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Open tax data plans come under fire
The Treasury has confirmed the government’s intention to press ahead with plans to make anonymised tax data available to researchers and commercial organisations.
Over the holiday weekend, The Guardian flagged up the data policy that has evolved under the current government’s open data initiative.
After consultation with various parties, HMRC took the stance that it wanted to publish data proactively and make what information available that it could without violating taxpayer confidentiality.
While The Guardian got confirmation from the Treasury that it was working on legislation to make aggregated and anonymised tax data more widely available, much of the work has already been underway at the HMRC Datalab that was set up in 2011.
The Datalab already allows approved academic researchers to access anonymous data in areas such as corporation tax, VAT, trade statistics and stamp duty land tax.
Personal income survey data is also released in tandem with the UK Data Archive through the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS).
HMRC’s current publication plan stipulates that raw data will not be released to protect taxpayer confidentiality, but broader summary statistics can be put into the public domain...
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Open Tax Data Plans Do Not Make Sense
Joan Lockwood | | Permalink
I was shocked to read that HMRC plans to release tax data to third parties. I cannot see how this benefits academics or researchers? As stated, they have mishandled tax data in the past, so where is the guarantee our tax information will not end up in the wrong hands? We at SimpleTax cannot see the sense in this and would never find a reason to share our customers data with anyone; it should remain private and secure.
Joan Lockwood
dahowlett's picture
Lack of understanding on the topic 1 thanks
dahowlett | | Permalink
Anonymised data is relatively easy to create. That's what survey data does every day of the week.
We were doing it 25 years ago based upon analysis of our portfolio. Very useful in things like investigations but also useful in benchmarking clients' performance.
Anonymised data
mbdx7ja2 | | Permalink
In my experience - anonymised data is also (sometimes) easy to decrypt. I have seen a pdf where data was redacted. Simply opening the pdf in Adobe and using the select tool I was able to select the black redactions and delete them - showing the redacted information in all its glory.
Given historic HMRC performance, and government IT competence generally, my expectations of them not making some similar error when redacting data are pretty low.
bassett1's picture
It's not anonymity but accuracy that bothers me
bassett1 | | Permalink
Given that swathes of earnings data supplied by employers under RTI and payments into HMRC by employers are being corrupted by HMRC's core systems it's the accuracy of the data that would bother me, not sure how we are running the country using it at the moment! Stephen timms' PQ earlier this year highlighted the massive discrepancy between expected and actual tax receipts
mccabesworld's picture
Trial period 3 thanks
mccabesworld | | Permalink
I am not persuaded one way or the other over the benefits of this. I would like to see a reasonably long trial run using subjects who can be trusted. Accordingly, I would propose a 5 year trial involving all MPs, all employees of HMRC and whichever bunch of management consultants came up with this.
Trial Period (2)
normafogg21 | | Permalink
I agree with mccabesworld, if it is to go ahead, it should be trialled using their own data before they put mine out there.
However, I have no confidence whatsoever that the data they do release will remain confidential and/or anonymised/encrypted for any length of time.
HMRC really should concentrate more of their time and efforts into RTI and its IT systems before they release ANYTHING to ANYONE.
I have had several employees who joined my company last year, who remained on emergency tax or Week 1k/Month 1 tax codes for the remainder of the tax year even though RTI is supposed to eliminate this.
HMRC have no more idea where workers are now than they ever have done, and RTI hasn't improved that situation, it has made it worse..
I wouldn't pay them in washers!
"Principally credit scoring" 1 thanks
Vince54 | | Permalink
How can anonymised data be used for credit scoring which, as I understand it, is used on an identifiable individual basis?
Something doesn't read right here. Or what am I missing?
Trade figure data is already released in an anonymised format
Mark Thomson | | Permalink
HM Revenue and Customs have been providing anonymised data from the trade figures it collects for many years and I'm not aware of any problems arising from this.
Anonymised Data
AndrewV12 | | Permalink
I have never heard of the phrase Anonynised data until today, lets face it your local council sells your data, your insurance Company may sell your data, Companies house may sell your data, HMRC have just joined the list, its not what you want though.
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Kim Kardashian-Kris Humphries Divorce Trial: Scheduled!
by at . Comments
Our national nightmare will not end for at least another three months.
The day after Kris Humphries' lawyer peaced out on his client and also trashed Humphries for claiming he can annul his marriage to Kim Kardashian, a judge has set a trial date for this pair to finally hash it all out.
They will meet in court on May 6.
Kim Kardashian Pregnant Image
Kardashian's attorney fought for a date next month, but nothing was available until well into the spring.
By now, everyone (unfortunately) knows the particulars:
• Kris and Kim were married for 72 days.
• Kim has been pushing for a divorce for well over a year.
• Humphries has been stalling and claiming the marriage ought to be annulled because he was duped into a union Kim knew was phony from the start.
• In other words: he's holding out to embarrass Kim, irritate Kim or force Kim into giving him a ton of money. Or a combination of each.
Oh, and a pregnant Kim Kardashian is expecting Kanye West's baby. Good times all around.
Tags: ,
You can digg it here: Kim Kardashian Sex Tape uncensored
Kim Kardashian-Kris Humphries Divorce Trial: Scheduled!
Guys, dont work your right hands out))
You are welcome)
Dont worrie bout that aholeKim u will b just fine
I will be so happy when Kim is free from Kris and can enjoy her life. Kris is a loser and his own lawyer wants nothing to do with him. I hope she has the privilege of watching his life fall apart
Kim K makes me sick with her big pooper and desire to do anything for money. She thinks she is a role model for girls, and that make me sick. Lets face it she game to fame because of her video of her banging some black guy. She duped Kris and he should be mad and torture this sleeze.
I can't wait for him to bring this no talent,self-absorbed tramp down! The whole family is annoying trash.
I am looking forward to this nonsense finally going to trial. This idiot has no grounds for an annulment and he knows that. He just keeps dragging it out n hopes that something might come up that might help him. And all this raw footage that he wants is only going to show how much of a jerk he was to Kim and why she chose to divorce him. I'm surprised that u htrs that r female don't support her through this. Usually when a woman is n a verbally abusive relationship ppl encourage her to leave. But not u htrs, u ppl just bash her for it. I can't wait for this so all u shithead followers eat ur words.
Kris Humphries sh'd move on....let him leave Kim K to be........ come on she's in a happy relationship with kanye
Put your hand on the Bible and swear under oath... POOF! Mrs Humphries spontaneously combusts!
I feel bad for Humpries, he fell into the hands of the most greedy man eater on earth, she steps over and uses whoever she needs to to get to the top. She used Paris Hilton to start being seen everywhere when nobody knew whose was, then took her advise to do a sex tape for publicity, she drops Hilton and goes solo, Cris Jenner says PUBLIC-during the show that they need a weeding (for ratings) tries to marry kourtney, kourtney blowed her off, Cris renews her vowels, ratings don't go up, she is too old and everybody prefers kim since the whole world have seen her naked and sex sells. Cris Jenner pressures kim and she goes on the hunt for a naive rich ball player she can use for the wedding. (After all she made public she wishes she was like Elizabeyh Taylor without the talent of course, she gets the fake multiple eyelashes and starts collecting diamonds and husbands) Kris Jenner is behind it all, she chooses the ring and makes Humpries buy it. They stage the whole "fake proposal with roses and all" which wasn't Humpies idea,! By now Humpies is mesmerized by Kim's vagina (not realizing too many black penises have been there, ewhh). Kim of course knows the marriage isn't real and orders the gifts to not get delivered (she has plans to exchange them for rolexes for her family). Humpries still doesn't see it but gets suspicious, he wants love, Cris Jenner and Kim plan trips for Kim to get out if town and avoid Humpries, Humpries brings his sister to one of d reality episodes, they obviously treat her like crap, he is getting more suspicious. They try to push his buttons even more and do something ridiculous such as "bringing a naked yoga man to the house?" Poor Humpries, he gets mad of course, and they edit the whole show to show him as an evil person and kim an innocent flower. The worst part is, Kardashians are very influential, an they have no morals or conscience. They buy the court system, what am I saying? THEY RUN THE COURT SYSTEM! Didn't the father get OJ Sympson walk out unharmed when obviously unquestionably guilty?
Cris Humpries, for whatever is worth, I want you to know that God knows and he is a just God, your loved ones know and I know, and I love u and admire you and pray for you.
kim, please stop this nonsens.
........just get him a nanny.
Kim Kardashian Biography
Los Angeles, California
Full Name
Kimberly Noel Kardashian
Kim Kardashian Quotes
Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian [on Barack Obama]
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User talk:Juranas
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The Matrix[edit]
Hi, just to let you know, I've reverted your change on the Matrix Reloaded article. Don't worry: there is nothing wrong with adding quotes (i.e., what you did wasn't vandalism), but Wikiquote has recently strongly implemented copyright protections, see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations and Wikiquote:Copyright. If you see the note on the Matrix Reloaded talk page (or hidden in the article's script), the article already has its maximum permissible number of quotes (maximum 15 for that movie, based on its length). If you'd like to add a quote, you have to remove a quote that is already there; please see Wikiquote:Quotability on how to decide how do this. Also note that dialogue needs special consideration (see the Matrix Reloaded talk), and should not be only important within the context of the movie, nor require any "stage directions" if it is indeed quotable (i.e., [The Merovingian's men open fire on Neo, who stops all the bullets in mid-air without any apparent effort]). For example, see the appropriate style of dialogue quotability:
Commander Locke: Damnit, Morpheus, not everyone believes what you believe.
Morpheus: My beliefs don't require them to.
Neo: What does he want?
The Oracle: What do all men with power want? More power.
The longer piece of dialogue below these is meant to show the style of explanatory dialogue in the film and elucidate the style of writing (thus, in a way, it fulfills a purpose of "quoting"). Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 18:34, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
Anytime! If you really want to lend a hand (though it's kind of thankless work), we're doing a heavy-duty cleanup project (due to some copyright concerns from the "higher-ups" at the Wikimedia Foundation, and historical issues, like the legal shutdown of the French Wikiquote). Your help would be greatly appreciated! See: Wikiquote:Copyright Cleanup Project, and its talk. Ask any questions you'd like there, and if you like, you can lend a hand. Thanks, Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 18:49, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
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Quality of Life
Written by Daniel Greenfield
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It's hard to remember sometimes that the latest Bloombergian crusade to ban all the sodas, steal all the salt or wall off half the streets to Bloomberg Giulianiautomobile traffic had its roots in another New York City where Times Square was a seedy flickering danger zone, entire neighborhoods were always on the verge of an explosion and the only optimistic people were the ones moving out.
Some twenty years ago, Rudy Giuliani began tackling crime directly with waves of men in blue using
smarter and blunter tactics, and also indirectly by going after "Quality of Life" issues. The theory was that crime came out of social blight. Improve the neighborhood and you reduce crime.
The ubiquitous squeegee men were put out of business and drives rejoiced, Times Square's acres of sex businesses were broken up to make way for Disney musicals. Homeless encampments that had taken over public places were broken up. Graffiti, prostitution, panhandling and a thousand other behaviors, some criminal, some not, but that contributed to the grimy dangerous city were targeted.
Critics called Giuliani a fascist, but New York City became a better, safer and more prosperous place. It's hard to remember what a gamechanger the notion was, back then in the dark days of liberalism, that cities didn't have to be fixed with an endless round of welfare that only added more blight. Instead they could be fixed by enforcing civilized norms that too many had given up on enforcing.
Giuliani's approach worked well. Too well. Quality of Life succeeded in cleaning up and restoring neighborhoods. It opened up a wave of gentrification. And it never stopped. In Giuliani's final term, a significantly safer city had already been reduced to toying with petty annoyances. There was a plan to ban jaywalking that never came to fruition. It was one of those moments where it was clear that the line between fighting social decay and enforcing conformity had slipped.
If Giuliani, like Alexander, had run out of problems to conquer, Bloomberg never had any to begin with. Instead Bloomberg took his tone from the worst days of Giuliani's term and decided to turn Quality of Life into a means of enforcing conformity with whatever trendy notions of public health or ecology had come out of his favorite think-tanks.
If Giuliani had the mentality of a beat cop looking for more social disorder to stamp out, Bloomberg was the layabout president of a college rubber-stamping his sociology faculty's wildest Orwellian fantasies. Giuliani frequently overreached, but he had clear and practical goals in mind. Despite all his grandiose programs, organizations and projects, Bloomberg has no larger goals. He's a billionaire writing checks for any program that sounds interesting. The problem is that unlike most billionaires, his checks are often government checks and the programs are enforced by a city government.
Giuliani can hardly be blamed for Bloomberg. Given a chance to show up at the press conference where Bloomberg announced his plans to run for mayor, Giuliani walked by and gave it the cold shoulder on the way out of City Hall. Certainly Bloomberg is not the successor he would have picked and yet Giuliani left the door open for Bloomberg or someone like him to show up on the stage.
Quality of Life left the question of where the intervention stops unanswered. Most New Yorkers accepted Giuliani's overreaches of power willingly after spending decades being terrorized by criminals and their civil liberties lawyers. The existence of a civil liberties establishment that protected criminals and promoted the destruction of urban spaces made the rise of someone like Giuliani nearly inevitable. And that civil liberties establishment, which has gone on to do for Islamic terrorists what it did for drug dealers, has learned nothing at all from the rise of Reagan or Giuliani.
But the implicit assumption by voters that the line would be drawn in the right place was also naive. There was no reason to believe that imposing a pure law enforcement vision on the city would mean limiting the crackdown to vandals, panhandlers, porn merchants or the homeless while excluding, for example, jaywalkers. And the system for imposing that vision, once in place, could just as easily be used to ban large sodas. The barriers that were meant to stop jaywalkers eventually morphed into endless bike lanes and bus-only lanes.
Giuliani's focus was on fighting crime, but measuring everyone against an iron law turns them into criminals. Bloomberg completed the process of criminalizing everyone by removing such labels as "criminals" and making it mean the same thing as "citizens". The old quality of life approach had targeted problem spots. The new quality of life treated everyone and everything like a problem.
The old moral crusade has made way for endless social engineering and the dim pleasure of manipulating the lives of millions of people for some hypothetical improvement in their condition. And with that a crackdown on crime lapsed into the familiar search for total control of liberalism.
The underlying problem was cyclical and its lessons extend beyond the city and to the country.
Liberalism destabilizes society. A conservative government wins office promising a stronger hand. Sometimes, on rare occasions, it even provides one. The era of stability and prosperity that the conservatives usher in makes it easy for liberals to promise to elevate society to a new level of civilization.
Swap Eisenhower or Churchill for Giuliani and you get back to how the left and its more moderate liberal fellow travelers revived themselves to create the beginnings of the nightmare we now live under. Trade Giuliani for Reagan and Bloomberg for Clinton. Or Bloomberg for JFK. The cycle stays the same. It's one reason why electing even a "good" government of the right has its limitations.
Republicans still believe in being the party of good government, while Democrats, under lefty influence, believing in being the party of moral government. The more pragmatic authoritarianism of the good government party only paves the way for the moral authoritarianism of the left.
The cycle ensures that the left will always have a right to clean up their messes and to rebel against. They need their Nixons to get them out of Vietnam, try to make their social welfare policy disasters seem workable, and act as the father figure that they can pull down and destroy. They need the Reagans and Giulianis and Eisenhowers to denounce as authoritarian conformists, thoughtless buffoons who prevent progress, because the alternative is the eternally stultifying rule of the left whose existence in a country destroys the left as a meaningful moral force in human affairs.
The authoritarian cycle allows the right to claim credit for cleaning up the messes and the left and allows the left to claim credit for cleaning up the messes of the right. The left blames the right and its "budget cuts" to social welfare programs for causing the mess. The right blames the left's flirtation with criminality and its hostility to the solid citizen. The dynamic is a familiar one from elections.
The root of the problem is that both sides agree that government can be used to create a better society. The tug of war between them is not over whether people should be free, but what type of government crackdown will elevate our society.
The right's crackdowns are only necessary because of the social policies of the left. They are not a solution in and of themselves. Every cleanup operation remains incomplete because it only deals with the symptoms of the problem, not with the problem, which is the social policies of the left. A dynamic leader can turn around a city or a state, even a country, but until the left's social policy levers are thoroughly smashed, the cycle will continue.
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Pluto - the "Double Planet
NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has obtained the clearest pictures ever of our solar system's most distant and enigmatic object: the planet Pluto. The observations were made with the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera. The ninth and last real planet known, and the only planet that has not been visited by a fly-by spacecraft, Pluto was discovered just 60 years ago by the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who was searching for the source of irregularities seen in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. It has become apparent since then that Pluto is a very peculiar object. Its orbit is tilted and is more elliptical than the orbits of any of the other planets in the solar system. Pluto also rotates upside down with its North Pole below the plane of the solar system in the opposite sense of the Earth and most of the other planets. Pluto is smaller than our own Moon and also denser than any of its neighbors in the outer solar system. But, perhaps, its most fascinating property was uncovered only 12 years ago when a huge companion "moon" called Charon was detected from ground based photographs. Subsequent investigations have shown that Charon is about half the size of Pluto making it the largest known satellite relative to its planet in the solar system. In fact, because of this, Pluto is often referred to as a double planet. The rotation period of the Pluto-Charon system is a mere 6 days. A recent Faint Object Camera image of Pluto and Charon is shown in the upper right hand frame of the accompanying photograph. This image is the first long duration HST exposure ever taken of a moving target. In order to avoid smearing of the images, ground controllers had to pre-program the HST spacecraft to track Pluto extremely accurately and compensate exactly for the "parallax" introduced by the combined motions of Pluto, the Earth and HST in their respective orbits. Pluto is currently near its closest approach to the Earth in its 249 year journey around the Sun, and is approximately four and a half billion kilometers away. The bright object at the center of the frame is Pluto while Charon is the fainter object in the lower left. Charon is fainter than Pluto because it is smaller and, probably, because its surface is covered by water ice whereas Pluto is thought to be covered mainly by the more reflective methane frost or snow. As indicated in the diagram at the bottom of the photograph, Charon's orbit around Pluto is a circle seen nearly edge on from Earth, with a radius of almost twenty thousand kilometers - a distance equal to approximately one and a half times the diameter of the Earth. At the time of observation, Charon was near its maximum apparent distance from Pluto, so that its angular separation was about nine tenths of an arcsecond. Because of the peculiar orientation of the Pluto-Charon orbit with respect to our line of sight, Charon approaches to within less than one tenth of an arcsecond of Pluto every three days. Due to the physical proximity of the two planets and the great distance to the system, it is extremely difficult to clearly resolve the pair from the Earth except in exceptional circumstances. The best ground based image of Pluto and Charon ever taken to date is shown in the upper left hand frame in the accompanying photograph. This image was taken with the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope in Hawaii. The superior resolution of the FOC image is evident. Further HST observations of Pluto and Charon will be extremely important in elucidating the nature and the origin of this fascinating and frigid world where the average temperature approaches minus 215 degrees centigrade - only 58 degrees above absolute zero. Although the "fog" surrounding the images caused by the spherical aberration of the primary mirror prevents the FOC from resolving surface features, several other critical pieces of information can be extracted from continuing FOC observations of these objects. Detailed analysis of the brightness variations of the two planets will provide a wealth of information on their surfaces and atmospheres which are impossible to obtain from the ground. Precise measurements of the orbital parameters of the Pluto-Charon system are now also possible. This will enable astronomers to measure the individual masses and densities of the two objects - thereby providing important clues to their origins. One possibility is that objects similar to Pluto and Charon were created in great numbers in the outer fringes of the primordial solar nebula, but the majority of,these "planetary embryos" were either expelled from the inner solar system or gobbled up by the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Only Pluto 'and Charon survived independently to this day. Continued monitoring of these two fascinating objects at the outer edge of our solar system throughout the lifetime of HST will perhaps help astronomers understand the nebula from which we all originally formed.
About the Image
NASA press release
NASA caption
Release date:4 October 1990, 05:00
Size:1412 x 1142 px
About the Object
Name:Charon, Pluto
Type:• Solar System : Planet : Satellite
• Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Dwarf planet
• X - Solar System Images/Videos
Colours & filters
480 nm Hubble Space Telescope
Notes: The left image was taken with the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope in Hawaii.
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No. 151 Wing RAF
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
No. 151 Wing RAF
Active 7 September 1941–22 October 1941
10 March 1944–1 June 1946
1 October 1959–9 September 1964
Country United Kingdom
Branch Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg Royal Air Force
Wing Commander Henry Neville Gynes Ramsbottom-Isherwood (1941)
Aircraft flown
Fighter Hawker Hurricane (1941)
No 151 Wing Royal Air Force was a British unit which fought alongside the Soviet forces on the Kola Peninsula during the first months of Operation Barbarossa during World War II. The 1941 expedition to Murmansk achieved three objectives from the point of view of the British government: it provided vital aid to the Soviet Union at a critical moment; it introduced the Soviet forces to the use of modern technology, control systems, and fighter tactics; and it showed the Finns that offensive action against the Soviet Union would result in direct military confrontation with the Western Allies.[1]
Operational history[edit]
The delay in starting the Finnish-German offensive from northern Finland gave the British an opportunity to intervene. Within days of the German Invasion starting, Britain and the USSR entered into a formal military alliance. Finland's Army command was disturbed by the possibilities of intelligence activities by the numerically large British military and Consular representation in Finland. Finland suggested restrictions on the British Helsinki legation in late July.[2] The British were anxious to offer immediate support to their new ally and British submarines, mine layers and aircraft carriers quickly put in an appearance off the north coast of Finland. On 31 July 1941, carrier-borne aircraft from Furious attacked the harbour at the Finnish town of Petsamo. The British lost three aircraft and inflicted only minor damage on a small freighter and harbour facilities. In a further attempt to hinder naval traffic in the area, the Royal Navy mined the approaches to Petsamo.
The British undertook to provide air support in the Murmansk area and to train Soviet pilots for the Hawker Hurricane fighters which were to be sent to the Soviet Union. No. 151 Wing was formed for this purpose, composed of the reinforced No. 81 and No. 134 squadrons of the RAF. The Wing was commanded by Wing Commander H.N.G. Ramsbottom-Isherwood of the Royal Air Force. The first elements of 151 Wing, consisting of 24 Hawker Hurricane IIB aircraft, arrived at Murmansk-Vaenga airfield (about 10 km (6.2 mi) north-east from Murmansk[3]) on 7 September 1941 after flying from the carrier Argus. These were reinforced by aircraft, equipment and personnel transported by merchant ship to Arkhangelsk and assembled there.
The remit of 151 Wing was to provide both training and operational support to the Soviet Army. The Hawker Hurricane was not the most modern aircraft by late 1941, having been designed in the 1930s with priority given to ease of maintenance and operation in arduous field conditions, but it proved well suited to conditions around Murmansk. Furthermore, the British, Australian and New Zealand ground crew and aircrew were mostly veterans of the Battle of France and Battle of Britain. They were highly experienced. They brought with them a modern radio and radar air-control system.
During the following month, the Royal Air Force provided air cover to Soviet troops trying to hold off enemy forces from Murmansk and the Murmansk railway. In particular they provided fighter escorts to Soviet bomber aircraft operating along the front. The RAF pilots carried out their final operational flight on 8 October 1941. At that point, they started handing their aircraft and equipment over to the Soviet Air Force, which was completed by 22 October. The personnel of 151 Wing returned by sea on British ships and they started arriving back in Britain on 7 December.
The main objectives of the 1941 expedition to Murmansk were to show the quality of the Hurricane aircraft if properly handled and to train Soviet pilots and their ground crews how to handle the British military equipment that would be supplied to the Soviet Union. The operation was judged to have fulfilled these objectives successfully.[4] Only 81 Squadron received the battle honour 'Russia, 1941'.
The Soviet Union recognised the contribution of No. 151 Wing by the awards of the Order of Lenin to Wing Commander Ramsbottom-Isherwood, Squadron Leaders A.H. Rook [5] and A.G. Miller, and Flight Sergeant Haw.[6] In 1944, the Engineering Officer in charge of assembling the Hurricanes, Flight Lieutenant Gittins, was awarded the Order of the Red Star.[7]
On 5 July 1942, No. 153 Wing RAF was raised in England with the intention of resuming RAF operations on the front. This was a force of four squadrons of Supermarine Spitfires and two squadrons of ground-attack Hurricanes. This would have involved around 2,000 Commonwealth personnel. However, most likely due to increased convoy casualties, the operation was called off and 153 Wing was stood down.[8]
On 2 September 1942, two Bomber Command units, No. 144 Squadron and No. 455 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, flew 32 Handley Page Hampdens from Britain to Murmansk. The Hampdens had been refurbished as torpedo-bombers and the trip to Russia (Operation Orator) was designed to cover Convoy PQ 18. The Admiralty did not want to repeat the tragedy of the Convoy PQ 17, destroyed by the U-boats and Luftwaffe. But, first of all, the British wanted to protect the convoy from the German surface fleet, especially the battleship Tirpitz.[9][10] Nine Hampdens were lost on route,[11] due mainly to harsh Arctic weather, compass failures and enemy anti-aircraft fire.[12] The two squadrons operated briefly from Vaenga air base, before handing their Hampdens over to the Soviet Air Force.[13]
Commonwealth aircrews remained active in the Murmansk area until 1944, mainly in the form of maritime patrol and escort duty supporting Arctic convoys. At various stages, RAF, RAAF and RCAF aviators operated Catalina, Lockheed Hudson and photoreconnaissance Spitfire aircraft out of Vaenga and Lakhta.[14]
Later operations[edit]
No. 151 Wing was active later in the war and afterwards. From 10 March 1944, to 1 June 1946, it operated as a transport wing. From 1 October 1959, to 9 September 1964, it was an air defence missile wing, probably operating Bristol Bloodhound surface-to-air missiles.
See also[edit]
• Normandie-Niemen, another Western air squadron operating on the Eastern Front.
1. ^ RAF campaigns Murmansk, 1941
2. ^ Wuorinen 1948 pp. 130–133
3. ^ Location of Vaenga
4. ^ RAF campaigns :Murmansk, 1941, Chapter I, paragraphs 6–8
5. ^ RAF Records
6. ^ Morrison, Douglas (14 May 2009). "Stalin's British heroes: A forgotten medal reveals the extraordinary courage of the RAF aces". Retrieved 29 January 2011.
7. ^ RAF Hurricanes in Russia
8. ^ RAF Hurricanes in Russia, Last paragraph
9. ^ Vladimir Kropunik
10. ^ RAF aircraft crashed in Swedish Lapland :wreck and remains of crew recovered, 1976
11. ^ RAAF in Russia, paragraph 9
12. ^ RAAF in Russia, paragraph 7
13. ^ RAAF in Russia.
14. ^ RAAF in Russia: Vladimir Kropunik, paragraphs 6 and 10
Further reading[edit]
External links[edit]
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Thursday, May 03, 2007
I have too much time on my hands
Since I'm not working, I can afford to spend a lot of time on the interweb (and today I learned that I'm not being considered for yet another job, so I have spare time to spare (ha!)). I probably read more than my fair share of knitting blogs. I notice some patterns, and some themes. Other than knitting, obviously.
1. Cats. That knitters and cats should go together is not surprising. I mean: knitters --> balls of yarn --> cats. It seems that no matter how hard people try to keep away from the stereotype of knitting as something your grandmother did (as if that was an insult!), some element of the "little old lady with her cats and her knitting" survives into the new generation.
2. Scientists. A good number of the knitting blogs floating around are written by scientists. Maybe they just stick in my mind more, but scientists do seem over-represented in the knitting blogosphere. I know that the things that drew me into science also informs my knitting to some degree. Like, I basically think of knitting as problem-solving. I have this one-dimensional piece of yarn, and I want to turn it into a three-dimensional object. I have my tools, and my arsenal of techniques. I just have to figure out how to apply them to the problem. Also, it involves lots of experimentation, and some math. It also involves loads of learning- if I can't get the result I want with my existing tools and techniques, is there another way to do it? Has someone done it before? (As we used to say: two weeks in lab can easily save you two hours in the library.)
3. Food. You expect yarn porn in a knitting blog, but there is a surprising amount of food porn, as well. Lots of close-up, macro pictures of food. It seems like a lot of knitters are also foodies. I'm not sure where the overlap is: a retro embracing of all things "homey"? A reclaiming of the formerly un-prestigious domestic sphere?
John said...
Interesting post
Worsted_Knitt said...
That's interesting really - I've noticed the cats and the scientists, but not the food.
Funnily, I'm/I do none of these(but I'd love a cat!)
jacqueline said...
consider tho: possibly scientists are more actively engaged in "publishing" their findings, and putting information into active opensource circulation for others to leverage or build off of. That is inherent in being a scientist to some extent. Therefore, I'm guessing scientists inherently are more likely to adopt new information technologies and ineffect be early members actively engaged in the blogscape.
=> consider: the union of the subset of the population who actively blogs with the subset of the population that knits might account for your majority of scientific blogging knitters.
I'm guessing (just theorizing here) that there are great numbers of knitters out there who are neither scientific, nor actively read/write blogs.
Heidirific said...
Cooking and knitting go very well together. They both take raw materials and turn them into something else and can have many styles to them. Both can be formulaic (e.g. follow a recipe or pattern exactly) or a creative expression of yourself (e.g. don't use recipe or patterns). They can also be somewhere between (e.g. use recipe/patterns for inspiration and follow loosely).
I definately enjoy both and for similar reasons. I can take a few ingredients and turn them into something yummy and pretty. I can also take some yarn, get inspired, and turn it into something pretty (hopefully).
I also have two cats but I had the cats before taking up knitting. I don't know what the connection there is since cats make knitting harder (mine like to eat the yarn).
Oh, you're no longer the only American in Ireland with no Irish connections. :)
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
Where could I find a old RPM of MySQL client utilities. I am not sure which one, all I know is that Apache fails to load PHP with this message:
httpd: Syntax error on line 3 of /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf: Cannot load /usr/local/apache2/modules/libphp5.so into server: libmysqlclient.so.14: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
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3 Answers 3
up vote 0 down vote accepted
Some Googling got me to here
which led me to the RPM here
This worked for me since I needed it as soon as possible, but I wouldn't call this route best practice. It did get my site back up though.
share|improve this answer
The mysql package that comes with EL4 contains libmysqlclient.so.14. If you've installed a newer version from another source then you'll need to rebuild PHP for it.
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what version of redhat are you running ? you can find the rpms on ftp.redhat.com
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Your Answer
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Passion Fruit, Jalapeno & Lemongrass Salmon Glaze
Recipe Type: Glaze
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
Total Time:
Serves: 2
This is the first take on a recipe. It probably needs a little acid like lime juice or yuzu juice to brighten up. I'll be experimenting with it in the future.
• ¼ cup Terrapin Ridge Farms Passion Fruit Jalapeno Jelly
• 1 teaspoon lemongrass paste
• 1 tablespoon water
• Salt to taste
1. In a small sauce pan, over low heat melt the jelly.
2. Add the lemongrass paste and water
3. Using a food processor or immersion blender process until smooth.
4. If you want to avoid the bits of lemongrass an jalapeno strain the mixture through a fine mesh and return to heat.
5. Heat until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat and brush or pour over salmon.
Recipe by Embers and Flame at
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Meet Malorie's New Baby
He weighed in at six pounds, even.
Since getting home from the hospital, Malorie and Greg have been getting used to their new jobs as mom and dad.
They say little Moss doesn't cry too much, but he does have his moments.
"I'm not going to be a parent that says my child is perfect, he's great until about 4:30 and 6:00 every night, it's kind of his witching hour," says Malorie. During that time, strategy is everything.
"We load him up in the car seat and drive him through the neighborhood, it seems to work and just kind of follow the advice of doctors. I know a lot of parents have that and we can sympathize now," Malorie says.
Over a month old and Moss has been hitting a lot of milestones so far. "Last week he just started holding his own bottle and so he's not supposed to be doing that yet," says Malorie.
"It's pretty neat when you hold him and he opens his eyes and looks up at you," says Malorie's husband, Greg Bolton, "because then he does that smile and he just, it's pretty remarkable to see something like that."
He's already a sports fan, logging some time on the couch with dad. "You know it's funny because sometimes we're watching basketball and either Kansas or Nebraska is on. The dilemma is when they play each other then I think he's still rooting for the Huskers," says Greg.
Milton, the couple's Yorkie, has not been forgotten, and he's getting used to having Moss around. "He's been great around the baby and he went and got his hair cut yesterday, so he's still getting pampered, he's still getting spoiled, but it has been a little bit of an adjustment for him," says Malorie.
Both she and Greg are very thankful for all of the kind words and advice coming from Channel 6 viewers.
"We do have those jobs where it's such a great benefit when people take the time to do that. I've read each and every one of them, but i haven't had time to respond to all of them, but I do appreciate the emails and all of the kind notes and parenthood is going great and I'll be back at work soon," Malorie says.
Even though he's advancing and learning every day, these new parents aren't in a hurry for Moss to grow up.
They are getting ready to take him on his first road trip to Kansas, home of Malorie's beloved Jayhawks. Malorie says the trip is normally about 6 hours by vehicle, but they are planning for 8 this time.
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2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup granular Splenda or equivalent liquid Splenda
1/4 cup golden flax meal (see my update below)
1/4 cup almond flour (1 ounce - see my update below)
1/3 cup vanilla whey protein powder (1 scoop)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
Melt the butter in a 2-cup glass measure in the microwave. Add the egg, water and liquid Splenda, if using; mix until well with a fork until blended. If you're using granular Splenda, combine it with the dry ingredients instead of the wet. In a small bowl, mix the remaining ingredients. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Scrape down the batter. Cover the measuring cup with vented plastic wrap and microwave on HIGH for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes until set. Mine came out a little dry after 1 1/2 minutes so next time I'll check it after 1 minute. You may need to run a thin knife around the cake to remove it from the measuring cup.
Makes 2 servings
Can be frozen
With granular Splenda:
Per Serving: 351 Calories; 27g Fat; 20g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 6g Net Carbs
With liquid Splenda:
Per Serving: 339 Calories; 27g Fat; 20g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 3g Net Carbs
This has more of a dense muffin-like consistency than a cake-like texture. It tastes pretty good and could be flavored in different ways with extracts, spices and flavorings. The cake looks pretty small in the photo but half of the cake is about the equivalent of an average size muffin and is quite filling. You could use regular flax meal but it will give the cake an ugly color and a stronger flavor.
UPDATE: I found out from my friend, Nancy, that there was a typo on her recipe. The amount of flax meal and almond flour should have been 2 tablespoons of each, not 1/4 cup. So, today I made another cake using the adjusted amount. Because the batter is much wetter, it did need the full 1 1/2 minutes of cooking. The cake isn't as bread-like as my first one and it came out a little bit lighter and more spongy. It's good either way but I kind of liked the heavy dense version that I made the first time and there's not much difference in the carb count. Here are the counts for the corrected version:
With granular Splenda:
Per Serving: 276 Calories; 21g Fat; 17g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 2.5g Dietary Fiber; 5.5g Net Carbs
With liquid Splenda:
Per Serving: 264 Calories; 21g Fat; 17g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 2.5g Dietary Fiber; 2.5g Net Carbs
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Is The Federal Reserve Out Of Control?
Who owns and operates our Federal Government, it's not the elected representation. Whomever controls the currency controls the government, aka the Federal Reserve Bank. Our government is selling it's power cheaply for a few created out of thin air dollars. The real tax to the citizens is a currency system that buys less and less, every year. - kdtroxel
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HOME > Chowhound > Chains >
MSP - Cheese at Costco? - moved from Midwest board
I'm co-hosting a wine-tasting dinner with a friend. We usually get cheese from Surdyk's, but we're on a really tight budget this time.
Should we buy our cheese at Costco? (My friend has a membership.)
Specifically, will cheese snobs be disappointed with Costco's St. Andre ($9.79/lb), Couterier goat cheese ($6/lb), "Vintage" aged Gouda ($8.99/lb), Isigny St. Mere Mimolette ($11.49/lb) and Kirkland parmesan ($11.29/lb)?
P.S. I know I can buy wine at Costco without a membership (MN law), but they don't have anything we want for this tasting. Except a $53 bottle of Justin Isosceles, but we can't afford that! Bummer...
1. Click to Upload a photo (10 MB limit)
1. Nope, they will not. Buy and enjoy!
1. Costco cheese is a Really Good Deal. Im actually gonna stock up this weekend for some entertaining as well. Im not sure i would get the st andre there though, as id be a bit concerned about how it was handled and packaged - i would buy harder/less delicate cheeses there in an instant, but id be curious if anyone had positive experiences with softer cheese.
edit: my mom is big fan of the roughe et noir baby brie sampler packs, and i know that in my previous experience they generally tasted quite good (though not as good as when you genjoy them at the dairy in marin)
1. As someone who often gets misrepresented as a cheese snob, I can definitively say that CheeseGuy and I often buy cheese at Costco-- especially when we need larger quantities. I would be wary of the St. Andre, because it's generally pretty chalky and underripe- not as good as it used to be, and definitely better if you can buy it in whole (it often comes in a two pack of small truckles) than if it's only in a wrapped wedge. We buy the goat cheese log all the time. We also like the aged Gouda, and the Mimolette and parmesan are absolutely fine. As Tex.s.toast mentioned, if they have the Rouge et Noir sampler pack I'd buy it. If yolu can find the Kerrygold Reserve or Dubliner cheddars, they are a good deal (and should pair well with wine). Their Manchego is a great bargain, and if you find an Ossau-Iraty, I'd consider that as well.
Have a great party!
6 Replies
1. re: cheeseguysgirl
Yay, CGG - I was hoping I'd hear from you! I appreciate the info, especially the tips on the St. Andre.
And I want to clarify that I have no problems with Surdyk's and other full-price cheese shops - I love the service and selection (and I'll be popping in tomorrow to get some blue cheese) - but when one needs to economize, it's good to know what will work on the cheap(er) end.
1. re: cheeseguysgirl
My Costco carries Duliner Cheddar and it's the only one I buy now. Love it.
Any help with Parm? I go to the North End and buy Reggiano, but can't find it at Costco.
A good sustitute? or no?
1. re: mcel215
Costco only has Parm Regg on an occasional basis-- the Kirkland Parm or Grana Padano isn't a bad substitute. My current favorite is SarVecchio, made in WI by a company called Sartori. Odd that I love it so much because Sartori is a maker of more commodity than artisanal cheese, but I like the flavor even better than Parm Regg (it's more salty, without the sweetness of Parm that I often don't like). Don't know if it is available in Boston (I am assuming by your reference to North End you are in Boston), but available in the Midwest.
1. re: cheeseguysgirl
Does Costco carry the SarVecchio??? That would be cool...
I found this cheese last night at my local co-op (Seward) and snapped it up. I read that it just won the "top cheese" prize at this year's Cheese Grammy's (or whatever that event is called.
I haven't tried it yet, but is smells AMAZING!
1. re: AnneInMpls
I don't think I've ever seen it there. Shame.
You are correct, it did win top prize at the U.S. Cheese Championships held recently in Green Bay. I LUUUUUV it!!
2. re: cheeseguysgirl
Thanks and I'll be sure to check out SarVecchio.
And yes, I am in Boston.
2. While we have the cheese snobs' attention, what about Trader Joes? They have great prices, but I've been reticent to purchase much because I flatly don't know what I'm doing.
2 Replies
1. re: kevin47
Trader Joe's has decent cheese, if not great artisanal selections, the reason being that they require a 20,000 lb per year commitment from a cheesemaker before they will sign. I appreciate the need for volume, but that cuts out a lot of smaller cheesemakers who don't make that much product. That being said, you can find a lot of good "basic" cheese there- like French Brie, goat cheese, manchego, Irish cheddar, etc. For soft bloomy-rinded cheeses, always make sure the color on the rind is not rusty, and you cannot smell ammonia. Not often an issue, but if the cheese is not good, you should be able to return it without question. That's the mark of a good cheese counter.
1. re: cheeseguysgirl
TJ's will let you return ANYTHING for pretty much any reason - i had a friend once who went shopping but was about to go out of town, so she returned a bunch of unopened but week old items and the store gladly took them back, no questions asked.
2. I have found the cheeses at Costco to be quite good. They also have some oustanding wines if you hunt a little bit. For Whites, the Trevor Jones Chard is very good (Robert Parker 90) for under $20. It is unoaked so it does not taste like much of the Cali overripe butterscotch. There are some reasonably priced Italian and Aussie options for reds as well. Try the Hartford Court offerings (Parker loves these as well). Good luck.
PS If you drizzle a little honey over the goat cheese it is incredible.
1. It's the same parm etc. that you buy at your snobby cheese store for more $$. Example, I've tried their Point Reyes blue for around $10.pp and it was excellent. Their selection is probably not as extensive as your cheese store but, what they carry is very good. Besides, why are you getting together to critique the price you paid for wine and cheese or to have a good time with your friends.
5 Replies
1. re: cstr
Except the snobby cheese store has 5-6 versions of parmesan available - some domestic, some Argentinian, and several grades of true Italian parmesan. Plus, I can taste before I buy, it's cut to order, and it's stored and wrapped better (no suffocating-in-plastic wedges). Hence my caution with Costco cheese.
And, yes, we do critique the prices at our gathering - my group exists to taste and evaluate wine and food. (it's not just a social thing, though we do have fun!)
That said, I quite take your point. Why spend more when you don't have to? Clearly, Costco carries some quality cheese. Like the cheese selection in any shop, not all is fabulous, but some is - and I'm grateful for everyone's pointers.
And I sure wish my local Costco had the Point Reyes blue! That would have been perfect for our tasting. It seems like the selection varies wildly across the country and over time. Even across the local suburbs - they had aged gouda in St. Louis Park, but not in Maplewood where my friend shops. (I'm in Minnesota.)
1. re: AnneInMpls
The selection does vary between Costco's, I've been to some that carry, in a limited fashion, locally crafted artisan cheeses, just fab. On your parm comment, only parm comes from Parma, anything else would be 'parm style'. Costco usually carries both 24 and 36 mos aged parm. Has your Costco ever had cheese tastings? I agree, I like to taste, if possible, before buying advantage snobby cheese shop. I'd still give Costco a try on some of your selections and maybe even on some wines.
1. re: cstr
Actually, it's Parmigiano Reggiano that is only made in D.O.P. manner in Parma. "Parmesan" is a perfectly acceptable term for cheese made in a similar style outside of Italy.
See some pictures of CG and my trip to the Castelnovese Cooperativo Parmigiano Reggiano factory just outside of Modena.
1. re: cheeseguysgirl
Yah, I mean't to say parm regg but, I was too lazy to type it in, for me there's only one original. I wish I could smell the aroma in those pictures, I was there in 2000. Did you get a chance to sample all the air dried hams in the region?, wow!
1. re: cstr
We did get a chance to sample quite a bit of local food (although I much prefer serrano to prosciutto), and gained a whole new understanding for what aceto balsamico tradizionale is (the balsamic vinegar that we all get regardless of price is basically commodity dreck, according to our guide Anna, the blond woman that you see in a couple of the pix). Anna said if it's not tradizionale, it's all the same (most coming from Fini)-- so why spend 30$ a bottle when a lower price gets you the same product?
2. Do it! I adore cheese and will drop a lot of money, if it's worth it. I'm lucky, my Costco has some good selections for great prices. My favorite is the English Cotswold (basically cheddar with some green onions in it) and Costco has a big chunk for roughly $10. 1/4 of that was costing me $8 at Bristol Farms, and it was the exact same brand. Even better, the cheese was vacuum sealed instead of just saran wrapped, which would sometimes turn moldy fast.
They also had some nice salami, and an entire hunk of Prosciutto di Parma for about $150, which is a good deal, if you need that much meat and have a deli slicer. Unfortunately, I'm not in either boat and am stuck paying $16/lb.
1 Reply
1. re: Azizeh
Any new finds? I'm a fan of the Cahill porter
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'Pac-Man' Reality Show in the Works, Plus 10 of My Just-As-Good Ideas for New Reality Shows
Meghan Carlson
Meghan Carlson
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
You read that right. Merv Griffin (my second-favorite "Merv") is developing a reality competition series based on the videogame Pac-Man. Deadline reports:
THE WORLD'S BIGGEST GAME OF TAG! ON TELEVISION! Who could imagine anything more fun and exciting and only tangentially related to Pac-Man? Move over, The Amazing Race and (this year, total fluke) Top Chef. Your choke-hold on the Reality Series Emmy category is no more.
It is unknown whether contestants will be rolled around in yellow spheres and sent into a labyrinth to collect dots and fruit while ex-cons dressed as ghosts hunt them for sport. That better be the plan, Merv, because that sounds awesome. Whereas watching a game of tag sounds even less fun than watching your middle school boyfriend play Pac-Man for three hours because otherwise heeee wooooon't liiiiike yooooou.
Below, I have 10 more ideas for things that should get turned into reality shows! You're welcome, Merv Griffin.
1. Speak & Spell: The host speaks a word. Contestants spell it back. This is basically just a spelling bee except you have to talk in a creepy robot voice.
2. Cabbage Patch Kids: Who can dig up the garden and find all the babies the quickest?! (Note to Merv: The idea is to use real babies because it adds to the suspense. Might want to talk to Legal first, though.)
3. The Indian in the Cupboard: So there's this cupboard, and it's magical, and the contestants have to guess what's in the cupboard and what's magical about it. (Note to Merv: Find a magical cupboard before attempting to develop this show.)
4. Where's Waldo?: He's somewhere inside this normal American family's home! Can they find him before he steals all their valuables and floods the house, Wet Bandit-style?
5. That scene in Saved by the Bell when Jessie Spano admits she's addicted to caffeine pills: Contestants compete to see who can ingest the most caffeine pills and still make it to The Max in time for the big music video shoot.
Little boys must throw metal balls and shoot lighting guns at each other in a fiery death arena. The winner gets a pair of leather fingerless gloves.
7. Genuine Ken: Real-life beauty pageant for men to see who most closely resembles Barbie's fictional boyfriend doll, Ken. (Oh wait. I may have stolen this idea.)
8. The California Raisins: Like The Sing-Off, but everyone is dressed as raisins. Obviously.
9. JNCO Jeans: Two pre-teens compete to see who can stuff the most rats into his JNCO jeans! To win you have to skateboard through an obstacle course in your rat-filled JNCO jeans.
10. Troop Beverly Hills: Shelley Long hosts this game show in which young girls are dressed alike and sent into the wilderness to compete in challenges like who can run across a fallen log the fastest and who can learn the true meaning of friendship. Watch out for those Red Feathers! They'll straight-up kill you to win the Jamboree.
Good ideas! Sometimes I have so many at once that my brain is like, "Slow down, slow doooown!" Merv Griffin knows what I'm talking about.
What are YOUR good ideas for reality shows?
News from our partners
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Jews Have No Redress Against Antisemitic Libels Because They Are Collective Community but Steelhelm
Dr. Theodor Wolft, the editor-in-chief of the “Berliner Tageblatt”, recently drew attention to a number of decisions by German courts of law, particularly by the Reichsgericht, the Supreme Court sitting in Leipzig, to the effect that Jews being a collective community cannot bring an action for libel against antisemitic newspapers or agitators, even when the allegations are of a most serious character, causing incitement among the population and likely to lead to violent anti-Jewish outbreaks. Dr. Wolf quoted in this connection a leaflet which was being circulated in large quantities in Witten and Hirschberg; in Silesia, alleging that Jews were systematically corrupting Christian girls, and spreading venereal disease among them as part of a calculated plot to exterminate the Christian population.
The Jews are told that they cannot bring a libel action because they are a collective community, but the Nationalist Steelhelm Brigade, which numbers about a million members, twice the number of the entire Jewish population of Germany, has brought libel actions and its right to do so has been upheld by the German courts, Advocate Dr. Max Hirschberg now writes in the “Berliner Tageblatt”.
A Munich newspaper for which I was briefed, he writes, published a report at the time of the Steelhelm Conference in Munich that a wreath which had been deposited at the War Memorial outside the Army Museum by the Republican Organisation, the Banner of the Republic, had been removed by the Steelhelm. Colonel von Lenz, the leader of the Bavarian Steelhelm, thereupon brought an action for libel against the paper, on the ground that as a member of the Steelhelm he had been insulted by this allegation brought against his Organisation. The Supreme Court, in finding in his favour, ruled that it was not necessary to prove that the libel had been made against the particular individual bringing the action, since as a member of the Steelhelm he was included in any reference to the collective group of persons making up the Steelhelm, and he could bring his libel action, therefore, even if he was not expressly mentioned by name.
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Marco Rubio, “Coconut” Or “Great White Hope”?
Kathy Shaidle writes
Everyone is upset over Donny Deutsch calling Rubio a “coconut,” and it IS incredibly stupid. But how much more fun is it that Deutsch had to catch himself before using the old school expression “great white hope” — and trying and failing to do the mental gymnastics needed to make that phrase work under the circumstances. Between the “you know” and the “hope,” you can just about hear his brain going “oh, wait…”
Newsbusters reported“MSNBC and CNBC contributor ” and professed Charlie Crist admirer ” Donny Deutsch used racially charged language blah blah blah “–sorry, dozed off there for moment. Look, “Coconut” is a smear like Oreo, Apple, or Banana indicating that someone is one color on the outside, but white on the inside. Not that there`s anything wrong with that.
This “Whiteness on the inside” frequently consists of loyalty to the United States of America, support for law and order, and not supporting socialism. Michelle Malkin has been getting that kind of smear for years, and years, and years.
In fact, Rubio is a Hispanic Republican who is a Cuban-American. And he is the great white hope of Hispanic Republicans. Look at pictures of him. (One is above right.) In Pondering Patterson [II]: OK, How White Are Hispanics?, Steve Sailer wrote
In fact, the only white Latin American population that has immigrated to the U.S. in large numbers are the Cubans. (Click here for a page of pictures of leading Miami Cuban citizens if you don`t believe that they are overwhelmingly white.) And that would never have happened except that a Communist dictator threw them out. Indeed, Miami`s Cubans have claimed vociferously that they can`t wait to get back to Cuba and take up the life they used to live. (Whether, post-Castro, the current inmates of Cuba will want their old masters back, is, however, very much unknown.)
Cubans aren`t Spanish speaking members of ethnic minorities–they`re Spanish. The white Cubans tend to be Republicans, and anti-Communists. They were the productive class in Cuba–that`s why they had to leave.
Mexican-Americans in the Southwest, on they other hand, are either Indians, or mestizos. They were the not-very-productive-class in Mexico–that`s why they had to leave. The GOP and National Review keep hoping the Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigrants will turn into Cubans. This is a delusion.
In 2009, NR did a couple of articles about Ted Cruz, a Hispanic Republican in Texas. See Cruz Control | A Republican star rises in Texas by Mark Hemingway. May 4, 2009 [Subscriber link] and A Great Reaganite Hope, &c., by Jay Nordlinger, May 12, 2009.
I`m willing to accept that Ted Cruz is a great American, genuine conservative, great communicator, and so on. But he`s also a white Cuban-American, son of a white refugee from Batista. And it says something that the GOP`s Hispanic outreach in Texas has produced not a patriotic Tejano, but a Great White Hispanic.
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To integrate state-of-the-art research methodologies and advanced technologies in order to enhance aging research and improve the quality of life and quality of care of older people and their caregivers.
Novel Pain Assessment and Intervention Network (NoPAIN)
A new interdisciplinary network, the "Novel Pain Assessment and Intervention Network (NoPAIN)" will be established to explore a measurement-to-management system for geriatric pain with the long-term goal of generating a new discipline of clinical infometrics. Clinical infometrics, as we envision it, is a synthesis of patient assessment data with computer technology, information theory, and measurement science to improve the connection between research findings / guidelines and clinical practices. We have chosen geriatric pain because it is a complex and multidimensional construct that has a critical mass of assessment instruments that need refining and because there are known gaps between recommended and actual practices. Because of demographic changes, geriatric pain management demands particular attention and improvement in this area will likely be applicable to other areas.
See http://www.clinicalinfometrics.northwestern.edu for details.
Chih-Hung Chang, PhD, presenting the NoPAIN project
Patient-Reported Outcomes with Innovative Technologies (PROsIT)
Patient-Reported Outcomes with Innovative Technologies (PROsIT) is designed to address five primary and commonly faced challenges to effective treatment outcomes management: 1) accessibility; 2) multilanguage support; 3) clinical relevance; 4) adaptive assessment capability; and 5) privacy protection.
PROsIT is a comprehensive solution to patient-reported outcomes management. Its multichannel capability gives patients the freedom to when, where, and how they wish to participate in outcomes studies. Its multilingual capacity has the potential to increase the participation of nonnative-English speaking patients in clinical trials and research projects. Its adaptive testing capability allows the intelligent selection of fewer questions to retain the same level of measurement precision. Its global PROs item bank facilitates industry-wide synergy in compiling clinically relevant and psychometrically sound PROs questions into a single standard repository that can greatly simplify future PROs measurement tasks and improve the quality and the comprehensiveness of PROs questionnaires.
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RE: Another view
> Technically it could be done ... BUT would it would not offer
> any legal
> QSOs for any awards. Why not just use your cellphone to call
> a DX ham for a
> QSO. It is essentially the same thing. Whereas if the contact
> went from the
> ham station to a satellite then to another satellite down to
> the DX ham
> that is a direct over the air contact [via a series of space
> based repeaters].
Well, such QSOs are "legal" enough for my purposes. They originate on ham
radio, they can be made from anywhere (within reach of a satellite). I
couldn't give two hoots whether some award manager would accept them, as I
don't chase awards at all. Oh, and the system is something developed by
hams, and gear cann be home brewed. :)
Sounds good enough for me!
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Interview: Rachel York and Graham Rowat Duel in 'The Game'
Eight years after presenting the world premiere of The Game, Barrington Stage Company has brought it back by popular demand to downtown Pittsfield. Based on the 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuse by Choderlos de Laclos, the musical is directed by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, with Book and Lyrics by Amy Powers and David Topchik, and Music by Megan Cavallari. Starring as the Marquise de Merteuil and her sparring partner Vicomte de Valmont are Broadway veterans Rachel York and Graham Rowat. They spoke with BroadwayWorld during the rehearsal period for the show which runs through August 28 on the Mainstage.
BWW: Have the two of you ever worked together before?
GR: No. I know of Rachel and have heard of her. I was just working at Lincoln Center and there's a Dessa Rose poster on the wall that I walked by every day. She's kind of a legend, but I've never crossed paths with her before. She's so sweet and so unexpected - the comic, self-deprecating side to her.
BWW: She has great comic skills.
GR: And so humble, not having that giant ego.
BWW: What made you want to play this role?
RY: First of all, the character is so juicy and multi-layered. I played a big villain when I played Cruella DeVille (101 Dalmatians). The difference between Cruella and this role is Cruella is one-dimensional, not much more than an animated character, although I loved playing that character. This is a villain that is so complex and multi-layered. There's a lot of meat there and a lot of detective work. Another big reason is because I was really impressed with the music. I had heard a few songs from the show and I said, "Wow, this is great music!"
GR: It's kind of a dream role. I'm thrilled to be doing it. When I saw the Glenn Close and John Malkovich movie, I always wanted to play Valmont. He's not just a villain. A real villain isn't just evil, there are reasons.
BWW: Have you longed to play a "snake?" How do you make him more than just that?
GR: I think it has to go deeper than these people being wealthy and bored. I look to the definition of a sociopath. I also thought about one of my favorite TV shows, "Dexter." The sociopath is unable to feel empathy, they have feelings of superiority. Even though Valmont is very charming and he ultimately is moved by feelings...something is happening to him and to Rachel's character. Something happened to them when they were young. Their own innocence was stolen. Now that they're adults, when they see innocence in others, they need to destroy it. They tell themselves that they're glad that they lost it, but deep down they aren't and they hate it and feel they have to break it. And that goes into the games they play. Combined with the fact that they are wealthy and bored, but there's something else there. There's a desire to break things that are pretty.
BWW: How much input do you have into defining your character vs. the director's vision?
RY: I think the director and I are definitely on the same page. I agree with everything she tells me. She's lived with this musical several years longer than I have. I really do like her direction, the ideas that she's come up with. They make perfect sense, but obviously I have to bring the life to the character.
GR: We definitely sat down and sort of pitched our ideas. Julie was very receptive. We were coming at the character from different angles and they all kind of merged. I guess I would say about fifty-fifty.
BWW: I suppose some of it you sort of make up as you go along.
GR: Sure, and also discovering what bubbles up, working opposite Rachel and feeling that energy. We start off as a team almost, setting our sights on our victim, and by the end we're at each other's throats.
BWW: How do you make your characterization somehow different from Malkovich, or try to mirror him?
GR: Malkovich is such a neat actor. His performance was so, geez, almost like an alien in that movie. What I did was I watched the Milos Forman film that came out a year after called "Valmont" which features Colin Firth as Valmont, and that was very helpful because Colin Firth played the character much more playfully and joyfully. I'm a big, tall actor. I look at Colin Firth and...if you see actors who are like you, it gives me courage when I saw that he had done the role because he's a tall man. (Note: Rowat is 6'4")
BWW: You're not intimidated by that aspect of it..."Oh, God, everybody's going to remember Glenn Close and John Malkovich?"
GR: No, I'm not, but what I am intimidated by is I think there are pitfalls in playing a villain because you want to beware of pulling your mustache. You don't want to come across as smug the whole time. That's why I think the best ones are the ones who have the friendliest smile.
BWW: How do you see your choices differing from the iconic performance in the movie?
RY: Glenn Close played for the screen and was able to be incredibly subtle. She used a lot of covert behavior. You'd see just a little small expression here and there. It was always very subtle. Obviously, this is for the stage. If I did that, it would be very bland. I have to find different ways to express that on stage. She's (the Marquise) a very controlled character and very graceful. At the same time, she is very popular with everyone and she is vibrant and draws people to her. She can be very charismatic. But at the same time, no matter what is going on, she's always very much in control of the situation. Whether she's having fun and laughing while everybody's getting drunk, or whether she's talking to a young lady and trying to give her advice, to where she's seducing somebody, it's always very controlled. The object is to show all these different colors and different sides of the character, and yet always remain in control. So, therefore, to answer that question, Glenn Close was always in control and I have to show a lot more colors on the stage.
BWW: Do you think that the costumes help to better inhabit the role?
GR: I can't wait for the costumes because that is the final element of the time machine. When you put on the shoes, the clothes, your spine instantly straightens. I know that one of my jackets has an incredibly high collar, so I know I'll be standing as tall as I can just to move my head around.
RY: As with any show, I find that's absolutely true. What's very interesting about this role, it's not only wearing these strange clothes, but we use fans as well and there's a whole language with fans. They used fans to express certain things in society - whether it's "I like you," or "Get away from me," or "Follow me" - so there's a whole language with that. I have noticed, of course, these big huge hoop skirts - you know, we're not used to them - they are very cumbersome. You want to make a point and what's this big thing around me? So it does take a little bit of getting used to. Jen (costume designer Jennifer Moeller) is quite talented and I think she's done a really wonderful job. My costumes are really gorgeous, I mean really gorgeous. The fabrics she uses for me are some very expensive silks.
BWW: Are you wearing your own hair as Valmont, or do you have a wig?
GR: I wear my own hair - I grow it out. It's almost back to Les Mis levels. Big and fluffy and, of course, I imagine by the end of this show, I'm gonna be a great, big sweaty mess because I do probably everything a performer could want to do and probably regret they asked to do it later.
There's a swordfight and I get slapped, I throw myself around, tantrums, I get to seduce...
BWW: How is this production different from the 2003 world premiere?
RY: As far as I know, the book is pretty much the same. They cut one song and they added a few more; they cut a scene here and they've rearranged this scene or that scene. They've apparently made it better.
GR: They added a song. Valmont didn't have a dilemma song, so they gave Valmont an 11 o'clock number.
BWW: How would you describe the style of the music?
RY: It reminds me personally a little bit of the music in Evita - and I don't mean Andrew Lloyd Webber in general, I mean just the music from Evita - and a little bit of A Little Night Music (Stephen Sondheim); some kind of meshing of those two sounds. It's very "tour de force" and so I really wanted to be a part of it.
GR: I thought that was pretty apt.
BWW: What makes this say MUSICAL?
GR: I think there's always a huge question whenever a piece existed without music - does music make it better? I don't think there's anything more difficult than writing a new musical because there are so many elements that you have to get right and there are so many elements open to criticism. Any show in which people are experiencing incredibly intense emotions, the music becomes such a natural statement that you wonder how it could exist without that. Anytime you turn something into a musical, the first thing you have to overcome is that critical eye of, well, why should this be a musical? I think within the first couple of songs, that person won't be asking that question anymore and will be on board for the ride.
RY: I thought the movie was fine and was considered a pretty good movie. I decided the music tells the story even better. Beautiful music really brings out the character of Mme. de Tourvel (played by Amy Decker) and her innate beauty. That goes for many of the characters in the show. I find watching the movie you watch the characters from a distance and the music actually makes you identify more strongly with the characters.
BWW: Tell me a little about the songs you sing.
RY: She's the belle of the ball, the crème de la crème of society, very well respected in the society. So she's pulling this ruse over everybody. So many of the songs have a gentile quality and other ones expose her for what she is - which is quite twisted, maniacal, and vengeful. Most importantly, she enjoys using real people as chess pieces. At the time, society was so decadent and lavish and luxurious, people had a lot of time on their hands. So she's able to just sit back and say, "Hmmm, what mischief shall I create today?" Yes, she's very mischievous and much darker than that as the show continues.
BWW: Is there choreography or more stage movement?
RY: A little bit of choreography - a lot of staging, but there is one piece where we do a little bit of the court waltz, dancing. There's not a lot of tap dancing, no.
GR: The choreographer (Daniel Pelzig) was wonderful. I wouldn't say there's a lot of choreography. There's one number off the top of the show. The great thing is when you set up the stately waltz of the period, it's incredibly good for setting the tone and taking people to the era that they're in. And he (Pelzig) also helped a lot with physicality because it's all about the posture and the fans. Omigosh, there were fanning classes. I didn't have to participate, but these women can wield and whip out fans like ninjas!
RY: I don't get involved (in the swordplay). It's really well done, really powerful. The swordfight and some of these performances already in the show are powerful. Graham is quite a gifted actor. (At the time of the interview) We still have almost a week before our first preview. We still have a lot to grow, but I think we're already at a very good place so it's very exciting to see where people are taking their performances.
BWW: Are there any people in the cast you've worked with before?
RY: No, no one. And I'm really delighted to work with all of them. They're all very, very talented.
GR: It's a big climb; the show's a big climb. If it doesn't kill me, I think it's going to be fantastic.
BWW: What else should we know about The Game?
RY: It actually flows pretty nicely, I'm rather impressed. It's a two and a half hour musical with an intermission. It's right on.
GR: It's sexy, because apparently sex sells. I just love this story and I am thrilled to be playing this character. All you need to know is that I am having know, this is the role I've always wanted to play, so I will be giving everything I can to make this a good evening. Let's just say the great thing about The Game is nobody wins.
"The Game" performs at Barrington Stage Company, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield, Mass., from August 11-28. It stars Rachel York as Marquise de Merteuil, Graham Rowat as Vicomte de Valmont, Amy Decker as Madame de Tourvel, Joy Franz as Madame de Rosemonde, Stephen Horst as Opera Singer, Analisa Leaming as Emilie, Chris Peluso as Danceny, Amanda Salvatore as Opera Singer, Sarah Stevens as Cecile, and Christianne Tisdale as Madame de Volanges. Book and lyrics are by Amy Powers and David Topchik, music is by Megan Cavallari, director is Julianne Boyd, choreographer is Daniel Pelzig, and musical director is Darren Cohen. Tickets are priced from $15 to $60 and can be purchased online at or by calling the Box Office at 413-236-8888.
Photo credit: Kevin Sprague (Rachel York and Graham Rowat)
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look up any word, like dirty sanchez:
A hot, smelly gas bubble expelled from the anus, often silent and simultaneously causing a disgusting, panic causing, rotten-egg like aroma.
Man, What did I eat? I got the hot farts today, they smell like rotten eggs and have some serious hang time!
by Deaner Beaner October 25, 2006
An expulsion of gas from the anus, usually occurring after eating spicy foods, which creates a warm, and sometimes wet sensation in the anal area, and can momentarily simulate the feeling that you just shat your pants a tiny bit. Hot farts will often produce a lingering, foul odor.
“For a minute, I thought I had sharted, but then I realized that it was just a hot fart.”
by frootloops8 December 12, 2008
The release of hot stink from the anus witch may cause some ring sting, the feeling of acid eating the inner lining of your shitta followed by the relaxing sensation of relief.
"I need to do a hot fart"
"aww that was a ring stinger but wat a relief, i think i need to do a runny hot shit"
"go squirt one out then"
"it feels like hell wants to come outta my ass hole, after this i'm gonna need to have a shower to wash the shitty acid outta my ring hole"
by sean the wise September 08, 2006
Very flammable gaseous flatulent that burn on the way out of the anus. Very susceptible to knocking bystanders unconscious (aka very stinky). Common side effects are: Burning gooch hairs, feeling of anal ripping, and nostril desecration.
"Guys, I have the hot farts tonight."
"O Shit!"
"Get out da' fuckin car"
"Everybody stop, drop, and roll"
"It wont do any good"
"Suck it cheeseman"
by Willy_The_Pimp February 16, 2007
A fart that causes a burning sensation around ones anus. This is usually due to an ingestion of spicy foods.
Man,I ate 14,000 hot peppers last nite and I've had the "hot farts" all day!
by Dickrock April 21, 2006
when u have a hell of a lot more peanut butter than u r supposed to, you expel a warm, wet, potent fart
dude i just had a hot fary so u might want to clear out.
by Joe Blow March 13, 2004
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Nuclear's limitations
I think we have to be honest about nuclear's limitations.
Namely that:
1) nuclear plants are uninsurable*
2) accidents happen
3) decomissioning & waste disposal costs are huge (£90 billion on existing UK plants according to Gordon Brown).
4) plants in the UK inevitably serve a military dual use (we see this in DU munitions, Trident etc)
5) nuclear's main output (electricity) will not fuel the cars, planes, trucks, trains and household boilers we have today.
6) nuclear output represented a modest 9% of the domestic energy the UK produced in 2003 (this 9% nuclear was used to provide for 22% of electricity demand according to EU statistics).
7) Renewable energy and efficiency savings could doubtless substitute the heat and light energy currently supplied by nuclear power. The problem with renewables is not intermitent waves, wind, sun, rivers etc. The problem is renewables do not as yet allow a country to project and maintain power internationally.
Ends | 8 Aug 2005 | The Leg
* 'Uninsurable' in the sense that nuclear reactor meltdown can result in irreparable damage to very large numbers of people. Consider the impact on Belarus of Chernobyl - a nuclear incident believed to have affected 7 million people.
post a comment | back to top | thoughts
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"Dora the Explorer"
Nickelodeon, home to "Dora the Explorer, is launching an interactive channel. (Nickelodeon)
After the coffee. Before getting ready for American Idol's return.
Daily Dose: Discovery Communications has tapped JB Perrette as its new president of Discovery Networks International. Perrette, who had been head of Discovery's digital operations, is replacing Mark Hollinger, who announced his resignation in September after 23 years with Discovery. Perrette has long ties to Discovery CEO David Zaslav. The two worked together at NBC.
Your company stinks and your father smelt of elderberries. Charter Communications spent about an hour telling investors and analysts why it thinks Time Warner Cable is a troubled asset that is badly run with poor leadership. Then it explained why it wants to buy it in a deal valued at more than $60 billion. Part of Charter's strategy was to make a case for why it doesn't want to raise its offer for Time Warner Cable, which rejected the bid. Still, it sure seemed weird to hear Charter executives rip an asset it's been coveting for six months. Coverage from the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and New York Times.
View/Submit Comments for this story
Neutral no more. A federal appeals court blew out the Federal Communication Commission's open Internet rules. Not only could this have a big impact on entertainment and cable and phone companies, it also means we'll continue to hear the phrase net neutrality for the next few years. Basically, the court gave Internet providers permission to charge extra to companies such as Netflix who want their content to move faster through the pipes. The FCC's rules had required Internet providers to treat all traffic equally. However, the ruling also gives the FCC room to rework the rules and regulate the Internet the way it used to regulate the phone industry. More from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Variety.
You choose. Viacom's Nickelodeon is creating an interactive kids channel that would basically let viewers choose the Nickelodeon shows they want. Called "My Nickelodeon Junior," the channel would be something like a shopping cart for viewers who could sift through the shelves of the Nickelodeon library for their favorite shows. It sounds an awful lot like a variation of a video-on-demand channel so I'm not really sure how exciting this is, but the technology sounds interesting. Details from the Wall Street Journal.
Nothing better to do. Apparently it is a slow week on Capitol Hill. How else to explain four senators upset at Julia Louis-Dreyfus using an electronic cigarette as part of a bit during Sunday's Golden Globes telecast. Of course, some cities are already trying to ban electronic smokes in public places. Since there is no smell from them (I don't smoke them but stood next to someone who does), this isn't about second-hand smoke as much as it is about trying to regulate personal behavior. OK, I'll get off my libertarian soap box and just give you the link to the story from the Hollywood Reporter.
Lawsuit of a salesman. Normally, a lawsuit involving a TV-station advertising executive in Cleveland wouldn't make the cut for the Morning Fix. But this one has sex and drugs! A sales executive's suit against WOIO-TV in Cleveland makes the station sound like a scene out of "The Wolf of Wall Street." The Cleveland Plain Dealer has the suit and thanks to my fellow aggregator I Want Media for finding it.
Inside the Los Angeles Times: Filming in Los Angeles has tumbled dramatically over the last two decades. John Horn on all the jockeying for position that goes on at the Sundance Film Festival.
Follow me on Twitter. I have good taste in movies and television. @JBFlint.
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Hold on Andrew Lansley, don't turn the NHS on its head
The government's desire to impose its philosophy on the NHS overlooks the fact some of Labour's health initiatives worked
• theguardian.com,
• Jump to comments ()
Cabinet meeting
Andrew Lansley argues the previous government's slavish devotion to targets has sometimes led to bad care for patients. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Andrew Lansley wants to make his mark. He set out his stall yesterday and was mostly peddling inoffensive wares. But his main target is targets. He argues that the previous government's slavish devotion to targets has sometimes led to bad care for patients.
If you turn up at A&E, you have to be "processed" within four hours, regardless of your clinical need. And if you're admitted to hospital, you may be kicked out too quickly and need subsequent readmission. Lansley rather bizarrely linked this attack on targets with the announcement of a full public inquiry into failings at Stafford hospital. "What happened in Stafford was evidence … that the four-hour target was being pursued not in order to give the best possible care to patients – but in spite of what would be the best possible care for patients," he said.
Care at Stafford hospital appears to have been substandard in many ways. It's hard to know yet whether it was any worse than other hospitals, whether there was a series of unfortunate events or widespread systemic failure and how the poor care is "evidence" against limiting time spent in A&E.
This government may be in danger of throwing out the baby, the bath water and the bath, in its urgent attempts to cut costs and impose its own philosophy on our battered NHS. I offer the following highly parochial and personal view from the coalface about recent health initiatives that seem to be working.
1. Choose and book. A GP can book your outpatient appointment online while you're in the room. You can choose when and where you want to be seen. You leave the room with the appointment made. There's less administrative waste, less hassle for you and there should be a greater chance that you'll turn up. It takes the GP a couple of minutes extra so lots don't use it. Some PCTs have instructed GPs not to use it because there's no target or money attached to its use. I'd make it mandatory.
2. A&E four-hour wait target. I have seen no evidence that people having a heart attack aren't seen because the kid with a sprained ankle has to be sorted within four hours. I don't understand why anyone has to wait more than a few minutes to be seen in A&E. It appears to be a UK phenomenon, which isn't replicated in other developed EU countries. All cases entering A&E are triaged and urgent cases prioritised. Imposing a target shouldn't affect this. I'm prepared to bet that the Stafford inquiry won't demonstrate any link between poor care – if found – and the four-hour wait. I'd keep the target but make it one hour, not four.
3. Discharge from hospital. There is no doubt that people leave hospital quicker than they used to. A number of factors probably contribute. Postoperative recovery tends to be quicker with the use of minimally invasive procedures; the longer you're in hospital the greater the risk of getting a hospital-acquired infection and people generally want to get home as quickly as possible. I haven't noticed that we GPs have to readmit more people than in the past. Apparently, the increase is small and extra financial cost minimal. If you offer people the choice of a shorter stay but a small increase in the risk of readmission, I suspect many would opt for the shorter stay. Perhaps hospital staff should ask the patient rather than government wading in.
4. Use of private sector. GPs in many areas can access private sector services to offer patients as part of their NHS care. In our area, we can get MRI scans and other investigations done by a private company and patients can see some specialists at the local private hospital. It will only ever make up a small volume of the work, but is helping to keep waiting times down and represents imaginative lateral thinking. Patients like it and I'd look to expand the use of private contractors with the obvious caveats about quality control.
5. Extended hours. I start seeing patients at 7.30am during the week. I have the weekend off and the local out-of-hours organisation provides cover. Patients seem pleased to be able to come from 7.30am and we would like to continue to be incentivised to start early. If the government removes out-of-hours cover and makes me work at the weekend, I will have to start later than 7.30am or give up work. There are only a certain number of hours a week that you can work before it becomes unsafe.
The best tactic for this government is to slow down, take stock, see what's working, and don't rush to dismantle all the previous government's health initiatives. I was so looking forward to a less hyperactive bunch being in charge, but Lansley is clearly champing at the bit. I'm bracing myself for more change, and I don't think it will be for the best.
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Sunday, October 29, 2006
So many people are racists, it's hard to keep up! Let's take a look at this week's charges of racism, which come from the Left. They focus on two ads in the Tennessee Senate race. This race features Republican Bob Corker and Democrat Harold Ford, Jr. Corker is a white, former mayor of Chattanooga, and owner of a successful construction business. Ford is a black Congressman from a prominent political family in the state.
Here's the TV ad in question. Go ahead and watch it. I'll be here when you get back. The alleged racism lies in the fact that a white, blonde woman says, "I met Harold at the Playboy party," and entreats him to call her at the end of the ad. The theory of those crying racism is that the idea of a white woman fraternizing with a black man was meant to conjure up some good Old South feelings about interracial dating.
It's a serious reach to assume that was the intent of the Republican National Committee. Had they featured a black woman asking him to call her, I'm sure there would have been some coded message there as well, like, "Harold Ford should stick to his kind." I don't know how the liberal mind works, but I've gotta believe if it weren't this racial overreach, it would have been another one.
People disagree with me on this. Republicans disagree with me on it. Ken Mehlman said he understands the other side's point of view and Corker disavowed the ad on the grounds that it was "tacky." Others have told me it was a Republican gaffe, racist or not, because it could be read as racist. Well, frankly, if we limit our political advertising things that won't offend liberals, we will have no political advertising.
Try the other one on for size. It's a radio ad, once again anti-Ford. Listen to it, here. Now, the "racist" story behind this one is that there are drums as soundtrack to the parts of the ad that talk about Harold Ford. Liberal blogs have referred to them as "tom-toms" and "jungle drums," and suggested that they're meant to evoke images of Africa, the Dark Continent, thus turning off lily white Southern voters. Of course, it's hard to make the argument that the anti-Ford ad is accentuating Ford's ethnic "savagery" when the ad copy refers to his prep-school education and Northeastern roots.
Is it just me or does it feel more likely that the people who see and hear these innocuous ads and immediately jump to accusations of racism are the ones with the racial hang-ups, not Republican Southerners?
More here
Some interesting evidence here showing that use of pornography DECREASES rape attacks. So the anti-porn warriors have a heavy load of guilt to bear.
Silver-tongued but still dumb: "Harold Ford, a handsome 36-year-old from Tennessee, has become one of the sensations of the mid-term elections in the US and a reason why Democrats are a good chance of winning back control of the US Congress for the first time in 12 years. But if Mr Ford, already a US congressman, wins his bid to become a more powerful senator, Australia had better watch out. Because according to Mr Ford, Australia has an interest in nuclear weapons and is part of the broader nuclear threat to the US."
Leftist judges thwart justice: ""People in the good state of Missouri need photo identification to cash a check, board a plane or apply for food stamps. But the state Supreme Court has ruled that a photo ID requirement to vote is too great a burden on the elderly and the poor. Go figure. Public polls consistently show that an overwhelming majority of Americans-regardless of age, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status-favor voter ID laws. And nearly half of the nation's states have passed them. Yet a string of recent court decisions has blocked their implementation in some places, thus siding with Democrats and liberal special interest groups who would rather turn a blind eye to voter fraud... Showing ID is an incidental cost of voting, like having to buy a postage stamp for an absentee ballot, or feed the parking meter when you go to the polling booth."
Danish court rejects cartoons suit: "A Danish court has rejected a civil lawsuit against a paper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The 12 cartoons sparked violent protests around the world after Jyllands-Posten published them in 2005. Seven Muslim organisations launched the lawsuit against the newspapers' editors, alleging defamation. But the City Court in Aarhus said there was not enough reason to believe the cartoons were intended to be insulting or harmful to Muslims. The organisations brought it in March after the Danish attorney-general's decision not to make criminal charges against the newspaper under racism and blasphemy legislation."
Some good things!: "All this focus on government and its misdeeds throughout the ages and around the globe can give the wrong impression. It is as if nothing good happened anywhere. But that is to confuse government with the rest of society. And in most societies there is ample good going on. Most human relations apart from government are pretty decent, even admirable. All the creativity and productivity we have around us -- those activities that enhance efficiency, those that contribute to beauty and comfort, those that heal and cure -- come not from government but from individuals cooperating in society. (I hesitate to call it the 'private' sector because strictly speaking these social undertakings are not private but very much cooperative.)"
Still in the market for reforms : "A year ago, Central Europe seemed like an example for others to follow. Today, it is a region marked by growing extremism and political instability. Some blame liberal reforms, claiming that capitalism concentrated too much money and power in the hands of the few. In fact, reforms did not go far enough. The business sector is overregulated and governments spend too much money. This fuels corruption and public dissatisfaction with the democratic process."
Giving chase in cyberspace: "In the debate over identity theft and online security, commentators often note that markets and private actors are better equipped than regulators to counter cybersecurity breaches and instances of copyright infringement. This paper considers an extreme instance of cybersecurity self-help: that of attacking the attackers. Internet vigilantes are already at work: The 419 Flash Mob, for example, works to disable and report to authorities the websites of 'phishers' who trick users into entering their information on phony websites made up to look like those of real banks and merchants."
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Please rename to . It's already one of its synonyms. This was ever requested by a moderator flag, but it was declined with the suggestion to bring it to meta.
Renaming the tag to a major version specific one is better than creating new tags for the new minor versions and the shortly upcoming (and , etc) as the technical differences are merely in the area of spec enhancements. The difference between JSF 1.x and 2.x is too big (it's basically a major spec change) to merge immediately with .
As a side-remark, I personally don't find useful, it can as good be merged with .
Note: the guy below my cap is the top user in those tags, so I know what I am talking about.
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So it wasn't the deaf guy answering JSF questions on SO either? – BoltClock's a Unicorn Apr 24 '12 at 5:56
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1 Answer
up vote 1 down vote accepted
I have renamed jsf-2.0 to jsf-2 and merged the two. Enjoy!
share|improve this answer
W00t, thanks! But does it require some postprocessing time or what? Some things seem to be still hanging on the old tag. Right now when I want to go to, it redirects to tagged/jsf-2.0 and I don't see the tag wiki excerpt. Also, the tag badges are still on jsf-2.0. – Chichiray Oct 16 '12 at 23:55
It should be working now. – Geoff Dalgas Oct 17 '12 at 0:00
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In the business world, it's common knowledge that Microsoft is ending support for its popular operating system Windows XP on April 8. However, with recent data showing that 29% of the world's computers are still running Windows XP, it appears that the rest of the world is slow to act upon Microsoft's expiration date for its aging 12 year old opperating system.
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ShelbySask4friend1: I'm still Standing... Creepin it Real...
Smokes often with Average body type
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Caucasian Cancer with Brown hair
ShelbySask4friend1 is actively seeking a relationship
Bachelors degree
Night Owl
Health Care/ Entrepreneur/Wine Tester
Typical Masturbating photo...
I am Seeking a Woman For Long term
Needs Test View his relationship needs Chemistry View his chemistry results
Do you drink? Socially Do you want children? Undecided
Marital Status Widowed Do you do drugs? No
Pets Dog Eye Color Brown
Longest Relationship Over 5 years How ambitious are you? Somewhat Ambitious
Second Language German
Not taking life for grantedTeaMassages
Social issuesMentalismCoconut oil
Professional stalkingCleaningTravel
Alternative medicineShoppingPhilosophy
Crazy weatherBbqsSitting on the pc to long literally right on top
PiercingsChild psychologyWalking and entertaining my crazy dogg
PokerShort film and puppet production with michaVolunteer efforts
MeditationLoaning friends moneySurprises
Simple thingsIssuing subpoenasPositive energies
BilliardsThai cuisineWomen trafficking
YogaDancing and dancing in my underwearListening
Organic food productsThe nbaMusic
UnpredictabilityBusiness innovationRandom acts of kindness
Light body activationUfcVerbal communication and body language
PerceptionSlip n slide 80s yellow versionBusking with alex
Eating other peoples home made baking goodsExposing big corp’s poisoning methodsFetish for girls with glasses
About Adolf
My script writer has FINALLY finished my profile,(works pro bono, but is still lazy)…
Hmmmmmm,lol, this will probably be the most random, truthful, non cliche/most cliché/offensive/heartfelt,lol, profile you will EVER read.My truth will set you free, or piss you off one of the two...
Whenever I enter a room, I imagine, a wind machine is blowing and Rock you like a Hurricane is playing, simultaneously in the background...
I use to dabble in amateur stand up comical performances, for a few years, so I tend to try and not make people laugh, much like when I performed stand up, but it amuses me, and is cheaper than cable,(porns free), you will get the vibe throughout the profile... Uhm, (Side Note) Most women/girls/gals/hermaphrodites, prefer a serious guy with a slight sense of humour, rather than a guy with continuous humour, that is not me,lol, but I do pick my serious spots, usually not at the right time…
I over use commas (,) and lol’s, (licking out loud), in general, yet I invented the (…) in writing forms, I just forgot to patent it…I will at times make up my own words and add prefixes/suffixes where they do not belong, but I expect you to have strong sentence structure awareness and be a grammatical genius. I am very outspoken, “tell it like it is” kind of person, though polite and generally well mannered, I will stand up for myself & others, passionate, and often pig headed activist, seeks siren for love affair,and occasional criminal conspiracy…
I pride myself on my comparative well-adjustedness and non-judgmentalness… I may not agree with something someone does, says, or wears, but I won't judge them for it. Everyone has the right to live their life the way they choose.While you are reading this, though I do not know you, I would throw myself in front of a bus and push you out of the way, I am not sure if that means my tendencies are self-sacrificing, slightly suicidal, or a combination of both,lol...
Heritage wise, I am part Ukrainian (do not hold that against me) part British (You can hold that against me), non genetically German (Sorry,Heil), and the rest sex machine…I am a god in bed…I can sleep for days sometimes. I wake up smiling :) , and will make you breakfast in bed, once I find a decent breakfast in bed tray table…Remember,A blow job from a puppet is nothing more than a hand job from the ventriloquist…
I apparently have a Seismic fetish for girls in glasses(or without), if you do not require glasses for perceptual vision, that is okay, I have a costume pair that you can wear when we play dress up. Imperfection is beauty, Madness is genius, and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring, balance is swell though…
I am down with children (they generally want to grow up to be like me), plus have experience (I was one once) and I whine a lot when I do not get my way, so I relate with them well, though I am not sure I want one of my own, but I am open to pre existing kidlets, as long as you have collars for them…
There is no denying I have an intellectual…lmao… streak but I have a dry sense of humour, an upbeat attitude and a barefaced cheek when I'm comfortable and uncomfortable, with me doing anything is fun, be it going to the pub, supermarket, or the bathroom together.I am so aware and awesome I piss excellence…
I enjoy long, romantic walks to my refrigerator, though; Mary Jane is my Mistress… I don't get embarrassed very easily and enjoy doing stupid things.I tend to measure intelligence not based on societal information and standards, but rather how we treat individuals. I have premonitions. I lost a needle in a hay stack once and found it.(True Story), I was knitting.I’m 5’11 on paper but 6’10” when you tickle me.I have more fun than my best friend, except when he is having a LOT of fun…
I have a love/hate relationship with early 90s’ grunge; we’ve broken up and gotten back together many times, but I swear it’s not commitment issues, though I have been engaged 2 times (run away groom), it is not hard to run away from mass dishonesty. Speaking about honesty, I get a kick when people list it on their profiles, that they are looking for it or are, 99%of people do not consider themselves dishonest regardless of fact, and I have NEVER seen an individual list on their profile they are dishonest, plus I assume it should be a given in the first place…
I would hate to bore you by telling you how wonderful I am by attaching to my name a bunch of flattering adjectives. I am sure that you have already found that about two hundred times in all the other profiles. I believe that words are cheap,actions speak much louder, as you can tell by my profile,lol.Why not some bad stuff – I am impulsive and restless at times, I cried twice like a girl when I watched “Notebook,” I cuss too often, and stay up way too late way too often. There is something about the night time that I find magic which keeps me up working or hanging out aimlessly…
My personal theory on music, is that it is just pure, emotional communication, have you ever listened to a song in another language but still understood on an emotional level, what the song was trying to express? Music can bring emotions out in us and bring us back to emotions that we felt in the past. I think I have the best taste in it. I'm convinced someone listens to my itunes list and then steals my favourite songs and puts them into annoying commercials and then it gets overplayed…
I am a bit of a clean freak, which I don’t think is a bad thing. My meal preparational skilz (cooking) and organizational skills are phenomenal, but that does not mean I want you to only know how to make KD, and I am not overly interested in picking up your 100 pairs of footwear(panties sure) scattered everywhere, but I will take a pair off your feet and give you a foot massage. If you have a denomination of coins splattered on a coffee table I will re-stack them, no matter how many times you knock them down, like a game of Jenga…
Basically, I love life and I love living life. I enjoy the outdoors, traveling, restaurants, laughing, goIng to cultural events, and sociaLizing with quality peOple. Its just better liVing and sharing lifE with someone elSe :).Also, just because Someone looks like a good match “on paper”, doEsn’t necessarily affiX in reality.
Note:The odd capitalized letters are an anagram message.I am not going to be around the bush, unless you’re sharing…
*1.) I will not sleep with you soon, I have been dismissed for this many times,lol.2.) We do not know each other after two days.3.) If you want a relationship, make sure within yourself you do, as I "date" one person at a time :P.
Out of space
First Date
Depends on the situation,timing and the girls interests...Maybe a food fight,some good old-fashioned thumb/leg wrestling to top off the evening, perhaps even a pillow fight if everything goes well...If it was a date date, dinning and dancing are fun, ordering in and movies are cool. Good conversation at a coffee house or/and with a walk along the famous river,Comedy clubs and drink fests will do.Ride out of the city in summer, star gazzin, wining and feeding each other is awesome.......Dates are fun, so any old run of the mill date works,lol, it is not so much the originality of what, or where we go, but rather the company that makes any moment a recipe for something magical,Walking,Talking and Rocking. Many other great experiences equate into a full life. Fav. quote"Let's bypass all the bullsh*t and get naked"lol ok gtg, CHEERS...
WHAT I am LOOKING FOR; A spark in her eye… You are curious about the world around you. You can take a joke and are not easily offended… The way your hand always finds mine when you are vulnerable or insecure. It would be nice if you have a head with eyes and a mouth and ears attached to it. Throw in humour and the ability to change my tire - well not mine; the car's - and you're halfway there already…
WARNING: Want a regular, down to earth guy? Keep moving. I am not the droid you're looking for. Save us both while you still can… If your profile header states, looking for a real man, then f**k off my page,lol, I wouldn’t be so bold as a man, to impose a narrow view of what a real woman is or how she should be, please extend the same courtesy…
Rumour has it, that the girl/woman/ hermaphrodite of my dreams is between 3'10" and 7'2", is gorgeous to look at and silly at times. She should be kind and generous… If you are that girl or you know where she might be, let me know at once and claim your reward: slow and sensual kisses, random midnight massage, and a lifetime of happiness… Fake people have an image to maintain, Real people just don't care... Souls recognize each other by the way they feel, not by the way they look…
I need someone that sees the good in me, but more so,I need someone that sees the bad and still wants me…If you like chocolate I have a fondue…
Trait words I might be looking for; Faith (Not necessarily religious or spiritual), Love, Hope, spirit, Humility, sincerity, friendship, Integrity, colourful, manners, empathy…
Three big traits in life that make a person: Respect, Commitment, Value…
I'm looking for what that little old couple you see at the mall or in the park has.You know the couple I'm talking about. they are 80ish years old and still holding hands and enjoying each other's company. I want that. (I don't want to be 80 yet though)
Moments that take your breath away..
Mail Settings
To send a message to ShelbySask4friend1 you MUST meet the following criteria:
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Testimonials from ShelbySask4friend1's favorites list
Really sweet guy that I'm excited to get to know! I really like him alot! He's adorable and fun to talk to and enjoys my company. This thing wants 51 more letters, so let's see if I can ramble for a little bit.
rain101Hmm ladies..This man is everything you read on his profile and more. He has this way of making you smile, he is one unique soul. He is kind, sweet, funny, and has the most odd But they only add to him and his great personality.I am so happy i got to chat with him. You will too. Whoever ends up with this person is one lucky lady..
What can I tell you about Shelby! Ladies he's a keeper, if you play your cards right. He's a great friend and knows how to make a gal laugh. All around, I think he's mastered romance and needs to find that special someone to make friends with. He's friendly, outgoing, daring, loves fashion..openminded, funny, entertaining, serious, happy, wishful. He's a true gentlemen and has such a patient, loving soul. Shelby has had a huge impact on my life and how I see the future. Overall I think that if you find one person you can count on it's "triple SSS".
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Sega's gaming network, Sega Pass, is the latest online entity to fall victim to a hack. Emails, Passwords and Birthdates were compromised Sega now follow in the footsteps of Sony, Nintendo, and Citigroup.
Credit Cards weren't involved, since the network is largely comprised of forums, but still, passwords are becoming more and more of a hassle with each passing day. [PlayStation Lifestyle via Slashgear]
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Recent Items
Mosler/Pilkington: The IMF-ECB ‘Plan’ – Fig-Leaf upon Fig-Leaf
Posted on by
By Warren Mosler, an investment manager and creator of the mortgage swap and the current Eurofutures swap contract and Philip Pilkington, a journalist and writer based in Dublin, Ireland
Politics in the Eurozone has turned into a strange and tragic farce in the recent weeks and months. While the peripheral countries continue to judge successful economic policy on the amount of tax liabilities they can levy to smother their depressed economies, the big dogs play various games in which they try to hide their shame behind ever more sophisticated veils.
Their ‘shame’, of course, being that the ECB, the issuer of the euro, has to ultimately write the check in order to fund the peripheral countries whether they like it or not. Being the liberated fiscal nudists that we are, we fully embrace such actions, but we recognise that our brothers and sisters within the Eurocracy may need some time and, excuse the pun, cover to adjust before they can embrace their inner MMTer.
And so we praise what works, even with the ever more bizarre choices of clothing that they care to don. This time they have chosen something akin to a shiny faux fur plastic coat in the middle of a California summer. And while they have yet to wear it with pride, we encourage them to come out of the closet and move in the said direction for all our sakes.
The latest Euro fashion is for the IMF to fund distressed sovereigns while being, in turn, funded by the ECB – while all this includes the fashiony gimmick that the IMF guarantees the loans.
The end result, of course, is that the ECB writes the check – which is precisely what it takes to make any of these schemes work. In fact, whenever you hear of any of these wacky evasions… er… sensible proposals, you can be safe in the knowledge that it will always work as long as it is the ECB writing the check. But we digress; and so here is how this latest one scheme will function.
When the ECB buys European national government bonds it credits member bank accounts on the ECB’s spreadsheet. Those accounts count as ‘money’ while the bonds did not count as ‘money’ and so, this action is said to be ‘printing money’ – and printing money is bad for some reason or other according to our German friends… and so the ECB undertakes a further step: sterilisation.
The ECB offers different euro accounts – which are also just numbers on an ECB spreadsheet – with relatively short maturities that pay interest. This is called ‘sterilisation’ because these deposits don’t technically count as money. Cool, huh?
Now, the German Eurocrats have made it clear that they do not want any of this currency issuing ‘foolishness’ no matter what amount of sterilisation is occurring. So, instead they call up their friends at the IMF.
When the ECB buys Special Drawing Rights from the IMF it credits an IMF account with the required euros. This does not count as ‘printing money’. And when the IMF loans those funds on to Italy or whoever, it does not count as ‘printing money’ either even though, when all is said and done, the same euros sit in the same ECB accounts and they effectively come from the same place. How clever.
Now stretch your mind’s logical capacity with us for a moment because the IMF was originally set up after World War II to deal with balance of payments issues. And we can kinda sorta say that various European nations suffer from balance of payment issues – so, when the IMF steps in its kinda sorta playing its supposed institutional role.
But here is the really great part: the IMF is already a well-known (and much hated) institution obsessed with imposing austerity on the countries they ‘assist’. This means that they have plenty of experience ruining economies… er… promoting ‘expansionary fiscal consolidations’. With all this experience the IMF will be in a prime position to ignore all the evidence coming out of the Eurozone and continue the drive to force the periphery into depression. Hoorah!
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1. Mogden
Personally, I’m rooting for the whole edifice of lies, greed, corruption, and fraud to detonate with maximum force.
1. Glen
It does seem that with all “conventional” methods of social change such as democracy or representational government currently out of play, that hoping, planning, and having the big blow up may be the only way left to get any real reform.
2. YankeeFrank
Count me in, I think. I wonder why NC is so supportive of all these ECB bailouts — I know Pilkington believes things will be even worse if the whole edifice collapses, and I imagine Mosler and YS believe the same. To me it seems like a worse pain but possibly of a shorter duration if we let ‘em fall and start with a clean-ish slate. However, one point against our preferred course is that, when all the shit hits the fan and it all collapses, who is to say that the “reformers” won’t set up an even less democratic horror show to replace it. I mean, FDR and the New Deal were certainly no fait accompli, and he had a generation worth of labor organizing behind him. Now we have a soulless middle class that lives in fear of losing their pathetic corporate jobs and won’t speak out to save their own starving mothers, and a huge swathe of desperate and destitute folks that are too ignorant and enslaved to even begin thinking of protest. I don’t know fellas, looks like we’re headed for a dark time…
1. jake chase
All you Apocopalypsians really need to do some research on the French Revolution. After all, Its Only F***ing Money. Who cares how they print it, so long as they print enough to keep the food coming in and the trash going out? Do you really think Europe is going to create a depression just so it can congratulate itself on living up to a Treaty? Words and formulas are fine, but food is better. No food and you have people tearing one another to pieces.
1. YankeeFrank
But from what I hear the trash isn’t going out so well in Greece, though as yet I haven’t heard any stories of starvation there. But what do you think happens when long term austerity is imposed on a populace?
2. Moneta
I’m pretty sure they’re going to print because it’s easy and governments always take the easy way out.
However, it all comes down to production. As nations print, there is a loss of confidence. The private side retreats and production declines. Why work when you can get some paper for nothing? Why work if government squeezes you out?
Printing will work in the short term, until it doesn’t anymore. Only then will government make the harder choices, not before. We are still in the early innings of the great reset.
3. Christophe
Jack chase, current research on the French Revolution does not corroborate your hypothesis. France had made an art of printing enough (issuing debt sufficient) “to keep the food coming in and the trash going out.” That was how it funded its expansionary wars during the age of divine kingship. The Afghan and Iraqi – whoops, let me try that again. The Seven Years’ and American Revolutionary wars proved too financially burdensome, redirecting all that money for food and trash removal to interest payments on the debt. Your proposal to just keep printing is precisely what led to “people tearing one another to pieces.”
While blowing up the global financial system to effect debt repudiation is not a particularly elegant nor peaceful solution, it does conform to the observable reality that debt that cannot be repaid will not be repaid. Fortunately, the dichotomy of increasing debt endlessly vs. financial Armageddon is a false one. We could do worse than looking in the fertile middle ground between those two positions for realistic options to addressing the current crisis.
2. Alan von Altendorf
I don’t think it matters what ECB or IMF or Germany does. Banks and private investors are dumping euro bonds, and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent Euro Zone from increasingly higher and higher levels of public spending. “Austerity” is an illusion, mere fantasy.
3. Hugh
I thought on Monday the official talk was that the IMF/ECB was just a rumor and that its only likely purpose was to pump up sinking markets.
Beyond that, MMT fails to address the paper economy, wealth inequality, and kleptocracy generally, all of which point to an ECB bailout as an exercise of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.
The problems with the IMF/ECB plan I addressed here:
and subsequently.
1. Marley
Sadly Hugh, I do not believe that MMT can (be expected to) address the ideological belligerence and moral vacuity that is apparently pervasive within the EU leadership.
For me personally, I hold that these idiots KNOW the truth, but simply REFUSE to accept it because it contravenes their ill-conceived notions about money, gov’t, society and “how the world works” in general. It is in one sense a crisis of denial IMHO, but also a moral one, complete with insidious insinuations of ignorance and prejudice.
2. Lafayette
You are transporting the reasons for the American financial calamity to Europe and its dead wrong.
The reason for the debt in either instance is significantly different one from the other. The European profligacy was to support a safety-net when high unemployment prevailed, at levels even greater than the are in the US today since the early 1990s. It helped poorer families, more prone to long-term unemployment, to survive.
The American debt is due to Toxic Waste and a Useless War over in the sandbox (whilst Lead-head lowered marginal tax rates for his “friends”).
Let’s not confuse the two by making an amalgamation.
The solution has been, since both the Japanese and Swedish realty bubbles to have the BadDebt assumed by the Central Banks. Even if the Central Bank must print money to do so to allow banks to lend once again.
Too many people want vengeance, so they argue that the whole mess should simply “blow up”. But the consequence of such retribution could well be unemployment at one-quarter or even two-thirds of the population. Treasury revenues would plummet drastically and we’d dig ourselves further into the debt abyss. Which would constrain government expenditures even further, since no one would want to purchase our T-note debt.
Pray tell, how is that outcome “just” even if the vengeance is sweet?
We made a mistake by deregulating the banks and allowing the fusion of Investment with Commercial Banking. That mistake we can fix to prevent an asset-price bubble in the future from becoming Great Recession 2.
But ruining people’s lives even further, for sweet revenge, is both immoral and unjust.
If anything in history has taught us to live with a balanced budget on both state and national levels, it is this present circumstance. Let it be a lesson to us and to politicians.
In fact, there otta be a law that institutes a limit of debt in relation to GDP. That exists in Europe since two weeks. The Brussels Commission will have the right of oversight on government spending and prohibiting any beyond the 3% of GDP limit.
When is Washington going to wake up to that same notion?
1. Otay
If only we had some example of what really happens when bad dept is written off. Say like Iceland? Nah, lets give Iceland the Ron Paul treatment.
2. Hugh
Kleptocracy plays out differently in different economic regions, most notably in the US, Europe, and China, but it is all kleptocracy. If you fail to realize this, you fail to understand the dominant economic and political force of our times.
As for vengeance that seems like a term come up by the class war mill, most of us would just see it as the restoration of the rule of law.
1. Lafayette
And I maintain that this “Economic Force”, brought in by Reckless Ronnie with some silly notions about Ayn Randian individualism is coming to its well-deserved end.
Thirty years of relentless catering to the vested interests of a plutocracy must come to termination … in order to save the democracy. Or we are really a quite simple people.
Either the country saves itself, or the brave and honest hearts had better immigrate to Canada.
Others will remain in Europe and look across the pond with a Great Smirk and a thought, “You brought this upon yourselves”. It happened in 1929 and what ever made you (plural) think it could not happen again? Because markets had become, abracadabra, self-correcting?
What childish nonsense.
George Santayana summed up mankind’s self-indulgent folly with this (and I paraphrase): Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
Our history of financial crises:
* In 1990, the Scandinavian Banks almost went under
* In 1994, all Mexican banks failed after the sudden and drastic depreciation of the peso.
* Many banks in Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia almost toppled from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
And yet, all those countries survived and many are doing well enough today.
So, “What, me worry?” Pass ….
4. financial matters
Spot on! The IMF needs to be called out on what it is really about. Well done. Italy can do better.
5. andrew
Jsut so I am clear, at the end of the day, the ECB will loan money to the IMF, which will buy piigs bonds, and nothing bad will happen?
6. Cathryn Mataga
I kind of see a political advantage of making the IMF the bad guy rather than Germany. That if Italians hate the IMF, they’ll be like everyone else who hates the IMF. If they hate the Germans, it could tear apart the EU.
It is going to be more of the austerity death spiral though. With the bond markets coughing up blood, I don’t think there’s going to be any fiscal stimulus for awhile over there. It’s not too surprising. I’m only amazed at how quickly this all came on.
1. Pete
Smart politics, I didn’t think of that.
However, being on the US-/USbank-influenced IMF’s leash would be equally damaging to the EU, exactly the power dynamic the EU and EMU were created to prevent.
Why not just have the ECB print, but not only give to the struggling periphery states but also give printed money to the Germans, so they stay on top of the pile, while overall debt/gdp gets diluted down. Kindof like the Steve Keen solution, but for nations?
7. Andrew
I’m looking forward to the MMT coming out party. The full Monti should be exciting.
For the record…. I’m unashamedly starkers, swinging as brazenly as I possibly can.
8. wbgonne
The most recent balloon I’ve seen floating is for the U.S. Fed to act as Europe’s lender of last resort and begin buying all the distressed sovereign bonds. The claim is that this plan won’t put the American taxpayer at risk. I don’t quite understand the ramifications. What do y’all say to that?
1. Philip Pilkington
That’s what Baker and Weisbrot are pushing. Warren agrees with me when I say that it’s bizarre.
It would lead to fairly substantial devaluation of the dollar. Baker and Wesibrot understand this well and are very sympathetic to lowering the value of the dollar as it will lead to increased exports and a closing of the trade deficit.
Mosler and I agree about the effects, but disagree on the tactic. Mosler points out that workers’ living standards will fall as imports become more expensive. And I point out that no US administration would dare pursue such a policy — the strong dollar policy is far more than economic policy for the US.
1. wbgonne
Thanks. Any idea how much money we’re talking about? IOW: when you say it will lead to devaluation of the dollar, how much devaluation?
Also, apart from the direct fiscal effects what are the implications of the U.S. Fed acting as lender of last resort for other nations? It seems pretty strange to me.
1. Philip Pilkington
We’re probably talking about trillions of dollars to fully backstop all the Eurozone sovereign debt that is in trouble. Beyond that, hard to say. But, as those UK supermarket ads say “Every little helps”. So, any amount of US intervention would help Europe (get off the hook).
As for the devaluation it would be huge. Again, it’s impossible to even estimate how much. But the key point is that when QE was done, or TARP we knew there would be little devaluation. Why? Because the dollar assets just sat there or were exchanged for older, toxic assets. These new dollar assets were not traded against another currency.
If the Fed stepped in Europe all the dollars would have to be exchanged for euros. Imagine you had a trillion dollars and you went to buy euros. The exchange rate effects would be incredible.
As for the Fed acting as LLR for other countries that’s interesting. Europe probably wouldn’t like it. And it could go either way for the US. If the dollar bounced back they would have gained a great deal of control over much of Europe. But if the dollar didn’t bounce back — which is more likely — the US would no longer be the country it is today. Oil producers, for example, would probably move away from the dollar because it had lost so much value (this would further devalue it). In short, the dollar’s ‘unique’ status would be gone — and the US trade deficit would become a very real issue.
1. wbgonne
Thanks so much for the responses. My takeaway is that we are still in a world of sh*t and the Magic Fed can’t make it all go away.
2. Philip Pilkington
They could. But the consequences would be massive and they would never do it. The Magic ECB can make the problem go away though — and they probably will.
But then there’s the fact that the current austerity is causing a depression in the periphery.
9. K Ackermann
So who sets the rates on the “IMF” loans?
Also, on slightly different subject…
Whatever happened to that $27b CDS protection the Greek public owned that mysteriously went private?
Was that ever fully answered?
1. Philip Pilkington
Nah, it’s all pretty vague at the moment. Just rumours and the like. But it looks like it could have legs. Just look at the above: they get to claim that they’re not printing money AND they are absolved of much responsibility for the austerity-induced depression.
Random Eurocrat: “Where do I sign up?”
1. K Ackermann
I just thought up a brand new saying that should catch on… Money is the root of all evil.
The 1% would do well by buying us off, because I’m getting to the point where I think I’d vote for the first person who promises to blow up the system.
This is how dangerous times start, and I’m saying this in a very calm state right now.
10. Moneta
They will keep on writing down and printing because that’s what governments do.
The thing is that a few trillion were created in a flash and we can bet our trillion dollars that this has been the biggest misallocation of capital in history.
And it usually takes 5-10 years to see the repercussions. We’re in year 3.
11. Robert Asher
Many bloggers have noted in the last month that the FED is “out of ammo.” So how could the Fed implement the plan that Dean Baker proposes? I agree with posts above that Bernanke would not dare to try such a scheme. If he did, Congressional Democrats would pressure the Republican administration to get Bernanke to resign. BTW: is it legal for two Republicans to run against each other for the Presidency?
12. Norman
As long a King Timmy has Uncle Ben at the printing press, then the U.S. taxpayer will be on the hook. Great, just the thing the economy of the U.S. needs today. I say, let the I.M.F. fail, as it has run its course, or should I say gone off its course a very long time ago. Let them eat cake, baked from their own stock, not ours.
13. craazyman
If 1) the ECB funds 2) teh IMF who funds 3) Italy, will they start calling him “Three Card Monti”.
oh man, that wasn’t very clever. ha hahahahaha
14. Norme
Beautiful rendition, too bad there are so few comments. Makes me think too many people are missing out on an important issue. Thank you for putting it down in writing so cleanly. Gonna email this to some of my friends who are weary of me discussing euro oblivion at every opportunity. LOL
Comments are closed.
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bring back hdd from dd urandom
How can I bring a hdd back to life, if I did:
to it?
When I try to format it to ext3, it tells: gparted: libparted - unrecognized disk label
Please help, the /dev/sdb is an USB HDD
Reply to:
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Politics, Race and Absorption: Israeli Housing and Education Policies for Ethiopian Jewish Immigrants, 1984-1992 (Working Paper #28)
Fred A. Lazin, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Introduction: This paper studies the housing and educational absorption policies of the Israeli government for the Ethiopian Jews who have immigrated since the early 1980s. It documents actual policies and explains why particular policies were adopted and why the Ethiopians were treated so differently. While official policy called for housing Ethiopian immigrants in communities with strong infrastructures in central Israel, most would be directed to permanent housing in spatially segregated clusters in specific neighborhoods and municipalities, often in Israel’s periphery. In education political decisions at the highest level segregated Ethiopian immigrant children within an inferior school system.
Working Paper #28»
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OCR Interpretation
Orangeburg news and times. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1875-1877, July 24, 1875, Image 1
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86053227/1875-07-24/ed-1/seq-1/
What is OCR?
Thumbnail for
SS. F. BlttKtJKEKFUSS, Dcntlnt
OF CHARLESTON, can bo found at his ?
OFFICE above Captain HAMIL
kol Street
Roferonooa?Das. J. P. Patrick, B. A.
Huokenfuhh, A. P. PKLr.r.r, M. D., and
MOSES M. BROWN, the Barber pledgcs"
Limse'if to keep up with the tiuies iu all the
LATE IMPROVEMENTS, as his business is
sufficient (o gurantcc the above.' lie will
be found at his old staud, ever ready to
servo his customers at the (shortest notice.
apl H 31)
Nine Ygs
I have on hand also a suply of
SEEDS ahd ONPO$ ^ETJS?T!r--?j^?i
Percriptione carcfuly compounded; orders
ifrom the country striokly attended to at
Poplar Drug Store of - '.lll.WTV "i i
DR. A. 'C.'-pUKES.;...
jan 28 187& j*x ,iiit&yru
i a ?I ?
1 c H
Horses and^Mufes
"VTOTICi? 1b lM'rcl?y^lveiiTot
JLN tW? loss/or dcHtrdoiIdnl'OT Certificate'
?of Deposit No. 331, OrangchurgsvBraneli,'
?Oitiscns Savings . Hank of tiouih Gamlinn,
issued to the lute E. J. Olivcros, deieasod,
and ulso-of Deposit llonkt'Nof Dfc.'rjf oasto
Jbrnuch, iu the nrmc of tl? saidi?E. j. Oli-^
tctob, in trust, aud that iapply in<
three months from dale for a renewal of tho
name, nnd for such dividends us may accrue
thereon, to the Trustee aud Coinmittee-'of
the said Bank, at Columbians? C >~>'Kn
mar 6?1 am 3nt Qualified Executrix. '
Dental Mot ice
THE undersigned takes pleasure in an
nouncing to his many friends aud patrons
that he has permanently located at Orangc
hurg, C. H., 8. C, where he will devote his
entire time, from every Monday till Saturday
noon to the
In all its Department!^ al'eyieci BaTiHfrwtMn
guaranteed in all operaltdiTs'e^rV?Mfcdto flis
care. Charges very moderate.
Office at I)r Fersuer's old stand over Will
cock's Store.
A. M. SNIDER, T>. S.
high school
For terms apply to
?Tfrstf U/ ? S.'R.i<MELL^H'A3IP,l> >
J Principal.; J
fire insurance
Having secured the AGENCY of the
"City Insuranea Company
/K'^BVideco, R. I."
Witli'thkt of participating Companies*,
T?e "Fireman'* Fnnd," Capi
tal #500,000.
And the
"Atlantic," of New York.
I usn prepared to take RISKS of qny
amount, dividing them in sover.il 1st ChW
COM PAN I ICS, to which 1 .Oail-.tlie attention
of property holder?. ?, it
Taken on GIN HOUSES, MILLS and
Fire Insurance Agent,
A few tons of
Also a supply of the
apl 3 187? ly
[From the New York Times.]
Mechanical Wom^-A Suhsti
tutk for GlINroWDfJU-*?Exi'lo
hions Rendered CompakAtiveia*
*5^cotg^4j;|iK?gE KI
i ? ScBPTi^^mrTKeel y's Claims
?The Invention to re Per
fected Before it is Patented.
Further particulars in relation to
the Keely motor, which hrt? been re
ferred to by most of the leading news
i papers of the country, have been given
[ to the Times by Mr. Sergeant, of the
I firm of Sergeant & Cutihjgw?rlh, oi
.this city. According, to the atuto
jfceuS"6fftlns?Jnri^^tlie newly
|misoxJ?rcJ^pow*r*is^^ destin
ed to revolutionize the entire mechani
cal World and render possible, und
even easy, feats which seem now bey
ond the power of the most perfect ma
chinery in the world. Guns are to be
fired by the same power that drives
the ship that carries them; explosions
are to bo rendered comparatively
harmless; engines of 5,000-horse pow
er _arc _to. be, constructed so as to
occupy , ua more space than an ordin
ary isteam'tngine, and all the marvels
I wlifcfcii? ate'hoc?mplishcd by steam arc
.tOj'W^ performed with infinitely greater
ease-* >by-the cold vapor evolved from
j'slif-'ttiicl \vj^ter. The wildest dreams
q? the. Arabian story-teller seem com
mopphveo l wlierj compared with the
I tuijjvels "that are promised in this
"nature, if
nse orso tnjBB
|/meild0US:;-?a> agency have been en
countered in the cxp'*ri moots that
have b?eb mWJe with this. New tools
.have,, ticcn.marie with which the parts'
of a new engine arc being fashioned
for. the use of the motive power. Metal
has been made especially for its con
strup'tUni. Anew scientific vocabulary
has -been 'dabhioned to express the |
pperal^us',. hitherto unknown in
mechanics, and perfect success has
attcuded''the experiments made thus
Mr. Sergeant says : One year ago
to?dayr-I u began an mvcstigationTinto
the powers and properties of what is
termed the Keely motor. I was at
first an utter sceptic, knowing that the
^j^P^^^iltfc^^unnfd^f? it were
UM!? ivMk J@tl.all^n?vicientific
teachings, and that, nccordidg to all
that was known on th^subject, the
claims of Mr. Keely were arrantly
absurd. But I had home curiosity on
tb'o subject, and, being applied to by
a number of persona, some of whom
were pecuniarily interested in the dis
covery, and all of whom desired a
careful investigation* to ho* made, I
examine it as au expert. They offered
to pay my expenses wdiile 1 did this,
but I preferred to pay them myself,
aud.^did j so. Mr. Keely- claimed that, I
|je> was'abh), "by the utilization of a
power coming from the consumption
of nir and water, to produce a press
ure of thousands of pounds to the
square inch, and do it immediately,
almost instantaneously. I was
incredulous, and tho burrqq
made fine still mure so. . (I, said LoI?I r.
Keely that in the introduction of all
the grpnt invention's or discoveries of |
which I bad ever beard, the discoverer
bad bad great troubles to persuade
peoplo to listen to him, and greater
yet to persuade any one to invest
money iu the novelty. But here this
wag'reversed. People were investing
money in something of which they
know nothing except what be chose to
say about it. That of itself looked
suspicious to me, and the extravagant
stories which be told convinced mcof
the fallacy of believing him. lie was
very jealous of his secret.
He would not for a long time admit
me to see what he was doing that I
might investigate the matter. It was
IbsfrugJ-.t ^pi ilbB?j!>joiivliijb ?tha<j<|re> eon>*>
si?Ue&j^clpiae' tuuili rhsibfe ineioo jrimr.
\yoefeo?aw\si \<hfavDf;6hia /twhs at-dfengfcHi
apcompjiaiietj b^t^c?utervjitftiau?i^iist
frlpud?idvrlib.w^triutcriiitud in tiio ihn:
v.ontioi); .-lie, hudriii thai roommnumil
numod.VBoakel'^ .who - Irhi worked for
him forll nuinlTcTrjf V'onrS", who would
ho nblo ?^fl^??^dtfcfthaton
sued* a,tfajd-p- (I$e4y)t W '**lub.i Wd
hj&j i})X-ci}iipPnJ^.JP^-. lAjlll 3Q,gr*aJ,!
wa_?l i?i?;1W3MqtyJ1 kpep{Abc*?TJre?
tjyifi rdVM^y fit ue.kjioldpi 1,?^i;e.k?pt
".?AiQo?Ks S?fWl wh|le)we.vor.e tdgetd.\-1
PiViiiAPfO MV^? ?pu/Jual oqroingjtd/thu
'ejogfd ^Qa&b Mlocjiod.iauiliiAVns -ails-'
kvcred .jhy>. Mr. Jvoely,; wboiw?lild not
admit,him. ; , -??::? ' ? :
. t Jj^fcajd > ?V> himfthai i"t die would, in:
jtlvft^yRyr^^OidosovibetK shpw me, itoCa:
pres^ujcajjp? . tk?u^&r^pfpdunds, but'
of* hundred pounds to tho square
iiiifth,,} pvp^Hce]i'ini.u>v?iatel5'i InwouWI
bclhjvflJit^aJ,,,he! hfxdift aewiuveiHSoau:
J^J^rStip.wejJoIPP at [puce: a Iprespure of ai
jt l\o usoju d;; pounds. ! I;<wa8,cpnj[oui\dctl.
jld^red. ;Hot-b,ei|ov.e hunjjey?M;although!
? *
ithqpgli?l(h<} mviafei.baY.e sqme: kind PT
jspiditz powder cpnqeal?d aomejvltere.i
|oj-{ttonic gqqrcofcton, or nitvo-gly cUrinO<
or ;.^oiiio ,?tbpfr,powerful ,exploBivp.t-.I
jexpmined closely, exptfolihg to lind
jsqmojjttlfc pop aoiupwhero that. Would;
explaiunthe wqnpler to mo... I found
none, nn,d. ypt) I .was" not convinced,
:oyen byK seeing., The thinguvn#tuo
! wonderful lb?.,mei But 1 continued,
'my lqvestigntjQ'nsIunt'l In.; */;?/? ?) ..<
bahW? i ..P.O.UBTi: :?'
ter being With air.
Country. Ho . was aaceptie, as I
had been. I told hiin what I had
seen. Ho hoard mo through, and told,
me I- must- bo deceived; that Mr.
Keely was using- sonic chemical of
which , he kept .nip in ignorunco. j Ho
thoUgnF at first from my (inscriptions,
that it was chrboli'ne, or a Vapor from
it, atid/at- my request, he produced n
jet of that vapor. I. allowed the jet to
phiy-upon my hnnd, and'-iound thitt it
Kvas so cold i as to produce si stingin g
Woiidattoii. I said, "This is nut Keely'.s
|;vapor. That is'pleasant to the touch."
I sm el hid-oik he enrl)oliuc vapor, and
it was Stlterify unlike Keely'.s, for the
carbolitig/?ljjd a iscen t*Pbou tit which
Keely's had not, nltlmugh~;the .pro
fessor saidv'the carbolinb could bow.pro
duced with scarcely trace of the
?ccnt. Q?uXj; hayo .<i\??iUa^-cdrail I
could get of'Xeely.'s vrtfloTjHuid Iqfind
it is plef?jj|?fct You Ci<nJl?O-on it. 1
asked liio^^pYofc-Vspr ir-the-carbaline
vaj)or -S$Qi^pablG*>f couUonsiiticro by
simple 6s^tr?ion.';' Ho.saidso, and I
knew ife^w?a not."Keo}ptfr-for that is
eondcnilCd^py simple expansion.; It
turns ttlfoidte wat^r, nptl-tbjit wiUcr 1
can drfh)j^?Vfter".' enfh conversation
Ivitk th^ffli ssor,'In \Vhich-hc would
tell meru<EriWt I was deceived in this
(hing qj^fia|, 1 wouid.goubuck to Mr.
Keely rtJidjwjtch and study-Iiis opera
tions uttti^wfcJinewT was ttbtdeceived.
At length'* he allowed me to work his
tnachin^i^j^^self, dnd;I found 1 could
(lo ns hoWljd;nnd theinnchinery for
produciiLig^tbc vapor is-so Hiinple that
a chilli cjgl)t,ycar3 old Coultl work it.
Deecptiou-^ was iniposviblo under
such circumsTanccH. Some of the arti
cles that have .appeared in Telat^on to
the Keely motor being based, ns all
(hese articles have been on the reports
find statements, pf thqsp \ylio know
nothing;)tabput the matter, have con
tained the most tibsurd stuteinonts. It
has bedn assorted that "we do not know
ih? difference between .pressure and
pojvfc'rj Jhni we claim to have a per
petual-motion machine;,, {hat,wo pre
tend to bc able to made aomothing out
bf nothing; and many similar things
aro'put forth bypci-sons who ought to
kViuW bettei* than to assert stich thiugs
in 'relation to the men'who arc con
iicetedjjwith thc'.F.ecly motor. Tho
issorti?n-that 1 do not know the difKr
cilcc between pressure and ]>ower is
SufKchmtly answered by the reputation
of t\\b. iirtn of which I am a member.
It i&/liOtillko)y that we could have ob.
'taiuetf;_.that | rop?tatioa i f. wobeie'so
jignorantiJOf tho.very. principles invol
tv.edtiu 'tb? work wo do. A pcrpctunl
nlotion i machine id oho that makds its
own.1 ppwer. .j.Ono that docunot make
its; iown,poWor cannot bo a perpetual
motion (machine; . Now, Keely pre
t.endatto do uo such thing as that. On
thoTCQ?traryy. Mr, Keoly's.cluini's is
entirely different.- I He claims to pro
(uucurfroro the consumption ofair and
I water ai cold vapor capable of oou
d'iisaTTon by simple oxpansion and
which: cdntaiua power enough to pro*
dUce a ipreasuro of 20,000 or 30,000
pouads. to.ithe square inch. It is ad
mitted thot*mo!ould vapor capiable of
cpndc.ysattan by simple expansion can
bei produced by chemicals, but I know
that > by?Kceiy's method it can be pro
duced! for I have produced it, and
ieondcrtfecd'1 it in just that way,- and
tlruuk.the water produced by thecon
jdcnsatlQnii Thai professor to whom-1
hnvc*&Htfdcd, .when 1 told him that I
jhrtd-^ityank' ;the water so produced/
Uid^'Oh'.f. you 'aie deceived/' iHe
though*''that Keoly had substituted
the water which Lhad drank in a sur
reptitious . manner. I went back to'
Keely* ^am* tried! it again to be sure
thnti-Ii A?idinot-' been deceived in (bat
mann(}r,.aud I convinced mysc'f that
I hadinot. !. As to the idea that Keely
claims;:to .produce something from
nothing it ris ubsuid, for that is just
what./he docs not claim to do, Ho
claini8|tp hdve
;; i.iu\7NATURE
by? wl^cbitbis vapor can b.T produced.
^Yhctti'l talk to the scientists about n
BBhllllli i bef 10,000 pounds to the
HH9^^^var? incredulous, but
BftPjjuX-^j1 * have
fNq$HHS99H^pI know tliehsQs n<Y
iuistnUe. We are now having a gauge
made by-which we can weigh it up to
00,000 pound* One of the difliculties
in our way has been that w e have not
yet handled tbe thing at the great i
pressures at which it can be used. It
takes time to make all the experi
ments needed, and, although we arc
pursuing them as rapidly as possible;
wp cannot uo everything in a day.
We have used it up to 10,500 pounds
pressure,. and are going on as fast as
we can.- There is one hindrance. Wo
do not know w hat we can cover with
our letters patent. We cannot, of
course,: cover a natural law by a pa
tent, and what we can cover we must
describe ?o fully that any person ex
port in such intittcta can do the same
thing from our description in order
jtbat he. may know when and how ho
infringes on our patents. This we
have not yet boon able to do, because
;we have not yet used it at the heavy
pressures nt which it can boused. We
I know that it will produce ?
apd ia order tocontrol this agency we
must have engines of Austrian gun
metal. The engine wo.use is a regular
yacht engine, with a pair of three by
three cylinders, and capable of work
ing under a pressure of from 500 to
1,000 pounds to the inch on t'uo pis'on,
but the -engine we are constructing
will be enjiablo Of working undor the
tremendous pressure which we shall
It has been nsked how wc will har
ness Blich tiemoiid ,us power. We will
do it with gunmetal, and in such a way
that it will bo safe. In making guns,
such exactness is possible that they
are ablo It tell how many times the
gun can be lired before it will burst,
and the bursting comes, not from the
force of the explosion itself, but from
the unequal strain produced by the
bu ruing of powder. This element of I
destruction we do not have to contend
with, because our pressure is even,
and with machinery made on tcien
tific principles thero will be no danger
or possibility of an explosion, hut
even if there should bean oxplosion,
which could onlj' come from some de
fect in construction, there would bo no
danger, excepting from some flying
piece, which might do damage, of
course'."' In explosion of n steam boiler
J *3t\ ' I / i J ? C '1 IL' ^ ' V/Ii ' I Ij ?*
the destruction is caused by the sud-.
den and marvellous increase of press*
uie which occurs, at the.niomen?,of
explosion., [Ihu .jf^Vft}.,j Ul$?$f?^a.
scientifically, ?ut the fact remains that,
me of thirty or fupty pouinjs/nf the
instant of the explosion, thero will be
a pressure of10,000 pounds on thesud
den li.byHitibh' of the steam, ami it.is
this which causes the d-mvAgo which
results'.: Now, With the Keely motor,
it is entirely different, i..]Supposing
there Should oo, f'bhi soihe defect in
the nny;hinery,an .f:x^I<^ion,.aml the
motor suddenly liberated. I5y its ex
pansion it would be condensed to
water, and no damage would be'done
The Keely motor'hot oliiy will do
the work of sieatn,?d)ut is-ripplicahlcto
nil purposes lifr which guiipowdsr is
ascd, anu is ',.<?. ! ' ? .
j FAii suFKitipii to c;u*sr^nyDKK... ,
or uiiy other explosive kuown. We.
have a rifle from which we"havo fired?
hundreds .of bullets with it.'an'd these'
experiments have riorPoHSfrated- its
superiority to gmrpowder. It is well
understood that tho'Vorce' of the gasses
genorate by. the explosion ol powder
lessens ns' the''ball travels on its way
through the barrel, and thnt'Vf tric bar
rel were long onough, npavtial vacu
um would be fo.vuu,\ behind tlte ball.
The. study of the subject lms led to the
experiment of exploding three or four
cartridges in succession behind the
ball as it Mavels tluOdgb th'e barrel:
By this means a tremenddu? impetus
can be given to the ball, as ha% bcon
repeatedly demonstrated by experi
ment. But the pressurp of. the Keely,
motor is continued nji to the time (lie
ball leaves the nutc of the win,
when of eoVi'wo ITyTurlhcr* exfthpsion
the motor is noft'flp'hscd t?/waieY; $
One of (he 1-enin'rkublo thing* hliptii
tthe T^e)y- motor'is tlUtt' it c'a'linV?j^
transmitted at a lower"prcst-Ure than
1,000 pounds. It can be used, of
course, at a lower presMrre after W\g
put in action. It can be regulated like
steam, but jtslransini.--sion-nt less than
1,000 pounds jn'ossore cnu.ies ?P? con
densation. It is like steam in this re
pect, only, of cour-sc, the pressure at
which' it can be transmitted is much
higher than that of steam. This dis
poses at onct of the absurd allegation
that it does some certain thing* at a
pressure, hut that it Is doubtful
I whether it will work at high1 pressure,
j The time will certainly coine whon
I our gunboats will be '
I woi:ki:ij by the samk rowrciiSmu-ii
Wll.tj fi mc Tlii'llt uuxs.
A fter UySj,power ha<]; bcen .djscpyer
cd by Mr. Keely, a copartnership .wh*.
first formed' and hq continued--hi:"
experiments. Afterward a joint stock;
compuny was organized thtjough lhc;
instrumentality, of Mr. Charles B.. Col
lier, who is now one of the four men
who know what the motor is. The
four are Mr. Keely, hi* workman,
Bockel, Mr. Collier ami mysidf. A.ter
this stock compuny was organized, it
was rosolvcd to oiler a limited a.uopnt
of the stock for ?nie. The amount was
fixed ut $00,000 worth, and 1 oflercd
to tnke it all mysnlf. This was, how
ever, objected to, as there were other
partici- who wanted to buy st.ck, and
it was thought not best for one person
to have more than a limited amount
Another opinpapy has been organized
hi New England, which has purchased:
the privilege to buy the patent for the
six New England States. They have
paid the first iiirttalineqtpf f,hu pur
chase money for the,privilege, which
is ?.r)0,000, and they havo two other
payments to make of the same amount.,
When these arc paid,( they will have,
the right to buy the assigiinieut of ^In
patent for thoacsix 'States, paying for
it one-half of their capital stock. The
buyers of stock in these companies nre
infliiencad solely by their confidence
in the men who know what the motor
is. They lmvo no knowledge of it
themselves, although 'private exhibi
tions of. it-have been given under
great pressure from the stockholders,
who demand.d to be shown what the
thing was. An engine was shown,
working by the now power, but it was
impossible for any one who saw it to
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to follow it up ourselves, and aak'non*
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will protect ua. It has-been 'riaid thrit"
^Ir. Kcoly'luis rcC'eivfjU' large1 sum?/ Of1
money, and hits-been raised fro mip<W
crty to comparative affluence by thcab
>vl?o ex|>cct to benefit by bis/?ivention; ?
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huudced dinars,, nyropptb; fur hrrpv?rT
Honal . expenses, anc\ hjs ..machinist!*/.
bills are paid. This money,, is atj
yauccd to htm, and |f, he reMiy^.f
other -money it. must pq .froro a sate of
his interest, and I don't-think he.
would sell a dollar's.wor|j\ of that .as
a matter of principle, for('if he were (
to dispose Of hU.idterest it would bc^
demoralizing in1 Us effect'oh his, asso- if
ciales. He works on hit!'invention so
corisrumly ithrttf P have-: 're$#?tctffy
iakon hirri away' fromJ it,^r?d '&1lro '
jiim out drivirtgVfearing that'Iii? con-'
5tunt application woultl be injurious,
t is, of coursed unccrtnlh hj>w sitesKis
labors will i be completed, but it is*-'
probab'e that -before long the paten to
will be taken out, and the whole thing ?
given-to the wor!d.r Until thnt tinio
of course, we can say ? no more thrift'
has been ?aid. The,(stockholders *xei
impatient,, and, nof, Lwing men: of
science, are unable to sep why we; can-,
not- patent ".he improvements that we
arc unable to mako. i have had con*
Binerabje experience in such mattere;,
and have taken out so. many patcnta
that I have learned thi\t it, besf t^
perfect an invention before patenting
ho Vi : .w ,yv;^b.a ' . }
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>ut w ben be heard I here was a chnrtco
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bod like V'glpi'v .? } <; . ?
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that w hen a posloffioo clerk gets foO>
high-noHcd to lick a stamp on to G
letter 4t is time that the country bud
a change ?ot admi^bitration,... )
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since i Danyin, gazing- into: his mirror,,
was suddenly struck with his idoa of
the origin.of moa, and now he has pn
income of $20,000 a year. . j . .. % -
Three thou.-and .artificial bin! nests,
designed so cupnipgly that each vari?:
ety of bird^yill recognise its own hufno/
were recently put up in the Jurdin
des Plante?, Paris. ? v*4
A little -girl .at school rend thus:
''The wi(Jpw tjived on a aima11 1 imbovy.'
left her j>y'a,f;eja,tjvc.^^
you call that wt rd?" asked tho teach
er, "the word is legacy, n>t limbacy*"
"But," said the little girl, "my sister
savs I must say limb, not leg."
A Milwaukee chap kissed his girl
about forty times right straight along,
and when he stopped the tears ca.tue
into her eyes, and she eaid in a m<k
tone of voice: "Ah ! John, I fear you
have cea.-cd to love nie," V$0, J
bavc'nt," replied John, "but I must''
breathe." , . . .:
On a recent trial in Wnles to te<?t
the,, validity, of? % \vill, it waS proved
ll;ut iu 1800 the .estator hecam i im
iniircd in . intellect to such .n'n extent
that he, went tu the post office with p,
pt^stago stamp on hi* forehead and re
quested to be sent fb a place he men*
Norway 1ms voted $40,000in silver
towards veprc$entntiou at the ten'.<?'?-'
nial.and Belgium 200,000 francs, nnd'
Portugal .haa. .. imfornied President'
Graut (hat she intetids joining the
centennial circle. The foreign govern-.
mmts are pomipg.stcadily into a fecog*
nilion of the great American fair.
England, France and Germany
all he there in splendor.
N O T X C 8..
.Ml per^oUH hnvius elaion .iH'iinxt th.-a
Ketate of Pclor ' \\V AyinceT,^1ctviceu? will
prtm; it the da mo pro^wrly attentrdf, hndhll
of those indebted will make Viyinput
jidy 17 1875 41
xml | txt
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Last universal ancestor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from LUCA)
Jump to: navigation, search
A universal common ancestor is at least 102860 times more probable than having multiple ancestors…[8]
Charles Darwin proposed the theory of universal common descent through an evolutionary process in his book On the Origin of Species, saying, "Therefore I should infer from analogy that probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which life was first breathed."[9]
Considering what we know of the offspring groups (see phylogenetic bracketing), the LUA was a small, single-cell organism. It would have had a cell wall and a ring-shaped coil of DNA floating freely within the cell, like modern bacteria. It would likely not have stood out against a collection of modern generalized small size bacteria.
While the gross anatomy must be reconstructed with some uncertainty, the internal mechanisms can be estimated surprisingly accurately. Based on the properties currently shared by all independently living organisms on Earth,[10][11][12][13] the LUA would have the following defining features:
• The genetic code was based on DNA. Note, however, that other studies suggest that LUCA may have lacked DNA and been defined wholly through RNA [14]
• The genetic code was expressed into proteins.
• ATP was used as an energy intermediate.
Current tree of life showing horizontal gene transfers.
Location of the root[edit]
The most commonly accepted location of the root of the tree of life is between a monophyletic domain Bacteria and a clade formed by Archaea and Eukaryota of what is referred to as the "traditional tree of life" based on several molecular studies starting with C. Woese.[21] A very small minority of studies have concluded differently, namely that the root is in the Domain Bacteria, either in the phylum Firmicutes[22] or that the phylum Chloroflexi is basal to a clade with Archaea+Eukaryotes and the rest of Bacteria as proposed by Thomas Cavalier-Smith.[23]
See also[edit]
1. ^ Woese, C. (1990), "Towards a natural system of organisms: proposal for the domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 87 (12): 4576
2. ^ Theobald, D. L.I (2010), "A formal test of the theory of universal common ancestry", Nature 465 (7295): 219–22, Bibcode:2010Natur.465..219T, doi:10.1038/nature09014, PMID 20463738
3. ^ Doolittle, W. F. (2000), "Uprooting the tree of life", Scientific American 282 (6): 90–95, doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0200-90, PMID 10710791.
8. ^ a b Hesman Saey, T. (14 May 2010). "All Modern Life on Earth Derived from Common Ancestor". Discovery News.
10. ^ Wächtershäuser, G. (1998), "Towards a reconstruction of ancestral genomes by gene cluster alignment", System. Appl. Microbiol. 21 (4): 473–477, doi:10.1016/S0723-2020(98)80058-1 .
11. ^ Gregory, Michael, What is Life?, Clinton College .
12. ^ Pace, Norman R. (2001), "The universal nature of biochemistry", PNAS 98 (3): 805–808, Bibcode:2001PNAS...98..805P, doi:10.1073/pnas.98.3.805, PMC 33372, PMID 11158550 .
13. ^ Wächtershäuser, G. (2003), "From pre-cells to Eukarya — a tale of two lipids", Mol. Microbiol. 47 (1): 13–22, doi:10.1046/j.1365-2958.2003.03267.x, PMID 12492850 .
14. ^ Marshall, Michael, Life began with a planetary mega-organism, New Scientist .
16. ^ Xie Q, Wang Y, Lin J, Qin Y, Wang Y, Bu W (Jan 2012). "Potential Key Bases of Ribosomal RNA to Kingdom-Specific Spectra of Antibiotic Susceptibility and the Possible Archaeal Origin of Eukaryotes". PLoS ONE 7 (1): 1646–51. PMC 3256160. PMID 22247777.
17. ^ Yutin N, Makarova KS, Mekhedov SL, Wolf YI, Koonin EV (May 2008). "The deep archaeal roots of eukaryotes". Mol. Biol. Evol. 25 (8): 1619–30. doi:10.1093/molbev/msn108. PMC 2464739. PMID 18463089.
18. ^ Woese, Carl (1998), "The universal ancestor", PNAS 95 (12): 6854–9, Bibcode:1998PNAS...95.6854W, doi:10.1073/pnas.95.12.6854, PMC 22660, PMID 9618502 .
19. ^ Steel, Mike; Penny, David (13 May 2010), "Origins of life: Common ancestry put to the test", Nature (London: Macmillan Publishers Limited) 465 (7295): 168–9, Bibcode:2010Natur.465..168S, doi:10.1038/465168a, ISSN 0028-0836, PMID 20463725.
20. ^ a b Theobald, Douglas L. (13 May 2010), "A formal test of the theory of universal common ancestry", Nature (London: Macmillan Publishers Limited) 465 (7295): 219–22, Bibcode:2010Natur.465..219T, doi:10.1038/nature09014, ISSN 0028-0836, PMID 20463738.
21. ^ Boone, David R. and Castenholz, Richard W. (2001), "The Archaea and the Deeply Branching and Phototrophic Bacteria", in George M. Garrity, Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology 1 (2nd ed.), Springer, p. 721, ISBN 978-0-387-98771-2
22. ^ Valas, R. E.; Bourne, P. E. (2011). "The origin of a derived superkingdom: How a gram-positive bacterium crossed the desert to become an archaeon". Biology Direct 6: 16. doi:10.1186/1745-6150-6-16. PMC 3056875. PMID 21356104. edit
23. ^ Cavalier-Smith T (2006), "Rooting the tree of life by transition analyses", Biol. Direct 1: 19, doi:10.1186/1745-6150-1-19, PMC 1586193, PMID 16834776.
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Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/283
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Superstitions from Central Georgia. 271
133. If the blade of a knife is soft, put the blade into a piece of hot corn-bread, and put bread and knife into water.
134. To find water before seeking a spot to dig a well, negroes take a switch of willow or peach, hold it in both hands near the middle, and walk over the ground where the well is desired ; when they come to the spot where is the water, the switch twists and turns in the hands, sometimes rubbing off the bark, the ends turn- ing down to the ground.
135. To get fleas out of a house, take a pine pole and skin it. The fleas in hopping about will hop on the pole and stick to the resin that issues. Sheep about a yard will also carry them off.
136. When the dogwood-tree blossoms, fish begin to bite. (Ne- groes always fish with a big cork, and put the lead close to the hook in order to keep terrapins from cutting the line.)
137. When fishing, spit on your bait for luck.
138. If any one steps across the pole of another while fishing, the person whose pole has been so treated will catch no fish unless the pole is again stepped over backwards.
139. You can't swear and catch fish.
Roland Steiner. Grovetown, Columbia Co., Ga.
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Government is the Problem
Richard Butrick
Too many refs and not enough players. Imagine doubling or tripling the number of referees and rules in a football game. The game would never get underway. Even with the standard number of refs in a football game we have all seen a game ruined by over-zealous refs. It almost seems that the refs think they are the players. And that is exactly the mindset of the Obama team. They think they create the jobs and propel the economy with their oversight and guidance. It is called state capitalism. The government wise men steer the economy into the future. Favored industries get loans and regulatory wavers. Industries out of favor get regulatory strangulation and fines. Here is the VP Joe Biden extolling the wonder of the future under the guiding hands of the government seer regulators: "Imagine by the time you're in the position to buy your first home, putting a roof of solar shingles that will cost no more than today's ordinary shingles, will be able to power your home, heating,...(Read Full Post)
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Soy products okay for HR+, tamoxifen?
Question from MoiraL: I have hormone receptor positive breast cancer and am using tamoxifen. Can I use soy products in my diet?
Answers - Diana Dyer, M.S., R.D. I use soy products, and I had ER-positive breast cancer that was postmenopausal. I use soy products that are similar to traditional Japanese food products, such as tofu, tempeh, and miso soup. This is a controversial area, no doubt about it, and we don't have enough research in this area to actually demonstrate safety for women who have ER-positive breast cancer. However, there does not appear to be any substantial data in women showing harm after breast cancer, and the current recommendation is that an intake of soy products similar in quantity to an Asian diet is considered safe. As a personal aside, I have been consuming soy foods, 1-2 servings per day, for 11+ years without a recurrence. That's not a research study; that's just my own personal experience.
Jennifer Sabol, M.D., F.A.C.S. I very much agree with Diana's opinions on this. While the phytoestrogens in soy may act like a very weak estrogen, it is most likely insignificant compared to the amounts that your body still produces, even if you are postmenopausal, and likely contributes very little to encouraging an estrogen-sensitive cancer to continue to grow. I think soy products as you would consume them in your diet are an excellent source of low-fat protein. I would not in particular go out of my way to consume concentrated processed soy tablets, thinking that it was going to do any good in terms of the cancer or your overall health, however.
Diana Dyer, M.S., R.D. The term "phytoestrogen" is probably an unfortunate choice of terminology for this particular molecule under discussion because that molecule, which is called genistein, has so many other anti-cancer activities in the body. For example, it functions as an antioxidant, it helps with apoptosis (it encourages bad cells to die), and it's an antiangiogenic agent as well (it decreases the blood supply to a malignancy that is so vital for its growth). So in the overall context of food, it's very likely that all of these other activities of this molecule in our bodies are ultimately more important than whatever small estrogen effect it might have.
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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
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Breastfeeding {Month by Month} | Fit Pregnancy
Breastfeeding {Month by Month}
"A nursing mother and her infant have a special bond, and there is no reason any woman should be in a hurry to give it up." Â corky harvey
Month 1} I’ve heard that getting a proper latch is essential for successful breastfeeding. Is it really that important? Yes, it’s that important. If you don’t get a proper latch, your baby may not get enough milk, and you could develop cracked and bleeding nipples. Following are tips from Corky Harvey, a certified lactation consultant and co-owner of the Pump Station in Santa Monica, Calif., on how to get it right: n Position your baby so he is lying on his side, his belly tight against yours. n Prop up the baby with a pillow and hold him up to your breast; don’t lean over toward him. n Place your thumb and fingers around your areola (the dark area surrounding the nipple). n Tilt your baby’s head back slightly and gently touch him with your nipple just above his upper lip. n When his mouth is open wide, “scoop” your breast into his mouth by placing his lower jaw on first, well behind the nipple. n Tilt his head forward, placing his upper jaw deeply on the breast. Make sure he takes the entire nipple and at least 1 1/2 inches of the areola in his mouth.
Month 2} How do I know if my baby is getting enough milk? The best way to tell is by monitoring his weight (your pediatrician will watch it closely, especially for the first few weeks) and his stools: They should be dark and sticky until about 3 days of age, after which they should be “seedy” and mustard-colored. But you also need to pay attention to the number of wet diapers he has. “After the third day of breastfeeding, a well-fed baby will have at least four wet diapers every day, and six to eight daily by seven days,” says Jeanette Panchula, I.B.C.L.C., a member of the International Lactation Consultant Association. “As long as your baby is gaining weight consistently and his diapers show that he is eating enough, you can assume that he’s getting plenty of milk.” If you’re still concerned, schedule a weight check with your pediatrician.
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x connecticut
Set Clip Length:
on sales? we're here to break down the mcrib effect. ladies, great to have you with us. rachel, i'll start off with you. what sort of impact could we see potentially in the month of december? i read in the past, in 2010 at least, one of these limited introduction offers that it actually boosted sales by almost 5%. >> i think it depends on what the lto is and what the prior year same-store comparison is. i wouldn't expect to see a positive number of the magnitude that you're discussing. actually, frankly, it will probably be something in the single digit negatives. but at least it's a tried-and-true product they know customers will come in for. >> nicole, if the mcrib is so loved, is that why it's always limited, a limited time offer? why don't they just put it on the menu? >> absolutely, it's one of the most anticipated product launches of the year. by to some degree it's tried and tested, but the best thing is to use what you know. they're going up against the most difficult comparison of the year at plus ten. we think a down low single digit would be good. if they could get the flat, it
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21 October 2008
The Bible's guide to abortion
geniusofevil said...
Wow, I think you've really hit on something here that's sure to provoke some thought. And I though your God vs Devil death tally was interesting.
busterggi said...
Well that explains what we're doing wrong.
Priests are supposed to perform abortions, not doctors!
Primus said...
Wait a minute.
You're wife and her lover are to be put death if she is sleeping around, not given bitter / curse / abortion water. Maybe you let the priest give her the curse water, let her bear her iniquity and THEN start killing or at least find someone to kill them.
OR does it matter if she is in the city or in the field? Then you have to go it alone and stone them.
Why is the infallible word of god so confusing?
lolkoran said...
So if you drink mud, you have an abortion? Does Planned Parenthood have a position on this?
Steve Wells said...
Yeah this story seems to be a God-approved abortion procedure. But notice that it is the man, not the woman that decides. It's a forced abortion that is done against the will of the woman.
Good point. I hadn't thought of that! Priests perform biblical abortions, not doctors. Maybe Catholic hospitals can start doing abortions now.
You're right. It is hard to follow the Bible's instructions. But in this case no one knows whether anyone even had sex. The husband just suspects that his wife might have. So there's no man involved, at least no one knows if there is or who he might be. so I guess we can't kill him.
But what about the woman? What if her belly swells and her thigh rots? That would take care of the fetus, but what do we do with her? The test shows that she's guilty, then shouldn't she be killed according to Deuteronomy 22:22?
I don't think Planned Parenthood would approve of this abortion procedure. The woman has no choice, but gets all the blame and punishment.
v_quixotic said...
I wonder how those NIV bozos decided that to have your belly swell and your thigh rot meant you to be made barren and have a miscarrying womb?
geniusofevil said...
I can't wait to talk to my one-issue-voter friend.
William said...
Let us remember that this was old testament, and that the people of israel did not view God as a God of grace (yahway), but reffered to him as that of a God of covenants and contracts (El Oheem). While He is still a God of covenant, there is room for grace in the new covenant. So the whole idea of the ritual surrounding Numbers 5 is that we as a people cannot follow His instruction without grace, and it gives us no right to perform curses on other people who are just as imperfect as those of us who call ourselves "Christians." To follow Christ is to follow a path of love towards everyone regardless of iniquities or imperfections. Please do forgive my misspelling of the Hebrew names of God earlier in the comment.
William F. Sparks
the mysterious said...
You're wrong. An Ephah of Barley is not an abortificient like you claim it is. And your scriptural exegesis is very sloppy at best.
swamijie said...
@the_mysterious: ohrly?!? How how so? please explain it to the heathens...
@William: are you saying people wrote the Old Testament? Meaning, the bible is not the inerrant word of God? Also are you telling me that the Bible is wrong when it says that God told Moses he was YHWH (Yahweh) because according to you, "the people of israel did not view God as a God of grace (yahway), but reffered to him as that of a God of covenants and contracts (El Oheem)". If the ancient Isrealites didn't "view God as a God of grace (yahway)" then why was Moses, the original Isrealite, instructed that God was YHWH and that is referenced throughout the Torah? I also call you out on your use of "grace". Why give instructions if God knows we can't follow them? Even the Jesus described in the Bible would have called for strict application of Mosaic Law.
laura said...
I am always astonished at the ignorance of some people that will write a blog or even an entire book and not have the first clue that the first five books of the Old Testament are obsolete. See the New Testament.
Steve Wells said...
The first five books of the Old Testament are obsolete.
I didn't know that. I guess I really am ignorant.
So the ten commandments are obsolete? (See Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.)
Keri said...
Laura is somewhat correct and needed to expand her comment for your understanding. The old testament is obsolete in that the covenant made in the old testament is no longer valid. God made a new covenant in the new testament. Things from the old testament, if they are to be followed, were re-iterated in the New Testament, like the ten commandments. You might find some explanation in the following website. http://www.bibleword.com/tincoman.htm
Mat Noir said...
Oh That is probably why the barley water no longer makes he belly swell and the thigh rot. Cancel the books, change the chemistry. Smart. Now I believe!
Heidi said...
Hey, it's not magic water, it's ergot poisoning from the fungus growing on the grains on the floor. It's the same thing that caused the Salem Witch Trials.
applefritter2715 said...
Wow, I read that chapter over and over again....and in more than one translation. Not once did I see anything even hinting about a pregnancy. I do know that when my father-in-law died of Cirrhosis (liver disease) from heavy alcohol abuse, he had a hugely swollen belly and died from it. I have a friend who was Vietnam and was affected by Agent Orange and is suffering from liver ailments and he looks like he's pregnant. My conclusion is that this passage doesn't talk about pregnancy, and thus not abortion either.
11freelyb said...
Did any of you read this carefully? It says nothing of the woman being with child. Yes, this is just as bad as the Salem Witch trials and trial by water but let's be fair, it isn't an abortion manual.
Wegita said...
Many people vehemently quote a passage in Leviticus about homosexuality. But, Leviticus is in the old testament. So, if, as you say, there is a new covenant and we should not be bound by the rules of the old testament, then why is that Leviticus passage so touted?
Eric P said...
Ahh your right! There was no mention of the woman being pregnant (in this particular translation). So where are the instructions on what to do with a woman who is pregnant? Oh wait, there are none? God gives instructions on how to poison your wifes womb, these instructions apply whether she is pregnant or not. We can only assume that in some instances the wife became pregnant from cheating and thus the poison womb killed the baby. Unless you know of a exemption clause that gives specific instructions on what to do if your wife gets pregnant, then we have to assume that God killed some pregnant cheating wives.
Excruciating Headache said...
A covenant can never be broken.
The god of israel broke plenty.
Therefore, he is a fraud.
The Old Testament spoke of abortions because they have been necessary since the beginning of time.
I'm glad your lives are so small and perfect that an unwanted pregnancy has never impacted you.
christophales said...
If the Old Testament is obsolete? Why are the two "Greatest" commandments, according to Jesus, found there? See Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18
Meanwhile, God seems to not like the unborn up to one month old. It seems God is very much a forced abortion provider. Exodus 21:22-23, Leviticus 27:6, Numbers 3:15-17, Hosea 9:14-16, Hosea 13:16, 2 Samuel 12:14, Genesis 38:24.
God seems to not like fetus or even young babies, nor think they are worth anything, unless they are part of Ancient Jewish genealogy, which is pretty much what the Law is about, preserving the heritage of Jewish progeny.
James Gilliam said...
Biblical definition of a histerectomy. Acid rips out the uterus...the key word is barren in the NIV footnote.
The choice was always abort ironically.
Its not your body...its a GIRL!
Even if its not a girl but a boy at some point it is a seperate human life.
In cases of infidelity just killing the baby to determine whether it was just jealousy seems tame as compared to.killing both the woman and her male bed buddy.
sunshine jo said...
It's funny how apologetics try to say that the Torah/ Old Testament / book of the Law is obsolete or no longer relevant. What nonsense, they don't even know their own religion. Jesus himself said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." Matt 5:17. Jesus came to FULFILL the Law, the dreadful law of Moses and the Prophets.
sunshine jo said...
Remember that God also called for the stoning of rape victims, which would have led to an abortion in some cases. He clearly was not a fan of illegitimate children.
Deut 22:23-24
Ray said...
There are many passages that indicate that the 'Old Testament' god is anti abortion.
Perhaps, the message is this, abortions for the masses but a select few are special.
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(Updated 10/14/2013)
I get asked what my favorite pens are all of the time. While that is generally an easy question to answer, what the reader often means is "what pen should I buy?" That is a much more difficult question because of the sheer number of variables involved.
With my Top 5 lists, I try to capture what pens I am currently using the most in each category. Not what pens are the best of all-time, or what pens you should rush out and buy. Everyone has different requirements for their writing needs. These lists are the pens that suit my current needs the best.
Pilot Falcon Nib
Top 5 Pens - Overall (Updated Oct. 2013)
1. TWSBI 580 - Hard to beat the value and versatility.
2. Sakura Pigma Micron - My go-to Field Notes pen.
3. Uni-Ball Signo DX 0.38 mm - Vibrant, smooth, and consistent.
4. Ohto Graphic Liner - Still amazed how good this pen is.
5. Uni-Ball Jetstream - The pen of the people, and me if it is 0.5 mm.
Top 5 Micro Gel Ink Pens (Updated Oct. 2013)
1. Uni-Ball Signo DX 0.38 mm - More consistent than the Hi-Tec-C.
2. Pilot Hi-Tec-C 0.3 mm - The finest, crispest lines going.
4. Pentel Slicci 0.25 mm - A pen this fine shouldn't be this smooth.
5. Pentel Energel Euro Needle 0.35 mm - Another sleeper pen. You have to try it to believe.
Top 5 Pens In The Store
2. Uni-ball Signo 207 - "But what can I buy at Staples that is good?" This.
3. Sharpie Pen - Would be #1 if it was more durable.
4. Pentel EnerGel - People swear by their EnerGels.
5. Pilot Precise - The only liquid ink pen to consider.
Top 5 Fountain Pens - No-Brainers (Updated Oct. 2013)
1. TWSBI 580 - TWSBI should be Taiwanese for "Great value."
2. Lamy 2000 - The perfect combination of style, performance, and price.
3. Pilot Vanishing Point - An elite writer, especially on the fine end of the spectrum.
4. Kaweco AL Sport - The pocket fountain pen king.
5. Lamy AL Star - I always have a Lamy inked up and handy.
Top 5 Fountain Pens - Some-Brainers (Updated Oct. 2013)
1. Pilot Custom Heritage 91 - The best 14k nib pen no one knows about.
2. Pilot Falcon - The flex nib is a life changer.
3. Edison Beaumont - I thought I was a Pearl man. I was wrong.
4. Pilot Custom Heritage 912 - The big brother to the 91, and the owner of the PO nib.
5. Pelikan M405 - It's hard to explain a Pelikan in words. You have to feel one for yourself.
Top 5 Fountain Pen Inks (Updated Oct. 2013)
1. Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-Kai - Blue Black inks are my favorites, and this one tops them all.
2. Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa - I swap inks a lot and this one always makes the rotation.
3. Lamy Blue Black - Simple, cheap, effective...and beautiful.
4. Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki - Bright blues are another vice of mine. Beautiful shading.
5. Noodler's Apache Sunset - My orange of choice. Load it in a flex nib and go to town.
Top 5 Plastic Tip Pens
1. Sakura Pigma Micron - The Heavyweight Champion. Everyone can use a Micron.
3. Kuretake Zig - One of the biggest surprises I have tested.
4. Sharpie Pen - Readily available and solid choice.
5. Uni Pin - Solid entry level drawing pen.
Top 5 Paper Products
1. Doane Paper Idea Journal - Beautiful, durable, and portable.
2. Rhodia Dot Pad - My favorite fountain pen paper.
3. Maruman Mnemosyne Inspiration - As good as Rhodia and more portable, but costs more.
4. Field Notes Memo Books - Love the seasonal releases.
5. Doane Paper Utility Notebook - More fountain pen friendly than Field Notes.
Top 5 Ballpoint Pens
1. Uni-ball Jetstream 0.5 mm - Sharp, fine and solid lines. Elite, but not for everyone.
2. Pilot Acroball 0.5 mm - More like a 1A with the Jetstream.
3. Pentel Vicuna 0.7 mm - A big surprise with its pitch black ink.
4. Pilot Dr. Grip 0.7 mm - The best of the traditional ballpoints.
5. Zebra Surari 0.5 mm - 0.5 mm or nothing for the Surari.
Top 5 Pen & Pencil Cases
1. Nomadic PD-04 Roller - My all day, every day pen case.
2. Doane Paper Leather 4 Barrel Holster - If it's not in the PD-04 it's in here.
3. Alter Manufacturing Mod.02 - Durability at its finest.
4. Nomadic PE-10 Tri-Fold - Love this case for extra storage.
5. Kokuyo NeoCritz Transformer - Perfect for students or cube jockeys.
Top 5 Kickstarter Pens
1. Render K - Hard to beat the simple beauty of the Render K.
2. Now & Then Eco-Essential Pen - Bamboo pen done right.
3. Solid Titanium Pen + Stylus - Refills galore fit the Ti.
4. Pen Type-A - The one that started it all. Not a portable option.
5. Premier Pen P1 - Sleek elongated bullet style looks great.
Top 5 Extreme Weather Pens
1. Tombow Airpress - My pressurized refill pen of choice.
2. Uni-ball Power Tank - Writes great, could use a more durable barrel.
3. Fisher Space Pen - The classic, but not the best writer.
4. Tombow Airpress Apro - Smaller, slimmer sibling of the Airpress.
5. Pilot Down Force - Solid clip and barrel, average writer.
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Ultimately, it's our responsibility to read and understand each social media website's privacy policies and practices. With that said, trying to decipher what a team of lawyers has put together is not an easy task; especially when the language is intentionally designed to keep everyone in the dark.
Weighing Online Privacy Issues And Social Benefits
While total anonymity on or off the internet is impossible, when it comes to social media we need to weigh the benefit and the price of admission.
Why do we use social media in the first place?
• To network with other like-minded people?
• To place links to our blogs, websites and other social networks?
• To share our interests with our online connections?
What are your internet privacy Issues?
• Your physical address or location publicized?
• Your personal identity being hijacked?
• Stolen financial account access?
Both social media benefits and the online privacy issues that go with them are important but, for the most part, can be controlled with a little common sense.
Your Birthday
My online birthday is not my real birthday. For years I've been using the same wrong birth date for online profiles. The year is correct but the month and day are fictitious and that's to protect myself.
Your Address
Most social media sites don't require an address but if you are going to make a purchase that requires delivery I recommend getting a PO Box. I use my box number on PayPal, eBay, my domain registrations and anywhere else I'm required to have an address. It's a simply matter to locate our actual home address but why advertise it everywhere?
Your Phone Number
There isn't a need to include your phone number with most membership sites. If you are going to list your phone number, I recommend using only a cell phone.
Your Social Security Number
You should not include your SS# for social media or membership sites. Many affiliate, PPC and CPA programs require your social security number for tax purposes. Use common sense and be certain you are only using legitimate websites with no past online privacy issues.
Social Media Site Connections
It is super easy to register and log-in with many social networking sites simply by allowing connections with other websites such as your Facebook or Twitter accounts. Check the privacy policies and practices of each site before you allow these connections. A simple Google search can help find potential internet privacy issues with sites in question.
Your Picture
Use an image as your avatar if you're not comfortable using your actual photo. Some blogs and forums and won’t allow registration without an actual picture.
Your Name
Personally, I have no problem using my name. In fact, it's part of my brand. Just like your picture, many blogs and forums will not allow you to use an alias or company name. Google+ also requires a real name. If you tell me your name is Steve Scott, how do I know if that's really your name? But if you try to comment on my blog using more than one name using the same IP address, website or email, I'm going to think you're a spammer. Your name certainly isn't "Cheap Water Beds" - that is spamming.
Your Email Address
I know many people are using separate email accounts for various online purposes and I am no exception. Don't use your primary email or your work email if you don't know for a fact that the site isn't going to offer it up to the highest bidder or send you many emails a day. Don't assume you can easily unsubscribe.
Limited Privacy On The Internet
Online privacy issues are real and as we become more and more connected on the internet; the easier it is to gain personal information about us. We, as individuals, have to determine what information we are willing to share. Internet privacy concerns are one thing, paranoia is another.
Use common sense and don't post pictures that are going to come back and haunt you later. Don't launch personal attacks that are going to get you in trouble. Don't share so much information on status updates that you become an easy target or victim.
The Bottom Line
There are always going to be websites abusing our privacy and there are always going to be those that want complete anonymity. We can enjoy our online experience with limited online privacy issues by understanding what is being recorded, how it's used and whether or not we can opt out BUT there is a give and take with everything we do online.
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electronic MUSICIAN
Peavey MuseBox
By Craig Anderton | August 23, 2012
Tone module meets processor meets guitar rig meets drums
Peavey’s MuseBox packs the power of a computer dedicated to musical applications.
Apparently, musebox couldn’t decide what it wanted to be, so it decided to be as much as possible. A Muse Receptor offspring, it’s basically a computer disguised as a roadworthy, compact 2U half-rack module that offers two audio inputs with processing, two channels of virtual instruments you drive via the MIDI input (USB or 5-pin), and the ability to mix all signal sources and process the mixed output.
Like Receptor, the MuseBox architecture runs plug-ins—six instruments and 13 processors, although most are multi-purpose, so they do more than you might initially think. You can’t just install any plug-ins you want, but MuseBox is expandable with additional Peavey-authorized plug-ins that load from a CompactFlash card port.
Inside and Out MuseBox runs Linux on a dual-core processor, with 2GB RAM and an 8GB solid-state drive. The VGA video out and four USB ports allow hooking up a monitor and mouse, then accessing the internal software to re-order plug-ins, open plug-in GUIs, and more. You can also run Mac/Windows software and control MuseBox via Ethernet, but the software is more sluggish than running from the Muse- Box itself.
Two front-panel mic/instrument Neutrik combo input jacks have associated level controls, along with switchable +48V for the pair. Or, use two rear-panel TRS 1/4" line inputs. Two knobs provide parameter navigation/tweaking, while eight switches cover edit and setup. For monitoring, a front panel headphone jack supplements the two rear panel 1/4" unbalanced outs; there’s also a single- or double-footswitch jack.
Using It Guitarists and bassists can use the included version of ReValver HP (and multiple other processors) to create a portable guitar rig—while also feeding in a mic for vocal or instrument processing. Keyboardists can split/layer the two virtual instruments for a very capable tone module, and drummers can hook up a drum controller—instant electronic drum “brain.” But MuseBox really shines when you take advantage of all of the above; for example, a duo with a singing guitar player and keyboardist wouldn’t need anything more than MuseBox, a MIDI controller, and P.A. system. (Note that it takes a few seconds to load instruments and presets, as the RAM has to be flushed and reloaded.)
MuseBox is also a versatile studio tool, with hundreds of quality instrument presets— drums, keyboard, bass, brass, pads, loops, sound effects, you name it. You can even use a synth controller that generates sound, and patch its audio outs into the audio ins while driving the internal sounds via MIDI. Furthermore, as most DAWs have the ability to use external processors as inserts, you can bounce your tracks through the wide variety of processing; there are hundreds of presets, and like the virtual instruments, they’re tagged into categories so you don’t have to hunt too hard to find them.
While it’s useful in the studio, I see Muse- Box’s “killer app” as onstage—few devices offer this kind of power, at this price, and can handle both solo musicians and small ensembles. Peavey's record of tech innovation has sometimes flown under the radar, but MuseBox is their latest example of tech innovation in a powerful, intuitive package.
STRENGTHS: Processes and mixes two audio signals and virtual instruments. Roadworthy, compact. Useful mix of plug-ins and instrument/processor presets. Can expand with additional plug-ins. Painless user interface.
LIMITATIONS: Controlling with external computer is slow compared to onboard editing. One headphone jack. Expandability limited to plug-ins adapted to the MuseBox platform.
$1,399.99 MSRP, $1,000 street
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Will I be able to convert my principal name by dumping the current
database with kdb5_util and then editing the file and changing the
realm name on each principal?
This way, I would load the new database an upgrade all keytabs.
Is this possible??
>I have installed one realm but now I need to change all my principals
>(mainly users) to a new realm.
>Can I export the users from my old realm to the new one? How can I fo that?
>I am using krb5-1.4.1.
Kerberos mailing list Kerberos@mit.edu
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Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
This Old House
Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon makes home improvement a pleasure.
By Steve Heisler • March 25, 2013
One of the most important missions in Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon involves normal household chores. Playing as the less-beloved Mario Brother, Luigi, I was given a vacuum and a flashlight, and I cleaned out the cobwebs in a haunted mansion. Moments earlier, I was reeling in ghosts with wild abandon—Ghostbusters meets Deadliest Catch. I faced ghouls who flaunted their superiority like a blow-up guy in front of a used car dealership. But at this moment, I was doing something I don’t even like doing in real life. I vacuumed until the house literally sparkled. I couldn’t have been happier.
Dark Moon hits that sweet spot between the pragmatic and the fanciful. Yes, you have to meticulously comb and scrub as if anticipating a visit from your ghost-bubbie. But it’s a freakin’ haunted house full of eccentric-millionaire surprises, like a fountain that sprays you in the face before revealing a secret room. It’s reminiscent of olden days Nintendo, when heroes didn’t need a market research-approved backstory for motivation. They had a princess to save, and though it might be fun to find out what happens when they do, the real joy came from wandering about a surreal and preposterous world.
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
The creative engine of Dark Moon is at least 12 years old, and it purrs like a classic car—a seductive vroom-vroom that’ll get you where you want to go with flair. The original Luigi’s Mansion was a 2001 launch title for the GameCube console, and it was a rare moment for Luigi to step out from Mario’s shadow. Luigi was cast into the darkness of a haunted mansion, creeping around corners with a flashlight, sucking up ghosts, and sweating uncontrollably.
Dark Moon, for the portable 3DS system, is no stranger to the schvitz, either. It has been a while since Luigi was last summoned by lunatic inventor Professor E. Gadd—a scientist who resembles a living Hershey’s Kiss—to a spooky parallel dimension. Gadd calls on the plumber after interlopers destroy the Dark Moon, a crystalline Lucky Charm that placates the local ghost population so that Gadd and the ghouls can pursue science together. King Boo, the chubby ghost villain from the last game, shatters the moon, ending the harmonious working relationship and forcing Gadd to retreat.
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Luigi is theoretically braver than Gadd—taller, at least—but he’s still teleported against his will to a series of mansions so he can recover the pieces of Dark Moon. He shakes and moans as Gadd watches in delight. That might as well be the game’s soundtrack. Track 1: “Aaaaaaaaaaaah!” Track 2: “Guuuuuuuuuh!” Track 3 is the sound of Luigi’s own 3DS ringing when Gadd telephones to offer Luigi pointers. Gadd is obsessive about giving hints, to the extent that his calls inspire dread. Excessive help has become Nintendo’s recent calling card—“Leave ’em wanting less” appears to be the philosophy. Out of misplaced fear that I’ll walk away in disgust if I experience slight frustration, the game’s designers tell me everything.
They could stand to have more faith, as Dark Moon has plenty of allure without all the help. Luigi’s makeshift ghost-hunting gear is a peanut butter-chocolate combo that merges common household items with supernatural powers—the kind of fantasies dreamed up by a bored kid with an active imagination. Specters come in all shapes and sizes; there are plump yellow ones that spit bile, for instance, and flying tadpoles with see-thru brains. They all succumb to the suck of your Poltergust 5000, reeled in like wild bass on a fishing line. You stun the ghosts using a high-beam flashlight, switch on the vacuum to create an inescapable vortex, and pull hard. Often the beasts are so big that you’re dragged around the room, waterski style. As you gain control, yanking with all your might as you spiral across the carpet, fear is replaced by confidence.
When you clear a nightmarish library or creepy conservatory of all ghosts, the lights turn on, a fitting reward for your bravery. Cower no more—you can strut proudly in brightness. Marvel at your unimpeachable level of disinfection. The fanfare is kind of ridiculous—all you did was, say, capture three vain apparitions carrying mirrors (and in this particular case, the “room” that you clean is a graveyard). Still, there’s a real sense of accomplishment, in an insane context.
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
The triumph is fleeting. There are always darker lairs to explore or an inept toadstool friend to save. And there are puzzles in Dark Moon that require Luigi not only to handle himself with composure in frightening circumstances, but also to navigate the inner workings of a Rube Goldberg-type hydraulic pump. It’s a lot to juggle, and once again it’s a blend of the practical and the whimsical, as your goal is to replace lost pipes and aid the growth of a giant beanstalk.
So not only do you ensure that no stray cobweb depreciates the value of your mansions, you also become intimately familiar with their plumbing systems. Plus there’s some light landscaping and garage cleanup. The whole mansion glimmers as you, the landlord of this ghost-vomit cul-de-sac, gamely scout out your next fixer-upper.
Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon
Developer: Next Level Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Price: $40
Rating: E
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Write a scintillating comment
• DrFlimFlam
This game (alongside Fire Emblem) is the tipping point in favor of me being fully interested in a 3DS.
• Enkidum
So what you’re telling me is Luigi’s becoming a slum landlord, right?
• HobbesMkii
“Oh, Mister Luigi, there’s water coming out of pipe in my ceiling. I asked you to fix it two months ago, and now there’s black mold all over.”
“You should-a vacate the premises as-a soon as-a possible. Me-a gonna burn-a down the building and claim-a the insurance. This-a Section 8 housing is not as-a profitable as-a Toad led-a me to believe.”
• Unexpected Dave
The DS was a really hard system to keep up with; there were so many great games.
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Obama is standing traditional foreign policy thinking on its head, but why?
I wrote here and here about how President Obama tilted American policy in South Asia away from our natural ally, India, and towards Pakistan, a country with whom we have little natural affinity and whose role in Afghanistan has remained ambiguous at best. Obama’s approach to South Asia is consistent with his approach to foreign policy general. In the Middle East, he tilted away from our long-time ally, Israel. In Eastern Europe, he tilted towards an increasingly hostile Russia and away from Poland and the Czech Republic.
The pattern seems unmistakable.
Like most species, though perhaps not to the same extent, humans have an innate ability to distinguish between those who wish them well and those who don’t, and to act accordingly. Since the beginning of recorded history, peoples (whether in tribes, nation states, or some other grouping) have used this ability in dealing with other peoples. Hostility has been answered with hostility. So has ambivalence, though to a lesser degree.
A tribe or nation might ally with a one-time enemy, or even a potential future one, to defeat a current enemy. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” and all that. But a tribe or nation would only do so if it were sure that the would-be “friend” actually is the dedicated enemy of the tribe or nation’s enemy (which Pakistan is not). And in the absence of a common enemy, a powerful nation would favor its friends over its non-friends.
Why, then, is Obama’s default position to distance the U.S. from traditional friends and allies who generally share our values, and to cozy up to traditionally hostile entities who don’t?
I believe one or both of two things may be going on. The first is the quest for sophistication. Any old foreign policy analyst can follow the standard approach of treating friends better than non-friends and enemies. It takes a special, advanced thinker of a foreign policy analyst to reject this age-old wisdom as outdated or mythical. And many a baby-boomer analyst wants nothing more than to be an advanced thinker. In pop psychology terms, this rejection of the age-old wisdom may have something to do with the desire to surpass the father, a normal impulse but one that shouldn’t lead to the embrace of aburdities.
The second possibility goes beyond the quest for sophistication into a deeper emotional realm. What if the “tribe” we were born into is defective to the point that its enemies should be viewed in a favorable, or at least a neutral, light? Then, the “tribe’s” friends may not merit special consideration; if anything they may merit contempt. And even if we are ambivalent about our “tribe,” not downright disgusted with it, the traditional notion of how to treat the tribe’s friends and enemies may tend to unravel. In pop psychological terms, we’re no longer talking about the desire to surpass the father; generally speaking (though not in Obama’s particular case, to the extent his approach to foreign policy stems from ambivalence about America), we’re talking about trying to kill him.
Whatever the drivers, Obama’s moves towards abandoning the traditional way of approaching foreign friends and enemies is as radical as anything else he is attempting or seriously contemplating. In some ways, they resemble abandoning thousands of years of thought about what constitutes marriage, but with greater risk, I would argue, to our security, and without any sensible countervailing humanitarian or egalitarian argument.
That is why, while public opinion seems to be moving in favor of gay marriage, it continues to have little apparent sympathy for the mistreatment of traditional allies and the coddling of traditional adversaries.
Recommend this Power Line article to your Facebook friends.
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Digital disruption and startups: Q&A with Saul Klein, Index Ventures
With the internet accounting for 8% of the UK's GDP it is becoming more and more fundamental to the economy
Saul Klein, Index Ventures
The disruptive impact of the internet on the economy should not be underestimated. Photograph: .
Ahead of the Changing Media Summit 2013, Saul Klein, a partner at Index Ventures, spoke to us about digital disruption, startups and why the internet has an impact on every single area of our lives.
Can you tell us a little about Index Ventures?
Index Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm. We invest around the world, at all stages from seed to early to growth and across sectors from media, retail, financial services to life science.
Which media/tech areas do you think are ripe for disruption in 2013?
We focus our investments on the internet and software. What we've seen is that both the internet and software have disrupted sector after sector. From the mid-90s, entertainment and media have been feeling the effects. Retail is probably the second major sector to have experienced significant levels of disruption over the past 10 years, with e-commerce, particularly in the UK, accounting for a huge amount of how people go about buying and selling things.
Increasingly, other sectors, financial services, education – are being disrupted as well. I would say that there are five or six sectors – media, retail, financial services, telecoms, education and software – that are all actively being affected by a combination of the internet and cloud computing.
Our long-term belief is that there is no sector of the economy that will not end up being changed by a combination of the internet and software. If you look at the UK, 8% of GDP is accounted for by the internet, the highest level in the G20. Arguably, the internet is disrupting the economy rather than any sector of the economy.
What advice would you give to startups and entrepreneurs?
I think it depends at what stage. At the earlier stages we would always say to people to pick a market that is very large and significant. Focus on building a product or a service that people really want and ideally would be prepared to pay for, even if you choose to give it away for free. So building a really valuable product or service that customers like that they become reliant on is critical. And obviously to try and do that in a market that is large enough that were you to succeed you could build a business both significant and meaningful in scale.
We tell people not to worry about incumbents. Not to worry too much about your competition. Just focus on making something great in a big market and making sure you build the best team you can possibly build.
How do you think the digital startup scene differs here compared to Israel and to the US?
I think the key hubs are becoming more and more similar. If you are in involved in the tech ecosystem in London you will feel pretty at home in New York, Tel Aviv, San Francisco or Berlin or Stockholm. I think there is a level of convergence between these different ecosystems where founders and people within them know each other pretty well and you can go from one to another fairly easily.
What's different is the world outside of your bubble. So in San Francisco and the Bay area generally big companies, the media, friends, family really understand the language and modus operandi of the startup community and you feel very much supported there. The same is true of Israel, where startups part of the culture to the extent that it has been called the startup nation.
In cities where there are long-established alternative ecosystems, such as London and New York, it's much harder to be fully integrated into the wider network of that city. But I think that's starting to change where big companies and the media and the government become very aware of how fundamental the internet is to the economy. In the UK it's the third largest sector in our economy.
Finally — what will be your message to the industry at the Changing Media Summit 2013?
People are very aware how fundamental the internet and software's impact has been on media to date. But what's interesting to me now is not just how fundamental an impact the internet and software is having on media or on retail, but on the economy and society as a whole. When the internet is 8% of GDP, it's fundamental. Today it's starting to seep into education, soon it'll be in healthcare, transportation, food and energy. Media and retail are just the beginning.
Saul Klein is a partner at Index Ventures
About us
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On the Road
Come on up to Toronto's Truck World, eh
April 19, 2012
It's my old stomping ground, and a great place to meet everyone who has something to offer the trucking industry.
Truck World is the Canadian equivalent of the Mid-America Trucking Show. Though it pales in size by comparison, it's the big event on the trucking calendar in Canada. Up here, the show alternates between Toronto and Montreal. When Montreal has the privilege of hosting the show, it's called Expo-Cam, a short form of Exposition de Camion, which is French for Truck Show. Easy, eh? Montreal hosts the show in October, while Toronto gets it in April. That's the only confusing part.
All the major OEs are here, Eaton, Meritor, Cummins, all the truck and trailer people, along with tons of Tier 2 and 3 suppliers as well as legions of small providers of software, managements systems, widgets of all descriptions and anything else one might expect at a truck show -- including amazing beer nuts.
This year, I'm hearing that the order boards are starting to slim down a little. Several OEs are reporting cancelled orders, and have said that their bigger fleet customers just aren't placing any new orders. It seems like many of the big fleets have done their buying for the year, and lots of the smaller fleets aren't yet seeing the firmness in the market they'd prefer before committing to any serious expansion.
While the number of exhibitors is down from previous years, exhibitors say that traffic on the first day of the show was better then they have seen in previous years.
We traditionally don't see many new product announcements at Truck World, as most of the OEs throw everything they have at Mid America. This year, however, Volvo announced a new XE package for its D16 engine, targeting Canada's high-GVW B-train, quad, tridem, and LCV haulers.
The Canadian market, being roughly the same size as California but with very high gross vehicle weights, doesn't get a lot of debut announcements from the Big OEs, so it's nice to see Volvo come to the table with product designed especially for Canada. I'm predicting sales of the XE16 will be robust among the crowds who haul something larger than tandems around the country.
Truck World might be a bit of a trek from, say, Topeka, but it's just 90 minutes from Buffalo and two hours from Detroit. So if you're in upstate or western New York, southern Michigan, or western Pennsylvania, it's literally just across the bridge.
The show is open Friday and Saturday, and there's a Tim Hortons just down the street, so you can't go wrong.
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Bassein, also called VasaiMain entrance to the Portuguese fort at Bassein, Maharashtra, India.Himanshu Sarpotdartown, western Maharashtra state, western India. It lies on the Arabian Sea coast north of Mumbai (Bombay). Part of the territory of the Hindu Devagiri Yadavas until 1317, it later became a seaport for the Gujarat Muslim kings. In 1526 the Portuguese established a fort (now in ruins) and trading station at Bassein, and the town became famous for its shipbuilding industry. After frequent but unsuccessful attacks by the Mughals in the 17th century, it fell to the Marathas in 1739 and was later taken by the British. The town is a large-scale fishing centre and a wholesale exporter for agricultural produce. Its industries are silk and cotton hand-loom weaving and salt manufacture. Pop. (2001) town, 49,337; urban agglom., 174,396.
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The Illinois and Michigan Canal, 1827–1911
A Selection of Documents from the Illinois State Archives
December 8, 1849
Print Document | View Transcription
When the canal first was opened in the spring of 1848 only sixteen boats had been commissioned to navigate through it. But demand soon was met and by the end of that first summer a large number of boats, in various degrees of soundness, were operating. Passenger packets and line, lake, and river craft generally were keelboats. The smaller lake and river boats in question probably were steam powered. The decked and open scows were flatboats.
Toll collectors, in granting clearances, were required to account for each boat's cargo and to match tallies with bills of lading (see document 42). They recorded passenger names as well. John H. Kinzie had been appointed the canal's toll collector and inspector for Chicago on May 6, 1848. His annual salary was $1,000. Kinzie served in this position until 1861 when President Lincoln appointed him Chicago's paymaster for the army. John H. Kinzie's father, John Kinzie, had been one of the city's earliest white settlers, having arrived in 1804.
Points to Consider
What percentage of boats registered, minus the number with name changes, had been lost or were unfit for service? Why might this have been?
With the canal stretching ninety-six miles, how many boats per mile were on it December 8, 1849?
What was a pass. packet? Why would one have chosen to have traveled in a passenger packet along the canal rather than by stagecoach?
If you had been transporting grain in an open scow along the I and M, what would have been your principal concern?
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Most Geoscientists Reject Global Warming Theory
The argument from authority is the only argument climate alarmists are willing to make these days–when is the last time you saw one of them sharing a podium with a climate realist?–so this survey, reported by James Taylor of Forbes represents a significant nail in the alarmist coffin:
What I refer to as the “global warming theory” is properly denominated “catastrophic anthropogenic global warming.” Alarmists constantly pull a bait and switch by claiming that nearly all climate scientists “believe in global warming.” But what does that mean? The only proposition on which there is anything like unanimity is that it is warmer now than during the depths of the Little Ice Age–an utterly trivial proposition. Those who demand draconian action on the climate must go far beyond this: they must argue that 1) the Earth is warming at an alarming if not unprecedented rate, and will continue to warm significantly in the future; 2) that warming will have catastrophic consequences; 3) the warming is caused primarily if not exclusively by human activity; and 4) there are some practical measures that humans can take to prevent future warming from occurring. It is clear that only a minority of scientists in the relevant fields believe that all of those propositions are true.
Recommend this Power Line article to your Facebook friends.
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Recaptured!: 88. Rejoined
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88. Rejoined
"Aiiieee!" Merry slumped forward in the saddle and Éowyn caught him and pulled him up so she could look into his face.
"What is it Merry?" She guessed the answer before he spoke. Éowyn had seen that expression on Legolas's face too many times to not know. "Does the Wraith speak?"
"He pursues Pippin and Legolas." Merry whispered urgently with a shudder. "I can't help… I-I no Pip. Ssshhh Pip!"
Éowyn held her hand up to Drâmym and Ŭnomer, indicating they should halt. The men pulled up beside her and dismounted, then helped the lady to lift Merry down. They set the halfling on the ground and Éowyn sat beside him, holding his hands as he seemed to be lost in a trance, much the same as she had experienced with Legolas, muttering to himself or saying half formed sentences to Éowyn and breathing too quickly.
"They fall!" Merry breathed, "Arod was overcome with fear and has thrown them in his terror. Aiieeee!" Merry put his hand to his head in obvious pain, but not where the previous damage lay, it was the opposite temple. Then he seemed to relax again. "It's Legolas, he fell from the horse and hit his head, but he is unconscious now, I no longer feel him."
"Does he live?" Éowyn asked anxiously.
"Yes, I feel him still." Merry put his hand to his heart. "Pippin has drawn his blade and stands betwixt Legolas and the Wraith. He is so brave Éowyn, but I fear for them both!"
"Merry?" Éowyn could see the distress on her blind companion's face.
"The Wraith reaches for Pippin, no please! He has lifted Pippin! Oh Pippin no! But… but…" Merry suddenly looked down at the rope wound around his middle. "Look Éowyn! Can you see it?"
Éowyn followed the gaze of Merry's blind eyes and saw with astonishment that the rope about the halfling's waist was glowing with an eerie, silvery light. "Yes Merry, I see it. Do you? How can you?"
"I don't know." Merry whispered. "It's magnic – I mean magic, that is, it's enchanted in some way, it's what happened before, when Pip and I were in danger. It… oh Pippin! He is winding it into a noose!"
Éowyn held Merry tightly as he hyperventilated, she could feel his heart beating fast in obvious fear for his cousin. Eventually Merry calmed a little and spoke "Pippin was thrown from the back of the Wraith's steed, he is on the ground." Several moments passed as the two sat still, Merry's pain and anxiety throbbing into Éowyn as the two emissaries waited patiently, holding the horses, wondering what was happening.
Merry began to tremble and Éowyn took his face in her hands and soothed his hair back from his forehead. Suddenly at the contact she felt a twinge, something from before. Just as she had linked minds through Legolas when directing Merry to set Pippin's foot, she was back in the minds of the hobbits. Mostly she felt Merry's thoughts, but through those she knew what was happening to Pippin as well. At first she went to withdraw, as it was accidental and felt like an intrusion. But Merry's mind held her close, wanting her there, feeling her calming but strong influence.
They felt Pippin's terror of the Witch-King, but also his resolve and bravery now in the face of this enemy. Then they knew that Gandalf was riding to his aid, but felt Pip's horror as the Wraith moved towards him again.
"Ohhh! Merry no!" Éowyn felt her own heart leap now as she felt rather than saw, through Merry via Pippin's thoughts, the brave Captain. Pippin's mind described the one that he had saved from the orc. The man who took his hand and said things he couldn't hear. "Faramir!" Éowyn realised she had gasped his name out loud. "No! Please no!"
The two continued to cling together as Gandalf arrived and drove the Witch-king back. Éowyn and Merry both drew a sigh of relief as they realised through Pippin that, although injured, both Legolas and Faramir lived. Then gradually, as the fear subsided, the link grew less and without verbalising both the hobbits knew they must draw back now and hide their minds from the Wraith as best they could.
"TOO LATE" The Witch-King snarled to himself. "I SEE YOU BLIND HALFLING!"
The company of marching orcs were moving slowly now, almost at a standstill, as they had reached the mouth of Udûn and were waiting their turn to go through. Several roads met at this point and many companies had arrived there at once so there was much pushing and shoving. Sam was relieved for the brief respite, as he had run the whole way, albeit with Grutfley's supporting arm. It was dark now and in the distance they could see watchfires on the walls, but the immediate area was lit only by the odd torch.
At this convergence there was much confusion and skirmishes and fights were breaking out, not just in this battalion, but in the lines pouring in from other directions, it was noisy and chaotic with order rapidly breaking down. The orc bosses were running up and down the lines cracking whips and brandishing swords, desperately trying to keep order.
Smagnu was still concealing Frodo in his arms, wondering what to do with these two imps. To let them carry on into Udûn and thence to battle, he was sure would be the end of them. He was certain that was not where they had intended to go, just as he was equally certain he wanted to know nothing more about where they did intend to go, or why he felt the smaller one carried some hidden, terrible danger.
"Hoi you! Smag, whacha got under yer cloak?" The slave-driver with the whip came back down the line. ". . .'r yer tryin' to flitch summat?"
Smagnu thought quickly, "No Chief, this one was tryin' to get off, so I just pulled him back again." The Uruk set Frodo down next to Sam, "he won't try it again."
"I'll give 'im what fer." The whip wielding orc strode over to grab Frodo by the arm but Smagnu stood in front.
"I said, he won't try it again, an' I meant it." Smagnu growled and Grutfley sidled silently up beside his companion, his hand on the long dagger in his belt.
"Dare says 'n 'e won't," the slave-driver cracked the whip at his side. "just need to make 'n example out o' some o' 'em, thass all, give it 'ere."
As the two Uruks confronted each other Sam moved in front of Frodo and just behind Smagnu. Their part of the line had stopped now and all the orcs nearby were the smaller driven breed. They tried to move away from the two mighty uruks, not wanting to get caught up in a brawl that could easily get them killed. Grutfley scanned the lines, watching Smagnu's back. The other Chiefs he could see were occupied near the front of the battalion, trying to keep order amongst the weary ranks, who were now pushing to get through the gate.
There were large circles forming around various fights and the bosses had given up trying to stop them, but were instead wagering on the outcome. The loser would wind up dead and the spectacle, shouting and cursing in the meantime would entertain the others.
"Go on, 'ave 'im." Grutfley urged quietly to Smagnu, "...'s all clear."
"I said," Smagnu took a step towards the whip holder, "he's all right, leave him be!"
"P'raps yer'd like a taste o' the whip yerself." The orc expertly cracked the lash swiftly across Smagnu's face. Sam caught hold of Frodo pushing him further away and shielding him with his body, his hand on the hilt of his own sword ready to fight to the death if needed. Both he and Frodo were astonished that these two orcs were prepared to defy their own masters in their defence.
Smagnu growled and the whip rose again, coming down across his back. This time the Uruk turned slightly with the blow and caught the end of the lash in his fist. He spun his arm to wrap the thong several times around, to get a better purchase on it. The whip orc jerked it back in anger, but Smagnu pulled harder bringing the slave-driver towards him and smashing his raised elbow into the other's face as he fell forward.
The smaller orcs scattered as the big body fell amongst them and Grutfley moved in front of Sam and Frodo, shielding the little imps from the fight, whilst reaching for his dagger. Smagnu followed his adversary down to the ground, his knee in the other's stomach and his great fist driving into the already broken nose.
The downed orc still had a good length of the whip in his hand and expertly flicked the slack around Smagnu's neck. He twisted the two ends together to make a garrotte and began turning it slowly but tightly, a malicious grin on his face that showed it was not the first time he had despatched a victim in this way.
Smagnu growled with anger and moved his knee from the other's belly, straightened his leg, then brought it up again viciously into the other's groin. The blow brought an agonised groan from the slave-driver and this gave Smagnu a second's respite but before he could deliver another attack the lash twisted again. His breath began to fail and the sounds of jeering and fighting from the other orc battles became distant, as his eyes dimmed and all around him began to fade to black.
"Mr Smagnude? Mr Smagnude?" It sounded like new Little Pip for a moment, not the same accent exactly, but the kind of thing he would say. Had he died? Had new Little Pip died and come to greet him? Is that what happened? No, surely he could not end up in an afterlife that had a creature so gentle and good as new Little Pip in it too?
Smagnu opened his eyes. The dark haired, thin-faced little imp was standing in front of him, leaning down and looking anxiously into his face, with his companion just behind him. He looked a little further and could see Grutfley pulling his long bladed dagger out of the whip wielder's back. Once more, his partner had assuredly saved his life.
The surly orc came quickly over to his companion. "C'mon Smagnu, get on yer feet." He hauled the bigger orc up and looked surreptitiously around. "Don't think any of the bigger ones've noticed yet." He pushed the long whip into Smagnu's hand. "You jest take over, no one'll care."
"Right." Smagnu was up and functioning again. "Er. . . Thanks again, Grutfley."
"Saving my skin again, 's getting to be a habit with yer." Smagnu grimaced.
"Yer can do the same fer us sometime." Grutfley harrumphed, a little embarrassed now.
Smagnu turned to Frodo and Sam who were now holding onto each other, their cloaks drawn tightly about them, looking in awe at their two champions. "You's two'd better get off while yer can." Smagnu looked quickly around, then gave them a little push towards the side of the road where Grutfley was now dragging the slave driver's body. Several of the smaller orcs were helping him, they had suffered under his lash and were not averse to the idea of a new master, especially one that seemed willing to stand up for their kind.
Smagnu hustled Frodo and Sam to the edge of the road. It had a high kerb by which troop-leaders could guide themselves in black night or fog and it was banked up some feet above the level of the open land. The hobbits looked over the side but could see nothing below.
"Do you have any food?" Smagnu asked them, suddenly smiling to himself at the memory of how much the little Pips liked to eat, especially how excited Little Pip got whenever he brought them something good.
"Yes Sir, Pip gave us some." Frodo opened his cloak to show Smagnu the bag tied around his shoulder. "He tried to give us all he had, but we made him take a little back."
Smagnu recognised his food bag. "Thass the one that was stolen from us. Little Pip must've recaptured it." Smagnu laughed at this. "He always was a good little thief."
"Oh is it yours?" Frodo went to take the bag off and return it to its rightful owner.
"No you keep it." Smagnu pushed Frodo's hands down. He lifted his newly stolen water flask from round his neck and hung it about Frodo's. "Here and take this'n as well, you'll need both."
"You're very kind, Mr Smagnude. Thank you." Frodo said quietly.
As Grutfley dumped the dead body over the side where it would lie undiscovered and unmissed, probably for all time, Smagnu indicated to the two hobbits that they should climb over the kerb as well. "I don't know where you two little creatures are bound or why," Smagnu whispered. "But if you stay by us you will not survive, of that I am sure, you two don't belong in this outfit. You lie here quiet until all this rabble has gone and be on your way."
"We're very grateful to you, Sir." Sam whispered in amazement. He had scarcely been able to believe Mr. Merry's tale of the orcs that had befriended them, and had still been unable to completely let himself trust them during the run, but all Sam's doubts were gone now.
"If I ever find it in my power to be of service to you, I will remember your kind actions to Sam and me and my cousins." Frodo looked the great ugly creature in the eyes and was moved by the sincerity that he saw there and gave a little gracious bow. "I am forever in your debt."
"There's one thing you can do for me – for us." He waved his hand towards Grutfley who had finished disposing of the body and rejoined his partner. "If ever you meet with your kin again, say hello to the little Pips for us." Smagnu gave a small smile. "Say we miss them."
"Éowyn! Éowyn! Dear sister! Well met at last!" Éomer was riding in a forward éored away from the main Rohirrim. Ŭnomer and Drâmym were riding either side of Éowyn and Merry was perched before the warrior maiden on Windfola. As the two groups of riders met they drew up and Éomer dismounted and Éowyn, having first let Merry slide to the ground, gave the hobbit her reins to hold as she ran forward to embrace her brother.
"You succeeded in retrieving Merry I see," Éomer reached out to grasp Merry's shoulder, "but what of Peregrin, the other halfling?"
"Pippin is a little injured, Éowyn smiled at her brother's concern. " but both the halflings managed to escape the Dark Tower and Pippin is now on the way to Minas Tirith with Legolas."
"But where did you meet with Ŭnomer and Drâmym?" Éomer addressed the two emissaries now. "Did you complete your mission?"
"We met with a division of men from Minas Tirith, a Captain Faramir and he is delivering news of our approach."
"Very well," Éomer helped Éowyn back onto Windfola. "Come Merry I will help you up." He lifted Merry to sit back in his place. "I see there are many reports to be made and tales told. Let us join Théoden King first to save you the labour of explaining twice."
The Rohirrim were making their last camp that night before the expected battle the next day and when the group arrived there was much bustle and activity. Merry could hear the stamping hooves of many horses as they passed the lines of tethered animals and clashing of spear and sword as men parried in mock battle. Voices all around him cried out orders and acknowledgements as men moved hither and thither, readying the camp for the meal and rest, but he could also sense the palpable tension in the air as they anticipated the forthcoming fight.
At last they reached the tent of the King and Éowyn whispered to him, "Théoden my uncle will no doubt try to dissuade you and me from accompanying them into battle. I know where my destiny lies, Merry."
"Mine also," he whispered back. "I will go with you if I can, if you will allow me to burden you a little further."
"You are no burden, dear Merry." Éowyn said quietly into his pointed ear, making him tingle slightly at her touch. "I would sooner have such a valiant warrior as you at my side than many I could name."
Éowyn slid from Windfola and Merry followed, having learned now how to hold the pommel of the saddle while he slung his leg over to gradually lower himself to the ground.
They entered Théoden's tent just ahead of Drâmym and Ŭnomer, but waited until the tired men had given their report to the King.
When they had left Théoden embraced his niece with relief. "Sister-daughter I was afraid I would not see you again, such a perilous path you choose."
"I did not really have a choice, Uncle in truth." Éowyn finished the embrace and led Merry forward, the blind hobbit always felt slightly nervous in new situations since losing his sight. "Merry is too dear to me now to abandon."
"Of course," Théoden took Merry's hand and clasped the hobbit's shoulder. "Meriadoc I am glad you are come back safe and sound."
"Thank you, My Lord." Merry bowed to Théoden. "Once more I am in your debt and to the Lady Éowyn I owe my life as well."
"Do not be deceived by this halfling's humility." Éowyn's voice was light and smiling. "He is valiant beyond measure and has performed great and noble deeds."
"With deference to Milady," Merry smiled now, "I am indeed humble, before her heroism and perhaps one day when our tale is told you shall judge for yourself."
"I shall look forward to the day, Master Holbytla," Théoden agreed. "When the war is done I hope you shall sit beside me in the Golden Hall at Edoras and both shall tell your tales for me to judge. But for now, when you have rested, you must begin the long journey back to Helm's Deep."
"My Lord," Éowyn had known this would be her Uncle's wish. "Meriadoc and I have proved our worth in battle already, please do not attempt to turn us aside now, for we shall disobey you, although it will grieve both our hearts."
"Sister-daughter, how can you ask me to allow you to go to such peril," Théoden shook his head in dismay. "A fair woman and a blind halfling. My men will think I have taken leave of my senses."
"Surely to turn us out into the road alone, would be a greater folly." Éowyn argued. "And there are no men you can spare to guard us, or those that you sent would be ashamed to draw such a task when a great battle lies ahead."
"My Lord, I am no great warrior, but I can make a defence," Merry slung the little buckler that was on his back, across his arm and laid hold of his sword. "The Lady Éowyn tutored me."
Éowyn drew her own sword and Merry reacted to the sound by drawing his as she had schooled him. He parried several passes that Éowyn made and when she finally stood down he re-sheathed the weapon.
"My Lord." Merry laid his hand on the hilt of his little sword and drew it across his arm as Éowyn had taught him. "I once said, as you protected me atop the tower of Isengard, that if I had a sword I would lay it at your feet."
"Indeed and I said I would accept it." Théoden put his hand on Merry's shoulder. "I was impressed with your valour then as now, Meriadoc."
Merry knelt before the old King and offered up the hilt of his sword across the back of his left arm in the correct manner. "Please accept it now, My Lord," he finished simply.
Théoden looked at Éowyn's determined face and at Merry's sincere gesture. "I shall grieve this day if aught harm should come to either of you, but stout heart may not be denied."
The King laid one hand on Merry's sword and the other on his head. "Meriadoc I accept your sword with gratitude and I hereby appoint you Esquire to the King. You shall ride in the King's guard along with Sister-daughter Éowyn, if Windfola will gladly bear you both."
Then Théoden embraced Éowyn, "Sister-daughter I will be honoured if you will ride beside me in the King's éored. Your presence will stand as a symbol of the valour of the bloodline of the House of Eorl for all time and you will become legend in song and story.
Story Information
Author: Llinos
Status: Reviewed
Completion: Work in Progress
Era: 3rd Age - Ring War
Genre: Action
Rating: Adult
Last Updated: 03/23/07
Original Post: 06/26/02
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News story
Performance frameworks annexes for acute and mental health trusts updated
Minor updates to the scoring annexes for the performance frameworks for acute and mental health trusts are available.
The amended documents are part of the NHS performance framework: implementation guidance - 2011/11. The changes are to datasets and indicators detailing scoring for the rest of 2011/12.
The changes to the acute trusts annex is a small update to the numerator and denominator of the Delayed Transfers of Care Indicator (DToC). There is an update to the DToC data source, as well as an update to the stroke indicator data source. In both instances, they reflect the framework moving to more up to date relevant datasets.
The changes to the mental health trusts annex include the same update to the DToC indicator, and an added footnote to explain that due to no data being available, there will not be scoring for indicator six - the physical assault indicator.
The implementation guidance is to support the application of the NHS Performance Framework. It is to inform strategic health authorities, as regional system managers, primary care trusts, as the local commissioners of NHS services, of when they should intervene to address poor performance. The framework informs NHS organisations of the criteria against which their performance will be assessed.
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Saturday, May 21, 2005
Hooo, hooo, hooooters....
Hooters has a magazine out now. Hooters Magazine. How boring is that? It's going to be pages and pages of wings. Because that's what everyone goes there for, right?
1. judging from the website, they've had the magazine for quite a while, since 91 it looks like.
why? if that's the kind of thing you want to 'read', why wouldn't you just buy maxim or playboy or one of the gazillion other men's magazines featuring barely clothed women?
and really, how many trashy women in bikinis do you honestly need to see? i would think the novelty would wear off eventually.
2. I know, ago. I have always wondered at how great the variance in body parts can be to justify a saturation of the media with endless devotion to shots of boobs, butts, etc.
3. I don't think there's a Hooters in all of MT. That's why I'd buy the magazine--just to check out the menu items....
Andi--wonderful news! Because I'm geeky enough to remember these things--Bacardi Silver makes a watermelon flavored drink. It's not bad, but not quite what I'm looking for. The search continues~~~
4. Ago-go, I saw a bit of a commerical and they said something about "new", so it may just have a new look or something. Although, I would think it difficult to change the look of a T&A magazine and have it make any difference. lol
I would also think it'd get old looking at scantily clad women, but apparently not. Blah.
5. Os!!! I've tried the nasty Green Apple Bacardi Silver...I will hunt down the watermelon and sip it by my pool.
6. I hate Hooters. That's all I have to say about that.
However, I will say that while the saturation of scantily clad women might be expected to eventually become dull, it's more of an addiction. You see it once, you get a titilating feeling, and that lasts for a while, then you require more titilation for the desired effect until at last women are little more than sexual objects that provide a titillating experience. It's rather disgusting, and reprehensible that our society thinks so little of it...
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Dementia Quiz
You are a participant in a race. You overtake the second person. what position are you in?
If you answered that you are first, then you are absolutely wrong! If you overtake the second person and you take his place, you are in second place!
Try to do better next time. ;)
Now answer the second question, but don’t take as much time as you took for the first question, OK?
If you overtake the last person, then you are….?
arrow2 ANSWER:
Tell me sunshine: How can you overtake the last person?
You’re not very good at this, are you?
Very tricky Arithmetic!
Note: This must be done in your head only. Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator. Try it.
Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30. Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000. Now add 10.
What is the total?
Did you get 5000?
The correct answer is actually 4100.
If you don’t believe it, check it with a calculator!
Today is definitely not your day, is it? :D
Maybe you’ll get the last question right. Maybe….
Mary’s father has five daughters:
1. Nana; 2. Nene; 3. Nini; 4. Nono; and ????
What is the name of the fifth daughter?
arrow2Did you answer Nunu?
No! Of course it isn’t!
The 5th daughter’s name is Mary! Read the question again!
This is your last chance to redeem yourself.
A mute person goes into a shop and wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of brushing his teeth, he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and makes his purchase.
Next, a blind man comes into the shop who wants to buy a pair of sunglasses. How does he indicate what he wants?
arrow2It’s really very simple.
He opens his mouth and asks for it!
So how did you do? LOL
H/t my sis-in-law Shireen.
5 responses to “Dementia Quiz
1. Thanks. I’m starting my day stupid. :/
2. Bonus, Bonus Question…….
How many of each animal species did Moses put on the Ark?
2 you say. I don’t think so. Moses didn’t put any animals on the Ark. Noah did!
3. i wonder how obama would do faced with these questions our president the idiot…
4. debbymanynations
Reblogged this on cedarridge2007.
5. Thank you! I feel officially ignorant now!! Got every. single. one. wrong. *deep sigh* Well, I knew I was demented, does that count as extra credit?
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Before You Start: One Tip For Playing Journey The Best WayS
Here at Kotaku, we like to put together lists of tips for getting the most out of some games. Skyrim, Far Cry 3, Arkham City, games like that.
Journey isn't really a game like those other ones. There isn't actually a "best" way to play it. But there's one tip that I wanted to share, because I've found myself offering it to more and more people over the last month. Seeing as how Journey has wound up on lots of Game of the Year lists, I get the sense that there are still plenty of people firing it up for the first time.
Here's my tip: The first time you play, turn the PlayStation Network off and play it by yourself, offline.
I don't mean to take anything away from the game's multiplayer features, which allow other players to anonymously drop in and out of your game to spend some time by your side. It's a lovely thing, and one of the smartest and most distinctive things about Journey. But the first two times I played the game, it was essentially solo—I was playing ahead of release, for review, so there weren't too many people online. It was just me, and the mountain. And it was amazing.
I recently came back to the game to give it another run (more or less to see how it was to come back to it, now that it's GOTY time), and found that the experience is markedly different alongside others. I got all wrapped up in trying to follow the person who'd joined my game, and at one point a maxed-out player in a white cloak and I worked for about five minutes to get me up to a platform so I could snag a collectible glyph. The game is interesting and beautiful with others, but I wouldn't have wanted to experience it that way the first time through.
So: If you still haven't played Journey but think you're going to, consider tackling it alone. Turn off your network connection and play it by yourself, at least the first time through. (And if you've played it once but it didn't quite grab you, consider making a second time through solo.)
Don't worry. It's a game made for multiple playthroughs, and there will aways be time to experience that neat multiplayer, and maybe even to earn a white cloak of your own. In fact, just like in life, playing with others can give you a new perspective on being by yourself.
But the first time you walk toward the mountain, walk alone.
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Thursday, 4 January, 2001, 08:29 GMT
Honeybees hold antibiotic secret
honeybees and sunflower
Honeybees have been threated by varroa
The discovery of an antibiotic that exists naturally in beehives could be used to protect honeybee populations under threat from disease.
Honeybees are essential to the plant world for pollination. They also create a range of commercially important products for humans, such as honey, pollen, wax and royal jelly.
But honeybees can be struck down by two types of foulbrood disease. Hives in the UK and elsewhere have also been blighted by a disease called Varroa, spread by a parasitic mite.
Now, Brian Dancer and Stuart Prince, of Cardiff University's School of Biosciences, have identified an antibiotic complex from harmless bacteria that could prove to be a useful tool for beekeepers.
'Healthy image'
Dr Dancer said: "We envisage that the spores of this 'natural' antibiotic will be fed to bees, providing them with a protective microflora that could act either prophylactically or as a treatment in disease outbreaks.
They are responsible for the vast majority of pollination and many crops have to be pollinated by bee
John Drake, Beelief apitherapy
"Importantly, because the protective bacteria are unmodified and are naturally derived from the bee environment, such treatment can only serve to promote the healthy image of honey and other bee products."
The researchers say the complex kills the harmful bacteria that cause both types of foulbrood disease. Dr Dancer's work is being transferred from the laboratory to practical use with funding for further microbiology research at Cardiff.
The work has been carried out in association with the National Bee Unit, the Central Science Laboratories, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Horticulture Link programme and Vita (Europe) Ltd, a specialist bee therapeutics company.
'Absolutely crucial'
The work of honeybees is vital to John and Tina Drakes, who run the only apitherapy company in Wales, using beehive products to cure disease, called Beelief. They have 360 hives at their home in Penparc, outside Cardigan, and more than 1,000 people on their client database.
Mr Drakes said: "Most people take a look at a bee and run a mile but bees are absolutely crucial. They are responsible for the vast majority of pollination and many crops have to be pollinated by bees, such as apples."
The Drakes believe honey helps to boost our immune system and general health. They claim beeswax and propolis - a resin collected by bees - can help eczema, hayfever and bronchial asthma, and bee sting or venom can help rheumatism and arthritis.
When honeybees are affected by two bacterial diseases - the American foulbrood and the European foulbrood - they are usually treated with antibiotics, and in severe cases the only way to stop the diseases spreading is to burn the hives, bees and equipment.
Reports from the US and Argentina indicate that foulbrood diseases are becoming resistant to the antibiotics currently used for hive treatment.
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22 Jun 99 | Sci/Tech
Deadly mite's threat to bees
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Aretha Franklin became a star on the Atlantic record label after leaving Columbia. (Getty Images)
Aretha Franklin Before Atlantic: The Columbia Years
Feb 27, 2013 (Fresh Air from WHYY)
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Aretha Franklin made her first record when she was 14, singing some gospel standards in the church of her father, Rev. C.L. Franklin, an easygoing Detroit pastor who was friends with Martin Luther King and just about every gospel singer you could name. One of the stars who visited a lot was Sam Cooke, who convinced Aretha that she could be a hit singing popular music. So in 1960, at 18, she dropped out of school and, eventually, was signed to Columbia Records by its top talent scout, John Hammond. Hammond, who had discovered Count Basie and Billie Holiday, among others, saw her as a potential jazz star, and recorded her with a jazz trio led by Ray Bryant. Franklin recorded jazz standards like "Rock a Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody," which was a minor pop hit in late 1961.
It's likely that she knew she'd be doing other kinds of material, and apparently Columbia agreed, because the label followed it up with "Rough Lover."
It's hard to know where to start with this song. A lot of the elements that were popular in the day's black pop are there, from the up-tempo rhythm to Franklin's soul-tinged delivery, but even in 1962, a song about wanting a "rough lover" was taboo. This came out at approximately the same time as Phil Spector hurriedly withdrew The Crystals' "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)," after all. "Rough Lover" actually got to No. 94 on the pop charts for one week before vanishing.
Columbia went back to recording albums of jazzier stuff, while occasionally trying to cross her over. Part of the problem, though, was the label's insistence on using its own producers and engineers and studios, and apparently nobody at Columbia understood what they had in Franklin. In 1963, for instance, someone named Robert Mersey tried for a hit with "You've Got Her."
A little restraint in the arrangement might have saved the song, but clearly someone thought "You've Got Her" sounded a bit like gospel music. Franklin does her best, but too much goes wrong too soon. By 1964, Columbia was desperate with her record "The Shoop-Shoop Song."
For once, it's an inspired choice, a pared-down arrangement and a spirited vocal from Franklin. But Betty Everett had just had a hit with the song, her version was every bit as good, and this wasn't a single, but a track on an album that also had Aretha Franklin doing songs made famous by Dionne Warwick, Inez Foxx and Barbara Lynn. Something was still trying to break out, though, as the 1965 single "Hands Off" shows.
By 1966, Columbia had lost $90,000 on Franklin and was offering her a deal she didn't like to re-sign. Across town, the folks at Atlantic Records were paying attention. What if they offered her the opportunity to write her own material, to play her piano with a little more gospel in it, use her sisters for backup vocalists and to record at funkier studios? In January 1967, they went into the studio and began to find out.
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« Tech & Geek
George Takei's Facebook page was sort of a lie.
by Parker
As somebody who has been following (and enjoying) George's FB page for some time, this was pretty disappointing news.
It turns out that he has been paying people 10 bucks a post to come up with the little jokes that are posted to his facebook page every day. This was revealed when one of the people who ghostwrote for him decided that they should get a little more recognition, and publicity for their own work. The page has over 4 million likes, and is one of the most popular FB pages.
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Soft Tissue Pain
En Español (Spanish Version)
Proposed Natural Treatments | References
When specific causes of symptoms aren’t known, doctors sometimes refer to conditions simply by naming the symptoms. Such is the case for so-called “soft tissue pain.” The term soft tissue pain simply refers to discomfort somewhere in the interconnected system of muscles, tendons, and ligaments, as opposed to the bones, and says nothing about the particular cause.
The most commonly used conventional treatments for soft tissue pain consist primarily of drugs that relieve pain and/or inflammation in general, such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen, as well as muscle relaxants. Physical therapy methods are commonly recommended for selected forms of soft tissue pain, but there is little to no reliable scientific evidence that they help. 1–511-14 Other methods, such as therapeutic exercises, may help, but most reported studies are significantly flawed by the lack of a credible placebo treatment. (For why this is important, see Why Does This Database Rely on Double-blind Studies? )
A similar lack of reliable evidence exists regarding other non-surgical, non-drug methods used to control soft tissue pain, such as injection therapy, radiofrequency denervation, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). 6–10
Surgery may be useful for certain selected forms of soft tissue pain, although again the supporting research evidence is generally very incomplete.
Proposed Natural Treatments
Natural treatments for the following forms of soft tissue pain are discussed in their own articles:
Alternative therapies that may be useful for soft tissue pain in general include acupuncture , biofeedback , chiropractic , hypnosis , magnet therapy , massage , prolotherapy , and relaxation therapy .
Herbs and supplements that may have a general pain-relieving effect include boswellia , butterbur , devil’s claw , D-phenylalanine , proteolytic enzymes , and white willow .
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A Slump Continued: New Jersey Devils Defeated 6-3 by Carolina Hurricanes
Five times, the Canes celebrated a goal against Johan Hedberg tonight. Here's Jiri Tlusty after his first goal, finishing a 3-on-1. - USA TODAY Sports
The New Jersey Devils struggled to score early (but got two breaks in garbage time), had several defensive errors, and not another good night from Johan Hedberg led to a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. This is the recap of that loss.
The New Jersey Devils went into Raleigh, North Carolina with something they haven't had in the last two weeks: a win in their last game. Like the last time that happened, the Devils allowed the first goal against, had a horrible period that ultimately lost the game, and lost by a margin of at least three. That time was two Saturdays ago in D.C. and the loss was 5-1. Tonight, the Devils lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 6-3.
Once again, the Devils got torched in the middle of the ice. Yes, they allowed only 22 shots tonight, which looks really good at first glance given how much Carolina has fired away on net. Yes, the Devils won the possession battle overall. The big cause of that wasn't necessarily good play by the Devils as it was score effects. Carolina didn't need to keep pressing for shots because they scored five on 18 shots against Johan Hedberg. All five goals against were either at the crease or right around the slot. And this on a night where the Devils were without Bryce Salvador, who's been guilty of this issue several times in the last two games. Yet, they continued. You're not going to win games that way regardless of who's in net. That said, Hedberg blundered on the fourth and fifth goals allowed which really hurt the cause in retrospect. At the time, the Devils were at one goal scored and Dan Ellis playing well - a surprise to those who didn't know his numbers going into this game.
The only solace in the team performance is two-fold. The first are the score effects themselves. In many blowouts, the losing team usually just throws in the towel and they don't attack. The Devils did just that by out-shooting the Canes 10-3 and out-attempting overall 51-33, most of which coming after the first intermission. I don't think the Devils get that much offense going if they weren't down four in the third; but at least they played to the score tonight. The second is that the Devils got some bounces on offense that made the third period at least somewhat interesting. Ilya Kovalchuk went for a wraparound and the puck caromed off a Cane and into the net within the first minute of the third. Patrik Elias deflected a Marek Zidlicky shot that beat Ellis shortside. For a team that's been shooting so low for the last two-to-three weeks and not getting breaks on rebounds, scrums, and so forth, that's a big positive. Maybe - just maybe - it's a sign of better luck to come. Both are silver linings, however. They don't excuse the horrid breakdowns in their own end or the big loss tonight.
Needless to say, the slump continues. How this will affect the team for tomorrow's game, I couldn't tell you. Tonight, we saw more of the same in these losses. The Devils couldn't get goals early despite good play, they make defensive mistakes and pay for it, and they lose. The only difference tonight was it all fell apart in the second period and the Devils got two consolation goals.
The Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The NHL.com Faceoff Comparison | The NHL.com Devils Time on Ice Report
The Opposition Opinion: Bob Wage had a lot to praise in his recap at Canes Country. Like most of the opposing blogs after games against the Devils in the last three weeks.
The Game Highlights: There were highlights. There were errors. There is this game highlight video from NHL.com:
The Corsi Charts: While the Devils out-shot the Canes 12-8 in the first period, the Canes led in attempts at even strength at 8-14. After Carolina ended that period up 1-2, the Devils racked up the attempts to lead 24-11 in the second and 19-7 in the third. Repeat after me: score effects. Here's how Carolina fared:
The Canes' top line lost the possession battle in a big way. They scored a goal that really blew the game wide open in the second period but in general, they were in their end of the rink. The Devils rolled through Jay Harrison and Tim Gleason, though Harrison will have the last laugh since he scored during the Devils' Minute of Misery in the first period. The Devils also made the most against Joe Corvo and Justin Faulk too. Nobody except for Jamie McBain and Chris Terry ended up above zero in Corsi differential. Again: score effects.
Ilya Kovalchuk steamrolled his opposition at evens, as did his linemates Alexei Ponikarovsky and Andrei Loktionov. The fourth line of Tom Kostopoulos, Stephen Gionta, and Ryan Carter had an excellent night, with a couple strong shifts on the forecheck and drew two penalties. Forget CBGB - why did DeBoer go to them late, I do not know - and welcome CGK. Strangely, the unit of Elias, David Clarkson, and Adam Henrique didn't have such a good night. Travis Zajac, Steve Bernier, and (especially) Stefan Matteau also found themselves on the wrong end more often than not. Should Peter DeBoer mix up the first and fourth to salvage the second and/or third? I don't know. Defensively, the pairing of Peter Harrold and Marek Zidlicky wasn't so hot and got burnt for three goals tonight. Adam Larsson was great in possession and otherwise had a solid game except for, you know, the fourth game.
But, again, don't get too excited because of score effects.
It's an Enigma That He Does So, So, So Well: Ilya Kovalchuk had a fantastic performance tonight. Seven shots on net, ten total attempts, his linemates had three shots on net each, one shorthanded breakaway that yielded his first goal, and a fortunate bounce off a wraparound for a second goal. All that and a massive +17 in Corsi differential. Anyone who wanted to see Kovalchuk have a big night got one. Too bad the team faltered so much to basically waste it.
The First Period Minute of Misery: The Devils did pretty well to start the first period. They got a power play which actually went well with five good shots on net. They got up early in the shot count. Play was OK. They even looked just fine during a penalty kill on an interference call to Tom Kostopoulos. But the twelfth minute came and the Devils just had a nightmarish sixty seconds.
About fifteen seconds into that minute, the Canes had the puck in the right corner. All four Devils' killers were focused on the puck. Nobody saw Alexander Semin. Not Mark Fayne, the defenseman who should be looking at the middle. Not Travis Zajac, the center who knows all about the need to cover the middle. No one in a white jersey. Joe Corvo got the puck, slid a cross-ice pass to Semin, and Semin curls around Hedberg for a goal 12:16 into the first.
After the center ice faceoff, the Devils gain the zone but the puck gets lost after an errant pass. No big deal. Jussi Jokinen, however, turns it into one when he chipped the puck off the boards up-ice beautifully. It went long enough but landed soft enough for Jordan Staal to take it and carry it. It was suddenly a two-on-one with Staal and Jeff Skinner against Marek Zidlicky. Hedberg stops Staal's rising shot, Skinner touched it off in the slot, and no Devil picked up Jay Harrison to slam in the loose puck from the slot. Andrei Loktionov overskated the Canes, Ilya Kovalchuk tried really hard to make up a lot of space but to no avail, and I'm not sure what Zidlicky was trying to do. It's 0-2, Carolina, at 12:44.
The Devils took a timeout to try and get their minds right. After the thirty-second timeout, Patrik Elias got his stick up on Semin and got whistled for the foul right after the center ice faceoff. That's at 12:49. That was the response to the sudden two goal deficit. A horrid minute.
The Second Period Play in One Sentence: The last time the Devils had a period as bad as the second tonight was the third period in Toronto.
Let's Discuss the Other Three Goals Against Even If We'd Rather Not: A few minutes into the second period, the Devils dumped the puck in deep. They went for a line change. The problem is that there was no forecheck and Dan Ellis got to it really quickly. One long pass later to Eric Staal and so he and his linemates had a three-on-one. Harrold and Hedberg were left on an island. Staal fed Jiri Tlusty for a tap-in on Hedberg's right flank. 1-3, Carolina.
As the Devils were killing a penalty to Travis Zajac, the Canes got a few looks. But they were denied. The Devils try to clear it out as the penalty just ended. Bobby Sanguinetti kept the puck in with a quick-shot, the puck gets knocked up into the air off Eric Staal's stick, and it drops past Adam Larsson and right to Chris Terry in front. Larsson tried to play the puck in the air, he missed, and so Terry had space to work with the bouncing puck. Hedberg went into a butterfly stance, and tried to square up with the puck to keep it out instead of trying to knock it away. Terry was able to knock it in between Moose's legs for his first NHL goal. Congratulations to Terry for his first ever NHL goal, please send Hedberg and Larsson a thank you card for making it possible.
With less than four minutes left in the second period, the Canes got another great look right in front and Hedberg had another error. Gleason gained the zone, Zidlicky played off of him hoping to keep him outside, and Gleason just threw it to the side of the net. Harrold went after the puck, he missed, and so it went off Hedberg and out to the middle. It didn't go far, but it was enough distance and took enough time for Skinner to get to it. Hedberg thought he could cover it instead of knocking it away. He was quickly proven wrong as he slowly reached for it. Skinner just flicked it to Hedberg's left and it went behind the goal line.
So About All Five Goals Against: The fourth and fifth goals were definitely on Hedberg to some degree. He didn't help himself in that regard. But on all five goals, the Canes were able to get to the puck in the most dangerous part of the ice and finish the play. Semin, Harrison, Tlusty, Terry and Skinner all scored with no one in white doing anything to them prior or during the play. They were all open shots.
Peter DeBoer did replace Hedberg for the third period with Jeff Frazee. Frazee was OK. He only got beat once by Semin but was saved by the post. He only had to make two saves as the Canes' third shot was an empty net goal by Tlusty. But even if DeBoer started Frazee, I doubt he would've done any better than Moose did tonight. Even if Frazee didn't make the mistakes Hedberg made on the fourth and fifth goals against, he could've been beaten shortly thereafter as the Canes got those open shots. Or on some other ones. My point is that, yes, Hedberg could have been better, but he's not the root cause to what we witnessed tonight.
The frustration with these and other defensive lapses is that it's not an easy fix as benching a player, calling someone up, or making a trade. Again, I don't have a lot of confidence in Bryce Salvador as he was making these kinds of errors in coverage in recent games. I do not believe the issue is with personnel. They're making stupid mistakes that they know better to make. All eight of these defensemen were on the Devils last season, they each have several years of experience in the pro game, the forwards know and understand how backchecking works, and yet they make fundamental errors wherein they pay the price for them. We've seen far better defensive performances from the skaters within this season. They know they can be better. They know they need to be better. Yet, they are not. And, on the ice, it's not up to the goalie, coach, GM, the owner, you, or me, it's up to them. What's the solution? I couldn't tell you.
What Would Help Are Some (More) Breaks: I did not see the two goals in the third period coming. Dan Ellis has been very good this season in backing up Cam Ward and he had another very good night. He's got no reason to feel bad about getting burnt by Ilya Kovalchuk on a shorthanded breakaway. The other two goals against were bounces that went against him; two bounces the Devils really haven't had too many of in recent weeks. He was only cleanly beat one other time, late in the third period. Alas, Marek Zidlicky's slapshot hit the left post. But he somehow got in the way of several close rebound attempts around the net, including an impressive dive to get a piece of a shot by a diving Kostopoulos. He got his pads on several shots and kept the puck moving with his stickhandling. I understand the canard that the Devils apparently make other goalies look good. Well, a slump where the team's shooting around 6% would lead one to believe that. But we must accept the possibility that the other goalie was good. Now, if the Devils got a goal from their initial flurry in the first ten minutes - or in their five shot power play where they came real close - or some other breaks, then a two or more goal deficit wouldn't look like such a mountain to climb. I'm hoping the two third period goals are a sign of better luck to come.
A Last Set of Questions: Were the first two periods rock bottom? Or is the worst yet to come?
Thanks to everyone who followed along in the Gamethread and on Twitter with @InLouWeTrust. Thank you for reading.
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New Republic - Prop-Art en The Video-Game Propaganda Wars A popular video game begins with a small, tactical team of highly trained commandos on a delicate mission behind enemy lines. Two nuclear scientists have been kidnapped, and are being held in a hostile country governed by a cabal of crazed military maniacs. To prevent Armageddon, the commandos—chi Fri, 21 Jun 2013 04:00:00 +0000 113560 at Liel Leibovitz
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'Einstein for Beginners' Leads Physics Student to a Path That 'Matters'
Luis Martinez's path to college wasn't a straight line. In fact, higher education wasn't originally a part of his post-high school plans.
"I didn't think about going to college," he said. "I didn't even think that I could."
Fast forward to 2009.
This semester, Martinez started his second year as a doctoralstudent at UC Merced, where he is pursing a Ph.D. in physics. He's also one of two students to receive the university's Faculty Mentor Program Fellowship(FMP) for the 2009-10 school year.
The fellowship helps recipients acquire and develop advanced research skills while working under a faculty member's guidance. The goal is to improve mentoring opportunities between faculty and doctoral students who aren't yet at the dissertation stage but are currently engaged in research. The fellowship covers school expenses for one academic year.
Fellowship selectees conduct research during the fall semester and develop an independent project in the spring. By the program's end, students will have developed enhanced research skills and are expected to produce a research paper worthy of publication in a scholarly journal.
Martinez's mentor is professor Raymond Chaio, an award-winning atomic, molecular and optical physicist with joint appointments in the schools of Engineeringand Natural Sciences. UC Merced recruited Chaio from UC Berkeley, where he taught physics for 38 years.
"We're trying to detect gravitational waves, confirm their existence and eventually measure their physical properties by using superconductors," Martinez said. "Professor Chiao is taking an approach no one else has taken."
Martinez said his transition -- from believing college wasn't in the cards for him to becoming a doctoral candidate who gets to work side-by-side with a renowned physicist -- started back in his hometown of East Los Angeles.
As a kid, Martinez was always interested in learning how things work. He spent time tinkering with cars and small electronics. While a student at Garfield High School, Martinez decided he would get a job after graduation and work.
He did that for about a year before a friend suggested they expand their career options by attending community college. Martinez enrolled at East Los Angeles Community College to study business economics.
At the same time, he started reading scientific articles about light. "I was curious about how light worked, how it bounces off walls and such," he said.
His business major friends noticed that Martinez was becoming more intrigued with science and suggested he explore that interest. He went to the library and checked out "Einstein for Beginners," a book that explained the scientist's theories in layman's terms. Reading that book changed his life.
The next semester, he took an introductory physics course and with that, became hooked on science. He transferred to UC Berkeley as a junior and earned a bachelor's degreein physics. While researching physics graduate programs, he heard about UC Merced and started investigating the school, its program and faculty.
"I liked the idea that UC Merced was a new campus and that I could contribute to," he said. Being a part of an intimate campus community appealed to him, too.
"At Berkeley, you're a little fish in a big pond," he said. "It wasn't a personal experience."
Not so at UC Merced.
"UC Merced has really allowed me to spread my wings," Martinez said. "Here, the people are personable and are willing to help. Working with my professors opened my mind and has given me the confidence I need to become a physicist."
Martinez expects to complete his doctoral degree in about three years. He is still mulling future career possibilities, which include applying for a job at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or teaching at the university level.
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Chemical Sciences: A Manual for CSIR-UGC National Eligibility Test for Lectureship and JRF/Magnetic resonance force microscopy
From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
Jump to: navigation, search
Magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) is an imaging technique that acquires magnetic resonance images (MRI) at nanometer scales, and possibly at atomic scales in the future. MRFM is potentially able to observe protein structures which cannot be seen using X-ray crystallography and protein nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Detection of the magnetic spin of a single electron has been demonstrated using this technique. The sensitivity of a current MRFM microscope is 10 billion times better than a medical MRI used in hospitals.
Basic principle[edit]
The MRFM concept combines the ideas of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Conventional MRI employs an inductive coil as an antenna to sense resonant nuclear or electronic spins in a magnetic field gradient. MRFM uses a cantilever tipped with a ferromagnetic (iron cobalt) particle to directly detect a modulated spin gradient force between sample spins and the tip. As the ferromagnetic tip moves close to the sample, the atoms’ nuclear spins become attracted to it and generate a small force on the cantilever. The spins are then repeatedly flipped, causing the cantilever to gently sway back and forth in a synchronous motion. That displacement is measured with an interferometer (laser beam) to create a series of 2-D images of the sample, which are combined to generate a 3-D image. The interferometer measures resonant frequency of the cantilever. Smaller ferromagnetic particles and softer cantilevers increase the signal to noise ratio. Unlike the inductive coil approach, MRFM sensitivity scales favorably as device and sample dimensions are reduced.
Because the signal to noise ratio is inversely proportional to the sample size, Brownian motion is the primary source of noise at the scale in which MRFM is useful. Accordingly, MRFM devices are cryogenically cooled. MRFM was specifically devised to determine the structure of proteins in situ.
The basic principles of MRFM imaging and the theoretical possibility of this technology were first described in 1991[1]. The first MRFM image was obtained in 1993 at the IBM Almaden Research Center with 1-μm vertical resolution and 5-μm lateral resolution using a bulk sample of the paramagnetic substance diphenyipicrylhydrazil[2]. The spatial resolution reached nanometer-scale in 2003.[3] Detection of the magnetic spin of a single electron was achieved in 2004[4]. In 2009 researchers at IBM and Stanford announced that they had achieved resolution of better than 10 nanometers, imaging tobacco mosaic virus particles on a nanometer-thick layer of adsorbed hydrocarbons.[5]
External links[edit]
1. J. A. Sidles (1991). "Noninductive detection of single-proton magnetic resonance". Applied Physics Letters 58: 2854–6. doi:0.1063/1.104757.
2. O. Zuger and D. Rugar (1993). "First images from a magnetic resonance force microscope". Applied Physics Letters 63: 2496–8. doi:10.1063/1.110460.
3. S. Chao, W. Dougherty, J. Garbini, J. Sidles (2003). "Nanometer-scale magnetic resonance imaging". Review of Scientific Instruments 75: 1175–81. doi:10.1063/1.1666983.
4. D. Rugar, R. Budakian, H. Mamin, B. Chui (2004). "Single spin detection by magnetic resonance force microscopy". Nature 430 (6997): 329–32. doi:10.1038/nature02658. PMID 15254532.
5. C. L. Degen, M. Poggio, H. J. Mamin, C. T. Rettner, and D. Rugar (2009). "Nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging". PNAS 106 (5): 1313. doi:10.1073/pnas.0812068106. PMID 19139397.
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Emergers Decoded
Emergers Decoded
Fish "film stars" in this fashion and get ready to say, "There's another!"
• By: Bob Wyatt
• Photography by: Carl McNeil
Fish “film stars” in this fashion and get ready to say,
“There’s another!”>
by Bob Wyatt
Emergers Decoded
WHERE YOU ARRIVE AFTER A LIFETIME OF FLY-FISHING depends to a large extent on how you start out. By the time I was into my late teens and tying flies that looked like the ones in the books, I reckoned that a fly riding half-sunk in the surface was at least as effective as a well-cocked dry fly, even if I didn’t know why. Over time, that hunch strengthened into a conviction that a fly in the surface film is far more deadly than one perched on its tiptoes.
I gained that opinion by fishing Gerry Avoledo’s “bucktail” in 1958. It was a big, orange, wool-bodied fly with a deerhair wing and a brown, collared hackle, and it became our go-to pattern when Pteronarcys stoneflies were on the water. It had the attributes of a chunk of raw pork belly, sank just under the surface, and caught plenty of trout.
Gerry Avoledo’s bucktail evolved into what I call the no-hackle Deer Hair Sedge (DHS for short). It’s basically the same fly without the collar hackle, and I now use a dubbed body of hare or seal fur instead of wool. Fifty years on it’s still the most reliable surface fly I know.
In due course, with some theoretical support from inquisitive anglers such as W. H. Lawrie and Gary Lafontaine, I eventually backtracked my way into understanding just why trout prefer emergers, like the bucktail and the DHS, to duns.
Courtney Williams wondered about the same thing when he wrote about the great old Grey Duster in his 1932 book A Dictionary of Trout Flies. It puzzled Williams why this simple, tail-less hackle fly should work so well in a hatch of mayflies when so many superb imitative mayfly patterns often fail.
The answer to the mystery, of course, is that the body sinks. The combination of that fur body with no tail to support the hook means that the Grey Duster hangs arse down in the film—like an emerger. Its collar-style badger hackle acts as a kind of life ring for the fly, keeping it at, rather than on, the surface.
Sometime around 1985, Hans van Klinken incorporated what he termed the “iceberg” posture into his flies after surprising results with large, semi-sunk Red Tags and Kenneth Bostrom’s Racklehanen Caddis. The result of Hans’ research and design was his LT Caddis, soon refined and renamed the Klinkhamer Special—it caught a hell of a lot of trout, grayling, even salmon. Hans’ Klinkhamer Special was the theoretical armature, if you will, for the design of my own go-to iceberg fly, the DHE, or Deer Hair Emerger.
This fly and its little sister, the SHE (Snowshoe Hare Emerger), have stood the test of time and are both mongrel pups from the same kennel as the Klinkhamer Special, Caucci and Nastasi’s Comparadun and Fran Betters’ Haystack. Over the years the DHE has been tidied up a bit, but it remains pretty much the same fly—essentially a Hare’s Ear Nymph with a wing—and it continues to catch fish.
A little success is a big motivator, so on the strength of the DHE I really got stuck into this emerger thing. The Klinkhamer Special raised some issues though, and it was clear that there was more going on here than just imitating the posture of the natural emerger. Van Klinken’s remark about his fly working in extremely large sizes got me interested, and I began poking my nose into behavioral science: stimulus-and-response stuff by Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz.
Here my whole fly design program really got traction, and the “trigger” concept took over completely from the idea of trout being cunning and fussy critters with eating disorders. Terms like “behavioral releaser,” “supernormal stimulus,” “optimal foraging strategy” and “fixed action pattern” entered my angling vocabulary.
Where we get with this behavioral business is the understanding that trout are, in fact, not cunning or fussy at all. But they are efficient. The simplest explanation for why emergers usually work better than dry patterns is simply that trout key onto prey that is most abundant, most visible and most vulnerable. Repeated encounters with a specific prey item allow a trout to form its “searching image.” Things that fit the trout’s searching image, more or less, almost always get a look.
The natural emerger struggling at the surface, with part of its body and shuck penetrating the surface film, is spotted sooner and at longer range than the dun or spinner. The trout notices a fly like the big semi-sunk Klinkhamer Special, locks onto it, and completes its behavioural response to a potential prey item by eating it. To a trout, charged up and in feeding mode, the fact that outsized fly doesn’t look exactly like the other bugs on the water is outweighed by its built-in behavioural releasers, especially the way its body hangs below the surface film.
Even when a hatch is absent and an angler is simply “searching” for a willing fish, it makes sense to use a semi-sunk fly rather than a high and dry pattern, such as the Royal Wulff, Humpy or Elk Hair Caddis. For me, the old dry hackle jobs have been moved well down the bench, even for fast, broken water.
I truly believe that many famous dry flies would be even better if they were tuned a little to present a simpler and stronger stimulus. For me that means getting that body or abdomen into the surface film and even below it. Tie a Parachute Adams on a curved hook and you get a radically different fly, in terms of the fly’s behavior, even if the materials remain the same. The same goes for any number of classic patterns.
Developing your own killer “film star” is a lot of fun. If you go beyond convention, shift the emphasis from color and superficial detail to silhouette, shape and posture in the surface film, you’ll be playing a whole new ball game.
Bob Wyatt writes, paints, but mostly fishes from his base in Middlemarch, a semi-ghost town situated on the Taieri River on New Zealand’s South Island. His new book is What Trout Want: The Educated Trout and other Fly-Fishing Myths.
Tying Flies in the Film
No-hackle Deer Hair Sedge (DHS)
A great all-around ‘bug’ that is a snap to tie and covers any mayfly or caddis hatch, and any number of terrestrial bugs. Tie it sparse or bushy for different situations and keep flotant away from the body.
Hook: Light wire, wide-gap dryfly hook.
Body: Dubbed hare’s mask or seal fur. Mix a little Glister with the fur for a bit of ‘bling.’ Dub the fur back from the eye toward the rear, then spiral the tying thread back to the eye as a rib for more durability.
Wing: Deer hair; clip the butts to form a Muddler-style head/thorax.
Snowshoe Hare Emerger (SHE)
Identical to the DHE except for the wing of fur from the foot of a snowshoe hare, this fly is designed so the body hangs well below the surface film. Apply flotant to only the wing.
Hook: Down eye, curved emerger style.
Abdomen: Dubbed hare’s fur, wound back around from about the one-third point of the shank to leave room for the thorax ahead of the wing.
Rib: Spiral the thread back toward the eye as a rib.
Wing: Snowshoe-hare foot fur, tied in tips forward. Clip the butts into a wedge shape so they form a backstop for the wing.
Thorax: Spiky hare’s-mask fur with plenty of glossy guard hairs. Dub the fur from the eye back against the wing base. This forces the wing into an upright posture. Then spiral the thread through the thorax for extra durability.
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Thieves put local DJ out of business
PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. - Over the weekend, thieves put one Kansas City DJ out of business, stealing thousands of dollars in equipment.
Lolly Manakul noticed his laptop, speakers and lighting were all missing, all worth around $7,000, and two of his car windows busted out. When you include the music on his laptop alone, add in another $10,000.
He parked his car at his girlfriend's apartment at Park South Apartments around 1 a.m. Sunday after DJing a birthday party nearby.
Police couldn't pull any of the fingerprints from his car and the complex doesn't have any surveillance cameras, which leaves him only to speculate.
"I've heard so many different stories. I've heard everything from it's somebody that I know to it's somebody that scopes out the place," he said.
His home insurance won't cover it because he wasn't at home at the time. His auto insurance won't cover the damages either.
"My auto insurance does not cover it due to the fact that it's stolen property. They told me if they were to cover it, my entire vehicle would have to have been stolen," he said.
Manakul plans to get his car's windows replaced soon. As for his equipment, he will borrow his brother's while he rebuilds his business.
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Manchester City Council
Benefits & Support Local Housing Allowance
How Local Housing Allowance is paid
We will usually pay you so that you can pay your landlord by whatever method suits you and your landlord best.
We can only pay your LHA into your bank account and we cannot pay into a post-office card account. We make payments in arrears (at the end of the period they are for). We can pay you every four weeks or every two weeks.
You cannot choose to have your rent paid direct to your landlord just because you prefer it or it's more convenient.
You will need to open a bank account if you do not already have one. Many banks now provide basic bank accounts if you don't already have a current account. A basic bank account gives access to limited banking facilities - you can receive money and pay bills. You can take money out with a cash card at cash machines (this is usually free but some cash machines make a charge) and at the Post Office. You don't get a cheque book, debit card or credit card and you can't go overdrawn because you won't get an overdraft limit.
When you open an account, the bank will need to see proof of your identity. Ask them which documents they need for this. Some banks can open an account with you at a local branch interview, on that day, but some send the information to a processing centre and may not make a decision straightaway. If you apply to a bank that opens your account in the branch, you will be able to get your documents checked and find out your account number and sort code more quickly.
The Money Advice Service 'Basic Bank Account' guide gives detailed advice about these accounts. Their leaflet 'Proving your identity' has more information on the proof you need to open an account. You can also get advice about what accounts are available from high-street banks and building societies or from welfare organisations like Citizens Advice .
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Around the League
Who are the top five NFL quarterbacks? Readers choose has spent much of Wednesday discussing what defines a top-shelf quarterback. (Actually, our editors used the dreaded "e" word, but Around the League made an important vow to not call anyone e---- during Super Bowl week.)
Kimberly Jones also wrote a great piece making the case that Joe Flacco is simply carrying the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs. (Can't argue with that.) But does that really make him a top quarterback, or do you need sustained regular-season success?
We asked readers on Twitter for their top five quarterbacks, and the results were surprising. The quarterbacks mentioned the most:
1. Tom Brady
2. Peyton Manning
3. Drew Brees
4. Aaron Rodgers
5. Eli Manning
6. Joe Flacco
Brady and Manning nearly had identical votes. I'm shocked Rodgers wasn't higher; he would be the first guy I mentioned. I'm also surprised Flacco nearly cracked the top five. As fans, we are often too focused on wins and losses that are out of a quarterback's control.
If Denver Broncos safety Rahim Moore hadn't blown his assignment in the Broncos' divisional-round loss, I doubt Flacco would be mentioned in the top eight. Flacco is a complete quarterback who can make any throw, but he hasn't yet been consistently great over a 16-game regular-season schedule. That's what defines greatness to me.
There was a huge drop-off after Flacco in the voting. The rest of the list:
Super Debate: Kaepernick or Flacco?
Starting a team from scratch, who do you take: Colin
7. Russell Wilson
8. Ben Roethlisberger
9. Robert Griffin III
Yikes. Wilson had a great rookie season, but it's insane that Roethlisberger isn't higher. He might be the most oddly underrated two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback ever. Roethlisberger has been one of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL for a long time, and he's only improved his overall game during his career.
Also notably absent: Tony Romo. Put Romo on the New York Giants or Ravens for the past decade, and I'm convinced he would have reached a Super Bowl or two.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
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BA Shared Topic: Best Grind
The Blog Azeroth Shared Topic this week, Best Grind, was suggested by me:
I was talking to a friend about how things were different in the old days which inspired this topic:
The Story
It occurred near the Westfall Lighthouse. Although at the time Burning Crusade was out, there hadn't been much for changes to Gnome Mages of about level 19 adventuring in Westfall compared to Vanilla days.
Martuska had finished turning in some quests at what passed for a "Quest Hub" at the Lighthouse. Consulting her notes about next quests, she was frustrated. She would need to run all the way to Lakeshire for new quests and some of those quests were to run all the way back to Westfall. Quests were designed to make an adventurer travel all over Azeroth.
Although she was approaching the right level for the Deadmines, she hadn't done the preparatory quests yet. Dungeon quests weren't something you could just pick up after zoning in. Dungeons weren't something you could just push a button to join a queue. Battlegrounds weren't someplace you could simply queue to gain experience.
But Martuska's notes suggested "just grind the crabs on the beach for your next level". These crabs had yellow name plates. They weren't automatically hostile and each death gave some nice experience, especially since Martuska did have some "Rested XP" bonus to work on. She needed a bit of awareness so she didn't use her Frost Nova to lock one crab in place but trigger another crab's hostility, too. She learned how to blink away, cast an instant or fire her wand while strifing away. It was all useful skill development even as she gathered up the experience to make a few more nearby quests turn from grey to yellow.
And after picking up the next level, she also discovered they dropped a lot of meat. Martuska had stacks and stacks of meat and claws. Her bags were actually close to full with more stuff than she needed to raise her cooking skill. So the logical thing was to post it on the Auction House.
Now Martuska had been selling surplus stuff on the Auction House before, but this was a bit different. The claws and meat returned huge amounts of gold. MArtuska had never felt this rich before. She had more gold than she knew what to do with and was happy to struggle with such a problem.
It gave her a whole different perspective on grinding. She had been killing these Shore Crawlers for the experience, not farming them for their meat. It wasn't the last time she deliberately sought combat with mobs for their experience to avoid questing. Martuska was a Frost Mage and some time later she discovered how to gather Mosshide Gnolls in the wetlands, Frost Nova, Blink, Blizzard, Blizzard, Cone of Cold and collect the rewards. She levelled by AoE Grinding instead of running back and forth across the Wetlands. And it should be pointed out that although in her mid twenties by this time, there was no mount to speed the journey and no convenient flight points. It was a long jog to Menethil Harbor and back.
I really enjoyed the old style level grinding. It was optional. It wasn't like it was the only method to unlock the desired vendor. There were no rewards but the drops by the mobs and it was something I barely noticed was missing until there was a discussion about just how different some things were.
That was the story that inspired the Shared Topic, but as I was thinking about it, I realized there were a few other grinds I enjoyed. Grinding my fishing skill never bothered me. That was not true of most professions. I detested that most crafted gear created for raising skill was just junk. Recently Aldonza became a scribe and I discovered that leveling Inscription was the opposite of expensive. She actually was making a profit from about everything she made. I enjoyed the first bit so much that even though she was supposed to be a bank mule, I actually worked to raise her to level 30 to unlock the next round of skills.
Martuska was in her high fifties, but she knew she wanted to squeeze more from Azeroth before heading into the Outland and found herself in Winterspring. Through the normal course of leveling, she found herself honored with the Timbermaw Hold and had unlocked the Wisdom of the Timbermaw belt pattern for her Tailoring skill. She found that exciting and with some research, realized there was another Tailoring recipe at revered. So she spent some time grinding for beads and feathers and before long earned her reverence.
By this point Martuska could no longer ignore the pull to the Outland and didn't return to complete the reputation grind until well into the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Martuska didn't grind any other Vanilla reputations because the Burning Crusade was just too attractive. The reputation grind in Outland was never much fun. It wasn't until the Argent Tournament that she found an enjoyable grind again.
By the time Martuska was working the dailies at the Argent Tournament, most people had moved deeper into WotLK content. It wasn't totally empty. It was still easy enough to find others to bring down Chillmaw or joust before the citadel. The pace also worked well for her at the time. She could log on, run her dailies, and be ready to run off to other things. It was much more enjoyable than grinding out those badges from dungeon runs. It must to pointed out that the vanity rewards were a huge draw for her.
Now that Kallixta is running Molten Front dailies for her marks, there is a similar enjoyment. It's easy enough to watch the count accumulate from just a few minutes a day. The grind for reputation with Ramakahen is much slower with only two dailies. She was also thrilled that the same day she hit level 85, she could run through the Molten Front Invasion quest line and unlock some nice purples!
Meanwhile, the Cataclysm reputation grinds continue and are not as attractive. Sigh.
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Users outraged last October when they discovered Comcast messing with their P2P
Comments Threshold
RE: Wait a minute...
By jeff834 on 1/9/2008 2:58:44 PM , Rating: 2
It's a moot point. It doesn't matter how much is for legitimate use and how much is illegal. As long as some is legitimate they shouldn't block it until they can come up with a way to just block the illegal use.
The real problem with the whole ISP thing is lack of competition. Prices for dialup dropped quickly when there were dozens to choose from. We only have one cable provider per area and no other good ISP options so far. Guaranteed if you had 2 providers, same speeds, same reliability, same price, one blocks BT and the other doesn't the unblocked one would get more business from today's users. I personally am drooling over FIOS which is available in my town but has not reached my house yet. $50 a month for 20Mbps/5Mbps with no blocks.
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Posted by: David Sanchez
Gamezone Review Rating 8.0 Great
Your Score
Monaco’s story follows the exploits of eight devious heist experts. Before each chapter, you’re treated to short bits of dialogue between the characters, and along the way you encounter some fun moments and “good heist gone bad” sequences. The storytelling in Monaco is neither deep nor extravagant, but it’s functional and keeps its focus on the idea of a group of people who are trying to get rich quick and get the hell out of town.
Only four characters are available from the beginning. As you progress through missions, you find new allies that can fill different roles. Each character has special abilities that he or she can employ to make pulling off jobs much smoother. The Locksmith, for example, can open locked doors at a much faster rate than his comrades; the Mole can pound through walls; the Hacker can upload viruses to shut down security systems; and the Pickpocket has a pet monkey that can collect scattered coins.
Monaco What's Yours Is Mine - PC - 1
Each of these “professionals” works well in specific situations, and it’s often best to try out different characters depending on the level you’re playing. The Locksmith may be good at getting in and out of places fast, but if a building is loaded with trip wires, turrets, and cameras, it’s best to utilize the nerdy skill set of the Hacker, who can easily mess with the infrastructure of these security measures.
As far as level design is concerned, Monaco features a collection of brilliant stages that are teeming with pleasantly intense challenges. Armed guards walk up and down corridors; civilians appear in certain areas ready to rat you and your suspicious compadres out to the authorities; and multiple floors hold riches that you truly need to scour for. The whole thing is elegantly designed to make you think before you act, though sometimes you just need to wing it and hope that a hiding place or disguise is just around the corner.
You’ve got access to different types of weapons and power-ups as you raid buildings of their wealth. Guns can be used to take down threats, though they’re loud and attract the attention of other nearby hostile characters. If you’d rather make a dramatic exit, you can use smoke bombs to get the best of your enemies. Of course, if you wish to avoid harming anyone, you can use a bow to shoot tranquilizer darts at anyone dumb enough to try and stop you. These are just a few of the power-ups you can employ as you play Monaco. Every item has limited uses, but collecting 10 coins gives you one more shotgun shell, tranq, and so on.
What makes Monaco such a wonderful game is that you can play it by yourself or with others and get two completely different experiences. If you choose to go it alone, the greed-themed adventure takes on more of a stealth game formula. Since no one has your back, you need to pick your spots, hide in bushes, and wait for perfect timing. Everything you do needs to be calculated, whether you’re disposing of a guard, hacking a computer, or removing cash from rooms.
Monaco What's Yours Is Mine - PC - 2
When you play with others (either friends or random partners), everyone has a different role. Choosing the right team of characters is certainly essential, but it’s how you communicate between your cohorts that really makes co-op astoundingly refreshing. One player can focus on shutting down the power while another distracts some guards. Meanwhile another player can loot the joint while the fourth teammate starts working on some locks to move on to the next floor of a building. Then again, everyone can screw up, and Monaco then becomes a wild game of cat and mouse, humorously forcing players to scatter and figure out what the heck to do next.
You'll undoubtedly come across moments that border on frustrating, whether you’re playing by yourself or with others, which is a bit of shame. While Monaco requires players to function as a well-oiled machine, certain spots are ridiculously challenging, going so far as to test your patience and relying on annoying trial-and-error. It’s great that Monaco provides an ample challenge — it’s just hard to deny the fact that certain sequences feel a bit too brutal. Then again, heists can’t be expected to be a total breeze.
After you get a few stages in, you may start to notice a lack of variety. While the levels themselves do offer dynamic shifts in layout and structure, you’re basically doing the same thing in every one of Monaco’s story chapters. Basically, you need to go into a place, rob a certain item, and leave. It’s easier said than done, and you’ve got a quantifiable amount of hazards to watch out for, but there’s no denying that things don’t change too much as you go from one job to the next.
Monaco features a lovely visual style that’s simple but pretty. The whole thing consists of great pixel art and magnificent color use. Areas you can’t see are grayed out, but as you get near them color begins to flow through rooms and down halls, allowing you to catch a glimpse of the area around you. It’s an intelligent art style that’s pivotal to the actual gameplay, and it looks downright great, too.
Monaco What's Yours Is Mine - PC - 3
The audio design in Monaco is equally impressive. The sound of picking up coins is crisp; footsteps have an almost calming pitter-patter to them; and hearing doors open never gets old. Additionally, the soundtrack is remarkable and fitting. Composer Austin Wintory managed to create truly outstanding piano themes that would fit perfectly in silent films of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Themes range from mischievous to hectic, and when you hear that piano beat get louder and faster, you know it’s time to run.
You can probably get through the first string of missions in Monaco in about five or six hours. Collecting every coin in multiple stages opens up new, remixed versions of previous stages, creating a more formidable challenge and telling the game’s story from a different perspective. Throw in the fact that you can play every level with a team of up to four players total, and you’ve got more than enough justification to return to the game’s missions multiple times.
Monaco is a bold game that gives you a lot of reasons to care about it. As a single-player venture, you can find a whole lot of enjoyment out of just stealthily completing heists. Playing with friends means you can coordinate a good looting job and assign specific tasks to everyone involved. Meanwhile, engaging in co-op with strangers makes for a hectic good time. Certain parts of the game are more frustrating than others, and after a while you get a sense that you’ve been doing the same thing, but there’s just no denying that Monaco presents you with a ton of beautifully frantic fun.
Tags: Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine
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LAT 208 Latin Literature II: Medieval (CORE—Methods of Inquiry/Aesthetic Appreciation/ Literature)
Prerequisites: LAT 103 and 104, or permission of instructor. (Second semester—as needed/3 credits)
This course focuses on Latin literature of the Medieval period (ca. 400-1400). Over the course of the semester students will become familiar with the orthographical, vocabulary and syntactical characteristics of medieval Latin and will study the significance and historical context of selected medieval Latin authors and texts. The ultimate goal of the course is to gain an understanding of the role of the Latin language and Latin literary genres in the cultural history of medieval Europe.
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WoW Insider has the latest on the Mists of Pandaria!
Reign of the Dead
Talisman of Resurgence
To compound the issue, trinkets are rare, notoriously difficult to obtain, and there simply aren't a whole lot of them in the game (compared to other gear slots). And you need two of them!
Well fear not. Arcane Brilliance feels your pain. Let's take a closer look at what's available at end-game, and see if we can't come up with a few good ways to fill those two enigmatic gear slots.
First, a word about the organization and purpose of this first part of the list. For the sake of space, we won't be listing every trinket out there. Instead, we'll try to hit all of the really good ones. And we'll list them not necessarily in order of good-better-best, but in order of item level (with some exceptions). My aim here, with this first part of the trinket guide, is to provide a new level 80 mage with a list of places to go get a couple of quality trinkets. We'll hit the higher level stuff next week.
Also, I won't be ranking each trinket. You can go to places like Elitist Jerks or use Rawr to find hard, black-and-white valuations of these items. I'll simply be providing you with some information to help you decide which trinkets match the content your guild is running (or not running), and which suit your playstyle, spec, and gear setup. Not every mage is the same, and no gear choice is more subjective than trinkets.
Sundial of the Exiled
How good is it?
This is one of the original emblem trinkets, and is itemized to be on par with drops from entry-level raids like Naxxramas. The stat component is crit rating, which is, quite simply, one of the lowest-value stats to have on a mage trinket, especially if you happen to be an arcane mage. But that proc makes up for it. That's a meaty chunk of spellpower, and it has a 10% proc rate and a 45 second internal cooldown. It's passive, which means it's one less button to worry about clicking, but also means that you can't count on it to be up when you really need it. It could proc when you hit the meat of your spell rotation just before the enrage timer hits, or it could proc right as Mirrored Soul starts and you have to stop casting.
How do I get it?
It'll cost you 40 Emblems of Heroism from the vendors in Dalaran. Those are the old heroic currency, and they're only obtainable these days by trading down from better currency--better currency that you can use to buy better trinkets. I only include this baby because it's still a good entry-level epic trinket, and it shows you where the hunt for good trinkets used to start. The same goes for other old item-level 200 trinkets, like Embrace of the Spider. These are still quality items for a mage starting out at 80, but the fact that they come from now-obsolete content makes them more difficult to obtain than they used to be. The simple fact of the matter is that unless your guild still organizes entry-level raids, you're better off heading into more current content and skipping over these.
Abyssal Rune
How good is it?
Ah, now we're talking. This, my friends, is probably the first trinket you should go for. It's essentially the Sundial of the Exiled with haste instead of crit. This is better for fire and frost mages, and much better for arcane mages. The spellpower proc has a 45 second internal cooldown, and a 25% proc rate, meaning it'll be up more frequently than the Sundial anyway. This is--bar none--the best item-level 200 mage trinket out there. And you don't even have to go raiding to get it.
How do I get it?
It drops at a roughly 16% rate from the second boss in normal Trial of the Champion. This means a few runs--maybe even more than a few, especially if there are other casters in your group. The good news is that there are always a bunch of new 80's looking to farm ToC to gear up, and you'll be picking up other decent epic gear for yourself along the way. So get a group together, and if a warlock tries to sneak into that group, make sure to insinuate in party chat that he's a member of Al-Qaeda, a loot ninja, or possibly a nazi sleeper agent, in order to get him kicked from the group. Because you don't want him stealing your trinket. Also because he's a warlock.
Illustration of the Dragon Soul
How good is it?
Pretty good, actually. Essentially, this trinket, as long as you don't have to stop casting for more than 10 seconds, will give you a constant +200 spellpower. This used to be one of the best-in-slot trinekts for mages, but has since been eclipsed by the trinekts that drop in newer content. Still, if you can manage to obtain it, do it. It may be awhile before you can snag an upgrade for it.
How do I get it?
This drops from 25-man Sartharion at a 19% rate. Good luck finding 24 other people to run this these days, though.
Eye of the Broodmother
How good is it?
This functions similarly to the Illustration of the Dragon Soul, in that it provides a near-constant spellpower boost. It amounts to 125 spellpower as opposed to 200, but is easier to keep stacked at only 5 stacks. It also provides a static crit rating bonus. If your spec values crit, this is a decent option over the Illustration.
How do I get it?
Drops in 10-man Ulduar from Razorscale at a 20% rate. This should be easier to find a group for than 25-man Sarth, but it's still obsolete content, so it'll likely be easier for you to simply hop into a more current raid.
Scale of Fates
How good is it?
The flat spellpower increase on this is as good as the stacking one on the Eye of the Broodmother, only it's always on. And the on-use haste is quite good, especially for haste-heavy specs, like arcane. I actually prefer an on-use trinket, since it allows you to manage the bonus, rather than leaving it up to a proc.
How do I get it?
17% drop rate from Thorim in 25-man Ulduar. There are other excellent trinkets in here, but again, chances are low that your guild is still running people through these raids. Fortunately, there's better option for new level 80 mages that's much easier to obtain...
Talisman of Resurgence
How good is it?
Holy crap. Good. The static intellect bonus is yummy for arcane mages, and not terrible for fire and frost mages, but that 599 on-use spellpower is simply delicious.
How do I get it?
This is the best part about this trinket. It's one of the best trinkets out there, and it will only cost you 50 Emblems of Triumph. You can earn those running random heroics in an afternoon. So you can get this by doing the single most efficient thing you can do to gear up your mage anyway. Queue yourself up, go have a sandwich or do some dailies while you wait out the 20 minute DPS wait-times (or find a friendly tank to queue with), and then buy yourself a fantastic trinket that would have made all of our heads explode with its awesomeness if we'd seen it back when Wrath dropped. You kids today don't know how hard we had it. We had to work for our trinkets, by golly! I remember when your grandpappy lost his eye in the great trinket war of '08. It was a tough time...I don't like to speak of it, but there was one dark day when I killed a warlock with my bare hands after he won the roll on Embrace of the Spider. Oh who am I kidding? I love to speak of it. In fact, I have a framed screenshot on my wall of me giving a thumbs up over his mutilated corpse. I used it for my Christmas cards that year.
I'll end this part of the trinket guide here. Next week, we'll begin with trinkets available in the more current content, starting in Trial of the Crusader and progressing up through the shiny new stuff that drops in Icecrown Citadel.
Still, you may be wondering, after all of this, what the final answer to the problem posed in the column's title is. What should you do with your two trinket slots? There is no single right answer, but here's my final advice for a new level 80 mage:
Run normal ToC until you snag the Abyssal Rune. Then run random heroics until you can pick up the Talisman of Resurgence. Those are, in my opinion, the most valuable, easiest to quickly obtain trinkets for an entry-level mage.
What do you think, mage community? How many times am I wrong and how wrong am I? Which trinkets did I neglect to mention that you wish to make a case for? What trinkets are you using and why? And keep in mind that we'll be hitting the higher level stuff next week, so hold off on those particular criticisms until that column hits.
Filed under: Mage, (Mage) Arcane Brilliance
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Home > Topics > Investigations
September 08, 2003
FBI Suspects Helpers in Bizarre Penn. Heist
By CHARLES SHEEHAN, The Associated Press
ERIE, Penn. -- Investigators said Monday they were confident a pizza deliveryman did not act alone when he robbed a bank with a bomb locked to his neck that went off moments later and killed him.
But whether Brian Douglas Wells was a willing participant or somehow "duped" into participating remained a mystery, FBI (news - web sites) agent Bob Rudge said.
"We still don't know if it's a murder investigation," Rudge said.
The idea that Wells acted alone is now the "least likely scenario and we are to the point where we have discounted that as a possibility," he said.
Wells, 46, was stopped in his car, arrested and handcuffed Aug. 28 following a PNC Bank robbery near Erie, but was killed when the bomb attached to a collar locked around his neck exploded while he and police waited for a bomb squad.
Investigators are trying to determine whether Wells locked the bomb onto himself, or if it was locked onto him by someone else who forced him to rob the bank.
Authorities continued to search for two men seen nearby running through traffic about 45 minutes after Wells died. The FBI released sketches of the two men, saying it was not known if they had anything to do with the case.
Wells told police when he was arrested that someone had locked the bomb around his neck, started a timer on the bomb and forced him to rob the bank. He said he was given a note with detailed instructions.
On Monday, investigators released a map of four locations listed in the note where Wells was allegedly supposed to receive further instructions.
One location was a restaurant sign just feet from the bank, near where Wells was sitting in his car when police found him. Two others were wooded areas along major roads within a few miles of the bank. Another was beneath an interstate underpass.
The two men seen darting through traffic were near locations mentioned in the note, authorities said.
People who knew Wells have said he couldn't have acted alone. They have described him as a quiet man of average intelligence who had little ambition outside of listening to music and working part-time in his pizza delivery job.
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What is a “Zero Down Lease”?
The simplest answer is that a solar company will install a solar system for the homeowner at no upfront cost to them. The homeowner then either pays a fixed monthly amount to the leasing company or they can buy their electricity directly from the leasing company as they use it.
What should I consider before signing a Lease?
You must realize that not all “Zero-Down leases” or alleged “free solar systems” offer the same savings or provide the same benefits/hedges against future energy increases. You must decide what works for you: Do you want to pay a fixed amount each month (lease)? Do you want to pay for only what you use (PPA)? Do you want to pay cash for the system? Below are some factors to consider which will help you make that decision:
First, when financing or leasing a solar system, the customer will never realize the full financial benefit of switching to solar versus someone who pays cash. The financing company is taking the risk by providing the money for the system and, therefore, it expects a return on their investment. However, should you choose to lease, you will know exactly how much you will be paying every month and you will be able to budget accordingly. Typically, residential homeowners can expect to see a 5-15% savings on their electric bills from the first month should they choose to lease versus greater savings when paying cash.
Second, when leasing or using a PPA, typically the homeowner will be locked into annual increases in their monthly payments ranging from 2.9% to 6%. (There are some leases offering zero annual escalation but those tend to start with a higher monthly payment). One of the main benefits for installing a solar system on your house is the ability to “lock” in today’s prices so be careful if you decide to lease or to use a PPA that you do not commit to high annual interest increases!
Third, just like car leases, solar leases can be negotiated. While it is true that the leasing company sets the terms and payments for the lease/PPA, it’s the installer who sets the price of the system which sets the dollar amount that you will ultimately finance. Simply put, if the installer lowers the price of the system, you will be financing less money. The lease payment on a BMW is very different to that of a Mini.
Having pointed out the negatives, it is important to note the positives. Solar leasing is one of the main reasons behind the substantial growth of the solar industry. 60% of residential homes in California are being financed through 3rd parties. If you don’t want to or can’t part with the cash for the cost for a solar system, leasing is a great way to go green at no cost to the homeowner while experiencing savings from day one.
It pays to get 3-4 different quotes.
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Belief in a Personal God
As for your reading of my thesis ["that autonomous human imagination and creativity is able to construct its own reality"], I would remove the words “autonomous” and “own.” The human imagination is to the divine imagination what the microcosm is to the macrocosm. As Coleridge put it, imagination is: “…the living power and prime agent of all human perception, and is a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite I am.”
Power and Presence in Theology
Another response to NRG’s questions for me on Pharyngula:
I have trouble conceiving of God as all-powerful because of the problem of evil and my experience of human freedom. I associated God’s omnipresence with “will” even though, for God, there is really nothing to “do.” From the “perspective” of eternity, God is already everywhere and everywhen at once. It is when omnipresence get’s stepped down into its human incarnation, that it becomes will or desire; unlike God, humans between birth and death have a particular embodied perspective on space-time, but volition is our means of approaching the infinite presence of God. To actually unite with God’s infinite presence, I believe one would have to die for the love of or in love with all other sentient beings. We only get one chance per lifetime to will the infinite in this way. It is not easy, I suspect, to remain fully present to others in such a way during one’s own death.
I should remind you that I am playing here, that I have indeed stepped outside the strictures of scripture and am making this up as I go along, so to speak. Am I just feeling that these nice ideas should be true, or am I willing that they be so out of the power of my own imagination? I think I do feel and will that they are so. But I think this. My thinking is not separate from my feelings and my will. This is the mystery of the Trinity: three persons/functions, one God/Self. I do not think the intellect could know anything at all without volition (will) and judgment (feeling) involved in the act as well.
Does the reality of a soul, or of a soul not confined to the body but extended into the world, mean that “God did it?” No, as I said above, I don’t think the idea of God does any epistemic work when dealing with natural phenomena (the soul is “natural” in that it is part of the manifest world, part of the actual phenomena constituting our psychological experience as people). All that it means is that “matter” is not the ultimate explanatory principle.
I was raised with a foot in both Judaism and Christianity, and became an atheist around 11 or 12 when I first read Stephen Hawking’sA Brief History of Time.” I believed until about 17 that “science would win,” as Hawking has since suggested. I saw Western religious institutions as dogmatic and oppressive, and their scriptures (which I’d yet to read much of) as deluded and in flat contradiction to the facts of science (or the claims of scientists, a distinction I wasn’t yet able to make). But then I took a psychology class in 11th grade and read the ideas of Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, and Alan Watts, among others. I realized that something intrinsic to human nature inextricably lures us toward the sacred and would continue to do so despite the success of the scientific method. I begin to study philosophy more closely in college, and realized soon after that the “facts” of scientific materialism didn’t necessarily hold up after sustained reflection on the history of science (Kuhn). I came to see also that there existed a rich diversity of thriving philosophical attitudes concerning the ultimate nature of things–in short, I came to recognize that materialism was not the only conclusion to which one could be lead based upon the last 400 years of natural science.
“God” is an idea I play with, an idea I admit I cannot know fully, or even know how I know what little I may know about it. But everything I experience points me toward this “strange attractor” called God (or Hegel’s Absolute, or Plato’s idea of the Good, or Teilhard’s Omega).
When I first watched the following clip from an interview with Jung, I was intrigued by the expression on his face after being asked if he believed in God… “difficult to answer…” Something like the feeling he must be experiencing behind that smirking face guides my intuitions about the divine:
God did it, or aliens?
“NRG” posting over on Pharyngula asks me:
Why impute an admittedly Unknowable Omni God to explain currently inexplainable phenomena, if it’s much more reasonable, based on what we actually know, to assume that other citizens of the universe, evolved like us but to a much greater degree, are responsible for such phenomena? To make it shorter: Why say that God did it, when it’s better to say that Aliens did?
I wouldn’t marshall the concept “God” as an explanation for a natural phenomenon (explanation of the universe itself is another matter, as strictly speaking, the universe as a whole is not a “phenomenon” available for scientific observation–I’ll say more below). I suspect that if the miracles of the Old Testament turned out to be the handiwork of a technologically advanced extra-terrestrial species, Christians would no longer be satisfied that this presumed being, “Yahweh,” mistakenly worshipped by the Israelites, was in fact God. God is not a being among beings, a species among species. God, for a Christian (at least for a philosophical Christian like Augustine, Aquinas, or Hegel), is the Being of beings. God is Creator, and not creature (this doesn’t necessarily mean God is entirely separate from creatures, just that, while creation participates in God, God still transcends creation’s immanence).
Francis Crick had the same intuitive reaction to the complexity of life on the molecular level that Intelligent Design advocates try to rationally justify their belief in God with, but Crick correctly recognized that aliens are more likely to have engineered this marvel than Jehovah. But then again, this just passes the buck back another layer of explanation: we’re still left wondering who/what created the first living organism capable of such intelligent design. So maybe it is better to say aliens did it, but it is still only relatively better.
The universe contains many marvels assuring its continued existence as cosmos instead of chaos, but I don’t think resorting to “design,” whether theistic or naturalistic, is the best way to explain it. William Paley and Charles Darwin share more in common philosophically than is often admitted (ditto for Hegel and Marx). Design is itself a paradigm, and it does theoretical work whether one’s analogy compares God to human designers (who select for traits in domesticated animals) or one compares Nature to humans (as Darwin did). The universe cannot be explained by way of design (natural or divine) unless we are prepared to accept a dualistic framework, where one substance (God or Nature/Laws of Physics) shapes and lords over another (human beings/life).
I read Plato with great joy, especially the Timaeus, where he suggests it is a “likely story” that the universe is a living creature, rather than a clockwork. The universe is unique among science’s objects of study, because unlike natural phenomena in general, it does not and cannot show itself all at once. The scientist, like Plato, lives in a natural universe in the process of becoming. Neither can say anything for certain about its shifty and transitory nature, but each can offer a probable, or likely story. Fiction or non-fiction? Well, the difference is not so clear, but we can be discerning… Plato’s story remains a bit mythical, but his student Aristotle grounds his teacher’s celestial ideas in the more concrete matters of life on earth. Ideas (“ideas” in the Mind of God, or “causes” of Natural Selection) do not “design” or shape organisms from the outside, in Aristotle’s biology; rather, organisms give actual expression to God’s creative and intelligent potential.
There is no need to speak of “God” interfering with the course of events in Aristotle’s cosmos. The notion of an interventionist deity has more to do with Modernity than it does with traditional theism.
As for aliens, I wonder how much this possibility can be distinguished, in practice if not in theory, from the medieval notion of angels, or the pagan belief in faeries? Might not alien abilities and attributes be just as fantastic as humanity’s earlier iterations of the strange and unknown intelligence potentially lurking beneath the more mundane appearances of our universe?
[I've since posted several more comments on similar themes.]
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Eric Ehrmann
Cultural Revolution Redux... Little Red Book and Little Grey Apple Hook Up
Posted: 10/20/11 03:53 PM ET
Apple's first quarterly downturn in five years is being spun by analysts as a one time event linked to planned obsolescence of an iPhone and the death of co-founder Steve Jobs. But while Jobs envisioned a mobile lifestyle people are willing to pay more for, his outsourcing-dependent business model is recycling 1960s-style class warfare politics into a bread and circuses world of oligopoly competition where greedy corporations reduce the human condition to human capital.
In an effort to accommodate Western businesses, China tolerates Taiwanese companies like Foxconn who assemble Apple products and enforce working conditions that drive assemblers to jump out of buildings in iPod City. Apple CEO Tim Cook even flew over to China and helped install anti-suicide nets on some of the facilities. But that didn't stop Apple's outsourcing policies from being buzzed up by protesters on Wall Street and in major world capitals.
The cult of personality that has been manufactured around Steve Jobs and Apple glosses over the fact that unlike Bill Gates, who had a passion for using computer science to solve global problems, Jobs was the embodiment of what new journalism pioneer Tom Wolfe called "the me decade." Jobs stayed close to the entertainment industry, working with Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, George Lucas, Pixar and became the largest shareholder and power behind Disney. After giving Jobs a big opportunity, University of Utah grad Bushnell also gave Foxconn's founder, Taiwanese entrepreneur Terry Gou, his start, outsourcing the manufacture of electrical components for Atari to him in 1974.
Like Jann Wenner, Jobs was influenced by Max Palevsky, a founder of Intel and chairman of Xerox who died last year. Powered by an investment from Palevsky, Rolling Stone provided the launchpad for the MTV generation, which was the market base for all things Apple until Sculley forced Jobs out. And the concepts behind Apple's original graphical interface are quite similar to systems that were developed by Palevsky's minions at Xerox.
Leaving Apple in a power struggle with Sculley, Jobs found a new partner for his NeXT venture, Ross Perot. Both men shared a fondness for the profitability of outsourcing computer industry jobs to China and India. Thanks to outsourcing dollars earned by manufacturing smart phones and computers and consumer electronics, China is now a digital and financial superpower with a defense infrastructure to back up its economic strategy in the currency war.
Through its own engineering, international cooperation and ruthless industrial espionage, China now possesses stealth avionics and black program technologies that have strained relations between the Pentagon and Beijing's Defense Ministry on more than one occasion. Major US software companies have no qualms working around Washington's weak export control regime to provide China with the tools to maintain the national security state that western nations are moving toward.
China has also banked on developing and manufacturing the world's fastest fully operational supercomputer and runs it on Linux. Huge dollar holdings now enable Beijing bankers to finance Italy's latest financial bailout and could help even more in France and Germany if certain conditions are met.
Apple plays a pivotal role in China's great leap forward from the old cultural revolution to being a superpower in the world economic order. It would have been a much longer march if John Sculley had rejected Steve Jobs offer to come aboard and "change the world."
Sculley joined Apple from PepsiCo at the height of the fabled "Reagan Revolution" when China was getting mixed messages from Washington as part of the Great Communicator's "Evil Empire" strategy.
Beijing could have deepened high tech and military cooperation with the Kremlin since many high level officials were educated in the Soviet Union. Boris Babaian was developing supercomputers for Soviet defense applications that were more advanced than those in the West at the time and would later help land him a senior position at Intel.
But Sculley chose Apple, bringing along his close ties to ex-boss PepsiCo chairman Don Kendall and other powerful China policy influencers George H.W. Bush, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. That sent the right message to Beijing where premier Zhou Ziyang was creating an opening for free market experimentation to generate growth and jobs.
When Sculley was named president of Apple in 1983, China's Vice-Premier Li Peng was head of the State Council Group to develop the computer and electronics industry and was eager to meet with him. In his Machiavellian approach to corporate governance, Steve Jobs was even enthusiastic enough to organize the event.
A year after Sculley took over as Apple CEO Zhou Ziyang visited northern California and China Daily ran a series of features highlighting Silicon Valley.
China then made development of a national computer infrastructure the centerpiece of its Seventh Five Year Plan (1986-91). A year into the plan, Li Peng became premier and Terry Gou's Foxconn, which assembles Apple-designed products, opened its first manufacturing plant in Mainland China.
Foxconn is now the largest exporter of goods from Mainland China, assembling product outsourced by Apple, Acer, Amazon, Dell, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Motorola, among others. About 600,000 workers earning less than $1.00 an hour work 60 hours a week on these projects.
Now, four decades after San Francisco's Summer of Love and Mao's Cultural Revolution, the economic crisis has helped the two worlds come together with the socialist regime in China poised to refinance the excesses of the United States and its capitalist allies. But to make this happen China makes no secret of the fact that it wants a bigger share of the global defense market, still dominated by the United States.
China's military chief-of-staff, General Chen Bingde, visited Israel in August, meeting with his counterpart Lt. General Benny Gantz and defense cooperation was discussed. Chinese financial participation and production arrangements with France's Dassault Aviation, the EADS European defense consortium, major vendors to the Pentagon and Brazil's Embraer would incentivize China to recycle more dollars to help the West out of the crisis.
To make this happen, China seeks to create high value jobs that pay the equivalent of $10,000 a year, the gateway salary for entry into the middle class. Not the $3000 annual wages assemblers get fabricating Apple products in Ipod City.
Steve Jobs left Apple with $76 billion in cash in the bank to develop new technology that makes people feel good about themselves in the midst of a depression. China has over a trillion dollars to recycle and help rescue the world economic order. Mao said "let a hundred schools of thought contend." Apple ally Terry Gou says a million robots will replace a million workers in three years. Which cultural revolution do you want?
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Ranger Rick is now available for all ages!
Step 7 - Create Your Eco-Code
The Eco-Code states your school's environmental values in a memorable way for both students and members of the greater community.
Sidney Lanier Middle School Recycling Art Poster
The Eco-Code is a mission statement for your school and should be reflective of both your Eco-Action Plan and your curriculum. It should demonstrate, in a clear and imaginative way, your school's commitment to improving its environmental performance. It should be memorable, familiar and agreed upon by the whole school community. Many schools have used creative competitions to develop their Eco-Codes.
It is crucial that students play a key role in the development of the Eco-Code, as this will give them a greater sense of responsibility toward the values the Eco-Code represents. The content of the Eco-Code should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it continues to reflect the school's aims and targets.
How the Eco-Code is formatted is entirely up to the school. It could be a list of statements, a song or rap, or a poem. The format should be appropriate for the ages and abilities of the students.
The Eco-Code should be prominently displayed throughout the school. For instance, post it on your Eco-Schools notice board and website, in every classroom, in communal areas, and in the staff room. The Eco-Code should also be presented to the local community through the press or at events related to your Eco-Schools program.
Sample Eco-Code (from Eco-Schools Programme Ireland)
ry Recycling Ashbourne Shows How
Paper will not be wasted;
All pages in copy will be filled;
Photocopies will be backed;
Reduction of paper is our aim.
Awards Criteria
Bronze Award
• The Eco-Action Team, with input from the whole school, develops an Eco-Code that is then agreed upon and adopted.
Silver Award
• The Eco-Action Team, with input from the whole school, develops an Eco-Code that is then agreed upon, adopted and displayed.
Green Flag Award
1. The whole school and greater community is given the opportunity to make suggestions on developing (or refining and enhancing) the Eco-Code.
2. The Eco-Action team takes suggestions, refines the Eco-Code and takes it to the full school for adoption.
3. The Eco-Code is prominently displayed for all to read as they enter the school.
4. The Eco-Code is reviewed every year as part of review process to ensure that it is still relevant.
Sources: Eco-Schools Programme Ireland, Eco-Schools Programme, Eco-Schools Programme Scotland
NASA and Eco-Schools USA
Earth from Space (Source: NASA)
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Scientology Mission International
Use this glossary to look up and define any SCIENTOLOGY words or terms you come across in these pages that you do not fully understand.
aberration: a departure from rational thought or behavior.
Advanced Organization: A type of Scientology Church that delivers upper-level services.
assessment: the action of an auditor calling off questions or items to a preclear from a prepared list and noting down any E-METER reaction to the questions or items called.
auditor: a person trained and qualified in applying DIANETICS and/or SCIENTOLOGY processes and procedures to individuals for their betterment - called an auditor because auditor means, one who listens.
bank: see reactive mind.
beingness: the assumption or choosing of a category of identity.
Birthday Game: A yearly competition participated in by Missions, Scientology Organizations and Advanced Organizations. The purpose of the game is expansion, and its points are earned each week based on the trends of the statistics. The Birthday Game started in 1974 when L. Ron Hubbard was asked what he wanted for his birthday and his answer was "5X the stats!" The result was one of the biggest booms in Scientology to that date, and the Birthday Game has since become a tradition.
Bridge, The: The Bridge to Total Freedom, another name for the Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart of Levels and Certificates. The Bridge is a term which originated in early Dianetics days, symbolizing travel across and abyss from unknowingness to revelation.
C/S: see case supervision.
case: a general term for a person being treated or helped. It also refers to his condition, which is monitored by the content of his reactive mind. A person’s case is the way he responds to the world around him by reason of his aberrations.
case gain: the improvements and resurgences a person experiences from auditing; any case betterment according to the pc.
case supervision: referring to the actions of the Case Supervisor. The C/S directs what auditing actions are done for each individual preclear under his care. All case supervision is for the benefit of the preclear.
case supervisor: see case supervision.
Central Org: A Scientology Church which is placed at the next level in the hierarchy above groups and missions. Like Scientology groups and missions, a local church provides introductory lectures, workshops, seminars and other religious services to people new to Scientology. And it is where they can also discover exactly how to chart their path to Clear and beyond.
Centre Magazine: The mission journal, a publication of Scientology Missions International.
Clear: the name of a state achieved through auditing or an individual who has achieved this state. A Clear is an unaberrated person and is rational in that he forms the best possible solutions he can on the data he has and from his viewpoint.
co-audit: an abbreviation for cooperative auditing. It means a team of any two people who are helping each other reach a better life with DIANETICS or SCIENTOLOGY processing.
confessional: a SCIENTOLOGY action which asks a person to straighten out his interpersonal relationships with others.
DIANETICS: man’s most advanced school of the mind. The word comes from Greek dia, through, and nous, soul. DIANETICS is defined as what the soul is doing to the body.
Dianetics Seminar: (See Hubbard Dianetics Seminar)
doingness: the action of creating an effect. An effect in creation is action.
E-METER: an electronic device for measuring the mental state or change of state of Homo sapiens. It is not a lie detector. It does not diagnose or cure anything. It is used by auditors to assist the preclear in locating areas of spiritual distress or travail.
engram: a mental image picture which is a recording of an experience containing pain, unconsciousness and a real or fancied threat to survival.
Executive Director: The executive responsible for controlling and running a Scientology service organization.
Expanded Grades: Six major auditing actions which are done as part of every person's individual auditing program. Each Grade consists of a series of auditing processes which enable an individual to rehabilitate or regain specific abilities needed to succeed in life. For example, Grade 0 consists of twenty-three individual processes which address a person's ability to communicate, each of which is run in sequence to its proper result. These Grades are called Expanded as each one uses all the processes developed for it.
exteriorization: the state of the thetan being outside his body. When this is attained, the person achieves a certainty that he is himself and not his body.
Field Auditor: An auditor who is active in the community, doing professional auditing.
Field Control Division: The division of a Scientology Organization responsible for keeping the field and its existing people active through field activities, community programs and public relations actions. Its product is an interested, thriving field that is serviced and who spill over into the org for services. The Field Control Division is Division 6C.
Grade: A series of processes culminating in an exact ability attained, examined and attested to by the individual. Grades are designated by Roman numerals, i.e. — Grade 0, Grade I, Grade II and so on.
Grade(s): a series of processes which are run on a preclear with the purpose of bringing him to a particular state of Release.
Grade Chart: see THE BRIDGE.
Hubbard Dianetics Auditor: The name of a course which teaches someone to deliver Dianetics auditing, or a person who has completed this course.
Hubbard Dianetics Seminar: A seminar which teaches basic Dianetics auditing techniques. Its purpose is to give the student the knowledge that something can be done about the reactive mind and to give him experience in handling the reactive mind.
Hubbard Qualified Scientologists: The name of a course which offers a broad survey of key Scientology principles and gives a thorough introduction to the subject; also used to refer to a person who has completed this course.
Life Improvement Course: Any of various basic courses covering Scientology data and discoveries one needs to improve his life in numerous areas such as marriage, raising children, interpersonal relations, personal integrity and many others.
New Era Dianetics: A summary and refinement of Dianetics, released in 1978, based upon thirty years of experience in the application of the subject.
Personal Efficiency Course: The name of an entry-level course in which new public learn Scientology fundamentals.
MEST: the physical universe. A word coined from the initial letters of Matter, Energy, Space and Time, which are the component parts (elements) of the physical universe.
NEW ERA DIANETICS: a summary and refinement of DIANETICS based upon thirty years of experience in the application of the subject. NEW ERA DIANETICS was released in 1978.
Objectives: Objective refers to outward things, not the thoughts and feelings of the individual. An Objective Process deals with the real and observable. It calls for the preclear to spot or find something exterior to himself in order to carry out the auditing command. It locates the person in his environment.
org: (SCIENTOLOGY slang) an organization that delivers DIANETICS and SCIENTOLOGY training and processing.
OT: see Operating Thetan.
outpoint: any one datum that is offered as true that is in fact found to be illogical; the anatomy of insanity.
pc: see preclear.
pluspoint: a datum of truth.
postulate: that self-determined thought which starts, stops or changes past, present or future efforts.
preclear: a spiritual being who is now on the road to becoming Clear, hence pre-Clear.
pre-OT: a thetan beyond the state of Clear who, through the pre-OT levels, is advancing to the full state of Operating Thetan (OT).
process: a set of questions asked or commands given by an auditor to help a person find out things about himself or life and to improve his condition.
processing: the action of asking a preclear a question (which he can understand and answer), getting an answer and acknowledging him for that answer. Also called auditing.
PTS: potential trouble source, somebody who is connected with a suppressive person who is invalidating him, his beingness, his processing, his life.
PTS/SP Course: The name of a course which contains the technology covering Potential Trouble Sourses and Suppressive Persons, and the policies on how such situations and persons are handled.
Purification Rundown: A program consisting of nutrition, sauna and exercise which is designed to purify and clean out of one's system the restimulative drug or chemical residues which could act to prevent spiritual gain from Dianetics or Scientology processing.
randomity: a consideration of motion. There is plus randomity and minus randomity. There can be, from the individual’s consideration, too much or too little motion, or enough motion. “Enough motion” is measured by the consideration of the individual.
reactive mind: that portion of a person’s mind which works on a totally stimulus-response basis, which is not under his volitional control and which exerts force and the power of command over his awareness, purposes, thoughts, body and actions. The reactive mind is where engrams are stored.
Release: the term for what occurs when a person separates from his reactive mind or some part of it.
roller coaster: a slump after a gain.
rundown: a series of steps which are auditing actions and processes designed to handle a specific aspect of a case.
Saint Hill: The English residence of L. Ron Hubbard from 1959 through 1967, and the worldwide headquarters of Scientology from 1959 to 1970, located in East Grinstead, Sussex, England. During the mid-1960s L. Ron Hubbard ran Saint Hill as the Executive Director which was renowned as a period of extremely rapid expansion. The term "Saint Hill" now applies to any organization authorized to deliver certain upper-level Scientology services.
Sea Organization: A religious order that is distinct from the various Scientology Church organizations, though Sea Org members are responsible to the particular Church corporation for which they work. Unlike other Scientology staff, each member of the Sea Org signs a pledge of eternal service to Scientology and its goals — and thus members of this religious order form the dedicated core of the religion. The Sea Organization derives its name from its earliest beginnings in 1967 when L. Ron Hubbard, having retired from his position as Executive Director International, set to sea with a handful of veteran Scientologists to continue his research into the upper levels of spiritual awareness and ability. Although the majority of Sea Org members are now located on land, in keeping with the tradition of the beginnings of the Sea Org, they still wear maritime uniforms and have ranks and ratings. Commitment to the Sea Org is a sign of devotion to the religion and its objectives of spiritual salvation.
SCIENTOLOGIST: one who knows he has found the way to a better life through SCIENTOLOGY and who, through SCIENTOLOGY books, tapes, training and processing, is actively attaining it.
SCIENTOLOGY: SCIENTOLOGY applied religious philosophy. It is the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, universes and other life. SCIENTOLOGY means scio, knowing in the fullest sense of the word and logos, study. In itself the word means literally knowing how to know.
session: a precise period of time during which an auditor audits a preclear.
Student Hat: A course which covers all aspects of Scientology study technology.
Success Through Communication Course: A basic course which consists of eighteen communication drills presented in a gradient that anyone can learn and immediately apply. The purpose of this course is to train a person to guide and control communication for social, business and other purposes.
SP: suppressive person.
TA: tone arm; a control lever on the E-METER. The tone arm registers density of mass in the mind of the preclear. This is actual mass, not imaginary, and can be weighed, measured by resistance, etc.
theta: energy peculiar to life or a thetan which acts upon material in the physical universe and animates it, mobilizes it and changes it; natural creative energy of a thetan which he has free to direct toward survival goals especially when it manifests itself as high tone, constructive communications.
thetan: the person himself - not his body or his name, the physical universe, his mind or anything else; that which is aware of being aware; the identity which is the individual.
tone scale: a scale which shows the emotional tones of a person. These, ranged from the highest to the lowest, are, in part, serenity, enthusiasm (as we proceed downward), conservatism, boredom, antagonism, anger, covert hostility, fear, grief, apathy.
track: time track; the consecutive record of mental image pictures which accumulates through a person’s life or lives. It is very exactly dated.
Training Routine:, often referred to as training drills. Training routines are practical drills on the cycle of communication.
TRs: see training routines.
upper indoc: “Indoc” is short for “indoctrination” (meaning to teach) and Upper Indoc TRs are the series of TRs that follow Professional TRs in auditor training. They teach adroitness in starting, changing and stopping.
withhold: an unspoken, unannounced transgression against a moral code by which the person was bound. Something the preclear did that he or she is not talking about.
Word Clearing: The procedures used to locate and clear up words the student has misunderstood in his studies are called Word Clearing.
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grates sale
Grill Grates & Grids
Grill grates and grids are the heart and soul of your Char-Broil grill. They see the most wear and tear, but there are steps you can take to keep them in top shape for as long as possible. For example, each time you fire up the grill, let the grill grates heat up under intense heat for at least five minutes. This will burn away food residue and make it easy to give it a quick brush before you grill your next meal. Adding a little oil to the grates will also make it more difficult for food to stick to the grates and grids. And, when they get too old and tired, replace your grates to ensure you have optimal grilling conditions.
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have two web app running on same host on same path but on different port
now when I visit first app it serves the cookie say with name abc, and now my browser has this abc, now if I open another tab and goto app2 (https one), browser sends the cookie abc in request (because of same domain, same path) and this app sets the secure flag true because its running on https,
so now in my browser abc is overriden by secureflag = true, so if I make request to app1 (which is running on http), it doesn't send abc because of secure flag and it makes me logout because abc is session cookie
what is the secure way to overcome this,
both of the apps are mine so cookie hijacking from another app is not the case
I tried setting app2 at some other path /foo
so now its
if my browser has the cookie from foo first then everything goes ok, but if I hit app1 first then it still sends the cookie to /foo
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1 Answer
up vote 3 down vote accepted
The easiest and clearest solution is simply using differently named cookies (in addition to setting secureflag=true on the secure site cookie), eg. abc and abc_secure. This also makes development and debugging much much easier.
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Your Answer
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Today's AWAD "mitty" explains that "mitty" is a personality type inspired by Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" but "mitty" didn't become a "syndrome" until it was recognized by a psychologist writing in a British medical journal.
Thurber's 1947 story 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' was taken up by psychologist and 'Walter Mitty Syndrome' was put forward in a British medical journal as a clinical condition, which manifested itself in compulsive fantasising. The title character is a meek, mild-mannered, henpecked husband who escapes his mundane everyday existence via heroic fantasies.
Thurber invented a psychological disorder known as "The Lilies-and-Bluebird Delusion". I wish Dr. Bill was around to explain that delusion to us.
"The Nature of the American Male: A Study of Pedestalism" and "The Lilies-and-Bluebird Delusion" appeared as the first and fifth chapters in Is Sex Necessary?
P.S. Word has come back about a medical condition Mitty invented called "coreopsis".
"When Mitty was fantasizing being a surgeon, the patient
starts to have an adverse reaction, and Mitty exclaims:
'Coreopsis is setting in!' Coreopsis sounds like a
medical term, but is a genus of common flowers."
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Popular content
Putting Poverty on the Agenda
"There is definitely a story going untold," says Melissa Boteach, manager of Half in Ten, a national campaign to reduce poverty by 50 percent over the next ten years. "When you have 1 in 7 Americans living in poverty. 1 in 5 children living in poverty-including 1 in 3 African-American children and Latino children-and it's not on America's radar, something's very wrong."
Indeed it is the shame of our nation that a record 47 million people now live below the poverty line-$22,400 for a family of four-and a stunning 1 in 3 Americans are living at less than twice that threshold. And yet we hear so little about this crisis in the mainstream media and Congress, where it seems off the radar not only for the GOP, but even for some of our progressive allies.
But the grim truth is that many of the same structural problems that are making life a struggle for the middle-class-and resulted in the first "economic recovery" in 2003-2007 where productivity rose, but median income declined and poverty worsened-are also leading to record numbers of poor people. From 1980 to 2005, more than 80 percent of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1 percent. Our economy is super-sizing the wealthy, while producing large quantities of low-wage jobs, unemployment and underemployment, and services are eroding. So the work of those who are waging today's war on poverty comes with a very different frame.
"We need to make the connection between what's happening to lower-income Americans and the middle-class," says Boteach. "We need to make sure that this economic recovery is different-that we're not seeing a larger concentration of wealth, but a growing middle-class, increasing wages, and reduced poverty. That's an economic recovery that can cut poverty in half."
There is a mistaken notion that those who benefit from the kinds of antipoverty measures included in the Recovery Act are part of a "permanent underclass." But poverty isn't static-people are moving in and out of it constantly, and 1 in 3 Americans will experience poverty during their lifetime. So fighting poverty isn't about helping "the other," it's about all of us. Yet seeing that common ground can be difficult in tough times like this Great Recession. Often, people understandably turn inward, doing their best simply to look after their own families. On the flip side, times like these can lead to greater empathy, an understanding that economic struggle isn't about being lazy, or not wanting to work.
"The fact is we all have the potential to lose a job and experience economic insecurity, and we want that safety net there for us as well," says Boteach. "People who never thought they would rely on food stamps are now needing them-we hear that all the time. People who used to be the ones volunteering at soup kitchens or working at service-providing non-profits are now often forced to turn to those same services themselves."
"I think the most effective people I've heard talk about poverty are low-income people," says Boteach. "We need to lift up those voices and have them tell their stories." State coalition partners are working hard to elevate voices and provide opportunities for storytelling-a lost art that will serve both this movement and those who cover it well.
In Minnesota, for example, the "Enough For All" event featured artists across the state interpreting the concept of "enough"-as in having enough resources, or having enough/being fed up-through performing arts, visual arts and spoken word poetry. (This strikes me as akin to the WPA and federal theatre project and the role it played in bringing attention to the plight of the poor and unemployed.) The Colorado coalition is organizing low-wage working women to raise awareness of poverty in the state and advocate for policy solutions that will benefit low- and moderate-income people. In DC, the Making the Tax Code Work for Working Families event gave people a chance to tell how the EITC and CTC impact their families.
"Domestic discretionary sounds very cold and stale. What that actually is-it's childcare, Head Start, federal housing, transportation, job creation programs, job training. These are programs that not only low-income families rely on, but are really building blocks in our economy and communities," says Boteach. "It's one thing to say, ‘We're slashing spending.' Then you say what does this actually mean for communities and families? What does it mean for job-creation? And then it becomes real, it becomes human. A budget is a moral document, it's a statement of priorities."
"By making smart investments up front now in children we can actually save money in our budget later on," says Boteach. "But that doesn't necessarily show up in a 5 to 10 year budget window."
"There needs to be an emphasis, always, on accountability," says Boteach. "That's why we did an interactive poverty map by Congressional district. You can see the poverty rates by race, gender, and child poverty for your district and then figure out how your member is voting on these issues."
Call it a war on poverty, call it expanding the middle-class, call it promoting economic security. Call it whatever you want, but start making the connections between the plight of the middle-class and lower-income Americans, and get involved.
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Much of What You’ve Heard About the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Is Wrong
The state of the universe.
Sept. 26 2013 11:23 AM
Fukushima’s Worst-Case Scenarios
Much of what you’ve heard about the nuclear accident is wrong.
Sixth Reactor, Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant
The sixth reactor building of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan on Feb. 28, 2012, nearly a year after it was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami.
Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images
On a heavily guarded campus east of San Francisco stands Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of the U.S. government’s premier scientific research facilities. Hours after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, a team of Livermore scientists mobilized to begin assessing the danger from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. The 40-odd team members include physicists, meteorologists, computer modelers, and health specialists. Their specialty is major airborne hazards—toxic matter from chemical fires, ash from erupting volcanoes, or radioactive emissions.
The scientists’ work—secret at the time and barely known to the public even today—had an enormous impact on Japan’s nuclear crisis, averting a potentially disastrous U.S. overreaction. This tale reveals significant new information about the accident's severity and affords a different perspective on events at Fukushima, which have generally been portrayed as a near Armageddon.
News reports fueled the widespread view among the general public that much of eastern Japan—including Tokyo, about 150 miles southwest of Fukushima—would be badly contaminated if the struggle to contain the radiation leaks failed. Tokyo’s airports were mobbed with fleeing foreigners. Senior commanders of U.S. forces in Japan were privately fearful about the risks to American military members and their families at the U.S. bases in the Tokyo area. High-ranking officers were arguing that radiation might well require a mass evacuation.
A woman cries while sitting on a road in Natori, Japan, on March 13, 2011.
Photo by Asahi Shimbun/Reuters
President Obama's top science advisers turned to Livermore to determine the extent of the peril to the Japanese archipelago. After days of high-intensity analysis and numerous computer runs, the scientists concluded that radiation in Tokyo would come nowhere close to levels requiring an evacuation, even in the event that Fukushima Dai-ichi underwent the worst plausible meltdown combined with extremely unfavorable wind and weather patterns. Obama was briefed on the findings, and pressure for an evacuation abated.
Key details of this episode are revealed here for the first time, based in part on U.S. government documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. These revelations, together with additional new information, debunk some powerful myths about Fukushima and have weighty implications for the debate about nuclear power that has raged in the accident's aftermath. (The revelations are unrelated to the plant’s current water-leakage problem, which by some reckonings is less severe and more solvable than recent headlines suggest.)
What was Fukushima's worst-case scenario? That question consumed the thoughts of millions of people in March 2011, and it remains highly relevant today. One of the most compelling arguments advanced by opponents of nuclear power is that Tokyo only narrowly escaped harmful radiation, and if the accident had spun further out of control and winds had shifted, contamination in the metropolitan area would have been serious enough to warrant the urgent departure of its 30 million residents. Worse yet, the Japanese government supposedly knew all along, from a scenario its own experts had developed, that Tokyo was in grave danger. Naoto Kan, who was prime minister at the time and has since become a leading advocate of eliminating nuclear power, draws headlines with his estimate that the evacuation of 50 million Japanese—with ensuing “mass panic” and “many casualties”—came terrifyingly close to reality.
As someone who spent 27 years at major newspapers, I can easily understand why the media jumped on stories about the apocalypse that supposedly menaced Tokyo. Such stories conjure up images worthy of a Godzilla film—people thronging trains and highways to flee the world's largest metropolitan area—ideal for boggling the minds of readers and viewers.
Narita Airport
Passengers wait in long lines for flights out of Tokyo's Narita Airport on March 18, 2011.
Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters
The accident was the worst involving radioactivity since the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl, and it forced tens of thousands of people living near the plant from their homes. And the release of radiation could have been even worse.
But the claims about the potential for an evacuation of Tokyo have grievously misinformed the public. The Livermore scientists’ worst-case scenario shows the threat was overblown. Furthermore, close scrutiny of U.S. documentary evidence undermines another popular perception. Japanese officials have been portrayed as misleading the public with soothing pronouncements and U.S. officials as telling the unvarnished truth. This depiction has had a major effect on public attitudes toward official assurances about the safety of food, water supplies, and living conditions in the eastern part of Japan. But as a related story shows, the unfavorable impression of Japanese officials' candor comes in part from a grossly incorrect statement by an American nuclear official.
A deserted road in Namie, Fukushima, November 14, 2011.
A deserted road in Namie, Japan, on Nov. 14, 2011.
Photo by Kenji Chiga/Washington Post/Getty Images
* * *
It was the second explosion in a Fukushima Dai-ichi reactor building, and then a third, that galvanized U.S. officials into action. "I worry that we may be undershooting here" about the possible spread of radiation, said Stephen Trautman, deputy director of the Naval Reactors Program, in a March 16, 2011, conference call with other U.S. nuclear experts, according to a transcript of the conversation. "And the whole issue that we're trying to get to is, if this thing goes down badly in the near future, there's a lot of American citizens ... that we're going to have to deal with and give advice to."
The main focus of concern was the 40,000-plus active-duty military members, Defense Department civilians, and family members at the Yokosuka Naval Base, Atsugi Naval Air Station, and the Yokota Air Base, all of which are near Tokyo. Those bases are key to the U.S. strategy of maintaining stability in the Asia Pacific. The admirals and generals who command those bases are keenly mindful of the geopolitical imperatives but also place high priority on "force protection." Military families, aware of the flight by civilian foreigners from Tokyo, were clamoring for action, and Adm. Robert Willard, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, took the lead in championing their cause.
Members of the 320th Special Tactics Squadron, Sendai Airport
Members of the U.S. Air Force320th Special Tactics Squadron arrive at Japan's Sendai Airport on March 16, 2011, to assess tsunami damage.
Photo courtesy of Staff Sgt. Samuel Morse/Air Force
Backing him up were projections from Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, a Pittsburgh-based facility that designs and develops nuclear-fueled equipment for the Navy. A memo dated one week after the earthquake cited the lab’s models showing that radiation substantially exceeding U.S. government standards was likely to reach Yokosuka—which is even farther from the crippled plant than Tokyo is—if the reactors and nearby pools of spent fuel were not stabilized. “Navy civilians, military personnel, and their dependents should depart within the next few days ... prior to exceeding the general public exposure limit,” the memo said, concluding ominously: “In the more extreme scenarios involving significant core or pool damage, there would not be sufficient time to evacuate Navy civilians, military personnel, and their dependents to avoid the higher exposure levels discussed above.”
In the White House Situation Room, an emergency task force included officials from so many agencies that the screen showing video-conference participants was often divided into 32, with people from the Pentagon, Hawaii, Tokyo, and elsewhere. The diplomats involved resisted troop evacuations: What kind of signal would that send to China, North Korea, and allies around the world? If panic erupted in Tokyo, wouldn't that irreparably harm the U.S.-Japan relationship?
The administration was bound by exposure-level standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Those standards don't translate into "danger" in the commonly used sense of the word; exposure at such low levels doesn't make people sick or render them more likely to get cancer someday. There's a slightly higher risk of fatal cancer—an additional 0.5 percent—for those who receive a cumulative lifetime dose of 100 millisieverts (a measure of radiation’s effect on the body). The EPA standards set trigger points for protecting the general public well below that level, at a dose low enough that the risk of additional cancers is undetectable.
Washington authorized "voluntary departures,” including government-paid flights, for dependents of military and diplomatic personnel. But if radiation levels in the Tokyo region were about to breach EPA standards, the White House would have little choice but to order a mass evacuation. The overarching question was whether radiation levels were really headed above the standards, as the Navy was insisting with ever-greater intensity.
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have a server A which is configured behind a firewall and has 30.x.x.x public adress and 172.x.x.x internal address.
I'm trying to make a php Curl call from a script located on that server, to the 30.x.x.x external IP of that server but the curl call cannot be resolved.
It seems that server A does not have a route to that IP. Did you encounter any similar situations? Any chance to solve it through static routes?
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1 Answer
Not sure what your route table looks like, but you have a few options:
1. Switch the script to use the if possible if you're running the script on the same machine.
2. Use the 172.x.x.x internal n/w IP, which is more likely to have set up routes.
3. Try adding a default gateway to your router IP (172.x.x.254 as a total guess):
route add default gw 172.x.x.254;
Your router is going to have to be able to send it out, but that will at least get it to the router.
The only situation you could still run into is if you have firewall settings that block you from going out on the net from that machine. Try pinging the same IP and see if you get a reply (or another port for another service running on that same machine - ICMP may be blocked on the incoming public side of web server for security reasons)
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Posts: 1087
• Darwins +116/-6
That is simple. If god is a hands off God, he is just watching his experiment evolve. Wars, dissease, murder, pain, suffering are all just interesting things to watch. just like a scientist watching ants go to war all the deaths are just datapoints. And as a side note the scientist being a god like creature to ants probably could care less if the ants worshiped him.
I once speculated in a post a while back that, if you assume a deist god, the universe could well be to him/her like a sand pendulum is to a human being. And when human beings play with a sand pendulum, they certainly don't worry about whether the pendulum moving the sand around is causing any pain to the grains of sand or anything.
I'm starting to lean more toward the hands off god idea...
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World View
As the dollar declines, set your sights on diversification.
January 1, 2008
If you have a well-rounded investment portfolio, it won't be filled only with U.S. securities. You know this, right? Well, now is a good time to remind yourself, since the U.S. dollar is at its weakest point in a generation.
A punier greenback is a good thing for nondollar-denominated investments. Let's say, for the sake of simplicity, that you earned 10,000 reals in profit from your Brazil-focused, exchange-traded fund. If the dollar-to-real exchange rate is 2-to-1, then your earnings are worth $5,000. But if the exchange rate drops to 1.8-to-1, then converting your profits will yield $5,556--same investment, same return, more U.S. dollars in your pocket and happy days.
No financial planner worth his or her salt would suggest a top-to-bottom portfolio makeover based on currency fluctuations alone. But it may be time to tweak around the edges to reflect the new global reality. For starters, consider at least a couple of international stock and bond funds that don't hedge against currency movements. The base components of any portfolio should be low-cost index funds, which bring up options such as the Vanguard Total International Stock fund and its delectable 0.32 percent expense ratio. On the bond side of the ledger, there aren't any options quite so obvious--or cheap. But funds such as American Funds Capital World Bond will bring some measure of currency diversification for the fixed-income portfolio.
Significant moves into commodities and currency trading, another way to play the weak dollar, are generally best left to professional speculators--both tend to be volatile. But there are plenty of gold and silver funds, if you're so inclined. And if you have a little mad money, a relatively new breed of ETF will help you hedge against currency moves. Rydex Investments offers probably the best known ETFs at the moment, with options ranging from the Mexican peso to the Swiss franc to the Australian dollar.
And about that Brazilian ETF: In addition to, or instead of, broad international exposure, focused regional investments can make sense if you have enough to spread around. There's been a lot of talk in recent years, for example, about BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) investing. Given some of the returns these markets have already produced, a slightly broader basket might be a safer bet; consider individual ETFs or funds focused on, say, Latin America, Asia and Europe.
Diversification is always a good idea. The recent currency trends just provide some nice icing on the investment cake.
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Barack Obama can’t have an iPhone 'for security reasons'
The first US president to use email is banned from having an iPhone - forced instead to use a Blackberry limited to 10 people
• Jump to comments ()
Obama talking on mobile phone
The US president is blocked from using an iPhone because it hasn't been certified as secure enough for White House use. Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters
Despite being the most powerful man in the world, President Barack Obama is not allowed to use an iPhone because his security advisers have claimed it is not secure enough.
“I am not allowed, for security reasons, to have an iPhone,” Obama quipped during a pitch for his healthcare law at the White House, intimating that he was forced to be behind the curve in technology adoption.
His daughters, Sasha and Malia, however, do have iPhones, and “seem to spend a lot of time” using them, he said.
The iPhone is insecure
Obama famously became the first president in US history to use email and battled with the NSA in 2009 to allow him to keep a BlackBerry, a fight he eventually won although it is allegedly restricted to communicating with just 10 people.
Apple’s iPhone has yet to be certified as secure for government and military use by White House staff, meaning that the president and his staff are restricted from using Apple’s smartphone.
Despite not being allowed an iPhone, Obama does have an iPad 2, which was personally given to him by Steve Jobs before the device was released to the public in 2011.
The iPhone 5S is the most expensive in Jordan, according to research, showing disparity of the cost of an iPhone around the world
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3 Women Character AssassinationBuy this film here.
Year: 1977
Director: Robert Altman
Stars: Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Janice Rule, Robert Fortier, Ruth Nelson, John Cromwell, Sierra Pecheur, Craig Richard Nelson, Maysie Hoy, Belita Moreno, Leslie Ann Hudson, Patricia Ann Hudson, Beverly Ross, John Davey, Dennis Christopher
Genre: Weirdo
Rating: 7 (from 1 vote)
Review: Millie Lammoreaux (Shelley Duvall) has a job working with the elderly at a California health spa, helping them take a dip in the pool, supervising them, that sort of thing. Today there's a new arrival on the staff, Pinky Rose (Sissy Spacek), and Millie is ordered by her boss to show Pinky the ropes, so after lunch she guides her around, telling her how to treat the patients and as she does so Pinky grows infatuated and determined to become a big part of Millie's life. The next two days Millie isn't at work because she is helping her old roommate move out, and Pinky really misses her, so when she returns it isn't long before Pinky is finding excuses to hang around with her, little knowing how close they really will get...
If you ever wondered why Robert Altman, who wrote and directed 3 Women, fell out of favour with the general movie-going public after his success in the early seventies, simply look to films like this. I'm not sure how good an idea it is for filmmakers to base their work on the dreams they've had, as you can expect logic to fly out the window at some point, but that's what Altman did here, presumably after falling asleep watching Ingmar Bergman's Persona on late night television. It's a languidly paced story, seeming to wilt under the bright sunlight and grow mysterious in the moonlight, and many have been baffled by what it presents as a resolution.
What the film does have going for it are the two excellent performances by Duvall and Spacek. Duvall plays Millie as a vapid, empty headed chatterbox, conducting one way conversations about nothing special with people who aren't listening; until Pinky enters the scene, the impression is that nobody cares about Millie at all. As for Pinky, she's mischievous but similarly shallow and oddly unformed, looking around for someone to latch onto and finding the right person in Millie. When the two get together, as instigated by Pinky when she offers to be Millie's new roommate, their personalities are distinct at first.
However, events take a turn for the worse when Millie is forced to confront her inadequacies and lashes out at Pinky. There is a third woman hovering around in the background and she is Willie Hart (Janice Rule), a largely silent, pregnant artist who paints huge, heavily symbolic murals around the bar and apartment complex where Millie lives, and it is she who finds Pinky when she takes a tumble off the balcony into the swimming pool, a possible suicide attempt. This happens following an argument with Millie, and Millie is distraught after Pinky ends up in a coma, then trying to contact the girl's parents and improbably finding them - or does she?
All the way through the film there have been images groaning with meaning, such as a pair of twins, many shots of mirrors and reflections, and the way water plays a part as Altman places a wave effect over the lower half of the screen, but when Pinky wakes up things are stranger. It's as if the bump on the head has made her personality transform into a more successful version of Millie's, as she takes her friends, writes in her diary and generally intimidates her. And there's more weirdness to come on the night that Willie has her baby, but what does that ending mean? Is it nothing more than a variation on The Wizard of Oz, an "it was a dream and you were all there" let down? Or are the characters coping by genuinely swapping identities? Perhaps they're all the one woman - perhaps they're all womankind? Whatever, 3 Women spins its web of intrigue as if it doesn't really matter if it makes sense or not, and in its way falls back on dreamlike contrivances that will either infuriate or enchant. Music by Gerald Busby.
Reviewer: Graeme Clark
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Robert Altman (1925 - 2006)
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An interview with Giancarlo DiTrapano of the mighty Tyrant Books. * Laurence Rémila on Renaud Burel, the writer who wasn’t there. * Robert Walser‘s disappearing acts. * Walser‘s short works reviewed. * An in-depth interview with Douglas Glover. * Stephen Sparks on living in San Francisco. * George Szirtes interviews László Krasznahorkai. * An extract from Krasznahorkai‘s Seiobo There Below, plus a review. * An interview with Béla Tarr. * Stig Saeterbakken‘s Through the Night reviewed. * Ben Marcus on Thomas Bernhard. * Lars Iyer and Joe Milutis (audio). * Tim Parks on Elfriede Jelinek. * Reality and fiction. * Gerhard Richter painting. * David Shields‘s favourite books that could save your life. * Blaise Cendrars. * The one and only Gavin James Bower on Claude Cahun. * Chris Kraus in conversation with Sheila Heti. * An ode to the blonde flight attendant. * Italo Calvino‘s San Remo. *Things Deborah Levy doesn’t want to know. * Deborah Levy interviewed in 2004: “What I don’t want to happen to me is that thing that happens to so many Women — it’s as if we burst out of the birthday cake without context, history, or past with every book. Better to have body of work than a body covered in chocolate and cream… it lasts longer”. * Cioran on Beckett. * Filleted philosophy. * Will Self on JG Ballard‘s The Drowned World: “However, it is only since Ballard’s death in 2009 that the consensus has steadily formed that he was the most important British writer of the latter half of the 20th century — a development he himself naturally anticipated, with his deadpan aperçu: ‘For a writer, death is always a career move’.” * Will Self on plagiarism. * The glorious times of the Situationist International. * Simon Critchley and Jamieson Webster on rereading Hamlet. * Morrissey unbowed. * Weird vintage. * An interview with Jonathan Coe. * Rebecca Solnit: “In or around June 1995 human character changed again”. * Chaos to couture. * Richard Hell at City Lights. * The Clash on Front Row. * The Dead Kennedys gritty aesthetics. * The ghosts of existentialism. * Library of the printed web. * The Frankfurt School and the Nazis. * The 10 best French presidential election posters. * David Lynch and Transcendental Meditation. * Nicholas Rombes presents his new Time Frames column. * Tao Lin and Ben Brooks in conversation. * The erotic art of keeping clothes on. * Cabin porn. * Pierre Reverdy. * Blake Butler on Stephen Dixon. * Editions Inculte have revamped their website. * Will Self and Philip Gourevitch discuss George Orwell’s legacy (audio). * The real story of The Runaways. * Miniature book paintings. * Pic (see also here).
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First posted: Friday, September 6th, 2013.
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Question from lil_assasin
Asked: 4 years ago
How do you make the russian people speak english?
I know its in settings or something but where?
Additional details - 4 years ago
I forgot to say im talking about in multiplayer like when they say "they just blew up and m-com station.
Submitted Answers
In the main menu slide over gameplay then go down to audio. find speaking and make switch both of them, if one is not, change it to local or something just switch it to the other one
Rated: +0 / -0
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Bank of America launches new approach to foreclosure epidemic
March 26, 2012
| MoneyRates.com Senior Financial Analyst, CFA
Bank of America has made some public relations missteps over the past year, but in announcing last week a new program called Mortgage to Lease, they may have made a graceful and timely move.
The Mortgage to Lease plan represents an attempt to provide a creative solution to the lingering problem of foreclosures. It won't fix the housing market, but it could ease the pain for the bank and homeowners alike.
Several potential wins
Under the new program, delinquent homeowners would be given the opportunity to surrender the title to their homes, but rent those houses for as long as three years, at rates lower than their mortgage payments had been. In the process, the bank would forgive their mortgage debt.
The Bank of America experiment is unusual in that it represents a potential win for more than just the bank. In fact, a variety of parties could benefit from the program:
1. Homeowners would still lose the title to their home, but with forgiveness of their remaining debt and three years to find a new place to live, the mortgage-to-lease program could help them make the best of a bad situation.
2. The bank will avoid adding to its inventory of abandoned properties, and receive some rental income while getting some extra time to put foreclosed houses on the market in an orderly manner.
3. Neighborhoods will see fewer houses become empty. When a house sits empty for a prolonged period of time, it is likely the property will be poorly maintained, and the house may become a target for criminal activity. Keeping houses lived in will help preserve property values for the neighborhood in general.
4. The housing market as a whole could benefit because programs like this would prevent a glut of foreclosed properties all going up for sale at the same time.
Possible pitfalls
As beneficial as the program might be, its success still depends on the homeowners involved. While this won't prevent them from losing ownership of their houses, will people be wise enough to welcome a partial solution? Once those former owners become renters, will they take their frustrations out on those properties?
Initially, Bank of America will be rolling the program out on a limited trial basis to selected homeowners who are at least 60 days delinquent on their mortgages and face a high risk of ultimate foreclosure. This trial will be available in New York, Arizona and Nevada and will involve about 1,000 homes. To put that in perspective, Bank of America services a total of 9 million mortgages, and directly owns about 1 million.
Still, limited though this first trial might be, the Mortgage to Lease program is significant because it represents an attempt by a major bank to find an unconventional solution to the epidemic of foreclosures. The housing crisis is an extraordinary situation, and as such it demands an unusual response. Unfortunately, banks are generally too bureaucratic to think outside of the box, but with the Mortgage to Lease program, Bank of America is at least trying to rise to the occasion.
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NTSB Identification: CHI95LA324.
Accident occurred Saturday, September 16, 1995 in CAMP LAKE, WI
Probable Cause Approval Date: 11/11/1996
Aircraft: Cessna 177, registration: N3497T
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.
The airplane encountered an updraft followed by a downdraft while crossing over a barn on short final approach to land. Shortly after crossing over the barn, the airplane began losing altitude. The pilot applied full power, but was unable to arrest the sink rate. The left wing of the airplane contacted and severed a powerline wire. After that, the pilot was unable to maintain runway align, and the airplane touched down on the left edge of the runway with the left wing contacting a corn crop. The airplane then veered into the crop and traveled approximately 60 feet further before coming to a stop.
the pilot's inadequate compensation for wind conditions, and failure to maintain altitude/clearance from the power line, while on short final approach. The downdraft was a related factor.
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ZenithVault Enterprise
How does it work?
The ZenithVault Enterprise version offers access to the stored data for automated processes like recurring billing as well as access to the system owner based on token authentication designed with time limitations.
ZenithVault is a database which provides a universal CRUD API that can be integrated into any programming language within 5 minutes. The following programming languages are covered: Java, C#, Python and PHP. Please contact us for other languages as we will provide the libraries upon request, for free.
The information or data which you want to protect will be divided and separated onto at least 5 storage nodes. Each node will be running on a different operating system to avoid 0 day attacks. ZenithVault will run in at least 2 different environments (JVM and C#) for the same reason.
Each and every secret will have a unique identifier and a password associated to it. The password is also subject to dividing so that if an attacker manages to control one of the storage servers, they will not be able to use the password to request the other parts of the secret from the other nodes.
The password is unique for every secret and is known only by the secret owner. Storage nodes will not return the data back to the unsafe application unless the correct password is provided. This enterprise version allows the system owner to be able to access and edit the data from the nodes using a dedicated hardware token generator.
This allows one way data flow (the unsafe application only sends a billing request to the server slaves, never getting it back) and it also eases recurring billing. The administration can be done from a read only, security hardened, live CD operating system especially designed for this task.
It is virtually impossible for an attacker to be able to access 3 different servers, running 3 different operating systems with a single port open to only one IP, on 2 different platforms. This will be the safe environment you will create using 5 physical nodes, which is the minimal requirement (the other 2 nodes are used for partial redundancy).
The ZenithVault Enterprise version has fail-safe protection systems which offer a high availability of the cluster. Each storage node can safely fail as the system will only require 3 out of 5 servers to return the data. This configuration represents the minimum. You can employ any other configurations, such as: 10 servers with a minimum of 4 to be available.
ZenithVault Enterprise Data Flow
ZenithVault Enterprise also offers the ability to have a one way datum flow, so that even if the attackers will compromise a system the "unsafe" application will not be able to see the data being processed at that time. They will not be able to request data or sniff the request, since the system only sends out requests to the payment gateway.
Therefore the data cannot be requested back to the unsafe application. It will be forwarded to the payment gateway or depending on the application needs, returned back from a different node.
Compromised Analysis
A high protection level is achieved because client's vital information is divided among multiple servers which run different operating systems. If an attacker controls one of your servers the data they have access to will be useless because it is only a partial amount of information.
If this node is compromised, the attacker will only have access to the data that is getting sent out to ZenithVault. They will not have access to the data that is being requested, which means only half of sensitive data is being accessed. This is an extra layer of security beyond the Freeware Version.
The attacker would have to access ALL of the secret sharing nodes to gain access to the entire amount of the secret data. When you have more nodes you reduce the chances for this to happen. These nodes only accept connections on one port from the unsafe application. No other access to any other ports, IPs, computers or devices will be allowed. This means attackers could only gain access to them if they exploit the unsafe application and find a 0 day exploit for JVM or Python for the machines the application runs on. Even so, the attacker might not be able to access the system as only that port is opened to the public (if there are hardware firewalls they won't be able to open one and if there is a port getting opened, that is the signal that the server has been compromised). The chances to find 2 similar 0 day attacks for JVM and Python on multiple operating systems on the same day are extremely low.
It's quite impossible to gain unauthorized access to this machine since it only accepts incoming connections from the storage nodes. Even if such a situation were to occur, the attacker will only have access to the transactions being processed at that moment, not to the entire database.
Management Analysis
These nodes will only be allowed to receive a connection from the Management device, based on a perishable token generated by password generator (similar to e-banking password generators).
This workstation will run a read-only operating system, branded with your company name, running from a Live CD. This will ensure a fresh boot protection from viruses, backdoors and exploits. Every time you open this workstation, you will have a clean operating system. The administrator will have the ability to connect to the nodes using a token generator with passwords which are designed with time limitations. This physical device needs to be shut down at all time when not being in use. Other security mechanisms will be applied as well. However these will not be known or available to the public.
ZenithVault is vastly superior to simply storing the data in your database and encrypting it with the user's password. Why? Because encryption will not defend your information against the following types of attack:
• The attacker downloads the encrypted data and then uses "brute force" until a reversal is achieved. Smaller data sets like credit card numbers can be cracked within minutes using for example; a powerful Amazon node.
• By applying Luhn's algorithm the hashes can be collided on smaller data sets using brute force.
ZenithVault offers security against these attacks because it completely protects the data from brute force attacks. It will stop responding when a wrong password has been entered multiple times for the same secret ID. The system will completely lock itself when this process happens for multiple IDs over a short period of time.
ZenithVault allows you to physically distribute the servers in multiple geographical areas, datacenters, even continents, since the communication channel between the storage nodes and the unsafe application is encrypted.
The whole storage processes will happen in the background of the API. The e-commerce administrators will use a set of libraries provided by ZenithSecure so they can easily integrate the system in their site.
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Entries in Posterized (15)
Posterized: Christian Bale
In the Posterized series we look at a whole career though the most enduring bit of movie marketing: the poster. You'd think that when two of your first three film roles as a young boy were Oscar nominated wonders (Henry V and Empire of the Sun), there'd be nowhere to go but down. In the case of Christian Bale, you'd be wrong. His rise to the top, though, was not without its long stretches of 'this might not happen at all.' Younger readers might not realize that Bale was a fan favorite in the 1990s -- "Baleheads" they called his stans -- long before fandom was empowered by the internet. His star might have risen a lot faster if tumblr had been in existence during his slow climb.
Bale is back. And so is his yo-yo dieting
Now, of course, his career is very much happening / has happened. The literally shape-shifting A lister has two new movies opening this weekend (Out of the Furnace) and next (American Hustle) and he's skinny in one and thick in the other as is his way. Also his way: winning "Great Actor" reviews for every single performance. It's always an unpleasant surprise to remember that he's only ever been Oscar nominated once (The Fighter). At least he won on his first and only shot at gold to date.
Let's look at his career from the very beginning. How many of these 36 have you seen
Click to read more ...
Posterized: The Almodóvar 19
It was with great shame Friday that I realized I'm So Excited had landed and I hadn't done that Entire Retrospective of Pedro Almodóvar's Filmography that I suggested I'd be doing all spring. And here we are in July. My plans are always much larger than the hours filling each day as you know.
I know a lot of people aren't crazy about the new picture I'm So Excited (reviewed) which is a very silly raunchy gay comedy but I laughed a lot. (LAST DAY TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY CONTEST TODAY!) I'm going again with friends this weekend because what better way to celebrate America's Independence than... uh... catching a Pedro movie! Support your world class auteurs so that all movies without superheroes don't end up going straight to VOD by 2017.
Herewith the Almodóvar Filmography with a few notes...
How many have you seen?
Click to read more ...
Posterized: Disney/Pixar
And then...
Click to read more ...
Posterized: How Many Hepburns Have You Seen?
We end our Katharine Hepburn theme week on The Great Kate's birthday, today! Katharine Hepburn made 43 motion pictures in her 62 years on the big screen. How many have you seen? I've collected the posters here of only her Oscar nominated roles, 12 of them in total, because 43 is too many for an episode of posterized. Let's get all the Hepburn/Oscar talk out of our systems. Starting now...
Two things are thrown into sharp focus when looking at that sprawling Oscar track record stretching from 1932 to 1981. First, that though only Meryl Streep has ever bested her for Most Lead Actress nomination (14 versus 12) at least a couple of Hepburn's nominated roles would probably have been considered "Supporting" by today's much looser non-definition of the category (i.e. anything goes). Second, though four Oscars is still the record for any actor, male or female, her reputation as an Oscar magnet is arguably over stated since AMPAS weirdly didn't become OBSESSED until after she'd passed the age by which they usually start ignoring great actresses! A full 2/3rds of her nominations came after she turned 40 and 75% of her wins were after the age of 60! This is rather shocking considering that only 8 Best Actress Oscars have been handed out to women over the age of 60. Three of those eight times the name being read out was "Katharine Hepburn".
10 more films and mucho Oscar history after the jump
Click to read more ...
Posterized: Michael Bay
I can't believe I'm doing this. It feels so perverse. But with the Notorious B.A.Y.'s 10th movie dropping this weekend, why not? Pain and Gain is winning generally favorable pre-release buzz for its dumb brute yuks and for Michael Bay's understanding of his own "gifts". And people are even asking if he's an "auteur"... which, well I called him that really early on because he is. Auteur means "author" so anyone with a clear ownership of their filmography -- where you can see their fingerprints all over their work -- qualifies. It doesn't mean "Great Filmmaker" though that tends to be how people use it.
Besides, I'm genuinely curious if you Film Experiencers have seen his movies. I've often bristled at the notion that movie buffs and cinephiles are elitist snobs. From my personal experience its the multiplex masses who are the true elitists, since they're so unlikely to seek out movies that are outside the mainstream comfort zones. Most "film snobs" I know will see just about anything and can find worth in just about any genre. Have any Michael Bay fans seen a film by Michael Haneke, Jane Campion or Lars von Trier?
How many of Michael Bay's nine GIANT movies have you seen?
Bad Boys (1995), The Rock (1995), Armageddon (1997)
Remember when you couldn't escape these blockbusters? Actually I escaped them. I only saw Armageddon in theaters from Bay's Noisy Nineties Breakthrough period. Because his films were always on cable at one point I think I have seen sizeable portions of the others.
Pearl Harbor (2001), Bad Boys II (2003), The Island (2005)
Remember when Pearl Harbor had Oscar buzz. Hee!
Remember how profoundly uncool it was of Michael Bay to blame Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson for The Island's box office failure? As if they were to blame for him getting his arguably worst reviews.
Michael Bay has been directing giant fucking robots (or the green screens where they will eventually be super-imposed) for the past half decade. Now he's got actors again, though he very wisely chose cartoonish ones.
How many of these blockbusters have you seen? I'm surprised to realize that I've seen only 3 in theaters though it feels like I've seen them all from their ubiquity. I do plan to see Pain & Gain. You?
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The guest on last night's Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Helaine Olen, was promoting her new book about the personal finance industry, "Pound Foolish."
The book's tag line is, "Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry." It begins by going through the history of how Americans became hooked on investing as a way of making money, starting with the rise of IRAs (and fall of pensions) as worker compensation at the end of the 1970s.
Olen's point is that we're not rewarding Americans enough for working for decades and saving their money responsibly, instead we're glorifying risk. On top of that, now there's a whole industry built around risking you money — one that presents all sorts of so-called "answers."
CNBC, the world's leading financial network, got a lot of flack in last night's interview, and it gets grilled even worse in the book for being an irresponsible cheerleader and promoter of all kinds of investment schemes.
Here's what Olen says about the rise of CNBC on page 144 of her book:
As for the now ubiquitous CNBC, its origins are in the second tier Los Angeles UHF television station KWHY. In the mid-1980s, it changed its name to the Financial News network and expanded its national presence via cable. In 1991 it merged with the two-year-old broadcast outlet CNBC. Longtime political campaign consultant Roger Ailes was soon brought in to glam up the place up...Breathless stock cheerleading became the order of the day when the dot-com boom commenced, with long legged, big lipped "money honey" Maria Bartiromo reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange., frantically delivering up to the minute news releases from companies and analysts alike.
Tough, and here's what Olen said in last night's interview (around 4:35):
"... Bloomberg is running a more respectable operation, they're not even tracked by Nielsen ...CNBC is selling hope, they're selling 'we have the answers, follow us, we'll tell you the secrets.' What it doesn't seem to occur to anyone watching it is a couple hundred of thousands of people are watching the same thing at the same time. So even if it's accurate, which often it is not, they're not going to get in anything good.
And then Stewart broke in:
You know what they should call one of their shows? Pssttt
Watch the video below:
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No EMH Believers in a Foxhole
By Matthew Yglesias on September 23, 2009 at 1:28 pm
"No EMH Believers in a Foxhole"
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As mentioned earlier, we spoke with some German investment bankers yesterday. One group of them mounted a spirited and somewhat convincing defense of their profession’s behavior during the bubble years that I thought was interesting. Basically they were saying we should blame the clients. “We give the customer what he asks for” they say, and (someone sarcastically) maybe “more regulation is needed on the investor side” rather than on the bankers. They say that after the crisis hit, people got very conservative but already “clients are coming back and asking for emerging market bonds and hedge funds. Banking is a customer service industry that like any customer service industry is grounded in human nature and “human nature is driven by greed and fear.”
This is plausible stuff I think. But it’s also strikingly far afield from the Efficient Markets Hypothesis and the idea that greasing the skids of the financial sector is the key to the economic promised land.
These guys worked at the German subsidiary of a US firm and they explained that when the Frankfurt office first opened it was largely staffed by people from the US and UK because there weren’t enough local people with the requisite expertise. But over time that shifted and nowadays it’s staffed by 80 percent Germans, Austrians, and Swiss. Why? Well, because the Frankfurt office deals mostly with German-speaking clients and being able to speak to the German-speaking clients in their native language “puts them at ease” at makes it easier to drum up business. That makes perfect sense, of course, but again it doesn’t look much like efficient markets.
Shocking Revelation
Modernist Germany
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Why you should choose low emission vehicles
Profile image for AdFeatures
By AdFeatures | Thursday, September 13, 2012, 08:41
In a world which is constantly focusing on its carbon footprint, concerns over eco-efficiency are constantly at the forefront of our minds. Whilst in the home this translates to investing in insulation and energy monitors, for drivers it involves upgrading our motor to something with an inherently green focus.
Superior fuel consumption
As electric vehicles do not use petrol or diesel at all, hybrid vehicles are the only ones able to offer superior fuel consumption in a traditional sense. While diesel cars are now more efficient with fuel than ever before, they are still unable to hold a torch to hybrid vehicles in this respect. This means that hybrid owners spend less time at the pump and that equates to less money being spent.
The reason that hybrid vehicles are able to keep fuel consumption so low is that they are fitted with an intelligent electric motor which aids the engine in propelling the car. Manufacturers such as Honda have also strived to reduce waste across the board — resulting in the engine having to do less work to achieve the same level of performance. Not only does this mean that the engine requires less power to maintain performance but that some of this power can be provided from electricity, rather than petrol or diesel.
Lower carbon emissions
The emission of greenhouse gases from our exhaust pipes contributes to global warming. An eco friendly car will tend to fall below the level of 100g of CO2 per kilometre, which is safely within the lowest commonly measured bracket. Of course, electric vehicles have zero emissions – making them an easier wiser investment.
Issues concerning the availability of charging points for electric vehicles still exist in the UK but are expected to be overcome soon. The focus on green motoring is so pronounced that it is only a matter of time before national rollouts see electric charging points a common feature of towns and cities.
Lower taxation
With emissions as low as those mentioned above, your annual bill for road tax will fall dramatically if you switch to a low emissions vehicle. Incentives like this one have been offered by the government for some time as they hope to encourage people to make positive ecological changes to their lifestyle.
The oil crisis
While petrol can seem plentiful when being pumped into our fuel tanks, this simply is not the case. The fuel for our cars in based on oil which has to be drilled from below ground and the damage that the oil industry has caused in the Middle East has wider implications.
Oil in these parts of the world will eventually run out and when it does, oil companies will be driven elsewhere to fulfil demand. This will inevitably lead to the destruction of delicate ecosystems and could do irreversible damage to our planet. Looking for Honda cars for sale which utilise hybrid technology could help address this problem, using renewable energy sources to supplement the gap in the market.
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