Don Harmon Death
Don Harmon Death, Don Harman, the fun-loving weathercaster and personality on Kansas City’s most popular morning show, has died.
Harman, a 41-year-old native of Ohio, was hired by WDAF “Fox 4” in 1999 to replace Gary Lezak and quickly became part of a high-spirited team that was No. 1 in the ratings for years.
Fans were grieving reports of his death Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, even as station officials at WDAF/Fox 4 struggled to balance the online outpouring of sympathy with their journalistic obligation to wait until the next of kin — in this case Harman’s father — could be notified.
Harman’s close friend and morning show co-host Mark Alford looked shell-shocked as he read the announcement at 4:45 a.m. asking for patience from viewers who were bombarding the station’s switchboard and posting messages to social media. The announcement was repeated through Fox 4’s morning newscast.
“We know a lot of you out there have questions about what’s going on. We do appreciate your concerns. We consider you our friends,” Alford said.
His co-anchor Loren Halifax continued: “We do ask you, though, to remember that family comes first. And we are honoring that.”


stir-fried broad beans with xue cai, stir-fried celery with hard bean curd, tomato sauce prawns, Shanghainese-style steamed fish (with wine) and drunken chicken wings. Soup was tomato egg flower soup.
One late morning, we were on our way out when Da Ma waylaid us. She insisted that we eat lunch at home and I willingly agreed because I was tired of eating out. Da Ma's maid was a little flustered because she had already prepared lunch for Da Ma. Before we could stop her, she went out and came back (that's the wonderful thing about living in the city. There's always a corner grocery store) with a small bag of live prawns. She trimmed them live and threw them into a hot wok and cooked a simple delicious dish of tomato sauce prawns. Lunch was 8 dishes and again I was so full I was upset with myself for gorging.
From top: salted pork slices, stir-fried asparagus, stir-fried Chinese spinach sprouts, a beancurd, mushroom and ham stew (gunzi tang) and stir-fried mao doe (fresh soy beans). Soup was winter melon and pork bones.
On another day, we were again caught on the way out (the rare day when we didn't have a lunch appointment) so we had lunch with Da Ma again. Since this was really impromptu, Da Ma's maid didn't add more dishes and yet I enjoyed this meal. It made me re-think my meals at home, especially since my Hub is testing a bit high on his sugar levels now. A meal of mostly veggies (many kinds of them) with little carbs (like I said, not eating rice is a trend now) is so much more healthier than my meat-oriented meals. It's an eye and mind opener. I really should not plan my meals around meat, at least not for lunch.
Ooji (means turtle in Shanghainese) shen (shoot, sprout) is the veg on the left next to the long beans, with leaves like romaine lettuce. The veg on the right is gaobak.
The Shanghainese call this veg ooji shen . In Malaysia, we get them in cans pickled in a light soy sauce which makes them salty and crunchy, perfect for eating with plain rice congee. If you ever find fresh ooji shen in your local market (or bring it back from Shanghai like I did), get a stem and make a cold salad of it. The stems are crunchy and have a slight pleasant scent.
Cold Salad Of Ooji Shen
1 ooji shen/ lettuce stem
thinly sliced spring onions
msg (optional but recommended)
1. Peel the stem, removing all hard fibers. Cut into thin slices, then julienne strips and add just enough salt to taste. Do not add too much salt because it's not washed away. Cover and leave about 20 minutes.
2. Squeeze the salted lettuce stem strips gently, discarding the liquid. Put into a serving bowl or plate, mix in a dash or two of msg and spring onions.
3. Heat the oil until smoking and pour it over the lettuce stem strips, mixing well. You can serve straightaway or chill it prior to serving.
Note: Healthy though the dishes were, I was shocked by the amount of msg Da Ma's maid added to each dish. If there's msg in home-cooking, restaurant food must be 100% msg-laced. I suspect the same in Japanese cooking, except that msg is disguised in dashi granules, a quintessential ingredient in Japanese dishes, said to be made of tuna but is really tuna and msg.


Thought that high school algebra class was pointless? Think again.
As you might have learned in Donald in Mathmagic Land, math is an integral part of our world that stretches far beyond the obvious confines into every aspect of life. Complicite’s production of Simon McBurney’s Olivier Award-winning play A Disappearing Number, currently showing at the Angelika Film Center as part of the National Theatre Live series, is just such an example of math’s ubiquitous presence in our world.
A play about two relationships nearly 100 years apart, A Disappearing Number also explores the greater relationship between art and math.
In 1914, noted Cambridge mathematician G.H. Hardy (David Annen) receives a strange correspondence from a penniless Brahmin from Southern India named Srinivasa Ramanujan (Shane Shambhu). The young Indian exhibits a mastery of mathematics unlike the professor has ever seen. Through a series of correspondences, Hardy convinces Ramanujan to leave India for England where they subsequently work together.
In present time, Ruth Minnen (Saskia Reeves) is a math professor at Brunell, near London. After a lecture one day, she is greeted by Al Cooper (Firdous Bamji), an American-born Indian, visiting the area for a business conference. After accidentally stumbling upon Ruth’s math class, Al is taken and ventures to introduce himself, tipping over the first domino en route to their eventual marriage and Ruth’s untimely death.
That is the linear telling of the story. However, McBurney creates his own beautifully balanced equation by intertwining the stories, ultimately creating an alternate, reality-bending dimension in which the action plays out.
He accomplishes this feat through the careful orchestration of each part of the production. The creative team of designer Michael Levine, lighting director Paul Anderson, sound director Christopher Shutt and projection designer Sven Ortel create a truly awe-inspiring set. Initially resembling the mundane front of a random university lecture hall, the audience soon discovers, via an introduction by Aninda Rao (Paul Bhattacharjee), that the space is quite dynamic. Of particular note is a swivel-mounted screen squarely in the middle of the set used to great effect.
If the production design is the bass clef of this orchestra, the script is the treble. Balancing both stories with deft skill, McBurney’s script nimbly jumps between stories and from transition to transition leaving no trace of drag. The words take on the cadence of a great fugue. Like the many indecipherable equations that populate the story, McBurney too starts with an improbable assumption and ends with an elegantly constructed solution. To see the storylines converge, a mathematic theme even referenced in the script, is quite impressive. No doubt is left as to why this play has been awarded on numerous occasions.
Though no one performance stands out above the rest, the cast as a complete ensemble is excellent. The script tends to serve up equal doses of comedy and drama, which the actors handle with relative ease. And Bhattacharjee, essentially serving as narrator and master of ceremonies for most of the production, navigates the ever-changing terrain well, always keeping the audience on balance with what’s going on.
Adding another dimension to this performance is the fact that it is pre-recorded and shown on screen at the Angelika.
Originally performed at Theatre Royal Plymouth as part of National Theatre Live, the mediated nature of the performance serves to both enhance and hinder the performance in ways. As with the National Theatre’s recent showing of Phédre on screen, A Disappearing Number is shot using three cameras. This requires an extra level of direction as the three angles are directed, compiled and edited for movie audiences.
In this transition, the director gains the ability to force the audiences focus, sometimes choosing to only show parts of the stage despite the fact that action is taking place elsewhere. In some instances, this adds to the quality of the performances. However, true theater buffs will be somewhat dismayed at the loss of being able to see the entire stage, and especially in some cases, the fluidity with which the stage transitions between settings. The end effect is likely minimal and really a matter of preference. Some will enjoy it more, some less. And still others will be indifferent. Overall, it doesn’t have as profound effect on the production as it did in Phédre.
Probably best viewed by theater lovers, A Disappearing Number is a great example of theater’s current movement towards a more avant-garde presentation. However, it is also an example of how this style of performance can be broadly accessible. Because at its very heart, this show is about the nature of relationships and the intrinsic interconnectedness of life, a theme to which everyone can relate.


Oracle is advising its customers to quickly apply a critical database patch the company issued last week. Security experts warn the hole could allow even unsophisticated users to take control of Oracle databases.
The patch, known as DB18, fixes a hole that affects most supported versions of the Oracle database software, including Oracle versions 8, 9 and 10.
The hole is "very severe" and allows users to bypass the Oracle database's authentication and become administrative "super users," according to Shlomo Kramer, CEO of Imperva, which discovered the hole.
However, Kramer and others say Oracle may be downplaying the seriousness of the threat out of concern that malicious hackers could be tipped off to the severity of the issue.
Oracle Corp. said that it patches security holes in the order of their severity and categorized DB18 as a serious vulnerability with the potential for wide impact in the January Critical Patch Update [CPU], according to an e-mail statement.
Researchers in Imperva's Application Defense Center discovered the security hole "a few months ago," though it has existed for years, Kramer said. "It goes all the way back to Version 8, but it wasn't patched until now."
The vulnerability allows any user of an Oracle database, including guest account users, to turn themselves into database administrators just by sending a SQL (Structured Query Language) command to the database during log-in, Kramer said.
The security hole is part of the standard user authentication mechanism used by Oracle database clients, according to information published by Imperva.
That authentication consists of two separate client requests and server responses.
By manipulating a variable in one of those requests that is used to set the language and location of the client, ordinary users with "create session" privileges can run commands as SYS, the highest-level Oracle account, Imperva said.
The flaw could allow any user to elevate the level of permissions, or take other actions, Kramer said.
"This is a vulnerability that can be exploited by someone who is not an expert. Someone who doesn't know how to program, just by changing one statement," he said.
Users can manipulate a standard file that is part of the Oracle client software so that a command of the user's choosing is issued when the user logs on.
A malicious user could choose to elevate his user account to the level of database administrator or make changes to the database configuration, said Alex Kornbrust, of Red Database-Security, in Neunkirchen, Germany.
"It's a kind of democracy. There are no longer any DBAs [database administrators]. On nearly every [Oracle] database out there, a user can become a DBA," he said.
Kornbrust shared details of the exploit with eWEEK but asked that the information not be made public because of security concerns.
Oracle learned of the hole from Imperva and patched it within three months as part of the scheduled CPU (Critical Patch Update) in January. That's a remarkable feat for a company that often takes a year or more to issue fixes, said Kornbrust.
The company has also sent e-mail messages to customers that call attention to DB18 and advise them to fix it as soon as possible, said Arthur Merar, an Oracle database administrator at Great Lakes Naval Base in Chicago.
Merar said he will apply that patch and others across more than 65 production systems within the next week, after he and his staff has a chance to test the patches.
However, both Kornbrust and Kramer expressed concern that Oracle customers might not appreciate the seriousness of the security hole fixed by the DB18 patch.
"If you look at the fix they've published, there's not a lot of information at all," Kramer said. "It's kind of unclear what's going on. They're not really giving enough information to customers."
For example, Oracle does not provide details on the nature of the vulnerability, the risks involved or how the company's patch fixes the problem, Kramer said.
"People are saying that the CPU in January was not that severe, but it's really important to apply [DB18]," Kornbrust said.
Details of the Oracle patches can be difficult for less technical staff to interpret, Merar agreed.
"A lot of people aren't that technical, and it's difficult for them to understand what [the patch fixes]," he said.
Oracle has become the focus of increasing criticism from security experts for faulty patches and what some consider sluggish response to reports of security holes in its products.
On Monday, Gartner issued a research note saying that the most recent CPU, which patched 82 software holes across the company's product lines, shows that Oracle "can no longer be considered a bastion of security."
Oracle has defended the security of its code and its internal processes for spotting security holes. The company cites its long tradition of secure development, its recent changes, like the introduction of automated static code analysis tools, and the shift to quarterly patches as evidence that it takes security seriously.
Check out eWEEK.com's Security Center for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEK.com Security Center Editor Larry Seltzer's Weblog.
Copyright © 2006 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Media Inc. is prohibited.


Ten years ago, former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin argued France’s opposition to the Iraq at the United Nations. He is now worried about France’s military mission to Mali, saying Paris has failed to heed the lessons of history.
Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin has warned that military intervention in Mali risked dragging the country into an interminable conflict in the former French colony, was ill thought-out, and “not the French way”.
In an editorial for the Sunday newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, Villepin compared France’s mission to stem Islamist advances into southern Mali to “a decade of lost wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya”.
Villepin is one of France’s most venerable diplomats, famous for his speech to the United Nations in 2003 that passionately outlined France’s case against the US invasion of Iraq.
In this Sunday's editorial, the former prime minister, who attracted the scorn of the US leadership for his country’s firm “Non” to the Iraq War, demanded: “How has the neo-conservative virus been able to infect our outlook?
“This unanimous enthusiasm for war, the haste with which we’re doing it, and the déjà-vu of ‘war on terror’, worries me.
“We will be fighting blind without any reason for actually going to war. Stopping the jihadists from moving south, reconquering the north of the country and eradicating AQIM [Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb] are all completely separate war aims.”
Villepin went on to decry the weakness of the Bamako-based Malian government, which was the victim of a military coup in March 2012 that precipitated the Islamist conquest of the vast northern half of the country.
“We will be fighting alone without a reliable Malian partner,” he said. “With the removal of the Malian president in March and its prime minister in December, with the collapse of the deeply divided Malian army, and amid the wholesale failure of the Malian state, who can we rely on for backup?”
France was wholly lacking in regional partners, he added, citing reticence from Algeria, another former French colony that shares a huge desert border with northern Mali, as well as the failure of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) to respond to the crisis.
France launches mission in Mali
- Defense lawyers say Hissene Habre had 'power of life and death' over his people
- DR Congo win second CHAN title with 3-0 win over Mali
- Jihadists attack U.N. base in Mali
- Timbuktu re-opens mausoleums destroyed by Islamists
- Al Qaeda affiliate claims kidnapping of Swiss nun in Mali
- French forces ‘neutralise’ several suspected jihadists in Mali
- Mali declares 10-day state of emergency following ‘jihadist threats’
- Dozens of Syrian refugees flee to Mali
- Gunmen launch deadly attack on UN peacekeeping base in Mali
- Report: Malian villagers caught in the crossfire
- French intervention in Mali (part 2)
- French intervention in Mali
- French anti-terror judge says ‘no choice’ but war in Mali
- Former PM Villepin warns of 'blind' Mali intervention
- Mali-based Islamists pledge attacks on French soil
- France orders tighter security in wake of Mali operation
- Mali's whisky-drinking rebel turned Islamist chief
- Strange bedfellows: The MNLA’s on-again, off-again marriage with Ansar Dine
Only politics and dialogue could save Mali from its woes, he argued, saying the only viable solution was to rebuild the country while encouraging regional partners – notably ECOWAS and Algeria – to step up efforts to restore order to the lawless Sahel region.
“What is needed is a political effort to negotiate with the various parties while isolating the Islamists and bringing the Touareg [nomadic tribes of the Sahel] together towards a reasonable solution,” Villepin wrote.
He concluded that since the Iraq War, he had “not stopped arguing for political resolution of crises away from the vicious cycle of armed force”.
“Today, our country can open a way to get us out of the warlike impasse we find ourselves in, if we can come up with a new model of engagement based on the realities of history, on peoples’ aspirations and with respect for their identities,” he wrote.
“This is France’s responsibility to history.”
Villepin’s was the only strong voice of opposition against France’s intervention in Mali until Monday, when far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon complained that France was acting unilaterally and beyond a UN-mandated plan for ECOWAS to deploy troops to retake northern Mali from the rebels in the coming months.
“The UN mandate stipulated that this was an African problem to be resolved by Africans,” he told reporters. “Doesn’t Algeria, which shares a border with Mali, have an extremely advanced army?
“Resolving this situation is a job for Africans. They’re grown-ups, they have real countries, but yet again we find ourselves going back to our old bad habits of intervening here and there on the continent. We haven’t learned a single lesson.”
Date created : 2013-01-14


Thursday, August 01, 2013
"Rat Vendor" successfully sells the Zombie sound and vintage vibes
Guitar mastermind John 5 remains in the band line-up, along with bassist Piggy D. John 5's former Marilyn Manson bandmate Ginger Fish makes his first album appearance with Rob Zombie, replacing drummer Joey Jordison.
The album opens with the wildly titled "Teenage Nosferatu Pussy" which begins with young woman talking, sounding like a clip from an old movie. She says "It's here! Can't you feel it?" followed by more talk about feeling free and seeing all the molecules and the colours in the air. It's an absolute trip right away. The music starts, and it has a hard-hitting industrial feel with especially heavy drumming. A Deep Purple-esque organ soon joins in. It's only in the forefront briefly, but it remains rather subtle for the rest of the song. Rob's vocals really have an Alice Cooper tone and attitude here. It becomes increasingly apparent when you notice the rhythm in how he sings, "I am so hazardous / My name is Lazarus," and the chorus, "Teenage Nosferatu Pussy / Turn it on! / Turn it on!" When describing the new Zombie record to my best friend and fellow rocker, my exact words were, "It is SO Alice. Alice Cooper with more sex and violence, of course!"
The next track, "Dead City Radio & The Gods of Supertown", is Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor's lead single. It begins in a manner similar to "Teenage Nosferatu Pussy", featuring an old film clip (or possibly a radio recording) of a man repeating, "Radio has changed our lives and probably saved our lives", as the massive riffs hit. It's a very heavy, modern song--but it has undeniable '60s and '70s influences. Rob's vocals on this track still have the Alice Cooper sound, and the chorus is filled to the brim with the electric organ. I also really dig that big, bright guitar lick that's just before the chorus.
Because of the "shock rock" image, Rob Zombie will always draw comparisons to Alice Cooper. However, that isn't the only reason why Alice's name keeps getting thrown around. As it turns out, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor was produced by Bob Marlette--the guy who produced Alice Cooper's foray into the darker industrial side of metal, Brutal Planet, back in 2000.
While the industrial Alice Cooper-y hard rock sound is at the forefront of Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor, there are some significant departures from that. "Theme from the Rat Vendor" is a short but noteworthy instrumental with psychedelic and Eastern/Indian characteristics. The strangely danceable "Rock and Roll (In a Black Hole)" begins with a dark electronic beat but takes on a moshing metal style for the chorus. With it's fascinating lyrics mentioning Captain Kirk and black holes, I'm all over this one.
"Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De Laga Raga" deserves some kind of award for its crazy title. Hell, I deserve some kind of an award for spelling it out! I like to pretend it originally meant something, like how "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" was supposed to be "In the Garden of Eden". The lyrics are just as interesting as the title. No matter how many times I listen to this song, I never cease to be amused by the line, "Strapped behind the wheel of a flat-bed truck / A payload of pussy and Peking Duck", which starts off the chorus. Musically, it features elements common to many of Zombie's other songs, but "Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De Laga Raga" is certainly one of a kind. It's awesome regardless, but the more you listen to it, the cooler it gets.
Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor also features a live cover of Grand Funk Railroad's classic, "We're An American Band". I've been fortunate enough to see Rob Zombie live, and this recording spectacularly captures the band's energy and sound. Rob's vocals are gritty, soulful, and full of power, and John 5's guitar work is electrifying. The band really does this song justice, and they don't do anything too wild with it. It's basically a heavier version of the original, but it too good to go unnoticed.
The album ends with "Trade in Your Guns for a Coffin". The intro guitar riffs are low and fuzzy, and with a giant screech they get louder. It actually sounds as if the music gets closer. "Trade in Your Guns for a Coffin" contains clever lyrics about the misplaced priorities of today's youth--laziness, apathy, and self-serving attitudes. One line about the constant pursuit to get high--"Baby's shootin' vodka in her eyes again", particularly stands out. The chorus of "It's why we suck and why we fuck / Alright! Alright! / Trade in your guns for a coffin / Alright! Alright!" is lively and catchy. This is a very energetic and hard rocking song with some thought-provoking commentary on society.
Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor is a fantastic metal record with industrial, psychedelic, and classic rock overtones. It has all the things you would expect from a Rob Zombie album--overt sexuality, horror, and the use of sound clips from cult films and pornos. Nobody else sounds quite like Rob Zombie. So, unless he completely changes his musical direction--which in itself would be horrifying--his records will be familiar. While there will always be this familiarity, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor does sound new, creative, and modern. It leaves a solid lasting impression, and with the right exposure, it could become as memorable as his more venerated earlier works.
8 1/2 out of 10 stars
Zodiac Swan Records/T-Boy Records/Universal Music Enterprises
Official Rob Zombie Website


By David Wishart
Oak Bay Marine Group has added top-of-the range, eight-metre Kingfisher vessels to its fleet of nine vessels at Ucluelet’s Canadian Princess Resort on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Ideal for up to four, the Kingfishers are specifically designed to operate in the offshore marine waters of B.C.’s remote, rugged West Coast and are outfitted with all the best technology to outwit fish.
At recent visit to the Canadian Princess Resort included a fishing trip on one of the Kingfishers. Our agent limited out his salmon catch (two) and also landed the catch of the day, a halibut of almost 15 kilograms and worth, if you’re counting, $490 at a fish shop.
The other fishers also caught more salmon, as well as a 12-kilogram halibut—all on barbless hooks. All of which made the morning’s fishing a good investment.
Rates start at $159 for a ride on Canadian Princess’ two deep-sea Delta Cruisers, which can hold about a dozen anglers.
A step up from the Delta Cruisers is the resort’s Boston Whaler Outrages, superb boats for two rods and a guide.
In addition to salmon and halibut, eagles and whales are also common on this rugged coast.
Earlier in the morning, we were taken on a spin on one of the Delta Cruisers, lingering off Effingham Island and spotting an eagle’s nest high in a tree.
Was this the same nest seen by Captain Cook and recorded in his log more than 200 years ago? Quite possibly, for eagle nests are used generation after generation.
Since the eagles could be heard, a deckhand flourished a rock-cod landed during a spell of bottom fishing. As the eagle closed in, he threw the rock-cod into the sea.
Eagles are not just deadly, they are smart. This one made several circuits to make sure the coast was clear before dropping his talons and making a fast approach to scoop up the fish just a few metres from out boat. Wow!
Back in Ucluelet’s well-protected harbour, the Canadian Princess vessel has a cozy pub and restaurant, the latter serving excellent calamari.
Only crew stay on the vessel these days, the clients enjoying luxurious accommodation at a handsome lodge shoreside.
Oak Bay Marine Group uses Orca Airways from Vancouver airport’s South Terminal for the scenic flight to nearby Tofino.
Canadian Princess Fishing Lodge & Marine Adventures is owned by the Oak Bay Marine Group, whose other properties include Painter’s Lodge near Campbell River and April Point Resort & Spa on Quadra Island.
For more information on an Oak Bay Marine Group fishing adventure, call 1-800-663-7090 or go to obmg.com.
DAVID WISHART has written for Cruise Critic, the Los Angeles Times, New York Post, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, London Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, The Times, The Independent, The Scotsman, Bangkok Post, New Zealand Herald, Essential Marbella magazine and Qantas inflight magazine. He is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers.