clear.
"Gordon," he'd say, "This is the brainless trollop David married, Gloria, meet Doc Horsham."
One swift look at the clock and David was reminded that the past was gone and he could do nothing to change it. What mattered was using the remaining minute she had now so that his future might finally be in his control.
He and Chris abandoned the almost dismantled booth only pausing to grab the empty case. They held each other by the upper arms and sliced their way towards the bank fending off the verbal jabs and barely deflecting the occasional physical ones.
Powering through the last metres, Chris rapped the glass. When the doors opened he pushed David inside ahead of him and the burly doorman quickly closed the panels against the surge. For a moment the three men watched the scene framed in the glass. The last of the disappointed people silently mouthed their frustration at the soundproof glass and returned to the real world where money didn't grow on market-booths and people had to earn it.
"Mr. Holling, this way please," said the immaculate manager of Northwind Prudential. He lead David and Chris across the plush carpet of the foyer and down a silent corridor until they once again entered the media room. Chris stood at the door and with a light touch to David's arm, stopped him from following the manager inside.
"Are you sure about this Dave?"He stared into David's darting eyes and tried again,"Does it really change anything that's already written?" Only Chris and David's father (who may or may not have been meditating on a Tibetan mountain this month), knew that today wasn't about money. It wasn't even about the business and who was going to replace the miserable bastard as heir to all his grandfather and father had built.
"It was his dying wish," said David. "He obviously wanted to play a little game on me before handing over a billion-dollar business and I humoured him. So what?" David stared back at Chris and tried unsuccessfully to sound nonchalant, but the bitterness was hard to hide. He deserved to inherit the company for two reasons; he was the rightful heir and he was more than qualified for the job. So why the hell was he still jumping through hoops when his grandfather's body was cold and ready to be buried? The truth burned in David's throat as the last minute ticked away.
"And because I want to hear him say it," he whispered, "He had to have been proud of me and I just need to hear that." With a sulk, David walked briskly into the room and the two men sat in the same chairs they had occupied less than two hours before.
Mr. Whaltham QC stood in front of them, checked the notes in his hand before removing his half-moon spectacles and held his hands out for the case. Once he established it was empty he glanced at the time. David returned the approving smile of the lawyer and finally felt his body relaxing for the first time since he got the phone call outlining his challenge.
Mr. Whaltham QC then reached into his own briefcase and removed two video cases; one red, one blue. After replacing his glasses on his nose and again referring to his notes, Whaltham selected the red case and handed it to the waiting bank manager. In the dimming light David looked across at Chris and gave a wobbly smile.Chris opened his mouth to congratulate him, but the screen flickered into life and the enlarged face of Sir William J. Holling (the 3rd) scowled down on them. His bloated body almost filled the screen and the once strong shoulders were hunched over his middle.
"If you're watching this tape and not the other one, it means you managed to hand out four hundred $50 notes in one hour," he barked from his elevated position on the wall."I'm sure that stiff-assed Whaltham made sure you didn't cheat, as he bloody well should, considering the extortionate hourly rate he charges me." Mr. Whaltham QC stood at the back of the room and gave no reaction to this insult.Decades of working for Sir William coupled with the "extortionate hourly rate he charged" worked as an effective anesthetic to the personal attacks.
David bounced one leg on the ball of his foot and stared engrossed at the wrinkled skin and faded blue eyes he had always known. The star on the bank's screen coughed to loosen his throat.
"So," he continued,"what does that mean?" Unaware he was perched on the edge of his seat, David shifted and had to catch hold of the armrest to stop him falling to his knees. Sir William smiled down in all his plasma glory, seeming to look right at his only grandchild who trembled nervously in his taut suit.
"It means you're an idiot!" The ghost-of-a-man yelled even more,"It means you just pissed away two hundred grand in an hour,which is blatantly stupid, all because some old geezer you pathetically worship said to. Your father was an idiot because he didn't understand the power and value of money and you've just proven you're the same David."
As this dramatic announcement had been recorded almost a month prior, David's grandfather was not conscious of the crumbling atmosphere that filled the small room of the bank. The men officiating this unconventional presentation, didn't want the pity they felt for David to be obvious, and so busied themselves shuffling papers at the back of the room. Sir William used his arms to leverage himself up in his wheelchair, pushed himself further into the seat. The effort had him panting and he closed his eyes to pause.
"Fifty bucks might not seem like much," he eventually continued,"but you can see how it all adds up." Wise eyes bored into Sir William's grandson as he lowered his voice and said,"You disappoint me."
David's mouth was slack and his eyes wide as he slid in disbelief to the floor in front of his chair. Sir William continued his posthumous lecture, unaware of David's glazed stare and the choked gurgle that escaped his throat.
The dying man raised his voice to it's normal commanding level and said, "I assume you have that bean-counter of ours with you as you can't seem to have a shit without him holding your hand. So I'm speaking now to you Chris." David's oldest friend looked to the T.V. in shock, forgetting the slumped figure on the ground next to him.
"Are you there Chris?" asked Sir William and he comically peered down the lens of the camera into the darkened room. Mr. Whaltham QC indicated with a hand gesture towards the screen that Chris should answer his former boss.
"Um..ah..y-yes Sir William?" stammered the confused man.
"Are YOU an idiot?"
Again, the lawyer encouraged Chris to reply.
"Ah, er...I don't think so Sir William, sir?"he responded to the waiting figure framed in front of him.Chris found himself sweating more in this air-conditioned room than he had outside in the heat of the summer morning, pissing away the old man's money.
Sir William's cracking laugh boomed from the surround speakers and filled the room.
"Then why are you talking to a dead guy on a T.V.?" His chins jiggled and he rocked back and forth in his wheelchair. "Ha, ha , ha, haa, haa, haaaaa!"
The four men in the room watched in disbelief as the suddenly crazed man continued his laughing, seeming to make up for the decades they had all known him that were void of any humour. Reaching for his oxygen, Sir William J. Holling (the 3rd) calmed his mirth to a wheezing chuckle inside the mask and all five men were silent as his breathing regulated. After several minutes he removed the mask, swiped at the last of his thin hair and prepared to speak again.
"You're an idiot too Chris, like your sap of a friend there."The dead man jabbed a finger at the room and then spoke in a weaker tone, which was somehow more disconcerting than the loud one."You'll both keep your jobs, but you won't be running my company, as I'm giving that role to Peter in Finance."
Chris looked over in embarrassment at the statue-like grandson of Sir William. David felt the attention in the room but couldn't bring himself to move from the spot even though his knees were numb.
Sir William was far from finished and delivered his cruelest blow.
"As for ownership, I was never leaving it to you David because you're too soft," he announced solemnly, "and that's your father's fault no doubt. I have to give him credit though, he wasn't a brown-nose like you.
"All those years you followed after me like a puppy doing everything I said, never thinking for yourself. At least he had the guts to follow his own path even if that path turned out to be a fucking hippy rainbow." There wasn't even a hint of the usual smugness David felt when his grandfather mocked his father.
"So I'm leaving Holling Ltd to my son William IV, your father David,with instructions to stay the hell out of it which should be easy to achieve from the summit of Mt. Bullshit or wherever the heck he is. He'll own it, Peter will run it and you and Chris will work it."
Tears were rolling down David's face as he continued in morbid fascination to watch and listen to his grandfather kick him down one more time.
"Your father will die one day too and I'm sure he'll leave you ownership then, but don't hold your breath.The bastard will probably outlive you with all that yoga, yoghurt and mung bean crap he's been living on." Another wheezing laughing fit followed, but only lasted a few seconds this time before oxygen was needed. Chris knew that David was deeply hurt but had no words to offer his friend. Instead, he concentrated on the final images of Sir William J. Holling (the 3rd)as he concluded his last will and testimony.
"Try not to be a dickhead all your life David and maybe once I've gone, you'll grow some balls," he said. A voice off camera whispered a muffled prompt and Sir William's hands flew up in frustration.
"For God's sake Whaltham, alright, alright," he lamented.
Like a petulant child, he snarled in an exaggerated voice, "Today-is-the-18th-of-March-2008-and-I-am-of-sound-mind-and- blah-blah-blah-I-affirm-that-I-really-mean-everything-I-said-on-this-video-including-the-bit-where-I-called-you-a-stiff-ass.
"Happy? Now turn that thing off," he snapped. There was a fumbling noise as the Mr. Whaltham QC on screen, tried to turn the camera off.
"Not that one jack-ass, the red one. The RED one. For Christ sake, David?" Sir William leaned into the camera and his face became blurred with the close proximity. David reacted in an instant.
"Yes grandfa-"
"If you're still watching this bit, press stop now and eject it, I'm finished. Moron Whaltham here can't work a -"
Static filled the remainder of the tape and the accompanying shhhhhh was the only sound in the room for a very long time.
| <urn:uuid:ed7a4497-ab3e-4e69-acc9-93c7dd4ece1e> | http://www.booksie.com/humor/short_story/neeky78/money-for-free | en | 0.987809 | 0.088175 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
# netstat -at
Active Internet connections (servers and established)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
tcp 0 0 localhost:30037 *:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 localhost:ipp *:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 *:smtp *:* LISTEN
tcp6 0 0 localhost:ipp [::]:* LISTEN
What does the asterisk * in *:smtp mean ?
Why is there no IP address shown?
share|improve this question
1 Answer 1
up vote 2 down vote accepted
It is a wildcard meaning "any".
For example, in the third line:
tcp 0 0 *:smtp *:* LISTEN
The first *, in *:smtp, means the process is listening on all of the IP addresses the machine has. The second *, in *:*, means connections can come from any IP address. The third *, in *:*, means the connection can originate from any port on the remote machine.
share|improve this answer
Thank you, that helped. Is it right to say, the first * means 'listen on all network interfaces the system has' ? – John Threepwood Aug 10 '12 at 22:14
Yes, in the "Local Address" column. (It has different meaning in the "Foreign Address" column) – dsh Aug 10 '12 at 22:16
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:0372cb3c-1d8c-4216-924c-ca91e8c04a30> | http://askubuntu.com/questions/174387/what-does-the-asterisk-in-the-netstat-output-mean/174421 | en | 0.828224 | 0.991121 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
This question already has an answer here:
I am on my macbook, I am upgrading from Ubuntu 12.10 to 13.04. The upgrade went fine, Up until about half way, Where it just stopped. No error message, And it is no frozen. Nothing is happening, It just says installed cabextract.
share|improve this question
marked as duplicate by Raja, belacqua, bcbc, Eric Carvalho, green7 Apr 27 '13 at 7:11
1 Answer 1
If you managed to download all the files, and that it hanged under the installation, there is still a solution to re-take it.
When that happened to me earlier, I tried to run sudo apt-get -f install, and it just started where it had stopped. Please correct me if i am wrong readers!
And, the software updater will automatically detect if there is aproblem in the database, and it will ask you to run a "partial" upgrade.
Good Luck!
share|improve this answer
| <urn:uuid:5b1076ca-ffae-4dc2-8f6c-d3fbd26b863e> | http://askubuntu.com/questions/285764/ubuntu-12-10-upgrade-to-13-04-hang/285771 | en | 0.937155 | 0.026717 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
HOME > Chowhound > Austin >
Feb 16, 2010 08:51 AM
Snack Bar: New Restaurant in the former El Sol y La Luna on South Congress
Who opened up Snack Bar?
Who's been to Snack Bar?
How was the chow? Particularly breakfast?
1224 South Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 445-2626
1. Click to Upload a photo (10 MB limit)
1. On a thread opening roll, Mr. Chef?
We went for breakfast to Snack Bar. It was ok. They do have Rock Star bagels including the salt & rosemary one which when toasted is amazing.
1. I went to Snack Bar for lunch the other day and had the steak tacos with chimichurri, so delicious, spicy and flavorful. My husband had the SB Omelet with a side of grits. The omelet came out hot and the grits were creamy and cheesy. Our waitress, Leda, was excellent. She kept the coffee coming. I think they've smoothed out most of the wrinkles, but I can only speak for lunch. Anyone else been there lately?
1. Bear in mind that we ate there a few months after it opened, i.e. a while ago, but it was awful. We waited forever for drinks and coffee even though the place was empty. S.O. ordered bagel & lox, which usually comes w/ lox, cream cheese, salmon, and capers (from our experience). They were out of capers and the lox lacked flavor. The bagel was ok. So, an overpriced bagel w/ cream cheese was eaten. The waiter did not announce they were out of capers and just brought it out w/ no explanation. Boring.
I ordered breakfast tacos and they were horrible. The tortillas were stale. The salsa tasted like a can of tomato paste.
The service was bad, the decor looked like it tried too hard and was theme park atomic party. Oh and the coffee was lukewarm.
So, this place may have improved but I'm not going back. I should have known better than to expect good breakfast tacos from that strip of s. congress.
1. re: Helind
Wow! My new fave breakfast chow! You've gotta try the Tamago Yoko..."cabbage & leek hash cake, 2 eggs any style, choice of applewood smoked bacon, wild alaskan salmon or
housemade seitan, with wasabi aioli, siracha, nuóc châm"...get it with the Wild Alaskan Salmon. This is world-class, pan-ethnic b'fast cuisine at it's finest. Great staff, great menu, super ingredients...with an interesting, well-chosen, well-priced beverage list, chock full of organic wines. Miss this joint at your peril!
Snack Bar
1224 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704
1. re: stellawine
it's funny you say that, because i was just looking at that menu item.
it sounds de-lish.
i have some restaurant.com credits, and they are on there.
i think they also have a meal combo that includes this with some other things too.
1. re: stellawine
You are much too generous. I just write a terrible review for this place. And it was well deserved.
1. re: sqwertz
really? darn it. the menu items looked interesting/good.
1. re: sqwertz
wonder what happened to your review?
2. Checked this place out for the first time on Sunday. They recently got a new Chef (formerly from Mars restaurant) so I'm not sure how different the new menu is. I had scanned the menu online beforehand and was all set to order the PBLT (Porkbelly sliders). So I was disappointed when upon arrival at 9:30 9(they open at 9 AM) that they were out of both pork belly and biscuits.
But, we ordered the Tamago Yoko$10 ( a large cabbage, leek, shrimp and bacon cake) topped with 2 eggs over medium (came out over easy) garnished with wasabi aoili and sriacha with nori flakes. This was very different from my typical breakfast fare and tasty. We also got the bulgogi sliders$10 (3 to an order). These were tslices of hangar steak on a bun topped with pickled bok choy and hoisin sauce. A small glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee brought our total to $30 for 2 people. Seemed a bit pricey to me, but our entrees were on the exotic side.
1 Reply
1. re: amykragan
Thanks for the review. I was disappointed in the Snack Bar under their previous chef, and was excited to see that the chef from Mars had landed there. I miss Mars. The dishes you got sound interesting. | <urn:uuid:f4a011be-89f2-4ef7-9162-894f6b8963f3> | http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/688322 | en | 0.974773 | 0.068603 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Daily Archives: June 5, 2006
How Red is the Redfin Fin?
In my Techcrunch party write-up the other day, I pondered a bit about the profitability of the various startups around. I’ve chatted a bit more with some friends about Redfin in particular, and how well their model of selling houses online is going to fare. I ran across this blog post, actually written just before last week’s party, which dissects some of the numbers quoted in this Seattle PI article about Redfin’s sales to-date. Whichever numbers are correct; 40 homes at $18 million ($180k commission), or 13 homes at $7 million ($70k commission), I think they’re fairly impressive for having their direct service running for just 5 months (and still at just 25 employees).
The PI article mentions that ZipRealty sold $900 million worth of homes in the first three months of the year (with a shocking 1,400 agents!). Applying Redfin’s “measly” 1% commission to that and we’re talking $9 million in income. Yeah, yeah, so what do all these numbers mean? I’m no economics genius, but it seems clear that the online home buying business scales nicely. Despite having to hire numbers of agents to man phones and process paperwork, manage offers, etc. the throughput of a polished web-based real estate system is always going to be faster (not to mention cheaper to the buyer) than going through it the old-fashioned way. Also, considering only a fraction (maybe half?) of Redfin’s employees are currently agents, they’re currently more efficient (by either sales figure) than ZipRealty (for the time being).
Redfin is in it’s infancy, and the 360Digest post mentions that a small $70k commission sum might not be worth an $8 million investment round. I would argue that the ZipRealty example demonstrates that the idea scales very nicely, and can easily make that $9 million back with the right throughput of sales. I think Redfin is in good shape, and I’m really rooting for them as they’ve taken on the San Francisco market. Expanding means hiring more of their pseudo-agents to handle the sales, but the more they can streamline their core application, the more sales they can push through, and so on… | <urn:uuid:d6aa438a-1cc6-49d3-8e81-b07bce91f919> | http://collections.lopolis.com/archives/2006/06/05/ | en | 0.948982 | 0.048881 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
It's a prank as old as time (or at least as old as 2012): Some chucklehead calls up a pizza chain, places an order, and then conferences in another location of the same chain. When the first one repeats the order back to the second, confusion ensues. Who ordered what? When does this shift end? How much weed can I buy with whatever's in the tip jar? Wait, am I stoned right now? It's all a mystery.
This stunt has been pulled by Howard Stern (that's how you know it's a cool and mature thing to do) and by a Deadspin reader named John (ditto), but Australian YouTuber Tyson Williams brought it back to the public consciousness this week.
Soon, every Domino's Pizza employee will either have some levity added to the workday by teenage prank imitators or wish that Australian YouTuber Tyson Williams had never been born, carefully molding an effigy of his face in pepperoni and then setting fire to it and watching it burn until only a pile of carbon soot remains.
[H/T Daily Dot] | <urn:uuid:a78c2306-8591-42af-a7c9-62b431dff742> | http://gawker.com/guy-dusts-off-classic-dominos-pizza-prank-finds-it-sti-1599348674/all | en | 0.961577 | 0.580148 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
I am looking for some software what could react to music in realtime and could create some visual effects from given presets.
Simply I am looking some kind of software what could partiality replace VJ.
share|improve this question
migrated from avp.stackexchange.com Jan 27 '14 at 15:08
Which platform? – DoktorHauser May 14 '12 at 14:57
It does not really matter. PC is more preferred thou. – Povylas May 14 '12 at 14:59
I hacked together a patch once that would make little visual animations appear in response to MIDI notes using Quartz Composer on Mac OS OS 10.4 once. It's not a proper solution but might be a fun start. – Warrior Bob May 16 '12 at 18:45
Nice idea. I would like to hear more opinions maybe somebody could recommend a forum which more specialized in this there I could ask around... – Povylas May 18 '12 at 19:01
2 Answers 2
My knowledge in this arena is far from comprehensive, but if you don't mind weird generative visuals, I've heard of people putting together rather elaborate video-processing patches using Max/MSP and Jitter.
share|improve this answer
Rather than automatically generating visuals based on sound, which is difficult to do meaningfully, why not make your own music performance more visual? This way you don't need a VJ, you can create a visual show, and people will be watching YOU instead of the visuals you project?
You can use input devices that are impressive to watch in a live performance setting, and hook them up to software for live performance, like Ableton Live.
One example of such an input device are the audiocubes by percussa. The audiocubes are smart cubes that can change colours through built in lighting, and they can generate MIDI based on their position and orientation. The cubes integrate with Ableton Live through MIDIBridge, a free app for audiocubes.
Alternatively you can also use grid controllers which have LED matrices, like the akai APC40. With these kind of controllers the movements you will be making will be mostly finger movements, so hard to see from a distance. With the audiocubes the movements are larger (because you move actual objects), so they are easier to see by the audience. Also check out this blog post: http://www.percussa.com/2012/09/01/how-to-engage-the-audience-when-performing-live-with-a-laptop-featured-question/
Another possibility might be to use DMX lighting, and hook that up via a USB-DMX bridge to software like Max/MSP, which could analyze audio in realtime, and then map that to DMX messages for the lights. This does require quite a bit of programming though.
share|improve this answer
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:856b71b5-cb37-490c-a878-5c54eedf33d7> | http://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/26168/software-as-substitute-for-a-vj-auto-vj-software | en | 0.91091 | 0.030997 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Of Kids and Zucchinis
I was having one of those lovely moments with my 2 little girls the other day. I actually forgot about the housework and the unpacking (yes, we're still living with boxes all around) and sat down to just cuddle them in the armchair. Lovely...until Rachel affectionately confided in me, "Mommy, you look just like a grandma!" This move is taking its toll, apparently.
Larry just returned from yet another working retreat. He had a bag of potato chips and a bag of pretzels in his luggage. "Oh, we just had a little party," he claims innocently.
Now he is up in the attic attempting to install some space-age-looking radiant something-or-other that is supposed to lower the heat in the attic by thirty degrees. Looks like a big roll of tinfoil to me. David's eyeing it jealously - I think he wants to use it to build a space shuttle.
I sure hope Theo remembers to return from camp. No one here has had a decent meal since he left. I just keep throwing some form of bread and cheese at the hungry hordes (pizza, quesadillas, grilled cheese) and they stay happy. This can't be healthy. Theo reports that all is quiet at camp, aside from various unexplained fires - including one melted toilet seat in the campers' latrine. I'd like to point out that girl scout camps do not have this problem. Girl Scouts only light fires to cook s'mores.
In case anyone is wondering how the garden is doing this year, I was wondering the same thing. Somehow, I haven't found time in the past month or so to go check on it (yes, it's only half a mile down the road - but multiply that by several children and it makes it much farther). Anyway, since today was predicted to be in the 90's, I decided that it would be a great time to mosey on down (with the 4 youngest in tow - Larry was working) and see if anything was still alive. We found the tomatoes desperately trying to bear fruit while being strangled by morning-glory vines, the basil throwing in the towel and going to seed, and the zucchini thriving on the neglect (are we sure zucchini aren't weeds?). I immediately threw myself into trying to rescue the tomato plants while urging the children to go for water (and hurry!), for all the world as if I were a trained EMT happening upon a train wreck. (That might make a good TV show for hapless gardeners like me - Gardener 911 or Plant EMT.) The kids were extremely excited to discover the 4 baseball-bat-sized zucchini in the plot. We ended up spending almost an hour there (Susie only cried for the last 30 minutes or so), and I think we managed to convince the basil to hang in there and we propped up the thirsty, traumatized tomatoes and we gave everyone a good drink. So maybe we'll have a successful summer - if I ever make it back there again. Stay tuned...
I get to host the neighborhood Bunko club here tomorrow night. Yes, I'm turning our new house into a suburban gambling den. I hope everyone likes the stacked-boxes look - it's the latest thing in interior decorating...and so inexpensive!
Anna hates me. Oh, but you knew that already. So did I, actually. But she keeps repeating it to me, so I thought I would repeat it to you.
That's all my addled brain can remember to report - someone out there write to me - I want to know what people with normal lives are doing.
Pin It
1 comment:
1. You're too funny to only write once a month! (Though we'll take what we can get, obviously.) Very funny!
Blog Widget by LinkWithin | <urn:uuid:c8b3c4bb-3d77-4ead-815c-389182b91251> | http://suburbancorrespondent.blogspot.com/2007/07/i-was-having-one-of-those-lovely.html | en | 0.975609 | 0.030683 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Ride In 5/15: Cacti and Bolos
First you look outside and then you put put your jacket on and then you go outside and then you take your jacket off and then you take your helmet off and then you take you hat off, put your helmet back on and put your jacket and hat in your bag and then you can finally start riding because you're done overestimating the need for a jacket and a hat, both of which would have been useful had the rain kept up but it hadn't and instead was supplanted by a balmy dankness and your outerwear was no longer useful for keeping exterior moisture out but instead would have been interior moisture in and that would be unpleasant, so you do the hokey pokey of jacket and hat and whether that's what it's all about is entirely dependent on your worldview. Muggy post-rain is the worst sort of weather.
I didn't do BikeDC, but some people did:
And probably a bunch of other people with blogs, but that's all I can remember right now. I did BikeDC last year and sat this year out. I think I prefer my rides to be solitary. And how do I prefer my solitaire? With 20,000 other people and a series of treacherous traffic hiccups.
The paths by the Capitol were closed. There were police everywhere. I asked one "can I ride down there?" pointing to the driveway next to the path where I normally ride and he said "No, sir. It's closed." Finally, a recognition of my knighthood. Thanks for being really polite, Sir Offiicer! I knew that eschewing my bike helmet for one of those jousting kinds would work out in my favor eventually. The detour put me on Constitution, which was trafficky, but I moved into the cycle track at the bottom of the hill and went on my merry way from there. You couldn't really see the merriment under the jousting helmet.
Pretty quiet downtown. Some bike commuters, but not too many. Saw Jon. I think he was very early and I was only a little early. Neither of us was Quinn Early.
It sometimes happens that when I ride my bicycle I notice that there is another bicyclist in front of me (only when I lift my jousting helmet's visor, that is) and sometimes I observe the bicycle and the attire of this person and I notice that he is wearing a rain outfit with a jacket and rain pants and has two waterproof pannier and he even has rainproof booties over his shoes and also that his bike has no fenders. Why no fenders? WHY? WHYYYYY? This was a standard hybrid commuter bike. You know who suffers when you don't have fenders on your bike? You. But also me if I'm behind you. So if you aren't selfish enough to think about yourself, but selfless enough to think about me.
Almost biked into a turning SUV at Mass and 15th. He missed the red and I anticipated the green. For the driver, it would have been an "accident' and for me it would be countless comments about all bikers are Lance Armstrong wannabes who don't follow traffic laws and nearly hit someone every time they ride on a mixed-used path. It's best not to dwell on these things.
Some people in DC overreact to the rain:
This flotation device can be used as a flotation device.
Man [, he went] overboard.
Maybe there should be some bike infrastructure on Connecticut Avenue. See plenty of bicyclists there.
There's only one reason why a horn blare should last more than one second and it's because the driver is having some kind of medical emergency and is in desperate need of assistance or has slumped over onto the horn and is depressing it with the weight of unconscious body. Remember that time that really leaning into your horn actually made something happen? Me neither. It's immature.
I did some one legged pedaling up my slog up Mass, just like Bicycling told me. 10 strokes with each leg. I believe I have now developed "efficiency" and will never do anything this asinine ever again.
Bike racks are empty but it could be just because it's summer. Seems like there are fewer cars, too. One bike has been at the rack for the whole year and has never been moved. Sad.
1. I do not yet have fenders. I bought this bike in September (I went cheap-ish because I didn't know if I was going to stick with my bike commuting including 2 kid drop-offs then to Old Town dream -- I have so far): http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_522412_-1___202339#ReviewHeader
It didn't come with fenders, and because I pull kids, I am fairly weather-sensitive and use car (cars man why!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbZn07rZJ88) when it rains, so I haven't done it yet. I probably will at some point.
But until I do, I hope you aren't behind me or coming at me with your long jousting pole, Sir.
2. Fenders and racks are for weenies. If God meant for us to have them, he would have placed them on the bikes stock instead of being after-market.
1. Same with lights! -@SamuelMoore | <urn:uuid:4d81fdd4-d347-4110-a257-1e5fa0986b79> | http://talesfromthesharrows.blogspot.com/2012/05/ride-in-515-cacti-and-bolos.html | en | 0.980252 | 0.097517 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Google+ Followers
Saturday, April 24, 2010
I have two fiesta invites for tomorrow, one for lunch and one for dinner. Hmm, I must think it over whether I shall go or not. My stomach might get upset, again especially whenever I get to eat contra foods. If I shall go, maybe I shall have to eat non-fatty foods and I should bring my own water. I don't know lately why my stomach gets upset whenever I drink tap water. In my household I am the only who is like this. I have a separate drinking water from my children. Mine is either mineral or distilled water. If until when my stomach will have a negative reaction with tap water, that I don't know. The fiesta is near my workstation, tomorrow so there is a high possibility that I will attend the dinner invite. I may have to decline the lunch invite since I don't like to queue in with hundreds of people to get to the buffet table to get food. Besides, the weather maybe too hot tomorrow that I may really decide against attending.
Liza said...
Happy eating then! :)
A Simple Life
Mommy's Little Corner
Moms... Check Nyo
Yen said...
Distilled water is not good for the body, Our company doctor says. If you can find some refilling station who offers alkaline water, try it. You can google the benefits of this water I am referring too. Take care of your health. :-) | <urn:uuid:67c6fcb9-0773-4465-94c6-9b9e05e16451> | http://www.myoverview.net/2010/04/fiesta-invite-and-drinking-water.html | en | 0.963032 | 0.031328 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
View Single Post
Old 01-03-2011, 09:26 PM
LovingRadiance's Avatar
LovingRadiance LovingRadiance is offline
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 5,502
Evidently it's not so "ok" with her.
Because the post I put in here, was my blog. She (unbeknownst to me previously) is following my blog.
The post set off a flurry of wildfire yesterday. Her take was that I was degrading her and she was "unwelcome". I've re-read what I wrote and I don't see it. I've also heard feedback from a number of others who read the blog religiously and without knowing that she was upset, they all that it was great that I put all of the thought into a post that was clarifying my needs/desires and stated that my goal was to find a compromise that allowed for them to move at their pace, and me/her to move at a different pace.
Maca didn't sidestep because she was upset, which I appreciate. He was very clear with me that he thought what I wrote was very reasonable and sensible and helpful to him and her.
However, he and she have been going round and round about it since.
I feel like there is this great pressure for me to suddenly open the door to her as though she were family, when in truth, as Maca stated last night, she and Maca don't even know each other. They met online for the first time less than 2 weeks ago. They met in person for the 1st time a week ago.....
I'm supposed to just throw all caution to the wind, share my room, share my private feelings, thoughts, secrets, share my whole life with someone I don't know?
I mean, don't get me wrong-if she spends NO TIME around, we'll never know each other. I would never ask for that.
Specifically, what I'm asking for is the following list I gave Maca:
1. Our shower remains for only the two of us. (there is another full bathroom and the household rule has always been that NOONE uses our shower but Maca and I).
2. Details of our D/s dynamic & the paraphenelia that go with it remain private. (we are still in negotiation, or "again" in negotiation-we don't discuss it with anyone including GG and Mimi)
3. My dresser and the things I keep on it are "hands off". (nothing on there belongs to anyone but me, but it's in "our room" which would be "theirs" at least one night a week to start and probably more. I don't want to move my stuff from "our room" to GG's room every few days...)
4. My clothes aren't shared. (this is something I don't foresee happening-but my daughter was notorious for taking my clothing and it really bothers me, A LOT)
5. My pillow aren't shared. (I figured on picking up some extra ones just for her as a "gift" before the drama yesterday. Now, I'm just trying to stay out of the drama until they figure out wtf.)
6. My shoes aren't shared. (Sounds sort of silly-but my mom always ruined my shoes when I lived with her, by wearing them in inappropriate situations. So I don't generally like to share them.)
7. My laptop isn't shared. (I already don't generally let anyone use my laptop. I keep a LOT of private and personal stuff on it that doesn't need to be shared)
8. Macas wedding band doesn't have to remain on his finger, but if it's not on his finger, it stays with me. It's not to go on hers. (I often don't have my rings on, but they are never shared with another person because it's something special between us. Same with the ring from GG and the rings GG wears from me).
9. My towels aren't shared. (I have special towels that are just mine. Since I have herpes it's been a rule for 20 years that no one uses my towels because that is one way it can be passed on. There are LOTS of good towels in the house, so it's not like this rule would mean using shitty towels, just means not using mine which are all easily identifiable, kept in my bathroom and washed separately from the others as well.)
10. My privacy. (which I explained to Maca means that things which are personal about me, remain mine to share, not for him to share with her)
I didn't think that these were unreasonable. In point of fact, I feel like I'm being very reasonable. I know, feelings can be misleading. Which is why I posted, but what I'm hearing from others is that I'm being very reasonable too.....
(and Maca did read what I posted and he agreed that I explained things clearly AND was reasonable, so it's not like I've twisted the explanation to fit my "goal")
I happen to know that if I were to meet someone and ask to have them spend the night in our bed and asked Maca to sleep somewhere else-the answer would be HELL NO.
The theory seems to be that it's ok in this case because I have GG. Which I CAN go sleep in GG's room, but he works evenings, so it's not like we'll be together, I'll still be alone til long after bedtime....
Maca's rules are that no one uses our bed but us, no one uses our shower but us, no overnights unless one of us is unavailable (like he's working out of town or I am).....
"Love As Thou Wilt"
Reply With Quote | <urn:uuid:c75a875e-9b9f-4cd4-8f87-c305294eadf1> | http://www.polyamory.com/forum/showpost.php?p=58071&postcount=12 | en | 0.990472 | 0.344731 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Welcome! You are browsing as a guest
Princess Franklin Plaid Collar
December 2013
Sport / 5 ply (12 wpi) ?
32 stitches and 64 rows = 4 inches in garter stitch
US 2 - 2.75 mm
This pattern is available for free.
By popular demand, here’s what remained of each ball after the collar was complete:
C1: Just under 2 oz
C2: Just under 3 oz
C3: 3 oz
C4: 3 oz
C5: No appreciable change in weight because so little is used.
As always, when making your own decisions about yardage, err on the side of caution. | <urn:uuid:9231bc85-924c-407e-a319-fe8b1fe7f162> | http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/princess-franklin-plaid-collar | en | 0.898469 | 0.025854 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Blacklisted: Why Are There No African Americans In The US Senate?
• Share on Tumblr
As a young African-American man who aspires to one day serve my state in the United States Senate, it would seem, much to my chagrin, that all the odds are not in my favor. The 112th Congress (2011-2013) did not have a single African-American Senator, and the incoming 113th Congress, which will serve from 2013-2015 will be African-American-less as well. The United States Senate has failed to have a African-American Senator since Roland Burris (who replaced Barack Obama when he assumed the office of President in 2009). And, before the people of the great state of Illinois sent Barack Obama to the Senate in 2004, there hadn’t been an African-American in that body since 1999. Only six African-Americans have served in the United States Senate since the inception of that body in April of 1789.
Historical Nature
Once the stains of slavery were wiped from the nation’s conscience and Reconstruction was instituted, a glimpse of hope could be seen in regards to our union being further perfected and African Americans who had only recently been property– now being able to run and be chosen for statewide and national office. The reason I say chosen is clear in the profiles of two men, both from the state of Mississippi: Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce. Not until 1913 were U.S. Senators directly elected by the population, rather they were chosen by their respective state legislatures. Hiram Revels was the first African American to serve in the United States Senate (and U.S. Congress overall) when on February 23, 1870 the Mississippi Senate voted 81-15 to send him as their Senator to Washington.
However, the oppugnant Democratic party opposed on the grounds that Revels, even though a citizen under the 14th amendment, could not take his seat because he had not met the nine-year citizen requirement of the United States Constitution. Revels and the Republicans would counter saying that he was born a free man and had been a citizen all his life (he was of mixed black and white ancestry). Thus, he was seated as the first African American Senator on February 25, 1870 after the body voted 48-8. Revels would hold his seat for one year until 1871 and chose not to seek reelection.
Not until March of 1875 did another African-American serve in the United States Senate, and his name was Blache Kelso Bruce. Bruce, like Revels was of mixed ancestry, and Republican who represented the state of Mississippi. Bruce holds the distinction of being the first former slave and African-American to preside over the United States Senate, a feat he accomplished in February of 1879. The next year he also became the first African-American to receive votes at the Republican National Convention when eight delegates cast ballots for him as Vice President to serve on the ticket with James Blaine. He retired from the Senate when President James A. Garfield named him as Registrar of the United States Treasury, where he holds the distinct honor of being the first African-American to have his signature on paper currency.
With the retirement of Bruce, the Senate would not have another African-American to grace its halls for 86 years until 1967 when Massachusetts elected Edward Brooke, who held that seat until 1979. Once Brooke was defeated, the Senate would be African-American-less until 1993 when Illinois elected Carolyn-Mosley Braun who became the first and to date only African American woman to hold a seat in the United States Senate. When Roland Burris chose not to run for reelection in 2010, the Senate lost the only African-American to grace its chamber.
Difficult Task?
There seems to be a major problem when the nation is rapidly becoming more diverse but its chief lawmaking body, well at least one chamber, is not reflective of that diversity. According to data by Politico, “if the United States Senate were representative of the United States population, then 16 of the 100 members would be African-American.” As stated before, this incoming class of United States Senators, will have zero African-Americans. This is a serious problem. It is almost insane to think that a nation with such an influential population can’t seem to get at least one African-American elected from across 50 states. Why is it such an arduous task to elect an African-American to statewide office when we have been able to elect one to the Presidency not once, but now twice? I for one know that there are plenty of talented, ambitious and worthy candidates who would be awesome individuals to serve as not only Senators, but also Governors and Attorneys General.
• Share on Tumblr
Pages: 1 2
From Our Partners
• B. Brown
I'm barely functioning at the moment, but I did want to leave a quick response…
…there's one small phrase that tells a majority of the story: the fact that there's one African-American governor. Gubernatorial elections are subject to the same voters as senatorial elections. We can throw out quite a few of states which we know will never elect an African-American to a statewide position, probably half of them. We can eliminate quite a few others off the fact that there isn't enough of an African-American population to help elect an African-American. I'd say (without deep thought) that maybe ten states are even slightly possible locations from which an African-American senator can develop. There's also the fact that many senatorial elections occur in midterm years, when African-Americans are less likely to vote. That's before we even get into the issues discussed in the piece such as financing.
Okay, my time's about up. I'll finish by saying these don't make the task impossible (obviously), but they are limitations that any African-American senatorial candidate would have to address throughout – or preferably, long before – they start campaigning.
My recent post My Five Favorite Sitcoms Of All Time
• niksmit
Wait, my brain doesn't really get going before noon. Did I read the first paragraph correctly? Neither house will have any African American representation? Not one among the hundreds in the lower house???
• Darrk Gable
James Clyburn is still in the House of Reps. and Keith Ellison as well. There are a few other black representatives, but not many.
• A.D. Fields
No I state in the article that there are 43 blacks who serve in the house.
• AfterMath
The senate (and governor) is an entirely different race than running for say a House seat. The demographics are entirely different, which is why I'd argue that many of those who are beloved by their districts in the house choose not to run statewide, just a more difficult sale.
Also, many of the Black politicians run on primarily Black issues. This is cool in terms of city and county races, but when doing state races where there isn't one state where Blacks are a majority, its a much more difficult task. in Mass, Patrick ran on a more middle class agenda similar to what Barack ran on. Many in our community don't see the benefit of such a campaign as its not centered around Black issues though.
But as the demographics of America (and thus states) change to a majority minority population, we're likely to see the primary interests of voters change and the set of candidates running for statewide offices more diverse.
My recent post Learn About “the Other” Algebra
• Darrk Gable
It seems like more black folk are less interested in running for political office at all, unless there is a high concentration of African-Americans in their respective district. Getting elected is hard, even if the area in which your running knows your face. But to run for a Senate seat, where you have to be elected by a whole state? That seems to be an insurmountable mountain at this point.
I’m more on the side of the Obama effect has been negative. The racial tensions in the country have ratcheted up, and as long as one of us is in charge, there will be no more advancement for another.
• InsomniaPoet
This article is just sad. Very true but sad. I think part of the problem is that the average American (black, white or other) doesn't really understand how politics work. Most people don't know who their Senators are, more or less when to vote for them, or how to campaign for them etc. Most of my friends only vote in Presidential elections (or when they were gonna start selling alcohol on Sundays). Half of my friends who do vote for something other than President don't even know who the candidates are and will literally call me on the way to vote asking me who they should or shouldn't vote for. I don't really know how you can convince people to care but I think that's where it has to start.
• Bree
"The House, however, has the exclusive power to initiate bills for raising revenue"
Hate to pull the race card but I believe this is the reality. Caucasians will Always control the money in this country in some way, shape, or form. Regardless of who is the president, in the Senate or the house.
Even though we have a black president, the Republicans have control of the House. To a certain extent, even though the Republicans lost the presidency, they won where it counts.
"The major power of the House is to pass federal legislation that affects the entire country."
Point is, the House of representative has more power than the Senate. I believe "they" knew exactly what they were doing with that move.
What many people don't realize is that even if we did get a "freedom fighter" Malcolm X or Black Panther type of guy in the White House on any State Level and beyond, white people will balk and fight it and nine times out of 10 win.
• Bree
President Obama is very clever in how he handles things with regards to legislation and passing bills in the White House. He knows that if he gets too Black Pantherish and tries to "do too much" specifically for black people, and/or even speaks on doing to much for black people that he will, #1. be labeled as a "typical negro" continuing to enable and passify "his" people; and #2- trying to unfairly give us lazy negro's everything for nothing.
• Sith King Jordan
i think the biggest issue in terms of electing blacks to senate or governor positions, is quite frankly, the funds needed to campaign effectively. i don't know excat figures, but i'm pretty sure that the amount needed to run a successful senate campaign is much more than the amount needed to run a sucessful house campaign.
• Bree
I have several years of experience working in Corporate America. You cannot just do whatever you feel is right just because your in a position of power. The same people who give you the power can snatch it right back quicker than a NY minute. It takes time, patience, and strategic and careful planning to do things that go against the grain and appear to benefit a specific group of people, (particularly us).
At the first property management firm I worked for, the white "Principal/Owner" decided to give all the black people MLK day off. All the white people fumed and were livid. The CEO & CFO told him to never ever do anything so "politically incorrect" and unfair ever again. After that we all had to work MLK day.
I do agree that more should be done to ensure the same opportunities that are afforded to caucasians are afforded to all minorities, (we are not the only minority).
• Bree
As President Obama has stated, we need to do more locally before we can invoke any major changes nationally. Starting with voting locally and getting more involved in local government as much as we do nationally. Many of us don't vote half as much as we should for local people who run for offices, like state representatives, congressmen/women, and city councilmen/women.
The more we can infiltrate the private sector of government, the more of a difference we will make, and the more our voices will be heard, and our rights acknowledged in the public sector of government. Once that happens then we have a much better chance of infiltrating higher more powerful branches of government like the House of Representatives.
• nubian163
Looking forward for when you decide to run for the position.
• Muze
really thorough article.
sad that there will be no AAs in the Senate. But i can't say that i'm completely surprised. takes a LOT of money and supporters with a lot of money, to get a seat in the Senate. Like Nubian, i look forward to hearing about your run for office!
My recent post too much, too soon?
• tgtaggie
You might actually get your wish….b/c Sen. Jim Demint from SC just resigned this morning to take a job at a "think tank" for $1 mill a year. The word in SC is that Rep. Tim Scott (a black republican congressman) is one of the front runners.
• B. Brown
I just read an article on that. I imagine Scott is hardly the type that the author had in mind, but his inclusion would open up a discussion of 'descriptive representation vs. substantive representation'.
My recent post Holiday Matters II
• rd
They’re saying Cory Booker might take over for Lautenberg in NJ (sorry for the spelling)
& DeMint retired today–they’re saying a black Republican might replace him
• J.Crawford
Since working on President Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns, I have thought about running for office myself. My Dream Job is to be a FBI Agent or a U.S. Marshal, which is why I'm in college in the first place, so I want to put all my hard work and training to use before I decide to transition to Politics.
Look Forward to a Senator Fields in the Senate one day
• Pingback: Reversing a Culture of Ignorance: Black Wall Street « From Ashy to Classy() | <urn:uuid:576e50c3-5763-4d05-9699-d2ef8d744aea> | http://www.singleblackmale.org/2012/12/06/no-african-americans-in-the-us-senate/ | en | 0.976539 | 0.089696 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Teaching good hand-washing skills actually improves school attendance rates.
The Doctor Will See You Now
School absenteeism causes lots of problems: kids miss out on learning, parents miss work, and sometimes schools lose critical funding. Absences are most commonly caused by illness and typically peak during flu season.
It’s well known that hand-washing decreases the spread of many common infections including colds and flu viruses. It’s also well known that school kids aren’t the best when it comes to washing carefully or often enough. What to do? A group of researchers recently reported on a simple intervention which made a big difference.
Using a study group of 773 school children, ages 4-14, they investigated whether teaching and reminding kids regularly about hand-washing would be more effective than simply providing adequate time and materials (soap and hand sanitizer) to wash. They divided the study population into two groups. Both had plenty of access to soap, water and hand sanitizer but one group also had regular instruction and periodic refreshers on the importance and the technique of washing properly.
The instruction was age-appropriate. For example, finger puppets taught the pre K and K children, while older children had games and demos to drive home the message. The group who were instructed showed a significant decrease in their total absenteeism, and the absenteeism related to illness. The differences between the two groups were highest during the flu season and decreased thereafter.
The researchers concluded that school children could be taught to improve their hand hygiene and that such as improvement would be reflected in better health and decreased absenteeism, which means more time in school. They suggest that the improved attendance would improve students’ academic performances.
The researchers offer two recommendations to schools:
• Ensure that all common areas are stocked with hand sanitizer and that all bathrooms are well-stocked with soap, water and towels or hand-driers
• Provide a short hand hygiene lesson for the students at the beginning of each academic year as well as refresher lessons throughout the year.
Parents may wish to employ these strategies at home as well to help in the battle against contagious diseases.
The study is published in the journal, Pediatrics.
This article originally appeared on TheDoctorWillSeeYouNow.com, an Atlantic partner site. | <urn:uuid:4d32f3a0-676f-4726-b561-b6a001f595bd> | http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/06/washing-works-hand-washing-keeps-kids-in-school-and-sickness-out/258153/ | en | 0.976274 | 0.071139 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The ballot box is not the only way to stop Obamacare
There is another, very potent option. That option, which has two components, rests in state capitals across the nation.
By a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court held that the federal government couldn’t punish the states if they choose to not expand their Medicaid rolls. Obamacare can’t work unless they do so. More than half of the uninsured targeted for coverage under Obamacare are supposed to receive that coverage via Medicaid, thus getting the states to shoulder much of the cost. But states are struggling to balance their budgets with their current Medicaid burden. It makes no sense for them to expand their Medicaid rolls even further.
By choosing to not expand their Medicaid rolls, they place a huge obstacle in the path of implementing Obamacare. The population originally planned for placement into Medicaid will have to seek coverage via the Obamacare exchanges. Which brings us to the second part of this option.
According to the Affordable Care Act, the federal government will set up a health insurance exchange in any state that chooses not to create its own exchange. It is through these exchanges that people will obtain their government-approved health insurance. The state reaps no advantage from creating an exchange. This is because the state must carry out all federal directives in operating and implementing the exchange, and has no autonomy in the matter. In effect, all it does is make the state act as the proxy — the executive secretary, if you will — for the federal government in operating its exchange.
But according to explicit wording in the Affordable Care Act, if the states let the federal government create the exchanges, then residents of those states will not be able to receive federal subsidies to help them purchase the super-expensive, government-designed, government-mandated health insurance. Without those subsidies, few people would want to purchase these expensive policies.
What’s more, if instead of the states, the federal government creates the exchanges, small businesses are exempt from the onerous employer mandates. This rescues small businesses from the huge financial burden Obamacare places upon them. It will enable them to expand and add jobs without fear of financial insolvency from health insurance mandates.
In short, if the states don’t create their own exchanges, Obamacare won’t work.
So the cloud of the Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision indeed comes with a silver lining. It leaves the states holding all the cards. The future of Obamacare is in their hands.
Arizona’s legislature has already made it clear it is not interested in setting up an exchange. The state can barely afford its present Medicaid population and has recently enacted cutbacks. Arizona’s Governor Brewer can help throw a wrench into the gears of the Obamacare machine and grind it to a halt — if she joins states like Texas, Florida, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Nebraska, and others by saying “no” to Obamacare. No Medicaid expansion. No state-run exchanges.
Regardless of the outcome of this November’s election, if state legislatures and governors choose not to play the Obamacare game, then the game is over.
The governors who have voiced opposition to Obamacare have “talked the talk.” Now it is time for them to “walk the walk.”
Jeffrey A. Singer, MD practices general surgery in Phoenix, AZ and is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. | <urn:uuid:01469acb-84a9-48ff-af13-e62158ca9434> | http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/10/the-ballot-box-is-not-the-only-way-to-stop-obamacare/ | en | 0.950097 | 0.027654 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
vpuiNew :: Style -> Env -> IO VPUISource
Create a new VPUI. This used to set up the basic q to quit and on exposed callbacks, but now does not even do that. The init function argument may perform additional initialization; if there is none, simply use return.
workspaceNewDefault :: Style -> (VBox -> IO ()) -> IO WorkspaceSource
Create a new main workspace window, with a given style. The second argument should set up a menu bar and place it on the vbox, or do nothing if no menu is wanted.
addApplyCloseButtons :: CBMgr -> WinId -> VPUI -> IO ()Source
Add Apply and Close buttons to a function-editor window
defineFunction :: WinId -> CanvFrame -> VPUI -> IO VPUISource
Context menu command to apply the function definition of an EditFrame.
Execute the definition currently represented in the frame, i.e., bind the function name in the global environment to the function definition found in the frame.
removeWindow :: VPUI -> Bool -> WinId -> IO VPUISource
This function is called either when a window *has been* destroyed, with destroy = False, or when you *want to* destroy a window, with destroy = True.
removeWindow actually *closes* the window if destroy = True, as well as removing it from the vpui's windows map.
forallWindowsIO :: (VPUIWindow -> IO VPUIWindow) -> VPUI -> IO VPUISource
Perform action on all windows (actually (WinId, VPUIWindow) pairs. Returns updated VPUI (in case any windows are changed). | <urn:uuid:bad0de41-43cd-44d5-ab32-36bb2004a574> | http://hackage.haskell.org/package/sifflet-lib-1.1/docs/Sifflet-UI-Workspace.html | en | 0.767826 | 0.521078 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
In the book of Judges, we learn that the tribe of Benjamin fielded a corps of slingers.
These soldiers were not mere conscripts, but rather we're informed that they were "chosen", in the sense of 'elite' or in some way elevated to a position of esteem. Moreover, they were skilled at the sling to the extent that they were accurate to a hair's breadth.
What's more interesting is that this corps of chosen elite was left handed. How did this come to be? Were these soldiers veterans whose right arm had become mangled and disfigured during the course of so many campaigns such that it was no longer usable? And so they retrained into left handed slingers? And having been veterans they were already combat-ready and disciplined and thus ready to be a "chosen" elite?
Or were left handed children culled at a very young age and trained to be slingers (i.e., the Jedi model)? If so, how could there be so many left handed children so as to make a "chosen" corps of 700?
Otherwise what is a plausible explanation for an elite corps of left handed soldiers?
share|improve this question
2 Answers 2
Rik Smits, in "The Puzzle of Left-Handedness", points out that slingers and other fighters really needed to be sorted by handedness. They stood close together, and if they were mixed up, people were going to get hurt.
10% of the male population, more or less, appears to have been left-handed since the birth of Homo Sapiens. Rather than try to intersperse their lefties into the general battle line, with potentially bad consequences, it makes sense that they would have taken them all together. Why they preferred the sling is an interesting question, but perhaps if you only have a small group, they are more effective with the ranged weapon instead of hand-to-hand.
share|improve this answer
The Hebrew idiom for left handed is 'bound/restricted in the right hand' so that in Judges 20:16, which is the verse you are describing, it reads בָּח֔וּר אִטֵּ֖ר (chosen men bound). Therefore, I think the Net Bible is correct:
The phrase, which refers to Ehud, literally reads “bound/restricted in the right hand,” apparently a Hebrew idiom for a left-handed person. See Judg 20:16, where 700 Benjaminites are described in this way. Perhaps the Benjaminites purposely trained several of their young men to be left-handed warriors by restricting the use of the right hand from an early age so the left hand would become dominant. Left-handed men would have a distinct military advantage, especially when attacking city gates. See B. Halpern, “The Assassination of Eglon: The First Locked-Room Murder Mystery,” BRev 4 (1988): 35.
This seems to make sense to me as the same tribe of slingers are also called ambidextrous which would make sense when you train people to be left, when the are naturally right.
They were bowmen and could shoot arrows and sling stones with either the right or the left hand; they were Benjaminites, Saul’s kinsmen. (1 Chronicles 12:2)
share|improve this answer
Could “bound/restricted in the right hand,” be interpretted as having lost the use of the right hand in combat or the like? – GJV Feb 21 '13 at 21:27
@GJV - sure. It is possible. – Mike Feb 21 '13 at 23:57
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:b0b4bb0f-26fa-40e2-97b7-c1fca084b015> | http://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/2854/tribe-of-benjamin-elite-corps-of-slingers | en | 0.969084 | 0.397316 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Fascial Fitness: Training In The Neuromyofascial Web
Fascial Fitness: Training In The Neuromyofascial Web
by Thomas Myers
Research shows why taking a different approach to exercise and the movement brain is the wave of the future.
If you are interested in the role of fascia in fitness training, the following questions lead to new take-aways:
Most injuries are connective-tissue (fascial) injuries, not muscular injuries—so how do we best train to prevent and repair damage and build elasticity and resilience into the system?
There are 10 times more sensory nerve endings in your fascia than in your muscles; therefore, how do we aim proprioceptive stimulation at the fascia as well as the muscles?
Traditional anatomy texts of the muscles and fascia are inaccurate, based on a fundamental misunderstanding of our movement function—so how can we work with fascia as a whole, as the “organ system of stability”?
Consciously or unconsciously, you have been working with fascia for your whole movement career—it is unavoidable. Now, however, new research is reinforcing the importance of fascia and other connective tissue in functional training (Fascia Congress 2009). Fascia is much more than “plastic wrap around the muscles.” Fascia is the organ system of stability and mechano-regulation (Varela & Frenk 1987). Understanding this may revolutionize our ideas of “fitness.” Research into the fascial net upsets both our traditional beliefs and some of our new favorites as well. The evidence all points to a new consideration within overall fitness for life—hence the term fascial fitness. This article lays out the emerging picture of the fascial net as a whole and explores three of the many aspects of recent research that give us a better understanding of how best to train the fascial net.
The Neuromyofascial Web
Fascia is the Cinderella of body tissues—systematically ignored, dissected out and thrown away in bits (Schleip 2003). However, fascia forms the biological container and connector for every organ (including muscles). In dissection, fascia is literally a greasy mess (not at all like what the books show you) and so variable among individuals that its actual architecture is hard to delineate. For many reasons, fascia has not been seen as a whole system; therefore we have been ignorant of fascia’s overall role in biomechanics.
Thankfully, the integrating mechano-biological nature of the fascial web is becoming clearer. It turns out that it really is all one net with no separation from top to toe, from skin to core or from birth to death (Shultz & Feitis 1996). Every cell in your body is hooked into—and responds to—the tensional environment of the fascia (Ingber 1998). Alter your mechanics, and cells can change their function (Horwitz 1997). This is a radical new way of seeing personal training—stretching, strengthening and shape-shifting—as part of “spatial medicine” (Myers 1998).
Given the facts, many would prefer the term neuromyofascial web to the fascia-dissing musculoskeletal system (Schleip 2003). As accustomed as we are to identifying individual structures within the fascial web—plantar fascia, Achilles tendon, iliotibial band, thoracolumbar aponeurosis, nuchal ligament and so on—these are just convenient labels for areas within the singular fascial web. They might qualify as ZIP codes, but they are not separate structures (see the sidebar “Muscle Isolation vs. Fascial Integration”).
You can talk about the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Mediterranean oceans, but there is really only one interconnected ocean in the world. Fascia is the same. We talk about individual nerves, but we know the nervous system reacts as a whole. How does fascia webbing function as a system?
Magically extracted as a whole, the fascial web would show us all the shapes of the body, inside and out. It would be just one big net with muscles squirming in it like swimming fish. Organs would hang in it like jellyfish. Every system, every organ and even every cell lives embedded within the sea of a unitary fascial net.
This concept is important because we are so strongly inclined to name individual structures and think that way clinically: “Oh, you tore your biceps,” forgetting that “biceps” is our conception. Our common scientific nomenclature gives a false impression, while the New Age shibboleth is more literally true: the body—and the fascial net in particular—is a single connected unity in which the muscles and bones float.
You can tear this net in injury, cut it with a surgeon’s scalpel, feed and hydrate it well or clog it with high-fructose corn syrup. No matter how you treat it, it will eventually lose its elasticity. In your eye’s lens, for instance, the net stiffens in a very regular way, requiring you to use reading glasses at about age 50. In your skin, the net frays to cause wrinkles. Key elements like hip cartilage may fail you before you die, and need replacement, but when you finally breathe your last breath your fascial web will still be the same single net you started with.
It’s no small wonder that this system, like the nervous and circulatory systems, would develop complex signaling and homeostatic mechanisms (Langevin et al. 2006). The larger wonder is that we have not really seen or explored the connective-tissue system’s responses until now.
A Definition of Terms
In medicine, the term fascia designates tissues with specific topology and histology, as distinct from tendon, ligament or other specified tissues. In this article, however, we are using fascia as an overall name for this systemic net of connective tissue, because there is no generalized term (Huijing & Langevin 2009). Connective tissue includes the blood and blood cells, and other elements not part of the structural net we are examining. Perhaps the closest term would be extra-cellular matrix (ECM), which includes everything in your body that isn’t cellular (see Figure 3). The ECM has three main elements:
fibers: the strong pliable weave—consisting primarily of collagen (which has 12 types) and its cousins elastin and reticulin—that both separates compartments and binds them together
glue: the variable and colloidal gels like heparin, fibronectin and hyaluronic acid that accommodate change and provide the substrate for other cells like nerves and epithelia
water: the fluid that surrounds and permeates the cells as a medium of exchange; mixes with the glue to make materials of differing properties; and keeps the fibers wet and pliable
Though the ECM will be our topic just below, the term fascia as we define it also includes fibroblasts and mast cells, which give rise to the fibers and glue and then remodel them in response to the demands of injury, training and habit.
The principal structural element in the ECM comprises the fibers collagen, elastin and reticulin. Collagen is by far the most common of these, and by far the strongest. This is the white, sinewy stuff in meat. The collagen fiber is a triple helix; if it was a half-inch thick, it would be about a yard long and look like an old three-strand rope (Snyder 1975). Collagen fibers can be arranged in regular directional rows, as they are in tendons or ligaments (dense regular), or in random crisscross ways, like felt (dense or loose irregular).
The collagen fibers cannot actually stick to each other but are glued together by other proteins called glycoaminoglycans (GAGs), which are mucopolysaccharides, both of which are long words for snot. We are held together by mucous, a colloidal substance, which, by varying its chemistry slightly, can display a surprising array of properties, from thick and sticky to fluid and lubricating. The fernlike molecules of mucous open to absorb water (they are hydrophilic) or close and bind to themselves when water is absent. Depending on their chemistry, they either bind layers together or allow them to slide on each other (Grinnell 2008).
The phenomenon we call “stretch” or lengthening (and that scientists call “creep” or hysteresis) is a function not of the collagen fibers lengthening but of the fibers sliding along each other on the glue of the hydrated GAGs (Sbriccoli et al. 2005). Take the water out of the GAGs, and the result is tissue that is mightily reluctant to stretch (Schleip 2003).
Most injuries occur when connective tissue is stretched faster than it can respond. The less it is hydrated, the less elastic response it has in it.
The Body Electric?
Connective-tissue cells produce the fibers and the GAGs, and these materials are then altered to form a remarkable variety of building materials. If you were to try to recreate your structural body out of items you could buy at Home Depot®, what would you need? Wood or PVC for the bones, silicon rubber for the cartilage, lots of string, wire, tubing, plastic sheeting, rubber bands, cotton, nets, grease and oil—the list goes on. Would you try to build a body without duct tape?
Your body manufactures all these materials and many more by mixing together various proportions of the ECM’s fibers and glue and altering the chemistry in different ways (Snyder 1975). In bone, the fiber matrix is there—much like leather—but the mucousy ground substance has been systematically replaced with mineral salts. Cartilage has the same leathery substrate, but the glue has been dried into a tough but pliable “plastic” that permeates the fibrous leather. In ligament and tendon, almost all the glue has been squeezed out. In blood and joint fluid, the fiber exists only in a liquid form, until it hits the air, when it forms a scab. This manufactory in your body is fascinating: the dentin in your teeth, your gums, your heart valves, even the clear cornea of your eye—are all formed in this fashion.
Remodeling and Tensegrity
Your muscles may determine your shape in the training sense, but connective tissue determines your shape in the overall sense. It holds the bones together, pulling in on them as they press out (like a tensegrity system; see Figure 2).
The ECM is capable of remodeling itself in a variety of ways (Chen et al. 1997). Just as your muscles remodel themselves in response to training, the fascia remodels itself in response to direct signaling from the cells (Langevin et al. 2010); injury (Desmouli`ere, Chapponnier & Gabbiani 2005); long-held mechanical forces (Iatrides et al. 2003); use patterns (including emotional ones); gravity; and certain chemistry within your body (Grinnell & Petroll 2010). The complexities of remodeling are just now being explored in the lab; the details will be revealed over the coming decade.
The idea of tensegrity (tension and integrity) and the phenomenon of remodeling are the basis for structural therapy, including yoga and the forms of manual therapy commonly known as Rolfing® or Structural Integration and its deep-tissue relatives, including foam rolling. Change the demand—as we do in bodywork and personal training—and the fascial system responds to that new demand. This common theme points to a future where manual therapy and movement training combine to form a powerful method for
restoring natural settings for posture and function;
steering small problems away from developing into big ones later on;
easing the long-term consequences from injury; and
extending functional movement farther and farther up the age scale.
How to Train the Neuromyofascial Web
If the fascia is a singular space-organizing adjustable tensegrity that traverses the whole body and regulates—both locally and as a whole—the biomechanics of tension and compression, we can then ask: How can we train this system, in conjunction with our work on muscles and neural control, to prevent and repair injury and build resilience into the system?
The answer to this question is still developing—rapidly—both in the laboratory and on the training floor. Some research is confirming our images and practices as they have developed and are traditionally applied. Here we focus on a few surprising sets of findings that are (or soon will be) changing our ideas of how the neuromyofascial web really works and what role connective tissue plays in developing overall fitness for life. More of these results can be found at or in the fascial fitness section of
Finding #1:Specific training can enhance the fascial elasticity essential to systemic resilience.
Fascial elasticity has not been recognized until recently, and the mechanisms involved are still being studied (Chino et al. 2008). Nevertheless, applications to training are already evident. The basic news is that connective tissue—even dense tissues like tendons and aponeuroses—is much more significantly elastic than previously thought. The second essential part of that news is that fascial elasticity is stored and returned very quickly. In other words, it is more like a superball than a Nerf™ ball. Thus, fascial elasticity is a factor only when the motion is cyclic and quickly repeated, as in running, walking or bouncing, but not as in bicycling, in which the repetitive cycle is far too slow to take advantage of fascia’s elastic properties.
Measurements of calf lengthening during running have shown that much of the length required for dorsiflexion is coming from an elastic stretch of the fascia, while the muscle is contracting isometrically (Kubo et al. 2006). This contradicts our previous understanding that the tendon was nonelastic, and that the muscles were lengthening and shortening during these cyclic motions prior to and following footfall.
The runners who train for and employ more of this elasticity will be using less muscle power (read: less glucose) during their runs, as they are storing energy in the stretch and then getting it back during the release. Thus, they will be able to run longer with less fatigue.
Building in this elasticity is a matter of putting a demand on the tissues to act in this way. Doing this slowly (compared with muscle training) is a definite attribute of fascial training (it may take 6–24 months to build fascial elasticity).
What’s in:
Bouncing. When you land on the ball of your foot, you decelerate and accelerate in such a way that you not only make use of but actually build elasticity into the tendons and entire fascial system. The best training effect seems to follow the pleasure principle: feel for that sense of elegance, an ideal resonance with minimum effort and maximum ease.
Preparatory Countermovement. Preparing for a movement by making a countermovement—for example, flexing down before extending up to standing, winding up before a pitch, or moving the kettlebell toward the body before moving it away—makes maximum use of the power of fascial elasticity to help make and smooth out the movement.
What’s out:
Jerky Movements and Abrupt Changes of Direction. Imagine jumping rope but landing only on your heels. The stress on all your systems would be enormous, and you would not build elasticity into the fascial system.
Big Muscle Demand for Push-Off. Using the fascial elastic recoil lessens the demand for huge muscle effort during push-off, making movement more controllable, less arduous and less fuel-consumptive.
Finding #2: The fascial system responds better to variation than to a repetitive program.
The evidence suggests that the fascial system is better trained by a wide variety of vectors—in angle, tempo and load (Huijing 2007). Isolating muscles along one track (e.g., with an exercise machine) may be useful for those muscles but is less than useful for all the surrounding tissues. Loading the tissue one way all the time means it will be weaker when life—which is rarely repetitive—throws that part of the body a curve ball.
What's in:
Whole-Body Movements. Engaging long myofascial chains and whole-body movements is the better way to train the fascial system.
Proximal Initiation. It’s best to start movements with a dynamic pre-stretch (distal extension) but accompany this with a proximal initiation in the desired direction, letting the more distal parts of the body follow in sequence, like an elastic pendulum.
Adaptive Movement. Complex movement requiring adaptation, like parkour (see the beginning of the James Bond movie Casino Royale for a great example), beats repetitive exercise programs.
What's out:
Repetitive Movement. Machines (or minds) that require clients to work in the same line again and again do not build fascial resilience very well.
Always Practicing With Upper-Level Loads. Variable loads build different aspects of the fascia. Sticking with near-limit loads will strengthen some ligaments but weaken others. Varying the load is the better way.
Always Training in the Same Tempo. Likewise, varying the tempo of your training allows different fascial structures to build strength and elasticity.
Finding #3:The fascial system is far more innervated than muscle, so proprioception and kinesthesia are primarily fascial, not muscular.
This is a hard concept for many fitness professionals to get their heads around, but it is a fact: there are 10 times as many sensory receptors in your fascial tissues as there are in your muscles (Stillwell 1957). The muscles have spindles that measure length change (and over time, rate of length change) in the muscles. Even these spindles can be seen as fascial receptors, but let’s be kind and give them to the muscles (Van der Wal 2009). For each spindle, there are about 10 receptors in the surrounding fascia—in the surface epimysium, the tendon and attachment fascia, the nearby ligaments and the superficial layers. These receptors include the Golgi tendon organs that measure load (by measuring the stretch in the fibers), paciniform endings to measure pressure, Ruffini endings to inform the central nervous system of shear forces in the soft tissues, and ubiquitous small interstitial nerve endings that can report on all these plus, apparently, pain (Stecco et al. 2009; Taguchi et al. 2009).
So when you say you are feeling your muscles move, this is a bit of a misnomer. You are “listening” to your fascial tissues much more than to your muscles. Here are three interesting findings that go along with this basic eye-opener:
Ligaments are mostly arranged in series with the muscles, not in parallel (Van der Wal 2009). This means that when you tense a muscle, the ligaments are automatically tensed to stabilize the joint, no matter what its position. Our idea that the ligaments do not function until the joint is at its full extension or torsion is now outmoded; for example, ligaments function all through a preacher curl, not just at the ends of the movement.
Nerve endings arrange themselves according to the forces that commonly apply in that location in that individual, not according to a genetic plan, and definitely not according to the anatomical division we call a muscle. There is no representation of a “deltoid” inside your movement brain. That’s just a concept over in your cortex, not in your biological organization.
Apparently, sensors in and near the skin are more active in detecting and regulating movement than the joint ligament receptors (Yahia, Pigeon & DesRosiers 1993).
What's in:
Skin and Surface Tissue Stimulation to Enhance Proprioception. Rubbing and moving the skin and surface tissues is important to enhance fascial proprioception. One weightlifter is having good results scrubbing himself with a vegetable brush before going into competition.
Directing Clients to Feel Their Fascial Tissues. Taking attention—your own and your client’s—away from the muscles and putting it into the surrounding fascial tissues can help prevent injury and make the perception of kinesthesia more accurate and fully informed. Sensuous body activity coupled with a high level of kinesthetic acuity (think: cat) may prevent injury better than being tough.
What's out:
Isolated Muscle Orientation. Exercising a single muscle or muscle group is nearly impossible; every exercise is stimulating multiple nerves, involving multiple muscles and employing fascial tissues all around the site of effort, as well as “upstream” and “downstream” from it.
Joint-Receptor Emphasis. Given that the ligaments are often tensed by the muscles, the emphasis on joint receptors—while important—needs to be replaced with a more general attention to the whole area, from the skin on down.
This discussion has focused on biomechanical factors; it has omitted nutritional and humoral considerations, as well as constitutional differences in fascia, which have recently come up for study. A deeper understanding of the role of fascia in training changes your perspective, your work, your words and your effect. Fascia is not just cling wrap.
SIDEBAR: Muscle Isolation Vs. Fascial Integration
Most fitness professionals have studied muscle function in isolation. Essentially, Western kinesiological anatomy asks: What would the action of the biceps be if it were the only muscle on the skeleton? Left to itself, the biceps is a radio-ulnar supinator, an elbow flexor and some kind of weak diagonal flexor of the shoulder. When we have that down, we imagine we understand the biceps and what it does. That is one way of looking at it.
The only thing is, the biceps never works in isolation. Isolating muscles to study their function is the very opposite of integration and holism. What is the practical difference? Studying the muscle solo leaves out four vital fascial factors in daily muscle function:
1. The Effect From and on Neighboring Medial or Lateral Muscles. The biceps has force-transmitting fascial connections with the coracobrachialis, the brachialis and the supinator and even across the septa into the triceps. These fascial connections affect the functioning of the biceps and the arm (Huijing 2007).
2. The Effect From and on Muscles That Are Connected Proximally and Distally. The biceps has connections distally with the interosseous membrane and the fascia around the radius, as well as the bicipital aponeurosis into the flexors; and proximally with the pectoralis minor and supraspinatus via the short and long head respectively (see Figure 1) (Myers 2001, 2009).
3. The Effect Muscle Contraction Has on Local Ligaments. Contracting the biceps exerts a stabilizing influence on the ligaments of both the shoulder and the elbow. Our assumption that ligaments are arranged in parallel to the muscles is an incorrect one. Most ligaments are dynamically integrated with the muscles in series so that muscle contraction helps the ligaments stabilize the joint at all angles (Van der Wal 2009).
4. The Fact That Every Muscle Has to Be Supplied by Nerves and Blood Vessels. These “wires and tubes” arrive encased in a fascial sheath. If this sheath is twisted or impinged, or if it becomes too short through bad posture, muscle function is affected (Shacklock 2005)
SIDEBAR: Figure 1. Deep Front Arm Line
Anatomy Trains maps out fascial connections that link single muscles--like the isolated biceps shown in the sidebar--into functional wholes.
SIDEBAR: A Few Of The Many Forms Of Fascia
This article uses the generalized term fascia to denote the interconnected net of fibers and glue. A. Two muscles held together by “fuzz”—areolar tissue. B. The “strapping tape” nature of the fascia covering the quadriceps. C. (courtesy of Dr. J-C Guimbertau) The very delicate, gluey tissue that allows change and movement beneath our skin, between our muscles, and anywhere anatomical structures have to slide on each other.
SIDEBAR: Figure 2. Tensegrities
Once you understand the fascial system as a whole, rather than as a series of parts, the body presents itself as an animated version of a tensegrity (“tension-integrity”) (Fuller 1975). The struts are like the bones, pushing out, and the fascial net is like the strings or membranes, pulling in. The whole thing achieves a balance we call “shape.” It is now evident that our bodies work this way cellularly as well as on the macro level (Ingber 2008). Of course, our human tensegrity is animated by our nervous systems, and is very adjustable via the muscles, but exploring the properties of these structures in terms of our bodies is worthwhile.
1 comment:
Filomena P.Barcomb said...
Smittybilt 2800 Dual Battery Tray | <urn:uuid:759ea635-eae1-4b4f-808b-189a1457ce34> | http://makindo.blogspot.com/2012/01/fascial-fitness-training-in.html | en | 0.933949 | 0.207865 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Top Definition
When someone is getting really aggravated at you over something either big or small you could tell them not to eat you. Can be used in the same context as saying dont have a heart attack but instead tell them "Dont eat me". Or if someone is getting really mad at someone that you know you could tell them not to eat the person.
Also is best used with a "calm down" preceding it.
such as calm down dont eat me
Jomar: Why are we here? I hate this place!
Jacob: Calm down, dont eat me!
Jomar: What the fuck are you doing?!?!?
Jacob: OMG dont eat me...
ayon kay nomecomer ika-11 ng Nobyembre, 2009
10 Words related to Dont eat me
Libreng Koreo Araw- araw
| <urn:uuid:2c5ea019-2c9f-4273-9838-88f51675a79d> | http://tl.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Dont%20eat%20me | en | 0.869552 | 0.993279 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Collins Living Learning Center | Industrial Pastoral: American Progress
L100 | 7475 | David Constable
Plotting a course from the natural repose of early 19th century
painting to the technological present, this class will explore the
convulsive evolution of land in relation to art during a tumultuous
period in American history. In what ways, and why, does American
landscape painting evolve as a result of rapid industrialization? Will
the canonical tradition of Western art be able to sustain itself
amidst these dramatic shifts, and can American artists reinvent
landscape as a vital branch of artistic practice? Using examples from
painting, photography, film, installation, sculpture and critical
writing, this class will investigate the replacement of a pastoral
vision with a technological aesthetic tailored to a 21st Century | <urn:uuid:3613b0b7-f60f-4b68-a106-dfb7cd4df4e8> | http://www.indiana.edu/~deanfac/blfal11/cllc/cllc_l100_7475.html | en | 0.900569 | 0.026892 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
How to ‘light up’ your brain like Warren Buffett
Published: July 17, 2014 5:00 a.m. ET
Mitch's Latest Posts
Powered by
So, what’s on your nucleus accumbens?
Does Warren Buffett think differently from you and me? The science says yes, he does.
Researchers from Caltech and Virginia Tech set up a virtual trading game to study how ordinary people make choices in a volatile market. Then they took scans of the participants' brains as they tried to make money.
The scientists (they call themselves "neuroeconomists") looked closely at oxygen flow to regions of the brain, watching them "light up" as activity levels surged. As it turns out, in a bull market most people's brains fire in the nucleus accumbens, an area of the brain that processes the idea of reward. They buy and buy more, right past the price peak.
Fascinatingly, researchers found that pricing bubbles happened without external prompting, such as media hype. Watching cable TV pundits doesn't help, yet most of us are perfectly capable of losing money all on our own.
A small number of investors, meanwhile, receive contrary signals from the insular cortex. This is the part of your brain that fires when you smell something rotten or there is the risk of being shocked, even of being socially excluded or otherwise made uncomfortable.
Guess who makes more money? Yep, the cautious person who sells even as asset prices are rising, essentially Buffett's dictum of being fearful when others are greedy and greedy when they are fearful. The paper's findings appear this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Bull market
As stocks bust through record highs daily (and if it rises only a tiny bit, yes, a record is set) the pundits ask, inevitably, if the bull market can continue. The researchers' findings suggest that it can.
That's because as stocks go higher most of us are wired to keep buying, like the subjects in the experiment. Our minds react to higher prices not by feeling the urge to sell and protect gains. Rather, we get the overwhelming urge to buy even more.
How can you become more like Buffett? Well, it would be nice to have his capital, know-how and leverage capabilities, not to mention his personal network. But retirement investors don't and never will.
Yet they can remove their miswired brains from the investing process. That's the beauty of rebalancing among a basket of investment classes. By owning slices of the market cheaply through index exchange-traded funds, you set yourself up for exposure to a variety of different markets.
Inevitably, their relative valuations will diverge. Conscientious rebalancing — selling off assets that rise in value and then using the cash to buy assets that have fallen in comparison — is an end-run on your own gray matter. It's retirement investing like Buffett, automated.
Simple and painless
Sure, your nucleus accumbens is screaming "buy more" while your insular cortex is taking a huge nap. But you can override all that and just rebalance anyway.
The first time is hard. Then it becomes as simple and painless as brushing your teeth. Over the last 15 years, just the act of rebalancing gave investors a 1.5% edge over the straight stock market, according to research done by Princeton's Burton Malkiel, a member of the Investment Committee of my own firm, Rebalance IRA.
Like with any good science, observation leads to a hypothesis and then testing. Burt and his colleagues "knew" what the Caltech researchers have found with hard science, much as Buffett always knew it because he is in the minority who trade differently, thanks to their brains.
Beat Warren Buffett at his own game
Warren Buffett is laughing at you for selling
Why you should save early and save often
More from The RetireMentors >>
MarketWatch Partner Center
We Want to Hear from You
Join the conversation | <urn:uuid:ee35493d-277a-47c6-9c29-7c46f34a175d> | http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-to-light-up-your-brain-like-warren-buffett-2014-07-17?dist=countdown | en | 0.954055 | 0.201616 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Remarkable Woman Cynthia Rowley
"Every minute, if you're not taking risks, if you're not exercising your right to fail, why are you doing anything?” asks fashion designer Cynthia Rowley, a Barrington native and SAIC grad. Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune
This photo is featured in these articles: | <urn:uuid:cf3f9754-8174-4557-a704-f1a0b12a09a0> | http://www.mcall.com/ct-ct-rowley-fashion-01.jpg-20120503-photo.html | en | 0.894339 | 0.968002 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Resize Merged Excel Cells – VBA
Dim NewRwHt As Single
Dim cWdth As Single, MrgeWdth As Single
Dim c As Range, cc As Range
Dim ma As Range
With Target
If .MergeCells And .WrapText Then
Set c = Target.Cells(1, 1)
cWdth = c.ColumnWidth
Set ma = c.MergeArea
For Each cc In ma.Cells
         MrgeWdth = MrgeWdth + cc.ColumnWidth
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
     ma.MergeCells = False
      c.ColumnWidth = MrgeWdth
       c.EntireRow.AutoFit
        NewRwHt = c.RowHeight
       c.ColumnWidth = cWdth
     ma.MergeCells = True
    ma.RowHeight = NewRwHt
   cWdth = 0: MrgeWdth = 0
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End If
End With
Remote desktop connection shortcut
The Windows Remote Desktop is a built-in tool that lets you take control of a computer over a network connection. It is useful for accessing computers that are not sitting in front of you, and it’s something that I use quite frequently.
I’m typically connecting to several computers every day using Remote Desktop, and it finally dawned on me that there had to be a better way to do it than pulling up the application every time.
The first thing you’ll want to do is create a new shortcut, which can be done by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting New -> Shortcut. Then you’ll be entering in something like this:
mstsc.exe /v: /w:800 /h:600
mstsc.exe /v:hostname/w:1280/h:1024
Here’s what the various portions of that mean:
• mstsc.exe ‚Äì this is the name of the Remote Desktop application, and is required for the shortcut to work properly.
• ‚Äì this is the name or IP address of the computer you want to connect to.
• 800 ‚Äì this is the resolution width for the computer that you‚Äôre connecting to.
• 600 ‚Äì this is the resolution height for the computer that you‚Äôre connecting to.
With this information you’re able to create shortcuts for all of the computers you connect to, and when you execute the shortcut it will immediately begin connecting to the computer specified. This can definitely shave precious seconds off of the time it takes to launch Remote Desktop!
Calculating PUE
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)
Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is a standard developed by The Green Grid‚Ñ¢ consortium to provide a clear answer to the primary issue surrounding energy efficiency within the data center which is how much power is devoted to driving the actual computing/IT components (servers, for example) versus the ancillary support elements such as cooling and lighting. With the rise of computing demands and high density computational environments, the power distribution expressed by either metric is extremely important. The components of the PUE calculation look at the relationship between “Total Facility Power” (TFP) and “IT Equipment Power” (IEP). TFP is measured at the utility meter for the data center space and includes all of the components required to support the IT load including:
• Power components including UPS systems and PDUs
• Cooling elements such as CRACs and chillers
• Other infrastructure components such as lighting
As might be expected, IEP, or more simply, IT Load, is the sum total of the power used by the facility’s computing components including servers, storage devices and networking equipment. The main difference between these two standards is the placement of each of these elements in their equations and their resulting output.
Calculating PUE
To calculate a facility’s PUE simply divide the Total Facility Power by its IT Equipment Power. Your answer will be a whole number. For example, a PUE score of 3 indicates that the data center demand is three times greater than the energy necessary to power the IT equipment.
Interpreting PUE
The PUE can range from 1 to infinity. In the case of the PUE, data center energy efficiency increases the closer the number comes to one which indicates that a greater portion of the power required by the facility is used to drive the IT equipment.
Get Parent PID
my $parent_id = getppid();
print "$parent_id\n";
getppid – get parent process ID
Returns the process id of the parent process.
| <urn:uuid:f2e86afd-7668-4d66-82fc-87f598d9273d> | http://www.podciborski.co.uk/2011/01/ | en | 0.86877 | 0.139438 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Family Law Self-Help Clinic
The Family Law Self-Help Clinic provides self-represented individuals with free legal assistance. The Family Law Self-Help Clinic provides free legal assistance with family law legal issues such as marriage, divorce, and child custody. The Clinic will not assist with domestic violence issues, restraining orders or pension distributions.
The free legal assistance consists of a half-hour consultation with a licensed attorney and a law student. They will provide limited assistance only for those who are self-represented. The clinic will not provide full or ongoing legal representation. In addition to a consultation, the Family Law Self-Help Clinic will provide assistance with completing legal forms, computer access to complete the legal forms and conduct legal research, document review before submission to the court, and additional information about how to move forward with each individual's case.
The clinic meets every other Thursday and appointment is required. To make an appointment, please call (619) 961-4371. | <urn:uuid:617c7a9b-1a5e-44cf-b3ba-c7a334d7c99c> | http://www.tjsl.edu/clinics/family-law-self-help-clinic | en | 0.928929 | 0.020926 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
:: Author's Notes ::
About the whole 'should Naruto live or die' thing, that was supposed to be a joke ;) But that's okay; I didn't get a single 'die' vote, and I GUESS I won't kill him off xD I'm really sorry that the chapters are so short... I have a lot of trouble staying on more than an hour because my mom's really strict about stuff like that. It's a lame, sad excuse but it's true :/
Sasuke: HAHA your MOM won't let you stay online. I don't have such mediocre restrictions!
That's 'cause your parents are DEAD, Sassy-UchihaButt.
Sasuke: Oh... yeah. Right.
Anyway, now that I'm done arguing with a charcter that isn't mine but that I do have verbal control of, enjoy! I really am going to try and make it long.
Every time I read new reviews, I start giggling, sometimes snorting (I know, I'm even amazed I have friends) and then my dog looks at me funny and walks out of the room, but that's okay! I love everyone who has reviewed, all of you make my day and give me fuel to keep writing!!
And I will most definitely be reading(and reviewing!) Vanya Starwind's Sakura and Itachi fiction. If anybody else has odd couplings, PLEASE let me know and I will be super happy to R&R them!!
"Here." Naruto handed Temari an icepack to lay on her bandaged hand, uncomfortably shifting his eyes away when she winced in pain.
She nodded her thank-you, casting him the smallest tweak of a smile.
It had all been a huge mess- Temari became scared out of her wits upon seeing the candle's glow against Kankuro and the Crow's plasticine-like faces, and had hit the wall hard. Gaara automatically reacted when his sister screamed for help, and knowing that Kankuro wouldn't have tried to kill her, went for Naruto. But her cry had stopped him in his tracks, moments before Naruto would have engaged in a fight with him.
Now, she was sitting on the cushiony seats of her living couch, opposite her brothers, who were seated on chairs. Naruto sat beside her on the armrest of the couch.
"I would think you of all people wouldn't freak when you saw the Crow." grinned Kankuro, his hand clutching the spiky head of his puppet. He swiveled the base a few times for emphasis and amusement.
Temari glared at her brother, still somewhat angry. "Do you know how scary that damned puppet is? You could've killed me, I was so frightened."
Kankuro's eyes widened slightly, and he took in a small breath.
The comment had caught him off guard; Temari would never admit a weakness like this one, but he cast it aside, spreading his slim, toothy grin again and gazing at something across the room.
"You still haven't told me why you've come." she stared at both of the men sternly, breaking the tension of the room abruptly.
Inside, her heart was beating heavily, and she swore they could hear it.
Kankuro glanced to Gaara, who held a steady gaze with his Temari.
"We have been sent not only to bring you back... but to bring news." he said calmly.
She raised her chin. "I am not returning to that hellhole of a home with a child." she snarled firmly, and stood to her feet, clenching the ice pack tightly in her fist.
An angered snort escaped Kankuro. "Baka! As if we didn't know you would say that. And don't try to guilt us into anything just because you're pregnant."
"Don't call me an idiot!" yelled Temari in defense.
"Oh, and someone who has an accidental child and then just runs away isn't?!"
A smack resonated through the room, echoing against the bare walls.
Kankuro reeled and held his mouth, which Temari had fiercely slapped.
"Agh! Temari, God, what's your problem?!" he demanded. Her nails had left bleeding claw marks across his cheek, while her fingers had nearly broken one of his teeth.
"You! Why the hell couldn't you have just left me alone?! I was doing fine here- I have a job, I have friends, I'm happy... None of these things... I never had these in Sunakagure!!" She was on the edge of crying, but still held her chest high and kept her authority.
Heaving, Temari looked down at Kankuro, the tears moments from spilling down her cheeks. He looked away. He hadn't seen her cry since...
Don't look at me, freak!
"Why don't you come home? We wouldn't let him..." said Gaara, interrupting the silence with an angered tone.
Temari gazed up at him, and rivaled at how tall he was. The only pictures she had of him were from when he was in the Chuunin exam, before and after. She had been looking at pictures of her family everyday, and had forgotton how handsome and lean he was now.
He seemed genuinely worried- his eyes weren't entirely open and alert, but squinted and... confused, even? His red hair was untrimmed and ragged, and he seemed mad, but unwilling to hurt her.
"I just don't think that... anyone could... protect..." she spat the last word, hating the taste of it on her tongue.
"Wait- who? Who would hurt Temari?" demanded Naruto, his eyebrows pushing together in frustration. Temari had told him nothing of her situation, and this whole time, he had been confused.
Kankuro quirked an eyebrow at him. "Our father. I somehow doubt he'd be pleased that his first grandchild was a bastard. In fact, I know it."
"What does that mean?" asked Temari, truly not wanting to hear what she knew was coming.
"...you know... what it means... Temari."
Kankuro would not look at her.
"He's killed him."
Temari glanced up, hearing her brother's voice die away at the end of his sentence. "Oh, God. No..." her breathing became quicker, and her wounded hand ignored the pain and clutched the area over her heart. Desperately, she looked away, her eyeline glancing to Gaara, the floor, the glass gourd across the room... anything.
"Assassinated only two days ago." admitted Gaara, sorrow hanging ever so loosely from his gaze.
Tears lingered at the corner of her eyes, a few shallow ones rolling down her cheeks in silence. There was perhaps a full minute of silence before she stood to her feet, both hands resting on her stomach.
"The couch folds out into a bed. Just put the other furniture in the spare room, please. There are linens in the closet."
Without another word, she left the room, stepping into her bedroom and closing the door behind her.
:: Author's Notes ::
I wasn't sure how to portray Gaara- I wanted him to be all mean and smecksay but protective of Temari. Oh well- I just hope you Gaara-fans think I did okay :) | <urn:uuid:53df884d-7ca6-4553-bc79-19f8a126f22c> | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2053979/7/Truly-You-Are-Precious | en | 0.986727 | 0.13273 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Hands-On Experience
Experiential learning is all about learning through hands-on experience, whether it be debating in a small group at a professor's home, gaining work skills through an internship, conducting research to help solve problems in inner-city Rochester, or studying different cultures in Japan or England.
You'll do all of this within the context of a Christian environment where it's safe to struggle with questions because your friends and professors are there to support you.
Opportunities for Experiential Learning at Roberts
Study Abroad
Cultural Enrichment Guest Series
Mission Trips | <urn:uuid:fd6b4631-4caa-4a70-96f2-f12c22bd8768> | https://www.roberts.edu/undergraduate/hands-on-experience.aspx | en | 0.898193 | 0.033276 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
When I use Google spreadsheet document I use to right-click to add comments for instance.
But each time I right-click the firefox context menu is display over the spreadsheet context menu.
So how to not display the firefox context menu only when I am on a Google Drive document ?
share|improve this question
1 Answer 1
up vote 2 down vote accepted
Go to Firefox Options, the click Content, Advanced (next to Javascript), and check Disable or replace context menus.
share|improve this answer
Thanks a lot, it's exactly what I were looking for. – Nicolas Oct 29 '12 at 16:56
For Firefox 30 : see kb.mozillazine.org/JavaScript#Advanced_JavaScript_settings – Erb Jul 15 '14 at 11:39
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:38739f64-67fe-4954-9d2a-d7a27c427261> | http://superuser.com/questions/495630/how-to-deactivate-firefox-right-click-when-i-am-on-a-google-drive-document/495641 | en | 0.76019 | 0.040263 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Metro Mama & Metro Baby
By Lisa Podell
(Julie Madison Jacoby also contributed to this article)
Summer is the season for daydreaming! We invite you to sit back, relax, and picture yourself delighting in a seamless transition back to school in the fall. We bet it would look a little something like this….
Your children:
• Wake themselves up in the morning and are on time for school!
•Remember to write down all homework assignments and are aware of all upcoming tests and projects.
•Know where their school materials and personal belongings are…at all times!
•Take an active interest in learning about topics they are passionate about. (Way to take initiative!)
•Enjoy reading and even have a few tricks up their sleeves to help comprehend difficult or dense materials.
If you would like to see your children grow into these excellent habits, the best time to plant the seed is during the summer months, believe it or not! Now, don’t get us wrong, summer is a time for fun! Children are growing and maturing while they get a break from their schoolwork and routine schedules. But if you want a smooth transition in September, here are some easy tips you can follow to keep their learning-muscles flexed while they also enjoy their summer vacation!
1. Have your children set an alarm everyday. Even if it’s for 10am, they can still practice the habit of setting an alarm, waking up to it, and getting out of bed to start the day.
*Bonus: Set a desired time by which they want to be downstairs so they approximate how long each morning task, such as brushing teeth and getting dressed, actually takes. You can also make a game out of it by setting a timer to see if they can “beat the clock” or improve their time from the day before.
2. Keep a monthly calendar. Some kids spend all summer not knowing what day it is! Kids with no sense of time are more likely to forget about Monday’s test or that “Picture Day” was actually on Wednesday NOT Thursday. You can prevent these headaches by inviting your children to pick out a calendar of their choice and have them hang it in a place where they simply cannot miss it. Keeping a calendar also reinforces the skills needed to maintain a successful planner during the school year. Have your children include the following:
•Daily events, play dates, and appointments.
•Reminders for their responsibilities/chores.
•Summer reading assignments and due dates.
•Cross off each task at the end of the day.
*Bonus: When your children have an upcoming game, performance or trip, have them write down one action they will take each day leading up to the event, so that when the big day arrives, they will be prepared and feel confident!
3. Consistency is key!
• Select one meal a day when you all gather for good conversation and healthy food. This is a great opportunity to practice verbally summarizing what each of you did that day. Bonus points for including specific details and descriptive imagery!
• Create a “weekly movie night” where each family member gets a turn to select the movie for that night. There are tons of online resources such as pbs.org and scholastic.com that offer a wide variety of enriching choices. If you really want to engage your children’s minds, try watching a documentary that you haven’t seen before.
• Create a nightly (or weekly) planning routine where you and your children discuss and review your respective calendars and each family member writes down their own activities, reminders and tasks for the next day.
• Designate a space for objects that always seem to go missing.
“I can’t find my sneakers.”
“Where are my glasses?”
“Has anyone seen my retainer?”
Does this sound familiar??? Your children will be much more inclined to keep track of their personal belongings when they can choose the space that they believe will work best. To help reinforce this healthy habit, associate that space with a specific time of day. (For instance, your children might want to place their shoes by the door as soon as they get home from camp.) Let them choose the time and place that works best for them.
*Bonus: Get creative! Allow your children to outline the selected spaces with brightly colored masking tape or draw a picture on a post-it that symbolizes the specific object and place it within the space. The more time and care your children invest in the process, the stronger the results will be!
4. Project-based learning for the entire family: Select a topic that would be interesting to investigate. You could even research your family history! Use your monthly calendar to schedule 10-15 minutes a day of “family project time.” Select a due date when you will sit down to share and discuss what you have all learned. Each person is in charge of including a creative element that ties into his or her own interests such as music, art or technology.
*Bonus: To create “buy-in,” select a current event that has created some controversy in the media. Set up a debate where each family member takes a side, does research and prepares a persuasive argument.
5. Any reading is better than no reading! Yes, comic books count! Have your children read any material of their choice for 30 minutes a day. Whatever they choose, it must be NEW material. Rereading their favorite book during this allotted time does NOT count.
*Bonus: Go to the bookstore with your children and choose one book you’d both like to read. There are plenty of Young Adult novels that are engaging for both children and adults of all ages! Read independently during the week and then choose a time to come together to discuss the book.
Here’s to a sweet and successful summer!
Adolescent Mentoring was created by award-winning teacher, Julie Madison Jacoby, to help adolescents and adults set goals toward reaching their potential. Lisa Podell has since joined the business as a Senior Consultant and Lead Mentor. She is also a certified life coach.They travel to homes in both New Jersey and New York City to mentor students one-on-one in the following areas: Executive skills, study skills, organizational skills and creating healthier habits. Julie and Lisa are also co-authors of Mentoring for School Success: Creating Positive Changes which can be purchased on Amazon and through their website at http://www.AdolescentMentoring.com.
Originally published July 2014
Leave a Comment
Become a BN NYC Subscriber
BN Shop
Currently Popular
Deal of the Day
Social Media
Latest News
BN NYC Podcasts
• self_tanning_featured
• Self Tanning – Tips and Tricks
Visit Fashion Industry Network | <urn:uuid:281f9761-2242-4cbf-9507-efb53e1b8797> | http://www.beautynewsnyc.com/metro-mama-metro-baby/plant-seed-successful-school-yearin-summertime/ | en | 0.95593 | 0.022721 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
EQ-test.com provides psychometric tests to help improve your job performance, career potential, relationships, health and well-being
We provide access to a wide range of assessment tools covering the majority of areas which individuals and employers are interested in, for example: ability, personality, leadership, emotional intelligence, motivation, selling skills, team roles, health and well-being. We have also developed tools to help people with their personal relationships which have proved very popular, and we have assessments that throw light on a person's spiritual and religious side. Click here to download test catalogue.
We can provide access to a range of online ability tests covering, for example, verbal, numerical, and inductive reasoning. Ability tests measure a candidate's current ability and future potential, and are a valuable tool in helping to predict job success. Using ability tests as part of your recruitment and development process will help ensure you get the right people for your organization. Contact us for more information.
We have four personality assessment tools:
Big Five Personality Questionnaire (B5PQ). The B5PQ assesses twenty dimensions of personality covering the five main domains of personality which are known as the Big Five factors - extraversion, agreeableness, openness to change, conscientiousness and emotional stability.
Competency Potential Questionnaire (CPQ). The CPQ draws on findings from the Big Five factor model of personality and the Great 8 framework of competencies. It has eight scales covering cognitive ability, achievement motivation, power motivation, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and emotional stability.
Rapid Emotional Quotient Indicator (REQI). The REQI assesses the five main domains of personality and two dimensions of emotional intelligence in seven scales covering innovation, self-awareness, intuition, emotions, motivation achievement, empathy and social skills.
Sport Personality Questionnaire (SPQ20). The SPQ20 assesses athletes against 20 sport psychology dimensions that measure an individual's mental mindset, confidence and attitude. These cover six areas: dynamism, motives and values, sociability, openness, anxieties, and use of performance enhancement techniques.
We have three leadership assessment instruments:
Leadership Potential Indicator (LPI). The LPI assesses leadership potential against twenty management and leadership competencies covering four key leadership areas which are defined as developing the vision, sharing the goals, gaining support and delivering success.
Creative Leadership Questionnaire (CLQ). The CLQ assesses leadership level and style against twenty management and leadership competencies covering five meta-competencies which are defined as managing change, planning and organising, interpersonal skills, results orientation and leadership.
Transformational Leadership Questionnaire (TLQ). The TLQ assesses eight transformational leadership competencies defined as empathy, feedback, achievement, commitment, performance, empowerment, communication, and motivation.
Emotional Intelligence
We have three emotional intelligence assessment instruments:
Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (EIQ). The EIQ assesses sixteen emotional competencies covering Mayer and Salovey's four key emotional ability areas of reading people, using emotions, understanding emotions, and managing emotions.
Emotional Competencies Questionnaire (ECQ). The ECQ is a shorter version of the EIQ based on a factor analysis of the results from over 40,000 people who have completed the EIQ. It covers a person's overall emotional competence/achievement and their skills in eight areas of emotional intelligence.
Rapid Emotional Quotient Indicator (REQI). The REQI is based on Daniel Goleman's work and is designed to give an indication of a person's overall EI, and a general idea of how their personality and emotional intelligence might be described.
The Motivation Questionnaire (MQ) assesses the critical elements of work that influence a person's motivation in a job. It measures twenty motivational dimensions covering five global factors - drive, control, challenge, relationships, and rewards.
We have two tests that measure selling skills.
Sales Competencies Questionnaire (SCQ). The SCQ assesses a person's selling skills against 13 advanced sales competencies covering 156 selling skills. The SCQ is a normative instrument designed to measure strengths and improvement areas relative to other people.
Selling Skills Questionnaire (SSQ). The SSQ assesses the same selling skills as the SCQ but in an ipsative format. It compares a person's selling skills in one area with their selling skills in another area. It is self-referenced rather than norm-referenced.
In high-stakes selection, these two selling tests work well together.
Team Roles
The Team Roles Questionnaire (TRQ) assesses ten diverse team roles covering areas such strategic thinking, project and quality management, interpersonal roles such as negotiation, group working and coaching, and newer skill areas such as ethical awareness. The TRQ is a self-referenced ipsative tool that compares a person's team role skills in one area with their team role skills in another area.
Health and Well-being Tests
We provide two assessments which test a person's health and well-being:
Stress Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ). The SAQ assesses seventeen dimensions of stress covering possible sources of stress, common symptoms, coping style, personality factors, and impact on mental health.
Mood Change Questionnaire (MCQ). The MCQ is a depression screening instrument that assesses the five top warning signs of depression, and nine dimensions of mood disorder identified by the American Psychiatric Association.
Spiritual Intelligence
We have two tests on spiritual intelligence.
Spiritual Intelligence Questionnaire (SPQ32). The SPQ32 assesses thirty two dimensions of spiritual and emotional intelligence influencing how a person approaches their work, communicates, relates to others, responds to change, and develops their spiritual side.
Spiritual Quotient Questionnaire (SQQ). The SQQ provides a single overall assessment of how important religion is to a person together with a description of their religious beliefs and spiritual practices.
Personal Relationships
We have two relationship assessment instruments:
Relationship Diagnostic Questionnaire (RDQ). The RDQ assesses one partner's views and experience of the other partner's attitudes and behaviour in a relationship. It has twelve dimensions covering areas such as autonomy, commitment, relatedness, responsibilities, communication, conflict resolution, attraction, romance, and sex.
Dating Skills Questionnaire (DSQ). The DSQ assesses attitudes towards romantic relationships, personality characteristics that affect dating behaviour, and specific sets of skills relevant to success in forming romantic relationships.
Science of Assessment
We have designed our tests to meet the standards of a modern psychometric instrument. Our product catalogue gives a technical summary of the features of each test against the criteria set out by the European Federation of Professional Psychologists Associations (www.efpa.be).
Our most important and popular tests such as those covering personality, leadership and emotional intelligence meet the key quality standards set out in the EFPA Review Model. Test reliabilities are adequate or good. Norms are based on large or very large sample sizes. Correlations between scales and marker variables, or between scales and criteria, are adequate or good.
Table 1. Median reliability and validity coefficients for key tests
Table 1 shows the median reliability and validity coefficients for a number of our key occupational tests. The reliability coefficient is Coefficient Alpha. The validity coefficient for the tests measuring personality, leadership, emotional intelligence and competency potential is the median correlation with job performance ratings. For the stress questionnaire, the validity correlation is the median correlation with the Holmes-Rahe Social Adjustment Scale. | <urn:uuid:3e44fce1-9c15-44d7-b7d3-2e62e5606d32> | http://www.eq-test.com/test_products.html | en | 0.905293 | 0.031141 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Juvenile Diabetes Primarily Found in Children, Adolescents
Published December 14, 2011
| NewsCore
Approximately 80 people every day are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Type 1 diabetes is also known as juvenile diabetes because it is usually first diagnosed in children, adolescents and young adults. Nonetheless, this disease can be found at any age, and it is a lifelong condition that requires close daily management. Improperly treated juvenile diabetes could have devastating consequences. Here is a guide to understanding the basics of juvenile diabetes:
A hand-sized organ called the pancreas regulates the body’s blood sugar levels by producing the hormone insulin. When a person has type 1 diabetes, the immune system mistakenly attacks the pancreas and causes it to stop producing insulin. Insulin helps the body process glucose, which is basically energy from food. Without insulin, the glucose would be left in the blood, where it can be toxic. To avoid the dangerous effects of rampant glucose, people with type 1 diabetes must take insulin to keep their blood sugar levels on an even keel. Monitoring diabetes requires a tiny blood test at least six times a day and leveling it out with insulin delivered through injections or an insulin pump.
The symptoms of diabetes vary depending on whether the blood sugar is very high or very low. The first signs of diabetes can include: extreme thirst, frequent urination, sudden vision changes, unexplained weight loss, fruity or sweet breath and lethargy or unconsciousness. When blood sugar is excessively high, a person is in a state of hyperglycemia, which can result in deep, rapid breathing, dry skin and mouth, a flushed face, nausea or stomach pain. Blood sugar that is too low indicates hypoglycemia. This can happen in diabetics who have taken too much insulin, and the symptoms include headache, hunger, nervousness, rapid heartbeat, shaking, sweating or weakness. When faced with any of these symptoms, a diabetic should check his blood sugar level immediately to ensure that glucose levels are under control.
Researchers are still working to determine the cause of juvenile diabetes. The prevailing misconception purports that diabetes is a familial disease, but the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation reports that only 10 percent of juvenile diabetes cases can be traced to immediate family history. Other causes could include environmental factors or exposure to some viruses. While the cause is still unknown, the process of diabetes in the body is fairly well understood. The dysfunctional immune system attacks pancreatic cells known as beta cells. These cells produce all of the body’s insulin, and without insulin, glucose stays in the blood, where it can cause irreparable damage to the organs.
Treatment for juvenile diabetes essentially boils down to a lifetime of blood sugar management. This includes a very regulated and reliable schedule for food, exercise and insulin. For children and adolescents, treatment helps maintain healthy physical growth and development. All people with diabetes should follow treatment to keep blood sugar levels at the golden mean to prevent negative complications. Eating and exercising regularly, monitoring blood sugar closely, and taking insulin reliably form the most essential parts of treating juvenile diabetes. | <urn:uuid:a96b1505-0863-4594-93f7-ead4b9f5a4c8> | http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/02/21/juvenile-diabetes-primarily-found-in-children-adolescents/print | en | 0.889372 | 0.516576 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The Greatest
The great Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
When Lance Armstrong won his seventh straight Tour de France this past summer, he proved beyond a doubt that he is one of the greatest athletes of all time. Lance rode a strategically flawless race to win what is considered the most grueling sporting event around. What makes this champion a legend? His life both on and off the bike continues to inspire millions.
Oprah: Do you acknowledge for yourself that you are one of the greatest...ever?
Lance: It's better that you say that, and I don't say that. I'd rather just sit back and let the results speak for themselves, and smart people like you or whoever else can declare that. | <urn:uuid:1355ab12-c967-4d71-b158-a055e70e306b> | http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Greatest/print/1/?slide=6 | en | 0.964763 | 0.095989 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Female Officer History
Female officer history :
The first woman hired in the United States as a Police Officer was Alice Stebbin Wells.
She was born on June 13 1873.
Alice was a pentecostal minister in Kansas, and through her work with the church, became familiar with issues involving juveniles and women and their victimization in crime.
Particularly due to their vulnerabilities, and what she believed to be an inability of the Police to empathize with their plight, Alice decided to pursue a career with the Police.
It wasn't easy. She wasn't welcomed in with open arms. Alice petitioned the Los Angeles Mayor, police commissioner and city council, before she was finally successful. Alice joined the Los Angeles Police Department, and was sworn in on September 12, 1910, becoming not only the first female Police Officer in the United States, but it is also believed, the world.
During her employment she also founded and was the first president of the International Association of Police Women.
She worked to promote acceptance and hiring of female officers, in both the United States and Canada.
Alice retired from the LAPD in 1940. She passed away on Aug. 17, 1957
Return from Female Officer History to Homepage | <urn:uuid:ac5c2fd6-62fc-4ca4-b68c-55ae73af04aa> | http://www.police-officer-pages.com/femaleofficerhistory.html | en | 0.98717 | 0.062049 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Streets Ahead
Each week we visit an emerging neighbourhood in a different city. This week: the Barranco district of Lima
Streets ahead: Lima
Streets ahead: Lima. Illustration: Adam Hayes
Barranco is the cliff area of Lima, about five minutes south of the centre by collectivo bus (destinations are written on the side).
In the 1920s this was where rich and famous Peruvians built their summer houses - but as the city eventually merged into the resort, the rich and famous moved elsewhere.
Today, the squatters who replaced them are being driven out and the rich are returning, along with a thriving artistic community. With its brightly painted art-deco houses and purple blossoming trees, Barranco is a real antidote to the soulless business districts and slum areas of the rest of Lima.
Many of the buildings fell into decline over the late 20th century. Now they are being restored to their former art-deco glory, and where that proves impossible, modern Californian-style houses are springing up in their place. This isn't just the work of developers. Many places have been taken over by artists' collectives and, if you can find a resident bohemian, they're usually happy to show you their building.
It's worth taking time to wander around the many atmospheric bars and restaurants and surprising sights, from the dilapidated but beautiful church of La Ermita to free public dance classes in the Parque Principal.
Barranco is more noted for its restaurants than shops but has the odd quirky attraction, such as the museum of electricity and the food markets. Best of all, it's small enough and safe enough to just wander about. Also, away from the main thoroughfare and down towards the sea it could even be described as tranquil - not something you can say for much of the rest of Lima.
The beach is a little uninspiring and pebbly but the view from the cliffs is magnificent, and you can even surf here, should the urge take you.
Posada del Mirador
A pretty bar at the end of an enchanting little street of brightly coloured adobe buildings - the most romantic place in Lima, just up from the Bridge of Sighs, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the huge cross of lights erected to commemorate the visit of John Paul II. The decor is faded colonial and the food is fairly basic - patatas fritas, fried yucca - but the ceviche is very good. You can sit outside on the balcony or, if it gets a bit colder, retreat inside and still enjoy the view. Allegedly accepts Visa but you'll find things easier with cash. No need to book.
Ermita 104, +51 1477 1120
Posada del Angel
Impressively atmospheric bar of low lights and heavy decoration, full of statuettes and images of angels, colonial art, incense - even a red telephone box, which you assume is from Britain until you read "telefono" at the top. Stuffed to bursting with antiques and bric-a-brac, it doesn't get more bohemian than this. Latin American trova music is played nightly, with songs to stir the socialist heart and prices to please the socialist pocket. There are two sister bars in Barranco.
Av Pedro de Osma 164-222, +51 1247 0341
Just up from the Posada del Mirador, but a world away in terms of food and decor, Chala is an innovative and modern restaurant popular with Barranco's smart set. Here you can eat duck in blue corn juice, goat with macaroni cubes or carpaccio of tuna on Japanese rice. Chala has a balcony area that is particularly pleasant in the evenings, as it looks out over a beautifully lit cobbled avenue that leads down to the sea.
Bajada de Baños 343, +51 252 8515,
Lucia de la Puente art gallery
A cool, contemporary, commercial art gallery set in one of Barranco's signature colonial houses. Its ambition is to offer Peruvian art to international standards. Current exhibitions include Aldo Chaparro and José Tola.
Paseo Sáenz Peña 206,
Second Home
This used to be the house of the sculptor Victor Delfin - and it's also a five-bedroom B&B. It's expensive by Peruvian standards but worth it, overflowing with pieces by Delfin, with a magnificent view of the Pacific. The building seems modelled on a Swiss chalet but inside it's cool art deco. The gardens are full of sculptures, too. Doubles from US$85 B&B.
Domeyer 366, +51 1247 5522,
Pedro de Osma museum
A lovely, early 20th-century mansion surrounded by impressive gardens. It contains some truly stunning, and at times revolting, examples of religious art. The ceramic head of John the Baptist is certainly not for the faint hearted. There is also a large collection of silver.
Av Pedro de Osma 433, | <urn:uuid:9f494789-0c3a-46d8-a9c5-1bf00670d148> | http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2008/dec/20/peru-lima | en | 0.95461 | 0.101157 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Continued from page 4
Record: 20-13
Coach: Gary Williams (20th season)
Conference: ACC
Starters Pos Yr Pts
Adrian Bowie G So. 8.9
Greivis Vasquez G Jr. 17.2
Sean Mosley G Fr. 5.3
Landon Milbourne F Jr. 11.6
Dave Neal F Sr. 8.3
Defining moment: The Feb. 21 overtime upset of North Carolina did wonders for Maryland, which transformed itself from any other also-ran into a legitimate NCAA tournament contender. Toss in the ACC quarterfinal defeat of Wake Forest, and the Terps produced two significant reasons to warrant inclusion.
The draw: The Terrapins got a favorable first-round game against California, a team that has lost four of its last six. The Golden Bears are undersized and could allow the vertically challenged Terps to stay close on the boards. The second round would provide a tougher test for Maryland; it probably would face second-seeded Memphis, a team that ran to the title game last year and is in the midst of a 25-game winning streak. The good news for Maryland is that the West bracket opens up a bit after that if it can pull off the second-round upset.
Reason for optimism: Vasquez. The Venezuelan demonstrated the ability to control games like an orchestra conductor, driving, dishing, rebounding and shouting his way to several critical performances throughout the season. His all-around game probably isn’t fully appreciated, but it is the reason the Terps have a chance to win a game in this tournament.
Reason for pessimism: Interior offense. Like it was going to be anything else? The great question all season isn’t going to go away now. Landon Milbourne, while scrappy, isn’t an ideal power forward, and Dave Neal remains a much more dangerous presence on the perimeter than in the post.
Final Four chances: 3. The Terps have the veteran coach, the dynamic offensive presence (Vasquez) and a group that has maximized its talent over the course of the season, and a tournament berth is a just reward when pretty much no one thought it was possible. But it’s still a flawed team that didn’t win more than two straight games once conference play began. | <urn:uuid:5d093ae1-fa1a-447e-b81c-9cd46a045278> | http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/16/local-ncaa-capsules/?page=5 | en | 0.946178 | 0.035322 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed
Forgot your password?
Education Programming
Do High Schools Know What 'Computer Science' Is? 564
Posted by CmdrTaco
from the answer-is-zero dept.
Do High Schools Know What 'Computer Science' Is?
Comments Filter:
• by AndyAndyAndyAndy (967043) < minus berry> on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:35PM (#34616432)
Oh yeah like word and powerpoint! I took a keyboarding course in the 9th grade, too. Pssh. I don't know if it merits its own subject, really.
• by Pojut (1027544)
I took a keyboard typing class in 10th grade to help fulfill my "tech" credits (all of the "tech" classes were a waste of time at my school, minus the introductory programming classes.) My grandmother had taught me how to type on a fully mechanical type writer, so I was able to obliterate even the teacher in typing speed on a keyboard.
Easiest A I ever learned.
• by Pojut (1027544) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:39PM (#34616526) Homepage
Easiest A I ever earned.
Fixed...obviously, I struggled a bit more with English :)
• Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
High school has to deal with a wide range of talents. From geek to tech school student. My CS class was done on ancient TRS-80s and first taught typing, then BASIC, and a final project to create your own program (anything you wished) of at least 100 lines.
For me and my friends it was a ridiculously-easy course. For most of the other students, they barely passed. I imagine today's CS courses are much the same, dealing with a wide range of students, many of whom will probably never program outside this on
• by Cinder6 (894572)
Reading responses here, I'm becoming more and more aware of the fact that my high school's CS program was actually pretty dang good. You had the choice of C++ or Java and learned the programming techniques at your own pace. There were 20 or so modules and the only requirement was that you do your best. If you were good, you might complete a module every week or so. If not...considerably less. Or if you were like me and a couple others, you would complete all of them in half a semester and be given some
• by Ritchie70 (860516) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:46PM (#34616686) Journal
I'm old, so the class I took in high school was called Typing. We had a 50/50 mix of IBM Selectrics and manual typewriters.
It's probably the most useful class I took in high school. But just because the modern version uses computers doesn't make it Computer Science. They should just keep calling it typing if you ask me.
We had Computer Programming classes too. The first level used TRS-80 Model III/IV BASIC. For the advanced class, which I never took, they used Apple II to do Pascal!
• by maillemaker (924053) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:51PM (#34616790)
I hold a BS in Computer Science.
I believe the field should be called "Algorithm Development".
It is called "Computer Science" because it was computers that allowed the useful embodiment of many algorithms. But the reality is (often literally, during coursework), that the platform, hardware or software, is largely irrelevant to the mathematical development of algorithms.
Today, as the article notes, anything related to using computers is often labeled "Computer Science". Rather than trying to get the rest of the world to stop using a term that is actually somewhat intuitive, I think CS should change its label to something that is actually a more intuitive description for itself.
• by ByOhTek (1181381)
Where I went to college, only about a quarter of the BS in Computer Science was algorithm development. The rest was understanding the concepts behind how the hardware and OS worked. Both parts could be considered in-part algorithms - maybe bringing algorithms up to half of the BS, but it went beyond that.
• by Stooshie (993666)
If only half was algorithms, then maybe the "BS" part doesn't stand for what you originally thought. :-)
• by AntEater (16627)
I hold a BS in Computer Science.
I believe the field should be called "Algorithm Development".... the platform, hardware or software, is largely irrelevant to the mathematical development of algorithms.
I think this is more true than many "computer scientists" would admit. As a sysadmin (and occasional developer) I've been amazed at how little understanding comp.sci. grads have of the system as a whole. Some have no clue about the various interactions of the hardware components or other processes on a host, no apparent clue how to improve performance of an app and waste time reinventing functionality that is already available in the system libraries. Learning algorithms is a good thing but very incomple
• by Genda (560240)
Computer Science is growing up. The sign of this is that it's becoming clear that there are many different fields and perspectives housed under the one tent. In fact there're so many now, to limit Computer Science to any small set of studies or viewpoints is to argue against how far we've come. Just as Biology was once the collecting and studying of living organisms (and now spans fields as disparate as Taxonomy and Epigenetics), Computer Sscience includes entire areas of study bordering on and overlapping
• There is a lot more that goes into a CS degree than just Algorithm development - at least in the one I have. What about boolean algebra, compiler design/theory? What about operations,set and queuing theory (no, this is not algorithm development - this is related to the theories behind technologies such as SQL, event management, etc), ?
What about basic electronics, operations mgmt, etc...
There may very well be a place for a field called "algorithm development", but it should be a specialization within the
• by Darinbob (1142669) on Monday December 20, 2010 @03:34PM (#34619354)
Computer science covers a lot more than algorithms. There's abstract mathematics, combinatorics, computability & complexity theory, digital electronics, VLSI, compilers, data structures, operating systems, networking, databases, software engineering, artificial intelligence, numerical analysis, and Duke Nuke'Em studies.
• It seems to me that the real problem is that many if not most universities don't have a real distinction between "Computer Science", which is really the study and analysis of algorithms; and "Software Engineering", which is the application of algorithms in the design and building of applications. "Computer Engineering" is usually a separate hardware "micro electrical engineer" program. I'm not saying every University is like this, but it seems typical. "Computer Science" *should* be the theoretical sci
• by windcask (1795642) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:36PM (#34616464) Homepage Journal
Call it "How to Get 5000 Facebook Friends Before Everyone You Know."
Then start the class off doing proofs on discreet math. They'll all cry and drop the class, and the whole world will be win.
• by Anonymous Coward
While I agree with the basic premise she has presented (this might give the impression that CS is an advanced application use field of study), how is it that this misconception is going to predominately affect females? Is she implying that females are dumb? Is she implying that they are too superficial to look beyond a the name of a class offered in high school when planning their field of college study?
• by windcask (1795642)
It's simply that girls are starting to be interested in computers at an accelerated rate compared to how it was ten or twenty years ago. I know I became interested in computers because of games, as did many males of my generation. Girls are starting to become interested in computers because of the social aspects such as Facebook and SMS messaging. If they think Computer = Facebook, they'll be much more inclined to study a subject with a tenuous relationship to their interest, at best.
• I read the article and the issue the author seems to take with this is that the approach to upping the ratio of females in computer science was to herd them into "computer science" courses at the earliest age (high school). This might have the negative effect if that's your strategy. The summary used a really unfortunate clip of the logic that seems to imply that the girls aren't being treated any differently than the boys so they must be deficient at seeing through these classes. But the girls are being treated differently in an effort to balance genders in computer science. The big problem is that these courses designed to "turn on" the thirst for computer science in young women have little if anything to do with computer science.
My own anecdote, I went to a high school in middle of nowhere Minnesota and we had Computer Science AB advanced placement. It was about twenty guys, I don't remember a single girl. We learned C++ in very simple forms and when I was forced to take the typing courses I wanted to kill myself. Did you know that typing courses are often a requirement to computer science courses? I was dumbfounded. As if the fact that I wasn't hitting 60 words a minute was reason to prevent me from learning about pass by value versus pass by reference (one of the basic concepts we covered). Still, even that wasn't much computer science and seemed closer to "C++ in a semester" style of teaching. You knew a language but you didn't quite get the really generalized concepts.
• by 0100010001010011 (652467) on Monday December 20, 2010 @01:26PM (#34617314)
You could say, he didn't teach you pointers.
[Puts sun glasses on]
• My thought exactly. Why do they assume that "More girls might get the impression that computer science is only advanced application use, which might turn them off to computer science" and not make the same assumption about boys?
If I only would have known that a career in woodworking was not properly represented by that slab-sided tool box tray or bird house that I made in shop, how my life could have been different...
That's not superficial, especially in high school.
I don't need to know that "Psychology 101" probably doesn't have a lot to do with "Automotive Mechanics" which might be something I'm interested in.
The same thing applies for all classes. You expect to learn Math in Math class. You expect to learn Science in Science Class. You expect to learn Spanish in your Spanish class. However, what most experts would define as "Computer Sciences" are not taught in computer science classes.
Mostly what she is insinuating
• You expect to learn Math in Math class
And yet the first few years of maths classes tend to be teaching arithmetic. I'd love to see primary school maths renamed arithmetic - we might have fewer people hating maths before they actually encounter the subject then.
• Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
by Mystitat (1675866)
Hi, original author here. As someone above said, I guess I didn't introduce the context well enough to answer why it's a gender issue. The blog post is a snippet from a larger research paper I wrote examining the role of computer science classes in high school in getting more girls into computer science as a field. I don't mean to imply that females are dumb, and I didn't mean to imply that computer science classes treat boys differently than girls (although they frequently do).
The reason the lack of accu
• Classes that just teach you how to program aren't really Computer Science either. It's just like learning a trade skill. The real science starts in the Data Structures and Algorithms classes, usually the 3rd class after programming 1 & 2. This is also where departments separate the men from the boys (and women from girls).
• by fishexe (168879)
Is that also where they separate the sheep from the goats?
• by prtsoft (702850) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:47PM (#34616696) Homepage
• You're right in some ways. I find that the primary goal of Programming 1 is to make sure students understand basic concepts, like assignment & loops. Programming 2 for object orientation and recursion. Even so, the first two classes are mostly instruction, usually for one language. "This is how you program in C++/Java"
• by CptPicard (680154)
While it's good to have some programming language in your back pocket for CS studies, the issue IMO is that those really are not "tools of the trade"... I hardly programmed at all for my own Master's in CS. The tools of the trade are pencil and paper mostly.
Now, programming language design and compilers is certainly a subfield of CS, and some of the most interesting languages ever have come from academia (thinking of Lisp, Prolog, Haskell)... but "programming skill" is not per se an academic discipline.
• Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You're funny.
Teaching a kid an IDE is not Computer Science. But the you thought programming was computer science.
Silly monkey.
• by H0p313ss (811249) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:48PM (#34616720)
And the large furry creatures from Alpha Centauri from the small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.
• and they only know java. you'd think a good cs program would encourage students to implement principles using many tools.
• you'd think a good cs program would encourage students to implement principles using many tools.
The good cs programs do teach in multiple languages, IDEs, OSes... at least mine did.
• They do. I had to use Pascal and Prolog in my first year, Haskell and C in my second year, and was allowed to submit my final year project in any language (I could also have done a purely theoretical project). The stated aim of the introduction to programming module was to teach the concepts of programming so that you'd be able to pick up a new language in a couple of days by reading the language spec (I think it failed for most people in the course, but that was the goal). For most assignments, we were
• We did do work on linked lists and some basic sorting and binary search algorithms, so I'd say it certainly touched on computer science. Obviously it's high school, so I think you only want to go so far, anyways, rather like how you don't really learn the dark depths of quantum mechanics in high school physics.
• by mjperson (160131) <> on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:40PM (#34616532)
Substitute "students" for "girls" and you've got the actual problem. Thinking that it's only a problem for recruiting women into CS is a big mistake.
• Computer science ... (Score:5, Informative)
by gstoddart (321705) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:40PM (#34616540) Homepage
My prof drilled into me (and my degree matches because he fought for it) that it's Computing Science. Computer science is doing science on a computer -- Computing Science is is the science of computers.
Ah well, just some random nit-picking and pedantry. Either way, basic computer literacy is not "Computer Science".
• by bill_mcgonigle (4333) * on Monday December 20, 2010 @01:09PM (#34617066) Homepage Journal
I recently volunteered at a local high school for a lunchtime talk for a CS club.
It was advertised as "Learn how to send secret messages to your friends that even the CIA can't break" or something like that, nothing about CS.
In 45 minutes (60 would have been better), they learned how to represent base-26-ish in binary (5 bits), do a XOR, flip pennies to generate a one-time-pad, and encode/decode a secret message.
Non-CS students showed up. No experience was required - I could have done this with 4th graders. Many left happy - it's not clear how many realized they just learned some computer science.
No computers were employed in this exercise. It was sort of silly that we met in the computer lab - an art room would have had better table space. A whiteboard was useful.
• by 0racle (667029)
Never have. The curriculum is only updated when a new version of whatever office software they use. High School computer classes have only ever taught proficiency in specific applications and that hash't changed in the 20~30 years schools have had computers - if they even let the students touch them in the first place. This is further exasperated by the fact that it always seems to be 'taught' by the teacher who drew the short stick.
• by fishexe (168879)
In my high school we had a course in computer science that taught basic data structures and the theory behind the object-oriented paradigm, as well as how to program in C++. I used what I learned in that course to implement similar data structures in other languages. How that could constitute "proficiency in specific applications" is beyond me. And I didn't even go to a big school, my graduating class had 80 students.
• by mrnick (108356) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:42PM (#34616602) Homepage
The problem is not limited to high-school. It was not until my post-grad studies did I start learning real computer science. Most of what I learned in my undergraduate studies was IT.
At its heart Computer Science is Applied Mathematics and is closer to Physics than IT. With that said I am currently working in IT as are many with advanced CS degrees so maybe that is where the confusion stems from...
• Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
by Anonymous Coward
Actually, I would say that at its heart Computer Science is Logic (that is, Mathematics), and is therefore actually closer to Logic, or Mathematics.
• Mod this AC insightful. That is exactly it. That is why I suspect Pascal is often used, because it has one of the least abstracted set of logical operators out there.
• by gstoddart (321705)
It also has pretty solid barriers between you and some really sharp edges. You can't run amok with pointers or incorrectly index arrays -- well, you can, but just not like you would in C.
It teaches you syntax and structure, but doesn't let you hurt yourself too badly. And, really, once you know Pascal, you can pick up pretty much any procedur
• I wouldn't want to code full time in Pascal (mind you, nowadays, I seem stuck perpetually coding PHP, bleh), but as you say, it does teach some fundamentals, in a fairly easy syntax. Learn Pascal, and C is more like Pascal without the safety harness.
• It's a real shame that most universities seem to be ditching Pascal for Java. I'd hate to use Pascal for anything serious, but it's a much better teaching language than Java, and learning C is trivial if you know Pascal.
• Right. And then people come out of college with post-graduate CS degrees and get jobs at companies that develop business applications, and they have no idea how to write a simple MVC application.
Colleges need to push Software Engineering.
• I had no idea how to write a simple MVC application before I got my first IT job. It took me all of a day to understand the concepts and a couple of days to produce a simple prototype of the application I've now implemented. I have also helped my colleagues who also weren't taught a specific area of software engineering with their issues with MVC. It's not that hard to do, save your arrogance for something that is.
• They can ramble off a nice lecture about Big-O notation though. Hopefully they can identify problems that are NP-complete as well.
• by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:43PM (#34616620)
In my experience, universities don't know what computer science is so it isn't a surprise that highschools don't. Most universities seem to think that programmers are computer scientists which is approximately like saying architects are civil engineers.
• How many universities did you attend?
I agree that there are universities which do a poor job with computer science, or abuse the term. But I would be interested to know how many of them actually do it, and whether they are using a different name for their curriculum. My degree was most definitely in computer science.
Although I'll readily admit I often did not appreciate it as a student. It has been after a decade of working that I now am grateful to have been compelled to learn software and hardware theor
• Misleading? (Score:4, Insightful)
by RockoTDF (1042780) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:43PM (#34616630) Homepage
I'm not entirely sure most high schools know what math is, either. Or science in general. Canned labs and regurgitation of scientific facts are not science, and turn a lot of people off. I was one of those people until I was in college.
But to get on topic, no, they don't. If you aren't teaching programming or theory, you aren't CS. You are just a class about computers. I'm also a tad confused as to why this would "turn girls off" (or boys, or anyone). I suppose it would mislead them, but then what other degree would they expect to cover actual CS/programming? A lot of times students are in the wrong major because they have been mislead by whoever that it is about something that it isn't (psychology, for instance) but I really don't see what else there is, other than perhaps Software Engineering. (I understand this is about high school, I'm looking at the long run for these students) If these schools have AP Comp sci courses, those should set the students straight.
Exactly. This isn't a problem specific to computer science. Every subject taught at the high-school level will be hugely disconnected from what that field actually is. High-school math classes are not "real math" (solving theorems, etc.), they are really just practicing with some basic mathematical tools and tricks, some of which are useful in real life, some of which are necessary (but not sufficient) for studying deeper mathematical topics, and some of which are just busywork.
High-school history classe
• In my high school we had two different programs after 2000. That's when the classes were first being created and a mathematics teacher wanted to have a computer programming course. They initially were teaching C++ without OOP principals before a teacher that actually had programmed came into the school and rewrote the curriculum. That was in 2004. I first took a programming course in 2004, as a freshman, with that teacher and helped show him what was missing. I had taught myself C++ from different books and
• You had OOP principals. How did that work? Did your principal inherit from an abstract Administrator class?
• by wjousts (1529427) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:47PM (#34616698)
Isn't this a bit like complaining that high school chemistry isn't really science, or high school physics isn't really science? Of course they're not, you need to have a certain set of basic skills and knowledge developed before you can do real science.
• 99% of programmers wouldn't know what to do with a stochastic analysis of parsing algorithm families. And as long as Moore's law holds, it's not worth teaching them how to make things faster or cheaper, because that's coming from the supply chain.
• Perhaps if you enlightened us cavemen with your brilliance by posting a few links perhaps we might be able to learn from your genius oh sandals-with-white-socksed one.
• A little while ago where i teach, some candidates had to be turned down from a position because they were IT teachers, and the position was for CompSci
• by jadavis (473492) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:49PM (#34616728)
It seems like what we call "real computer science" (like algorithms or theory of computation) is actually math. I don't see anything scientific about it at all.
Programming seems more like engineering than anything else (sure, it uses algorithms; but not much more than building a bridge uses math, and we call would call designing a bridge "engineering").
The only things I can think of that I would call "science" are: (1) benchmarking a complex system to get some empirical results; and (2) troubleshooting problems.
I'd be interested to hear why we keep focusing on the word "science" when that seems like a relatively small part of what we do.
Anyone who thinks CS is just about algorithms or computational theory doesn't have a broad base in CS. There is a huge amount of research in fields like computer vision, natural language processing (my focus), computer graphics, networking theory, and other topics that are unquestionably (in my opinion) CS but also not direct analogs of anything in m
• simple answer (Score:4, Insightful)
by roman_mir (125474) on Monday December 20, 2010 @12:51PM (#34616772) Homepage Journal
Do High Schools Know What 'Computer Science' Is?
- No.
Do your employers know?
• Sure. Computer scientists are (with exceptions) the ones who can fill a whiteboard full of beautiful abstractions but can't code their way out of a paper bag. Real programmers on the other hand...
• I know that the first rule of Computer Club, is never talk about Computer Club... unless you don't wanna get laid
• At my high school, the entire network was based off dumb terminals from Sun. The "computers" room was full of old Macintosh running OS 9 (OSX had already been released for a fair bit) and we were programming using HyperCard. Either that or we had seminars on how Wikipedia is bad and how to browse the net safely.
• So...we've got high schools misinforming the entire population about a major facet of modern life, and the worst problem we can think of is it might cause a couple percent of a couple percent decline in gender balance? Even that is speculative, as I have a hard time seeing a young woman being interested in algorithms and data structures and then concluding, based on her high school's offerings, that these were not part of computer science. By the time you're exposed to such things you're already aware tha
• by fishexe (168879)
Shouldn't we be discussing things like the general dumbing-down of society that occurs when we tell people "now you know some Computer Science[TM]!" who have only learned application use?
There, fixed that for me.
• by digitalhermit (113459) on Monday December 20, 2010 @01:03PM (#34616950) Homepage
I didn't want to fall into the classic old geezer thinking that everything was harder back in the day...So I peeked at the curriculum for some of the local high schools. And damn, it was harder in my day. In my high school classes back then we learned about Turing and Godel and their impact on how computers are designed. We didn't write much code, but I remember blackboard sessions on sorting algorithms, queuing, floating point operations, etc..
So I wonder.. 25 years ago, did other adults look at the high school curriculum and think the same thing? In the 1960s there was a push for "new math" which apparently included set theory and base-n computation, both of which would be very helpful in computer science. And I can imagine that even though Simpson and Newton-Raphson methods were centuries old, the computers of the 1960s were not necessarily accessible to students.
It reminds me of a story by Roger Zelazny. There is a mythical creature that didn't have hands. It loved to play chess, but because of his lack of hands (and IIRC, lack of opponents), this mythical creature had to play chess games in his head. He got to be very good at mental chess.
The upside of this is that there are are some very bright high school students out there. Twenty five years ago the people who were interested in computers were just a handful. In my class there were five or so. In a given high school there are probably still that many but it's harder to spot them because typing classes are masquerading as computer science.
• Wow.. this article makes me sad. I graduated from High school in 2009, and took all 4 years of computer science electives. The courses i took however were not "typing" or learning little HTML scripts. The first year we learned how to build a computer from ground up, installation of operating systems, and basic soldering skills. Second year we learned about setting up networks, configuring modems and routers and even learned how to create our own Cat5 cables. Third year was mostly about PC Troubleshooti
• by HockeyPuck (141947) on Monday December 20, 2010 @01:05PM (#34616986)
If you set the bar such that computer science in HS requires a high level background of math and computer skills, then you'll scare away the average student. Having a CS101 class in reality be a "introduction to computers" is perfectly fine in my book, as you don't want to start off with Day1: Introduction to Pointers. As that will scare of 99% of the non computer nerds. When i was in college (back in '93), there was a CS101, Intro to Computers and there was a CS102: Women in Computing.
While the first one was a "how does a computer work? How to use a computer?" the other class (CS102) was aimed specifically at women (and only allowed women to take). It was taught by our female professors in an environment to encourage women to pursue a college career in Computer Engineering or Computer Science. As a reference my CS+CPE graduating class in '98 had 2 women in it (and 100 men). While some women out there had the background in computers to jump right into the standard initial CS courses, many others were turned off by the daunting requirements and misconceptions about taking CompSci/Engineering.
This type of course layout is used in all sorts of curriculums. Ever take a cooking/woodshop/swimming class? They don't start with advanced techniques.
• When these students go to college and think that they want to major in "Computer Science" because "computers are fun," they will be set up for disappointment and confusion when a professor tries to explain to them the differences between sorting algorithms.
If we want to do a better job preparing students for college, then we should not try and "pretend" that computer science is only about using a computer. I could draw a good parallel example with the subject of chemistry. Until I encountered a high schoo
• The A.P. Computer Science course was a great learning experience, but only because there was standardized material that teachers had to adhere to so that we could pass the APCS exam.
Perhaps the problem is that there is too low availability of such programs or entities that can create such a standardized curriculum.
• seems to be a name thing as I have seen computer stuff fall under lots of names and topics in the HS level.
And they just lump all of it under 1 area vs having parts in 3-4 different areas.
• Does anybody really know what time it is
Does anybody really care
• I'm just as worried about them using the word "science" for those classes!
• This does not surprise me in the least. But then I'm a mathematician and I have pretty much the same sort of reaction when I see what they teach in many high school mathematics classes -- it's a pale shadow of real mathematics; mostly just a hodge podge of poorly taught arbitrary skills and facts that may or may not have a lot of relevance to actual mathematics. There is a disconnect where many people don't see the difference over the difference between "facts about mathematics" and actual mathematics. It t
• by Orgasmatron (8103) on Monday December 20, 2010 @01:37PM (#34617506)
There is no science in Computer Science. That isn't a bad thing, it just means that it isn't science.
Everything a high school student needs to know about Computer Science can be summed up with one sentence, "Computer Science is a branch of mathematics, so if the prospect of getting a math degree strikes fear into your heart, pick a different field of study.".
I graduated from high school back in 1997. I knew about two dozen kids (all guys, go figure) that were going to college for computer science. One got a degree, the others all switched (mostly to MIS). I tried to warn them, but they didn't believe me.
Science is what happens when preconception meets verification. | <urn:uuid:86a4cd59-5412-4180-b143-cdbe320e85e4> | http://developers.slashdot.org/story/10/12/20/1632259/do-high-schools-know-what-computer-science-is | en | 0.975423 | 0.143258 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
You are here
CX-011362: Categorical Exclusion Determination
Self-powered Wireless Dual-mode Langasite Sensor for Pressure/Temperature Monitoring of Nuclear Reactors
CX(s) Applied: B3.6
Date: 10/30/2013
Location(s): Idaho
Offices(s): Idaho Operations Office
The State University of New York at Stony Brook proposes to develop a novel self-powered wireless hybrid sensor that can accurately monitor both pressure and temperature simultaneously even in extreme harsh environments of nuclear accidents, such as up to 1400oC and 10,000 psi, without requiring external electricity. Tasks include ion beam irradiations and gamma ray irradiation with an intensive Co-60 source. | <urn:uuid:9b953933-d84b-48ad-973d-b63e3ccc4cad> | http://energy.gov/nepa/downloads/cx-011362-categorical-exclusion-determination | en | 0.906334 | 0.589445 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
What to expect when nobody is expecting: population decline and the birth dearth
LifeSiteNews: All Western countries have birthrates below the replacement rates, suggesting that soon all countries will experience a graying of, and a decline in, population. Jonathan Last asks why this has happened in his new book, the cleverly titled What to Expect When No One’s Expecting, putting demographic decline in a broader context. | <urn:uuid:c7f47458-3249-44cb-a4ec-cba357f0d326> | http://www.alliancealert.org/2013/03/05/what-to-expect-when-nobody-is-expecting-population-decline-and-the-birth-dearth/ | en | 0.921057 | 0.795032 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
iPads in Apple’s September iPhone Media Event Feels Like a Stretch
| Analysis
Sources say new iPads are coming September 10So far the idea that Apple will stick with just the iPhone at its September 10 media event has been pretty much a given, and that new iPads will be introduced in early October. Now an insider source is saying that the new iPhone models will share the stage with updates iPads, too, and that more products designed to take on Samsung are in the works. That feels like a lot for Apple to pack into one media event, to don't be surprised if new iPads aren't introduced until October.
According to sources speaking with Bloomberg, Apple plans to unveil new iPad models on September 10, and has "several more game changers" in development for the mobile market. The sources didn't elaborate, but it isn't much of a leap to assume those products include some form of wearable technology, possibly the rumored iWatch.
Claims of a dual product media event came along with news that Apple's newest Tokyo retail store could open as early as March 2014. Apple hasn't commented on the store opening date, or on what will be announced at its next media event.
Apple hasn't even officially announced the September 10 event, although both AllThingsD and The Loop have said it is happening and will focus on the iPhone. With both sites in agreement, that's as good as an official Apple announcement.
Assuming that Apple is introducing the iPhone 5S as the high end iPhone and adding the iPhone 5C as a lower priced option, including new iPads as well will make for either a long media event or an event that feels rushed, neither of which sounds like a plan Apple is likely to go with.
The sources didn't offer up any details on what those iPad announcements may include. It's a safe bet that when the full size 9.7-inch iPad is updated it'll take on the body style of the iPad mini and will include a faster processor. For the iPad mini, the obvious change would be a move from its current screen resolution to a Retina Display.
Assuming Apple can get displays in the quantities it wants, it's likely that's exactly what we'll see. If not, then we may not see new minis right away, which would mean Apple wouldn't have a new model in time for the holiday buying season. Alternatively, Apple could introduce a Retina Display iPad mini knowing full well that it can't produce enough and create the image that demand is so high that it is outstripping supplies.
The big thing for Apple and its September 10 media event is just how much does it really want to show off? Including iPads in the event could dilute the iPhone message, or the iPads could get lost in the hype surrounding new iPhone models. Despite what Bloomberg's sources are saying, it seems more likely Apple's September event will focus on the iPhone and the launch of iOS 7. iPads will come in October.
IPads are more likely to be released as holiday timed announcements. September is a little early for that.
Lee Dronick
Maybe not Skipaq, some stores already are displaying Christmas items. smile
Lol, Lee. On second thought, the early Christmas displays are sad. :(
Jeff, what do you think will happen to the current iPhone 5 ?
Will it go EOL, or replace the iPhone 4s in the sales lineup ?
“IPads are more likely to be released as holiday timed announcements. September is a little early for that.”
Um, September is perfect for Back To School.
| <urn:uuid:837b5684-8182-46f7-a800-32beb03e0c76> | http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/ipads-in-apples-september-iphone-media-event-feels-like-a-stretch | en | 0.973257 | 0.031078 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
The west can no longer deal solely with dictators. Instead it must take heed of the Arab people
Egyptians Celebrate The First Anniversary Of The Revolution In Tahrir Square
Egyptians celebrate the one-year anniversary of their revolution in January 2012. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
If events in the Middle East in the past two years have taught us anything, it is that Arab public opinion now matters. The events of the past week have only driven the message home further and made it clear how high the stakes are in the battle to determine the future direction of Arab politics.
Since the decolonisation of the Middle East in the wake of the second world war, Arab countries have been ruled by a series of dictators who often justified and maintained their rule with ideologies – and with guns – imported from the west.
Over the decades, a fragile arrangement emerged whereby the United States did its dealings with the region's dictators in return for stability in the world's most crucial oil-producing region. Egypt and Syria violently suppressed their own strongly anti-American Islamist movements – in Syria's case, with the deaths of tens of thousands and the near-levelling of the city of Hama in 1982.
The US didn't necessarily like the rulers of the Arab world, but it could deal with them. Challengers to the regional status quo were chastened – but not too much. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, President George HW Bush ensured Saddam returned to within his own borders but declined to unseat him, largely because he feared the chaos that might follow.
Behind the scenes, Arab dictators and their henchmen whispered to western diplomats about how complicated their societies were, how violence lay just beneath the surface, and how a strongman was needed to keep the peace and deliver gradual change – just not quite yet.
The Arab dictators were right about one thing: their societies are complicated. The Arab world is rife with sectarian, social and economic inequality to which the dictatorships lent undertones of violence. Completely absent in the postwar status quo in the Middle East was any real role for the Arab people themselves. There was precious little public space for Arabs to discuss and reach compromises on their differences. The west dealt with the dictators, and the dictators dealt with their people: the people had little choice but to accept the status quo.
This era has now come to a spectacular close with what is more appropriately called the "Arab awakening" rather than the "Arab spring". As governments have fallen, the populations of the Arab countries are finally being allowed to wake up and participate in forging their own destiny. The familiar, if brutal, regional order is being replaced with something much more complicated. This presents challenges for the west.
Foremost among them is how to increase mutual understanding and tolerance between the peoples of the west and the Arab world. When President Obama made his famous speech at Cairo's al-Azhar university in 2009, American conservatives derided him for "apologising" for America and "appeasing" Arab rulers. If this argument ever had any validity when the Arab dictatorships appeared immovable, it has precisely zero now that Arab public opinion is a deciding factor in how the politics of the region develops.
But gestures such as Obama's speech will not be enough. Anti-western ideology is deeply entrenched in parts of the Arab world, and it will take more than gestures to dislodge it. Western countries must strike a difficult balance between helping new, popular Arab governments where they can without seeming to dictate to them. Their assistance should focus on building trust by helping to address the practical economic and administrative problems facing countries such as Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
Many of the grievances that kickstarted the Arab rebellions were economic, and in the short term measures such as debt relief for Egypt should top the agenda. The US must give moderate political figures, such as the secular Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki and Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, some slack in their domestic battles with more extreme groups, who have a sizeable base of support.
In Libya, the focus should be on providing what assistance the new government requires to build up the country's weak central state and to harness the feeling of goodwill towards the west that followed the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi. This is the only way to marginalise groups such as the one that murdered the American ambassador in Benghazi.
On a more profound level, the US must accept that it now has diminished control over events in the region. It must adapt itself to the local moderate forces in each country. A true process of give-and-take must take place, and this will include setbacks for US interests. A return to the forced intervention of the George W Bush years is out of the question, as it is an inappropriate way to deal with democratically elected governments and will only strengthen the extremists.
Now that the west is no longer able to deal solely with the Arab dictators, it must turn its attention to building trust with the Arab people. In the past, these people have often been derisively and simplistically called, in the singular, the "Arab street". Yet Cairo, Damascus and Benghazi have many streets; we must now patiently learn how to navigate them. | <urn:uuid:a7a41543-e76e-43f3-b5ce-5b2bb3fbe54d> | http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/18/arab-public-opinion-now-matters | en | 0.963313 | 0.108524 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Just wondering if anyone else out there feels the same as me? With all the hype the past several years about killing the "biggest" buck around, does anyone remember what deer hunting used to be. Used to be family and/or friends getting together to spend some time in the woods relaxing, trying put some food in the freezer, tracking, reading sign, hunting with any legal weapon allowed for that season, and passing on a love of the outdoors to the next generation. Both old and young had a respect for the land and most importantly, respect for each other as Gods children. Has that been lost forever? We now have trail cameras, GPS, food plots, almost no public hunting land compared to times past, we don't talk to strangers in the woods or the check station cause they might get our spot, we take someone else's spot cause we are to lazy to find our own, we teach the next generation that the size of the horns are more important than the experience or putting food in the freezer, we say someone is cheating if they use a new type of weapon, we forget that not everyone has the money or land to build the dream spot, and down someone for taking a spike for the freezer instead of letting it walk to grow up. Now don't get me wrong, but my heart just about jumps out of my chest when a nice buck comes thru, but I also get the same feeling when a yearling walks by. When I no longer feel the same no matter what comes by then I will be done. So I ask that if you have taken the time to read this, try to understand my point. Take some of your time to pass on the true meaning of hunting without all the gadgets, money , and the size of the horns matter attitude to so that the next generation will grow up knowing that the outdoors is a wonderful place, a place to learn and not just a place to get a good pic for facebook. | <urn:uuid:0a6308ad-739c-4f68-977e-218bad164d08> | http://www.tndeer.com/tndeertalk/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showthreaded&Number=3258567&an=&page=5 | en | 0.958704 | 0.210272 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Call Faker Remote - what does it do?
Some people don't understand what this app does, so I'm writing this post. If you don't get what this app does, uninstall it. Don't give me shitty ratings because you can't read the directions.
0. This app does not call anyone - it uses text messages to work.
1. This app does not fake caller ID.
It is an add-on to the original Call Faker app.
*** Both people must have Call Faker Remote app to work! ***
How you use it:
1. Pick the person you want to receive the fake call (your friend, who has the app installed) from your contact list.
2. Enter in the name that you want to show up on their phone (such as Obama, Bill Gates, etc) - this is the 'fake caller'
3. Send the call.
And that's it! Obama shows up calling on your friend's phone.
Merry Christmas! | <urn:uuid:338cd63f-85e9-49cc-98ef-a8d7d9805085> | http://rfdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html | en | 0.949011 | 0.961145 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Take the 2-minute tour ×
I want to build a Python function that calculates,
alt text
and would like to name my summation function Σ. In a similar fashion, would like to use Π for product, and so on. I was wondering if there was a way to name a python function in this fashion?
def Σ (..):
That is, does Python support unicode identifiers, and if so, could someone provide an example for it?
Original motivation for this was a piece of Clojure code I saw today that looks like,
(defn entropy [X]
where Σ is a macro defined as,
(defmacro Σ
... )
and I thought that was pretty cool.
BTW, to address a couple of comments about readability - with a lot of stats/ML code for instance, being able to compose operations with symbols would be really helpful. (Especially for really complex integrals et al)
φ(z) = ∫(N(x|0,1,1), -∞, z)
Phi(z) = integral(N(x|0,1,1), -inf, z)
or even just the lambda character for lambda()!
share|improve this question
Although not as cool, Python's summation function is pretty elegant: sum() – Nick Presta Apr 15 '10 at 23:04
agree. I meant more for other things here, like integrals, greek letters, et al. – viksit Apr 15 '10 at 23:22
Sounds like a horrible idea for ease of input (presumably $\sum$ wouldn't work, right?) – Benjamin Bannier Apr 15 '10 at 23:34
Maybe you want to have a look at Fortress which allows Unicode and TeX style notation. – unbeknown Apr 16 '10 at 8:09
“Sounds like a horrible idea for ease of input” — depends what keyboard shortcuts you’ve got, doesn’t it? Curly quotes, like the kind I used at the start of this comment, are a bit of a drag to type by default in Windows (I believe), but have decent shortcuts on the Mac. If you do a lot of mathy programming, you could configure shortcuts to make the typing easy. – Paul D. Waite Apr 16 '10 at 9:30
4 Answers 4
up vote 21 down vote accepted
(I think it’s pretty cool too, that might mean we’re geeks.)
You’re fine to do this with the code you have above in Python 3. (It works in my Python 3.1 interpreter at least.) See:
But in Python 2, identifiers can only be ASCII letters, numbers and underscores.
share|improve this answer
… "letters" meaning here "ASCII letters". – EOL Jul 5 '14 at 4:23
According to is it bad, you can use some unicode characters, but not all: You are restricted to characters identified as letters.
α = 3
Σ = sum
import math
√ = math.sqrt
File "", line 1
√ = 3
SyntaxError: invalid character in identifier
Besides: I think it is very cool to be able to use unicode as identifiers - and I wish, i could use all.
I use the neo keyboard layout, which gives me greek and math symbols on extra layers:
share|improve this answer
Also, there are often distinct versions of characters that are also Greek letters. For example, the Greek capital sigma is U+03A3, while the math sigma is U+1D6BA, U+1D6F4, U+1D72E, U+1D768, or U+1D7A2 depending on styling. Similarly, Greek capital omega is U+03A9, math omegas start at U+1D6C0, and the Ohms symbol is U+2126. – Mike DeSimone Jun 19 '14 at 12:23
Another nice way to enter most symbols is the compose key, e.g. on Windows via WinCompose – Tobias Kienzler Feb 23 at 13:03
Python 2.x does not support unicode identifiers, and consequently does not support Σ as an identifier. Python 3.x does support unicode identifiers, although many people will get cross if they have to edit source files with, for example, identifiers A and Α (latin A and greek capital alpha.) Sigma is often readable enough, but still, not as readable as the word sigma, so why bother?
share|improve this answer
I think readability of words versus symbols depends on context. When I’m reading something mathy, I find symbols (e.g. x + y) more readable than the wordy equivalents you’d get in, say, AppleScript (e.g. add x to y). Symbols are terser, and generally let you get by on shape recognition alone, which I think is easier on the brain than reading. I don’t do enough mathy stuff to have felt the need to add a sigma sign to my code though. – Paul D. Waite Apr 15 '10 at 23:05
Sure, there are plenty of cases where symbols are more readable than words. Or where non-ASCII characters express things better. I was mostly commenting on the fact that an identifier consisting of a single sigma isn't really an improvement over the word 'sigma' :) – Thomas Wouters Apr 15 '10 at 23:10
That doesn't look any more readable with unicode identifiers to me. – Thomas Wouters Apr 15 '10 at 23:28
“That doesn't look any more readable with unicode identifiers to me.” — It does look more similar to the equation posted at the top of the question though. If someone was used to reading equations like that, mightn’t they find the symbol-y Python code more readable too? – Paul D. Waite Apr 16 '10 at 9:31
@Paul: sure, readability is always subjective. The audience is important. Which is why you need to consider the audience more than your own preferences. It's easy if you're always going to be your own entire audience, of course, but frequently things that start out that way end up in a wider distribution, and with a wider set of contributors. – Thomas Wouters Apr 16 '10 at 10:32
It's worth pointing out that Python 3 does support Unicode identifiers, but only allows letter or number like symbols (see http://docs.python.org/3.3/reference/lexical_analysis.html#identifiers for full details). That's why Σ works (remember that it's a Greek letter, not just a math symbol), but √ doesn't.
share|improve this answer
Your Answer
| <urn:uuid:5c5b0e4b-2768-4849-9ca2-9bdcbca2db96> | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2649544/unicode-identifiers-in-python | en | 0.896989 | 0.560441 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
Single page Print
Power consumption
AMD's ZeroCore power feature gives the Radeons an advantage when the display goes into power-save mode, as you can see. The Radeons drop into a low-power state, spin down their fans, and shave 15W or so off of total system power draw. Without this feature, the GeForces can't match them.
When running a game—Skyrim, in this case—the GTX 660 Ti cards draw quite a bit less power than anything else in the field, including the competing Radeons. The Kepler architecture has proven to be very power efficient, and that goodness extends to its latest derivative.
Noise levels and GPU temperatures
With their fans spun down in ZeroCore mode, the Radeons approach our system and test environment's noise floor. Then again, the Zotac GTX 660 Ti card is right there with them, though its fans are spinning.
To me, the biggest story of the results above is the effectiveness of MSI's custom dual-fan coolers, which capture the top three spots for lowest noise levels under load. MSI's GTX 660 Ti card is the quietest of the bunch, which makes sense given its more modest power draw; it has less heat to dissipate than the 7870 or 7950.
Beyond that, the Zotac GTX 660 Ti AMP! card deserves some praise for combining the lowest noise levels at idle with a mid-pack performance under load and a modest peak temperature of 67° C. I'd have preferred fan tuning that's biased a little more toward quiet than cool, but that stubby little cooler does look to be pretty effective.
Meanwhile, PNY's decision to use the stock Nvidia cooler looks unfortunate, since it combines high temperatures with relatively high noise levels, despite the GTX 660 Ti's modest power draw (and thus modest heat generation). This cooler still isn't terribly loud, like the reference 7950's with boost is, but the custom coolers simply outperform it. | <urn:uuid:06208302-f169-4c83-b618-9493ec26646c> | http://techreport.com/review/23419/nvidia-geforce-gtx-660-ti-graphics-card-reviewed/10 | en | 0.937217 | 0.032864 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
300 Writer Tackles The Lost Legion for WB
Centurion (2010) Movie Image
You don’t have to be a Rome aficionado like me to appreciate the idea behind Warner Bros.’s upcoming “The Lost Legion”, but it sure helps.
The studio has hired former “300” and “Act of Valor” screenwriter Kurt Johnstad to tackle the historical actioner “The Lost Legion” for them and producer Dan Lin. So what’s it about? Glad you asked, cause it’s pretty rad, people who enjoy things that are rad.
Deadline explains:
Apparently it’s not all Hollywood fiction:
Whoa. That’s pretty cool.
Then again, I’ll be there just for the action. There’s nothing better than watching a bunch of dudes in armor shoving spears into each other’s faces, but maybe that’s just me. | <urn:uuid:549a9ab4-8c1f-4c18-a2ce-f79bc9f8a6db> | http://www.beyondhollywood.com/300-writer-tackles-the-lost-legion-for-wb/ | en | 0.948047 | 0.0238 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
ON THE morning of September 12th 2001, Americans woke up to a changed country. They had seen the twin towers of the World Trade Centre reduced to rubble, the Pentagon aflame and a field in Pennsylvania transformed into a graveyard. Almost 3,000 people had been killed and twice as many injured, in the bloodiest day on American soil since the battle of Antietam in 1862. They had seen their president—the most powerful man in the world—flitting from pillar to post. And they had seen the face of a new enemy. Before September 11th few people even in the administration had heard of al-Qaeda. After that day there was no getting away from the images of Osama bin Laden and his agent, Mohammed Atta.
That September 11th changed America dramatically is hardly open to debate: George Bush's presidency has been about little else since then. But some of the changes have been unexpected. Who would have guessed, as a shocked country rallied round the flag, that five years later partisan divisions would be deeper than ever? Who would have guessed, as the president pledged that “the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon,” that five years later Mr bin Laden would still be at liberty and America would be bogged down in Iraq?
The immediate result of September 11th was a surge in national unity. The country was draped in flags. Wal-Mart sold 116,000 of them on September 11th and 250,000 the day after. The mood killed partisan politics. Congressman Dick Armey, a firebrand conservative, put an arm around Maxine Waters, a firebrand congresswoman on the left. Mr Bush embraced Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader, on the Senate floor. Conservatives denounced Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, two evangelical broadcasters, for entertaining the notion that September 11th was God's punishment of “the pagans, and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and lesbians”. Leftists excoriated Susan Sontag for implying that the assault was payback for America's crimes.
The attacks brought an abrupt end to the “holiday from history” that followed the fall of the Soviet Union. They also brought an abrupt end to America's sense of invulnerability: for all its military might and oceanic moats, the country was wide open to attack from fanatics living in caves in Afghanistan.
All this produced a mood of soul-searching. A Newsweek cover article asked, “Why do they hate us?” and books on Islam topped the bestseller lists. It also produced something more visceral: a desire for revenge. Three days after the attacks the congregation in the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, concluded a memorial service for those who had died with the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”.
The administration capitalised on the more vengeful mood to produce a wide-ranging response. On September 11th Mr Bush concluded that America was at war. That day, too, he stated that he would make no distinction between terrorists and those who harboured them. This rapidly became the “Bush doctrine”. America would not wait for the next attack: it would take the war to the enemy. That did not mean al-Qaeda alone. Any state sponsoring terrorists or supplying them with weapons of mass destruction (WMD) would be dealt with, even before the threat was fully developed. And America would not simply treat symptoms. It would tackle the causes of Islamic terrorism.
Strong, but vulnerable
The doctrine drew on two contradictory beliefs: that America was mighty enough to reorder the world and that it was vulnerable to still worse attacks. Vice-President Dick Cheney then enunciated his own policy, known as the “1% doctrine”: if there were even a 1% chance of terrorists getting hold of WMD, America would act as if it were a certainty.
September 11th gave an enormous boost to Mr Bush. In the aftermath of the attacks, the percentages of Americans who told pollsters they approved of him shot up from the 50s to the 90s, the highest scores ever recorded for a president. His ratings remained above 60% for 16 months, the longest boom in presidential popularity since the second world war. And September 11th strengthened Mr Bush in a more personal way: the frat boy who had grown up in the shadow of his over-achieving father acquired a new steel and a new determination.
The administration relentlessly used the president's popularity to strengthen the power of the executive. In the wake of September 11th it engineered the biggest expansion in executive power since the days of Franklin Roosevelt. Mr Bush declared himself a “war president”. And he took a series of decisions that were to come back to haunt him—from monitoring telephone calls without explicit approval from the courts to establishing military tribunals. Even when he was guaranteed a rubber stamp from a compliant Congress, he preferred to go it alone. Chuck Hagel, a Republican senator, grumbled that the administration treated Congress like a “constitutional nuisance”.
Reporting for defeat
At the same time September 11th strengthened the Republicans while weakening the Democrats. In the second half of the 20th century the Republicans had come to be seen as the more trustworthy party in matters of national security. In 2001 the Democrats were conscious of that but could not decide what to do about it. First, they tried to change the subject to their strong suits, health and education, and then, when they chose John Kerry to be their presidential candidate, overcompensated by turning their 2004 convention in Boston into a Vietnam veterans' rally. There Mr Kerry, saluting his audience, introduced himself with the words, “Reporting for duty.”
The Republicans made strong advances in the 2002 mid-term elections, solidifying their control over the House and capturing the Senate. It was only the third time since the civil war that the president's party had gained seats in mid-term elections. And Mr Bush won the 2004 presidential election with more votes than any president in history. September 11th drove both victories. When it came to “keeping America strong”, the opinion polls showed the Republicans with a lead of almost 40 points in 2002. At the Republican convention in New York two years later, every speaker, most powerfully Rudy Giuliani, who had been the city's heroic mayor in 2001, invoked the lessons of that day of fire.
The bipartisan feelings that followed September 11th could hardly have lasted for ever. But it is still surprising how far the warm courage of national unity has turned into fiery partisanship. The change was first seen in Howard Dean's revolt against the Democratic establishment as he sought the party's presidential nomination—an establishment which, in his view, had allowed Mr Bush to turn the terrorist attacks into a carte blanche for his party. And it continues to drive not just politics but also popular culture. Neil Young, whose 2001 song “Let's Roll” paid tribute to the bravery of the passengers who stormed the hijackers on the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania, is now singing about impeaching the president.
The main cause of this partisanship is the Iraq war, which is proving even more divisive than Vietnam. Immediately after September 11th Americans were ready to blame Saddam Hussein: in a poll taken two days later 34% of respondents thought it “very likely” that he had been personally involved and 44% thought it “somewhat likely”. Large majorities of both political parties—80% of Republicans and 69% of Democrats—backed the war with Iraq.
But conservative hawks were always keenest on making the link. At a meeting in Camp David just after September 11th Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defence secretary, argued three times that America should attack Iraq rather than Afghanistan. And many Democrats were always sceptical: 126 Democratic House members and 21 senators voted against the Iraqi war resolution in October 2002. Democratic opposition to the war expanded as America failed to get UN approval for deposing Mr Hussein. And it turned to fury when America failed to find WMD or to quell the resistance. Today nothing inspires more anger on the left than the belief that Mr Bush exploited September 11th to justify long-laid plans to remove the Iraqi president.
Still, there is more to America's polarisation than Iraq. The partisanship has been partly driven by political opportunism, as the Republicans have tried to turn September 11th into a vote-winner. How could the Democrats forgive the Republicans for branding Max Cleland, a man who lost three limbs in Vietnam, as being too soft on terrorism to be worthy of re-election to his Georgia Senate seat in 2002? But the split has also been driven by deep philosophical differences, briefly suppressed, about America's role in the world.
Might isn't right
The American left, in particular, has reverted to its pre-September 11th, and perhaps even pre-Clinton, suspicion of American power. A survey conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in November 2005 found that only 59% of Democrats still supported the decision to invade Afghanistan, compared with 94% of Republicans. A survey by the Century Foundation asked left-wingers and conservatives to rate their two main foreign-policy goals. Conservatives put destroying al-Qaeda at the top of their list; leftists put it at number ten.
It is tempting to argue that the most remarkable thing about September 11th, five years on, is how little it has changed America. Many features of the political landscape are much as they were on September 10th—a polarising president, an electorate divided almost 50-50 in terms of party allegiance, a Republican Party that loves to wrap itself in the flag and a Democratic Party more worried about outsourcing than terrorism. But look more deeply and you find dramatic changes.
The main one is a new emphasis on national security. In 2000, despite a series of increasingly devastating terrorist attacks, including the first bombing of the World Trade Centre, only 12% of Americans cited “world affairs” as a “paramount issue”. Today they are central.
The shadow of September 11th will hang over the mid-term elections. Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, argues that the big question in November is, “Do you believe we're at war?” The Democrats fight back by arguing that, thanks to his war in Iraq and neglect of security at home, Mr Bush is making America less safe.
September 11th may also hang over the 2008 presidential election. John McCain (tortured by the Vietnamese) and Mr Giuliani (a stirring September 11th performance), two of the Republican front-runners, boast perfect credentials for the new terror-racked world. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has been burnishing her own tough-gal credentials on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The concentration on national security reflects a second big change: America's new but continuing sense of vulnerability. This has deepened over the years. The war in Iraq has proved how difficult it is for America to use its military might to change the world. The fiasco of failing to find any WMD in Iraq underlined the weakness of its intelligence services. The response to Hurricane Katrina showed dramatically what several congressional reports had already pointed out: that the administration had done little to prepare for another catastrophic attack.
Lastly, September 11th has turned the Bush presidency into a big deal. Before the aircraft struck, Mr Bush looked like a small-bore president—divisive, to be sure, but divisive about little things. On the morning of September 11th Mr Bush was reading “My Pet Goat” to a class of second-graders. His speech-writer, Michael Gerson, was working on a speech on “Communities of Character”. America is now as divided as possible about Mr Bush. His supporters regard him as a “transformative” figure like Ronald Reagan. His critics view him as a catastrophe—possibly the worst president in American history, according to Sean Wilentz, a Princeton historian. But, thanks to September 11th, nobody can dismiss him as a mere footnote. | <urn:uuid:f5b55ea2-ebdd-4183-8ff4-a12856b7cd8e> | http://www.economist.com/node/7854412?story_id=7854412 | en | 0.976294 | 0.022068 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
to ask what you make of this
(118 Posts)
kim147 Mon 11-Mar-13 20:56:14
A transgender FTM aged 25 has been charged and jailed for sexual intimacy from two girls by fraud Tjat's important - not been charged with underage sex.
The girls in question were underage when they met "Chris" - and sex happened sometime in the relationship.
One of the girls then found out Chris was transgender FTM.
There are two articles. The Scottish Sun one is awful
This is the other one.
Is this fraud? At what point should a transsexual reveal who they are?
The Sun reporting is awful and I can imagine for young transmen, it's very worrying.
Like I said - Chris has not been charged with underage sex
rentalproperly Tue 12-Mar-13 01:29:18
'Many a rapist would go free wouldn't they?'
Seriously???? I think this is losing the plot, now. Rape is rape, you said no, they didn't stop, that's the end of. And that's not what happened here.
rentalproperly Tue 12-Mar-13 01:33:03
Flora, if no other lies have been prosecuted before as sexual intimacy by fraud (if that's true), I'd say that this is very much about deciding which lies are worst. Having sex with someone without disclosing a disease is not sexual intimacy by fraud, it's GBH.
IneedAsockamnesty Tue 12-Mar-13 01:33:16
Music,but if you are a man trapped in a woman's body or a woman trapped in a mans body it is not the bit that's trapped that gets inserted inside another persons body its the actual body itself.
aldiwhore Tue 12-Mar-13 01:34:56
I was commenting on your comment that 'no physical harm was done' - nothing more, and pointing out that no physical harm doesn't make the crime less damaging.
musicmadness Tue 12-Mar-13 01:36:32
I would see it the same way as if a man (biologically) had used a prosthetic and lied about it being a penis. If he would have been convicted of the same offence then fine, but I don't think he would have and that is what I have an issue with.
IneedAsockamnesty Tue 12-Mar-13 01:38:52
Do you mean in the exact same circumstances as this case just swopping the legal/ physical gender?
FloraFox Tue 12-Mar-13 01:39:48
I said it's not about decided which is the worst. The AIDS example may be worse but it doesn't mean the lie about sex (not gender, sex) is not also bad enough to be a crime.
What sort of big questions does it throw up? Of course the reason she's being prosecuted is because she lied about her sex. That's like saying the only reason the AIDS sufferer would be prosecuted would be because he or she lied about having AIDS. It's the essential element of the offence.
We have no right to have sex or to have anyone find us attractive enough to sleep with. The link you quoted also acknowledges that the reason a trans person would not want to disclose is fear of rejection - so in other words their view is that their right to have sex trumps the rights of their partner to choose the sex of their partner. That's very objectionable to me.
There is a reason why it's not legal to have sex with underage people, boys of girls. And that reason is, those people are not judged old enough to consent. If this person had been male, it would still have been wrong. If this person had been female and not trans, it would still have been wrong. To me, the fact this person is trans may well be an issue for the girls involved and I can understand they may be traumatized by an extra deception, but focussing on the fact the abuser was a transperson isn't very relevant, because it would still have been completely wrong even if this person had been born male.
rentalproperly Tue 12-Mar-13 01:42:12
What I think you were doing is suggesting I would somehow be okay with rape as long as there was no physical damage. Which is where the plot-losing comes in.
FloraFox Tue 12-Mar-13 01:44:34
I think this time it's you doing the inferring rental.
aldiwhore Tue 12-Mar-13 01:45:32
Music I agree with you on that point. There are a few issues aren't there? The charge was sexual intimacy by fraud. I would like to think that the same charge would apply to anyone of any gender who inserted something other than their own body part into another without specific permission. In this case, 'Chris' claimed to be a man, did not seek further permission, did not declare his gender, and I think the conviction is fair.
I do think that an individual's right to know what they're agreeing to supercedes a transgenders right to privacy. Or should do. I know transgender people face massive bias, predudice and discrimination, but I should have the right to know before embarking on such an intimate act. I would matter to me, in the strongest terms.
Even for a pansexual, you should have the right to know what gender you are being attracted by and sleeping with, even if fundamentally it wouldn't make a lot of difference... you still should have the right to know what to expect.
I also do believe there's more to gender than body parts and more to intimacy than what gets stuck where, but I believe the only fair way is eyes wide open, the responsibility to declare if something is not standard, and the right to say no upon discovering something that is unexpected, and the absolue right to feel violated when lied to about something so fundamental.
The language in that article is sickening, though. Just horrible and unnecessary.
SacherTorte93 Tue 12-Mar-13 01:52:42
Exactly, FloraFox. I'm bisexual and would still regard a woman who had sex with me while pretending to be a man as sexual assault. My ability to give meaningful consent to penetration surely is more important than another's ability to penetrate me just because they want to. And there can be no meaningful consent if that person lies about something as fundamental as their sex.
What is the worst that happens if that person tells their potential partner that they are a transperson? They do not get to have sex with that person. What is the worst that happens if they do not? The victim end up emotionally scarred and end up with massive trust issues, as has happened in this case. Nobody has a right to have sex with anybody else.
I think it's a bit like those creepy arguments about rape within marriage. People used to argue that you couldn't be raped by your own husband, because obviously if you'd consented to get married that meant you must be up for sex with him at any time. This is similar - even if these girls had been over the age of consent, it would have been completely wrong to assume they were consenting to one thing just because they'd consented to something else with the same person.
But it is the underage bit I can't get past. It throws every other issue out.
weegiemum Tue 12-Mar-13 02:09:31
All the articles are poor, the Sun one being the worst, though, by light-years!!
However, whatever they report, I'd hope that anyone seeking sexual intimacy with another person would be honest. I'm pretty naive as I've only ever slept with my dh, but I don't think I'm being ur to suggest that if he wasn't on the scene, I'd be happy to be in a sexual relationship with anyone I was attracted to (and I'm female and hetero, so, men).
As I'm fairly old, now, I think I'd probably notice if a ftm ts person without surgery but with a prosthesis tried to have sex with me. And if they were just honest, and we were attracted, then that would be ok, I'm sure we could work it out.
It's the very deliberate premeditated deceit that I find hard to deal with.
weegiemum Tue 12-Mar-13 02:11:32
And the underage thing I though went without saying was wrong, but it seems not.
FloraFox Tue 12-Mar-13 02:12:18
I agree LRD. I also think it's a bit like those arguments - "you've consented to sex with man X so you should consent to sex with me".
It should go without saying. I don't think it does, as the articles are focussing on other things and it sounds as if that isn't the main issue legally, which I think is disgusting.
Yes, I agree flora.
IneedAsockamnesty Tue 12-Mar-13 07:49:28
All the reports are saying she WAS 16 when anything sexual happened and even when she was actually 15 she told Chris/ Christine she was 16 but her birthday happened in between meeting and sexual contact.
kim147 Tue 12-Mar-13 07:51:38
I'm not defending Chris's actions - the fact the girls were underage (even though they said they were 16) is an issue. It is a problem that he was not charged with underage sex or grooming of a child.
I have used he deliberately - as far as I understand, Chris identified as male and presented as male, even though he had not undergone treatment yet.
The case though throws up some questions. Some transpeople - especially those young ones who pass easily do not want to disclose their status until they trust someone. Obviously for transwomen, that can be difficult if it gets to full blown sex but what about beforehand? They might have formed a loving relationship. Same for transmen - but then someone raised the point that you have a right to know what you are being penetrated by.
For some young transmen and transwomen, it can be very dangerous to be exposed as trans. You can be having a great time as the person you were meant to be and then exposed. If you see Boys don't cry or the Gwen Arujio story, it can end up in a violent death.
Is is because it makes you question who you are? You've been having a great relationship and wanted to have sex with this person. Then you've found out they're trans and that throws up a whole lot of issues about you?
Just wonder what people think?
FasterStronger Tue 12-Mar-13 08:05:45
there is a lot of fraud in sex and I don't like a transgender person being punished whereas lying to get sex is a largely accepted in wider society.
how many other people have been prosecuted using this law?
raspberryroop Tue 12-Mar-13 08:14:30
I'm with the court, as far as I can see its PC bollocks to think its ok to 'conceal' the fact you in fact have no dick - despite what may be in your head. Transpeople have a right to be treated with the same level of respect as everyone else but their right to privacy and ' be what they want to be' does not trump other peoples right to know the sex of the person they are sleeping with.
TandB Tue 12-Mar-13 08:31:00
I'm surprised there is any argument over this. The girls consented to sex with a man and penetration by a penis. They did not consent to sex with a woman and penetration by an artificial item.
This young person has the right to live as they like - but at the point at which they are about to insert something into someone else's body then they should be having a serious conversation to make sure that they have full and informed consent.
This is not someone who has gone through full gender realignment - this is someone who is still, to all intents and purposes, a woman - for the purposes of sexual intercourse anyway.
IneedAsockamnesty Tue 12-Mar-13 08:33:58
Kim, grooming possibly but if all parties are saying nothing happened untill age 16 then its not underage sex.
I say possibly to the grooming as its my understanding that you have to be doing so knowingly and Chris/ Christine was not aware at any time that anyone was younger.
No one can be charges with underage sex if all people involved state nothing happened under age and with nothing other than assumption to disprove that.
Join the discussion
Join the discussion
Register now | <urn:uuid:54c74bbf-d4c0-48f7-99d3-b8c2b9279040> | http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1705798-to-ask-what-you-make-of-this?pg=4 | en | 0.983136 | 0.541954 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |
health and medicine question #151
Joan & Colleen, a 11 year old female from the Internet asks on March 16, 2000,
Are cats left- or right-pawed? What percentage are left pawed/right pawed? We are doing some research on this subject for a science fair project and would like to know your results.
viewed 16726 times
the answer
Barry Shell answered on March 16, 2000, A:
Cats do have a preference. Here's something I found about doing an experiment to determine which paw a cat prefers.
This is a good research question. Scientists have found that some animals really do have a preference for one hand over the other. Like humans, monkeys, apes, mice, and gerbils all have preferences for one hand. Even some fish seem to prefer a particular fin for certain behaviors. Here's how you might test your hypothesis: Cats often reach for an object that is placed just a bit in front of them. You can use this natural behavior to study whether cats tend to reach more often with their left or right paws. Try placing a stuffed mouse or catnip toy just out of reach of the cat. To make the cat reach at the toy, try slowly pulling the toy away from the cat just a bit. Cats love this! Next, record whether the cat reached with his left or right paw. Repeat this as many times as the cat will tolerate your teasing! You should try to get the cat to reach about 20-30 times so that you can accurately determine whether he has a preference.
You should try to test as many cats as you can. That way, you'll be able to begin to see whether cats as a group have a general tendency toward preferring right or left paws. Posted By: Lori Holt, Graduate (Ph.D.) Student, Psychology, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin Date: Thu Sep 11, 1997
From Cats International website: Out of every 100 cats approximately 40 are left-pawed, 20 are right-pawed, and 40 are ambidextrous. These findings contrast strikingly with the human situation where only 10 individuals are left-handed for every 90 who are right-handed.
Add to or comment on this answer using the form below.
(required if you would like a response)
Note: All submissions are moderated prior to posting. | <urn:uuid:5e9216c5-33ea-4dec-94a5-93722403eabe> | http://www.science.ca/askascientist/viewquestion.php?qID=151&-table=activities&-action=list&-cursor=0&-skip=0&-limit=30&-mode=list&-lang=en | en | 0.948034 | 0.053249 | mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0-parquet |