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Thanks Kerry. I get it now. FWIW, in my non-analog capacity I shoot a lot of stitched panoramas so the importance of a level platform is understood. When I asked earlier about it going under a tripod head, I was alluding to mounting either a panning base or a ball head with an incorporated panning base to the leveling head. Are the ballheads' balls marked in any way so that the neutral, vertical position can be found quickly?
Sign up for our newsletters! The women of Monroe High When Yvonne asks all the women who've been whistled at, beaten up by a man, or called a bitch, whore or slut to cross the line, every woman in the room takes a step forward. "I've been in situations where I felt so vulnerable as a woman and I had no power," Lisa says. "Every woman has gone through it." As the men and women face each other, Yvonne asks the men to look into the eyes of their classmates and imagine that these women are their mothers, grandmothers or sisters. Many of the men are surprised that catcalls and sexist "jokes" have had such an impact on the young women in their school. "Watching people cry because they've been whistled at, they've been honked at...it's not funny," Charles says. "It's not fun and games." Riley, a male student who has an older sister and was raised by a single mother, says he would never want to see his family members go through the same thing as his female classmates and teachers. "It was horrible," he says.
Documentation Center • Trials • Product Updates Plot Bode frequency response with additional plot customization options h = bodeplot(sys) bodeplot(..., plotoptions) h = bodeplot(sys) plot the Bode magnitude and phase of the dynamic system model sys and returns the plot handle h to the plot. You can use this handle to customize the plot with the getoptions and setoptions commands. bodeplot(sys) draws the Bode plot of the model sys. The frequency range and number of points are chosen automatically. bodeplot(sys1,sys2,...) graphs the Bode response of multiple models sys1,sys2,... on a single plot. You can specify a color, line style, and marker for each model, as in bodeplot(AX,...) plots into the axes with handle AX. bodeplot(..., plotoptions) plots the Bode response with the options specified in plotoptions. Type help bodeoptions for a list of available plot options. See Example 2 for an example of phase matching using the PhaseMatchingFreq and PhaseMatchingValue options. bodeplot(sys,w) draws the Bode plot for frequencies specified by w. When w = {wmin,wmax}, the Bode plot is drawn for frequencies between wmin and wmax (in rad/TimeUnit, where TimeUnit is the time units of the input dynamic system, specified in the TimeUnit property of sys.). When w is a user-supplied vector w of frequencies, in rad/TimeUnit, the Bode response is drawn for the specified frequencies. See logspace to generate logarithmically spaced frequency vectors. Example 1 Use the plot handle to change options in a Bode plot. sys = rss(5); h = bodeplot(sys); % Change units to Hz and make phase plot invisible Example 2 The properties PhaseMatchingFreq and PhaseMatchingValue are parameters you can use to specify the phase at a specified frequency. For example, enter the following commands. sys = tf(1,[1 1]); h = bodeplot(sys) % This displays a Bode plot. Use this code to match a phase of 750 degrees to 1 rad/s. p = getoptions(h); p.PhaseMatching = 'on'; p.PhaseMatchingFreq = 1; p.PhaseMatchingValue = 750; % Set the phase to 750 degrees at 1 % rad/s. setoptions(h,p); % Update the Bode plot. The first bode plot has a phase of -45 degrees at a frequency of 1 rad/s. Setting the phase matching options so that at 1 rad/s the phase is near 750 degrees yields the second Bode plot. Note that, however, the phase can only be -45 + N360, where N is an integer, and so the plot is set to the nearest allowable phase, namely 675 degrees (or 2360 - 45 = 675). Example 3 Compare the frequency responses of identified state-space models of order 2 and 6 along with their 2 std confidence regions. load iddata1 w = linspace(8,10pi,256); h = bodeplot(sys1,sys2,w); setoptions(h, 'PhaseMatching', 'on', 'ConfidenceRegionNumberSD', 2); Use the context menu by right-clicking Characteristics > Confidence Region to turn on the confidence region characteristic. Example 4 Compare the frequency response of a parametric model, identified from input/output data, to a nonparametric model identified using the same data. 1. Identify parametric and non-parametric models based on data. load iddata2 z2; w = linspace(0,10pi,128); sys_np = spa(z2,[],w); sys_p = tfest(z2,2); spa and tfest require System Identification Toolbox™ software. sys_np is a non-parametric identified model. sys_p is a parametric identified model. 2. Create a Bode plot that includes both systems. opt = bodeoptions; opt.PhaseMatching = 'on'; bodeplot(sys_np,sys_p,w, opt); More About expand all See Also \| \| \| \| Was this topic helpful?
Take the 2-minute tour × When I put images on my blog and they get included in social sites like Google plus it seems Google just grabs the first image it finds to include in posts. However I want it to include a specific image on the page. Is there a specific attribute to set for this on the image tags? share\|improve this question add comment 1 Answer up vote 0 down vote accepted First, make sure you set a "Featured Image" for your post. You don't even need to include it in the body of your post, just set the featured image via the "Add Media" button. Then you can add the og:image meta property to the single post header to have other sites pick up this image automatically. The easiest way to do this is to install an SEO plugin like WordPress SEO by Yoast, which will automatically create the "og:image" property along with a few others targeted at other social networks. share\|improve this answer add comment Your Answer
Take the 2-minute tour × I'm trying to extract specific hard coded variables from C source code. My remaining problem is that I'd like to parse array initialisation, for example: #define SOMEVAR { {T_X, {1, 2}}, {T_Y, {3, 4}} } It's enough to parse this example into "{T_X, {1, 2}}" and "{T_Y, {3, 4}}", since it's then possible to recurse to get the full structure. However, it needs to be sufficiently general so as to be able to parse any user defined types. Even better would be a list of regular expressions that can be used to extra values from general C code constructs like #define, enums and global variables. The C code is provided to me, so I have no control over it. I'd rather not write a function that parses it a character at a time. However, it'd be OK to have a sequence of regular expressions. This is not a problem of getting files into MATLAB or basic regular expressions. I'm after a specific regular expression that preserves groupings by brackets. EDIT: Looks like regular expressions don't do recursion or arbitrarily deep matches. According to here and here. share\|improve this question add comment 7 Answers up vote 0 down vote accepted EDIT: Now that the question has been updated, it appears that my previous answer missed the point. I don't know if you've already searched the other regular-expression-related questions on Stack Overflow. On the chance that you haven't, I came across two that may help give you guidance for your problem (which appears to be a problem, at least partially, of trying to match and keep track of opening and closing curly braces): this one and this one. Good luck! share\|improve this answer It's easy enough to write an expression that matches a specific case, but I'm after something general that preserves groupings while separating the list. Thanks anyway. – Nzbuu Feb 13 '09 at 15:36 Ah, I understand better now from your new edit of the question. The problem appears quite a bit more difficult than the example you gave. Unfortunately, no immediate solution springs to mind. – gnovice Feb 13 '09 at 15:50 add comment Have you looked at the following site which provides extensive tutorials and examples on regular expressions :- share\|improve this answer add comment The formal language that defines brace matching is not a regular language. Therefore, you cannot use a regular expression to solve your problem. The problem is that you need some way to count the number of opening braces you have already encountered. Some regular expression engines support extended features, such as peeking, which could be used to solve your problem, but these can be tough to deal with. You might be better off writing a simple parser for this task. share\|improve this answer add comment Maybe vim's syntax file would help in this matter. I'm not sure whether it has those elements you seek (I don't do C), but it's got a whole lot of elements, so it's definitely a starting point. Download vim (www.vim.org), and in vim/syntax/c.vim look around a little. share\|improve this answer add comment I don't think regexps will work on arbitrary C code. Clang allows you to build a syntax tree from C code and use it programatically. That could be readily used for globals, but #defines are handled by the preprocessor so I'm not sure how they would work. cristi:tmp diciu$ cat test.c #define t 1 int m=5; int fun(char * y) float g; return t; int main() int g=7; return t; cristi:tmp diciu$ ~/Downloads/checker-137/clang -ast-dump test.c (CompoundStmt 0xc01ec0 <test.c:6:1, line:10:1> (DeclStmt 0xc01e70 <line:7:2> 0xc01e30 "float g" (ReturnStmt 0xc01eb0 <line:9:2, line:1:11> (IntegerLiteral 0xc01e90 <col:11> 'int' 1))) (CompoundStmt 0xc020a0 <test.c:13:1, line:16:1> (DeclStmt 0xc02060 <line:14:2> 0xc02010 "int g = (IntegerLiteral 0xc02040 <col:8> 'int' 7)" (ReturnStmt 0xc01b50 <line:15:2, line:1:11> (IntegerLiteral 0xc02080 <col:11> 'int' 1))) typedef char __builtin_va_list; Read top-level variable decl: 'm' int fun(char y) int main() share\|improve this answer No external tools, sorry. But I still don't see how that helps me. – Nzbuu Feb 13 '09 at 15:37 add comment I assume you have access to the C code in question. If so, then define two macros: Wrap all the data you want to extract between these macros. When the C code is compiled, they expand to nothing, so they won't harm there. Now you can use a very simple regexp to get the data. share\|improve this answer add comment This regular expression: seems reasonable, but I don't know if it's enough for you. It's littered with \s* to allow arbitrary whitespace between tokens, from C's point of view that's allowable. It will match stuff that looks more or less just your examples; some kind of identifier followed by exactly two digit strings. share\|improve this answer Do you mean this? \{\s\w+\s,\s\{\s\d+\s,\s\d+\s\}\s\}. That only matches this specific example. I'm looking for something more general. – Nzbuu Feb 13 '09 at 15:35 add comment Your Answer
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Pennsylvania school installs D-Link solutions IP surveillance system provide school with wider and faster coverage, increased storage capacity FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA--(Marketwire - February 10, 2009) - When SUN Area Career & Technology Center was seeking to replace its unreliable, crash-prone analog video surveillance system, it turned to D-Link for sophisticated Internet Protocol (IP) based security cameras and network switches for improved functionality, reliability and clarity without breaking the bank. "The old camera system recorded frames at four to five frames a second, which didn't capture detail very well. It only allowed us to record two weeks of video before archiving, because the drive for that system could store only 60MB," said Tom Gray, network administrator at SUN. "We'd often realize that data was missing because the cameras were down. And it was a proprietary system that took a lot of time and effort to manage." Located in New Berlin, Penn., SUN Area Career & Technology Center offers adult education classes, vocational education, and technical career training to more than 1500 people each year. The facility is dedicated to providing students with the skills needed to compete in today's job market and receive consideration for advanced college placement. When seeking a new security system, SUN took its cue from another school -- Central Penn Institute -- that had recently deployed D-Link cameras and was very happy with the results. "We were impressed with the quality of the network cameras, and we realized we could get the number of cameras we needed with D-Link's pricing," said Gray. "Cost alone made it very attractive for us, especially considering the benefits it provided." SUN purchased 23 D-Link DCS-1110 Power over Ethernet (PoE) network cameras, and networked them using three D-Link DES-3828P PoE managed stackable switches. "The PoE switches allowed us to put the cameras anywhere without worrying about electrical connections," said Gray. The cameras are all high-quality color devices that SUN runs at 10 frames per second for image quality and storage optimization, which he says is "significantly faster" than the old analog system. Gray evaluated network cameras from Sony and Axis Communications. "Budget was a big issue for us," said Gray, "and those options were just too expensive. We could have gone small with the other vendors, but then we wouldn't have been able to purchase the number of cameras we needed for appropriate coverage." "The D-Link cameras are perfect for hallway coverage," said Gray. The school now has reliable, court-quality video as visual evidence for disciplinary infractions. The students know that the cameras are recording 24X7, which helps curb unwanted behavior. With the D-Link system, SUN doesn't need to hire security personnel to monitor surveillance screens. They record everything to a 2TB server that includes five SATA drives in a RAID configuration. The storage can handle an entire school year of recordings. The MPEG files generated by the cameras are easy to copy onto CD or DVD, and can be immediately played back for court, parents or anyone else that has a Microsoft Media Player installed on their computer. "Since we're already network specialists here in the IT department, the whole system is easy to manage," said Gray. "A network-friendly system like D-Link's helps us reduce the amount of time we spend managing equipment. There's really not much that we have to do. That's important when you have so much other work to do supporting the network and the users." This content continues onto the next page...
Bill summaries are authored by CRS. Shown Here: Passed Senate without amendment (11/05/2009) Recognizes the celebration of National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month during November 2009. Honors the heritage and culture of American Indians and Alaska Natives and their contributions to the United States.
Take the 2-minute tour × I have a database that has a table of Ingredients I and a table of Recipes R. The two tables have a many-to-many relationship, as one recipes uses many ingredients and one ingredient is used in many recipes. I have a third cross-reference table that uses the cross-reference validation pattern to enforce my many-to-many relationship, and is done using string foreign keys (instead of integers). Assuming I have a collection of ingredients C outside of my database, how can I query Recipe table R for every recipe that can be made using ONLY the list of ingredients supplied in C? Other things to consider 1) Speed will (of course) be a concern eventually, but correctness is what I'm stuck on at the moment. 2) The collection of ingredients C might be very large (~100 ingredients). Any answers or even just pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. share\|improve this question What is the DB/Version? – Chandu Jul 25 '12 at 21:15 @Chandu, I haven't figured out any of that yet, I'm just working on this system as a hobby so I haven't laid out any specifications yet. For now, you can just assume the current stable MySQL 5.5.25 . But really, any answer you can provide I will try and port back to MySQL (or whatever DB I decide to use) – pghprogrammer4 Jul 25 '12 at 21:51 add comment 1 Answer up vote 5 down vote accepted One way is to write: select ... from R where ID not in ( select R_ID from RI where I_ID not in ( select I_ID from C That is: start with C. Select all recipe–ingredient cross-references where the ingredient is not in C. This gives you the set of all recipes that cannot be made using only ingredients in C. Then, select all recipes that aren't in that set. share\|improve this answer Good catch on my answer. I read the question to fast. I missed the point about only recipes that can be made with ONLY those ingredients. – RThomas Jul 25 '12 at 21:27 add comment Your Answer
Take the 2-minute tour × I have an object $this->user which is of model User. This object is populated by $this->Auth->user in my app controller like so: $this->user = ClassRegistry::init('User'); Works like a charm. If I print_r out $this->user in my controller it gives me: User Object ( [validate] => Array ( blah blah blah A typical object. Now I have a Group model which belongs to a User, and users have many groups. These variables are properly set in the models. Now I want to find all Groups for this particular user who is logged in. So I tried this: $groups = $this->user->Group->find('list', array('fields'=>array('id', 'group_name'))) The key is that I want to use $this->user to automatically filter the Group query based on the owner_id in $this->user. It makes sense to me that if I've got a specific object representing a user and I do a Group query based on that user ... it should only return the relevant groups. The problem is that $groups contains all of the entries in the Groups table, rather than obviously the ones I only want from the current user. I don't see why I would need to add a "conditions"=>"user_id"=$this->Auth->user('id') parameter to the find function because I've already specified what user I'm using via the model chain. Any ideas why this is not working? The sql statment it runs is simply a SELECT on Groups WHERE 1 = 1 (so not filtering at all). share\|improve this question add comment 1 Answer up vote 0 down vote accepted No, the object User really acts more like a class than a object. You can say Cake doesn't fully implement Active Record pattern (I think Cake 3.0 may fix that, not sure). So yes, you still need to set the condition for the find. And you don't have to set($this->Auth->user); You are probably not very familiar with Cake: in Cake, you hardly ever have to instantiate Model objects at all. They are created for you based on the current controller and model relationships that you specify. share\|improve this answer OK thanks for your answer. I am still learning cake, yes. The only reason I had that variable instantiated is because I wanted to use it in this manner - as that is not possible then you're right - I have no use for it. – MikeMurko Aug 26 '11 at 19:21 add comment Your Answer
Take the 2-minute tour × This seems like an ideal place to ask a question that has been keeping me confused for a little while now. But I apologize if I've posted in the wrong area. My question is that I don't seem to understand the temperature trend that I am seeing from my temperature sensors. I'll start of with my setup: Essentially, I have a metal box with two temperature sensors. 1) Is mounted right at the base of the box [Temp Sensor #1] 2) The second temperature sensor is mounted 2 inches from the top of the box [Temp Sensor #2]. The box is about 6 inches in height. I've placed a heating pad at the base of the box (Temp Sensor #1 lies right in the center of this pad. A graphic showing my setup: I've also implemented a simple on/off temperature controller, that senses when the temperature goes above a certain set-point and turns off (hence you see the highs/lows for Temp Sensor #1). As you can see from the image, the lower sensor (blue) has the peaks/troughs corresponding to when the heater turns on/off. The heater gets triggered every time the sensing temperature goes below the set point. What I don't understand is why the top sensor (red) has a periodically decreasing trend (it doesn't have highs/lows similar to the bottom sensor)? It doesn't seem to be affected by the heater turning on at all? Even though it is merely 4" away from the heater inside the metal enclosure. I understand that Sensor#1 is probably changing immediately due to the heater very quickly affecting the metal base temperature via conduction. Whereas the second sensor is probably measuring the air around the metal enclosure at the top, and since air is an insulator, it takes longer to heat up. But there should be at-least some highs and lows I'd imagine. The continuous decreasing trend doesn't make any sense ... Then, I suspected that perhaps my second temperature sensor was damaged. But that wasn't the case. I've tested both sensors and they work fine. Also here is a graph of the temperature trend, when I place the enclosure (with the sensors) in the freezer with no heater action. Intuitively as you can imagine, there is merely a decreasing trend for both sensors (shown below) due to the effect of the freezer: Any suggestions please as to why I notice no temperature variation at Sensor #2 location when the heater turns on/off? share\|improve this question Here is the trend with no heater and the freezer merely cooling: i47.tinypic.com/2430vp2.png , I couldn't post it in the original post since I do not have sufficient rep points. The heater pad type, I am using is this: winemakersdepot.com/Brewers-and-Wine-Making-Heat-Pad-P700.aspx – c0d3rz Jan 31 '13 at 0:32 I see when the heater is turned on an off, but when is the cooling activated? – mdma Jan 31 '13 at 1:32 What temp are you trying to stabilize at and is this metal enclosure insulated? Especially the lid. – brewchez Feb 2 '13 at 22:19 You've also inappropriately applied a linear fit to data that isn't behaving that way. You state that its a continuous decreasing trend. But it isn't, it has stabilize half way through the data collection period. – brewchez Feb 2 '13 at 22:24 add comment 1 Answer up vote 1 down vote accepted It's to do with thermal inertia. If you look closely at the graph you'll see there are highs and lows for sensor #2 also - just much smaller than sensor #1, and they have the same period (time interval) as sensor #1, indicating they stem from the same heating oscillation. You're of course right when you say that air is a poor conductor, and so it will essentially dampen the effect of the heater - there are rises and falls, just over a smaller, dampened range. I'm not entirely clear on when the freezer switches on and why it would be on when the heater is also on, but it seems that's the case from the graph. Another reason for the imbalance is that the freezer has a far greater cooling effect than the 25W heater can heat. Most freezers are in the order of 120W or more, and have a Coefficient of Performance (CoP) of 2 or more when chilling to beer temperature, so you're getting about 240W of real cooling power vs 25W of heating power (resistance heating has a CoP <= 1) - so a 10:1 difference. I imagine the main reason you're seeing any fluctuation in sensor 2 at all is because of the box, which confines the convection of heated air to within the box. I imagine if you removed the box and did the same thing, you'd see very little change in sensor #2 because of the large volume of cooler air surrounding it. share\|improve this answer Hi mdma: The freezer is always switched on, it is never turned off. Also, I'm using a 120W heater instead, so the heating/cooling difference is not that large I think. If I go with the idea of thermal inertia, why is that the lower sensor (Sensor #1) changes so quickly then? Shouldn't it face the same problem? – c0d3rz Jan 31 '13 at 2:56 The lower sensor changes quickly because the rate of conduction through contact with #1 is much quicker than conduction through the air to #2. – mdma Jan 31 '13 at 2:59 Hmm, just one last question about this CoP. Why is that the CoP is greater than 1 in the case of cooling? – c0d3rz Jan 31 '13 at 20:59 The CoP for compressor/inverter systems like fridges and heating pumps because they are just moving heat from one place to another, so the net heat output can be higher than the energy consumed. With a resistance based heat pad, this turns electrical energy into heat, and so the amount of heat produced can never be more than the electricity consumed. – mdma Jan 31 '13 at 21:09 add comment Your Answer
FORT MEADE, Md. --Bradley Manning, the Army private who sent hundreds of thousands ofsecret U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks, was found not guilty onTuesday of the most serious charge against him -- aiding the enemy --but guilty of several other charges at a military trial in Fort Meade,Md. Col.Denise Lind, the military judge in the case, made the ruling. Manninghad requested that a judge, not a jury, determine the verdict againsthim. Lind found Manning guilty of five counts of theft, fivecounts of espionage, a computer fraud charge and other militaryinfractions. Manning's sentencing hearing is set to beginWednesday. He still faces a potential 128 years in prison if he receivesthe maximum sentence for the charges on which he was convicted. Inhis closing argument last week, military prosecutor Maj. Ashden Fein,told the court Manning was a traitor who joined the Army to stealgovernment documents, turn them over to the anti-secrecy organizationand enjoy adulation as a whistle blower. Manning's lawyer, DavidCoombs, portrayed him as a soldier troubled by what he saw whiledeployed to Iraq and struggling as a gay man to serve before the repealof Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the policy that resulted in more than 14,000gay troops being discharged. Manning, 25, had faced 21 charges,including the most serious - aiding the enemy, which carries a possiblesentence of up to life in prison. Manning has acknowledged givingWikiLeaks some 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables andvideos. But he says he didn't believe the information would harm troopsin Afghanistan and Iraq or threaten national security. Theprosecution argued that Manning knew a- Qaeda terrorists could benefitfrom the leaks. Some of the information turned up in the search of Osamabin Laden's compound in Pakistan, they said. Manning pleadedguilty in February to charges that he had misused classifiedinformation. Those charges carry a maximum term of 20 years in prison. Manningwas a low-level intelligence analyst, working at a forward operatingbase in Iraq when he gained access to the files. He used his computersavvy to gain access to sensitive government documents andcommunications. The material he released included footage of aU.S. Army helicopter attack in Iraq in 2007 that killed at least ninemen, including a Reuters journalist. Other documents revealed tepid for the government in Tunisia. Manning's supporters say thathelped bring about the revolution there that sparked the Arab Springmovement. The verdict and sentence will be reviewed by thecommander of the Military District of Washington. A hearing on hissentence is set to begin Wednesday.
Air TV vol. 1 ADV Films // Unrated // $29.98 // August 14, 2007 Review by Todd Douglass Jr. \| posted September 3, 2007 E - M A I L this review to a friend Graphical Version The Show: Air is a show with a rich background which includes visual novel games and manga. Consisting of 13 episodes the series began air-ing (pun intended) in 2005 and went on to receive a movie around the same time. I heard about the show shortly after it was released but I do have to say I wasn't expecting to see the amount of hype surrounding it. It would seem that quite the fan base has been formed within the American audience and though I hadn't seen any of the show I had plenty of expectations when it came time to watch it. Yukito Kunisaki doesn't have much in the way of possessions or wealth. He has the shirt on his back, the dirty puppet in his pocket, and a story about a girl with wings, as told to him by his dead mother. The series begins unsuspectingly enough with Yukito traveling from town to town attempting to make money with his bizarre puppet show. You see, he has a small-ish telekinetic ability that allows him to control inanimate objects and make them walk around or dance. You'd think he'd make a killing with this skill but more often than not he's scoffed at by onlookers. One day Yukito wanders into a seaside town and finds more than he bargained for. While gazing blearily at the sky and bemoaning his lack of food a girl happens by and startles him out of a daydream. The girl's name is Misuzu and she takes a liking to Yukito rather quickly. She offers to buy him something to snack on and even brings him home so that he can sleep beneath a roof for the night. At first he's opposed to it but she seems so genuine and her mother eventually warms up to the idea so he decides to be a freeloader. Misuzu is a strange duck indeed. She has a tendency to make dinosaur noises, behaves much younger than she is, and has virtually no relationship with her mother whatsoever. Through circumstances Yukito basically becomes Misuzu's babysitter and makes sure that she doesn't get into trouble. While she's in school he spends his time trying to earn money with his puppet show, which is less than successful to say the least. Fortunately he manages to meet another strange young girl, her dog Potato, and through these events lands a job with the local doctor. It is quite obvious early on that some things are not all that they seem to be. The latest young girl he has met wears a ribbon on her wrist and merely says that it is there to keep her from using magic. When Yukito and Misuzu stumble upon her at the town's shrine enrobed in light with visions of grassy fields dancing around her we know right away that something is amiss. In between the daily insanity of Yukito's life this is merely another unsolved mystery that continues throughout this introductory volume. As things progress we meet several other characters as well. More of Misuzu's classmates show up and some of the adults in town have their own way of doing things and rewarding people. Throughout the four episodes here you'll get the sensation that something is amiss in this seaside village. There is something beneath the surface that defies explanation and as Yukito spends more time with these people this becomes evident. Air definitely skirts many issues as it tells its serene and somewhat bizarre tale. Things are peculiar, yet comforting, and the world surrounding Yukito is certainly robust enough to draw you in. So far some of the characters are fairly stereotypical but the story is intriguing enough to allow for that. Overall my expectations were met but not exceeded in the case of Air. I'm interested in seeing where the series goes from here since this volume was a great launching point but with such a limited perspective on the show it's hard to gauge the quality at this juncture. The DVD: Air originally aired in 2005 and features a very up to date presentation with pristine artwork and an impressive technical side to things. ADV has released the show on DVD with an anamorphic widescreen presentation and the image is practically flawless. This is one of the most vibrant shows I have ever seen with a color palette that titillates the senses. Quite honestly there are few shows out there as rich looking as Air and from the ground up the design here is marvelous. Technically speaking the video quality suffers slightly from some softness and grain here and there but neither really detracts from the experience. Considering Air is a dialogue driven show devoid of action of any variety I was very surprised to see 5.1 surround sound being available for both English and Japanese. A show like this could have gotten by with a 2.0 stereo track just fine but it seems that the producers wanted to make this project a labor of love. The extra attention to the sound pays off with a well-crafted sound field that draws you in with ambient noise and keeps dialogue and music separated nicely. The sense of immersion isn't the greatest but it's certainly better than I was expecting when going into the show. Clean animations and some trailers for other ADV products are all that you're going to find on the first volume of Air. Final Thoughts: Air is a highly unusual show that capitalizes on its detailed atmosphere and level of intrigue. So many aspects of the first four episodes are minimal in terms of how they are presented, yet somehow they all come together to craft an interesting and somewhat evasive story. The slow pacing and seeming lack of direction gives the world and characters the time they need to grow beyond their stereotypes but nothing satisfactory happens in this installment. I'm certain that every little detail is leading up to something much grander in scope by until we get there Air has the potential to merely string you along with a certain amount of frustration. For now this is a promising looking series with a strong start so we're going to recommend it.
Veteran airline captain and GA legend Barry Schiff enters the paper versus electronic chart debate with Senior Editor Dave Hirschman. November 1, 2013 Getting perspective You can’t see that on a screen By Barry Schiff When I accepted Dave Hirschman’s challenge to defend paper charts in a debate against digital charts, I knew that I would be pitching him a softball. The economics and convenience of digital charts make it difficult—but not impossible—to argue against them. Paper VFR charts obviously are best for spreading on the floor to gain a perspective of a planned cross-country flight. Yes, you can squish and expand a chart on your iPad, but detail and perspective are lost. The beauty of paper charts is that they don’t break when dropped or fail when you spill something on them. They don’t fade to black or get hung up for inexplicable reasons. I shiver just thinking about a tablet failure when in the clouds and about to begin an unfamiliar instrument approach. This is why airline pilots using them are required to have backups. A paper chart doesn’t create glare in sunlight, doesn’t need batteries, is easier to use in turbulence, and often has a larger “screen.” It also cannot change function or switch programs by inadvertently touching something on its face. A paper chart is infinitely more reliable than anything electronic. (Notice that Hirschman prints approach plates before departing on an IFR flight. If I’m not mistaken, he prints them on paper.) Another problem with electronic charts is that downloading revisions makes it difficult to detect changes made on commonly used approach charts. Nor can you easily compare charts that seem identical but are not (such as the Yankee and Zulu approaches to San Carlos, California). Also, you can’t use an iPad to swat flies. Well, I suppose you could, but it might be an expensive swat. Nor can it be used as a sun shield or an improvised instrument hood, as can a paper chart. The good thing about a failed iPad is that you can glue mileage scales along its edges and use it to measure distances and draw lines on a paper chart. Tablets can be heavy to hold for long or even short periods, and mounting them in small cockpits is challenging. A chart can be conveniently tucked anywhere. I like writing and making notes on paper charts. You should have seen Hirschman’s face when I wrote on the face of his iPad with a black Sharpie. It wasn’t pretty. Every pilot should have a Plan B, and “B” means “back to basics,” which to me means having paper charts in the cockpit. Someday, though, none of this will matter. Paper charts eventually will be unavailable, another step off the cliff of excessive technological reliance—and I will miss them. Visit the author’s website ( Paper is passé Take a memo (electronically) By Dave Hirschman In case you haven’t seen the memo, the era of navigating with paper charts is over. Sure, aeronautical charts are astonishingly accurate and beautifully drawn wonders of cartography. The hand-painted silk maps they replaced are even more sublime, and a few treasured examples adorn my office wall. But in actual airplanes, electronic charts are far more useful, and they’re getting better and cheaper at a rapid rate. A single tablet computer today can easily store every VFR chart and IFR procedure for the entire country, and digital subscriptions are painless to keep current. Add an ADS-B receiver and tablet computers get even more miraculous with free weather, traffic, pireps, and synthetic vision. Like other aviators of my generation, I learned to fly cross-country with a thumb held to my position on a VFR sectional. That was an interesting and perhaps character-building exercise, but cockpit chart-reading and folding skills are as useless today as typewriter ribbon. Open any aviation app and the blue dot shows your position (as well as heading, altitude, and groundspeed) with updates coming 10 times a second. I’m a pretty decent map reader, but not that good. Also, digital charts are one of those rare anomalies in aviation in which prices are actually falling, and dramatically so. A paper subscription for VFR and IFR charts used to cost in excess of $1,200 a year. Flight bags full of heavy approach plates meant job security for chiropractors, and countless trees paid the price. The same information is available in electronic form for $100 or less per year, weighs nothing, and never gets lost in the mail. No technology is perfect, and tablet computers can stop working when they get too hot, or too cold, or run out of power. But paper charts are no panacea. They get ripped or smudged, lost, attract spilled coffee, and float away from open-cockpit airplanes. (I lost a New York sectional from a Waco somewhere over Saratoga Springs, and an Atlanta terminal chart near Stone Mountain.) Today, tablet computers are our EFBs; handheld and panel-mount avionics contain their own moving maps and navigation databases; and we can print approach plates at just about any FBO for our destination airports, alternate airports, and any number of others. We can even get them in large print if desired. Paper charts had a good run, and they will live on as colorful keepsakes, conversation pieces, and gift wrapping. If Captain James Cook, the greatest cartographer and explorer of them all, were with us today, he’d carry an iPad.
Time to get over my current lover and move on to my next victim. It turns out that I’m not in the market for a noncommital relationship. I want to be with someone who could potentially love me. (I somehow manage to be cynical and ridiculously tender-hearted at the same time.) About Jessica Smith 8 Responses to Romantic 1. François says: I am mildly confused … 2. Jessica Smith says: just venting… the guy i’ve been “seeing” (ehem) is emotionally unavailable, and that bothers me. 3. François says: Ah, yes … Even though I’ve been often on the other side (“emotionally unavailable,” that is), I can kinda see why it could be annoying. 4. Jessica Smith says: I tend to eventually want the whole person, even if it began as a purely physical relationship. It’s annoying when they don’t feel the same way. 5. François says: Go slowly. Otherwise, you might end up very very bored of the person in question. 6. Jessica Smith says: True. I do go through people passionately and quickly. But I’m not really bored with this one yet; in fact, I find him quite interesting, that’s why I want more out of him. 7. François says: As a usually emotionally unavailable person (wow, that was a mouthful), I tend to resist when people want too much (out) of me. But that’s just me. I’m not sure it’s relevant with your boy. 8. Jessica Smith says: Granted, a little resistance is better than being completely open. But eventually I want in those walls. Leave a Reply You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change ) Twitter picture Facebook photo Google+ photo Connecting to %s
Phil Shaw, victim's brother Phillip Shaw was born on January 7, 1975, in Taylor, Mississippi, the eldest of two children born to Jane and Chad Shaw. He was seven when his little brother Jerry was born. The age difference between the boys meant Phil spent a lot of time watching over his brother. He tried to teach Jerry the importance of honesty and integrity, but as the boys got older, Jerry increasingly resisted Phil's guidance. Their parents held Phil responsible whenever young Jerry acted out, which Phil considered unfair, especially since he couldn't find any way to get Jerry behave, no matter how much he tried. Other than his inability to control Jerry, Phil excelled in everything he did. He made top grades and had a lot of friends. When Phil graduated from high school, he wanted to go to college but there wasn't enough money so he got a job as a busser at Taylor Grocery & Restaurant. He put every penny he could spare in a savings account that he planned to use one day to pay for college. In 1994, his parents went to Memphis, Tennessee for the weekend to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Tragically, they were murdered during that trip, and the case remains unsolved to this day. Phil became Jerry's guardian and used his share of their parents' large insurance policy and sizable savings account to support the smaller, sadder version of his family and to pay for his classes at Ole Miss. Phil invested some of the insurance money, and when he graduated, he still had a large bank account. He leveraged that nest egg to build his own tax firm, which became a very successful business. When Jerry dropped out of high school and proceeded to squander his inheritance like the proverbial prodigal son, Phil avoided him. After that, the only time he heard from Jerry was when he came asking for money because he'd gotten himself into yet another financial jam. Phil always refused to lend him a dime and told him to get a job if he needed money. Phil is single and lives alone. By his own account, he and Jerry hadn't seen each other for years at the time of Jerry's death. Subscribe to read more Please login to comment People in this conversation • Phil wasn't much of a brother to Jerry. It appears that Jerry was on his own totally when he dropped out of school. He was probably 16 years old. Who knows what kind of life he had besides the gambling. Crime Scene 3440 N 16th St, Suite #4 Phoenix, AZ 85016 Voice (623) 565-8573 Fax (602)-274-7280 Find us on Google+ Get weekly updates on the investigation. Click to view previous updates Go to top
Boiler Room Safety Large industrial and commercial facilities often have dedicated boiler rooms that house boilers, water pumps, heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, and other mechanical equipment required to run a facility. The heated water or fluid used in boilers can be used in a variety of processes or heating applications, including central heating and local power generation. As boilers have been modernized to burn natural gas or a combination of fuels that are less expensive and more flexible than coal and oil, there are significant risks of leaks occurring in the gas plumbing and from the burners at the front of a boiler. Such combustible gas leaks create the hazardous condition of a potential explosion. An additional risk is the production and leakage of Carbon Monoxide (CO), an odorless, colorless and toxic gas that results from incomplete combustion, which occurs when there is not enough oxygen mixed with the fuel. All improperly ventilated or malfunctioning boilers have the potential to produce CO in varying concentrations. Consequently, the building facility manager must ensure that the boiler room is instrumented with a comprehensive gas detection, alarm, and mitigation system to protect the facility and its personnel. Gas Detection Hazardous gases found in boiler rooms include: • Combustible Gases such as Methane • Carbon Monoxide Combustible gas leaks rapidly disperse throughout a boiler room, creating a hazard for any worker, who can act as an ignition source, by walking into the room. Fixed point combustible gas sensor modules are used to monitor boiler fronts and associated natural gas supply lines. The gas sensor modules are connected to controllers that provide relays to enable activation of visual and audible alarms for warning conditions and for boiler shutdown at emergency levels. Typical set points are 40% lower explosion limit (LEL) for warning and 60% LEL for emergency. In addition, fixed point toxic gas sensors are used to monitor for CO leaks in boiler rooms. If not detected, the buildup of CO can pose a threat to any worker walking into the room. The sensor modules can be connected to the same controllers used for combustible gas, creating a complete hazard detection system. Personal gas monitors are generally not appropriate for boiler room applications because they cannot detect buildup of combustible and toxic gases in a non-occupied area. Automation and Integration Strategies A gas detection system usually incorporates a controller that can drive various alarming devices such as strobes and horns to indicate hazard. However, as boiler rooms tend to not be accessed frequently, facility managers often need a remote monitoring solution as well. It is common for facility managers to connect the boilers to the central Building Automation System (BAS) so they can monitor the functioning and efficiency of the boilers remotely. But it is also necessary to integrate the gas detection system in the boiler room with the BAS so that the alarms can be displayed within the central facility management console and can be acted upon as part of a facility-wide control strategy. Codes and Regulations Various national and international codes pertain to the safe manufacturing and placement of boilers. In the United States, manufactured boilers and the rooms in which they reside are designed to comply with one or more of the codes written by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Other approval bodies, such as the Underwriters Laboratories (UL), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and International Code Council (ICC), could also be a regulating body. Major codes governing boiler rooms include: Products for Boiler Room Safety Boiler rooms require a gas and fire detection system that includes gas and fire detection modules, a method to communicate to a controller, an ability to collect large amounts of data for subsequent analysis and flexible alarm handling with a method for communicating data to higher-level systems. Gas Detectors Fire Detectors Fire and Gas Detection Controllers Unlike most fire and gas vendors, we also include our leading FieldServer multi-protocol gateways within our controller to connect our Sentry IT system to the facility’s local BAS, and to the cloud for remote monitoring, control, and big data analytics. FieldServer Gateways
Sign in to comment! Nicole Kidman Diplomatic About Tom, Katie Nicole Kidman (search), star of the upcoming movie "Bewitched," is carefully not casting judgment on ex-husband Tom Cruise's (search) relationship with Katie Holmes (search). When asked in early May about Cruise's very public romance with Holmes, Kidman didn't address the subject directly. However, when asked about photographic publicity stunts in general, Kidman tells Vanity Fair in its July issue, on newsstands June 14: "In terms of your life, if you start to exploit it, then what's real, and what's not? What's yours, and what isn't?" Kidman and Cruise divorced in 2001 after almost 10 years of marriage. "When it all exploded and we were in Cannes with 'Moulin Rouge.' ... `My sister and I slept in the same bed together. She would just hold me," Kidman told Vanity Fair. "When we came out of the big screening and there were swarms of people, I felt like I couldn't breathe. So I just sort of eyeballed her as if to say, 'Help! Help!' Taking absolute control, she took me into the bathroom, unlaced my corset and the dress I was wearing, took my shoes off, and said, 'You're going to be OK.'" Cruise and Holmes were photographed together in Rome in April and later confirmed they were dating. During an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last month, the 42-year-old actor exuberantly professed his love for the 26-year-old actress. He stars in Steven Spielberg's (search) upcoming "War of the Worlds" and Holmes will co-star with Christian Bale (search) in "Batman Begins."
Hey, a research report is due, so here it is. Tuesday’s meetup was quite ordinary: we got together, had some coffee, laughs, and tinkering. Some activities were heads-down concentration, others were much more social. We opened the box that held 10 phones and a PBX. No manual! Googling got us nowhere fast, so kugg just began tinkering with a hookup for a phone. Video was shot of the unboxing. Not so great footage, though. These were not your regular RJ-11 jacks, but a thinner connector, like something out of your PC’s innards. Following color codes and using a crimp tool, he got it right. A red handset with a GNU sticker on it was quickly connected, and there was much rejoicing when we heard an audible click from the relay that did the connection to the phone-line inside the unit. Forskningsavd.se IRC old-timer hossi, came by, and introduced some p2p ideas, and showed his mobile-phone streaming setup (quite sweet). Olle introduced him to Mercurial, and test-drove Mozilla Bespin. Linda was tinkering with her uncooperative Win laptop’s wireless connection. Gunde was building more audio infrastructure for multi-channel recording and mixing (with NetJack), there were new external soundcards for the Linux box, and before the meeting there had been a cleanup action, which prettified the whole physical setup of the computer. Some library software was tested. It did not really pass our quality reqs: needs to run on a very old computer. Soon, we’ll have a pro librarian around. phrst did something obscure with the computer. Tagged with: Creeper MediaCreeper
» » Mickey Rourke vows never to marry an actress Share this on your social network: Facebook Twitter Google+ Comments Mail Melbourne (ANI): After two failed marriages, Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke has vowed never to marry an actress. The 57-year-old star was previously married to actresses Debra Feuer and Carre Otis and the separation has left him badly bitten. "I don't want to live with an actress again, no matter how they look," the Daily Telegraph quoted him as telling the Mail on Sunday newspaper. "I'm working opposite Megan Fox and Eva Green next, and I'm certainly not complaining. But I'll tell you, once bitten ..." he added. The Wrestler star, who has four pet Chihuahuas, credits his dogs to help him get through the dark times. "My dogs really helped me get through the dark times. I lost everything at the same time - my wife, my career, my house, my credibility - and all I had left was the dogs plus just two or three people who stuck with me," he said. "I was living under the mat - being known and then being known for being out of work, for having fallen from grace. You go and buy a pack of smokes and people say, “Hey, didn't you used to be that actor?" So it was a very shameful place, and the dogs (he has owned eight chihuahuas) were my friends. “A lot of people you meet out there turn their backs on you once you're down, but the dogs don't. The one dog I loved, Loki, died last year, and she is deeply missed but with me in spirit," he added. Topics: megan fox, debra feuer, mickey rourke, eva green, carla bruni Best of 2014 Hollywood Photos
Take the 2-minute tour × I am having a case in which I need to generate two CSharp code files with pretty the same code but different namespace of the input and output types of the methods. In fact each file is for a specific country and the types come from country specific WSDL's. I am writing some wrappers around the services and the logic is exactly the same but the types automatically generated from WSDL's are different. How could I reduce the coding effort and write the logic at one place and get it generated for two different sets of types? share\|improve this question 2 Answers 2 up vote 5 down vote accepted or you could use the T4 Toolbox and use the helpers to generate multiple files. -> Blog post with explanation. Or if you don't want this dependency just for this functionality, you can use the T4 file MultiOutput.tt that you can find here with explanation. share\|improve this answer share\|improve this answer Thanks the link was useful. At least I realised that it is possible to get multiple output files from one template. – Rez.Net Feb 7 '11 at 23:39 Your Answer
blown color channel Newer Older how can you prevent this from happening when shooting flowers? see discussion in the FLOWERS group see discussion in the technique group This picture is part of the set "pictures to learn from" see other ones here
FAQ How do I use progress monitors? From Eclipsepedia Jump to: navigation, search A progress monitor is a callback interface that allows a long-running task to report progress and respond to cancellation. Typically, a UI component will create a monitor instance and pass it to a low-level component that does not know or care about the UI. Thus, an IProgressMonitor is an abstraction that allows for decoupling of UI and non-UI components. Each monitor instance has a strictly defined lifecycle. The first method that must be called is beginTask, which specifies a description of the operation and the number of units of work that it will take. This work value doesn’t need to be very precise; your goal here is to give the user a rough estimate of how long it will take. If you have no way of estimating the amount of work, you can pass a work value of IProgressMonitor.UNKNOWN, which will result in a continuously animated progress monitor that does not give any useful information to the user. After beginTask, you should call subTask and worked periodically as the task progresses. The sum of the values passed to the worked method must equal the total work passed to beginTask. The subTask messages can be sent as often as you like, as they provide more details about what part of the task is currently executing. Again, you don’t need to be precise here. Simply give the user a rough idea of what is going on. Finally, you must call done on the monitor. One consequence of calling done is that any unused portion of the progress bar will be filled up. If your code is part of a larger operation, failing to call done will mean that the portion of the progress bar allotted to your part of the operation will not be filled. To ensure done gets called, you should place it in a finally block at the very end of your operation. Here is a complete example of a long-running operation reporting progress: try { monitor.beginTask("Performing decathlon: ", 10); monitor.subTask("hammer throw"); //perform the hammer throw //... repeat for remaining nine events } finally { The monitor can also be used to respond to cancellation requests. When the user requests cancellation, the method isCanceled will return true. Your long-running operation should check this value occasionally and abort if a cancellation has occurred. A common method of quickly aborting a long-running operation is to throw OperationCanceledException. See Also:
Behind The Scenes Behind The Scenes MC Ren Now this is the bitch who makes straight A's, but never got to leave out of the house back in de dayz and when she was at school she gave people dirty looks, she always carried books and thought me and my friends were crooks, you always see the bitch in the classes, she never wore pants she wore a dress and some glasses, teachers used to rag, she was the teacher's pet, every nigguz used to brag how much they want to make her wet, straight to her butt 'cause yo she ain't tall, but you would say fuck her when you saw the bitch walk, ass hanging out by the pawn, and that's another reason why niggaz wanted to get her panties down, she kept to herself in the hallways, and never looked at niggaz like old day, and when the last bell rang she was gone, so one day I decided to follow the bitch home, her mother was at work she would'nt get home 'till 6, so it was time for ren to put the bitch in the mix, 'cause back in the school it was every nigguz dream, so now it's time to get a closer look behind the scene! "all the pimps, the hores, the pulldaggers, the cocksuckers, gave 100$ bill just to see" now I made it to her house but she would'nt let me in yo, so I said fuck it, smack around to the window, she get into the room and start to undress, now I'm biting on my lips saying "damn this bitch is blessed!" the doorbell rang, it was the nextdoor neighbor, and he was axing up could she do him a favour, she grabbed de nigga's hand and took him in the room, and laid on the back as he fucked her with a broom, she said she wanted back up so then she said, she wanted him to eat the pussy so she grabbed his head, and he started eating it like a thanks-given dinner, he made the bitch come and then he put his dick up in her, she smashed up his back with the cloth, but she was screaming so loud he had to gaggle with his toes, but after they finish fucking yo the bitch took a shower, to wash off the sweat from the last half hour, the bitch put out some bud and then she started to smoke, took his wicked jack daddy and made a few miles of cock, the nigga said shit gotta go, bcuz this innocent little girl is a whore! "nobody in .. my neighborhood" MiX now I went back to school the very next day, and I knew that my niggaz won't believe what I had to say, I told them what I saw and nigguz said "yeah right", so I told the mothafuckaz to come over there tonight, now there's 10 real niggaz at her window, waiting to see a whore like alamat natio(?) they thought that I was lying 'cause we waited 1 hour, and when we started to leave the bitch walked out da shower, ass on the round the bitch do it in her bed, her bottomlips was hanging and she started fingerbanging, her daddy walked in and started beating her with a belt, the bitch was so hot she made the leather start to melt, but she was liking it, yelling "daddy give it to me harder", then he took off all his cloth and start fucking his doughter, my niggaz outside did'nt believe what they would see-some, but when her mama got home, they turned into a threesome, her mama ate the pussy while her daddy doggy sounded, the family freak together and they also laid together, I could'nt take them all 'cause I was too much of a man, so I jumped back to the window with my dick in my hand, The hand in the money kept to her neighbors' door, 'cause now it was even it was 2 against 2, but a couple minutes after I was in, all my niggaz jumped in all 10 yo behind the scenes! "This is the bitches and the ho's crew" "yes daddy I love you" "She like suckin' on dicks .. and lickin' on nutts .. and they even take the broomstick on her butt!" Written by SCOTT, STEPHEN H. Published by Universal Music Publishing Group, EMI Music Publishing Lyrics Provided By LyricFind Inc. Chat About This Song
Legal Disclaimer: I don't own the Jett Jackson characters, they belong to Disney. The only character that's mine is Jackie, Booker's love interest... Booker never seems to get any action so I decided to take a chance... A/N: Another fic! This one is for Nicki, Tiffany, Wishbear-chan, HAA, geanie, and everyone else! sorry if i forgot anyone! A/N2: The Silverstone story deals with bioterrorism... if that bothers you because of recent events, don't read pwease. And there's a huge block of Silverstone in between the real life scenes for the continuity of the Silverstone story. Shades Of Gray "Sometimes, when you keep life in black and white, you miss the shades of gray," Me (yes, it's original... i think) The bell rang at Wilsted High, and pandemonium broke loose. "Summer!" someone yelled, and a massive cheer went up in the hallways. School was over for the next ten weeks. "Finally," Kayla emerged from the lab, brushing a few stray curls from her eyes. "June twenty-third is now my favorite day." JB walked out, looking over his shoulder at Jett. Kayla turned. "Are you coming?" Jett walked out of the room on his hands. "You bet." Kayla started to laugh. "Don't you have a set to get to?" Jett flopped back down onto his feet. "Come to think of it, yeah, I do. Wanna come?" "Are you kidding?" JB said. "It's the last day of school! I dunno about you, but I'm going home to enjoy my TV." "I'm coming." Kayla said. "I wanna see what's going on." "Well, I guess I'll see you guys later, then." JB exchanged hugs and high fives with his friends and walked off in the direction of Halliburton's, the family store. "So," Kayla said as they walked. "What do you plan to do this summer?" "I don't know, truthfully." Jett realized that he really hadn't thought about it. "You?" "I have no idea. Probably paint and hang out with you. And JB, of course." That part seemed to be an afterthought, almost, as if she had forgotten there was anyone but Jett. For some reason her answer made him smile. She wants to spend time with me... whoa, chill, Jackson. She said you and JB. Not you alone. "Well, here we are for another long afternoon." Jett held the door open to Silverstone Studios. Kayla did a perfect cartwheel down the hall and Jett followed her to the set. * * * * Silverstone watched the computer screen. The red dots were spreading rapidly. "Those red dots are the Rat's virus carriers." Artemus said. "It seems our slippery adversary has come up with a new way to achieve his ends. Biological warfare." "What kind of virus is it?" Hawk spoke up. "No one is sure." Artemus answered. "Do you remember, Silverstone, when I was infected with that virus? It seemed that there was no cure?" Silverstone nodded. "Well, there truly is no cure for this disease. It is mutating too quickly for us to catch. The only way we can combat it is to dispose of the rest of the samples, and..." Artemus trailed off. "And what?" Hawk asked. "To kill those who are already infected." "What?" Silverstone was shocked. "Kill them?" "It would be a mercy." Artemus said softly. "The disease, from what we have gathered, turns the victim slowly to a skeleton by eating away at the flesh and muscle. It is great pain, and the victim is conscious throughout the entire ordeal. It is so slow it may take weeks to happen fully. Weeks of pain and agony." Silverstone put his head in his hands. "I can't believe you're asking me to do this." "If there was anyone else, Silverstone, I would send them." "What about you?" Silverstone asked. "You can't help us?" "I can help you from here, Silverstone, but ever since I contracted that virus I am in grave danger if I am exposed to any other disease." Artemus looked as if he truly wanted to go with them. "But I am relying on you, Silverstone. And you, Hawk." "We will make you proud." Hawk said. * * * * "I don't believe I'm doing this." Silverstone muttered to himself. He was dressed as a doctor, with all the protective gear to shield himself from the disease. He was in the ward of the hospital where all of the Rat's victims lay. The visions he saw were terrifying. People were in agony, writhing and crying out. Some had just gotten sick and had a terrified look in their eyes, and others were so far along they were practically all bone. Their eyes were dead and staring. Hawk was sobbing silently as they walked through the ward. Silverstone was fighting to keep his own eyes dry. Children, elderly, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, every one of them. Lives taken unnecessarily. "We have to get rid of this." Silverstone whispered as a few other doctors walked by, their heads bent. "Artemus said--" Hawk began. "I know." Silverstone scanned the control panels that manipulated the temperature and oxygen flow in the closed-off ward. He found the lever he was looking for. He didn't reach out. It would be a mercy, Artemus had said. A mercy, a mercy, a mercy.... the worlds echoed in his head. If they die this way, it is cruel... a mercy, a mercy... a mercy... If he pulled that lever, the air supply would be cut off. And those people would die. His hand rested on the switch. A mercy... the victim is conscious... Silverstone felt Hawk's hand on his. She pushed down, ever so gently, and the lever sank. A sob escaped from Silverstone's mouth, even though he was trying to hold it back. Hawk watched the ward through the window, tears leaving shining paths down her face. A small sound reached their ears, like a soft exhalation, and the pulsing hills of the heart monitors became straight lines. Silverstone and Hawk slipped away. Part one done. Now it was time to hunt down the Rat. * * * * "Shhh," Silverstone silenced his comrade. Hawk clamped her mouth shut and watched from behind Silverstone, who was standing against a pillar. They were watching the Rat, who was holding a vial of an evil-colored liquid. "This is my ultimate creation," he was saying. Silverstone's lip curled. "Bastard." He had to contain himself. If he moved now, the Rat's henchmen would be on him in a second. It was amazing to Silverstone that the Rat would be such a big-time criminal now. He had specialized in petty theft and the like. It seemed he had found his break in bioterrorism. Hawk tensed next to her partner. The Rat was laughing. "If I release this into the reservoir of New York City, I can easily annihilate the entire population in one stroke," The Rat continued. "Not so fast, Rat." Silverstone and Hawk emerged from behind the barrel they had been hiding near. "Put the vial down." The Rat started to laugh. "You're kidding me, right?" "Never been more serious in my life." "Well then, Silverstone, meet my friends, who will escort you out of here." The Rat snapped his fingers and five huge men came out of the shadows. Hawk fell into a ready position beside Silverstone, and they put their martial arts training to good use. Artemus had taught them well. The men were short work, and Silverstone stood before their adversary, hardly breathing out of pace. "Put down the vial, Rat." Hawk was standing behind the little man, ready to spring if he made any fancy moves. "Not a chance," The Rat flipped the little tube up into the air and caught it again, swiftly twisting off the top. He spun around suddenly, and threw the contents of the glass into Hawk's face. Hawk screamed, a high, unearthly sound of pain and terror. Her hands flew to her face. Blood was streaming down between her fingers. With horror, Jett realized what the Rat had done. It wasn't the virus that was making her bleed. It was harmless until it was inside your system. It was the tube itself. The Rat had smashed it into her eyes with the force of a bullet. "RAT!" Jett threw himself at his enemy, not caring anymore whether or not he killed him; just knowing that Hawk was hurt and bleeding was enough. Laughing, the Rat dodged Silverstone's fists. "Poor boy," he taunted. "I've won, at long last." Hawk was collapsed on the floor, soundlessly screaming, her mouth open. Blood was still flowing, mingled with tears. When she lifted her hands away from her face, a real scream erupted. "I'm BLIND!" Silverstone had the Rat pinned down below him. He turned his head to look at his partner and it took everything he had to keep himself from throwing up right there. Hawk's eyes were gone.
Take the 2-minute tour × I've only played some multiplayer with a friend so far. When I right click on the ground and on enemies, and I see there is a "Focus on Zone" command (along with a corresponding "Ignore Zone" command). However, these always appear to be grayed out. What do these commands do, and how do I activate them? share\|improve this question add comment 1 Answer up vote 9 down vote accepted The commands are grayed out because you haven't defined any zones yet. Use the hotkey 't' to create them. Put the cursor at a corner of where you want to start the zone, hold t, and drag to create the zone, letting go of t when you're done. Now, when you have a unit selected, you can rightclick the zone and use focus/ignore on that zone. You can create multiple zones, but I'm not sure how overlapping zones work. As for the commands themselves: Focus on Zone: the unit will only target enemies within that zone, ignoring enemies outside of it. If there's no one in the zone, but someone out, I think they will ignore that enemy, even if its the only one (Not 100% sure on this). They continue to focus this zone until you cancel the command. Ignore Zone: the unit will ignore any enemies within the zone. Pretty much the opposite of Focus on zone. This is helpful if you don't want your MG shooting at a far enemy emplacement (ie behind a window), but instead targeting whatever might be in front or around of it (since you'll lose the battle against that far window if you're walking up to your new firing position). One final thing, I haven't tested this and don't know if its true, but just something to be aware of: I've heard that once you create a zone, your opponent will be able to see it next turn. I'll try to play a friend and try that out tonight. share\|improve this answer add comment Your Answer
Silly new preemie mum question about feeding! (11 Posts) MultipleMama Fri 04-Oct-13 03:00:59 One of my preemie twins is in the process of latching. She's doing well on b/m through feeding tube and showing signs of wanting to latch. I can't be there 24/7 as much as I'd like to be i.e night feeds etc. I'm worried about when the time comes when she's feeding from the breast and I'm not there when she's hungry. Would the nurses introduce bottles? Can I say no to this? I really want to avoid bottles completely. If I can, how will she be fed, by tube? I'm clueless and hesitant to bring it up with the nurses in case they look at me like I'm silly for even thinking of not doing bottles... So, yeah. That really. ljny Fri 04-Oct-13 03:30:34 I don't think you're silly at all. No idea whether the unit would be willing to continue tube-feeding when she's able to take a bottle. If it helps, my premie DD1 went from feeding tube to special easy-to-suck bottles, then when her sucking got stronger, she had a few breastfeeds a day whilst still in hospital. The first week home was a bit rocky, and a couple of times I gave her a bottle, but she adjusted in a week or so - and went on to be entirely breastfed, for about 9 months. Guess I'm assuming you want to avoid bottles so she doesn't reject the breast - or do you have another reason? Hopefully someone who knows more about current practices will be along soon. But please don't worry about the nurses thinking you're silly - you're her mum, you have every right to voice your concerns. She's your child - you're the one who will raise her. And congratulations on your twins! Good luck. Featherbag Fri 04-Oct-13 03:36:05 When my DS was at a point where he was actually hungry rather than it being 'time' for a feed, he was deemed ready to go home! I roomed in at the hospital for 48 hours to make sure he and I were able to bf well enough to feed him which didn't work but that's a whole other story and then I took him home! This was at 3wo actual, he was born at 32 weeks gestation and had been tube fed BM until then, with me bfing when I was there (usually 2-3 feeds per day). JeneLew Sat 05-Oct-13 00:54:28 It's not silly at all. I didn't want my ds to be bottle fed so discussed it with the breastfeeding coordinator once we were in SCBU. They couldn't give a bottle without my consent so he had tube feeds during the night and on demand breast feeds through the day for a few days then I roomed into establish night feeds. He's been home 3 weeks now and is completely breastfed. The best thing I was told was to stick to my guns about it, depending on age it's easier for the nurses to give a bottle. If you don't have a breast feeding coordinator at the unit your in speak to the nurse you have the best relationship with. In my experience they want to help you be the mum you planned to be. Congratulation on your early arrival. PrincessScrumpy Sat 05-Oct-13 01:17:36 They gave up tube feeding dtd2 because dtd1 kept pulling the tube out but even with me being in the hospital 24/7 I couldn't get enough milk in her so she was cup fed by the nurse. We were in hospital for 8 days and I went on to breast feed for 6.5 months (with one bottle of formula a day). Good luck xx laughingeyes2013 Sat 05-Oct-13 01:34:31 I had exactly the same situation with my prem baby. The only difference was that he isn't a twin. I was in hospital with a girl who was also experiencing the same, and we were both given a bottle and told to try and feed to see how we get on. I didn't want to bottle feed for fear of losing the chance to breastfeed, mostly because I was told they get used to and choose the easiest method of getting milk, and its easier to suck from a bottle. The other girl fought hard (through spluttering and choking) to teach her baby to bottle feed. I gave it a half hearted attempt behind closed curtains and reported to staff that he couldn't tolerate the flow, it was too fast and making him choke. For some reason they accepted this and waited for him to latch until he left the hospital. It only took 24 hours so I was lucky. The other girl and I met up for coffee when out babies were a month old, and she still couldn't get her baby to switch from bottle to breast. She was trying valiantly and I really respected that, but she wast getting anywhere so I felt really sorry she had been so let down at the start. The trouble is that when you're grateful for staff saving your baby's life, it's hard to complain about not being helped to breastfeed properly, but all hospitals have a duty of care to support women to be able to do this if they want to. Sometimes they just need reminding. Mandy21 Mon 07-Oct-13 16:02:47 I think it depends on each unit but afaik, they wont introduce a bottle if you don't want them to. My DTs were given a cup feed if I wasnt there during the night, 1 DT was quite good and would take most of a feed that way (it was my expressed milk) but usually the other one didnt take very much and was tube fed. As others have said, roomed in when they thought they were ready, they actually lost a couple of oz each ( think they used too much energy taking all of their feeds from the breast) so they went back on the unit for a couple of days and then we tried again. B/f for 11 months. Good luck. MrsCaptainJackSparrow Mon 07-Oct-13 23:15:03 The hospital continues to tube feed my ds over night and I was just expected to be there all day. I then stayed in the family room over the weekend when he got the gang of latching on and we went home on the Monday morning grin I breastfed DS for the feeds when I was there at the hospital (9am - 7pm) while he still had his ng tube - when they were happy that he was taking enough that he no longer needed to be tube fed, they cup fed him overnight, then I roomed in for the next two nights before we took him home. Do say to the staff that breast feeding is important to you and you don't want to bottle feed - you might still have to use them a little, we gave DS about 20ml a day in a bottle for his vitamins and iron - they should help support you. Ask to speak to the unit's infant feeding specialist if you want some extra support. Good luck thanks hope you are taking your twins home soon smile CMOTDibbler Tue 08-Oct-13 18:15:35 You can absolutely say that you want to avoid bottles as you don't want to do anything that might compromise bfing. The nurses can cup or spoon feed, or just continue tube feeds when you aren't there Mama1980 Tue 08-Oct-13 18:18:00 Not silly at all. My ds kept his tube so he could be tube fed overnight but breast fed (when he was able to suck) during the day. I refused both bottles and formula top ups. I suggest you have a word with your nicu named nurse/contact but it should be possible. Join the discussion Join the discussion Register now
Take the 2-minute tour × Let $G$ be an algebraic variety over an algebraically closed field $k$ (any characteristic). Suppose that: (1) the set of $k$-points has the structure of a group. (2) for any $g\in G$ the right-multiplication by $g$ is a morphism of algebraic varieties $G\to G$. (3) the inverse map is a morphism $G\to G$. Does it imply that $G$ is an algebraic group? (i.e. is the multiplication $G\times G\to G$ a morphism?) share\|improve this question you might specify if you have in mind characteristic zero or arbitrary characteristic. – YCor Nov 17 '12 at 18:01 What set are you using to be the elements of the group? – Will Sawin Nov 17 '12 at 18:03 The multplicative group of quaternions (presented as $\mathbb{C}\times \mathbb{C} \setminus \{0\}$ yields a non-algebraic example of your (1)+(2); yet it fails (3). – Mikhail Bondarko Nov 17 '12 at 19:02 @Mikhail: In char. $p$ such near-misses (losing (3)) abound. Let $H$ be a linear algebraic group and $H'$ an infinitesimal non-normal closed subgroup scheme of $H$. The quotient scheme $G = H'\backslash H$ is a smooth affine variety and the natural map $H(k) \rightarrow G(k)$ is bijective. If $G(k)$ is thereby equipped with the group structure of $H(k)$ then this is non-algebraic (as otherwise the quotient map $H \rightarrow G$ would be a homomorphism of algebraic groups and so its schematic kernel $H'$ would be normal), and (1) and (2) hold but (3) fails. – user28172 Nov 17 '12 at 19:25 Since there was some discussion about the extent to which the group structure is needed, the following might be relevant. If $k$ is a countably infinite field, then there is a function $f:k\times k\to k$ that is not a polynomial even though, for each fixed value of $x$ in $k$, $f(x,y)$ is a polynomial function of $y$ and, for each fixed $y\in k$, $f(x,y)$ is a polynomial function of $x$. (There is no such $f$ when $k$ is uncountable.) – Andreas Blass Nov 18 '12 at 2:21 1 Answer 1 up vote 12 down vote accepted I predict that in whatever is the situation of motivating interest, you know more: for any algebraically closed field $K/k$ you likewise have a group structure on $G(K)$ functorially in $K/k$ making the translations and inversions by $G(K)$ also be morphisms on $G_K$. Under this additional condition the answer is always affirmative, by using a trick that I believe goes back to Hasse, namely base change to the function field of $G$ (or rather, in our situation, an algebraic closure thereof). This is a Weil-style way of getting at Yoneda's Lemma. The inversion hypothesis implies that left-translations are also morphisms, and we will use this condition instead of the inversion hypothesis (and deduce at the end that inversion is a morphism too). In fact, in char. 0 we won't even need this condition with the left-translations (or inversion) at all, but we are using a stronger assumption on the existence of group laws on $K$-points for lots of $K/k$. This stronger initial assumption across many $K/k$ bypasses Bondarko's examples in char. 0. The near-miss examples avoiding the inversion condition in char. $p$ in the comments are not ruled out by our stronger hypothesis across all $K/k$, but they are ruled out by the left-translations being morphisms (!), so matters will be more delicate in positive characteristic. We need the left-translation condition in positive characteristic to circumvent some inseparability issues with function fields of $k$-varieties. Before we begin the actual arguments, note that since $k$ is algebraically closed, so $G(k)$ is Zariski-dense in $G$, for any field extension $F/k$ the subset $G(k)$ inside $G(F) = G_F(F)$ is Zariski-dense $G_F$. Hence, $F$-morphisms among $G_F$, $G_F \times G_F$, etc. are determined by their effect on $k$-points promoted to $F$-points. I mention this at the outset for peace of mind in some later discussions. The "translation is a morphism" hypothesis ensures that $G$ is smooth, so its connected components are irreducible. I will assume that the variety $G$ is connected, a harmless assumption since (i) for $g \in G^0(k)$ the right-translation morphism by $g$ preserves $G^0$ because it carries $e$ to $g$, (ii) inversion preserves $G^0$ since it fixes $e$, (iii) the morphism property on $G^0$ clearly implies the general case by using the "morphism" property for a few translations by points in the various connected components of $G$. Thus, now $G$ is irreducible and so has a "function field" $k(G)$. By applying the functoriality in $K/k$ to $k$-automorphisms of $K$, we see via Galois descent that the initial hypothesis for algebraically closed extensions is actually valid for all perfect extensions of $k$ as well. Let $K$ be the perfect closure of $k(G)$, and let $\eta \in G(k(G)) \subset G(K)$ correspond to the generic point. This induces a right-translation morphism $\rho_K:G_K \simeq G_K$ (computing right-translation by $\eta_K$). Since $G$ is finite type over $k$, by expressing $K$ as a directed union of finite purely inseparable extensions of $k(G)$ we obtain a finite purely inseparable extension $F$ of $k(G)$ and an $F$-morphism $\rho_F:G_F \simeq G_F$ that descends $\rho_K$ and clearly computes right-translation by $\eta_F$. The normalization $X$ of $G$ in the finite extension $F/k(G)$ is a $k$-variety finite radiciel over $G$, and $X_{\eta} = {\rm{Spec}}(F)$ over $k(G)$. Thus, by expressing $k(G)$ as the directed union of the coordinate rings of affine opens around $\eta$ in $G$, we find such an open $U$ so that over its preimage $U'$ in $X$ (which is finite radiciel over $U$) there is a $U'$-morphism $\rho_{U'}:G_{U'} \simeq G_{U'}$ extending $\rho_F$. The map $U'(k) \rightarrow U(k)$ is bijective, so for each $g \in U(k)$ let $g' \in U'(k)$ be the unique point over $g$. Consider the specialization $\rho_{g'}:G \simeq G$ of $\rho_{U'}$ over $g'$. I claim that this is the right-translation by $g$. To see this, pick $h \in G(k)$ and consider the morphism of left-translation $\ell_h:G \simeq G$ by $h$. This carries $\eta$ to another $k(G)$-point of $G$ (over $k$) that "spreads out" to a $U$-point of $G$ whose specialization at $g \in U(k)$ is $\ell_h(g) = hg$ (so if we work instead with the $U'$-point over this via the canonical $U' \rightarrow U$ then its specialization at $g' \in U'(k)$ is also $\ell_h(g) = hg$). Now inside the group $G(K)$ we have $\ell_h(\eta_K) = \rho_K(h_K)$, so $\rho_{U'}(h_{U'})$ is the $U'$-point obtained from applying $\ell_h$ to the canonical $U'$-point of $G$ (spreading out $\eta_F$) because this comparison of $U'$-points may be checked by working at the generic point of $U'$ (and this generic point is dominated by the canonical $K$-point, over which we have the equality $\ell_h(\eta_K) = \rho_K(h_K)$). Specializing this equality of $U'$-points at the point $g' \in U'(k)$ over $g \in U(k) \subset G(k)$ gives the equality of $k$-points $\rho_{g'}(h) = \ell_h(g) = hg$, as desired. To summarize, we have constructed a $U'$-morphism $\rho:G_{U'} \simeq G_{U'}$ whose specialization at any $g' \in U'(k)$ is right-translation on $G$ by the corresponding point $g \in U(k)$. Suppose ${\rm{char}}(k) = 0$, so $U' = U$ and the composite morphism $${\rm{pr}}_1 \circ \rho:G \times U \rightarrow G$$ on $k$-points is the group law restricted to $U(k)$ in the 2nd variable. For any $g \in G(k)$ the right translation morphism $\rho_g$ carries $U$ to another open subscheme $\rho_g(U)$, and I claim that these opens cover $G$. It suffices to check the covering property on $k$-points, so for $h \in G(k)$ we seek $g \in G(k)$ such that $h \in \rho_g(U)$, or equivalently $hg^{-1} \in U(k)$. Pick any $u \in U(k)$ and let $g = u^{-1}h$. This proves the covering property, and the multiplication map $G(k) \times U(k)g \rightarrow G(k)$ arises from a morphism, namely the composition of ${\rm{pr}}_1 \circ \rho$ and the morphism $\rho_g$. We conclude (in char. 0) that the group law on $G(k)$ is induced by a morphism $G \times G \rightarrow G$. Now we can deduce in char. 0 that inversion is a morphism (so we have a group variety), even though we never used the left-translation or inversion conditions. Indeed, the "universal right-translation" $G \times G \rightarrow G \times G$ defined by $(x,y) \mapsto (xy,y)$ between fppf $G$-schemes (via ${\rm{pr}}_2$) is a scheme isomorphism between fibers over all points in $G(k)$ and therefore is a scheme isomorphism (by fibral isomorphism criteria, adapted to the peculiarities of $k$-points when $k$ is alg. closed). This yields the morphism property for inversion for free! This was a char-free argument, but it required the composition law to be a morphism. Anyway, char. 0 is now settled. Assume ${\rm{char}}(k) = p > 0$, so for sufficiently large $n \ge 0$ the finite flat $n$-fold relative Frobenius morphism $G^{(1/p^n)} \rightarrow G$ of $G^{(1/p^n)}$ dominates $U'$ over $U$ (namely, pick $n \ge 0$ so that the finite purely inseparable extension $F/k(G)$ is contained inside $k(G)^{1/p^n}$). Since the initial choice of $F$ could be replaced with a finite purely inseparable extension at the outset if we wish, we may therefore assume that $U'$ is open inside $G^{(1/p^n)}$. Using a covering and translation argument similar to characteristic 0, we arrive at a morphism $$m_r:G \times G^{(1/p^n)} \rightarrow G$$ that recovers the given group law on $k$-points via the natural identification of $G^{(1/p^n)}(k)$ with $G(k)$ (for some $n \ge 0$). Our problem is precisely to show that $m_r$ factors (in the sense of morphisms of varieties) through the $n$-fold relative Frobenius morphism in the 2nd variable. Now we shall use that left-translations are morphisms too. At the cost of increasing our $n$ if necessary, we can run through the same arguments with "left" instead of "right" to arrive at another morphism $$m_{\ell}:G^{(1/p^n)} \times G \rightarrow G$$ which recovers the given group law on $k$-points (with the same $n$). Returning to our task of checking that $m_r$ factors through the appropriate iterated Frobenius in the 2nd variable, since that iterated Frobenius is fppf (as $G$ is smooth!) we conclude via fppf descent that it is harmless to check the existence of such a factorization after precomposing $m_r$ with an fppf morphism in the first variable. So let's compose with the same iterated Frobenius in the first variable, arriving at a morphism $$G^{(1/p^n)} \times G^{(1/p^n)} \rightarrow G$$ that recovers the composition law of $G(k)$ on $k$-points. It suffices to show that this latter map factors through the $n$-fold Frobenius in its 2nd variable, but this factorization is clear: it is the composition of $m_{\ell}$ with that iterated Frobenius (as we may check by computing on $k$-points, since we're working with reduced $k$-schemes of finite type). QED share\|improve this answer This is a very nice answer ! – Olivier Benoist Nov 18 '12 at 2:41 Your Answer
Iraqis Do It. Ukrainians Do It... Let's vote right. Deroy Murdock After casting ballots in widely applauded elections January 30, Iraqis dipped their digits in ink, to prevent multiple voting, then pointed their purple fingers toward a brighter future. Ukrainians cleanly elected Viktor Yuschenko president December 26, after he lost an earlier, fraud-encrusted runoff. Afghans elected President Hamid Karzai in a properly run October 9 vote. Too bad Washington State’s latest election failed Iraqi, Ukrainian, and Afghan standards. Washington’s November 2 gubernatorial race remains murky due to illegitimate ballots, others that were miscounted, and still more that emerged from…who knows where? This morass is prosecution-grade proof that America’s inadequate voting system screams for modernization. Democrat Christine Gregoire took office January 12 after edging Republican Dino Rossi in a third recount by 129 of the 2.8 million votes cast. Rossi has sued for a re-vote, a reasonable request given that the number of dodgy ballots exceeds Gregoire’s victory margin. Through January 28, Washington’s GOP said it found 996 illegal votes, “and we expect this number to grow in the days ahead.” This figure includes: 489 votes by ineligible felons. Dean Logan, Democratic election director in Seattle’s King County, seems unoffended by ex-offenders who may not vote but do so anyway. He told the Seattle Times: “I don’t think it’s the responsibility of the election administrators to essentially do background checks on registered voters.” 437 provisional ballots cast by voters of dubious eligibility. Rather than isolate these for later evaluation, 348 of these were fed into voting machines. “These provisional ballots could have been cast by unregistered voters or people who’d voted more than once,” Mary Lane, Rossi’s communications director, tells me, “but now we’ll never know because they’re in the general sea of ballots.” 44 ballots cast by dead voters. Some of these were apparent clerical errors, such as poll workers confusing live voters with their similarly named dead relatives. Other cases were less forgivable, such as Doris McFarland who told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that she voted for her 92-year-old blind husband who died October 7. “I called up the elections board and said, ‘Can I do it because he wanted me to vote,’” McFarland explained. “The person…said, ‘Well, who would know?’” How heartwarming. How criminal. 26 voters cast multiple ballots, 20 strictly in-state and six others inside and outside Washington. The pro-market Evergreen Freedom Foundation reports that, as of December 30, five counties discovered at least 8,419 more votes than voters who had voted. On January 18, that number inexplicably dropped to 2,200. Also unusual: Some 500 voters claimed the King County Administration building as their legal residence. Washingtonians deserve a governor chosen by transparent re-vote. Earth’s sole remaining superpower, meanwhile, should use this fiasco to exercise humility and adopt admirable voting procedures from overseas. First, Congress should require clean voter rolls before every biennial federal election. If states need assistance to purge non-citizens, felons, the relocated, and the dead from registration records, Uncle Sam should scrap some farm subsidies and underwrite this vital improvement. Second, electoral officials should inspect every voter’s photo identification. If Afghan, Iraqi, and Ukrainian voters must show picture ID, what’s our excuse? Some Democrats bellyache that this would frighten blacks from the polls. Please! Such condescending rubbish assumes blacks lack workplace or student IDs, bankcards, or drivers’ licenses. Keep it simple: Expect blacks, like everyone else, to vote with the same IDs we must show to board commercial jets. Third, U.S. elections should require each voter to dip a finger in ink after balloting. This will stymie those who vote early and often. A purple index finger also offers a subtle civics advertisement: “I voted. Have you?” Finally, absentee ballots are easily abused. Deceased-Americans and Alzheimer’s-ravaged seniors magically vote, thanks to relatives and caregivers who never see poll workers. Absentee ballots should be limited to mentally competent shut-ins and voters away on Election Day, not just impatient citizens who want to make this solemn civic ritual as mundane as ordering early from a mail-order catalog. America proudly leads Earth in many spheres, but our vote procedures are a global disgrace. During the 21 months until the 2006 mid-term election, officials should work diligently to guarantee every state a ballot system at least as reliable as Iraq’s.
Cormega :: The Realness :: Landspeed Records as reviewed by Mr. S Cormega is the very definition of someone who has been screwed over by the record industry. Upon his release from prison, he was slated to be a member of Nas's supergroup The Firm. Reports basically conflict as to what happened, but from Mega's own mouth, Steve Stoute was pissed that Mega wouldn't sign with him and started dicking him over, so he quit. But that was all good, because he had a record deal with the biggest and best label in hip hop history, Def Jam. But again, he got screwed over by the political side of the music business, and his album "The Testament," never got released. All of this time he had rebuilt his rep by numerous guest spots and mixtape appearances and the anticipation for a Cormega album was huge. And this year he finally hit us with it. He attacks the opening track in a manner befitting it's title, "Dramatic Entrance." Mega rips it up, saying: "No more to say, words can't explain Like Rich Porter's grave This is a ghetto monument My confidence more apparent... I'm too ill Lyrically, I feel I'm too real." Being "real" is a consistent theme throughout. The second cut is "American Beauty," which while ill, loses serious points because it is a straight jack of Common's concept on "I Used To Love H.E.R." Lyrically proficient, but... I don't know, you can't just take a concept like this, not alter it at all, and expect to get full respect for it. The beat flips the same sample used on Jadakiss's "Show Discipline." Prodigy shows up on "Thun & Kiko" and drops one of the few good verses I've heard from him since H.N.I.C. He steals the show, with his verse obviously taking some subliminal shots at Jay-Z: "You's a notebook crook, with loose leaf beef A backseat criminal who pass the heat To somebody that blast the heat Man, it sound bad on the pad What happened in the street? A feeling on the vinyl, an analog outlaw." Cormega certainly doesn't pass up the opportunity to take some subliminal shots as well. Though his are directed at Nas: "Who's tale you tellin? Are you frail or felon?/Was you making sales or watching niggas selling?/ You exploit niggas lives in your rhymes and then avoid em/You never felt the moisture in the air from coke boiling." This track is dope all around, from the hard hitting lyrics to the beat. But the subject of Nas is one of this album's downfalls. If Mega had just kept it to one diss, fine. But he rides Nas consistently through the album, making numerous subliminal disses to him throughout, and it gets real old. The whole album is heartfelt, and songs like "The Saga," "R U My Nigga?," "Fallen Soldiers" (particularly the Alchemist remix) and "They Forced My Hand" particularly so, but ultimately the album is unsatisfying. I think this album got overrated simply because people were happy to finally get a Cormega album. It's not bad by any means, but there are some glaring problems. For one, Cormega's flow and cadence get old; they're cool for about 3 or 4 songs but then it just starts getting boring listening to his monotonous voice. And the beats, while definitely "street" sounding are surprisingly soft with the exception of "Get Out Of My Way." Other than a couple more there aren't any tracks that you can just turn up and BUMP. Basically, Cormega got cred for making a "real" hip hop album. He obviously made this album for himself, and he gets mad respect for that. But his continual talk about how he is the realest in rap gets old; okay, there are plenty of real cats out there, that doesn't make you a good MC, so you don't have to touch on the fact that you were a real hustler/criminal in EVERY single track. I was anticipating this album as much as anyone, but after listening to it a few times I realized that Cormega is much better suited to being an honorary member of Mobb Deep: come in, blaze a verse every once in a while, and that's cool. And pretty much every song on this album is tight as a stand-alone but after holding down an albums worth of tracks basically by himself, Mega's style just gets old. He may be realer than Nas - good for him - but that doesn't mean he's anywhere near him as an MC. Originally posted: October 20, 2001 source: www.RapReviews.com
Support Amendment 4 -A A +A My support for Amendment 4 to Florida’s Constitution known as the “Hometown Democracy Amendment” is very much related to my professional experiences over the last 60 years as a practicing architect, planner, participating citizen and educator. I have long observed myths related to continued population increase and economic growth in Florida. Renew Current or Past Subscription / Register for Online Subscription Newspaper Acct. ID: Street Address: (exactly as it appears on the label) New Subscription/30 Day Free Trial Account ZIP Code: Create a limited access account. Chiefland Citizen \| [email protected] \| 352-493-4796 624 W Park Avenue, Chiefland, FL 32626
Ex-minor league exec, major leaguer Mincher dies Mincher served as general manager, broadcaster and owner of the Double-A Huntsville Stars, a Southern League franchise. He retired as Southern League president last October after holding the post since 2000. The league named Mincher its president-emeritus.
Seeking Alpha Seeking Alpha Portfolio App for iPad Profile\| Send Message\| (59,940) With these words, Google went public in 2004 - and they have, since then, been true to their word. They have not been maximizing short-term profits; neither have they been stinting on long-term investments, especially in projects like the self-driving car which might not pay dividends for a decade or more. Today, Google (GOOG) spent $3.2 billion to acquire Nest. Once again, they're investing for the long term. On the same day, Suntory (OTCPK:STBFY) spent even more money - a whopping $13.6 billion in cash, plus another $2.4 billion in assumed debt - to buy Beam (BEAM), a coveted whiskey company. Suntory doesn't need to worry about what its public shareholders think, because it doesn't have any. It's privately held, and can spend its money on anything it likes, while keeping an eye on long-term value rather than short-term profits. Neither of these acquisitions makes sense if you approach them wielding earnings multiples or net present value calculations. I very much doubt that Nest has made a penny of profit in its entire existence, and the acquisition price works out at roughly $2,900 per Nest-boasting home, based on estimates that there are 1.1 million such homes. Meanwhile, Beam sold for 20.5 times EBITDA, and 6.4 times revenue. And it's not like some huge revenue boost is around the corner: the sale price even works out at 5.3 times estimated 2016 revenue. Neither of these deals are going to pay for themselves any time soon. But that doesn't mean that they're bad deals. Both of them are attempts to, quite literally, buy the future. The case of Nest is pretty obvious: it's the foremost company in the hot Internet of Things space, and in its short life has already built up a valuable and much-loved brand. Its products are expensive, but they're very good-looking, and the user experience is fantastic. Nest is basically the OXO of internet-connected household gewgaws, and if it were to release a lightbulb, I'd buy dozens of the things in a heartbeat. Similarly if it offered to replace my alarm system. Google is drowning in cash: it has more than $58 billion to spend, so this acquisition barely makes a dent in the company's war chest. And if the price is high, it is also ratified by the market: Nest would have had no difficulty raising hundreds of millions of dollars in new equity at a $3.2 billion valuation or even higher. Most excitingly for Google, it has now poached dozens of former Apple (AAPL) employees, all of whom understand how to design great consumer hardware in a way that Google clearly doesn't. If just a little of that magic rubs off onto, say, Motorola (MSI), that could justify the acquisition price right there. Meanwhile, from Nest's point of view, this deal gives the company room to concentrate on developing great products, without being distracted by corporate affairs, patent wars, and the like. Google's lawyers can now deal with all of Nest's legal and licensing headaches, and Google's lawyers are not only very good but also have very deep pockets. The Beam acquisition is also at heart about brand value: Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Laphroaig, Courvoisier, Sauza - these are resonant, deeply valuable brands, and they're brands which are only going to rise in value over the long term. Bourbon, in particular, is an incredibly hard market to break into, thanks to the many years it needs to spend in barrel before it's bottled. Beam's revenues are being artificially constrained, right now, by the fact that it can't sell more bourbon than it made seven years ago. But it has been ramping up production of late, and will surely continue to do so now it's owned by Suntory: the Asian market in general, and China in particular, is potentially almost unlimited. In other words, Suntory isn't spending some multiple of 2013 earnings, or even 2016 earnings: it's looking to the 2020s and beyond, and it's betting that no matter how much it pays now, it's more than worth it for the advantage of being the first Asian company to own a major bourbon brand, in a world where demand for bourbon is sure to continue to rise inexorably. The Suntory deal is similar to the Google deal in another way, too: neither company values balance-sheet cash particularly highly. In Google's case that's just because the company has so much of it; in Suntory's case that's because Japan is - still - stuck in a liquidity trap. A Japanese company with cash is a bit like an American traveler with frequent-flier miles: it's always a good idea to spend today, because the currency will be of less use to you tomorrow. There aren't all that many companies out there which are dominant in spaces which are clearly going to be huge tomorrow, be they the Internet of Things or bourbon. So we're not going to see a lot more takeovers at these eye-popping valuations. But if there's one big lesson to be drawn from today's M&A activity, it's that there's still serious amounts of strategic cash on the sidelines if the right target comes along. As Charter's (CHTR) $37.3 billion bid for Time Warner Cable (TWC) proves. Disclosure: None. Source: When Patient Money Is Big Money
Finding a Job Answering the Unanswerable: Wacky Job Interview Questions Answering the Unanswerable: Wacky Job Interview Questions Photograph by Ocean/Corbis Career experts tend to wax philosophical about what business school students should be doing to win over interviewers. Rarely does anyone ever turn the tables and focus on the outrageousness of those making hiring decisions—until now. Glassdoor, the online community for job hunting and recruiting, scoured thousands of questions shared by job candidates last year to come up with the “Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions,” which was released on Monday. Ranging from the somewhat expected (“How would you rate your memory?”) to downright zany (“A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?”), the complete list is worth checking out, for chuckles if nothing else. Still, if one supervisor asked such a question, others might be doing the same. So how would you respond? Here, an MBA administrator and students try their hand: No. 5: What songs best describe your work ethic? Asked: Interview for a consumer sales position at Dell (DELL) Answered: Brad Aspel, director of MBA career education and advising at Columbia Business School’s Career Management Center, who asked a group of students how they would answer the question The Marine Corps Hymn, I Like It, I Love It (Tim McGraw), Girl on Fire (Alicia Keys), and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Kanye West), which was the most popular, were among the answers my students gave. The trick is to think quickly in the moment but realize the company also wants to see your creativity and even your sense of fun. So, even if you answer Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, there should be a sense of fun in the way you answer, so you don’t come off trying too hard by driving the point that you are incredibly dedicated to never stop working until everything is perfect. They want to know you’d be an interesting person to have around, and that merely by asking this question there is a sense of creativity and fun in their culture.” No. 14: My wife and I are going on a vacation, where would you recommend? Asked: Interview for an advisory associate position at PricewaterhouseCoopers Answered: Stephanie Dozier, MBA Class of 2013, Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management “I would recommend a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s a lovely, tropical area, and has a number of different activities that would interest both you and your wife. You can have a romantic dinner at the restaurant where the pina colada was invented, tour the historic city wall and fort, go shopping in Old San Juan, tour the Bacardi factory, or, for something more adventurous, you could take a rain forest tour and go zip-lining. The number of different activities all available in a relatively small area ensure that you’ll both have an enjoyable and memorable vacation.” Answered: Shannon Lindgren, Owen MBA Class of 2013 “New Orleans because it is domestic yet exotic. The architecture, food, music, and people would all provide a draw individually, but together they make this city a fantastic destination for people of all ages and interests. Bonus: supporting an economy still recovering from Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon disaster.” No. 16: Estimate how many windows are in New York. Asked: Interview for an associate consultant position at Bain & Co. Answered: Taylor Burroughs, MBA Class of 2013, University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business “To estimate the number of windows in New York, I would first clarify if this was in relation to Manhattan, Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs, or the entire state. Assuming we were dealing exclusively with Manhattan, I recall the size of the island is about 200 blocks north-south by 10 avenues east-west. These avenues are longer than blocks; the ratio is maybe 4:1. At 200 blocks by 10 avenues, that gives us 2,000 square blocks. Including skyscrapers and walk-ups, perhaps, the average height of a building is 10 stories. “I’ll further estimate 25 windows per floor each north-south block and thus 100 windows on an east-west avenue. The total perimeter of windows is thus 250 windows per floor per block. Given an average height of 10 stories, I calculate 2,500 windows per block. Multiplying by our 2,000 square blocks gives us 5 million windows. We’ll need to subtract for Central Park (which seemed sufficiently large enough when I tried to run around it). A discount of 500,000 windows seems fair given the park’s size in relation to the total island. Thus my final estimate is 4.5 million windows.” Di Meglio is a reporter for in Fort Lee, N.J. The Epic Hack (enter your email) (enter up to 5 email addresses, separated by commas) Max 250 characters blog comments powered by Disqus
Take the 2-minute tour × When searching for items in complex JSON arrays and hashes, like: { "id": 1, "name": "One", "objects": [ { "id": 1, "name": "Response 1", "objects": [ // etc. Is there some kind of query language I can used to find an item in [0].objects where id = 3? share\|improve this question not unless you make one. Leave the querying to the server, and use REST to get only the data you need. – zzzzBov Dec 12 '11 at 21:52 +1 good idea. Gonna write this tomorrow… – user142019 Dec 12 '11 at 21:53 Not XPath, but I've found JLinq pretty good (which makes code to read like in(...).where(...).select(...)): hugoware.net/Projects/jLinq. – pimvdb Dec 12 '11 at 22:00 This is frustrating because there's lots of libraries out there, but nothing approaching a commonly accepted standard. We have a library used by 3rd parties so we need to provide a query language that is widely known and used. – David Thielen Jun 12 '12 at 18:06 Some other options are suggested here: stackoverflow.com/questions/777455/… – Simon Jun 14 '13 at 3:09 show 1 more comment 10 Answers up vote 32 down vote accepted Yup, it's called JSONPath: It's also integrated into DOJO. share\|improve this answer Also used by Kynetx docs.kynetx.com/docs/KRL_and_JSONPath – Eric Bloch Dec 13 '11 at 0:27 Brian's answer suggests that the jsonQuery module should be used instead of the jsonPath module in dojo. – missingno Dec 15 '11 at 16:51 How solid is this? And I can't find a Java or C# version which is a deal killer for us. – David Thielen Jun 12 '12 at 18:08 The site linked here provides for Javascript and PHP. If you need a Java implementation, there’s one here: code.google.com/p/json-path – Paramaeleon Nov 16 '12 at 7:20 I should mention that JSONPath is not based on the XPath formal semantic. JSONiq might be a better option. – wcandillon Jun 8 '13 at 10:45 show 1 more comment I think JSONQuery replaced JSONPath in dojo. From Dojo documentation: JSONQuery is an extended version of JSONPath with additional features for security, ease of use, and a comprehensive set of data querying tools including filtering, recursive search, sorting, mapping, range selection, and flexible expressions with wildcard string comparisons and various operators. JSONselect has another point of view on the question (CSS selector-like, rather than XPath) and has a JavaScript implementation. share\|improve this answer The github JSONQuery link seems to be dead. JSONSelect also has a JavaScript version now. – Henrik Dec 20 '12 at 15:06 add comment Try to using JSPath JSPath is a domain-specific language (DSL) that enables you to navigate and find data within your JSON documents. Using JSPath, you can select items of JSON in order to retrieve the data they contain. JSPath for JSON like an XPath for XML. It is heavily optimized both for Node.js and modern browsers. share\|improve this answer add comment Three other alternatives I am aware of are 1. JSONiq specification, which specifies two subtypes of languages: one that hides XML details and provides JS-like syntax, and one that enriches XQuery syntax with JSON constructors and such. Zorba implements JSONiq. 2. Corona, which builds on top of MarkLogic provides a REST interface for storing, managing, and searching XML, JSON, Text and Binary content. 3. MarkLogic 6 and later provide a similar REST interface as Corona out of the box. share\|improve this answer There is now a JSONiq implementation: Zorba 2.6 officially supports it. – xqib-team Aug 29 '12 at 9:40 add comment XQuery can be used to query JSON, provided that the processor offers JSON support. This is a straightforward example how BaseX can be used to find objects with "id" = 1: { "id": 1, "name": "Response 1", "objects": [ "etc." ] } ]')//value[.//id = 1] share\|improve this answer add comment To summarise some of the current options for traversing/filtering JSON data, and provide some syntax examples... • JSPath .automobiles{.maker === "Honda" && .year > 2009}.model • json:select() (inspired more by CSS selectors) .automobiles .maker:val("Honda") .model • JSONPath (inspired more by XPath) I think JSPath looks the nicest, so I'm going to try and integrate it with my AngularJS + CakePHP app. (I originally posted this answer in another thread but thought it would be useful here, also.) share\|improve this answer add comment ObjectPath is a query language similar to XPath or JSONPath, but much more powerful thanks to embedded arithmetic calculations, comparison mechanisms and built-in functions. See the syntax: Find in the shop all shoes of red color and price less than 50 $..shoes.*[color is "red" and price < 50] share\|improve this answer add comment Json Pointer seem's to be getting growing support too. share\|improve this answer add comment Jsel is awesome and is based on a real XPath engine. It allows you to create XPath expressions to find any type of JavaScript data, not just objects (strings too). You can create custom schemas and mappings to give you complete control over how your data is walkable by the XPath engine. A schema is a way of defining how elements, children, attributes, and node values are defined in your data. Then you can create your own expressions to suit. Given you had a variable called data which contained the JSON from the question, you could use jsel to write: This will return any node with an id attribute of 3. An attribute is any primitive (string, number, date, regex) value within an object. share\|improve this answer add comment @Naftule - with "defiant.js", it is possible to query a JSON structure with XPath expressions. Check out this evaluator to get an idea of how it works: Unlike JSONPath, "defiant.js" delivers the full-scale support of the query syntax - of XPath on JSON structures. The source code of defiant.js can be found here: share\|improve this answer add comment Your Answer
Are you still atheist if you believe in a afterlife? Views: 114 Reply to This Replies to This Discussion Thank you. Everything in existence is apart of the same thing so that could mean you are the universe and existence. I dont really see how hard it is for the universe to think it is one and infinitly many at the same time. I can start counting then have a lucid dream then my body is still counting numbers by itself. Another is that everything in existence has nonphysical matter that doesnt follow the rules we live in right now. What comes after is the rest of the universe continuing on with nary a blink. We eventually recycle back into the ground of existence. We've done our part. Hopefully, we've done the best we can do. An atheist as I understand is the lack of belief in God. Buddhist and some sects of Hinduism could be considered atheistic. I guess I got to accept the world for what it is and dont worry about what happens after death cause it happens to everybody. Afterlife or not everybody will end the same. I think that's a great plan. Hello, Travis. I can read a bit of Biocentrism in this "afterlife" view that you are attempting to resolve. Here's a link to a fellow A\|N member's take on the said topic. The following is from my "attic"; an exchange on an email discussion list. I've always wondered why people who think most of us go to be with God after we die are so afraid of death. (I'm not eager for it, but am not afraid of it. Just would be really disappointed to lose any good part of this life before my time.) (JBH): It may be that the cause-and-effect goes in the other direction. They are very afraid of death, therefore they convince themselves that death really doesn't happen. In some invisible way, people go on living. I once wrote a Leditor announcing a new revelation from God (i.e. Yahveh). I reported: God had decided that the system of Heaven and Hell was just not working. Torturing prisoners had grown boring, and hymns of praise even more boring. So he was abolishing Heaven and Hell and starting a new system of sequential reincarnation. When you die, your soul will go to the back of a line. When you reach the front of the line, you go into the next available human body. He had declared a general amnesty for the residents of Hell, and put them into the line. Those who were good enough to get into Heaven, all twenty-seven of them, had volunteered to go into the line as well, so they could teach virtue and goodness by example. He hopes that we will have enough sense to treat each other well and care for the Earth. If not, we will just have to live in the mess. He is turning his attention to other galaxies, where he as other children to raise. He said, "You're on your own now. It's time to grow up." Thus endeth my revelation. I figured that if people believed it (not really expecting that) it would give everyone the incentive to create a just and sustainable society. It relieves the fear of death, replacing it with the fear that they might be reborn into a place where they will suffer poverty and injustice. More seriously, I'm sure somebody by now has quoted Mark Twain: "I was nonexistent for millions of years before I was born, and I did not suffer the slightest inconvenience from it." Or words to that effect. Talia expressed the same sentiment on page 1. But what we're recycled into isn't exactly pretty...if you believe in reincarnation, I think that's a spiritual belief and you'd be more of an agnostic than an atheist, right?? We are our minds...there's a quote I like: "The mind is what the brain does". Without your brain and your memories, your emotional baggage, your intellect, your self-identity, etc YOU wouldn't be YOU. I think the brain is a tool of the spirit that lets the spirit animate the body. I dont think that goes against anything being atheist. Whatever the spirit is has been in existence since the beginning of time. The universe exists rather then not being in existence. Thats the way I feel. People cant think how the consciousness continues on after death and I cant think of how the consciousness stops after death. Either one is an opinion. Support Atheist Nexus Donate Today Help Nexus When You Buy From Amazon Badges \| Report an Issue \| Terms of Service
Senator Inhofe and the difference between science and point-of-view Fri, 2007-08-03 11:26Kevin Grandia Kevin Grandia's picture Here's the wiki definition of science, its about as clear as any I've ever seen: Someone should send this to Senator James Inhofe (R-OK). As most regular DeSmogBlog readers know, Inhofe is a well-known member of the global warming denial movement. Inhofe has gone so far as to claim that global warming “alarmism” is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. Check out this recent review of a speech Inhofe gave at the National Conservative Student Conference. According to the review, Inhofe makes the following claims to defend his position on global warming: “the ground of the climate change debate is starting to shift their way, giving their views more exposure and effect.” “… referred to a letter 60 prominent scientists sent to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2006, in which they claimed the Kyoto Protocol of the 1990s was a regulatory measure written out of ignorance and which is now unnecessary based on modern scientific discoveries.” “…he himself used to tow the global warming line until a few years ago, he said, when he began researching the Kyoto Protocol and its potential economic effects.” “… too many scientists disagree with the claims that man-induced CO2 emissions are primarily responsible for the phenomenon and that the results are going to be catastrophic.” “… attributed what he calls the “myth” of global warming to an ulterior power-driven motive.” We've all heard these claims by Inhofe a hundred times over and they're also the typical arguments made by others in the global warming denial industry. You'll notice though that nowhere is there a mention of real science. Inhofe's proof lies entirely in the realm of viewpoints, opinion and rhetoric. Look at the first statement: “the ground of the climate change debate is starting to shift their way, giving their views more exposure and effect.” Inhofe portrays the “debate” around climate change as something that can be shifted towards a particular group's way. Such a shift, Inhofe argues, provides like-minded individuals with more “exposure and effect.” Inhofe's spin-doctor, Marc “swift boat” Morano, then touts a letter by 60 prominent scientists sent to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen as proof that the human-induced theory of climate change is incorrect This is not science, and this is the problem that science is struggling with today, especially in the United States. Science, in the eyes of Inhofe and many others, is just another viewpoint that can be manipulated, swayed, proven or disproved based on things such as letters or opinion. Science is a “debate,” but that “debate” does not occur between two pundits on television, neither does it occur between congressmen on opposing sides of the house or in senate committee hearings. This type of “debate” does not acquire knowledge as science does, it merely debates the knowledge we've already acquired. The “debate” in science (including climate science) occurs in the pages of peer-reviewed scientific journals where the hard work and years of dedicated research by scientists is put to the scrutiny of other scientists, published and then challenged through further research. This is where new knowledge is acquired. And as far as the peer-reviewed literature and the research on climate change (the acquired knowledge) it points to something that for various (most unknown) reasons, Inhofe is opposed to. Simple logic would state that a petition, viewpoint or opinion would be wholly inadequate as a means of refuting a scientific conclusion grounded in the scientific method, and standing the test of challenges by alternative hypotheses. And it is. Unfortunately, Inhofe doesn't and probably never will accept the very simple, very straightforward difference between the two. Previous Comments Excellent commentary, though I would say he is playing the typical political game. Not overly shocking, politicians arent known for being overly honest as they seek to remain in power or get into it. I also liked the analysis, and I think parsing Inhofe’s words is informative. But we shouldn’t follow that path too far because there will always be people who are too unskilled at language or just too plain nuts to represent the majority of any group (even the AGW science denial industry). I don’t feel like I’ve made much of a point, so I’m including this url (more about hoaxes and conspiracy theories!): I’m trying out different arguments for”debunking” these guys. Notice I didn’t even mention that Inhofe (R-Exxon) receives the most funding from the oil and gas sector out of all senators. I still find myself in a state of shock that this guy is still the highest ranking GOP on the EPW committee. There must be something in the water in Oklahoma – or maybe it’s the toxic fumes from all the oil and natural gas they drill in that state – that explains why people there keep voting for nutcases to the US Senate. Forget about Inhofe, who’s totally clueless about the environment. Consider his seatmate from the state, Tom Coburn; who a couple months back tried to filibuster the Senate from passing a resolution honouring the 100th birthday of Rachel Carson. And ten years ago, he tried to get NBC-TV’s FCC license cancelled because the network aired uncensored Schindler’s List, which Coburn said was pornographic. Seriously. There are environmentalists in Oklahoma, the most ecologically diverse state in America (11 different terrains, according to the US Land Survey) – they just don’t have the muscle to outvote the whackos, yet. I wish someone would expose Inholfe properly. I cant believe as a fairly intelligent man that he believes this. Its insane. Is there any proof that Inhofe once “toed the line” and believed there is climate change from pollution? I’d be interested in seeing any quotations or reports from those green-grass days. read more
Author Topic: Playoff Seeding Question (Read 535 times) 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Offline Jedgi • Posts: 135 Playoff Seeding Question « Topic Start: August 09, 2012, 11:31:58 PM » I know I know we're a far ways off so I'm not going to use the Nationals as an example for my question. I'll use the AL and give the following standings for an example of my question. 1. Texas Rangers 108-74 (West Winner) 2. New York Yankees 104-78 (East Winner) 3. Detroit Tigers 98-84 (Central Winner) 4. Oakland Athletics 95-87 (West WC) 5/6. Baltimore Orioles 93-89 (East WC) 5/6. Los Angeles Angels 93-89 (West WC) First of all how would the 5/6 tie be decided? A playoff game before the wild card playoff game? But on to my main question, lets suppose the Athletics got the wild card, would they then be placed against the Yankees in round 1 of the playoffs since they are in the same division as the Rangers? If so, isn't that inherently unfair as the 1st place team should get the benefit of playing the slightly depleted rotation of the Wild Card team? (The Athletics would likely use their top ace in their game against LA/BAL and would not be able to immediately start him again in the next series) If this scenario holds true, the 1st place team is punished for playing in a strong division and winning. Or if you spin it another way, the 2nd place team gets rewarded for playing in an easier division and still not having as many wins as the 1st place team.
Deathstroke Gets His Own Episode In ARROW deathstrokeArrow is still beating bad guys up, and taking names in the ratings system. They also have a slew of upcoming episodes with some strong DC Universe implications. There has already been Heir To The Demon which featured Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter Nyssa, but there are others such as Birds of Prey, and Suicide Squad that we get to look forward to as well. But that’s not all folks! Executive Producer, Marc Guggenheim has just released a the title page for episode 18 of season two (click the source link below to check it out). By the looks of the page it would seem to indicate we are getting an episode that centers around Slade Wilson because its titled, ‘Deathstroke‘. The episode was written by Guggenheim and Drew Z. Greenberg and will be direct by Guy Bee. There has been no indication what exactly the episode will focus on, but I’m sure with the story still developing we will get little hints here and there. Arrow is currently on a break to let the Winter Olympics do their thing, so there will be no new episode tonight. However, you can catch the show most Wednesdays at 8 P.M. on The CW. Source : Marc Guggenhiem
Gallery: How To: 6 Steps To an Easy and Delicious Summer Fruit Pie Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a floured surface until it is 12 to 14 inches in diameter. Remember, this is a rustic pie, so do not worry about your pie dough being perfectly round! Step One: Make the Pie Dough You can use just about any recipe, but I use a modified version found in Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. 2 cups organic flour 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 8 tablespoons cold unsalted organic butter (if you are vegan, try using Earth Balance spread or olive oil) 1 tablespoon maple syrup (you can use agave syrup or honey; if you are a traditionalist, use organic sugar) 1/3 to 1/2 cup ice cold water Mix the dry ingredients. Using a pastry knife, fold the butter into the mixture, leaving pea sized butter cuts. Add the syrup and slowly add the water, kneading until the dough is no longer sticky. Shape it into a ball and let it rest in your refrigerator for 30 minutes. or your inhabitat account below Let's make sure you're a real person: get the free Inhabitat newsletter Submit this form popular today all time most commented more popular stories > more popular stories > more popular stories > Federated Media Publishing - Home
Umpires overturn homer after fan interference Umpires overturn homer after fan interference CINCINNNATI -- It wasn't exactly a Jeffrey Maier moment, but the spectator interference rule came into play at Great American Ball Park on Sunday. Batting with one out in the second inning and the Reds already leading, 2-0, Cincinnati second baseman Ramon Santiago hit a Yovani Gallardo pitch to deep right field, where Milwaukee's Logan Schafer timed his leap. At the same time, a red-shirted fan reached his own glove over the wall and attempted a catch. As the baseball fell to the ground, Schafer turned his gaze upward to see who had interfered. At the same time, Santiago circled the bases for what initially was ruled an inside-the-park home run. Not so fast. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke asked the umpires to confer, and crew chief Jerry Meals eventually initiated a review. After 3 minutes and 46 seconds, the call was overturned and Santiago was called out. "It was the first time in my life I was truly confused in the outfield," said Schafer, who started because Ryan Braun had back spasms. "I literally was timing it the whole way, I knew I had it, I knew where the fence was and where I was and where my glove was going to be. I jumped up, waiting for it to come into my glove, and I just never felt anything. "So I was like, 'Hmm.' That's why, when I came down, I was a little confused. I saw the ball come down, I looked up at the fans and was like, 'What just happened?' He was still running and [center fielder Carlos Gomez] was yelling at me to throw it in. … In retrospect, I probably should have just grabbed it and thrown it in anyway, just because I didn't know what was going on. I knew I had it off the bat. If it was playable, I knew I was going to catch it." The rule in question was 3.16, which says: When there is spectator interference with any thrown or batted ball, the ball shall be dead at the moment of interference and the umpire shall impose such penalties as in his opinion will nullify the act of interference. APPROVED RULING: If spectator interference clearly prevents a fielder from catching a fly ball, the umpire shall declare the batter out. A comment to the rule provides further clarification, stating that, "No interference shall be allowed when a fielder reaches over a fence, railing, rope or into a stand to catch a ball. He does so at his own risk. However, should a spectator reach out on the playing field side of such fence, railing or rope, and plainly prevent the fielder from catching the ball, then the batsman should be called out for the spectator's interference." After the play, Schafer said the man put a hand over his heart in a conciliatory gesture, "and kind of said, 'My bad, my bad,'" Schafer said. "I'm surprised he was still there the rest of the game. Not to say I like fans getting kicked out. I don't think he did it with any negativity. I think he just was like, 'Here's the ball, I'll try and catch it.' Usually they kick people out, but he sat there and enjoyed the rest of the game. Good for him." The stakes were higher when Maier, then 12, deflected a Derek Jeter fly ball into the seats during Game 1 of the 1996 American League Championship Series. In that instance, umpires ruled the play a home run, and the Yankees went on to win the game and the series.
β-Cell Failure in Type 2 Diabetes: A Case of Asking Too Much of Too Few? 1. Peter C. Butler1 1. 1Division of Endocrinology, Larry L. Hillblom Islet Research Center, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 2. 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Keck School of Medicine, Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 1. Corresponding author: Safia Costes, scostes{at}mednet.ucla.edu. The islet in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is characterized by a deficit in β-cells, increased β-cell apoptosis, and extracellular amyloid deposits derived from islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP). In the absence of longitudinal studies, it is unknown if the low β-cell mass in T2DM precedes diabetes onset (is a risk factor for diabetes) or develops as a consequence of the disease process. Although insulin resistance is a risk factor for T2DM, most individuals who are insulin resistant do not develop diabetes. By inference, an increased β-cell workload results in T2DM in some but not all individuals. We propose that the extent of the β-cell mass that develops during childhood may underlie subsequent successful or failed adaptation to insulin resistance in later life. We propose that a low innate β-cell mass in the face of subsequent insulin resistance may expose β-cells to a burden of insulin and IAPP biosynthetic demand that exceeds the cellular capacity for protein folding and trafficking. If this threshold is crossed, intracellular toxic IAPP membrane permeant oligomers (cylindrins) may form, compromising β-cell function and inducing β-cell apoptosis. Islet pathology in TYPE 2 DIABETES In type 2 diabetes (T2DM), the islet is characterized by a deficit in β-cells, increased β-cell apoptosis, and extracellular amyloid deposits derived from IAPP (1,2). The question has long been posed, is islet amyloid (Fig. 1) in T2DM the blood or the bullet (3,4)? In the neurosciences, the bullet hypothesis gained ascendancy under the moniker of the amyloid hypothesis in relation to Alzheimer’s disease (5). Arguably, the diabetes field was appropriately more skeptical because evidence in favor of a direct toxic effect of islet amyloid (6) was outnumbered by studies that did not identify such toxicity (7,8). However recent progress has seen a convergence of ideas by those pursuing insights into the possible link between protein misfolding and cellular degeneration in the neurosciences and the islet field. The emerging alternative but related toxic oligomer hypothesis can be summarized as follows. FIG. 1. A: Human islets from a nondiabetic subject and a subject with T2DM (upper panel) and from a wild-type (WT) and a human IAPP transgenic (HIP) rat (lower panel) stained for insulin (brown). Deposits of amyloid derived from IAPP are indicated by a white arrowhead. Original magnification: ×40. B: Alignment of IAPP ortholog proteins. Amino acid alignment of IAPP protein sequences identified in Homo sapiens (human, CAA39504), human mutant (S20G), Macaca mulatto (monkey, XP_001098290), Felis catus (cat, NP_001036803), Mus musculus (mouse, NP_034621), and Rattus norvegicus (rat, NP_036718). Dots correspond to conserved residues with human IAPP sequence. Red letters correspond to the amyloidogenic sequence. C: Sections of islets from human IAPP transgenic mice labeled for oligomers (A11) and IAPP (5 nm and 10 nm gold, respectively). IAPP- and oligomer-labeled aggregates were found adjacent to mitochondria (M), and mitochondrial integrity appeared to be compromised (black arrow points to the aggregates penetrating mitochondria). Original magnification: ×120,000. This figure originally appeared in an article by Gurlo et al. (50). Amyloid deposits occur as a consequence of misfolding and mistrafficking of proteins with the propensity to form amyloid deposits. These proteins may form a variety of oligomers, the most toxic of which are those that form relatively early and form in or interact with cellular membranes (7,9). In contrast, if misfolded IAPP oligomers organize into amyloid fibrils, these are generally less toxic but also relatively inert and as such tend to accumulate in the extracellular space where they may play a role as a physical barrier and as such contribute to cellular dysfunction (4,10). In order to appreciate why some proteins have the propensity to form oligomers and amyloid fibrils, it is helpful to consider the physical interactions that these proteins share in common. Protein misfolding and oligomerization A common feature of amyloid proteins, including IAPP, is the ability to misfold into highly polymorphic oligomeric and fibrillar structures. In vitro experiments have shown that oligomers appear early during the misfolding process, whereas fibrils represent the end point of misfolding (11,12). Although some oligomers are likely to be on pathway to fibril formation, others are not (Fig. 2). IAPP fibrils exhibit the classical cross-β structure typical for amyloid fibrils (13), and structural models have been obtained using a number of experimental methods (1416). Best understood structurally are IAPP fibrils with striated ribbon and twisted morphology (17), for which detailed three-dimensional structural information has been obtained (Fig. 2) (14,15). In both cases, IAPP takes up two-stranded structures. The main difference lies in how the two strands are arranged with respect to each other (Fig. 2). In the model from striated ribbon fibrils, the strands are approximately in the same plane, whereas the strands from twisted fibrils are more staggered. As is typical for almost all disease-related amyloid proteins (18), both IAPP fibril types take up a parallel and in-register structure. In these structures, the same residues from different molecules stack on top of one another. This structure is stabilized by the stacking of the same hydrophobic residues, which is much more favorable than that of residues with like charges (18). Oligomer formation is also facilitated by the interaction of hydrophobic residues, but much less is known about oligomer structures in general. This is likely due to their often transient and polymorphic nature, which makes it more difficult to study them using structural methods (19). Nevertheless, it is clear that a large range of oligomers of varying sizes and structures exist and that they share the general property of cytotoxicity (1921). Different conformationally specific antibodies have been used to recognize different oligomer types (20,2224). Remarkably, some of these antibodies can detect oligomers from a wider range of amyloid proteins, including IAPP. A11 is a conformationally specific antibody that recognizes a subset of toxic oligomers from a wide range of amyloid diseases (20). Although no direct structural information is available for any disease-causing amyloid oligomer, Eisenberg and colleagues (25) recently reported a major advance. They were able to determine the crystal structure of A11-positive oligomers derived from a short αB-crystallin peptide fragment. As with amyloid oligomers in general, oligomers of this short peptide fragment were toxic. In the crystal structure, this peptide took on an overall cylindrical shape with antiparallel strands, which the authors termed cylindrin (Fig. 2). This study could provide important insights into the structure of other A11-positive oligomers. FIG. 2. IAPP misfolding pathways. A: Schematic illustration of a stepwise misfolding pathway of IAPP that generates toxic oligomers as well as a range of different fibril types. Although the structure of IAPP oligomers remains elusive, the crystal structure of an A11 antibody–positive oligomer structure has recently been reported (25) and is shown in panel B. C and D: The reported structures for fibrils with striated ribbons and twisted morphologies. The bottom shows the structure of single IAPP molecule (green). In case of the striated ribbon, the two strands are approximately in the same plane while the two strands in the fibrils with twisted morphology are offset. Individual stacks of monomers were built using MFIBRIL (http://chemsoft.hsc.usc.edu:8080/MFIBRIL/) and colored green, brown, and blue. MFIBRIL was then used to dock individual stacks together to better mimic the fibril structure (blue and magenta). Note that contacts in the striated ribbons are made between same monomeric subunits, whereas contacts in the twisted fibrils are more staggered by packing strands from one monomer subunit against strands from a monomer three layers above. Based on the existing structural information available for IAPP fibrils and oligomers, it is clear that IAPP is a typical amyloid protein, which likely exerts its toxicities via the same mechanisms as other amyloid proteins. This similarity also includes membrane interaction. Membranes play an important dual role in the misfolding of amyloid proteins. Membranes are not only disrupted by the toxic action of misfolded oligomers, but they can also accelerate oligomer and fibril formation by orders of magnitude (26). In the case of IAPP, it was found that this acceleration is mediated by an α-helical intermediate that forms in the presence of negatively charged lipids (2729). A lipid that can potently activate this misfolding pathway is phosphatidyl serine, which is commonly found in the cytosolic leaflets of cellular membranes. Thus, IAPP molecules that escape the secretory pathway into the cytoplasmic space are likely to rapidly misfold and disrupt membrane integrity in vivo. Defenses against protein misfolding and aggregation The workload of a typical β-cell in protein synthesis, folding, sorting, processing, and then disposal by either secretion or degradation is remarkable (Table 1). An average human β-cell synthesizes, folds, processes, and then either secretes or degrades ∼10,000 proinsulin molecules per minute even in the basal nonfed state (30,31). In addition, each β-cell synthesizes, folds, processes, and then either secretes or degrades ∼1,000 pro-IAPP molecules per minute (32). Estimated number of insulin molecules secreted per minute by a typical β-cell in a lean individual in the fasting state IAPP is assembled in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) as prepro-IAPP, an 89–amino acid protein, and then processed to its mature 37–amino acid form within the secretory pathway (Fig. 3) (33). The microenvironment of the ER favors appropriate folding and maturation of ER proteins, avoiding protein aggregation (34,35). The rate of synthesis and delivery of proinsulin and pro-IAPP into the ER is adaptively constrained to the rate at which the ER can successfully fold and export these proteins into the secretory pathway by a feedback signaling system termed the unfolded protein response (34,35). The microenvironment and chaperones in β-cell secretory vesicles are also protective against IAPP aggregation (3643). Proteins that fail the ER quality control system are removed from the ER and degraded by endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD), also known as the ubiquitin/proteasome system (44). Misfolded proteins are translocated to the cytosol and ubiquinated. Polyubiquinated proteins are then deubiquitinated prior to passage through the proteasome (45). If misfolded proteins form aggregates, they are removed by macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) (46,47). An isolation double membrane forms in the cytoplasm to surround such intracellular targets to generate an autophagosome that then fuses with a lysosome in which the sequestered material is degraded by hydrolytic enzymes (Fig. 3). The autophagy/lysosomal pathway is required for survival and function of β-cells and is adaptively increased under conditions of increased β-cell protein synthesis, for example in obesity (48,49). The autophagy/lysosomal pathway is particularly important for protection of long-lived cells against accumulation of toxic amyloidogenic oligomers such as IAPP and Alzheimer’s β-protein (4951). FIG. 3. Secretory pathway and mechanisms of β-cell defense against protein misfolding. The major β-cell secretory proteins, insulin and IAPP, are synthesized and folded in the ER and then processed within the secretory pathway (Golgi and secretory vesicles). Misfolded proteins are targeted to the ER-associated degradation, also known as ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), that involves ubiquitination of the targeted proteins, their deubiquitination by enzymes such as UCH-L1, and subsequent degradation by the proteasome. If the ubiquitin-proteasome system fails or if protein aggregates form, an alternative pathway of protein clearance becomes available: the autophagy pathway in which membranes surround the material to be degraded (ubiquitinated proteins and protein aggregates but also damaged organelles and aged vesicles) to form autophagosomes that fuse with lysosomes to allow degradation of their content. Given the extraordinary workload of a typical β-cell, the high potency of human IAPP to form toxic oligomers, and the long lifespan of β-cells in humans (52), it is a remarkable tribute to the defenses against protein misfolding and aggregation that even in the setting of the further increased workload in obesity, most β-cells do not accumulate sufficient toxic oligomers to compromise β-cell function in most individuals. Defenses against protein aggregation overcome: the threshold concept In humans with T2DM, the formation of intracellular oligomers and extracellular amyloid fibrils implies that the mechanisms to prevent accumulation of misfolded proteins are overcome (50). There is a threshold of IAPP expression that if exceeded leads to formation of IAPP oligomers and the adverse consequences that accrue (5357). This threshold may be breached because the burden of protein synthesis is increased to a level that exceeds the capacity of a healthy β-cell to fold, process, and dispose of the proteins (by secretion or degradation) and/or because the threshold is decreased. Human IAPP transgenic rodent models and transduced β-cells imply that both of these contribute (5357). Human IAPP transgenic mice and rats develop diabetes in a transgene dose-response manner (55), or if human IAPP expression is increased by drug- or obesity-induced insulin resistance (56,57). However once the threshold for successful protein synthesis and disposal is overcome, the ubiquitin/proteasome and autophagy/lysosomal systems for elimination of protein aggregates become defective, further compromising the capacity for protecting the cell from formation of toxic IAPP oligomers (vide infra) (49,58). Threshold for successful protein folding and disposal overcome: a role for β-cell mass formed in childhood? The most common risk factor for T2DM is obesity. With increasing obesity (BMI), insulin resistance increases, requiring increased expression of insulin and IAPP (59). To appreciate the synthetic workload placed on β-cells in an individual, it is necessary to consider not only the overall insulin demand but also the number of β-cells by which this demand is met in that individual. The number of β-cells in humans increases during early childhood through the mechanism of β-cell replication and then remains relatively constant through adult life once the capacity for β-cell replication declines after early childhood (1,2,60). An underappreciated but potentially important characteristic of the period of β-cell mass expansion during the postnatal period is the wide range of β-cell mass that then accrues (Fig. 4). A wide variance in pancreatic β-cell fractional area and/or mass has been observed in adult humans, monkeys, pigs, and rodents (1,6064). This variance is likely due in part to the intrauterine environment (65) and in part to genetic variance (vide infra) (66). FIG. 4. β-Cell mass growth varies widely in childhood. Postnatal expansion of β-cell number plays a major role in establishing β-cell mass in adult humans and is highly variable between individuals. Data are from Meier et al. (60). Total number of β-cells in 46 children aged 2 weeks to 21 years. Data are represented as individual data points. Individuals with high (A, blue), intermediate (B, green), and low (C, red) β-cell numbers are shown for consideration of β-cell workload in response to obesity in Fig. 5. If we consider the interaction of obesity-induced insulin resistance and the wide range of β-cell mass after postnatal expansion, the increment in the protein synthetic burden per β-cell increases much more steeply in those with a low versus high number of β-cells (Fig. 5). FIG. 5. Interaction of postnatal β-cell mass and BMI on insulin and IAPP synthetic demand. Schematic representation of the risk of T2DM in individuals with high (A, blue), intermediate (B, green), and low (C, red) β-cell mass formed after postnatal growth (see Fig. 4) with consideration of their BMI. The increment in the protein synthetic burden per β-cell increases more steeply in those with low (individual C) versus a high number of β-cells (individual A). The burden placed on β-cells by obesity is thus higher in individual C, as is the risk to breach the threshold for protein folding and disposal, ultimately leading to β-cell failure in T2DM. Threshold for successful protein folding and disposal overcome: a role for adolescence, pregnancy, and aging? Transient insulin resistance and therefore increased β-cell workload occurs during adolescence in relation to high levels of growth hormone and sex steroid secretion (67) (Fig. 6). Obesity in adolescence superimposes additional insulin resistance and β-cell workload. We propose that in individuals with a low innate β-cell mass after childhood (individual C, Figs. 4 and 6), the β-cell workload may exceed the threshold for protein folding so that toxic IAPP oligomers may then form, leading to β-cell dysfunction and, with time, β-cell loss and diabetes. A similar argument can be made for the transient insulin resistance in the third trimester of pregnancy leading to diabetes in some individuals. If the period of insulin resistance is rapidly reversed (as in delivery of the baby), then provided that β-cell mass has not been sufficiently degraded, reversal of diabetes may occur. Moreover, if the gestational diabetes mellitus resolves, the risk for subsequent development of T2DM depends on the β-cell workload in that individual (68). FIG. 6. β-Cell workload and risk of T2DM. Schematic representation of β-cell workload (in black) and β-cell work capacity (green) throughout life. β-Cell workload increases transiently during adolescence and progressively with aging. The capacity for β-cell workload is defined by the β-cell mass after the postnatal expansion (high in individual A, intermediate in individual B, and low in individual C, see Fig. 4) and β-cell ability to defend against protein misfolding (declines in all individuals with aging). T2DM risk increases when workload exceeds capacity (light orange), in adolescence and early adult life in C, later in B, and only with advanced age in A. The incidence of T2DM increases with aging (69). In most individuals, insulin sensitivity declines with aging (70). There are also age-related changes in long-lived cells, such as β-cells, that likely decrease the threshold for successful protein synthesis, folding, and disposal. Aged cells accumulate mitochondrial mutations leading to increased production of reactive oxygen species (71). The latter react with and damage proteins, placing an increased burden on the pathways for clearance of denatured proteins and damaged organelles (71). Furthermore, the mechanisms that defend against accumulation of misfolded or aggregated proteins in long-lived cells decline with aging (72). There is decreased chaperone protein availability and decreased function of the ubiquitin/proteasome system with aging (72). Acquired proteasome abnormalities such as pesticide exposure contribute to the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease, characterized by synuclein aggregation (73). Given the parallels between neurons in neurodegenerative diseases and islets in T2DM, it would be of interest to determine if age-related changes and environmental insults/pesticides inhibit proteasomal function in β-cells and thus contribute to the pathogenesis of T2DM. The autophagy/lysosomal pathway also declines with age (74). In liver of old rodents, fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes is impaired (75). Several age-related brain diseases are also considered as disorders of lysosomal function, and the mechanisms of neurodegeneration are related to degradative failure and lysosomal destabilization (76). Decreased clearance of β-amyloid was reported in late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (77). The autophagy/lysosomal pathway is impaired in β-cells in T2DM (78). With the gradual increasing β-cell workload in a typical individual, the vulnerability of β-cells in that individual to cross the β-cell threshold for protein synthesis and folding will depend on the β-cell mass present at the end of childhood. Thus in individual A (Fig. 6), even in late life the relatively high β-cell mass that arose in childhood is sufficient. In individual B, with an intermediate β-cell mass, the capacity for β-cell protein folding is only overcome in late adult life with increasing insulin resistance. In contrast, in individual C, if he/she did not develop sustained diabetes due to obesity in adolescence or with pregnancies, diabetes onset is still likely at a young age. An implication of this model for T2DM is that if β-cell workload is maintained at relatively low levels by avoiding insulin resistance, then T2DM can be avoided in most individuals. Lessons from genetics? Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have revealed a variety of T2DM susceptibility genes (e.g., KCNJ11, TCF7L2, CDKAL1) that are mainly involved in pancreatic β-cell maturation and function (rev. in 79). Of interest, several of these genes regulate the cell cycle and therefore may play a role in the β-cell numbers that arise during the period of postnatal expansion through β-cell replication (such as CDKAL1 and CDC123 [80]). Among other identified genes, WFS1 (encoding Wolframin) has an essential role in the ER unfolded-protein response and ER homeostasis (81) and is involved in granule acidification in β-cells (82). Any genetic alteration of WFS1, by its action to compromise ER function and intravesicular pH, might be expected to increase the risk of human IAPP misfolding and oligomerization. T2DM is also associated with gene variants associated with insulin-degrading enzyme. Insulin-degrading enzyme degrades IAPP and inhibits IAPP aggregation and toxicity in vitro (83). A rare missense mutation, S20G, that leads to increased propensity of IAPP to form oligomers is associated with T2DM, providing a proof of principal of the potential importance of IAPP in the pathogenesis of diabetes (84,85). Although insulin resistance is a well-known risk factor for T2DM (86), GWASs have uncovered relatively few associations with T2DM attributable to insulin-signaling pathways. However the current model links insulin resistance from any cause to T2DM risk through formation of inadequate β-cell number in childhood and/or a reduced capacity for protein folding, and both these mechanisms are prominent in the GWASs to date. Where do oligomers form, and how do they damage cells? Amyloidogenic proteins such as IAPP appear to induce cytoxicity by disrupting cellular membrane integrity in the form of small nonfibrillar oligomers (7). Toxic IAPP oligomers form within the secretory pathway but are then found liberated from this compartment adjacent to disrupted vesicle membranes (Fig. 1C) (50). Moreover, membranes of mitochondria adjacent to these cytosolic IAPP toxic oligomers are disrupted, implying that β-cell function as well as viability is likely compromised by toxic IAPP oligomers (Fig. 1). This is supported by the decline in β-cell function that precedes loss of β-cell mass in the human IAPP transgenic rat model of T2DM (64). It is unclear where the toxic oligomers form within the secretory pathway and even to what extent pro-IAPP has been processed before these oligomers form. Since toxic oligomers of amyloidogenic proteins form on an alternative pathway to the majority of amyloid fibrils, just because IAPP-derived amyloid is primarily composed of the 37–amino acid form of IAPP does not mean that the toxic oligomers are. A case has been made that these toxic oligomers might be composed of pro-IAPP (87). Pro-IAPP oligomers could form in the ER and/or Golgi, whereas IAPP oligomers would form in insulin secretory vesicles where pro-IAPP processing to IAPP is completed. Toxic oligomers associated with ER membranes (50) may contribute to ER stress in β-cells of individuals with T2DM (88). Human IAPP transgenic rodent models of T2DM that form toxic IAPP oligomers have ER stress–induced apoptosis (88,89). In those models, toxic oligomers are found in association with the ER membrane, which is likely the cause of unregulated ER Ca2+ release to the cytosol and consequent hyperactivation of the Ca2+ sensitive protease calpain-2 (53). The presence of this deleterious mechanism in humans was supported by the detection of the cleaved form of α-spectrin, a marker of calpain hyperactivation, in β-cells of individuals with T2DM (53). Once IAPP toxic oligomers are formed, they disrupt the pathways of protein clearance and likely thereby lead to further accumulation of protein aggregates. The ubiquitin/proteasome system is dysfunctional in β-cells of human individuals with T2DM, as demonstrated by the accumulation of polyubiquitinated proteins (58). Increased expression of oligomerization-prone human IAPP leads to an accumulation of polyubiquitinated proteins mediated by a deficit in the deubiquitinating enzyme ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) (58). UCH-L1 downregulation enhances ER stress–induced β-cell apoptosis, and UCH-L1 deficiency was observed in β-cells of individuals with T2DM (58). Therefore, defective protein degradation in β-cells in T2DM can, at least in part, be attributed to misfolded human IAPP leading to UCH-L1 deficiency, which in turn further compromises β-cell viability by exacerbating ER stress. In summary, once the threshold for successful synthesis, folding, processing, and secretion of IAPP is breached and intracellular toxic oligomers begin to form, unless this is rapidly reversed, a cascade of events occurs that further compromises β-cell function and increases vulnerability to β-cell apoptosis (Fig. 7). Moreover, the resulting declining β-cell number adds an increased synthetic burden on the remaining β-cells exacerbating the accumulation of toxic oligomers. FIG. 7. Consequences of formation of intracellular toxic IAPP oligomers (cylindrins) in T2DM. Toxic IAPP oligomers (in red) are formed intracellularly in β-cells and escape from the secretory pathway leading to intracellular membrane disruption (ER, Golgi, vesicles, mitochondria), ER stress, alteration of proteasomal degradation through deficit in UCH-L1, and alteration of the autophagy/lysosomal degradation, ultimately leading to β-cell failure and apoptosis (49,50,53,58). Extracellular islet amyloid as a diffusion barrier? Although accumulating data suggest that toxic IAPP oligomers form intracellularly (50,55,90), and on a separate pathway to the majority of fibrils present extracellularly (25), this does not rule out a contributory role of extracellular islet amyloid in β-cell dysfunction. It is not known why extracellular islet amyloid forms in most islets in T2DM and occasional islets in nondiabetic individuals. The most obvious explanation is that it represents the debris from cell apoptosis trapped on the vascular endothelium where it appears to accumulate. Support for this is provided by the absence of extracellular islet amyloid in in vivo models of relatively rapid β-cell loss with high human IAPP expression (55) but accumulation of extracellular islet amyloid in more gradual-onset in vivo models (57,64). However, islet amyloid develops rapidly in islets derived from a human IAPP transgenic mouse in vitro. Also in this model, it was reported that there was no evidence of ER stress and that toxicity was attributed to extracellular islet amyloid (91). It is difficult to interpret studies of β-cell apoptosis in isolated islets in which there is already a markedly increased frequency of β-cell apoptosis due to anoxia and nutritional deprivation of the majority of cells. In vivo, each β-cell is directly supplied by oxygen and nutrients via an afferent vascular capillary loop, whereas in isolated islets only cells at the out rim of the sphere of ∼3,000 cells have direct nutrient and oxygen supply, the remainder requiring diffusion through the sphere of cells given the loss of a vascular supply. It is also therefore perhaps not surprising that there is rapid accumulation of extracellular IAPP-derived islet amyloid in vitro because there is no means to export the secreted IAPP or IAPP debris from apoptotic cells that accumulates between cells. This rapidly accumulating amyloid between cells in vitro presumably also acts as a diffusion barrier and, as such, may contribute to β-cell apoptosis in islets in vitro. The question arises, does the extracellular islet amyloid in vivo contribute to β-cell dysfunction or apoptosis in T2DM in the vascularized islet? We have found no relationship between islet amyloid and β-cell apoptosis in humans with T2DM (1) or transgenic human IAPP rodent models (8). On the other hand, Jurgens et al. (92) report an increase in a derivative of β-cell apoptosis (β-cell apoptosis/insulin-positive area/islet area) related to a score of islet amyloid in humans with T2DM and nondiabetic individuals in the same analysis. A more compelling case for an adverse effect of extracellular islet amyloid can perhaps be made for transplanted human islets. Extracellular islet amyloid also develops rapidly in transplanted human islets (93), a circumstance that more closely mirrors islets in vitro, since transplanted islets take several days to reestablish a vascular supply (94). During that period there is rapid loss of β-cells, presumably in part because of anoxia and nutrient deprivation but perhaps exacerbated by the diffusion barrier of extracellular islet amyloid. A case can also be made that the extracellular islet amyloid might compromise cell to cell communication, known to be important for islet function. It is unknown at present to what extent this might be relevant in vivo. Cross-sectional autopsy studies reveal a β-cell deficit and increased β-cell apoptosis in T2DM. Though an increased β-cell workload (insulin resistance) is a risk factor for T2DM, most individuals adaptively increase insulin and IAPP expression and secretion without β-cell failure. Experimental evidence supports the concept of a threshold of synthetic burden in β-cells expressing amyloidogenic human IAPP beyond which accumulation of misfolded toxic oligomers comprises β-cell function and viability. We propose that the wide range of β-cell numbers between individuals that becomes apparent after the period of postnatal β-cell mass expansion may serve as an important predictor of risk for T2DM. In those individuals with a relatively low compliment of β-cells, insulin resistance would markedly increase the already high burden for IAPP and insulin folding and disposal (secretion or degradation) per β-cell, potentially exceeding the threshold in at least some β-cells. In those β-cells, the accumulating toxic oligomers would compromise β-cell function and viability, leading to a progressive loss of β-cell function and number. As β-cell function declines in the presence of insulin resistance, hyperglycemia that develops can initially be reversed by an increase in insulin sensitivity (for example, delivery of child after gestational diabetes mellitus or introduction of an exercise regimen [95]) but eventually becomes irreversible if sufficient β-cell mass is lost. We thus postulate that the innate β-cell mass that arises according to intrauterine development and genetic imprinting may be an important predictor of risk for T2DM in the setting of insulin resistance. To rigorously test this postulate it would be necessary to measure β-cell mass in vivo in prospective studies of young adults over many years. This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK059579, DK061539, DK077967) and the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation to P.C.B., and the National Institutes of Health (AG027936) to R.L. No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported. S.C., R.L., T.G., A.V.M., and P.C.B. researched the data and wrote, reviewed, and edited the manuscript. The authors thank Bonnie Lui from the Larry L. Hillblom Islet Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, for editorial assistance. • Received September 25, 2012. • Accepted October 24, 2012. \| Table of Contents
YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollectionsNews Californians want to allow local taxes on cigarettes, other products Nearly 60% of those polled support changing state law to allow voters to approve local taxes on cigarettes, sugary drinks, liquor and oil pumped from the ground. July 25, 2011\|By Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times • Legislators in Sacramento are debating bills that would allow local taxes on cigarettes, sodas, liquor and extracted oil. Legislators in Sacramento are debating bills that would allow local taxes… (Los Angeles Times ) Reporting from Sacramento — Californians would let local officials put new taxes on cigarettes, sugary drinks, liquor and oil pumped from the ground if voters in their communities said it was OK, a new poll shows. Local governments cannot tax such products in California now. But a proposal being vigorously debated in the Capitol would allow cities, counties and more than 1,000 school boards to add their own levies and give local voters final say. Nearly 60% of those polled supported such a change. The sentiment spanned all age groups and every region of the state, according to the bipartisan survey by The Times and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. "Leave it up to the locals," said Paul Greenberg, a 54-year old Democrat in San Diego who said he was semi-retired. "Let the people vote on it. I don't see anything wrong on that." Cities and counties do have some tax authority. Both can bump up sales taxes with voter approval, for example. Cities can enact hotel or utility taxes. And school districts can ask for voters' blessing to introduce or raise parcel property taxes. But some lawmakers, citing the retrenchment made necessary by years of budget cutbacks in Sacramento, say it's time to grant local authorities more power to raise revenue. "We have a responsibility to give counties and school districts the tools they need to fund public services," said state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). He and others argue that municipalities need more money to preserve schools, healthcare and police. Business groups have lined up against the idea, saying higher taxes would hurt the economy and stifle prospects for job growth. After voters in the survey were presented with both sides' arguments, support for new local tax powers dipped only slightly, from 58% to 55%. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats, 64%, approved; 42% of Republicans did. Joanne Holt agreed with Steinberg. The retired teaching assistant from North Highlands, outside of Sacramento, said she doesn't want to see public safety or schools hurt further by the state's persistent financial troubles. If more tax authority for city councils and school boards is the answer, so be it, said the 69-year-old Democrat. "It's more important that the children get an education," she said. "They're our future." Another in favor was Republican Jamie Blossom, 47, a state disability insurance representative in Diamond Bar. She liked the idea that local tax money would stay in her community, where "I have a much bigger voice," she said. Hidy Chui, a 20-year-old Democrat who attends UC Riverside, said he approved of a local cigarette tax. "I don't even smoke, so if it's an increase in that, it doesn't harm me," he said. That is a typical attitude, said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC and a former GOP strategist. "People support tax increases on others." Poll co-director Linda DiVall of American Viewpoint, the Republican half of the survey team, cautioned that a new rash of taxes is unlikely even if local governments gain the flexibility to request them. "It's much easier to support higher taxes in theory than when it comes up for a vote," she said. A local oil-extraction levy is also part of the debate in Sacramento. Some legislators want to allow municipalities, such as oil-rich Kern County, to tax every barrel pumped from the ground. That didn't appeal to Mary Lou Curry, a 65-year old retiree. "Oil? Jeez, that would just be passed on to all of us," said the Yucca Valley Democrat, "as if we don't already pay enough at the gas pump." Steinberg has introduced legislation that would go even further and allow local officials to also tax medical marijuana and residents' incomes and cars. His measure sparked a fierce outcry from taxpayer and business groups, which threatened to fight it at the ballot. Steinberg said in an interview last week that he is tabling the measure until next year. The Times/USC Dornsife poll surveyed 1,507 registered voters in California from July 6 to 17. It was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic firm, and American Viewpoint, the Republican company. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.52 percentage points. Los Angeles Times Articles
Title: Orpheus Drowning Rating: NC-17 Characters: Dean/Sam (Wincest) Genres: Angst, First Time, Hurt/Comfort Summary: Sam has to come to grips with the deal Dean made. Dean has to deal with a broken Sam. Secrets are kept, admissions are made, all in the name of finding a way to break their pattern of each trying to die for the other. (Spoilers for Seasons 1 & 2) Disclaimer: So not mine, if they were I would have better things to do then write about them. Author's Notes: A/N: First time writing in this fandom. I just started watching the show and second season finale, of course, did me in. So I had to write something. This story is what came of it. Might be a chapter fic, if people like it, cause I definitely have a plot bunny in here somewhere with all the angsty porn. Thanks for reading, hope someone enjoys! Sam is silent on the way to the motel. Every now and then he turns to look back at the headlights of Bobby's car as he and Ellen follow them. It's like a nervous twitch. He's waiting for something to attack the cars. He has images of giant bird like demons flying off with the only friends, the only family, he has left. He shudders hard and feels his stomach reel. And that thought, always that thought, makes him turn his head just enough to watch his brother in his peripheral. Dean has the music cranked loud, the window open so that the chill night hair sends Sam's hair flying in all directions. His arm is out the window, beating the door of the Impala to the beat of Kansas' Carry on Wayward Son. He looks- happy, content. There's no fear in him; he doesn't check the rearview window or look to the sky for would be enemies, or even look sideways at Sam to make sure he's still there. Dean was goddamned Orpheus, bringing people back from the dead, only without the need to look back, to make sure. He wants to say something. No, he wants to hit something. He watches Dean, openly now. There's still blood on his face from when the damned demon had thrown him and there's dirt on his hand as it grips the wheel of the Impala. Sam looks for something; some sign of the countdown that began just yesterday, the countdown to the end. But he can't see anything. Sure, Dean looks battered and not a little tired, but that's nothing more than usual after a job. Especially not after this, not after tonight. All of his surety; that he could find a way out of this for Dean, that he could save his brother for once, is gone. There had been something in Dean's eyes when he said it, something more that Dean wasn't telling him. His fury is near a boiling point. But it's more than that. There's an ache in his chest he can't make go away, a pain that makes it nearly impossible to breathe. He feels every minute, every second that passes. "How could you?" He asks loudly, angrily, straining to be heard over the music. And he's shocked at how quickly the relaxation in Dean's face flees. How quickly his brother's features break again. "Please, Sammy. Don't." Is Dean's broken reply. And Sam shuts his mouth, stiffens his jaw. He can't deny the plea in Dean's voice, because it's not something he hears often. So Sam says nothing for the rest of the ride, says nothing as Bobby and Dean get rooms. He says his goodnights to Ellen and Bobby, giving them fierce hugs, knowing they'll be heading out in the morning and knowing he probably won't see them for a few days, maybe weeks. And Sam is silent again after that. He follows Dean into their shared room, and sets a small bag on the table in the corner of the room. It's not a bad room; one bed that's more than large enough to share and Sam can't honestly say he minds sharing tonight, no matter how angry he is at his older brother, a TV against the wall, a large bathroom that Dean disappears into immediately, and the table that Sam is standing near. It's painted in light colors and something about that soothes Sam. He takes out the bandages and the peroxide from the bag and sits at the chair, staring at the items. He can hear the shower running in the bathroom. When Dean comes out of the bathroom just a few minutes later he's wrapped in a towel and glistening wet. He stands in the doorway, staring at Sam for a long moment. Sam blinks heavily, but meets his brother's gaze. There's something in it, something he can't read, but desperately wants to. His chest seizes and he has to fight the urge to stand and take Dean in his arms. Instead he nods his head towards the bed. Dean nods his head once and goes to sit down. Sam brings over the bandages and the peroxide. Dean is watching him, quiet and somber now, all traces of victory gone from his features. He looks paler somehow, weaker, and that terrifies Sam. What if this is how it happens? Dean taken away from him a little bit more every day until a year is up and there's nothing really left of the Dean he loves. Sam tries to push the thought away and kneels in front of Dean. His hands are shaking as he cleans Dean's head wound, and by the time he's bandaged and taped it he can't keep them steady no matter how hard he tries. Dean's eyes don't leave his face, and in the soft light of the motel they are more green than hazel and Sam can't deal with that at the moment. There are tears blinding him and burning his eyes. And as he kneels in front of his brother he closes his eyes and lowers his head until it rests on Dean's still shower damp knee. "Sammy." His name is hardly a breath; it doesn't even stir the air at all as it leaves Dean's lips. A hand rests lightly on his head, the fingers tangling in his hair. The tears fall loose then, because he doesn't know how to stop them. But he doesn't want them either. He's shaking and breathing has become a task he can't seem to complete. He's shuddering and gasping and his vision is so blurred he can't see anything. It's all a blur. And then he's pushed and prodded a little and without knowing how they're both on the floor and he's wrapped up in his brother's arms, resting against his chest, Dean's legs bent, and surrounding him like a barrier from the rest of the world. It's a strangling mix of rage and sorrow and hopelessness that claws its way up his throat. It escapes his lips in a ragged scream. And he's pounding his fists on Dean's chest, hitting as hard as he can, which isn't hard considering how badly he's shaking. And Dean just takes it, whispers his name, and touches him; hands brushing his hair back, touching his shoulders, grabbing his face. But he never blocks the blows and Sam loses count how many times he hears the solid thud of his fists hitting his brother. It isn't enough. Nothing is ever going to be enough. "How could you do this to me? You selfish, stupid, stubborn son of a bitch!" Sam screams, but it's strangled and barely coherent. A retched sob escapes his lips. His eyes are red ringed and swollen from his tears, and his jaw is clenched tightly. "You dragged me back into this. You came and got me and it was supposed to be you and me and how the fuck am I supposed to do this without you, Dean?" He snarls, but the sound is so weak, so broken that it physically hurts Dean to hear it. He manages to wrap his arms around his struggling younger brother and pull him closer than he already is. He presses a desperate kiss to Sam's temple, and he tastes Sam's sweat and his tears and the faint copper of Dean's own blood that's somehow been smeared on Sam's temple. He's shocked by how hard Sam shoves him away. And he's more surprised by how quickly Sam is up on his feet, long legs untangling, so that he towers over Dean. He stares down at him, and Dean is honestly scared of the light in his eyes. Not scared for himself, but for Sam. He thinks, for the first time, that maybe he really did underestimate just how badly Sam would take this. He'd known he would be upset; angry, guilty, sad, terrified, all those things that Dean had felt when their dad had done this for him. But he wasn't expecting this; this total breakdown, this desperate madness, the helplessness that bleeds off of his little brother in drowning waves. It's suffocating Dean, and he can't imagine what it's doing to Sam. "Sammy." He says softly. Sam stumbles away as if he's been shot. He slams hard into the wall and leans precariously there, wipes his face on his shirt sleeve. He's staring at Dean, but he's not seeing. "Sammy, please." He tries again, his voice is a ragged whisper; it's harsh to his own ears. It's hard to breath. Sammy's eyes focus back on him, and his face crumples again, lips pulling back in something that is half grimace, half sob. "I couldn't let you die!" Dean shouts. He gets off the floor, slowly, because he's lightheaded and not a little sick to his stomach, and there isn't a muscle in his body that isn't shaking. The towel is hanging precariously on his hips, but he doesn't notice. "I'm supposed to take care of you, damn it. That's my job. My job! It's always been my job; since before the fire, before mom, before all the fucking demons. Dad never had to tell me, if he'd never said anything I still would of known; you were mine and I was supposed to protect you!" He advances on Sam, who seems like he's trying to find a way to just meld into the wall. "Fuck you." Sam grates out between clenched teeth. He's shaking so hard, so hard, and Dean can see it as he comes closer. His heart hurts, worse than it did when it was dying. This is all so much worse. "Fuck you and your job. It's my job too. You think I don't feel the same damn way, Dean? How am I supposed to- how can I-?" Sam's anger seems to slip away, just like that, and his face, his beautiful face, is breaking again. He's sliding slowly down the wall, back towards the floor. Dean steps quickly and grabs him, wrapping him up in his arms, and keeping him up. He gets him standing again, and then backs away just enough to grab Sam's face in his rough hands. He leans forward and presses his forehead against his little brother's. With Sam slumped against the wall they're nearly even height. "You got to live for me, Sammy. You have to. I need you to be alive." He says fiercely. He lets his hands move to tangle in the hair at Sam's temples, to pull his brother's face up just an inch so that they are breathing in each other's breath. "Only thing that's ever mattered is that you lived." Then he presses his mouth to his brother's, firm but soft, hesitant and yet not. He knows Sam won't push him away. It's just a question of how close he'll let him get. A sob escapes past Sam's lips, bubbling thickly out of his throat. He sounds like he's dying. Dean pulls his lips back, stares into Sam's eyes, which are mere shades lighter than his own. "I've got to save you." Sam whispers brokenly. He leans forward and lays a desperate kiss on Dean's lips. He pulls back a moment later and his hands have moved up lay flat over Dean's bare chest. "Can't let you die, Dean. I can't do it." He lets his head fall onto Dean's shoulder. Dean wraps him in his arms, holds him so tight he knows it must hurt, but he doesn't care. "You can't save me, man." And Dean thinks it would hurt less to tear his own heart out then it does to say the next words. "That's part of the deal. If I try to get out of this- you- you-." He stops because he can't swallow around the words. He can feel Sam struggling again, trying to pull away from him, but Dean won't let him. And he's still got at least a few years more of training against Sam's exceptional height and size. "You'll die, Sam. Drop right dead at my feet. And you can't do that." Sam stops struggling, practically goes limp in Dean's arms. "No hope then." He says softly, voice like a spirit, against Dean's neck. His breath on Dean's damp skin makes him shiver. "Dean." His name is a high, keening noise in his brother's voice. He lowers his face, nudges at Sam's until Sam lifts his face enough for Dean to kiss him again. Sam's hands trail down his chest to rest on his hips, digging in hard as he opens his mouth to Dean. Dean's moan is swallowed by Sam's eager, fucking perfect mouth, and Sam's tongue is tasting and teasing. He lets Sam back him up slowly, moving step by careful step until the back of his knees hit the motel bed and he falls back onto it, with Sam falling heavily on top of him. It should be harder to do this, to cross this unspeakable line. But it isn't. It's easy as breathing to run his hands down his brother's muscled body, feel the hitch of his breath in the sudden movement of his chest. It's easy to kiss his full lips fiercely, feel the life and the pulse of blood in his veins as he licks his way down his neck. It's easy and it's impossible. He's breathing hard, and he can't seem to catch his breath. Dean is barely covered by the motel towel, but Sam can't help but grind his hips into his and try to get them closer. Dean makes a low noise, a sound that lands somewhere between a hiss and a moan. Sam raises his head to kiss it from his lips. Dean's hands tangle in his hair and pull hard. "Dean. Dean, please." He doesn't even know what he's begging for; Dean's hands on him, his mouth, his life, the beat of his heart for more than a god damned year, all of it. Dean flips him over easily, and he's got Sam's shirt off in one smooth motion. He lies down over Sam so that they're bare skin to bare skin. The feel of it, the heat of it, makes Sam's eyes roll back in his head and a desperate moan leave his lips. Dean's hands are slow and steady, not shaking the way they were before, against the wall. Sam keeps his eyes closed; he can't stand to look at Dean right now. He tries to concentrate on the feel of dry, somewhat calloused, hands as they run over his skin, and remove the rest of his clothes. "Dean." The desperation is bubbling back up and it makes him shake twice as hard as before. "I can't- you can't- god, don't leave me, Dean. Please. I need you." Dean kisses him hard, but his hands are still gentle. "Shut up, Sammy. I love you, but you have to shut up because I can't- I can't listen to your voice anymore, man." Sam opens his eyes and looks at Dean above him; his eyes are dark and clouded, still wet and glistening with tears. And that does shut him up, because he doesn't know what to say to that face. Dean kisses his neck, nipping and licking over the sensitive skin. His hands move lower and his mouth bites the line of his collar bone. Sam bites his lip hard because he doesn't trust himself to stay quiet. He's so hard it hurts, and every sweeping brush of Dean's hand over his hips and down his stomach makes his cock jump. He can feel Dean's pressing into his thigh as they rock together. It's too much, all this contact, everything laid bare, the tears between them. Sam can't keep his mind of any one thing and he can't, just can't get his breath back, or seem to stop shaking. Dean puts just enough space between them to look up at Sam, and Sam forces himself to watch his brother's face. Dean reaches a hand up, softly tracing the lines of Sam's lips until Sam opens them slightly, sucks one long finger into his mouth. Dean's eyes flutter close for a minute and Sam sucks just a little bit harder, letting his teeth graze his brother's skin. Sam watches, fascinated and silent now, as Dean pulls his finger from Sam's mouth and brings that same hand back down his body, almost but not quite brushing over Sam's straining cock, before dipping down between his spread legs. When Dean's finger enters him, slowly and carefully because they don't have lube or anything else to help ease the way, he cries out and bucks against Dean. He's torturously slow in prepping Sam, careful and easy, as if Sam were the one living on borrowed time. By the time he has three fingers in Sam, Sam is thrashing on the bed; moaning through gritted teeth, his hands clawing at Dean's shoulders because if he can't get closer to Dean soon he's going to lose his mind, or maybe die all over again. "Dean, fuck, now, damn it." He growls out, reaching out to grab Dean's neck and pull him in for a kiss that's more violent than passionate but still seems to get the point across. Because the minute he lets Dean's lips free Dean is pulling his fingers out and reaching to the floor, to his jeans, where even Sam knows a condom is waiting. He grabs Dean's hand and stops him. He glares at the questioning glance Dean gives him. "No. Just you." Dean opens his mouth to argue. "I don't care, damn it, and you owe me. I want you, just you. And I don't care what fucking comes of it." He fights back the sob that closes off his chest, tries not to let the tears fall, but even as he closes his eyes he can feel them leaking past his lashes. He doesn't actually expect acquiescence, but Dean doesn't fight him on this. He just wipes away Sam's tears, still silent except for his ragged breath and the occasional moan. He reaches between them again, and Sam opens his legs wider for him. He feels the head of Dean's cock against his ass and moans, biting hard on his lower lip and tasting blood. And its heaven and hell and every single dimension in between when he starts pressing in, because he's bigger than his three fingers, and it's just not easy going. But it's worth it when Dean is finally buried deep inside him, body shuddering above him, breath coming in short, high gasps. He looks wild, looking down at Sam, and that would scare Sam a little except that Dean has never scared Sam and never could. "Okay, Sammy?" Dean asks in a breathless whisper, the first words he's spoken since he told Sam to shut up. Sam closes his eyes, let's his brother's voice wash over him. "Sammy? I need to know you're okay." "Just move. Need to feel you." He manages to get out. He moves his hands from Dean's shoulders to his face, his long fingers brushing over the high cheekbones, the almost roman nose, over his perfect lips. "Dean." And that's all the encouragement that Dean needs. They move together after that and even though it's painful at times for both of them it only makes the pleasure all the more sweet. Every ache and burn let's Dean know they are alive. He can see the slight winces in Sam's features, the flaring of his nose, the tensing of his jaw, but whenever he slows the rolling motion of their hips the hands that run ceaselessly over his back and shoulders, pulling him closer, find their way to his face. And there's no mistaking the message in his little brother's eyes. The pain is the cost, those green eyes say, and it's a price Sam will pay. Dean would stop to wonder if this means they are sincerely fucked up now, if the pleasure will ever be without the pain, but he doesn't want to think about anything other than Sam and the smell of his sweat, the taste of his skin, the feel of his tight heat wrapped around him. He presses in deeper into Sam and leans forward to rest his forehead against Sam's. And then he can't shut up. He's close and no orgasm has ever felt like this one. Sex has never felt like this. And he can't shut the fuck up about it although he really wishes he could. But he needs Sam to know, needs him to hear. And so, as Sam shoots hot and sticky between them, and as his ass seems to milk Dean dry so that he comes mere seconds after his brother he can only repeat, over and over again, against the flush skin of his brother's forehead, his lips, his neck; He knows that the same words roll desperately off of Sam's lips. And it's all that matters, all that can ever matter from here on out. For hours they doze; wrapped together, Sam around Dean's warm body and bundled under the blankets. It's quiet and peaceful, just for this precious stretch of time; the universe giving them an all too brief break. When Sam wakes there are just a few streaks of light in the sky. It's too cold outside of the blankets and too warm underneath, they're sticky and he aches in places he never even imagined, but he doesn't care. He wants to stay in his brother's arms; Dean's grip seems to have only tightened as they slept. But his mind is working over time. He already has several ideas forming in his head. Some of them he thinks might be good; some of them he knows are suicidal. All of them though, he knows, he can't tell Dean about. The way Sam figures it, Dean's the one who made the deal. So fine, Dean can't try to find a way out. And just to be safe Sam is assuming that means he can't knowingly let Sam try either. But that just means that Sam's going to have to be able to pull off the hardest scam he ever has. He has to let his brother think he's accepting his death. And he needs to find a way to stop it. (The End-Chapter One)
Take the 2-minute tour × I want to fake a file uploading form, e.g <form action=upload.php method=post enctype='multipart/form-data'> <input type=file name=userfile> <input type=submit> Normally you will have to click on the userfile object and select a file. Now, is it possible to fake the content of that input? I mean, I've encoded file contents in javascript, and I don't want user interaction, just use the pre-defined value when the browser try to read the "fake file" Is that possible? I already tried Cross Domain AJAX posting with HTML5, but that would require CORS enabled on server side. share\|improve this question Why is it all of a sudden cross domain? You won't be able to modify the input: stackoverflow.com/questions/5632629/… – Ian Mar 5 at 15:24 2 Answers 2 All file uploads must be user-initiated to prevent malware from sending unauthorized files. You many need to base-64 encode your file and send it via AJAX + POST. See: Send a file with XmlHttpRequest: Streaming? share\|improve this answer You cannot do that in javascript. Inputs with type="file" are read-only for security reasons. I suggest you to encode your file to base64 and put content of it in hidden input. share\|improve this answer Your Answer
Sign in to comment! 2012 Olympic Medal Count: Team USA Overtakes China With Pack Of Track Medals The United States took back the lead in the overall medal count at the 2012 Olympics on Wednesday's Day 12. Seven medals from four events on the track, including gold medals by Allyson Felix, Aries Merritt, and Brittney Reese, helped propel Team USA past China. Felix broke through for her first individual gold in the women's 200 meters on Wednesday, making her the first woman ever with three Olympic medals in the 200 meters and ending an eight-year rivalry with Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown. Merritt and countryman Jason Richardson won gold and silver in the men's 110m hurdles. And Reese won just the second U.S. gold in the women's long jump, giving the U.S. three of the four individual track and field golds awarded on the day. In the fourth event, Lashinda Demus won silver in the women's 400m hurdles. Bronze medals from Carmelita Jeter in the 200 meters and Janay DeLoach in the women's long jump helped push the U.S. tally on the track to 20 medals. That's far and away the best effort by a nation in athletics: Russia is second to the U.S. with nine medals. The U.S.'s 11 medals on Wednesday erased a Chinese lead in the medal count, and give Team USA a four-medal advantage after Day 12. 1. United States, 81 (34, 22, 25) 2. China, 77 (36 gold, 22 silver, 19 bronze) 3. Russia, 52 (11, 19, 22) 4. Great Britain, 48 (22, 13, 13) 5. Germany, 32 (7, 15, 10) And for a more aesthetically-pleasing version of that, here's the Day 12 8-bit medal count video.
Computerized ‘Snowfakes’ Mimic Nature February 25, 2009 Exquisitely detailed and beautifully symmetrical, the snowflakes that David Griffeath makes are icy jewels of art. But don’t be fooled; there is some serious science behind the University of Wisconsin-Madison mathematician’s charming creations. Although they look as if they tumbled straight from the clouds, these “snowfakes” are actually the product of an elaborate computer model designed to replicate the wildly complex growth of snow crystals. Four years in the making, the model that Griffeath built with University of California, Davis, mathematician Janko Gravner can generate all of nature’s snowflake types in rich three-dimensional detail. In the January issue of Physical Review E, the pair published the model’s underlying theory and computations, which are so intensive they are “right on the edge of feasibility,” says Griffeath. In nature, each snowflake begins as a bit of dust, a bacterium or a pollutant in the sky, around which water molecules start glomming together and freezing to form a tiny crystal of ice. Roughly a quintillion (one million million million) molecules make up every flake, with the shape dictated by temperature, humidity and other local conditions. How such a seemingly random process produces crystals that are at once geometrically simple and incredibly intricate has captivated scientists since the 1600s, but no one has accurately simulated their growth until now. Griffeath and Gravner’s model not only gets the basic shapes right, including fern-like stars, long needles and chunky prisms, but also fine elements such as tiny ridges that run along the arms and weird, circular surface markings. Griffeath considers himself part of a long tradition of scientists, starting with famed mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler, who have marveled at snowflakes and simply wanted to understand them. But on the practical side, the model could help researchers better predict how various snowflake types in the clouds affect the amount of water reaching earth. Griffeath is now exploring that possibility with a UW-Madison meteorologist. In the meantime, the project has given him a newfound appreciation for water, whose one-of-a-kind properties are what make snowflakes possible. “Water is the most amazing molecule in the universe, pure and simple,” he says. “It’s just three little atoms, but its physics and chemistry are unbelievable.” By Madeline Fisher Image Caption: A “snowfake” that is the product of an elaborate computer model designed to replicate the complex growth of snow crystals. Created by mathematicians David Griffeath of University of Wisconsin-Madison and Janko Gravner of University of California, Davis, the model can generate all of nature’s snowflake types in rich, three-dimensional detail. Photo by: courtesy Janko Gravner and David Griffeath On the Net: comments powered by Disqus
to ask my neighbour to turn off their outdoor lights? (44 Posts) BuiltForComfort Thu 10-Jan-13 12:09:04 kinkyfuckery Thu 10-Jan-13 12:26:50 If your DS has a blind that helps him sleep regardless of the light, what's the problem? Convict224 Thu 10-Jan-13 12:31:54 You have to ask. Do it politely of course and if she refuses talk to someone in the council. I suspect that there are rules covering this. My son, when he moved into his house couldn't afford curtains for his living room. His neighbour asked him to turn off his main light by 10 pm and just use a lamp as it disturbed her (she didn't like to sleep with her curtains closed) It didn't bother him. (He is a much better person than me) rollmopses Thu 10-Jan-13 12:37:34 Security light that is on constantly (at night) is considered to be much more effective that motion-activated light according to security experts. (ie. police who came to investigate when our old house was broken into whilst my DTs and I were asleep). If your son sleeps, what's the problem? I doubt your plants are complaining. MinesaBottle Thu 10-Jan-13 12:39:32 My mum had the same problem with her neighbour and in the end just asked her - not to turn it off but if she realised it was on. The neighbour apparently had forgotten to turn it off confused - which might be true as the light's in the back and the neighbour tends to stay in her lounge at the front of the house in the evenings. If she refuses I think there are rules covering it depending on the council. AmberLeaf Thu 10-Jan-13 12:45:10 Motion sensitive lights are far more annoying than one that is on constantly IME. I have motion sensitive ones and notice the on and off when cats/foxes etc walk by more than if I set it on all the time. I agree with rollmopses too about a well lit house being safer re burglars. YDdraigGoch Thu 10-Jan-13 12:50:14 I've been led to believe that security lighting actually makes things easier for burglars, and doesn't act as a deterrent. They can be in and out quicker because they can a) see what they're doing and b) see who else is around. Perhaps that would convince her AmberLeaf Thu 10-Jan-13 12:51:25 C) they can also be seen! Startail Thu 10-Jan-13 12:59:28 Our lights are easy to set to stay on by accident. I would say something as security lights are a particularly intrusive kind of light. realcoalfire Thu 10-Jan-13 13:17:14 so it doesn't bother your son but you don't like it because it's a) wasting his electricity b)inconveniencing mice and rats. realcoalfire Thu 10-Jan-13 13:17:47 and how is light bad for plants? BuiltForComfort Thu 10-Jan-13 13:24:44 It annoys me because it lights up my kitchen and back bedroom, which I use as a study, from 4pm onwards or whenever it starts to go dark now. It annoys me because it is incredibly bright. There are thought to be disadvantages to plants from being exposed to artificial light in terms of growth, flowering etc. birds, insects, bats can all suffer. It is a safe area with all the back gardens enclosing the space so access for burglars is limited. chris481 Thu 10-Jan-13 14:02:02 I thought plants did need darkness, the link below seems to indicate I'm right. I knew this from keeping plants in an aquarium. I commented to a friend about the strange green security lights that lit up the communal lawns near my flat, saying that they might not be doing the grass any good. She cleverly observed that if plants reflect green light it probably means it doesn't affect them. Lonelybunny Thu 10-Jan-13 14:19:46 Yanbu this would really annoy me ! I need it to be totally dark to sleep ! I would ask her politely just say it's shining right through your house and it's uncomfortable .y dads neighbour asked h to reposition his light as did ours and we gladly obliged we didn't know it was disturbing anyone . Shesparkles Thu 10-Jan-13 14:23:57 If the light bugs you put blackout blinds or curtains up. Good luck with asking him to turn it off for the sake of wildlife, but I think you're onto a laser given the amount of light pollution there is from street lighting! Lonelybunny Thu 10-Jan-13 14:27:24 We were told our security light kept going off and shinning staring into our neighbours bedroom I felt terrible it must have been really annoying ! We just pushed it down a bit and he says no problems now. Really I think it's selfish I really do . RyleDup Thu 10-Jan-13 14:42:50 It is selfish, my neighbours had one of these once and it used to shine right into my bedroom. It was so bright it used to blind me when I looked out of the window. Ask them to do something about it. YDdraigGoch Thu 10-Jan-13 16:39:51 Amber - the local neighbourhood watch PCM says people are not usually that vigilant, and that sec lighting doesn't particularly reduce crime. YDdraigGoch Thu 10-Jan-13 16:40:17 PC, not PCM! AlwaysHoldingOnToStarbug Thu 10-Jan-13 16:50:13 Our neighbours had one and cats/foxes etc used to set it off, which was annoying enough, but then the damn thing broke. It started flashing on and off constantly, and it was directed at our bedroom window. It was so bad it used to wake us up, flashing lights outside the window. I was just about to ask the neighbours to sort it out when the bulb must have blown as it stopped, and they haven't bothered replacing the bulb thank goodness! Our gardens are secure too, no rear access unless you want to clamber over a load of fences to get to the middle houses, so i'm not sure why they thought a security light was necessary. I don't YABU to ask her to turn it off, whether she will is another matter, it doesn't sound like she is too neighbourly. Or maybe you caught her at a bad time when you asked for the ball back. digerd Thu 10-Jan-13 17:13:53 When I moved in to my new house, there was already a security light on the back wall, which came on if something stepped on the ground in a certain place. It did go off after 10 minutes or so, which was annoying for me when I was doing gardening in the dark in the summer at the back of the garden on a warm night. So had a permanent light installed, but that didn't last long. Then my security light kept coming on and not going off at night, and as my neighbour's bedroom is next to the light - 2m away- before she complained, I turned it off permanently, just to be considerate, and to not waste my electricity too. Nocturnal wild-life would be affected by a strong lighting, I believe, if left on all night and possibly the flora too. portraitoftheartist Thu 10-Jan-13 20:36:45 Why should op go to the expense of blackout blinds? Go and tell her politely that her very bright light is keeping you all awake. You could check with your local council. I think security lighting can come under nuisance rules. Just mention that the light is shining into your house and garden and ask if they could reposition it so it is only on their property. Asking to reposition it may be more effective than asking them to turn it off, they obviously have it for a reason. Salmotrutta Thu 10-Jan-13 21:50:06 Does your neighbour's name end in the sound a cow makes? <innocent whistle> VivaLeBeaver Thu 10-Jan-13 21:52:24 Salmotrutta Thu 10-Jan-13 21:53:15 <hides from MNHQ> VivaLeBeaver Thu 10-Jan-13 21:55:11 There'll be a klaxon going off in mn towers. WifeofPie Thu 10-Jan-13 21:56:41 Salmotrutta Thu 10-Jan-13 21:57:32 And a security light ... WifeofPie Thu 10-Jan-13 21:58:52 SIOB! shock Salmotrutta Thu 10-Jan-13 22:02:39 She was BU but never admitted it. EugenesAxe Thu 10-Jan-13 22:05:24 HoneyDragon Thu 10-Jan-13 22:08:59 WifeofPie Thu 10-Jan-13 22:13:15 smile I miss all the good stuff. JugsMcGee Thu 10-Jan-13 22:16:22 FeltOverlooked Thu 10-Jan-13 22:19:49 BuiltForComfort Thu 10-Jan-13 23:38:44 BuiltForComfort Thu 10-Jan-13 23:40:40 HappyNewHissy Thu 10-Jan-13 23:46:26 You could report it to the landlord? Get CAB advice. TurquoiseCat Thu 10-Jan-13 23:54:50 Nothing helpful to add, but it did make methinks of this DoodlesNoodles Fri 11-Jan-13 00:11:21 Join the discussion Join the discussion Register now
what is the pH of a .0020M NaOH solution? Asked on 1 Answer \| Add Yours sciencesolve's profile pic Posted on (Answer #1) You need to evaluate pH using the following equation, such that: `pH = -log(NaOH)` Since the problem provides the concentration of `0.002M` , you need to replace it in formula above: `pH = -log(0.002) => pH = -(-2.69) => pH = 2.69` Hence, evaluating the pH of the `.002 M NaOH` solution yields `pH = 2.69.` We’ve answered 395,839 questions. We can answer yours, too. Ask a question
Because most philosophies that frown on reproduction don't survive. Tuesday, January 23, 2007 Little Libertarian on the Prairie Sometimes when you come back as an adult to a story you read as a child, you find whole levels to it that slipped entirely past you before. One of the things that has struck me as we've been reading the Little House books to the girls (they're still on the young side, but how can one resist a series about lots of sisters given our family composition) is the grounding in a Christian yet very libertarian view of the world and our place in it. Laura Ingalls-Wilder's daughter Rose Wilder-Lane was an prominent spokesman of the Libertarian movement in the '30s and '40s, and provided (though to what extent it's unclear) a certain amount of guidance and editing to her mother as she wrote the Little House books. This struck me with particular force last week when (with a bit of free time during the ice storm) I re-read The Long Winter. Near the beginning (in late summer), Laura and Pa come upon a muskrat nest, and Pa, noting that he's never seen such a thickly built muskrat nest, says that there must be a hard winter coming: animals like muskrats always know. How do they know, asks the 14-year-old Laura. I suppose God must tell them somehow, is Pa's reply. If God tells the muskrats so they can keep safe during the winter, why doesn't he tell people, Laura asks. Pa's explanation is that people are free and independent. They can build any kind of house they want. And so if they build a house that can't withstand the winter, it's their own responsibility. The muskrat, on the other hand, has no choice in how to build his house. Muskrats don't have freedom, and so they need God to tell them if they need a warmer house that year. This kind of thought about free will and personal responsibility is sprinkled plentifully (though moderately subtly) throughout the Little House books. Not bad reading for bringing up young conservative Americans, and not (I think) out of an explicit desire to evangelize the young to a point of view so much as because the books are a good distillation of a very freedom and independence oriented period in our history. Anonymous said... I always loved the Little House books. The only books I may have read more times when I was young are the Chronicles of Narnia. The Long Winter in particular was a favorite. I was surprised to learn that children's lit scholars had some nasty things to say about the Little House books and "gender indoctrination" or some such nonsense. Yeah, 'cause they taught me to be domestic! But I think you may have found the root of that paltry attack! I enjoyed this post. I always think back to the Long Winter when I think about the way seasons cycle--how one winter is mild and the next more severe, even in Texas! ;) There have been occasions when something from the Little House books allowed for a teaching moment with my son. Alas! He is too old to consider reading the books himself. He was interested once, but we missed the moment. Now he is too firmly is "boy" mode, whatever that means, and won't consider reading books about girls. sigh I just ordered the whole set from Scholastic because my childhood copies fell apart years ago! MrsDarwin said... We definitely need a new set of the Little House books, to replace the dessicated set that currently graces our bookshelf. Perhaps your son might be willing to read "Farmer Boy" first? No one can accuse it of being a "girly book". :) We listened to it on CD while driving across country, and our three- and four-year-old daughters found it fairly engaging. As for me, I was glad I don't have to be a farm wife 150 years ago -- I don't know if I'd be up to it. cliff said... interesting how your reading is eing influenced by your unusual winter... what are your thoughts on "global warming"? Anonymous said... I have collected some other books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I wonder to what extent the libertarian perspective is included there? Also, it may not necessarily be the daughter influencing the mother, but "Pa" influencing "Laura" who then influenced Rose.... Anonymous said... I've suggested that he read Farmer Boy first. We'll see! :) Big Tex said... I'd hardly call that an unusual winter... ice storms hit Texas more often than most people think. Darwin said... Lit Chic, Dunno if it will carry any weight with your son, but I actually read the Little House books (mostly the later ones) quite a few times in my teens. And considering my other interests included anything written about just about any war, model rockets, firearms and boy scouting, I don't think we can chalk this up to effeminacy... ;-) True enough. I'm also curious to read a couple books by Rose which apparently cover some of the story elements of the Little House books, but more loosely and from an adult perspective. Let the Hurricane Roar aka Young Pioneers apparently tells some of the same stories from the earlier Little House books but from the parent's POV. And Free Land fictionalizes Laura and Almanzo's first four years. I gather both outsold the actual Little House books originally, but have since fallen in to near total obscurity. CMinor said... I recently read a Laura biog (will have to look up the title; sorry--in which this issue was discussed. While the young Rose turned away from her upbringing for a time and dabbled in Marxism, it seems she came back to it in midlife. The impression I got was that rugged individualism and whatever you'd call pre-libertarianism were deeply ingrained in both her parents. They initially opposed involvement in WWI, (although they supported the war effort wholeheartedly once we were in it) and didn't think much of many of FDR's policies. I was amused to read of an incident between the elderly (and normally low-key)Almanzo Wilder and a Dept. of Agriculture inspector during WWII. In order to enforce the wartime price controls, farmers were prohibited from raising more than certain amounts of some crops. Almanzo was pretty much retired from farming at the time but kept a couple of acres for his own use, and the inspector approached him to remind him that he was prohibited from growing more than X amount of crop Y. Almanzo declared that "he'd grow what he d--- well pleased on his own d--- farm" and informed the fellow that he was going back to the house for his gun and would use it on him were he still on the property on his (Almanzo's) return. I'll check back in when I've located the title of that book. CMinor said... Found it--it's Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder by John Miller. Anonymous said... I think my son is afraid it'll be like Little Women. (Different genre--I told him not to read that one!) There's a lot of stuff to learn in Big Woods about making bullets & stuff!! I am a bit curious about how this American "rugged individualism" jives with Catholicism, though it feels a bit sly for me to bring it up. It's something I've been thinking about a lot since becoming Catholic; the two haven't been presented as being compatible in a lot of the books I've read... I'm probably missing something, but perhaps you know what I mean? DMinor said... Lit Chic, Perhaps it depends on the definition of "rugged individualism." While the Ingalls went their own course many times, there are incidents in the books where they survived only with the help of neighbors (Fever and Ague), or helped neighbors. C tells me that during the actual "Long Winter," the Ingalls had a young couple with a baby staying with them. The "rugged individualism" that leaves the unfortunate by the side of the road has no place in Catholicism, or for that matter, Christianity. MrsDarwin said... That's really interesting that the Ingalls had a family with them during the Long Winter. I wonder why that fact didn't make it into the book? Now I'm going to have to find that biography that C mentioned. And you're right that the Ingalls didn't practice strict rugged individualism. I recall that in The First Four Years, Laura and Almanzo had a string of bad luck and Laura had to stay with her family for a bit while recovering from an illness. My impression is that Pa and Ma were willing to help the less fortunate, but didn't have any patience with irresponsible or lazy personal behavior. Yeah, I can't see a red-blooded young male really getting a kick out of Little Women -- and I say this as one who has read (or at least listened to an abridged version) just a few weeks ago. Funny to think that Little Women is set in about the same time period as Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy. Jo was old enough to have written some of the pieces in the literary magazines that Ma and the girls read, though I don't think Ma would have any truck with romantic twaddle Jo was turning out. Anonymous said... In the book Long Winter, the Ingalls family only survives because "young Wilder" and another local boy go after the crop of wheat, and then when the store owner tries to sell it to the hungry town at a hefty profit (supply and demand, folks!) they get angry and convince him to sell it at a more reasonable price, wherupon, he sells it at cost. In the book, they have a family stay with them the first, mild, winter in Dakota Territory, but then the family moves out to their claim and stay there the whole long winter. Anonymous said... We've been listening to the CDs a lot (!) here, as a way to have "quiet time" while the baby naps, so I can get a little quiet paperwork done too. CMinor said... MrsD, I think you're probably spot on about Pa and Ma Ingalls' attitude. Mandamum is right, of course, about the couple who stayed with the Ingalls on Silver Lake (I had forgotten;) the Miller Book mentions them taking in another couple who had fallen on hard times during the Long Winter. I got the impression that Wilder left them out of the book partly because there ended up being some strain between the families and partly because she wanted to focus on the Ingalls family's struggle to keep body and soul together and felt the extra folks would clutter up the story. Wilder actually did quite a bit of adapting in her stories in order to create good fiction and perhaps at times for personal reasons. Some characters are composites of two or more people she knew and she completely left out of the books a period of a couple of years the family spent in Iowa and during which a baby brother was born and died.
What's really worth watching Bill Buford's "Heat" Heading to Big Screen Bill Buford's midlife crisis, while mildly inconvenient for his family, was at least productive. He learned to cook in New York City and Italy, and turned the experience into a bestselling book, one that is now being developed into a feature film. "Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker and Apprentice to a Dante-quoting Butcher in Tuscany," follows Buford as he spent a year working as Mario Batali's "kitchen bitch" in Babbo in NYC and then moved to Italy to further study the nation's cuisine. Mario Batali at Eataly Opening Mario Batali at Eataly Opening Mario Batali (Published Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014) Screenwriter Stan Chervin and producer Rachael Horovitz, the pair who helped make "Moneyball" happen, have bought the rights to "Heat," reported Deadline. There were reports in May of last year that the book's film rights had already been optioned, but that appears to have been premature. Here's the book's official synopsis from the Random House website: What Batali Taught Carbone [FREEL] What Batali Taught Carbone The Torrisi Italian Specialties chef recalls his first time at the Beard House. (Published Friday, Oct. 15, 2010) A highly acclaimed writer and editor, Bill Buford left his job at The New Yorker for a most unlikely destination: the kitchen at Babbo, the revolutionary Italian restaurant created and ruled by superstar chef Mario Batali. Finally realizing a long-held desire to learn first-hand the experience of restaurant cooking, Buford soon finds himself drowning in improperly cubed carrots and scalding pasta water on his quest to learn the tricks of the trade. His love of Italian food then propels him on journeys further afield: to Italy, to discover the secrets of pasta-making and, finally, how to properly slaughter a pig. Throughout, Buford stunningly details the complex aspects of Italian cooking and its long history, creating an engrossing and visceral narrative stuffed with insight and humor. The book is a great read, often very funny, and full of fascinating behind-the-green-curtain insights into high-end kitchens, though Buford does occasionally spend too much time on things like the history of polenta. Sin City Mario Batali [Feast] Sin City Mario Batali Mario Batali talks about the seven deadly sins. (Published Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014)
Nash Bridges Season 5 Episode 8 Get Bananas Aired Friday 10:00 PM Nov 19, 1999 on CBS out of 10 User Rating 12 votes By Users Episode Summary Evan puts himself under suspicion after he takes $40,000 of drug money during a bust; Nash and the SIU take down a drug dealer. Nash and Joe guard a chimpanzee, while Jake Cage goes undercover as an animal extremist. Who was the Episode MVP ? No results found. No results found. No results found. Susan Gibney Susan Gibney Melissa Toland Guest Star Robin Atkin Downes Robin Atkin Downes Bruce Jenkel Guest Star Antwon Tanner Antwon Tanner Curtin Medders Guest Star Stone Cold Steve Austin Stone Cold Steve Austin Det. Jake Cage Recurring Role Ronald Russell Ronald Russell Officer Ronnie Recurring Role Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions • TRIVIA (0) • QUOTES (19) • Nash: Evan... In order to run a unit like this, you need the absolute, total and complete trust of every person in that unit. You don't have that with anybody here anymore. Evan (sighs): You still think that I was gonna take that money? Nash: What you did... Even if I gave you every benefit of the doubt, was a violation of that trust. I'm gonna need your shield and your gun. I'm suspending you. Evan: For how long? (hands him his badge and gun) Nash: 60 days. ... Use the time wisely. It's your last chance, bubba. • (After they got caught by Jenkel, they are locked in a cage, Jake is pounding on the cage. Bananas is in the cage next to them) Nash: Jake! You're giving the monkey a migraine! How are 'ya feelin' about your plan now? Jake: You might wanna back off on the attitude, Bridges. (Bananas makes a noise) Yeah, this is all your fault you stupid little monkey! Nash: Actually, you should be kissing his furry little butt. Jake: Oh, how's that? Joe: Because he found a way out. Jake: What? Nash: He swiped Jenkel's keys. Jake: Well, I'll be damned. (goes over by Bananas' cage) Come here. Come here. (Bananas just jingles the keys) Now, bring your little fuzzy carcass over here and bring me the keys. (Bananas sticks his ass in the air and hits it) Nash: Great bedside manner. Joe, get there. Do your magic, you read the book. Joe: Ah, alright. ... Hey, buddy. Come here. Come on. Bring the keys. (Bananas just puckers his lips as for a kiss, and jingles the keys) Uh, I think you're up, bubba. Nash: Oh, no, no. I'm not kissin' the monkey in exchange for the keys. I'd rather go to Africa (Bananas gets upset and jingles the keys) I'm sorry, I'm sorry. No, no, no, I didn't mean that. I was just kidding. It was just a little joke. Alright, you're the only monkey that I've ever had feelings for. (Joe and Jake burst out laughing. Nash glares at them, and they stop) Come on. Bring me the keys. Be a good boy. (Bananas walks over to where their cages meet and puckers his lips) Good boy! Now just give me the- Joe: Uh, I think he wants his kiss first. Jake: I won't tell Caitlin, if you won't. Nash: I'm not kissin' the monkey. Joe: Come on, man. Take one for the team. Let him get to first base. • Jake: Bridges. Nash: Well, Jake, you've done it again. You've managed to take a monkey and turn yourself into a horse's ass. Jake: Yeah, well, I can't let you take him Bridges. Nash: Jake, have you lost your mind? You wanna work the white zone at the airport? Jake: Hey, Jenkel's on his way, 15 minutes and everybody gets what they want. • Evan (comes in to find Harvey's house trashed): What happened? Harvey: You tell me. Evan (dumps out the 40,000 grand from a bag): You wanted Bapitiste, right? I mean, you know his rep. His cred on the street is based on the fact that nobody steals from him, not even a cop. Harvey: So you took the the money, hoping that he'd come gunning for you. And you didn't tell me. Evan: Yeah, exactly. Harvey (slams Evan against the wall): You son of a bitch! What if my kid was here when they came, did you think of that, huh? Nash: Harvey, Harvey, back off. Back off. (Nash gets Harvey off Evan) You do not make plans. You do not run the SIU. You got that? Evan: Yeah, I get it. I just thought that-- Nash: You thought what? Evan: I thought it was something that you would do. You know, a bold move, to close a case. Nash: You ain't me. • Evan: What, Harv? You still not talkin' to me today, man? ... Look, Harv, if you think I took the money, why don't you just say it. Harvey: I don't think you took the money. On the other hand, I don't know who's gonna show up in the morning, man, the messed up Evan or the good one. I can't live like that and neither can you. • Joe: Come on, admit it, man. Between you and Bananas, there's somethin' special. Nash: He just happens to be an affectionate animal. Joe: Not with everybody. Nash: What are you saying? Joe: Come on, the way he looks at you... Hey, bubba, it's monkey love. • Jake: You idiots screwed up the whole plan. Nash: Hey, hey, careful with the infectives there, Jake. It's a hell of a long way down to the water? And what plan? Your plan was gonna be that you were gonna run through the book store with our chimp? Jake: Your chimp? What the hell are you talkin' about? Joe: We work for the monkey, eggheard. Nash: No, no, we don't work for the monkey. We we for the representitives, that hired us to orchestrate the security for the monkey. • Nash: For future reference, we are clear on the ground rules, correct? Joe: If I waited for your approval, we'd never do anything. You're too picky. Nash: I'm too picky? Joe: Yeah. Nash: We're bodyguarding a monkey. Joe: For triple our normal rate. And it's a chimpanzee. Nash: And I think I'm allergic to him. • Nash: Where's Evan? Harvey: Boss... I am no longer my brother's keeper. He said that he had some leads to run, so he ran. Nash: No other details? Harvey: None. • Caitlin: Ricter's claiming that the count on the drug bust is 40,000 light. He's claiming that Evan took it. Harvey: Ricter's trying to save his ass. Caitlin: Yeah, but do you think it's possible? Harvey: That Evan took the money? Caitlin... there were cops all over that place. How could he even pull that off? Caitlin: Harvey, what I'm asking you... I that if he could, do you think he would have? Harvey: Look, Evan's sunk low, alright? But do I think he's gone ciminal? No. Uh-uh. • Nash: Well, I apperciate your offer, but my partner and I, we're just not-- We're just not available. (Bananas screams) O-kay. Joe, we're outta here. (Nash and Joe go to leave) Alex Crow: No, no, no. Wait, wait. Please, wait. Look, he's a chimpanzee, I know that, but, he's a very important chimpanzee. And not just to me but to people all over the world, especially to children. Nash: Oh, no, no, no. Don't pull the children card on me. Nah, don't go there. Alex Crow: It's true, and besides he was raised like a human being, it's the only life he knows. He was a child actor. The SLA expects him to live in the jungle like some wild animal. He's never even been to Africa. It's a death sentance. Joe: Nash, he's right you know. Alex Crow: Look, I'll double your standard fee. Nash: No, no. Alex Crow: Triple it. Nash: No, come on. Joe. Joe (shakes Alex's hand): You got a deal. (walks over to Nash) He tripled it. • (After Bananas flipped over a plate of fruit) Nash: If he doesn't like the food, then why come to this restaruant? Mr. Crow: He like the atmosphere. If he finds something you like, he might wanna eat it off your plate. Nash (laughs): Not unless a couple of those furry little fingers. • Joe: You haven't heard of him? Nash: No. Joe: You haven't seen any of his movies, even on cable? Nash: No. Joe: Well, they're 'B' movies but they're pretty good. I mean, you know you should rent that one 'Banana Split'. It's like a divorce comedy. Yeah, where he did this 'Mr. Smith goes to Washington' kinda thing, and it's called 'Banana Republica', and it's pretty good. Nash: Where did you get this gig? Joe: Well, Banana's people found us. Apparentally our reputation preceeds us. Nash: We have got to downgrade our quality. • Nash: Ricter is claiming that Evan stole 40,000 dollars of Baptise's drug money. Caitlin: Oh, Nash. What are you gonna do? Nash: Well, that's where you come in, I hope. Caitlin: Oh, you want me to use my MCD training. Want me to dig around to see if I can find anything that can corrborate Ricter's story? Nash: Yeah, please. Caitlin: You know, you may not like what I find. Nash: I already don't like it. But thank you. • Nash: You can't take gig without letting me on it. It's only fair. Joe: I'm sure I told you about it the other night. When we had dinner at the-- Nash: No way. (they arrive at the hotel, and talk to the client who takes them to Bananas the monkey) I am absolutley certain that you never said anything about this. • Joe (about Bananas): Thanks for not letting him sit in my seat, man. Nash: Hey Bubba, he may love me, but I still love you. Joe: Shh! You can't say that in from of him. He understands everything that you say, he's sensitive, man. Nash: Fine, fine. I apologize. (Bananas smiles) Joe: I think he forgives you. You know, he reminds me a lot of your relationships with your ex-wives. Nash: I'm gonna pretend that you didn't say that. • (After Bananas knocked out Jenkel with a wrench) Jake: He's got wicked aim. Joe: Yeah. Well, he's good with a monkey wrench. • Nash: That's another thing, I put you undercover a month ago. I've barely heard from you. What the hell have you been doing? Jake: Hey, I had to go subterrianian, man. For animal lovers, they're the most paranoid bunch of people I ever met. Joe: Well, it might have something to do with the head of their organization's wanted for murder. Nash: Okay, now, Jake, you've been under a month. What do you go on Jenkel? Jake: The night after he killed the zookeeper he fled to Mexico. He sent the two condors free out of Chihuwawa. Six months ago, he married Melissa Toland. She's currently the president of the SLA. But he's still pullin' the strings. Nash: So where's Jenkel now? Jake: Well, he's no on place. He's always on the move. He never sleeps in one place more than twice in a row. Like I said, paranoid bunch. That's why I need Bananas. Nash: Because Bananas is too big of a prize to let slip through his fingers, right? Jake: Right. According to my sources, Jenkel wants to personally transport back to Africa. Joe: And all you gotta do is deliever him up, huh? Jake: Yeah. Nash: Yeah, except for one thing, you're not getting your hands on my monkey. Jake: You're tellin' me that a monkey's more important than an international fugitive? Nash: No, no, no, no. I'm not sayin' that at all. But we're not gonna put the monkey in the middle of to catch Jenkel, it's bad for business. Jake: Then lemme borrow the monkey for 24 hours. Nash: Jake! You're not gettin' your hands on my monkey! • Joe: You sure that this guy Stuart's the inside guy? Nash: Well, I'm pretty sure. Joe: Pretty sure. You wanna tell me about how you arrived at this deduction? Nash: Well, Crow is into leathers. Kin, the secretary she wears furs. The real deal furs. The driver... He's a meat eater. So that leaves Stuart, he's a vegetarian, and wears nothing but natural fibers, right down to his hemp belt. Joe: So that's it? That's what we're goin' on? (Nash looks at him) I'm down with it, I'm down with it. I was just wondering. (they follow Stuart to a huge boat Jenkel is on) I never really doubted 'ya. Nash: Liar. • NOTES (0) • ALLUSIONS (0)
Greeters \| Playa Del Fuego You are here I want to sign up for this! Click "Volunteer Sign-up" in the menu at the top of the page to get started. As a greeter you are responsible for welcoming our community home for the weekend and educating our participants. You are responsible for explaining what PDF is about, where things are, that we are a volunteer-run event, how and where to volunteer and, most importantly, explaining the 10 Principles that guide our event. It's important that those attending our event understand that this isn't just a big party in a field, but an experiment in temporary community. You are the front line for getting that information out there. Note: In times when Parking or Ticketing are short volunteers we ask that the greeters step up to fill those positions. Where it is: The greeter station is located at the back gate, which is about mid-field, past the Vet's sheds. What to bring: Sun screen, bug spray and something to eat and drink (Feel free to bring enough to share). You should also bring a cup for the frequent liquid donations that occur at volunteer stations. Contact us at
Pentel Tradio Stylo Fountain Pen - Black Body - Red Ink Pentel Tradio Stylo Fountain Pen - Black Body - Red Ink In stock and ships within 1 business day. 3.0 (2 reviews) DescriptionSpecificationsFrequently Asked Questions Finally, the Tradio pen can be bought online! The Tradio Pulaman and Tradio Stylo pens are identical, and both have an obsessive following. How many times have you heard "I cannot LIVE without my Tradio!" Well, we've heard it a bunch of times, so here you go! Fountain pen features a thin calligraphy angled tip that can create a variety of line widths, from thick to thin, depending on the angle and pressure. Writes smooth dark lines and is great for taking notes or writing letters. Get enough Tradio pens and refills to last a lifetime! Black, blue, and red ink available. Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought Customer Reviews August 25, 2015 Verified Purchase I think I got a defected... October 20, 2014 Verified Purchase I think I got a defected pen. It inked up/leaked on my finger the first time using it :( Also, when trying to write w/ it - it made very tiny splatters all around. You have to write without any pressure... but again, I'm pretty certain mine was defective. I can't recommend this pen b/c if one is messed up it seems that it's more likely that others might be as well. VERY disappointing. Save your money for a different pen... :-(
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Tropomyosin 1 (alpha) Protein TPM1 PDB 1c1g.png PDB rendering based on 1c1g. Available structures PDB Ortholog search: PDBe, RCSB Symbols TPM1 ; C15orf13; CMD1Y; CMH3; HTM-alpha; LVNC9; TMSA External IDs OMIM191010 MGI98809 HomoloGene121635 GeneCards: TPM1 Gene RNA expression pattern PBB GE TPM1 210986 s at tn.png PBB GE TPM1 206116 s at tn.png PBB GE TPM1 210987 x at tn.png More reference expression data Species Human Mouse Entrez 7168 22003 Ensembl ENSG00000140416 ENSMUSG00000032366 UniProt P09493 Q545Y3 RefSeq (mRNA) NM_000366 NM_024427 RefSeq (protein) NP_000357 NP_077745 Location (UCSC) Chr 15: 63.04 – 63.07 Mb Chr 9: 66.82 – 66.85 Mb PubMed search [1] [2] Tropomyosin alpha-1 chain is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TPM1 gene.[1] This gene is a member of the tropomyosin (Tm) family of highly conserved, widely distributed actin-binding proteins involved in the contractile system of striated and smooth muscles and the cytoskeleton of non-muscle cells. Tm is a 32.7 kDa protein composed of 284 amino acids.[2] Tm is a flexible protein homodimer or heterodimer composed of two alpha-helical chains, which adopt a bent coiled coil conformation to wrap around the seven actin molecules in a functional unit of muscle.[3] It is polymerized end to end along the two grooves of actin filaments and provides stability to the filaments. Human striated muscles express protein from the TPM1 (α-Tm), TPM2 (β-Tm) and TPM3 (γ-Tm) genes, with α-Tm being the predominant isoform in striated muscle. In human cardiac muscle the ratio of α-Tm to β-Tm is roughly 5:1.[4] Tm functions in association with the troponin complex to regulate the calcium-dependent interaction of actin and myosin during muscle contraction. Tm molecules are arranged head-to-tail along the actin thin filament, and are a key component in cooperative activation of muscle. A three state model has been proposed by McKillop and Geeves,[5] which describes the positions of Tm during a cardiac cycle. The blocked (B) state occurs in diastole when intracellular calcium is low and Tm blocks the myosin binding site on actin. The closed (C) state is when Tm is positioned on the inner groove of actin; in this state myosin is in a "cocked" position where heads are weakly bound and not generating force. The myosin binding (M) state is when Tm is further displaced from actin by myosin crossbridges that are strongly-bound and actively generating force. In addition to actin, Tm binds troponin T (TnT). TnT tethers the region of head-to-tail overlap of subsequent Tm molecules to actin. Clinical Significance[edit] Mutations in TPM1 have been associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and dilated cardiomyopathy. HCM mutations tend to cluster around the N-terminal region and a primary actin binding region known as period 5.[6] 1. ^ Mogensen J, Kruse TA, Borglum AD (Jun 1999). "Refined localization of the human alpha-tropomyosin gene (TPM1) by genetic mapping". Cytogenet Cell Genet 84 (1-2): 35–6. doi:10.1159/000015207. PMID 10343096. 2. ^ Missing or empty \|title= (help) 3. ^ Brown, J. H.; Kim, K. H.; Jun, G; Greenfield, N. J.; Dominguez, R; Volkmann, N; Hitchcock-Degregori, S. E.; Cohen, C (2001). "Deciphering the design of the tropomyosin molecule". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98 (15): 8496–501. doi:10.1073/pnas.131219198. PMC 37464. PMID 11438684. 4. ^ Yin, Z; Ren, J; Guo, W (2015). "Sarcomeric protein isoform transitions in cardiac muscle: A journey to heart failure". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of Disease 1852 (1): 47–52. doi:10.1016/j.bbadis.2014.11.003. PMC 4268308. PMID 25446994. 5. ^ McKillop, D. F.; Geeves, M. A. (1993). "Regulation of the interaction between actin and myosin subfragment 1: Evidence for three states of the thin filament". Biophysical Journal 65 (2): 693–701. doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(93)81110-X. PMC 1225772. PMID 8218897. 6. ^ Tardiff, J. C. (2011). "Thin filament mutations: Developing an integrative approach to a complex disorder". Circulation Research 108 (6): 765–82. doi:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.110.224170. PMC 3075069. PMID 21415410. Further reading[edit] External links[edit]
Permalink for comment 450894 RE[3]: Just drop it already by Laurence on Tue 23rd Nov 2010 14:23 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Just drop it already" Member since: I have one. Android is very immature. Mouse pointer sometimes freezes for a second. AC100 doesn't have touch screen, but applications lacks keyboard shortcuts, only BIG onscreen buttons. Very bad. Well it is a touch screen OS so it actually makes more sense to be built that was. Two browsers available are equally crap-full. They're excellent for the smartphone, but I can see why you wouldn't want them on a netbook. Familiar keyboard actions doesn't work (like Shift-select / Ctrl+XCV) !@#$%^&, etc are entered with ALT, not SHIFT. That would be down to Toshiba's implimentation. Opera Mobile frequently ignores "submit" button while posting to forums - something is seriously broken here. This is nothing to do with Google Android as it's a third party application (it's like blaming Windows for rendering bug in Firefox) Plus it's Opera Mini that's on Android, not Opera Mobile. They're different products. Youtube client doesn't work at all. It worked first time, but later something happens and it is dead now. Works perfectly on my phone so once again it's something that either Toshiba or yourself have broken. Not much of "innovation", but more a half-baked product. Well to be fair, the majority of your complaints are either relating to (what sounds like) a bodge job that Toshiba did or with third party apps that has nothing to do with Android. Either way and through no fault of your own, I don't think you've given Android a fair try as (in my opinion at least) it works wonderfully on touch screen devices. Reply Parent Score: 2
Take the 2-minute tour × This question already has an answer here: April 9, 2012 can be written in any of these ways: 4 9 12 4 9 2012 4 09 2012 (I think you get the point) For those of you that don't understand, the rules are: 1. Dates may or may not have ` `, `-` or `/` between them 2. The year can be written as 2 digits (assumed to be dates in the range of [2000, 2099] inclusive) or 4 digits 3. One digit month/days may or may not have leading zeroes. How would you go about problem solving this to format the dates into 04/09/12? I know the dates can be ambiguous, i.e., 12112 can be 12/1/12 or 1/21/12, but assume the smallest month possible. share\|improve this question marked as duplicate by Sinan Ünür, gpojd, ikegami, AD7six, Jack Maney Mar 13 '13 at 21:10 I presume your question is about how to parse dates that could be in any of the formats you've given? – lxop Mar 13 '13 at 20:17 No, don't do this without modules. – mob Mar 13 '13 at 20:25 Would "11113" be 11-1-2013 or 1-11-2013? – gpojd Mar 13 '13 at 20:28 What date is 12212? – Sinan Ünür Mar 13 '13 at 20:28 Then you have several questions to consider. 11111111 is unambiguous, and so 8s 111, but what do you want to do with string of between '1' x 4 and '1' x 7? – Borodin Mar 13 '13 at 21:16 2 Answers 2 up vote 2 down vote accepted This actually is something that regexes are good at; making an assumption, moving forward with it, then backtracking if necessary to get a successful match. ( 1[0-2] \| 0?[1-9] ) [-/ ]? ( 3[01] \| [12][0-9] \| 0?[1-9] ) [-/ ]? ( (?: [0-9]{2} ){1,2} ) sprintf '%02u/%02u/%04u', $1, $2, ( length $3 == 4 ? $3 : 2000+$3 ) The range checks present, while not determined by the value of the month, should be sufficient to pick a good date from the ambiguous cases (where there is a good date). Note that it is important to try two digit month and days first; otherwise 111111 becomes 1-1-1111, not the presumably intended 11-11-11. But this means 11111 will prefer to be 11-1-11, not 1-11-11. If a valid day of month check is needed, it should be performed after reformatting. s{}{} is a substitution using curly braces instead of / to delimit the parts of the regex to avoid having to escape the /, and also because using paired delimiters allows opening and closing both the pattern and replacement parts, which looks nice to me. \A matches the start of the string being matched; \z matches the end. ^ and $ are often used for this, but can have slightly different meanings in some cases; I prefer these since they always only mean one thing. The x flag on the end says this is an extended regex that can have extra whitespace or comments that are ignored, so that it is more readable. (Whitespace inside a character class isn't ignored.) The e flag says the replacement part isn't a string, it is code to execute. '%02u/%02u/%02u' is a printf format, used for taking values and formatting them in a particular way; see http://perldoc.perl.org/functions/sprintf.html. share\|improve this answer I'm still quite new to Perl, so could you please comment on what your code does? I don't know what the s bracket is doing or the \A or \z or the xe or the %02u/%02u/%02u. – dtgee Mar 13 '13 at 21:01 Added explanation; any other questions? – ysth Mar 13 '13 at 21:10 Great solution! However, I'm guessing I have to check if the year is, for example, 04 and append 20 in the beginning then reconcatenate it with the string? – dtgee Mar 13 '13 at 23:25 You originally said "format the dates into 04/09/12", but ok... – ysth Mar 14 '13 at 15:21 Install Date::Calc On ubuntu libdate-calc-perl This should be able to read in all those dates ( except 4912, 4 9 2012, 4 09 2012 ) and then output them in a common format share\|improve this answer
Sign in Sign in to Customize Your Weather Comments by serversmom (104 total) RSS Most recent activity is shown first. Show oldest activity first I guess I better call the police and have my great grandkids arrested for their chalk drawings on my driveway. Sad when the kids are more mature than the adults. Especially adults in authoritative positions. Dress well, make sure you're clean, comb your hair, brush your teeth. These are the responsibilities of the parents to enforce. Unfortunately, with the economy the way it is, many parents are both going off to work before their kids leave for school. Let's not debate that issue today. The one thing that I find very offensive is everyone stating that girls should wear dresses or skirts. Are you kidding me? What is this, 1950? Why do women have to wear dresses, nylons, skirts, etc.? Can't they be well dressed by wearing nice jeans that are not too tight, or pants. Dresses! Stop! Now! Wait, let me read Vick's comment again. "I think we have a chance to develop a dynasty." What team doesn't? He isn't bragging. He is acknowledging the talent on the Eagle's team and hoping to make the most of it. I think this is just one more opportunity for you to jump on Vick. Or maybe understanding English is the problem. One of the reasons I fought for the right to wear pants and jeans was because we, as a female student, was sick and tired of trying to sit in the front row turning this way and that way to avoid the male teachers blatantly looking up the girls dresses. I formerly worked at a company that required at least one or two Spanish speaking individuals in their employ. Why? Because we were an international company and although many other countries require their students to learn English, it is a very difficult language and not all can understand our colloquialisms. If we intend to stay a strong world power we need to be able to communicate. And yes, requiring Chinese may be the next step. I agree that if you live in this country you should speak English, just as I would expect to speak the language in any other country in which I may reside. As of now, Spanish is a basic requirement for the near future and it is time for Nazareth to get with the program. Mr. Miller is really making waves where none should exist. Keep this in mind, Nazareth residents, the next time he is running for school board. If it was Mr. Miller's intent to create dialogue he has certainly succeeded. For a few minutes I thought it was still the 1960's! Been there, done that, got the (excuse the pun) T-shirt. I agree with one thing Mr. Miller said and that is the kids with the drooping pants and the eye alert clothing have to go. But no one has addressed the teachers' clothing. I remember my kids coming home from school complaining about the way some of the teachers dressed. There is nothing wrong with kids wearing comfortable clothing to school. This isn't a military academy. And what about the expense to the parents to change out the entire wardrobes of their families? School costs enough with the taxes we are paying and other miscellaneous costs that we endured while our kids were in school. Mr. Miller, go back to 1968 if you want to "dress appropriately." I have heard all these arguments before, several times, and it is nothing but a waste of time. It looks to me as if Lower Nazareth is just trying to pressure Selvaggio by creating more problems for him. This isn't just a battle that the two of them are facing. What about all the other companies located on that road? They are not a part of this fight yet changing the street name will cause them added expense. Is the township prepared to reimburse all of them for the cost to change their legal documents, letterheads, advertising, etc.? I notice that the article is centered on just two businesses. What about the rest of them? Eaglefan, I don't know if you have ever tried to pull out at either intersection of Freidenstahl in the morning or at night. Because if you had, you would know that you can sit there for several minutes waiting. And this pertains to all the side streets that run parallel to Freidenstahl. I will take an inconvenient traffic light any day to enable me to turn onto 191 or Main Street/Walnut Street safely. I've seen people pull out in traffic taking a very big risk just because they sit forever and jump at the slightest opportunity. Again, the school is just a minor problem. This has been an issue since before they even built the intermediate school. This was a problem intersection long before the new middle school was constructed. It is very difficult to go from Freidenstahl to Rt. 191 at any time during the day. It is equally difficult to go from Freidenstahl onto Tatamy Road or Walnut Street or Main Street or whatever the road that runs from Tatamy to Nazareth is called. The population has increased in these areas and so has the traffic. Wait until they put the Route 33 interchange in. It will only get worse. Amy, was alluding to the others, not those 4. I have come to the conclusion that a prerequisite for working in a school district administrative capacity is that you have to be an idiot. Bangor is having so many problems with their teachers and staff that one would think they would go the extra mile to provide some good will, along with good press. Fundraisers are held all the time in school cafeterias to promote sporting events and at no charge to the booster clubs. It is unfortunate that the original venue Amy contacted was already booked because they certainly would have known how to treat this situation. In any event, hopefully Collin Kearney and his family still benefit from this debacle. From the headline, I thought he attempted murder at the court house. Beam me up, Scotty. There is obviously no intelligent life on this planet. Posted on Caption this: Glitter girl on March 07, 2012, 3:37PM I understand your point but please keep in mind that local residents work in these establishments and chain restaurants offer more opportunity for employment than the smaller local restaurants. I think we can enjoy both and they can coexist in our area. Posted on Don Pablo's restaurant in Palmer Township has closed on February 03, 2012, 10:38AM There are no lights on the railroad signs to show that a train is coming, nor any drop gates. You cross at your own risk. Now someone has died. Very, very sad. If that more than 1% tax you mentioned was previously referred to as the earned income tax, Upper Nazareth also has that tax. If that isn't what you meant, I apologize. Then there must be a whole lot of idiots out there because almost everyone turning left onto 248 from the left turn lane crosses into the right lane to get onto Route 33. And I am one of them. I agree that the light in Tatamy is overkill for now, but wait until the interchange comes in. It will be a necessary evil. As far as the light in Nazareth goes, I'm all for it. It was extremely difficult to pull out onto Broad Street. Now you know you can safely turn onto Broad. And at least you know you won't be running up over the curb every time you make the turn onto Walnut, thanks to the line that they painted on the street. I will probably be in the minority and I am not actually siding with the parents, but I know it is not that easy to get treatment for mental problems/issues in Pennsylvania. I know of one parent who had a child who was borderline mentally ill. Because of the way health care works, there were numerous hoops to jump through before their child could be hospitalized. If you are over a certain age, there is basically no facility willing to take you unless you sign yourself in but then you can also sign yourself out. You are all thinking about this with a rational mind. Mentally ill people do not have the ability to think rationally at all times, especially without medication. The prison was told that this individual had problems. It is far easier to not give a darn about someone than to take that extra cautionary step to ensure their safety and well being. We have become a society of ambivalence; people no longer have pride in their jobs, doing as little as necessary to get by. I feel very, very badly for these parents. Until you lose a child, no matter by what means, you cannot begin to imagine how they feel. And unless you lived with them, you don't know what action they took to try to get their son the mental help he needed. Did he commit a crime? I don't know the story but if he was in a car that was stolen, without his knowledge, and again I don't know the whole story, he certainly wasn't going to jump out when the driver was going 100 MPH. Obviously he was found guilty because he was serving a sentence. I guess I'm saying there is enough blame to go around to all involved. Dear mad, you actually proved my point. The interchange from route 33 onto 248 created all that development, which by the way continues into Palmer Township thanks to, I believe, Strausser. I don't recall any towns along that section of 248. Tatamy will definitely be impacted. The true problem here is that Chrin gets whatever he wants whenever he wants. He makes empty promises and that was obvious from the start. Obviously money talks and he is talking all the way to his bank account.
Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system Forgot your password? by chrb (#47030767) Attached to: Robbery Suspect Tracked By GPS and Killed Unlike the U.S., the island states of Japan and Great Britain have had centuries of unilateral culturalism Britain does not have a unilateral culture. "London, England, United Kingdom is one of the most ethnically diverse cities on earth. As of 2007, there are over 300 languages spoken in it and more than 50 non-indigenous communities with a population of more than 10,000." Comment: Re:Consider this. (Score 1) 111 by chrb (#41068519) Attached to: Jury In Apple v. Samsung Case May Have to Agree on 700 Points The ancient Greeks used to treat jury duty like casual work - if you're free, turn up at the court in the morning, get selected randomly, and get paid. Apparently you could actually earn a reasonable wage through this. The advantage is that well-employed people don't have to waste their time (and money) doing jury duty, and the people who turn up have some motivation to do it, and probably prior court experience. The disadvantage is that whole "good cross section of the population" thing. Comment: Re:Ah, the sweet smell of free trade... (Score 1) 280 by chrb (#41068311) Attached to: Prices Drive Australians To Grey Market For Hardware and Software I'm concerned about it becoming a mainstream practice, not that it happens in niche markets. It already is mainstream - the international import and export of clothing is restricted. In the UK, Tesco famously lost the court case over grey importing of Levi jeans, which they were selling at half the retail price of the officially imported jeans. And so now the only jeans you will in the UK (and the rest of the EU) are officially imported ones. The same thing happens with clothing, motor vehicles, basically everything where there are official distribution channels. Allowing grey importing would ultimately lead to convergence on a single global price for everything. I think that would be interesting, but let's play devil's advocate - some publisher release a movie. Americans and Europeans are willing to pay perhaps $10 to download. Indians and Chinese are willing to pay perhaps $0.50 to download. But in a single, free market, there can be only one fixed price - so what should it be? If you price it closer to the Western price, then the product is inaccessible to Chinese and Indian people. But if you price it closer to the lower salaries, then your profit margins will be much lower, so you aren't going to do that. You can't please everyone when there is such huge wage disparity in the world. So, you conclude that the practical pricing model is the one that restricts distribution to only Westerners and wealthy people from elsewhere. So there is a counter-argument that dividing the world up and practising price discrimination actually helps the consumer, by enabling them to access the product they want at a price that they are able to pay. Now, I'm not saying that I agree with that point of view, but that's the counter-argument. Price discrimination is an important concept in business; having a range of similar items at varying price points allows your customer to pay a price point that they are comfortable with, rather than forcing them to choose between simply buying or not buying. See, for example, Starbucks coffee. Comment: Re:$3000 every 1-3 years. Right. (Score 1) 673 by chrb (#41066595) Attached to: Sealed-Box Macs: Should Computers Be Disposable? Nobody in their right mind is buying a new $3000 laptop every three years. What? The average refresh rate is 2-3 years, above that TCO rises. From the Intel study: "For PCs that are older than three years, the cost of maintenance and issue resolution increases such that it is cheaper to purchase a new system." Something like 2/3rds of the desktops and laptops in industry were purchased in the last 2 years. e.g. Google's head of systems gave a talk at the Ubuntu Developer Summit (video) where he stated that they upgrade all hardware every 12 months - and they insist on it even if your system is working fine - because not doing so costs them more than dealing with failures over time. Comment: Re:"moving irresistibly"? (Score 1) 673 by chrb (#41066487) Attached to: Sealed-Box Macs: Should Computers Be Disposable? I have a 2005 Thinkpad. Bit by bit, things stopped working - but the difference here is that I replaced the keyboard, case hinge, and battery with cheap parts from ebay, and to this day the laptop is still functioning and useful. I have upgraded the OS to the latest Xubuntu and it is fast and runs all of the latest software without any issues. I didn't pay anything for the software upgrades. Every so often I am tempted to buy a new laptop, but then I realise my Thinkpad runs as well as it did in 2005, and still does exactly the same things it did then, so I really have no reason to replace it. Comment: Re:Lobbyists (Score 1) 559 by chrb (#41066339) Attached to: California Wants Genetically Modified Foods To Be Labelled you would be okay with a law requiring companies to say whether or not any black people touched the food.. And before you go on with some bullshit about there's no reason that would matter, there's equally no reason why a food being a GM crop would matter. Isn't it possible that a person might be allergic to proteins expressed by a particular gene, or particular configurations of proteins combined into larger molecules, and hence a person could be allergic to GM wheat with jelly fish genes or whatever, but not allergic to normal wheat? Whereas it isn't possible for a person to be allergic to food touched by a black person. Comment: Re:Lobbyists (Score 1) 559 by chrb (#41066303) Attached to: California Wants Genetically Modified Foods To Be Labelled Some sort of religious crusade, then? You hate GMO so lets single out GMO? You mischaracterise. I don't hate GM foods; I think the concept is actually quite interesting and promising, though needs some consideration - humans have, more or less, been eating the same kinds of foods for tens of thousands of years, and we should be somewhat cautious before radically altering that on a large scale (like, hundreds of millions of people...). There are reasons why vegetables did not naturally evolve animal genes, and shifting genes from, say, jelly fish to cows or carrots, may have unanticipated side-effects. I am a scientist, so I am obviously not "anti-science", but scientists have been wrong before, particularly when millions were at stake from selling a "wonder drug", or, when we thought it was safe to feed cows ingredients derived from animals. Money can be a corrupting influence in science, but it is not the whole story: we as a society have to accept the blame when we assume that something is safe over the long-term, but we have not actually done any long-term studies. Comment: Re:Lobbyists (Score 1) 559 by chrb (#41066169) Attached to: California Wants Genetically Modified Foods To Be Labelled If you want to know what's in GMO food, it's perfectly fair to require labelling of all natural food contents as well. Cyanide in apples, radioactive potassium in bananas, radioactive carbon in most plants, neurotoxin in pufferfish, etc. "If you want to know what's in food, it's perfectly fair to require labelling of all natural food contents as well. Cyanide in apples, radioactive potassium in bananas, radioactive carbon in most plants, neurotoxin in pufferfish, etc." People like you said the same thing when mandatory labelling of ingredients was introduced, and yet somehow we now have ingredients labels and still no "cyanide labels on apples" or any of that nonsense. The reality is that, in a functioning democratic society, if people want to know what ingredients are in the food that they buy, and the manufacturers refuse to comply, then the government will eventually pass a law that forces manufacturers to comply. Comment: Re:Our economic evidence (Score 2) 559 by chrb (#41066117) Attached to: California Wants Genetically Modified Foods To Be Labelled The information is freely available to anyone willing to research it. How? If the manufacturer doesn't put it on the label, then how is a purchaser supposed to find out that the ingredients have been genetically modified? This is about forcing information beyond a rational minimum of information (like nutritional content, ingredients, and allergies) to be displayed, but not all the information, only the information that fits political agendas. Nutritional content and ingredients are also "information that fits political agendas", and food manufacturers were opposed to labelling them for the same reasons. How is GM different? There is no real reason why nutritional content should be labelled other than politics (aka "people want to know", which also applies to GM). Comment: Singapore (Score 5, Interesting) 732 Singapore is routinely ranked as having one of the best healthcare system in the world (WHO 2000 study Singapore ranked 6th, U.S. was ranked 37th). It's universal healthcare that people pay for out of their own pocket. The cost of providing world best medical care for everyone in Singapore, costs per person what Americans spend on administration alone - not doctors, drugs, surgeries or real health care - just what Americans spend on managers and secretaries. And yet, for this price, they get one of the best healthcare systems in the world in return. Amazing. Economists love it, here's some excerpts from The Undercover Economist - Lemons, health care, and the United States The United States relies upon private health insurance to provide much of the financing for medical costs. This is unusual: in Britain, Canada, and Spain, for example, health-care costs are largely paid for by the government. In Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, medical costs are paid for by a system of "social insurance": it is compulsory for most people to buy insurance, but insurance premiums are tied by law to income rather than to the risk of a claim. The United States system makes it voluntary to buy insurance, and premiums are linked to risk, not to income. But these market-based premiums, beloved of many Americans, do not seem to be delivering health care that makes them happy. A recent survey revealed that only 17 percent of respondents in the United States were content with the health-care system and thought no substantial reforms were necessary. Why the discontent? The superficial reasons are simple enough to describe: the system is hugely expensive, very bureaucratic, and extremely patchy. The expense first: US health cares costs a third more, per person, than that of the closest rival, super-rich Switzerland, and twice what many European countries spend. The United States government alone spends more per person than the combination of public and private expenditure in Britain, despite the fact that the British government provides free health care for all residents, while the American government spending program covers only the elderly (Medicare) and some of the marginalized (Medicaid). Most Americans worry about health-care costs and would be stunned to discovered that the British government spends less per person than the American government but still manages to provide free health care for everyone. In fact, if you figure in the costs of providing health insurance to government employees and providing tax breaks to encourage private health care, the US government spending on health care, per person, is the highest in the world. Bureaucracy next. Researchers at the Harvard Medical School found that the administrative costs of the US system, public and private, exceed $1,000 per persons. In other words, when you count all the taxes, premiums, and out-of-pocket expenses, the typical American spends as much on doctor's receptionists and the like as citizens of Singapore and the Czech Republic spend on their entire medical care. Both places are countries with health outcomes very similar to those in the United States: life expectancy and “healthy life” expectancy (a statistic that distinguishes a long healthy life and a long life plagued by years of severe disability) are a shade lower in the Czech Republic than in the United States; and in Singapore they are a little higher than in the United States. The costs of US bureaucracy is also more than three times the $307 cost per person for the administration of the Canadian health system, which produces noticeably superior health outcomes. Then there is the patchy coverage of the system. Health insurance is usually packaged together with a job, which reduces the efficiency of the labour market; workers are hesitant to quit their jobs without lining another job up first for fear of being uninsured. Worse, 15 percent of citizens have no insurance coverage of any kind – which should be a stunning statistic for the world's richest economy, but probably isn't because it has been lamented for so many years. Compare it to Germany, where 0.2 percent of the population has no coverage, or to Canada or Britain, where everyone is provided for by the government. Given what we have learned from George Akerlof and his lemons, the troubles of the US health-care system should be no surprise. We should expect a voluntary private insurance system to be patchy. A few people who have more pressing costs than health insurance (for example, the young poor, who have little money and rightly expect that they are unlikely to become seriously ill) will drop out of the system. As a result, health insurance companies, needing to cover their costs, will raise the premiums for the average client, driving out more and more people. Unlike the very stark lemons model, the market does not completely collapse; this is partly because many people find that the risks of having to pay for medical treatment are so worrying that they're willing to pay substantially more than an actuarially fair premium. As a result, the process of unravelling stops, but not before many people have been excluded from the system. Thanks to Spence and Stiglitz, we should also expect insurance companies to devise ways to get around this lemons problem, but that although the solutions may be effective they will probably also be wasteful. The huge bureaucratic burden of the US system is one of the results, as insurance companies struggle to monitor the risks, behaviour and expenses of their customers. The clunky linkage of health insurance with jobs is another result: at first sight, there is no reason why a job should come with health insurance, any more than it should come with a house or free food. Employees are frequently forced to buy the health insurance that is packaged with their job. This packaging compels the healthiest members of society to buy insurance packages and so come cheap: health-care plans are not chosen by their beneficiaries, who would aim to get the ideal coverage for the right price, but by human resource managers with other priorities, such as making their own lives easy with a “one-size-fits-all” bulk purchases. The result is likely to further wasteful spending. Not every drawback of the US health-care system should be blamed on Akerlof's lemons problem. Even without the difficulty of inside information, the system of insurance is problematic, because patients are not always able to choose their treatment. With the insurance company picking up the bill, choosing the appropriate treatment is always going to be something of a matter of negotiation. When you ask somebody else to pay for your health care, don't be surprised if you don't get exactly what you would have chosen yourself The following section Fixing health care with keyhole economics describes how the Singapore system actually works. I don't have a text copy to paste here, but if you are actually interested in healthcare economics it makes interesting reading. Comment: Re:What an asshole (Score 1) 615 by chrb (#41058017) Attached to: Are 12-16 Hour Workdays Productive? Not exactly uncommon; see, for example, this article which encourages CEOs to fire people: Three Types of People to Fire Immediately: "I wanted a happy culture. So I fired all the unhappy people." - A very successful CEO. (Spoiler - it's people who complain, are overworked, are realistic about project prospects, or are already knowledgeable; "The best innovators are learners, not knowers.") Comment: Re:8 hours/day came about for a reason (Score 3, Interesting) 615 by chrb (#41057899) Attached to: Are 12-16 Hour Workdays Productive?
Take the 2-minute tour × iTunes starts every time I boot my Windows 7 computer. How can I prevent iTunes from starting on Windows startup? Is there a simple setting or do I need to edit the Windows registry to accomplish this? share\|improve this question migrated from apple.stackexchange.com Nov 10 '11 at 2:54 Try looking here? sevenforums.com/tutorials/1401-startup-programs-change.html – user99736 Nov 10 '11 at 2:12 yea, kind of a simple question for superuser. I meant to post this on apple.stackexchange.com but I was in a hurry and accidently posted to superuser.com. Would have been a good contribution to the apple knowledge base. – steampowered Nov 10 '11 at 15:58 3 Answers 3 up vote 5 down vote accepted 1. Go to "Start" 2. Click on "Run" 3. In the Open box type "msconfig" and then click "OK" 4. Select the "Startup" tab at the top 5. De-select iTunes from the list and click "Apply" then "OK". You may need to restart your computer for this change to take effect. share\|improve this answer If you do what wizlog suggested and iTunes is still starting automatically, it could be related to your iPod. iTunes is set--by default--to automatically launch iTunes if it detects an iPod. There is a setting in iTunes, which disables this function. Edit: This also includes iPhones and iPads too share\|improve this answer Since MSConfig has already been suggested I can advise you to try CCleaner, a freeware program for cleaning cookies and unnecessary data and with which you can also disable unneeded programs from starting up with a really simple dialogue. What you (also) need to disable is iTunesHelper which boots up iTunes everytime it detects an iPod/iPhone plugged in. You will be able to find the entry for ituneshelper.exe if you use msconfig or any other start-up application manager. share\|improve this answer Your Answer
Does Anyone in the U.S. Still Go to Foreign Films? Yes. Indians! But Hindi-language movies aren't "foreign" to them. Is the subtitle-reading audience finally extinct? • Share • Read Later Franco Pinna / Getty Images Federico Fellini, whose 'La Dolce Vita' is still the highest-grossing foreign-language film of all time (READ: Whatever Happened to Foreign-Language Films? — 1990s version) (READ: What Fellini meant to the movies) At the end of the decade, Hollywood grew up fast, with copious infusions of sex (Midnight Cowboy), blood (The Wild Bunch) and double-dome philosophizing (2001: A Space Odyssey). That’s an oversimplified way of saying that American movies had recaptured the conversation. (Also, porno films became legal and briefly enjoyed box-office luster.) Another factor: Americans lost interest in other cultures; we were not only No. 1, we were the only 1 we cared about. With foreign films’ monopoly on intellectual maturity and adult themes broken, they receded to specialty status: canapés for connoisseurs. (READ: When Porno Was Chic) They could still reach a wider audience if they had a canny blend of sentiment and comedy — and if they were released by Miramax Films and its genius promoter Harvey Weinstein. The Mexican Like Water for Chocolate earned a healthy $21.6 million in 1993, The Postman $25 million in 1995, Life Is Beautiful an astounding $57.6 million in 1998-99, helped by a Best Actor Oscar for Roberto Benigni. In the last decade, though, it’s rare for a foreign-language film to top $10 million in the States. It needs to be based on a famous performer (La vie en rose, which won as Oscar for Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf) or a famous literary property (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in its original Swedish version). For one French film, The Intouchables, it was enough that it was funny and touching, and released by Weinstein. Once every few years, a foreign film’s very foreignness could make it a surprise blockbuster. Ang Lee’s Mandarin-language martial arts fantasy Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon earned $128 million in 2001 (about $190 million in adjusted dollars). And in 2004 that amazing all-time fluke, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, grossed $370.8 million. That would be nearly $500 million today, far higher than the North American income for 2013’s top two movies, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Iron Man Three. And The Passion wasn’t a sequel — just a sanctified splatter film, in Aramaic! (READ: Corliss’s kind-of defense of The Passion of the Christ by subscribing to TIME) You’ll find few glorious flukes, and hardly any hits, in the non-English-language films released last year. Here’s a reality-check list of the top 10 foreign films of 2013: 1. Instructions Not Included, $44.5 million (Mexico: Spanish) 2. Dhoom 3, $8 million (Indian: Hindi) 3. The Grandmaster, $6.6 million (China: Mandarin) 4. Chennai Express, $5.3 million (India: Hindi) 5. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, $3.8 million (India: Hindi) 6. Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela, $2.7 million (India: Hindi) 7. The Gatekeepers, $2.4 million (Israel: Hebrew) 8. No, $2.3 million (Chile: Spanish) 9. Renoir, $2.2934 million (France: French) 10. Krrish 3, $2.2 million (India: Hindi) At first glance, the list has an attractive globe-straddling variety: six films from Asia and one each from Latin America, South America, the Middle East and Europe (the continent that used to spawn most of the exotic hits). The big champ was Instructions Not Included, Eugenio Derbez’s warm comedy about a guy raising his six-year-old daughter. Banking on Derbez’s appeal to the Spanish-speaking fans of his shows on the Univision network, Instructions earned $10.4 million in its first four days in just 347 theaters, for one of the strongest limited openings in domestic history. Well behind it, but filling five of the top 10 slots, were Bollywood musical dramas aimed at India’s Desi diaspora. They play in a couple hundred theaters and, without mainstream critics paying attention, earn more money than most American independent films. (READ: How Instructions Not Included Won the Box Office) The catch: To most of their viewers, Instructions and the Bollywood films are not foreign-language movies at all. The foreign-language market is back where it was in the 1930s and ’40s, when theaters in neighborhoods full of Germans or Greeks or Italians or Chinese showed German, Greek, Italian or Hong Kong films. They were “foreign,” because they came from abroad, but nobody in the audience had to read subtitles to understand them. It’s true that, in the ’60s, hits like La Dolce Vita, A Man and a Woman and Z were released in versions with the dialogue dubbed into English; so to many viewers these were not foreign-language films. But Crouching Tiger and The Passion of the Christ earned their hundreds of millions the old-fashioned way: in the original language. No recent foreign-language film has earned even a tenth of the gross of those two smashes. (READ: Corliss on the martial majesty of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) To gauge the foreign-film’s place in today’s America, we have to compile another list: of movies whose languages are truly foreign to most of their customers. Here’s what we got, from the 2013 releases: 1. The Grandmaster, $6.6 million (China: Mandarin) 2. The Gatekeepers, $2.4 million (Israel: Hebrew) 3. No, $2.3 million (Chile: Spanish) 4. Renoir, $2.2934 million (France: French) 5. Blue Is the Warmest Color, $2.1 million (France: French) 6. Fill the Void, $1.8 million (Israel: Hebrew) 7. The Attack, $1.7 million (Israel: Arabic, Hebrew) 8. Love Is All You Need, $1.6 million (Denmark: Danish, English) 9. Kon-Tiki, $1.5 million (Norway: Norwegian) 10. I’m So Excited!, $1.4 million (Spain: Spanish) Sad, isn’t it? Not that these aren’t worthy films, and from a wide swath of cultures, with Israel surprisingly landing three pictures in the top 10. But it’s not good that only Wong Kar-wai’s martial-arts epic The Grandmaster (another Weinstein release) earned as much as $6.6 million — about the same as the total gross of last year’s French-language Best Picture nominee, Amour. None of the others cadged as much as $2.5 million. The Gatekeepers, in second place, is a documentary about Israeli spies; No is a political thriller starring Gael García Bernal; Renoir is a portrait of the French painter; Love Is All You Need is a multinational romance, with Pierce Brosnan as the man falling for a Danish woman in Italy. (SEE: The Grandmaster on TIME’s “Top 10 Best Movies” of 2013) At the bottom of this list of 10 is a gay comedy by Pedro Almodóvar, the great and accessible Spanish director. Since his breakout with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in 1988, Almodóvar has been a favorite of the American art-house crowd, earning grosses in the $10-million to $15-million dollar range (in today’s dollars). He is also one of the last European auteurs whose name had marquee value as a guarantor of intelligent fun. Yet I’m So Excited! sold fewer tickets in the U.S. than any Almodóvar film in a quarter century, since before Women on the Verge. (READ: Corliss’s review of I’m So Excited!) If Almodóvar can’t sell a foreign-language film any more, neither can the community of movie critics. Last month the various critics groups named many different foreign movies as their favorites. Except for Blue Is the Warmest Color, none of those films appear on our list of top 10 absolutely-foreign movies. The Saudi Arabian film Wadjda would have been 11th, has earned $1.3 million so far, and Denmark’s The Hunt, an Oscar nominee for Foreign Language Film, has taken in about $600,000. None of the rest, including The Act of Killing, Blancanieves, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Drug War, Mother of George and The Past — this last directed by Oscar-winner Ashgar Farhadi (A Separation) and starring Oscar-nominee Bérénice Bejo (The Artist) — has reached even $500,000, or 50,000 tickets sold in a country of 315 million people. Is there hope for foreign-language films? Yes: in one movie that, curiously, won no prizes from the U.S. critics groups but did take the Golden Globe for best foreign picture and recently swept the European Film Awards (Best Film, Director, Actor, Screenplay and Editing). Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty is an update of La Dolce Vita, more than a half-century after the original. In a time of spare, minimalist European films, it teems with life, love, sadness, wit and a little sex. It is a reminder of what foreign films once were and could be: a vision of another culture, enticing, succulent and Other. (READ: Mary and Richard Corliss on The Great Beauty) After two months in U.S. theaters, The Great Beauty has earned about $1.3 million — not a paltry sum in these sad days, but it should do much better. Perhaps it now will, with a Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination. It may be a slim favorite to win. So go see The Great Beauty, if only to increase the chances of winning your office’s Oscar pool. But for better reasons: to expand the mind; to stretch the soul; to reconjure the challenges and joys of that endangered pleasure, the foreign-language film.
Take the tour × Assuming the following: • the game will be cracked at some pont no matter what • players are pushing to the limits • trolls exist What happens when these 3 combines? Regulating a troll can be handled if the device / game is not cracked, i.e. kick out, ban etc. But how to handle someone who comes online with different identities and ruins others fun? Do you check patterns? (same IP, being cooperative instead of competitive?) Should this be crowd sourced like in wikipedia and add rights to trusted users? We are having these issues, even though our game has only a small community. Is the game free, or is a subscription / purchase required? Is the online element peer to peer or does it go through a server under your control? – Adam 5 mins ago Answers to Adam's comment: • iOS game. Free version is available without multiplayer • Traffic goes through a server and is under our control share\|improve this question please change to wiki – f3r3nc May 31 '11 at 19:42 Wikis are to be used where the answers aren't very valuable (i.e. just a link to something else). Where expertise comes into play there shouldn't be a wiki so people can get points. – Tetrad May 31 '11 at 19:54 Is the game free, or is a subscription / purchase required? Is the online element peer to peer or does it go through a server under your control? – Adam May 31 '11 at 20:08 @Tetrad: okay, fair enough – f3r3nc May 31 '11 at 20:18 @Adam: question edited to answer your questions – f3r3nc May 31 '11 at 20:19 show 4 more comments 4 Answers up vote 4 down vote accepted Can you elaborate on "cracked?" How have they "cracked your game?" As far as players pushing the limits, this is normal. This is why you need to test your game as extensively as possible, and then also fix problems as they come up -- once the game is finished testing, firing the developers is the wrong thing to do because players will often still find other problems. And then when you add features in the future (because players might request something reasonable, or you wish to expand the story, etc.), it's possible to inadvertently introduce new problems that the developers will then have to fix (and then their fixes could break something else, ad infinitum...). Trolls are a social problem. The technological things you can do will be helpful tools in dealing with trolls, but because it's really a social problem the solution will always require at least some level of human intervention (e.g., players in the game who are volunteers or staff that have powers to kick disruptive users off the system). share\|improve this answer the game is on iOS. If the device is jailbroken all files can be modified on the device. This was one way to get around the login system and register multiple times and play against and them selfs to get more points. so here cracked means modifying files, not the working around the existing rules. – f3r3nc May 31 '11 at 23:33 It seems that you're putting too much trust in the end-user to NOT lie about their identity. One of the most important rules when dealing with security is to never trust what the client claims has happened -- in the context of gaming, the server must always make the decisions without ever delegating to the client (otherwise the client can simply send information like "100% accurate hit on target, maximum damage" and gain an unfair advantage). I don't know if this is the specific problem you're having, but perhaps it will at least be helpful to you in considering future design. – Randolf Richardson Jun 1 '11 at 2:39 The problem is not that deep yet, as said: players registered multiple times and played against each other. This way they had a player with many points and a helper. The former could climb up the rankings. Besides this, players could log in with the very same account and play against each other. That bug was clearly a bug and fixed. However, I do understand what you mean by trusting too much the client, thans for your comment – f3r3nc Jun 1 '11 at 8:41 You're welcome. Consider this: If you only allowed one client to connect from each IP address, those "game hogs" would still find a way around that by using a proxy server somewhere or just using multiple computers with different IP addresses assigned by their ISP. In the end, it won't stop it, but it will prevent groups of legitimate players at the same location from enjoying your game as part of "LAN party" activities. So, please be careful that whatever methods you use don't prevent genuine groups of players from enjoying your game at a LAN party (or other such event). – Randolf Richardson Jun 1 '11 at 19:54 I suspect that one of the reasons some games force new players to endure a "training area" for a while before they can join the main game is to curb this sort of "game hogging" problem that you're experiencing. Perhaps one thing you could consider doing is to not allow new players to engage in PvP activities until they reach a certain level and have developed a minimum number of skills across a minimum number of skill categories -- this would force them to actually develop their characters a little bit in PvE-only mode first, which is could be too much of a time commitment for the game hogs. – Randolf Richardson Jun 1 '11 at 19:58 show 1 more comment On a community based game, my honest opinion is that if you give the community the power, the game will regulate itself. For example, an online arena zone with hackers is really annoying for everyone, therefore you should give people the power to kick hackers out of the current game. Obviously certain models owe themselves better to this, and it can be exploited in the opposite way also, but this is just an example. By "cracking" I guess you mean that people have found a way to exploit your game and give themselves un unfair advantage. These can be dealt with by user regulation also, but more likely to better your security and heuristics. Unfortunately, people will always try, and generally succeed, to find a way around your system. The only real way is to have active moderators and make it easier for users to spot and flag players who look like cheaters. share\|improve this answer thanks for you answer. I cannot accept two answers and Randolf was quicker. – f3r3nc May 31 '11 at 23:35 add comment I am pretty sure every iOS device out there has a unique ID that you could register with the system when it connects. You could put something in your EULA that states clearly that if you play outside of the rules intended of the game then your multi-player access will be revoked at the decision of your company. Build in a little reporting mechanism for the game and that should be good enough for the community to find the people who appear to be having an unfair advantage due to outside means, giving you the ultimate control to remove their access to the network while still letting them play the game on their own. If you want to be Really nice, then you can also consider finding a way for people to put their game back in order and play normally, but that is going above and beyond. Hope this helps share\|improve this answer Instead of using the hardware device ID which is difficult to validate, I'd go with handing out a unique login ID to customers when they buy the game, and only allow users with a valid one to connect to the server. – Adam May 31 '11 at 21:11 add comment Ignore them. They are a minor, trivial part of your user base. OK based on your comment to my post, you don't have a cracker/troll problem, you have a design problem. I assumed you meant you had the typical hacker/cheater issue about every game has. You need to start thinking about blocking HOW they are hacking you, not WHO is hacking you. Determine how they are creating fake scores and dominating your top 50 list, and block the method. When the cheater count goes below a certain level, then just ignore them as there will always be cheaters. share\|improve this answer well then it's probably an architectural error on my side that they can climb to top 50 ruin others' fun. – f3r3nc May 31 '11 at 23:29 Probably, yes :) – Tim Holt May 31 '11 at 23:34 add comment Your Answer
You are here Member since April 2003 Orangey Fudge - Very Unhealthy What you need: I lb unbleached sugar 2 oz vegetable margarine 1 oz palm fat (or another of veg margarine if unavailable) 1/2 pint hazelnut milk finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed organic orange (or wash it well!) What you do: To make nut milk - get two ounces of hazelnuts and put them in a liquidizer with a quarter pint of water. Grind thoroughly and strain through doubled muslin or a very fine sieve. Get the pulp and whizz it again with another quarter pint of water, strain and then again with another quarter pint. You should have a little less than three quarters of a pint of nutmilk because you won't be able to squeeze all the moisture out. Bung this into a saucepan and simmer until it has reduced to half a pint (it evaporates quicker if you pour it from the saucepan into another heatproof vessel and then back again a few times during the process). Grease or line with baking parchment a tin about 8 inches by 8 inches. Put all the ingredients apart from the orange zest into a big saucepan (they should only come up a quarter of the height of the pan at most), heat slowly until the vegan sugar has disolved and then turn up the heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon or spatular. The mixture will probably look as if it is going to boil over. Turn the heat down if it looks as if this is happening and eventually enough of the liquid will have evaporated to remove the danger of this. Heat until the fudge mix reaches soft ball stage - you can determine this using a vegan sugar thermometer or drop a little into a bowl of cold water and if it forms a ball that you can squidge a bit with your fingers its at the right stage. Remove the mixture from the heat and beat well until the mixture thickens a bit. Add the orange zest and continue to beat well until it is quite thick and creamy but still just pourable. Pour it into the tin which should be placed on a cooling rack so that it cools down quicker and more easily. When it seems nearly set, mark it into squares - you can probably have nine or ten by nine or ten, but use your own judgment depending on how big you want the squares to be. When completely cool break into squares. I gave this and some other fudge which was the same basic recipe but with chocolate added at the end instead of orange zest for Christmas presents, with individual pieces wrapped in small rectangles of foil. Lots of calories and very unhealthy but a nice occasional treat or homemade present (students like me are allowed to give budget presents!) Preparation Time: 1 hour Cooking Time: Recipe Category: Be the first to add a comment. Log in or register to post comments
SGD Paper Help Mayor T, et al. (2005) Analysis of polyubiquitin conjugates reveals that the Rpn10 substrate receptor contributes to the turnover of multiple proteasome targets. Mol Cell Proteomics 4(6):741-51 Abstract: The poly-ubiquitin receptor Rpn10 targets ubiquitylated Sic1 to the 26S proteasome for degradation. In contrast, turnover of at least one ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) substrate, CPY*, is impervious to deletion of RPN10. To distinguish whether RPN10 is involved in the turnover of only a small set of cell cycle regulators that includes Sic1, or plays a more general role in the UPS, we sought to develop a general method that would allow us to survey the spectrum of ubiquitylated proteins that selectively accumulate in rpn10 cells. Poly-ubiquitin conjugates from yeast cells that express hexahistidine-tagged ubiquitin (H6-ubiquitin) were first enriched on a poly-ubiquitin binding protein affinity resin. This material was then denatured and subjected to immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) to retrieve H6-ubiquitin and proteins to which it may be covalently linked. Using this approach we identified 127 proteins that are candidate substrates for the 26S proteasome. We then sequenced ubiquitin conjugates from cells lacking Rpn10 (rpn10) and identified 54 proteins that were uniquely recovered from rpn10 cells. These include two known targets of the UPS: the cell cycle regulator Sic1 and the transcriptional activator Gcn4. Our approach of comparing the ubiquitin conjugate proteome in wild type and mutant cells has the resolving power to identify even an extremely inabundant transcriptional regulatory protein, and should be generally applicable to mapping enzyme-substrate networks in the UPS. Status: Published Type: Journal Article PubMed ID: 15699485 Topics addressed in this paper Number of different genes curated to this paper: 4 Topics Topics not linked to Genes Genes Additional Literature blue ball blue ball Function/Process blue ball blue ball blue ball blue ball Large-scale protein modification yg ball Mutants/Phenotypes blue ball Omics yg ball Primary Literature blue ball blue ball Regulation of blue ball blue ball Regulatory Role blue ball Strains/Constructs blue ball blue ball Substrates/Ligands/Cofactors blue ball Techniques and Reagents blue ball blue ball Author Searches 1. (1) Choose an author, 2. (2) Choose a search parameter, 3. (3) Click to implement
What Do Red Dead Redemption Players Have Against Crows?S Do Red Dead Redemption players hate crows? I shoot virtual deer and wolves a lot in that fantastic video game Western, but look at these stats, pulled from the Rockstar Social Club: What Do Red Dead Redemption Players Have Against Crows? Hey, all of you virtual cowboys, what did these crows ever do to you? You can't even sell their feathers for much money. Then again, when I'm not trip-skipping in Red Dead and instead listening to the dialogue while riding shotgun in a wagon, I've shot a crow or 20. Can't help it. These animal kill counts and other stats in the Rockstar Social Club are pulled from the consoles of gamers like me who have synced their Rockstar games to the company's website. By logging on, I just found out that someone named "A 1 Ton MESSIAH" skinned 19 skunks. Whatever keeps you warm on the frontier, A1. Just watch out for bobcats (other than the eight you skinned already). Can't bring myself to shoot a buffalo, though. That seems meaner than my honorable version of John Marston is capable. He's reformed! PIC via Flickr
131 reputation bio website towerfamily.org location Washington, DC age 34 visits member for 4 years seen Dec 3 at 4:04 stats profile views 2 Systems Engineer for University of Washington. I manage an assortment of machines, mostly Linux these days, that provide services to our entire campus, and in some cases, the entire State of Washington. Off the clock I enjoy SCUBA diving, amateur radio, and keeping the house from falling into disrepair. This user has not asked any questions Server Fault 1,016 rep 612 Super User 131 rep 3 Stack Overflow 101 rep 1 2 Votes Cast all time by type 2 up 0 question 0 down 2 answer
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Can Zynga succeed as a platform? The company's dealings with Facebook haven't always been easy. When Facebook decided to force developers to monetise virtual currency using its credits system, a move some lawyers believe may be illegal, it appeared that Facebook and Zynga were set for a very rocky relationship. But today, perhaps more out of necessity than anything else, Facebook and Zynga seem to get along fine. Even so, Zynga's move to become a platform shows that it hasn't forgotten how dependent it currently is on Facebook. The company's investors recognise that as well; shares of ZNGA rose more nearly 10% on the company's announcement. One of the most interesting pieces of Zynga's announcement: the fact that it wasn't just moving away from Facebook but will also open up its platform to third parties that want to distribute their games through If Zynga is able to out-platform Facebook and build the ultimate destination of social games on the web, it could be huge. Few details on how the company will work with third party developers have been made available, but you can be sure Zynga will be taking a piece of all of the virtual currency action on (just like Facebook). On paper, that could conceivably produce a new billion-dollar revenue stream for the company. There are a few major challenges, but the biggest problem may be one of trust: Zynga will have to convince other developers that it's a worthy partner. That's because Zynga's history is scarred by allegations that it "copies" games developed by others, using its marketing muscle and financial resources to make its copycat games more successful than the originals. The company hasn't exactly denied the allegations outright, and to be fair to Zynga, taking cues from the market isn't a bad strategy, even if it's one that lends itself to criticism. With this in mind, third parties contemplating a Zynga partnership will need to consider whether it makes sense to put their games onto the company's platform. After all, Zynga could, for instance, use the analytics derived from game play on to identify games worth copying in-house. In other words, game developers will need to weigh the pros and cons of using a platform owned by a direct competitor. Facebook, of course, is an easier partner to measure up. Sure, plenty of game developers aren't thrilled that they have to give Facebook 30% of their virtual currency revenue, but they also don't have to worry that Facebook is going to compete with them directly because Facebook isn't a developer of social games. From this perspective, now that Zynga wants other game developers to help it build its business, it may learn the hard way that in the game of business, you can succeed with an unscrupulous reputation only when you're sure the people who think you're unscrupulous will never have anything meaningful to offer you. Topics: Strategy & Operations Social Add your own Reader comments (0) Log in to post a comment
Science Fiction Studies #24 = Volume 8, Part 2 = July 1981 E.E. Nunan and David Homer Science, Science Fiction, and a Radical Science Education Edited by CE and RMP We contend that there is a contradiction between the nature of science and the work of the scientist in contemporary society, on the one hand, and what is taught about them in school, on the other. To make this contradiction apparent, we propose to survey current interpretations of the nature of the scientific enterprise and then trace the evolution of science-teaching. Against this background, we will sketch the possible educational role of "New Wave" SF, in which the contradiction is clearly confronted. Our analysis will finally lead to some reflections on the modalities and goals of a radical science education. First, however, we should say something about our methodological and philosophical assumptions. We intend to focus on the contradiction alluded to above by viewing scientific knowledge from an anthropological standpoint. We will be following Young's suggestion1 of looking at science in the context of the three interrelated elements of social system, socialization, and belief system. When those elements are congruent with the existing framework of power and ideology, they serve to reinforce the status quo. In such terms, scientific knowledge can be regarded as a belief system that presently functions to preserve the social order of the system in which that knowledge is produced. This conceptual framework offers a new perspective on the debate between those who espouse the traditional "internalist" view of science as a totally self-regulated activity and their "externalist" opponents, who emphasize outside forces as determining the rate, direction, and form of knowledge production. That debate has been something of a standoff between two more or less equally inadequate interpretations. The concepts we are endorsing provide a way out of the cul de sac of the "internalist"/"externalist" dichotomy. They supply the basis, chiefly, for transcending the internalist view by calling attention to the special and restrictive sub-systems generated to handle knowledge and its production, and also to the process of socialization into any such sub-system as a course reserved for the initiate and involving full acceptance of the current belief system of the specialist social group. This drastic redefinition reorients internalist and externalist views alike toward the contextual model of development exemplified in the cultural analyses of Foreman and the sophisticated neo-Marxism of Young in his examination of the historiographic and ideological underpinnings of the 19th-century controversy over Man's place in Nature.2 "Contextualism" seems to us the most satisfactory approach for understanding the relationships among knowledge, knowledge production, and social forces. Drawing upon a variety of "disciplines"—history, anthropology, psychology, political science, and so forth—the contextualist attempts to locate scientific knowledge with reference to a sociology of knowledge and the scientific enterprise as a whole with reference to the general cultural and social concerns of which it is a manifestation. Only in this way can we begin to get an undistorted picture of science as it is constituted and operates at a given historical moment. 1. Today's science is characterized by its industrialization. The industrialization of science, as Ravetz points out,3 has resulted in a new farm of science. Science is now a corporate rather than an individual activity— organized knowledge" in Sklair's sense of the phrase.4 The image of the lone scientist quietly carrying on his research in a university herbarium represents only a small fraction of the reality of modern scientific practice. Science these days is primarily an institutionalized pursuit; and to the extent that it has become an institutionalized part of the social order, it has become socially important. Sheldon, for one, notes the change in the conduct of science when he remarks, in his introduction to Blissett's Politics in Science, that the exchange between science and society has created a mutual dependency which is nowhere more strikingly evident than in contemporary America. The survival of `Big Science', with its large scale organization, costly installations, big budget, and numerous personnel, depends upon political support. In turn, American society has looked mainly to science to assure military security and insure domestic tranquility.5 The institutionalization of science has led to the elite management of a research system, with the majority of scientists consigned to the role of a special type of worker. In the US, for example, "it has been estimated that some 200-300 key decision makers—primarily scientists—constitute the inner elite out of a total scientific work force of some two million."6 As it is socially defined in the West, the scientific enterprise sides with the dominant culture. The values inherent in the structure of that enterprise are consistent with those necessary to the hierarchical division of labor characteristic of capitalism. Institutionalized science has made expertise the preserve, the privilege, the monopoly of those who are socially selected to hold troth knowledge and authority—which, according to Gorz,7 is a requisite for maintaining a hierarchical order in production generally and in society at large. Scientists themselves, whether or not they approve of the industrialization of science, encourage the public's ritual genuflection to science whenever their positions and privileged status are threatened. Such is the power of scientism that politicians regularly identify science with the liberal tradition and the values of a democratic state, and hence endorse its underlying values. Educators likewise subscribe to the mystique of science by assigning it a compulsory place in the curriculum. 2. To understand how science is taught in school and why it is taught the way it is, it is necessary to appreciate the essential features of internalist scholarship in the 1950s, from which present-day school-science derives its peculiar interpretation of science. During that decade, historians of science took care to avoid questions of social context, economic motivation, and political priorities as factors helping to shape the natural sciences. As Toulmin says, they drew a sharp line between the content of science and its context.8 The orthodox approach prevalent in the US at the time was based upon three central tenets: (1) that careful scrutiny and analysis of the arguments which emerge within the scientific "context of justification" will reveal that, properly conducted, natural science does indeed have a canon, method, or organon; (2) that the central procedures of that method can be captured and expressed in formal algorithms, relating the empirical observations of science to the theoretical propositions in terms of which they are to be explained; and (3) that the "rationality" of the natural sciences lies in conforming to the set of formally valid procedures implicit in the previous tenet. To be sure, isolated studies did question this orthodoxy: the Soviet historian Hessen argued that the real roots of Newton's Theory of Universal Gravitation in the Principia were to be found in the social and economic life of 16th-17th-century Europe; Manuel employed psychological analysis to trace Newton's intellectual ambition in part to the effects of infantile desertion; and Merton linked capitalism and the Protestant ethic with the rise of science and technology in 17th-century England.9 In the main, however, the internalist orthodoxy was not seriously challenged. The political implications of the internalist position did not go unrecognized. Polanyi, in his 1962 article on "The Republic of Science," acknowledged their connection with the ideology of the "free-market economy." Linking free-market ideology to the ideal conditions for the production of scientific knowledge, he points out "that the community of scientists is organized in a way which resembles certain features of a body politic and works according to economic principles similar to those by which the production of economic goods is regulated." He invokes the assumptions of the free market to describe both the economic principles and the governance of scientific activity. An invisible hand, "scientific authority," allows for the highest possible co-ordination of individual scientific efforts, just as Adam Smith hypostatized an "invisible hand" "to describe the achievement of greatest joint material satisfaction when independent producers and consumers are guided by the prices and goods in a market."10 Science, in Polanyi's view, is a self-co-ordinated system of independent initiatives generating a unique professional social group which supervises a professional code for the production of scientific knowledge. Such a community of scientists exercises stringent control over: (1) the selection of papers for publication; (2) the conferring of scientific honors and research funds; (3) the publication of textbooks and popularizations of science; (4) the teaching of science at the university and pre-university level; and (5) the protection of the individual scientist in the pursuit of her or his own research.11 Such controls were thought to insure the ethical neutrality of science against external interference, which (as in the Lysenko affair) destroys the autonomy of science and the "quest of truth." A number of subsequent studies have taken up Polanyi`s idea that the community of scientists is a body politic governed by economic principles similar to those which regulate the production of goods. Many of those studies, however, take issue with Polanyi's political conception of "economic principles" and with his apparent endorsement of a free-market ideal for science. They have also raised some embarrassing questions about the ethical and ideological neutrality of science—a matter to which we shall return presently. Yet science-teaching continues to perpetuate the internalist view in blissful ignorance of this or any other controversy about the nature of science that has followed in the wake of the Kuhn-Popper debate12 and (perhaps needless to say) without regard for any critical perspective on the socioeconomic determinants on the scientific enterprise that Polanyi (perhaps despite himself) has called attention to. Science-teaching remains the bastion for what might be called the internalist myth of science. Were some extraterrestrial being to survey the practices, texts, manuals, and overall content of school-science, it might conclude that science educators embraced Robert Hooke's injunction to scientists "to improve the knowledge of natural things" but not to meddle with "divinity, metaphysics, morals, polities,...or logik."13 Science educators still imagine a rear-view mirror picture of science, a composite of 19th century gifted amateurism and 20th-century professionalism. In contrast to the reality of scientific work as an activity subject to the rules and organizing principles of state or corporate capitalism, school-science offers the fantasy of the independent scientist following his individual whim or interest and free to gather data, theorize about it, and reach objective conclusions. The values intrinsic to institutionalized science are never considered. On the contrary, for schoolroom consumption science is presented as a value-free activity leading to value-free knowledge and having a life of its own, not to say a unique objectivity. In accordance with traditional internalist assumptions, the scientific enterprise is regarded as being ethically neutral. Napalm, neutron bombs, and similar boons to mankind are explained away so as not to impair that neutrality: how can the weapon be blamed for the crime? The privileged irresponsibility thus conferred on science and the scientist is part of the myth of science. The myth, as Charlesworth outlines it, holds that scientific knowledge is central and paradigmatic, with the value of all other forms of knowledge being judged by reference to scientific knowledge (rationality itself...being defined in terms of science):...that science...succeeded and supplanted both religion and philosophy, and that man's salvation depends upon science and that his whole fate is bound up with the progress of science:...that there is some kind of pre-established harmony between the advance of science and human happiness. Science textbooks implicitly and explicitly foster this myth. When dealing with the technological application of science, they represent science as being industrially beneficial, without reference to the (military, colonial, and profit-making) purposes of industry or to the nature of the societies which it creates. Science teachers. by their choice of content and methodology, likewise communicate—oftentimes unwittingly—an ideological position. Adopting internalist presumptions, they treat scientific change as illustrative of this history of ideas about a concept and science itself as representing a conceptual game in a drama played out by the "great men" in the history of science. Such spectacular intellectual performances, defining the advance of science (and, by implication the furtherance of human well-beingh command both awe and admiration. Students are given to understand that science is an elite study and that its purely theoretical concerns have a spin-off effect as technology, which brings improvements in living standards and the like. Scientists, it is intimated, should therefore be accorded complete autonomy and financial rewards as an elite group in society. By the way, students come to accept the idea that science education constitutes part of the filtering-out process by which candidates for the elite are selected. The myth of science is presently under attack from many directions. Why, then, should school-science be one of the last areas to register change? The simplest answer is that many science educators are unaware of the contemporary state of science. Being for the most part unfamiliar with industrialized science, they take their internalist conception of the enterprise from the research practices in a university. It can be argued that their antiquated notions have their uses from the point of view of scientific establishment. After all, the kind of science education they purvey acts to screen prospective candidates for a university education in science (a prerequisite for employment as a scientist). By exerting an influence on high school programs, the university academic insures that this functional relationship continues. Mere ignorance, however, though it may account for the persistence of the internalist view of the scientific enterprise, does not fully explain why school-science is allowed to go on retailing the myth of science without taking cognizance of its discrepancy with scientific reality. The truth is that science in an industrialized society is a value-charged and ideologically-laden activity. As S. and H. Rose point out, "science done within a particular social order reflects the norms and ideology of that social order."15 Science in the West accordingly embodies the norms and ideology generated by the industrial base of capitalism. Yet school-science conveys the opposite impression: it portrays science as a neutral study, free of the taint of ideological content. Our point is that any such depiction is itself ideological. By mythicizing the reality, school-science sees to it that science education confirms (or at least does not contradict) the values institutionalized in an industrial, democratic, capitalistic society. Indeed, Tobey suggests that science—and science education—has been promoted to support the socio-political values of Western technologized democracies as well as the professional interests of scientists as a group.16 The case made in the US, for example, was that democracy is the political version of the scientific method and that, correlatively, an understanding of the scientific method could strengthen democracy (especially in its industrialized and capitalistic form). Science, by this reasoning, became a method in search of content; and as the method (or process) was thought of as neutral, science itself was regarded as neutral. At the same time, science was depicted as a pre-industrialized phenomenon (i.e., as the activity of the individual armed with "scientific method"), and was hence identified with the liberal tradition and free enterprise. Scientific values were thus viewed as being congruent with the power structure of this form of democracy. A further clarification of the reciprocity between science education and capitalism in the West can be arrived at by asking why one can speak of a "scientist as a worker" but never "the worker as a scientist." The answer Gorz offers is that our society denies the label of `science' and of `scientific' to those skills, crafts and knowledge which are not integrated into the capitalist relations of production, are of no value and use to capitalism, and therefore are not formally taught within the institutional system of education. Our society... calls `scientific' only those notions and skills that are transmitted through a formal process of schooling and carry the sanction of a diploma conferred by an institution.17 In other words, the system of education so defines scientific knowledge as to preserve the existing social patterns established through capitalism. As Bowles and Gintis and Green and Sharp have argued,18 post-war educational reform in curriculum, pedagogical methods, and school architecture has done little to change the social role of the school. The educational system continues to inculcate values and attitudes conducive to a consumer society with its exploitative social relationships and the class structure consequent upon them. School-science plays an important part in that socializing process, on the one hand encouraging illusions of the "free scientist" and the privileged status of scientific work that seem to reconcile the contradiction between free choice and class distinctions, and on the other socializing the individual to accept her or his eventual place in the work force. This conditioning process even extends to the language of science textbooks and science-teaching, both of which rely heavily on scientific terminology and ex post facto abstractions which bear no resemblance to language in its colloquial use and require the student to "know" things he or she has not really learned. The argument whose essential outline we have attempted to sketch, then, amounts to this: that science education in the West takes the form that it has to meet the needs of the social system. It serves to identify the values of democracy with those of capitalism, and while presenting science as an asocial and apolitical pursuit, it perpetuates the notion of a scientific elite and fosters individualism as opposed to social concern. The school-science view of science as something unconnected with prevailing socio-economic arrangements is necessary for capitalism in democratic societies. Conversely, to ask that the means of production that science and technology generate be adapted to the social welfare of all rather than to exploitative purposes would be subversive of capitalism. By the same token, it is difficult to consider science within a political and social context without undermining its alleged "privileged irresponsibility" and exposing its (mutual) dependence on the status quo. Indeed, any such undertaking almost inevitably raises some embarrassing questions about the values of industrialized capitalism. For that reason, it should not be surprising that schools promulgate the myth of science as a pre-industrial activity—that is, as if it bore no relation to present socio-economic realities. Yet teachers ought to feel an obligation to face up to the disparity: they ought to make their students aware that the internalist conception of science is not at all congruent with most present-day scientific practice. 3. SF offers one avenue for approaching the contradiction between the school-science myth and the reality of the scientific enterprise. We will presently suggest some of the ways in which specific "traditional" and "New Wave" SF texts might be employed for that purpose. First, however, we might consider why it is that SF generally lends itself to such uses. In recent years, SF has moved towards "final emancipation from... its domination by adolescent technological fetishism." As Parrinder emphasizes,19 the genre has always involved some degree of imaginative transcendence of the existing social and "natural" order. One of the features of New Wave SF is a consciousness of the effort and struggle necessary for achieving that kind of detachment. It has moved SF towards the "soft" (social) sciences and towards speculative extensions of theory rather than the technological "filling in" of a theory. Even SF not properly belonging to the New Wave has come to focus increasing attention on systems of values derived from the implications of scientific theories. The "parallel" or "alternative" worlds of modern SF, with their self-consistent ground rules, offer themselves as analogues of the social, political, and psychic processes of the present human situation. The SF text depicts science and society as subject to an evolutionary process; and knowledge about them takes the form of a series of different possibilities for action rather than what the science textbook insinuates: a fixed and immutable "given." Furthermore, many works of SF seriously confront the contemporary state of science and provide a kind of contextual analysis of scientific knowledge and the operations of scientists in respect to the social, economic, and ideological circumstances of that scientific enterprise. New Wave SF in particular often does more than predict a future or envision another world: at its most significant, it locates science within specific value-systems, demonstrates the limitations of both, and examines alternatives. SF of this sort has a special educational relevance. It can be used as a means for bridging the gap between real science and school-science. It can serve to call attention to the value-emphases inherent in different types of science and for placing science in a socio-cultural context. So employed, the SF text can lead to an awareness of the assumptions hidden in school-science. For such purposes, the SF text must be looked upon as a fiction generated by extrapolating from scientific theory. The "textbook science" behind that extrapolation is sometimes considerable (as in Hoyle's The Black Cloud), and other times almost nugatory (as in Le Guin's The Dispossessed). But in either case, the extrapolation must be the central concern for determining what the fiction has to tell us about the larger factors affecting scientific theory and the paradigms they exemplify. This does not mean that any and all literary considerations are to be left out of account. On the contrary, we would propose that the first thing to be looked at is the matter of human motives in the fiction in relation to the plot and its outcome, the point of view of the narrator (if applicable) and of the author, the author's social context, and so on. These findings, however, should be integral to an analysis of the interconnections among the actors in the fiction and of their perception of their relationship to science; and that analysis, in turn, should contribute to an understanding of the relevance of the science to the fiction and hence to theoretical science at large. We do not mean to suggest that teachers should concentrate only on the "textbook science" contained in the SF extrapolation. To do so would amount to little more than presenting the school-science orthodoxy in a slightly unorthodox way. Instead, we are advocating "social analysis" of SF. The objective of the analysis is to reveal what a given SF text has to say about how science affects individuals as social beings and about how scientific knowledge results from human interactions in special social settings. To illustrate what we have in mind, we have chosen five examples, appropriate for various age groups and levels of intellectual maturity: Lem's The Invincible and Solaris, Fisk's Trillions, The Black Cloud, and The Dispossessed. 4.1 The Invincible (1967) is about an inter-stellar cruiser which lands on the desert-planet Regis III to investigate a loss of contact with an earlier expedition to the planet by the Condor. They find its crew dead and the ship in a state of total disarray. The Commander of the Invincible, Horparch, and his lieutenant, Rohan, face the problem of resolving the various explanations for the disaster put forward by the scientific experts aboard the cruiser. The notion of inorganic evolution represents the scientific extrapolation of The Invincible; the essential assumptions concerning organic evolution are exposed through this extrapolation. The relationships between the "building blocks" of matter and the concept of evolution provides a central scientific focus for the work. With organic evolution, change is dependent upon chance mutations of the genetic unit (a single gene or functioning unit of more than one gene) which affects an organism's survival value in a particular natural environment. Lem turns this form of evolution about and proposes inorganic evolution with building blocks of a much freer kind (unrestricted by the organic Watson-Crick "zipper" effect) occurring in a non-natural environment. Thus the scientific understanding of The Invincible involves a familiarity with orthodox explanations of organic evolution; and for the science student the work sharpens the concepts "evolutionary unit" and "natural environment." This understanding is furthered by consideration of the internal consistency of the new science provided by the extrapolation. The relaxation of the assumption concerning "natural environment" results in a superiority of a "lower" evolutionary form. As the crew of the Invincible proceed with their investigations, they are attacked by black clouds which consist of millions of tiny individual metallic flakes (each one on its own harmless). These clouds destroy the intelligent functioning of both humans and their robots. It is finally concluded that the clouds are the end result of millions of years of inorganic evolution which began with a robot technology introduced to the planet by an unknown civilization. Horparch is confronted with an evolutionary product which follows the first principle of a homeostat, to outlast, to survive under changing conditions however difficult and hostile those conditions might be" (6:101).20 Faced with this dilemma various solutions are mooted, one of which is the total annihilation of the clouds, for it is pointed out that they might leave the planet to become a threat to interstellar travel. Ultimately two factors dominate Horparch`s behavior, both involving a need for certainty. First, does the behavior of the clouds represent a collective intelligence, or merely a collective instinct? His persuasion that the latter is the case governs his final decisions about what he must do before he leaves. Away from the ship five men have been loss, and although it is hardly possible they can be alive, Horparch must be certain. The other crew members would otherwise be in doubt. He knows that unless the men who undertake such journeys are absolutely sure that a ship will never abandon them on an alien planet, "spaceflight would not be possible" (10:154). This unwritten morality, closely akin to the loyalty of patriotism, is, like the contemplated action based on the hypothesis about inorganic evolution, a means of mystifying the process of colonizing space. Finally Rohan is morally blackmailed into a search for the lost men. He has already entertained serious doubts about the actions of Horparch, the other scientists, and man's very motive for the exploration and colonization of space. He worries, in particular, about the use of technology in "destruction at all costs" to make the universe "safe" (see 9:145-47). His vision is of an active, evolving Universe, in which evolution is an essentially neutral process, a view which has much in common with that of the liberal conservationist. What Rohan fails to see, however, is that as the expenditure of capital and technology is necessary for space exploration, exploitation is "inevitable"; for Man assigns value to the "neutral" universe according to how his activities are hindered or facilitated. The universe is no more value-free than Africa was to the 19th-century explorer or the Atlantic to Columbus. In the end, Rohan returns to the Invincible with the knowledge that the men are dead, and with his vision further confirmed. Against this, however, we can see that the cruiser can now leave with Horparch`s "unwritten code" satisfied, through Rohan's action. In terms of the overall end of the exploiter lion of space, the expedition is a success. Horparch has the information he came for, and has lost a small amount of face, some men, and a quantity of replaceable hardware. The expedition, in terms of the overall scheme, is a success; Horparch as an individual is not to blame; indeed, blame doesn't enter at all. The special circumstances examined in The Invincible can be used for considering "normal" evolution of homogeneous organisms that inhabit the same planet. Science in the fiction emerges as a tool of colonialism, in whose service scientists are exploitable and expendable. Curiously enough, even such a radical extrapolation as represented by the theory of inorganic evolution neither changes the thrust of space exploration nor challenges the overall pattern of scientists' activity. They are portrayed as a tough-minded, competitive group who see their role, under Horparch, as the production of solutions, using standard procedures, whatever the circumstances. 4.2 Solaris (1961) is a novel largely about the kind of scientific culture and related ideology which man creates. It is set on a station suspended above the planet Solaris, the surface of which is an "ocean" consisting of a colloidal substance capable of assuming various semi-permanent shapes, some of which, "mimoids," are more or less copies of objects common on Earth or on the scientific space station. The planet has so long been the subject of study by scientists that a whole branch of science, Solaristics, has developed. Much of the novel concerns the history of Solaristics and its major figures, controversies, and theories. The actual nature of the planet is a matter of debate, and the manned station is the main source of empirical data for Solaristic studies. The scientific extrapolation central to Solaris is based on the notion of coding. The Visitors (referred to as "Phi" creatures or "polytheres") are projections materializing from the brains of the occupants of the space station. The origin of the materializations lies in the most durable imprints of memory, those which are especially well-defined, but of which no single imprint can be completely isolated. Any attempt to understand the motivation of the occurrences is blocked by the anthropomorphism of the "owners." In Freudian terms, the Ocean has made concrete the forces of the id; and the "blocking" is analogous to the postulated Freudian mechanisms which operate between the id and the ego. Information-processing theory asserts that the brain has an infinite capacity for storing events and thought; however, because of our limited retrieval capabilities, we are able to tap only minute amounts of raw or cross-fertilized "information." Theories about the physiology of memory are still in their infancy. Lem bases the extrapolation in Solaris around the RNA-protein model. This model considers that "memory" can be accounted for by the fact that specific molecules may store information. Evidence for this theory is that there is an abundance of RNA in brain cells, and one variant of the RNA-protein model associates specific experiences with qualitative changes in RNA molecules. Just as we are able to "read" genetic information through analysis of DNA structures located on chromosomes, the Ocean has been able to tap the psychic processes through "reading" the physio-chemical processes which alter the structures of cerebrosides. Ultimately, our physiological explanation of learning and memory will probably involve some combination of neurons, glia, RNA, and proteins by which coded information is stored and retrieved. The Ocean is able to interpret such stored traces and materializes the "psychic tumours" of each of the scientists on the station. Solaris demonstrates two limitations of the scientific culture, its anthropocentricism and institutionalization. Both are shown to result in a crippling mysticism. On arrival Kelvin remembers "that thrill of wonder which had so often gripped me, and which I had felt as a schoolboy on learning of the existence of Solaris for the first time" (2:25).21 The novel traces his descent into a mysticism of despair, which parallels the disintegration of his confidence in "orthodox" scientific explanation. His problem is compounded by the futile relationship he develops with the "reincarnated" Rheya, in which his emotion overrides his scientific "rationality" and thus demonstrates the latter's flimsiness. It is only her voluntary "suicide" which frees him again to consider the problem of Solaris. As he reads into the history of Solaristics, Kelvin becomes increasingly convinced of the limitations of institutionalized science to explain phenomena. Lem's choice of Kelvin as narrator allows the reader an acute sense of this bitter disillusionment. Science emerges as ultimately self-defeating: as a field once vital with originality and adventurous theorizing degenerates to mere data-gathering, new theories are produced only by those branded as cranks by the scientific establishment. In Kuhnian terms, Solaristics requires a new paradigm: and ironically it is Gibarian, the most cautious but optimistic proponent of contact with the Ocean, who had come closest to providing it. But if Kelvin can see all this for himself, it is Snow who has to point out to him its cause—the compelling geocentricism of science. As he says, "We don t want to conquer the cosmos, we simply want to extend the boundaries of Earth to the frontiers of the cosmos" (6:72). It is Snow, too, who points out that these limitations render Solaristics unequal to the task it has set itself, and who rejects equally the mystic and deistic alternatives which Kelvin wants to substitute for his scientific training. Finally, when the others decide to leave the station, Kelvin elects to stay, "in the faith that the time of cruel miracles was not past"—the miracles of contact with the Ocean and the "return" of Rheya—while knowing that one must "be resigned to being a clock that measures the passage of time, and whose mechanism generates despair and love as soon as its maker sets it going" (14:204). Solaris demonstrates the limitations of science as both a methodology and a faith and suggests the origin of these limitations. It is, in a sense, a despairing novel, for it posits inadequate alternatives. It shows scientists faced with phenomena which stretch their knowledge to its limits—and beyond. It depicts Solaristics as an elaborate attempt to construct a reality (or realities) which, however, cannot account for their human experience. The book might also afford the opportunity to examine the distinction between established and "illegitimate" science (or occultism; Lord Kelvin, after all, was an early proponent of experiments in ESP). Kelvin's tragedy, ultimately, is not his loss of faith in his scientific training, but his inability to see in himself a solution to the problem of Solaris. He has too long relied on terrestrial, societal props. 4.3 Tuitions (1971), according to its blurb, is SF "for readers of ten and over." Set in a US town, its main characters are a highly inventive boy, Scott, and a retired astronaut known as Icarus. "Trillions" begin to arrive on Earth quite suddenly one day. Somewhat like the metallic particles in The Invincible, they are tiny indestructible crystalline objects, resembling multifaceted gems. Their shape enables them to mesh together, and they soon prove themselves capable of building huge but apparently meaningless structures. Scott compares their mass-instinct with that of bees and the collective consciousness of the hive. What makes Trillions appear sinister is that they build imitatively, though there is no evidence that they intend harm. All over the world they are perceived as a threat by the political-military authorities. In America, General Hartman is in command of their destruction; and it is not long before he begins to contemplate the use of nuclear weapons against their structures. Since Trillions is written for young readers, it is not surprising to find a greater emphasis upon descriptive and observational aspects of text-book science. However, it is an extrapolation loosely based around the notion of ecological balance which forms the essential conceptual science of the work. Trillions are ecological organizations which can work to establish conditions for ecological balance by providing "themselves as the punching bag for all our fighting instincts" (p. 95).22 Mankind, by contrast, makes the achievement of that balance throughout the planet an impossibility. National aggressiveness works against the degree of cooperation which would be necessary to serve the cause of ecological stability. Once the sublimated forms of aggressive behavior are directed towards Trillions, however, the possibility of the human species' unified action emerges. By representing the Trillions as ecological organizations, the fiction introduces the background "text-book" science. It establishes a working vocabulary of discriminations (e.g., forming vs. mimicking vs. imitating, ecologically purposeful behavior vs. instinctual reactionary intelligence, individual vs. social intelligence) which are pinned to observations drawn from the natural history of such animals as bees, parrots, dead-head moths, chameleons, fishes, and insects. The novel deals with scientific discovery in both its creative and its puzzle-solving phases. Like the celebrated case of Friedrich August von Kekule, Scott arrives at his fundamental insight in the mind's "twilight period" when "the screen of his brain" is active and awaiting the familiar falling-asleep processes of the brain to take over. Just as Kekule's dream of snakes, in which one "had seized hold of its own tail and the form whirled mockingly before my eyes," resulted in providing the clue to the cyclic structure of the benzene molecule,"23 Scott's "meaningless" rhymes prompt the "eureka" response. From his discovery that Trillions are responsive to musical pitch, Scott extends control over the "learning process," first by stimulus-response conditioning and later by "aiming his mind" until Trillions could "hear" his mind as well as they could hear the note of the xylophone (p. 53). Scott gradually ascertains their ecological concern by teaching them how to communicate with him, first by taking advantage of their ability to imitate shapes and having them form letters of the alphabet, and eventually by a kind of telepathy. Their home planet, he learns, has been destroyed; but they can save the Earth from nuclear ecological disaster if mankind will hate them, for this will unite nations in the face of a common threat. In time that is what happens. The nations of the world, under the command of General Hartman, launch a concerted nuclear assault on the Trillions, but the result is holocaust and not the destruction of the Trillions. The General, whose whole strategy has been couched in politico-military terminology, amplified and slanted by the media, now finds his words turned against him. Set on a course, he cannot deviate; and following the failure of his first plan, he prepares to implement one even more terrifying. The novel sets out to show the limitations of a united global effort which is based solely on the monomaniac application of military-scientific knowledge. Scott, who has acquired considerable powers of telepathic communication with the Trillions, now uses them against Hartman, but finally has to send them away for the safety of the world. In that we are in the end returned to the status quo, the book is pessimistic. However, in its course it also raises a number of interesting issues, particularly as it opposes Scott, a child, working outside the structure of the scientific establishment and successfully influencing events, with the ineffectiveness of the highly sophisticated scientific worker, Icarus. Icarus stands as an example of obsolescence as well as disillusionment; his usefulness to science and the military ceases just as he is realizing his futility. Though ideologically muddled, the book does demonstrate the ineffectiveness of liberal conservationism in the face of corporate capitalism and its scientific-technological resources. While it is clear that pre-adolescent readers will not feel the full sociopolitical impact of the work, Trillions nevertheless provides an interesting and effective introduction to the notion of ecological balance. It also introduces basic questions about the nature of language and communication and, like Solaris, about psychic phenomena. Most importantly, though, ecological science is placed in its political perspective as an example of scientific knowledge which is pushed aside because its application on a national or global scale is inimical to the interests of capital, which is represented in Trillions in its military aspect. 4.4 When Fred Hoyle says in the Preface to The Black Cloud that "there is very little here that could not conceivably happen," he is referring not only to the text-book science of the fiction, but also to the social milieu with which it deals.24 Set only a little in the future (1965-75; the book was published in 1957) it "establishes" its authenticity mainly through narrational techniques, pretending to be an account found, years after the events portrayed, in the private papers of one of the protagonists. The world in which Hoyle's characters move is a faithful copy of one familiar to him: the English socio-political Establishment—the Oxbridge circle of eminent scientists—and the reciprocally dependent and exploitative relationship which exists between the "two cultures." The science, too, is "realistic," representing the contemporary state of accepted paradigm knowledge in cosmology and computer science. Socially and scientifically it is the world of C.P. Snow's "Strangers and Brothers" novels. The main object of The Black Cloud is to explore the notion of social responsibility in science and government. Its chief character, Kingsley, is an eccentric and brilliant astrophysicist, a Cambridge Professor who is regarded by the political establishment, which funds his work, as something of a renegade. Kingsley has no patience with politicians, and entertains the elitist notion that world peace and mankind's safety rest with the international "brotherhood" of science. His colleagues are largely men—Americans, Russians, Australians, Swedes—who share his interests (physics and music). The first part of The Black Cloud deals with the discovery of the Cloud and of its implications. On the one hand, the focus here is on the scientific theorizing about the nature and speed of approach to the Solar System of this vast cloud of gas; and on the other, attention is given to the political maneuvering which goes on as the world governments prepare to face the consequences of the Cloud's arrival. Hoyle's central scientific extrapolation concerns the physical and "psychological" nature of the Black Cloud. In the Preface, he refers to the Cloud as a "black hole in the sky," and thus invokes what in 1957 (if not still) would have been regarded as the speculative theory of "black holes." (The "textbook" science of "black holes" has since been developed by Penrose's [1965] significant paper on Gravitational Collapse and Space-Time Singularities.2S) Secondly, Hoyle builds into the properties of "black holes" the notion that the Cloud represents a source of intelligence. Since the transmissions themselves cannot be primary causes of ionic fluctuations at the periphery of the Cloud (the energy to produce such ionization is insufficient), the Cloud itself must be a source of power, capable of reacting (and communicating). The next extrapolation is thus concerned with what differentiates the animate from the inanimate. This distinction forms a major topic in lower secondary science and is typically handled by the application of a classification scheme applied in an algorithmic fashion. Hoyle's book might therefore generate discussion about the assumptions implicit in such a scheme. The text-book science which permeates The Black Cloud is more obvious than it is in our other examples of SF. Hoyle is so punctilious about having his science accurate that he even provides footnotes which give approximate calculations in regard to specific problems. The predictions (hypotheses) offered as the Cloud approaches range in concern from atmospheric heating and cooling and biological properties of plants and animals to Newton's laws of celestial mechanics. The Cloud arrives in the Solar System and stays there, blocking the Sun's light. While the Earth undergoes massive ecological disasters caused by drastic cyclic weather changes, the scientists snug at Nortonstowe continue with their experiments and listen to Beethoven. Yet the Cloud has its psycho-political impact. First the scientists become more and more selfresponsible, to the alarm of the politicians. Secondly, they gain power because they have the only radio equipment in the world capable of universal reception and transmission. Finally, they determine the nature of the Black Cloud as an immensely ancient entity that constitutes a vast intelligence. Their equipment and knowledge enable them to establish contact with it, and a two-way transfer of information begins. They ask it a number of questions about the origins of the universe and the nature of God. These prompt it to reveal that it is leaving precisely because it has "heard" of an event occurring relatively nearby which will throw light on such problems. It is going to investigate, but before it goes equipment is set up to allow it to transmit some of its fundamental knowledge to individuals in its own language. Kingsley, in proposing his animate explanation of the Cloud, imagines himself to be free of the psychological block of "earth centeredness." However, it is patently obvious that this "earth centeredness" still inhibits his thinking inasmuch as his scientific explanations are still steeped in the laws applicable to Earth. (Kingsley readily assumes that such scientific laws apply to the universe at large.) Thus we find explanations of the genesis, evolution, internal functioning and neurological control of the Cloud in terms of parallel functions of earthly "beasts." Biological evolution is seen as taking place within the Cloud; and its genesis is perceived in terms of propitious circumstances (suggestive of explanations of the origins of Earth`s biological material), its internal ordering in terms of magnetism, and its neurological control in terms of our laws of electromagnetic transmission. Ultimately, it is this "earth-centeredness" that destroys Kingsley. The radical nature of the knowledge transmitted to him causes a drastic reorganization of his brain's neurological patterning and thereby causes his death. With Kingsley a dead scapegoat and the Cloud gone, life in all respects returns to normal. Neither politicians nor scientists emerge with much credit, but Hoyle's notion of the scientist as heroic victim remains. This obscures from view the fact that his scientist-saviors demonstrably fail largely because they choose to operate outside either a national or global society to which they are responsible. Politically naïve in all senses of the word, they have regressed into a kind of liberal anarchism, a privileged political position suited to the frontiers of Establishment Science but of little use to social betterment. Whatever they have achieved, it is not an independence of action; they remain "workers," useful and powerful only as long as particular circumstances last. As the most orthodox work of SF discussed here, The Black Cloud at first seems of most use educationally in terms of the text-book science it contains. This is clearly set out in footnotes, diagrams, and detailed conversations containing scientific reasoning. These are the means Hoyle employs to create an impression of authenticity. Yet, while the novel contains material on physics, biology, mathematics and so on, its value to radical-science teaching lies more in its serving to reveal the limits of existing paradigms and the limited effectiveness of scientists' actions. However, there remains a problem here. Solaris, too, faces these issues more or less as a matter of intent. Kelvin, and Snow as well, present Solaristics—that is, are aware of it—as theory and methodology to be questioned in the light of the events of the novel which their science cannot explain. At least they realize the need for new, "unorthodox" solutions. Hoyle's scientists do not. Some of them, like Marlowe, may have qualms about some of their actions, but none of them questions his own scientific intuition—which is not to say that they do not want to learn from the Cloud. Our final impression is that what the narrator, Dr McNiel, says of his generation also has aptness for the book as a whole: it is "uncertain, not quite knowing where it list going" (p. 249). 4.5 If Solaris investigates the culture of science and the role of individual scientists in it, The Dispossessed (1974) sets out to examine the role of the major scientist within society. By alternating perspectives from Urras to Anarres, Le Guin is able to compare the scientist's role in two different social systems. Her account of the inventiveness of the Annaresti in eking out an existence on their world, through the application of technology in a socialist economy, puts ecology and biology—as well as geography—in a new perspective. Hundreds of years before The Dispossessed opens, Anarres was settled by a dissident anarchist group from Urras, who were led by Odo, the creator of their fundamental ideology and writer of the works according to whose principles the new society was (and is) arranged. Annares was sealed off from Urras by "The Terms of the Closure of the Settlement of Anarres" which allowed only radio contact and trade, but no migration. Both societies know of the existence of other worlds beyond their solar system, Hainish and Terran, which have established embassies on Urras. Again, both societies are aware of the states of Hainish and Terran knowledge, particularly in physics. The novel traces the career of the brilliant Anarresti physicist Shevek, who becomes the first person from his world to be permitted to visit Urras. From youth, his inventiveness and humanity have led him to both brilliant achievement and periods of (voluntary) exile, for despite the principles set within its scientific community as they do in society at large. Shevek has suffered plagiarism and lack of acceptance on the one hand, and political denigration on the other, since ideologically he holds firmly to Odonic principles, which he sees as being eroded. Le Guin has surprising skill in creating "other worlds" with totally consistent social, physical, and semantic systems. Here she shows one which is accepted by the average member of society as generally happy and self-regulating, but which is yet open to manipulation and political intrigue. Shevek's journey to Urras is not popular, but he sees it as essential to "shake up things, to stir up, to break some habits, to make people ask questions. To behave like anarchists!" (13:317).26 But as well as this sociopolitical role, his journey has a scientific aim. He wants a change of scene and colleagues so that he can go ahead with his physics. In particular, he seeks a milieu in which his work is recognized—and Urrasti society has awarded his achievement its highest accolades. The novel's scientific extrapolation in describing this work is of fundamental importance. The extrapolation in The Dispossessed centers around relativistic field theory (and implies, by the way, that present orthodox or "text-book" physics has become a backwater). Shevek is working on a special branch of temporal physics which is directed towards a general field theory of time. To him a true chronosophy must provide a field theory in which the relationships between the linear and circular aspects or processes of time can be understood. He explains the relationship between the linear (sequential) and circular (simultaneist) ideas by a "foolish little picture": "you are throwing a rock at a tree, and if you are a Simultanist the rock has already hit the tree, and if you are a Sequentist it never can" (7:190). Shevek has been given a book translated from Terran containing the results of a symposium on the theories of Relativity, the physics of which seems outdated and cumbersome. Yet he found the work of Ainsetain (Einstein), the originator of the theory, strangely stimulating. He experienced a sympathy with Ainsetain's quest for a unifying field theory, for after all, it was also his aim. Ainsetain had explained the force of gravity as a function of the geometry of space-time and had then sought to extend the synthesis to include electromagnetic forces; but he had not succeeded. His quest was not furthered by quantum scientists, as indeterminacy (which old Ainsetain had refused to accept) led them into a different form of physics. Yet Ainsetain's original intuition had been sound—indeed, Cetian physics equipped with theories of infinite velocity and complex cause had generated a unified field theory. Le Guin, through Shevek, provides an accurate description of relativistic concepts.For Ainsetain, too, had been after a unifying field theory. Having explained the force of gravity as a function of the geometry of space-time, he sought to extend the synthesis to include electromagnetic forces. He had not succeeded. Even during his lifetime, and for many decades after his death, the physicists of his own world had turned away from his effort and its failure, pursuing the magnificent incoherences of quantum theory with its high technological yields. (9:232) Just as Einstein noted that "after long probing I believe that I have now found the most natural form for this generalization [unified theory], but I have not yet been able to find out whether this generalized law can stand up against the facts of experience,"27 so Shevek seizes upon the notion that a General Temporal Theory does not rest upon the improvability of the hypothesis of a real co-existence of simultaneity and sequency. He is convinced that scientific theories are different from mathematical systems, which may be internally consistent and yet not represent or correspond to any form of reality. The book thus provides brilliant insights in the area of relativity theory. The Urrasti, of course, are interested in Shevek's work for other than theoretical reasons. It will, after all, become the basis for a technology making possible instantaneous communication over interstellar distances. That is, it has use in the commercial, military, and political sense. Shevok finds that Urrasti academic life is intensely political and competitive, and is initially puzzled by the beauty and elegance of his surroundings. Gradually he becomes aware that he is seeing only part of the picture; and through a series of contacts, he discovers the exploited classes of Urrastian society, and in time gets involved in a recognizably socialist uprising against established authority. A different set of cirumstances now conspire against his work, and the novel clearly shows the extent to which scientific experimentation and theorizing are the products not just of the established base of scientific knowledge, but of social and personal constraints as well. He eventually completes his work in a short period of intense effort; and even as he produces it, it is stolen by fellow scientists. His part in the uprising is explained away. (His eminence as an intergalactic scientist protects him in a situation which parallels that of the Russian dissident Andrei Sakharov.) Yet he returns home optimistic, secure in the knowledge that the events surrounding his visit to Urras have done much to set Anarres back to Odonian ways. Realizing that his major period of scientific creativity is almost certainly behind him, he looks forward to a life devoted more fully to social and domestic concerns within a setting which he is convinced is a preferable alternative to that on Urras. Unlike Hoyle's Kingsley, Shevok is aware that society and science are inseparable, and that social change cannot be affected by people possessed of scientific knowledge and repute who merely want to act "from the outside." By juxtaposing accounts of Shevek's life on Anarres and on Urras, Le Guin clearly exhibits scientific work to be integral to socio-historical evolution, and the technology dependent on science to be subject to the same sociohistorical forces. Methodology emerges as a social process, a product not only of knowledge but also of ideology and social constraints. The Dispossessed is probably the aptest instance for demonstrating the nature of a scientist's activities. We have in Shevek a person who is aware of how familial, social, sexual, and scientific constraints impinge upon his work both in science and in society. His "social mobility" allows the novel to explore alternative situations in which a scientist can work. Shevek is no laboratory-cloistered recluse: though he does need periods when he works alone, he also needs time to participate in society at large. By narrating the novel from his point of view, Le Guin keeps the reader aware that what Shevek does as a scientist is affected by a number of different but interrelated factors in his social and individual existence(s). 5. A science education which attempts to face the contradiction that we have drawn attention to would be radical in the sense that its values would oppose the present status quo. SF, in drawing attention to the value systems created within parallel worlds, provides one vehicle for the analysis of science in social contexts; and because of the educational flexibility of the "vehicle," it provides a valuable starting point for clarifying the values of teacher and student alike. However, to achieve a radical science education, much more than an analysis of SF's "scientific" content and social commentary is required. A radical science education considers the context of science, and its content includes not only text-book science and extrapolations from current scientific theory but also the particular science of a particular society. Science cannot properly be studied as an apolitical or asocial entity. It is shaped by social factors and responds to social change; and its discoveries find expression in social and political terms. Analysis of the symbiotic relationship that obtains between science and society is the raison d'etre of a radical science education. The aim of such an education is not principally to educate in science hut to educate about science in a particular society. Behind this undertaking is the belief that, as knowledge production in science is a result of social action. scientific knowledge (like other forms of knowledge) cannot be idealized or extracted from its social context. A radical science education is essentially a study of relationships, first of man to his environment, and secondly of man to a self whose conception science and technology is continually altering. We have already suggested how SF might further the educational analysis of the symbiotic connection between science and society. Initially, such an analysis might be appended to a conventional science course, perhaps taught by the science teacher. This might prove to he a first step in the direction of interdisciplinary and integrated approaches involving significant changes in curriculum: in course structure, teaching methods, and stance toward instructional material. There are two obstacles in the way of the kind of pedagogical changes we are advocating. The first is instructors' altitudes. The teacher would need to have a commitment to the notion of a radical science education. Her or his values would have to be consistent with those attaching to a social view of science. A teacher who holds strong socio-political convictions supporting the elitist view of science could hardly be expected to embrace the notion of radical science with enthusiasm. And even those teachers who are sympathetic to such ideals may find it difficult to reorient themselves methodologically. After all, the methods and patterns of teaching communicate values as much as the explicit course content does; and to espouse one set of values through the curriculum and another set through the methods and procedures of classroom communication involves a contradiction that students readily perceive—and are confused by. Secondly, there is the problem of imitatable models. Examples of content treated in the style of a radical science education are few and far between. Furthermore, it is quite unlikely that a curriculum giving explicit recognition to values opposed to the present political and social status quo would gain wide support. Progress toward curricular reforms conducive to radical science education is therefore likely to he slow. Our own convictions on these matters have been inspired by recent efforts to reintegrate the sociology of science into the sociology of knowledge and thus raise questions about the possible "social factors" which interact with the content of scientific knowledge. Those attempts, as Klima notes, were in turn stimulated by Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, whose central hypothesis, that `normal' science is governed, not by a timeless, ahistorical and generally applicable canon of methodological rules leading to cumulative growth, but rather by specific traditions or `paradigms' which tightly and with relative arbitrariness circumscribe the range of legitimate problems and methods of problem-solving, has opened the search for social factors conditional for the selection and acceptance of such `paradigms.' The result is to re-open (at least for non-Marxist sociologists), the problematic of the `social roots' of scientific thought.28 We have taken the view that part of the answer to the problematic connection between science and society is provided by studies which contend that the form of scientific knowledge production has changed in ways which reflect industrialization, bureaucratization, and the political needs of capitalism. Here we would agree with the suggestion of Johnston and Robbins that "external forces are not only responsible for [this form of] social division of labour but have had a direct influence on the differentiation through cognitive specialization." The type of occupational control in science affects the type of knowledge produced, the structure of science as a whole, and the structure of the individual specialties.29. "Until very recently," B. Dixon writes, "anyone who asked the question `what is science for?' could simply be categorized as foolish, provocative or ignorant."30 Science curricula will be faced with the very same question. Is research and development in science (mostly government funded) directed to providing a better life in terms of health, housing, and transportation? Or are such vast sums directed toward the development of "more sophisticated weapons and counterinsurgency technology (to protect corporate interests abroad) and towards automation, information-handling technology, and technologically-induced obsolescence (to maintain the viability of the economic system at home)"?31 On a practical level, the content of a radical science education should be structured so as to enable mastery of the technological world. Wherever science and technology affect daily life, students would have the information necessary to understand and cope with them. This means that the chemistry of making cement, the nutrition of bodily health, the physics of the refrigerator, the biology of pregnancy, and so forth should constitute part of a student's education. On a more philosophical level it means that the question of "what is science for?" permeates the study of science. The discussion of the topic of energy (conservation, transformation, application, and sources) cannot be separated from analysis of electrical power demands, pollution, oil and uranium, radio-active waste, and political control of the means of distribution. The study of cell biology and genetics should not avoid talking about genetic manipulation, sickle-cell anemia, ethnic weapons, and health-care delivery systems. The physics of transistors and electronic systems cannot be divorced from the automated battlefield or long-range surveillance systems. A radical science education, we repeat, attempts to educate in and about science in a particular society. An education in science retains much of the "hard" science of present science texts; indeed, this fundamental element of "hard science" is central to the kind of education we are proposing. What needs to be stressed is that an education in science should be carried out conjointly with an education about science in a particular society. The emphases should be on both the "social responsibility" of science and the social roots of scientific thought as the latter interacts with its political, economic, and cultural determinants. Only in that way can the contradiction between science-teaching and the realities of science be disposed of. 1. R.M. Young, "Science is Social Relations," Radical Science Journal 4 (1976) :66- 129. 2. See, for example, R. Johnston, "Contextual Knowledge: A Model for the Overthrow of the Internal/External Dichotomy in Science," Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology 12 (1976):193-203; R.M. Young, "The Historiographic and Ideological Contexts of the Nineteenth Century Debate on Man's Place in Nature," in M. Teich and R.M. Young, eds., Changing Perspectives in the History of Science (London, 1973), pp. 344-438; and P. Foreman, Weimar Culture, Causality and Quantum Theory 1918-1927," Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 3 (1971):2-225. See also, B. Barnes, Scientific Knowledge and Sociological Theory (London, 1974). 3. J.R. Ravetz. Scientific Knowledge and Its Social Problems (Middlesex, 1971). 4. L. Sklair, Organized Knowledge (Suffolk, 1973). 5. M. Blissett. Politics in Science (Boston. 1972), p. ix. 6. Hilary and Steven Rose, "The Incorporation of Science," in The Political Economy of Science ed. H. & S. Rose (London, 1976), p. 31. 7. A. Gorz. "On the Class Character of Science and Scientists." in The Political Economy of Science (see note 6), p. 62. 8. S. Toulmin, "From Form to Function: Philosophy and History of Science in the 1950's and Now." Daedalus. 106 (1977):143-62. 9. B. Hessen. "The Social and Economic Roots of Newton's Principia" in N. Bukharin et al., Science at the Crossroads: Papers From the Second International Congress of the History of Science and Technology 1931 (London, 1931). pp. 151-229: F. Manuel. Portrait of Isaac Newton (Cambridge, 1968): R.K. Merton. "Science, Technology and Society in Seventeenth Century England." OSIRIS, 4 (1938):414-565—summarized in G. Basalla. The Rise of Modern Science: Internal or External Factors? (Lexington, MA: 1968). 10. M. Polanyi. The Logic of Liberty (Chicago, 1951), p. 66. 11. M. Polanyi. "The Republic of Science: Its Political and Economic Theory." Minerva. 1 (1962):54-73. 12. For further discussion see E.E. Nunan. "History and Philosophy of Science and Science Teaching: A Revisit," Australian Science Teachers Journal, 32 (1977):65-71. See also P. Feyerabend, Against Method (London, 1975): D. Phillips. "Paradigms and Incommensurability," Theory and Society 2 (1975):37-61: B. Barnes. op. cit. Note 2): M. Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge (London. 1974): and T. Caunihan, "Epistemology of Science: Feyerabend and Lecourt." Economy and Society 5 (1976):74-110. 13. Quoted in S.F. Mason. A History of the Sciences (NY, 1962), p. 259. 14. M. Charlesworth. "The Myth of Science," Nation Review. 26 Jan.-l Feb. 1978, p. 11. 15. S. Rose and H. Rose, "The Radicalisation of Science." in The Political Economy of Science, p. 2. 16. R.D. Tobey, The American Ideology of National Services (Pittsburgh, 1971), p. xiii. 17. A. Gorz. "Of the Class Character of Science and Scientists," in The Political Economy of Science, p. 61. 18. S. Bowles and H. Gintis. Schooling in Capitalist America (London, 1976): and R. Sharp and A. Green, Education and Social Control (London, 1975). 19. P. Parrinder, "The Black Wave: Science and Social Consciousness in Modern Science Fiction," Radical Science Journal 5 (1977):37-61. 20. This and subsequent citations from Lem's book refer to The Invincible. trans. Wendayne Ackerman (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1973). 21. This and subsequent citations from Lem's book refer to Solans trans. Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox (London: Faber & Faber, 1971). 22. This and subsequent citations from Fisk's book refer to Trillions (London: Penguin, 1973). 23. See. A. Koestler, The Act of Creation (London, 1964), p. 118. 24. This and subsequent citations from Hoyle's book refer to The Black Cloud (London: Heinemann, 1957). 25. See D.A. Sciama, "The Limits of Space and Time: Exploding Black Holes and the Origin of the Universe," Daedalus, 106 (1977):33-40. 26. This and subsequent citations from Le Guin's book refer to The Dispossessed (London: Panther, 1975). 27. A. Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory. 15th ed. (London: Methuen, 1952), p. 156. 28. R. Klima, "Scientific Knowledge and Social Control in Science; the Application of a Cognitive Theory of Behaviour to the Study of Scientific Behaviour," in R. Whitley, ea., Social Processes of Scientific Development (London, 1974). 29. See R. Johnston and D. Robbins, "The Development of Specialties in Industrialized Science," The Sociological Review, 25 (1977):87-109. 30. B. Dixon, What is Science For? (Suffolk, UK, 1976), p. 11. 31. "Science Teaching: Towards an Alternative" (symposium), Science for the People, 4 (Sept. 1972):9. moonbut.gif (4466 bytes)Back to Home
View RSS Feed If you have ever kept sps under T5 lighting advice needed Rate this Entry Well it's me again and again I am having questions about keeping millepora under my lighting. I have had these 4 millepora frags for over a month now and I figured I would slowly acclimate them starting from the bottom up to a higher location in the tank. I have all my brighter colored millepora just under halfway up the tank now but I have a more of a greenish colored one that I can't seem to get off the bottom of the tank. Everytime I moved it up even an inch all of it's polyps retract (I should note that none of them have good polyp extension at all) and the color gets lighter and fearing a bleach I quickly move it back to the bottom where it recovers in a matter of days. They are almost all showing growth and the one that stays at the bottom in the sand actually has the most growth of them all. I have an orange montipora cap high in the tank and loving it (then again nothing can kill that thing) Currently I am running a 6 bulb T5 HO fixture on a 75 gallon but I have changed the lighting schedule on it with the assumption that my lights were frying the frags. All six bulbs are not on at the same time any more I run just 2 blue plus for about 3 hours and then those go off and I run the other 4 bulbs for about 5 hours and then everything goes off for the night I have only been running that schedule for a week. I have a Vortech MP40 running in short pulse right now for all my flow. I also am running Vertex bio pellets and refugium in a 35 gallon sump and a reef ocopus 150 skimmer. All tank parameters as far as ammonia, nitrites, phosphates, and nitrates are zero. Dkh is currently 9 and I am slowly raising it, calcium is about 420, and magnesium about 1600 due to last months fight with bryopsis but this is a problem that has been going on before that. I know I have been told to raise my lights up about 7" higher then they currently are before but my wife just isn't on board with that. So my question is am I on the right track running reduced light? How is it that I see sps dominated tanks with acros and milles up in the top part of the tank but I am having a hard time just keeping mine from getting fried in the lower half with these lights? any advice or answers would be greatly appreciated. Submit "If you have ever kept sps under T5 lighting advice needed" to Digg Submit "If you have ever kept sps under T5 lighting advice needed" to Submit "If you have ever kept sps under T5 lighting advice needed" to StumbleUpon Submit "If you have ever kept sps under T5 lighting advice needed" to Google 1. Alaska_Phil's Avatar cyano, I ran 4x54 T5's over a 55 gal tank with no adverse affects to anything. Including a Pocillapora and birds nest that're growing like a weeds. A friend of mine has 6 T5's over his 40 breeder and his center piece is a gorgeous tourquoise staghorn Acro, the top of which is only 2" below the surface now. Both of us run our lights 3 to 4" above the water, with good reflectors. He's using a Sunlight Supply fixture, and I'm using Icecap retrofit kits. We both run all our lights for most of the day. I know Marc has stated a couple times he think UV is the culprit (there's a comments to that effect in Eric Borneman's book too). But I've studied lighting design and wave propagation (in electromagnetics not water), and I can't see a couple more inches of air reducing UV at all. If you're worried about UV, you might try putting a glass shield between the lights and water. Cheap glass will filter out nearly all of the UV. That said, if the light is the problem at all, I wonder if the reflectors might be the problem. If you have really good reflectors, you might be getting only the spectrum of 1 lamp on a specific coral. Raising the lights would help them have more overlap before the light hits the water. Personally, I have trouble believing we could produce too much light, or UV, with our T5's for SPS corals. Most of these species live on the reef crest in the wild, where they're exposed to the direct sun with little or no water over them at low tide. Sunlight is 100 times more intense than any fluorescent at 5,000 footcandles (~50,000 lx) and 10X the the UV. I'm getting ready to set up a 75 myself, I'll be moving the current four T5's over to it, and adding 2 more. I have a low ceiling, where the tank is going, so my lights will again be only 4 inches or so off the water. I'm planning to have mainly SPS corals up high, so I'll keep you posted. Personally, I'd suspect the bryopsis, and your battle with that, may have had more of a detrimental effect on your corals than your lights. Be patient and let things stabilize for a bit. 2. cyano's Avatar Thanks for the reply phil. The only reason I stated that I didn't think that is was my bryopsis battle is because I was bleaching them up high in my tank last year before the first sign of bryopsis ever showed it's ugly face, not saying that the aftermath isn't a contributing factor at this time mind you. The lights right now sit 3-4" off of the water and the highest I have ever had any coral in the tank would still be a good 7-8" from the top of the tank (thats the current montipora I have never had an acro or millepora that high) meaning that when it's all said and done thats 10" from the lights, so I personally am leaning against a single spectrum possibility once again not saying that it's not it but I have my doubts about that being my problem right now. I may look at re installing my glass tank cover that I originally got with my tank to see if that helps at all crossing my fingers. Did you or your friend have a sealed tank? How do you acclimate your sps? and how long did it take you guys to move your corals from lower in the tank to higher? Did you have to move any lower to prevent bleaching and then re acclimate them to a higher location? Again thanks for reply Phil I would have responded back sooner but we went to the Tennessee Aquarium here locally in Chattanooga (my son loves it there) and I had to go look at some successful fish tanks but I really do like the idea of adding the glass back over my top and I will see if that helps. 3. cyano's Avatar I have placed the glass back in between the light and the tank and reset the lights so that all six bulbs come on for about 4 hours together so I will observe the corals to see how they respond. 4. Alaska_Phil's Avatar First, I mis-spoke earlier. Tuan only has 4 T5's over his 40 breeder. I assume you're only interesed in light aclimation. I placed the frags where I wanted them right from the start. Then only used half my lights for the first day, gradually bringing the rest on an hour longer each day after. What spectrums are you running? Tuan and I are both running 2 actinics, 1 Figi purple, 1 10,000K lamps. I'm also considering a glass shield below my lights when I build my 75 set up, that was more to keep my reflectors clean than for UV shielding. I believe Tuan's fixture has some kind of shield under the lamps, but I don't know if it's lexan or glass. Lexan doesn't stop UV, glass does. My tank has nothing but 4" of air between my lamps and the water. 5. cyano's Avatar Currently I am running 3 blue plus, 2 fiji purple, and one guisenman that brings out the yellows but with them being blue plus rather than just actinics is probably going to be a bit stronger in my case. My particular light fixture has a lexan shield to keep the fixture clean. I would say that if I am having an issue with a 6 bulb fixture being possibly too strong on my 75 gallon then definitely take my current predicament into consideration when light fixture shopping, for the record mine is a currentUSA fixture. I am really crossing my fingers with this glass cover. 6. Alaska_Phil's Avatar I realize it's only been a week, but are you seeing any change since you added the glass?
Greek: apologia, apology, defense The theological science which aims at explaining and justifying religious doctrine in order to show its reasonableness in answer to objections of those who deny the reasonableness of any religion, especially of a revealed religion, such as Christianity, and more particularly the reasonable grounds of the Catholic religion. Since the name of apologetics has not the same significance in English as the Greek word from which it is derived, theologians today prefer to call the science fundamental theology, which explains the grounds of religion, revelation, Christianity, and Catholicity.
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Trying to round up three Republicans for microstamping The Senate is expected to take up a bill requiring microstamping for semi-automatic pistols today, but are there 32 votes to pass it? Things remain fluid, according to people involved in the lobbying. Three upstate Democrats — David Valesky, Darrel Aubertine and Bill Stachowski — all confirmed to me they’re voting no. Lobbyists, which include members of the law enforcement community and several mayors, are working now (and will continue through the afternoon) to secure Republican votes. Before holding a rally outside, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg met with top Senate Republican leaders as well as the three Republican senators from the five boroughs — Marty Golden, Andrew Lanza and Frank Padavan. The mayor said he was “hopeful that they will do what’s right.” Bloomberg was asked about how the vote may affect financial support; he has been a generous supporter of Senate Republicans. “I look at anybody who I support. I look at all of the things that they stand for and all of the things they vote — I’m never going to agree with any one person on everything. I don’t make any one vote a condition, but I certainly care very much about this one bill. You can read into that anything you want,” he said. He was also unsure whether there were 32 votes: “That’s what a vote is for. I’ve always thought you take the vote to find out. I know Albany works slightly differently, but, maybe they should look at it differently.” Padavan confirmed to me that he will vote affirmatively, but Golden — normally front and center when law enforcement officers are involved — assiduously no commented about his stance. “If the bill gets to the floor I think it gets passed,” he allowed. The bill’s opponents view it as a slippery slope to more gun controls, and a measure that will hurt firearm manufacturing in New York. They also say that changing the pin on a gun will nullify the effect of a microstamp. Lobbyists supporting the bill are also looking at Sens. Joe Robach and Chuck Fuschillo. Others may also flip: Sen. Kemp Hannon told me he was undecided on how he would vote. Republicans are conferencing now. 1. Jack says: What do you think will this legislation actually accomplish? Microstamping is an unproven technology. No manufacturer has ever implemented it in a production firearm. In fact, when it comes to legal ownership of firearms, New York is going backward. More states are adopting “shall-issue” handgun licensing law. In fact, New York is one of 10 states that still have “may-issue” licensing. Compare New York State to Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Is handgun crime crime any worse in those states than New York? I think you will find that handgun crime is comparable. The difference is that these three states all allow their honest citizens to exercise their constitutional right to carry handguns. And Texas and Florida lock their criminals behind bars where they belong, not release them early to commit crimes again. Will the microstamping law stop handgun crime? No, as crooks always acquire their firearms through the black market. Crooks do not go through background checks. They are crooks. They steal their firearms, or smuggle them in from another country. In fact, they do not follow the laws in the first place, so how will the Senate microstamping bills deter crime? Unless you plan on confiscating every handgun in the United States, there will always be an ample supply of non-stamped handguns to purchase and use in a crime. Will the micro-stamping law enable the police to trace a spent shell back to the source after a crime has been committed? Not necessarily. All a crook needs to do is file off the tip of their firing pin, thus changing the characteristics of the “microstamping.” In addition, crooks can simply hang out at a few gun ranges, and collect the used brass left behind. Commit a crime, and leave a few of these spent shells from someone else’s pistol and viola! The police will be looking for an innocent person from a handgun unrelated to the crime. The police will never know the actual weapon used in a crime, much less who fired it. Or even better yet, a crook can simply use a revolver in a crime, which of course does not eject a shell as a semi-automatic pistol. How will the politicians in Albany track crimes with revolvers? Doesn’t the Senate have more important things to do, such as reducing our deficit by cutting out-of-control spending? Politicians must focus on the criminal rather than the firearm. Give longer mandatory sentencing for violent criminals. For example, home invasions on Long Island are increasing at an alarming rate. How about a mandatory sentence of 50 years for these scum? But instead, the Senate is spending time and our money to pass laws to monitor the rounds fired by law abiding citizens. Also, every legal handgun license holder in New York has gone through an extensive background check, including review by the New York State Police and the FBI. These are not the people you need to worry about committing crimes. And yet, legal, licensed law abiding handgun owners are the only people the insane microstamping law will impact. But the this law will do nothing to save live, despite what the clueless Jacobs said. As I mentioned, crooks do not obey the law in the first place. So how will another misguided law deter them from committing a crime, or enable the police to solve a crime? In short, it will not, and cannot. 2. stateworker_ says: 1. You anti-gun people ever hear of a brass catcher??? They even make them for almost any model handgun. So how will this help if no casings are left behind??? 2. Out of the crimes committed with a firearm, what is the percentage of these weapons that were stolen??? So micro-stamping only brings the casing back to the registered owner, prove the owner fired it when it was reported stolen??? YOU CAN’T!!! However some ambulance chasing atty will probably sue the owner of the weapon. 3. Can ANYONE say that micro-stamping won’t be defeated by using a simple diamond file, replacement of the gun parts etc etc etc. You can’t!!! 4. Hypothetical, Criminal has 9mm micro-stamped weapon, goes into gun club and finds 9mm shell casings. Criminal shoots and kills someone throwing down the casings from the gun club after picking up his own casings. Well I hope you are not that poor bastard!!! 5. Hello, REVOLVERS!!! You anti-gun people hear of them??? Even though this legislation states semi-auto, some idiot legislature who knows nothing will probably include revolvers as the next big idea. lol 6. Almost last but not least, out of state firearms. How are you going to track by micro-stamping anyone if they purchase a firearm out of state???? 7. Since I go to the gun range frequently, I RELOAD my own ammunition and then frequently give extra to friends who also shoot. How is micro-stamping going to be effective if the shell casing has multiple stamps on it? Are they also date and time stamped???? (Sarcasm) Useless feel good legislation. 3. Roger deLeon says: Mr. K, the dems state that obama care will not cost more and will not monopolize medicine. This is feel a step towards taking guns away. 4. Mr. K says: So… No evidence to how it actually infringes upon the Second Amendment? All you have is the slippery slope argument? That, along with whatever point you’re trying to make with healthcare, is quite the stretch to say the least. Unless there’s any legitimate evidence to a claim, there’s no real use in trying to make the argument. 5. CRR says: Mayor Bloomberg said in his address after the microstamping bill was withdrawn in the senate that its failure to pass was a victory to the criminals who use illegal guns . By virtue of the fact that criminals use illegal guns (as the Mayor himself admitted) we can logically see that this bill will have no impact on gun crime , because illegal guns won’t have microstamps. Due to this state’s strict handgun licensing laws criminals will continue to acquire their guns from other jurisdictions thus circumventing microstamping altogether. While I totally agree more needs to be done to curb the gun violence on our streets, shell case microstamping is a false panacea to this problem. 6. 105thFan says: Microstamping doesn’t work ..and if they modify the Firing Pins (to compensate for the engraving) and any Cartridge Primers are pierced (look it up) …will the Politicians who signed off on this Law be held responsible for the damage or worse ..people injured ? Who will be Liable / Who will pay the resulting Class Action Lawsuit costs ? The people pushing this legislation know nothing about Firearms or Ammunition. They care nothing about the cost (and loss of State jobs) or actual risks involved. It’s time for the Anti Gun groups to find a new cause to Champion 7. Will democrats never learn? The second amendment means you may not be restrictive or regulatory of guns or ammunition to law abiding none felonious citizenry. Forget the Constitution for a minute. Do democrats really have the nerve to suggest we waste more money? Are democrats are still inventing ways to spend even more?! More Government regulation additional cost no guarantee as to out come. More big government. The official house of records for every bullet ever sold. The whole federal unionized dept of federal official idiots to alphabetize the list of monitored and former free people. Democrats don’t go away mad, just go away! 8. 105thFan says: I agree Carl ! Also , I think we should pass an Accountability law that makes ANY Politician who frames any new Law (and all who vote for it) Personally Liable for any of the consequences/damage/costs that result from their flawed Law being passed. That would make them think twice before wasting the Taxpayers Time and Money with useless Laws and put an end to promoting personal agendas. The chance of getting sued would result in more research being done before Votes were counted . Doctors rely on malpractice Insurance. Maybe our Politicians would use Incompetence Insurance. 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Display Settings: Send to: Choose Destination Headache. 2008 Nov-Dec;48 Suppl 3:S124-30. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2008.01310.x. Epidemiology and biology of menstrual migraine. Migraine is frequently associated with menstruation in female migraineurs, and consequently it is commonly referred to as menstrually associated migraine. The trigger thought to be partially responsible for menstrually associated migraine is a significant drop in circulating estrogen that is noted during 2-3 days prior to onset of menses. It is estimated that approximately 50% of women have an increased risk of experiencing migraine during the premenstrual phase of decreasing estrogen levels. Understanding the biological basis of migraine associated with menses will facilitate an accurate diagnosis and help patients recognize time susceptible to migraine exacerbations. This paper will review the biological bases for the hormonal changes that occur during the menstrual cycle and review the prevalence and burden of menstrual migraine among female headache sufferers. [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Supplemental Content Write to the Help Desk
[Numpy-discussion] Using numpy's flatten_dtype with structured dtypes that have titles Emma Willemsma emma.willemsma@morgansolar.... Thu Aug 19 16:07:03 CDT 2010 I originally posted this question on stackoverflow, and the user who responded to me suggested that I bring this issue to the attention of the numpy developers. I am working with structured arrays to store experimental data. I'm using titles to store information about my fields, in this case the units of measure. When I call numpy.lib.io.flatten_dtype() on my dtype, I get: ValueError: too many values to unpack File "c:\Python25\Lib\site-packages\numpy\lib\_iotools.py", line 78, in flatten_dtype (typ, _) = ndtype.fields[field] I wouldn't really care, except that numpy.genfromtxt() calls numpy.lib.io.flatten_dtype(), and I need to be able to import my data from text files. I'm wondering if I've done something wrong. Is flatten_dtype() not meant to support titles? Is there a work-around for genfromtxt()? Here's a snippet of my code: import numpy fname = "C:\\Somefile.txt" dtype = numpy.dtype([(("Amps","Current"),"f8"),(("Volts","Voltage"),"f8")]) myarray = numpy.genfromtxt(fname,dtype) The user who responded suggested the following monkey-patch: import numpy import numpy.lib.io def flatten_dtype(ndtype): Unpack a structured data-type. names = ndtype.names if names is None: return [ndtype] types = [] for field in names: typ_fields = ndtype.fields[field] flat_dt = flatten_dtype(typ_fields[0]) return types Is this something that could be changed in numpy? An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.scipy.org/pipermail/numpy-discussion/attachments/20100819/b4af515f/attachment.html More information about the NumPy-Discussion mailing list
To find myself suddenly struggling to welcome gay marriage? (188 Posts) grovel Tue 11-Dec-12 13:44:50 My initial reaction was "fine". As I think about it, I become rather sad that we are losing a distinctive quality in the meaning of marriage - namely that it celebrates how men and women complement each other (not only for purposes of procreation). In every way I want equal recognition of partnerships be they straight or gay. Why then am I sad about changing the meaning of a word? Devora Thu 13-Dec-12 12:12:32 I completely understand your point, Cat, but disagree that it is as significant as you believe. Removing the legal requirement for consummation for heterosexual marriage will make not the slightest difference to 99.9% of the population. What it may do is provide another lever for clearer, more rational separation of church and state in marriage as in other public institutions. That is far more significant. CatWithKittens Thu 13-Dec-12 12:04:19 Devora - That is not the point. It is not whether or not we can put up with historic anomalies or whether the law can be changed to permit same sex marriage but whether that change will actually create the level playing field that is being claimed or will itself create anomalies and inequalities. all I am saying is that it is inevitable either that the law will have to be changed for hetero-sexual marriage to abolish the possibility of annulment for non-consummation or that there will still not be equality of treatment unless the law also condescends to define consummation for same-sex marriage and to give the opportunity of annulment if there is non-consummation. You may say that such inequality does not matter or is acceptable but you cannot pretend that, if it is to exist, it must tend to work against the idea that everybody is to have exactly the same legal rights and form of relationship. Equally you must recognize that if annulment for non-consummation is to be abolished that does in fact change the nature of marriage for hetero-sexuals in altering the current legal concept of marriage as a civil or Anglican ceremony which is to be followed by consummation. Devora Thu 13-Dec-12 11:12:08 Our laws are full of historical anomalies, most of which we are happy to leave undisturbed till they become problematic - then we get rid of them. Doubtless that will happen with the consumnation issue. It keeps being raised in these threads and I don't understand why - it is completely trivial - feels like grasping at straws to prove that gays can't really be married in the full sense. CatWithKittens Wed 12-Dec-12 17:48:31 I fear some poster are missing my point - probably my fault. Those in favour of the proposed change are saying that marriage for heterosexuals will not be changed by the proposals. I am saying that either it will have to be changed or same-sex marriage will still not be subject to the same legal considerations as hetero-sexual marriage. Of course nobody actually comes and checks on consummation but non-consummation of a hetero-sexual marriage leaves it open to annulment; will there be an equivalent rule for same-sex marriage? If so, what will the rule be? If not there will certainly be unequal and different principles applying depending on the type of marriage but, in the detail, the rules will obviously have to be different anyway. Rules designed for what happens in this area between husband and wife clearly cannot apply between to wives or two husbands or whatever term is to be applied to those in same- sex marriages. trockodile Wed 12-Dec-12 13:11:13 Would also like to add that if people have a death bed marriage (for example) and (presumably) cannot have PIV, no one goes around saying that they weren't married and demanding annulments. trockodile Wed 12-Dec-12 13:05:07 So hands up all these people who have had someone round to check whether your marriage has been consummated? It is not really that relevant or a reason to deny equality. Civil partnership does not give all the same rights as marriage particularly in terms of international recognition. GreatUncleEddie Wed 12-Dec-12 12:52:55 BUt there already is equality in the eyes of the law.. Civil partnership gives exactly the same rights in relation to divorce, adoption, inheritance, tax. Marriage in the heterosexual sense has to be consummated by PIV sex, no one knows how consummation and annulment will work in a gay marriage where obviously there will be no PIV sex. I don't understand why we have to pretend the relationships are the same when they physically aren't, and the emotional commitment is already equally recognised. CatWithKittens Wed 12-Dec-12 11:50:52 Pressed the return button too son. I was going to add that the whole process of the development of common law can lead to considerable uncertainty during that development, especially in the early stages. That is true of compensation for psychiatric injury at the moment. I would have thought that to have such uncertainty as to whether or not a marriage was voidable or not was not very satisfactory and that Parliament will either have to abolish nullity as a concept and alter the law so that unconsummated marriages are still marriages or define consummation for same sex marriages. In either case it will be changing marriage, some will say for the better, some will say not, but change there will have to be. CatWithKittens Wed 12-Dec-12 11:44:28 Annie - sorry I was getting a bit technical; it comes of having studied law for my sins. This post is going to be a bit off topic but perhaps I ought to send it as an act of penitence for being too legalistic! Common law is really just the same as case law - it derives from decisions made by judges in the past, sometimes a very long time ago, sometimes more recently. (Henry II sent judges out on Assize to try to bring unity of law to the whole Kingdom because until then there were fairly widespread differences of approach in different parts of the country.) Much of our basic law derives from this source - especially the law of negligence or contract. However in nearly every area of the law there is now an interaction between common law or case law, statute law made by Parliament, often now incorporating EEC law into English law. Even now though the Supreme Court, replacing the House of Lords as the highest Court in the land, still makes law, and from time to time changes it if it is felt that is necessary. For instance they changed the law which used to say that barristers could not be sued for professional negligence and the very old law which prevented husbands being accused or convicted of rape of their wives. Anniegetyourgun Wed 12-Dec-12 10:08:32 Oh, further to my late-night comment, it occurred to me that there used to be definitions of what people weren't allowed to do with each other, so all they have to do is adopt that and say right, when they've done this they've consummated! But really, the whole thing is a red herring nowadays. Marriages are relatively easy to dissolve once they have irretrievably broken down, and if one partner's saying "we never did it" while the other's saying "oh yes we did", that in itself is proof their relationship is not exactly rock solid. There really is no need to go down the route of "if you did (or failed to do) this you can say the marriage never happened, whilst if you did (or didn't do) that it did happen but you can now end it". It's quite unnecessarily intrusive. I don't know whether a court of law goes into much detail of who put what where and whether they waggled it about or not when deciding to annul marriages between men and women these days, but if they do, it's time they stopped. So when you get one of those hotels like the one which wouldn't allow gay guests because it insisted on "married couples only", presumably they'd need to watch a couple at it so they can be sure they did the right things to make them really married and can't go and get an annulment the next day. Er, I don't see it, do you? jidelgin Wed 12-Dec-12 08:27:11 I am sure there is a UK equivalent of this list (see below) somewhere. my personal fave "the sanctity of the Britney Spears 55 hour just for fun marriage" laugh laugh ! Don't be gaycist - let me put a ring on it! wine Kytti Wed 12-Dec-12 03:47:14 I kinda agree with the others in that marriage is a contract between two people to love, care for and look after each other and all that other good stuff. I understand in some way what you mean about the change, (NO! DON'T HUNT ME DOWN!) but it's just change. Some of us were brought up in a time when being gay was sadly illegal, you're simply reflecting on how things have changed. I think. The marriage, relationship and love between two people is what is important. No matter who they are. Anniegetyourgun Wed 12-Dec-12 01:39:34 CatWithKittens, I don't understand that comment at all. How does common law come about without legislation? Is it not through usage and case law? Surely that means a definition of consummation of same sex marriage will develop over time just as the other thing did. Thus no need to legislate specially, just as there was no need to legislate specially for heterosexual consummation. After all, it's not as if homosexuality is exactly a new thing. It's been going as long as there has been sex of any other kind, unless you believe literally that once upon a time there was only one man and one woman in the whole world. Anniegetyourgun Wed 12-Dec-12 01:31:58 Lots of people don't care about things that don't directly affect them. I can't see that it's anything to be proud of, though. Devora Wed 12-Dec-12 01:23:38 Well, I'm getting just slightly fed up with all those posters who come on these threads to roll their eyes and complain about how very tedious it is for them, how bored they are with having to let this trivial little topic flit across their frontal lobes. This isn't for your entertainment, last time I checked. It's for equality in the eyes of the law, which some of us have been campaigning for for many, many years (30 years in my case). It's so my children don't have to learn that their parents are not considered less equal or important than their friends' parents. It's for religious freedom, so that the Quakers and the Liberal Jews can marry members of their congregations as they want to. It's so trans people don't HAVE to get divorced when they transition. It's because it's the right thing to do. I have seen a lot of progress in my lifetime, from the strongly condemnatory attitudes of most of society when I was a gay teen, to today when these threads demonstrate the empathy, integrity and warmth of most MNetters. But those of you who feel your boredom or lack of understanding is in any way relevant, or who imagine yourselves somehow ahead of the curve in being a bit oh-excuse-me-while-I-yawn-they're-discussing-gays-again, please understand that lesbians and gays are not just for Christmas, not only deserving of respect when we're doing something that's interesting to you. whois Wed 12-Dec-12 00:43:07 I can't get worked up about this for or against. sashh Wed 12-Dec-12 00:36:01 Er...why are we losing it? Are you telling me that the gays can marry and normal people can't? Gay isn't normal? ArielTheBahHumbugMermaid Tue 11-Dec-12 22:09:09 Am watching the Lords on the news at the moment. I just cannot understand why some people are so bothered about it, I really can't. suburbophobe Tue 11-Dec-12 20:19:43 Haven't read the whole thread. But (gay) marriage is about a lot more than a "white wedding in a church". It's about the legality. That you can be considered next-of-kin and have your partner inherit etc. and all the rest. Rather than the parents and family who threw you out when they couldn't deal with it.... They pay their taxes, why on earth should they not have the same rights?! ComposHat Tue 11-Dec-12 20:08:09 I really can't see how anyone can object to gay marriage. Really what is the fuss about? What do they think will happen if/when gay people can get married? The high heavens will fall in? Plagues of locusts will roam the earth? It isn't like they are making gay marriage compulsory, if you don't want to marry someone of your own gender no one will make you. Blu Tue 11-Dec-12 19:44:45 <<demonstrates that I have read the thread>> I hate it when people march into a thread and start spouting irrelevant bollocks because they haven't read the thread. jeanvaljean - it isn't about being in some sort of spurious 'equality warpath' for the sake of it. Look at the people flocking to actually get married in those Seatttle pics, and the average age of them. I would say older than the average age of heterosexual newlyweds. The number who talk of having been together more than 20 years - this marriage, on the same terms and with the same term, is important to them. Marriage has huge ceremonial weight. Imagine being told that men (or white people) can be 'Members of the Library', but women (or black people) must apply for a licence to borrow books, instead. The needless distinction would be outrageous. Some religious people have a particular take on marriage, but I do not see why the rest of us should have to observe that. Marriage is an institution that exists beyond religious contexts. (and I am a marriage refusenik) Alisvolatpropiis Tue 11-Dec-12 18:33:32 YABU,but you've admitted it. PackingIdiot the Royal family were all born in Britain, except the Duke of Edinburgh therefore...they are British. changeforthebetterforObama Tue 11-Dec-12 18:23:37 Umm, you do realise that no one is going to force you (or anyone else who is straight) to marry a gay member of your sex. 'Special meaning of marriage'?? Sorry, I think that the failure rate of more than 1 in 3 marriages points to a status in trouble. I really can't see how two men or two women getting married will undermine heterosexual marriage, but then I am not homophobic. I imagine the gay weddings will be either achingly tasteful or wonderfully camp. grin AcidTurkishBath Tue 11-Dec-12 18:15:08 Everybody picks and chooses part of their religions. For example, one of the passages against homosexuality in the bible is right before a rule about cross-breeding. Do Christians object to labradoodles (or most flowers nowadays) on the whole? CatWithKittens Tue 11-Dec-12 18:13:01 Annie - You are absolutely right the Act does not define consummation and, as you say, an unconsummated marriage is voidable not void. The failure of the Act to give a definition is simply because, just like ecclesiastical law before it, the common law provides one so there was no need for the Act to do so. Current law requires penetrative sexual intercourse for consummation. The clear requirement for and definition of consummation is therefore enshrined in law. The consultation document does not deal with this at all simply suggesting that the Courts will have to determine what constitutes consummation for same sex marriages. I suspect that the heterosexual male judges who sit in the House of Lords may well foresee some difficulty with that and want it defined by Parliament Join the discussion Join the discussion Register now
Wenger insists Arsenal always chasing new signings Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger insists he tried right to the final minute of the summer market to bring in new signings. "If you push that too far, there are no rules any more," said Wenger. "Once you get to the prices mentioned on the TV or in the newspapers, where is the logic? There is too much destabilisation. "What is worrying for me is that a player signs somewhere and then the next day he does not even know where he has signed. You cannot say that is a good trend. Wenger continued: "Football is not a supermarket, we have to all understand that. "You cannot come out and say 'we pay £250,000-a-week to Ronaldo and £135million', when the player has a six-year contract with Manchester United. It is not possible or acceptable. "There is money in the game, and I take it in a positive way - but the football bodies have to make sure that money is ruled properly and used well for the ethics of the game. "I always did fight for my whole life for the players to make as much money as possible, but you also have to respect what football is. "It came out from the roots of the country through local communities who identified themselves with their team, and we have to be careful not to destroy that." Wenger insists Arsenal worked hard to bring in at least one more player before the window closed. As well as Xabi Alonso, rated at £16million by Liverpool, Rennes midfielder Stephane M'Bia and Juventus youngster Sebastian Giovinco were both reported targets. The Gunners boss said: "It was not just down to money. "With some players, their clubs said they would not be ready to sell the player. That is the basic rule of the game." Wenger added: "The problem I have at the moment is to convince people that the players I have will develop and that every day we are a stronger team." Have your say Related Images
Take the 2-minute tour × how can i run any javascript in double quotes ? For example: i would like to execute an alert or any other code in the value = "" (double quotes). Like: <input type="text" value="<script> onmouseover=alert(0);</script>" /> the code show as a string on page. So is there anyway to execute script in double quotes ? share\|improve this question I don't think you understand HTML well. You should learn about HTML, Javascript and the DOM first. – Konerak Feb 19 '12 at 12:43 ok i will learn it . but can you answer this ? – jasminder Feb 19 '12 at 13:02 What exactly do you want? You want to put javascript code in a value tag? Why? And how would it get activated? You put code in the onclick/onmouseover/on*** tag, or in a script (tag) and link it to the input. – Konerak Feb 19 '12 at 21:52 add comment 3 Answers up vote 0 down vote accepted Ah, I see, you probably want to do something like this: <input type="text" onchange="try{eval(this.value)}catch(e){}" /> That inline script will attempt to execute what's in its value attribute every time the tag is changed (and you blur out of the element). The try catch block is so that anything that would normally not work won't get executed. The eval function parses a string and runs it as Javascript code. You leave yourself open to many forms of attacks when you use eval, so unless this is for purely educational or in house purposes, I would advise you don't use this. share\|improve this answer No i am not talking about the inline attributes. i am just asking, is there any way to execute any script in the quotes of value attribut ? – jasminder Feb 19 '12 at 13:01 eval executes strings. You could make a function that gets the value attribute of an input element, and plug that in as the eval function's argument. – Jeffrey Sweeney Feb 19 '12 at 13:03 add comment The input object has its own events and you have to assign to them For example to execute an alert when the mouse hovers over it: <input type="text" value="testbox" onMouseOver="alert('testing');"/> share\|improve this answer add comment <input type="text" onmouseover="alert(0);" /> share\|improve this answer add comment Your Answer
Printer Friendly Version ] [ Report Abuse ] << >> Draco Meets His Match by xxstaindrosesxx Chapter 2 : The Mark of Destiny Rating: MatureChapter Reviews: 3 Background: Font color: A/N: And now here is chapter 2 edited a bit! When I say edited, I don't mean changing the story though. I would never change the story since it is already completed, so don't expect too many changes, just a few to make it sound better. Now morning, Draco had already dressed for the day in his usual school attire before he headed down to the Slytherin common room where his lackeys waited as always. Goyle and Crabbe sat on their usual dark green leather sofa they marked as their own, and Draco sat between the two of them. He noticed Gabriella sat in the corner at a wooden desk where students attempted to do homework, which failed most of the time since Slytherins weren’t too keen on doing homework themselves. Draco watched as Gabriella continued to read. She turned the page and he wondered what could be so interesting. He tried to see the title from that distance, but it appeared to be upside down. He found this rather amusing as he turned to Goyle to point out the situation. “Your sister is turning into Loony Lovegood by reading a book upside down.” He teased, pointing to Gabriella as if Goyle needed the guidance due to his own stupidity. Goyle turned to look at his sister and he wrinkled his nose in disgust when he saw her reading the book upside down. “Hey sis. Why are you reading a book upside down like Loony Lovegood?” He questioned. Gabriella lowered her book slightly, glaring at him. “For your information, I’m not reading the book upside down. The cover was misprinted.” She explained, raising the book back up and continuing to read. Goyle just shrugged and turned his attention back to Draco. Draco smirked as an idea struck his mind with an ingenious plan. “I think it is time we bring your sister into our little group.” He suggested. Goyle raised an eyebrow. “Really?” He asked. Draco nodded. “Yes, and I think you should talk to her about it.” He explained, wanting his lackey to do his work for him. Goyle nodded and stood up from the sofa. He walked over to his sister who was only a few feet away. As he approached, Gabriella slammed her book down on the table and glared at her brother. “You’re not done bugging me yet?” She asked, extremely annoyed, the agitation sounding in her voice. “Draco wants you to join our group.” Goyle mentioned as if it was no big deal. Gabriella seemed even more agitated than before. “Well, you can tell Draco that if he wants me to join, he can ask me himself.” She snapped at him before picking her book back up and ignoring him once more. Goyle did not seem hurt by his sister’s rudeness as if he tolerated this behavior on a daily basis. He walked back over to the sofa and sat down back in his usual spot. Draco looked at him curiously. “Well, what did she say?” He asked, anticipation getting the best of him. “She said if you want her to join, then you can ask her yourself.” Goyle replied, putting it in his own words. Draco smirked as if he enjoyed the challenge. He stood up from the sofa and strutted right over to her as if he was confident with himself. “Hey Gabby.” He said, greeting her. “That’s Gabriella to you.” She responded, not looking away from her book to acknowledge his presence. “Fine. Gabriella, I think you should join our group.” He explained, with his usual suave smile. Gabriella slammed her book shut and stood up to face him. “You think? I didn’t know you could think.” She ridiculed him rather harshly. Draco seemed taken aback. “What did you say to me?” He asked, as if he didn’t hear her. Not very many people spoke back to him in such a manner, except that stupid Potter and his friends. She smirked at him. “You heard me.” Draco glared at her and stepped closer. “Nobody talks to me like that!” He exclaimed, becoming angry by her nonchalant attitude towards him. Gabriella’s smirk turned to an evil smile. “Well, I just did.” She taunted, continuing to provoke him. Draco’s face turned red with anger. He grabbed Gabriella by the shoulders and pushed her against the wall. He stared right in her face, his breathe upon her. To his surprise, she didn’t seem phased at all because she was still smiling evilly. Goyle came running over with a look of confusion and fright. “What are you doing?!?” He asked loudly, enough for the entire common room to hear and then pick up on the conversation. Draco turned his head to Goyle, keeping Gabriella pinned against the wall. “Teaching your sister a lesson.” He responded with his face still red from anger. “It’s alright Greg. I bet he doesn’t have the balls to hurt me anyways.” Gabriella provoked him, that smile never once fading from her beautiful face. Draco turned his head back to face her. His face turned redder with anger. He raised his hand and slapped her across the face, her head turned to the side as he did. Some hair fell into her face, but when she turned her head back, Draco could see her bottom lip was bleeding. He smirked as if pleased with himself. Gabriella sucked the blood from her bottom lip before spitting it in his face. She laughed, but Draco became furious. He grabbed her wrists tightly and pinned them above her head. “Stop it!” Goyle shouted, disliking how his sister and best friend were treating each other. Draco ignored him and wiped his face with the sleeve of his free arm. He wanted to strike her again, but he noticed something. While her arms were pinned above her delicate little head, her sleeves slid down. That’s when he saw it; the same snake and skull which was on his arm. The mark of the Dark Lord, which symbolized a Death Eater. She was one of them. She was just like him. Draco was shocked, as he had never pictured her for a Death Eater. She seemed to be different; more reserved, and not like most Slytherins, but now he was wrong. Being a Death Eater meant being worse then other Slytherins, so he found it hard to believe. Bellatrix LeStrange had been the only female Death Eater to Draco‘s knowledge, but that no longer rang true. Draco knew Bellatrix wasn’t pretty for a Death Eater, which made her nothing like Gabriella. Draco was so surprised, he released her wrists from his grip. He stepped backwards to release her from the wall and Gabriella quickly pulled down her sleeve to cover up her Dark Mark. Goyle put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “You alright?” He asked sincerely. “I’m fine.” She replied, looking at Draco and wondering what he thought about all of this. Goyle pulled out his wand from inside his robes and pointed it at his sister’s bleeding lip. “Episkey.” He uttered the incantation, displaying a bit of affection for his younger sister that Draco did not think the boy was capable of. A blue glow eminated from the tip of his wand and Gabriella’s lip healed. “Thanks.” She said to her brother graciously. Draco’s mouth opened as if he was going to say something, but then he closed his mouth. His brain seemed unable to form a sentence, and his brain seemed to be disconnected from his mouth so he couldn’t produce proper speech. He was still too shocked from seeing her Dark Mark to comprehend anything. He knew Goyle had one, and so did Crabbe, but he didn’t understand why Gabriella had one. Most importantly, why didn’t Goyle tell him? After all, Goyle didn’t seem surprised, and he saw what was going on. Also, Goyle was his best friend so he didn’t understand why Goyle would hide this from him. Just then, Professor Snape came storming into the Slytherin common room. He looked furious as he made his way over to Draco, Goyle, and Gabriella. He glared at Draco with his hateful cold eyes. “I’ve been informed by another student that you were forceful with Miss Goyle.” Snape said through clenched teeth, his tone of voice accusatory despite not witnessing the event first hand. Draco had never seen Snape so angry, except when it had to do with Harry Potter. “She provoked me, sir.” He explained, as if it was an excuse for his actions. “You should know better then to hit a fellow,” said Snape, pausing. The pause bothered Draco. Could Snape know Gabriella is a Death Eater? “Slytherin,” finished Snape. “Especially a girl. Now follow me to my office.” He demanded and Draco knew it was anything but a request. As Snape started to walk off quickly, Draco turned around one last time to see Gabriella smiling as if she had been pleased to see him in trouble. He turned back around and quickly trotted off to keep up with Snape. He thought about her as he followed Snape. “She’s so awful,” he thought. “Nobody says things like that to me and gets away with it, but she just did. She fought back, and now I’m in trouble with Snape when I’m his favorite.” He formed his hands into fists as he became angry just thinking about her. “If she wasn’t Goyle’s sister and a Death Eater, I would kill her,” he thought. “Wait. I should anyways. Ugh. She’s so awful. I hate her.” After a few minutes, they reached Snape’s office, which was now Dumbledore’s old office since Snape had become Headmaster. “Sit down.” Snape demanded, sitting down at the chair behind his desk. Draco sat down in the chair in front of the desk. Now facing Snape, he couldn’t read Snape’s expression. Then again, Snape was pretty much expressionless most of the time. He did not understand why he was in trouble now, when he was always getting away with things. Snape never seemed to punish him, but maybe his luck was changing after being unable to kill Dumbledore. He figured it was best to keep quiet and let Snape talk first. “The Dark Lord has asked me to speak with you.” Snape explained, getting straight to the point. Draco’s heart raced as he became scared. The Dark Lord had not been exactly nice to him after he failed to kill Dumbledore. Then again, surely Voldemort didn‘t have the capacity to be civil to anyone unless it achieved his ends. “About what?” He asked, even though he was scared to know the answer. “He wants you to keep an eye on Gabriella Goyle.” Snape explained, giving him a task, which was anything but what Draco expected. Draco hated her and wanted to have nothing to do with her. Also, he now knew Snape did know Gabriella was a Death Eater. “Is he nuts!?” He exclaimed, not wanting this to be his task. Snape slammed his fist onto the desk. “You do not question the Dark Lord’s orders!” He shouted, but then seemed to calm back down. Draco was surprised at Snape’s behavior. He rarely saw him act out his emotions. “Well, that might be kind of hard to do after I hit her,” he complained. “Why can’t Goyle do it?” Snape seemed annoyed, but he kept his cool. “He’s too close to her since he’s her brother.” He answered, which should have been obvious to Draco from the get go. “Well, may I ask why I have to keep an eye on her?” He asked, trying to squeeze out as much information as possible. “He has a special interest in her,” explained the current Headmaster. “But beyond that, I do not question the Dark Lord’s motifs. Now you can leave.” Draco nodded and started walking towards the Great Hall for breakfast. He was annoyed and furious at the same time. He hated this girl; possibly even loathed her, and now he had to keep an eye on her. What did that mean anyways? Did that mean he had to get to know her, too? And why did the Dark Lord have a special interest in her? Draco wished he could not be around her, but he was a Death Eater and Voldemort always interfered in their lives. He wondered if he could ever have a remotely normal life, but he doubted it as he entered the Great Hall, where he saw her sitting at the Slytherin table. He saw Gabriella Goyle; the girl he had to keep an eye on, and it drove him nuts. Previous Chapter Next Chapter Favorite \|Reading List \|Currently Reading << >> Review Write a Review Draco Meets His Match: The Mark of Destiny (6000 characters max.) 6000 remaining Your Name: Prove you are Human: Submit this review and continue reading next chapter. Other Similar Stories Summer of Se... by hgluver Nobody Break... by KatDaniels Ivy - A bond... by orcadarwin
Take the tour × I live in the south west of England and there are many villages and roads that feature the word "Clyst". For example, Broadclyst, Clyst St Mary, Clyst Honiton and so on. What does clyst mean, and where does it come from? share\|improve this question add comment 3 Answers up vote 11 down vote accepted Clyst is the name of the river and all the localities you cite are on its banks. Presumably all the Clyst St xxx are named after the saints to whom the various churches were dedicated. The villages being named after the churches. Broadclyst is when the valley or the river itself broadens downstream. Clyst is a Celtic name meaning 'clear stream'.(the Devon shire is named after the Celtic Devon tribe that was living there before the Roman conquest), just like Avon or Thames. Other Celtic words that made it into the English toponymy are "crag", meaning "rock", "coombe", meaning "deep valley" (also in French), "tor" meaning "peak", "car-" (remember Harold's Carlisles) meaning "a fortified place". share\|improve this answer Ekwall's The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names agrees that all the "Clyst St. So-and-so"s are straightforward "church of Saint So-and-so on the Clyst", but Clyst William is apparently a result of false etymology: it originally contained OE æwielm 'source of a river'. – JPmiaou Mar 29 '11 at 14:04 add comment Wikipedia and the Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names agree that it's a Celtic word, but disagree about its meaning ("clear stream" vs "sea inlet"). share\|improve this answer I can imagine a connection to the Proto-Indo-European base *kleue- ("to wash, clean"), whence Old English hlūtor "clean, clear, pure", Latin cloaca "sewer", Russian клизма "enema", Modern English (now archaic) clyster. But this is pure speculation on my part, thus I'm only leaving it as a comment. – RegDwigнt Mar 29 '11 at 9:51 add comment I would say the meaning is clear stream as clyst can be traced back to 937ad and is derived from hhtor meaning clean. share\|improve this answer Are there any references? – user49727 Sep 29 at 17:47 add comment Your Answer
Take the tour × I have a form which is injected into the page body via php. I have a button which triggers a javascript validation function, and at the end it should submit the form but it doesn't seem to want to submit. I'm using the function call: The script definitely reaches this function call, as I have a debug alert() message pop up successfully. Its located in a validate&submit function which is defined after a jquery $(document).ready() function. I've checked all the obvious things like form tags opened/closed properly, form name correct etc but I can't seem to work out the problem. Any ideas? I haven't submitted the whole file as its cluttered with other stuff, but I can if needed. Many Thanks, Oliver Heres the html source after php has done its thing: http://pastebin.com/2EaucEar share\|improve this question Can't do much without seeing your code. – Emmanuel Mar 27 '11 at 0:54 Judging by the colour coding of the source you have posted there appears to be some HTML errors - lack of spaces between element attributes, which could be tripping up the processing of the DOM correctly. – w3d Mar 27 '11 at 1:08 Do your alert also reaches the else statement where the form will submit? Ever try to use firebug or chrome developer tools. Have a try to see if you encounter a javascript error. – ace Mar 27 '11 at 1:24 The alert in the final else statement of the EditFormSubmit() function does fire correctly. – Oliver Mar 27 '11 at 10:32 add comment 2 Answers up vote 1 down vote accepted Found it! I'm using a button which is made to look like a normal link, but not using any of the button features. So it might as well be a link. The name of the button was name='submit' which made perfect sense to me, but I made sure it wasn't a submit button by setting the type='button'. It seems submit is a keyword, and cast the button as a submit or something. Not entirely sure, but changing the button name (which I don't refer to in the rest of the code) to something else fixed the problem. Thanks for your help guys. You helped me narrow it down. share\|improve this answer add comment I have done a bit of tinkering. When I finally got to the point where your submit line is called, I got a javascript error. Since you are using jQuery, try using the following: If it helps any, here is the jsFiddle that I was using to tinker around with. Hope this helps. share\|improve this answer I tried using a jquery selector earlier (which is why the form has an id). As 'w3d' mentioned, the syntnax highlighting went abit funny around the form, so I made sure there were spaces between all the attributes but still no luck. So there is nothing wrong with my submit/validation approach, but there must be a syntax error muddled in there somewhere you think? – Oliver Mar 27 '11 at 10:34 Here is the php function used to spit out the form into the main index file pastebin.com/hPnZQgTs – Oliver Mar 27 '11 at 10:42 I did notice that you are missing a semicolon on the '·' character. – rcravens Mar 27 '11 at 11:54 This is the javascript error I see 'Uncaught TypeError: Property 'submit' of object #<HTMLFormElement> is not a function' in chrome. – rcravens Mar 27 '11 at 11:55 add comment Your Answer
post #1 of 1 Thread Starter I have had a 5672 for a while now and I love the machine. I have been wondering however about the SPDIF port and connecting it to external sound systems / speakers. So far I have only used it to plug in headphones and a set of regular speakers that would hook up to a desktop computer (the plug looks is about the same as a headphone plug). What type of cables does this port support? I have read that it supports a optical cable but I really don't understand what that means. I am fairly clueless about audio technologies. Also how does it detect different cable types? Is this provided on the hardware level or do I need a audio mixer to do this? For the life of me I can not get the realtek audio mixer to work anymore. Someday in the future I would like to get a nice sound system in my home but would like be able to hook the laptop up to it for output of video and sound.
Voices of finance: employee relations manager at a major bank 'I do none of the fun things. I don't hire people, I don't give bonuses. I tell people they have lost their jobs' • theguardian.com, • Jump to comments () We meet one October evening in Canary Wharf. She volunteered via email, writing: "I'd be happy to discuss a part of banking that's not really seen, especially the redundancy process, which is obviously tough on employees but also a little soul destroying for those conducting redundancy meetings on a nearly daily basis." She is in her late 20s and coming straight out of work – a major bank. She is well dressed in a subdued kind of way – she will explain later why. After what seems like a knowledgeable look at the wine menu, she orders a glass of what the receipt says is an Haut Poitou Sauvignon Blanc. The Joris Luyendijk banking blog City of London 2. This is an experiment Find out more 5. Follow updates here The Joris Luyendijk banking blog 6. ... or on Twitter @JLbankingblog "It is amazing how fast news of a round of redundancies spreads. It's like this tidal wave of panic washes across a trading floor. People just go missing. They know that we need to deliver the message personally, and as long as we haven't done that, they can't be officially 'put at risk of redundancy'. People disappear from their desks, stop answering their phones. "When they come up, their face has this deeply apprehensive look. Some of them bring a bag with their belongings that they have packed once they received 'the call'. People break down in tears, or they get very angry, they shout, or act really confused. All these years they thought this happened only to other people. Their wife may be pregnant, or they have children in university, or huge school fees, huge mortgages. Often they have already spent the bonus they were expecting after New Year. Now they are not getting any – one of the reasons people are laid off around this time of year. Then, you don't have to pay them a bonus, and the pool gets bigger for those remaining. "After our conversation, which typically lasts five minutes, they will be led out of the building by security. Especially with people who have access to sensitive stuff, they can't touch their desks, their phones. We have caught people trying to copy files to a USB stick, sending them to a private email account. 'They've got me now'. That's what many say on their way out. Which is not very clever, incidentally, as you attach a stigma to yourself. Much better to suggest you have gone on to a better job. "Some people disclose really personal things, in an attempt to avert being made redundant. I remember this man, who'd done something stupid, like trying to kiss someone at work which meant that he had a disciplinary record, and was therefore more likely to be made redundant, who started crying, telling us that his wife is unwell. It's striking how managers rarely predict an employee's reaction correctly. While preparing for our round of redundancy notifications, I go through the list with the manager, and he's going to say, well, so and so is going to take it really well, but this one might blow up, we need security there. Very often, it's the other way around. The ones seen as explosive take it well, the nice and quiet ones go ballistic. "People might refuse to shake my hand, refuse to look at me. It's much easier to take out your anger on someone from HR whom you don't know, rather than on your manager you've worked with for any number of years. Managers will often join in the act, and blame everything on HR. Managers really hate this part of their job. Often they don't show up for the preparatory meeting. Can you imagine how annoying that is? We ought to do role-playing, go over the list and talk about cases that are likely to be difficult. What's more, here you have a manager who may have worked five years with somebody who is now being made redundant. This is somebody whose wife he has met, and still this manager won't interrupt his work, won't stop making money on the trading floor, even for a few minutes. "Even if they do show up for the preparatory meeting, they often forget all about our role-playing once we're in the meeting and simply say 'Look, you're at risk of redundancy. Now, over to her'. Then I have to take over. Often people are too confused to take in anything I say. I tell them that they may be redeployed, that is, they may go to work elsewhere in the bank. When we meet again, x days later, they will often have no recollection of that. "Sometimes it drives me mad. I need to know everything about an employee that may be relevant to the redundancy process. It happens that into the meeting something really important comes up, and later the manager will go: yeah right, forgot to tell you. For instance: they have recently alleged they were sexually harassed by a colleague. How can you forget to mention that when I ask if anything important has happened to this employee in the recent past? "The thing is, during the redundancy process you don't want to say or do anything that people can later use in litigation; when they sue my bank. So I take incredible care of what I say; If the case goes to an employment tribunal, I am the one to do all the work. For the managers it's different. Some of them say all sorts of things, which may make my job much more difficult. It may also damage the bank's reputation. And it's simply not the right thing to do. "At the second meeting we talk about redeployment, their new job, or we talk about severance pay, when there's no job. Some are very quiet, others really angry. They may have prepared themselves, spent a lot of time on Google to arrive at what is often an incorrect legal position. This meeting can last an hour. When someone is made redundant, it's all about money. Statutory rights stipulate we must pay up to £400 for every year you've worked at our bank. Except if you've been with the bank less than two years, then you get nothing. Incidentally the American managers find all of this terribly laborious. In the US it's much easier to fire somebody. "How it works in the UK is that we offer people more than those £400 for each year, in exchange for which they must sign this document that they're not going to sue. It's a form a blackmail and we call it 'enhanced severance'. I have worked in other industries where people get much, much less. Still I get people at the bank telling me, literally: 'I am offended by your offer of £300,000'. What happens, people on trading floors get desensitised. They deal with such massive numbers that they lose sight of proportions. I hear people say, about someone on a £125,000 salary plus £300,000 bonus a year: 'I don't know how people survive on that'. They mean it. "As I said, I worked in other industries. I get people who in a similar job elsewhere might make £20,000, getting £80,000 at the bank. Then they are placed at risk of redundancy, and they tell me they are offended by the bank's offer of £100,000 severance pay. This for someone who has the equivalent skill set of a clerk or a secretary. People can be incredibly rude and awful to me. Which is stupid, by the way, because sometimes my decision is crucial. There are these grey situations when my judgment can determine whether somebody stays or goes. "It can be difficult not to become cynical, at times. For instance, when there are rumours about job cuts, some people will raise a grievance pre-emptively, to get off the redundancy list. "I do none of the fun things. I don't hire people, I don't give bonuses. I tell people they have lost their jobs. I investigate misconduct, and grievances. I try to give people a severance payment that is just high enough for them not to take it to an employment tribunal. "It can be quite arbitrary, the redundancies. Maybe someone in HQ has decided to reduce headcount by 5%, just like that. I go over the list with managers. Women on maternity leave are often the first to go. People who are absent due to illness. Ideally personal likes and dislikes should not play a role. In reality they do. It does help if your manager likes you. "Since my bank operates across the globe, redundancies worldwide must be announced in one 24-hour period. I may have 15 meetings in one day. It's exhausting. I become robotic. Saying literally the same thing in every session. Managers comment on that, sometimes, but I'm like, what do you want me to do? The message needs to come across, and this is the best way to say what I have to say. This work can be emotionally draining. "When there's a round of redundancies you are on call from 7am till 10pm. As I said, some people don't show up, you sit there trying to predict the next person's emotional response. Some of them really lash out, I have to be on my toes the whole time. Well, being 'notified' as we call it, this is a life event for many people. If they are foreign, on a work-related visa, they sometimes have 30 days to leave the country. Now imagine how that works – these people have friends, girlfriends, boyfriends … "I need a glass of wine, after a day like that. God, my job sounds awful when put like this. But I do love it, the adrenaline, the challenges, a good tussle with an exceptionally good employment lawyer. Intellectual chess. Some of the most exceptional people in the world work in finance. If I go over the CVs for new people; it used to be two languages, now it's five. So many have represented their country at some outfit, they may have written books, excelled in extreme sports… The bench marks are constantly rising. "No two days, no two meetings are the same. It's great. As I said, I do redundancy but also grievances and disciplinary. So I might go from a 'redundancy meeting' to one with an employee who has waited three years to complain about being bullied by his manager – obviously such a conversation is totally different from the ones we just talked about. Then later that same day I may investigate a trader who has taken clients to a strip club – which is against policy. Or he has trashed a bar with a buddy trader of his. Since they know each other from work, my bank has a so-called 'vicarious responsibility'. "As I said, I worked in other male-dominated industries. It wasn't bad to work there, learnt a lot. But after a while I did get kind of bored. People just weren't that bright. God, that sounds awful. So this job is more challenging, and it pays a lot better. Money was not an initial driver, but now that I'm here, I want to stay. Buy a house in London. "There's no loyalty in financial services; both ways. If you want to make a lot of money, you need to switch employers a lot. That's how you get your pay increases. Entire teams may get poached from one bank by another, and then poached back – at the end of which everyone is making vastly more than before. Life in the financial sector is always about tomorrow; the next big trade, the next big deal. "I hear people say: 'After my next bonus, I'll give it up.' But they find it very difficult to quit at, say, 35. Some of them just keel over. Heart attack. Others hang in there. But you can't just stay as good as you are, you have to get better all the time because the new people are constantly getting better. People don't realise this and then one day comes the phone call from the 20th floor. We had this disciplinary case where we pulled the guy's access files. Turned out he had been in the office every day from 9am till 12pm. All weekends, he worked Christmas Eve, he worked New Year's Eve … That's so sad. "Perhaps 5-10% of traders could be described as psychopaths, I suppose, a few more as nutcases or addicts; I mean, what's the best job in the world if you are a compulsive gambler? Right, a trading floor. Apart from these categories, I'd say most people in finance are moulded by the system. They morph. I morph. The other day my boyfriend overheard me talking on the phone to somebody at work. 'You sound like a different person', he said. "I think affirmative action would be really bad for women. I understand the premise of quota, but you just can't be seen to progress in an organisation on any other basis than your competence. Otherwise it will fatally undermine your credibility. By the way, in human resources it's mostly women. And gay men. "If you look at the trading floor today, there are quite a few women working there, in support functions, whose goal it seems is to hook a trader. Can't get a footballer, so get a trader, you know. Sometimes when I see the way they dress, short skirt, boobs out, I ask myself: are we on a beach? "I am young and I am female. It really doesn't help that with most of the senior traders I have to deal with, their exposure is mostly to women in the gold digger category. How I cope, I dress really subdued and conservative. No nail polish. No skirt. "My salary is around a £100,000 a year. That is an obscene amount, absolutely. You can have three or four nurses working for that. The flipside: I deal with people who make even more. I look at them, I see what they do, I look at my own skill set, and frankly, it's often better. I live quite frugally, save a lot. I'd like to continue to live in London, I have really taken to this city. That means I have to make a lot of money. "Would I want my children to work in finance? Probably not. More generally, I would not want them to be dependent on an employer. You don't want your life to hang on somebody in headquarters far away deciding from one day to the next that they don't need you anymore. I have seen some really senior people with massive flaws. They could nominate someone for redundancy on a whim. I am called in and I go, on what basis have you made that decision? In the next three days, as more information on that person comes in, it becomes clear that the really senior person has made a huge misjudgment. Then, quite often, the very senior person will not back down, on principle. Humans become numbers very easily for them, it seems. They lose empathy. Latest posts Today's best video Today in pictures More from Voices of finance This series is part of the Joris Luyendijk banking blog.
Keyword research From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Keyword Research) Jump to: navigation, search Keyword research is a practice used by search engine optimization professionals to find and research actual search terms people enter into the search engines when conducting a search. Search engine optimization professionals research keywords in order to achieve better rankings in their desired keywords.[1][unreliable source?] Potential barriers[edit] Existing brands[edit] If a company decides to sell Nike trainers online, the market is pretty competitive, and the Nike brand itself is Predominant. In other words, using a keyword tool to help choose the best key phrase is recommended. The tool gives statistics about the searches per month and the demographics of those searchers. Choosing a key phrase with many searches, such as "Nike Trainers," makes it more difficult to rank higher. Sources of traditional research data[edit] 1. ^ Daniel Lofton (2010). "Importance of Keyword Research". Article Marketing HQ. Retrieved November 9, 2010. 2. ^ Patricia, Redsicker. "Findable Content Marketing: 3 Google Keyword Tool Tips". Retrieved 13 February 2013. 3. ^ a b Mike, Murray. "12 Tips for Keyword Selection to Guide Your Content Marketing SEO". Retrieved 13 February 2013.
View Single Post Old 01-20-2012, 10:58 PM #110 Banned User Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 2,220 My Ride: E30-E46-E90-E90M-F30 here is the update for today. not much going on beside fixing that siezed oil pan bolt. I am starting to stocking up MS43/MS45 parts for the future so I can do a complete/proper swap. based on my prelim research it seems like MS42 and MS43 wire harness are that of a closer match. MS45 is totally different. My long term goal is to run this engine with MS43 software. MS45 or MS45.1 is way too complicated. on to the pix Here are my spare parts that I am saving. All M54B30 DME version use the same fuel injectors (purple) and throttle body. However, DME MS43 and MS45 use different ignition coils and of course coil harness MS43 use a square ignition coils like the 323/328. the electrical plug is rectangular. MS45 uses the circular ignition coil and the electrical plug is triangular. the good news is they all have the same pin layout (3 pins) so there might be a possibility of converting one to the other. here are the various wire harness that I am collecting. The green arrow shows the ignition coils wire harness. Red is the fuel injector rails. MS42 and MS45/43 fuel rails are different. MS42 uses a 3/2 valve and does not have a integrated fuel pressure regulator. MS42 has two fuel lines (in and outlet) and MS43/MS45 only has one fuel line running into the rails. Blue arrow is for the MS45 wire harness. again, this wireharness is totally different and the DME uses different pins #/layout for the same exact sensor. Luckily, I have an extra MS43 wire harness. again, MS43 and MS42 wire harness is a closer match (although not perfect). Oh can see my starter too. I am going to put that starter away and use it as spare parts here is my dirty engine. I still need to degrease, power wash, and air spray the engine. oil start leaking after I removed the oil pan. So guess what did I do to clean up the oil? Cat liter works miracle! and it is much cheaper than those absorbant you buy at the part store. side note. while trying to search for a used oil pan because I thought mine was defective I found that different M54/M52TU chasis all have different oil pan part number and design. I posted this on its seperate thread but here it is anyway: I hope this is not a repost and I am sure 99% of you guys will not find this useful but I just discovered something that I think is interesting. Cliff: BMW makes different oil pan for every models that use the M54/M52TU engines. So for example, just because a 330XI, 530, and a X3 uses the same engine (M54B30) they all have different engine oil pans. my analysis: although the different oil pans will bolt up exactly to the engine (they all share the same bolt patters and # of bolts), the variation is due to the underneath clearance requires by different models. the engine pan have different dimensions/shape. why does it matter: well if your decide to replace your engine just make sure you buy the same M54/M52TU (M54/M52TU share the same oil pan) engine from the same exact model. So if you have a 330 makes sure you buy a 330 engine and not from an e39 and so forth. Of course you can always replace the oil pan and you should be good to go. E39 engine pan: 11131709235 E53 (X5) engine pan: 11137500682 E83 (X3) engine pan: 11137519432 E46 XI (AWD) model: 11137519432 E46 (non AWD) : 11131432703 so why am I busy browsing BMW oil pan? well, my oil pan seems to be painted/coated in the inside and now the paint/coat are cracking. As a result the interior is no longer smooth and there are plenty of cracks, bumps, etc. I wanted to buy a new oil pan until I realized it cost anywhere from $450-700 from the dealership. OMG Last edited by flashmeow; 01-20-2012 at 10:59 PM. flashmeow is offline Reply With Quote
Pave Engagement Rings . . . 250 X 250 Mar 7, 2013 Interesting Posts #468 1. shouldering the sky ourselves - an Indian writes about the moral issues derived from the Talmudic story of the oven of Achnoi 2. there's no such thing as mainstream Judaism 3. choosing shalom over emes in shul 4. Rav Yitzchak Yosef forbids eating locusts for those without mesora 5. locusts and rationalism 6. why arent books like these being written for Jews 7. Israel bashing in the Israeli movie world 8. Please dont let Pollard die in jail 9. The courage to serve: a charedi woman in the IDF 10. The factual and logical failures behind accusations of ‘racist’ Israeli bus lines 1 comment: Related Posts Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
(June 22,1992 / Waterville) What do you think this poem is about? Why am I, So alone. So dark and cold Alone in the world. Alone in life, Alone all day. All night I think of why I am. Alone in the world So dark and cold, I don't see why. Why am I me? Submitted: Saturday, October 27, 2007 Edited: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Comments about this poem (Alone by Brianna Wilshusen ) Enter the verification code : • Ben Gieske (10/24/2008 1:59:00 PM) A desperate cry. The acceptance of self is the beginning of love. 0 person liked. 0 person did not like. • Reshma Ramesh (10/1/2008 11:40:00 AM) • Qendresa Ulaj (9/18/2008 9:05:00 AM) good job.. i have a similar poem with this i really like it..! • Subbaraman N V (2/14/2008 8:09:00 AM) Kindly go through mine 'Never Alone' in the PH! You will not feel alone! Read all 4 comments » PoemHunter.com Updates Top 500 Poems 1. Phenomenal Woman Maya Angelou 2. The Road Not Taken Robert Frost 3. If You Forget Me Pablo Neruda 4. Still I Rise Maya Angelou 5. Dreams Langston Hughes 6. Annabel Lee Edgar Allan Poe 7. Invictus William Ernest Henley 8. If Rudyard Kipling 9. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Robert Frost 10. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou [Hata Bildir]
In the event that Deron Williams comes to his senses and realizes what every other NBA star realizes—that having to deal with all the ticket requests and financial requests of living in your home town is a nightmarish pain in the ass—and resigns with the Brooklyn Nets, The Dallas Mavericks should go hard after Jeremy Lin. Really I think Lin should be our number one target, but I am a minority opinion there. "Jeremy Lin is a restricted free agent," you say. Well apparently there is a loophole there and it is the kind of loophole the Mavs' braintrust often sees. Here is the skinny from Chris Broussard at ESPN, While it may be doubtful that a club goes as high as $15 million in a season for Lin, even if one offered Lin roughly $10 million in the third and fourth years of a contract, the Knicks would be cautious about matching, according to a source. Toronto, Dallas and Brooklyn have all expressed interest in Lin, according to sources, though he is a backup plan for each of the clubs." Consider the Ramifications of Feeding New York's Roster a Poison Pill If Dallas were to offer Lin a four-year $40 million deal, New York would have a pretty simple choice. They can pass, keeping their front line together and look for a cheaper PG alternative. Dallas wins Lin. The Knicks can sign Lin and then look to move one of their three frontline players—probably former Maverick Tyson Chandler—probably to a team with a big trade exception for a lesser, but competent starting center. Dallas has Brendan Haywood and a big trade exemption. Dallas has some assets. They would have as good of a shot as anyone. Dallas could walk away with Chandler. Dirk, Marion and Chandler won one title already. Consider the Ramifications of Lin On a Four-Year "Poison Pill" Deal on Dallas Lin is a dramatically undervalued asset. The three teams toying with signing him get it. Teams worry about his injury and worry that he may not be a top five point guard and therefore not worth $15 million a year. Well to them I say you would not be offering him $60 million over four years. It would only be $40 million over four years. That is a bargain for a guy who would arguably be the best player on about a third of the teams in the league. Even if Lin seems a little slower next year, if the new scheme he plays in doesn't fit him, if he still turns the ball over too much and even if teams are on to him a bit—he will still probably be a top 10 point guard. The guy can run an offense. That is the fear about losing Jason Kidd. What's that worth? $8 million a year? Four years at a total of $40 million is not overpaying by much. And as it is all backloaded, it would not negatively impact the Dirk Nowitski title window. Dallas would be adding a top 10 PG and still have the money left over to sign two to three big-time free agents to fuel the bench for another title run. How does adding Roy Hibbert and Brandon Roy as well sound? How would adding guys like Marcus Camby and Eric Gordon suit Mav fans? There are plenty of interesting names out there that could be had with the savings: Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes, Joel Prysbilla, Jordan Hill, Mickeal Pietrus, Greg Oden, Patty Mills... Do the rules allow other restricted free agents, like Nets Center Brooks Lopez, to be offered a poison pill deal? Plus there is the franchise-value argument. Williams and Howard have toyed with the fates of three franchises for the last year. Williams role in the departure of Jerry Sloan doesn't sit well with a lot of fans. Do you really want coach-killer Deron Williams to be the face of the franchise when Dirk retires, when you could have sweetheart Jeremy Lin? Williams is merely tolerable. Lin is beloved. That is a bad financial decision. Lin is hard working, modest and just as endearing as Dirk Nowitski. His appeal in the Asian community alone would make Dallas merchandise fly out the door. And I think it is a bad on-the-court decision. Lin is a winner. I think the jury is out on Williams. Williams may be the better player overall, but Lin is the better leader and the more clutch player. Which type wins titles? Ever hear of Robert Horry? Why Would Lin Choose Dallas? He knows the staff in Dallas and they know him. Only Dallas offered him a spot on their team after he graduated. Lin said of Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson, "Donnie took care of me...He has a different type of vision than most people do." Dallas offered Lin a contract after that initial summer league; Lin chose to play for his hometown team, the Golden State Warriors, rather than to try to be Jason Kidd's backup. It didn't work out for him there. Lin is the perfect fit for the D'Antoni system. He won't be as affective in any other offensive system. While New York is moving away from that to please Carmello Anthony, Dallas could easily move a little more towards that. The offensive talent in Dallas isn't married to a scheme. They do not have to dominate the ball. Dallas has a lot of young athletic guards and Sean Marion played well in the D'antoni system. Defensively a mix of veteran leaders, Lin and Delonte West at the point could allow the Mavs to work in all three of their young talents (Roddy Beaubois, Dominique Jones and Jared Cunningham) at the 2 spot, easing their transitions to the pros. Offensively, that looks like a fairly explosive backcourt versus what Dallas is used to. Lin is a smart guy. If he were to get to choose first, he knows Dirk + Marion (Dallas' title hopes) > Johnson + Wallace (New Jersey's). As it stands today, it looks like Deron Williams will be the PG in New Jersey anyway, limiting Lin's options to New York, Dallas or Toronto. Dirk is a two-time MVP and one of the top 10 or so end-of-game scorers in the NBA. Shawn Marion has elevated his game back to elite levels the last two seasons. While he has lost a lot of explosion offensively, he may be playing the best defense of his career. While no one knows how good of a player Lin will ultimately prove to be, there seems to be little doubt that he is also a top closer. There is a very real possibility that Lin could come to Dallas (leaving space for other top talents) and win two titles before Dirk is done. It is time for the Mavs to recover Jeremy Lin. Afterall, there is no losing play in making him the offer, we owe New York for taking Chandler and we saw Lin first.
Click photo to enlarge Shown is a decorated window of the home of a severely disabled 3-year-old girl who was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013, in Philadelphia. Nathalyz Rivera, a twin, weighed just 11 pounds when she died and police in Philadelphia called her death a homicide. Police are searching for the girl's father, Carlos Rivera, after they said he left four other children in a relative's care and fled. PHILADELPHIA—A severely disabled 3-year-old girl who weighed just 11 pounds when she died Monday was starved to death, Philadelphia police said as they held the girl's parents for questioning. Nathalyz Rivera's father found her unresponsive inside the family's bug-infested home around midnight, but called her mother instead of 911, Homicide Capt. James Clark said. The girl was driven to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Carlos Rivera, 30, allegedly fled after dropping off his four other children with a relative but was found later in the day and detained at police headquarters, where his wife was also being questioned. "It's very sad, very disturbing," Clark said of the girl's death, which the medical examiner termed a homicide caused primarily by starvation. Nathalyz also had some bruising, but Clark said that may have come from flea, bug or rodent bites at the house, which he said was in "bad shape." "(She) had not seen a doctor in over a year, even with all the severe disabilities," Clark said. He did not specify the girl's medical conditions. Police have handled several starvation deaths involving children in Philadelphia, including the 2006 death of a disabled teenager whose family was targeted for an array of weekly city services at their home. Danieal Kelly weighed just 42 pounds when she died at age 14. More than a dozen people were convicted in the case, including her parents, city social workers and contractors. Nathalyz, a twin, was not in preschool or enrolled in any other city services despite her special needs, Clark said. The family had one prior contact with the Department of Human Services in 2008, but Clark did not immediately view that issue as relevant to the girl's death. Her mother, who is married to Rivera but apparently comes and goes at the house, was being interviewed by police Monday afternoon. Clark said she had seen her daughter in recent weeks, and he expected her to be charged in the death. "I saw the photos and even for me, they were difficult to look at," Clark said. The other Rivera children—ages 9, 8 and 7, along with Nathalyz's 3-year-old twin—were being checked at a hospital before being placed with DHS. Danieal Kelly's death became the subject of a harrowing grand jury report, which found that city workers and contractors lied about making the visits to the family home. They are now serving lengthy prison terms. The girl's mother is serving 20 to 40 years for third-degree murder, and the father up to five years for felony child neglect, for abandoning Danieal at her unfit mother's home. In a more recent case, a homeless mother of six was convicted of involuntary murder this year for the starvation death of her premature twin at a shelter just before Christmas in 2010. Quasir Alexander, who was 2 months old and weighed just over 4 pounds, had been seen by a social worker shortly before his death. The social worker testified that she had not seen the twins undressed. Quasir's twin was found near death. The mother, Tanya Williams, awaits sentencing. Her defense lawyer has questioned how much she understood about caring for the premature infants, given her low IQ. The twins were released from a city hospital to the homeless shelter when they were four days old, although Williams was getting parenting help there from several sources.
Porsche's pullme-pushyou. Reviews of cars, trucks, and other autos. June 18 2003 7:51 PM Porsche's Pullme-Pushyou Plus: Honda's Element doesn't drive as cool as it looks. But it's close! (Continued from Page 1) Essential contradiction: The car looks like a rugged Panzer for Pavement-lovers. But it drives like a loaded-down Civic. It should be called: The Honda Elephant. Slow, carries a lot, and will last a long time. Slice of drive: Like an SUV, the Element is tall. Unlike on an SUV, the load floor is very near the road. Result: a huge, room-like interior space. The vast windshield is way up there in the front--watching the road ahead is like looking at a movie. Acceleration can tactfully be described as gradual. The brakes are excellent, but there's the traditional front-wheel-drive mush up front when you rotate the wheel. (The 4WD version might be better.) ... The Element doesn't make you feel fast, or agile, or tough. It makes you feel efficient. You're not a driver; you're a movement technician! I think this is what the people who drive the D.C. Metro trains must experience: the smoothly increasing momentum accompanied by a steady hum. The square, long, solid container moving gracefully through space. Watch the closing doors! As on the Metro line, the hard seats hurt my back. ... This would be a good vehicle to drive across the country, if you were accompanied by a bunch of entertaining friends and a vast array of salty snacks. The car itself certainly isn't going to be the star. Try this in your 'cute ute' Try this in your 'cute ute' Great virtue: Volume! Much of it is in front of the driver, and therefore useless, but the impression is of a vast cavity easily accessed through the side "suicide" doors. The rear seat is set way back--as in the forthcoming Chevy Malibu Maxx--which means an almost unusably large, Checker-Cab quantity of legroom. A man could blog from in there! The seats do-si-do into some kind of bed--I didn't try that, but they moved easily out of the way when I did decide to haul my unwieldy 7-foot dining table out from storage. The table just barely fit inside--see photo--but that's more than I could say for almost any other $20,000 enclosed vehicle I could name. Performance: Corners well for a room! With its high center of gravity, the Element tips but holds on stably. The yawing will scare you into slowing down well before it starts to slide. As the conductor ... I mean, driver, you sit up high--as high as in a typical SUV--which seems to be enough to trigger the Darwinian intimidation gene. Other drivers get out of your way. Soon I was unconsciously flinging around this Biosphere 3 with obnoxious disregard for the rights of others. ... Predictably, the tall, slabby Element gets blown about by side winds. On a gusty freeway it was no fun at all. Essential irony: I'd love to see the corporate charts comparing the Element's demographic target with a profile of the car's actual buyers. I bet Honda missed its target by a mile. The idea was supposedly to appeal to 20-year-olds, yet everybody I've seen driving this Bradley Shopping Vehicle (and there are already two on my block) has been a satisfied-looking, flea-market-ready middle-aged boomer. Not that there's anything wrong with it! ... Still, I'm somewhat mystified by all the youth-targeted cars now coming on market. (Click here for Toyota's equally cubic Scion xB.) Who decided that Gen-Y-ers wanted to bop around in boxes? Don't they like to drive like everyone else their age in the past? Don't they have the same genes as their parents? Do they not like sex either? (Well, OK. They get those rear seats. Still.) What the Element needs: More guts. Raise the price $5,000 and use the money to stick in a bigger engine and bigger tires. There's plenty of empty space left under that windshield for a V-6. If my theory is right, and it's boomers who are buying the Element, they can afford the extra few grand. Rear-wheel drive would be better still. Barring that, a bit more noise--rumbling, mechanical, military-industrial noise!--would help, even if it didn't mean the thing went a whit faster. Right now, the Element is too polite; it needs to drive as rugged as it looks. In comparison, the PT Cruiser is hideous, and not much faster, but it drives (and sounds) the way a car that looks like it looks should drive. Patented Gearbox Parking Lot Test: (On a scale of 1-10, how happy was I to step out into the parking lot and realize the keys in my hand were for this car?) 6. That's better than a Lincoln LS (5). Worse than a Cadillac CTS (7). Worse still than my own $10,000 used Nissan 300ZX (8). But not bad. (I'd give the PT Cruiser a 6 too.) Conclusion: The longer you live with the Element, the more its Honda-esque virtues--reliability, stability, fit and finish, efficiency--grow on you. It's what I think I'd be like as a husband! And it's great-looking. But ...[You really want to finish this thought?--ed. No.] Update:Business Week reports that the Element's "typical buyer turned out to be 41 years old." Hah! Not exactly Gen Y. Or even Gen X. ... [Thanks to alert reader J.G.] ... There's more on Honda's demographic miss here. [Thanks to S.R.] ... [Correction: The initial version of this review erroneously reported that the Element is assembled in Japan. It's made in Honda's East Liberty, Ohio factory. Thanks to reader J.P.H.] 12:41 A.M.
Tell me more × Let's say I have three JUnit test cases, namely TC1, TC2 and TC3. Is there a way to configure TeamCity or pom somehow, so that when I remote run, the order will be TC1 -> TC2 -> TC3 always? Right now, because of unordering in test cases, all these tests start with the same functionality (for example: creating a user), which takes a pretty big amount of time. I would like to do that functionality in the first test case only (TC1 in this case). I am open for any other approaches also. Thanks in advance. share\|improve this question Why do you want to? – Dave Newton Mar 6 at 13:47 Right now, because of it is unordered, these three test cases include common functionalities, and it increases the running time of testcases, I will update my question – ogzd Mar 6 at 13:53 Unit tests should be able to run in any order. It sounds more like your tests need work rather than forcing an order on them. – Dave Newton Mar 6 at 13:56 add comment 1 Answer up vote 1 down vote accepted maven-failsafe-plugin has an optional parameter, runOrder which is exactly what I wanted. You can set it to alphabetical and afterwards, you modify the name of your testcases, you are done. share\|improve this answer add comment Your Answer
Stata The Stata listserver st: revised program intcens on SSC From "Jamie Griffin" <> To <> Subject st: revised program intcens on SSC Date Wed, 12 Oct 2005 16:59:10 +0100 Thanks to Kit Baum, a revised version of the -intcens- package is now The program fits various parametric models for non-negative outcomes to data which can be interval-censored, or point data, left- or The distributions are all those fitted by -streg-, plus the two-parameter gamma, inverse Gaussian (which is the time to reach a certain distance from the origin for a Weiner process) and an extension of the inverse Gaussian which is the time to reach a certain point for a Weiner process with random drift. The package also contains a do file and a SAS program to check the results, for people who have SAS. There was a bug in the code for the Gompertz and generalized gamma distributions which has been fixed. In the likelihood evaluator, in the code for these two distributions, I referred to a parameter as if it was a scalar when in fact with maximum likelihood method -lf-, all the parameters are temporary variables. The code worked by accident as long as the first observation in the dataset was in the estimation sample, but issued an error message otherwise. When the program did produce results, then they were correct. Jamie Griffin. * For searches and help try:
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Our Addiction to Soda, What We Can Do to Stop 3 Responses to “Our Addiction to Soda, What We Can Do to Stop” 1. Kenya Hi, I do have a very big addiction to soda, either pepsi or coke. I have tried many times to stop and am always saying that I am not going to drink anymore but then I just end up drinking it. In a daily basis I drink maybe 2 cans at work and at home I am always driniking it I can’t even tell u how many, but I know it is a lot. I know this is the most serious problem I have for losing weight. is there anything u can suggest that might help me stop this addiction I have. 2. eversman Ive been looking on the internet also for info on this. throw the soda that you have out of your house. everytime you want a soda drink a small glass of water (because you’ll keep thinking of it dont drink huge glasses). you will get angry, get headaches but in about a week you wont be angry anymore and you will actually feel more energized, your metabolism will change and you wont have stomach pains. you will mentally be refreshened. this is coming from a 14 yr old that tried to stop too but it didnt work ;) Leave a Reply
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Reports \| August 02, 2012 20:11 Wang Hao beats Giri in last round Biel, finishes clear first Wang Hao Wang Hao became the sole winner of the 2012 Biel Chess Festival's Grandmaster group. The Chinese grandmaster, who will turn 23 in two days, defeated Anish Giri in the last round to finish on 19 points. Carlsen, who had to settle for a draw against Etienne Bacrot, finished on 18 points. Hikaru Nakamura finished shared third with Giri (both 16 points) thanks to a last-round win against Victor Bologan. Wang Hao's 19 out of a possible 30 points is enough for clear first in Biel \| Photos Biel Chess Festival Event Biel Chess Festival \| PGN Dates July 23-August 2, 2012 Location Biel, Switzerland System 6-player round robin He kept on trying for a long time in a slightly better ending, but eventually Magnus Carlsen couldn't break Etienne Bacrot's defence. After 62 moves Carlsen stopped his attempts to win yet another tournament in his career, a tournament he really likes to play. Carlsen feels at home in Biel so much, that he decided to enter at the last minute, thereby replacing Cuban grandmaster Leinier Dominguez, who agreed to participate next year. But strong play by a highly talented grandmaster from China, as well as the football score, resulted in a second place for the world's number one. For Wang Hao, a student at Beijing University who claims to spend only 3-4 hours a week on chess, winning in Biel was his career's best performance. Like Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand, he "skipped" the IM title and became a GM immediately in 2005, at the age of 16. Thus far, his biggest achievements were winning the Bosna 2010 tournament in Sarajevo and the Chinese Championship in the same year. On the day that a table tennis player with the same name won the silver medal in London, Wang Hao-the-chess-player won gold in Biel. It must be noted that Wang Hao also finished first "because" of the football score. A classical final standings table, with half a point for a draw and one point for a win, would have had Carlsen as clear first, with 7/10, half a point more than the Chinese. In other words, this year Wang Hao's +3 was worth more than Carlsen's (undefeated) +4. But that's probably exactly what the organizers had in mind: they wanted to stimulate the fighters and the risk takers, and so they won't be disappointed with a winner who drew only one game, won six and lost three! The winner of the tournament was also the first to finish in the last round. Anish Giri got a bit confused about his preparation, missed an important tactic at an early stage and was already lost at move 25. PGN string Video produced by Pascal Simon (Chessbase) Hikaru Nakamura finished his tournament with a decent score. The American defeated Victor Bologan, who sticked to his Benko/Volga Gambit. Nakamura didn't think he played a great game, and started the post-mortem press conference saying [Until 34...Nb8] I was just marginally better throughout the game. PGN string Video produced by Pascal Simon (Chessbase) Nakamura looked back at his tournament as follows: It seems like the games I played well I managed to lose and the games where I played OK I found a way to win. It's weird, because the two best games I played were against Wang Hao and I managed to lose both. Carsen-Bacrot was the last tournament game to finish. The Norwegian summarized it as follows: I thought I had a good position, then in the middlegame I was definitely worse. Then, before the time control it turned around and I had a better endgame, but I'm not sure if it was possible to win it. PGN string Video produced by Pascal Simon (Chessbase) Biel 2012 \| Schedule & results Carlsen ½-½ Nakamura Nakamura ½-½ Carlsen Wang Hao 1-0 Bacrot Bacrot ½-½ Wang Hao Morozevich 0-1 Giri Giri 1-0 Bologan Nakamura ½-½ Giri Giri ½-½ Nakamura Bacrot 1-0 Morozevich Bologan ½-½ Bacrot Carlsen 1-0 Wang Hao Wang Hao 0-1 Carlsen Wang Hao 1-0 Nakamura Nakamura 0-1 Wang Hao Bologan 0-1 Carlsen Carlsen 1-0 Bologan Giri 1-0 Bacrot Bacrot 0-1 Giri Bologan 0-1 Nakamura Bacrot 0-1 Nakamura Giri 0-1 Wang Hao Giri ½-½ Carlsen Bacrot ½-½ Carlsen Bologan 1-0 Wang Hao Nakamura 1-0 Bacrot Nakamura 1-0 Bologan Carlsen ½-½ Giri Wang Hao 1-0 Giri Wang Hao 1-0 Bologan Carlsen ½-½ Bacrot Biel 2012 \| Final standings # Name Fed Rtg + = - Pts 1 Wang Hao CHN 2739 6 1 3 19 2 Carlsen,M NOR 2837 4 6 0 18 3-4 Giri,A NED 2696 4 4 2 16 3-4 Nakamura,H USA 2778 4 4 2 16 5 Bacrot,E FRA 2713 1 4 5 7 6 Bologan,V MDA 2732 1 1 6 4 7 Morozevich,A RUS 2770 0 0 2 0 Biel 2012 \| Final standings (classical) Peter Doggers's picture Author: Peter Doggers Anonymous's picture I mean since when YU decide of the scoring system ? The players knew the rules, wang played a. Kamikaze chess and got first place. His strategy paid off. Congrats Jambow's picture You guys can call it like you wan't the same rules were in effect for all, Wang created chances for his opponents to go astray they did he took advantage and is the sole winner period, or perhaps we should have a scoring system based on height or score it alphabetically then maybe we have four winners? Wang is the winner sorry deal with it and give him his due. Carlsen has often been accused of being lucky when his opponents go astray I credit him with tenacity even when Hoa pretty much gifted him a game. Nakamura got a gift but he was long over due imho he certainly had more go the otherway. Alfonso sorry in the contest in which you expressed your opinion it sounds like your taking away from Hoa's victory. Again Magnus did play safer chess, its his precision, lack of errors and subtle understanding of chess that makes him he best player in the game today. However Hoa imho played most effectively under the agreed too rules and that strategy was effective. I try to ignore what players are involved and stick to the objective facts and my opinion would be the same no matter who finished in what position. Chess Fan's picture OK, I was wrong. I will stand up to say this. Barcot held his own against mighty Magnus (not surprising considering Barcot's potential), Giri lost to a great player, product of the mighty Chinese Chess machine, and we have an unexpected winner, though he lots to the favorite 2/2 times. Congrats to all the players for their top level play. I like to be wrong this way as a Chess Fan. PS: Giri is a GREAT player - you would not hear anything except good things about him from me - that he richly deserves. anna's picture I'm happy that Nakamura score well his last 2 games and do a pleasant rating performance. I hope for him a good chess life! redivivo's picture It was a strange tournament, only Carlsen's games looked as they often do. He was undefeated once again and pressed for wins in most of the games he didn't win, ended up with +4 in 10 rounds, and gained 5.8 points. He performed Elo 2878 with a bit to spare for times when everything is going his way. Both his games against Bacrot looked winnable as did the first against Nakamura, but he missed the most promising lines and instead won with black against Wang Hao when the latter blundered, so it wasn't some kind of minimal payout either. Nakamura had promising positions in both his games against Wang Hao and would normally not lose both and maybe even score a plus in them, but this just wasn't his tournament. If Wang Hao had blundered against Naka the way he did a couple of times against Bologan and Carlsen (in much better positions) it could have been a +6 tournament for Naka, but then he would have used up all his luck for years to come. Giri played excellently in all his games except those against Wang Hao, who just outplayed him totally in both games. Wang was of course a very deserving winner and I would never imagine that he could win 6 games of 10 in these surroundings. Ruben's picture Strange debate, Congrads to Wang Hao! The deserved winner with the most pionts and played great chess! Ruben's picture And about Giri he played also very well as lowest rated player and ended on a great 3 place. He could have even won the tournement if he did won from Wang in the last round! So you can say he was still fighting for the nr1 position untill the last round! Over ten rounds with so many strong players. Great Giri ! Anonymous's picture Carlsen beat Hao twice. Tournament winner doesn't necessarily mean the best player. RealityCheck's picture So what! Wang takes home the 1st place Trophy. The higher rated player doesn't necessarily mean the best player either. slonik's picture This was a funny case in a way, Carlsen performed 2878 and Wang 2858, so if they repeat this over and over again Carlsen will always be the higher rated player while Wang will continue to be the better player for being the winner every time. RG's picture I think you mean that a higher rating doesn't necessarily guarantee success in any particular event. That is true. However Magnus Carlsen IS the strongest player now according to Vladimir Kramnik (who has no reason not to be objective). Anonymous's picture @RG, yet still Kramnik dares to play in the candidates tournament..Perhaps he is not too convinced of that strength after all? redivivo's picture Being the best player doesn't guarantee that someone wins every tournament. Some consider Anand to be the best player and yet he hasn't won a tournament for four and a half years, and people dare to play in spite of his participating. Most people see Carlsen as the better player than Wang Hao, and still Wang Hao won Biel, so it would be strange if Kramnik didn't dare to participate in the Candidates just because Carlsen is playing. KingTal's picture Carlsen beat Hao twice, but Hao beat Nakamura and Giri twice, where Carlsen couldn´t even win a single game, so what... the discussion can go on forever and is not a reason for badmouthing Haos achievement. Michael Lubin's picture Maybe Hao was lucky, or maybe he was just good at putting tactical pressure on his opponents. Persistently getting gifted by blunders isn't usually an accident, and it's hard for even GM analysts to understand the extent to which another player makes his own luck. Kronsteen's picture Exactly. There's a reason GMs don't make the same kinds of blunders against lower-rated players - they're not under the same pressure, move after move after move. Septimus's picture What's this bulls*** about Hao having it easy? He won the tournament because he is good. End of story. Congrats to Hao! Carlsen and Giri have also had a solid tournament. Congrats to them as well. RG's picture There is no doubt that Wang deserved the win. Everyone knew that they were playing under the football scoring system and we can argue that Wang tailored his play to take advantage of that. However what the football scoring system strives to achieve can be done just as well (but closer to classical results) with the slight tweak of 2 1/2 points for a win instead of 3. If the same chess were played under that system then Carlsen and Wang would have shared 1st place money with Carlsen being declared the winner on tiebreak. A +4 undefeated performance should be preferred over a +3 performance with three losses. Anonymous's picture 2.5 just complicates things without resolving the issue. valg321's picture congrats to Wang Hao, a well deserved victory, and congrats to Magnus too for his precision play. Although a Carlsen fan, i'm happy with the results and hope to see more of Wang Hao. adam's picture congrats to wang hao and all other participants--a truly awesome and memorable tournament! drawing rate < 40 %, don't remember the last time i saw such a feast valg321's picture most probably because of the football scoring system which i think is a very good thing for chess. Of course some professional draw masters (Kramnik, Leko) will probably have a different opinion on the matter. Jambow's picture (context) not (consent?) and (you"re) not (your) ;o] Mark De Smedt's picture Congratulations to Wang Hao, who has done great and correctly won the tournament. Now, totally regardless of who scored +3 and who scored +4, I have the right to consider the football scoring system a disgrace for chess, for the simple reason that it rewards playing objectively inferior moves in quite a number of positions. As a chess fan I don't see how I could possibly accept such a system (it may be more difficult to reject for professionals who depend on tournament invitations, of course). strana's picture Wang Hao is not even the best chinese player!! Ding Liren, who is 3 times chinese champion at only 20, is the best. He would be 2850 if he was playing in west. You must accept the fact that China will dominate chess very soon.... . So sad for all Carlsen Fan Boys !! Anonymous's picture Yeah you're right, now you can go back to sleep MJul's picture Wang Hao had health issues, so he didn't play for some time. Anonymous's picture Ding Liren? Same guy that is sharing 10th place at the U-20 World Championships in Athens? If that is so, maybe we will have to wait a little longer to see that Chinese domination you talk about. Excalibur's picture Wow Wang Hao went from untitled player to Grandmaster in 2005 alone! Incredible. Ophelia Crack's picture This scoring system is fine. Life is not fair, but so what. deal with it, cry babies. Or don't. Either accept change and adapt or be hurt by it. Septimus's picture I like this scoring system as it gives an incentive to go for a win. Chessguy's picture I think the most amazing game of the tournament was Bacrot-Morozevich. One should not forget that all the participants can play great chess. Anonymous's picture Not sure if it was because of the time control or because of the inclusion of off form players but in general the quality of the games was quite dissapointing this tourney. The biggest upside was that all players, with different styles, were spoiling for a fight, Carlsen and Giri being the most conservative and Wang and Bologan going all out regulary. But with Moro's illness, the weird scoring system and the organisers mistreatment of Dominguez I still see it as a dissapointing tournament. MJul's picture Which "organisers mistreatment of Dominguez"? Thomas's picture You probably know what is meant, even if you don't consider it a mistreatment. This Chessvibes article describes it as follows: "Carlsen feels at home in Biel so much, that he decided to enter at the last minute, thereby replacing Cuban grandmaster Leinier Dominguez, who agreed to participate next year." Which other player could 'decide to enter at the last minute'? And it seems that Carlsen doesn't feel that deeply at home in Biel but would have preferred Bazna. Biel was second choice, Amsterdam might have been third choice if the Biel organizers couldn't get rid of Dominguez or another invited and confirmed player. MJul's picture But we don't know why Dominguez didn't play. Maybe he doesn't want make the reason known. So, it's possible that after Dominguez withdraw, and knowing that Bazna was postponed/cancelled Biel organisers decided try invite Carlsen, and he accepted. Basically we don't know nothing about that. And, before a thaoric reference to Moro, they could explain all the situation just to avoid all theories wich later appeared and as a public statement for other tournament organisers. Anonymous's picture Yes we do. One chess journalist has clearly said that Dominguez was convinced to leave after the organizers decided they rather had Carlsen. In return for his withdrawal he got an invite for next years edition. What does that mean? Well; Dominguez is dependend on such invites so clearly he didn't have a lot of choice. All other chessjournalist remain silent on this matter, and no one has even tried to research it publicly. So it's rather more likely that Biel organisers don't want people to know the reasons of Dominguez withdrawal. If you keep in mind their extensive (and suggestive!) press release about Moro it's even more likely. Very unethical behavior of Biel organisation and disappointing that Carlsen took advantage of their immoral behavior. MJul's picture Sorry, but it doesn't matter if it was one, or all chess journalist who said that: if Biel organisers or Dominguez don't say nothing, it's unclear information. So I don't take it. On the other hand, I don't know any chess journalist, so I can't know if they didn't make a research about that. I made clear my point about how could Domiguez and Moro's withdrawal have so differents press releases. And, I'm going to be honest: I never trust in journalist. it doesn't matter which speciality they take, and how many said the same, or whatever: I don't trust them. slonik's picture Remember when Svidler scored great results last year but hadn't been invited to Tal Memorial while Wang Hao was invited? The organisers then dropped Wang and gave Svidler the spot, did it create any discussion? Nothing, zilch, nada, since Carlsen wasn't involved. Maybe it had to do with Wang's earlier health problems, but this was never discussed or confirmed. Thomas's picture There was a statement by the Biel organizers in the Chessvibes Round 3 report: Whatever the deal included (besides an invitation for 2013), at the very least it indicates that Dominguez didn't voluntarily withdraw without asking and getting something in return, and certainly didn't withdraw for different reasons unrelated to Carlsen's sudden availability. Even if you don't trust journalists in general, do you mean to imply that Peter Doggers misquoted the organizers, or invented such a statement? MJul's picture About Peter Doggers: No. About the statment: let's see other options: 1-There was a surprise because Pelletier didn't play. Been Dominguez based in Switzerland he would be the unofficial swiss player. 2-Switzerland and their "organization culture". There's nothing official. Jimbo's picture Wang Hao seems to be always wearing that checked shirt. Is he trying to counter Radjabov's stripes? Anonymous2's picture The football scoring system is a waste of space and time, but it isn't the fault of the players that it was used for the tournament. Obviously Wang should be congratulated for winning the tournament even with Carlsen performing better (as two wins, three losses and a draw isn't as good as six draws). Also don't forget to commend Bologan for participating in the tournament at his expense (to help the organisers) and also for being the only player to attend the post mortem after he lost a game. My full respect to this player who I'm certain will bounce back. Anonymous's picture "And don't forget to comment Bologan...for being the only player to attend the post mortem after he lost a game." Don't make such idiotic statements!! Anonymous's picture "only player" See the Hao-Giri post-mortem video in this very article. st32's picture This is exactly why the 3 point system doesnt work. Obviously Wang Hao played fantastic Chess, but Carlsen Scored more. If they really want to make it more fighting, how about they make the 3 point system as a tiebreak. I dont care how boring or interesting a player is, A person who scored 9 draws should not have the same score as someone with 3 wins and 6 losses. (I didnt read the previous posts, So if someone has already said the same thing, my apologies) Anonymous's picture The 2.5 for win works better as someone explained earlier. Anonymous's picture Don't follow such stupid arguments. In the books, in the ratings, Carlsen won. Hao just got more money. That's all. Let the organizers decide who they will give their money to, in the manner they so choose. FIDE will always keep track of the standard scoring. That's what really counts. Anonymous's picture Be careful about your use of the term "stupid" because your post didn't say anything that wasn't already obvious. Of course the organizers will continue to "decide who they will give their money to". And of course people will continue to express their opinions about the scoring system used. mIKE mAGNAN's picture Great Tourney...lots of ups and downs. Congrats to Wang for his impressive fighting spirit. Also a big congrats to MC who just keeps getting better. Also a congrats to Mr Giri..who had a great tourney and Mr Nakamura who pulled his socks up and scored to make it a decent outing. Congrats to Mr Bologan who gamely stepped into the lions killed but still managed a swipe or two...and Congrats to mr Bacrot on surviving and keeping his heead high after two unusual blunders. This was a very fun tournament for the viewers. I congratulate the organizers for a very well run tourney. I also congratulate all the viewers for their feverish devotion to every move..(Like me). This was a great tourney with MANY winners. Latest articles
Calling an Athletic Woman Manly Accomplishes Nothing But Making You Sound Like an Asshole Brittney Griner, the 6'8" powerhouse who lead the Baylor Bears to the NCAA women's basketball championship last night, is a phenomenal athlete and a helluva ball player. So good, in fact, that her detractors have found a totally original and hilarious way to insult her: by calling her a man. Griner could probably kick the ass of most other human beings if the situation called for it. She's got arm muscles that appear to be bigger than my head, and she can dunk over your dad. She's so dominating on the court that Notre Dame coach Muffett McGraw said she played "like a guy" (not that she looked or acted like a guy; that she played basketball like she was bigger and stronger than the players around her). She's unquestionably one of the best women's college basketball players in recent years. Brittney Griner also talks with a low voice and doesn't wear makeup while she plays, which means she looks a little different than her beponytailed teammates. Is this everyone's cue to go act like a dickhead about it on the internet?! YES! It is! Before, during, and after the game last night, the good people of Twitter took it upon themselves to act like the collective butthole we know they're capable of being by snickering at how manly man mcman Griner is. They offered such tidbits of genius like, "it's a shame Brittney Griner's sanctimonious basketball skills are overshadowed by her sounding/looking like a man," "Why is Brittney Griner so good at basketball? Because she's actually a man. #haveyouheardhertalk," "My prediction: Baylor's national championship will be vacated once it is confirmed that Brittney Griner is, in fact a man...", and "I hope @SkyDigg4 walks up to Brittney Griner at the end of this game n asks her - MAN pull your Dck out!? Pun Intend #NCAAWomensBasketball." First, "sanctimonious basketball?" I'm not sure I gather. Second, calling Brittney Griner — or any woman who demonstrates proficiency at a typically "masculine" skill — a man doesn't accomplish anything but make you sound like an asshole with sour grapes shouting into the great white nothing of the internet. An insult's only an insult if the person you're insulting cares. And a woman at the top of her game with a trophy case full of awards to prove it probably doesn't give a flying phallus if you, a male Twitter user, don't want to go to fuck her, or if you, a female Twitter user, have prettier hair or more frequently wear lipstick. Brittney Griner is a big, strong woman who can ball. Get the fuck over it. Grow Up Folks; Lay Off Brittney Griner [Newser]
David West sets Pacers' direction We're not talking hero ball or "ballhoggery." That's not what is needed. This isn't about one player offensively rising to the occasion, as West did in that Game 6, and as some people feel "lucked" himself into 29 points on 13-26 shooting. This is about a man instilling his character -- who he is -- into a series and having a team -- his team -- rally around him in order to discover who they are while in the midst of serious episodes of self-doubt. In the postgame, on-court interview after Game 6, West used the word "internal" to describe where parts of the problem with his team existed; to explain what the Pacers had to fight through. What they continue to fight through. And it's been hard to figure out internally what exactly they're fighting through. Although in a physician-diagnose-yourself moment, Roy Hibbert exposed one problem. On an NBA.com "Inside Stuff" package done on Hibbert, the player at the center of the Pacers' internal issues off and on the court, Hibbert is ironically quoted as saying: "We all have to be on the same page, you know. One person can't be out of sync with the other person. You look for a team's weakness. If [they] have a 6-6 power forward or a 6-9 center or a point guard who doesn't like to guard pick and rolls, you try to exploit that because they are their weakest link." It really unveils the challenge West faces. What happens when your weakest link happens to be a 7-foot-2 center who has a penchant of totally disappearing and disengaging himself? When that player's undependability and unpredictable behavior become the weakness that other teams exploit? How does a leader deal with that? How does West get that player to rally to his call? How does he get the rest of the team to not be affected or impacted during the series when they realize that their greatest match-up advantage against the defending champions has departed, leaving the team to fend for themselves once again? George gave some insight into the team's perspective. In an interview with the media, he said the Pacers can't come out flat in Game 1, "whatever it is" causing a problem, and they must remember their history with the Heat. "We gotta have a little edge coming into this series," he said. "This team took us out twice now. Ended our season early, you know, two times in a row. There's gotta be an edge to come out, you know, and take this team out." Even the Heat's Chris Bosh said about the Pacers on NBA.com: "If they are trying to get under our skin, they'll get under their own skin before it happens to us." The Pacers reaching the Eastern Conference finals isn't about the clutchness (for those who, like me, still believe in that sort of thing) inside of the single-mindedness it took for West to use an elimination game to "will" his team to the next round when it seemed legions of so-called Pacers "fans" were happily waiting and rooting for the upset. Indiana's here on the strength of the shoulders of the one man who wanted to carry the entire responsibility of their success or collapse. A man among men. David West wanted the weight only because, as we've discovered with the Pacers during these playoffs (and over the last three months, really), there seems to be no one else equipped to carry the team's self-imposed burdens. There was a reason Larry Bird, Donnie Walsh & Co. constructed this team around West. This is it. Now is the moment where West will be forced to literally hold up his end of the deal. • 1 • \| • 2 • \| • 3 Join the Discussion blog comments powered by Disqus You Might Also Like...

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